Next Generation – Xbox 360

Well, I must say that the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2005 was absolutely awesome and I had a blast testing all the new and upcoming games and hardware to be seen in the near future. I was anticipating playing with the Xbox 360 the most before I went on my trip. My wish came true after I sailed through a big ocean of people. There were samples of the Xbox 360 out on the expo floor that I was able to play. Among the fun demo games were Call of Duty 2, Full Auto and Need For Speed-Most Wanted.

The Xbox 360 is not only eye-catching, but it has a lot of new features that would appeal to just about anybody. Opening the doors to high definition entertainment, every Xbox 360 game is optimized for a minimum of 720 pixels, 16:9 HDTV output. That basically means that if you own a HDTV capable television, the games will look awesome! It has 512 megabytes of memory and a custom ATI graphics processor to bring you the ultimate visual fidelity. even on regular, non-HD television sets.

It will come built-in with the Windows Media Center Extender functionality so when you want to take a break from your gaming, you can access your recorded television programs, digital movies, music, videos and photos stored on your Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005-based PCs. You can also watch all your favorite DVDs, listen to CDs and look at your photos (burned onto a CD or DVD) with its progressive scan DVD movie, CD music and photo playback support. In addition, every MP3 player, digital camera and Windows XP PC can plug direct into the Xbox 360 via its USB 2.0 ports.

The Xbox 360 will be available this holiday season just in time for Christmas. By the end of the 2005 holiday season, there should be about 300 games available in 24 countries.

The price is not yet set, however, Microsoft has partnered up with Mountain Dew to give away thousands of Xbox 360 consoles before it hits the store shelves. Beginning in August, a winner will be selected every 10 minutes for nine weeks straight.

I don’t know about you, but when August comes around, I’ll be guzzling a lot of Mountain Dew to try to score myself one of those beauties.

G4 Videogame TV – The Gamers’ Channel

Did you know there’s a television station that’s dedicated solely to videogames? It’s one of my personal favorites that I watch all the time, and it’s called G4 Videogame TV. I’ve been watching G4 since I discovered it about two years ago, and it’s where I get a lot of good tidbits. Every day, 24- 7, it plays original shows that are related to all things videogames.

G4’s shows feature breaking industry news, reviews, the hottest games, gear and technology celebrity interviews, insider opinions and the underground trends that you may not hear about in the mainstream media. Although the primary audience of G4 Videogame TV is males, 12- 34 years old, I think anyone should watch this channel, male or female, as long as you have an interest in games or consumer technology. There are a lot of cool things to see and learn about — a recent show I saw had the hosts demonstrating how to capture the images of the backs of cards (or any object) using the shadows around the object and lasers. Who would have thought that was possible?

G4 offers quite a programming lineup. Here are some of my recommended picks:

Attack of the Show: This airs every weekday and it keeps up with everything that’s here today, “lame tomorrow.” It features everything from music to gadgets to special guests to downloads. This is the Click Chick’s favorite show on G4!

X-Play: Hosted by Adam Sessler and Morgan Webb, this

show gives viewers tips, tricks and previews for the latest games. This show is very entertaining to watch with their brutally honest comedic opinions.

Cheat!: This show provides the ultimate strategies, tips and codes for all the biggest games out there. It’s good if you want to speed-play your games to get through it so you can get to your next game on your list.

Anime Unleashed: Good for anime fanatics, this shows the best in Japanese animation – the greatest action adventure series, the top sci-fi fantasies and the cleverest comedies.

Street Fury: I know there’s a lot of car buffs out there, and this show is for you. This shows the world of import car racing and car modification. Host Carlton “Big C” Lewis travels the country to car shows such as SEMA, NISEI and Hot Import Nights while hanging with the best racing champs around.

That’s just the tip of the iceberg for what G4 has to offer, but I urge you to check it out. You can watch G4 on Oceanic’s Digital Cable, channel 437 (listed as G4TT). For a complete program listing and more information on G4 Videogame TV, go to www.g4tv.com.

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

www.click-chick.com

E-mail this story | Print this page | Comments (0) | Archive | RSS Comments (0) |

Most Recent Comment(s):

Commenting is not available in this weblog entry.