joshbuhler.com

Got home from MAX, and the next morning I fired up my Xbox360 to get the dashboard update. Best feature so far? The Netflix streaming. I love 30 Rock, and one of my favorite episodes is “Hard Ball”, especially the ending musical number. (Season 1, ep 15, if you’d like to watch it.) That was the first thing I watched once I got my Netflix account linked to the Xbox. Being able to stream several seasons of 30 Rock, The Office, and even The Addams Family has been great so far.

Another feature I didn’t really think I’d have too much fun with was the Avatars. I built mine last night, and think I did a fair job getting something that looks like me. Of course, if I could get a black Fender or Flex hat for the little guy, he’d look even more like me. Though, the most fun I’ve had with this guy is playing with my (almost) 2-year old daughter Brooklynn. You can use the controller to move the avatar’s head around, make them talk, etc. Once this guy appeared on the screen, Brooklynn was captivated, and we spent a fair amount of time with me controlling him like a virtual puppet, and her giggling. Good times.

So, did you guys get avatar’d, and do they look anything like you? You can share your avatars easily online by using the following URL:

http://avatar.xboxlive.com/avatar/GAMERTAG/avatar-body.png

Just replace GAMERTAG with your own, and you’re in business.

Many Xbox gamers know of the upcoming “New Xbox Experience” (NXE) that’ll be hitting next month on the 19th. Among other new features included with this update, you’ll be able to create your very own Mii’s Avatars to represent yourself online.

It appears that some of these Avatars have begun to appear in the wild, and there’s a possibility that Microsoft may have something in the works social network-wise for these little guys. Each gamertag has a URL that can be used to load a PNG of your Avatar, which I’d imagine is for use on blogs, forum avatars, Twitter, etc. However, if you try visiting these URLs in your browser (except for IE) you’ll just receive a bunch of text, and won’t be able to view the Avatar image, unless you download and save the contents of the URL as a .png file.

I wanted to check out some of these Avatars, and since saving and loading each URL was a bit tedious, I decided to build a quick & dirty Flex app to load the various Avatar images. (Much faster, right?)

Here’s the app: http://blog.joshbuhler.com/flash/360avatars/

You can either select from a list of known Gamertags that already have Avatars, or enter in a Gamertag of your choice. Though, if the Gamertag doesn’t have an Avatar yet, the image won’t load.

(By the way, the skin for the app is the slick Undefined by Alberto Alcaraz, winner of ScaleNine’s Skin to Win Challenge.)

This week is the annual Game Developers Conference, which I love, not for game announcements like we get with the other game shows, but for all the geeky developer stuff we get to see. There’s some awesome stuff coming out of the conference so far, and one of my favorites so far is the announcement of the XNA Community Games from Microsoft.
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Ever burn ants with a magnifying glass? Then Ant City is the place for you.

Just a few short videos good for killing a couple minutes of time:

Lego Star Destroyer
These two folks built the Lego Star Destroyer and used a webcam to document the 10-hour process, snapping a frame every 5 seconds to create a stop motion movie. The video is about 3-4 minutes long, but it’s pretty fun to watch. Lego Star Destroyer Build (divX)

Street Fighter Salsa Dancing
Two contestants in a salsa dance competition using Street Fighter as their theme. They went beyond just the costumes, and even worked in some Street Fighter special moves into their dance: Street Fighter Salsa (WMV)

Star Wars: Episode XII
And one last quick one found by Andy at the office, Star Wars: Episode XII (QuickTime)

It was pretty touch and go for a while, but I made it. (Actually, my life wasn’t in any real danger, but there were a few times where I just wanted someone to shoot me.) I’ve been down all week with a lovely combination of a sinus infection and bronchitis. I knew things weren’t good when my doctor looked down my throat Tuesday night and jumped back saying something like “aaagguhgghh!!!” (That’s the best I think I could spell that.)

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Check out this great video of someone using a setup of doors and other objects in Half-Life 2 to crush another character. It’s entertaining, while at the same time being a great demo of the game’s physics engine.

It’s kinda like that Honda “Cog” commercial, only used for evil.

The form below is from the Xbox.com website. I was entering a contest to win an Xbox 360 when it launches, and was given this form to register:

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Looks like Microsoft is using Apple equipment to demo and develop for the new XBox 360 console. Makes sense, as they both use the PowerPC architecture, but still, it is kinda funny as Microsoft, as it part of it’s plan for world domination, relies it’s arch-rival’s gear to get the job done.

Kinda reminds me of those episodes where He-Man and Skeletor would be stuck in some terrible situation that was bad for the both of them, and they’d be forced to work together in order to survive.

MacRumors.com Article
c|net Article

While at Flashforward next week, I’d love to get together with some of of you during some free time. Anyone looking for a game of Metroid Prime:Hunters on Nintendo DS? I’m curious to see how many of us at FF will have either an NDS or PSP. Or even their entire consoles for some Halo or Mario Kart action.

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