That Fat Lady isn't Singing Yet.

It was announced last week the High Definition DVD war was over with the HD-DVD camp giving up and going home, (with the ball).

Good news for all you XBOX 360 owners, Microsoft have just slashed the price of their HD-DVD drive to $49.99 (£25),

I know it'll a matter of time before HD-DVDs are as easy to get hold of as Betamax videos are right now.... But

• Could this actually be a turn around
• Could this be a clever marketing trick by the HD-DVD people in their quest to dominate.

Current (but for how long?) HD-DVD Partners

Put it this way, I'm still not going to rush out and get that shiny new Blu-Ray player just yet.
Then again, Im not going to rush out and buy the Xbox HD-DVD Player either.

We'll see.... again

The War is (almost) Over

*** GEEK ALERT***

So glad I didn't go all iPoddy on this oneIt seems like the next generation format war is almost over

I have always taken a (slight) interest in the gadget/computer wars.

First the Spectrum vs Commodore 64 (I had the Spectrum(s) 16k, 48k and the +2A)
Then Atari ST vs Amiga A500 (I had the Atari STe)

Thankfully I missed the VHS/Betamax war so only the VHS was available.

The PS2 vs Xbox was a dead cert (if you dont coount the Xbox Media Centre) (PS2 here)
The PS3 vs Xbox 360 have both seemingly lost to the Wii (How ???) (Xbox 360)
The DVD +/- was settled by combining the 2 (Yippee - I have have a dual burner)

The latest war that is close to ending is the Blu-Ray vs HD-DVD. If I had an interest in moving to HD, I would have gone for HD-DVD, I've no idea why, but wouldn;t have gone with BluRay as its backed by the wonderful Sony who have brought such delights as Betamax, Minidisc memory Stick etc.

It has however, all but won this time. Whether or not this is due to the PS3 with its built in player I don't know, but the HD-DVD manufacturers have thrown in the towel and the film companies either backed Blu-Ray from the start or have switched 75% of the new releases on High def will be Blu-Ray.
How do I get my hands on a free PS3?.

*** GEEK ALERT OVER ****

I have an Xbox Baby,
(but first...)

......I had a brililant comment today from someone in relation to my "Boycott Asda" post.

Blogging is a funny old thing, done by people wanting to have a rant at someone or something, want to tell the world about their lives or just have a little corner of t'interweb, I like to do a bit of everything, nothing too full on, just a place to have a laugh and not get too serious.

...Back to the post in question,

Long story short, Back in March 2007, our Xbox circle of mates all wanted to get a new game on release date, we went to Asda who refused to sell us 8 copies...... I blogged about it telling readers to boycott Asda as they have "ruined our lives....".

Heres the comment, (it's an exact quote so dont slag of the improper use of grammar or spelling).

soryy but i think ur so childish, why would you want to buy 8 copies anyway, your obviously some weird computer geek, get a life, how the hell did asda ruin your life by not sellin them to you. grow up you sad little person

Wierd computer geek
You got me there, I'm a geek, as are the IT people I work with, of which 13 of the 15 also have Xboxes, as are most of my geeky friends, in fact a lot of people I know. I love gadgets/computers and technology (embrace it baby).

Get a life
I've got one of those, - I go out (in the real world) I drink Stella/Jack Daniels/Magners, eat curry, pizza and all other forms of crap, go out drinking in the real world, have a job I love, a woman (I love), 3 children (I love) family and friends. (I love/tolerate).

I have a life and it's f*cking brilliant

Grow up
Who defines what is "grown up", childish I may be sometimes (as my real life fiancee will confirm), but grown up I definately am, I have responsibilities in life which determine that I am grown up as do most adults, I just also have fun.

Anyone else care to confess to being a a wierd, childish computer geek. (Tao, Lee, Cookie, Gaz)

Sad Little Person
I couldn't be any happier, 6 foot 2 and 15 stone

Rant Over - meet Miss Geeky Junior(ess)

Hello Is that Xbox Support, My Daddy won't let me play

By the way comment poster, AOL isn't the best ISP, Windows Media Center isn't brilliant, you should use Firefox as your browser rather than IE 7 and you didn't have to click on my blog when searching for an "Asda" image in Google - Now thats Geeky, and I also have your ip address 172.202....... but instead of all this, chill out enjoy or don't read my blog, it's a bit of fun.

Called to Duty
Once again my sleep, my free time and my social time has been ruined, once again the Xbox is to blame, For the last few months I have been playing Call of Duty 4. For the last 4 weeks, I have been playing this very same game online and can admit, I am addicted.

Tao seems to think he kicked my arse, however as he has a "red ring" (try the cream Tao), I'm going to practice while he is Xboxless.

Now "Everybodys Uncle" Steve is Internetless thanks to SKy Broadband, it gives us all a chance to catch him up too.

Gone have the days where we compare acheivements and game points, its all about your Ranking in COD4. (I'm ranked 29 - which is frankly 'Shite')

XBox Fall Update (Part 2)


Further to my blog about the Xbox Fall Update it appears the details have been confirmed by the MS people

Downloadable Games
A perfect way for Microsoft to make sure everyone buys a bigger hard by allowing downloads of classic Xbox games and having loads of games everyone wants, the first games to appear are Crash Bandicoot: Wrath of Cortex, Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge, Halo, Fable, Fuzion Frenzy, and Psychonauts. prices start at $5 (£2.50) up to $15 (£7.50) per game.

View Your Friends' Friends
Similar to Facebook, look at who your friends are friends with, not sure this is really needed on the Xbox though.

Inside Xbox Feed
News on whats happening on the Xbox scene (Yawn)

Parental Timer
Stop your kids ruining your life by keeping you off your (their) Xbox.

....and finally and most importantly

DivX/Xvid playback
Stream your DVD rips and legally downloaded content direct from your PC (or USB Hard drvie/memory stick) to your XBox without need for additional software (or crappy Vista with MCE). Now I can watch my US TV programs on a proper telly.

Coming next Tuesday 4 December (or 5th for us lot who are on a works Christmas party - photocopies of arses will be scanned and posted here*)

Xbox Fall Update

Luke the Giant

Luke "Not of this Planet" Johnson mentioned this morning on my return to work that the delayed Xbox fall (Thats Autumn to us lot) update is likely to support DivX coding, this means we will all be able to hopefully watch our downloaded p*rn "Stuff" on our big TVs in the living room.

Apparenly it was revealed by mistake in a Q&A session with JP Morgan analyst Paul Coster and Kevin Hell (CEO at divx.com) that the DivX functionality is coming.

Coster - “Just a minor point here, but there was a recent Microsoft (MSFT) conference where I believe their media extender now incorporates the DivX codec on it, is that correct? Can you confirm that and does that mean we’re soon going to see Xboxes with DivX on them?
Hell - “Yes! that, uh, we’re in discussions with Microsoft on that at this point in time, so I can’t go into any great detail on that. Um that is not a certified, that is not a certified or licensed product at this time.”


So what else is rumoured in the update?

Family Timer
Monitor your kids (boyfriends) usage and allow "admins" to set a limit for playing.

Video Marketplace
iTunes like for the Xbox allowing content uch as TV shows etc to be downloaded to the Xbox.

IPTV
TV via the internet on the Xbox

The update is due around 23-26 November
Thanks Luke (Even though you have a wii too).

Grand Turismo 5 on the PS3

Being a former Playstation (2) fanboy, had Grand Turismo been released at the time of me buying my Xbox then maybe I'd have bought a PS3, however as the release may still be some time away alng with the launch price of the console - no thank you.

The video trailers of the game are nowsurfacing - does it make me want to buy a PS3?...



Well actually... No

Ok so the graphics are superb and the gameplay looks amazing, but the lack of other games and all of my mates already owning the Xbox means a big no thanks... just yet.

A free PS3 with a phone upgrade like Mr Dan Stone then I'll gladly take one rather than "wait for the price to drop" like Mr Wooly. Until the price drops below £200 (including GT5), then I'll stick with my trusted Xbox, besides, when PGR4 comes along and kicks the PS3s ass*, we'll be laughing.



*Maybe

Day 12 - Three (and Six) That's the magic number
Yes it is.....Its the magic number

.... Magic for me today anyway, as it's todays CRP result

It's kinda strange that I have started worrying about going home, will I be OK when I get back, will SWMBO be able to cope, will I catch or give anything to anyone,

and even stranger is that I'm going to miss the place I have called home for the past 2 weeks, It's where I've eaten, worked, slept, watched TV, learned to stand & walk, been operated on (5 times) for 13 days and I'm going to miss it.

Don't get me wrong, I can't wait to get out of here, but the staff have been absolutely fantastic to me, I didn't really meet any other patients, but am guessing from the work they do here (knee & hip replacements) that they really aren't in my age range.

Thanks to all at the Nuffield Hospital in Derby, but I'll be going home tomorrow, and hopefully will never see you again (in the capacity of requiring treatment that is).

Now I get to go home and be treated by the people I work with for the next 2 weeks - (don't ask !!!).

Now then, bring me my daughter, my X-Box, My Sky remote control, My broadband, and a Dominos Menu - (Need to wait for my car keys as I still can't drive)... I have some catching up to do.

Day 7

I have decided not to get too upbeat about things any more, that way i have less to be disappointed about, the staff are doing a great job, the room i great, the food is lovely, my mates are still managing to take the piss, but when I'm on my own, I'm very down,
I have now had Gentamicin added to my daily drug diet which already includes, paracetamol, Codeine, Diclofenac, Tramadol and Flucloxacillin, I'll be a pharmacist before I know it.

The nurses are insistant on giving me a bed bath, however I have decided to leave that to SWMBO, I know she looks forward to it, but I dont want the whole world checking out "Steven and the Twins".
I am going to see if they'll let me have my Xbox in. That will pass some time

Xbox 360 - E3 Edition
The only problem I have with my Xbox 360 is...

Let me start again.

The problems I have with my Xbox 360 are

• I was forced into buying one in the first place
• I then had to buy an HD Television
• I have to pay for the games as I'm not getting my Xbox chipped
• Playing real friends online causes tourette-like symptoms
  

When new games are released, our "clan" try their hardest to refrain from going out spending our more than well-earned money on, then to be beaten into submission 3 minutes later, we have got to the point where we don't even put up a fight now (as Stuart, Martin and SteveC will agree).
So the next few months see the price reduction for the Xbox 360, meaning we can persuade more people to buy them. Also the release of a few "Must Have" games

Project Gotham Racing 4
Call of Duty 4
Halo 3
GTA IV

That'll be another £160+ then....

Santa???

Thank you Xbox !!

Just as I was getting some normality in my work/life/sleep balance, confirm release of Call of Duty 4: Modern Combat.

I was even at the point that I didnt feel the need to switch my XBox on every single day. No doubt time spent getting the nursery ready for our baby, buying Nappy Stackers (and other stuff you don't really need) played an important part of this.

Obviously I need to back to having no sleep... which is where the Xbox - More importantly Infinity Ward has come to the rescue.

We've all been a bit slack on the XBox online front, but I for one will have lots of sleepless nights any time now....

XBOX Live - Down - Now whateports went out last week that some peoples Xbox live accounts were hacked, of course Microsoft denied this, why wouldn't they - how on earth could live accounts get hacked?

Monday came an email arrived from Xbox Live announcing scheduled maintenance planned for today, I thought this could be in response to the PS3 release, my guesses included

• Halo 3 beta released
• Web browser addition
• 360 Dashboard update
• Functionality for DivX movie playback

We all wait with baited breath, unable to beat/play/speak to each other online, I had to resort to an evening in the real world with SWMBO.

When she realised she's better off when I'm in the virtual world she went to bed, I wanted to find out more about the Live downtime so.....

"MICROSOFT ANNOUNCE XBOX LIVE ACCOUNTS HAVE BEEN HACKED"

OOps !!!!

Who would be clever enough to do this I hear you say, how could people hack accounts of people who only use this account to play online or check stats on xbox.com

Simple :-
By calling Xbox Live customer service and "Pretexting" - It was that simple

Come on "Gatesy" get it sorted, dont let me PS3 fanboys bitch any more about Microsoft.

news.com - TG Daily - Techshout -

Updates

ASDA - to vent our frustration my fellow Xboxers wrote to ASDA and UbiSoft (Authors of GRAW 2).

• Asda came back stating they weren't aware of this policy, followed by this is their policy....
• Ubisoft came back stating they will investigate.

If/when I hear anything back from either companies, I will update.

Pipex

Result... I managed to speak to the account manager at my company regarding these problems, unfortunately I can't name them but my unlimited connection is now back to unlimited.

I have no idea how one would go about sorting this out based on a purely residential only connection, but where a considerable amount of money is involved, it clearly shows that money talks.

Xbox Friends
I am going to create a blog with the Xbox gamertags of people I know or play regularly.
EDIT: Even better - http://whosonxbox.blogspot.com/

XBoxed

I've finally bitten the bullet and gone down the XBox route, I vowed never to leave the Sony camp, however looking at what's available for the 360, the amazing High Def graphics and the high price of the shortly to be released PS3, I had to do it.

Now I'm wondering whether I am actually going to get a PS3, the interface on the Xbox is stunning, online gaming, chatting to mates while beating them at PGR3,

I must say I am sold.... I just need to find a way of stopping 11 year old girls beating my around a race track.

We're Home - A life-changing 5 weeks if ever I've had one.

The hardest part of moving house... (apart from saying goodbye to my old house)

Moving the bloody fish/fishtank - having to catch the damn things (that don't want to be caught) ,and put into polythene bags, then into a polystyrene box and seal it , letting the water get colder and colder for a couple of hours while chasing solicitors etc. emptying 180 litres of fishtank water. Then reversing the whole process at the new house.

The second hardest part of moving house...

Moving my internet account - This, I thought would be fairly straightforward, how wrong I was, firstly I had to cancel my internet at the old house, couldnt just transfer from one to another, has to cancel and re-register (getting a different username etc). I couldn't take my phone number as it was a different exchange,


All in all, a bit of a nightmare, Pipex were really good, BT didn't seem to care at all, finally got connected (at a measly 5.5Mb) on 29 November, and it's broken already. (Ill blog about this separately).

The easiest part of moving home, living with SWMBO, and my wonderful new TV the all singing, all dancing Toshiba WLT68 - 37 inches of pure HD viewing please.

just need the XBOX 360/PS3/HD DVD Player to complete the setup, oh and the camcorder and SLR camera (for baby of course).

£6.10 for a taxi ride from town too, rather than a 5 minute walk. But I love my our new house

Thanks to Clare, Mum & Hugh, Stuart (Poppa Blurters), and C&F Removals (Yes I'm doing your website)

More Soon...