First off I have to say I write allot on the blogs about the grief my wife gives me as a gamer and how she sometimes does not always make it easy to enjoy the games and consoles. But I have to thank her for using her camera phone and taking this picture.

You know you are kind of a gaming nerd when you get all excited at the Grocery store to get your picture taken with Master Chief. I can remember a few years back seeing a card board cut out of Angelina Jolie from the Tomb Raider movie in the same store. Like any red blooded male in this world I sure enjoyed looking at the likeness of one of the sexiest women in the world. But I did not even come close to wanting to get my picture taken with that card board likeness. Master Chief was a whole different story, the idea of getting that picture just made me feel like a little kid getting their picture taken with Mickey Mouse at Disney World. So if you are like me and you want to feel like a kid again, start looking everywhere that sells the Gaming Fuel Mountain Dew.

Update: I sure do feel tall standing next to him!

The guys over at Pixel Perfect put together a list of all the things that suck about each of the consoles. It is a fairly common list of complaints that you will see on any blog, forum, or website. But it is interesting to read through their thoughts.

The one thing on the list I do not agree with is the comment about non standard PS3 headset support. I like the idea of having a simple Blue Tooth headset. It is easy to work with and it allows the user some flexability.

Via Pixel Perfect

Joytiq is reporting that EA plans to shut down 42 servers as of September 1st, 2007, and another 7 as of November 1st, 2007. As a gamer who has not completed all of Madden 2006 yet this is a little disturbing. Not to mention that this is clearly EA’s way of pushing gamers into purchasing the latest sports game expansion pack …… excuse me I mean latest versions of all their roster changes for sports games …. Whoops slip of the tongue I mean latest full version their sports games line up and other games that have newer versions out.

Microsoft seems to be able to keep the servers up for the Xbox version 1? And it has always been a Mystery to me why exactly EA needs to maintain servers aside from the Xbox LIVE servers? It always seemed like a great way to obtain email address to send advertisements (Cough, SPAM, Cough) about their new products not to mention data mine the other information they force you to enter. Aside from Square Enix, it seems that EA is the only other company that needs to maintain redundant servers to allow online game play. Since Square Enix does this to charge extra and allow cross platform play it leaves one to wonder what EA has up their sleeve in the future, and I doubt it is cross platform game play.

I am sure there are a pages of statistics and an army of bean counters over at EA that can tell you that hardly anyone is using those servers, and that it costs truck loads of money to keep them running. But here is the deal, if we as gamers can only use these sports games for a year or two maybe we should not have to clean out our wallets to buy your game. Maybe games that require EA servers to be maintained should only cost $30.00 or $40.00 to buy. I also think that EA should be much more forth coming about the fact that you will only be able to play these games for two years or probably less in the future. I would bet that within a few years they will shut off their servers the day that the next versions are released. I honestly hope that Microsoft and Sony step in and do something about this, because I think it is really a black eye to both platforms that EA can swindle money from customers using their respect platforms. I would encourage anyone who has purchased games that are affected to send emails to EA, Microsoft, and Sony about your feelings on this matter. I hope this makes everyone think twice about buying EA games and additional EA content. Lets all hope that 2K Sports can step up to the plate and give us all a true online gaming experience.

Check out what the guys at Penny Arcade think about EA, I definitely agree! Click here!

Here is the schedule for the mass unplugging

September 1, 2007 Online Service Shutdown
Arena Football for PlayStation 2
Arena Football for Xbox
FIFA Soccer 06 for Xbox 360
FIFA Soccer 06 for PC
FIFA06 for PC
FIFA Soccer 06 for PlayStation 2
FIFA Soccer 06 for PlayStation Portable
FIFA Soccer 06 for Xbox
FIFA World Cup 2006 for PC
FIFA World Cup 2006 for PlayStation 2
FIFA World Cup 2006 for PlayStation Portable
FIFA World Cup 2006 for Xbox
Fight Night Round 3 for PlayStation Portable
Fight Night Round 3 for Xbox
Madden NFL 06 for Xbox 360
Madden NFL 06 for PC
Madden NFL 06 for PlayStation 2
Madden NFL 06 for PlayStation Portable
Madden NFL 06 for Xbox
Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects for PlayStation 2
Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects for Xbox
MVP 07 NCAA Baseball for PlayStation 2
MVP 07 NCAA Baseball for Xbox
NASCAR 06 Total Team Control for PlayStation 2
NASCAR 06 Total Team Control for Xbox
NBA Live 06 for Xbox 360
NBA Live 06 for PC
NBA Live 06 for PlayStation 2
NBA Live 06 for PlayStation Portable
NCAA Football 2005 for Xbox
NCAA Football 2006 for PlayStation 2
NCAA Football 2006 for Xbox
NCAA March Madness 06 for PlayStation 2
NCAA March Madness 06 for Xbox
NFL Head Coach for PC
NFL Head Coach for Xbox
NFL Head Coach for PlayStation 2
NHL 06 for PC
NHL 06 for PlayStation 2
NHL 06 for Xbox
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 06 for Xbox 360
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 06 for Xbox

November 1, 2007 Online Service Shutdown
Burnout Revenge for Xbox
Burnout Revenge for PlayStation 2
Need for Speed Underground for PlayStation 2
Need for Speed Underground 2 for PC
Need for Speed Underground 2 for PlayStation 2
Need for Speed Most Wanted for PlayStation Portable
Need for Speed Most Wanted for Xbox

Via Joystiq