Microsoft Store

It seems like Microsoft is looking to get into making stores that only sell their merchandise much like Apple.  These stores will sell and give support for the various computers, gadgets, and gaming equipment they sell.  They have sections for the Zune, the Kinect, and a large selection of Xbox 360 games.   So far, there are only seven locations as opposed to the 300 that Apple has.  I hope that Microsoft expands these stores to more locations because I prefer PCs for their gaming. I always thought it was awkward to see all the jewelry stores in a mall to be next to each other, it must be tense with all the competition.  I can't imagine if that happened with Apple and Microsoft stores seeing how big both companies are.  I wonder who will win this battle.

Bite Me (web series)

Machinima is teaming up with Epic Level Entertainment to bring out a web series about three losers who try to survive aganst a zombie apocalypse.  This seems different to me in the fact that rather than this video be made with some sort of 3D imaging, it is filmed with real people.  Either way I think it will be very successful because it will still appeal to the large gamer audience Machinimma attracts.  What gamer doesn't like something about zombies.  It seems like a lot of major entertainment companies have been working zombies lately and this is no different.  The first webisode is on youtube or on tubefitter to view.  Although there is no zombie action, you get to know the characters by showing them in their regular lives and a creative stat sequince showing bars that show  how much of a skill they have.  Personally, I think it will be a great series and am looking forward to new episodes.

Website Usability

I did a website usability test on www.welsfargo.com  the questions and results are as follows

1. Check todays Home Equity Rates. . . . Pass
2. Find closest location of a Wells Fargo. . . . Pass
3. Contact Customer Service. . . . Pass
4. Report an E-mail fraud. . . .  Pass
5. Learn when Wells Fargo was established. . . . Pass

My findings are that it was a very usable site.  All the features of the website could be reached via the homepage.

Website Mockup and Palette

Original Lolcats by me

Magical Land of the Internet

Wired News has found an artist named Randall Munroe who has made a map of the internet.  The lands are based off of the size of a website from how many people use it daily.  This map which can be seen on his website,  I find, is very humorous and also pretty true.  You can find the Troll Bay 4chan has its own Island in the island grouping of forums.  One of the largest of the lands is Facebook with state/provinces of farmville.  I think it is a very good look into our internet culture.  There also was a map made by Munroe back in 2007 where Myspace was huge and facebook was much smaller.I have a picture of the map but here is a link to a bigger map that will make exploring this land easier.  
New map:  http://xkcd.com/802_large/  

Can Fallout Happen In Real Life

The threat of nuclear war is still very real in out world.  GT tv asks if the post-apocalyptic world of Fallout could be a reality.  For their answer they looked to Dr. Michio Kaku.  He stated that fortunately we wouldn't have a planet overrun by mutants.  Unfortunately, that is because the radiation would kill most people and for one mutation, there would be thousands of babies that wouldn't make it an hour out of the womb.  Also the radiation would last for hundreds of years making agriculture impossible.  Dr. Kaku also compared this apocalypse to the fall of Rome saying that a nuclear war would throw us into a Dark Age that would last way longer than that of the previous dark age.  It was a great article that is a good reminder of why we should be careful with our nuclear arms.

Joseph Ducreux/ Archaic Rap

On knowyourmeme.com there is an article about Jospeph Ducreux/ Archaic Rap. This is a meme made famous on the website 4chan. It is taken from a self portrait of Joseph Ducreux, an eighteenth century French artist known for his unorthodox poses.  On 4chan they took one particular portrait of him and put text of a famous rap but as one would say it in the 18th century. I love this meme even though I know nothing about rap because I can't imagine a guy like this trying to rap in that manner around other eighteenth century folks. It is a very original meme but it's sometimes hard to get the rap song they may be referring to.

                                     

Kim Jong Il. Dictator. Film-maker?

On tubefilter.com there is a very interesting article about Kim Jong Il and his interest in cinema. He, besides being the dictator of his country, is a huge movie buff currently owning 20,000 plus movies. He also made a book on the art of cinema because he is apparently a "genius in cinema." He had a movie studio built in the capital of Pyongyang as well as many personal theaters. Without any people to make the films, he had several South Korean filmmakers kidnapped to make them. You can get these and many other interesting tid-bits in a film called The Vice Guide to Film: North Korea which part of the video is shown in this article. I found this article to be interesting and it kept me wondering how someone can be as crazy as Kim Jong Il. I personally want to see the rest of The Vice Guide to Film: North Korea. It has me hooked.

Happy Belated 25th Birthday Mario

Wired.com has brought to my attention that Mario turned 25 on September 13th. Happy birthday Mario. I loved this article. It went on to talk about Mario's achievements as a game one of which is becoming gaming icon. His first game, Super Mario Bros. sold over 40 million copies to date. The article also shows some videos of things in Mario's games in the real world. My favorite is this video of the water jet pack. Enjoy

The Best of Both Worlds- GTAIV and Half Life 2 combine in one sweet Mod

Going through Kotaku.com I stumbled upon this video of a mod for GTAIV (PC only) where you get a gravity gun. There is a video which is posted below. I am a big fan of the Half-Life Series so this interested me a lot. The mod does have some bugs and the aiming isn't the best but if they keep working on it, this will be one kick ass mod. Of course in my opinion it's not as good as playing with the gravity gun on Half Life 2.

Left 4 Dead 2 Teaser Trailer Review

A game I am currently addicted to is Left 4 Dead 2 so I thought what better trailer to criticize than the Left 4 Dead 2 trailer. I thought all in all it was a good trailer. It opens with views of the bayou and a cemetery while Coach, one of the survivors of this game, goes on a story about when he saw his grandma. She asked if he was a praying man. He said he was. *Now it shows jet fighters flying over a zombie with its jaw missing* she said "well pray harder because it ain't working." I thought this seen was very effective in setting the mood and was very dramatic. What a new person to this game would get is that it is set somewhere in the southern states, obviously there are new characters, and of course the key ingredient, ZOMBIES. Instantly, chaos ensues in this trailer with hoards of zombies running as well as what seems to be a new class. Oh there will be new classes, HOORAY. This trailer excites with action packed zombie killing scenes. Coach says "While we still got guns, we are gonna fight." *Click Click and Screen goes black* and if we run out of bullets *sound of a chain saw starting up* (by this time my mouth is watering more.) "They are gonna wish we hadn't" They show all the survivors with melee weapons. By the looks of this trailer you get melee weapons which is an upgrade from its predecessor. This trailer definitely is to show of some of the new features even though it is a teaser. I think that this trailer is also good for those who are new to the game by showing the amount of action you could have by owning this game. And the character, Coach, who is talking through this trailer seems to be an interesting character, one you would love to have a few beers with. All in all, I think this is a very effective trailer.

Know Your Meme- THE CAKE IS A LIE!!!!!!!!!!!

This is an internet meme that can be traced back to the game Portal by Valve Software.(A good game I suggest you buy or at least try. In the game the super computer named GlaDOS promises that after you finish the trials she puts you through that cake will be supplied. As you progress through the game you find messages left by former test subjects telling you that "the cake is a lie." At first this phrase was used amongst Portal players but spread to forums. "The cake is a lie" is commonly used to say that you are working for a goal you will never meet. Looking for more info on this phrase I found a sweet song about the game and the quest for cake. Enjoy

Win/Fail= Epic Win

Looking for an article on Tubefilter.tv to blog about, I stumble on this article about a you-tube game called Win/Fail.  Having never played this game I decided to try it out.  It is a trivia game about you-tube viral videos.  If you win, you go to the next question.  If you lose, you are sent to a fail video.  This in my opinion, creates a win win situation of being rewarded by going to the next level with a correct answer and being rewarded by a fail video for a wrong answer.  At the end of the quiz, however, you get rick roll'd.  This article says that they are making a new series of quizzes but the prize will be a Sony Bloggie camera.   One big fail in my opinion is that the host of this game is Dustin Diamond who played screech on Saved by the Bell.