New cause for the New Year
This year I resolve to keep fighting injustices and stand up for myself and others when wronged. Anyone who knows me knows that this is my creed and I don’t intend to stop now.
Remember how back in September I pre-ordered the Wii from FYE? Well I got tired of waiting for it to come in so I stood in line at Target and got one. I left my pre-order spot in line at FYE so that I could give the gift of Wii this holiday season. FYE called me the Friday before Christmas and told me that the Wii was in and that I could come down and pick it up. This is almost too good to be true. What a perfect holiday surprise! But wait...there’s one catch. In true Grinch fashion, FYE demanded that I buy two games with them before they would honor my pre-order. Now they’ve had my $50 deposit since September and still want more money out of me. I argued and argued with the store manager and placed calls to corporate but it was no use. I had no Wii to give this holiday season. These jerks over at FYE are holding their customers hostage. They know that people want this hot ticket item and are willing to pay anything for it. This is especially true days before Christmas when Mommy and Daddy will do anything to put it under the tree for little Johnny. I refuse to play their game and I hope that you will too. Don’t play into the hands of these greedy companies. If a company changes the rules in order to better themselves when their corporate slogan is “where customers come first,” simply walk away. They don’t deserve any of your money. Stay tuned!
Wing Commander III Outtakes
Anyone who was a gamer back in the 90s remembers how advanced Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger was. This game combined awesome gameplay with a vivid full motion video storyline. I’ve always said if Chris Roberts would have gotten the blessing from Origin to use these characters and story he would have had a gold mine instead of that lame crappy movie he made. Anyways check out this awesome blooper reel from WC3 starring Mark Hammil (Luke Skywalker) and Thomas F. Wilson (Biff from Back to the Future).
Farewell to James Kim
Today everyone learned the fate of a former TechTV lab rat turned cNet senior editor James Kim. For those of you who somehow missed this story, cNet has a good recap. For the others that have no idea who James Kim was, cNet has you covered also. If you’re like me, you remember James from his days at TechTV where he had probably the coolest job in the world. He would review the mountain of gadgets that came in for Fresh Gear, The Screen Savers, and Call For Help. When TechTV went belly up, James hopped into cNet where he became the senior editor covering mostly personal audio products. What really amazes me is how heroic he was to brave the freezing temperatures in an effort to save his family. Tonight my Blackberry will remain lit as a vigil to one of the technology community’s greatest.
A Wii Bit Better
This must be the week of Wii for me. Today my component cables arrived. These have been backordered since the console launched and retail stores won’t be getting them until next year. One negative is the lack of a digital audio connection. I guess Nintendo isn’t planning any 5.1 surround sound games in the near future. On the plus side: the picture is much brighter and sharper so I recommend these to everyone that has a Wii or will be getting one soon. Speaking of getting one soon...Wal-Mart is selling them at 8am tomorrow so go get in line now! The Alpharetta store has 8 of them and I’m told there’s already a lady in line as of 6pm ET! I called looking for extra Wii-motes but there are none to be found. Those things are almost as rare as the console itself. Oh wells...no multiplayer action for now. Keep that in mind if you’re planning on coming over to check the system out. You’ll have to wait your turn! A picture of the component cables (sans digital audio) after the break.
Wii would like to play
Mission Accomplished! Nope, FYE still hasn’t gotten another shipment of Wii’s since launch but I’ve scored a Wii of my own. How you ask? Sunday morning at 3am I braved the 30 degree temperature and sat down in front of Target refusing to move until they opened their doors at 8am. Two hours later others joined me in line and by 8am there were about 20 people in line. What they didn’t know was that this Target was only getting 6 Wii’s that day. Sure I felt like crap the rest of the day but I got my Wii damnit! So far I’ve logged about 4 hours on the thing. Two have been for Wii Sports and two for Twilight Princess. I must say that the gameplay is excellent on both games. You don’t even notice that you’re holding a remote and a nunchuck in your hand. It’s as if you are one with the game. Must be that Japanese Zen or something. If you’re looking for some Wii-pron and a pic of me modeling the new controller, you’ll find both after the break.
