Articles have been blasting price cuts across the internet since E3, claiming they've heard that Microsoft plans on cutting the retail price of the 360 on the release day of the PS3. While it would be nice if it happened, Microsoft has finally come out and said, "no, we're not doing that".

I'm not too unsettled by the news. Personally, I think the price of the 360 is tolerable for what it offers as far as cutting-edge, state-of-the-art high-definition games go. However, it would have been nice to pick up a Wii and a 360 for less than the cost of PS3, hahaha. I'm still going to buy a 360 Platinum when Halo 3 comes out... call me a fanboy, I don't care. I already bought an Xbox just for Halo 2.

Reminds me of something Peter Moore said during E3 in regard to the price. In an interview posted at Joystiq, he's quoted saying "we had a price drop on Monday when Sony announced their price." The best quote out of E3 2006, period. Microsoft is already losing money on 360s, and they're trying to cut production costs, yes... but it would be folly for them to cut the retail price and lose MORE money. As it is, you would have to be a really die-hard Playstation fanboy to reject the 360's price and get a PS3... especially when most, if not all, E3 reports say the PS3 shows nothing graphically better than the 360. (Which is all the 360 and the PS3 are doing this year... making better graphics.)

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Another installment of Sony Says! This time, Sony CEO Howard Stringer is calling the shots. (More like shots to their own feet!) Once again claiming that the price is high, but the PS3 is worth it, and that if it lives up to its "total potential", then the price won't be a problem.

He then blasts Xbox360, saying it's a cheap, transitional product, and that the PS3 is a "future-proof, higher technology which will keep you going for many, many years". Yeah... let's see how long Sony goes without releasing an ingeniously-titled Playstation 4, shall we?

Microsoft and Nintendo know their stuff... Nintendo, of course, is throwing a wrench into the gears of gameplay, as they always do. (This time, it's a particularly gigantic wrench.) Microsoft at least says that it's all about what the customers want, and the Xbox360 gives high-definition gamers what they want, right now, for cheaper and better... and I believe them.

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Well, well, well... Apple has leveled the playing field a bit.

It seems OS X is now a closed operating system. (It's been said for a while, but I always thought it to be rather a rumor, than fact.) As in... no longer open source. Granted most Apple users won't notice anything, but a major difference fanboys use to boost OS X over Windows is the fact that you can legally alter anything in the operating system.

Well, no longer. It seems these pirates Apple was so keen with disregarding has finally got the best of them, and they've closed the kernel. This will (maybe) help keep people from hacking OS X to work on current x86 systems.

Apple? Welcome to the world of the ever-popular x86... home of pirates and virus makers. Microsoft is plagued with these problems, and now you know how it feels. It's not the cakewalk you expected it to be, is it? I'm guessing all the fanboys suddenly consider a closed OS to be the next best thing to hot dogs, now that Apple does it. I have a feeling that Microsoft's closed operating system will still somehow remain to be the most vile thing on the planet because of not being open source.

Some try to support Apple by saying "who ever recompiled their kernel, anyway?" Well, that was never the question before you couldn't... it was always the idea that you could if you wanted, not if you ever really did. I've actually recompiled a kernel, once... I needed to add several features to my FreeBSD installation. Now, you'll just have to trust Apple to give you everything they think you'll ever need.

You know, I think Apple should release OS X for any and every x86 system legally. I'd seriously buy it in a heartbeat and put it on a computer I built myself. Unfortunately, I don't think that will ever happen. I don't care if you think so or not, but Apple hardware is incredibly expensive to me and many others. If OS X was available for "regular" computers, many, many, many people would just buy the software and forget buying the overpriced computer. (The downside of being an early adopter of technology... it's never, ever cheap. (And some say never, ever worth it.))

Disclaimer: A Microsoft fan at heart (Windows, Xbox, MS DOS, etc. (I like to play games)), but I would like to buy an Apple system, as well. I don't hate Apple, but I will do anything to knock fanboys whenever I can.

So I'm back from my trip!

...and I came home to a pleasant sight. Another incredible pit Sony's dug themselves into. According to a Digg article, it seems that's Sony's "brand new" and "completely revolutionary" motion sensing technology (that Nintendo built into a console first) for the unreleased Playstation 3 was... uhm... available for the Playstation. No number appended. Original Playstation.

Oh, and get this... the "new" controller Sony copied from Nintendo lacks any rumble features because it will mess around with the motion sensing or some such thing they're cooking up. This motion sensitive Playstation 1 controller from 1999? It rumbles... and senses motion much like the new PS3 controller. (It's still definately no Wii controller... Nintendo maintains their long line of original, innovative ideas.)

When will people wake up, smell the roses, and see Sony for the liers they are?

Quick note... I'm going on a sort of weekend getaway dealy tomorrow. (Today... Saturday.) Canoing and camping for two days on through the parks of southern Indiana with 28 folks from my church. Almost too big for me... I'm going to see what it's like. They say there's going to be about 14 canoes, so it's not going to be so bad, I don't think.

The last time I went on this trip, it was an absolutely hilarious awesome time. Knowing some of the guys going, I'm sure I'll have some funky story to tell.

But, yeah... I won't be back until Sunday night sometime, just to letcha all know. ...and I have to get up at 5:30am, so I need to go... NOW. See ya' laterz!

I was in Walmart a few days ago... I was looking for any cool new PC or Nintendo games. I didn't find any, and I wasn't really surprised... everything I want is still too expensive (at least for me and for now) or Walmart didn't carry it. I managed to pick up another LAN cable and some funky cable that has connectors for GCN/SNES, Xbox, Xbox 360 and Playstation on one end (that's right, four connectors), and SVideo/RCA Audio/Video on the other. At first it looks insane and completely unrealistic... but it actually works pretty well. I leave SVideo plugged into the VEG and plug the consoles into the single cable and boot up whichever I want to play... being the curious canine I am, I tried playing two consoles at once over it... it flicked and warped and generally didn't look good, so I stopped in a hurry.

Anyway... SVideo really is a ton better than RCA/Composite. Especially when you're playing it on a computer monitor. I can actually READ the text on Halo... I was shocked, haa.

My brother was printing photos at the one-hour station, so we hung around and browsed the electronics section. After admiring the HDTVs (for which I've new-found fascination, as read in previous posts), I checked out the DVD movie section.

I really didn't find anything... until we were about ready to leave. There... on the "DVD Collections" display... I saw the DVD box of something I haven't seen in a very, very, very long time. In fact, since I was about 4 or 5 (I saw re-runs, sadly).

It was... *drum roll* ...Knight Rider! Hands down the best series, period, of the 1980s. Nothing comes close to the pure awesomeness of this series for me. I grew up with it, and I was crushed when channel 23 stopped airing it at 3pm on weekdays. I vaguely remember they started shifting days and timeslots all around and then we eventually just lost it altogether.

But there in the Walmart electronics department, I was reunited with Seasons 1 and 2 nearly 20 years later. I was overjoyed to later learn that 3 and 4 have been released, as well, and are available online. I shall be getting those very soon.

I've just finished the first season... in a matter of a couple of days. My verdict? It's still as super cool as ever, and even better than I remember it. Maybe I'm just happy to be hearing KITT talk again, I don't know. Most people I've read say that Knight Rider is a horrible, stupid, cheesy series that should peacefully die and become a thing of the past. Grr... stupidheads. 1980s special effects aside (which are still fun to watch... especially all the car stunts), Knight Rider is a heck of a lot more wholesome than a bunch of this other crud on TV these days... and it's still entertaining and fun and just plain cool to watch.

If you watch it and start picking out all the flaws... you're going to make yourself miserable. Every now and then, I'll see something that makes me go "haha, that's insane"... but then I stop and glue my eyes to the screen again and see what happens next, anyway.

What makes this find even more interesting, is that I recently learned that Knight Rider was created and written by Glen Larson, who is also know for creating and writing..... 1978 Battlestar Galactica! My interest in BSG being kindled at this particular time is just... weird... but it makes it even more fun! I noticed an actor from BSG made a cameo appearance in the pilot for Knight Rider, and in the episode Merchants of Death, I noticed a prop that came right out of a BSG Viper fighter. It's neat all the subtle things you can see carry over from previous serieses.

Some people say KITT was built from Cylon parts... I'm not sure that's entirely accurate, unless the Cylons were really big to fit KITT's red wooshy light scanner on their faces... but I'm more apt to say that his design was inspired by Cylons.

Man... I've decided that I want to buy a 1982 Pontiac Trans Am and make it look like KITT... at least on the outside. Go cruising the nearby towns in a sleek, black sports car with a red light scrolling back and forth between the headlights... hwahaha.

I dunno... I pronounce it like "vedge", err. Anyway.

TV broke. Bought a VEG Lite.

General concensus? It's everything they said it was.

But of course there's a nitpick... while it does a nice job of removing interlace, you can still see it in odd places, like when Mario blinks after getting hit by a baddie. The Xbox fares a lot better, actually, but it's not very anti-aliased and looks sort of like when you enlarge an image in Fireworks and then apply a slight blur effect. Personally, I'll take blocky edges over blurry-blocky edges. Perfect anti-aliasing or none.

Anyway, this is through regular composite video inputs, so I really expected sub-par quality. I've ordered SVideo connectors for my Nintendos and Xbox, so when they come in, it should at least double the resolution. (At least, that's what I've always been told... I'm going to have to see for myself. If it doesn't work, then... oh well. The cables were only about 5 bucks.)

I also bought an SNES to USB controller adapter yesterday, along with the cables, so I should be able to multiplay SNES games online through ZSNES like a pro! (Though it might take some getting used to... I've used a keyboard for SNES for sooo long.)

Oh, I also tried playing Halo 2 online today. I discovered an unranked practice gametype that I played... it was nice and relaxing... no Standbyers or Bridgers. Just good, old fashioned, LAN-party multiplayer Halo action where you frag away your worries! I ranked 4th out of 8. (Or maybe it was 10.) I think it was 10... since I was a little off-center toward the top. Got a triple kill with a rocket launcher, har har. That was sweet.

So I'm going to watch my Toy Story DVD now... bye!