If being an egomaniac means I believe in what I do and in my art or music, then in that respect you can call me that… I believe in what I do, and I’ll say it.

If everyone demanded peace instead of another television set, then there’d be peace.

If someone thinks that love and peace is a cliche that must have been left behind in the Sixties, that’s his problem. Love and peace are eternal.

A dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream you dream together is reality.

My role in society, or any artist’s or poet’s role, is to try and express what we all feel. Not to tell people how to feel. Not as a preacher, not as a leader, but as a reflection of us all.

We’ve got this gift of love, but love is like a precious plant. You can’t just accept it and leave it in the cupboard or just think it’s going to get on by itself. You’ve got to keep watering it. You’ve got to really look after it and nurture it.

Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans

Imagine there’s no Heaven
It’s easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today

You may say that I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will live as one

Buy, Listen, Enjoy.

Because we love you, Hilden did something nice. But don’t get excited: it’s not gonna last.

Enjoy it while you can. And thanks for five great years. Or…at least…five years.

Smooches

Here we are again…

Twenty-nine years ago today, some piece of shit shot a man who was on his way home. As is usually the case, the piece of shit was insignificant and the the victim was beloved by millions. Fortunately, John Lennon’s work is still with us to enjoy. So take a moment to sit back, listen to “I’m So Tired”, “In My Life”, “Working Class Hero”, or one of the other many classics given to us by one of the greatest songwriters of all time.

And as cliché as this may be, maybe take a moment to let these words sink in.

Imagine there’s no Heaven
It’s easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today

You may say that I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will live as one

NOTE: I found this in our submissions today. Too funny not to post. -John

You tiwins ar e jackasses!! What the hell ROdneay!?? You pitcht ethem a double?! Youy close games fuckera1 ! close theme! closing!! not 12 eniings! and on ona on oan on! seriously? the twins?! you tiregers wer up by what., sev87 games?? You comae all this way to fuck this up? ? Tha is an asshat movea! teriirible terribel performeance!! Hey maybe if MNiguel Cabrera could get driunk wiht the white sox more and beat iss wfife or whatever he could bat more than tt2 r;uns! unlesazhe Th efURY!!

Look, mennnisota, you owe me a $60 dolalr berr e tab. you owe me sixtya dollars for making me watching this nail bigtters of losing and losing ansd losing. GOodl luck in tghe playoffs. I and amiching MiI MIchigan Detrioti friends will hate your stante in forever times. you are bad freinds.

SIIIGH

With lovee,
DJINcompeatente fron meENnisotata ASuckS!!!2

Yesterday, I learned the hard way: don’t buy the new Castle Crashers DLC. Don’t even turn the game on Live multiplayer anymore. It’s over. The game broke.

What happened?

This happened:

It appears that fast leveling glitch with the boomerang to hit level 99 is nothing compared to this. A new exploit involving a wave of players quitting games and repeating the first boss ad-nauseam in the name of instantly boosting your characters up to level 256 is all you’ll see when jumping into a game. There’s several different theories how to do it, but one of the big ones apparently requires another player to be at level 256. Like an internet worm or a griefer’s STD, this new wave of god mode is running the purpose of the game into the ground. Level 256 allows players to kill anything, including bosses in one hit while remaining virtually invincible, which is odd as the stats screen has finite amounts, but I’ve seen it. One thwack of the sword, a barbarian boss dead.

Why write about this? A comment in one of the DGR threads would be sufficient, yes? This post is about cheaters and the integrity of Xbox Live. All’y'all party people have your own reasons for justifying the $60 annual price tag of the gold service. Some of you cite the 95% success rate of the network, others say the party chat and easy invite system, some of you would argue Netflix, last.fm, and facebook add-ons have added up to the price tag. I personally accept the $60 thorn in the neck because of Microsoft’s crackdowns to continuously enforce a fair competitive environment when they’re not spending all their resources on banning accounts with words that could be interpreted as a reference to something inappropriate to an age under eight. Sure developers are charged with fixing the exploit, but what about the fallout damage to the statistics, leaderboards, and rankings? Is fixing that also a developer duty or the console maker’s duty? Sony or Nintendo do not dabble with propping a game back up after a widespread case of steroid abuse as far as I know. Sony’s 3.0 frimware is supposed to introduce a feedback system which may or may not come with the relevancy to keep gigadouche moderated. Microsoft’s feedback system, even with its current issues, has been adequate enough to keep leaderboards and gamerscores from falling to the “9999999999999999999″ top rank curse. With that credibility, I’ve never questioned the integrity of high scores on leaderboards. With that credibility, I bought Left 4 Dead knowing the experience depended entirely on the ethics of a community with the collective intelligence of a pinecone. I expected somebody to find a way to break the game (and they did), but it would be fixed. This fix happened for the most part, as it does with many FPS, and the gaming service remained golden through today’s sessions. We can debate the integrity of the L4D Survival mode leaderboard as all the stages had exploits in the beginning, but that will remain grey area like a Barry Bonds asterisk as we just don’t know who’s legit and who hides under the map.

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So I’m all like, “Regan is watchin’ American Idol tonight. I reckon I’ll play me some Raiden.”

“I can’t let you do that, Ian” said the Xbox.

Hahaha, um, a’ight.  I’ll go play outside.  Dat’s coo.

All they need to do now is reduce my gamerscore permanently to twelve and I’ll be a happy camper.

Oh, I didn’t call them or anything. I just thought it was funny shit. Also, I’m a decent fan of making outlandish claims. Maybe when I get to sign in today they’ll give me a warning message like, “You place high on too many leaderboards. OMG HAX STOP IT!!”

I’d like-…-take a picture of that.

My profile was probably offensive. Gaming is for children, doncha know.

This is just strange, but it’s way too hilarious to pass up. In an effort to demonstrate my religion isn’t going do develop intelligence anytime soon, this place LoveGodsWay.org is trying sell its music by proclaiming:

“One of the most dangerous ways Homosexuality invades family life is through popular music. Parents, please keep careful watch over your children’s listening habits. Especially in this age of Internet mp3 piracy.

There are multiple levels of Gay Music. Some bands are what we like to call Gateway Bands. They lure children in with Pop Grooves and Salacious Melodies leaving them wanting more. They’ll move on to more dangerous bands and the next thing you know you’ve got a homosexual for a child.

We’ve taken the time to highlight the bands that are particularly Gay. Please take the time and dissect your child’s CD / iTunes catalog. If you find 3 or more of these bands in their collection it is time to take action.
We Strongly recommend that you burn the CDs. Make sure your child is watching. Make sure they can feel the heat. It is crucial that the image remains emblazoned in their young minds. They need to know that if they continue to listen to these bands they may Burn eternally as well.”

Oh! Oh! Do you wanna see the list they came up with? Do you? Is Journey on there???

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We’re not a news site. Or at least we try not to be, but there are some news stories you just can’t stay silent on. This would be one of them. It was reported today that 1Up.com was acquired by UGO Entertainment and as a result, EGM would cease publication and many of our favorite editors lost their jobs. To say that the whole thing sucks is an understatement. Especially for those who have found themselves unemployed at such a terrible time.

For those of us who have been around the gaming scene for awhile, the news that EGM would cease publication brings to end an era that brought four-man reviews, in depth coverage and a commitment to honesty and integrity not often found in a magazine based on advertising games. Our connection to EGM runs deep. John and I were both avid readers of EGM, and it was one of the constants in our respective gaming universes when we were young. I don’t care how many other magazines jumped into the scene over the years, EGM was always the one I turned to for news and reviews that I cared about. Even in the later years, as the magazine faded from what I once knew, I carried the torch as did many others.

Not so long ago, at the Midwest Gaming Classic, we had the honor and privilege of meeting two former EGM staffers, “Trickman” Terry Minnich and Martin Alessi. Try as hard as I might during that interview, it was a little tough to suppress the EGM fanboy as I sat talking to them. Through that connection we also became acquainted with another EGM legend, Ken Williams, who once wore the legendary name of Sushi-X. Those of you old enough to recognize that name will understand my reasons for asking Terry and Martin the identity of the mysterious EGM ninja. It has been our privilege to call Terry and Ken friends as we all continue to follow a passion for gaming and all things geek.

We’ve also had the honor of a great friendship with Phil Kollar and I have to say, I laughed out loud in surprise and glee when I first saw his name on an EGM game review. To see his fire and passion ignite some great things at 1Up.com was a pure joy. I remember sitting upstairs in my house with Phil, on the night before he left to start at 1Up, eating terrible Hardee’s food as he laid out his ideas for a new kind of magazine style podcast. At the time, he was only going to be the News Editor and it was just thoughts and “wouldn’t it be cool if…”. Imagine my delight when 1Up FM debuted, exactly as he had wanted, and climbed the iTunes “charts” to become one of the top gaming podcasts on the web. It was the fire and energy found in editors such as Phil and Nick Suttner that gave me hope for both 1Up and EGM. But alas, it was not to be.

We say goodbye to an era that started in 1989 as news hits that EGM is ceasing publication. Our regret is that they couldn’t have gone out in style, with a fitting end to a magazine that meant a whole lot to a whole lot of gamers. It would have been nice see the old crew back again for one final issue, wouldn’t it? While we may not get a proper send off of the magazine from the corporate giants, we can at least do our part here. For those of you who read and appreciated EGM, let us know what the magazine meant to you. Were you one of the many who poured through the April magazine, looking for the infamous joke? How many times did you try to unlock Shen Long? Anybody try the All Bonds trick? If you would, take a minute and let us know your favorite moments as we say farewell to EGM.

To the staff of EGM and 1Up.com, we wish you the best and know you’ll all land on your feet. Here’s to the awesome things you’ll bring to the gaming public in the future.

I’ll make a useful post for once. For the next few months at least, anytime you end up with a 100 dollar bill, check the security thread. That’s what that picture is as an example for a twenty. Make sure that tiny thread says it’s a hundred dollar bill. Not a five dollar bill.

Upon thinking that $100 bill is suspect, you can confirm further by checking the color-shifting ink in the corner. You should be able to look at the ink as you turn it different angles and the “100″ logo will change from green to gold. The recent waves of counterfeits fail the color-shift test.

The third way to confirm is the watermark. If the security thread doesn’t read correctly, hold the bill to the light. Real $100s will have a second [detailed] image of Big Ben. These recent fake $100s show a big-’ol watermark of Lincoln.

The hip cool thing bad people are doin’ nowadays is converting $5 bills into $100s. The appearance is basically spot-on except for the security thread, wartermark, and color shifting ink. Spotting the other security flaws at street-level is difficult as hell, so stick to those three tests.

Sorry for not posting a pic of a fake 100. I don’t really want Secret Service all up on my shit.

I wouldn’t be makin’ a post about this if the frequency of discovered fakes at the workplace was not alarming as of late.

Also know that passing on a counterfeit bill to another place or person after you figure out one is fake is still illegal. You’re supposed to do all this stuff instead. But I have a friend who knew this guy at Target who was handed a $200 bill with a pic of Hillary Clinton on it and the dude accepted it and made change for it. He was fired. Hardcore.

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