Tim, our resident...guy...has recently purchased the official team patches.  We decided it would be a cool little patch to have, one that we can wear and enjoy, tangibly.  

Here is a pic of one of the velcro backed patches on an ACU uniform (Army uniform)  

Not the best pic, but its a black backing with a white Winged Scythe logo that is our primary logo.  Patch is 3 inches by 3 inches, and comes with either no backing (for sewing) or velcro.

Ask Tim for details on the forum: http://www.sinsandsaints.org/mybb/showthread.php?tid=2283

 This time: Sky Fighters!

Rules apply to chat room, please keep it PG13 until we decide to make sex jokes and curse at each other.  

Enjoy!

 More:

-Promotions for members today, 13 members in all have been promoted.

-New Members, 4 new members today.

As for festivities:

-We just beat BAF in a 5 part Ace Combat Challenge.  Points total decided the game, rules were Missiles only.  64,000ish to 34,000ish with S&S taking the Lead.  Good stuff to all that participated.

-The Ace Combat Group has been officially stood down, and will resume operations should we see Ace Combat 7.

-Shell Back, on Thursday

and the best news:

We are starting to do Movie nights on our Justin.TV channel.  

Feel free to join us by going to our Viewing Room thread (members only) or hit up our Justin.TV channel here: www.justin.tv/shmodmediadept

If you are a guest, keep discussion friendly.  PG-13 unless we aren't acting like it.  

We plan on having these every now and then, with at least a day's notice.  This was less than a day's notice, so no big deal.  We'll be showing air-frame movies to start, but as we go along, expect ones that all people can enjoy!

It's the beginning of another year, and the major platforms and developers are gearing up for another go at attracting new consumers, be it through rather silly looking gadgets (here's lookin' at you Natal) or in depth and serious story-driven gaming experiences (Alan Wake and Heavy Rain perhaps?)

It's another year at gaming, and things continue to look a hazy type of brightness that one would expect from looking through a semi-translucent spherical object that is obscured in some manner, perhaps a light dusting of paint....I digress though, we're here to talk about this year, as we know it so far.  

Gaming started out as one of those silly little things in the basement where smelly men got to be more interactive than we had ever believed possible.  Someone in the business world saw potential, and well...the rest is history.

Living History that is.  

We stand at the cusp of a rapidly evolving and ever changing market.  Happens a lot of with emerging markets, but this one is fun in that has started to hit the popular general marketplace, with perhaps the Wii becoming the first console that really appealed to a general audience.  

Good for that.  

We're gamers.  We care about games and what our very specific market is giving to us.  Whatever for the Natal, if it can come up and give us an experience that makes a game genuinely fun, I am sure we will accept it with open arms.  Watching Jane Lynch and some random family that happens to have all the demographics in it (very convienient, eh Microsoft Marketing people?) play the Natal does not leave me with favorable impressions of what is to come, but I have yet to forsake the Natal to the "gimmick" status.  

We want to see the next year bring us some cool stuff that leaves us with memories on par with those of the first time we got that wooden sword or got our first Star (if you dont get the reference, you might not be a gamer...).  Of course we're getting the massive amount of sequels, big hitters being Halo and Fable, Medal of Honor and I'm sure Mario is gonna somehow show up somewhere (Mario Accounting).  What I think the industry is really looking forward too right now, is how Heavy Rain is going to fare, how Alan Wake is going to give us a story and how the interactivity is going to continue to sky rocket.  Games used to have some silly story and all's we had to do was chop up the badguys, now we got such in-depth narrative, one that I welcome with open arms; I continue to maintain that Hideo Kojima is a master before his time when it comes to cut scene direction.  

Games as art is still a very heated discussion.  I tend to believe in the idea that it is art, for I believe that what we see is better than any other media can give us.  Movies give us the visual, books give us the depth, games give us immersion.  Good for James Cameron and his 3-D witchcraft, at least in Mass Effect I can decide if the Na'vvi (err...Asari) deserve their share of stuff.  It's not art as how we know it, but it is art in it's own form.  

2010, above all things, above Natal, above Home, above 3D and crazy visuals, above Mario Accounting, is going to be the year of the epic story. 

What's going to help in the long run, I believe, is the art aspect (don't get me started on a debate on this, just hear me out.)  Thanks to Capitalism, we're gonna get slammed with the usual random games that none of us "hardcore" gamers care about...but hey, it makes up the majority of the sales of games, without them we're not gonna see stuff that really rocks our socks (like...Mass Effect 2 and Bioshock 2, perhaps?)  We'll continue to attract the college guys and kids with stuff like Madden and FIFA, and we'll get them in with some Call of Duty.  Cool beans, it drives the business, respectable (and they are fun too, that's a plus.). 

All of it, comes back to seeing major developers develop some truly in depth experiences.  Mass Effect 2, hell yeah.  Fable, hell yeah.  Heavy Rain, Hell Yeah.  

Gamers got it good, and we had it great last year.  From what's been revealed this year.....Destructoid, the Gawker Network, GamesIndustry and a whole mess of industry blogs are hopeful, clearly a good sign.

Microsoft is saying its the biggest year for the 360 (as they do every year)

Sony is saying it is totally gonna be the year for PS3 (again)

and Nintendo is sitting there, printing money....still.

2009 was a cool year, every single year, we see something new come out and astound us.  Here's hoping 2010 gives us something we really remember, as for me?  I'm gonna sit here, turn on my ME2 and know that in 5 more years, something even better is going to be on my TV (or whatever we're using in 5 years...but let's be realistic.)

2010, sign me up.  

Monthly staff meeting is happening soon.  All admins and mods, be ready to go.  

Thanks. 

Mass Effect 2 in depth review has been posted in the forums.  Give it a look and tell us what you think.  

We're officially starting up our next big project.

With our groundings in Ace Combat, and our successful venture and domination into IL:2 Strumovik, we're making our way back into the First Person Shooting ventures.

We are offering three teams this time, 1/56, 2/56 and 3/56.  Our Xbox 360 team, our PS3 team and our competitive 360 team, respectively.  

We invite anyone interested to come on in and join up.  I will be handling the 360 groups, and Sailboy will be handling the PS3 group.  We're focusing on bringing in a whole new group, so chances to lead will be present.

See ya on the forums then.

Just got the package in the mail.

Thanks to everyone at Ubisoft and to Travis Getz for all the support.  The team appreciates it greatly!

 Hey guys,

Got an Email from Chris Burke over at This Spartan Life.  He's got a cool campaign for his award-winning machinima in the works, thought I would make a mention for one of the best Machinimas out there.

"This Spartan Life NEWS 

*This Spartan Life cast members in "virtual dream date" shocker!*

*After a long hiatus, TSL is back from meat space and diving headlong into game space for a new episode.*
And to promote the new video, we are offering a virtual dream date with our own Amber of the Solid Gold Elite Dancers. The beautiful but deadly Amber has agreed to go on a virtual date in Halo 3 on Xbox Live, with anyone who pledges $200 or more to our *Kickstarter.com* project.
Being an independent media company means always having to be creative with raising funds and Kickstarter is about as creative a fundraising tool as we've seen. So we thought we'd bring something unique to the deal and offer much more than the usual tee shirts and credits in the video. A date with Amber is something a gamer will never forget (if he survives.)

But maybe Amber is too much for you and you'd prefer a more relaxed date. Well then, Fyb3roptik and MC Aero are ready and willing to sweep you off to their multi-player Casbah and show you the most romantic spots. Plus, pledges of $25 or more automatically get entered into one of three *monthly raffles* for a date with a TSL cast member.
Go to our kickstarter.com page for the full details:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1948944779/this-spartan-life-award-winning-video-series-new


*About This Spartan Life*
/This Spartan Life,/ the brainchild of Brooklyn, NY-based filmmaker, sound designer and 8-bit musician Chris Burke, is a talk show in game space. Using /Halo 2 /and now/ Halo 3/ as its backdrop, the show is the latest offering in the ever-growing machinima movement, which combines traditional filmmaking and animation with the new worlds of videogames. With a talented team of writers, musicians and filmmakers both locally and around the world, /This Spartan Life/ began as an underground sensation in 2005 and has since become a breakthrough hit, scoring glowing reviews in mainstream media outlets such as Wired Magazine, the BBC, Reuters, BusinessWeek and PRI's Studio 360, major consumer videogames outlets like G4, Kotaku, and Tips and Tricks Magazine, as well as creating a viral sensation online. Described by Wired Magazine as “a mash-up of /The Charlie Rose Show/ and /Doom/,” /This Spartan Life /combines high-brow interviews with the likes of Sex Pistols manager and provocateur Malcolm McLaren with non-stop fragging, hilarious asides and slapstick comedy. For more information, visit _www.thisspartanlife.com_."

Give it a look!