Become a "fan" of the Hushed Casket on facebook.com by visiting our fan page. The "fan" page is basically a profile for The Hushed Casket which allows us to add facebook applications to our group.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Huntsville-AL/The-Hushed-Casket/23211895393

So, I bust open my email to see that Charlie Oscar Delta has mailed me again.  (Gah, they sure do send some email.  I've even opted out several times.)  What does Infinity Ward have to say about Call of Duty 4?

"CoD4:MW soars to the number one spot!  We were overjoyed with the recent news that COD4:MW surpassed Halo 3 as the top played game on Xbox LIVE."

They even link to last week's post on Major Nelson's blog reporting that Halo 3 had been dethroned.

I hate to break it to them.  But Halo 3 has now returned to the #1 spot as XBOX Live's most played title.  Major Nelson reported so today.

So, Call of Duty 4 was the most played game for one week.  Will it ever return to #1?  I think it will as soon as downloadable content comes our way --- or a patch to fix networking issues.  Until then, I think Halo 3 will be king.

Midnight's blog has been around the web a back.  Recently one of his blog posts was selected to be published in a book.  A portion of his blog post was recently read on National Public Radio with the book's author, Sarah Boxer.   When asked about exceptional blogs, she said that Midnight's blog is "especially good" and an example of a post that will not spoil - which is why it works well in a printed book.  You can listen to the interview with Sarah Boxer here:  http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17597712

"Ultimate Blogs: Masterworks from the Wild Web" by Sarah Boxer will be released on February 12, 2008.  Amazon is selling it for $10.17 with a regular list price of $14.95.

For reference, the blog post that's going to make the book can be found here:  http://midnight.hushedcasket.com/2006/02/27/panties-for-a-dime/

We reported yesterday that Microsoft's XBOX division turned its first profit - ever.  Today we get word that Microsoft actually sold fewer consoles in October, November, and December of 2007 than in the same months in 2006.

Microsoft shipped 4.3 million Xbox 360 systems in the three months ended Dec. 31, compared with 4.4 million systems during the same period in 2006-- a decline of 2.3%.

Did Halo nation already have XBOX 360's?  It appears that the console didn't get the Halo bump.  Whatever the case, I would have figured that Halo 3 would have caused Microsoft to sell more consoles over the year before.
Tags: halo3, xbox 360, microsoft

Major Nelson released the Xbox LIVE activity numbers for the week of 1/14.  More unique users played Call of Duty 4 than Halo 3 last week.  (JDOGG?).   Hrmm.  I wonder if gamers spent more time in Halo 3 than in Call of Duty 4.

I got back into CoD4 and H3 in the last week.  I am reminded that Call of Duty 4 is buggy and the guys at Bungie have made a superior user interface.  Time and time again this past week, CoD4 parties were plagued with networking errors.  Halo 3's party experience was solid although it seems to take longer to play another game of Halo 3 than another game of CoD4.  How popular would CoD4 be if it had solid netcode and some of the UI features found in Halo 3?

Halo 2 is still the #1 original XBOX game on XBOX LIVE.

"Since January 17th, the games "Counter-Strike" and "Everquest" have been banned from sale in Brazil. The order comes into effect following an October 2007 Brazilian federal court decision, which ruled the games encourage "the subversion of public order" and are an "attack against the democratic state."

LAN Centers have been forced to remove the games from their computers or face $5000-a-day fines. This all comes from a recent court ruling.

I really don't know the political situation in Brazil (other than it's a federal republic much like the U.S.), but I don't see how governments can legislate morality and values.  After all, our Constitution was written to limit the government, not the people.

Are the Brazilian courts protecting Brazil and public health by banning these games?  If so, what else are they neglecting in the meantime?

Politics aside, Counter-strike and Evercrack are two of the most popular games of all time.  They've been played in numbers that dwarf the most popular console games.  And now they are banned in Brazil, the fifth most populous country in the world.

This ruling opens the door to many more games being banned in Brazil and even the rest of the world. 

Shoutout to our Brazilian gaming friends.      Tags: brazil, counter-strike, everquest, law

N'Gai at Level Up has an amazing interview with Bungie writer Joe Staten. In it was this gem:

"Over time I think everybody around the table agreed that the Master Chief is best left as the most important supporting cast member."

Supporting cast member? This revelation has certainly changed my expectations for the movie (not in a negative way). Go read the rest of the interview and see if you've got a different perspective of the Halo movie now.

Be sure to read how Staten thinks MC will be personified by his body movements.

I was surfing along the web and noticed that Kongregate.com won a Crunchie. "CEO Jim Greer describes Kongregate as XBox live for casual games. This site hosts some of the webs most addictive casual games. Remember Desktop Tower Defense? Moreover, the games are not only played by users, but also created by them in exchange for a share of advertising revenue and other rewards."

I checked out the site but didn't play any of the games. Then I noticed a story on Digg.com that linked to a game at Kongregate.

"Fancy Pants Adventure: World 2" is a Flash game that reminds me of Sonic and Super Mario Brothers. It's a game that I would pay money to play. Amazing, it's made by just a couple of guys with some free time.

Here's recommending Kongregate and Fancy Pants Adventure.

What is your 2007 Game of the Year?

My Game of the Year
Mass Effect

The sci-fi setting is EXACTLY what I've always wanted from a sci-fi universe in ANY medium (books, TV, etc.), and I am extremely happy to be able to interact with it. The story is deep and involving, and so is each and every character. The voice acting/conversation system is superb on every level, and combined with the facial expressions, they really help immerse you into the story and characters. After getting used to the combat, I subsequently owned everything and enjoyed every bit of it. I haven't had this much fun playing any other game this year. I can't wait for the sequel (which is confirmed to use the "finished" saved file from this game).

Runner-Ups
2. Halo 3 & CoD4 (tie)
3. Assassin's Creed
4. The Orange Box (for Portal)