Video Games: Well the word is final, Bioshock rocks. I’ll admit I wasn’t to keen on the idea of the 1960s style Art Deco. But the game is executed with such flawless grace that it is highly believable. The gene powers are cool, the weapons are fun, and the atmosphere is excellent. This game is an A+ and the story does appear to be going somewhere interesting. More on this as I finish.Two Worlds is an utter disaster so far. This was to be our saving grace multiplayer engine until Halo. Not so, says the German Network servers which crap out with more than a 2 person party. I hear word through various forums and posts that a patch is quickly forth coming. I hope I have something good to say about the game soon.

Work: I’m promoted! It’s official, I’m now a full fledged Software Engineer! I am thrilled and looking forward to it all. This doesn’t change my current duties much, just makes me more dangerous on paper.

Happy Birthday to my lovely wife, Carly! 

Video Games: Well some bad news for Halo 3, sort of. Bungie announced that there will not be clan support shipping with the game. However, that isn’t the whole story. Most of what I have read is that Bungie basically pioneered a better friends list in Halo 2. This friends list UI (user interface) is now part of the 360.

So what I have been hearing is that they are pushing Microsoft to step up their cross-game clan support feature. I’ve seen some screen shots of this and it looks pretty cool. In essence you would have an XBOX 360 Clan. I think you could be a part of multiple clans and have ranks within each (but you can probably only run one). The question is, when will this dashboard update be coming? It looks like the ball is back in Microsoft’s court now. Though my dreams of a Chromehounds clan interface in Halo 3 are now dead, this could be a much cooler alternative when up and running. I’ll post more updates as I get them. 

From the Ashes: I am working diligently to get the Clan Page up and running full with profiles, gamer tags, and maybe some reviews. The front page looks awesome. Even though Halo 3 won’t say it – From the Ashes will be gathering for a renaissance in multiplayer.

Well here it is: my first entry. No earth shattering news. It occurred to me that I needed to start working on the website again if I ever wanted to get anything out of it, so here we are.

Work: I got “pinned” last Friday by the Loss Prevention department. This means they gave me a little button that identifies me as a true part of the team. It might be a bit corny - but I like it. It’s good to have users that you can really see that you are making a difference for. Information Technology seldom offers this little benefit and it’s a nice change.

Computer Geek: Threads rule. Using VB.NET I can hit the receipt records of 1000+ stores searching for a fake receipt in about 35 seconds flat - this is freaking cool. I explained my thread handler to the girls today as a set of little men with one man directing. They only have one pen though, so they all have to take turns using it to write by calling out what they need to the boss (events and event handlers).

Video Games: I finished FFXII over the weekend and was very impressed. The story didn’t grip me as much as some RPGs, but thinking back it was more entertaining of a plot than VIII. Visuals were spectacular, definitely pushing the PS2 to the hardware limits. Speaking of amazing visuals, if you haven’t seen the amazing video for Lost Odyssey for the 360, I highly encourage you to check it out. Mass Effect trailers continue to impress and I’m ever looking forward to Eternal Sonata. Finally - some decent looking traditional RPGs for the 360!

That’s about it for tonight.