//beconfused

Before the Xbox 360 become the Xbox 360, it underwent a couple of prototypes.

Such as this cushion Xbox 360. I think you suppose to rest your feet somewhere at the green glow. Designed by Chiaki Murata of Hers Experimental Design Laboratory. (By the way, if you go to Hers, you’ll realize they made a spelling mistake of their company right on the web site title! They spelt ‘laboratory’ or ‘laboratoy’ which sounds fun anyway.)

And the above is one of the prototypes I’ve seen before. Also designed by Murata. Thank god this didn’t make it at all! It looks like a car wheel.

Lastly, this is today’s design of the Xbox 360. I’m kinda relieve that both prototypes didn’t make it actually.

[via Technabob]

Saw this at YouTube, love the subtitles. This is the story of Hitlers Downfall, his final defeat against Microsoft has now pushed him over the edge.

Verry funny stuff. Microsoft terminated Adolf Hitler’s Live account when he had a gamescore of more than 2000, now he has to play super-fucking-mario on his N64.

I saw the following at Digg, and thought it’s pretty funny. No offense of course, hahaa… Female Gamers might enjoy more when it is plugged in.

read more | digg story

Engadget notes that Xbox 360 is getting a new peripheral - a QWERTY keyboard no less.

It doesn’t really look too comfortable but it’s perhaps something new. It’s now got a keyboard and it’s somewhat like a computer now. It just needs a web browser, probably not Mozilla Firefox. How about Xbox 360 Internet Explorer? (Please give me some money if you use this name, thank you.)

I was just thinking last week actually - one day gaming consoles and PCs would become some sort of a combine console. And the company that’s likely to make it happen is probably Microsoft. Apple is going a slightly different directly by introducing the Apple TV thing. It’s cool but honestly, I don’t think it would sell that well.

Sony has a great contender in Playstation 3 but the Playstation 3 console pricing is just not as consumer-friendly. But whether Microsoft Xbox 360, Sony Playstation 3 or Nintendo Wii win is really not much of my concern; in the end, they just come and go but the overall technological benefit they bring to the living room - well, those are here to stay.

The whole living room technology is going to be really exciting coming decade, so watch out for it.

[By the way, I'm currently drooling over Command and Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars. Any kind (and wealthy) soul wish to buy it for me? Hehee...]

The World Cup has begin I heard. Lots of my friends are watching it. Some watch it for their favorite English players, some watch the exciting matches since they betted on the teams.

Me: So is Singapore participating this year?
Friend: What the fuck? You live where one? Singapore where got go World Cup one, we sure lose one lar. Qualifying rounds then lose liao…
Me: Oh, then you support what country?
Friend: You mean I bet what, is it?
Me: No lar, like which country you wish would win.
Friend: I wish Japan or Korea leh, support Asia people mah. Kanninah _(vulgarity)_, you support the Ang moh meh, they are for betting only lar.

(Models show off the official mascot of the 2006 FIFA World Cup, named ‘Goleo VI’, during an event in Tokyo June 9, 2006, ahead of the opening match in Germany. Image credits: Reuters. Image link: MSN Mainichi)

Hmmmp, that’s one for Asian sports I guess. Maybe my friend’s right, we perhaps should give our Asian counterparts more support. Hopefully one day, our Asian friends would get to the top of World Cup; let it not be an Xbox 360 scenario.

I sure hope this doesn’t happen in Singapore’s Changi Airport, hahaa…

Click here to view the Microsoft Xbox commercial on planes racing.

[via BlogNewsChannel.com]

Just a couple of days ago, I went to the cinema to catch this movie - Ultraviolet. I didn’t know what the movie is about, but it just sounded rather science fiction to me. I enjoy watching science fiction - at least most of the time.

Ultraviolet is indeed a science fiction film, just that I wasn’t too impress with it. The main character of Ultraviolet, Violet, supposed to be a heroine in an Xbox game of a similar title where she fights against the government. It uses lots of 3D imaging. And the problem of the movie? It really seemed like an Xbox game and it used too much 3D stuff.

(Yeah, the one that looks like a 50 year old rock star… Well, that’s Violet.)

Perhaps the producers did that on purpose to make the whole movie look like a game - because it really did - and I was disappointed. Everything seemed so lifeless there - just everything - from Milla Jovovich’s skin to the gun fights. Watching Ultraviolet felt like playing an Xbox game without the controller, it looks like a bunch of 3D characters featured in the game.

And the soundtrack, it’s senseless. It just doesn’t excite me much. And yes, it sounded like a game’s soundtrack too. But really, that wasn’t exactly the main problem.

“I was born into a world you wouldn’t understand,” explained Violet in the movie. How well-phrased. Really I don’t quite understand the world in the end. There are a lot of things that are not explained. My friend, Jay, told me that I have to watch the movie, Equilibrium, first to enjoy this movie more. So I returned home and borrowed Equilibrium and start watching. Equilibrium is the movie made by the Ultraviolet directors I think. It didn’t come to Singapore so I didn’t even know that there is such a movie.

Equilibrium was enjoyable much more, it felt like a better movie and it felt more ‘human’ than Ultraviolet. The two movies are not linked except the Gun Kata which is a martial art form of positioning your body to best shoot and avoid your enemies.

Ultraviolet is quite poor a film. It has a lack plot, bad sounds, the gorgeous Milla Jovovich, 3D that’s too fake and crazy futuristic building. If you indeed want to watch Ultraviolet, concentrate on Milla Jovovich’s character’s fights and just treat it as a simulator ride kinda thing. Great for foreigners too, don’t need to understand the plot. Ultraviolet is rated 2 stars out of 5. Equilibrium does better with 3 out of 5.