I have missed quite a couple of thankful months due to the carzy hectic of my life. And because of big exciting things like the E3 got me posting on other stuff.

 

But this month I am grateful for the way I apporoach my life and very thankful for where it has brought me so far. Let's hope I can keep it up. Stay open to all.

 

Cheers!

 

Fleppie

I have been walking around with the concept of this post in my head for a while now.

 

What I have seen is that everybody that starts dancing, on some level or another gets addicted to salsa dancing after a while. Not taking into account the powerful (and mysterious) workings of music, I'l be basing this post on my perceptions of how men and women experience dance differently.

 

Now this differenc (I think) stems from the fact that men and women use different hemispheres of their brains. Men in general think more with the right side of their brain, thus are better at mathematics and like matter. (in general ofcourse)

 

Women however, are better at things that make use of the left side of their brain, that's why your mom makes such a good soother to your emotional wounds, as they are great listeners and natural support givers. (once again, in general)

 

Now looking at salsa. The more advanced guys get, the more intricate the patterns get, the more they need to think about how to execute certain moves properly.

 

Women on the other hand don't learn thatmany intricacies in patterns. Their intricacy lies in their styling and making the dance beatiful, in effect putting emotion into the dance.

 

Both of these give people the feeling of the growth we all crave. Ladies learn to do more styling and thus put more emotion in their dance. Guys learn evne more intricate turn patterns that challenge their leading skill and thinking in 3d (and in arm/body positioning)

 

Now in my opinion, the best dancers are those that although they use the one side of their brain, they know and understand the other side of the brain.

 

Guys who are able to put emotion into their dance, besides just the intricate patterns, make the best dancers. To use a quote by Martha Steward: "The greatest dancers are not known for their technique, but for their passion"

 

But, ladies that know their dance and recognise certain lead techniques and practice on following them flawlessly as well as keeping the aspect of putting emotion into their dance, make the best followers on the dancefloor and still move to the music.

 

This, I think, applies to life in general as well. Get to know and understand the other hemisphere in your brain and you wel become a better person because of that.

From the makers of Fahrenheit (known as Indigo Prophecy in the USA) comes a demo for the PS3 called, Heavy Rain: The casting.

 

Although the sound is lagging a little behind, the emotions this digital person is able to portray are utterly amazing. If this is where gaming is headed, count me in! The movie is in the sidepanel and is all generated in realtime. For now the game claims to be PS3 only, but looking at Fahrenheit it will probably go multiplatform very soon. (right click on it to zoom to full screen in order to see the full effect of this little demo)

 

Good to see that some people are not solely focusing on better graphics. Which is why I love Halflife 2 so much, better graphics, better technology used in unison to create a never experienced before gaming experience.

E3 officially starts today, but the movies/news/information have been leaking onto the internet since this weekend. The 3 giants (Microsoft, Sony & Nintendo) have all had their press-conference and my personal favorite is Nintendo, with Microsoft in 2nd place & Sony lagging behind. Hundreds of websites were streaming the events live and I watched them all unfold live. Funny, exciting and when u think of it, kinda sad that an industry has you glued to your computer monitor for 2 hours at a time.

 

Sony just didn't have that much to show, and 2 of their biggest announcements (the online capabilities and the new gyro-controller) seemed like a big rip-off, and not even done right.

 

The most exciting thing I had seen was Heavenly Sword, the action in that game looks awesome. MGS4 is just that, MGS4, a series on it's own and still exciting. The psp is getting up to speed too, the promise that it coud run games with the same graphics quality as the ps2 is only now coming true as shown by the new, portable MGS.

 

Microsoft had one exciting new announcement, Live anywhere. A system that allows gamers to communicate cross-platform and have one unified gaming-space. And they just might pull it off, looking at their past and the resources they have. I am wondering when they will announce that they will buy xfire, the one program that is truelly a unified gamersplatform on the pc at this moment. I futhermore couldn't help but get the post acopolyptic image of 1 company that ownes all your information in the year 2xxx. Cause everything goes via your msn passport now. Halo 3 was by far he biggest game announed and Gears of War looked good if not a dime in a dozen. The webcam looked like a eyetoy rip-off, but executed well and Microsoft proved again that though they take a lot from the competition, they do make excellent thieves. They evolved wireless controls to the steering wheel peripherals. The Nintendo wavebird was the first controller to succesfully implement wireless control, just like most of the technology from controllers nowadays is from Nintendo's early work. (digitial pad, analog control, rumble, shoulder buttons, controller shape, start buttons -> all pioneered by Nintendo) Also the decison to put out the xbox360 way before the ps3 shows that they have done their bit of analysing as to me it seems that they really have a headstart now.

 

But Nintendo's press conference was the most exciting by far. Just because they are tackling this so differently with their new controller. The possibiities are endless and extremely exciting. Their new controller (which is a kind of precision pointing device) now has  a speaker in it, so when you are reloading a gun, reeeling in a fish, swinging your sword, or cocking a bow, you can hear those soundeffects come from the controler itself. For example you will hear a gun firing in  your hand and impacting on the screen. Exciting! They showed some playable versions of their popular franchises and man does Metroid Prime 3 look good on that thing! The nunchuk controller expansion now als has a motion sensor too, and you can use it to push your shield forward while blocking in Zelda for example to push your enemies off balance. That stuff looks soo good. The tennis game also looked really cool.

 

One thing is for sure, although I will be getting all 3 consoles for sure, I will get a Wii the DAY it ships, especially since it launches with the new Zelda (subtitled the Twilight Princes) and the fact that they stated that it will definitely be cheaper than the aforementioned other consoles.

It is E3 week. The electronic entertainment expo in Los Angeles, USA. This is the biggest event in videogames every year with hundreds of games being  shown and some new ones being announced.

 

I will be following the game-news closely this week. (even though this week will prove to be every hectic)

 

Here is the list of games that I will be following closely:

 

World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade (PC WOOT!) & also patch 1.11 Shadow of the Necropolis

The legend of Zelda: The Twilight Princess (Nintendo Gamecube, Wii <- damn, have to get used to that name)
Okami (PS2)
Unreal Tournament 2007 (PS3, PC, Xbox360) [movie]
Gears of War (Xbox 360)
Battlefield 2142 (PC)
The Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass (Nintendo DS)

God of War 2 (PS2)
Hellgate London (PC)
New Super Mario Bros (Nintendo DS)
Brothers in Arms : Hell's Highway (PC Xbox 360)

Metal Gear Solid 4 (PS3)

Exciting week this weeek.