I watched an episode of Filter last night, G4’s rating show. I’ve been watching this network since it debuted a few years ago, 2002 I believe. Nad and I used to enjoy watching their shows all day long, when it was still goofy and the people in charge over there were still trying to figure out what direction to take the network in. Today, Nad calls the network “Spike Jr.” with it’s inclusion of very out-of-place shows like Fastlane and The Man Show. Don’t get me wrong, we love The Man Show. It just seems like it would be a better fit on Spike TV or back on its home network, Comedy Central.

Anyway, back to Filter. They had the “Top 10 Consoles of All Time” countdown. This show takes the opinions of the viewers in online polls, then show which are their favorite picks. For a long time now, I believed that the core of the G4 audience is the “Playstation Generation,” the kids who were born perhaps halfway through the SNES’ life and began playing video games halfway through the PS1’s life. To these kids, games like Crash Bandicoot are probably as important to their video game upbringing as Mario is to Nad and I (as we are part of the “Nintendo Generation”).

I’m making up these generation titles, by the way, as a way to convey my thoughts.

Imagine my surprise when the N64, SNES, and NES came out on top as the #1, 2 and 3 best consoles of all time, respectively. The list was rounded out by PS2, Xbox, Dreamcast, GBA SP, PS1, GB, Genesis, from #4 to 10 in order.

I adored the N64. My favorite video game of all time (Ocarina of Time) is an N64 game. But how could it be the best of all time? Smash Brothers, Goldeneye, OoT - all fantastic games. But how could it even match up to the SNES’ line up? They had three of Square Enix’s best games ever, compared to the N64’s zero. The SNES had lots of Konami love, and the N64 had none. Yet, it came out on top.

I’m just surprised is all. I fully expected for the PS2 and PS1 to take the top two spots, and maybe a GB take third. I’m really surprised that the G4 audience voted in this way.

Microsoft’s new Xbox 360 (the site is down until tomorrow, due to upgrades they are performing) is scheduled to be released on 11.22.05, 29 days from today. That date was never made official, as far as I know, but most retailers believe that is the day.

I put my preorder on this console the night after Episode III came out, back on May 20th. Since then, I started the “Buy Will an Xbox 360 fund,” also known as my savings account. A little bit of money here, a little bit of money there, over the course of five months. We went to the mall last Tuesday to preorder some necessary equipment, like games and a controller. Nad and I intend on splitting the cost of this console, as we did with the first one.

I saw that the wired 360 controller was already out at our local Best Buy. I went over there on Saturday, but could not find it anywhere. What I did find was the Apple iPod with video and the Creative Zen MicroPhoto. The iPod was surrounded by numbskulls who were pawing it, so I couldn’t get to it. In a brilliant move by BB to sell the Micros, the battery was dead, so I couldn’t play with it.

Looking at the two side-by-side, I’d have a hard time picking the Creative over the Apple. For a mere $50 more, you get over four times more capacity and the ability to play video. The iPod is even thinner than the Micro, but it is taller and wider. The only real advantage the Creative has is the removable battery and compatibility with Play For Sure (Napster, Yahoo Music, etc.).

I still don’t have an MP3 player. At this rate, I’ll probably never get one.

I think I’m running out of stuff to talk about. Since I started this job, I have found less and less want to do anything outside of my cube. I’m not on the net visiting message boards as much and I barely play games anymore. Nadia wakes me up in the morning, I quickly get ready, and we are out the door by 5:35AM. On a typical day, we do not return home until 6:30PM. This schedule is new to me, but is old hat for Nad. In fact, her schedule was longer before I joined her (she used to be out the door before 5AM).

I’ve been at this for over a month now, and while my body has become accustomed to waking up in the 5 o’clock hour on weekdays, my mind hasn’t quite caught up. When I get home, I want to do little more then vegitate on the couch. The only time I want to engage my mind is to cook and clean up after the cats… actually, I don’t *want* to do those things. I *need* to do those things; otherwise, we will starve or die of kitty shit odor intake.

On the bus, instead of using that time constructively to read or perhaps play a game, I cat nap. The only time I stay up is when Nad and I are talking about our day, or job, or bitching about one of those two topics.

My point is that I am running out of things to talk about. Unless you want to learn how to write a PHP script that sends multi-part MIME e-mails (both text and HTML) with attachments, then I am fresh out of topics.

There is a light at the end of the tunnel though. Two, in fact. My favorite dual screen handheld is pulling me out of my mental stupor long enough to become a vampire hunter and a surgeon. Then there is good old-fashioned D&D - I’m starting a Play By E-Mail game, since I can’t get a group of people in a room together to play in a more traditional format. With this game coming up, I’m spending a lot of time reading through my many books, which requires my brain to be running.

Well, there is a third light. Pump It Up Exceed has Nad and I dancing and stomping and sweating all over the living room. But our brains aren’t running then, since we’ve learned that it is much better to turn it off and react to arrows flying up the screen.