Ken Newquist

The Green Arc of Life

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It’s only fair that since I complained mightily when my Xbox 360 died, I should also let everyone know when it was resurrected. During the week after my machine died, I spent a lot of time on the phone with Xbox and Best Buy, determining that a) either of them would replace the broken Xbox … Read more

Game Day: Mistaken Death, Barbaric Dwarves, Constructible Star Wars, SILVER Heroes, Savage Swords

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It’s Game Day, meaning that in about seven hours, a horde of geeks will descend on my house and we’ll spend 4-6 hours hacking, slashing (and yes, role-playing) our way through a variety of humanoid menaces. Alternatively, we may be vying for world domination playing Risk 2210 or trying to prevent the Rise of the … Read more

Battlestar at the Gym

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I swore I’d never do it. I said it was pointless, watching video on an iPod at the gym. The screen’s too small, the iPod’s too far away, and there’s plenty of better stuff to listen to that doesn’t risk the iPod going flying across the gym after an inadvertent tug of the earphones sends … Read more

Snopes: Is Bill Clinton a Draft-Dodging Pardoned Felon?

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Ah, Bill Clinton. I’d almost forgotten about all the great hoaxes, urban legends and miscellaneous crap that was circulating the Internet back in the heady days of the Dot Boom. Now that his wife is looking to make a presidential run, it’s all floating back to the surface, as is illustrated by the email alleging … Read more

Deciphering the Red Rings of Death

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If your Xbox 360 is red-ringing, and you’re looking for half a clue as to why, check out the AV Science Forum’s 3 Red Rings Xbox Diagnostic. It explains how to put your 360 in to diagnostic mode, and what the different patterns of flashing lights mean, such as “0001 power supply problem” or “0022 … Read more

Longing for Warcraft IV

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With my Xbox 360 dead but blinking, I am forced to fall back on some of my older games to get my twitch fix, which (as is almost always the case) means I’m firing up Warcraft III. Playing through the Night Elf campaign in Frozen Throne, I was once again impressed by how good this … Read more

Role-Playing Possibilities with The Complete Two Towers, Disc One

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The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers – The Complete Recordings by Howard Shore and released by Reprise Records is a huge collection containing 3+ hours of music from the movie spread over three CDs and augmented by a video DVD documenting the soundtrack’s production. It’s so huge that a single review won’t do … Read more

The Red Ring of Death

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You’ve got to give it to Microsoft — no one creates iconic crash messages like they do. The Blue Screen of Death tormented and terrified millions of Windows users and while it’s appearances have been greatly diminished since the release of XP, it’s legend lives on. Now with the 360, Microsoft has created a new … Read more