Xbox 360 and Rodin\'s Thinker

As you may be able to tell from my excessive use of Rodin’s Thinker in many of my online profiles (as well as the header image to Beyond the Rhetoric, I have a tendency to think a lot. That would probably explain the white hairs on top of my relatively young head. In any case, I’ve had a few things on my mind lately that don’t really warrant a blog post individually, but they are things that I would like to touch upon.

Microsoft Xbox 360 Price Cut

Seeing how I’m already the proud owner of a Nintendo Wii and I have decent access to a PlayStation 3, as well as a Nintendo DS Lite and PSP, it’s pretty clear that I like my video games. Capcom, Nintendo, Electronic Arts, and so on have always played a rather prominent role in my life. Now I’m left wondering if I should add an Xbox 360 to my collection.

There was a price cut announced during the E3 conference last week wherein the current Xbox 360 can be purchased for under $300. Looking at the Future Shop e-flyer that I received in my email inbox, this price also includes two “free” games: Unreal Tournament and Gears of War. I’ve never been any good at first-person shooters and that’s partly why I haven’t jumped onto the Xbox 360 bandwagon; its library is filled with FPS titles. Should I take the plunge now that the 360 is cheaper?

The Nature of Nicknames

Before the advent of the Internet, very few people would be dumb enough to make their own nicknames. When the world wide web gained a little more prominence, just about everyone started to have an online persona of some kind. Raul calls himself Hummingbird 604, for example, whereas John Chow became known as Moto (before becoming the root of all evil). I’ve gone through a couple of online names myself, but none of these have ever really infiltrated the real world.

It’s not exactly a nickname, but I’ve found that many people online have started to refer to me simply as “Kwan”. I’ve noticed in this in a few blog comments, but even some Dot Com Pho attendees have started calling me Kwan. Is it because there are too many Michaels out there? Stephen says that I should be known as Kwanye (as homage to a certain rap artist).

Dot Com Pho Outgrows Itself?

This week’s Dot Com Pho kind of got split in half. John Chow refused to leave Richmond, whereas Stephen Fung was adamant about hosting our weekly lunch in Vancouver. As a result, pho noodles were eaten at both locations. I’m not really sure what this means. Could we be having two gatherings every week? That just makes things more complicated than they need to be.

Picking a PhotoShop Contest Winner

My Make Fun of John Chow contest has produced some rather awesome entries. I’m pretty impressed with the creativity exhibited thus far and I am looking forward to what else you guys can produce. From Britney Spears to decapitated Kung Fu pandas, the competition looks like it’s getting pretty stiff. It’s going to be hard to choose a winner!