Broncos Cornerback Darrent Williams Killed in Drive-By

Continue Reading January 1st, 2007

Sad news out of Denver this morning. AP wire reports:

Broncos cornerback Darrent Williams was shot and killed in a drive-by shooting early Monday, his limousine sprayed with bullets in downtown Denver. Team spokesman Jim Saccomano said police called him about 3 a.m. from the scene and told him three people had been shot, and the 24-year-old Williams had been killed. His death came hours after the Denver Broncos were eliminated from the playoff race.

A little after 2 a.m., a white Hummer limousine was fired on from a vehicle that pulled up along its side, police spokesman Sonny Jackson said. As many as a dozen bullet holes were visible on the driver’s side of the vehicle. One window was blown out and four others had bullet holes.

In a haunting bit of irony, DenverPost.com republished an interview with Williams that ran Dec. 3, in which he describes his rough upbringing and how he overcame that to become part of one of the most dominating cornerback tandems in football with Champ Bailey:

Williams: Probably from the time I was 12 until I was 17. I was hanging around the wrong people. I was hanging around gang members. The local Crips had people I called friends… I wasn’t really a Crip, or part of any gang, but some people might have thought I was because I was affiliated with some of them.

Denver Post: What pushed you away from that life?

Williams: I went to church one day and the preacher said something about praying every night. He said: “I know a lot of you go home and get drunk or whatever. But even if you don’t have a simple life, try every day to pray to the Lord. Get a relationship with Him.” And I started doing that. I started praying every day at my home, and even though I wasn’t going to church all the time, I started believing more, and I think that’s what stopped me from going down the wrong road.

Preacher Put Williams on Right Path [DenverPost]
More: Broncos Williams Shot to Death in Colo. [HoustonChronicle
Video Report About Shooting [DenverPost/AP Video]

Best of the rest: Ross’ picks

Continue Reading January 1st, 2007

Filed under: Nintendo DS, Mac, PC, Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360, Action, Adventure, First Person Shooters, Online, Puzzle, RPGs, Sports, Meta (about Joystiq)

Lumines Live! (XBLA)
On a big screen with surround sound, Q Entertainment’s Lumines Live was easily the most-played game in my library (if you stretch the definition of library to digitally distributed titles). Although I railed against how microtransactions were implemented in this title and still think the extent to which they disclosed the dearth of features was misleading, both the Basic and Advanced Pack got more than enough play time, as did the multiplayer. It is the best Xbox Live Arcade title since Geometry Wars.

Continue reading Best of the rest: Ross’ picks

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Best of the rest: Ross’ picks

Continue Reading January 1st, 2007

Filed under: Nintendo DS, Mac, PC, Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360, Action, Adventure, First Person Shooters, Online, Puzzle, RPGs, Sports, Meta (about Joystiq)

Lumines Live! (XBLA)
On a big screen with surround sound, Q Entertainment’s Lumines Live was easily the most-played game in my library (if you stretch the definition of library to digitally distributed titles). Although I railed against how microtransactions were implemented in this title and still think the extent to which they disclosed the dearth of features was misleading, both the Basic and Advanced Pack got more than enough play time, as did the multiplayer. It is the best Xbox Live Arcade title since Geometry Wars.

Continue reading Best of the rest: Ross’ picks

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Best of the rest: James’s picks

Continue Reading January 1st, 2007

Filed under: Arcade, Nintendo DS, Features, Nintendo GameCube, Mac, PC, Sony PlayStation 2, Sony PlayStation 3, Portable, Sony PSP, Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox, Microsoft Xbox 360, Action, Adventure, Driving, Fighting, First Person Shooters, Online, Puzzle, RPGs, Simulations, Sports, Strategy, Meta (about Joystiq), MMO, Rhythm

Bully (PS2)
Bully is my current favorite and has renewed my faith in Rockstar as a forward-moving publisher. The familiar game mechanics don’t feel stale in this decidedly more innocent universe. Bully relies more on mischief than shock value, a relief, as are the smaller scale and lower difficulty level (really, the missions are simply less frustrating than some of the tedious tasks that abound in the GTA series). Bully isn’t deserving of ‘Game of the Year’ honors, but Rockstar Vancouver’s effort is one of the most refreshing and outright fun titles of 2006. [See also: “Dissecting Rockstar’s formula“]

Continue reading Best of the rest: James’s picks

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Best of the rest: James’s picks

Continue Reading January 1st, 2007

Filed under: Arcade, Nintendo DS, Features, Nintendo GameCube, Mac, PC, Sony PlayStation 2, Sony PlayStation 3, Portable, Sony PSP, Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox, Microsoft Xbox 360, Action, Adventure, Driving, Fighting, First Person Shooters, Online, Puzzle, RPGs, Simulations, Sports, Strategy, Meta (about Joystiq), MMO, Rhythm

Bully (PS2)
Bully is my current favorite and has renewed my faith in Rockstar as a forward-moving publisher. The familiar game mechanics don’t feel stale in this decidedly more innocent universe. Bully relies more on mischief than shock value, a relief, as are the smaller scale and lower difficulty level (really, the missions are simply less frustrating than some of the tedious tasks that abound in the GTA series). Bully isn’t deserving of ‘Game of the Year’ honors, but Rockstar Vancouver’s effort is one of the most refreshing and outright fun titles of 2006. [See also: “Dissecting Rockstar’s formula“]

Continue reading Best of the rest: James’s picks

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