Trailers - The Prestige & The Illusionist

I can't wait to see The Prestige and The Illusionist. They both look like great movies and you can't beat the fact that they both focus on magic.

Addicted To LinkedIn

It's sad to admit, but I have to confess that I am addicted to Linkedin.com. I'm so dedicated to expanding my connections and getting back in contact with former co-workers and friends. You wouldn't believe that number of folks I've managed to meet again through the service. For those who aren't familiar with Linkedin, it's basically a way for you to connect with other folks and expand your contacts and friends. In some ways, it's like a more sophisticated form of Friendster. You start out my creating a profile and go from there. Before you know it, you'll have a connections list full of people you might have forgotten about from previous jobs or schools. You can also find people who might be interested in hiring you and other cool things. There's a lot you can do, so I would suggest you all sign up and try it out if you're interested. It's completely free unless you want to utilize their additional services, which I always contemplate doing.



Oh, and for those who are curious, here's my linkedin profile page.

Direct Feed Now Available

You guys should notice a couple of new icons above my links section on the sidebar. These are for those of you who prefer to get your information by feeds instead of constantly checking this site to see if I've updated (which I hope to do more frequently). So, in order to save you time and get my blog posts to you quicker, I'm now using a new service called Feedburner. This should allow pretty much anyone to subscribe, regardless of if you're using Google, NewsGator, an RSS reader or pretty much anything else in-between. So, enjoy.

A Great Trend: The “Special Edition” Greatest Hit

Sometimes, the videogame industry does something that surprises me and makes me proud to be a part of it. In this case, it’s the simple idea of adding additional content to the Greatest Hits version of games in order to not only grab the interest of budget gamers but also to spark an additional purchase by devoted fans. The movie industry has been doing this for a while now, but it’s very rare when you actually get an updated release that truly features cool additions. In most cases, the studios are perfectly happy throwing in lackluster commentary tracks, a brief behind-the-scenes feature or thirty seconds of new footage and then slapping an UNRATED! XTREME ULTIMATE EDITION! label on it. Six months later, you get another release with an updated credits sequence and a blooper reel and that becomes the MEGA BOOTLEG EDITION! TOO SHOCKING FOR THEATERS! version.

So, it makes me proud to see that game developers aren’t just throwing cheesy bonuses in but rather building actual, new content that makes that $20 oh so worth it. I know that I’ve forked out for at least two of these additional releases despite playing the originals to death and certainly haven’t regretted it. This whole concept of adding cool, fresh stuff is so obvious and welcome that it’s shocking that it hasn’t happened sooner. Hopefully, in the next-generation of gaming (when the PS3 arrives .. sic) we’ll see these “Special Edition” releases right off the bat. That combined with a higher number of Collector’s Editions of the top-tier titles should do a lot to add to the, well, collectibility of future titles.

For those who are looking for these special editions, definitely check out the following Greatest Hits releases (or their Xbox equivalents if they were ever released):

Note: If I forgot any, definitely email me about it so I can add them Thanks.

Star Ocean: Till the End of Time



Features: Two-DVD set that includes extras from the Japanese Director's Cut, including enhanced character renderings, environmental graphics, cinema scenes, battle graphics and maps.

Tony Hawk’s American Wasteland Special Edition



Features: two exclusive Classic Mode levels, two exclusive secret characters, Behind the Scenes with Neversoft and a concept art gallery featuring Jimbo Phillips.

Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition REMIX



Features: 24 new vehicles, a new city (Tokyo), new music, new races and battle maps.

Devil May Cry 3: Special Edition



Features: ability to play as Virgil, Dante’s nemesis and brother and the addition of one new boss, experience adjusted difficulty levels, an alternate continue system and a survival-arena mode called Bloody Palace.

Virtua Fighter 4 Evolution



Features: two new characters, a Quest Mode, tons of new unlockables, improved balance and some new moves for the established characters.