For those of you who don't know already, I'm a High School teacher in Arizona. Last year I started a gaming club, and our numbers were pretty good. (Actually, we have more members than any other non-athletic club at the school).

However, the school is located in a very poor area, so we have run into some problems. As much as I would like to bring my personal systems in week to week, this just is not a possibility. We do also play board games, but the kids would like the option of having videogames to play as well.




This is where my help request comes in to play. Do any of you guys have any strategies for contacting local businesses to help either sponsor our club or donate some things for our uses? Any kind of partnership would be great.

We did have a fairly successful charity event last year (halo 3 tournament), but were sponsorless. I have a feeling that with some actual connections we could do something nice for the community (a la Child's Play).

Give me a shout if you can help think of any contacts to have or other such activities that could drum up respect for our club and help someone else out at the same time.




My first idea I had was to collect the Pepsi Rock Band caps and try to win a system/rock band instruments through that, but I've only had a handful of caps submitted to us. People like the idea of winning for themselves ;)

If you want to donate your cap to our cause, send me a message :)

For those waiting on TF2 update to hit, boot up your dusty PS3 and boot up PAIN! The hefty 50 meg update (part 1 of 2 (coming next week)) adds a buttload of "new" content and juicy fun!

If you need the sordid details, head to the ps.blog

See you in gameland. At least I have something to do while I wait on TF2 lol

Thanks to the government, my wife and I decided we could afford a new snazzy HDTV. The old 20" dorm-tv just wasn't cutting it any more for games (unless we enjoyed headaches from attempting to read text).

We looked to spend $1100 or so on a tv, getting a 40-some inch LCD in the process (likely a Vizio for affordable value). I have been researching these tvs for some time now, knowing that I would soon have one.

So we drove on out to the local TigerDirect store (I love the Chicago area) to see what they had in stock. I had visited the store earlier in the week to find they had some tvs on clearance, none of which were really all that good, but my hopes were up.

On the way, I was serenaded by my wife's nonstop rehashing of the commercial airing nearly every commercial break for getting tvs ("I want it all/I want it all/and I want it now"). Naturally, I let her do it for a little while; roughly 10 runthroughs before it started to grate on my nerves, so I turned on the radio.

Channel #1: Weezer - "Say It Ain't So", followed by a commercial break, so I change it.
Channel #2: KISS - "Detroit Rock City", followed by commercials.
Channel #3: Metallica - "Enter Sandman"

Midway through Metallica, I arrived at the store, feeling like a tv of quality would soon be playing these same amazing songs within a few precious hours.

First thing I did was wander around the store to see all clearance available. Some were marked down for physical defects, others for dead pixels and other such problems. I was a bit dismayed.

But I found some good ones in the front of the store, notably a 50" Sony WEGA (rear-projection) for ~$750 [can't remember]. Poking around the info, I found it was only a 720p, which wouldn't do for me considering the size of the tv. I kept looking.

A salesmen pointed me and tried to force me into a 42" Plasma purchase, which would be terrible for me. Yes I know it was a good price on an excellent tv, but I'm a gamer, not a ... something goes here.

We wandered a bit, over by the aforementioned WEGA (I love using that word), and saw a couple of Samsung DLP tvs sitting there. No information was on the box other than the size and that it was a DLP, so I had the guy look up the info. Short details: 1080p, 2 HDMI, VGA input. I felt like I found something good. The defect on this particular model? Damaged box. I looked, and saw the plastic strap securing the box ripped into the box a smidge. Then I heard the price. I felt like I was nearly stealing the damn thing. $880.

I pretended to not want it and asked about a stand as well; got some discounts.

All said and done, I am now the amazed, proud owner of a 56" Samsung DLP behemoth that does not look like it dwarfs my living room space. Huzzah!

That makes one less SD gamer in this HD world. Hello, my fellow HD gamers, I can't blame my tv for my screwups anymore! (sigh)

Here's some gloriously huge pics in case you case about my new setup:


Bigger version if you so care

Feel free to mock my ps3 sitting alongside a ne'er used XBAWKX with quite amazing games there.

*cheer*

I just picked up a wireless FrontMan guitar for the PS3, boasting bi-directional strum bar, effects switch, and, most importantly, dual support for ROCK BAND and GUITAR HERO III. I own GH3 for the PS2, but my wife wanted the No Doubt pack for GH3.

I had been waiting for this guitar for some time, since my get togethers for Rock Band always ended in fail when only 3 people were able to rock at once if my friend that owns Rock Band didn't come or bring his guitar.

First things first: it's made by [url=htt[://www.nyko.com]Nyko[/url]. I don't know if this is a good or a bad thing, but at least it's not MadCatz (shudder).



Aesthetics first:

It's a decent looking guitar. Not the full on idiocy of the nightblade, but not the understated simplicity (genius) of the Fender Stratocaster or Les Paul. A huge bonus is that it comes with an interchangeable faceplate straight out of the box (no screwdrivers necessary too). Granted, the only other color it comes with is pink, but that's all my wife wanted anyway (naturally).

I have a few issues with the design so far, though.

1.) The neck of the guitar is THICK. It's slightly thicker than the original guitar hero guitars. My fingers grew quite used to the Strat's thin design, so I had a few minutes getting reacquainted with the new neck

2.) The fret buttons are slightly rounded. It's sort of hard to see or feel, but they're higher in the middle of the button than on the edges. It makes my fingers once again yearn for the strat's easily sliding flatness.

Sure, sure it's all well and good to see how it looks and feels, but how does it PLAY?

Playability

The thing plays like a champ. It does exactly what it says it does: play GH3 and RB on the PS3. Wirelessly. I was up and shredding (and cursing at bosses in gh3) in no time. The "clicky" strum has returned with amazing accuracy and clarity and there is no detectable lag when playing songs; all key features in a $60 purchase.

Other

It has a pedal to connect the controller and switch from GH to RB mode? Sweet! Once again, I've furthered my inner fake-rock desires! It also comes with a 7 or 8 foot USB cord to plug in the guitar (in case you don't like to use/waste batteries).

Really my only gripe about the thing is that the effects knob for RB doesn't immediately switch effects; there's a ~1 sec delay. Optimally, I want to change on the fly during a solo, but there's not much time between notes, so with this guitar I flail the switch and hope i don't end up on delay.

One neat feature of the guitar's receiver pedal is that it has 5 LEDs on the pedal that light when you press the fret buttons. So while shredding solos you get the full colorful compliment on the receiver for your fake-rock audience to enjoy while waiting on your next star power to deploy, sending Lars Umlaut into a green-mist-frenzy.

In short, if you don't have a 2nd guitar for RB/GH3, I highly recommend this guitar. At $60, it's just in the ballpark of the "real" instruments, if not cheaper.

I didn't feel like going for that $20 converter dongle dealy, since I didn't really WANT to use my old guitars, I wanted wireless. The effects knob helped seal the deal.

Anyone else own this thing?

I love that TigerDirect has actual stores that I can visit (huzzah Chicago area) and take advantage of their sweet deals on electronics without waiting for shipping and/or signature hassles.

The good: GeForce 8600 GT is now mine and running perfectly
* My motherboard isn't dead
* My new hard drive is in the computer too

The bad: I have a dead GeForce 7600 GT
* Carpal tunnel bugging my left wrist, so even Rock Band is unplayable at the moment
* Still working retail for my second job

Now a picture to distract you, much like the images on the front of graphics cards tell you nothing about the product itself.



Man it's good to be back in the saddle, instead of on my wonderful CRT tv browsin the interwebs.

Bring on the TF2 and WoW and TQ!

No pretties to put in here. Long story short, either the motherboard or the video card died in my computer (odds are it's the video card). Hopefully I will be able to get the system back up and running in time for some Wed. Night TQ or best case scenario for TF2uesday. If not, carry on, wayward sons, and hope someone else makes a better punching bag. All my Internet browsing is going to take place on my PS3 for a little while, which makes me sad, given how terribly keyboards work with the system. Now if only I installed Linux on here I could have a real computer to work with >< That's all; my whining is over. Who wants to play some rock band? :D