Xbox 360 vs PS3... my view

Well, Mike Ponter asked in a comment yesterday what is better Xbox 360 or Playstation 3.

There are a TON of opinions out there on this topic, moat of which are way more "hardcore" than me and get into all the technical factors... but here is how I came to choose the Xbox...

Factor 1 - cost

A quick look at the consoles on amazon as a typical retailer shows the following:

Xbox 360 with 60gb HD (the standard version) - available from 199 Euro
Playstation 3 with 80gb HD (standard version) - available from 330 Euro

Winner: Xbox 360Factor 2 - Graphics

Here is where you can get into near religious discussions if you go around the internet... Basically my opinion is that they are pretty similar. Most of the side by side comparisons look almost identical to me. Here area a couple I pulled off of google image search on popular games. (from techeblog.com and maxconsole.net)

I can't really see the difference, and since I don't have a high definition TV, it does not matter all that much anyway. I would say to me this was so close it was a non-factor but the technical boffins at large seem to say that PS3 has a slight tech edge.

Winner: DRAW

Factor 3 - Hardware

Another tricky one. I would say there are two parts to this as well. Hardware design and hardware quality. I am going to have to give both to Sony on this one. Not that the Xbox is particularly ugly, but the glossy black PS3 really does look good in the living room.

The PS3 also includes a blu-ray player, which as a standard def TV owner is not interesting, but it is in there.

Xbox also had pretty well documented catastrophic hardware failures on the first generation of consoles, but they are well past those problems now.

All things considered though...
Winner - Playstation 3

Factor 4 - Games

Basically, all good games get released on both consoles. There are a couple of exclusice titles, but not that many really. Exclusivity is mostly timed these days anyway, so at the worst it means you may have to wait a bit to get a certain game on your console.

Cost of games is basically the same for both too.

Winner - Draw

Factor 5 - Community

Here was another biggie for me. Xbox live is awesome. That is it. I plugged in my Xbox and within the first 5 minutes, I was chatting with Mike Starr, who also happened to be online. Xbox Live lets you play with friends, chat with them, and just kind of do stuff together. You can see if the console is turned on and what your friends are doing, decide if you want to join them or invite them over to do stuff with you.

Of course, what made that more compelling for me was how many of my friends have an Xbox already...
Gord
Mike
Jay
Dave
and a few others....

I know PS3 has recently launched a similar service, but it is by all accounts not as good as the Xbox live one. Also, I only know one other person with a PS3. Much smaller potential for fun...

Winner - Xbox by a mile
So for me personally, the cost factor and community factors were so compelling that it was an easy choice. Xbox 360 is way better for me. The places where Xbox is better, it is MUCH better and the places where PS3 wins are close calls or not important to me as a conusmer.

Get an Xbox, join the crowd. My gamertag is Frazamagorf, feel free to add me anytime.

The Mighty Xbox

I just realized today that I had not made any blog post about the fact that I did indeed purchase and Xbox 360 for Christmas...

Just around the end of last year, Microsoft decreased the price of the Xbox 360 in Europe yet again. If you look online now, the Pro system with the 60GB HDD is going for 219 Euro. I actually purchased the older 20GB model, and I bought a display one (they rotate it out every 3 weeks at this store) and got it quite a bit cheaper.

It looks like this:
At the moment I don't have much in the way of games, but I have really been enjoying the glory of free demo versions you can download. I don't really play xbox for very long at a time, so getting to try out the first level or two of a game has really met my needs.

Special thanks to Gord for giving me his extra copy of this game:
It is an amazing looking game that is big fun... which I am really really horrible at. Even on the easiest level I get destroyed. In the good old days, I was rather skilled at the shooter genre, Duke Nukem 3d for example... Now I just suck.

Liam likes the Xbox too, but I already thought it was a bit too much like TV and got him a little worked up. So no more Xbox watching for him for a few years. There will be plenty of time for video games as he gets older. As it was, he very quickly became obsessed with:

As you can see, he certainly knows the genre he likes best. He and I are both happier when he is playing with his real lego though. That is still the best.

I am using the Xbox mostly as a media centre the last days, something that Claudia can actually appreciate too. It is much better experience watching shows from the xbox than my laptop. There are still a few technical infrastructure things I would like to do with the set up, but there is plenty of time for that kind of action.

Oh, if any xbox people read this and want to add me as a friend, my gamertag is FRAZAMAGORF. I think you can thank Rob Savelle for that name, he invented it when we were about eight years old.

Carnival Time

It is once again Carnival time. A time when Germans dress up in costumes and have lots of parties. Although Claudia and I don't bother with the whole costume thing, Liam certainly does.

This year there was great lengthy discussions surrounding which of Liam's obsessions would win the costume race. It looked like Policeman was a front runner for weeks, but then he went back to Fireman.

Here is the proud little fireman.

He ran around the room talking into the little plastic radio for a while "Hallo Zentrale? FEUER!" Then he wanted to go look at himself in the mirror.
needless to say, he was impressed with his new look.
In fact, after a moment or two of looking at himself, he loudly announced he was going to give himself a kiss.
Liam certainly has no issues with self esteem.

Another exciting Product!

Once again, the marketing geniuses in the food industry have created a brilliant new product that has sucked me in based on how strange it looked.

Pepsi has made "Pepsi Light Mojito" flavour. Here is the delightful bottle that caught my eye.
Just in case you don't know what a Mojito is, it is an alcoholic beverage containing Rum, Sugar, Lime, Carbonated water and mint leaves. You can read more about them here.
I wondered both how and why Pepsi would come up with this, but after just a few seconds, I did not care and had to give it a try. I am not really one to pass up an opportunity to try strange and potentially repulsive food. I would most likely drink rat-cola if the bottle looked funny.

Anyway, first I opened up the bottle and gave it a good sniff.
basically it smelled like regular Pepsi. I did not really detect any citrus or mint smells. Just the cola and sweetness that I would expect to come from the mundane version of this tasty beverage.

I gave it a long, slow, out of focus pour next.
No real shock here, but it had the same consistency and look of regular Pepsi. As I poured it, I think I could detect a hint of mint wafting into the air though.

Then the moment of truth...
The first taste was again not really unlike normal Pepsi, but like so many of these "special editions" the taste seemed to grow stronger as I consumed more of the drink. By the end of the glass, the mint and lime were quite noticeable. There was of course no rum flavour, but since rum is distilled from sugar and Pepsi is already mostly sugar, I am not sure what they would have done there.

As far as the enjoyment of the drink... it was ok, but nothing too sensational. Not repulsive at all, but also not amazing. I think if I really wanted these flavours, I would get a much better taste by just tossing a mint leaf and some lemon/lime juice in a regular pepsi.

This was just the latest in my series on absurd foods purchased from our gas station.

Green Tea Flavoured Coke
Beer Flavoured Chips and more opinions...
Dr. Pepper Cherry Vanilla
Toaster Schnitzel
Swiss Hot Dogs
Hawaiian Toast

Tragedy Strikes!

Well, over the weekend there was an accident of epic proportions in our house. My beloved smart phone went in to the washing machine. It did not stay in for the full cycle, but it was certainly fully submerged while turned on.... almost certainly destroying it.

I have removed it and taken it apart as much as I can to let all the bits dry out, and after a couple of days to maybe a week I will try plugging it on and seeing if it has survived. My hopes are low. From what I have read on the source of all knowledge (the interwebs) it looks like the phone is about 90% sure to be dead.

I wrote a haiku about my phone:

My HP handy
You were more than just my phone
I mourn a lost friend

It is not like I really used it as a phone, I probably had less than 20 calls since I got it 2 years ago, but it is all the other functions I will miss. the SMART-part of the phone. Here are the things I used the phone for...

1) Alarm Clock
2) Linked to work calendar
3) Address Book
4) Weather checker (WiFi)
5) all my text documents (recipes, etc)
6) Camera
7) Digital wallet (images of all important personal documents)

Also, HP has not have any sweet offers for smartphones since this one, the best deal I can get from work at the moment is something around 380 Euro, which is 600CDN in case you need some frightening math. If I had 400 Euro sitting on the table in front of me right now, I can think of a lot of things I would be buying before this.

An Actor is Born

I just came back from Liam's theatrical debut.

His kindergarten just did a little play, and I am ashamed to say I cannot remember the title, but give me a break... It was something about little animals in the forest.

The curtain opened on some kid with the fantastic role of "snowman" who basically stood there for the length of the production. Very few lines, but lots of stage time.
Then the parade of animals came out. First some little birds, then deer, then at long last.... THE PORCUPINE!!!

Liam's only lines were supposed to be "knusper knusper" which is apparently the noise porcupines make when eating, but ever the professional, Liam broke character and looked out into the audience, pointed at me and yelled out "THERE IS MY MAMA AND PAPA!"
There was some more shuffling around and the animals did some stuff, most of which escaped me, but it was not exactly Hamlet.

The big finale was a song the kids all sang. Then they took their big bow and Liam again piped up and yelled out "SEE FRAU KRAHWINKEL, I TOLD YOU MY PAPA WAS NOT AT WORK."
A Star is born?

Decorations

ugh, at this rate it will be Easter before I get through the Christmas posts.

Our house was (as usual) very decorated for Christmas. Claudia and I both like the fun Christmas ornaments and Claudia has a pretty good idea of how to make things look awesome.

I already showed the tree and the wonderful dinner table, but here are some other elements of the display..

This is the advent wreath, one candle for each sunday in Advent. Claudia bought the wrought iron piece a couple of years ago and she fills it up a little differently each year. Liam likes to blow out the candles.
These little fellows go on hard boiled eggs to keep them warm, but do fit in quite well.
The kitchen counter was dominated by the big Advent Calendar. Claudia filled each door with yummy treats and a special one on Sundays. You can also see our two nutcrackers, the hunter and the Scotsman, who is alongside my smoking monk. I love the smoking monk so much, he is fat and jolly. The recipe holder gets filled with Christmas cards and there are some little bears hanging down from there too.
Even our key box gets decorated. My Mum sent these ornaments, first in 2001, then the second one when Liam joined the snowman family.
Liam is not left out, his room has its own little Christmas display. The Nativity was of course constructed by Opa Franz for Liam, and the tiny tree was one that Claudia had when she lived in an apartment. Under the tree are some little smoking men and a snow globe with Santa inside.
I have just about wrapped up the Christmas posts now, I think I just need to show one more and then I can move on... Christmas is such a nice time it is hard to let it go, even though it is 4 weeks gone, snow is all melted and groundhog day is just around the corner.

Well, Germans don't celebrate good old GH day, but they all know it very well thanks to the tremendous success of the Bill Murray film.

Sweater Buddies

I am rather swamped these days so I have not really had time to post much.

So here is a photo of me and Liam in matching sweaters. Claudia knit them both, we are supposed to look like typical Bavarians.

Christmas Music

Here is a gift that Claudia gave to Liam that was a HUGE success. It is one of those gifts that we are a little nervous may not have been the best idea... for our sake.

We had taken Liam had to Christmas markets with us in the time leading up to the big day, and he was very very taken with the brass bands performing Christmas songs. At one point he was standing down next to the band, pantomiming his own trumpet and making "doo doo dooooo" noises of his own along with them. Based on this, Claudia found this lovely gift.

It is a plastic trumpet with four notes, and it basically sounds sort of like a harmonica. It is thankfully not quite as loud as we thought it may be. It was a big success from the moment Liam opened it. He was running around yelling TRUMPET TRUMPET at everyone he was so excited.

Then the concert started. He did not have it quite right in the beginning...
After a while he figured it out though. I like that you can see he is clearly playing it with a big smile on his face.

This concert lasted many many many hours. The trumpet was at his side for dinner, book time, it went to bed with him, and was in his hand first thing the next morning. We heard about three full days of uninterrupted trumpet music. When I say music I am being VERY generous. It is more like uninterrupted random note blowing at varied volumes and lengths. Sometimes there is a pause for a loud announcement "I AM PLAYING THE TRUMPET NOW" and then the concert resumes.

It must have looked awesome, since uncle Bernhard decided to give it a go. You can see that Opa Franz was not impressed with his musical stylings.

Bernhard clearly needs to take a lesson from little Satchmo Anderson, his musical moves seem to impress all the ladies.

Christmas Dinner

One of the big excitements (and worries) of this past Christmas was that we were having the big dinner in our home for the first time. I have rarely made food for more than 4-5 people and I have never cooked a turkey.

So, there was some learning to be done. Lucky for me, the internet, cookbooks, and Claudia's magazines were full of tips and how-to articles that worked well for us.

We had 7 normal sized people plus Liam for dinner, so we figured on a turkey for 8 (Bernhard always eats enough for 1.5 and Liam is a 0.5) This seemed like around 5.5kg would be good. Sadly the grocery only had 4 or 6.5kg birds. We went big since leftovers are better than hungry guests.

I prepared it pretty much like I would a chicken. Clean it out, rub exterior with oil, salt, pepper and stuff with some lemons, rosemary and bay leaves. Seemed safe enough. here is the beast just about to go in the oven.
Bernhard took a moment to approve on the size of the Turkey.
For the first couple of hours, I left the bird wrapped in foil so that it would not dry out, then the last 45 min or so it was uncovered to brown up a bit. It sure did fill that oven up...
In the meantime, all the other things were being made... Claudia bought some real fresh cranberries (which had come from Canada, yay!) and made the sauce. Turned out really great.
Claudia also did a Tiramasu for dessert which I forgot to photograph, oops. Then she turned to the decorating and table setting, which you will see shortly.

I moved on to side dishes. Mashed potatoes (also forgot to take a picture) were first.

Then there was stuffing, made from Bread crumbs, butter, red onion, sage, bay, salt + pepper. Pretty easy and I have done this before.
The exciting new side dish was red cabbage, which we all enjoy, but had only bought frozen in the past. This time I was going to do it myself. So this one had cabbage, apples, bacon, onions, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and some spices.
This needed the biggest pot we had. I think it turned out at least as tasty as the frozen one, but I think it could have been a little more apple-y.
After a looong time doing side dishes, the turkey was done and brought out. I think I maybe could have taken off the foil a little earlier to get it more brown, but it was quite eatable and tasty like this.
Claudia had also spent a lot of time and thought on setting the table in a very fancy Christmasy way. Everyone's place setting was all done up like this. You can not even tell that earlier in the day Liam spilled juice on everything forcing Claudia to re-wash and iron all the table cloths... haha.
With the table all set and the food all done, we just had to set the lighting and get people in there to eat it up.
I think at the end of the day, we managed to prepare quite a nice Christmas dinner, everyone finished the evening with a very full and happy belly. I think that Ryan even challenged Bernhard for the title of most turkey consumed, something that is not easy to do at any time.

A Look Back at Christmas

So I am back to work today and that means I am using my work computer once again... I had a few glorious weeks of not thinking at all about HP or Paper, but that is all over now.

So, it is all very late, but I can finally put on some updates around our Christmas season.

The tree is the first order of business. We receive a tree as a nice gift at the Christmas party our house builders give each year. For five years after building, we are invited.

Here is the bare tree as placed in the seat of honor.
Next I added some lights...
Claudia had unpacked all the tree decorations and Liam of course stuck his nose right in there. He wanted to help decorate right away.
The little book ornament he put onthe tree was fine, but he also was very very keen on the spongebob funny ones we had... They did not really fit in with the other nice decorations. After some discussion, we put the Spongebob ones on the tiny tree in his room so he could look at them even more... and we did not have too haha.
At the end of the session, our tree was all done and looked pretty nice.
The illuminated tree was in the "sorry Dave" post.

I just took the tree down yesterday, Christmas is really over now.

Sorry Dave

Dear Dave,

Sorry for the lack of posts. Here is my Christmas tree.

There will be more when holidays are over and I don't have to spend all day every day playing "dinosaur airplane" and "Car Crash"

A Friend stops by...

One of the things that has been nice since moving is that there are more children in the neighbourhood for Liam to play with. In fact there there are three kids in Liam's kindergarten class on our street.

Right next door to us is Annika, who Liam gets along quite well with. Recently there have been days when we get a phone call and it is Annika's parents telling us that "Annika is asking to play with Liam." This is a godsend. As awesome as Liam is, sometimes it is nice when two little monsters amuse each other without the need for parents to play along.

Here are the two little monkeys, getting ready to make some trouble...
A popular game is to put ALL the bears on a table, everything else on the floor and then walk around singing.
Or maybe Liam can help Annika with her horse technique
After all the clowning, they have to have a little lie down. Notice that neither child let go of their stuffed animal of choice for the duration of play. Liam likes to take the animals on adventures. Apparently it was the Polar Bear's birthday. That was the cause for singing and celebration.
Annika is a nice little girl, I am glad that they can play so nicely together.