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Even if they’re skeptical or downright pissed off about it, lots of people mark the unveiling of the Revolution controller as the most memorable gaming moment of 2005 - even more than the Xbox 360 launch. The only thing with more votes was “Just playing great games and having fun.” This is definitely good news for Nintendo, and with recent rumblings about new graphics technology, Twilight Princess with the new controller (despite being a GameCube game), and a possible May launch (this would be sweet but seems least likely), Nintendo seems to be in a pretty good position to kick of 2006.

An independent music store in Charleston, SC is allowing customers to trade in their old CDs for an iPod. How sweet a deal is this? What’s to stop the customer from ripping all their CDs into iTunes and then trading in for a new iPod?

Millennium’s CD to iPod converstion table:
45 CDs = 512MB iPod shuffle
65 CDs = 1GB iPod shuffle
85 CDs = 2GB iPod nano
110 CDs = 4GB iPod nano
130 CDs = 30GB video iPod
175 CDs = 60GB video iPod

I’m pretty sure I could get at least a 4GB nano if not a 30 GB video or more. Too bad I’m a little far from Charleston. Maybe Amber should tell her brother about it…

I almost forgot…when we got back into Madison on Monday night, we got in the car to go to dinner and I flipped to my favorite radio station, Mad Radio WMAD. I didn’t really pay much attention at first, but then I realized it was a country song. Now their slogan is “new rock, no rules” but that would be a bit of a stretch. When the song ended they announced that it was the New Star Country.

!@#$%^!@#

Not only did they flip the station to country, they killed the station completely along with the morning show they carried (at least killed it for Madison). It was the only station I could really listen to for more than 5 or 10 minutes before I wanted to flip and it’s the only station that played a decent mix of Alternative. It was one of the only stations that played almost entirely new music. Madison radio has sucked since we got here, but this is just one more reason for me to consider XM or Sirius.

I just had a chance to checkout the first gameplay video from Zelda Twilight Princess. I am impressed. Realistic graphics, lots of time on horseback, new items and functionality, and some sweet looking gameplay. I’d say the extra wait will probably be worth it.

I’ve been pretty busy lately. Our Christmas trip started last Tuesday night when we headed out to Des Moines after work. We made it to Albion mid-afternoon Wednesday and started taking care of lots of wedding details - marriage license, photographer, florist, meeting with the priest, cake, reception - you get the idea. We also had Christmas with Amber’s parents and her dad’s family, plus a little wedding stuff included. All of her dad’s siblings got together to get us a Kitchenaid mixer (like this reconditioned unit on Amazon, only new). One of Amber’s aunts set up a Pampered Chef party just for us that I was pretty excited about (can you feel the excitement sarcasm?). Needless to say people were overly generous and we had to find a way to spend over $600 without buying any big ticket items like cookware or dishes because we already have some picked out at Bed Beth and Beyond. It was a little frustrating because we ended up buying a bunch of stuff we don’t really need instead of being able to apply that money to things we really wanted.

We were in Andover mid-afternoon on Christmas Eve for some time with my family. My parents decided to go for quantity and gave us tons of less expensive gifts which was fine with us. Of note are our new crockpot (the biggest), an old Beta video my mom had put on DVD, and a slideshow movie of my life from birth to 22 that my mom and sister weren’t quite able to finish because of old computers. Monday morning we got up early and made the trip back to Madison in 10.5 hours (fastest yet).

I decided to put part of my Christmas bonus towards a GPS unit so that Amber and I could start a new hobby - Geocaching. I did some research and really couldn’t decide what unit wanted. There are basically two brands to choose from - Garmin and Magellan (Magellan gets props for a cooler looking website). We finally found this Garmin bundle at Dick’s and it seemed like a really good deal (we got it for cheaper than the price on the website). For those who don’t know what Geocaching is and are too lazy to click the link, it’s a sort of large scale scavenger hunt in which players use GPS coordinates to find little treasures hidden all over the place. Each cache has a log book to sign, and some have small trade items/trinkets in them.

We decided to try our luck at Geocaching first in Albion. We put in five different Waypoints and spent a few hours looking. We found our first one without much trouble, but because of the snow on the ground and a lack of proper attire to be venturing into treelines and digging in the snow, we finished 1 for 5. We decided to try again in Andover, this time with my family along and had much better luck. In about 2 hours we found 5 of 5 caches and with any luck we got my parents and sister hooked on it. We haven’t had a chance to check out any caches around Madison, but it’s only a matter of time. I’ll try and get a few pictures up of our Andover adventures. I’ll also try to get back in some sort of posting routine. Until next time.

I know I’m late with this news, but I just finished watching the new trailer for The Da Vinci Code. I’ve been anticipating this movie since I first heard they were making it not long after I finished reading the book. I have to say a lot of it looks very cool, but some things in the trailer aren’t quite as I imagined them. I’m not sure what I thought a cryptex would look like, but I don’t think that was quite it. Still, I think the casting looks superb, and I trust Ron Howard to do it justice.

We’re probably going to see King Kong this weekend. I’m interested to see if it lives up to all the hype; I’ve only read one review that wasn’t absolutely raving. I’ve also got to wrap up my Christmas shopping, and Amber and I will probably exchange at least some of our gifts. Then there’s just two days of work and a lot of driving, wedding stuff, Christmas gathering, and more driving before we’re back in Madison late on the 26th.

IGN has gotten some developers to spill the beans on Revolution and it’s hardware. I think it’s a little early to know if this info will remain accurate until launch, but it’s interesting. I knew that Nintendo was aiming for a lower target than Microsoft and Sony, but this is the first news of any kind that the price could realistically be lower than people think.

Software houses we spoke with also waxed on the immediate advantage to Nintendo’s approach with Revolution, which is, of course, system price. Every developer was in agreement that Revolution should launch with a price tag of $149 or lower. Some speculated that based on the tech, a $99 price point would not be out of the question.

That’s pretty crazy, considering the Nintendo DS is currently $129.99. I’ll remain skeptical until closer to launch.

It’s a pretty busy time, but it’s one I really enjoy. My parents along with my sister and her boyfriend (who I finally got to meet) were up for Thanksgiving. We sort of hosted, and I think we did pretty well with it. I gave them a (limited) tour of Madison through the snow and slick streets. We also went bowling and saw Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. The movie was pretty good, but there is no way Dumbledore would ever grab a student like that. I think Michael Gambon really missed the target with his portrayal of the headmaster this time around. A few other changes for the movie were mildly annoying, but overall it was really good. It was also nice to talk to my family for more than 30 minutes on the phone.

My bowling team has been doing pretty well lately. After the first seven or eight weeks, they reset the standings and since then we’re right around .500. My average is still going up (six pins in the last two weeks) and we’re third in our division. Bowling in the league is fun, but I think it’s a little too competitive for my taste, at least with my current performance where it is. I’ll probably try to get into a mixed league next summer.

So after losing every single coach’s challenge for the entire season, the Chiefs finally won not one but two today, one overturning a crucial play that helped them beat the Broncos. My three Chiefs fantasy players all did pretty well too which was nice, even if the rest of my players were lousy today. Oh, and the Bears handed Green Bay one of their bigger losses of the season. I am highly amused with the Packer’s total suckage this season, especially since I’m now surrounded by fans of The Pack.

I’m about 1/3 done with my Christmas and birthday shopping (both my mom and sister have birthdays within a week of Christmas). I’m hoping to have the rest done by the end of the week. I just have to figure out how to keep Amber’s hidden away until I can wrap them. This apartment isn’t that big. It is big enough, however, for a 6 foot Christmas tree. We went and got ours yesterday at a tree farm north of Madison. The place was OK, but I’ve been totally spoiled by Prairie Pines. It took quite a while but we eventually got it inside and decorated. It’s twinkling away as I speak (although it was an adventure finding some lights that did what we wanted).

I really think Amber and I could get into GeoCaching. It’s something I heard about on TWiT while I was listening at work this week. It sounds like lots of fun. I need to do some research on GPS units…

Edit: Here’s our tree. Happy Holidays!

I was listening to the latest Revolution Report podcast today and I heard the audio of Mark Rein bashing the Revolution controller. I thought the guy was pretty dumb before but hearing the audio made it even worse. I got the feeling that there were a lot of Nintendo fans in the crowd and they wanted to kill him. How sad that he will be eating his words this time next year.