A lot can be said about this video, but it's best to let it do all the talking. More info to come in the days ahead I promise! As always, feel free to leave your comments with the video or on this blog. To those leaving negative comments, refer to the film "Camelot" as to where you can stick your head.

It's been a whole week since any of these events actually happened so let's just blame my PS3 for taking what little free time, I did find, away from actually posting this. So to those few fans of the Satellite Fields, if you havn't heard already: my second child was born on June 14, 2008 at 0446! Just as the ultrasound had predicted we did have a son and he weighed in at 6 lb 11 oz and was 19 1/2 in long. He was four weeks early just like his sister and never spent a second in the NICU. Even the nursing staff was amazed at how healthy he was for being a whole month early. We're still dealing with a jaundice issue however. For non-medical minded people this means a high bilirubin level. And further simplified: bilirubin is a waste by-product produced by the body when it recycles red blood cells and can easily accumulate in the body when the liver cannot break it down or the kidneys/bowels cannot clear it fast enough. Jaundice has been linked to serious brain damage at severely high levels and when left untreated. Thankfully, the pediatricians caught the problem just as it was getting critical and the levels are just now starting to come down. In a few more days he's expected to be at normal levels for an infant. With all the boring clinical explanations done, here is some fun stuff: A link to a baby picture of him at just a few hours old! For some reason the image could not be posted in this blog...crazy internet, I'm done fighting with it!

At a week old he's even back up to his birth weight only having lost barely a pound! The toddler is taking to the new addition fairly well. She doesn't show any signs of jealousy but tends to get very grabby and rough with her younger brother. I can already foresee the "rear seat" fights and "Stop touching me!" arguements brewing between these two. Thank God I can convince my wife to drive long distance trips and I sleep the whole way. Or at least, I used to until now. Since I seem to post new blogs maybe once a month I'll likely put any updates in the comment section for this posting. Between work, family life and, of course, the time munching PS3 I seem to be spending less time on the PC. I think my Sims are ready to revolt from the lack of satellite related chaos in their neighborhood.

As mentioned in the topic I was also fortunate to have yet another big prize come my way last week: a Second Place finish in DFAD6! While I was already content with the surprising placement in the Top Ten Finalists, to find myself actually winning a prize was quite shocking. For those who have been wondering just what I presented to the judges, here is the link to my game idea: Mutant League Football: MBP Edition. I cannot stress how much I owe to my "unnamed" friend who contributed to this project. While most of the base ideas came from me the vast majority of the proper writing structure and a good deal of humor came from them. As the special thanks line indicates, this project would have been doomed and certainly no prize won without their help. Thanks again for all your help! Be sure to check out the game ideas from the other nine competitors at the DFAD6 union! Not only will they give you good ideas on how to write your own game ideas, for future DFAD competitions and beyond, but also to see what other gamers are wanting in games as well. Hopefully some of these ideas will get noticed and may even end up in games one day. As more gamers begin to enter the video game workforce we can only hope their ideas start showing up in the form of some incredible games. As for my idea, I'm sure EA has toyed with the idea of taking Mutant League Football to the next level. Sadly, I imagine it just doesn't spark enough interest for those who pay the bills and they may even think the game is far too violent for mainstream gaming. Whatever the reasons, at least now gamers of all ages can dream with me, for a little while, as to what a revamped Mutant League Football game would be like.

I've been a avoiding the GS forums awhile lately and I apologize to the few who actually enjoy my long winded postings as they have been fewer and actually growing much shorter in length. Most of the reason for my avoidance in the GS forums has been a overactive work environment, nice sunny days to play with my daughter outside and a few epic play sessions with Final Fantasy X. The other, more secretive reason, is that for the past month and a half I've been working on, not one, but TWO Developer for a Day projects. The reason for working on two was that my original idea had to be scrapped half way through because I realized there was no way I was going to do it justice in the time frame allowed. So, with half the time to build a second project I dug out an old favorite idea I've had stewing for nearly 15 years: a Mutant League Football sequel. If it's a worthwhile read then the judges will surely let us know, so keep an eye out on the DFAD6 union news. Needless to say, the game brought back all the grand action that the original packed into such a tiny Genesis cart, threw in some great conventional ideas and sprinkled it with only the flair that a satellite dropping fiend like myself could put in. There was also some help from a nameless entity who shall remain nameless as promised. Again, thank you for saving this project from certain doom. As for the aforementioned project, only the nameless one is privy to that idea and it continues on in work now for DFAD7. Regardless of when another DFAD is announced, this project will be waiting and will certainly not disappoint any fan of it's genre.

Edit: 6/2/08

It was hard to believe at first, but obviously I'm not the only one that likes the carnage of Mutant League Football. DFAD6 Top Ten Finalists have been posted and sure enough there was my mug of a handle up there. For me it was great just to write the idea down that has been floating in my mind for several years. Being able to share it with a few people was fun and now the potential for many people to see it is just awesome. The winners announcement is a few weeks away so all you Mutant fans out there keep your fingers crossed for a win; or better yet some recognition from EA for a potential real game development. Because you know this world badly needs a football game where you can get even with the refs.

Gaming with the PS3 has been great fun so far and over the past few months I had actually forgotten that it was also a fully functioning Blue-ray movie player. Yeah that's how bad my memory is. I can't even remember what my own high-tech toys can do. Along with forgeting about having a Blue-ray player I had also forgotten about the five free Blue-ray movies that were supposed to be coming six to eight weeks after having sent in the free offer form. The very day I had remembered I had sent off for them nearly 8 weeks ago, and was assuming the form had gotten lost in the mail, I came home to find the little buggers waiting for me on the desk. Fortunately my wife did not open it up and thus commence with a new bodily orifice creation technique in the thought that I had just blown $100 or more on movies. When I told her they were the free Blue-ray movies she was actually quite interested in seeing the selections. I myself was shocked to find out that she wanted to watch the movie SWAT which I myself had eagerly wanted to watch. So the HDTV and Dolby Digital surround sound system were put to the HD movie test this weekend. At first I didn't notice any noticable difference in the picture; we already invested in an upconverting DVD player and I thought the picture quality looked about the same. Then I remembered that I had been purposely nerfing the HDTV contrast quality and brightness to help save on screen life and power comsumption (whether it really does help add life to the TV I don't know, but I figured the reduced power consumption, especially from brightness, was helping ease the impact on the old wallet). With the full Dynamic settings turned on (or full Hi-Def functions for non-Samsung owners) the difference became crystal clear. Not even the upconverting DVD player was displaying picture quality with the HDTV placed on this setting. I just might have to go back and play Assassin's Creed for a few hours on this setting just to see what I was missing; I realized all ten hours of my HDTV play sessions were on the power saving setting. DOH! So as for Blue-ray picture quality vs standard, or even upconverting, DVD quality the Blue-ray definitely shows an amazing improvement even on my 1080i HDTV. 1080p owners are certainly getting a great deal with their PS3s. The sound quality sounded a tad better too. I was able to play the movie at lower volumes and still hear the dialogue very well. There was a lot less reverb on the back and front speakers, but I've been attributing that problem to the speakers being nearly 10 years old now. Since my age old surround system isn't DTS HD compatible, let alone standard DTS, I was stuck watching one movie in standard stereo. But even that sounded great despite a slight problem hearing some of the conversation parts that were a tad too quiet. What was really surprising was how well the Sixaxis controller acted as a controller. For those with enough spare money laying around I'm sure having the PS3 movie controller would be nice so you actually know what the buttons do. But for those looking to spare some cash the Sixaxis controller controls the movie well by just using the X button for play and pause. The triangle button brings up an on screen menu for further play options. As for the other buttons, I think my wife found the rewind button by accident but I have no idea which one it was. There's probably some other button functions but I have yet to play with them. One thing to watch for is the controller does have to stay ON during the whole movie play. After three movies my controller went from two bars to one bar. Pressing the PS button only allows you to stop or continue playback (which is what the circle button does too from what I remember). So for those who have been wondering "is Blue-ray, or even a PS3 really worth it for better picture and sound quality?" just from my experience on a 1080 HDTV and a nearly 10 year old Dolby Digital surround sound system I can say the difference is certainly noticable. While I'll probably still stick with standard DVDs for the next few years, it's nice to know that if I run across any clearance Blue-ray discs of decent movies I can actually pick them up and enjoy them with my family. At least the ones rated PG and under.

If you've been looking to breathe some new life into Assassin's Creed you've come to the right blog entry! I discovered these hidden "mini-games" though I doubt any of the game's designers would say that they had intended for it to be used this way. My favorite mini game is called Crusader Bowling; or Saracen bowling depending upon which set of soldiers you decide to use. It is very simple to play, easy to get into and extremely silly or stupid depending on how apt you are to seeing silly things in serious games.

To play Crusader Bowling, just boot up Assassin's Creed and get into your world of memories. Go to the Kingdom and hop onto the horse of your choice. Next you need to locate a gaggle of Crusader or Saracen soldiers; namely a group of five or more that is wandering around in a V formation. Position yourself so that you have a decent amount of space between yourself and the leading officer in the front of the V point. Get your horse moving to a gallop, take your best aim at the gaggle of soldiers and then plow right on through them taking note of how many you've sent flying to the ground! Yes it is silly and stupid but it does make for some interesting challenges to see if you can knock all the soldiers down in one attempt. It can also make for some great one versus a brigade challenge to test your fighting skills. Other great mini-games to look for are:

• Toss the Drunk: Toss them into walls, soldiers or even other drunks! Just grab a drunk and start tossing. If you're feeling extra hateful just head for the docks and play Wet and Wild Toss the Drunk!
• Battle Royale: Think you're tough with your fists? Find out by locating a large group of courageous citizens, smack one upside the head and then let the free-for-all begin as you take each of them on in a Battle Royale. Smack a soldier for extra fun and you then have a...
• Slaughter House: Tired of skulking about in the shadows? Then just start picking fights with the guards out hunting for you in the cities and see just how many battles you can continue to rack up as you move through the city leaving only bodies in your wake. For extra fun stay close to high buildings to see how many guards you can toss off the top in a battle.

There's so much more to Assassin's Creed than just moving from flag to flag and assassinating the occasional Templar or leader. If you have found your own amusing mini-games be sure to post a comment here so other gamers can try them out! The sillier and more stupid they are the better.

It was bound to happen and what a Tuesday morning it was as thousands of disgruntled sims decided to turn the tables on recent satellites that have fallen onto hapless sim neighbors. Sims took to the streets as early as 5 am and made their way to the ever popular Satellite Fields, a location known for heavy laden satellite falling activity. What few satellites were still in the field fell prey to what local sims dubbed as "Sim droppings" as sims hurled themselves upon each and every satellite that could be found.

"We just wanted to give them a taste of their own medicine for once." stated local Grilled Cheese fanatic Dustin Broke as he lept up and off of a cheese covered satellite he had just flung himself upon.

So is this the signaling of a change in the times? Will we see less satellite related deaths as Sims will vow to turn the tables and fling themselves upon any visiting hunk of metal that falls to the earth? This reporter says an emphatic "Heck no." For not more than a few minutes after seeing this event every sim in the vicinity was clobbered by their own personal flaming pile of heavenly cascading metal. Had they simply walked across the street to where I had taken refuge, instead of idly chatting away with each other about grilled cheese, new hobbies and various loves of the neighborhood beef cakes, this untimely Sims disaster would never have happened. Reporting live from across the street at the Satellite Fields, this is Iam A. Weiner signing out.

*We here at the Satellite Fields would like to thank you all for taking part in our April Fools Day story. Had this been a "real" story, there would have been far more information about the Grilled Cheese sandwiches that were referred to and Satellites, as we all know, would never be caught dead standing idly by as some silly sim tried to jump upon it. Satellites just don't let things like that happen to them; that is unless one was to liquor them up real well first. A drunk satellite is not a very fast satellite so it might be just possible to jump on one if a sim so desired. But again, seeing as how most satellites do not have the capacity to drink, as they have no stomachs nor mouths to even speak of, let alone from, such an act of absurdity would never happen. Happy April Fools Day to you all from the Satellite Fields