360voice Dev Blog

Happy New Year! Here comes 2010!

Hi Everyone! It has been some time since I have reached out with an update of just what the heck is going on around here these days... I know it isn't 2010... but it is just around the corner, and I wanted to bring everyone up to speed.

Currently 360voice is still owned by GamerDNA which is now owned by Crispy Gamer. Fatty Chubs, myself or Squidpunch no longer work with any of those entities... In fact Steve and I now work at a new startup in Boston called MeYou Health! Is your head spinning yet?

So what does this mean for 360voice? It means that for now... Steve, David and myself will continue to answer support... keep the site running... try and not break anything until we can figure out next steps. Just today I had to recode the way the stats on the blog process because when people were deleting their blogs and reactivating them it was creating corrupt data. Steve is hard at work this week figuring out why the badges are so slow that it is dragging down the rest of the site.

All that said, because we don't officially work for the people that own 360voice anymore, we work on the site at the pleasure of Crispy Gamer. If they decide that they don't want us to work on the site, than we will stop and someone else will take over. Because it is the holidays, everyone is starting new jobs, and all the pieces of the company acquisition are falling into place, who knows what the long term outcome will be... just know that like always Steve and I continue to do lots of work each day to make sure that things at least run... we aren't always able to jump in and fix things right away... and we can't always respond to support immediately... but we have been using a guy for some support contracting... Lagnajit Roy... to do all the gamertag changes and other easy tasks so that we can be sure they get done! If you have submitted a support ticket you might have bumped into him. He is a good guy, but doesn't know everything about Xbox so take it easy on him! ;)

Steve and I have been working on 360voice for almost 4 years now... we have no plans to let it evaporate. I don't want to make any promises... if there is one thing 2009 taught me, it is that life can turn on a dime... but we would love to give the site a redesign with a new look and ideas for PAX Boston in March. But like I said... who knows at this point. 2010 is a big blank slate.

So Happy New Year everyone. Thanks for continuing to use and support the site.

Site Maintenance - Badges Turned off.

Things are running a bit slow on the servers during the holidays, badges are going to be turned off for the next few days while we investigate.

There are no planned updates, and no planned outages at this point.  We will investigate possible fixes to the situation, and update when we have work planned or everything is back to normal.

So hope everyone celebrating a holiday had a good time and got the gifts they wanted. I managed to get a little Xbox in everywhere I went, even without Xbox Live. Lips and Peggle were the favorites.   What did everyone play?

Top 20 Most Popular Blogs for November 2009

Here is that list of lists... the cream of the crop that rose to the top during the month of November 2009.

* means comments are enabled

1. the dren *
2. Stallion83 *
3. PSonic *
4. Major Nelson
5. Fshguy *
6. admiringworm *
7. SPEEDY G60
8. t4nd4r *
9. SparkyMP *
10. ESS3NC3 0F 3V1L *
11. ZOIG
12. SPIDERMANMTL *
13. lupadi *
14. fourzerotwo
15. onnovdw
16. CRU x360a *
17. sekes
18. Minty x360a
19. Boerke *
20. tigereye75

Look at all of you. So popular. So beautiful. So Loved. Enjoy this moment.

Buy/Sell/Rent forum is live!

You have been asking for it. An issue with the code (that was throwing 500 errors) is what made this such an issue. I spent some time tonight, tracked it down, fixed it (for now) and I think we are all set.

Feel free to buy.rent.trade with each other... but remember, that you do so at your own risk.

Read the rules first!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

It is that time of the year (here in America) where we look around and give thanks for everything that we have. I just wanted to give a special thanks to the dedicated community of 360voice for all of your support over the years. Time has come and gone... some things have changed, many things have stayed the same. The future today is just as uncertain as it was a year ago... but we continue forward secure in the fact that we are surrounded by a great community of passionate Xbox gamers.

So thank you to you all for your continued support, continued passion, and continued patience with myself (ChangeAgent), Steve (Fatty Chubs), and David (Squidpunch).

Cheers everyone. Enjoy your celebrations.

Member of the moment: Chrome30

Posted on behalf of t4nd4r

"CHARLIES IN THE TREES!", "AIRSTRIKE INBOUND, DANGER CLOSE!", "RELOADING", these are just some of the things I could hear in the background as I sat down with Ralph Martin (Chrome30 as the interwebs know him) and asked some questions. Currently serving in the US Army overseas, he still finds time to play videogames.  Without further ado, let's get some answers from one of America's finest, HOOAH!

Where are you from, and where are you currently stationed?
Originally I am from California,but my Uncle Sam has me beating my feet in the desert at the moment (Kuwait).

You are currently in the military, what is your rank and how did you get there?
I am in the US Army and I can't discuss my rank or title =p if you knew I would have to kill you!!

What made you decide to be in the military? Are you glad you joined?
I joined the military because I believed it was my duty to serve.  I planned on only doing 3 years, but I love my job and I have been in for 9 years now.

Are you in constant danger of attack? Have you ever been sent to the front lines of battle? What's a day like in the military?
I am currently in minimal danger of attack.  My first trip to Iraq I was on the front lines in Fallujah and Mosul.  I saw my share of battle and I have horrible memories of it.  The military day to day is different all over. In my job I wear civilian clothes daily and do not do the day to day "military stuff" I tip my hat to the boys and girls doing hard battle in Afghanistan and Iraq.  They are the true warriors.

What kind of equipment do you use everyday? What type of weapons are you certified to use?
My daily use here in Kuwait sadly is my computer, fork, knife, and spoon.  I do carry my weapons when I go on mission.  I am certified on the M4, M16, M9 and several foreign weapons. I also have one mean Judo chop!!

Have you ever been a part of a "classified" mission? What was it like?
Funny thing about that question is my whole job is classified, lol so yes I have been...but I can't tell you what they are.  They are a huge adrenaline rush and it makes it feel like what you are doing is making a difference.

What is the highest ranking person you have ever came into contact with?
I have briefed a 2 star general on operational items and he was a very cool guy.

Have you ever had to use your weapon in the line of duty? What was your reaction after if you have?
Unfortunately, I have and it was on a couple occasions.  Afterwards I felt a little on edge, scared, and sick to my stomach.  I knew it was them or me though and I have to keep moving forward.

How much longer do you have in the military before you are done?  Is there a set schedule for when you get to come home, and how long is that usually?
I have at least 6 more years in the military, so that is probably a couple more deployments.  There is a set schedule for my return home and the length of time I am at home just depends on the unit I go to after I leave Kuwait.  We'll see =)

Out of all the military videogames you have played, has there ever been any that hit home? Is it logical to throw a grenade back if it lands near you, do you pick up enemies weapons if you are out of ammo, that kind of stuff?
MW2 on the first level after your training (where you are in the vehicle) the part with the ambush got my heart pounding a little faster and it made me feel tense.  It was very realistic.  Some people throw their bodies down on grenades and do what they think is right at the given situation.  There have been several people pick up live grenades and get rid of them, not the frequency it happens in COD, but some heroes do it in order to protect their own.  If you are out of rounds an enemy weapon gets the job done just like your own =)

Do you go through a lot of ready-to-eat-meals while you are over there, or do you get to go out to restaurants? Any McD's or Burger Kings in Kuwait?
Kuwait is VERY much into the western culture.  They have everything over here i.e.  Krispy Kreme, BK, Chilis, Applebee's, Starbucks, Mc'D etc etc  the extremists here hate the fact that all these places are built here, but they still have glaze on their lips every once and awhile =)

What's the weather like in Kuwait?
Currently it is nice and chill out...it is about 95 degrees.  That is nice compared to the summer as it was about 130-145 it was brutal =/

Wife/kids/dog/cat/rabbit?
I have a gorgeous wife named Stacy who is everything to me.  She is a wonderful woman for putting up with my job and I love her for it. No kids...yet.  Love dogs, but neither one of us have time to take care of pets.

How are you able to check your e-mail and browse forums? Why are you not able to be connected to Xbox Live?
The net here is wifi and is not strong enough to connect to live.  The first month I was here I was like a recovering drug addict...I needed my Live fix and couldn't get it...had to go cold turkey lol.  I also have my government computer, but that net is pretty much restricted.  So, no live for me until I get leave in December.

Before you left for service, your gamerscore was 126,578.  How much larger has that become since being offline?
I wish I could say it has increased dramatically...alas, it is only at 129, 750 at the moment.  Sad...but true.  Damn terrorists keeping my GS down!!

Your largest weekly achievement and gamerscore gain is massive, 240 and 7,979 respectively.  Were you involved in a challenge at the time? Did you end up winning?
I was involved in the first ever mega challenge =) it was amazing and I came in third on that one...CroakerTarekegypt.  One day I will win one of those darn things!!  Always the brides maid....never the bride so to speak =p

Your highest daily gamerscore gain was in March of 2008 for a total of 3,260.  What games did you play? Were you trying to win a challenge?
Oh geez, what did I play??  Ummm, probably some 2k6 titles and Surfs up possibly.  It was definitely some easy sports games...for sure.  Watch for me to destory that daily gain when I am on leave in December!! Tons of games to catch up on lol.

Do you ever play your Xbox360 with more people in service? Such as co-op in Modern Warfare 2 or rocking the set in Rock Band?
I wish I had others to play games with here, but alas I only rock the single player on all versions of my games =/ unless I play with one controller in each hand...and boy is that difficult sometimes hehe.

How did you come up with your Gamertag?
My gamertag came from my plane ride home from Iraq.  In the military you get on military aircrafts to fly home, my flight was named Chrome30. In honor of this wonderful flight getting me back home safely from a hellish year in Iraq I picked it as my gamertag and will forever be known as Chrome30.

What brought you to 360Voice?
I was browing the net one day and put in a google search.  I started to read up on the sight and thought it was an amazing idea!! I just had to join. Then I started talking to some of the people and it was pretty much a done deal from there.

What is your favorite part of 360Voice?
I would easily say the people.  They are the KEY part of 360V.  Without the great people the site would just be stats.  The people make it amazing!!

Is there anything you would like to see changed about 360Voice?
I love 360v so much that I tell everyone in Kuwait about it...as for changes...I would probably change some of the point qualifications on badges i.e. HTTK badge...you all know what I am talking about!!

If you had the opportunity, is there anyone you would like to meet from 360Voice?
I couldn't just pick one...there are so many people on the site that I would love the chance to meet.  I have had a lot of great support from everyone and I get along with a lot of folks from the site.  If you are putting the clamps on me though I would pick Trapper and talk to him about the approach to the site etc.

You recently created a Chrome30 challenge, what gave you the idea for the challenge, and all the crazy bonus scenarios?
I have done quite a few challenges during my time at the site.  I love to give back to a great community and enjoy doing the events/challenges.  The bonus scenarios were discussed between Futiles and myself and thought it would be a wonderful way to kind of shake things up and give others a fun way to score.  It worked for some and caused fits for others lol.

How long have you been gaming?
I have been gaming hardcore since Zelda came out in the gold cartridge.  I didn't grow up with a lot of money etc, so when my Dad got us a nintendo we were hooked and it just went on from there.  I remember splitting time with my brother and sister...we had 30 minutes each and that just didn't cut it lol I always went over my time limit and got in trouble with pops...ahhh well =p

What was the first game you ever played?
See above, lol Zelda..although I do faintly remember playing Pit fall and all the "old school" games. So, I guess it was pit fall and frogger etc.

What is your reason for playing games?
I play games for the amazing graphics, story and overall depth of what games are nowadays.  The technology is just insane!! And I love the progression of gaming.  I can't wait to see the next gen systems.

What do you enjoy more, single-player or multi-player?
I am a hardcore RPG fan, but some of the best games now days are multi-player.  The human interaction and unexpected actions/reactions make MP games amazing.  I just want a great MMORPG for 360 and that will be enough for me =)

What is your current gaming setup, what is your setup like back at home?
Ahhh my current setup, lol I first got my 8X10 room/jail cell and there was a 19 inch big bulky thing on a dresser trying to pass as a TV.  We all know TV's are not big and bulky anymore...they are slim and flat with lovely color and depth.  Anyway, I got rid of that thing and bought the biggest TV they sell here... So, I have a Sony Bravia 32 inch here and I use Turtle beach X4 headphones for amazing sound quality.  Back home the setup is going to change to the new Samsung LED 52inch TV and bose surround sound...I will hookup my new MW2 system as well =) All and all it is good enough for Kuwait.

Do you like to eat a snack or drink while playing games?
Yes, my wife can attest to this.  I will sleep in the wee hours of the morning and when she wakes up she will see Full Throttle cans on the TV stand I use and possibly some wrappers from pop tarts that I had previously devoured while Owning young arrogant children in COD/Halo (when that was cool to play hehe)

Do you own any other consoles?
I, of course, have my trusty PS3 blu ray player.  The only good game I played on that was Heavenly Sword.  I do have to be honest and say I am looking forward to God of War in the coming months.

When did you join Xbox Live, and why did you decide to?
I joined xbox live when I returned from Iraq in 2006.  I just bought my 360 and that seemed like something I just had to do.  I picked up Splinter Cell and played that online and thought it was absolutely amazing!!

What are your current top 10 favorite games ever, out of any console?
Top 10?? Whew, hard question.  1. Final Fantasy III as the storyline was epic and characters deep.  2. Resident Evil  3.  Dead Rising  4.  FF 7 5.  Zelda Ocarina of time  6.  Tecmo Superbowl (classic)  7. Chrono Trigger 8. Bioshock  9. Mass Effect  and 10. would be Dragon Age as of right now.

What are 5 achievements that you are most proud of?
Proud of Completing COD: WaW on Vet (damn nades!!)  Mile high club...MK vs DC Kombo challenges (finsihed 3) Anyone else? Skate 2 achievement and probably the last achievement for beating MW2 cause it just feels so good at the end of the game when you...=p you know!!

If you could change one thing about Xbox Live, what would it be?
Make it free of course!! I am sure everyone would love me for that, right??

Are there any games you are looking forward to realeasing in the near future?
The latest installment of Final Fantasy, Mass Effect 2, Assassins Creed 2 and God of War for the PS3.

What are some new releases you've been able to grab while overseas?
I have stayed up on the popular games due to Gamefly and my wife being so awesome.  I have grabbed prototype, Overlord II, Batman, MW2, Ghostbusters, and Dragon Age: origins to name a few.  Now if I can just find some time to play them =(

Would you like to give any shout-outs?
I would love to give shout outs to the following people:  Stacy, you are my love and the reason I do all this crazy "stuff" I do, you are my world and everything I cherish.  I would also like to give special thanks to Futiles, Spider, DoT, PSonic, Sparky, and everyone who keep in touch with me while I am overseas.  Emails and communication goes a long way out here where we don't get a lot of it.  Thanks to everyone at 360v for making it the best site around.  I appreciate you all and I am honored to be MoTM.  Oh, and t4nd4r I thank you as well...thought I forgot ya huh?? =p

Thanks Martin for filling us in on what it's like being in the military, and what games you like to play.  I think I can speak for everyone when I say THANK YOU for doing what you do to keep us protected and safe back in the states.  Without you being hard at work every day, we would not be able to feel safe going outside our homes.  You really are "Being All You Can Be". I hope we all get a chance to play some games online together when you return from service.

November Badge Update

The latest badge update went live this week. Special thanks to Dog of Thunder who put this together with the help of the community, its also his birthday on Sunday so we have a gift for everyone. High School Musical right? Ya'know, Fshguy and MightyMango really pushed for that one....

Below is the list of games added to genres.

Action/Adventure
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Shadow Complex

Family
Ice Age 3

FPS
Battlefield 1943
Call of Jaurez: Bound in Blood
F.E.A.R 2
Wolfenstein

Hack'n'Slash
Dynasty Warriors 6: Empires
Ninja Blade

Music
Disney Sing It!: High School Musical 3
Guitar Hero 5
Rock Band: AC/DC Live!
Rock Band: Classic Rock
Rock Band: Country Pack
Rock Band: Song Pack 2
The Beatles: Rock Band

Oddball
Overlord 2

Puzzle
Braid
Puzzle Arcade

Race
Dirt 2

Retro
Space Invaders Extreme

Sandbox
Spidey: Web of Shadows

Sports
Madden 10
NCAA Football 10

Strategy
The Outfit
Warhammer: Battle March
Worms 2: ARMAGEDDON

Top Gun
IL-2 Birds of Prey

Also something new, we also handed out community badges to the folks in Chrome30's October Challenge Event. Normally these are only for sanctioned 360voice events, however the 3VCE's and community really pushed for recognition on this, so we made a special case. 

So thanks everyone for rocking the community action, Modern Warfare 2 is out next week so maybe I will catch some of you online!

Top 20 Most Popular blogs for October 2009

Hi Everyone,

I may be a bit off the grid lately, but it is a new month, and with it, a new list of people with the most popular blogs at 360voice.

* means comments are enabled. Go leave one!

1. the dren *
2. Stallion83 *
3. PSonic *
4. Major Nelson
5. Fshguy *
6. SparkyMP *
7. lupadi *
8. tigereye75
9. onnovdw
10. t4nd4r *
11. fernim
12. ZOIG
13. Boerke *
14. ESS3NC3 0F 3V1L *
15. SPIDERMANMTL *
16. SPEEDY G60
17. sekes
18. Dog of Thunder *
19. Mightymango *
20. FragEmAndSmile *

Congrats to everyone on the list. Lots of long-time familiar names, as well as a few new people. Also special thanks to squidpunch for tweaking the list to exclude spam accounts.

Most popular blogs for September 2009

Here we are... fall is upon us... October has arrived. Here are the most popular blogs for September 2009:

1. the dren *
2. PSonic *
3. Stallion83 *
4. Fshguy *
5. SparkyMP *
6. Major Nelson
7. Dog of Thunder *
8. FragEmAndSmile *
9. I The K Train I
10. tigereye75
11. fernim
12. lupadi *
13. Boerke *
14. ESS3NC3 0F 3V1L *
15. ZOIG
16. ZeroDesolation *
17. t4nd4r *
18. Mightymango *

Sorry there are only 18. I haven't fixed the filtering yet. It is removing the spammers but not adding in the new members for positions 19 and 20. I will get that next time.

Congrats to everyone in the top list.

Planned Outage: Sept 17th 8pm ET

Hi everyone. Our hosting company has informed us that we have to install a new security kernel on our linux servers... so we will have a small (hopefully!) outage while that happens. We will bring the site down around 8pm ET and bring it back up when things are all set.

In other news, things should be running pretty smooth. Badges should all be cleaned up and working. The days played leaderboards per game are back on the game pages... everything is chugging along... although watch.. tonight the imports will fail or something! It always seems as soon as we acknowledge everything running smooth it stops doing such. :)

Also you might have noticed the HUGE GEARS OF WAR 2 skin. Gotta pay da billz! ;)

UPDATE 2:57pm ET

SURPRISE! Looks like the hosting company decided that 8pm actually meant 8am, so we had a small outage this morning while both our database servers went down... and were rebooted. Everything is back up and running... but the jobs are behind....

I mean seriously, didn't I just say in the above paragraph that as soon as we acknowledge the smoothness, suddenly things break? :)

No Badges Today

Badges will not run as schedule today, so there will be no updates until tomorrow evening.  We will be using the time to run some outstanding maintenance, back-end testing, and a bit of data clean up.  You shouldn't notice any slow down, or downtime, but there is a small chance your badges could disappear briefly.  We promise to give them back though.

Games Q & A Updated

Just a quick note everyone - after we finished updating all the game data it looks like the Games Q&A and got a bit mixed up.   Questions were linked to the wrong games and to complicate things then people were answering the question as if it were a question originally for that game.  Somewhat interesting how some of the questions made sense even on a different game - but to clear things up I just wiped the Q&A clean.  So now that we have a fresh start, who is going to ask the first question....and on what game?

Most popular blogs for August 2009

August 2009 has came and went... and all that is left is a record of our gaming. The most popular gamers this month were:

* means comments enabled

1. the dren *
2. Kornfan2007 *
3. PSonic *
4. Stallion83 *
5. Fshguy *
6. Major Nelson
7. Dog of Thunder *
8. SparkyMP *
9. t4nd4r *
10. ZeroDesolation *
11. Lawl Pwned *
12. FragEmAndSmile *
13. B8TINGU *
14. Mightymango *
15. jackburtonhero *
16. j sizzl *
17. smrnov *
18. Cobraguy555 *
19. SaintTheOutcast *

We do love them don't we. We love them all. Show your love by leaving them a comment.

Funny thing, I remember a time when people on this list didn't have comments enabled... looks like it is a pretty talky bunch these days!

Avatar outage

Hi everyone. Because 360voice and GamerDNA share some server resources... we are in the middle of a huge release for GamerDNA and have to take the servers down for about 24 hours. Because of this... the resources we use for rendering and storing avatars will be offline.

They will appear blank until we get the GamerDNA servers back online. Sorry for the inconvenience!

Reviews by Crispy Gamer

Hi everyone, we are trying out a new little feature where we deliver the latest Xbox 360 reviews from our friends over at Crispy Gamer.

You will see a box of the latest reviews on the Home page and on the games page. 

Crispy uses a BUY IT, TRY IT, FRY IT rating system to let you know what is hot and what is not in the gaming universe. When they approached us with a new syndication feature, we were happy to help them try it out. 

Check it out and let us know what you think.

Member of the Moment: SparkyMP

Posted on behalf of t4nd4r

I sat down with Kellen Empey from Las Vegas and began talking to him about his everyday life and personal interests. With all those school classes, it's amazing to see him getting time in to play videogames! He also USED to be a completionist, but decided to break away from it so he could ENJOY playing games (who does that?). During the course of my interview I found out something horrifying about SparkyMP and the game Halo 3... read on to find out about it, and much more!

You currently reside in Las Vegas Nevada... THAT must be an interesting place to play video games, right?
Las Vegas is an interesting place to live. It was hardly any fun while growing up, but after you become 21 the city opens up to you and your wallet. The positive side to being a gamer here is there are countless amounts of game stores. 15+ Gamestops and about 50 other local game stores. Not to mention that Las Vegas is a big host to gaming/electronic conventions.

I know your current employment situation, but would you like to explain it to others?
Currently I am on disability due to an injury I received while working for Coca-Cola. I ruptured 2 discs in my lower spine which are creating constant pressure on my nerve endings. After a few (7) months dealing with workers comp, and the corrupted doctors they hire, my claim was finally finished. I received an 8% permanent partial disability and 13 months of free schooling.

I heard you signed up for a ton of classes this year, what is the major you are going for, and why?
I signed up for a small tech school, I thought it would be a better idea than going through a traditional college. I only have 13 months and the tech school can cram everything into that time. I am signed up for A+, Network+, Security+, LAN Administration, CCNA/Cisco, and Microsoft Certified Professional. After all these classes are completed I will take them to a college and get a quick associates degree with them.

Do you have a wife/kids/dog/mongoose?
I currently have a girlfriend/fiancee (she has a ring, just not a proposal from me) and 4 dogs. We recently moved into her mothers house to save money, which added another 4 dogs, 2 cats, 1 bird, and 2 fish onto the list of pets. Needless to say, we like dogs. Kids might be happening next year, after I finish school of course.

You joined 360Voice on March 9th 2008, what brought you to the site?
My sisters boyfriend told me about the site. I had purchased my console about 6 months before joining. I was getting tired of not having any friends to play games with so he suggested looking up 360voice. I don't think he had expected me to become such an active member.

You started with 10,760 GS and you currently have 70,857 GS,  what motivated you to gain such a tremendous amount in such short time?
Challenges!! The idea of competing against others for the most amount of gamer score gain was awesome. I thoroughly enjoyed gaining all those points for "bragging rights." Plus the added prize here and there was great too.

What is your favorite part of the site, what are some things you would like to see improved?
I enjoy the forums. The people on this site are truly awesome. Its what keeps me coming back for more everyday. I have expanded my friends list from 2 people all the way to 100 thanks to this site. As far as improvements, well it seems that those things are always working themselves out. The things I have suggested have all been implemented, no complaints from me.

How did you come up with your Gamertag?
I used to be an electrical apprentice, so Sparky comes from that. As far as the MP, well it sounds like my last name. Empey = MP. So there for SparkyMP was created. Its also my license plate. SPRKYMP

You have played 177 different games, what are your top 10 favorite?
Bioshock was probably my favorite game for the 360. R6V2 was really good as well, lots of good times with some buddies from this site. Pins and Beans lol...inside joke, ask Davem3 TF. I was very happy to get Vigilante 8 and Wolfenstein as arcade releases over the last year. Gears of War and its sequel are also fun favorites.

What are your top 10 least favorite?
Halo 3, go ahead bash me if you want, I hate that game. Horrible online multiplayer, and no its not because I suck at it. The only positive thing to that game is the 4 player coop campaign. King Kong, Fusion Frenzy, Ridge Racer 6, Jumper, X-men the official game, and Bionicle Heroes come to mind when I think of the crap I have played. Sad part is I will eventually have to go back and play half of those again.

[Editor's note: Before continuing with the interview, I hit SparkyMP with my Xbox360 controller several times...]

You are involved in a race to 1k for the game DBZ Burst Limit, you currently have 35GS in it, think you have a chance of winning? 
No, not really. There are several achievements in that game that are nearly impossible. And with me not being a fighting game type of person, that game may take a while. Thanks for the reminder though, I do need to keep working on that one. And I thought you involved in that race as well t4nd4r???

[Editor's note: Don't remind me... :/]

What are your top 5 proudest achievements?
Historian - Bioshock, Perfection - Track and Field, Fill Legend - Rock Band 2, Kilopiece Colossus - Puzzle Arcade, Lord of the Deep - Undertow. Those are my favorites that I busted my butt working on. There are others that I have that I like, but I am not as proud of them because I boosted to get them.

What are your top 10 most shameful achievements?
Can you say Hannah Montana and My Horse and Me 2!!

Do you ever think you will go back and finish Jumper?
NO!

In your bio you talk about wanting to reach 75k GS by 2010, think you will make it?
I think I will make it much sooner than the end of this year. I'm looking at reaching that before the end of September. Maybe even the end of this month.

You currently have a streak of 490 days, how much farther do you see yourself going?
As far as I feel like. All I wanted to do was reach 365 days. I have more than accomplished that, I am just waiting for a vacation now. I might drop the streak when I travel to Boston during Christmas break. I haven't decided yet. I'm going to be taking my laptop with me, so its not like I cannot keep my streak using a "games for windows."

What are some to-be-released games you are looking forward to playing?
Wolfenstein looks awesome. Bioshock 2 was a huge let down when they pushed it back to next year, still looking forward to it though. I played a trial for the new Batman, and I must say I was a little disappointed. That one is up in the air now, I will have to wait to see what my friends think of the story.

What is your opinion on multiplayer achievements?
I absolutely despise online achievements. Multiplayer is fine, as long as its obtainable offline as well. Being required to pay $50 a year to be able to gain all the achievements in a game is wrong. The good side to online multiplayer achievements is that it gets people to explore the multiplayer side of games. And thats why I think achievements were a great idea, it gets people to play the game to the fullest extent. Exploring every aspect.

Try to think waaaaaaaay back, what was the first video game you ever played?
An old stand up arcade version of Pac-Man. I started playing that when I was 2 at my dads favorite restaurant. Ever since then I have been hooked on gaming, and collecting for that matter. I'm still trying to get my hands on the few consoles I don't own yet.

What made you decide you wanted to be part of the Xbox Live experience?
Being able to play online with people was worth paying for. Gears of War was a major factor in my decision.

Are you glad you made the decision to pay monthly for the service?
I am. This site has made it entirely worth it. Being able to use it to just sit there and talk to people in a party chat is great. Netflix was a nice little add on. I'm getting a great amount of use out of that feature.

If you were high up on the chain of command in Microsoft, what would you change about Xbox Live?
The monthly fees are understandable so those would have to stay. I would force companies such as EA to either keep their servers on or to transfer the games onto Microsoft's servers. We as a customer have paid for the games, and then to have a company take away the usage of the game is stealing the money we spent on it. I think a stable live service would be great as well.

Are you excited for the upcoming Xbox Live update on August 11th?
I don't know yet. Every new update comes with new problems, we shall see just how everything goes. I hear the dashboard doesn't lock up like it used to, so that could be a good thing about it.

Think you will purchase a ton of new clothes for your avatar? Or just get the freebies by gaining certain achievements?
I can honestly say that I will never purchase any clothing for my avatar. I would rather buy an arcade game with my MS points. I'll take the freebies from whoever is giving them away.

If you ever got the chance, who are some people you would want to have brunch with from 360Voice?
Far too many people to count. There are about 20 people I can think of immediately who I would really like to see. Sometimes I wish I lived closer to people just so I could do those things.

You recently declared you were done trying to work on your completion %, what made you decide this?
Worrying about the completion percentage kills the enjoyment of games. I don't like having to complete one game before I move onto another. Its the reason why I have 40+ sealed games sitting next to me. I think I am living up to my word lately as well. I have opened a new game almost everyday this week.

Have you found yourself to be enjoying gaming more because of this decision?
I have actually, its been much better not having to worry about getting those last few achievements.

What is your current gaming setup?
Well that depends. I mostly play on my xbox in my bedroom. Its a 360 elite hooked up to a 50" Toshiba DLP 1080p display. I gave up my sound system when I moved. Besides that system I have 3 other xbox 360's in the house as well as two computers each with its own "Games for Windows" game on it. Cannot be too safe with the streak eh.

Do you bask in the glory of HD gaming, or do you still use those color-coded cables?
I thoroughly enjoy my HDMI cables.

If you do use HD, what are some differences you were able to notice when switching?
The colors and screen resolution between component and HDMI is huge. I don't think I could go back to component much less VGA ever again.

If you were born with any one superpower... what would it be, and why?
I was born with a super power!!! Okay maybe not, but I can dream. Flying would be nice. But I think I would rather have something a little bit more useful. Perhaps some form of telekinesis, or being a genius if that counts. Something to change the world, take money out of the oil and gas manufacturers pockets in some way. I'm tired of being cheated and not being able to avoid it.

If you were given the option of being able to meet a famous person (past or present) who would it be, and why?
Well that depends on if I coud take my girlfriend or not. If not then I really don't know who I would meet, maybe Einstein. If I could take her, well then it would be up to her. Something to make her happy. I really don't care for meeting famous people.

Do you like to eat any snacks/food or drink anything while playing games?
Oh all the time. Spicy Nacho Doritos is the snack and either water or diet coke for the drink. Thats almost always what I munch on. Cheez-It's are another favorite, but I haven't had them in about 6 months.

Is there anything you would like to add, maybe make some shout-outs?
I just want to thank everyone on the site for making this place so great. Thank you creators, keep up the awesome work. And thank you t4nd4r for choosing me as a MotM.

Thank you for your time SparkyMP, let us know when you receive a spot in the Guiness World Records book for having the most dogs in one house.

Top 19 Most Popular Blogs - July 2009

Here are the most popular blogs for July 2009:

1. the dren *
   
2. PSonic *
3. Kornfan2007 *
4. Velocity Exe
5. Stallion83 *
6. Fshguy *
7. Major Nelson
8. SolidusLyger *
9. Dog of Thunder *
10. B8TINGU *
11. Wallace Suka *
12. Lawl Pwned *
13. george21000 *
14. XxSexy Ag3ntxX
15. CaptainKicker *
16. Mitsuo Excel *
17. Daze Of War *
18. jjbcbus *
19. vonBauerick

Now I will say that things are starting to look fishy on this list. Looking at the raw numbers, people are clocking views to their blogs that don't look realistic given the actual amount of comments and participation on the site. I would ask that if you are attempting to inflate your numbers... give it a rest... or you will find yourself banned.

On another more positive note, I just want to say thanks to everyone who is hanging out during all of the crazy maintenance. We hope to have it all buttoned up shortly.

In general, times are pretty crazy for us at gamerDNA/360voice. We are under a lot of pressure to complete some pretty big consumer and commercial projects. We are doing our best to juggle all the responsibilities we have to everyone across all the sites we support and I appreciate all the positive support and comments that you all have sent in recently. A special thanks to the 3VCEs who have kept things humming in the mean time.

Thanks everyone!

Squids Sync Tool Fixed

There was a bug with the sync tool that was causing certain games not to synch for folks after we updated our system.  It has been fixed, and you can grab it from this thread.

So if you ran that, and were still missing games, go ahead and download the new version and give it once more shot.  I also really want to thanks the 3VCEs, they have been taking their time to help us and users out a great deal.  They have been resetting users on request, giving a ton of feedback, testing, and doing a ton to the support the site.  Also they are helping get thing in order for the badge update, once we iron out the remaining kinks.

We are still working on  some pages that are linking or showing games via the old method, cataloging these, and Squid will be working through and cleaning these up.  Today will be the first day we run 100% of the jobs, through to the last badge.  I will also be going through this thread in the afternoon and double checking folks still having issues.  So if you reran the sync tool and still see problems, throw a message in there, with a bit of the detail. 

Update 8/1/2009 - Noonish:  I still haven't got a chance to go through the support thread completely, but the 3VCE's have been going to town helping you guys!  I will go through some more tonight for people that are having problems after the both syncs have been run.   

More Major Site Maintenance Action

Update  07-24-2009 Early (IF YOU ARE STILL MISSING GAMES): We've discovered a bug in the synch tool, that's not synching games for some folks.  If you are still missing games this is most likely the cause.  We will work on getting an updated version out soon.  Stay tuned here for details.  If you can not run the synch tool, or have other issues with your games list, please check back in 24 hours for more details. Thanks for everyone's continued patience.

Update 3:15PM EST 07-24-2009:  We are going to be in pretty heavy maintenance mode all weekend it looks like.  We should make it through leaderboards today, and hopefully to badges tomorrow late if all goes well.  For folks that we have processed fully things should start looking pretty normal by Saturday night. 

Everyone is missing games from the last 7 days, those will fill in today. However if you are missing more and your game list is not finished, please continue reading.  We are currently processing by streak order, but if you want to be bumped up, just read this forum thread.  Again thanks for your patience folks, will have an update on progress this evening.

We have been retooling the entire site, to work off new game ids and changing most back end process, and things are going well.  Squidpunch recently went-to-town on the front end, getting things plugged as well as updating the sync tools.  We still have some more to do but making major strides.

Right now the biggest hold up, is just processing everyone's updated game list.  Depending on the size of the list, time can vary greatly, so it's taking longer then anticipated (you all play a lot of games!).  So Badges, leaderboards and game list updates will be down through Thursday.  On Friday you will start seeing things click on again.

It will take about 24-48 hours for everything to fully start back up and return to normal.  So peoples game lists may disappear on Thursday or Friday until things catch up.  Also badges will start populating on Friday as well, and for some people they may also disappear for part of the day.  Finally leaderboards, gameplay charts, and lists will then start populating and might have a downtime as well on Friday.

So thanks for dealing with the extended reduction in features, all the work is already improving things for us on the backend, and really glad we finally got this done!

Major Site Maintenance Action

Update  07-19-2009 5:31PM EST: First off sorry for the slow blogs the last two days.  Yesterday a script cleaning data slowed it down more then expected.  Today replication broke, due to an error, and wasn't caught right away.  So blogs should appear later tonight for everyone. Second, you may notice your game list changing.  Games may disappear, or scores might be wrong.  We are working on migrating everyone's list to the new structure and that is a side effect.  Things are going well, but the migrations are slow, so I will post a schedule of what things look like this week in the next day or so.  Getting closer!

Update  07-16-2009 2:47PM EST:  We just squashed another problem with older data, and getting closer to the next step.  Tonight we have to do some data updates, which is going to crunch for a while and slow the server down.  So things might be a little slow when it hits the front end, but it should be late when traffic is lighter.  No ETA yet when things will be back to normal, but leaderboard and badges will be down through the weekend for sure.

Update  07-14-2009 11:50PM EST:  Things are going okay, we ran into a few surprises but nothing dire.  Tomorrow all jobs will run as we need to update some of the scripts to account for findings, so leaderboards and badges will update (game pages will be a partial update).  Then on Thursday we will start maintenance up again.  We will have a better idea of where we stand Friday, but I suspect we will need to leave badges and leaderboards off through the weekend.  Thanks again for your patience.

Original Post:

We are doing some maintenance and changes on the back end processes and databases starting tonight.  This maintenance will take about 5 days, but we can't say for sure and will try to keep this updated with progress.

The following things will be affected.  They will not update at all during maintenance and might be empty or gone at times during the end of the maintenance.

• Leaderboards
• Badges
• Game Pages
• Members Games Lists/Widgets

Everything else should run as normal, that means Blogs, Challenges, Streaks will not be affected and will be business as usual. 

If you notice anything weird outside of the areas being worked on let us know.  Best to post questions or concerns in the support forum and myself (or a 3VCE giving me a helping hand) will keep on eye out.

When the maintenance is done, any past game name changes should be fixed.  Then after about a day we will push out a genre update the 3VCEs worked on.  Then after a couple more days possibly a couple new badges based on suggestions as well.  No other major changes, but streamlining things and cleaning data.  Hopefully getting a few long outstanding issues fixed up.

Thanks for all the support and patience people!