When Bioshock first came out there was all sorts of hoopla about how great of a game it was but at that point I was busy with other stuff so I mostly ignored it. Until yesterday when I read that Bioshock won game of the year at the VGAs. Despite being almost overwhelmed with games to play I found myself oddly interested in Bioshock. So I decided to cave in and check it out. Bioshock won GotY for the 360, but the PC is my chosen platform for FPS games because I’ve never had much luck playing an FPS with a controller. So I booted up steam, my preferred method of buying games and whipped out my credit card. Before making the jump I took a quick look at the minimum system requirements:

CPU: Intel single-core Pentium 4 processor at 2.4GHz check
System RAM: 1 GB check
Video Card: Direct X 9.0c compliant video card with 128MB RAM and Pixel Shader 3.0 (NVIDIA 6600 or better/ATI X1300 or better Well shit.

Since I pretty much live in a hotel, I game almost exclusively on a laptop. While it’s a nice laptop it’s still not made for gaming. Chances are I might possibly be able to hack it with all the settings on low, maybe. This is one probably the best argument for console gaming.

If I had an XBox 360, I’d know without any doubt I’d be able to play Bioshock without missing out on anything. One of the things I enjoy about consoles is being able to just play a game. Everyone is playing the same game with the same hardware. I don’t need to worry about finding the latest patch, software conflicts or upgrading my hardware every six months. No one is killing me because my system barely runs at 30 fps and their system is getting 10,000 fps and baking cakes.

This standardized system is a huge advantage for consoles. One that both Microsoft and Sony seem to be actively trying to kill by having multiple version of the same console. Sure, it’s a requirement that games are must work across all version of the systems but that also means developer can use those extra features. Look at the arcade version of the 360. Why the hell does it not have a hard drive? That is seriously handicapping the 360 platform especially since the capacity for DVD is rapidly being reach. Now developers are forced to either squeeze everything on to a single DVD or span multiple discs neither of which is a good option for games like GTA4. If every 360 had a hard drive then they could install files to it which would take care of that problem.

So now I’m not playing Bioshock. Maybe whenever I get around to buying a 360 I’ll pick it up. Even though I am pretty much inept when it comes to playing an FPS with a controller.

Pringles may be the best snack food on the planet.

I am convinced the secret of Pringles lies in the container. It makes you want to eat them. First off it’s covered with delicious looking pictures all over it. You’ve got the friendly looking guy you look who’s shaped a bit like a Pringles. I’m not sure what he’s supposed to be, but if he was covered in salt and vinegar, I’d eat him. Then you’ve got the chips being sprinkled with salt and vinegar or maybe they’re being slathered with garlic and onion. Either way it’s delicious. The shape of the can is the real genius here. It’s round, sturdy and just begging to be used in some sort of project. Something cool like a throne maybe. But, the really clever part is your hand can’t quite fit inside of there. You have to work for your snacks. Those chips are sitting in there just out of reach taunting you. Daring you try to thrust your hand in to the abyss. But you can never get them all. You can get maybe three or four and that’s just not enough. So you have to dive back in there.

Once you manage to get them out there is something oh so satisfying about eating them. It’s like the perfect revenge. They taunt you by keeping their delicious bodies just out of reach and you retaliate by crushing them into a thousand tiny pieces and banishing them to your stomach. Who hasn’t pretended they’re some sort of half-man half-duck who is so hungry they resort to eating their own bill?

All that and they’re only a buck a can and you’ve got a winning combination. My one complaint: The can doesn’t really pop.

~crunch~ mmmmmmmm….