Crime on the rise

Well, it looks as if everyone (those who play video games anyways) is out committing crimes. Running people down with cars, killing cops, running drugs, hijacking cars, etc. etc. And they are doing this from the comfort of their Lazy-Boys.

Yes Grand Theft Auto IV is here and its turning everyone who plays it into little deviants including me. I am not a "sandbox" type of game player. I prefer my First person shooters but as much hype as there was about this game, I figured I would give it a try. There were some things that interested me so I picked it up and tried it out.

I only have about two hours into the game so far and I will say that the story line is pretty good. The visuals are outstanding and the there is a ton of gameplay. The Single player should last about 30 hours alone and then there is the new multiplayer modes which will really extend the game.

At this point, I don't think this is the greatest game ever like many others think. Its "ok" at the moment. I will need more time to get used to the controls as they are a bit odd. I think the game has potential for me to enjoy, but only time will tell.

Anyways, I need to get back to Liberty City. I gotta go pick someone up in my car and drive them somewhere. I just wonder why the guy was worried if I was a cop or not. Hmmmm...

Can you say "Elite"

Yup, thats right. I have achieved the rank of Elite in Rainbow Six Vegas 2. Now some of you might be asking yourself exactly what am I talking about so let me explain.

Well you see, I have been playing a game on my Xbox 360 recently called Rainbow Six Vegas 2. In this new version, you gain experience points (XP) based on kills and level of hardness. I am pretty good so I play on the hardest level which is Realistic. Last night I finally gained enough XP to get the highest rank in the game which is Elite.

Now to the non-gamer this means nothing. To a gamer, this is a milestone of accomplishment. I never did get this rank in the original Rainbow Six Vegas game as it did take a LOT more time to gain. I am still only a Captain in that game. But it did feel good to finally make Elite in Rainbow Six.

So from now on, you will need to address me as SIR! Thanks for your cooperation.

Muhahahahahaha

Wings' GPS

You may have noticed that I added some links to the page. They are on the right side of the page under the title Wings' GPS. These are links to sites that I visit often or to things that I think deserve a mention. I may even through in a link to a product that I feel deserves it such as Tivo.

I honestly can't think of a better product on the market today than Tivo. I have even had non-Tivo branded DVR's and they all stink. Tivo is the way to go and I am glad I have mine.

If you belong to the generation that I do where you began your video gaming life as a child on the Atari 2600, Coleco, and Intelevision, then be sure to hit up the link for 2old2kwit. This is a group of guys that all have families, careers, lives, and a passion for virtual killing, racing, and sporting. They tend to be in their 30's and are a great group of guys to game with.

If you love reading blogs, be sure to check out Video Games and Robster Craws. And if you are a child of the 80's, then you will especially like that blog.

And last but not least, you must visit the best and most important link of all. That is the one to the greatest podcast I have ever seen or heard which is the Xbox Podcast. I am not saying that just because I am one of the hosts, well, OK maybe I am. But who cares, check out the show for yourself, say hi in the forums, and add the show to your iTunes, Zune, or RSS Downloader. You will be happy you did.

I will update the list as time goes on and I find new things of interest. Enjoy.

A few of my favorite things

I figured today I would just rattle off a few of my favorite things. They are not necessarily in order either, just lists of things I enjoy. So here we go.

Movies
1) Blackhawk Down
2) Star Wars
3) The Matrix Trilogy
4) Band of Brothers
5) Platoon

Bands
1) Gun's N Roses
2) Mesh STP who is now known as Modern Day Zero
3) Fuel
4) Tantric
5) Days of the New

Books or Authors
1) Wingman by Mack Maloney
2) Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks
3) Dean Koontz
4) Dale Brown

Technology
1) Xbox 360
2) Personal Computer
3) HD from DirecTV
4) Harmony 880 Remote
5) Tivo

Xbox Live takes a dump again

You know, I really do like my Xbox 360 and I love Xbox Live, but why is it that this pay for service seems to take a dump more frequently the past six months. I mean I work with computers and understand how networks function, but something this big should have redundancy, failovers, backups, and enough backbone to handle all the traffic. It just seems like they can't handle it.

I am really surprised by the outage tonight considering they just had an 8 hour outage yesterday for planned maintenance. They said all went well, but here we are the next day with no Live service.

I really hope Microsoft can get these issues fixed before next week. I believe they will see another influx of gamers to the Live service with GTA IV hitting the streets next week. I can see it now, Tuesday will be a NO XBOX LIVE day. I hope I am wrong.

Current Xbox Live Status as of this very moment...

Status:

Users may experience difficulties when matchmaking and using client voice communication within Xbox LIVE. We are aware of the problem and working to resolve the issue. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and thank you for your patience.

Yeah, you could say we are experiencing difficulties. There is NO LIVE SERVICE AT ALL.

Oh well, I needed some sleep anyways. Goodnight.

Chicago White Sox in First Place

I know its early in the season, but I gotta say that I am pretty pleased so far with the play of the Chicago White Sox. I think everyone, with the exception of Mark Buehrle who seems to be off to a rough start is really showing signs of what this team can do. I hope Buehrle can pull it together and get back to his usual form. I am sure he will.

Like I said, its early and even Jim Thome is off to a slow start but seems to be picking it up. I am still annoyed that Juan Uribe is still on this team but I guess you have to have one guy you can't stand so it might as well be him I guess. Hopefully he will do better playing second base than he did at short stop.

I am soooo glad that Joe Crede is back as well. You simply can't replace someone of his skill. The man is a beast at third base and I feel very comfortable with him there. I expect to see some big things out of him this year and he is starting off strong as well. Way to go Joe. Glad to see you back. I hope you stay for a long time. Now if we could just get Aaron Rowand back I would be a very happy camper.

Will the White Sox make it back to the World Series this year? I don't know, but if they can stay healthy and improve in a few areas that are lacking right now, then I feel that this team may very well have the ability to get there.

But please, lose those stupid bleach blonde goatees guys because you look like idiots.

My Xbox Obsession

Well, as some of you know, I have an obsession with my Xbox 360. Not only do I play it almost every day, but I have become a host for a podcast centered on the Xbox world. You can check out the show by clicking the image below.


My Xbox also has its own blog. Here is one such entry.


You can read its blog by clicking the image below.


I have come to the conclusion that I love playing for Achievement Points. This is something new the Microsoft created for the Xbox 360 and for many people, including me, they have become almost an obsession themselves. I find myself playing bad games just for the points. Uggh, I must find a Gamers Anonymous somewhere.

Now Achievement Points can be good. What I love about them is that I find I will try various things in games such as useing different weapons, trying different stunts, or even trying to playing a football game and simply call the plays instead of controlling the QB. So Achievement Points have shown me more in games, and I have come to love some things that I never would have discovered if it was not for those couple of points. So I feel that I am getting more value for my money because of those wonderful, meaningless, points.

But as meaningless as they are, I am still hooked. Thank you Microsoft.

Shake, Rattle, and Roll

Well, I just figured I would quickly mention how tragic the events were today that rocked Illinois, Indiana, and Missouri. There was an earthquake this morning in Southern Illinois around 4:37 a.m. that was felt all the way up in Chicago where I live.

Now I know people who felt it, but I don't think it was much because I slept right through it. It was funny waking up this morning, flipping on the news to find out I had just gone through an Earthquake not 30 minutes prior to waking up.

Thankfully it sounds like nobody was hurt, at least I hope that is still true. Last I heard things were good, just some people a little rattled.

Thats it for today. Quick and simple. Have a great weekend everyone.

My dream movie coming to the big screen

WOW! I am so excited to find this out today. One of my all time favorite book series may be made into a movie with possible prequels/sequels. The first book in the series is The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks. There have been many stories in the Shannara universe and now it looks as if they are bringing this amazing series to the big screen. I hope and pray that it does happen and that they do this with the same love and passion that Peter Jackson did with the Lord of the Rings movies. If so, this could very well be the greatest movie I ever seen.

Here is some information direct from the official Terry Brooks site. (http://www.terrybrooks.net/)

hen Peter Jackson released the film adaptation of JRR Tolkien's novel, The Fellowship of the Ring, fantasy fans suddenly realized Hollywood could produce a quality fantasy movie with realistic special effects, strong story, and believable characters. Thousands of fantasy readers wrote into this website, asking if a Shannara movie could be far behind.

Hollywood has finally answered those fans.

Terry has optioned the rights for his Shannara series to Warner Bros until 2010; he has also optioned the rights for his Landover series to Universal Studios until 2009.

The Shannara option allows Warner Bros. to adapt any of the Shannara or pre-Shannara novels—which includes Armageddons' Children, The Elves of Cintra, but not the Word/Void books—or take any combination of the books to make a live-action movie. Right now the studio is most interested in adapting The Elfstones of Shannara, which Terry thinks is the best place to start adapting his Shannara novels; Warner Bros. has bought a The Elfstones of Shannara script adapted by fantasy writer and long-time Terry Brooks fan Eldon Thompson. The script will be used as the starting point.

Dan Farah of Farah Films & Management, Ryan Colucci and Eldon Thompson, all of whom were instrumental in bringing movie potential of the Shannara series to the attention of Warner Brothers, will be involved in the production of the film.

The director was announced in the 2007 Holiday Letter, and it is Mike Newell. He has directed large CGI movies (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) as well as strong dramatic films (Mona Lisa Smile, Donnie Brasco). No actors have signed on to the project; no artwork or preliminary work has been started. Terry hopes to see production on the project begin in 2008.

The Landover option allows Universal Studios to adapt Magic Kingdom For Sale—Sold! into a live-action movie, with the chance to use any combination of the remaining books to produce sequels. Scriptwriters Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel continue to draft a screenplay and Stephen Sommers—director of several blockbuster movies—is set to direct. The project has not been greenlit, but if it does indeed go into production it will be announced here.

And as in all things Hollywood, neither of these movies may be made—just because they have been optioned does not mean they will go into production and be released.

PC vs. Console gaming

Well, I have always been the type of gamer that liked both consoles and PC's. I always felt that PC's ruled in the First Person Shooter and Real Time Strategy games while the consoles were more for your party and sports games.

Well, I have had an Xbox 360 for just over a year now and I can say I have all together stopped gaming on my PC ever since getting this amazing console. I have played it so much that I even enjoy FPS games on the console and like the control pad. I will say this, for long gaming sessions, the gamepad is much easier on your hands then a keyboard and mouse are.

What I love about the console is that you no longer have to worry about system specs. You don't have to upgrade your console to play a game. All the games for your console will work. Patching is amazingly fast, easy, and it WORKS. What a breakthrough.

I also love the fact that there is no install and when you open the game, you can be playing it a minute later. No need to install for an hour, no need to download huge patches, drivers, etc. etc. Console gaming is simple, fun, and I tell you that games look just as good on the console as they do the PC now days. Crysis is probably the only exception.

Another great feature of the Xbox 360 is Xbox Live. This is the best feature of the console in my opinion. A unified service that brings gamers together across ALL games. The service is built into every single game so that they all work the same way. No need to to install seperate chat programs or force everyone to use TeamSpeak, or Ventrillo. Its all built in and it works.

Now I still enjoy PC gaming, but I just don't do it because I hate to even think about reinstalling my Battlefield 2 game. No lie, it will take well over an hour to get the game, the expansions, patches, etc installed. I would rather just sit down and play Rainbow Six Vegas 2 on my Xbox 360.

Am I ruined? Will I ever enjoy PC gaming again? I think the 360 is the console to finally push me over the edge and leave my PC gaming days behind. I guess time will tell. But for now, my 360 is and will remain very happy with me for a good time to come.

Walk Hard

I just finished watching Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story and I gotta say that I really got a good laugh out of this movie. Its not a constant laugh riot, but I do think that the funny parts are pretty darn good. The Duet song had me laughing out loud on the train as I watched it. I need to actually download that soundtrack if its even available. The song is really funny. You know its funny if you can't contain your laughter in public.

I do like John C. Reilly and I hope to see him headline some other comedies in the future. He definitely can carry a movie on his own. So if you have not seen this movie yet, be sure to check it out.

No more Logitech for me

OK, here is my first complaint blog and this time I am going after Logitech. If you are unfamiliar with this company, they are makers of keyboards, mice, remotes, etc.

I was always a fan of Microsoft mice and keyboards. A few years back Microsoft decided to change their mice and do away with their clicking scroll wheel. This was not good for me as I was a big time PC gamer and mostly played First Person Shooters (FPS). I would use the scroll wheel to change weapons. Well, without the clicking wheel, it was hard to make a change one or two weapons up or down because you had no click anymore. So I switch to a Logitech G5 Laser mouse (about $80 at the time). I also got a G15 Gaming Keyboard to replace the freebie that came with my PC.

The G5 was a decent mouse, but it did not last. After three months, the right mouse button no longer functioned. Now I will give kudos to Logitech for replacing it for free, but the replacement soon had issues as well (within 6 months). This time the mouse movement would become erratic and just stop functioning. I thought it was a driver issue so I updated the drivers but that did not resolve the issue. Turns out, banging the mouse on the desk would fix it for awhile. Hmmm, thats odd.

Eventually, I tossed it out and went back to a Microsoft mouse which I am much happier with.

Now, why the complaint against Logitech for one bad experience? Well, its not limited to just one. You see, I have also had issues with my PC locking up when I run audio or video. So I ran thru all the troubleshooting issues with no luck. Ended up rebuilding the PC and all seemed fine for a few months. Then the problem was back.

Turns out that when I would use the volume knob on the keyboard, it would lock up the PC. So it was not when I ran audio or video persay, it was in fact that when I ran those, out of habit I always lower the volume. So it was the volume knob killing my PC.

I removed that G15 keyboard, put on a plain cheap keyboard and all is well. So now I have removed all Logitech devices from my PC and it is working great.

But the story does not end there. You see, I also have two Logitech Harmony 880 remote controls. These things are meant to be top of the line all-in-one remotes. They are very nice (WHEN THEY WORK). See, very often my remote will just lock up. I have to put it on the cradle a few times to get it to basically reset itself for any of the buttons to work. GRRRRR. Very frustrating.

So needless to say, I am done with Logitech. They have gotten their last dime from me. I will stick to Microsoft mice and keyboards and just use the remotes that come with my devices or go buy a cheap $10 universal remote that will only require new batteries every once in awhile.

Who is Wingman709

Greetings and welcome to my blog page and very first blog post. I am new to this and not really sure about blogging, but I figured what the heck, why not try it out and see where it leads.

First of all, my name is Mark and I go by the online name of Wingman709 which is also my Xbox Live Gamertag. I am one of the hosts of the Xbox Podcast which you can check out on iTunes or at www.xboxpodcast.com.

Now you may be asking, how did you come up with that name? I took two things that were special to me and put them together. The first one is a series of books written by Mack Maloney called Wingman. I use to read this series of books when I was in High School and I really enjoyed them. They are not great works of literature, but they were very fun to read. Especially for someone who loved airplanes.

The number 709 comes from the tail number of one of the best jets I have ever crewed. While I was serving in the United States Air Force, I spent two years in Aviano, Italy. While I was there, I had the honor of crewing an F-16C Fighting Falcon with the tail number of 90-0709. This jet was one of the best planes I had ever worked on. She was a workhorse that never broke. The pilots loved the jet as well as the rest of the crew that was assigned to that amazing plane.

So there you have it, the origin of my Gamertag and online persona. I have also gone by Wingman15 (15 is my favorite number) but when I got my Xbox Live Gamertag, that name was already taken so I went with 709. Ever since, I have pretty much moved over to using the 709 instead of the 15.

As for myself, I live in the suburbs of Chicago and work down in the city which means I get to spend 4 hours a day commuting. It gets old but I am very thankful for NetFlix. Watching movies on the train helps to pass the commute time.

I am a Network Administrator for a large college in Chicago by day and Xbox Podcast host by night. I also have a wife and two wonderful kids so all of this keeps me pretty busy.

What I plan on doing with this blog is to just post different thoughts each day. They will be on pretty much anything. So one day I may be talking about a video game that I am playing, or complaining about some big company that is doing people wrong, maybe I will talk about the weather and how it changes every 5 minutes. Who knows, you will just have to check in each day to see what is on my mind.

Also, please feel free to post any comments you wish. If you want my thoughts on something, just ask and I will be happy to reply. Thanks for visiting and I hope you come back again.