Welcome to the "Death Star"

Ok, I wont lie, I'm a geek at heart. There, I've said it! I'm guilty as charged and proud to be one. I may not be a full blown geek, but part of me is, and from time to time it comes to the surface. If you're like me then, you'll love this article over at IEEE Spectrum Online (if there ever was a geeks magazine, this is it): Engineering EverQuest.

Though the first part of the article is a bit simplistic, once you get to the half mark, that's where the good stuff is. If you've wondered what sort of hardware and facilities are behind EverQuest (and most probably other MMORPGs) than you'll want to read this one.

Some of the interesting stuff:

• More than 9 million gigabytes of EverQuest data have been downloaded from Sony's servers in the past six years
• There are 13 data centers in Japan, South Korea, the Netherlands, and on both coasts of the United States
• More than 1500 servers around the world run EverQuest

Now if we could get the same info from the guys at Blizzard, that would really be interesting.

Hillary vs. the Xbox: Game over

The whole uproar in the states brewing around the HotCoffee is really getting out of hand. Politicians left, right and center are jumping on the "Games are corrupting our youth" band wagon and making it their next puritan crusade. I mean give me a break!

When I came across this L.A. Times article, I was very much surprised and even more delighted. In "Hillary vs. the Xbox: Game over". The author of the article brilliantly and sarcastically makes his point. I could not agree more with him. Finally, a member of the press that does his investigating, and avoid regurgitating the same stupidity about video games making violently vicious predators out of us.

For all you parents, grand-parents or anti-gaming crusaders out there, do yourselves a favor, read the article, and then go and discuss it with your kids.

Microsoft Xbox strategy exposed on Wired News!!

Wired has a good article on J Allard and what Microsoft has foreseen for the Xbox 360's role in our living room. And the future looks very promising.

They seem to have a good chance to give the guys at Sony a run for their money. Only the future will tell, but if the last 4 years are an indication, than Allard and his bunch have got a good chance !

From Wired:
"J Allard convinced Bill Gates to take on the Internet. Then he persuaded him to spend $2 billion to take on the PlayStation, too. Now he's aiming at the future of gaming - and the arrival of the mind-blowing broadband Metaverse."

Read more of The Xbox Reloaded.