An easy challenge - beat me at Gyruss. I play the arcade version here and I show you how far I got. :P

A great example of a 'Tube Shooter' ala Tempest
The maker of this game moved on to create great games like Time Pilot, Street Fighter and 1942
Highscore to beat (easily): 72450

Diagnosis: Gyruss Infection
Remedy: Keep on playing it.

(Download the MP4 here)

My new article for Que, Kinect’s Evolution: Then versus Now, has now been posted. In it, I discuss a brief history of Microsoft's Kinect and some of its latest uses. Finally, our new book, My Xbox: Kinect, Xbox 360, and Xbox LIVE, is now targeted for a February 2012 release, in order to incorporate all the latest and greatest information on the platform.

My new article for Que, Xbox 360 Fall 2011 Dashboard Update Features and Expectations, has now been posted. If you still haven't read about all the new features coming to the Xbox 360 with the pending update, then be sure to check it out. If you're in the beta program, the update should hit within the next few days, with a wide release for all Xbox 360 owners expected within the next several months. Finally, our new book, My Xbox: Kinect, Xbox 360, and Xbox LIVE, is now targeted for a February 2012 release, in order to incorporate all the latest and greatest information on the platform.

Here's a famous quote that sums up the reaction to yesterday's surprise announcement by HP to stop supporting webOS, and, by extension, the TouchPad tablet, as well as get out of the PC business, courtesy of the classic 1968 film, The Planet of the Apes: "YOU MANIACS! YOU BLEW IT UP! OH, DAMN YOU! GODDAMN YOU ALL TO HELL!". We all knew that Hewlett-Packard CEO Leo Apotheker was a software guy, we just didn't realize that meant he'd pull the rug out from under consumers and do a dramatic IBM-style business shift. At least we can still buy their printers, right? ... Anyone?

This affects me personally, because I was working on TouchPad For Dummies, which would have been my third book for 2011, to go along with the recently released, Motorola ATRIX For Dummies, and the upcoming, My Xbox: Kinect, Xbox 360, and Xbox LIVE. While these events are much bigger than me and others will be affected far more dramatically, I thought I would still give my personal impressions, starting first with a little background on the book stuff, some discussion of the TouchPad itself, and then get a bit more into an analysis of the present situation within the industry.

Today, Microsoft announced that "by extending the capabilities of the Xbox platform with Kinect and Xbox LIVE, Microsoft has 'changed the tail' of the typical console lifecycle, showing dramatic gains in the fifth and sixth years of this generation." In addition, they’ve released the following data points:

• Microsoft has now sold 55 million Xbox 360 consoles across 38 countries and sales are accelerating.
• Xbox 360 maintains its lead in the U.S. as the top selling console in 2011, and ten of the past eleven months.
• In the first four months of 2011, Xbox 360 has seen a 29 percent year over year increase in sales, which is more than triple the growth of PlayStation 3 and the largest growth of any console on the market.
• There are now nearly 35 million active Xbox LIVE members worldwide spending an average of almost 60 hours a month on the service.
  Cumulatively Xbox LIVE members are now logging 2.1 billion entertainment hours a month.

Here we are again with another round of web links. I know you'd prefer high-protein sausage links, but these have slightly fewer preservatives.

Yes, a Cat-Food Brand Really Has Created Three iPad Games For Cats. "The game-play has been researched and tested for maximum feline fun," and unlike game testing for humans, actually seems to work. Unfortunately for Friskies, the cats aren't purchasing the DLC.

Here's my take on the hottest news for Wednesday, May 18th.

PSN logins exploited again, Sony takes pages offline. Sony in consultations with TSA to improve security; new system utilizes The PlayStation Eye and requires taking off shoes and submitting to nude-ray scan.

Microsoft KinectMaking the rounds today is word that Microsoft's Kinect has sold over 10 million units since it had its worldwide roll-out throughout the month of November, 2010. Certainly an impressive feat in such a short amount of time and apparently worthy of the people at Guinness World Records, who have officially named it the "fastest-selling consumer electronics device" (faster than even the iPhone and iPad) by selling an average of 133,333 units per day for a total of eight million units in its first 60 days between November 4, 2010, and January 3, 2011. Congrats to Microsoft and I'm certainly a fan, but I have to say, now that there's no denying the device has consumer traction, where are the games? Dance Central and Kinect Sports are lots of fun, but we could really use some more quality titles to take advantage of the device, and sooner rather than later at that...