Well, maybe 1,000 pixels are only worth a few words. Nevertheless, you should check out –black-eye-‘s Deviantart gallery. He’s got some great pixel art (and a ton of patience). His work is fun, nostalgic and very detailed. And everything on his page is pixel art, including comics, animated icons and tutorials.

While you’re there, make sure you check out his Retro Gaming Pixelation Quilt project. It features pixel art from almost 100 different artists. Only a small sample is shown here; the original is huge with tons of memorable games.

-JENNI CHASTEEEN

“Horse armor.” I saw that vein in your forehead twitch.

Microtransaction is becoming a household word for gamers. It’s also becoming a dirty one. It’s not all bad, but it is starting to be abused. By now you’ve probably heard about EA’s market place practices. You know, how they charge money for content that’s available via cheat code on other platforms. And let’s not forget my favorite gem, Grand Turismo HD, which may end up costing almost $1000 for the complete game.

The Xbox Live Market place was the first and now Sony and Nintendo have followed their lead. Do you blame Microsoft of the evil they’ve unleashed on to gamers? Well before you go give them a piece of your mind on their customer complaint desk, take a look at how some other companies have been handling microtransactions for some time now.

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Is Microsoft’s 50mb file size limit for Xbox Live Arcade titles a bad thing? My response when I was first posed this question was a quick “yes”. How could it possibly be good? They’re limiting developers to a very small file size in the age of HD gaming, and no good could possibly come of that….. or could it?

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It seems that another backwards compatability update for the Xbox 360 has snuck up on us, and guess what’s finally on the list? You guessed it… it’s Aquaman: Battle of Atlantis Psychonauts! This game was a blast, if you haven’t already picked it up, do so now…. I mean NOW. Get up and head to your local gamestop right this second and pick it up.

Some other new additions worth mentioning are:

• Scarface
• Rainbow Six: Lockdown
• Mortal Kombat: Armageddon
• I-Ninja
• Indigo Prophecy
• Destroy All Humans!

My roommate remains sad as Bicycle Casino has still not made the list. Hang in there Kurt!

[update 1] It seems the updated list was up…. and then went back down. The current list showing on xbox.com is the August 2006 list. Anyone tried Psychonauts on the 360 yet? Let us know if the update actually exists or not. Also, if anyone managed to cache the list before it reverted back to it’s original form, let us know.

[update 2] Thanks to Dan for posting the link to this article containing all of the updated titles that were on the now missing list.

[update 3] Major Nelson has posted on his blog that this update is officially released….  so what are you waiting for? GO… Play Psychonauts!

-MIKE KURZ

So I called 1800-4MY-XBOX to get my broken 360 fixed. I was a little nervous after hearing some horror stories of angry customer service reps yelling at customers and refusing to help get valid claims solved.

The first person to pick up the phone was a gentleman named Adam. He was very polite. He was also very clearly American. I had been routed to one of the few USA based call centers that MS has available. I explained my situation to him, and after a moment of searching through the computer he let me know that my launch console would be repaired for free, but I would have to pay for shipping. I told him that I had heard from several friends and acquaintances that shipping should be covered on a launch day console, and he informed me that “there had been a recent policy change since the 8th”. I told him that I wasn’t trying to be rude to him, but that I’d like to speak to a supervisor. He put me on hold for about fifteen minutes. Finally a supervisor by the name of…. well I’m not certain what his name was (I think Jim) because he sounded as though he was holding a blanket between his mouth and the phone. He asked me a handful of questions and then let me know that a prepaid shipping box would be sent to me, and that this whole deal should take no more than two weeks. We’ll see how accurate that is.

Keep checking in here for updates on the Xbox customer service experience.

-MIKE KURZ

Yes, I know this has been done, sort of. But I made this a few years back in college and never posted it anywhere or put it online. So now I’m abusing my power as a writer for this blog and showing it off. It’s bad, but silly.

FYI, the dude in the beginning was my Intro to Video professor, whose name happened to be Link, which inspired the whole thing. Thanks again to everyone who was in this thing. And yes, I got an A.

-JENNI CHASTEEN

You may have heard of microsoft’s effort to open up the Xbox 360 to indie developers and hobbyists called XNA. The XNA game studio express software has been in beta for a few months now, with the promise of a final version as well as the launch of the creators club to come by the end of the year. Today that promise was fulfilled. You can now subscribe to the creators club, and upload any of your creations directly to your 360 so that you can test and enjoy them.

This is a brilliant stragety on Microsoft’s part. Putting the tools to make games out there for everyone will most likely mean a stream of fresh ideas coming to the 360 over the next few years. Aspiring programmers will now have the tools they need to make the games they love, and that’s a good thing for everyone.

-MIKE KURZ

It finally happened. My launch day 360 finally died…. or at least part of it did. I went to play some Viva Pinata, and the DVD drive would not recognize the game. In fact, the drive would not recognize any game. Hell, it wouldn’t even spin the disc and try to recognize the game. I kept getting an “unplayable disc” message…. not unreadable, not dirty or damaged, but unplayable. After googling the issue, it seems a little magnet in the DVD drive has come loose, and my choices are to call xbox support, or try and fix it myself. I’m going to take the safe route and call xbox support as (from what I hear) they’re still reparing launch day consoles for free, all I should be paying is shipping. If you’ve ever wondered how the process of getting MS to fix a faulty console goes, keep an eye on this site, I’ll give regular updates on the situation.

-MIKE KURZ

“My vagina is angry.” Ok, so maybe angry isn’t the right word, but I am astounded by the treatment of females in the xbox gamer community. Within two weeks of being an Xbox Live member, I’ve been treated like a stripper, cam whore, bitch, cow, and somehow the “coolest chick on XBL.” Am I missing something here?

Over the years guys have learned how to treat women better in the home and the work place, so why does it all have to go to shit when they hop on Xbox Live? I know I’m not looking for special treatment when gaming, I just don’t want to feel like a target or 2nd class citizen, and I’m sure other chicks can relate. I don’t think you’re going to boot or harass every guy you don’t think is attractive from a game, so why get superficial over chicks?

I guess the best way to explain it is to give a glimpse into my world.

I enter an UNO game and instantly hear, “Hey look it’s a fat bitch,” followed by “Hey fat cow show us your panties.” Chill as I am I laugh it off, some people are perverts, oh well. Then I’m booted from the game. I’m not sure why I couldn’t stay and play. Was it because I’m a “fat bitch” or because this “fat cow” didn’t swoon and immediately drop trow to show off some undies?

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Whether you check out Sara Pitre-Durocher’s (aka Yamiza) portfolio website or DA gallery the important thing is that you check her art out! You’ll find some video game, anime and cartoon fan art… as well as some original art. Sara’s style is fun and expressive and she brings characters to life with each stroke of her tablet pen.

And don’t forget to check out her animation, specifically Verite Virtuelle, a full color animated short (runs about 1:34 min). It explores the imagination of a little gamer and manages to be fun and dark all at once. On a technical note, the animation is top notch, demonstrating a solid sense of weight and great use of expression.

Sara, keep up the good work and please don’t ever stop sharing your art with the world!

-JENNI CHASTEEN