While Digging...

So i was roaming through the depths of my computer bowels, and i found this. An intro article on what I thought opinion writing should be. Hurray for old writing.

So, when I was first met by someone at the paper to write an opinion article, I thought, "guh...what the hell am I going to write about?"
I'm not overly interesting, and I dont really have a billion stories to tell. But I have thoughts. And opinions. And I guess that's what counts.
Right?

So what do I have opinions on? And do my opinions matter to you? Most likely not. In fact, if a girl reading this is caring about my opinion, well, I'm single.
Find me.

But seriously, if you don't care about my opinions, why am I voicing them?

Because while you may not care about my opinions on things, I would hope my opinions would get you to think.
About what you ask? Who knows. Or who cares for that matter.

And that's the brillance of writing opinion. I dont care if you dont care about it. In fact, this is just something that is roaming around my slightly lonely brain.
You don't have to care. You just have to think a little.

"But Uncle Doak, I think too much!" No ya dont. School makes you think about thinking. You THINK you need to read for that class, in reality, will that help you real life?
Probably not. Will knowing how many died at the Boston "Massacre" matter too much to you in 10 years? Hell no, and the answer is 13.

The end of an opinion piece doesn't need to be laced with brilliance. It just needs to be able to have you say by the end of that piece.
"Huh, I never thought about it like that before," and...Zing. I have done my job as an opinion writer.

But what if i can't get you to think? What if my article sucks so bad, that you just...don't care. In the way that we have letters to the editor,
we shall have letters to the guy with opinions. (Email Edited Out.). I'll write some things. You write me. If you dont, then I know you don't care, and i move on.

Welcome Home...

So here we are. I've finished college. Stopped writing for a long time. It bugged me. I wanted to write about games. I was good at it. Stupid editors that don't like you can put a serious damper on things. But i digress.

Welcome to the new Technicalities.

The newest incarnation will simply be a blog. Of anything i damn well feel like. If i want to talk about video games. I will. If i want to talk about sports, I will. If i want to talk about sports while playing a video game, I will.

Speaking of sports, is it just me, or does every sports fan in the United States spend the next two months telling football season to hurry the hell up? Seriously, its awful. I've actually had to teach myself how to like baseball simply to have something to watch. Well that and MLS. You know, people can hate all they want on the US futbol game, and I'll tell em to shove it. Because I love American soccer. Eh, I'm going off on a tangent here.

Anyhow, I'm off for now. There should be more in the coming weeks, as i need to keep myself and my writing ability up to date so i could make this my job someday.

The Return of TheTechnical. Which may not be so Technical.

Ah its been awhile. No really. My writing skills have gone down the tube, or at least I thought so, and now here I am. At a fork in the road.

Here's what I'm here to tell you, oh not so faithful T.Tech reader. I'm back. No seriously. In attempting to persue what I should and want to be doing for awhile in my life, I'm back. TheTechnical will be moving on though. Not just techie things anymore. TheTechnical will now be more..open. TheTechnical will be technical of anything. The technicalities of politics. of the world. of the geeky stuff we know and love. Should I change it to TheTechnicalities? Damn thats long, but it might work. We'll see.

Yeah, I know. You're killing me. TheTechnical will now be more political, and more worldly eventer. Like a normal blog. Boo. But seriously, too many crappy views on politics exist. Lets make a better one.

Now, before all the geeks get their star wars undies all tied up, let me be the first to say that yes, you will still see majority geeky stuff on here. I'm still a geek at heart, and the fact that this blog is called 'TheTechnical' will mean, technical stuff will still appear. Its ok.

Now, onto today's topic. Hell, lets combine the best of both worlds.

In America, if you want conservative, you watch Fox News, or listen to Rush Limbaugh. Period. If you want Liberal, you listen to...wait, who do you listen to? Jon Stewart? Hopefully not. Colmes? Please dont watch Fox News for your liberal news. Do you vote for Hilary? Please to God dont vote for her. She'll be putting my 'Grand Theft Auto' games in porn shops if she goes through. I live in Texas, and while I know he wont win, my main man for the 'Guv' is Kinky Friedman. He's a moderate. Which i feel most of the American people are, they just have to pick a side. No one likes picking. So pick moderates, the people in the middle of everything. Now we just have to get you out to vote. Thats easy, aint it?

Now, onto games! Too much is happening in the next month and a half for my measly little pocketbook to handle. The short list? Battlefield 2142, Phantasy Star Universe, Neverwinter Nights 2. And thats only three. Dont forget the Nintendo Wii that I'll be buying once it comes out as well. Cant wait for that thing. With a remote fully focused on interaction, what do you think will happen? Gimmicky or a revelation? I guess we'll see come..not November. Seriously, anyone who thinks this race will be decided in November is an idiot.

Lets do a quick number's update, shall we? PS3 - 400,000 units in North A.
Wii - Estimated 1 million units for North A.

Holy crap. Easy as EA making Madden next year. Its obvious the Wii will win this Christmas season. More units, and lets be honest, more and better hype than the PS3 will drive sales. Easily. So lets give Nintendo this Christmas victory.

Now, lets look forward. If (and its a big if) Nintendo can get some good exclusives, and third party support, which they've never had, they'll be fine. Nintendo will dominate this Generation. I love my 360, but no way they'll deal with the N-Train if the Wii catches on. And Sony will be left picking up the remains.

Now, don't get me wrong. I know a ton of people excited about the PS3. Is it blind? I think so, but they sure as hell dont. They believe in the Sony brand, and that belief will sell them a damn lot of consoles, even if they exclusives come up weak. This is still the 900 pound gorilla of this generation, and they're going to sell. No doubt, but I think in the end, someone else will come out on top. Case in point? My mom knew about the Wii when I asked her about it. My mom, who could care less about video games, knew about the Wii.

Welcome back Nintendo. Welcome Back.

Yark.

Top 5 Gadgets you should have when going to college

This is for all you potential college freshman out there. You need these things. It's also popping up in the orientation issue. You guys don't need the links, I'm assuming if you found your way here, you know where to find all this crap anyway. Yark.

Computer
I know what you’re thinking. But to be truthful, there are some people that come to college without a computer, and, in today’s college environment, that just doesn’t work. You need a computer. If you’re bringing in a desktop, have something to carry it on. You do not want to be on the top floor of a dorm and have carry a computer tower and monitor up 4 or more flights of stairs. At the bottom of this article is some links to where you can get a PC carrying bag, which will simplify the process. You’ll also want your own printer. Walking to the library every time you want to print something can be a hassle, so you’ll definitely want one of those to go with it.

Digital Camera
But…what will I need one of these for? Taking pictures of course. There’s no way around that you’ll be at one party or another this semester, and most likely a lot more for the next four years, so you’ll want a way to remember these parties right? I mean…you’ll remember it anyway. In fact, forget I mentioned it. But you can find a great selection of good and decently priced digital cameras at the local Best Buy.

Router
You’re going to need one of these if you have a video game console that hooks up to the internet, ie: Xbox Live. You won’t have enough Internet plug-ins for you, your roommate, and your game console otherwise. I know were on a closed network here, but, for all the non-geeks and people worried about security, get a router that requires wires. You may have to buy some extra stuff, but there’s more security with them, and the actual wire router itself costs less than a wireless one.

iPod
Unless you have a lot of friends, and know that you will be walking with them to class every day, you’ll be doing enough walking to warrant buying an Mp3 player, and why not buy the best? Especially when you can get a 20-dollar student discount on them at the bookstore. The best Mp3 player around also comes with a dern good music store in iTunes. Not only can you download music directly from Apple’s store for 99 cents a song, you can also connect to other people on iTunes, and listen to their music. You can also use a little program called MyTunes Redux to get those songs from other people onto your play list. But…I didn’t tell you that.

USB Flash Drive
These are replacing floppy disks as the way to transport amounts of information. You can buy varying amounts of space on these little flash/thumb drives that plug straight into a USB port. Of course, the more space you need, the more money its going to cost you, but if you don’t have a printer in your room, you’ll want one of these to easily transport your papers or PowerPoint’s to a computer in the library.

Let the Writing resume, and the Wars begin.

Finally, im writing again. After getting snubbed by the editor for my paper, the new one came through and gave me the inspiration to write again. So, you get it before anyone else.

Let the Wars Begin


It’s that time again. The console wars are about to start heating up again, and we’ve got the usual set of competitors. Sony’s Playstation 3 is by far the heavyweight of the group, with Microsoft’s Xbox 360 bringing up second, and the “were not showing or telling you a damn thing” Nintendo Revolution coming up as well. I’ll do a quick breakdown of each console and its features, or at least the features we know of, now. Also, it should be noted that because of a lot of info pouring out of the biggest geek gathering this side of the Pacific Ocean, (which is the Electronic Entertainment Expo, better known as E3), there’s a lot more info that I just tacked onto this article so I could still get it in on time.

Xbox 360
Since the most info is available about this one, we’ll go here first. It’s obvious Monopoly..err..Microsoft has a pretty big hill to climb going up against the PS3. But, if anyone has the money to do it, it would be them. Microsoft has already unveiled the console, and everything looks to be in working order. Prettier looking games? Check. More people on screen doing more crap? Check. Pushing the online community of Xbox Live even farther? Big check. So everything looks good, right? Well, I have my doubts. The console still looks huge. It’s supposed to be more streamlined and less than that of the gorilla that is the first Xbox, but to me, it still looks pretty big. The overall design to me still doesn’t look that great. And the all white color scheme, well, I guess I’m paying for what’s under the hood. Microsoft is also jumping the gate on the latest console wars by getting their system out first. Good move? Only time will tell. But there has been one nasty rumor(which has been nearly confirmed by Mr. Gates himself in a recent interview) that Microsoft will be releasing Halo 3 the same day as the Playstation 3. Sure, it’s evil, but it’s one hell of a marketing idea…

Sony Playstation 3
The next iteration of the Playstation, which has the extremely creative name of Playstation 3, will have what’s being dubbed as the “cell” processor. Without getting overly geeky on this( and it can, believe me) the cell processor is basically a small system of its own, working together however many other cell’s there are, and forming a small “supercomputer”, so to speak. The cells are supposed to be able to communicate with each other through ultra-high speed broadband connectivity. Think of how fast signals get to your brain, and you’ll have figured out what they’re shooting for here. Well, all this sounds great in theory. The best question is can IBM get this thing down in time for the release of the planned PS3 release in 2006? And, thanks to E3, we know what the thing looks like. To me, the console is ugly. It almost looks like some weird shaped metal turtle. Not to mention that, you should check out the controller. It looks worse than the console. I guess looks aren’t near as important as what’s under the hood anymore…Granted, if it lives up to performance standards, it produces a whole Teraflop more of speed than that of the Xbox 360. That, for the non-geek types among us, means its really freakin fast, and capable of some incredible graphics. We’ll see if this Cell processor lives up to bill.


Nintendo “Revolution”
“Revolution” is in quotes because no one even knows the name of the freakin system yet. Nintendo is pulling…well, a Nintendo, and not saying much at all about the new system. But thanks to the graciousness that is E3, we now know bunches more about the system than we did before. And Nintendo must be the only one who believes in looking good, because this baby looks small, sleek, and sexy. The biggest thing the big N has said about the Revolution is that its backwards compatible. Not just compatible with Gamecube games, but games from every Nintendo system ever made. Holy crap, that’s cool. It’s supposed to work that you’ll be able to download the throwback games from the system’s built in Wi-Fi adapter. The downside to this? We have no idea where you’re going to keep the games, or what cost, if any, there might be. The other potential downside this has, is that unless Nintendo can secure the rights to some games, only games that Nintendo released themselves can be downloaded. This isn’t all bad. You’ve got a huge library of incredible games that all came from in-house at Nintendo. But, if they can’t the rights to some other games, you’ll be missing out on some great games like Chrono Trigger, the Final Fantasies, and Goldeneye, just to name a few. Also as of this time, no system specs have been released yet, so we don’t know how the “Revolution” stands up to the PS3 or Xbox 360.

The war begins later this year when Microsoft fires the first shot of the new console age with the Xbox 360, with the PS3, and the Revolution both coming sometime in 2006. Of course you can find all the latest gaming and tech news right here in the Star when we get it.

The lack of updatage.

Well, i got really lazy and just didn't post anything for awhile. Isn't that awesome. Anyhow, I'll get back around to posting on this now that my actual life is settling down again after a rough while. But, while i think of good things to write and cover, ill do some music plugging. Because i like music too.

Check out the new CD by Mae, called The Everglow. They wanted to make it an experience CD, and not just listening to it. The end result? Fsking incredible. Check it out.

Also want to check out Anberlin's new one, Never Take Friendship Personal. Nothing much to say about it, besides that its got a couple of my new favorite songs on it. So check it out as well.

Yark.

Another Lazy Update. Because the world loves lazy bastards.

This turned out better in the actual paper(for once), but here's a copy of the original.

The Forgotten Nintendo…Nearly

Heading into the New Year, everyone is excited about the new generation of consoles about to be announced at this year’s E3. Microsoft has its Xbox Next, or Xenon, or whatever the crap they decide to call it, and Sony has its’ next iteration of the Playstation coming out in 2006. But while many industry buffs start looking forward, I say lets hold that thought, until E3 at least, and take a long look at what’s going on this year. And, ironically enough, Nintendo looks to have a good year. And yes, for your information, they have a new console coming out; expect to see it at E3 as well.

Nintendo seems to be the forgotten player in the next console wars. All the hype clearly surrounds Sony’s machine and their cell processor technology (essentially high tech sounding words that means more than one processor), and Microsoft has their NextBox, and its “connect everything in your house to your Xbox” mentality. Nintendo has…wait Nintendo has something? The “Revolution”. It probably wont be revolutionary, but counting the big N out in the next console wars is probably not a good idea, since they have so many franchises of their own that are loved.

Granted, Nintendo will have to do the equivalent of…oh, pulling a mammoth out of hat to get close to the numbers the ps3, and the Xbox 2 will sell. But Nintendo has its franchises, and that my friends in the case of the big N, is a lot to bank on. Lets run through them real quick.

Mario. The chunky little red-suited plumber that has launched into God knows how many games, and one awfully bad movie. But simply put, he is the biggest, most recognizable video game character in the world. Even as Master Chief becomes popular, he isn’t even close to the same pedestal that Mario and his compadres have reached. The “Revolution” is supposed to launch with a Mario game, which isn’t really a surprise, but Mario launching a system can’t be a bad idea.

Zelda and Link. This franchise nearly stands on the same pedestal that Mario stands on. What’s really sad is there is a new Zelda game coming out this year for the Gamecube, and hardly anyone outside of the Nintendo world is really noticing, or caring for that matter. You won’t see mass build-up lines outside of the local Gamestop waiting for this one. But why shouldn’t there be? Nintendo’s marketing strategy…but that’s a whole different story. Anyway, what’s really going to sell the new Zelda game is…no kiddie graphics. Yes, Link will actually be grown up now (or at least it looks like it), and will do the whole horse riding thing again, a la Ocarina of Time. The first screens have looked great, as you can easily see.

Samus and the Metroid series. No games for the Nintendo 64 mildly worried some people, but the toughest bounty hunter to have long, blonde hair has made a strong return on the Gamecube, with not one, but two huge hits. Nintendo managed to pull off what has to be the toughest thing ever. Making a good platforming FPS. In other words, jumping puzzles in FPS games usually suck, and are boring. Nay, not this time, as jumping puzzles are actually, almost…fun. We probably wont see anymore of Samus on the Gamecube, but she’s given us plenty already to hold us over until her next mission.

The Starfox series. A series that was great on the Super Nintendo, and carried that all too easily to the Nintendo 64, made a nice return on the Gamecube. While the first iteration wasn’t exactly what traditional Starfox players were used to, the 2nd one, coming out sometime this year, looks to return the series to its roots, while using the some of the elements that were liked with the first iteration on the Gamecube.

A few other noteworthy games that sure will make a splash in 2005, and on the “Revolution” will be the F-Zero series, probably a more “Country type” game than Donkey Konga, and possibly another Kirby game. Personally, though, I’m really looking for another Earthbound game. A simple, but highly, addictive game that added so many weird elements to make it truly one of the most unique RPG experiences ever, hopefully Nintendo will realize this and give us another Earthbound.

But Nintendo doesn’t only have those franchises, it also gets its amount of third party support, although its almost company policy to not get as much third party support. Its two biggest players that aren’t borne out of Nintendo blood, are the Viewtiful Joe franchise, a surprise hit from Capcom, and Nintendo’s relatively recent acquisition of Capcom’s other big franchise, the Resident Evil series. While RE was going stale, RE4 has clearly revived the series and made RE the definitive survival horror game you want. While RE4 isn’t completely Nintendo exclusive, it wont be hitting the PS2 until late 2005, or possibly 2006, and it probably wont be hitting the Xbox at all.

Moving to the handhelds, Nintendo’s marketing, or lack of, will probably be the DS killer. The PSP is much more marketable as its movie-player/mp3 player/ game player system, but never rule the Nintendo fanboys out. Another problem that might hurt the DS is Nintendo even muttering the words of the Next Game Boy system, dubbed “Evolution”. Really. Someone’s gotta come up with some better stuff than “Revolution” and “ Evolution”. Whatever the heck it’s going to be called, in the Game Boy’s case, is mostly irrelevant. It will sell so well, that no one would care if it was called “The Box with Buttons”.
It’s Game Boy, and they own the handheld market, no matter how many PSP’s you shake at them.

Don’t expect Nintendo to have some crazy breakout year. It isn’t going to happen. Besides the fact that they aren’t magicians and Mammoth’s just don’t roam the Earth anymore, there is just too much ground to cover to catch up with the Xbox, and the PS2. Maybe the “Revolution” will turn some heads. Its going to need to be more than just some, and believe you me, if anyone can do it, Nintendo can. Besides I know I’m not the only want who doesn’t want to be seeing Mario on any other system besides Nintendo’s own.