Game Review ( Excite Truck - Wii )

Graphics: 4/5 Excite Truck doesn't really have too great of graphics. The game runs amazingly smooth with absolutely no signs of framerate drop ever, but the graphics don't do it. We all know the Wii has no graphical power like the PS3 or 360, but Nintendo can do better.

Sound: 3/5 Terrible. The terrible generic guitaring in this game is simply annoying, and the trucks sound pretty crappy. Good thing there's a sound setting.

Control: 4.5/5 This game really shows the Wii's controlling capabilities again. You turn the Wii-mote sideways, and twist it all around to play the game. It may be strange at first, but it is hella addicting - it's like playing an arcade racing game at home.

Fun: 4.25/5 Excite Truck is really one of the best launch titles for the Wii. Although the game has little depth and most people will complete the game fairly quickly, it is great nonsensical fun. This game is best played only a few races at a time - but it is still fun to even watch, making this a good party game. ( Although multiplayer is only 1-on-1 matches with no A.I. ) Excite Truck should definitely be the game of choice for any little kid getting a Wii, or anybody for that matter, that just wants to have a great new experience.

4.25/5

Game Review ( Wii Sports - Wii )

Graphics: 3.5/5 Nintendo obviously made the graphics like this on purpose, but they really aren't even sharp. The graphics are a little blurry, uninspired, and pretty bland as well as uninteresting.

Control: 4.5/5 Most of the games are spot on controlwise, which really shows off the Wii's reactant speed. If you know how to play the sport, you play it the same way on the Wii, and it's just as effective.

Sound: 3.5/5 The sound is pretty sad. You really can't hear much, and when you do, it's just little rhythms that were put into the game. Nothing terrible, and nothing interesting.

Fun: 4.25/5 Wii Sports is just a great game - and it comes free with your Wii. You can train yourself in each of the five sports ( baseball, boxing, tennis, golf, bowling ) and even find your fitness age. The best games are definitely baseball and bowling, but tennis is also fun. Golf is okay once you get used to the funky controls, but boxing is just aggrivating, since it really doesn't do what you want to when you want to. Overall, Wii Sports is still a great game that can entertain nearly anybody of any age.

4.25/5

Game Review ( Rainbow Six: Vegas - 360 )

Graphics: 4/5 The graphics of Vegas are good in some areas, not so much in others. For instance, the animations look good, the enviroments for the most part look good, but the overall graphics around those areas are just bland and uninteresting. However, when you play this game in single player, the game looks much better. It's hard to understand - maybe the graphics were downgraded in online play to prevent a lot of lag?

Sound:4.5/5 RSV has some great sound. The guns all sound different, and the frag grenades and bullets can be heard from accross the map. Although there isn't much else to be heard, it sounds great; even the little things are noticed. When you step on paper and glass, the noise is heard.

Control: 4.5/5 This game can be hard to control for beginners, but most FPS fans will learn to play this game quite quickly with little to no hassel at all. What makes Vegas so unique is that you can hide behind walls, as well as lean out to make attacks. Nice.

Fun: 4.75/5 Although the graphics, sound, and control aren't quite perfect, the game damn near is fun-wise. There are several ranks that you can get up by playing a lot of matches to unlock several things including camoflauge, armor, and guns. The maps for the most part are really fun to play, which adds to the experience. But even though the game is called Vegas, few maps are actually inside of a casino, which is kind of depressing. Either way, this game is great. Offline is decent, but online Co-Op is a blast, since you can play with 3 other friends, and the online matches are hugely entertaining. This is one of the finest FPSs you can buy, and it's right on your 360.

4.75/5

Game Review ( Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved - 360 Arcade )

Geometry Wars became freakishly popular in Project Gotham 2 for the Xbox, and has been remade and thrown into the 360 arcade. My review.

Graphics: 4.5/5 I can't help but love these graphics. Sure there is nothing much to look at, but the colors look sweet, the explosions look amazing, and the game looks like fireworks galore. This is one part of the game that really draws you in.

Sound: 4/5 There isn't much to be heard. Crappy menu music is annoying, but actually, the in-game sound isn't too terribly bad. Not the game's high point, but it fits the game's style.

Control: 4.5/5 This is a unique way of playing. You use the left analog stick to move, and the right analog stick to shoot and maneuver fire. Unique, and cool.

Fun: 4.5/5 Geometry Wars is really an excellent game from the 360 Arcade. It only costs 400 MSP, and it is a hell of a lot of fun to play. Online multiplayer would be nice, but you can still upload your scores on Xbox Live. Geometry Wars is hard and certainly has a learning curve, but with the low price it costs and the fact that it is so addicting just makes this a game that shouldn't be missed by anyone with a 360.

4.5/5

DVD Review ( The Simpsons: The Complete Ninth Season )

Finally here at last, The Simpsons: Season Nine has been released on DVD! This is one amazing season that features even more great episodes from the series. Here's my review.

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[*] Indicates a "Season Great"

[*] The City of New York Vs. Homer Simpson: 4.5/5 Barney binge drinks after having to be a designated driver one day at Moe's Tavern. Homer Simpson receives a notice saying that his car is illegally parked in New York, and after driving all the way to New York, finds it parked between the World Trade Centers. With the boot still on his car, he drives him and his family home.

Fly vs. Fly: 4/5 Bart uses a transporter to try to become a "Superfly", but becomes nothing but a tiny house fly.

Easy-Back Coven: 3.5/5 In 1649, Marge gets accused of being a witch; this section reveals supposedly how Halloween first started.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[*] The Cartridge Family: 5/5 Homer takes the family and the crowd riots because the game is so boring. Homer, fearing for his family's safety, decides to purchase a gun. Homer does inappropriate things with the gun, and Marge tells him to throw it away. Not listening, Homer stores it in the refridgerator, and Bart finds it. After Marge moves out with the kids, Homer visits her to tell him he's done with the gun. After Snake holds up the motel, Homer takes out his gun to scare Snake off, and Marge takes the gun away from Homer then throws it away - or so Homer thinks.

Bart Star: 4/5 Since the news believes Springfield's children are getting fat, many parents send their children off to play football. Homer becomes coach and gives Bart special treatment, but who really is the star of the team is Nelson. During a game, the police come to take Nelson away, but Bart claims he is Nelson, letting his team win the championship.

The Two Mrs. Nahasapeemapetilons: 4/5 At a Springfield bachelor party, Apu gets several dates. Soon, his mom sends an envelope with a lotus flower to indicate it's time for the arranged marriage with Manjula. Apu, no having a wife, lies to his mom and tells her that Marge is his wife. Meanwhile, Homer moves to the retirement home. Marge gets sick of Apu pretending he's her husband, and it is revealed to Apu's mom. The arranged marriage is held in the Simpsons' backyard, and Manjula and Apu get married as planned.

Lisa The Skeptic: 3.5/5 Lisa protests the building of a shopping mall, and digs up what is said to be an angel. The skeleton dissapears and reappears on a hill with a message of the end of the world at sundown. Nothing happens, though, and it is found out to be a set-up by the builders of the new mall.

Realty Bites: 3.5/5 At a prison auction, Homer buys a car that belonged to Snake. Meanwhile, Marge gets a job as a realestate agent with help from Bart and Lisa. Being too honest, she does terribly at her job. With her job on the line, she sells a house to Ned and Maude Flanders that was a murder site without telling them about it. Eventually, Marge tells the truth, the Flanders's don't care, but Homer and Cheif Wiggum crash into the house, ending the episode with the Flanders moving back next door to the Simpsons.

[*]Miracle on Evergreen Terrace: 5/5 Bart, impatient to get his gifts for Christmas, wakes up one morning and burns the tree down accidently. When the family wakes up, he comes up with the lie that a burglar stole the gifts and tree. The townspeople decide to pitch in and help the Simpsons, but after the snow melts, and Bart confesses, everyone finds out Bart is the one who set the thing up, and the townspeople get back at the Simpsons by stealing everything they own.

All Singing, All Dancing: 3/5 The Simpsons flashback to episodes where characters from the show sang songs.

Bart Carny: 4/5 Bart gets a job at a carnival, and meets Cooder and his son. One day when the family was away, Cooder and his son were boarded up inside the Simpson house. Homer makes a deal saying if he can throw a hula hoop onto the chimney, he gets the house back. Homer fakes throwing it onto it, and while Cooder and his son weren't paying attention, darted back in the house and locked the door.

The Joy of Sect: 4/5 Homer joins a religious cult, and soon everyone in town is. Everyone is found of "the Leader" but no one actually knows who he is.

[*] Das Bus: 4.5/5 In this "Lord of the Flies" parody, school kids fall off a bridge and land on an island having to live for themselves. Meanwhile, Homer starts a computer fixing and improving business.

The Last Temptation of Krust: 4/5 Krusty goes on a comedic tour and gets no laughs. Krusty soon meets guys who let him be in commercials for the Canyonero.

[*] The Dumbell Indemnity: 4.5/5 Moe meets a girl, and while on a boat ride, has Homer wreck his old car so he can get money. While in jail for doing so, Moe has to decide whether to bail Homer out, or take his girlfriend Renee to Hawaii.

[*] Lisa the Simpson: 4.5/5 Lisa worries that her days of being smart were numbered and gets worried. Meanwhile, Apu turns the Kwik-E-Mart to the Freak-E-Mart. Homer proves that Lisa won't get stupid by showing that only the men in her family are dimwitted.

[*] This Little Wiggy: 5/5 Marge sets up a "play date" with Ralph for Bart, and they soon become friends. Bart gets the master key from Chief Wiggum, and tries to get into an abandoned prison.

[*] Simpson Tide: 4.5/5 Bart gets an earing to be cool, and Homer gets a job in the Naval Reserve.

[*] Girly Edition: 4.75/5 Bart and Lisa fight to be the better news anchor.

Trash of the Titans: 4/5 Homer allows all garbage to be dumped in Springfield.

[*]King of the Hill: 4.5/5 Homer gets buff thanks to McBain, and Homer is asked to climb the Murderhorn, and does, to impress Bart.

Lost our Lisa: 4/5 Lisa goes to an exhibit and Homer goes out to find her.

Natural Born Kissers: 4.25/5 Homer and Marge try to spice things up after a bad anniversary.

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The Simpsons: The Complete Ninth Season is a good season. Not nearly as good as early ones, but still okay. There are a lot of pretty bad episodes, though - more than there are excellent ones.

4/5

Game Review ( Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 - 360 Arcade )

I was pretty excited when I saw Mortal Kombat downloadable in the 360 arcade, so I bought it.

Graphics: 3.5/5 What has changed? Nothing. It looks exactly the same as it did.

Sound: 3.5/5 The same sound as well. If you played Mortal Kombat 3, you've heard it here.

Control: 3.5/5 It feels a bit strange on a 360 controller... but not too bad. It's still hard to do some of the combos and fatalities.

Fun: 3.5/5 UMK3 is a fair game. Its best feature is definitely the online play, but a fan of the series will like this game a lot. The most annoying thing though is the A.I. in single player. It will piss you off - I can tell you it will be difficult beating the game. UMK3 is sort of worth the 800 MSP - What keeps this from being mediocre is the fact it has some fun online play.

3.5/5

Game Review ( Galaga - 360 Arcade )

I'm sure everyone knows by now that Galaga has been put on the 360 Arcade. Here's my pointless review.

Graphics: 3/5 Sure, they're in HD, but they look almost exactly the same as they did back in the day. There is really no improvement.

Sound: 3.5/5 The same as they used to be. The game sounds like it did in the arcade, there is no change at all here.

Control: 4/5 Controls like it used to - go figure. You can fly your ship left and right by using the D-pad or the left stick. Nothing too bad in this department.

Fun: 4/5 The game is Galaga - it was fun, it is fun. The thing is, not much has changed. You can upload your score to Xbox Live, but that's about the only new feature. No Co-Op, and the only real reason to keep playing is to get on the leaderboard, and keep trying to beat your own high score. All-in-all, at 400 MSP, it's not a bad buy, and anyone would like this game - even though nothing has changed.

4/5

Game Review ( Frogger - 360 Arcade )

Frogger has some-what recently been put onto the 360 Arcade, and is available for download. My review.

Graphics: 2.5/5 They enhanced the graphics from the original version, but instead of looking more cartoony, they added more realistic enviroments; and they look damn bad.

Sound: 3/5 The sound is kept to a minimum. You really only hear some background music, and a few sounds when you die. That's about it.

Control: 3.5/5 You use the D-Pad or left stick to move, and at times it's unresponsive. Sometimes you will jump once and it will jump twice. The controls are pretty frustrating for being so unbelievably simple.

Fun: 3/5 The bottom line is this game is nit-picky. When you return a frog to its home, you have to jump at EXACTLY THE RIGHT MOMENT, or you will lose a life. It really takes away from the fun. Also, you will find yourself accidently over-jumping and to your death. Another thing that drags the game down is that although it does feature online play, there is never anyone on to play with. My recommendation: You might want to stay away from this game unless you're addicted to improving your gamerscore.

3.5/5

The #1 Game Available For The Wii, PS3, and 360.

Now that all the next generation gaming systems are out, it's time for me to tell you which game I think is the best for each.

Wii: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess: This is a no-brainer. Getting raving reviews from launch, this game is the most popular of the rest of the Wii launch titles. Featuring a compelling story, an all-new Hyrule, nice graphics, and by making great use of the Wii remote, this is surely the number one Wii game available right now.

Honorable Mentions: Rayman Raving Rabbids, Madden NFL 07, Excite Truck

PS3: Resistance: Fall of Man: This is also a no-brainer. No PS3 launch title came close to the excellence of Resistance: FoM. Resistance features impressive 20 vs. 20 online matches, nice next generation graphics, and some sweet gameplay.

Honorable Mentions: NHL 2K7, NBA 2K7

360: Gears of War: Gears of War is one hell of a popular game, and it is sure to sell a lot of 360s. Gears of War successes by showing off unbelievable graphics no one has seen on a home console, while also including amazing online play, which feautres 10 maps, as well as co-op mode. For the 360, Gears of War is definitely the game to get.

Honorable Mentions: Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas, Call of Duty 3, Viva Pinata

DVD Review ( Friends: Season 5 )

Seasons 3 and 4 of Friends were a bit of a dissapointment for me, and since this show is supposed to be great, there is nowhere for this show to go but up.

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[*] Indicates a "Season Great"

The One After Ross Says Rachel: 4/5 Ross tries to get back with Emily; Monica and Chandler try to continue and hide their secret relationship.

[*] The One With All The Kissing: 4.5/5 Chandler kisses everyone before work after kissing Monica; Phoebe gets irritated by the gangs London stories.

The One Hundredth: 4/5 Phoebe gives birth to triplets; Joey gets kidney stones; Rachel tries to get Monica a date.

[*] The One Where Phoebe Hates PBS: 4.5/5 Joey gets a job on PBS; Phoebe tells everyone how much she hates PBS; Monica tells Rachel she's dating someone "un-named" from work.

[*] The One With All The Kips: 4.5/5 Chandler and Monica go on a secret vacation, but tell everyone they have business trips; Ross prepares to tell Rachel that Emily doesn't want Ross to see her anymore.

The One With The Yeti: 4/5 Monica and Rachel mistake a hairy neighbor for a Yeti; Ross gets rid of all the furniture in his apartment.

[*] The One Where Ross Moves In: 4.5/5 Joey and Chandler let Ross move in with them after Ross' relationship with Emily falls apart; Phoebe has a relationship with a health inspector; Rachel is convinced that Danny is using mind games to seduce her.

[*] The One With The Thanksgiving Flashbacks: 5/5 The group remedies about their worst Thanksgivings.

[*] The One With Ross's Sandwich: 4.5/5 Joey gets sick of keeping Monica and Chandler's relationship secret; Ross gets mad at someone at work for eating his turkey sandwich.

The One With The Inappropriate Sister: 4/5 Rachel thinks twice about Danny after noticing he has a strangely close relationship with his sister.

[*]The One With All The Resolutions: 4.5/5 For 1999, each person decides to do something new for the year; Rachel finds out about Monica and Chandler's relationship from Joey.

[*]The One With Chandler's Work Laugh: 4.5/5 Ross goes out with Janice; Monica learns that Chandler acts much different around his boss and has his own "work laugh".

The One With Joey's Bag: 4.25/5 Rachel helps Joey with an acting gig by giving him a "man bag"; Phoebe's grandma dies.

[*]The One Where Everybody Finds Out: 5/5 Phoebe learns about Monica and Chandler's relationship and tries to have them admit it before she does; Ross tries to get Ugly Naked Guy's apartment.

The One With The Girl Who Hits Joey: 4.25/5 Joey dates a girl that abuses him; Ross offends everyone in his apartment building accidently.

[*]The One With The Cop: 4.5/5 Phoebe finds a badge at Central Perk and acts as a police officer; Monica is in one of Joey's dreams; Ross buys a couch but has trouble getting it up the stairs.

[*]The One With Rachel's Inadverent Kiss: 4.5/5 Rachel accidently kisses her boss; Monica tries to prove to Phoebe and her boyfriend that her relationship with Chandler is hotter than Phoebe's and Gary's; Ross meets a girl in his apartment building that Joey was trying to meet first.

The One Where Rachel Smokes: 4/5 Rachel smokes to get more benefits at work; Ben gets offered an audition for a soup commercial.

The One Where Ross Can't Flirt: 4.25/5 Joey gets cut out of Law and Order, but tries to cover it up to his grandma; Ross fails at flirting with the pizza delivery girl.

[*]The One With The Ride Along: 4.5/5 Ross, Joey, and Chandler are invited for a ride along in Gary's under cover cop car.

[*]The One With The Ball: 4.5/5 Ross and Joey throw a ball for 2 hours, but then Chandler and Monica jump in and get to 10 hours; Phoebe learns Gary wants her to move in with him; Rachel buys a "cat".

The One With Joey's Big Break: 4/5 Joey gets a chance in a movie outside of Las Vegas, but doubts his success because of Chandler's unfriendliness.

The One In Vegas (Pt.1): 4/5 Chandler flies to Las Vegas to tell Joey he's sorry; Chandler finds out Monica had lunch with Richard.

[*]The One In Vegas (Pt.2): 4.75/5 Rachel and Ross's pranks get out of control and they get drunk; Chandler makes a bet with Monica - a big bet.

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Friends: Season 5 is definitely the best season since season 2, and possibly the best yet. It isn't worth a 5/5, but it has a load of fantastic episodes, and very few bad ones. If there is one season of Friends that really shines in its first five years, i'm sure most people would say season 5.

4.75/5

iHome Boombox Vs. iLive Boombox

If you haven't read my reviews yet for the iHome and iLive boomboxes ( search internet for the pictures of the ones I reviewed ) then this is the place to start. Here's my review of both boomboxes; squaring off to see which is the better deal.

iHome Cost: Roughly $179 normal price ( Got mine for $75 )
iLive Cost: Rouch $129 normal price ( Got mine for $65 )

The iHome is better than the iLive because: Weighs less, has a handle unlike the iLive, better made, speakers are a bit clearer, better radio reception, no antenna, much better backlit screen ( easier to read), much better remote control, and it's smaller.

The iLive is better than the iHome because: It costs less, has FM and AM radio, has the ability to play CDs, looks better.

As you can see, the iHome is MUCH better than the iLive. The iLive has the CD player, but who needs a CD player when someone has an iPod? What's the point of the CDs? The iLive also has the AM radio, but who listens to AM radio anyways? Nobody really listens to ANY radio station now-a-days whether it be AM or FM! Also, the iLive may look better, but the iHome is a very simple design, it's very lightweight, and made much better. Probably the biggest problems I encountered with the iLive were probably when the radio just randomly quit working, and the remote that came with it rarely worked; I had to keep pressing the button on the controller to make it work. However, on the iHome, the remote control was quick to respond with the boombox, and it worked quickly and clearly every time.

It isn't right really comparing these two boomboxes giving that they have quite a big margin in price difference, but for the slim $50 ( or however much more you buy it for ) more spent on the iHome, you get a MUCH better boombox overall. If you can't decide which to buy someone you know ( or even yourself ) definitely get the iHome over the iLive boombox.

iHome Review: 5/5
iLive Review: 3.5/5

Hardware Review ( iHome Boombox iH30/31 )

The iHome Boombox ( Style H30/H31 ) is one hell of a boombox. Its normal price is about $180 but I got it for an amazing price of only $75 at Kohls.

The quality of the speakers is pretty good. It has decent bass, and you can hear the music well, and this baby gets LOUD. But, much like the other boombox I reviewed, there is distorting noise in the background from the speakers. Not terribly annoying, but it's there.

There is also an FM radio on this boombox. The reception is great, and it doesn't even have an antenna. It does take a few seconds to read the signals, but once the station is in, it almost always sounds great.

The look of the iHome Boombox is what I'd call different. It's a pretty plain design, but it does look a lot better in black. There are two round speakers, and there is a case that you put your iPod behind in the middle. It looks, to me, more girl-ish, but it is pretty good looking I guess.

Overall, this is one AMAZING boombox for your iPod. It has good sound, it was for me a freakishly good deal, the remote control that comes with it works very well and is very responsive for the most part. This had to be the best overall boombox out there for the daily iPod user.

5/5

Hardware Review ( iLive Boombox )

I was at Kohls and I saw this on sale for $60 ( originally priced at $120. ) For an early Birthday present, I got this.

The iLive Boombox comes in two colors black and white, and both feature: FM/AM Radio, side subwoofers, ability to listen to CDs, iPod mini/nano/stands, iPod shuffle output, and more.

The sound quality of the iLive Boombox is OKAY. When you put your iPod in and listen to the music there is a little bit of slight background noise, almost like static, when you play any song at any volume. It's not too terribly annoying, and at $60, the quality is damn good. Also, you can turn the bass up a fair amount ( not much, but a little bit. ) The volume can also BLAST out of this thing, so loud I'd get cops coming to my door if I had it up all the way.

I do have problems with it, though. For one thing, the blue back-lit screen is HARD HARD HARD to read unless you are looking directly at it, and the FM/AM Radio tuner on my iLive Boombox only detects one radio station. Even when I keep changing radio stations, it still only detects the one. It was working fine at first, but then quit out. I don't know if this is common, but it doesn't really matter. No one would buy this thing for the radio.

There is also another problem I have. The remote control is very unresponsive to the boombox, and 60% of the time won't even read what button I'm pressing so I'll have to press it numerous times. Very annoying. The last tiny problem I have is with the remote itself. The remote is rounded on the top, and flat on the bottom. For me, it just gets me confused and I sometimes hold the controller upside down. That's a minor problem, though, when compared to the other flaws.

All-in-all, the iLive Boombox is just SOMEWHAT worth the price. If you see this at $120 and consider buying it - think twice... it's really not at all worth it... but at the price of $60, the iLive boombox may seem more appealing. It looks great, works decently, and is pretty sturdy.

3.5/5

DVD Review ( Friends: Season 4 )

Friends: Season 3 wasn't a very good season, in my opinion. It had some good episodes, but overall, it was dissapointing. I'm hoping Friends: Season 4 will be a little bit better.

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[*] Indicates a "Season Great"

The One With The Jellyfish: 4/5 Monica is stung by a jellyfish and Chandler helps her; Ross and Rachel almost go back out.

The One With The Cat: 4/5 Phoebe finds a cat that she believes has her mom's spirit; Joey and Chandler get robbed.

The One With The Cuffs: 3.5/5 Chandler tries to break up with Joanna but she doesn't understand; Monica loses a nail in a dish of food.

[*]The One With The Ballroom Dancing: 4.5/5 Joey dances to keep Rachel and Monica from being evicted; Chandler tries to "quit the gym".

The One With Joey's New Girlfriend: 4/5 Chandler hits on a girl that he doesn't know is Joey's girlfriend.

The One With The Dirty Girl: 4/5 Ross finds out his girlfriend doesn't clean her house; Chandler buys a present for Kathy.

[*]The One Where Chandler Crosses The Line: 4.5/5 Chandler has to choose between his best friend and his girlfriend.

[*]The One With Chandler In A Box: 4.5/5 Chandler stays in a shipping box; Monica invites Richard's son to her Thanksgiving dinner.

The One Where They're Going To Party: 4/5 "Gandolf" says he'll pary with Ross and Chandler, but then bails out, so they have a party with Joey; Monica choses between being partners with Phoebe or being a chef.

The One With The Girl From Poughkeepsie: 4/5 Chandler sets up Rachel with a guy he works with; Monica hires Joey just to fire him to get more respect at work.

[*]The One With Phoebe's Uterus: 4.5/5 Phoebe agrees to carry her brother's baby; Chandler asks for help on women; Joey gets a job at Ross' museum.

[*] The One With The Embryos: 4.5/5 Phoebe gets pregnant; Ross creates a game that determines Chandler and Joey giving up their rooster and duck if they lose, or Monica and Rachel giving up their apartment if they lose. Watch the episode to see what happens.

The One With Rachel's Crush: 4/5 Rachel gets a crush on a customer; Chandler doesn't like that his girlfriend simulates sex on stage; Monica tells everyone she has to be the hostess.

The One With Joey's Dirty Day: 4/5 Joey doesn't have time to take a shower after a fishing trip; Rachel sets up Ross and Emily; The girls take Chandler to a strip club.

The One With All The Rugby: 4/5 Ross tries to impress his girlfriend by playing rugby; Chandler runs into Janice and tries to avoid her.

The One With The Fake Party: 4/5 Rachel throws a fake party; Phoebe craves meat.

[*] The One With The Free Porn: 5/5 Chandler and Joey discover a porn channel and leave it on 24/7 so they don't somehow lose the channel; Phoebe reveals she has triplets; Monica helps Ross come out and say he loves Emily.

[*] The One With Rachel's New Dress: 4.5/5 Phoebe can't choose to name one of the triplets Joey or Chandler; Rachel discovers Joshua is afraid of farm animals; Rachel is caught in lingerie at Joshua's parent's house.

[*] The One With All The Haste: 4.5/5 Monica and Rachel switch apartments with Joey and Chandler again after they give tickets to Joey and Chandler to a Knicks game; Ross asks Emily to marry him; Rachel pretends she doesn't care Ross and Emily are getting married.

The One With The Wedding Dresses: 4/5 Monica wears Emily's wedding dress; Chandler takes Joey to a sleeping clinic.

[*]The One With The Invitations: 4.5/5 Ross invites Rachel to the wedding, but she decides not to go. This is a somewhat flashback-y episode.

The One With The Worst Best Man Ever: 4/5 Joey loses his wedding ring as the best man; Phoebe gets a baby shower.

[*]The One With Ross's Wedding: 4.5/5 The gang goes to London for Ross's wedding, and a lot of stuff happens there.

Season 4 is much like Season 3. It features a quite a few boring episodes, but it also has some excellent episodes. Episodes near the end of the season are what makes this season a bit better than season 3, but Friends: Season 4 is a bit of a dissapointment.

4/5

Wii Launch Review

THE CONSOLE
As everyone knows, most of the Wii games are controlled by use of the very innovative controller. The unofficially named "Wiimote" is held in your right hand ( Or left, doesn't matter ) while the "Nunchuk" is held in your left. ( Or right. ) You control what's on screen by doing movements with your hands.

Other things worth noting about the Wii is that it is completely backwards compatible with the Game Cube. On top of the Wii there are 2 memory card slots, 4 Game Cube controller slots, and the tray for the Game Cube games. Nintendo has also finally joined the Online race by offering a free online service, with the ability to purchase games via its Virtual Console, where you can download any NES, SNES, N64, Sega, etc. games available online. Also, the Wii features Wii Sports, which lets you play Baseball, Bowling, Tennis, Boxing, and Golf.

THE LAUNCH
The Nintendo Wii launched in North America on November 19th, 2006 ath the price of $249.99. In its first 8 days of release, Nintendo has already sold 600,000 consoles. ( About 200,000 more than the PS3 as of now 12-7-06 ). The games that came out during launch and shortly thereafter for the most part didn't get raving reviews, except of course The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. Although the Wii didn't have many "must have" launch titles, Nintendo has already confirmed Super Smash Bros.: Brawl to be released sometime in 2007. Also, Mario Kart is also highly likely, seeing how Nintendo has released a version of it on every console and handheld ( excluding Gameboy Color ) since the Super Nintendo.

Overall, the Wii launch was a good one. Although there were shortages, ( Like there usually is during a console launch ) Nintendo had quite a few Wii's for quite a few consumers compared to the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 launches. The Wii is definitely a great console that had a nice launch compared to most companies. Nice job, Nintendo.

4/5 Launch

DVD Review ( Friends: Season 3 )

Friends: Seasons 1 and 2 were really good seasons, and season 3 is just as good.

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[*] Indicates a "Season Great"

The One With The Princess Leia Fantasy: 4/5 Monica tries to get over Richard; Rachel pursues Ross' fantasy.

The One Where No One Is Ready: 4/5 Ross has to wait for everyone to get dressed for an important night at the museum.

The One With The Jam: 4/5 Monica makes jam to get over Richard; Joey injures his arm; Phoebe dates her sister's stalker.

The One With The Metaphorical Tunnel: 4/5 Chandler scares Janice to show his commitment; Phoebe pretends to be Chandler's agent; Ben plays with a Barbie.

The One With Frank Jr.: 4/5 Phoebe attempts to learn more about her half-brother; Joey tries home improvement; Ross makes a "freebie" list.

[*]The One With The Flashback: 4.5/5 A flashback 3 years to the past and where the gang was.

[*]The One With The Racecar Bed: 4.5/5 Monica gets the wrong bed; Joey catches Janice kissing her ex-Husband; Joey teaches an "Acting for Soap Opera" class.

The One With The Giant Poking Device: 4/5 The gang makes a chopstick poking device to poke the Ugly Naked Guy to see if he is dead or alive; Phoebe is scared of going to the dentist; Monica bangs Ben's head.

[*]The One With The Football: 5/5 Monica and Ross get competetive in a game of football when the gang goes to the park to play on Thanksgiving.

[*]The One Where Rachel Quits: 4.5/5 Joey sells Christmas trees; Rachel quits from Central Perk; Ross breaks a little girls' leg.

The One Where Chandler Can't Remember Which Sister: 4/5 Rachel gets a job interview; Monica has a noisy neighbor; Chandler gets drunk and doesn't remember which one of Joey's sister he screwed.

The One With All The Jealousy: 4/5 Ross gets suspicious of Rachel and Mark; Monica dates a man with unflattering poetry.

[*]The One Where Monica And Richard Are Just Friends: 5/5 Monica and Richard become friends; Rachel and Joey read eachother's favorite book; A man teaching Phoebe how to play sports has his nuts exposed.

The One With Phoebe's Ex-Partner: 4/5 Chandler dates a woman with a wooden leg; Phoebe's singing partner wants to get back with her.

[*]The One Where Ross And Rachel Take A Break: 4.5/5 Rachel and Ross "take a break" because of Ross' jealousy.

The One The Morning After: 4/5 Monica, Chandler, Phoebe, and Joey hide in a room while Ross and Rachel fight; Ross sleeps with the girl from the copy place.

[*]The One Without The Ski Trip: 4.5/5 Chandler starts smoking again; Rachel invites everyone but Ross to go skiing.

The One With The Hypnosis Tape: 4/5 Chandler tries to quit smoking; Monica meets a millionaire; Frank tells Phoebe he plans on marrying a 44 year old.

[*]The One With The Tiny T-Shirt: 4.5/5 Ross demands Rachel gives the stuff he gave her back.

The One With The Dollhouse: 4/5 Monica gets a dollhouse from her dead aunt; Rachel tries to get Chandler to dump her boss.

[*]The One With The Chick And A Duck: 4.5/5 Chandler and Joey adopt a baby chick; Ross helps Rachel.

The One With The Screamer: 4/5 Rachel dates a guy that screams a lot; Phoebe is on hold on the phone.

The One Will Ross's Thing: 4/5 Ross discovers an abnormality on his skin.

The One With The Ultimate Fighting Champion: 5/5 Chandler has a boss that greets him strangely; Monica's "boyfriend", Pete, attempts to be the Ultimate Fighting Champion.

[*]The One At The Beach: 4.5/5 The gang goes to a beach house so Phoebe can meet her Mom and Dad's friend; They play Strip Happy Days; Ross and Rachel have feelings for eachother again.

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Season 3 of Friends is, overall, an OKAY season. It has some really great episodes, and some surprising guest stars, such as: Ben Stiller, Robin Williams, Billy Crystal, Elizabeth Daily, ( Voice of Tommy Pickles on the kid's show Rugrats ) and more. Friends: Season 3 is certainly not the best season of Friends, but is has some really great episodes. A season not terrible, not great, but worth buying for sure.

4/5

Game Review ( Big Bumpin' - Xbox / 360 )

This is one of the three games available at Burger King from November 19th to December 24th. They cost $3.99 with the purchase of any value meal. The game comes in an Xbox 360 style box, and includes a free 48 Hour trial for Xbox Live.

Graphics: 4/5 The graphics yet again look great for such a low budget game. The reflections look good, and the arenas do too.

Sound: 4/5 The music is surprisingly decent for having little sound. The in-game bumper car sound is nice, and the arena music is pretty good. The announcer is annoying, though, since he constantly repeats himself.

Control: 4/5 There is nothing to complain about with the controls. Just move around, and use boost (A). This is a damn simple game to control. Anybody can play it.

Fun: 4/5 Offline, this game is just about mediocre. The TERRIBLE A.I. makes a not-so-good game even worse, and it just isn't very fun, but online with people that actually make use of their headset, it's a blast. The best game mode in this game online is definitely hockey, which is very fun. The price of this game makes it even more worth buying. Definitely buy this game if you wanted to try out any of the 3 BK games. This one is definitely the best. Although some people don't talk in the online matches, when people do, it makes this game very fun. You won't be playing it for a long time, but you will play it for about a week.

4/5

Game Review ( Pocket Bike Racer - Xbox / 360 )

This is one of the three games available at Burger King from November 19th to December 24th. They cost $3.99 with the purchase of any value meal. The game comes in an Xbox 360 style box, and includes a free 48 Hour trial for Xbox Live.

Graphics: 4/5 For what it is, its low budget, and its cheap price, the graphics I guess you could say look very good. The character models look pretty decent, and the enviroments look fair. The framerate holds up very well offline, and damn good online for the most part.

Sound: 3.5/5 Not much to experience. There are some taunts you can use when you're racing, you can hear the pocket bikes racing around, and that's just about it.

Control: 4/5 Drive around with the right trigger, B to boost, and X to use items. That's about it. The game isn't too terribly hard to control, but it can be frustrating when attacked and you spin out.

Fun: 3.5/5 The offline mode of this game is terrible. The tracks take what seems forever to finish, and the A.I. is unbelievably stupid. Online, though, is pretty decent. You can play with up to eight players on five levels. All-in-all, this game isn't that great. The items used in this game are damn annoying, the sound is ... none, 80% of the characters are random people with random names, and the fact that when you join a game online that is in the middle of being played and you can't play or even watch until the race is over is just terrible. For $4, you really can't go wrong. This is a really good game to play for one or two days, but after that, there's no reason to come back.

3.5/5

Game Review ( Marvel: Ultimate Alliance - 360 )

Graphics: 4/5 The cutscenes ( especially the one at the beginning ) are unbelievable. They look freakishly realistic. The in-game graphics, though, are not as good though the characters look excellent, they don't look to 360ish. They do look alright, though. The framerate holds up, and it makes for a pleasent experience.

Sound: 4/5 The Marvel characters sound nice, and the villans do as well. However, nothing is too spectacular worth noting.

Control: 3.5/5 This game isn't too hard to control, but it does take some time, and the uncontrollable camera angles are somewhat distracting. You use the D-Pad to change your character ( You can have four at a time ) and you have to do some button combinations to attack. Sometimes you'll forget what button you need to press, but it's not bad.

Fun: 4/5 Marvel: Ultimate Alliance is really a good game. You can play as Captain America, Spiderman, Wolverine, Thor, The Thing, Mr. Fantastic, Elektra, Daredevil, and several more, including unlockables. It will take a long time to level everyone up, though, since you can only have 4 players out at a time. Either way, anyone can jump in and play, and a fan of Marvel will love this game. There is also Xbox Live play, which also adds to the experience. Even though this game is repetetive when you play it for awhile non-stop, it is still a great 360 game that anybody can sit down and enjoy the game without even bothering with the power-ups and level-ups.

4/5

The Xbox 360's Top 7

So the next-gen is now and all of the 3 competing consoles have been released. If you choose to get a 360, these are some games you should really consider getting.

1.) Gears of War: As everyone knows, this is currently the most popular and most talked about 360 games to date, and for good reason. Gears of War portrays better graphics than any console game ever released, and not to mention phenomenal online play with 10 great maps. Gears of War is one of the top 360 games for sure. [47] Score: 5/5

2.) Tom Clancy's Rainbow 6: Vegas: Tom Clancy Rainbow 6 (TCR6) games haven't really been good until now. TCR6:Vegas is one amazing game that puts you as a soldier to command your team or work with other in co-op or online to blow terrorists brains out in multiplayer. The amazingly fun thing to do is customize your character and even put your own face on there with the XBox Live Vision Camera. ( Sweet! ) [47] Score: 4.75/5

3.) Call of Duty 3: It's CoD 2 + much more. CoD 3 includes new game modes, improved graphics, vehicles, stats, and more of the single player every one loved from CoD 2. If you are thinking about getting CoD 2, you should most definitely get CoD 3. [47] Score: 4.5/5

4.) Call of Duty 2: Although a launch title for the 360, many people still play this game online. CoD 2 features stellar single player with fantastic action and great graphics. The huge flaw with this game though? Only 4-on-4 online, and majority of the players don't speak English for some reason. O_O [47] Score: 4.5/5

5.) Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter: GRAW for the other consoles that aren't next gen got terrible reviews, while GRAW360 got rave reviews. GRAW shows the 360s power while giving you fantastic online play and good single player. This game is unbelievable. [47] Score: 4.5/5

6.) Uno: Yes, although it is only an Xbox Live Arcade game, it is freakishly addicting and it is extremely cheap. Uno will run you ( I believe ) 800 MSP. It is well worth it; this game is what it says: "Easy to pick up, Impossible to put down". [47] Score: 4.5/5

7.) Saint's Row: Ah, everyone knows this GTA "Rip-off". Even being what people call a rip-off, Saint's Row features excellent gameplay similar to GTA with more customizability, improved graphics, and sweet online play. Any GTA fan will dig. [47] Score: 4.5/5

There you have it - the best 360 games currently available. Disagree? Go to hell.

Hardware Review ( Aiptek MPVR Digital Camcorder )

My cousin bought this camcorder during the Thanksgiving sale at Target and I must say that this camcorder is not worth shit. He paid $99 dollars for this thing, and it isn't worth a dime of it. Let me just get started here. The camera, itself, looks pretty nice. Small in design, silver, and very classy. But looks, as people say, don't matter. He popped in his SD card ( needed to save video, music, photos, etc. ) and battery then he turned it on. The screen on this is about 1.5 inches or so, with decent colors. He finally hit record and taped a bit of us talking, turned off record, and went to playback. We watched the video and I must say it was god awful in almost every way. The picture was grainy, the talking was off the the lip movement, the video was choppy, it looks just terrible. Granted it was in low lighting, but this is unacceptable even for $99. I guess when something is this cheap, it's way too good to be true. Save your money up for a better known brand, or just a get to know what you're buying before you buy it. Stay away from this camcorder at all costs... it is just that bad.

Not Recommended.

1/5

DVD Review ( Friends: Season 2 )

The end of Season 1 left a huge cliff-hanger to start off Season 2, and I mean HUGE. Anyways, this is my review for one of my favorite shows, Friends.

----------

[*] Indicates a "Season Great"

[*]The One With Ross's New Girlfriend: 4.5/5 Rachel meets Ross at the airport to announce her love for him, but to her surprise he has a girlfriend; Monica gets a bad haircut from Phoebe; Chandler has a "close call" at the tailor's.

[*]The One With The Breast Milk: 4.5/5 Carol breast feeds in front of everybody, which makes the guys uncomfortable; Monica goes shopping with Julie without Rachel knowing; Joey has some trouble with a cologne cowboy.

The One Where Heckles Dies: 4/5 Mr. Heckles ( the guy in the apartment below Monica's ) dies and leaves everything to Monica and Rachel. Chandler discovers him and Heckles weren't much different.

The One With Phoebe's Husband: 4/5 Phoebe reveals she's married to a gay man; Chandler has three nipples; Joey shows the gang his porn film.

[*]The One With Five Steaks And An Egg Plant: 4.5/5 Joey, Rachel, and Phoebe let Ross, Rachel, and Chandler know they are dissapointed in how they overlook the fact they have more money than them and yet they still go to expensive restaurants; Chandler pretends to be "Bob".

The One With The Baby On The Bus: 4/5 Chandler and Joey leave Ben on a city bus; a new singer takes over from Phoebe at Central Perk.

[*]The One Where Ross Finds Out: 5/5 Monica becomes Chandlers personal trainer; Ross finds out Rachel's feelings for him.

[*]The One With The List: 4.5/5 Monica makes recipes with a chocolate substitute; Ross makes a list of pro's and con's for Julie and Rachel.

The One With Phoebe's Dad: 3.5/5 Phoebe finds out the truth about her dad and Chandler and Joey go with her to his house; Monica and Rachel make cookies instead of giving tips.

The One With Russ: 4/5 Rachel goes out with a guy strikingly similar to Ross; Monica gets Fun Bobby to stop drinking.

The One With The Lesbian Wedding: 3.5/5 Rachel's mom gives her some shocking news; Phoebe has a patient die during a massage.

[*]The One After The Super Bowl (Pt. 1): 5/5 Ross goes to San Diego Zoo to see what has happened to Marcel ( Featuring Dan Caselenetta ); Joey dates a stalker who believes he's Dr. Drake; Phoebe sings songs for kids at a local library.

[*]The One After The Super Bowl (Pt. 2): 4.5/5 Rachel and Monica try to get attention from Jean Claude Van-Damme; Chandler meets an old classmate that pulls a prank.

[*]The One With The Prom Video: 5/5 Joey buys Chandler jewelry; Rachel watches her and Monica's video of them going to prom; Monica borrows money.

[*]The One Where Rachel And Ross Do It: 5/5 Joey gets new furniture; Rachel and Ross do it.

The One Where Joey Moves Out: 4/5 Joey moves to a different apartment; Rachel gets a tattoo; Monica tells her parents about her new boyfriend.

The One Where Eddy Moves In: 3.5/5 Chandler lets Eddy move into his apartment; Phoebe makes a "Smelly Cat" video.

[*]The One Where Dr. Ramoray Dies: 5/5 Rachel and Monica fight over a condom; Joey criticizes the Days of our Lives writing staff, having him killed off in the show.

[*]The One Where Eddy Won't Go: 4.5/5 Chandler tries to get Eddy out of his apartment several times; The girls read a new book; Joey moves back in with Chandler.

The One Where Old Yeller Dies: 4/5 Phoebe watches sad movies; Chandler and Joey become friends with Richard; Ross watches Ben for a weekend.

The One With The Bullies: 4/5 Two guys bully Chandler and Joey at Central Perk; Monica gets into the stock market; Phoebe finds out about her half-brother.

[*]The One With The Two Parties: 5/5 Rachel has two birthday parties; one in Chandler's apartment and one in Monica's to keep her parents from seeing eachother.

The One With The Chicken Pox: 4/5 Joey gets a job at Chandler's workplace; Phoebe and a Navy man meet eachother and get chicken pox.

The One With Barry And Mindy's Wedding: 4/5 Barry and Mindy marry eachother and humiliate Rachel; Chandler meets a girl online; Joey has to kiss a man in a play.

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Friends: Season 2 is a strange season. It starts off slow and has quite a few bad episodes, but near the end of the seasons great episodes popped out left and right. Friends: Season 2 is well worth purchasing. Not just to re-live the Season 1 cliffhanger, but to watch some of the great episodes that it contains. Rachel and Ross hook-up, Phoebe "meets her dad", Ross gets to meet Marcel again, and so on. Definitely one worth buying.

4.5/5

Game Review ( Call of Duty 3 - 360 )

As you all know, Call of Duty 2 was a launch title for the 360 and this is the sequal to that game. This is my review.

Graphics: 4.5/5 The graphics in CoD 3 are quite good, but they are really not much better than CoD 2 in my opinion. CoD 3 has some sharper and more detailed enviroments, but the character models look very, very similar, and the graphics haven't changed. Either way, CoD 2 looked great, and CoD 3 does in fact, look better.

Sound: 5/5 The CoD franchise has always had excellent sound and this game is no different. Although most of the guns sound much different, they still sound good. The voice-overs are also well done, and everything about the game "soundamentally" is fantastic.

Control: 4.5/5 If you played CoD 2 for the 360, you will easily jump in and be able to play this game. It controls just the same, and there are no problems.

Fun: 4.5/5 CoD 3 is definitely one of the best games available for the 360 right now. This game features amazing online play that consists of 12-on-12 games with more game modes, larger and in some cases better maps, different guns, stat tracking, and a huge addition, vehicles. CoD 2 had decent online, but that 4-on-4 small map gameplay is over now. This is the new and much more improved Call of Duty and this one will be played by for many months.

4.5/5

Game Review ( Gears of War - 360 )

Gears of War has been highly anticipated since the Xbox 360 was launched. At first I had no real interest in this game, but I rented it to try it out.

Graphics: 5/5 Gears of War has an unprecedented amount of detail. It is easily the best looking console game ever, and the game looks unbelievable even on a standard TV. The enviroments look awesome, the character models are great, and the gore is pretty rad. The body parts that roll around ( including the brain ) is sweet.

Sound: 4/5 The voice overs are pretty good, but nothing special. The real good sound comes from when you use a chainsaw to finish a guy off. From the chainsaw ripping into his body to the poor guys screams when he is getting mutilated. The guns sound good, too. The Locusts actually do sound pretty creepy.

Control: 4/5 The creators made it very easy to manuever in Gears of War. For the most part, it plays like any other shooter on the Xbox 360, but you can simply take cover and move positions just by pressing A. There are some control problems, though, because when you are doing this, there are times where your guy won't go the way you wanted him too. Also, when you are in sprint mode, you may occasionally get stuck on something you didn't want to and you will get pelted with bullets. Either way, this game controls well.

Fun: 5/5 Gears of War is just hands down the best game on the 360, and one of the best ( if not the best ) 3rd person shooters of all time. Gears of War has its problems, and there are things that could have been added, ( Capture the Flag, more maps as there are under ten online ) but you can expect maps to show up in the Xbox Live Market Place. Also, this is easily the best Xbox Live game to date; featuring a ranked mode and unranked "player match" to just play for kicks, and there are great in-depth stats to show you how you've progressed. If there is one game you want to get for your 360, make sure you make it Gears of War for this holiday.

5/5

DVD Review ( Friends: Season 1 )

Here's my first season review of Friends.

----------

[*] Indicates a "Season Great"

[*]The Pilot: 4.5/5 Ross tries to get over the fact his wife left him; We meet the characters; Monica lets Rachel stay in her apartment.

The One With The Sonogram at the End: 4/5 Ross finds out his wife turned into a lesbian; Ross and Monica's parents come over for dinner.

[*]The One With The Thumb: 5/5 Phoebe gets large sums of money she didn't earn; Chandler begins to smoke again; Monica worries no one will like her date.

[*]The One With George Stephanopoulos: 5/5 The girls spy on a neigbour while the guys go to a Ranger's game.

The One With The East German Laundry Detergent: 4/5 Joey and Monica have a double date; Rachel learns how to do laundry; Chandler breaks up with Janice.

The One With The Butt: 4/5 Joey plays Al Pacino's butt in a movie; Chandler finds out his girlfriend has another boyfriend and is married.

[*]The One With The Blackout: 4.5/5 Chandler is stuck in a bank with a model; Rachel meets Paolo after finding his cat; all during a blackout.

The One Where Nana Dies Twice: 4/5 Chandler finds out a lot of people thought he was gay; Monica and Ross' grandma dies.

The One Where Underdog Gets Away: 4/5 Monica cooks Thanksgiving dinner; People thing Joey has VD.

The One With The Monkey: 4/5 Ross gets a monkey; Phoebe beings dating David.

[*]The One With Mrs. Bing: 4.5/5 Rachel attempts to write a romance novel; Chandler's mom kisses Ross; Phoebe and Monica fight over a man in a coma.

The One With The Dozen Lasagnas: 4/5 Chandler and Joey get a new table; Monica gets rid of 12 lasagnas; Rachel finds something out about Paolo.

[*]The One With The Boobies: 4.5/5 Chandler sees Rachel's boobs; Joey finds out his dad has a second life; Phoebe dates with a critical guy.

The One With The Candy Hearts: 4/5 Chandler breaks up with Janice again; the girls have a "cleansing" ritual for Valentine's day.

The One With The Stoned Guy: 4/5 Joey teaches Ross how to talk dirty; Monica tries to impress an employer.

The One With Two Parts: 4/5 Ross goes out with Phoebe's twin sister Ursula; Ross starts to freak out at becoming a father; Rachel hurts her ankle and has Monica use her insurance; Marcel chokes on a scrabble tile.

[*]The One With All The Poker: 5/5 The girls learn to play poker; Ross acts like a tough guy but lets Rachel win.

The One Where The Monkey Gets Away: 4/5 Marcel gets away while Rachel baby sits him at Monica's apartment.

The One With The Evil Orthodontist: 4/5 Mindy and Rachel realize that Barry has feelings for the two of them.

The One With The Fake Monica: 4/5 Monica gets her credit card stolen and becomes friends with the person who stole it.

[*]The One With The Ick-Factor: 4.5/5 Monica dates who seems to be a 17-year old senior in High School; Chandler learns his co-workers hate him.

[*]The One With The Birth: 4.5/5 Carl has a baby boy; While stuck in a closet, Phoebe, Susan, and Ross come up with the name Ben for Ross' son; Joey helps a mom getting through a birth.

[*]The One Where Rachel Finds Out: 5/5 Chandler accidently tells Ross' feelings towards Rachel to Rachel while Ross is in China; Joey joins a fertility study; Ross comes back from China with a new girlfriend.

----------

I just started watching the show Friends and I must say it is definitely one of the best sitcoms of all time. The constant jokes, the memorable characters, and the great episodes in just this season alone were all a sign of great things to come in future seasons of Friends. Whenever you have the chance, you should really think about picking this season up.

4.5/5

Game Review ( Tony Hawk's Project 8 - 360 )

In Tony Hawk's Project 8 it is up to you to go from nothing to something and into Tony Hawk's "Project 8". You do a variety of goals in career mode to get your rank up from getting your dad's balls, to knocking down bowling pins.

Graphics: 4.5/5 The graphics are really good. The character models look really nice too in the cut scenes. They look pretty realistic. The only problem with the graphics is the framerate issue, which comes in and out at times.

Sound: 4.5/5 The voice overs are done very well, and so are the enviromental sounds. The soundtrack to me isn't good, though, in that it doesn't feature many good songs.

Control: 4/5 A little different to me on te 360. The new Nail the Trick feature is really cool, but it takes a bit of time to master.

Fun: 4/5 Project 8 is a really fun game. The level design is pretty bad though - it doesn't really have many places where you can combo on a rail around a huge area like past games, but it does alright. The Nail the Trick feature is also a really cool addition where you can create tricks by using the analog sticks. One major drawback in this game though is the huge lack of customizability. I don't know what happened, but you can hardely customize your skater at all. One final thing to say about this game is that it is repetetive. SO MANY of the goals in this game involve doing the same thing. Very tedious and it gets very old very, very quickly. Either way, this is one of the best Tony Hawk games to come out in awhile, and you should really pick it up.

4/5

Game Review ( Guitar Hero II - PS2 )

Guitar Hero II was finally released on November 7th, and I couldn't play it enough. Guitar Hero II has several Pro's and a few Con's.

PROs - Much better multiplayer, real good song track, easier hammer-ons and pull-offs, ability to practice any song, overall much more fun.

CONs - Not a "real" multiplayer career mode, could be more songs, a bit harder this time around.

Graphics: 4/5 The graphics are certainly not the games high point. The graphics are cartoonish but they look great and fit well with the style of the game. The graphics aren't great, but they work fine enough. You aren't even paying attention to the graphics; you're just jamming. You wouldn't know the difference if there was actually a band on a stage playing or richard simmons exercising.

Sound: 5/5 The sound is amazing. Almost every song sounds spot on with the real thing, but there are a few exceptions. Nirvana's "Heart-Shaped Box" doesn't sound much like Cobain, and "Sweet Child 'O Mine" doesn't quite have Axel's voice; either way, it's close enough, and it sounds great overall.

Control: 5/5 Everyone knows the control in this game. You pick from easy, medium, hard, or expert depending on how good you are, and then you're off. You look like a loser playing Guitar Hero, but it feels like you're playing a real guitar ( in a way ).

Fun: 5/5 This is a better game than the first in that it has improved graphics, more characters, more songs ( some people think it has better songs ), much better multiplayer, and it has useful practice mode. If you are a fan of Guitar Hero I, it goes without my review that you need to buy Guitar Hero II. It's Guitar Hero I and much more.

5/5

iTunes TV Show Review ( Viva la Bam - Season 1 )

Cost: $14.99 ( For the season )
$1.99 ( Per episode )

Viva la Bam is now available on iTunes, and for good reason. It's one of the best newer shows on MTV. Here is my review for season 1.

Phil's Hell Day: 5/5 Bam demolishes a family van; Installs a firepole in his room; Sends his mom and dad on a trip so he can turn their house into a skatepark; Irons hamburgers on all of Phil's shirts.

Don't Feed Phil: 5/5 Bam sends out flyers all over town telling no one to feed Phil for 24 hours.

Family Reunion: 4.5/5 Bam makes a family reunion a special one by creating a moat at the front door with a drawbridge; building a castle on the front lawn; inviting Compton Ass Terry over the house.

Viva Las Vegas: 4/5 It's Phil and April's anniversery and they get remarried in Las Vegas; Raab gets a mailorder Russian bride; Don Vito gets his hair dyed.

Paint Phil Blue: 4.5/5 Bam's mom and dad go on a 3 day trip, so he paints the house blue; builds a tunnel into Don Vito's house; and soups up April's car.

Very Merry Margera Christmas: 5/5 Bam makes his house extremely bright with lights; makes a skating rink in his house; has a snow ball fight.

April's Revenge: 4.5/5 April strands Bam on an island with his friend thinking that he was doing it to her. She leaves them there for a little over 24 hours, and Bam calls his upon his friends to help him out.

Scavenger Hunt: 5/5 Bam, his friends, and the Bloodhound Gang have a scavenger hunt and see who can get the most "points" to win the game. To get points, they drive around in junk cars and do bizarre tasks.

Viva la Bam - Season 1 off of iTunes is perfect for you iPod. It's for sale at a reasonable price, and the show is just as great as ever. If you like the show Jackass or any show like it, Viva la Bam should suit you well.

5/5

iTunes TV Show Review ( Celebrity Deathmatch: Knockout Collection )

Cost: $23.88 ( For the 12 episodes )
$1.99 ( Per episode )

What makes Celebrity Deathmatch: Knockout Collection ( CDKC ) so great is that it is at least available on iTunes; no Celebrity Deathmatch seasons have been released up to this point and this is great to at least have it somewhere. What makes Celebrity Deathmatch great as a show is how it is just so damn unique. Celebrities made out of clay fight to the death in arena just to please the fans, with Johnny Gomez and Nick Diamond doing broadcasting. Also, Mills Lane is the referee, and Stacy Cornbread does the interviews. My review.

Comedians of Carnage: 5/5 Features some excellent fights. Beavis vs. Butthead, Tim Allen vs. Seinfeld, Ray Romano vs. Drew Carey, Dana Carvey vs. Mike Meyers; and more. What also makes this well worth $1.99 is the fact that it's 45 minutes long; right on!

The Ragin' Rockers: 4.5/5 Features some good fights. Mick Jagger vs. Steven Tyler, Tommy Lee vs. Ron Jeremy, 'N Sync vs. Backstreet Boys, Kiss vs. 'N Sync, Ozzy Osbourne vs. Rob Zombie; and more. And more-so than Comedians of Carnage, this episode is just over an hour long; which makes it even MORE well worth th $1.99. What a great deal.

Athletes of Aggression: 4/5 This episode has some very unique fights. Vince McMahon vs. Stone Cold, Sammy Sosa vs. Mark McGwire, Shaq vs. Kobe, Andre Agassi vs. Tiger Woods; and more. This episode is only 32 minutes long, but it is still worth buying.

The Family Feud: 4/5 There are some nice fights featured in this episode; it features several tag-team matches, too. Bruce Willis and Demi Moore vs. Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise, Mary-Kate Olsen vs. Ashley Olsen, Wayans brothers vs. Baldwin brothers; and SEVERAL more. This is a 54 minute episode. The only reason why I didn't rate this higher is because the fights simply aren't just overall as entertaining.

The Monster Massacre: 4/5 Features: The Lochness Monster vs. Big Foot, Nick Diamond vs. an Alien, Nick Diamond vs. a Satyr, Potato Kahn vs. Cousin Grimm, Steve Irwin vs. Medusa, Brendan Frasier vs. a Mummy, and more. This is a 55 minutes episode that has some good fights, but doesn't compare to the excellence of some of the other episodes.

( More reviews as I buy the episodes. )

CDKC is definitely worth a purchase for the price; and for the fact it is Celebrity Deathmatch. This is one of the best shows available on iTunes for purchase, so you should definitely buy it.

5/5

iTunes TV Show Review ( Drake and Josh - Season 1 )

Cost: $11.94 ( Whole season )
$1.99 ( Per episode )

Drake and Josh is a really, really good show. I only watch Nickelodeon because of Drake and Josh. It's full of jokes, and a large audience of people can watch this show. It does, however, seem to rip off the show Seinfeld at times: ( Such as the infamous "Newman!" Seinfeld uses when he sees Newman, in Drake and Josh Josh says "Meghan!" ) this is still well worth buying. Some of the jokes in season 1 are pathetic, but others are good. This season has the great episode Grammy; one of my favorites. My review.

Pilot: 4.5/5 Josh reveals that he is Miss Nancy, and Drake goes out with a girl who wrote a letter to "Miss Nancy".

Two Idiots and a Baby: 4/5 Drake and Josh are left alone to take care of a baby; but Drake has a concert.

First Crush: 4/5 Josh falls in love with a girl and mistakenly tells her he can play guitar. Drake tries to help Josh learn.

Grammy: 5/5 Josh's Grandma comes to babysit Drake and Josh. Grammy and Drake get on eachother's bad sides.

Dune Buggy: 4.5/5 Drake and Josh get a dune buggy from Trevor and fix it up. They are told not to drive it, but Drake does anyways, and gets hurt.

Believe Me, Brother: 5/5 Drake has a girlfriend that won't admit she has a thing for Josh.

I repeat; buy this season. It's not as good as some of the later seasons, but it gets by. It's well worth purchasing. It also ( like all iTune videos ) has a crystal clear picture.

P.S. Where's season's 2 and 3?

4.5/5

Hardware Review ( iPod Video 30 GB )

The iPod video has made the most significant generation leap for the iPod. The iPod video features ( of course ) video playback, as well as a thinner design, a color screen, ability to add pictures, more space, and a lower price tag. My review.

Pros: Solid amount of space for the average iPodder; Nice color/size screen; Pretty thin; Several capabilities; Pretty affordable price nowadays.

Cons: Scratches easily; Battery doesn't last nearly as long as it says; When watching videos, the battery life drains quickly.

Other than those cons, there is nothing at all bad about the iPod. It's a great thing to have for a music lover. And for the best experience, get the iPod video. And don't fear a new design; the only thing they can do now is add more GB's, make the design a bit thinner, and possibly ( if they can ) add a camera. (Which would be cool ). The iPod video is well worth the price, especially with the fact that the price has dropped so drastically in the last year.

5/5

Hardware Review ( DLO Action Jacket iPod Case )

The DLO Action Jacket Case for the iPod is just about the best case you can find for your iPod. This case features rubber grips on the side to reduce your chance of dropping it, has a band that you can use to wrap around your arm when you run, and it has a clip so you can put it on your pants. There is also a plastic cover that goes over your screen and click-wheel, as well as a velcro strap on top of the iPod to prevent any chance of it falling out. The case will run you about $30. I'm not done yet; there are a few flaws. The rubber grips on the side make it difficult to fit into your pants, and since there is no top covering, if you drop it on the top, it will still crack/scratch the top of your iPod. Also, it is very hard to get your iPod out of the case if you wanted to clean it. With the clip on the back of the case with the iPod, it will make your iPod very vulnerable to screen scuffs ( happened to me and it is very annoying ) mainly because it sticks out so far. This is a good case, but for $30 you might want to think twice.
3.5/5

Somewhat Recommended.

Game Review (Perfect Dark: Zero - 360 )

Graphics: 5/5 The graphics are great. The explosions look good, the enviroments look spectacular, and the lighting is super. One of the better looking games on the 360.

Sound: 4.5/5 The sound is very good. The voice overs are okay, though, and nothing too special. The guns and footsteps and all the little things sound nice.

Control: 4/5 Controlling this game isn't all that bad. The speed at which you turn around at is pretty annoying, and the controls are a bit sensitive, but you can kind of adjust it. Also, it takes time to get good at the game, since it's ( obviously ) easier to get headshot kills when you're good.

Fun: 4.5/5 PDZ ia really a fun game. The online is good, and so is the offline modes, which you can still play with bots to get achievements. The one flaw with this game is that there is no stat tracking; which is dissapointing. So you have no idea how good you are doing overall. There are only 6 maps, too, but they are still very fun to play. I highly recommend you try PDZ.

4.5/5

Game Review ( Guitar Hero 2 Demo - PS2 )

I was waiting a LONG time just for this demo and I finally got it ( October 9th ). Here is my review for the songs.

Shout At The Devil: 4/5 A good song by Motley Crue, but it's pretty easy even on expert.
You Really Got Me: 3.5/5 Of all Van Halen songs, why this one? It's good, but there are better.
Strutter: 4.5/5 Catchy song by Kiss. Definitely one worth playing.
YYZ: 4.5/5 A great lyric-less song by Rush. Probably the best of the four.

The four songs on the demo isn't much, but it is enough to hold you over until the game is released.

Also, the Guitar Hero 2 song list has just been confirmed.

Game Review ( NHL 2K7 - 360 )

NHL 2K6 was far from a good game last year. It was exactly the same as 2K6 for the PS2 and Xbox, just with a $60 price tag. NHL 2K7 is a whole lot different and a whole lot better. My review ( Basically just for you Marc ).

Graphics: 4.5/5 The graphics are really good. The cut scenes look good, the rinks look great, but some of the well-known skaters don't look quite like themselves. Also, the fans look pretty strange too usually. The one strange thing about the graphics though is that there is a weird looking fog or something that is on the rink. Pretty strange.

Sound: 4/5 Nothing worth noting. The crowd seems quiet most of the time, the soundtrack overall in this game is poor, blah blah. You do get to decide, though, whether you want to play to music or play with commentary. Both are good choices; depending on what kind of music you like.

Control: 4/5 It works just fine. Anybody can pick this game up and use the controls. The one problem with the controls is how when you use the right analog stick to deke, the player will deke for what seems like forever, so it's quite easy for another player to steal it. That is one fault to the controls in this game. The default camera angle is great, by the way; giving you a great view of the rink from all sides.

Fun: 4/5 It's a hockey game with improved graphics, basically. There are some extras, but we've seen them before: air hockey, pond hockey, unlockable jerseys, and so on. The online play is pretty good; much better than NHL '07. If you are a hockey fan, then you should rent this game. Hockey season just started.

4/5

Game Review ( Dead Rising - 360 )

This is my review for Dead Rising; one of the most over rated 360 games of the year. Here come my reasons.

Graphics: 4/5 Pretty good graphics. The blur effects when you turn are nice, for the most part the cut scenes are good, but there are occasional graphical in-and-out cuts, and the character's hands in the cutscenes are hideously weird looking.

Sound: 4/5 Good voice acting. The cut scenes are well acted for the most part, the zombies sound fine; nothing great or terrible about the sound.

Control: 3.5/5 It takes some getting used to. This isn't a jump-in-and-play type of game that anyone can pick up and learn to play. There is a bit of a learning curve that will take a good 45 minutes to get used to it.

Fun: 3.5/5 Dead Rising is simply put - OVER RATED. It's a very unique game, I'll give it that, but there are so many problems. For one thing, you can only have one save for some reason. So if you have a brother or friend who wants to play it at your house you'll need to find out something else to do, like create a new profile or Xbox Live account. Second, it is damn hard to read the text on a standard tv. Capcom has let its consumers know this problem by saying Dead Rising was created with HD in mind. Sucks for people with standard tvs. It's so small and blurry you'll be struggling to read it. Also, the game isn't the longest game in the world, and there is no co-op or Xbox Live ( Blah! ) Dead Rising could have been a better game, but with so many errors, and just I.M.O. sort of repetetive, it's nothing more than worth a rental.

3.5/5

Game Review (DOOM - 360 Arcade)

DOOM has been one of the most popular first-person shooters ever. DOOM has recently slipped into the Xbox Live Arcade on the 360, and this is my review. ( Nylon or regular? )

Graphics: 3.5/5 Pretty stale graphics, but you can't expect much more. This is an old, OLD game just reformatted to HD stylized graphics. Nothing spectacular here.

Sound: 4.5/5 Synthesizers never sounded better. The music in this game is great. So super catchy - just as it always was. The guns sound alright, and the deaths sound good. Good sound indeed.

Control: 4/5 DOOM never did have the greatest controls, but they work alright. Like in the original, you can not look up and down; only left and right, and to shoot something, your gun has to be aiming at it ( obviously ). Online, the lag really makes the control difficult ( Lag? On DOOM? Yes. )

Fun: 4/5 DOOM is definitely one of the best games in the 360 Arcade right now. Sure, there are great games like Geometry Wars, Uno, Gauntlet, and so on, but there are no shooters quite like DOOM. The online play is pretty good; there is a stat counter for kills and deaths, and then a record scoreboard for time spent in single player, and the best players in Co-op. That's right; you can play with up to four players in co-op mode. It's all in good fun. All-in-all, DOOM is still a great game. The lag somewhat destroys the online play at times, and more than four players in Xbox Live and teams would have been cool, but DOOM costs 800 points. It should be 400, but oh well. Buy DOOM.

4/5

DVD Review (Seinfeld: Volume 5)

This is the most recent release of Seinfeld onto DVD, and it is a pretty good one. This volume surely has some good episodes, and here is my review. ( Rope or firearm? )

----------

[*] Indicates a "Season Great"

The Chaperone: 4/5 George replaces polyester uniforms with cotton for the Yankees; Jerry needs to have a chaperone to go on a date with Miss Rhode Island, so Kramer goes as her personal trainer.

[*]The Big Salad: 4.5/5 George purchases a salad for Elaine, and George feels his girlfriend took credit for it by handing it to her; Kramer plays golf with a former major leaguer, who cheats in a golf game. Kramer thinks he's the one to blame for the major leaguer's killing of a dry cleaner.

[*]The Pledge Drive: 4.5/5 Elaine's boss eats Snicker's bars with a knife and fork, and soon it becomes a trend; Jerry cashes past birthday checks written by his grandma, causing her to get her account overdrawn.

[*]The Chinese Woman: 4.5/5 Jerry discovers a woman named Donna Chang's phone number after phone lines get crossed between hers and George. Jerry goes on a date with her, and finds out she isn't Chinese.

[*]The Couch: 5/5 Kramer decides to start a pizza making business with Poppie; George joins a book club, but rents the book's movie instead; Elaine has abortion issues with her boyfriend.

[*]The Gymnast: 5/5 Jerry dates a gymnast; Kramer passes a kidney stone; George is caught eating garbage; Mr. Pitt becomes obsessed with a 3D painting.

The Mom And Pop Store: 4/5 Kramer tries to save a shoe business, but almost gets it shut down; Elaine gets tickets for Mr. Pitt to go to Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

[*]The Soup: 4.5/5 Jerry gets a free Armani suit from an obnoxious comedian who tells Jerry to pay for it just by taking him out for dinner; Kramer decides to eat only fresh food.

[*]The Secretary: 5/5 George hires a not-so attractive secretary over an attractive one; Kramer gets Uma Thurman's phone number; Elaine gets a dress but finds out the mirrors at the store she bought it from are "skinny mirrors".

[*]The Race: 4.5/5 Jerry re-races a former high school rival to prove to him he didn't cheat during a race; Elaine tries to find out if her boyfriend is a communist; Kramer becomes a mall santa.

The Switch: 4/5 Elaine tries to get her tennis racket back from Mr. Pitt; Jerry tries to switch his girlfriend who never laughs with a better looking one that does who happens to be her room mate; George's girlfriend seems to be bulimic; Kramer's first name is revealed and his mom makes her first appearance.

[*]The Label Maker: 5/5 Elaine and Jerry think Tim Whatley is a "re-gifter"; George convinces his girlfriend to get her male roommate to move out; Kramer takes playing a game of Risk against Newman seriously.

The Scofflaw: 4/5 This episode features the great Jon Lovitz. Kramer calls a litter-bug a pig around a cop, George gets a toupee, Jerry tries to find out why Jon Lovitz's character would fake chemotherapy.

[*]The Highlights of 100: 4.5/5 Jerry hosts an episode dedicated entirely to the first 99 episodes of Seinfeld; "A show about nothing."

The Beard: 4/5 Elaine attempts to convert a gay; Jerry dates a cop.

The Kiss Hello: 4/5 Kramer puts tenant pictures up in the lobby; Elaine hopes Kramer will tell her friend to get a new hair-do;

The Doorman: 4/5 Mr. Pitt's doorman at his building gives Jerry trouble; George's dad moves in with him; Kramer develops a bra for men.

[*]The Jimmy: 4.5/5 Jerry discovers Penthouse is in the dental office waiting room; Kramer visits the dentist; Elaine tries to date "The Jimmy", but discovers it's not who she thought.

[*]The Doodle: 5/5 Kramer loses his taste because of being in Jerry's apartment when fumes were killing fleas; George discovers his girlfriend thinks he's ugly; Elaine has an interview with a publisher.

[*]The Fusilli Jerry: 4.5/5 Jerry finds out that Elaine's boyfriend is using Jerry's "move" on her in bed; Kramer gets the wrong license plate, that reads "ASSMAN".

[*]The Diplomat's Club: 4.5/5 Elaine finds out she's in Mr. Pitt's will; George tries to prove he's not racist just because he said his boss looks like Sugar Ray Leonard; Kramer tries to resist betting.

The Face Painter: 4/5 Elaine's boyfriend paints his face for a Devil's hockey game, and a priest believes that he has seen the devil; George tells his girlfriend he loves her; A monkey throws a banana at Kramer.

The Understudy: 4/5 George and Jerry are said to have tried to intentionally hurt Bette Midler during a softball game; Kramer becomes Midler's assistant; Elaine get's George's dad to translate Korean.

----------

Seinfeld: Volume 5 is, overall, another solid Seinfeld boxset. The good episodes come often, but this is just an opening act setting the stage for future Seinfeld seasons. There are better volumes, but this one is still solid. Definitely a volume worth buying for a Seinfeld fan.

4/5

Game Review (Lego Starwars: The Original Trilogy - 360)

The original Lego Starwars was unique in that it was a Starwars game made with Lego characters. Many people think the game looks childish. Maybe so, but I think it is a great idea that also has stellar gameplay. My review. ( I'm going to hang myself. No life. )

Graphics: 5/5 On the 360 version of this game, the graphics are amazing. Sure it's very cartoony and doesn't look realistic, but it looks great. A Lego game can't look much better than
this.

Sound: 4/5 The Starwars music plays in and out of levels, which is great, but here are no character voices. Not like it matters; if you played the first Lego Starwars, you would know that this game's cutscenes are chock full of wordless slapstick brilliance. Therefore, sound is a virtue in this game besides the music.

Control: 4/5 The control in this game is simple, but aggrivating. The camera angles are slightly adjustable using the right analog stick, but that doesn't help that the camera is still terrible most of the time. You often can't judge the distance of a jump and you will die. You use A to jump and X to attack, and X or B to do actions or use the force. Simple controls, they work, but the camera angles are frustrating at times.

Fun: 4/5 Lego Starwars: The Original Trilogy delivers. With improved graphics and great gameplay. Sure, most missions are similar in many ways: build Legos into something, jump around aimlessly trying to find out what to do, unlock doors... etc. But the first game was like that too, and it was great fun; which is what this game is. This game may not last too long, but it is great. The big flaw of this game though is that there is no Xbox Live Co-Op; huge dissapointment. But with this gameplay, you will be sure to be playing for hours until you complete it. This is a game you should definitely rent, but not buy, unless you are a hardcore Starwars collector.

4/5

Game Review (Uno - 360 Arcade)

Here it is. Uno's 35th anniversery celebrates by throwing out a new Uno game; this time onto the 360 in great form. This game is simple, fun, and it's never been so addicting. Here is my review.

Graphics: 4/5 The graphics are in HD, but there isn't anything special about the graphics here. There are cards and backgrounds; that's about it. Everything is very colorful. There is nothing special, but nothing to hate.

Control: 4/5 Simple enough controls. The computer normally automatically cursors your best card choice to lay down every time it's your turn. It also puts your cards in order for you, so you don't have to scurry to pick a card.

Sound: 4/5 The sound in this game is pretty mesmorizing. The soft music playing in the background, although annoying, really draws you into the game. You'll hate it most likely, but it draws you in. You can also hear the cards and stuff too. It's good.

Fun: 4.5/5 Uno is a wildly addicting card game, and much more addicting on the 360. There is so much to go over. There is Xbox Live rankings, different themes for your decks, ( standard, 35th anniversery edition, or Project Gotham Racing ) talk over the headset, or even use your Xbox Live Vision Camera; that's right. That makes the game all the more fun. Although this is just a card game with few features, it is downright addicting. Uno runs for 400 Microsoft Points, which is a great price. 400 Microsoft Points is edging around the $4 mark. For that price, you can't go wrong. Of all the 360 Arcade games, this one takes the cake for the most fun. Go out and buy Uno.

4.5/5

Game Review (Gauntlet - 360 Arcade)

Here it is; whether you recognize the game by its name or by a screenshot, most people have played Gauntlet sometime in their life. This is the game: You play as one of four characters ( Valkyrie, Elf, Wizard, or Warrior ) and it's up to you to get through 100 intense levels. Here's my review.

Graphics: 2.5/5 The game was made in 1985 and the graphics look the same. No graphical difference here.

Sound: 3/5 There is barely any music, and the sound is pretty rare. Nothing special here; even for an '85 game.

Control: 3/5 Like most of the "classic" 360 Arcade games, it's very simple to control. Use the analog stick or D-pad to move and just use a to shoot. You also use B at times to use potions, but that's about it.

Fun: 4/5 Gauntlet is still what it was 21 years ago, but a bit better. There is Xbox Live for this game, but very seldom do you see players online. When you do, however, find a full group of people on Gauntlet and you get to know the people, this is a very enjoyable game. Although the game lags quite a bit, it is still very playable, and very fun. Gauntlet costs 400 Microsoft Points, which is about $4. If you like Gauntlet, buy this version; It's well worth it just for the Xbox Live experience.

3.5/5

Game Review (Smash TV - 360 Arcade)

Smash TV has been really one of my alltime favorite shoot-'em-up games just because it's fun and very unique. Of course it's repetetive, but the farfetched idea is great. You play as a contestant on a TV show risking his life to win prizes. I told you it was strange. But it's a good game. Here is my review.

Graphics: 3.5/5 The graphics are supposed to be HD-alized but I can't see a difference. The graphics look the same as they did back in the day; the graphics are nothing but maybe a tiny bit sharper and more colorful.

Sound: 3/5 The sound is really annoying. You just hear the guns blasting away and what-not and there isn't anything else to be heard. That and the tedious announcer who constantly repeats everything.

Control: 4/5 Anyone can learn these controls in a moment. Use the analog stick or D-pad to move around, and use A,B,X, and Y to move in the direction you want to shoot. Not hard, but that's all you do the whole game.

Fun: 3.5/5 Smash TV; it's a good game, but pretty dissapointing. There is Xbox Live for this game, but the sad thing is, it is extremely rare you find anyone to play with. Also, once you complete the game once, there isn't much more to come back to. Sure there are other rooms to explore on each level, ( There are 3 levels, all of which take about 20 minutes or so each. ) but they are all very similar. The game is repetetive; simple as that. The co-op is okay but nothing special, you have infinite lives, and the game costs 400 Microsoft Points; which is roughly $4. Smash TV is certainly not the best game at the 360 Arcade, but it is a pretty good one; especially in those times when you're frustrated beyond belief.

3.5/5

DVD Review (Seinfeld: Volume 4)

Another Seinfeld Volume. This time, Volume 4, which features all the season 5 episodes. There are some excellent episodes in this season. Here is my review.

----------

[*] Indicates a "Season Great"

[*]The Mango: 5/5 George believes his girlfriend is faking her orgasms, and Jerry soon finds out that Elaine faked all of hers. Jerry asks for another chance. Kramer gets banned from Joe's ( a fruit market ) so he has Jerry get his fruit. After learning Jerry was buying the fruit for Kramer, Jerry is also banned. Soon, George gets the fruit for Kramer. George and Jerry both discover the sexual power of mangos.

[*]The Puffy Shirt: 4.5/5 After getting a job as a hand model, George starts trying to take care of his hands. Jerry uniwittingly agrees to wear Kramer's girlfriends shirt she created; a puffy looking pirates shirt; without knowing because she is a "low-talker".

[*]The Glasses: 4.5/5 Elaine is biten by a dog and soon becomes scared of them; George believes he sees Jerry's cousin kissing Jerry's girlfriend, and it causes Jerry and George to investigate.

The Sniffing Accountant: 4.3/5 George's father gives George the opportunity to become a bra salesman; Jerry's accountant seems to be a drug user; Elaine finds a perfect boyfriend but whose lack of exclamation marks bugs her. NOTE: I can't give this episode a 4.5 or 4 so I gave it a 4.3. It's a good episode but just isn't one of the best of the season.

The Bris: 3.5/5 Elaine and Jerry's friends ask them to be godparents but realize they don't really want to be because they have to be part of the baby's circumcision; Kramer believes he sees a "pig-man".

[*]The Lip Reader: 4.5/5 Jerry begins dating a deaf line-woman at the U.S. Open and George has her lip-read George's ex-girlfriends lips to see what she is saying about him; Kramer becomes "ball-boy" at the U.S. Open.

[*]The Non-Fat Yogurt: 5/5 In this freakishly good episode, Jerry and Elaine eat at a yogurt shop that says its yogurt is "non-fat". After being told they're fat by Kramer, Elaine and Jerry investigate to see whether or not the yogurt has fat in it or not; Jerry badly influences the store's owner's son by accidently saying f*ck in front of him, who starts saying it; Elaine falls in love with George's "nemesis", Lloyd Braun.

[*]The Barber: 5/5 Jerry gets a mediocre haircut from a longtime hair dresser; after discovering there is a much better one from someone Kramer knows, Jerry gets a haircut from him. Jerry's old barber suspects he got his haircut by another hair dresser and calls on Newman to get a sample of Jerry's hair.

The Masseuse: 3.5/5 Elaine dates a man named Joel Rifkin and asks him to change his name, since Joel Rifkin was the name of a murderer in New York; Jerry's girlfriend, a massager, refuses to give Jerry a massage even though Kramer is one of her clients. Meanwhile, Jerry's girlfriend dislikes George and George doesn't know why.

The Cigar Store Indian: 4/5 Elaine goes on a subway and takes a TV Guide from Mr. Costanza, not knowing tha the collects them; Jerry starts to like a Native American without knowing, and offends her when giving an Indian figurine to Elaine; Kramer comes up with the idea for a coffee table coffee table book.

The Conversion: 3.5/5 George converts his religion and becomes a Latvian Orthodox member to keep his girlfriend from breaking up with him; Jerry finds fungus cream in his girlfriend's medicine cabinet and wonders what it could be for; Kramer finds out that religious women are strongly drawn to him.

[*]The Stall: 4.5/5 While in the bathroom, Elaine asks a woman for toilet paper, but she claims she "can't spare a square". Elaine soon finds out that the woman is Jerry's girlfriend and it's up to Jerry to make sure Elaine doesn't find out that it's her; Elaine's boyfriend falls on his face during rock climbing and wonders if it will ever look the same.

[*]The Dinner Party: 5/5 Jerry and Elaine go to a bakery to get a babka but they discover there is none left so they instead get something else and find a hair in it; Jerry gets a black and white cookie and throws up ending his record; George and Kramer purchase wine but they need change for a $100 bill and then have to wait for a double parker to move his car.

[*]The Marine Biologist: 4.5/5 Jerry meets a former college classmate who Jerry sets up a date with her for George and Jerry tells her George is a marine biologist; Kramer hits golf balls into the ocean and one goes inside of a whale's blow hole; George is called on the scene to get the golf ball out.

[*]The Pie: 5/5 Jerry is baffled and confused as to why his girlfriend wouldn't taste his apple pie at Monk's; Jerry goes to her girlfriend's dad's restaurant and becomes questionable about the food preperation; Elaine notices a mannequin that looks just like her; George tussles with another customer over a suit that makes a funny noise when someone walks with it on.

The Stand-In: 3.5/5 Kramer's midget friend Mickey uses "lifts'' to keep his job and the other midget actors find out- all of whom are dissapointed; Jerry tries to make a friend at a hospital laugh; Elaine dates a friend of Jerry's who takes "it" out on the first date in the car.

The Wife: 4/5 Jerry gets discount dry cleaning for his family, and Jerry pretends his girlfriend is his wife so she gets discounts; George pees in the shower at the health club.

The Raincoats (Pt. 1 and 2): 4/5 Jerry's dad and Kramer attempt to go into business with eachother by selling raincoats in this 1 hour special; Elaine goes out with a "close talker".

The Fire: 4/5 George while at a girlfriend's son's birthday party, tries to leave a burning house by pushing over children and seniors while trying to get out. When asked about it, he says he was saving them.

[*]The Hamptons: 5/5 The gang goes to the Hampton's house to see their new baby; which they all find hideously ugly; Kramer gets illegal crab; George's girlfriend exposes her breasts to everyone; and George fears Jerry's girlfriend saw him during "shrinkage".

The Opposite: 4/5 George notices that everything in his life has gone the opposite of what he wanted it to be, so he decides to do EVERYTHING OPPOSITE; Kramer goes on Regis and Kelly to tell them about his coffee table coffee table book.

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Seinfeld: Volume 4 has its episodes. There are some really, really good episodes in this season but then there are some real stinkers. Seinfeld: Volume 4 is well worth buying, but it doesn't have the overall excellence of some of the other volumes available right now.

4/5

DVD Review ( Seinfeld: Volume 3 )

Seinfeld won their first award in their 4th season; Volume 3. With good reason. Even though the first 3 seasons were already really good, people for some reason just noticed the show more-so into season 4. Here is my review for Seinfeld: Volume 3.

----------

[*] Indicates a "Season Great"

[*]The Trip (Pt. 1): 4.5/5 Jerry is called on to do appear on the Tonight Show in L.A. George decides to go, and the two also try to look for Kramer.

The Trip (Pt. 2): 4/5 Kramer is arrested and is said to be a serial killer. Jerry and George go back and find Kramer in Jerry's apartment soon after returning.

[*]The Pitch: 4.5/5 NBC executives give Jerry and George to write at TV show for them. Crazy Joe Davola start stalking them.

[*]The Ticket: 4.5/5 Newman uses Kramer as reason for why he was speeding.

[*]The Wallet: 5/5 Jerry has to come up with a false excuse as to why he doesn't wear the watch they bought for him; Jerry's Dad (Morty) gets his wallet stolen while at the hospital.

[*]The Watch: 5/5 Jerry tries to buy his watch back from Uncle Leo who finds it in the garbage he threw it away in; George passes on the opportunity to write for the show; Elaine ( with Kramer's help ) tries to break up with Crazy Joe Davola.

The Bubble Boy: 4/5 Jerry visits a "bubble boy" as a birthday surprise, but George and Susan visit him on the way. Jerry and Elaine get lost and arrive late. Kramer takes Jerry's Girlfriend to Susan's dad's cabin.

[*]The Cheever Letters: 4.5/5 Jerry offends Elaine's assistant; Kramer starts buying Cuban cigars that are illegal in the U.S. and becomes a usual at the local private golf club; John Cheever letters are the only remains of Susan's dad's cabin calapse.

The Opera: 4/5 Elaine and Jerry realize that Crazy Joe Davola is the guy Elaine is dating; Jerry, Elaine, and George have to sit through an opera.

[*]The Virgin: 5/5 Jerry discovers his girlfriend is a virgin; Kramer continues to harass George and Jerry while they are trying to write the pilot for their new show.

[*]The Contest: 5/5 ( This is the show's one and only Emmy win. ) After George is found masturbating by his mom, Jerry, George, Elaine, and Kramer all devise a plan to see who can last the longest without masturbating.

[*]The Airport: 4.5/5 Jerry and Elaine figure out just how big the difference is between coach and first class on an airline. George and Kramer have to drive to different airports after realizing the trip was rerouted.

The Pick: 4/5 Jerry is seen "picking-his-nose" by his model girlfriend, but she doesn't believe he was just scratching it. Elaine sends everyone she knows a Christmas card that's a little revealing.

[*]The Movie: 4.5/5 Jerry, George, Elaine, and Kramer continuously miss eachother while trying to see a movie together.

[*]The Visa: 4.5/5 Jerry tries to keep Babu Bhatt from being deported; Elaine tries to get George's girlfriend attorney to drop her lawsuit.

The Shoes: 4/5 Jerry and George don't get to get their show aired because of looking down an executive's daughter's cleavage. Elaine tries to get rid of the problem.

[*]The Outing: 4.5/5 Jerry and George are mistakenly said to be "gay" and people around town assume it.

The Old Man: 4/5 Jerry, George, and Elaine all get volunteer jobs to help out senior citizens.

The Implant: 4/5 Elaine tries to find out whether or not Jerry's girlfriend's breasts are real or not.

[*]The Junior Mint: 4.5/5 Jerry can't remember his girlfriend's name; Jerry and Kramer watch an operation on Elaine's boyfriend and Kramer drops a Junior Mint in his open chest, ultimately changing the results of the surgery.

[*]The Smelly Car: 4.5/5 Jerry's car begins to smell because of a smelly valet; George believe he is what made his ex-girlfriend, Susan, turn lesbian.

The Handicap Spot: 4/5 The gang parks in a handicap spot and results in a handicap person being hurt. An angry mob trashes the car. George's dad is introduced for the first time.

The Pilot (Pt. 1 and 2): 4/5 Jerry and George begin casting for their pilot episode; Russel Dalrimple becomes obsessed with Elaine; Elaine files a complaint at Monk's saying that they only hire waitresses with big breasts. Jerry and George begin filming the episode; Elaine wears a disguise to stay away from Dalrimple.

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Seinfeld: Volume 3 is another great DVD set. Although most of the great episodes are in the beginning and middle of the season, this season has some classics. There are some deleted scenes as usual, Notes About Nothing on every episode as usual, and some scattered commentary... as usual. This is another must buy set for a Seinfeld fanatic.

4.5/5

Game Reivew ( Burnout: Revenge - 360 )

Let me just start by saying Burnout Revenge for the Xbox 360 is an excellent game. Sure it's a port, but the graphics are great, the sound is amazing, and the game is very fun. My review.

Graphics: 4.5/5 The graphics in this game are unbelievable. The blur effect you get when you're going 200 is nice looking. The cars look great, and so do the tracks. When your car gets scratched up and crashed up it looks really cool. Definitely part of what makes this game great.

Sound: 5/5 Jeez! Though the soundtrack is kind of lame, ( to me ) the cars sound freakishly good. They sound like they have a jet engine or something. Also when you're flying through the streets passing cars, the sound of the wind and the other cars is sweet. Try playing this game with some surround sound.

Control: 4.5/5 There isn't much to say about the controls. RT to drive, LT to break, X to look back, and A to use boost. That's about it. Effective controls, and very responsive.

Fun: 4.5/5 There is plenty to do in this game. It's a port, but a great one. There are some exclusives on the 360, such as different cars. There are several game modes, and great online multiplayer. Take someone out? That person is notified and it's up to them to get back at you. What a great game this is. If you haven't played Burnout Revenge yet, definitely try this out. If you HAVE played Burnout Revenge... definitely try this out.

4.5/5