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We've officially moved to www.CaptivateBlogs.com/Byte-Sized -- a brand new look across the network!

Head over and check us out! :-)

-- Amber

Weekend! Woot!

--No more ties or cologne or ‘car wash’-themed gift baskets -- get Dad a cool gadget for Father’s Day.

--Oh NO. This doesn’t bode well.

--We all know someone we want to send this article to … and if you don’t, well, then that person is YOU.

--World Cup: Geonosis has made another enemy: Geeks of the world are uniting against the grating vuvuzelas. Do you all have *nothing* to do? Really? Even with E3 going on?

--Speaking of E3 … here are some more game deoms to check out, again courtesy of G4!

Star Wars: Force Unleashed 2


Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood


Do you remember Castlevania? Here’s the revamp!


See you all Monday : - )

We might not be at E3, but we’ve got the news covered. Normally, I’d offer up headlines, but COME ON – it’s E3!!

G4, as you can imagine, is all over this conference. All the videos below are courtesy of them and their lights-out coverage of the annual gaming conference. And, if this isn’t enough for you, here’s the full video coverage. Sit back and enjoy!

Adam Sessler, my second favorite video game geek of all time (honey, you still take the cake) helms Feedback, a nice long feature on the highlights of the big 3 – Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft. There’s lots to talk about, so take it away, Adam …


I hear Nintendo *bombed* their new Zelda demo. Here’s the video … But, see if you can’t look beyond the gaff (toward the end) and check out how awesome this freaking game looks. I’ll admit it, I squealed. I mean, it’s Zelda.


Oh, and here’s the trailer for Skyward Sword!


Portal, one of my favorite games for its utter lack of combat encounters and awesome puzzles, is back, and Morgan Webb has a demo:


If you’ve got a game you want covered here at Byte-Sized, shoot me an email at ByteSized@captivate.com and I’ll take care of it!

World Cup: Geonosis has begun!

Oh wait ... you mean the games aren't on the Outer Rim planet from Star Wars? The one with all the human-sized bees? It's in South Africa ... All that buzzing isn't the natives, it's the native horn, the vuvuzela. That explains a lot.

All kidding aside, my insides leaped and cried when the USA scored. Want to write your own caption for the goal that ended that keeper's professional life and ensured he's going to be egged forever? Click here for Captivate's newest caption.

Moving on, what's abuzz in the world of technology and pop culture this week?

--Told you we'd have it here first! Microsoft has officially renamed Project Natal as 'Kinect' -- pretty cool name, but it reminds me of those weird blocks with joints and stuff.

--I'm looking forward to Green Day Rock Band, but here's a list of the other most anticipated games for the rest of 2010.

--The Feds are looking into those hacked iPads from last week.

--My sister's apartment has become a two-iPad home. Here are some tips and tricks if you couldn't hold off either.

--Subway riders have another reason to say FML: 'A service merger means that a Manhattan station now bears the acronym of one of the Web's best-known profanities for expressing frustration.'

Off to catch some more soccer action! Head over to Captivate.com/WorldCup if you need deets on your favorite teams. 'Till Wednesday, take it easy!

We at Byte-Sized are masters of pop culture. Everything geek-tastic makes the cut, so check out these stories while you rate your own quotient of coolness.

-Movies Coming Out That We Hope Won’t Suck: ‘If it rocks, it will be like having awesome poured through your eyeballs into your brain.’ Tee Hee.

-I know I’m not the movie blog . . . but I didn’t even know they were making a fifth Indiana Jones, let alone that plot details are surfacing! PS – I am the only one who actually kinda liked the fourth one? : - )

-I am the biggest Harry Potter fan ever, so there was no way I was going to resist posting the new ‘Deathly Hallows’ trailer!!


-Are you getting seriously annoying with all the ‘new’ websites that just regurgitate the same old ideas with a bright new brand? Me too. Here’s a site that’ll make you laugh at all the fakes flooding the market.

-Got DirecTV? Yeah, and did you have a weird glitch happen to you TV earlier this week, too? Here’s why.

-What is this, ‘ruin my favorite entertainment’ day?

-I need some heartening news. Here’s some: Microsoft’s Bing search engine and Stephen Colbert raised over $100,000 for the ‘Gulf of America’ oil spill – because as Stephen says, ‘We broke it, we bought it.’

Looking for some good books to download on the Kindle (or Nook) while lounging on your beach towel? (Yeah, you can totally do that.) Check out *my* list (mostly my list) of ‘Beachy Keen’ summer beach reads!

See you all Friday!

A new study has emerged from Britain that suggests people who play video games right before bed have a higher chance of being able to control what happens in their dreams.

Aside from playing 8 hours of Hexic in my sleep, I've never had this happen -- but in the real, waking world, I will occasionally see things on the side of the road and wonder what's inside if I break them, or try to open our front door with a controller. Fortunately, I've been able to resist the temptation.

But what would happen were I able to control my dreams? Hmm...

I see an adventuring party made up of me (clad in anime-style pink cloth armor, of course, and twirling daggers in my palms); Link and his 'HIIYAH!' sword are a few paces ahead. That blue archaeology chick from Mass Effect is trying to hit on Marcus Fenix, who slings exuberant expletives over his shoulder while we cross over the Hyrulian plain. Of course, there would be no bad guys (because I don't like the fighting scenes), but we would have to wrestle with some serious puzzles -- not the least of which would have the solution 'They all have apples.'

Yeah... :-)

What would your video game dreams look like? Send me your answers to ByteSized@Captivate.com and perhaps I'll post up some of my favorites on Monday.

'Till then, have a fabulous summer weekend! Oh, and btw, her name is Dr. Liara T'Soni -- I had to look it up. She is totally adorable, right?

Morning, everyone. Hope you all had a fabulous holiday weekend! I’m making today’s post short and sweet – I have an afternoon full of rushing around to wait ahead of me.

Lesson learned: Always make sure to have two functioning headlights in your car and proof of insurance. You never know when a Statie will try to “make an example out of you.” Sigh.

Regardless, moving on, back to regularly scheduled programming …

-Apple announced the iPad has topped 2 million sold since its launch.

-More good news on the Gulf oil spill. (Note: If you don’t click on this link, I understand. I didn’t read the story either. I’m too depressed/angry/helpless over the whole thing.)

-Google, whose company up until this point ironically ran on Microsoft’s Windows, has decided to dump cet OS due to security holes. My opinion? Secure your infrastructure, Google, and perhaps you won’t need to rely on an OS alone. That’s what anti-virus, firewalls, etc., are made for. Dummies.*

-Do you work for HP? Yeah, you’d better double check that.

-Guillermo del Toro has officially stepped down as director for the two Lord of the Rings prequels planned around The Hobbit. He’ll stay on to help producers Peter Jackson (who should just be a man and direct the movies already), Phillipa Boyens and Fran Walsh finish writing the scripts.

-I don’t care if they put movies on a USB and sell them for $5 each – I’m not making another switch away from Blu-Ray for at least another 10 years. Suck it up, people, you chose this substandard format over HD-DVD.

-Oh, gawd. I think I’m going to faint. Or puke. Or something that involves my utter astonishment that this story ever needed to be written. Crave, you’re better than this.

OK, that’s all from me for the day. I’ve got my fancy duds on for my date with the local district court. Wish me luck v. the man!

*Remember: I was a security expert in anotha life, brotha.