Yesterday, I was fortunate enough to drive an Infinite M35x. Its the most expensive car Ive driven and its really nice. Lots of power enough to push me into my seat. Braking is very sensetive and handling is pretty good. i didnt drive it very long. Only for about two miles and that was it not enough time to get use to the car to be able to enjoy it more. The car felt like a tank to me since my car is a smaller car and Im use to that size. There were a few times I got nervous I would run into the curb.

A few months ago I did a comparison with a Dell and Avadirect matching configuration. The purpose was the cost of the two PCs and it was shown Avadirect about $200 less then what Dell wanted for the same system. This time I will do a matching configuration with a high end PC against Alienware. Inheritantly, Alienware have been well overpriced, offering adequate systems for $4000 and higher. I dont know what the outcome to this match is so I will learn with you.

I will only list the primary hardware for each of them and the price afterwords. All prices does not include shipping and taxes.

Alienware

Intel Core 2 Quad 9450 2.66 ghz
Alienware 750 watt
One 1 GB Nvidia Geforce GTX 280
4 GB DDR3 SDRAM @ 1066mhz
500 GB SATA 3Gb/s 7,200RPM 16MB Cache
Creative Sound Blaster® X-Fi™ XtremeGamer High Definition 7.1 Audio
3-Year AlienCare Toll-Free 24/7 Phone Support w/ Onsite Service $190 extra cost

Price: $3,158

Avadirect

Intel Core 2 Quad 9450 2.66 ghz
Coolermaster 750 watt
One BFG Tech 1 GB Nvidia Geforce GTX 280
Corsair 4 GB DDR 3 SDRAM @ 1066mhz
Hitachi 500 GB 3gb/s 7,200 RPM 16MB cache
Creative Sound Blaster X-FI XtremeGamer
3 years parts and labor warrenty included no extra cost

Price: 2,246.66

Conclusion. As shown Avadirect with a matching system to Alienware is $900 less. I was expecting the Alienware system costing around $3500, but it seems that Dell notice it have competition and is trying to keep down the price of their computers. Those out there is looking for a gaming computer to play Supreme Commander and upcoming game Far Cry 2, which one will they pick.

One problem I have about Alienware is they list Microsoft Vista Home Premium and Ultimate as the options. They dont list or say anywhere on the website if the operating system you are getting is 64 bit. Those who do get 4 gigs of memory will need to get a 64 bit OS or the computer they get will only use 3 gigs. So if you are paying $75 for the extra gig, it would be good if you are able to use it.

Just to note about Avadirect. My current system Im using was built by Avadirect. Its virtually like newegg where they have all brand name parts, but they could build a computer for you. My PC is over a year now and its working just fine.

Since my last blog post, I bought Mass Effect and Grid from Newegg.com. Grid was the first true racing game I bought since GT Legends some two years ago. Like all racing games they are fairly self explanatory, as you get cars and you race them around. Grid have a career mode and a nice free mode. In the career mode, you race for money and reputation. The money you win lets you buy new cars and hire a teammate, while the reputation lets you gain sponsors and advance to more difficult races and let you win more money. The free mode lets you races all cars and tracks without waiting for them in the career mode. Candy eye in the game is very good and highly detailed. The graphic detail settings on my computer lets me see reflections off of the paint of the cars.

Also purchased Mass Effect along with Grid. Currently still in the middle of the storyline in Mass Effect. To no surprise from a Bioware game, this game is detailed and well planned out storyline. Every character within the game have their own story. Voice acting have been done with every character you are able to talk to. Bioware was able to get at least a dozen professional voice actors such as Keith David, Cree Summer, and Cam Clarke in the game. Only negative side to Mass Effect is the length of gameplay of the main quest. I played 15 hours of Mass Effect so far and im half way through it. Games compared to other Bioware games and The Witcher, I should be a quarter into the main storyline.

Finally, Ive been watching dozens of episodes of the Angry Video Game Nerd on Gametrailers.com. One particular episode where he reviews the Virtual Boy and I noticed one other layer he seems to leave out in his other episodes, but I think it was important enough for the Virtual Boys failure. Ill sound off my opinion here on my blog. "The nerd" mentioned the reasons it didnt catch on as Nintendo hope it would. All the games were in monochrome red, marketing said it was portable which it was like carrying a brick, there werent any games that impressed anyone over the game boy or super nintendo, and the machine gave people headaches. One important aspect to the Virtual Boys failure is the majority of the demographic during the early 90s were kids from 15 and under who had no jobs. Speaking for myself when I was only 14 when the Virtual Boy came out. I had very very limited amount of income and that came from my parents. My parents werent willing to hand me $200 each time I walk into a store. Considering I already had a SNES in my house, there werent any practial sense for me to get a Virtual Boy. I did one time try out the Virtual Boy at the store for about 20 minutes and it wasnt impressive enough to ask Santa, aka my parents, to give me one for christmas. Value of $20 for me when I was 14 was way way higher then now since I have a job. Other kids may have experience the same reason as I did and since this is another reason why it failed.

links: http://www.gametrailers.com/player/30755.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_boy