Beyond Gaming

Xbox 360 HD DVD Review

Let me start by saying that I do not purport to be an expert on HDTV and HD accessories -- I simply know what I like and what I don't like.

Having said that, I highly recommend the HD DVD player for the Xbox 360.

PS3 to Stay in Short Supply

An analyst with American Technology Research has bad news for people interested in purchasing the PS3.

With European demand stretching supplies thin, analyst Paul-John McNealy says that it is likely that the PS3 will have limited availability in the U.S. through June 2007

PC World Covers History of Game Consoles

With the PS3, Wii and 360 battling it out for market supremacy and as we turn the calendar on another year, it's a great time to take a look back at gaming yesteryear.

That's what PC World's Danny Allen has done with his latest article, A Brief History of Game Consoles, as Seen in Old TV Ads.

Why all the NBA Live Hatin'?

Gamespot is holding its annual readership vote for best and worst games of the year.  Much like the Oscars or Emmy awards, they have narrowed down candidates to five in each category. 

You can vote on the best sports game, best shooter, best action adventure, etc., and they also have a "Dubious Honors" category. 

I was surprised to see NBA Live 07 for the Xbox 360 in the "Worst Game Everybody Played" category.

Madden takes 2006 Sales Crown

As an avid sports video game fan, I enjoyed seeing news from the market research firm NPD Group showing that Madden 07 was the highest selling video console game in 2006.

Not only did Madden take the number one spot for sales on the PS2 with 1.6 million units sold, the 360 version came in seventh place logging 760,000 unit sales -- pretty impressive for the 360 considering how many fewer consumers own a 360 compared to the PS2.

What's on your Tech Christmas list?

Aside from tracking news on the gaming industry, I'm also a public relations professional.  One of the clients I represent is the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA).

CompTIA recently conducted a web poll to determine what was on top of their holiday wish lists this year, and the PS3 came out on top, with 21 percent of the 1,054 respondants indicating that's the tech gift they wanted most.  Followed by HDTVs and the Xbox 360.

HD DVD or Blu-Ray? Who cares, they're both obsolete

Having just purchased an HD DVD player for my Xbox 360, I have been visiting technology sites around the web to get opinions from various industry gurus to see whether they think the HD DVD or Blu-Ray will ultimately win the format war (Phil Swann's TVPredictions.com is a great resource for information like this, by the way).

It turns out that my search is in vain, because according to an article at CEpro.com both HD DVD and Blu-Ray technologies are already on their way out the door, and will be replaced by Holographic Data Storage discs that hold up to ten times as much data as HD DVDs.

Favorite Sports Games -- All-time

Since I started this blog, I have been thinking and talking to my friends a lot about video games. One of the conversations we had dealt with the best sports titles ever, so I have put together a list of my top 10 favorites. These may not be "the best" sports games ever made on video game consoles, but they were the ones that had my thumbs hurting more than any others.

I want my MVP!

Xbox 360 fans of EA's MVP Baseball series are getting shutout in 2007.  Electronic Arts has announced that next year's game will only be available on the PS2.

That leaves only two options for the 360 -- Major League Baseball 2K7 and The Bigs -- both developed by 2K Games.

I'm not a 2K sports basher, but MLB 2K6 was terrible on the 360, and from the progress they have made with the game over the last two years, and the lack of competition from EA, it looks like 2007 is going to be another lackluster year for baseball video games.

I was hoping that Microsoft would add MVP 06 to their latest backward compatibility update, but that didn't happen.  It seems like the sports genre is getting the short end of the stick with the updates from Microsoft -- a trend that will hopefully change next year.  What Xbox sports games would you like to play on the 360?

No PS3 or Wii? Register at Amazon tomorrow

Amazon is giving an early Christmas present to gamers.  Consumers who want to pick up a PS3 (60 Gig or 20 Gig versions) or the Nintendo Wii can visit here to sign up for a random drawing being held Tuesday, December 19.  Those names selected will have the opportunity to purchase one of the hard-to-get systems.

You have to act fast, though -- you can only sign up for the drawing through 3:00 a.m. Eastern on Monday, December 18.

For those who aren't selected, BensBargains.net does a great job of tracking the availability of the PS3 and Wii at various online retail sites. The PS3 Finder and Wii Tracker are updated every 10 minutes.  I know these sites work because I used the Xbox 360 Tracker to get my system last year.

Good luck!