So the company I work for is a Microsoft Gold partner. I guess what this means is that you get Christmas cookies at Christmas.

Exchange Server:

Office:

Vista:

So I thought I’d go ahead and add my email address to my Wii’s address book. I wanted to see if I could email myself a Mii (to a regular email address) and what would happen.

Initially, my email address was grayed out. Whatever. I went to work.

When I got to work, I received this email from my Wii:

“An owner of a Wii Console is asking permission
to register you as a Wii Friend to exchange
e-mail with you. This individual’s Wii e-mail address is
–edited–@wii.com

If you would like to exchange e-mail with this
individual, simply reply to this message.
You will then be able to exchange e-mail with
the following Wii address:
–edited–@wii.com

If you are unfamiliar with this Wii console and
its sender, please erase this e-mail without
responding to it.”

Interesting! Apparently you have to form a two-way relationship with the Wii, just like with a Wii friend code.

Now that I’ve replied to aforementioned email, I should be able to send myself emails from my Wii. Now to see if I can attach a Mii…

Holy smokes. Panasonic came out with their new generation of commercial plasma displays!

Visualapex.com has the 42″ EDTV model for $925 and the HDTV model for $1025.

What a good bargain!

I have the 8th generation and it is by far the best TV I have ever owned.

Presenting Mr. Garrison from South Park:

So I’m at the boss of the 6th dungeon in Twilight Princess. The dungeon was quite long and and I just felt like going to bed and saving the boss until I was “fresher.” Boss battles are pretty epic and cinematic in TP, so I wanted to savor it.

TP really does borrow elements from all Zelda games. I won’t go into detail to avoid spoilers, but there are certain “functions” found in dungeons in Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time, Wind Waker, etc…

In the 6th dungeon, there is an extraordinary sword duel. During the duel, you are forced to use many if not all of the “secret sword techniques” you learn throughout the game. In that, the secret sauce of TP is revealed. The game is truly cinematic… shifting from cut-scene to game play seamlessly.

Wind Waker was good at bringing characters to life, but TP excels in making them REAL.

I’ve had an absolute blast playing TP so far (40 hours in) and I’m sad that I’m nearing the end.

TP is definately the most polished Zelda title to date and it shows from the personality of key characters right down to the customized control scheme of the wiimote.

Until next time.

The UPS man, one of my favorite people, delivered a special surprise to my doorstep today at lunch. Component cables for my Wii.

The first thing I did of course was fire up Zelda: Twilight Princess to do a visual inspection.

The improvement is so great that I could immediately discern a difference from the “teaser” image in the Wii game channel.

I’m impressed. Picture comparisons on the internet do NOT do the component cables justice. To be clear, I’m using a 42″ Panasonic Plasma. (TH42PWD8UK) for those who care.

Particle effects are sharper, easier to differentiate. They don’t blend into the environment like they did before.

The lighting is more realistic. It “glows” instead of the gradient-ish look it had before.

Colors overall are more vivid and warm.

Complex, rendered models like Link, Midna and enemies are the biggest improvement. Small details that I wasn’t aware of before (in Midna’s crown-type thing, for example) now stand out.

The only downside is that simple textures like rocks or grass are now painfully low resolution… but such is Nintendo.

Overall, the component cables are an ENORMOUS improvement and highly recommended (if you have a 480p-capable display.)

I haven’t included any photos. Why, you ask? Because quite simply I don’t believe you can really appreciate the difference unless you experience it in person.

Until next time.