In today’s comic we are re-visiting the Kinect issue. I suppose we can’t help but rant about it a little bit more. Pie and I were reminiscing about how good a game Darksiders was and the flow of the conversation lead to the dreaded Red Rings of Death that plagued SO many Xbox 360 consoles at launch. Although Microsoft never officially published their failure rates (why would they, it’s embarrassing), estimates from returned units from three major retailers (EB Games, Gamestop and Best Buy) hovered in the 30-33% range. Comparably, personal electronic units typically have a 3-5% failure rate.

Microsoft deserves a bit of a ribbing for their past track record. Considering they have yet to prove they can make outstanding games for the Kinect, I wonder just how much draw an informed gamer would have to the device. Is the draw of having a fancy new gadget that strong? Are people who are buying it that downright impulsive, genuinely interested, or just being suckered by a half-billion marketing campaign? What is actually upsetting to me is that Microsoft doesn’t even seem to care much if the device gets positively reviewed as they intend for their marketing to sell it despite any lukewarm (or maybe even negative) press they get.

Either way, the hype machine continues. Reports of being “sold out” all over the place are abound as well as overly positive reviews of how “it may be slightly flawed but it has potential”. The funny thing is in reading between the lines and seeing how blatantly the news gets spun – all to hook those willing to buy what reporters are saying at face value. Almost all news is slanted, so no real shock there. If a report of “selling out across the country” comes across – what the hell does that even mean? Oh, the fine print says ONLINE; one would think that should be in the headline. You can’t verify online stock and who is to say that the online retailers only had a couple units in inventory? Another example of inflated hype was that it was “sold out” at a local retailer – wait, you only received 2 units? That is more under stocked then sold out.

If MS predicts 5 million units being pushed by the end of the year, I highly doubt they are legitimately selling out – most likely it is a stock control issue to artificially inflate demand. Either way; buyers beware of skewed news stories or over usage of hyperbole. Be a smart consumer about all things in general.

My dad recently informed me that my grandparents will be moving overseas back to Taiwan. I've never been able to talk to them much due to lack of similar interests, but I still love them and it makes me very sad to think that at the rate of how my life is going, I'm afraid that I might never see them again.

I've been thinking a lot about how helpless I sound and I thought "No, this shouldn't be right. I want to be able to do things if I want," I want to be in control of my life. I want to be successful and to do something meaningful, to put myself far above what a normal "every day Joe" can do. I don't want to be submissive to what life serves me. I want to be successful enough within the next couple years of my life to a point where I don't end up worrying about not being able to see the path ahead on the road of life. I know I've said things similar to this before but I just feel so strongly about it and because it's been on my mind a lot lately.

Almost every time I communicate with my dad, he says how I should go back to school so I can graduate with a degree, get a good job, and work my way up the ladder to be successful. I just can't stand the idea of doing that; not only because it's not a guaranteed path to success, but I HATE the idea of going back to school. I can't stand school anymore! There's so much stress, work, it drains so much time, and I don't think I've benefitted much at all educationally from all my years of schooling. I've met some fascinating professors and people, but that's not the reason why I went to school! I even have nightmares about going to school every once in a while. I want to prove to him that I can be successful without having to take that path in life.