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!
As sorry as I feel about this week’s Richmond Dot Com Pho failure, you can’t expect people to continue to drive 30 minutes to an hour to come out to Richmond when one is not willing to give up a 5 minute commute for the greater good. Even with our change in venue, the commute from Richmond would still be less than 30 minutes.
Relocating Pho to an area that is more centrally located means greater accessibility for everyone. It doesn’t mean we won’t visit Pho Lan again, but it would be nice if we can see some fresh faces more often in addition to the old ones.
+1
I feel for ya since you live out in Port Moody and you come to Richmond. Gas ain’t gettin any cheaper (although it’s dropped a bit).
I for one am excited to taste other restaurants. Pho Lan is good/consistent, but eating it 52 times a year can get tedious!
Michael Kwan = Kwanye from now on. EPIC!
Thinking to hard gives you grays? Damn, I gotta mellow down… Wait, I’m already as mellow as I can be.
About Pho, everything changes. It just happens, most people just hope it stays to there liking.
Stephen says that I should be known as Kwanye (as homage to a certain rap artist).
Anyone know if Google Bombs still work? π
Stop wondering, go grab and add that Xbox360 to complete your gaming collection!
You’re not required to be good at first-person shooters in order to enjoy the huge collection of games on XBox360.
I’m now slashing ninjas and decapitating monsters in the awesome Ninja Gaiden 2 which is available only on XBox360!
You’ll looooove Gears of War and the Xbox360 has more exclusive games than any other console. Saints Row 2 and Gears of War 2 also come out later this year.
Not to mention, if you’re bored in Deadmonton, you can just ping us and we’ll have Dot Com Multiplayer something π
Alternatively, I can wait until the 60GB comes out for $349. Probably no free games though.
The price drop on the 360 has made me consider adding one to our gaming area, replacing the old standard Xbox. Right now I am just trying to find a copy of Wii Fit.
As for the nicknames, I have to say that I’ve never really had an online nickname. There are a few sites where I use a nickname that was born during my college days. I’ll have to add my vote to Kwanye, classic!
I must admit, I do refer to you as Kwan from time to time, probably just because it’s easier to say than Michael and there are a lot of Michael’s around so using your last name makes it more distinctive….as far as the gaming systems, I have all first generation stuff (Nintendo NES, Sega Genesis, PS1, XBox) and hardly use those!
It has been fun seeing some of the entries in your contest…I’m glad I’m not the one who has to pick a winner between them
You are not into comics.
You hardly played your first generation game consoles.
What did you do during your childhood? Studied for your PHD? LOL!!
I didn’t say I hardly played them…just that I don’t much anymore π In the past tense I have logged thousands of hours on each of those consoles π
I also spent a lot of time outside during my childhood π