Apropos of video games, check out
http://media.engadget.com/videos/Eng_Cat_PSP_vs_DS.mpg
Yeah, I know I should have sent mail, but my freaking account is disabled yet again. Thank you comcast.
Cute if excessively fanboyish video but it would have been better if they had videogame POW sound effects, like the Mario "coin grab" sfx when the DS got in a hit.
In terms of the actual competition...it's cool that DS seems to have such a strong lead, but I wouldn't count out PSP for a while...it's pretty powerful. On the other hand DS also sports clamshell design (seems much more rugged), no load times, and I think they got that instant suspend/resume mojo working.
Plus if Sony wasn't so atively homebrew hostile, maybe they'd have more love from me.
Ray Chandler's major works are really good reading, and quick reads, too. I went through 3-4 of his books about a year ago, and though I was accustomed to noir set in urban metropolises, it worked even better in LA where everything's spread out, people have homes in the hills, and so on. You don't need dark alleys, just darkened doorways.
I remember Waterson saying how much trouble he had writing Calvin's "Tracer Bullet" noir-ish dialog...
I admit I had a bit of trouble following the whodunit logic of "Little Sister" though admittedly I wasn't reading that closely...are the ins and outs sometimes hard to follow?
I gave this question some thought and I arrived back at my initial conclusion-- Ray Chandler novels are about late 40's LA atmosphere and hard-boiled dialogue, and the plots were forgettable, even though lots of disperate scenes aren't. Give one a try when the winter hits.