Bueller... Bueller... Bueller...

This whole Movember nonsense has been catching on. But it's for a great cause so most of us will let the porno mo's and handlebars slide while the money for prostate cancer and Beyond Blue roll in. Blackout's very own MOn capitain, Rob Spit, has been very enthusiastic and with strange results! We never ever pictured it before but Rob's mo now has transformed him into the hapless, relentless principle from that classic 80's movie, Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Ed Rooney was his name (the character that is) and being compared to a DVD freeze frame the vote was anonymous... he's a dead ringer!

 

On a serious note if you would like to contribute to this great cause then click here and sponsor Rob by entering his registration number (105174). It'll help relieve the pain of being victimised by High School students everywhere!

Top 5 Video Gaming Moments

You know it's been a while now. A while of me playing video games. From my earliest memories of snaking free games out of the milk bar owner by simply hanging around the shop long enough. Also accidentally knocking out the power plug when some kids much much older than me were playing. To learning what "tea bagging" a mate online in Halo and getting a visit by a stripper while playing Uno! I got to thinking... what are my best memories of playing games all these (25 odd) years? So... here I go:

 

1) Halo LAN Party - This to me was the pinnacle of gaming. 4 Xbox's, 4 players with headsets in different rooms killing each other and letting the other guys know it! Firsit started out with Halo 1 and we figured "it can't be that hard to connect these babies up can it?". So we strung 2 together and what we started... we still haven't finished to this date!

 

2) Get Ready! - Actual speech in a video game! The year was 1990 and we were all hearing about how big Sega's Mega Drive was going to be. But to actually have the Mega Drive in our house (before the official release) and have Space Harrier's beautiful sound blaring out the speakers was a treat. But hearing that voice ring out "GET READY!" in crisp 6 channel stereo... man. Hard to explain to a kid now how big a deal that was. Guess you just had to be there!

 

3) Tiger Upper Cut! - Super Nintendo killed it when they brought real arcade gaming to the house hold. In fact the whole Street Fighter thing in itself was just so god damn big. Never before and never again did we see one singular title dominate an arcade hall. I'm talking about a whole string of SF2 machines lining the Timezone wall. Spining Bird Kick!

 

4) Play by Play! Sega attempted to pull this off. But they failed miserably. I'm talking about Joe Montana's Sports Talk Football. But years later EA achieved what Sega dreamed of. Commentating in a sports game. I honestly didn't think it could be done so well. Especially in a Hockey game as the game flows so so quickly! But when we bought NHL 98 (PSX) we were in for a surprise! "Wow a truck hit him!" "He shoots he scores". The players names and teams all got commentated on. It was freaking amazing technology and one still in use today. Well done EA!

 

5) Revenge of Shinobi - I include this title for one reason only. Presentation. This was the first title to get it right! The music was from none other than Yuzo Koshiro and it was stinking hot! That guy knew how to milk a 16 bit sound processor for all it was worth! But it wasn't just the music. It was the whole package. When you fired up that game it was no ordinary title sequence. From the moment you saw that ninja pop up and deflect all those ninja stars... you knew that this was going to be a special game! Was one of the big reasons why I wanted a Sega Mega Drive at the time!

 

If you have a list of your own top 5 moments or even just one special moment... leave a comment!

Foxtel Installation Delay

Today I was meant to be watching useless TV. Not the free to air kino. The 40 odd channels of shit type! Foxtel that is. But because this place we moved to was built in the early 90's they didn't build them future proof then. The Foxtel dudes couldn't find the installation points so we need to drill one in. Problem is... I need permission to do that or risk having to do it all and pay a fine. DOH!

 

So ESPN and the History channel will have to wait another 3 weeks... till then... life in the fast lane with Ray on 9 will have to suffice.

Sydney's Internet Blackhole

Having just moved to Jannali, a fairly wealthy suburb, a figured internet connection would be nothing of a hassle. So I went about the process of re-negotiating a contract and arranging the re-connection. First thing I did once the connection was up was catch up on all my emails etc. Even playing Uno on Xbox Live was not a big prob. My real problem only was realised tonight. Halo 3. I was in the middle of carrying out a double kill when my connection went pear shaped and I droped out of the match. Once, twice... every flamin' time. So I rished to the net and looked up my area and any known problems. Found out that I am connected to the Como exchange and I  only have ADSL and not ADSL2 connection. ARGH! iinet have no plans to roll out a DSLAM in our area but TPG do... when? TBA is their answer. So I may close my Xbox Live account till this day occurs. I have gone from a blistering connection at Kogarah to a measly 1,635kbps. All I know is that I never had many connection problems with iiNet at Kogarah. Now I don't know how I'm gonna get my Xbox Live fix...

New House and now... NEW CAR... (coming soon)

Just a quck note to brag about our new addition to our house... no not a baby. A baby car! But... more news and photo's to come soon!

Unfreakinbelievable! Halo 3 Goodness…

I've been a bigger nerd than usual this week. With Halo 3 being launched after what seemed like an eon or two I can finally Finish the Fight. Finally I get to check out all the new features this new gem has to offer all on my new Samsung TV. Doesn't get much better than this folks! Fraggin' and getting fragged all in HD glory with surround sound. But I have to squeeze in all that I can with the next few days as next week on… it's packing time! We move to Jannali on the 10^th October, 2007. Home warming party to be announced soon. But back to Halo 3. My highlights so far have been a many. To cap the major ones for me:

• Replays – Being able to capture the last 25 matches, in their entirety, to review and share online is HUGE! So many dumb moments to share. No more "you had to be there"
  
• New ranking system rocks. The military rankings make much more sense than the old basic numbering system.
  
• Man cannons. It's been said many times but man cannons are fun. Fun to say. Fun to use and abuse. Throw a stick grenade on an incoming soldier and watch 'em freak!
  
• A thowsand options! It just seems that there is loads more to do in H3. Being able to review player stats before a match and after is cool. Going online and checking out who has what medals is neat too.
  
• The awesome HD graphics. There are some moments where it looks Xbox 1'ish. But the moments where they have put huge efforts into the detail such as water and vegetation. More than make up for this short coming.
  

I personally know of a couple of guys buying Xbox 360's just for this one. Also some dudes just signed up to Xbox Live after a long absence. Amazing what one game can do if done just right eh?

SirBargeArse Goes Off on Xbox 360

I was on such a roll yesterday on the Xbox that I over achieved! What I mean is that I broke my record for most individual achievements (11) in one day (according to http://www.360voice.com/blog-view.asp?id=29379645)

 

"SirBargeArse seemed really excited to play yesterday. Our current gamerscore is 4,212 . That is a boost of 260 points over last time! We have now entered the 4,000 GS club! He opened up Marvel Ult. Alliance adding 4 achievements, Hexic HD, Rockstar Table Tennis finishing 1 achievement, Bankshot Billiards 2, Hexic 2, Kameo picking up 2 achievements, Full Auto adding 4 achievements, Streets of Rage 2, and did it while drooling over my awesome graphics and sound. "

 

Now the score moves up to 4212. Gristlefat should start to look over his shoulder soon me thinks...