Legion of Angels News Archive

“There is no way we’re putting that there,” my wife tells me.

We’ve just spent 20 minutes surveying our 1,100-square-foot apartment in search of a spot for our new “Dance Dance Revolution” pad. The only place to stash it is under the couch, and my wife knows it.

”OK,” she concedes, allowing the unorthodox storage given our growing game-related gadgetry.

I’m not the only one with an increasing stockpile of video-game peripherals. According to The NPD Group, the official bean-counter of U.S. video game sales, consumers spent a record $1.3 billion so far this year on plastic guitars, steering wheels and other add-ons, the result of games like “Wii Fit,” “Guitar Hero,” “Mario Kart Wii” and “Rock Band.”

But video game peripherals have been around since the ’80s — why all the fuss more than two decades later?

“The whole industry is big right now, which I think is the primary driver behind the increase in peripheral sales,” says NPD Group analyst Anita Frazier. “ New hardware systems spur purchases of additional controllers and specialty peripherals.”

Dan Hsu, former editor of Electronic Gaming Monthly, agrees. “Part of the popularity is due to how big gaming has become in general,” he says. “More gamers means more potential customers, which means more peripherals.”

But industry growth isn’t the only thing driving game-gadget popularity. The games themselves shoulder most of the responsibility.

“I think we’re looking at very specific kinds of games, not a trend towards peripherals,” says Ben Kuchera, gaming editor for Ars Technica, a technology news site.

“Without the rhythm game explosion and insane sales of the Wii — a system that is built around a novel peripheral — none of this would have happened. People don’t wake up and think they need plastic guitars or a balance board — they see compelling games behind these devices, and want to experience them in the best way possible.”

Indeed, it takes a special type of game to justify the use of a game peripheral, otherwise it becomes another Power Glove or Sega Activator, long forgotten in a musty attic. Good software drives peripheral excitement — never the other way around.

Take “Rock Band” and “Guitar Hero,” two music-based rhythm franchises that have cluttered many a living room. Hsu says the developers behind these games went the extra mile, licensing music from the original artists. This makes the playing experience that much more authentic, “which makes the peripherals worth it.”

And today’s add-ons work more often than they fail, both in terms of delivering more immersive gameplay and attracting new players — many of which whom are intimidated by standard controllers.

“There’s something inherently more approachable about a guitar, a bongo drum or a steering wheel than an Xbox 360 controller,” says Josh Buhler, a longtime gamer from Salt Lake City. “If I had to explain to my mother that she had to push up, down, left, right in quick succession to win a game, she’d have zero interest in playing it. But throw down a dance pad, and it makes sense to her.”

Casey Willis, a cartoonist from Atlanta, agrees. “My girlfriend used to hate racing games,” he explains. “But one day while I was playing Mario Kart Wii, she wanted to try. Now she loves it, and it’s all because she gets to turn a wheel instead of pressing left or right on a directional pad.”

So what are gamers doing with all these extra living room toys? After all, an electronic drum set is a lot less discreet than a softball-sized controller.

It’s not easy to find a viable solution, says Kuchera, who, at last count, had a dozen plastic guitars in his house. “I write about games for a living, and I can tell you my spouse is complaining!” he says.

Buhler camouflages his stuff behind the furniture, tucking away his “Rock Band” drum set behind a large houseplant and the microphone stand in a corner, somewhat obscured by his entertainment center.

“I moved my couch away from the wall just far enough to sandwich in three guitars,” he admits. “Storing all of this extra gear requires a bit of creativity.”

Mark, from Portland, says the extra hardware lying around his house affords the opportunity to play more games. “They can be a great conversation piece for adults,” says the husband and father of two. “Leave them out so dinner guests can see them, and you might get to play ‘Guitar Hero’ after dessert.”

Ruined decor aside, there is a downside to peripheral glut — compatibility and price. The “Guitar Hero” ax won’t work with “Rock Band.” Your “Rock Band” gear, in turn, won’t work with “Guitar Hero” peripherals. And these fake instruments ain’t cheap, costing anywhere from $50-90 a pop.

“How many people are going to want three sets of plastic drums, which are often required for different games?” asks a frustrated Kuchera. “No matter how good a game looks, people will eventually say enough is enough. They won’t stand for it.”

But at this point, consumers seem to agree that the advantages of peripheral-based games far outweigh the annoyances. They’re already lining up for what’s next. And publishers such as Sony and Microsoft have already begun working with game-makers to ensure future compatibility with software updates.

This fall, the makers of Guitar Hero are releasing their response to MTV’s “Rock Band,” a new game called “Guitar Hero World Tour.” And much to the pleasure of wannabe rockers, the included drum set bests the competition with raised cymbals, velocity-sensitive detection pads and quiet durability (that’s geek talk for “more awesome”).

“And just where are we going to put that?” my concerned wife asks, when I tell her I plan to buy it.

“We’ll make it work,” I assure her. “Besides, the drums are collapsible!”

Source — MSNBC

HAVANA, Cuba - When Hurricane Ike struck Cuba, Ronald Matos didn’t think twice about fleeing his one-room wooden house for a government shelter.

The 34-year-old construction worker and his wife, Emma Jean, got soft beds, free meals, the attention of a doctor and solicitous social workers — and the companionship of other friendly Cubans.

“We passed the night talking and telling stories, because Cubans never lose their smiles or their sense of humor,” he said. “There is no electricity, but we are better protected than in our homes.”

With an inefficient centralized economy and a U.S. embargo that has stifled trade, Cuba doesn’t have resources to build new, hurricane-proof buildings. It doesn’t have fleets of Humvees to charge through the floodwaters. Few of its people have cars to flee in, and fewer still can check on loved ones by cellphone.

But if there’s one thing the communist island does right, it’s evacuations. And in the end, that saves more lives than anything else.

Diplomat: A lot the U.S. can learn
Cuba sees more than its share of killer hurricanes, and yet in the past decade only 22 Cubans have been killed by them.

When Hurricane Gustav roared across western Cuba as a Category-4 hurricane on Aug. 30, it damaged 100,000 homes and caused billions of dollars in damage. Nobody died. The storm then moved onto Louisiana, which launched a massive evacuation and saw 26 people die.

The death toll from Hurricane Ike this week was shockingly high by Cuban standards: four. This, for a giant storm that tore across the length of the island, flattening houses in its path. Compare that with Haiti, which took glancing blows from Hanna and Ike and saw hundreds die.

The secret is the evacuations system. A quarter-million Cubans evacuated during Gustav, and the number for Ike was a staggering 2.6 million — nearly a quarter of the island’s population. Most of the evacuees found family or friends to stay with, but nearly 400,000 were housed in 2,300 government shelters.

“We clearly cannot simply mimic their system, but I think there is a lot the United States can learn from Cuba’s hurricane response system,” said Wayne Smith, the former U.S. top diplomat in Havana. “They have a whole system of alerts that keep people clued in and we don’t have anything like that.”

He spoke by telephone from Mobile, Ala., where he was talking to preparedness experts about Cuba’s disaster response model.

A lesson in preparedness
Cuba’s evacuations differ greatly from those in the United States, where people rush to airports for overbooked flights or pile into cars that clog highways. In Cuba, people are already prepared, part of a sophisticated system overseen by the president and the armed forces.

Standing evacuation plans are distributed to each household long ahead of time, and evacuation drills are held regularly. When a hurricane is approaching, state news media issue early warnings and civil-defense officials activate local response networks, organized down to each block of each town.

Schools and other government buildings are quickly turned into shelters, and each is assigned a doctor and sometimes a nurse. Volunteers check stocks of blankets, water and food. Forty-eight hours before an expected hit, residents are told to prepare to evacuate.

When the storm is a day away, volunteer civil-defense workers go door-to-door to ensure everyone gets out of harm’s way. Government buses, cars and trucks transport evacuees to higher ground. Government shelters take in anyone who can’t find a place to stay.

Of course, this is easier done in Cuba than in the United States because the communist government owns and controls most of the nation’s resources. Unlike the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency, it doesn’t have to buy supplies or contract services from private companies, or pay overtime.

Most Cubans work for the government and don’t have to worry about losing wages if they take off from work. And because police keep a close eye on evacuated areas — and because most Cubans have few possessions of value anyway — looting isn’t a major concern.

Cubans are taught from an early age to move quickly in the event of a natural disaster and to follow authorities’ instructions. So the government rarely has to force people to leave.

The only people for whom evacuations are mandatory are pregnant women and mothers with young children, who can be fined if they don’t comply.

When Ike approached, Anay Estrada was reluctant to leave the single room she shares with six others. But as she is seven months pregnant, two police officers showed up at her door.

“I didn’t want to leave my mother,” Estrada said from a shelter at a maternity hospital, where she waited out the storm with her 7-year-old daughter, Melani. “But they came in a patrol car so I had to go.”

In addition, special attention is paid to the elderly and handicapped — people who critics say U.S. authorities abandoned when Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans three years ago. Several hundred elderly and handicapped people and their companions waited out Ike in an Old Havana convent, a white, bouganvilla-covered structure with an imposing bell tower.

Good track record
Part of the reason people are so obedient is that the government has a good track record of predicting what storms will be dangerous.

“By predicting hurricanes accurately almost all of the time, (Cuban) meteorologists have engendered the public’s trust,” said Jane Griffiths of Center for International Policy, a Washington think tank. “That’s why people voluntarily respond to evacuation orders.”

And if anyone has doubts, authorities quickly put an end to them. The state news media often makes examples of people who fail to move out — and who are killed or injured.

On Tuesday, an elderly man was trapped under the rubble of his evacuated Havana apartment building when he returned home before the building was inspected for safety.

“Unfortunately, there was irresponsibility in this case,” said Lt. Col. Rolando Menendez, a firefighter overseeing rescue efforts. “But in general, the population is following civil defense measures well.”

Source — MSNBC

What’s a Guy to do when Madonna is making headlines for her trips to the lawyer’s office rather than the recording studio?

Hop the next flight, of course.

A source tells E! News that Guy Ritchie touched down in New York Monday so he can spend as much time with his wife and their brood as possible before she heads out on her next world tour.

“He has been planning for a long time to spend all of July in New York,” the source said. “It’s not a last-ditch effort to save the marriage.”

Whether that’s because the marriage is already over and there’s nothing to save remains to be seen. But for now—and for awhile now—those close to the couple, including Ritchie’s mum, are quick to deny that there’s trouble at home.

The filmmaker was spotted tonight heading into the family’s Upper West Side apartment, where he’s aiming to stay.

“There are no plans to get a divorce,” our insider said. “She is working all the time, but they are still completely in love.” Madonna’s Sticky & Sweet Tour kicks off Aug. 23 in Cardiff, Wales.

For Ritchie, the source added, the biggest issue in their marriage has been all the media attention.

(Oops…)

As for the couple’s ringless fingers, the Ritchie source said that the Brit hasn’t been in the habit of wearing his wedding band for ages, while Madonna’s rep said that the singer has rarely slipped hers on over the last six years, either.

The duo tied the knot Dec. 22, 2000, and are parents to Lourdes, Madonna’s daughter from a previous relationship; biological son Rocco; and adopted son David.

Source — E! News

NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE - It’s not every day that a man
writes a book instructing women on how to live. But then The New Eve
(B&H Publishing Group, February 2008) by best-selling author Robert Lewis is
not your garden-variety read.

See the “Biblical Barbie” video and learn the five bold moves at

NewEveBook.com.

Source — Religion News Service