good thing we got ours....

Microsoft is seeing shortages of its Xbox 360 video game console in the United States, as the company failed to anticipate strong post-holiday demand, an executive said on Wednesday.

"We are really running short of product here in the United States," Jeff Bell, head of global marketing for Microsoft's games business, said in an interview. "You could say we misjudged demand."

The comments come a day before market research firm NPD is expected to release video game sales data for January. Bell said Microsoft was hoping to "manage expectations."

"We're literally out of stock in many stores. We think this will have an impact on our sales," Bell said. "It may cause the overall industry number to be down a little bit.

"Retailers have been really upset, they are on allocation. It is a lag I think we're seeing in January and that may continue into February, then as spring ramps up, we'll be able to meet that demand."

Microsoft sold nearly 1.3 million Xbox 360 consoles in the United States in December, when the entire video games industry gets a boost from holiday shopping.

psp 1.0 jus got smashed!

Ok, so i'm just browsing around like usual and I come across these pics of a fan created psp and I'm literally stopped in my tracks. Look at this man! Why is it that some of the sic'est products to come across are made by some cat named Jeremy next door on his $698 dell? I am in love with this psp! Is it me or would it make sense for companies (we'll use Sony for this example) to team up with these up-and-comers and try to intergrate if not use some of the product concept ideals outside of what their own R/D team creates? Not everything out of the Sony camp is a banger!  More pics of this digital euphoria can be found here. And give some credit to the artist, kid has got some crazy rendering skill.  This looks like a actual photo taken from a product page somewhere.  And please don't tell me it's not possible, I'm sure they could squeeze a psp into USB thumb drive if they wanted to.  Note to Sony: Ya boy is sic! Put him on the payroll!!! 

this lil symbol is ruining my life!

Hello my name is phavor, and I'm addicted to achievements. *hi phavor* Not the real life kind, mind you just getting up in the morning feels like an achievement. I'm talking about that unmistakable sound and icon that appear when playing 360 games. Achieving has taken over my gaming style. At first, I didn't pay much attention to them (thanks jamdb3 for the condemned achvs), although I did get a slight feeling of accomplishment every time I was informed I received one. Lately, however, I'm finding that I cant stop trying to get them. It's gotten to the point that i'll stay up late into the night just to get an extra 10 points added to my gamerscore. I... I think I need help.

For those of you that don't know what i'm talking about, support for achievements is one of the many things that Microsoft requires developers to put in every single Xbox 360 game, arcade games included. Each game can dole out up to 1000 points (1250 with added DLC), split into whatever manner the developer sees fit. You might see 5 achievements of 200 points, (those were the days), or 100 consisting of 10 points increments. Some games don't even offer up to the full 1000 points, only allow a fraction of that number.

Getting these achievements seem to have taken over my house hold as well as myself. I've got other family members also obsessed with getting these jewels. I have to admit, I've created little achievement hording monster. Getting on live and being able to check out the score of friends and other counterparts adds a whole new dimension to gaming. Tracking the number of achievement points they've received in comparison to yours never seems to grow old. I find myself renting games i otherwise would have never looked twice at, hotwheels, avatar, yaris, and disney's cars just to name a few. Funny thing is I don't see this sickness/trend going anywhere any time soon.

seconds?... sure why not!

Upon receiving Need For Speed ProStreet in the mail I could hardly wait to crack it open and dive into it. Seriously, I've been a long time fan of the NFS series and with the jump to next gen I've been even more intrigued, (not to mention.... achievements!) So in the disc goes and and wait what's this? Where's the cops? What's this "warming up my tires" ish? Where's Wolf, Nikki, Sal, Officer Cross and the rest of the crew from the NFS Carbon game? What's this race day arrangement? And most importantly, where's the car customization (gotta get a black on black rolling around somehow)?

So needless to say after a short, disappointing stint, NFSPS was on it's way back to gamefly (guess I'll finish DiRT and COD4). But i couldn't just let it go, after years of loving the NFS games I knew EA wouldn't let me down that bad. So back into my gamefly Q it goes for another round. This time I decided to look beyond all the previous listed disappointments and just play for the heck of it. I can say now that I'm happy that I decided on the seconds, I'm back on board! Forget the arcade-style titles before with almost comically inaccurate physics and surreally tough cars. NFSPS has taken it to the next level with a new physics and graphic engine. Race on the deserts of Nevada or the Autobahn (I think there's even a race through Colorado back woods). Also new to PS is allocating cars for specific race types, i.e. buying an RSX I now have to decide if this will be my speed, drag or drift car. Once selected this allocation can be changed, but does away with the single car for all types of races method.

A lot of NFS regulars will be disappointed to hear that there isn't any illegal street racing -- the line's staple thus far -- and therefore no police chases. Apparently this has caused the game to take a couple of major hits from various reviewers. The AI at times is dopey and amateurish driving (not shifting gears or using the hand brake, for example) doesn't hinder your performance that much. But brace yourself, the word is that the difficulty level ramps up very quickly. The AIs are ready to pounce on any mistake you make, and going so fast that you can't make turns results in a smashed whip(achievement unlocked!) While driving aggressively isn't exactly punished, you just have to gauge whether that bump is going to knock the AI out of position or send you careening into a wall.

I'm sure we've all seen the promo shots with all the different cars all done up looking somewhat grunge/underground. Now that I've have located the high detailed car customizer, buried under the blueprints, I am happy to report that it's all possible! The car editor rivals that of Forza2! Which is a BIG statement. Big but true, you can now add hundreds of layers and scale, rotate, skew all of em! So possibilities are pretty much endless, black on black is back!

Verdict: Need For Speed: ProStreet: Fun and easy to play casually, yet has the complexity and challenge that more demanding players expect. I do miss the story even though is consisted of bad voice acting and cheesy characters, it was a story!

it's official!

looks like the members of {MPD} have all gotten their access! game on!