Moe Pimpin'

On the strength of yesterday’s post (even though no one commented) I have some more pimping to dish out. Mostly, I want to talk about three things: Digsby, Escape Pod, and Rainbow Six: Vegas 2. Let’s start with...

Digsby (http://www.digsby.com/)
This piece of software (which is free) is one awesome piece of software. When I first heard about it, I though, okay, but I don’t IM. Digsby is an IM client that allows you to use just about all IM clients within one window. Now, the reason that I never really got into IM clients in the past was that everyone had something different. Well, Digsby changed all that because it allows me to use my Windows Live ID, AIM ID, GoogeTalk ID and Yahoo ID all in one messenger. So, if I have someone on all four networks I can load my passwords into the settings and logon. As soon as I do, all four IM Id’s are loaded into Digsby and I have full use of them.

There are other things out there that do this, but Digsby goes three steps further. I can check my Yahoo, AIM and gMail, right there in the same window. If I get an e-mail from either one a message pops-up on my desktop and I can check it, open it, delete it, or mark it as read right there without having to login to those sites!!! I can’t tell you how helpful that is. You can also SEND e-mail from those ID’s through Digsby. Can it get any better? YES!

My main problem with social networks like Face Book, My Space and Twitter is that not everyone uses one network. But Digsby has fixed that also. You can login to those networks and get the feed directly from those websites. You don’t have to go to them anymore.

For the past 6 weeks, it has been in private beta. But now it’s open to public beta. Hop on over to that site and check it out, and let me know what you think.

Escape Pod (http://escapepod.org/)
This next one was recommended by King Wulfgar through his site. I am glad I read that post. For those of you who like SciFi stories and just SciFi in general, the please at least take a look at that site and listen to one of the episides. I recommend EP136:Bright Red Star as it was one of the best non-mainstream (Star Wars, Star Trek, BattleStar Galactica) stories that I have read/heard in a LONG time. It was perfect in just about every way. The only gripe I have is that I am an amateur SciFi writer and nothing comes close to how good those stories are. It has now become my life’s ambition (this week at least) to be on his podcast. Check it out and see how you like it.

Rainbow Six: Vegas 2
This will be a portion of my review of this game and today’s info will only be for the single player, and two-player co-op portions. First of all, I have to say that I was rumbling, bumbling and stumbling all over the training map. I do have to admit that there is a lengthy leaning curve as I had to “rewire” my brain away from COD4 controls. I was constantly hitting the B button on the 360 game pad and tossing a grenade into a box that I was using for cover or into the middle of my AI teammates. After that, though, I can’t help but have nothing but LOVE for this game! It is awesome. Me and another Geezer (LtDan) had fun winding our way through the first four or five levels. The Co-op is something that I do need to bring up.

The co-op is GREAT. I was still in the middle of my training level, when I saw LtDan hop onto XBL and put in his R6V2 disc. I sent him an invite to the game and waited. About five minutes later, I was in the middle of a room, when all of a sudden a character that I wasn’t familiar with walked up from behind me and started to fire. I quickly turned and was about to pull the trigger when I realized that it was a friendly and had a green icon over his head (noting the second player) I then hear this deep voice saying “Hey there Jedi.” I was so not expecting that. There was no pop-up message, no slowdown in the game, nothing except a little bar in the upper left hand side of the screen saying that he was now in the room. AWESOME!!! It works perfectly for this type of game.

So far, I have to give this part of the game 9 ½ Geezers. Good going Ubisoft!

Wrap-Up
Well, that wraps up this post. Sorry that it’s very long, but I had a lot to talk about and tomorrow, there will probably be more. So see you then.