This little trick is not so secret, as it’s been going around the internet, but it’s not immediately obvious and it took me a few tries to do it because of some false information out there, so I thought I’d post it. There is a way to unlock wacky color hairstyles in the avatar creation area of the New Xbox Experience. I found this video that explains the process:
Some people are saying to spin the right stick, which doesn’t do anything. I hit the green button to go into the hairstyles area right when the icon spun, and they were there, but some people say you don’t even need to do that. At any rate, try it out!
Now that Thanksgiving is over, it’s time for “the holiday season” to swing into full force. Time to start thinking about getting in those donations for Letters from Santa. As I mentioned last year at this time, a local parent group runs a fundraiser every year called “Letters from Santa.” The St. John’s Mercy NICUPS (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Parents) are a group of graduate parents from the hospital’s NICU that provide support for families of babies in the NICU. The donations provide assistance with such things as disposable cameras, gas cards, one-on-one talks, and weekly parent support group meetings.
You can order a personalized letter from Santa at www.miraclebaby.org. We’ve done it every year, and I just placed our order once again for this year. Support a good cause and put a smile on your kids face at the same time!
I have a certain affinity for the concept of a Saturn V paper model. I made the “Build Your Own Saturn V” model by Alan Rose back in the early 80′s, which still exists, although it’s a little worse for wear these days.
The Lower Hudson Valley Paper Model Gift Shop has a whole series of excellent models available for free on its website, including a bunch of spacecraft. I was browsing the list and saw this Saturn V model, and it brought back some great memories. I knew I had to feature it.
The version 2.0 model credited to Tom Noteboom is the version I chose. Go here to get the files, instructions included.
Looks like Felicia Day has finally decided on a way to monetize The Guild. Reuters is reporting that The Guild will debut today on the new Independent Video channel on Xbox. The entire 12-episode run of season 2 will be shown distributed first on Xbox 360′s Live Marketplace, MSN and Zune, and will also be ad-sponsored by Sprint. After 4 weeks, the episodes will also be uploaded to the original website for the show, WatchTheGuild.com, embedded in an MSN video player so that Microsoft can control ads. After February, the show can pursue non-exclusive deals.
Well, I’ve made several posts that have been semi-related to Tabula Rasa, the action-oriented space MMO. Now we hear this week that NCsoft is shutting it down in February 2009. WoW claims another victim?
I wanted to like Tabula Rasa. Probably something to do with Richard Garriott being involved. I was in the beta for Ultima Online and played it for years. I watched Ultima Worlds Online: Origin (a.k.a. Ultima Online 2) and Ultima X: Odyssey come and go. About a thrid of the developers that worked on UWO:O went to Destination Games to work on Tabula Rasa. So I watched it with great interest and signed up for the beta. And when I played the beta, I thought the game in general was rather boring. Apparently I was not alone.
Coincidence that Richard Garriott bailed on the MMO bearing his name just days before the announcement that it was going to be shut down? I think not.
Here’s a simple one you can build with the kids. Since Thanksgiving is less than a week away, I thought a few paper Thanksgiving turkeys might make good table decorations. Easy models like this are a great way to get the kids interested in the hobby!
Go to SpaceStation42.com for the model and instructions. They have a fun color version and a color-me version. Happy Thanksgiving!
Ok, last World of Warcraft post for awhile. I swear! About this time last year, there was a new service offered FigurePrints that was of interest to a lot of World of Warcraft players. The concept is to create custom-made 3D statues of your WoW character. The process is pretty simple: you “dress” your in-game character in the clothing, armor, and weapons you possess, then log out of the game. The way your character is outfitted is loaded automatically to the World of Warcraft Armory site. You go to the FigurePrints website and load a 3D model of your character into the site from the Armory data. Then you chose from a variety of poses, pick a base type for your character to stand on, and submit it. A month or so later, they make your character into a 3D statue.
The FigurePrints people use rapid prototyping machines to create your character, from very thin slices, layered on on top of another. The material is a plaster-like powder that’s bonded and sealed. They hand finish each character, place it in a protective dome and send it out to you.
The final product isn’t cheap at $129.95 (I got it cheaper before a recent price increase), but the figures are so popular that they have a lottery every month to determine who will be allowed to buy one. Overall, I’m pretty happy with my statue of my warlock Seraxa, seen above.
If you are a WoW player, you can try out a demo of the process. If you decide you want one, sign up for an account and enter yourself into the monthly drawing. Good luck!
Well, I’ve made several posts that have been semi-related to 
