I'm spending the weekend at my best mate Dan's (XBLG = SWOOOOGON) house and although my personal preference is to LCD, his new 50in Samsung plasma is a thing of beauty. Whether it is being used for Rainbow Six: Vegas (getting 2 tomorrow) or watching our beloved Waratahs suck against the Crusaders the picture is crystal clear, especially for movies. If you want excellent bang for your buck, a Samsung plasma is a superb choice.

You better believe it, Samsung is still my choice of screen and I will continue to blatantly plug their awesome products  

A few quick news updates...

• Xbox 360 is clearly getting the majority of the mindshare for GTAIV. Every day I visited IGN in the last few weeks the Xbox 360 page for the game is outranking the PS3 one. Today the PS3 page didn't even make the top 10!! Having sat through a preview this game is going to deliver!
• My video chat with tranceVib will be up on the 25th due to trance downloading too many adult themed videos and being shaped. Only half of what I just wrote is true hehe
• I have also arranged with my good mate and MyGen supremo Hep to have a video chat with him next week about their outstanding Gamercard Designer. I love his one as it is Panthers-themed!! Unfortunately it might be a lean year for us Panthers supporters!!
• DarkArmada "The List" has been rectified

I love days when new toys arrive in the office! It's almost like Christmas when a big box gets dropped off by the mailroom and I get to open it up and trial a new gadget or game.

In this case, it was a big and relatively heavy box with the granddadday of joysticks inside that is the key component to my MAME cave and that is the X-Arcade TankStick. 72cms wide and 11kgs of pure industrial arcade goodness, it is the ultimate heavy duty joystick.

Unfortunately I don't have MAME on my laptop so I will have to wait until I get home to give it a workout but here are some pics of just how big it really is!!

16-4 in a game of football is a disgusting scoreline. It's even worse when it's against your brother-in-law and he's playing as Liverpool. On Saturday night my best mate SWOOOOGON came down to mine and Stu's place for some co-op gaming, BBBQ and drinking (we're 27, 27 and 29 so completely legal!!). After I got WOMPED and I mean WOMPED at Fight Night Round 3 the other two had some classic brawls that Stu somehow won 2 games to 1 which I still can't believe. I'm sure SWOOOOGON will be training hard for the rematch!!

Afterwards, Stu and I loaded up FIFA 08 to have our championship battle and just like Arsenal later that morning when they lost 4-0 to Man United in the FA Cup, I should not have turned up. It was one of those games where everything was off... timing on runs and tackles, shots and passes... everything!! It was the biggest scoreline and margin of victory in the history of the championship and very embarrasing indeed. Last night before watching WWE No Way Out on PPV we had a game and after going down 3-0 very early and thinking "here we go again", I got back some form and won 7-4.

At least my team didn't lose to BARNSLEY in the FA Cup Stu!!! Let's all start a Barnsley chant!! It was a weekend on amazing results in football as no-one could have predicted the 4-0 Man U/Arsenal result, Barnsley shouldn't really have beaten Liverpool, and what a crazy game the Newcastle Jets vs Queensland Roar was?!?! Three soft as penalties, lots of niggle and a blinder of a goal from Tarek Elrich made for one heart stopping ending. I'm glad the Jets won and will certainly watch the Grand Final.

The other main reason SWOOOOGON came down was to drop off his old entertainment unit for my tech cave. I've started Operation Overhaul for it so that I can have all my new and old school gaming set up for maximum enjoyment and ease of setup. This the plan and it's actually not too far from completion. I just need to acquire most of the MAME Cave parts and set up that part... plus clean out the piles of junk in there right now.

1.  Entertainment Unit
   1. 46in Samsung M8 LCD for the display
   2. Samsung DVD and Surround Sound unit for sound
   3. Xbox 360 Elite and HD-DVD drive
   4. Old School Consoles I actually use
      1. N64
      2. SNES
      3. NES
      4. MegaDrive II
      5. Saturn
      6. Dreamcast
      7. Master System II
   5. RCA Switch box to change source for old school
   6. Foxtel Digital STB
      
2. Bench
   1. Open 624 ADSL2+ modem with 4 port router
   2. Linksys ABG wireless router
   3. Hot Dog Machine
   4. Toasted Sandwich maker
   5. Bar Fridge underneath
   6. Charging hub for all portable devices
      
3. PC Hub
   1. The Beast
   2. Samsung 226BW LCD
   3. MS Wireless Entertainment Desktop 8000 for use on main TV
   4. MS Reclusa Keyboard
   5. MS SideWinder mouse
   6. Xbox 360 Halo 3 Special Edition
      
4. MAME Cave
   1. 2 x 19in Dell CRT
   2. MAME PC with VGA splitter
   3. Xbox 360 Racing Wheel with PC adaptor
   4. TankStick controller (click here for details)
   5. 2 x USB Light Guns

So that is the plan! I can't wait to have the MAME Cave done with the TankStick and light guns all working so we can have some late night NBA Jam or Operation Wolf action!

Gears of War on Windows has been quite enjoyable so far, especially the amazing DX10 graphics and the additional achievements . I am a self-confessed FPS on PC n00b but I'm going along OK on Casual haha. I will definitely be up for some co-op over Live with the winners of the comp who are.....

TigerAUS because of his sledge on me @ DarkLAN was priceless... how's your Live account going anyway... MWHAHAHA
hergs13 for changing the binding of his mates controllers and....
TerrySpanks for his three simple things that are much better with company than solo.

Well done guys and to everyone who entered. I was really pleased to hear that local MP is alive and well, plus I think the message is loud and clear.... "organise some more LAN's and gaming events in the future Pidgeo".

Anyway, it's lunch time which means food, drink and more FreeCol.... damn you DarkArmada!!

Now that the domain transfer is complete I can finally say the Pidgeo.com v2.0 has officially launched!! WOOOOOO

The delay in domain transfer did allow for one final live beta test with real users and the blog engine passed with flying colours. The contact form is working, the block of SPAM looks superb and the comments are flying in!

As this is a new site and new blog engine for the majority of you, I want take a quick tour of the site and the new functionality so that you get the most out of your visits to Pidgeo.com

The Site Tour

Functionality

General

Pidgeo.com is built on the DotNetBlogEngine platform which is an open source project hosted on CodePlex and is built on Microsoft's ASP.NET platform. The change from Wordpress.com to this was for three simple reasons

1) DotNetBlogEngine is incredibly customisable
2) I am now running a blog that is end to end Microsoft technology from being hosted on IIS 7, running on ASP.NET and using embedded ninemsn Videos
3) I used to be a web developer using ASP over six years ago so trying to fumble my way around ASP.NET was always going to be easier than PHP... well even if I was going from scratch ASP.NET is the superior platform

Leaving Comments

This is probably the most important functionality on the site as there is no point having a blog if the audience can't contribute!! Leaving comments is simple - just click on the "Comments" link, fill out the forum and submit! Comments will not appear straight away as the do need to be approved by me so don't worry if your comment isn't there as 99% of the time it will only be due to me not approving the newest batch of comments just jet.

One question that has been asked already is "how do I get my pic in my comments??". This is also simple - just head over to www.gravatar.com and sign up! Once you are done, every time you add your e-mail address that matches your Gravatar account your pic will be displayed.

The Contact Form

You can send me an e-mail by using the Contact tab on the top of the page. You can use this contact form to ask me questions, enter competitions, submit your tournament entries and whatever else you'd like to send through.

Things that will not be responded to and automatically deleted are derogatory or abusive messages, e-mails with pornographic or application attachments. Also, please do not send through support queries through on this form. If you require technical support call 1800 555 741 for Xbox and 13 20 58 for Microsoft products within Australia as the call centres will be much quicker in helping out than I ever could be!

I will do my best to respond when I can but as these e-mails go into my blog e-mail address and not my work one as well as the sheer volume that come into this address I may not be able to respond.

Searching the blog

Looking for a particular topic or subject or word? Then just do a search using the search tab or the search bar in the top left hand corner! Don't forget to tick the "search comments too" box if you want to include comments in the search too.

The Archive Tab

For a detailed categorised breakdown of all the posts on pidgeo.com just click on the archive tab. As the site gets older and filled with many more posts this will be a very handy place to find out the info that your looking for

RSS Feeds

DotNetBlogEngine has amazing RSS features! Not only can go get a feed for the overall site, you can select to feed specific categories too! Better yet, you can also get feeds from all of the various Xbox AU Community sites and blogs and quickly access their latest posts by using the Blogroll on the left hand side! This is one of my very favourite features so if you always want to know immediately what is happening in the commmunity and what is new, just head here and check the Blogroll!!!

Pages

About Pidgeo.com and FAQ

This page has lots of info about the site and also answers many of the questions about the blog host with the most that I have been asked over the years. If there is something you may have wanted to ask me like "how did you get your job?" or "who is the best gamer you've played against?" then head to this page and have a read. This of course will grow as the blog and community grows so keep the question coming!

Video Archive (and Pics Archive coming soon - thanks Nocebo X for the suggestion!)

With DotNetBlogEngine being a embedder's paradise, video will be a much greater feature on Pidgeo.com v2.0 and I will be storing all the video links in the archive so you can watch them over and over again. Hopefully I'll add enough videos that are worth watching more than once!!

Pidgeo's Gear

Once of the things I get asked all the time is what piece of technology I use for all the different applications in my connected entertainment experiences. These are my personal recommendations for all the gear I use so if you're looking for a new screen, PC, chair or whatever else have a look at the list and the links to the official sites to get more information.

Tournament Info

2008 is going to be the year of the Xbox 360 tournaments!! There are some BIG ones in the pipeline from an official Xbox point of view but I will be running plenty of mini tournaments for many different Xbox Live Arcade games, Games for Windows games and I even have a few old school ones in my thoughts (anyone keen for a Civ 2 MP Gold tourney???). To see who has entered the upcoming tournaments and get the official rules and results of these tournaments, this page should become a favourite in its own right.

Old School Gaming

Anyone who knows me knows I am a hardcore old school gaming fan!! The younger visitors to this site probably think us "older" gamers are insane for playing games from the 80's and early 90's in 2008 but for those of us who grew up playing NES, black and white GameBoy's and PC games on DOS in CGA will appreciate this section of Pidgeo.com. It's only just begun but I am putting together a complete list of my collection with reviews and testimonials to my old favourites.

Pidgeo's Top 10's

Top 10 lists rule. No-one ever agrees on them but everyone can have a good laugh and discussion over them! I will be adding many more to the page as the weeks go on with gaming being the main focus but I will be throwing in the occasional random one in there as well. Agree or disagree? Send through your own!

The rest

"Gaming Food?? Concept2? Pidgeo what are you on about fool???"

These other pages are for my personal use in staying motivated with my fitness mission, sharing my love for disgraceful food and also to add a bit of colour and background to the world of Pidgeo!

So there we go! I hope that helps you all get the most out of the new Pidgeo.com and please send through your feedback and suggestions to me!