ONTHEEDGE
Brick Masters: Inside the Austin Lego Community
Console Wars:
Which Videogame System is the best
Smart Grid:
The Future of Austin’s Energy
Robot Wars:
Mechanical Combat and the people behind it.
Dear Readers.... Thank you for choosing our magazine! We hope that you enjoy reading it and that you will be received with numerous articles about new technologies and topics that will keep you interested and will not make you throw this magazine away. We hope trough the course of this magazine you will find things that you enjoyed reading and that will help you in the future. Thank you for reading our Magazine On The Edge Staff
I love drawing, playing computer games, and killing people in my spare time. You don’t need to know anything else agout me, do you?
I was born in Febuary 27 1996. It was a good day. I really enjoy pizza especially home sliced pizza. My parents and I have been on a crusade against dangeourus chemicals for as long as I can remember. My friends may say that I fanatical about but the truth is I just want to help and make this world a better place.
I love video games and computers. I am responsible for everything video games in this magazine. I am one of the biggest Halo nerds in this school and maybe even the world so if you ever want to now more about Halo or (other video games except Call of Duty) I can help. -Too busy building lego sculptures and shooting pneumatic potato cannons to write my bio. I dislike typingk.
The Spud Report Would you rather your neighbor own a spun gun, or a minigun? only one of those is legal under Texas law, and it doesn’t fire potatoes. State governments should not regulate combustion potato cannons, as long as they comply with all sound ordinances and munitions laws. Spud guns are not nearly as dangerous as firearms. Bullets travel considerably faster and with more force than a potato or similarly fired projectile. Data from the educational website Hypertextbook.com and the reliable Spudgun.com shows a difference of several hundred feet per second in projectile velocity, enough to be the difference between life and death. In addition, a gun can be accidental triggered by almost anyone, whereas a potato cannon requires a complicated loading procedure and precise fuel air mixture, which is very difficult to do on accident. A small 9mm pistol, the most common home defence weapon is much more dangerous than even a 4” potato cannon. Secondly, spud guns do not meet the requirements that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms has set for what constitutes a firearm. In a letter to a concerned citizen, the BATF “determined that such devices, in and of themselves, are not
firearms as defined in Title 18 United States Code (U.S.C.), Chapter 44, S 921(a)(3) or 26 U.S.C., Chapter 53, S 5845.” as the foremost body on firearms, their ruling should be respected, and agreed with. Texas even allows other, arguably more dangerous devices, such as mini-guns, assault riffles, and flamethrowers, and should also allow potato cannons.
“A small 9mm pistol, the most common home defence weapon is much more dangerous than even a 4 inch potato cannon.” Lastly, Most cases of spud gun related injuries come from a blatant disregard for personal safety and common sense. One of the most prolific anti-spud proponents is Daniel Berry, who was blinded by an unsafely fired potato cannon. He has appeared on CBS evening news to tell his story, and inspire reform about this so-called menace. What he does not often say, is that he was the one firing the gun. At his own face, at point blank range. If he had been operating a firearm, the case would have
By Josh Stricker
been ruled a suicide, and he would be blamed. Such blatant misuse of any projectile firing device should be regarded as dangerous and unsafe, and not a fault in the device. It is not that the spud gun itself that was dangerous, only Berry’s improper use of it. the next time you think about potato cannons, don’t think “dangerous menace”, think “demonized science project”. Go out and build one. Have fun, learn something, and think, “should this kind of educational fun be outlawed?”
An educational device
Josh Stricker is an avid spud gunner, and prefers to stay legal with a pnuematic launcher. He does not advocate building or opperating potato cannons.
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Freshmen Year By Jorge Martinez Hernandez
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PP
eople will do anything to get what they want, and sometimes they will take the risk of getting into deep trouble. A student of the LASA (Liberal Arts and Science Academy ) High School took this risk. His name is Shea Barton; he is currently a senior at the Liberal Arts and Science Academy. He has learned many skills and is very responsible. He has currently applied to the three Universities and is hoping to independent Internet business manager. But three years ago, Shea did not know that his actions would cause two weeks of lunch and computer usage detention. When Shea was a freshmen a new club called STAC, a club that gives technology interested students the opportunity to work on live servers with real-time events occurring by managing and working in the schools computers Shea was just dying to get in but the club’s teacher and the school’s administration would not let him because he was a freshmen. “When I got to LASA, and saw the kids working in STAC, I thought it would be just my thing. In my ignorance, I thought STAC was a really obscure elitist club back then, with Fred Cutler’s office being in some odd room downstairs.” The only thing that Shea could do was to prove to everybody that denied him to participate in this club what he could do. “I thought the best way to get in would be to prove myself and get in as a freshman was to send than an email outlining security
concerns of the local LASA network, proof that I was able break in -- and step by step show them how to fix them.” Shea had never wanted to learn computer science in the beginning but as he grew older he knew that that was the thing for him. “There was never a date that I just decided to start learning how to use technology,” Shea said, “I didn’t start by some avid attraction to technology, but out of sheer annoyance with it. The few computer games I played when I was younger always broke or didn’t work -- and I could never figure out what the problem was, much less fix it. Then I built my first computer in 2006, and this involved learning every facet of how it worked.” The problems he encountered made him a genius at computer programming and with that he was able to find problems in the schools network.
“I didn’t start by some avid attraction to technology, but out of sheer annoyance with it.” In the beginning Shea believed that what he did was the best thing he could do at the time; “I believed, and still do, that this was a perfectly beginning and helpful action, security problems are found every day by security researchers to companies like Google or Microsoft,” but it seems that the his teachers did not agree, “now I know the proper
lines of action in this situation and the fault in my actions. I was punished by not being able to use school computers for a month and spent 10 days in lunch dete tion.” Shea did get into trouble but he was able to get into STAC. Shea is now an intern at a company who manages and creates small web startup companies called Capitol Thought. He also runs several websites and is currently applying to the University of Texas, Carnegie Mellon, and the University of Waterloo in hope of creating small businesses and websites, and become an independent Internet startup creator / business manager. It is important to now that taking risk is not so bad if you are doing it for a good cause. If you want something you will always have to show that you are worthy of what you want, Shea Barton has showed this to be true and we should all follow his example, not that everybody should hacked school networks but that we should fight for what we want and for what we believe in as long as that thing you want won’t hurt other people. And to the teachers and administrators at University of Texas, Carnegie Mellon, and the University of Waterloo I wish you the best of luck because you might have a genius in your school and that genius has the skills and the courage to do many things.
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B
PA is currently being removed by 6 companies from their product, These companies are Avent America, Inc; Disney First Years; Dr. Brown; Evenflo Co.; Gerber; and Playtex Products, Inc. All said they will no longer use polycarbonate plastic bottles for baby products in the U.S. . In the light of these actions, it has become clear to at least a portion of America that their babies are teething on toxins, and a few of the companies have responded to the demand. However, this is not enough, as there are many more companies that have yet to make the switch. I believe that since a few of these major companies have done so, it will provide an incentive for the others to do so as well. We need to change our products!
“Nearly 93% of Americans have BPA in their urine” -Center For Disease Control
BPA increases the chances of breast cancer, because it acts like estrogen. This is proven through decades of research, done by breast cancer research centers like the breast cancer fund, that show that exposure to estrogen greatly increases the chance of breast cancer. Also, BPA was first developed as a synthetic estrogen, and still acts as one. This is the question this raises; “Is the extra money worth forfeiting the health of the people”. It would be shocking to most people to find that their favored companies have essentially voted yes to this question. We need to take this breast cancer causing chemical out of our products! Human exposure to BPA is in everything from children’s books to canned foods. the full exposure of BPA is in products is cans, baby toys, water bottles, plastics, children books, and more. Practically every convenience store will be chock full of products containing BPA, such as sports drinks, beef jerky wrappers, and plastic toys. The infection of this chemical is everywhere in our society, that it is scary. Once you become aware of the chemical, you see it everywhere, in the canned soup that you eat for dinner, in the polycarbonate water holder at work that you drink water from everyday, and many more. We need to become aware, and force this invader out of our life. I do my best to survive in this corrupt world of toxic danger, and armed with this new knowledge, I hope that you can too.
-Jesse Paterson
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R E C CAN TION C E N CON
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lankets of mist coil and writhe. Lights beams flash through the clouds, and the entire arena is lit with a red glare. Fire jets blast unpredictably from the ground. Deafening speakers boom over the rumble of the crowd. The audience roars as the contestants roll onto the scarred concrete. Wait, roll? This can only be one sport: robot fighting, where competing teams show their worth by pitting handcrafted machines together in a tournament of duels. This recently born idea brings champions out from distinguished engineers, obscure teens and families with potential, in events compelling aura of battle, survival, domination.
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The robot fighting concept took hold with the creation of Robot Wars, the first competition featuring robots, was developed by a man named Marc Thorpe. From 1979 to 1994 inventor and Robot Wars founder Marc Thorpe worked as a chief model maker/animatronics designer for Industrial Light and Magic, a Lucasfilms department in California, and helped create Star Wars V and VI , the original Indiana Jones adventures, and several other successful films. Then he began inventing toys for another division, LucasToys. When it was discovered he had Parkinson’s, a crippling disease that makes everyday simple tasks more difficult and wears away one’s health. This would injure his productivity, but LucasToys closed anyway and
Thorpe found himself unemployed. Desperate, he began inventing, when the spark of ingenuity struck. “It was a combination of a toy idea ignored by a major toy company and a failed invention idea for a radio controlled vacuum cleaner. Never underestimate the constructive value of failure,”Thorpe said. “I had a radio controlled tank with a Dustbuster on it. I thought it would be fun to put a power tool on it. Then I thought about announcing a competitive event with destructive robots.” Thorpe named his idea Robot Wars and put out a few magazine ads that proved unsuccessful, and Robot Wars
may not have ever become a success before he contacted Wired magazine with some information about his inspiration. Wired magazine immediately recognized the potential behind the concept and put out an article featuring a photo of Thorpe’s failed invention with, not a Dustbuster, but a chainsaw. It wasn’t long until Thorpe was receiving countless messages in the email he had created for Robot Wars, all people who were interested in the event he had decided to hold at Fort Mason’s former military hangar. “Like the movie Field of Dreams. Build it and they will come,” Thorpe said. “It took many people: artists, engineers, friends, business
men and a record company that invested money. Some I worked with, others responded to my ads. Others responded to the Wired magazine article. They did a one page article on the upcoming event and that opened the floodgates of international interest.”
It was the idea, structured as a competitive mechanical sporting event,” “The first of its kind. It was more exciting than anything ever; the action, the set up, the music, the arena, the crowd roaring, the metal smashing, the motors screaming.”
After several years hard work on the part of many people first ever Robot Wars took place. Thorpe’s brainchild included three events; Face off, in which robot faced off in single combat and advanced through the rankings until a champion was declared; Escort, where one contestant defends a nuetral robot from another contestant as it makes it’s way around the arena; and Melee, a free-for-all including all contestants and the last one standing wins. All the while deadly traps in the arena were ready to wipe out any robot who came too close. As steel sparked on steel for the first time, Thorpe saw his dream come to life.
Legends arose; the South Bay Mauler, The Master, Blendo, Razer, Sir Killalot. The second year, Thorpe had no trouble financing, finding participants. The reign of Robot Wars lasted from 1994 to 1997, before it was halted by the company that had made those four years possible, Profile Records. Thorpe
sport of robotic combat was over. This was just the beginning. Robot Wars was the predecessor to all other factions. Though Thorpe could no longer have participation, but BBC, a British TV station, took it over and turned it into a show. In 1999, Battlebots was born and became a show in the United States. 2001, Robotica aired on the Learning Channel, and the Robot Fighting League was organized between the US, Canada, and Brazil. And it all began with one man named Marc Thorpe, who realized the enormous potential of fighting robots. “You need defense, offense, strength where others are weak, durability. Do not make your robot
The idea, structured as a competitive mechanical sporting event. The first of its kind. the action, the set up, the music, the arena, the crowd roaring, the metal smashing, the motors screaming.”
“People took interest soon as they heard about it,” Thorpe said. “The first event had over a 1000 people, 170 were media and press.
found himself tangled in a web of financial trouble, two different minds pulling different ways and at the same time butting heads. In the end Thorpe would not agree to Profile’s changing and frustrating standards and so Thorpe was denied his creation and Robot Wars passed out of his hands. This did not mean the
fragile, do not expose any critical features to damage, do not have any excess weight, do not use saws unless you also have a device to hold your opponent while you cut. Make everything so that it can withstand shock; rubber washers,
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Answer on page 21 OTE OTE 28 14
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Media
d n a a i d e M t r n o e i l v o a h Vi e B d l i Ch Video game’s true nature. By Jorge Martinez Hernandez
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o violent video games make children violent? Ask Harvard Medical School who have had many test and research on the topic and have found that violent video games do nothing to a modern child’s behavior. The video game entertainment industry is one of the most criticized for influencing violence into young children all around the world. However, in the University of Harvard’s Mental Health letter, they have observed and found in federal crime statistics that “serious violent crimes among youths have decreased since 1996” which is when video game sales began to rise. Since we can’t assume that during this period violent video games were the inspiration to the violent acts that did happen, we can say that violent video games don’t encourage violence in children. I myself have played violent video games since my early childhood and I never ever killed any one or committed any other serious crime. The most controversial violent video games are computer games. They are accused by many parents to be the most addicting and harmful to a child’s behavior. But in fact, computer games have been found helpful to many teachers as an educational tool to help teach students, especially elementary students, to learn. In her September 8, 2010 article “The Effects of Computer Games on Young Children” Jessica Harris talks about how studies suggest that computer games have “little or no effect on children’s aggressive behavior” and that they can even be put to “good use in an educational context.” Many teachers have found this to be true and are now using these games to teach students math, science, reading and even writing. It seems like computer games will become a popular medium for elementary education in the United States.
Violent video games having declared to influence violent behavior in ALL children. Regardless as to how that child’s behavior already is. But according to Adam D Thierer’s article “Regulating Video Games: Parents or Uncle Sam?” Major governmental and academic research projects have been done and have found that violent video games and youth violence have “no significant correlation.” Of course this applies to children that don’t have a violent background way before he or she played a violent video game. If major academic and governmental studies have found that children with a normal behavior will not be affected by violent video games then I believe that it is safe to say that if your 9-year-old child plays Halo for 30 minutes, they won’t be looking for real aliens to kill. I have played violent video games since my early childhood. I have never killed anyone nor have I committed one single crime of violence in my life. I, having first hand experience, can tell you that if your child plays violent video games, doesn’t matter what level of violence, they will not appear in the United States most wanted list. Video games might make you loss sense of time but they will not turn you violent, no matter what your age is.
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I
t is the year 2030, and Austin, Texas is considered one of the greenest and most sustainable major cities in the US due, in large part, to its wise investment twenty years ago in creating a Smart Grid. It was 2007, when an enlightened city council passed a resolution to make the city carbon neutral to do its part to reduce green house gas emissions and support climate change mitigation. Austin decided that a “sustainable and climate supportive future” would only exist if it learned to “kick” the fossil fuel energy habitat by switching over to a wide array of renewable energy sources. But that switch could only happen by investing in an “energy internet” like the Smart Grid to manage a diverse array of renewable and distributed energy sources. Now
as one looks across Austin’s urban landscape – photovoltaic panels, micro wind turbines and micro hydro power units are everywhere—shading surface
parking lots (solar groves), on or next to houses and businesses, and spaced out along the region’s plentiful rivers and streams-- are everywhere, producing low cost, pollution free energy that keeps Austin lean and green.
That clean, bright future is what Karl Rábago, and the Pecan Street Project partners struggle daily to achieve. It is a goal worthy of epic effort and Mr. Rábago is just the person to lead the charge as a US Armored Calvary officer as well as being an established expert on renewable energy systems, who served as Managing Director of the Rocky
Mountain Institute. Mr. Rábago helped establish the Pecan Street Project, a collaborative of local, state and federal government agencies and major US technology companies to share in the research and demonstration projects needed to learn how to best implement a smart energy infrastructure for a sustainable tomorrow. To date the Pecan street
project has created its first solar grove – convert-
ing surface parking space at the Palmer Events center into a power generating facility that shades cars and reduces heat island effects. It has also installed 23,000 smart meters that allow homes to send energy back to grid to be used elsewhere and credited towards the homeowners month utility bill. Karl Rábago is optimistic about the Smart Grid future. Rábago said, “In the future, users should have access to more technology based products, and a smarter environment that the Smart Grid will be a part of.” While Austin Energy and the Pecan Street Project Partnership are optimistic about the Smart Grid future, using an energy Internet is not completely risk free and some have expressed concerns about “new” vulnerabilities. A recent article from the E-journal “the New New Internet” noted that anything that uses information technology(IT) is susceptible to IT vulnerabilities such as hacking. It is no small concern that among the thousands of hackers out there, some might be good enough to hack into Austin’s Smart Grid and begin shutting down power to parts of the city just for kicks. An even grimmer possibility is that real
terrorist might buy enough IT talent to hack into the energy grid and cause economic and social upheaval by sabotaging sections of the grid. Karl Rábago stated that “yes”
hacking
is a real concern, “even a few
well placed bullets will take down a transformer easily. With the Smart Grid, we can contain this problem even quicker, as well as remotely solve it through technology.” This concept of weak links in our power system has been around for a while, even having been introduced in a book entitled Brittle Power, but it is a problem that will be around for a while more, no matter what direction we take our energy in. It is inherent in any energy infrastructure system whether connected by IT or not. The Smart Grid plan is in fact very new, and the implementation for the Smart Grid project was just decided in March of this year. That decision was easier to make when the City and the Pecan Street Project was awarded a $10.4 million grant
from the US Department of Energy to undertake demonstra-
tion projects and test elements of the Smart Grid. One aspect of this is innovative projects at Austin’s Mueller Redevelopment site. That large federal grant clearly is a vote confidence that Austin is on the path to a bright energy future. 2030 is looking
more real and closer all the time.
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Whats
In the Water?
I
n every pond, in every lake, every stream, and every brook, there lies a hidden menace. It causes nature to act in unatural ways, killing or changing all that it encounters. This hidden menace has a name. Atrazine. Recent experiments have shown that this chemical causes demasculinization and eventual hemaphrotism in the test subject african leopard frog. In the US, this causes massive environmental upheval, and it is currently being linked to certain human health problems. But what is this chemical, and why is it in our water?
The current drinking water standard for humans
80 million pounds
of atrazine are used in the US annually
Less than 0.1 ppb demasculinizes frogs
Europe banned it’s use
contains 30 times And the amount of atrazine
needed to turn frogs into hermaphrodites
our government refuses to
aknowledge these facts, and we continue to use this dangerous chemical on our foods. Say
NO today.
(buy organics)
By: Jesse Paterson
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BY NATHAN GARCIA octor Who, is a cherished British show ,probably because it has been aired for over 40 years and will continue being written for years to come. The show originated and is still being developed in the United Kingdoms, but it has made its way into American programming, which I think is amazing. The show started in 1963, with a mysterious man, a Time Lord that traveled through time and space, and death and disasters seem to follow him, as he encounters time after time enemies as supernatural occurrences that are pure sci-fi. The show faded out for a while, before it picked back up by popular demand as the newer and currently broadcasted series. This new series has 5 series featuring the the ninth(Christopher Eccleston), tenth(David Tennant), and eleventh(Matt Smith) lives of the Doctor. As with all time lords, the Doctor has two hearts, twelve lives and the power to regenerate through them(which changes his appearance!), and apparently has no name. In this new series, he is the last time lord in existence, the rest of his kind having died out in The Great Time War against the Daleks, a unemotional and deadly race. He possesses the last TARDIS, a machine that travels through time and space, a living machine that looks remarkably like a blue police box. It was meant to disguise itself based on its surroundings and time period, but when the chameleon device broke down, the doctor decided he enjoyed the current form too much to fix it. And it is bigger on the inside. Yeah, I know. Also in his skills is a brilliant mind with eons of experience, and it is seriously refreshing to have the hero know what the heck he’s doing. A sonic probe he calls a sonic screwdriver that accesses just about all devices and can scan and identify different things, plus a lot of other uses. Psychic paper allows the subject to see what they want to see or whatever the user wants them to see.
D
Because travelling through time alone is pretty lonely and he’s the last of his kind, he usually finds a human companion who accompanies him. The heartbreaking fact is he can never really have a love, because he is cursed to endure forever while the wither and die of age. In this series he has a bored with life girl named Rose, who decides to accompany him for two series and becomes his first love. Captain Jack Harkness, a jaunty, time traveling con man turned slightly more decent, and is later gifted with an extraordinary ability. Martha Jones, a would be medical doctor taken for a quick trip with the doctor in gratitude for saving his life. However, the one thank-you trip extends further and further, until Martha accompanies him for an entire series. Donna Noble, another person with a lesser role in life becomes the doctors companion for an episode, and is generally known for her no-nonsense attitude with the doctor. Matt Smith breaks in after a heartbreaking ode of goodbye to previous doctor David Tennant. David Tennant had an amazing way of sauntering, leaving his enemies in completely stunned silence, and lived up to the ancient persona when the time came for it. However, I don’t think Matt Smith will never have that. Granted, he’s younger and more fun, with a small tie and a thing for overalls and bow ties(“Bow ties are cool.”) but I don’t think he’s living up to the legacy. Amy Pond is his companion, an overall good companion that seems to have a little bit of the Doctor’s past companions within her. Dramatic and amazing as it’s ever been, but with a brand new sonic screwdriver and TARDIS interior, I’m not sure I will enjoy it as much as David Tennant’s reign, which it seems to have completely left behind. The opinion is the viewer’s.
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BY: ME!
The favorite-by-vote Tenth Doctor (David Tennant) preparing to regenerate after absorbing nuclear radiation.
TARDIS interior-just the fist floor!
First Doctor William Hartnell 1963–1966 Second Doctor Patrick Troughton 1966–1969 Third Doctor Jon Pertwee 1970–1974 Fourth Doctor Tom Baker 1974–1981 Fifth Doctor Peter Davison 1981–1984 Sixth Doctor Colin Baker 1984–1986 Seventh Doctor Sylvester McCoy 1987-1989-1996 Eighth Doctor Paul McGann 1996 Ninth Doctor Christopher Eccleston 2005 Tenth Doctor David Tennant 2005–2010 Eleventh Doctor Matt Smith 2010–
ENEMIES (to name a few...)
FRONT : SONTARAN LEFT: DALEK RIGIHT: CYBERMAN BACK: SLITHEEN FAR BACK: WEEPING ANGEL
Sonic Screwdriver
The Nestene Consciousness- A swirling vat of fiery colored living plastic that controls forms of plastic, particularly mannequins, and wants the polluted, oilfilled Earth to establish an empire Slitheen- A yellow skinned, large eyed, and three clawed family from Raxacoricofallapatorius that disguises itself in human skin suits and wants to invest in Earth’s destruction. Sontarans- A short clone race with squat bald wrinkled faces that worships battle, and would use Earth as a cloning planet. Reapers- When time is damaged by a paradox, these invincible black winged creatures appear to devour everything in the time zone, stopped only by reversal of damage. Daleks- A tentacled race of emotionless clones born to kill all Non-Daleks, living out lives in armored shells with a single eye stalk, a laser, and suction arm. The Doctor’s oldest and greatest enemy, they fought the Time Lords in the Time War, which essentially wiped out both races. Survivors reappear constantly to establish a Dalek empire, so the Doctor continues to fight them. Sycorax- A tribal race that tried to invade earth. Cybermen- Emotionless robots with transplanted human brains and nervous systems, which live to convert all other lifeforms into Cybermen. Weeping Angels- Angel-like beings that send a person back in time by a touch and devour the time that they could have lived. As a perfect self defence mechanism, they turn to stone the instant they are looked at and attack the moment you blink. They appear to be weeping because they cover their faces, because accidentally looking at another angel would kill them both. The Master- An insane survivor of the Time Lords, tortured by a drumbeat of four only he can hear, who hid, disguised as a human, from the Time War. He actually defeated the Doctor and ruled the Earth before being killed. But Time Lords do not die that easily. Vashta Nerada- A basically invisible and tiny ravenous species that mostly exists in shadows. In great swarms, they can devour flesh in an instant, and actually move in shadows themselves.
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Console Wars Who is the Best of the BEST? Over the last decade three companies, Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo, have created video game consoles and have fill them with the best technology that they can offer. Each company has done their best to out sell the other. So far every console has something to offer to the gaming community that makes them unique. Each has things the other doesn’t. During the course of this article you will learn what each company has offered and then after you know each consoles strengths and weaknesses, you can decide which console is the best of the best.
Higlights: Xbox Live and Motion Sensing Kinect Best Games: Halo, Call of Duty, Mass Effect Cost: New Xbox Slim (199.99(4G) 299.99(250G and Kinect Bundle)
Advantages
The Xbox 360 has a lot of good games and hardware to offer. Xbox live, a Internet services where you can play with your friends on the internet and more, is certainly the best part of the Xbox playing experience. Its Kinect console certainly brings a new era to the gaming industry and has many great things to offer, from motion sensing to a new way to use your Xbox. Its new Slim console also attempts to fix many of the Xbox’s problems
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Disadvantages
Old Xbox 360s suffer from hardware problems and overheating and the infamous “Ring of Death” which is caused by overheating the console. The Xbox also doesn’t come cheap it is very expensive as well as its Kinect console. The Kinect doesn’t offer many games yet so you might want to wait if you are thinking on buying it.
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Highlights: PSP, Playstation Move Best Games: Call of Duty, Uncharted 2 Cost: $299 (160 GB “Slim”)$349.99 (250 GB “Slim”) $399.99 (320 GB “Slim”. Only with PlayStation Move)
Advantages
The Playstation is certainly for those people who are interested in getting a good media service over the Internet and who are looking for some good games to play in HighDef. The Playstation Move even though very similar to the Wii has enhanced gameplay and controllers, which guarantee that you will have fun while playing.
Disadvantages
The Playstation doesn’t have the same Internet based gameplay as the Xbox and lacks in quality and also faces some problems depending on the game being played. The Playstation 3 is rather expensive, even more expensive than the Xbox 360. Like the Kinect, you should wait if you are buy the Move because there aren’t many good games for it just yet.
Highlights: Motion Console and Motion Controllers Best Games: Super Mario Bros, Wii Sports, Donkey Kong Country Returns Cost: Wii; $199.99 (white console or black console with Wii Sports, Wii Sports Resort and Wii MotionPlus) Nintendo DS ($149.99) Nintendo DS Lite ($129.99) Nintendo DSi ($169.99)
Advantages
The Nintendo DS is certainly a very interesting handheld. To play it you have to manually interact with the games objects and characters by using a touch pen and the touch screen, and the new DSi offers Internet and media services as well. Wii is certainly not a lone person console; if you want to have a good experience with the Wii it is best if you play with two people or more. And most importantly, both of these consoles are cheaper than their competition.
Disadvantages
The Wii and DS don’t have any games that would be appreciated by hardcore gamers. Some games are mostly aimed for children with a few aimed for older people and those aren’t very good. Also, sometimes the Wii’s remotes will not respond as you would like and are sometimes hard to use.
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The Mansfield Collection Febuary 3rd until September 8th
Huer Art Mueseum Huerart.org
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Dr. Stephen T. Colbert, DFA
OTE 26 2172311541513Video Game ConsolesDoctor