Xbox Live goodies coming soon

Xbox Live is now five years old. From the beginning days to what it is now, Xbox live has changed online gaming forever. To celebrate this momentous event, today and tomorrow Xbox live arcade title Carcassonne is free.

Xbox Classics Come to Live
But this isn't the only reason to be excited about Xbox Live. Something that has been a rumor for years, Microsoft has finally announced that Xbox 1 titles will be available for download though Xbox Live for $15 each (1200 MS points). They all will be released alongside the Fall 2007 update(See Below). The titles included Halo: Combat Evolved, Psychonauts, Indigo Prophecy, Crimson Skies, Fable, Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex, and Fusion Frenzy

While not all of these are fantastic titles, (I'm looking at you, Fusion Frenzy) this is an exciting announcement for anyone trying to track down some of these hard to find titles. Games that were under the radar, like Psyconauts and Crimson Skies, can now have a second chance for an audience. All of these games have been ported over using the same software for the disk versions. They don't have Achievements and games that didn't already have online play won't be any different here. The only reason to download a Xbox 1 game is if you don't already have it, or you want to archive it. Now if only they would add Metal Arms: A Glitch in the System and Beyond Good and Evil, two more games that where woefully overlooked.

Xbox Live Fall update 2007 date revealed
Microsoft has also announced the day of the Fall update: it's December 4th. If the leaked information is correct, then it will include IPTV, Xvid support, Animated themes, and tons more. See the full list here.

Xbox Live has for years been the pinnacle of online features on consoles. But with more and more online games coming out on other consoles without a fee, it will be interesting to see how long this service can stay successful. But so far it's been worth every penny.

How to make money with your blog using PayPerPost

PayPerPost is a company providing service for advertisers to get the word out about their product and to allow bloggers to make money posting. People can make thousands of dollar per week using this easy to use service. It’s also really easy to get started.

How it works
This is how it works: So let's say you want to advertise your new product. After you sign up under an advertiser, you can then create an opportunity, or opp. You can then specify a variety of different requirements that the blogger, A.K.A. postie, needs to fulfill before they can take your opp. This includes popularity, traffic and more. After that a blogger who has signed up as a postie, like me, can accept it an then write an article about it.

Afterward, they need to make sure not to forget to let everyone know you're getting paid for the post by placing a "Sponsored By" button at the bottom, naming the advertiser directly. Then the advertiser reviews your post. If they approve and it meets the agreed requirements, the money is transferred from the advertiser's account to the postie's account. That's basically how it works. There are a tons of available opps. All from companies who want to advertise their product or service in different blogs.

Another method for advertisers is the PayPerPost Direct option. This works pretty much the same way but, the main difference is advertisers visit a blog, click on the “Hire Me” button and contact the postie directly. From there, they can make an agreement about what they want from the transaction.

How I'm Using it
I signed up about three months ago so my blog has now reached the age requirement and was officially approved. PayPerPost has an opp available that gives you $20 if you talk about them. So I’ll make sure to put a sponsor button on the bottom of this page. : ) This is one of many opps available on many different subjects. It’s been very easy for me and anyone who has a blog should look into using PayPerPost.

If you would like to send me an offer to talk about your new game or website or whatever, let me know. Just click on the “Hire Me” button on the sidebar. I can only talk about things that I have either tried or know enough about, so make sure to give me some detailed info about your product. Thanks!

Picking the Right XBox 360

The XBox has been through almost as many version changes as Sony's PS3 has. Apparently, one box is just not enough. There are currently four different versions and any will do for just plain old gaming. But if you care about doing anything online or storing media, the cheapest box just isn't gonna do. Follow this guide to figure out what you should know about each set.

XBox 360 Core
The now canceled core model is, or was, a bare bones set with a wired controller, the console proper, Standard Definition audio/video cables (Although High Definition is still supported) and power cables. It's disabled because of the lack of any storage space. Meaning that you will also need to buy a memory card or a hard drive to save any games. Plus if you want to display anything in High Definition you'll need to buy Component cables as well . These are things that come with the the Pro model and above. Because of these shortcomings, this isn't a very good model. It's a good thing it's no longer for sale.

XBox 360 Arcade Model
The newest addition is the XBox 360 Arcade model. It's basically the Core model but, with a few upgrades. A wireless controller replaces the wired one included in the core set. The output has also been upgraded from the Core model to now support HDMI (But still only includes Composite Cables). Also, instead of no storage space at all, this comes with a paltry 256MB card preloaded with games. Absent from this set, although it would have been nice, is the Atari 2600 look-alike arcade stick.

This is a set designed for people who can't find a Wii and they just want a quick, easy, jump in and play game console for less money then the higher end models. Five Xbox Live Arcade games come included on the 256MB card. These are small bite-size games usually bought and downloaded from Xbox Live Arcade. (Hence the name of this model). Not very many of these games are noteworthy but, some are pretty fun. Unfortunately, what's included in the box does not necessarily feature the best titles. These are: Boom Boom Rocket (So-So), Feeding Frenzy (Boring), Luxor 2 (Not Bad), Pac-Man Championship Edition (Pretty Good), and UNO (Yawn). More can be downloaded off of XBox Live. However, you need a hard drive to access online features. (A good reason to buy a hard drive right away). These games take up most if the space on the card. This means that even before you open up your new XBox, the card is already almost full! You'll be able to save data for a few games but, it won't be long before you need more. At that point it's either buy another card or get a hard drive.Yet another disabled console, courtesy of Microsoft. The smallest hard drive is more then ten times larger (20GB) then the included memory card. You might as well skip a step and get a better model right off the bat. This is marketed as a entry level XBox for less. But the cheap price buzz wears off when you realize that you need to pay more to get what should have come with it. I highly recommend passing on this crippled money pit.

Xbox 360 A.K.A. the "Pro System"
OK, Now this is a better entry level option. The included 20GB hard drive is plenty for game saves and a few movies and Arcade games, making it a perfect way to get started playing games without having to worry about running out of space quickly. It's not ideal for anyone who wants to use their XBox for their media hub however.
This is the lowest end set to come with Component cables. A HDMI port is standard for Pro Consoles made after August 2007 but, none come with HDMI cables.

Be wary of the new Go Big bundle which includes two XBox 360 games, Forza Motorsport 2 and Marvel: Ultimate Alliance. Theres nothing wrong with the games but, the added cost for Microsoft may result in them cutting corners with the quality of the hardware. For example: I bought an Xbox 1 Bundle a few years back with a Tetris Worlds and Star Wars: The Clone Wars game disc. The DVD drive was not a quality Samsung drive but a lesser quality Thomson drive. I got disc read errors after a 16 months. I didn't even know that there was a difference until I read about it online. True, Microsoft was losing more money on the XBox 1 then they are with the XBox 360 and it was only after a year and a half that my drive stopped working. It could have been time for a new one anyway. However, If you do buy a bundle be sure to keep the warranty information.

XBox 360 Elite
This is the best and most expensive set. Thanks to the large 120GB hard drive packed in, this choice is ideal for people who want to save everything and use their XBox for a media hub. This is currently the only one to come with an HDMI cable and a HDMI port in the same box. The black paint and chrome trim help to match in with your stereo equipment (If it's black that is). This is the one to have for the complete XBox 360 setup. Also, be aware of the potential problems of the Go Pro bundle for the reasons mentioned about the Go Big bundle.

Here's the breakdown of each XBox out there (Click to expand):

Crysis Demo: How does it run on low end PCs?

Crysis has been the poster boy for DirectX 10 since it was unveiled a few years back. When I heard that not only was it compatible with DirectX 9 but also available as a free demo, a fire burned within me to try and see if I could play it on my less then stellar rig. It runs Windows XP SP2, It's got a 3.20GHz Intel Pentium D, 1GB of RAM and a Geforce 7500 LE. Yes that's right, a card that's really only intended for basic 3D acceleration and can barely run Half Life 2.

After downloading the demo off of Fileplanet, I noticed that Nvidia recommends installation of the Nvidia 169 Beta driver before playing the Crysis demo. After this quick and painless detour, I proceeded booting up Crysis. I was convinced it would overload my puny card. Surprisingly, it ran nearly perfectly. I played it on the optimal settings automatically chosen by the software. That basically meant that every setting was on low, including anti aliasing. It looked better then I hoped it would but, it wasn't the best looking game ever on these settings. Not as bad as the low settings for the Unreal Tournament III demo though. That game looks like blurry land on my PC. I was glad that it looked decent because if you've ever had to adjust setting sliders in a PC game then you know that it's basically the gaming equivalent of adjusting a old rabbit ears antenna. You don't want to move it too much in the wrong direction or else you'll lose the whole thing.

It's a fun game I enjoy the different powers and the real time equipment modification(More on that in my Demo review). The frame rate was solid nearly the whole way, even in large areas it still stayed at a fairly solid frame rate. It did drop slightly during cut scenes. Nothing that adversely affected gameplay though.

With the draw distance at minimum, trees and grass popped up throughout. There was one situation where I could see though a rock to an enemy standing behind it. I only noticed it in that one area. There wasn't any of the larger enemies like what I've seen in trailers so everything might get thrown out the window at that point.

So far, if the demo is any indication, the final version of Crysis won't be the resource hog I had thought it was. Then again this is a pre-release build and it could run better and it could run slower. I can't wait to find out.