Halo Wars is now here. Have you played it yet? I downloaded some of the demo that was available but never got to play it yet. DARN RESPONSIBILITIES!!! I’m curious what you think though, is it a worth game to include in the Halo family? Or, is it just a game that they’re trying to gain popularity off of just by using the Halo name, characters, equipment and plot?

Let me know.

Post from: EveryJoe

Halo Wars Are Here – Are You Online?

I confess, I’m addicted to Bubble Breaker on my Windows Mobile phone. The problem is I’m actually getting bored with it. I need to find a good game or two to add to my device to break-up the monotony a little bit.

Solitaire is old as well, so wondering what everyone else is playing? I’m not really interested in any in-depth, drawn out games. Just simple stuff to play when you’re waiting in the car for someone or have a few minutes to kill between appointments.

I play Bubble Breaker as a bit of a de-stresser and opportunity to clear my mind a bit. Is there Free Cell for free for Windows Mobile? What about a free Sudoku game? Or Scrabble. Chess?

Images: Windows Mobile banner and product images of PPC-6700

Post from: EveryJoe

Need More Windows Mobile Games

I’ve downloaded the demo trial of Halo Wars from Xbox LIVE. I haven’t had a chance to even play it yet, darn job!

Wondering what everyone else has thought about it if you’ve already downloaded it and played it a bit.

HALO has been one of the top games I’ve played the most since having my first XBOX and now XBOX 360. I’d say HALO along with Tiger Woods golf ever since version 2003.

What’s everyone else’s opinion been of the game thus far? Is it going to be another blockbuster for the franchise or will it be just a blip for the hardcore HALO fans?

If the strategy portion is anywhere near as much fun and detailed as what I’ve grown to love in Sid Meier’s epic Civilization series, it’s going to be fantastic for me. My only concern though is that I think I prefer playing more intellectual and strategy games on PC instead of game console.

Image: Halo Wars Promotional Email from Xbox

Post from: EveryJoe

Halo Wars Demo Download Available on Xbox 360 LIVE

Congratulations to Desirai and John who we mentioned a couple of weeks ago and how they met while playing Halo online together.

Today was their big day and we’d like to congratulate them on their union of forces.

Image: Embedded with permission from flickr

Post from: EveryJoe

Congratulations to Halo Couple Desirai and John

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Halo 3 – Launch Event

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Halo 3 – Launch Event

LONDON – SEPTEMBER 25: Fans queue up to get their hands on the first copies of the computer game Halo 3 at the launch event at London IMAX on September 25, 2007 in London, England. Halo 2 sold USD125 million worth in the first 24 hours of sale making it…

Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images

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An Ohio teenager, Daniel Petric, shot his mom and dad in the head after they took away his Halo 3 game. His dad ended up surviving the attack, but his mom died.

This is just nuts folks. I’m not saying the game caused him to do it, probably a variety of other things involved. This is just sad though. I can’t even comprehend how a person, much less a teenager, can pick-up a gun and shoot his own parents in the head over a video game.

Craziness!

Post from: EveryJoe

Ohio Teen Kills Mom for Halo 3

Here’s another interesting story from Douglas Karr about a couple that met while chasin’ and fraggin’ each other on the various Halo maps online.

Desirai and John (aka SickNdehead and psychovandal) met on the battle fields shortly after Halo 2 was released. Talking incessantly over Xbox-Live led to an exchange of phone numbers to coordinate playing times, which led to spending more time on the phone than in the game. They started officially dating in March 2005 despite having never met, and that summer Desirai moved down to Florida, where she had both a new school and a boyfriend waiting. John proposed on their three year anniversary, earlier this year.

It makes sense to me, although it seems like most of the time I end up playing with immature, 12-year old sailors that just bust out the cheats and make playing online a less than heavenly experience.

Desirai and John aren’t going to Gen Con crazy with the wedding though. Desirai will be wearing a normal, white wedding dress. From the images and information on their website though, they’re really making the Halo motif a classy addition to the decor for this special day.

They’ve done some really cool designs for various items of their wedding, given the "ring" in Halo, I’d be very interested in seeing what their rings are going to look like, but I couldn’t find anything on their flickr page.

Source: Geeky Marriage Proposal: A Match Made in Halo

Official Website: A Match Made in Halo

Image: Snagit from A Match Made in Halo website

Post from: EveryJoe

A Match Made on Halo

One of the gifts I received this Christmas was Guitar Hero – Aerosmith edition. I must say it is quite entertaining to play and I just finished beating the game on easy level, so now it’s time for medium and bring on the blue notes.

Continuing the ongoing discussion that’s already been started here is whether or not it’s appropriate for younger audiences like my 9 yr old son and 6 yr old daughter.

It was about a year ago this time that I wrote that post so my kids were a year younger as well. I don’t want to say that one year makes that big of a difference, but it may also be the fact that this is the Aerosmith version and maybe not so "extreme" as the full-blown Guitar Hero III version. My brother-in-law got the standard Guitar Hero III version, so I’ll have to check it out a little closer to see about the differences across the board. He also mentioned that there were some "censoring" options in the settings which I haven’t seen on my version.

What’s everyone else’s experience with the differences in these two versions?

On a side note, we also got Rockband for our Nintendo Wii. The quality of the guitar between the two games is big in my opinion. Compared to the Guitar Hero Gibson guitar, the Rockband Fender really feels like a toy in your hands.

Image: Guitar Hero Aerosmith product image on Amazon.com

Post from: EveryJoe

The Gift of Guitar Hero – Aerosmith

Image: Windows Media Experience website

CodyG from the Windows Team recently stopped by the blog and left a comment on an earlier post of mine where I was asking about extending my media experience to my Xbox 360.

In the comment he let me know I didn’t need to buy anything to accomplish what I wanted, I could use Windows Media Player 11 to share the music from my PC so that it was accessible on my network to be picked up and streamed from my Xbox 360. On top of music I’m also able to share photos and videos as well.

After following the instructions on the website Cody provided I was able to play around with my Xbox 360 this morning before work while my son was finishing getting ready for school and the car was warming up and deicing after last night’s freezing rain.

It all worked beautifully. I can even do automated slideshows through my TV for friends as family as well. This was a lot of the stuff I was missing out on doing since I no longer use my TiVo at home.

One thing I didn’t immediately notice about the features is whether or not there’s anyway to see and browse the album art of the albums on my system, or to display that instead of the various visualizations that are available via the Xbox 360 dashboard.

Post from: EveryJoe

Stream Music to Xbox 360 with Windows Media Player 11

I was recently chatting with Jyle Dupuis who blogs over at Xboxxer.com about how he’s using the Media Center Extender on his Xbox 360 to stream music and movies right out to his living room.

This is something I’ve been wanting to do, but just haven’t had the energy or enough desire to pursue the task. Jyle let me know that I would need Media Center Extender installed on the desktop for it to work natively, which I don’t have. I don’t really feel like installing it on that computer either as it’s the one my son uses for himself in his room. I’ve just got two large hard drives in it that currently story our backups, music and pictures.

Jyle then let me know about a Linux option (as well as a Windows) that I could use without having to install Windows Media Center. These extender apps are available at XBMC.org for free.

I’m wondering who all out there has done this and what you think about it? Is it worth it to use the computer in this way? I’ve actually debated about moving the entire desktop out to the living room and getting a wireless keyboard and mouse to use. The only reason I’m not real keen on that idea is that the computer wouldn’t be available if someone was watching TV.

Let me know what you think.

If you’re not the Xbox type and have a Playstation 3 instead, you can read "How-To: Stream Music From Windows to Your PS3" over at Playstation Monger.

Image: Media Center Extender banner from Microsoft website

Post from: EveryJoe

Streaming Music From Your Windows PC to Your Game Console

Image: Xbox.com Website Product Review

Microsoft and Xbox have finally taken advantage of what a game console in the living room can mean to a family that enjoys spending time together and using technology.

A few months ago I was thinking about how gaming consoles could really be taking advantage of an area that to me seems obvious. You’ve got the ability to have four controllers, why not make more games that let 4 people play games together, specifically families?

Screenlife Games has finally released a version of their addictively fun game Scene It? for the Xbox 360. I don’t know if you’ve ever played the normal DVD versions of these games, but they’re perfect for families, or perhaps even more so for group games when you’ve got a lot of friends over and everyone’s ready for some good competition and rivalry.

The challenge for these types of games is for the content to get stale. Although this version of has almost 2,000 different questions, if you played it enough you’re eventually going to get repeats or the movies and questions themselves just get old. This is where having it integrated with a console like the Xbox 360 is genius, especially with the added infrastructure of the Xbox LIVE Marketplace. Hopefully they’re already thinking about allowing the ability for owners to purchase and increase the game question base by grabbing expansion packs off of LIVE.

The common concern for replay value among trivia gamers is the depth of available questions and categories, but with nearly two thousand questions and over twenty distinct categories, Scene It? is brimming with content right out of the box. The game tracks every question as it is asked, ensuring that repeat questions are few and far between. There’s also some obvious potential for downloadable expansion packs courtesy of Xbox LIVE® Marketplace, so there’s no need to concern yourself over replayability.

Similar to how you can download new maps for Halo or new song packs for Rock Band 2 and Guitar Hero III, being able to download expansion packs like "Blockbusters of 2008", "AFI Classics" and "Disney Favorites" makes the purchase of this game almost a guarantee for me this holiday season for my family.

Scene It? from Screenlife Games

Post from: EveryJoe

Xbox Finally Takes Advantage of Need for Family Fun