Lawyers that Game: Dianne Bonfiglio, Esq., aka, Hot Chief PMS

This interview is the first of a planned series of interviews of professionals — lawyers naturally among them — that are avid, earnest, unabashed gamers. I conducted this interview back in September, but a number of issues kept it from appearing on A.O. Without further ado, here’s my interview with a remarkable attorney from Florida who happens to also be a very skilled competitive gamer. Enjoy. Lime

AO: Hot Chief, thanks for doing this interview. Just by way of introduction, I met you via a comment you left on my blog… I Googled your name, and discovered that lo, you were not only Dianne Bonfiglio, Esq., but also “Hot Chief PMS,” of the online all-female gaming clan “PMS Clan.” Since Halo is one of your forte’s and I’m a Halo addict–and an attorney–I was immediately smitten. You agreed to do an interview, and so here are a few questions: how do being an attorney and a hard-core gamer jive. First off, for the law: what type of law do you practice?

HC: Harry, thank *you* for the opportunity to speak with you! It is my pleasure. Professionally, I’ve been practicing law for about five years. I am a business major and had substantial experience in business before I entered law school in

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Bioshock non-spoiler review (Verdict: Great game – buy it used)

“Why should the righteous suffer at the hands of the ignorant?” Because society usually ends up freaky-deeky, that’s why. Thus speaks the lessons of Bioshock.

Bioshock is a first-person shooter game with a great story. No, make that fantastic story. But ultimately with all stories, it ends, and you end up with little replay value as the developers failed to include a multi-player component. So if you like good shooters with good stories, please read on…

The HD Molehill/Spitwad battle; and, Paramount and DreamWorks choose HD-DVD

Viacom Inc’s Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks Animation SKG–including, inter alia, Paramount Vantage, Nickelodeon Movies, and MTV Films–announced today (Monday Aug 20th 07) that they will release their next-gen DVD titles exclusively on HD-DVD, dropping the Blu-Ray format. Want to watch Transformers, Shrek the Third, and Blades of Glory? Gotta do it in HD-DVD, if you’re looking for that 1080p picture on your flatscreen. (And as we all know, the new Battlestar Galactica is HD-DVD only.)

Paramount described HD-DVD as superior due to “market-ready technology” and the “affordable high quality choice for consumers.” Paramount found that HD-DVD offered better quality, lower-priced players, and lower manufacturing

Game Review: The Bigs (thumbs up)

I happen to concur with Homer Simpson’s attitude on baseball. When he abstained from alcohol for a week, he showed up to the ballpark (sober) and exclaimed, “I never realized how boring this game is!”

2K Sports answers these critics with The Bigs. The game interjects excitement into America’s pastime with two separate power-ups. This was enough for me to actually take an interest in the sport.

BioShock demo now on XBL

The BioShock demo popped up on XBL today, August 12th. It’s had some very positive reviews by those who’ve seen the pre-release product, so many of us are holding out high hopes. It’s, in short, a sci-fi game set in an underwater, Ayn Rand-inspired Utopia called “Rapture,” which is riven by civil war and rampant genetic modifications and experiments. The theme appears to be very 30’s and 40’s retro sci-fi, and it’s a first-person shooter. Available for download now.

Lime

Confirmed: Xbox 360 Price Drop / Rumor: HDMI to all SKUs?

Xbox’s Major Nelson confirmed Monday that there will be price drops come August 8th–the 360 “Premium,” as we’ve known it (20 gig) will drop $50 to $349. The Core (without hard drive) will drop $20 to $279, and the Elite will drop $30 to $449.

Official MS Press Release HERE.

Also, ArsTechnica reports that a “source” at E3 told their reporter that, across the SKUs, “HDMI will probably be the standard moving forward.” Microsoft officially states that HDMI will appear only on the Halo 3 special edition ($399), and the Elite “for now.” However, the same Microsoft official also declined to comment on what new electronics would appear in any of the consoles coming this fall, leading one to speculate…

Lime out

Halo 3: 4-Player Online Co-op (CONFIRMED)

Sweetness and light.

That’s how I respond to Bungie’s press release today.

The 4 online-playable co-op characters.

All the hubbub about whether or not Bungie would have online co-op at all was wasted energy–online co-op was never in question. Bungie today released that it was, in fact, whether 4-player online co-op would work out was the only question.

It will.

According to today’s press release, 4-player co-op will work in