On my newly-minted avatar I placed a mirrored set of aviators, a faux-hawk trailing down into a mullet, and a handlebar mustache that'd make any Hell's Angel weep with joy.  I'd given him the unfortunate namesake of "Brand Sender" which sounds more like a warehouse verb than a military pronoun, but it's the future, folks, and both "Brad" and "Brandon" sounded like sweater-tied-around-the-shoulders weenies.  So "Brand" it is.

This weekend I reenlisted into the Tabula Rasa beta army, cinching my boot buckles tight and keeping my trigger finger itchy after two months of inactivity from my call of duty (my motherboard did a Triple Lindy off the warranty springboard, and didn't land anything except a visit from a Dell tech) .  Richard Garriott's team has worked solid rounds of improvements into performance -- I can tell already, and I've only marched through a few hundred yards of boot camp.  Their definition of "boot camp" is a bit more like on-the-job-training, though:  Clearing an alien -- the "Bane," they're called -- dropship from a choke point, leading my first squad of troopers through trenches writhing with Bane warriors, working my Explosives Ordnance Disposal skills on key defensive turrets, and reclaiming a vital outpost in the Allied Free Sentients (AFS) infrastructure.

Not a bad start to my tour of duty on planet Foreas.  And that was only the first twenty minutes.

I've spent about 4 hours playing NHL 08 thus far, and the early reports are thus: NHL 08 is HARD. I've been playing the two NHL franchises annually for years, and owning at both of them from almost the get go. This year, the EA NHL title is showing a lot more challenge. Normally I lose my first game while adjusting to contol changes, win my second game, and am crushing the AI at pro level by 4 or 5 goals after only a few games. This year, I lost my first 2, and have only managed one win by more than 2 goals.

For one thing, the goaltending is a lot tougher. Almost all of the tricks that have worked in the past to result in sure goals are gone. You can still one-time your way past a goalie from the slot, but most of the time you cant do it standing still, it has to be on the rush, and the timing of the pass has to be near perfect

Secondly, superstars will score no matter what. The biggest names in the game are going to get on the board. In 5 games against the Ottawa Senators, I've only been able to keep Daniel Alfredsson from scoring once. I haven't had a chance to explore the player ratings much yet, but AI superstars and clutch 3rd liners can be counted on to try and keep your team close when they are down.

Also, while I like a lot of things, the dynasty mode roster editing should be smarter. I shouldnt have to scratch a guy to send him to the minors. It should automatically do that for me. It's good that there's a popup for when youre sending down a guy who has to pass through waivers, but in general this is the one area i can see so far that needs help.

Finally, this game is about defense. You have to be smart in your own end. Postional defense is far more successful than chasing the puck, just like in the NHL. If you get your dmen running around, you're going to wind up giving up quality opportunities. 

Of course, all this difficulty is compounded by the fact that I'm using the Columbus Blue Jackets with their default roster and manual shot aim, while playing only the highest powered teams in the league. But even at that, I've never has as much challenge as I am with this version of the game. Way to go, EA.

In what must have been a land speed record, I got my Xbox 360 back from the Red Ring of Death revival laboratory yesterday. Well, not actually my box, but a box, with a new (at least to me) 360, an extra blank faceplate, and a months worth of Xbox Live Gold. The unit failed the evening of 9/14, and I didn't get the shipping box until 9/19 after work, and it was shipped to Microsoft 9/20. So 2 weeks and 2 days from door to door. I haven't had a chance to put it through it's paces, as I promised I would wait to finish BioShock until the girlfriend was present. I'll be giving it a good work up on one of the NHL games tonight though.

If you want to shoot down you friends, you can do so at http://www.gamekillersthegame.com/. The game's part of AXE which is the shower gel and deodorant line. Want to take your aggressions out on someone? Just superimpose their face in and shoot them down. It's also got a leaderboard if you want to see how you stack up against others.

Well for me that is and a bunch of other journalists. I'm heading out to San Francisco to take a closer look at Call of Duty 4. Today is the day that journalists can grab a look at Guitar Hero 3 but I can't take that many days off of work. I have to get up at 4:00AM to catch a 6:00AM flight.  Tomorrow's going to be one long day.