The End is near! Well, EndWar is at least.

(Personal disclaimer: While I love EndWar and all that the game is, I would be remiss by not mentioning that I worked on it. That's right, look in the credits and you'll see yours truly as the Military Authenticity Advisor. Part of the reason I wanted to work on the game is in part due to the fact I knew it was gonna be great and I'd like to think I helped a little in making the finished product so good .had a little hand in that. However, I must exercise due diligence and come clean with the fact that I work on it when writing a review. I can't even tell you how stoked I was when my copies of the game, see below, arrived. Man, thank goodness I got that out of the way now back to blogging.)
Okay, so there are lots of games that try to put you in the role of a military Commander. None however have ever made it this easy! With Tom Clancy's EndWar the way you command your troops and move around the battlefield is by donning a headset and issuing voice commands just like real soldiers. The ease of which you command your forces guarantees that RTS games have made the leap from PC to their new console homes! Add in the stunning visuals, diverse environments and cinematic-like presentation and its like you're right in the thick of battle.
The game leaps you to a near future in which the world is fought over by three distinct factions. The story and factions are notional and based in a World War III-like future. The United States, Russia, and a European Union have each become superpowers. The US plans to send a military capability to space in order to lead the arms race. But terrorists swoop in and destroy the station before lift-off. This becomes the events that sets off global war. You pick up your desired faction and fight a number of battles around the globe based on their view. To keep you in the mind of global warfare you'll get updates from your commander and the media as to how the fight is going.

Although the game play and capability is similar across the factions the look (down to the finest deetail) of vehicles/aircraft, personnel and voices differ. Infantry comprises riflemen and engineers, tanks and artillery are your armored advantage; the sky is ruled by gunships and transports move troops around and give you an anti-air threat. The vantage point from each units camera is amazing! You'll see rounds zinging by, artillery impacts, burning hulks and even aircraft blown out of the sky.
Issuing commands to those units couldn't be simpler. You hold the trigger button and speak a preset command into the microphone. You can attack, bring reinforcements and switch camera views by voice alone and that unique control mechanism is the biggest draw of the game letting you closely follow and command your units into the fight. Allowing you concentrate on the battle and not on the buttons (that is SO a tagline).

The campaign takes you through a series of battles that help you save the world and there's online capability that lets you fight other budding Pattons or Rommels online. The game is slick, easy to control and most importantly FUN to play. No wonder it was named "Strategy Game of the Year" at E3!!! Run out and get your copy today. Now I've got to get back to controlling my armies, Dutch out.

Texting on my 360 controller? You better believe it.

I've been trying to get a post up about the keyboard attachment for the Xbox 360 controller for a while. I don't know about you guys but it seems that practically the only time I chat with friends is while I'm playing games and that damn on screen keyboard sucks!
Just snap on the texting keyboard and now you can chat on Xbox Live easily with dedicated keys for letters and characters (it has your standard QWERTY layout like we're all accustomed to on our phones and blackberrys). The buttons are backlit so when you have the lights down and you're getting your pants scared off by BioSchock you can still carry on a conversation. No worries about losing the headphone jack because there's one on the keyboard and it even comes with and extra headset. Which, to be honest was a big selling point for me since I broke my last one after a particularly bad round of Halo 3 multiplayer.

This won't just be for Xbox Live though, because Microsoft has added Windows Live Messenger so you can chat with anyone on Live Messenger so your not just stuck with chatting up your Xbox buddies. So great functionality, easy to use and it only costs $29.99? Now that's the perfect stocking stuffer!

Nerdgasm alert!

It just gets better and better! With the success of Ironman we get news this week that Robert Downey Jr. has a four picture deal with Marvel that will now include appearances in the soon to start filming "Avengers" movies.
Now that's not a surprise considering the movie starring our favorite shellhead portrayed by Mr. Downey Jr has grossed over $578 million worldwide to date (that number grows everyday with DVD sales). The sequel got a green light and will start shooting soon with the new addition of Don Cheadle in the role of LTC "Rhodey" Rhodes. Who by the way Marvel Studios said will also appear in the "Avengers" movie. Luckily for us we continue to get John Favreau at the directing helm for the the Ironman sequel and although he won't direct, he'll executive produce the "Avengers" movie. That should bode well for continuity and the artistic vision of our beloved comic book heroes.

The plot for the Ironman sequel has yet to be released but Marvel did say that the "Avengers" movie "...will bring together the super hero team of Marvel Comics characters for the first time ever, including Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, the Hulk and more, as they are forced to band together to battle the biggest foe they've ever faced". Considering how big the Marvel Universe is that could mean anyone in the 40+ years of the comic book!

Mark your calendars kids 'cause the sequel to "Iron Man" will be released in theatres on May 7, 2010 and "The Avengers" will be released July 15, 2011. I can't wait!

The Portable Projector for Road Warriors

We live in a time that everything dealing with a company, start up or program (read money) hinges on a successful presentation. Too often the projector or laptop you're supposed to use either wasn't checked to make sure everything is in working order or it stops working at the most inopportune time. Making you look like an idiot or worse, blowing the pitch.

That's why the prepared road warrior plans for everything and is self sustaining for such presentations. The problem has always been that a "travel projector" was always heavy and was way too expensive. Well, Toshiba just added their TDP-FF1AU (not a sexy name I know) into the mix.
Weighing in at at a scant 1.7 pounds with its rechargeable battery, the projector offers SVGA 800x600 pixel resolution, 400 lux of brightness, a 1500:1 contrast ratio (read the projected image is sharp and warm) and turns on and off with a click of a button (no time wasting warm-ups and cool-downs). So its light and powerful but its also affordable, the TDP-FF1AU goes for $699 which also gets you a remote control, a 23-inch folding screen, an AC adapter and its own carrying bag. Talk about bang for the buck! This is a must have for the upwardly mobile and "mobile" professional.

Now you AND you're PSP knows where you are. Well, at least your PSP will.

Now that we live in the age of dual, tri and quad-use gadgets it was only a matter of time until we saw someone add capability to our favorite gaming device the PSP.
Well the folks at Play-Asia (and wouldn't you know it was going to be an Asian company? Damned smart people and their robot babies) have come up with an add on devices and software that gives the PSP a GPS capability. The James Bond like gadget comes in at 45mm x 41mm x 17mm and slots into the top of the PSP. But to some, even more important is the minuscule $60 price tag. The device will have application in games like: Minna no Golf-jou, a golf game that will be pre-programmed with a number of courses allowing the player to see how many yards he or she is from the hole and Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops which will have a minigame requiring players to hunt down real-life locations. But the really cool stuff comes in more typical GPS software that allow the PSP to be used as a navigation device or even an astronomy tool.

Talk about a nerdgasm! You and your Cosplay honey are out in the woods navigating your domain by the stars and the glow of your PSP's screen. Ah, nerd love.

The new PC you can throw in your pocket.

This is the year 2008 afterall and even though we don't have flying cars that fold into briefcases ( a la the Jetsons) we have finally gotten a PC that fits in our pocket. The fit-PC Slim is touted as the "smallest, most energy efficient PC available". At a mere 4.3 x 3.9 x 1.2 inches, drawing a lowly 6 watts of power, and weighing a miniscule 13 ounces it just might be!

The fit-PC Slim has has 3 USB ports, two of them in front. The ports allow you to easily connect keyboard and mouse, thumb drive, camera external hard disk or DVD/CD-ROM so there's no need for a hub. With integrated 802.11 b/g wireless, 512MB RAM and 60 GB hard drive, it might not replace your desktop but it'll certainly fit the bill as your "Road Warrior" machine. And at $335 for the Windows XP equipped machine it becomes a computer anyone can afford. Check it out at their website.

Back to work!

I don't even know if you can count this as a hiatus, guess it was more of an extended vacation but what could I do. I was sidetracked by the Tour de France, (followed by my realization that I needed to get back on my bike), followed by the Olympics (and a desire to start swimming), sprinkled in with some time on the Xbox 360, too much time on Facebook and lots and lots of SpaceMonkeys and there's the time lost!

But that's all old hat. I'll continue to focus on the above while still doing my blogging duty. By the way, thanks so much for all the friendly reminders that I needed to get back to the "Blast".

So we got some catching up to do. Let's start with all the new goodness for the Xbox 360...

1) Announced at E3, Microsoft is partnering with Netflix to give users a "direct to console" download capability that would tap into the Netflix library of 10,000 new video titles (which covers both movies and TV episodes). With that content being upconverted through your Xbox 360 and shown on that sweet big screen you have, there's never a need to go to a movie theater again. Oh yeah there's an added twist to Xbox Live users who have a Netflix account can watch streaming movies with up to seven other online friends and the same time. So now you and your clan will be able to recite lines from "Hackers" at the same time!

2) Microsoft is gonna revamp its interface (now that should be interesting considering the "blade" menus were so ground breaking).

3) Bill Gates's crew is also gonna sell the 20-gigabyte Xbox 360 for about $300 (a $50 price cut) and will offer a 60-gigabyte version at the $350 price point.

4) 360 owners will have the ability to create their own avatars (animated versions of you) to represent the user in the Xbox live-O'Sphere. Upon closer inspection, they look a little similar to the "Mii Avatars" on the Wii. Hey if its a good idea, why not steal it?

5) And lest we not forget that the 360 is a gaming console afterall! There's a host of new games slotted for the console not the least of which is an updated Viva Pinata (if you haven't tried this game yet, go pick it up new for $20 play it-love it-and lose the next 3 weeks of your life!), and of course high def,ultra-violent, third-person shooter games, like "Gears of War 2" and "Fallout 3."

Summer might be coming to a close but the fall and winter are starting to look mighty fine!