Barrack Obama has said some pretty lame things since he's been in office, but his latest rant caught my attention, particularly since it was a knock on the video game generation. While I do understand his point to a degree, his statements regarding technology and gaming certainly show that there's a huge disconnect between our leadership and current citizens under the age of 40.

Article Quote:

***"You're coming of age in a 24/7 media environment that bombards us with all kinds of content and exposes us to all kinds of arguments, some of which don't always rank all that high on the truth meter," Obama said at Hampton University, Virginia.

"With iPods and iPads and Xboxes and PlayStations, -- none of which I know how to work -- information becomes a distraction, a diversion, a form of entertainment, rather than a tool of empowerment, rather than the means of emancipation," Obama said.***

Video games are a distraction, a diversion and a form of entertainment, which is the entire point of playing them. I think there could be room for using video game technology as a tool of empowerment, but often most of us are looking for an escape from the real world. It sounds to me like Obama is tring to blame technology for things and his statements honestly are off-putting to many people like myself who voted for him. Video games could certainly be used to further political agendas and political ideals, but I kind of like my distractions just the way they are now.

Original Article

I'm seriously considering importing this game, but I wonder if it's worth the $60 it will cost me. I loved No More Heroes on the Wii and am pretty sure I would really love it in HD beauty on the PS3. If anyone here has played it, let me know what you think. I'm really on the fence with this one. I'm pretty sure this game doesn't utilize any kind of motion with the PS3 controller, so I'm curious to see if the controls with just buttons seem silly or what. I also heard that the PS3 version is less violent for some reason, but I don't know if that was a rumor or truth...

I've had a difficult time with the Xbox 360. June of 2009 was the "last straw" and I sold my last broken 360 for scrap, sold all of my games, all of my accessories and even gave away my 360 stickers. At the time, I was so pissed at Microsoft for selling such rubbish to people. I wasted a ton of money on 360s for them just to break. My final system was an Elite, so that pissed me off even more. Now that 11 months have gone bye with no 360, I'm starting to miss my XBL friends, particularly my Halo group. We didn't even play Halo 3 for how great it was, because most of us were sick of Halo anyway and didn't even consider it a good game. We kept playing because of the close friendships we developed over the years going back to the original Halo. I keep watching videos on Halo Reach and it has my interest piqued. It actually looks like it might be a good game.

I'm going to spend the next few months trying to decide if I should pick up another Xbox 360 just to play one game. I'm perfectly happy with my PS3 and have even used the Wii more since the 360 left the house. I'll probably end up scraping together the money over the next few months and buy the guaranteed to brick system, but I'll feel like a real moron when it actually does red ring. There's certainly no doubt it my mind that it will. I'll never get my hands on a 360 that lasts longer than 12 months.

EA related companies always send out the best swag. I received a functional 1941 Zippo lighter replica in the mail today from Pandemic Studios as part of a PAX invite for Saboteur. I guess this makes up for the fact that I never received brass knuckles for The Godfather 2.

The Sony PS3 is my platform of choice for this generation of video game consoles, yet I find myself complaining about many aspects of it. While I do feel the PS3 is superior to
the Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii, we're simply still looking at too many problems for a console that has been out for a couple years now.

My primary complaint about the console has to do with the extremely slow download times. Downloads on the PS3 wired or wireless seem to be much slower than what you'll find with the Xbox 360. I have tried everything from relocating access points to upgrading my router, yet nothing seems to work. My final thought on the topic is that Sony needs to upgrade their servers. I'd even pay a monthly fee for better service...

All systems should have backwards compatibility to play PS2 games. If you were fortunate to get your hands on an early system, you are one of the lucky ones. Backwards compatibility should be standard with all consoles these days.

A big complaint I have that many other gamers share is the fact that not all games have trophy support. Fortunately, all current games are required to have trophies, but that doesn't solve the problem with older titles. Developers should be encouraged by Sony to go back and add trophies to their games. This would benefit the gamers by giving them recognition for the games they have played and it would also boost sales of older games. We'll probably never see this happen, but I can always dream.

Finally, I would break system and game updates into smaller downloads. The way things are currently, it can take anywhere from 5 minutes to more than an hour to update a game or the system. The terribly slow process of updating the system is made worse by the fact that you have to keep turning your controller back on to keep it going. This needs to be addressed by Sony.

I could probably rant on more issues, but those are the primary problems I have seen during my time on the PS3. No system is perfect and it does take time to work out all of the bugs. At this point in the game, I expected more changes that what we have seen...

My Nintendo Wii had been collecting dust for months. With all the fun PS3 and 360 games out there, I really felt no need to fire the little system up. That has all changed for me in the past month since I was diagnosed with Type-2 Diabetes. For several months, I had been feeling weak and basically out of it. This explains why I wasn't very active on the net or even my own blog for some time. I was finally diagnosed with the disease about a month ago and already feel like a million bucks. The medicine and a new diet have certainly helped out. I've also dropped 45 pounds in about 30 days. Most of that is due to the diet, but some due to playing active Wii games about an hour a day. I also have been exercising on the side, but I am certain that the Wii is just what I needed to get my blood flowing. Some people claim the system has minimal exercise value, but I disagree now.

The funny thing is that I always ignored people in the past who claimed the Wii had exercise value. For me, it has become a great way to basically get my blood flowing and ready for some real exercise. Being an Army vet, I'm hoping push-ups, sit-ups and walking will be enough to get myself back in shape. I'm hoping that my current Wii addiction doesn't wear off. While I still consider the PS3 as my system of choice, the Wii is starting to become more and more appealing.