That’s right, we’ve got a new phone/voicemail system. This way you can call us and add to the podcast. Give us your opinions on current gaming and tech news, ask us questions, leave feedback and suggestions, whatever.

All you have to do is type in your phone number in the above calling form thingy. Once you hit the call button it will call your number (the one you entered). It will then transfer you directly to the CounterAgent voicemail box for your message recording pleasure.

Or you can just call the number direct. It’s 404-492-7896. It’s also on our contact page.

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Bill Gate’s gave his last keynote CES earlier tonight. How was it? What giant revelations did he have? Is he still as boring and un-charismatic as ever? Read on to find out. Oh, but yeah, he still can’t deliver on the charisma thing.

It all started with some of the crappiest music I could endure, Paulson, whatever. That led into the much hyped reveal of Mr. President and CEO of CES, Gary Shapiro, yeah no Gates yet. Once he was done pimping CES he introduced Bill Gates. (Note: this is his 12th and final CES). The Xbox was announced at CES some years ago, as well as a number of big Microsoft products. Mr. Gates walks onto stage to a funky remix of the ‘If you believe in magic’. He starts with talk about hopes and dreams. The technologies that have grown in the past few years.

It’s all about the first “Digital Decade”. He claims all media will be software, not hardware driven in the future. All about customizing your experience wherever you are. The TV meeting the Internet, i.e. their very own Windows Media Center.

Holy crap, then they did this crappy montage, skit thing about what Bill Gates last day will be like. I think they’re trying to make him lovable or something before he goes. They had him rapping with Jay-Z, working out with Matthew McConaughey , rocking out with Rock Band while on the phone with U2 singer Bono. Steven Speilberg, George Clooney, John Stewart, even Hilary Clinton, Obama, and Al Gore make cameo’s. All of the guys at Microsoft like to let their hair down and have a good laugh. They’re people just like you and me, not a gigantic, retarded, monopoly, right? More…

Let’s see, what can’t Microsoft get to work right? Well, there’s the Xbox 360’s and their red ring on death. Window’s Vista is the biggest disappointment of the year [PC World]. Internet Explorer continues to suck, as does the Zune. We can officially add Xbox Live to that crap list. Seems they can’t keep it working.

Epic Fail indeed. I’m not the only one that, for a second week in a row has experience problems playing games on Xbox Live, let alone getting online at all with Live. I thought we’re paying for a service for a reason, right? I mean, it would be one thing if it was a free service and it went down a time or two, whatever. But anyone who plays games online with Xbox Live is paying for the service to work.

Here’s what Microsoft can do to fix the problem. First, they could start with fixing the problem, that is giving us the service we pay for. They could also, oh, I don’t know, give us free stuff. Maybe a few thousand MS points, an Arcade game or two, of our choosing. A free year of Xbox Live. Anything more than the official response of “We’re working night and day”, blah, blah, blah.

Here are some other reports on the issue: Engadget 1, Engadget 2, Engadget 3, Engadget 4, Engadget 5, Joystiq, Major Nelson

Let us know what you think. Have you had any problems this past weekend or the last with Xbox Live? Comment Below.

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Crysis players have been waiting for a much needed patch that would fix a few bugs, improved SLI support and we can only hope for quad core support. Well the patch won’t be hitting until next year sometime and there won’t be any quad core support. Check out what Crytek had to say on their forum about the upcoming patch.

More…

It’s official, DirecTV aquired the pre-TiVo DVR company, ReplayTV. I used to have a ReplayTV, and I liked it much more than TiVo. Hopefully this means the current craptastic DVR software on the DirecTV units will be replaced with the great non-sucking ReplayTV software.

Source [Engadget]

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According to an article from Reuters, Activision had the top-selling video game in November with Call of Duty 4 which “killed the competition” by selling more than 2.01 million copies for the Xbox 360 and PS3.

And while we’re talking numbers, Nintendo’s Wii had the best month of it’s life to date with some 981,000 units sold.

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Halo 3 Legendary Edition Xbox 360 only $60 at Walmart.com, online only. This is a limited time offer, so if you just gotta have that cat helmet, hurry.

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CompUSA has died. Well, they’ve actually been killed, murdered even! That’s right folks, the guys over at Gordon Brothers have bought CompUSA and are gonna close down all remaining stores. The Dallas, Texas based CompUSA has, or had, 103 stores nationwide.

More on this story at GameDaily and BizJournals.com

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There’s a Mario energy drink, and we knew there was for over a year. Suddenly, after over a year of this story being out (see: Kotaku for the original post), the story resurfaces as new.

Here’s what went down. Some chick, by the name of Scuzzi, a chunky, 5′7″, chinese girl with a quick tempered dragon personality, (I didn’t say it, her Flickr profile did), posted a picture of the Mario energy drink (described only as “blue-raspberry” in flavor) to her Flickr account. Someone Diggs it (FameMoney on Digg). The Diggs pile up, currently numbering 1036. Then, everyone and their brother write a post about the drink. Seriously, check out some of the more prominent links I found:

http://technabob.com/blog/2007/12/09/super-mario-power-up-energy-drink-just-add-vodka/

http://www.destructoid.com/super-mario-power-up-energy-drink-contains-cocaine-58969.phtml

http://www.geekologie.com/2007/12/super_mario_energy_drink_its_a.php

http://www.complex.com/blogs/2007/12/12/power-up-with-super-marios-energy-drink/

http://static.flickr.com/79/222480103_3f1fd05448.jpg

So, CounterAgent, in the spirit of not wanting to be left out, is also posting about this story. Why, because Super Mario is awesome, and so is Energy. And when you put the two together it doesn’t matter how old the story is, it just rocks! Oh yeah, I almost forgot, you can buy the drink online at gkworld.com for $2.95 a can, if it’s still in stock that is.

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That’s right everybody. The Counter Agent Network (C.A.N. is kind of a crappy acronym) is born. We have just added the new site SuperLame.com to our hopefully expanding network. So you ask, “What is SuperLame.com?” Well, I’ll tell you. It’s your online source for Movies, TV, Comics, Cartoons, Pop Culture, Art, Music, Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Nerdliness, The Internets, Food & Drink, etc… It’s a great new place for all the great geeky, nerdy, awesome stuff in the world of underground pop culture. If that even makes sense? Just check it out, maybe you can help me describe it.

In addition to adding this site to the newly formed CounterAgent Network, we will also be refining what CounterAgent is. It will now include only games, tech, and music. That’s all. Check out SuperLame.com!

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Let me know what you think of this story. Leave your comments below or email me direct.