I've been a beta tester for a number of video games, and been to many test screenings for movies, however, this is the first time I've been picked to be a beta tester for a softdrink. When I registered for E3 many months ago, I received an email notifying me that Mountain Dew wanted to send me some new flavor that was being marketed to gamers. Well, when it didn't show up for a while, I wrote it off. On Friday a box was delivered to me with the text "MOUNTAIN DEW X VARIANT NO. 516 + POWER PACK". Sounds exciting! Here's the story. Some of the images have bigger versions, so look for some to be clickable. This is the flyer that was packaged with the 6 pack.

Here is our color comparison of normal Mountain Dew on the right with this new Variant 516 on the left.

As you can see, the new Variant has a brighter (no doubt more Xtreme!) color. Also of worthy note is the can itself.

It's taller and holds two more ounces. With an additional two ounces of liquid, the new 14 oz can now contains two servings instead of just one. Kim's thoughts were that it tastes like Mello Yello, and I'd have to agree. It definitely has a more yellow citrus flavor. I'm sure someone whos is a bit psychotic about Mountain Dew will have more to say about it, so look for an update soon from him. Here's one last shot of the can with the label.

posted by Travis at 7:40 PM

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Friday, July 22, 2005

Ahh, California. It is hot here in The Valley. Not as hot as we used to get before we had central AC in the house, but even with the AC running full bore it can hit 85 inside.

Part of the fun of living in Los Angeles and working in Burbank is stargazing. Los Angeles locals will say they don't care about seeing celebrities. When they say that, you should feel confident in pointing your finger at them and saying, "You are a liar, and your pants are on fire." Yesterday we went to Fry's Electronics so Yoshi could buy an EverQuest expansion (because he's a weak man), and we saw Anakin Skywalker buying what may have been a new hard drive. I almost didn't recognize him because he wasn't carrying a lightsaber or killing anyone, but it was him. I suppose even the Dark Lord of the Sith needs a bigger hard drive to store more .mp3s. Today while eating at Mambo Cafe, we saw Tate Donovan. You might know him from The O.C. if you're watching it...or any number of movies over he past 15 years.

posted by Travis at 2:18 PM

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Tuesday, July 19, 2005

Fantasy Football is starting up again. You may remember that last year I lost the league championship by 1 point because Chris Chambers can't get positive yards on a carry (note picture). I usually go with a Star Wars themed name for my team. I can recall having teams called The Coruscant Imperial Elite and The Mandalore Warrior Caste, but I can't recall any of the other names (help me out you 170 Footballers). This year (big surprise) I went with a Warcraft theme, so prepare to read about the trials of tribulations of being the owner, manager, and coach of the Northrend Followers of Arthas. Arthas is a tragic figure from the Warcraft mythos that I've always thought was kind of neat. I believe his first appearance was in Warcraft III and then he played a role in the expansion The Frozen Throne. Both he and the continent of Northrend are suspiciously absent from the current version of World of Warcraft, so we're thinking that perhaps Northrend will be the first expansion. Anyway, that's my team and I was able to retain Daunte Culpepper and Tiki Barber from last year.

posted by Travis at 9:22 AM

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Tuesday, July 12, 2005

It looks like Fantastic Four did pretty well over the weekend despite getting really bad reviews. Kim and I were going to see it Saturday afternoon, but when it came time to head to the theater, we just could not get excited about it. We did, however, see a sneak preview of The Island Saturday night, and I really liked it. I know that some people out there hate Michael Bay, but the man knows how to direct exciting action scenes. The Island has some great action in addition to a new and interesting story. It does have some of the Michael Bay staples (some slow motion character introductions and some overly dramatic hero shots), but in an action movie those things can be fun sometimes. If you're not familiar with The Island, it's about a colony of human clones who have been created so that their rich counterparts have an insurance policy in case they need a replacement organ or limb. The clones are not told this, of course, they are just told to work hard and they may someday win the lottery and get to live on "the island", which is this utopia. In reality when a clone wins they lottery, it is because their human counterpart has been injured in some way and they need a transplant. Lincoln Six Echo (Ewan McGregor) starts to question his surroundings and tries to escape with his best friend Jordan Two Delta who has just recently won the lottery (Scarlett Johansson). The Island might make give you flashes of THX-1138, but it is not as artsy. It's a good sci-fi action movie.

posted by Travis at 8:23 AM

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Wednesday, July 06, 2005

Well, it's time to reveal the paid writing gig I was talking about a while ago. The August 2005 issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly should be available now, and inside it you'll find a preview of Ultimate Spider-Man written by me (p. 66 - 67). This is the first time I've been published in a printed magazine as opposed to just a web article, so I think it's pretty cool. I was, however, shocked and horrified when I read the article and found it to be quite different than what I submitted. I voiced my objections to the man who butchered my article (Previews Editor of EGM, long-time friend, and ex-roomate of mine) and his response was something along the lines of, "Welcome to the business, Kid." Well, as long as the check clears, I suppose I can live with being rewritten to some extent. The soul of the article is in there still, however obscured by Shane's vile taint. Shane gave me the assignment, so I'm grateful, and hopefully there is more of this kind of thing in my future. Here is what the cover looks like, as well as the bagged version.

In other gaming news, Kim and I are STILL embroiled in World of Warcraft. This is the longest a single game has ever held my attention. We hit the level limit some time ago and have turned our sights on the player vs player (PvP) content that the game has to offer. They recently released a patch that included the Battlegrounds, defined PvP areas with set objectives. We've been having lots of fun with Battlegrounds, and we play a lot in Warsong Gulch. Warsong Gulch is a 10 v 10 capture-the-flag map, kind of like the CTF games you'd see in a shooter. However, since killing your opponent is much more difficult than just shooting them a few times in World of Warcraft, it has a much more different dynamic. Kim and I took a lot of beatings before getting the hang of it, but we're doing pretty well now.

My character is named Memnon and Kim's is Keowyn. The first team to score 3 captures is the winner. The blue names are Alliance players and the red names are Horde players. A "flag return" is when you chase down and kill the person who stole your flag, and then click it to send it back to base. To use the parlance of our times, we owned 'em.

posted by Travis at 5:28 PM

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