TGC Ecru XBox 360 Verticle Cooling Stand
TGC Ecru XBox 360 Verticle Cooling Stand

-

Assassins Creed 7″ Action Figure
An assassin’s assassin. The hero of Assassin’s Creed comes to life as the newest release from NECA’s Player Select line of action figures! This supremely detailed Altair figure stands approximately 7-inches tall and includes terrific accessories like a retractable blade, removable swords and daggers, and alternate hands. Bring this video game legend home today! Assassin’s Creed is a 3rd-person stealth game developed by Ubisoft Montreal in which the player assumes the role of Desmond Miles, an average bartender who is the last descendant of a long family line of assassins. Desmond has been taken to a facility where he is forced to use the Animus, a machine that traces and recreates the memories of his ancestors during the Third Crusade. Through these memories, the player controls Alta?r (Arabic, ‘The Flying One’ or ‘Flying Eagle’), a member of the Assassin Brotherhood. Alta?r’s objective in the game is to slay 9 historical figures propagating the Crusades in the year 1191. (According to Ubisoft developers, all of the main character’s targets are historical figures who died or disappeared in 1191, although not necessarily by assassination.) This article uses material from the Wikipedia article ‘ Assassin’s Creed ‘, and is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License, .

Customer Review: Altair by NECA
I’ve never played Assassin’s Creed, I wanted this figure because I liked the character design. Compared to other NECA action figures I own, the paint job here is the cleanest, generally I’ve noticed paint jobs done by NECA are very random in quality. All of the details are excellent, swords, daggers, hidden knives could all be taken from their compartments. Definitely the best quality paint job I’ve seen from NECA. Here’s hoping that the sequel to the game won’t have anymore of the glitches I keep reading about.
Customer Review: Detailed, nice figurine
Very well made figurine with great attention to details. All the swords are detachable, the long sword and short sword, you can put those in the hand and Altair will look like he’s ready to fight. Throwing knives are too small to be held in the figurine’s hands. All the limbs are movable except for the knees which you can only bend a little bit, so it makes a bit difficult to good posture other than just standing up straight or knees bent a little bit (but it wouldn’t stand up with knees bent). It would’ve helped if it came with the stand.

The Xbox 360 Uncloaked:: The Real Story Behind Microsoft’s Next-Generation Video Game Console
A fascinating insider’s look at the evolution of the Xbox 360 and Microsoft’s ambitious gamble to become a leading force in the multi-billion dollar video gaming industry. Through extensive interviews and unprecedented access, San Jose Mercury News Technology and Gaming Writer Dean Takahashi takes you behind the scenes as he reveals… The birth of the machine as seen through the eyes of the Xbox 360 engineers who designed it… Blow-by-blow coverage of the heated internal debates as senior Microsoft executives battle to define the future of the Xbox brand… The strategic chess moves as Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer, and company take risk after risk, trying to outmaneuver their archrivals for the brass ring: dominance of the incredibly lucrative video game market… Sony, Nintendo, Electronic Arts, the entire Microsoft Xbox 360 team, and the industry’s most celebrated video game developers — all of the major players are included in this captivating story.
List Price: $24.95
Amazon Price: $22.46
Used Price: $17.49
Customer Review: Intriguing (but flawed) look behind the scenes
Dean Takahashi is a reporter for the San Jose Mercury News. While I applaud his efforts to do the research and leg work to uncover the history, back story and technical details of the Xbox 360, this book just simply is not well written. Dean does a nice job in news reporting related to the tech industry and gaming in general but he is no novelist. This book is obviously not a novel either but you might expect it to be at least a story…In my opinion, it is not- it is a collection of observations loosely tied together, and even then, it is flawed. As other reviewers have noted, you will find yourself reading the same information, names, and sometimes even quotes in multiple places throughout the book, making it harder to follow his line of thinking clearly. Oftentimes, there is also a bit much of the delineation of who worked for who and who quit the Xbox team when, etc. that does not really lead the reader anywhere or add much to the story. To me, this book feels similar to the previous Xbox book written by Dean in that way- some great tidbits but overall, barely worth reading because of how painful it is to get through it. I’ve never had this situation happen to me before where I seriously wanted to learn the history and background of building this console, the process that was followed, etc. but was simply not motivated to continue reading the book because of its flaws. If you are used to reading more professional novels or magazine writing by mainstream writers, you may be frustrated by the common grammatical errors, editorial errors, proofreading mistakes, etc. that pop up in every chapter. They aren’t a big deal and you know what he is trying to say but when you pay for a book (that isn’t all that cheap, by the way) you expect more. At least I do. In summary, since I am an IT professional and an avid Xbox and Xbox 360 gamer, I kind of forced my way through the book to learn. You have to take a different approach to reading it, kind of ignoring errors, focusing on the highlights and not trying to tie everything together seamlessly, very differently than you would likely read any other book. If you feel this story is worthwhile enough to put up with these flaws, go for it. Otherwise, you may be disappointed.
Customer Review: Not as good as his first XBox book, but still worth a look
First things first: at times, this book reads like it didn’t have an editor. You’ll find numerous instances of information being repeated - sometimes only one or two chapters apart - and each time it reads as if it’s being presented for the first time. On a related note, there are also several moments where you feel like they could have cut out some of the more dull, long-winded info/”backstage” stuff and the book would have felt a bit tighter. Overall, the original book by the same author (”Opening the XBox”) was more fascinating and easier to read if you’re a non-gamer. That said, this is a fun read for enthusiasts and will open your eyes up to some stuff you may not have been aware of. For example, guess which yowling, screaming, sweaty MS higher-up put pressure on the development team to ditch the hard drive to reduce the cost of the machine? That would be Steve Ballmer, and as 360 owners know, his opinion was misguided as the lack of mandatory hard drive is one of the few chinks in the 360’s armor. There are many bits of info like that strewn about this book. Somewhat unfortunate is the fact that the book ends shortly after the 360 is launched (and only briefly mentions “early reports of hardware failures”…which would of course lead into the overwhelming “Red Ring of Death” problems that the majority of 360 consoles would encounter). Of course, hopefully he will write another book when the next MS console arrives and go over what has happened since the 360’s launch. Recommended for 360 fans and game industry enthusiasts. Everyone else, start with the “Opening the XBox” book and then decide if you want more.

Linksys BEFSX41 EtherFast Cable/DSL Firewall Router (4-Port 10/100 Switch / VPN Endpoint)
The Linksys BEFSX41 is the perfect solution for connecting a small group of PCs to a high-speed broadband Internet connection, or a 10/100 Ethernet backbone. Acts as the only externally recognized Internet gateway on your local area network ( LAN ) Protects PCs from Ping of Death, SYN Flood, Land Attacks, IP Spoofing & other DoS attacks Blocks Java, ActiveX and Cookies Easily configurable though a Web browser from any networked PC Power Adapter Included Diagnostic LEDs 2H x 8W x 7D; 14 ounces One Year Limited Includes - 60-day trial of Norton Internet Security 2003 (if not in the box, check www.linksys.com)
List Price: $95.00
Amazon Price: $69.99
Used Price: $17.90
Customer Review: completely trash
Constantly breaks down, have to reboot. I’ve owned this router for 3 months and have 3 months of on and off performance - keep away!
Customer Review: Not too bad but not great either
I purchased this router 4 years ago and set it up in my office. Plugged in fine, worked right away, i really didn’t use the VPN function so this review will not cover it. I loved the option to block content by keyword or by website name, the communication speed was great, no problems at all until recently where it stopped assigning new DHCP addresses, and within a couple of hours i lost the ability to assign new static addresses. Mind you there were only 4 computers on the network. a Call to the tech support yielded no result since the router was out of warranty. Upgrading the firmware didn’t help, hardware reset didn’t help, Buying a new router solved the issue. Honestly though i strongly believe that linksys’s quality has been going down lately. I own several linksys routers and they all have at least one annoying issue.

Woodland Camo Design Xbox 360 Full Body Protector Skin Decal Sticker
Scatch Resistant Skin Sticker protect and personalize all sides of your Xbox 360 body, the front face, the upper and lower sides. The “upper” skin is the side of the Xbox that is exposed when the console is used horizontally. Self-adhesive plastic-coated skins cover the surfaces of the Xbox 360 body, and they are paper-thin so they do not add any bulk. Skins are easy to apply (no bubbles), durable and easily removable without any residue. When applying the skin, you’ve got to make sure that the surface is totally clean of any oil or sweat!

Ex-Pro Optical Cable SPDIF Digital Audio Optical Cable / Lead for Xbox 360 - 5m Ex-Pro Optical cable - Connect your optical device to optical input - Optical to Optical digital audio cable. Suitable for all optical / SPDIF output / input devices, including Xbox, Playstation 2, Playstation 3, DVD Players, TV’s, Amplifiers and more.

Xbox 360 News, Game Reviews, Forums - Xbox360 Games Console