For more information check out Hemolog.com and stay tuned for more updates.

**This product is in the development stages and will not necessarily look and function the same as illustrated in this video when it is complete.**

Please comment or send me a message and let me know what you think. I would love to hear any ideas or criticisms, everything will help! More updates to come soon.

HemoLog – Beta 1 from Michael Schultz on Vimeo.

Hey guys, just to let you know. If you were having troubles with the source code below, you may want to give it another go. The url for the API had changed and I hadn’t noticed it until now. Please copy and paste the code below into a new php file and give it a whir. Please let me know if you have any other problems. I am currently working on a very cool project that I think many of you will use in the future. Let’s just say that it will be the envy of all your xbox friends who don’t use Wordpress. Enjoy.

Sure you can login to xbox.com or possibly use your iPhone friends list application, but what about a way to display your Online Status anywhere on the web. Well here is your answer. After about of day of research and development I have come up with a solid solution that can be styled anyway you choose.

It turns out that one of the Xbox developers, Duncan Mackenzie has written a very valuable script that gathers a ton of information about Xbox Live users including: their online status, what games they have played recently and their achievement scores in each game. The problem is, he doesn’t explain in detail how to use his “Gamertag API” feed.

After understanding what all cURL was all about and how to parse through XML files using SimpleXML, I finally came up with my solution.

I advise you to take a look at my code and try it for yourself. I have also listed a few small requirements below the source code.

Also, be sure to install the PHP widget if you would like to run this code inside a widget on your sidebar.

<?php

$ch = curl_init("http://xboxapi.duncanmackenzie.net/gamertag.ashx?GamerTag=YOURGAMERTAG");

curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_CONNECTTIMEOUT, 4);

$data = curl_exec($ch);
curl_close($ch);

$xml = new SimpleXmlElement($data, LIBXML_NOCDATA);

foreach ($xml->PresenceInfo as $mystatus) 
{
print  '<div id="xboxlivestatus"><a href="' . $xml->ProfileUrl . '">' . $xml->Gamertag . '</a> is ' . $mystatus->StatusText . ' : ' . $mystatus->Info . '</div>';
}

?>

Requirements:

• You must be running PHP 5
• You must have cURL enabled
• Change YOURGAMERTAG to your personal gamertag

Weekly Update | Episode 7 from Weekly Update on Vimeo.

This week Jordan Pauly and Michael Schultz discuss:
NEW CONTEST! Sign-up for our SMS alert list on our sidebar. 15th person to sign up gets a $10 iTunes gift card. | iLife 09 | New Movie: 9 | Midwestgamerblog

Musical artist:
MGMT – Electric Feel
The Maine – Mr. Winter
Black Violin – Fanfare
Madeleine Peyroux – Lonesome Road

Follow us on Twitter:
twitter.com/weeklyupdate
twitter.com/michaelschultz
twitter.com/djpauly

If you would like to see more episodes, please visit Yourweeklyupdate.com.

There is a minor update to the Xbox Arcade Hit Castle Crashers available on the Xbox Live Marketplace.

To learn more about the DLC King pack, check out The Behemoth blog.

Original Post:

The Xbox 360 is my favorite game system. Obviously I enjoy a good online Halo 3 match or Gears of War 2 battle as much as the next gamer, however I have found myself extremely excited about the Xbox LIVE Arcade/Community game scene lately.

The New Xbox Experience has brought around a lot of cool advancements in home/online gaming: Friend Parties | Extensive Avatar System | Intuitive Interface | Netflix Integration and lots more. One of the more notable features is the availability of more “Arcade” style games ready for download in the Game Marketplace.

I say “Arcade” because the games sold in the Arcade section are not only old arcade games updated to run on the Xbox 360, they also include classic games from systems like the NES and the Nintendo64. Built more for the casual gamer, Arcade games have really pique my interest because they take me back to a time when games were more linear. Meaning rather than having a huge story line and enormous back stories, you can simply download and start having fun with these retro games, jumping right into the action. The arcade section of the Xbox LIVE Marketplace boast classic titles such as: (Xbox LIVE Marketplace Links) Banjo-Kazooie | Metal Slug 3 | TMNT 1989 | Sonic the Hedgehog | Pac-Man and Defender.

However, the titles I have been most excited about are the new ones! Don’t get me wrong classic games have their spot in my heart, but developers have really taken hold of this new outlet for creating/distributing games over Xbox LIVE and have made some really stellar games. My favorites include:

(Xbox LIVE Marketplace Links)
• Braid
• Geometry Wars 2
• N+

Click to enlarge

So why not give them a quick play and let me know what you think. Come on, I know you still have some Microsoft Points left over from Christmas! If that isn’t the case however FREE DEMOS are available for all of the games mentioned above. Have fun!

Also noteworthy, Castle Crashers by Behemoth another amazing Xbox LIVE Arcade game, has some awesome figurines in their store.

Aren’t these little guys awesome! (Click the image to enlarge.)

Sure it’s going to be hard, sure it’s going to be a “trial and error” game, but it’s going to be a great learning experience and hopefully very useful tool.

The widget will be a sidebar version of my new favorite open source web app, OpenTape. See mine in action here. It will allow you to listen to your mixtape right on your sidebar.

OpenTape provides a sleek/simple/friendly way of sharing your mixtape with the world. You can load OpenTape up with as many songs as you want and send your friends a link to listen. OpenTape is hosted on your personal server so you have full control of your mixtape.

Check back soon for more updates on my progress. If you have any feature request please contact me at michael@michaelwschultz.com or leave a comment below.