The forty dollar t-shirt
So, here it is:
I’m a massive fan of Battlestar Galactica and I couldn’t resist buying the above t-shirt at the London Expo. Just don’t ask me why I spent forty bucks on it.
October 30, 2006
The London Expo was fun
Today was fun. This morning I met up with Keri and we headed down to the London Expo. On our way we linked up with Cro and made our way to Excel. The event was alright and I spotted a few familiar faces. Activision, Codemasters, VU Games and Ubisoft had booths at the Expo which was cool.
I’ve posted up a few pictures from the event. See if you spot anyone you know or any familiar watering establishments 
October 27, 2006
Do you want fries with that XL LAN?
We’ve just announced a partnership with the organisers of XL LAN 2006. I’ve posted the press release below:
Aliens invade XL LAN 2006
London, England. Friday 27th October 2006: AlienPants Ltd, a leading innovator of community and mobile solutions in Europe, and MatchBox360, a UK-based producer of game events and media content, have entered into an agreement to collaborate on the UK’s largest Xbox LAN event which is taking place at the Birmingham National Exhibition Centre (NEC) on Saturday 25th and Sunday 26th of November 2006.
AlienPants will be providing marketing support to the MatchBox360 management team as a Mobile Media Partner and will be utilizing its vast experience to service the needs of mobile users interested in the event.
MatchBox360 XL is set to ignite the Xbox Live Community by offering gamers the first competitive Xbox and Xbox 360 LAN in the UK. Gamers will be able to experience the latest and greatest games at the prestigious event. XL LAN 2006 will feature competitive Halo 2 tournaments - Free For All, Double Team and Four vs. Four - and the first ever Pro Evolution Soccer 6 tournament in the United Kingdom. With cash and material prizes worth over £2000, XL aims to up the ante for competitive Xbox tournaments in the UK.
Having worked together on a number of online events, the MatchBox360 XL team of Chris Barnes, Ryan Hughes and Stephen Greenaway welcomes the support of AlienPants: “We have been overwhelmed by the response and positive feedback for XL, and we aim to provide the best possible LAN events for the gaming community. With the support of AlienPants we will be able to showcase exclusive titles, and allow gamers to interact directly with the developers.”
“We recognise the importance of LAN events not only as a means of recreation, but also as a means of communication with gamers. The guys at Matchbox360 have already proved themselves to be fantastic organisers of events such as this, and we’re thrilled to be part of the experience.” Says Luke Newcombe Marketing Director - AlienPants Ltd.
The Official Xbox magazine 360 has exclusive access to XL and will be providing magazine coverage on the XL events. Ben Talbot from OXM had this to say: “We’re very excited to be involved with Matchbox360 for their first tournament. Members of the OXM360 team will be there on the day to take part in the competitions and join in the fun.”
MatchBox360 XL is a chance for the Xbox Live community to meet and compete all under one roof for a marathon weekend of gaming… have you got what it takes to XL?
- ENDS -
** Event Sponsorship is now available, contact us for further information. **
About MatchBox360
http://www.matchbox360.co.uk
MatchBox360.co.uk is one of the fastest growing Xbox Live communities in the United Kingdom. A focused events site, MatchBox360 revolves around its thriving UK based forum community and boasts an impressive membership of gamers of varying ages, gender and skill. Run by a group of hardcore gamers who strive to create the competitions that their community demands, Matchbox360 also provides Ignition, the most relevant and easy to digest Xbox online downloadable magazine provided by the community, for the community.About AlienPants Ltd
AlienPants provides community management and user support services for online communities, as well as providing a wide range of mobile, wireless, WAP and SMS technologies and services. The company’s flagship GTIP customer support service is available to publishers and other interested companies to provide live support services to customers. AlienPants also provides written content for games service providers, games news websites, gaming-related magazines and the mobile sector, with clients as diverse as Prima Publishing, Opera Telecom, Gamezville, T-Mobile, Orange, Monstermob Plc, and Mindmatics Ltd. For more information about AlienPants and the services provided, visit www.alienpants.com.
About OXM360
http://www.oxm.co.uk
The Xbox 360 is a next generation games console. Xbox 360: The Official Xbox Magazine is the next generation games magazine to go with it. Its unique interaction between print, disc and website delivers more to the readers than ever before and makes it an essential purchase for dedicated Xbox 360 gamers.
October 26, 2006
CliffyB diggs Pro-G
Major Nelson had CliffyB on his podcast and one of the first things mentioned on the show was Pro-G’s Gears of War preview. Nice.
October 24, 2006
Doh!
I was so busy last night with the Rainbow Six: Vegas demo that I completely forgot about a competition that I was supposed to get online. Never fear it will be sorted soon and I’ll update this post when it goes live 
The competition is now live, good luck.
October 23, 2006
That new Rainbow Six game
Back in the day when Xbox Live was relatively new there was a game that a number of friends and I played on a regular basis, the game was Rainbow Six 3 and it was released in 2003.
I played the Rainbow Six 3 a lot back then and I really enjoyed the online game play. While Black Arrow was enjoyable I was a bit disappointed with Lockdown as it wasn’t really addictive like the first game in the popular series. Ubisoft’s community voiced it’s concerns and the good thing is that it looks like the feedback was used in a positive way with the latest incarnation of the series.
Thanks to Josh for the heads up on the Rainbow Six: Vegas demo. The demo was on the Xbox Live Marketplace around 5pm, a couple of hours late but after playing it a number of times I’m really impressed with it. I really can’t wait to get the final code.
As I’m now working part time I’ve got a little more time on my hands to play games via Xbox Live and it is looking likely that I’ll need to enlist the help of some friends to form a team to play the online modes properly. Lets see, ideally it would be really cool to have some gaming partners for Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter, Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Double Agent, Rainbow Six: Vegas and of course Gears of War… ping me if you’re interested.
October 21, 2006
Focus on Mars
I remember looking up at the stars with my first telescope and wondering what it would be like to travel into Space. Imagine how much fun it would be to eat smarties whist in zero gravity!
Recently there was a lot of chatter about Space, in particular a manned flight to Mars and the revision of the US Space Policy. Even though the USA has made a number of interesting discoveries via NASA it would be pretty cool if all of the worlds nations teamed up to share the costs of developing Space flight, tourism and long haul missions to other Planets - that way a number of interesting things would happen a lot faster :)
A number of companies have started offering trips into space and from what I recall it is not cheap. Flights start at $200,000 while solo flights can cost as much as $20million… plus there are companies on the web selling acres of land on the Moon and other planetary bodies.
The face of Mars
I had an idea the other day which I think could be quite cool in the years to come and so, here goes: basically I want to buy all of Cydonia. Cydonia is a vast area of land located on Mars. The face of Mars is located within this area and I think that it would be pretty cool to own it as it would be the promotional opportunity for AlienPants.
I’ve already contacted a company requesting a quote so I’ll keep you updated on this projects development.
Links for your reference:
virgingalactic.com
me.moonestates.com
www.nineplanets.org/mars.html
www.solarviews.com/eng/marssurf.htm
www.nasa.gov/externalflash/nasa_gen/index.html
solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=Mars
www.space.com/spacetourism
I wonder if my mobile phone would work on Mars? Most likely as the bloody thing doesn’t work in my home.
Ignition Issue #5
The latest edition of Ignition is now available to download. This months issue features a lot of great content and in particular the articles on Xbox Live Achievements and the Gears of War. (I wasn’t able to provide any content to issue five as I away from work due to illness, sorry Matt.)
I’ve got to say as fan of Ignition I’m really pleased to see the team sticking to their goals and gaining more exposure with this venture. It is great to see concepts, ideas such as Ignition developing into a must read publication and a centre piece for the Xbox Live community.
You can download issue 5 of ignition via the official site.
October 20, 2006
It’s official…
XboxLiveAddicts.co.uk is now the biggest Xbox fansites in the UK. The site offers an extensive listing of leagues, tournaments alongside the latest game reviews, news etc
The site is run by a good friend of mine (Helene) whom I’m sure is overjoyed with this result as her site has clearly overtaken her rivals by 97 active registered users 
Happy Birthday!
My old mate Ben Talbot is celebrating his 27th birthday. Happy birthday dude and I hope to link up with you soon.