iPhone 3G S is announced!

The Worldwide Developer's Conference (WWDC) began today and everyone was expecting Apple to announce the release of it's next iteration of the iPhone. Well, everyone was right. Earlier today Apple announced the iPhone 3G S. It is basically an iPhone 3G but with a faster CPU (2x faster), a camera that can take video, and a magnetometer (compass) among some of it's features.

This is really bad news for Palm. Palm released their Palm Pre aka "iPhone Killer" on June 6. And it looks like Apple responded with just enough in order to quell the Palm Pre hype. Only time will tell who reigns supreme. In the meantime, I'm just going to sit back and watch.



New Prices for iPhones

iPhone 3G 8GB
$99

iPhone 3G S 16GB
$199

iPhone 3G S 32GB
$299


New iPhone 3G S features compared to (iPhone 3G):

*3.0 megapixel camera (2.0 megapixel camera)
*2x faster processor
*Voice Control (Not Available on 3G)
*Compass (Not Available on 3G)
*Cut, Copy, and Paste (Not Available on 3G)
*MMS support aka sending pictures and video in text messages (Not Available on 3G)
*Internet Tethering (Not Available on 3G)

The Bottom Line... there isn't really "update" Apple is offering to write home about. All the stuff announced for the iPhone 3G S is slight upgrades of current features (3MP cam), or practically useless features (compass), or features that should already be available on the damn phone already (cut & paste, anyone?). It will be interesting how the iPhone/Palm Pre War pans out. Personally, I like the Palm Pre. Palm Pre's multi-tasking should prove to be superior over iPhone's inability to do so But the consumers are always the determining factor, and the Palm Pre has a very long way to go.

Popeye's Runs Out of Free Chicken!

Popeye's must have had some great offer for some free chicken because these people are pissed. It is an entertaining video, but what I don't really understand is that these people were going to get some chicken for free, right? SO WHAT if Popeye's ran out of chicken? You should have been there earlier tight wads. What did you expect would happen? It's like John Holmes being pissed cause he caught AIDS. He fucked chix all the time. What did you think would happen?



Why don't people just go buy some fucking chicken across the street at KFC instead of expecting things to be given out for free. One woman "drove across town to a second location" to see if she could get some there because the first location she had driven to "ran out". WTF?!? Anyway without further bitching, here is the video.



The bottom line... the gas that woman spent driving across town probably could've been used as the difference to go get some chicken from a different company.

Breaking News: Cyberdyne HAL exoskeltons on sale for $4,200

courtesy of dvice by Kevin Hall

The end is nigh...

Cyberdyne is gearing up to mass produce 400 of its "Hybrid Assistive Limb" exoskeletons annually, selling first to interests in Japan, then perhaps the rest of the world. The company intends the suit less for personal interest and more for "rehabilitation support and physical training support in medical field, ADL support for disabled people, heavy labour support at factories, and rescue support at disaster sites, as well as in the entertainment field." But, hey, if the market exists, Cyberdyne will ramp up production and — who knows? — maybe all of us will be running around in our very own exoskeletons.

The bottom line... is WTF PEOPLE!?! Seriously, do you guys ever watch fucking sci-fi movies? I feel like I'm a mutant that can see the future just because I've watched The Terminator. For chrissake, the name of the company that makes the cyborg's in the films is even called Cyberdyne. Can you be more obvious. And the worst part about it is, I'm ordering one of these things. You know how badass it would be to have a neighbor ask you to help him change a tire and you walk over clanking and hissing while you bend down and effortlessly lift his car. It couldn't be more badass unless it came with a automatic 6 inch dick extension (that rhymed... cool). I guess as long as "Cy-ber-dyne" doesn't become "Cy-borg R US" we should be alright, but that's probably what the people in the movie said just before Skynet became self-aware. So, I guess we're screwed.

Judge Mathis Game to have Prison Rape

Ever heard of Judge Mathis? He is a big, black, male Judge Judy with the same no-nonsense judgements. Well, he is planning to release a videogame based on hard decisions. The game (which doesn't have a name yet) will start by releasing a con (you) from prison because of overcrowding. You have to start making choices. Be a good citizen and avoid negative temptations and influences or follow the same criminal path that got you in trouble in the first place and possibly get a life sentence from Judge Mathis.

Being a fan of videogames, Judge Mathis wants the game to be as realistic as possible. All the way to the prison rape. Yes, you read that right, prison rape. Butt, there is a way to avoid that outcum. :) Looking at the annals of the way you played the game Judge Mathis will determine if you get sent to prison or not. (hehe) So in other words, you will be judged and sentenced, and if you have not been leading a "good" life you will be sent to the slammer. (haha) No word yet on if the game will let you give a rebuttal (this never gets old).

The bottom line... is this is freakin weird and at the same time hilarious. Can't wait to see if this makes it through to the pipeline (pun intended) and even if it does, it will be interesting to see if videogamers get behind the game and play it. (that was the last one, i swear.)

Palm Pre vs iPhone

Although everyone reading this article is rolling their eyes and sighing at yet another article written about the Palm Pre taking on Apple's iPhone, the fact is the Palm Pre WILL be the toughest competitor iPhone has yet to face in the long list of "iPhone killers". The Palm Pre was unveiled at the Consumer Electronic Show (CES) earlier this year and it was hands down the number one most talked about product. Let's look at some of the hype and how it compares to iPhone. Here are a few slight advantages the Palm Pre has over the iPhone.

USER INTERFACE

The Palm Pre will allow you to browse through multiple programs with a swipe of your finger. Flicking your finger will close the program. It also will allow programs to run in the background, a feature the iPhone does not currently have. Also, Palm has also agreed to have an app store similar to Apple's. Basically, Palm Pre has what the iPhone has, and then some.

PHYSICAL KEYBOARD

I don't own an iPhone. So, I can't say how good or bad the touch screen is, but I have used a friend's iPhone for a short time just to "try it out". I found that the touch screen is great. It registers your finger taps accurately and it felt very responsive. BUT, nothing beats a physical keyboard which the Palm Pre will be sporting. Some people may view Palm Pre's lack of a touch screen keyboard as a minus, but I view it as a plus.



INTEGRATED CONTACTS

The Palm Pre will be able to combine all of your contacts from your cell phone, facebook, twitter, etc into one single address book entry. Instead of having to shuffle between multiple applications (like on iPhone) in order to communicate with various social hubs, you will be able to SMS, instant message, or contact someone on Facebook from a single screen.

and the big one...

SOFTWARE BACKLOG

Apple released a statement this past January that said something like this: "The iPhone has 15,000 applications available for use! No one will ever catch up!" Well, guess how many the Palm OS has available? Over 50,000 applications. 'Nuff said, but I do want to clarify one thing. The webOS that will be on the Palm Pre will not be backwards compatible meaning that it will not support the old Palm OS and therefore you won't be able to use the old apps HUH?!?... but you just... I know what I said. Palm doesn't want to lose that advantage, so Palm has publically stated that they will help Palm developers port their apps to the webOS and they welcome third-parties to provide applications for backwards-compatibility. In other words, it will be backwards-compatible. (Before I finished writing this article, I found a third-party app that will provide backwards-compatibility. Jeez, that was fast!)

The Palm Pre will be bringing some big guns into the cell phone showdown, so it'll be interesting in a few years to see who will reign supreme. iPhone has such a huge jump on the Palm Pre, I almost think it will be impossible for Palm to do any damage.

Just to be fair, the iPhone has a couple advantages. It has the Palm Pre beat in the design department (Apple excels in that area). Also, both phones are guilty of having a list (albeit small) of features missing that are standard on most cell phones. The Palm Pre lacks video recording and removable storage, while the iPhone lacks MMS and background applications. (I know MMS is suppose to be in the next iPhone update. I'll believe it when I see it.)

The bottom line... whoever wins, they will have a monopoly that'll make Bill Gates jealous. It's stilll too early to say who will be on top when all the dust settles, but it'll be fun to watch. The war has just begun.

Videogame Magazine Outsells Time, Playboy, and Sports Illustrated

The Era of the Nerd is upon us. When the gaming magazine GameInformer outsells traditional popular titles such as Time and Playboy, you know things are changing. The best thing about this story is that now we (us nerds) have a fact we can point out to people who refuse to believe that adults play videogames.

For the most part I don't care what anyone thinks about me, but it is annoying when someone's girlfriend/wife rolls their eyes and whispers to their friends, "I wonder when they are going to grow up. It's so childish playing videogames." Well, BOOYAH BITCHES! Obviously it's NOT only kids playing videogames. I don't remember Highlights or Boy's Life magazine making any top 20 list of magazines sold.

You shouldn't judge people on what they do with their free time. But of course this isn't a perfect world where everyone is nice to everybody, so here is your evidence to use against them (them = dumb whores) when you decide to put them in their place.

The bottom line... the time's are changing. To all the traditionalists, either change with it, keep your mouth shut, or keep talking and look stupid. Unlike you, I don't care.

Sony Scared of OnLive?

OnLive was revealed last week at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) and immediately videogame forums across the internet exploded with debates of how successful it would be. The news was big enough that major news sites such as CNN and FOXNews did stories on it as well as the traditional technology sites such as Cnet. Major game publishers Electronic Arts, Take-Two, Ubisoft, Epic Games, Atari, Codemasters, THQ, Warner Bros., 2D Boy and Eidos Interactive have signed up to have games available for the format. Seems as though everyone is onboard for the ultimate gaming nirvana doesn't it?

Well not Sony. Sony released a statement today stating that it does not think that OnLive is on the right track amid concerns that expenses will be passed on to the consumer. As stated by Sony, "What will be the final cost to the consumer when you start adding up what [OnLive is] selling?" It is not clear whether Sony thinks the traditional method of gaming should continue (with consoles and game discs) or whether a totally new direction should be employed.

The bottom line... Sony does bring up a good point. What's to keep OnLive from charging $50, $100, or whatever they want for a month long membership if they have a monopoly on the service. On the flipside of the statement, Sony has just filed a trademark patent for the name "PS Cloud" as stated in my previous post (see below), so I take what Sony says with a grain of salt. I think Sony believes cloud computing IS the wave of the future and they are taking steps in that direction. Just like they say, "History repeats itself". It appears more like Sony is trying to sabotage the hype around OnLive's announcement with this press release very similar to what they did when Sega released their Dreamcast in 1999 by announcing they were shortly going to be releasing their next videogame system (then the PS2). I wouldn't be surprised if Sony would try to steal OnLive's subscriber base (shortly after OnLive releases) with a service of their own. Guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Netflix to Hike Price on Blu-ray

Have Netflix and a Blu-ray player and like paying only $1 a month extra for Blu-ray movies? Well, I have some bad news for you. Netflix is increasing the additional price for Blu-ray movies starting April 25 between $1 - $9 depending on which plan you use. Details below.

1 DVD out at-a-time (2 DVDs a month)
Monthly plan cost: $4.99
Additional monthly charge for Blu-ray access on this plan: $1
Monthly plan cost with Blu-ray access: $5.99

1 DVD out at-a-time (Unlimited)
Monthly plan cost: $8.99
Additional monthly charge for Blu-ray access on this plan: $2
Monthly plan cost with Blu-ray access: $10.99

2 DVDs out at-a-time (Unlimited)
Monthly plan cost: $13.99
Additional monthly charge for Blu-ray access on this plan: $3
Monthly plan cost with Blu-ray access: $16.99

3 DVDs out at-a-time (Unlimited)
Monthly plan cost: $16.99
Additional monthly charge for Blu-ray access on this plan: $4
Monthly plan cost with Blu-ray access: $20.99

4 DVDs out at-a-time (Unlimited)
Monthly plan cost: $23.99
Additional monthly charge for Blu-ray access on this plan: $5
Monthly plan cost with Blu-ray access: $28.99

5 DVDs out at-a-time (Unlimited)
Monthly plan cost: $29.99
Additional monthly charge for Blu-ray access on this plan: $6
Monthly plan cost with Blu-ray access: $35.99

6 DVDs out at-a-time (Unlimited)
Monthly plan cost: $35.99
Additional monthly charge for Blu-ray access on this plan: $7
Monthly plan cost with Blu-ray access: $42.99

7 DVDs out at-a-time (Unlimited)
Monthly plan cost: $41.99
Additional monthly charge for Blu-ray access on this plan: $8
Monthly plan cost with Blu-ray access: $49.99

8 DVDs out at-a-time (Unlimited)
Monthly plan cost: $47.99
Additional monthly charge for Blu-ray access on this plan: $9
Monthly plan cost with Blu-ray access: $56.99

The bottom line... Netflix is trying to use the economic situation as a cop-out as to why they need to increase prices. Blockbuster hasn't done so yet, so why should they. Also, everyone is suffering though these economic times. One ex-Netflix user says it best, "I got laid off so every dollar is critical. Sorry Netflix, we are all riding out the economy bugs together, you are not exempt. Blockbuster does not charge any additional for Blu-ray (yet). If they do, I'll be back." Wonder if the negative backlash will be enough for Netflix to reconsider their proposal.

Don't Get Between a Man and His Gaming

Women will slowly come to realize that getting between a man and his gaming may have negative consequences. An incident happened on the Saikyo Line train (a commuter train in Tokyo) where a 50-year-old woman felt the train was too crowded for Jun Ando (a 21-year-old computer programmer) to be playing a game on his cell phone and told him to stop. He proceeded to punch her in the face several times. Ando was restrained by his fellow passengers, who then escorted him off the train at Toda Park station. He was taken to the station office, where he punched the woman in the face again! He has been arrested for assault and the woman's jaw was broken.

The bottom line... I don't condone violence of women and I hate to say this, but she should be minding her own business. I can understand if he was playing the Wii Fit, but come on, a cell phone game? They say you can't teach an old dog new tricks, but I bet she learned her lesson.

China Again!?! Say It Ain't So

The latest information about the Conficker worm is pretty disturbing. People at BKIS, a Vietnamese security firm that makes the BKAV antivirus software, announced today that they found clues that the virus may have originated from China.

This conclusion was based on the firm analyzing the virus' coding. It found that Conficker's code is closely related to that of another virus (the Nimda virus) that is believed to have been made in China.

I spoke about the Conficker worm in a previous post. This news is interesting because originally they were thinking that it may have originated in Europe or Russia and with the Chinese coming under scrutiny for allegedly masterminding a spynet (see previous post) across the globe, it makes you wonder what the hell is going on? Are the Chinese poised to take over the world or do they just want to know everything? I guess, like they say, knowledge is power.

The bottom line... even if the Chinese (government) were behind this, the U.S. wouldn't do anything about it. Worldwide, China has all the money. They are loaning us the money for all these bailouts that Obama is promoting. We (the U.S.) will just politely ask them, "Could you please stop with all this computer stuff. Oh, by the way, may I please have another $1 trillion dollars." We are in no position to make demands. They know they can do whatever they want.

Study says Playing Action Games Improves Eyesight

A study has been done by U.S. researchers saying adults who play a lot of action video games may be improving their eyesight. Researchers divided 22 students into 2 groups and had them play videogames. One group played action games like Call of Duty: 3 and Unreal Tournament 2004 while the other played The Sims, a game that does not require a lot of hand eye coordination.

After 50 hours of assigned play time on these games for 9 weeks, the results showed the action game players improved their ability to descern close shades of gray by 43 % while the Sims players showed none.

The bottom line... if someone says you play too many videogames, just tell them that you are not playing videogames, you're doing eye excercises. If they ask you, "Then why do you still wear glasses?". Tell them, "I don't know what you're talking about. Maybe you should play more videogames."

Conficker Worm's Fury unleashes on April 1, 2009

The Conficker Worm has been harassing computer network security administrator's for months since it climbed out of the internet underground sometime in 2008. It is about to get a fresh update on April 1, 2009 and security officials are bracing for the impact that the upgrade might have.

Before we get too far you should know what a worm is. Here are some definitions to put it into perspective.

Virus - a computer program that can copy itself and infect a computer without the permission or knowledge of the owner.

Trojan Horse - a computer program that may be legitimate but has secondary illegitimate objectives. For instance, a computer program that lets you burn DVD's but also opens a backdoor in your computer to let a hacker get in and control the computer of the user.

Worm - a self-replicating computer program. Unlike a virus, it does not need to attach itself to an existing program.

Though they sound similar, they are considerably different. Right now the Conficker worm is tearing through the internet and business computers like the sands of the desert planet Arrakis (Dune). It has infected as many as 10 million business computers with many high profile computers noted such as French Air Force, Royal Navy Warships and Submarines, Sheffield Hospital network, UK Ministry of Defence, and Norwegian Police. It has also infected scores of individual users alike. A simple action such as using a USB drive on an infected computer and then using that same USB drive on another computer will be enough to spread the infection.

The problem with the Conficker Worm is that it is ever evolving, meaning that it gets updates from it's creator(s) periodically so it's always one step ahead of the security "police". For instance, at one point (when the worm was first detected) Microsoft (MS) released a patch to fix the hole the worm was using to wreak havoc. Then shortly after, the worm updated and found a new hole to use to infect systems. What's worst is the worm uses a different site to update out of a list of 50,000. To say the least, security experts are impressed with the Conficker worm's ability to adapt and lead experts on wild goose chases.

What's interesting about this story now, is that the worm has stopped spreading. It is becoming more defensive in nature. Instead of finding ways to infect more computers, the creator(s) are taking measures to ensure that the computers that are infected with the Conficker Worm, stay infected. For instance, an infected computer may not be able to install any anti-virus programs or go to any anti-virus program web sites. It's as if the creator(s) want to protect the worm's install base by removing the worm's ability to replicate itself, which would suggest they believe they already have enough infected computers to accomplish whatever they are planning to do.

Though the worm is believed to have originated in the Ukraine, no one knows for certain. MS is concerned enough about the damages that may ensue (or have been caused), they have put a $250,000 bounty on any information leading to the creator(s) of the worm. I have never heard of a bounty (or such a large one) being put out for the creator(s) of malware. It's interesting to see where this will go.

The bottom line... IT security experts are reluctant to say "the end of the world is at hand", but the worm is set to update on April 1st, 2009, with unknown consequences.

Sam Raimi gets Control of Spider-Man 4

Sam Raimi will be featured in an upcoming interview in Empire magazine's May issue. In the interview he openly talked about some of the problems with Spider-Man 3 and confirmed some rumors we all heard about 2 summers ago when the movie was released.

“They really gave me a tremendous amount of control on the first two films, actually. But then there were different opinions on the third film and I didn’t really have creative control, so to speak.”

What he is referring to, of course, is that when Spider-Man 3 was in Pre-production, Marvel told Sam Raimi that he had to include Venom in the 3rd Spider-Man film despite Sam rumored to say he did not wish to. Sam Raimi is more of a fan of the 70's Spider-Man villians and even today states he does not quite "understand" Venom.

“I don’t even want to comment on Venom, because I know he’s a great character and all the fans love him. I never want to say anything bad about a much-beloved character because usually it turns out that I’m the one that doesn’t understand what makes it great.”

I remember hearing the rumors of Spider-Man 3 before they came out and I was thinking, "if they don't put Venom in the 3rd movie I will be pissed!" Well, maybe we should watch what we wish for, because Venom was in the 3rd movie and the 3rd movie ended up being the worst one yet. You can tell that Sam Raimi's heart wasn't in the character and it shows in the movie. Too many villians and not enough character development. It was a major disappointment.

The bottom line... I'm looking forward to Spider-Man 4. He'll do a great job. As for Spider-Man 3 (despite being a big fan of Sam Raimi's work) maybe they just should have gone with another director. I mean, Venom is repeatedly considered one of the greatest villians in the history of comics. Therefore, us Spidey fans needed to see Venom. But, Switch (Belinda McClory) in the Matrix says it best, "Not like this... Not like this".

BREAKING NEWS: iPhone 3.0 update to provide common, run-of-the-mill features!

I don't like the iPhone. There, I've said it. Yes, it's slowly becoming the dominant cell phone and they've done an incredible job marketing it. Also, I believe eventually you will need to own one or be left behind, similar to what Microsoft did to Apple in the 80's and 90's during the OS wars. Interesting how times have changed isn't it? 2 years ago when I first heard the specs for the iPhone, I didn't understand all the hype surrounding it and I still don't.

The interface and touchscreen were (and still is) the best on a cell phone I ever experienced, BUT until less than a year ago, you were limited to the handful of programs that Apple provided and the features of the phone were mediocre at best. You can't even send MMS?, I remember thinking. So many cell phones did so much more. Apple must have sold their soul to the devil and got a killer deal to have the public lauding over such an unremarkable phone.

Well, here we are and Apple is about to release it's next update, iPhone 3.0. The latest major update will add some much needed features such as search, MMS, and wait for it... copy/paste. *GASP* These features may sound futuristic and unbelievable, but trust me, it's official. Apple went all out with this one. What's really annoying are the people (yeah... you Dustin) touting the update like it is chock-full of innovative features that have never been heard of before. It's like some company made you eat their tomato soup for 2 years with chopsticks and then they announce that sometime in the next few months they will give you a spoon. I'm not impressed... I'm pissed off! My friends have been eating their soup with a spoon for years!

The bottom line... sooner or later I will jump on the iPhone bandwagon when all of my favorite Palm OS programs jump ship. But until then, people should remember that although Microsoft is viewed as the evil King who tries to control and over tax his people, Apple is like the insatiable cousin, where if he was in power, would slowly turn the land into Mordor all for some stupid ring.

InstallerApp for iPhone Plans to Shake up Apple's Monopoly

Have an iPhone and want to install jailbroken apps that aren't available on Apple's iTunes? Well up until now your only option was to make a choice; help keep the AT&T/Apple iPhone monopoly going or jailbreak your iPhone. Well, not anymore. Now there is a program available for Mac (and soon for Windows) called InstallerApp from RipDev that lets you install jailbroken apps onto your iPhone without it needing to be jailbroken.

InstallerApp is a program that will allow you to download iPhone apps to your computer and then transfer them to your iPhone over a USB connection. Once you get the InstallerApp and have it running, you will see a list of thousands of iPhone apps available from non-app store sources. You can browse by category or search for programs. InstallerApp supports Installer and Cydia, the 2 best known package installer's of jailbroken iPhones.

InstallerApp is commercial software and is available for $7 from RipDev's site.

The bottom line... this is a great way for someone who wants to follow the rules and is too scared to jailbreak their iPhone, but wants to experience some of the great "underground" iPhone apps out there. Apple may try to play Big Brother and shelter us from apps they consider foolish or inappropriate, but with this program, everyone wins.

Additional Fee required to play Resident Evil 5 Versus mode

In a move that can only be considered ludicrous, Capcom is making its customers PAY for a multiplayer "versus" mode in it's new release Resident Evil 5. I've personally never heard of a game company charging a fee for a feature that most people consider standard on current generation games, but I guess Capcom has decided to be a rebel on this one.

Resident Evil 5 is the first in the Resident Evil Series that will allow the campaign to be played co-op, which Capcom deserves praise for, but it is the "deathmatch/survival" versus mode that Capcom thinks is worth an additional $5 on Xbox Live Marketplace or PlayStation Network. The higher-ups at Capcom must have been twisting their mustache a many nights to come up with this one. I had to check the date a couple times to make sure it wasn't April Fool's Day.

The bottom line... is that Capcom is on the wrong track with this one. Unless the game was truely intended for multiplayer, multiplayer modes are put into games for lagniappe (French for 'shits and giggles'). Sure people (I have no idea who) will pay for the versus mode, but is that really what Capcom wants to be known for? Releasing a shell of a game. I know... I know... Resident Evil 5 is great! The graphics are wonderful and the co-op campaign... blah, blah, blah, BUT this is just the first step into the realm of pure evil. Evil in the sense that gaming companies will want to start squeezing every single dime they can out of us videogame fanatics. Some argue they are already doing it. If you bought Resident Evil 5 and are reading this, then DO NOT BUY THIS CRAP!!! It's kind of like banging that great looking girl sporting a fever blister without a condom, you'll regret it in the long run.

It's worthy to note that the Resident Evil franchise was never really intended to compete with Halo 3, Killzone 2, and such. As mentioned before, the versus mode in Resident Evil 5 probably falls into the just-put-some-crappy-mulitplayer-mode-together category, people may not be so disheartened, but could you imagine if you had to pay for Halo 3 multiplayer. I'm not even sure if the single player game is worth $60. All of a sudden, the longevity and value of the game you bought goes way down. Either way, epic fail Capcom... epic fail.

Halo Wars sells 1 million units

Most people by now know that Ensemble Studios went the way of the dodo bird, but their final game has proven to be a success. According to Microsoft, over one million units of Halo Wars have been sold and over 2.6 million multiplayer matches played on Xbox Live. Seems as though Ensemble Studio's swan song has been well-recieved by the gaming masses despite the comments from gamers at message boards and forums stating how "average" the gameplay is and how RTS doesn't work on a console. The numbers don't lie.

Halo Wars IS an average RTS when compared to a PC RTS, but if you think like that - then, Halo 3 is also "average" due to the fact that the game is played using a game controller instead of a keyboard and mouse.

The bottom line... is even though Halo Wars is not the most advanced, next-generation RTS game, it is still enjoyable and lets you experience the Halo universe from a different perspective. I personally enjoy the game. It refreshing, and the online co-op is a blast. Plus, everyone is hindered by the awkward controls, so no one is at a disadvantage. Just relax and play the game, or relax and don't. Stop the hate.

Halo 3 user created content (Forge)

When Halo 3 came out, a little known feature called forge was available within the game. Forge is a gameplay mode that allows for both playing and designing multiplayer maps within the preset Halo 3 maps. Options include changing and resetting respawn points, weapon spawn points, weapon timers, vehicle spawns and timers, and adding existing geometry to the map’s existing structure in the form of crates, boxes, fusion coils, gravity lifts, telelporters, turrets, etc. Being kind of basic, it wasn't exactly the most popular feature of Halo 3. I personally viewed it more as a gimmick than an actual feature.

Then the Heroic map pack came out on Dec 11, 2007, and there was a "blank canvas" map type called Foundry that allowed players to basically create levels. Of course, a group of gamers gathered to make the most of the tools that Bungie provided them and some really good maps came out. But... glitches began to leak and the options for map building exponentially increased.

This is the first video in a series of videos that teach how to do some of the forge glitches.

It is possible (with glitches) to have many more options available to map builders. The above picture is from a Lockdown map called "8 emerald legs" that has been forged. Players may marvel at the giant spider above the oil rig, but what is not immediately apparent is that the giant spider is playable. Meaning, you can run on top of, inside of, and around... of... ?!? the spider. It is a display of extraordinary ingenuity. Though not obvious, it IS very playable.

Racing around a halo map is not the first thing that comes to mind when you pop in a Halo 3 disc, but because of forge there are now some interesting race maps created. One of the best is "Quasar". It is fun because not only do you race, but you can also carry a passenger and have then shoot at the other riders. Careful though, they are shooting at you too!

The bottom line... is that despite the primitive tools available in forge, some very crafty, fun-to-play maps can be created. There are many more options available than appear at first glance. And if you are paranoid that Bungie considers this hacking or cracking the game... don't be. They have been on record saying that they love the ingenuity of the forgers out there and that they had no idea it would be as successful as it was. So enjoy.

Forging 101 (Beginner's guide to forging)

Best of Forge Spring/Summer '08
Best of Forge Fall/Winter '08