Zay’z – [ Den 'O' Slack ]

If anyone ever wants to play some Marvel Ultimate Alliance on Xbox Live (Xbox 360), give me a message sometime!

AWannaBe

So recently… I upgraded my video(PC) monitors at home, with not one but two, Dell 2408W beauty’s. The two screens combined run at a max of 3840 x 1200 (1920×1200 ea.).

What’s great about these monitors (yes there are some drawbacks) however the amount of inputs each has, (2 x DVI, 1 VGA, 1 x HDMI, 1 x DisplayPort, 1x Component, 1 x S-Video, and yes a 4 port USB 2.0 Hub) it’s pure awesome.

Let me also mention here that I did not upgrade my PC or video card (my last upgrade was in November of 2004), so I’m still using my BFG Tech Geforce 6800 GT OC 256MB AGP video card… which has done a pretty damn good job so far.

I tested with my Xbox360 Elite with an HDMI cable  at 720p, 1080i and 1080p which all looked pretty good (you really have to manually adjust the color schemes on the monitor). The video input selector is on the front panel in the lower right hand side not hidden but small enough to not notice when working on the monitors and no trouble finding when you look for it.

Also the included audio out port is really genius, because I do a lot of audio work I was able to test the audio output port directly from the monitor through my audio patch panel to my audio monitors, which sounded great with no artifacts. I even tested from the video monitor through the patch panel to my audio interface through to the speakers which also performed better than expected.

Something else to keep in mind these monitors are by no means massive but also not petite (22.0″x8.17″x15.62″). The monitors side by side consume nearly 85% of the usable space on the top shelf which is 60″ wide.

The monitors can also be adjusted in a variety of ways to suit your needs, height swivel all that (they can also be set in portrait mode which is nice). They are pricey currently around $700 each but you can find them cheaper, I got mine on sale from Dell and saved about $400 [US].

So all in all that’s been pretty groovy, a very welcome upgrade… and hopefully will aid me in my attempt to comeback from my sacking slump.

Now I just have to save up for next years PC upgrade (finally), hopefully there’ll be more quad, quad core boards out there by then. ;-)]

Well this past week wasn’t as slacktastic as I had hoped but I did have the opportunity to accomplish a few things before the “new year” hops on over us.

In no discernible order:

• Worked way more than I had anticipated… way, way more.
• Watched the Dark Knight finally, (was shocked how “good” the movie is).
• Also saw Iron Man finally, (“Training exercise isn’t that the normal BS you feed ‘em?“)
• Ate Domino’s pizza for the first time in well over a decade. (I didn’t ralph this time.)
• Spent hours in the snow and ice to change a flat tire on Christmas day. [sweet!!!]
• Got nearly all the achievements for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (finally).
• Watched the Cowboys completely melt down against the Eagles. [sigh]
• Got to walk in tremendous amounts of snow and freezing rain, by just walking outside my door. [zen!]
• Realized I put my thermal socks in storage. [doh!?]
• Didn’t blog.
• Cleaned.
• Worked on some music.
• Forgot what else I did, it was that good.

A very quasi-slacktastic holiday indeed.

What about you?

So I’ve been playing Star Wars: The Force Unleashed for a few days now, and well… I’m glad I didn’t buy it and just rented it. It’s one of those games that… you know, you just don’t really think man I really love how this game flows.

The fights are incredibly frustrating and almost make you think; “It took how long to do this?”

There’s some things that are to put it bluntly just not well done and others which are not polished as they should be.

I might do a more in-depth scathing review later but right now I just don’t have the time, or the ability to put into words my dissapointment.

So yesterday Harmonix announced the release of Pearl Jam’s Ten album due out this March to coincide with the bands re-release of the album.

And today they released a bunch of “country” songs.

Huh.

Hmm.

Well then.

So the new XBE Avatar feature is pretty sweet.

Pretty sweet, indeed.

It’s here.

So who’s ready for the XBE update this Friday?

I for one have been upping my Netflix Instant Queue by the day… I mean I probably never would have watched Young Einstein again otherwise.

;)

This weeks Rock Band downloadable content includes one of my all time favorite songs from the decade past.

Blink182’s Dammit.

I guess there’s some other releases as well:

Siouxsie and the Banshees Pack – 440 MSP ($5.49)

• “Hong Kong Garden” – 160 MSP ($1.99)
• “The Killing Jar” – 160 MSP ($1.99)
• “Kiss Them For Me” – 160 MSP ($1.99)

Blink 182 – “Dammit” – 160 MSP ($1.99)
The Psychedelic Furs – “Pretty In Pink” – 160 MSP ($1.99)
Silversun Pickups – “Melatonin” – 160 MSP ($1.99)
Silversun Pickups – “Well Thought Out Twinkles” – 160 MSP ($1.99)

You can see the “official” release notes here.

Well it’s hump-day, again… (finally) and I picked up Rock Band 2 the other day. The Bunny and I haven’t played it much but it seems to be a nice step up from the previous version, especially in the area of song selection.

I also got my first 100% gamerscore game, which of course is Madden 09 thanks to some help from the Bunny.

1,000/1,000G Oh yeah baby!!!

Did anyone else get the Lucasarts latest, the Force Unleashed? If so is it worth more then a rental? I played the Demo and I have to say I was only so-so after being amped up for it to come out.