I admit, my posting has been a bit lacking after GDC. I have been crushed with work, and various technical problems with hardware at home (seems like everything from my laptop to my cell phone turned on me this week!). But that’s no reason for you to suffer, is it? This post is going to be a bit more editorial in fashion, just trying to cover a broad range of topics.

X3F: Misguided April Fool’s looks foolish?
So, after this weeks fiasco of Ask X3F (Xbox 360 Fanboy), there has been a small community backlash. It seems it’s a bit early for April Foolery. Many people found humor in the moment, but a lot of others were disgusted when Dustin hijacked the segment and intentionally tainted the image of many X3F’ers. “My Ask X3F hijacking is going to be rude, crude and so very un-helpful (is that even a word?),” he wrote. A user by the name of Graham even commented “X3F lost a lot of credibility when David Dreger left.” His comment was voted down, but I can’t help but think that, no matter how light and humorous the intention was, that a “professional blog” (if there is such a thing?) such as one under the umbrella of Joystiq should never intetionally “ruffle feathers” like this.

Gears of War 2: Where’ve you been all my life?
People have been suggesting that Gears 2 feels “rushed.” Well, fear not. Much like the first Gears, portions of the game are being “contracted out” to partner developer teams (certain multiplayer game types, map designs, etc… [side note: man I wish Psyonix would get a better webmaster!]).

CliffyB’s announcement that the first game was “a set up” to introduce you to the Gears universe is quite believable. While Gears 2 may feel rushed, if it were planned quite a while ahead, it could potentially live up to all things expected of it. Remember, the engine may have changed, and they may update a few textures and what have you, but for the most part, the game is built. It’s running on the same hardware, which they’ve already pushed the limits of once, expecting them to do so again is maybe expecting too much. Still, with some fine tuned mechanics and an even more involved story line, we are entitled to expect a lot from Gears 2!

LucasArts: Thank you.
Yes, we all know about Force Unleashed, but I would like to bring to your attention another LucasArts game that was recently announced and completely overlooked, Fracture. The story line is a little rough, but should prove to entertain. The game has the graphics and the setting that makes you feel like you are early in the history of the Mass Effect universe. And with their new “terrain deformation” mechanic, I think this game is going to be extremely entertaining. Oh, and incase there isn’t enough linkage today, here’s just one more for Fracture.

Maybe it’s just not on the news, but I just don’t hear about this stuff very often. A family, without renter’s insurance, got robbed last week, in the middle of the day. Adults at work, kids at school, BAM. TV, laptop, everything… just like a team of movers stopped by.

Well, here’s the fun part. I found out about this through my involvement with the Xbox community.

DeaconBlade 360, the host and founder of Unscripted 360, posted the story on his blog. A) Because he knew the family. B) Because one of the kids saved up his own money to buy his own Xbox 360, and a week later it gets stolen.

One of the users on the site, TheRhymeScheme, came up with the idea of setting up a fund to get this kid a new 360. I seconded the notion, and away we went. We’re getting close, and have the support of KonsoleKingz.com, and are spreading the word even higher up the chain - but for now, we’re just kind of doing what we can.

People here have made donations to my former websiteNuAngel.net, others in websites I am a member of have simply and genuinely helped me in a time of need. “Pay It Forward” (not the movie) is important to me, the idea of helping people, who may in turn help someone else… showing that not everybody is BAD.

SUMMARY
This isn’t some armless legless goatless boy in kurblakastan, or some huge scheme - I know these people, I talk to them over the phone regularly, play games with them on Xbox Live, will be meeting them this fall @ PAX… the robbery made local news in Dallas, TX. We will be getting photos of the “gift giving” when it’s all said and done. It’s legit.

LINKS
Podcast where we (Deacon, myself, and others) talk about it in the first couple of minutes of the show.
That podcast link also contains the link to the original thread where we began the discussion.

The thread on U360 forums.

The Donation Link (PayPal) is embedded in the original post, and the podcast post, and at the top of MY post, here on WinBreak.com. Once you log in to PayPal, just tell’em NuAngel sent ya (”additional comments” right before you complete the transaction)!

Just wanted y’all to know.

You don’t know when it’s going to happen, or who it’s going to happen to. Better yet, you don’t have any clue what my criteria for selection will be - or if there even is any! Trixie has her Gamer Spotlights, Unscripted 360 has the Showcase - and I’m bringing you yet another gamer off the street segment: WinBreak.com’s Better Know a Gamer.

The BKAG (bee-cag) segments will be extremely brief interviews conducted to highlight members of online communities who may not otherwise be interviewed. These are not meant to be the gigantic interviews I hope to conduct throughout the year with recognizable faces, but really just a way to pick somone who may be pretty much unknown via our “Super Secret Selection System” and learn about one more of the ten million users on Xbox Live.

There will only be a very short and fairly standard set of questions for each candidate, but I hope to really do a lot of them! If you want to nominate yourself or someone you know as a potential candidate for Better Know a Gamer, please use the contact page. There is no shame in nominating yourself, and we don’t need long drawn out nomniation letters - we’re very accepting and friendly around here! Just give us a gamertag, and maybe an email address (and if you really want, a reason “why!”) and we’ll take care of the rest!

Keep your eyes peeled and watch your inboxes (on Xbox Live, Xbox.com forums, your email accounts, your various other web forums - you never know HOW I’m going to contact you!!), because VERY SOON, your name may pop up in our Super Secret Selection System for: Better Know a Gamer!