I doubt very seriously that I have anything of substance to add regarding the Writer's Guild Strike, though we have ostensibly done a comic on the topic, even though it was mostly an opportunity for Gabriel to draw a dinosaur. The Writers Guild is dealing with the same issues that Musicians have been dealing with, that is to say, compensation when the same work takes on a different form in this baffling digital age. The way contracts are currently written, there is some magical distinction between content that is broadcast on television, played from a disc, or streamed online. It's hard to imagine there are people who actually claim to believe this kind of mysticism.

We don't know what else will be available in Microsoft's Fall Update for the 360, but the rumored (then confirmed, now certain) Family Settings stuff is now fully detailed. Their seriousness on the topic underlies what I've been hearing for awhile - that they essentially see themselves with their boot on Sony's exposed chest, secure in the defeat of their foe and convinced of their martial prowess. It's the cultural currency of the Wii they find terrifying, and you can see it in their recent maneuvers. In any case, it's the most robust system of its kind currently in place. I don't understand why their system requires children to create Passport accounts, and I have to say that I'm not likely to pay an additional fifty dollars so my son can play Halo with [420]-=WeedPot=-. They need to spin up asynchronous guesting for child accounts, work up a family pay option, or go ad supported before this notion of a fully connected Xbox Family really materializes.

The 2.00 firmware for the Playstation 3 had begun to take on mythical proportions, to the extent that one could almost hear the approach of its pounding hooves. Aside from allowing your Playstation 3 "to act as a Divine Conduit" and the inclusion of a unique popcorn setting, most people expected (and not without reason) that the two point oh would bring in-game access to the XMB , granting users the core social functionality via any title. This is really the big one, as in a single move Sony would deliver something very much like parity with Microsoft's premium offering. Before it shut down, industry blog Inner Bits carried interesting commentary and offered potential solutions on some of the concerns Sony faces in implementing the feature.

Also! A New Shirt. I feel confident you'll arrive at the reference:

(CW)TB out.

i fill up my garage

We went out yesterday afternoon to pick up Call of Duty 4. I was ready to grab it based on Tycho's recommendation. We hit the local EB and we were told they didn't have any copies for customers who didn't pre -order. I looked around at the store. It was full of  posters, giant novelty game boxes and cardboard standees all advertising Call of Duty 4. The strategy guide was displayed front and center right there on the counter. But I'm supposed to believe that they didn't receive a single extra copy of the game? They didn't think anyone else might want to buy one? I've never had any kind of problem purchasing games without a pre -order from this store in the past. I've always been able to walk in on launch day and grab as many copies of whatever game I want. Now all of a sudden I'm being told there's no games for me?

Now I don't know if the manager over there John (a.k.a the goblin king) has decided to blacklist us, but something seemed fishy. Other people from the PA crew have had similar experiences in his store since the comic. Someone looking for a game was told by John that he "didn't think they had it." when he was pressed to actually check and see he turned around, glanced at the case behind him and said "nope don't have it." This could just be the sort of classic douchebaggery we've come to expect from him, but I'm starting to think there may be something more sinister going on.

I continued trading in the games I had brought and mentioned to Tycho that we should just run across the street to Best Buy and get COD 4. John piped up from atop his over turned apple crate. "They won't have it until tomorrow" he told us. Actually Best Buy had plenty. In fact they had so many they actually had them stacked next to the registers in case people wanted to buy them. This is what shopping in a fucking store is like! You go in and buy what you want. You can take your 28 confessions and shove them up your fucking ass. How about instead of giving me a 40 paragraph strategy guide so I can shop in your pawn shop without getting screwed you just sell me a game when I ask for it.

It's funny, in the end it turns out I'm not a big fan of COD 4. I tossed it in last night and played through the first handful of levels. It certainly looks great but I think Rainbow 6: Vegas has really spoiled me. The lack of a cover system in COD is really frustrating to me. It looks and feels like a tactical squad shooter. Only I don't have any ability to play tactically or control my squad. The enemies can blind fire from behind cover but apparently I can't? My teammates can shoot the hinges off a door and then kick it in but I can't so much as jiggle a doorknob? After R6 I never thought I'd have to toss a flash bang into a room by standing in the middle of the doorway again. Visually it's a real stunner but game play wise it feels dated to me.

I just wanted to make a little addendum to my last post.

I'm well aware that for every John working at an EB there's fifty guys who are actually doing an awesome job. I've been into those stores as well. When I hit the Lynnwood mall, Redmond town center, or Bellevue I always talk to great people. The problem is that this store is right next to our office. Also I've done my tour of duty in the retail trenches so I understand that the guys in the stores don't make the policies. I did three Christmas seasons at Toys R Us and anyone who's been through one of those can tell you it's hell. I remember the Tickle Me Elmo Christmas like veterans remember old battles. I also worked at Circuit City where I saw the true face of corporate evil. We were all forced to push extended warranties, erm I mean "performance guarantees" on our customers. I know how shitty you feel trying to sell someone on something they don't want or need. I remember we used to have morning meetings where we would tell our managers about the various reasons customers would give us for not purchasing a warranty . The manager would then tell us what the proper response would have been in order to counter the customers reason and get them to purchase the warranty. One of our home audio guys stood up and said his customer was an extremely old man. Bent over and wrinkled the man explained he did not need a five year warranty because he would probably not live that long. The manager at the time Chris (Hi Chris I know you're reading this) told him that he should have explained to the customer that the warranty was transferable. Doesn't he want the person who receives the stereo after his death to have the peace of mind that a full five year performance guarantee delivers?

That's a special kind of evil.

Chris isn't even a bad guy is the thing. That's just the sort of person you're forced to become in that environment.

So I know all about retail and I know who's calling the shots. My problem with EB policy is that I think it's downright shady. I got literally dozens of emails from employees all over the country telling me that it is their store's policy not to sell popular games to customers on launch day unless they have a pre-order. They are literally being told not to sell the games they have in order to teach customers a lesson about pre-ordering. Now that shit is evil. I can't even imagine how shitty I'd feel as an employee being forced to do something like that.

I wanted to share another interesting mail I got. This is from a reader in Montreal:

I live in Montreal and in 2004 a new Game retailer opened called game buzz

Now they have 4 store, 3 in the downtown area and 1 in the suburb. It's a small company opened by two guys who wanted a real game store. They offer a much better service than the single EB game in downtown and the only time I go to EB is for collectible exclusive, and always reluctantly. In GameBuzz I was never asked to reserve a game, in fact they don't even do preorder, if you'd like to reserve a game, they take your name , phone number and when they get the game they keep a copy, call you and keep it for 2 day. The only time I could reserve one was for my Halo3 legendary edition. They do not gut any game, (that the most stupid thing I ever heard after employe checkout, pure shit). They always have a great number of copy of new game (I almost always reserve my game, but when go and get, they always have plenty left) . They do not sell long term "waranty" for used game. They have the greatest inventory I've ever seen, old NES game, Atari, import game (jump superstars) figurine, mariokart race track, plushies, duff beer energy drink and all that stuff.

All in all its a fun place to shop and you do not need a freaking walkthrough to go there. I went to France in 2001 and most of their game shop where that way, one beside the others on one street, it was very impressive, I was very happy to see that king of shop arrive in my town.

I wanted to tell you about that because a lot of people say there no other way to work since they're small shop and they can't make profit otherwise. Gamebuz started from one single shop in downtown in 2004 and since them open 3 new one. I believe the business is going well.

Sorry for my english tycho,

Now I've never been into one of these stores so I can't personally vouch for this operation. What I can say is that I always hoped a store like this would come along some day. It always seemed to me like intelligent buyers who follow the community and the industry could make smart decisions about how to stock their stores. If this Gamebuzz place is really as great as I'm being told I wish them the best of luck and I hope they open their next store in Seattle.

-Gabe out