In case you don’t know the story, Microsoft suspended Teresa, an Xbox Live user for identifying herself as a lesbian in her profile. She was harassed by other users who claimed that her profile was offensive, and her account was later suspended. Microsoft’s policy has always been to ban any expression of sexual orientation in a gamertag or profile. Even still, Teresa, feels as though Microsoft sided with the very same users harassing her. Microsoft isn’t really addressing the issue head on and their stance on this policy is that it’s fair because it extends to anyone of any orientation. They also claim that their censorship policies are intended to protect users from derogatory uses of words like “gay”.

“So you can’t say that you’re straight either, that’s fair right?”

The problem with Microsoft’s policy is that it alienates gay users. Claiming that the policy is fair because it restricts any user from stating their sexual orientation “be that hetero or other” still singles out anyone who falls into “other.”

Hey Microsoft, what the hell? Why do I have to be a Gold subscriber to download demos on the day of their release? Who decided that was a good idea? Were there a lot of Silver subscribers out there saying, “Well, I don’t play games online but gee, I really want to play demos the day they are released, I guess I’ll have to subscribe to Gold,”? I didn’t think so. So why you gotta be a punk Microsoft?

You may have missed the most recent tiff between Microsoft and Sony. It was relatively low-key as far as these corporate slap-fights go. To quickly summarize the silliness, Sony came out and said that Microsoft and Nintendo’s consoles aren’t as cool as the PS3 because the PS3 comes with everything you need out of the box. Microsoft took offense to this and told Sony to shove it, not everyone needs Wi-Fi and having a variety of SKUs makes them cooler than Sony could ever hope to be.

In August of 2006 Kaz Hirai was quoted saying he and Sony saw the Playstation 3 as “having a 10 year life cycle.” By the time the PS3 was released that November, Sony was being attacked by many and defended by only a few stalwart cheerleaders of the brand. At that point Sony’s public relations nightmare was only beginning. The high price point, the missing exclusives, the lack of rumble—the internet critics found much to despise in the former golden child. Fast-forward to more than two years later, and the PS3 is trailing the Xbox 360 by a significant margin.

Epic surprised gamers last night during the VGA’s by announcing that the Combustible Multiplayer Map Pack for Gears of War 2 would be hitting the Xbox Live Marketplace just a few hours later. As no price was officially announced during the VGA’s, fans began speculating that the map pack would be free. This, of course, turned out to be untrue, as the map pack costs 800 Microsoft points ($10 USD). Cautious optimism turned to palpable rage as angry gamers voiced their opinions on forums and blogs everywhere.

Ever since I was a little kid I dreamt of being a singer. Yes it’s lame I know. And even though I suck at singing I never lost any enthusiasm… I just invented a new dream where I become a professional karaoke singer and travel the country singing at various seedy bars. I eventually gain a small following of college students, red-neck swingers and middle aged divorcees looking for a new life. I eventually marry my body guard who is a biker named Bobby that everyone assumes is my husband, but she’s really mah waife.

But that’s only a dream… so instead I spend my free time playing karaoke games at home wishing for a better life. Recently I had the opportunity to try out Lips for the 360.

If the Japanese demo for Resident Evil 5 is any indication of what the final product will turn out like, I can safely say it’s on track to be a huge success. The demo provides a small part of two different levels. While it’s not very telling as far as plot is concerned, it does provide a solid opportunity to get a feel for the gameplay.

Alright, I know what you’re thinking: “Snowman’s Dilemma?? Is he serious??” Yes, I am serious. Despite the fact that the protagonist is a snowman hell bent on collecting all the presents he can find, this game is actually a lot of fun.

I had such high hopes for Sonic Unleashed when I first heard about it. The first videos and screenshots reminded me of Sonic Adventure for the Dreamcast. Now THAT was a Sonic game. Fast paced action and platforming made it an excellent addition to the franchise. That’s the next gen Sonic game everyone’s been looking for. Something that takes all of the things that were great about the older games in the franchise, and brings them into this generation of gaming. Unfortunately, Sonic Unleashed isn’t it.

A long time ago, I cancelled my Netflix subscription due to their practice of queue throttling. See, I’d much rather watch a good movie than channel surf when I sit down on the couch at the end of the day.…