I’m happy to announce that with the sales of Ergo I was just able to pay off the cost of the album’s production! Thanks to everyone who picked up a copy of the album in CD or digital format!

With that being said, I’m going to be doing a mini-tour in August! Dates to be given out in a few weeks!

If you’re a fan of the Soul Calibur series like I am, then you were most likely looking forward to the new Xbox Live Arcade version of the Dreamcast original. Yesterday, that excitement turned to disappointment when I discovered a few major problems with this new version.

First off, for a game that claims to be reworked in HD and doesn’t have wide screen support is ridiculous. Lets not forget to mention that everything that needed to be unlocked in the Dreamcast version is already unlocked when you start it, taking out much of the replay value. For lots of people the fact that there isn’t any online multiplayer is one of the biggest reasons that no one is going to pick it up, but the even bigger let down is the fact that the Mission mode has been taken out completely.

Mission mode sent you on a quest gathering swords and special weapons and often challenging you to win the fight in a certain way or with certain conditions. For example, in one mission you could be shot with a poison dart and while your fighting your health starts to drain or it weakens your attacks. Other times you would be fighting multiple foes in 1 vs 4 or more matches. This led to a fun game play experience that is unseen in many fighters these days and has been completely removed.

So what options can one take to get a proper Soul Calibur fix? Buy a Dreamcast and hunt down the original disc? Wait for Soul Calibur 4? Well, there is a solution and it costs just about the same amount as the Xbox Live arcade version.

For about $7.99 you can go and pick up Soul Calibur 2 for the original Xbox from Gamestop. Its backwards compatible with the Xbox 360 and just about beats the Xbox Live version of Soul Calibur in every way. SC2 featured 720P HD support for the original Xbox and it looks great when you plug it into your Xbox 360. Though it doesn’t support wide screen mode, it looks far better then XBLA’s Soul Calibur. Plus, this disc features tons more characters and the Xbox exclusive character Spawn! Throw in a full bore quest mode and you have very solid and rewarding fighter with tons replay value. Sure, it doesn’t have any online play, but its still leaps and bounds better then what else is out there.

http://www.gamestop.com/Catalog/ProductDetails.aspx?product_id=25412

Thank you very much for this awesome addition to my collection! You know who you are!

A review of the Gears of War Marcus Fenix action figure from NECA.

I know my video reviews are usually better quality with music, graphical overlaps and better sound quality, but I shot it while having a 101.4 fever and was really in no mood or condition to to some major fixing in post production.

Sorry folks, next time I’ll have a cleaner presentation.

4. Triple H

Triple H has been on Raw for years and its about time that he or WWE decided that he needed to switch brands, even if it only ends up being for a little while. Those without cable will finally get to experience Triple H for the first time in years and it will seem fresh to them. Triple H also gets to lead some talent that he has never had the chance to, which will hopefully result in something positive.

3. CM Punk

It was pretty obvious that Punk was going to get drafted to either Smackdown or Raw and Raw seems to be the better choice here. There are plenty of people he can have matches with to boost his status and eventually cash in his Money In the Bank contract. Punk is solid at live events so the switch to live TV won’t be a problem for him.

2. Jeff Hardy

Jeff has had a tough year already and moving him from Raw to Smackdown may seem like a demotion to him, but this is for the best. There are plenty of people for him to work with in his weight class and he could end up being being a Smackdown champion easily. After all, the Great Khali was a world champ.

1. Mike Dynomite

Backstage rumors are already spinning that as soon as this young man was drafted to the Raw roster, Triple H immediately handed him the WWE Championship. If this is true, Dynomite can prove right off the bat that he’s World class material by beating John Cena at Night of Champions with nothing more than a Subway sandwich with bad tomatoes. Shortly after he can challenge former undisputed champion Chris Jericho to a match and actually prove that Y2J is in fact nothing more than a punching bag. Ultimately, my prediction is that he will hold the belt as long as next year’s Wrestlemania and face his most difficult match yet against Cody Rhodes…I mean if he can make that match look good then he really is awesome.

Holy hell, that was actually a pretty good 3 hour Raw. The show ended with Edge winning the battle royal for his brand and securing two talents for Smackdown: Triple H and Mr. Kennedy. I don’t really believe that HHH is going to Smackdown because if you remember he was drafted years ago only to be traded back to Raw for three Raw superstars post draft. For the most part though they really did some awesome changes and the ending with the stage falling down on Vince McMahon was far more realistic then his famous limo explosion of doom.

Here where my live twitter results as the show aired:

Wow…that was a hell of a way to end raw…much more realistic then last year’s limo explosion.

5 minutes ago from web

HHH to SMACKDOWN!?!! 11 minutes ago from web

Mr Kenedy to smackdown 13 minutes ago from web

Batista is bleeding badly. 16 minutes ago from web

Edge and Batista just hit each other head first. 17 minutes ago from web

Tri brand battle royal is next. Winner gets two draft picks. 34 minutes ago from web

Kane to Raw? He’s the ECW champ. 43 minutes ago from web

Please draft JBL to ECW….please. about 1 hour ago from web

Umaga to Smackdown. I won’t miss him. about 1 hour ago from web

Batista! about 1 hour ago from web

Count out…Raw draft pick is…… about 1 hour ago from web

Foley is trying to kiss JR’s ass. Its not working. about 1 hour ago from web

I have a feeling the next pick is Cena. about 1 hour ago from web

Jim Ross is upset…legit. about 2 hours ago from web

Jim Ross on Smackdown?! WTF? about 2 hours ago from web

Oh shit….Melina got injured! about 2 hours ago from web

Matt Hardy to ECW? Least ECW will have another belt. about 2 hours ago from web

CM Punk to Raw! about 2 hours ago from web

Jeff Hardy to Smackdown!?Nooo! about 3 hours ago from web

Rey Mysterio to Raw. about 3 hours ago from web

On one of my regular visits to the Bungie.net I noticed something missing immediately: The Bungie Store. A place where one could find some very awesome Halo collectable’s, was no longer anywhere to be found on the website. After using Google to look it up, I was met with this at the entrance to the shop.

So…the Bungie Store will be coming back, but to what degree? I wouldn’t expect much in the line of Halo stuff, now that Microsoft owns the rights to produce everything. I could be wrong, but if that wasn’t the case then there would be no reason for Bungie to close the existing store. So anything you bought from the store in the last 4 years could have just increased in value! My only regret was that I wasn’t able to get that last mylar print they released..

A new remix is available to download today. This is my remix of Granturismo’s "Them and Me and You" and you can download it in high quality MP3 below.

Granturismo - Them and Me And You (Unleaded Logic’s Swinger Remix) - 7 megs - Download (Right click and choose save as to download.)

Due to not having access to any of the original recording, I put everything together from scratch, including the vocals.

My remix of this song will also be on the next N+ Music Pack! Enjoy!

Ever have a super sweet collection of MP3’s backed up on a disk and lose them? I lost a crap load of stuff I had in high school as well as tons of actual store bought compact discs and vinyl and though I’ve recovered most of the songs in either actual physical form or digital form, there are some missing and the above mentioned track happens to be one of them.

Hear Me was a freaking awesome progressive house/trance song made by Mark James and Mike Truman (Of Hybrid fame) that contained some very cool female vocal samples saying "See me, feel me, hear me, love me, touch me". Not only was the vocal quite beautiful but it contained some very beautiful strings sounds in it.

I want it.

I can’t find it.

Its no where on the freaking internet to buy digitally.

So if you happen to have this track…..PLEASE LET ME KNOW! Maybe some of my long time buddies have it on a MP3 collection CD, maybe they don’t. I don’t know. I just know that I want to hear it again.