Family game night has come and gone for Rockband, but the beat goes on for the Owens family. Practice sessions and working on our set list will be next, along with selecting an official band name. It's a little early to set the World Tour dates, but at least the family dog is digging us.

Rockband is everything they claimed it would be and finally the inner drummer in me has an outlet. I can't say knocking out beats on the steering wheel will go away, but at least I know the Xbox 360 will provide hour after hour of a Rocking Good Time.

So keep an eye open, the next big Rock act might be right around the corner, in fact... get your self Rockband and it just might be YOU!

The family that games together stays together! Actually its plays together, but you get the picture. So the new game in the household is none other than Rockband. My youngest who is not even 2 yet has been eyeing this game or the drums I should say. So tonight she's says, "Drums..." not wanting to go to bed and my oldest says, "Yeah, I want to play drums on the 360 too."

It's about this time I'm looking at Xbox.Com and my wife says, "How about tomorrow we play Rockband?" Just as I'm looking at the calendar of events and see that tomorrows Family Game Night is none other than Rockband. I guess we know what we are all doing tomorrow.

Most of the titles that they have had lately didn't appeal to me and we didn't have them. Finally a family style game that we have and should enjoy. I know this will be a little bit of a challenge for the kids, but we'll do what we can and should have a good time just the same. We'll give it our best and Rock it, cause that's how we roll.

Remember back in High School when you had to take a dead frog and dissect it and identify all the internal parts? Same idea with the CNET Networks' TechRepublic series called "Cracking Open" in which they take a look inside a variety of gadgets. Check out the recently dismembered Microsoft Xbox 360 Elite and see what really makes this baby tick. Being an Elite member myself, I really enjoyed this series of photos.

Most of the Xbox 360 on the shelves these days are exactly the same on the inside now. Sort of a all frogs are alike. In other words. They all pretty much come with HDMI and the internals are the same as the Elite. The only differences are color and size of hard drive or lack of hard drive. So if you buy and Xbox 360 and it has HDMI, you can look at these photos to learn more about the inner workings of your gaming system. Or you can crack it open yourself, keep in mind that this will void your warranty. Happy gaming all.

 
It's official now and the news was broke by none other than, GamerScoreBlog.Com. I Think its cool, having first seen this title on the Gamer Score Blog road tour in Dallas myself. All Gold and Silver members will have a chance to download Undertow, free of charge, next Wednesday from 2:00 a.m. PST through Sunday, 11:59 p.m. PST.

The wait is over now and feelings appear to be mixed on the selection for the free arcade title. I can say this, I like the game from what I've seen at the tour and from the demo. I've had it in mind for purchase and now I don't have to worry about it. Some people might already have the title and all I can say is you'll need to call Customer Service and let them know. I also guess some people might not like the title and you'll need to call as well. Personally, I'm glad it's not Sponge Bob and I would have needed to call in then. Oh well, mark your dates and grab it, the game is really a good Arcade title. Thank You Microsoft!

The Next game I plan on adding to my gaming collection will be last years hit Rockband. Ever since I heard about this game and the drum controller, I knew I was going to want this sure to be party favorite in my collection.

Not only does it leap and bound over the earlier titles, its a clear rocker favorite among many. I have to say I'll even give the singing a chance at some point and that is one area I normally stay away from. I'm no American Idol for sure, but I feel pretty good about my chances on Drums, Guitar, and even so rad Bass riffs.

So keep your eyes open, TXPaldin & the 360 Live Crew will be taking stage at the very early part of 2008. Official tour dates are to early to tell, but February dates and times have already been discussed. Plans for simulcast shows are also being looked at as well.

No comment on the recent issues is the stand that Microsoft has to take for now. Thanks to a Class Action Lawsuit filed in Texas, we are in the dark on what has happened and how things stand with Xbox Live. In a recent Podcast from Major Nelson and guest host e, they told us what they could. Nothing! It's in the hands of Lawyers for now and that is all we'll get until this is settled.

For the most part it was revealed to be growing pains and as best as I can tell, all of those issues have been solved and things are back to normal for Live. In a move to say we are sorry or we thank you for the large milestone that was hit on Xbox Live, Microsoft has stated that a free Xbox Live Arcade title would be given to all Live members. The question now is when will this all happen and do we have to wait for the Lawsuit to go away, in order for them to tell us more about it.

The announcement of the Nintendo 64 classic GoldenEye making is way to Xbox Live, excited numbers of fans looking forward to playing as 007 once again.

But sadly this will not happen as Nintendo and Microsoft are fighting over the payment for game sales and the license for this title. The ever so popular game was only two months from completion for Xbox Live.

The Xbox Live game was reported to have included the same visuals, weapons and levels as the N64 game, as well as full online play. Now it appears this one will end in a draw and never see the light of day.

It's not often I see the World of Computing cross into the Gaming World, but that is what Johnny Chung Lee has done with the Wii remote and the .Net 2.0 frame work. He's made it possible to do Head Tracking for Desktop VR Displays using the Wii Remote.

It's a little hard to tell in this picture, but these are targets on little poles and with the special equipped VR glasses that Johnny has made, it tracks your head movement and the targets appear to move behind you as you get closer. Trust me, you need to check out the video and read up more on these projects.

I'm not rushing out to get a Wii, but I have to say I'm amazed with the things they've done and now what someone has accomplished in extending the possibilities. It just shows you what could be in store some day for the gaming world. My only thinking is you better have the biggest HD TV set to really enjoy this.

Check out Johnny Chung Lee and read up more on his Wii projects. Don't forget to look at the Video Clips while your at it.

Show number 2 is up now. This week I had some minor tech issues in producing the show, but I'm hanging in there and I hope you'll do the same.

This weeks show is not so much on gaming, but deals with things that happened around CES and where we stand with the whole Blu-Ray vs. HD DVD format war.

Give it a listen, you should see the recent shows posted on the right hand menu area, a little over halfway down. You can also subscribe to the show and have it download for you when ever I post up a new page.

Enter the following URL to subscribe for future show.

http://www.podshow.com/feeds/txpcast.xml

It's time to be all you can be for six days. Sponsored by the US Army, its time to enter the Halo 3 Play & Win Sweepstakes. For Six days & nights, all you need to do is be registered and get online and play Halo 3.

The cool thing is all of the free content and help that you can find on Live. Go over to the Spotlight section and then click to the Free Stuff area. Here you will find all the information that you'll need for the upcoming Play & Win Sweepstakes.

Download the free Gamer Pics & Theme and check out the free video downloads to help you become a better Sniper in Halo 3. So get signed up and start practicing your skills. January 19th is right around the corner. See you all on Live.

The lights went down as a video intro began playing to the tune, "Do You Believe In Magic" and then it kicked into an upbeat dance rocking version of the tune.

After a few introductions it was time for Bill Gates to take stage for his final Keynote of CES. He explained what the future had in store for him and a cute video showing what his last days at Microsoft was shown. You couldn't help but smile and laugh at the all star cast that was gathered to send Bill Gate off.

On to business and what Microsoft was clearly here for. CES provided the stage for them to remind people of some of the things already announced from last year and give more of a State of Microsoft address. Sure we know about Microsoft Surface and the IPTV services, so it was nothing new when they displayed and talked about this.

But where does Microsoft stand with the end users as they stand up and are counted? For starters we can look at the enormous 400 million Live ID users that Microsoft has massed. Then you can move on to the impressive 100 million people using Vista.

But it doesn't stop there, how about the 17.7 million Xbox 360 consoles sold to date this past holiday season and then follow that up with a milestone of 10 million Gold and Silver Xbox Live subscribers, a full six months ahead of schedule. This explains some of those Xbox Live growing pains we've all felt lately.

Wow and there's more when you add the over 10 Million windows mobile users from last year and the expected doubling of that by next year. Last but not least is the Zune users and service called Zune social with it's 1.5 million user that have tried it. Microsoft announced they will open Zune up to Canada in Spring.

Bill Gate went on to address how Touch and Speak are the way of the future and the keyboard & mouse will become a thing of the past someday. He later introduced Mika Kramer who spoke on Live, Windows Live Events and a cool Photo Gallery feature and how it was all connected via Live.

Bill gave a walk through on Windows Surface and then explained how Silverlight would be used in a partnership with NBC to showcase the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Then it was time to turn things over to Robbie Bach and what was in store for Entertainment. Robbie together with Molly O'Donnell talked about Zune Social and the new partnership with Ford and the Ford Sync product expected to ship 1 million enabled cars next year.

It was mentioned that Mobile Phones out sell PCs 4 to 1 and that Windows mobile today outsells the Blackberry & iPhone. Next was a demo of the Talk to Me services and wraping up more or less was a demo of the future services in Visual recognition software that will soon be in your phones.

In closing a disputed $20 debt between Robbie and Bill would be settled via Guitar Hero III. Suddenly Robbie brought out a ringer in Kelly "Tipper Queen" Law-Yone the GHIII Champ and she rocked an impressive intro to the contest. Robbie thought he finally had Bill, until he produced his very own ringer. Rocking his way on out was none other then guitar hero Slash. Show's over, real guitar trumps the game any day. All in all it was an ok Keynote showing from Microsoft.

Pictured is Slash, Bill Gates, Robbie Bach and Kelly "Tipper Queen" Law-Yone.

Launched in 2008 - I've started a new venture and decided to throw my hat on the sound board so to speak. I use to DJ and I'm ok with a Mic and felt I'd give Podcasting a try.

So today I launched show number one of fifty two for this year. The shows are only 10 minute shows right now and I hope to grow them to 30 minute shows later in the year. I'm also producing a show for my non gaming blog as well.

Anyway, give them a listen and hang in there as I work at find the perfect mix between content and producing the show. By the way for the most part this is a Live show. The software I'm using is called Castblaster and I lay out all my content and hit record. So if I flub, its going on the show.

This weeks show is dedicated to Friends and deals with the recent problems on Xbox Live. Hope you like it and check back next week to see what I have in store. Take care all and have fun gaming.

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Last night was tough and scared me as well as other Xbox Users on Live. In trying to get around the blades, for messaging & game invites to in game matchmaking areas or game lobbies and the Xbox 360 would lock and freeze up.

I tried to invite a friend last night and had to wait about a minute for my screen to free up and allow me to perform the task. Meanwhile my friends in the lobby sat and watched each other Pop in and out for no reason at all. I have to say its a bit comical, "Hey where did so an so go... Oh now he's back, no wait, now he's gone!"

Am I mad? Do I feel like ripping my box out and demanding a refund? No. Disappointed in some ways, but the fact is things have grown faster then they imagined it would. Remember the commercial where the company opens up for Internet sales and a couple trickle in and then a flood. They all look at each other scared. Guess what Microsoft, your scared now, but this is a good problem. It means a lot of people have voted to use your platform for gaming and like the Live service. Fix it please... I know it's what they are doing and working on, I know.

Disappointed, yes, but I have faith it will be worked out and very soon. Not sure why the problems would cause everyone's Xbox to act like it was about to croak, but hopefully that will go away soon. But you don't have to freak out and file a lawsuit like three Texans have done this past Friday. No I'm not one of them! Microsoft has already offered a free game download, the only problem is what and how that will come about and I'm a Zune user as well, what do the Zune users get for their problems? I sure hope this is a really good free game. If your seeing this MS, maybe you should think about the MS Points option and give us Points to use on what we like, it works on Zune too, of course you already know all of this. Oh well, if Live is going to be bad, I'll focus back on Campaign stuff.

It's been tough at times to get on and play some matches with your friends lately and what could be the reason for such issues is detailed in a letter from the GM of Xbox Live. Not only do the explain the reasons, reveal goals that have been broken, they understand and want to do better and send a thank you for the loyalty and help celebrate in the success. I'm not talking gamer pics or a free theme pack here. Read the letter in its entirety.

Dear Xbox LIVE Members:                                                                                                    

During this past holiday season you helped us break a number of Xbox LIVE records.  This included our largest sign-up of new members to Xbox LIVE in our 5 year history and just yesterday you broke the record for the single biggest day of concurrent members ever on the service. 

As a result of this massive increase in usage we know that some of you experienced intermittent Xbox LIVE issues over the holiday break.  While the service was not completely offline at any given time, we are disappointed in our performance.  I would like to take this moment to thank you each and every one of you for your patience and understanding as our team has worked around the clock to return the service to a stable state. 

At the same time we would like to offer a token of our appreciation to all of you in celebration of record success for the service.  And as a thank you for your loyalty during this holiday period, we will be offering all of our Xbox LIVE members around the world access to a full Xbox LIVE Arcade game that will be available to download free of charge.  In the coming weeks we will be sharing the specific details of this offer with you. 

Thank you again for helping make Xbox LIVE everything that it is today! 

Sincerely,

Marc Whitten
General Manager, Xbox LIVE
Gamertag: Notwen

I'm new to the Xbox 360 and still with in my first year of ownership and that being said, I have a total of 10 retail games in my collection. These are games purchased or provided to me in 2007. I decided I would list them in my order of favorites, a countdown so to speak. This in no way means its the best game, its purely a ranking of the titles I currently own.

Number 10 kicks off with Madden NFL 07, its my only sports title and the first football game I've played and owned since the original Tecmo Super Bowl for the NES. I'm just not a huge Sports Fan really, but wanted to try this out and learn to play this popular title, plus the used price was a steal.

Number 9 boogies in with Dance Dance Revolution Universe, this is a fun title for family and friends to play and I recommend that you pick up a second pad. Its better to have someone shake a tail feather with than be the only one to wiggle it.

Number 8 is the shafted Shadowrun title. Its sad that this game had an early demise and wasn't given its just rewards. The title is a cool game, just didn't take off to much and I feel more and more people will pick this up used and find the game is not as bad as they thought. It's pretty much on online only game and people felt it should have had more of a campaign behind it. It's clear that games that have both do better I think.

Number 7 is GRAW 2, lots of cool war action both offline and online, sad is the fact that most of my buddies dumped this title with the release of other titles later in 2007. I like it enough to hold on to it longer at least.

Number 6 brings us to Piñata Island with Viva Piñata. This is a family game and very kid friendly game, it was a must buy and play for me and my girls. Yes I do like playing it more than numbers 10 through 7 so far. I like Viva Piñata.

Number 5 races toward the finish line with Forza 2 Motorsport. This is the best racing game I've played and the Livery editor to jazz up your cars is a blast and time consuming to say the least. It's going to be fun to play over and over.

Number 4 is Halo 2, yes I know this is pretty much an original Xbox title, but I'm a huge Halo fan and its one of the reason I decided to get an Xbox 360 in the first place. Both the story mode and online play has been a blast for me.

Number 3 is the Orange Box collection. Massive value for what you get in the shape of 5 games in one box. Yes the Half-Life 2 games are single player only and Portal rocks for sure and then you get the cool Team Fortress 2 for some online action. It's a great package in my mind.

Number 2 hits in the shape of Call of Duty 4. This game came out of now where and I've had some fairly solid play out of this game lately. It's pretty much a tie with my number 1 game, but for some small reasons it slips into number 2 spot.

Number 1 brings you Halo 3, like I said a clear reason I wanted the Xbox 360 to begin with is the Halo world. The story mode has been excellent and I love the live action. Then you go further with the online support at Bungie.Net to review games, share pics, and save game films. This is an awesome feature set in a title. Not to mention the DLC being released as well.

Well there you have it, a listing of my favorite retail titles that I own so far to date. Looking towards 2008 will be the music collections of Rockband, GH III, and GHII I feel and the rest of the field will have to wait I think as I see what is appealing to me.