Bone: The Great Cow Race now available
The next chapter in Telltale Games Bone series, Bone: The Great Cow Race, is now available. For those not familiar with Telltale Games, it was founded by many of the programmers from LucasArts who left following the cancellation of Freelance Police and LA's move away from graphic adventures. A demo is available so you can try it before you commit to buying it. While you're there, why not check out the Sam & Max cartoons Steve Purcell is putting up on their site while the Sam & Max game https://www.telltalegames.com/sam_and_max is in development? Click here to head on over to Telltale's website.

You know, I REALLY want to like this series and the work Telltale is doing, but the demo for Act 2: The Great Cow Race, left me pretty flat. It seemed overly simplistic, a bit low budget, the voice acting was horrid and it just didn't seem to have the sense of humor the old LucasArts graphic adventure games had. Like I said, I really want to like the work Telltale is doing, because they're the ones working on the new Sam & Max game, but having played some of Bone, I'm losing a bit of faith.

So, if you've played either of the full versions of the Bone episodes (or the demos for that matter), what were your impressions of them?

The Road to E3 2006
Yes, it's that time of year again. E3 is right around the corner and everyone is lining up to show you what they'll be bringing you later this year. During E3, we'll be presenting you with daily updates on all the goings on. Before you ask, nope - I don't have tickets to E3, so I'll be getting my news the same way as everyone else.

Sony should have some big news about the Playstation 3 to report as well as the PS2 and PSP. Head on over to Sony's E3 2006 page to get an early look at how they'll be running things.

While Microsoft won't have a new console to present, they do plan on going all out during E3. To start off, for the entire week of E3, May 8th through the 14th, Live Gold service will be completely free. Also check out the interview with MS Corporate VP Peter Moore where he lets us in on some of the other goodies we can expect during E3. Most exciting of all, he states that the marketplace will be keeping up with E3 and that many of the demos playable on the floor will be presented on Live for download. I don't know about you, but that sounds like a dream come true. Would it be asking too much to hope that Gears of War turns out to be one of those playable demos? Head on over to Microsoft's E3 2006 page for more!

No specific page from Nintendo yet, but there's sure to be one soon as the Revolution should be making it's public debut at E3 as well.

You know, with all this coverage and the ability to play the demos that are on the floor, it's like having a little slice of E3 in your living room. Now I just have to go out and hire some booth babes!
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Now I don't know about you, but I love E3 week - and I've never even gone in person. It's that one week where you can check gaming news and constantly see something new about cool game or item that's just around the corner. More importantly, it's that one time of year when all the companies are dying to get information out about their products. Sure, they keep a tight lip on things for most of the year, but during E3 it's a whole different game. All the games that have been under wraps suddenly appear like Cinderella at the ball and try to capture our hearts (and wallets).

The news about how Microsoft plans on using Live to try and bring the E3 experience home by way of demos and trailers has got to be one of the bext Live marketing ideas I've heard in a long time. Add in the giveaways and contests that will be going on during the free weekend, and it's certainly going to be a good time to be a 360 owner.

Don't get me wrong though, it's not all about Microsoft though - E3 is going to be our first real look at both the Playstation 3 (hopefully) and the Revolution - and if you're not excited about either of them, then you're either a fanboy or lying.

So here we go, the road to E3 is now open, let's all hop on and enjoy the ride!

Rise of Legends goes gold!
The sequel to the legendary Rise of Nations series, Rise of Legends has gone gold according to Gamespot, and is on track to meet it's May 9th release date. I don't know about you, but I'm excited! If Big Huge stays true to it's word, we should be seeing a second, more finalized demo of the game coming soon.
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What more is there to really say? Rise of Nations and RoN: Thrones and Patriots were both amazing games. I never thought someone could successfully merge a RTS with Civilization until Brian Reynolds proved me wrong. While the beta demo was a bit buggy to say the least, it showed enough promise that Rise of Legends is still VERY high up on my radar.

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children to release today
Well, this is one of the initial tests of the comment system for the site, so feel free to register and discuss Advent Children here. A few words before we start...

1.) Be respectful to your fellow posters - I have no problem beating the ban button like a bongo drum.
2.) If you're going to post a major spoiler, please indicate so. Don't make me come find you.
3.) If you've got something to say, say it - and back it up with well thought comments. Posts like "FF7 roxxors cuz square is the best and xbox sux - lol Advent Children FTW" doesn't tell us much except that you're stupid. Don't be that kid.
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Anyway, I'll be honest and say that I've managed to keep most of Advent Children off of my radar, so beyond knowing that somehow Sephiroth is back and that most of the characters from FF7 are involved, I don't know all that much about the story of AC.

Xbox Diamond Cards definitely shipping
I just received an e-mail from Microsoft letting me know my Xbox Diamond Card is being printed and should be arriving in 2-3 weeks. I'm not sure if the sudden printing of said card is due to an e-mail I sent to Microsoft Support regarding the Diamond Card and facets of the upcoming E3 free weekend, but it's nice to know my bling is in the mail.

If you've gotten your Diamond Card already, have you been able to use it anywhere? SIs it indeed make you the coolest guy at the party? Let us know!

New Super Mario Bros DS Site & Video
Nintendo sent word that their site for the upcoming DS title New Super Mario Bros. is now up and running. Better yet, the site also includes in game video footage of NSMB. You know, the desire to run out and buy a DS just keeps getting stronger and stronger. Must... hold... off... until... DS Lite...

As the news bit hints at, I still don't own a Nintendo DS. I was highly skeptical of the system when it first came out, but Nintendo has really put some effort into the DS in the last year or so, and there's a veritable pile of games I want to play on the thing. The problem is, with the DS-Lite coming sometime in the near future, I'd rather hold off and pick up the shiny when it hits stores. While thats normally not a problem, games like Resident Evil, Brain Age, Advance Wars, Castlevania, Mario & Luigi and now NSMB make that a very rough thing indeed.

So, how excited about the New Super Mario Bros are you, and more importantly, what are some of your favorite memories from the SMB series. Share with the class!

How to make your own Xbox 360 Arcade Controller
I've been looking for wiring diagrams for the Xbox 360 controller for awhile now as I'm intrigued with the idea of building a full sized Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved arcade cabinet. Anyway, while searching for said information, I came across this tutorial on how to build a working arcade controller out of a 360 wired pad over at GamersReports. While the example uses a Street Fighter II Anniversary Edition Arcade Stick for the controls, it shouldn't be too hard to just apply the same idea to regular arcade parts and make a custom one. Too bad, there wasn't a tutorial for the analog sticks, or I could have started planning to play Geometry Wars: RE in style someday! Click here for the tutorial.

If you've played Project Gotham Racing 3, you've probably noticed the Geometry Wars & Geometry Wars: RE arcade machines in the back of your garage. Well, everytime I look at them, I can't help but think how cool it would be to build a full sized machine using that design. It probably helps that I'm a Geometry Wars: RE addict.

Anyway, like the news bit says, I came across this tutorial for building an arcade controller for the Xbox and think it may be time to use a lot of those arcade parts lying around here that are earmarked for stalled projects.

So anyway, let's discuss both the tutorial article as well as building custom controllers here for a bit. Post some pics of your creations if you have them, and if you happen to know of a site that explains just how the analog sticks on the 360 controller work, please, please, please let me know. That GW:RE cabinet really would be nice.

INFINIUM LABS DELAYS PHANTOM LAPBOARD

As some may know, Infinium Labs is the company behind the now defunct and ever so aptly named Phantom game console. Back in February, Infinium finally stated what everyone knew - namely that after all the smoke and mirrors, the Phantom console was not going to be coming out - at least not anytime soon. Instead, Infinium stated that they were going to focus on their other product, the Phantom Lapboard - a custom made wireless keyboard/mouse combo that is designed to be sit in ones lap and be configurable for right or left handed use. Well, today Gamespot reports that Infinium has announced that the Lapboard will miss it's announced summer release window and instead slip to a "No later than October" release. Sound familiar? I thought it might. How these guys keep finding suckers to invest in their scam is beyond me. Does anyone really buy that they can't meet the deadline for releasing a keyboard? I wonder what they really spent the 5 million dollars in additional funding they got back in February on.

Check out the note about the Lapboard delay at Gamespot here and for further information, check out this news item from Gamespot back on February 21st when they opened the books and cancelled the Phantom.