World of Warcraft almost got it's hooks in him. It started innocently enough, he wanted to spend more time with his son and that's what he was playing. Before long it was "No really, I can stop anytime I want...". Sound familiar? Like most addicts he stayed with it only until a better drug came along and that drug was "Second Life". Now Para spends his time day-dreaming about that house on the beach instead of that headshot in the trench. Well, if you think he's been a little "scarce" lately then think about this, I heard a rumor that he recently got his mitts on an X-Box 360 and a copy of Gears of War. He will be missed.

      Don't believe the hype. I finally got around to playing the Halo 3 Beta last night and I'm a little dissapointed to say it's basically just more of the same. Honestly, I didn't see anything going on that could not have been downloaded in an update for Halo 2. New maps, slightly better sound effects and graphics, a few new weapons and vehicles and some minor tweeks to the old ones. Other than that the game still suffers from all the drawbacks that kept me away from H2, that run and gun, every man for himself, twitch reflex, mindless, shoot everthing that moves gameplay that I just don't enjoy. A little strategy, teamwork and communication would have gone a long way. For me, the final nail in the Halo multiplayer coffin is the fact that you STILL have no say in which game type or map you get thrown into. Basically, you connect to Bungie's servers and those control freaks put you in whatever random game comes up next. That's just lame. A total deal breaker. Do they honestly believe this makes matches more "fair"? Seems like getting rid of the cheats and exploits would have done that. C'mon Bungie, get it together.

     The 360 Elite is the console that the 360 should have been in the first place. After playing on mine for a few weeks now I have to say that this is the best console I have ever played on and I didn't even get the BenQ DVD drive I expected, I got the Hitachi. Say what you want about Microsoft, they seem to have found a way to read my mind and give me everything I could possibly want in a video game console. Now if they would only start making women....    

     Some things just go well together. Peanut butter and jelly, burgers and fries, breaking and entering, Halo 3 and Zune. Wait a minute. Halo 3 and Zune? That's right, Microsoft just announced the "Halo 3 Zune". I may not be a fan of Halo multiplayer but the story line and campaign are near and dear to my heart and I'm a little sad that they didn't annouce this earlier, I would have waited.   

     Riddick on the 360. Just the sound of those words got me salivating like Pavlovs's dog (look it up). Nothing official, no release date or publisher announced but take my word for it, Starbreeze is working on a 360 version of one of the best original X-Box games and, in my opinion, one of the best games of all time. Now I understand why the game hasn't been given any backwards compatible love when it seemed like doing so was a no-brainer. How many games can you honestly say you would be willing to shell out $60.00 for to play again? I suspect not too many. Hopefully this time around they'll cover the one little detail they overlooked before. MULTIPLAYER ! ! !   PLEASE ! ! ! This game would totally ROCK X-Box Live. By the way, Starbreeze is worknig on another 360 title that I'm very excited about. "The Darkness" is poised to be one of the most elusive creatures in video gaming, the summer blockbuster. With a June release date this game should easily steamroll all competition until Halo 3 comes out on Sept 25. I like the way Starbreeze operates. They do things a little differently and it pays off in the long run. Kudos!

     INOX  NYC