Recent Comments:
Panasonic's 42-inch TH-42PX80U VIERA plasma reviewed {Engadget HD}
May 3rd 2008 7:28PM Well, my couch is around 5.75' away from my "TV" (old CRT during the day, 60'' projector screen during the night), and this isn't strange for my room size. Take a standard apartment living room that is < 15' wall to wall and its easy to end up in a situation where you sit less than 7' from your display. Small displays are meant for small rooms. You don't throw a 42 incher inside a giant living room with the furniture flush against the back wall.
Poll: Who's not watching Super Bowl XLII? {Engadget HD}
Feb 2nd 2008 2:27PM I'll probably have the Weather Channel on in the background while I'm sitting at my computer doing work. Otherwise, most likely catching up on weeks of recorded episodes of House and/or playing video games with my wife.
Black Friday Giveaways (part 13): Slingbox Pro + HD Connect Cable {Engadget HD}
Nov 23rd 2007 7:57PM Free? And I didn't even have to wait in line for 36 hours!
Universal Studio's prez smiles at the format war {Engadget HD}
Aug 13th 2007 6:58PM Anyone remember 1997? In January 1997, the first DVD players hit the US market: Toshiba SD-2006 ($600), Samsung DVD-705 ($750), RCA RC-5200P ($600). Pioneer DVL-700 ($1000), Sony DVP-S7000 ($1000), and Panasonic DVD-A100 ($600). By March, the Toshiba SD-2006 was running $499 with the Sony still hovering around $1000. This perfectly mirrors the first generation HD player pricing of last year, and yet there was no format war. (DIVX had no impact on DVD player pricing; if anything, it would have impacted DVD movie pricing and nothing more. Besides, DIVX didn't arrive until September).
Within a year and a half you had $299 Pioneer players and the following year saw the birth of the cheapo Chinese players.
Has the current format war helped much? Toshiba and Sony introduced their initial players around the same price points as 1997. I imagine decreased manufacturing costs due to technological innovations since 1997 make up for any difference with inflation. A year later we're looking at sub-$500 across the board, with Toshiba pushing the sub-$300 envelope. Not too different than the sub-$300 Pioneer DVD player.
If we see sub-$200 G3 as the norm this Christmas out of Toshiba, then things are mildly more interesting. Of course, the G3 is supposed to be a cost optimized System-on-Chip design that was technologically infeasible back in 1998/1999. A sub-$200 player this year probably has more to do with technology than price/format wars. The possibility of $99 Chinese players hitting before Q3 of 2008 is probably the most telling of any war influence. Then again, is that a result of the format war or a result of the new "international economy" that is much more prevalent today than in 90s?
Only 17% of 360 titles are shooters {Xbox 360 Fanboy}
Aug 10th 2007 12:16PM The following link shows the games:
http://forums.fpssource.net/showthread.php?t=27
While the 17% is true in theory, it's a pointless number in my opinion because the sports category and action/adventure categories are very weak.
If you simply counted each Madden, NFL2k, Tiger Woods, etc game as a single entity rather than enumerate each yearly "iteration" then that category goes from 36 games to something like 24 games. Likewise, if you factor out all the bad licensed games in action/adventure (which are on every system) that category ends up nearly nonexistent.
Of course, it's absolutely true that you don't have to buy a 360 for shooters alone. Even after adjusting that list, you end up with nearly equal proportions of each genre. And with Virtual Fighter 5 and Soul Caliber 4 coming out, as well as Blue Dragon, Eternal Sonata, Cry On, Lost Odyssey, Mass Effect, and Fallout 3 the fighter and RPG lineups are growing very nicely over the next 8 months.
Heck, I hate shooters and don't own a 360 yet. I'm buying a Falcon this fall exclusively as my next-gen JRPG system. That alone showcases how much MS has expanded genres this generation.
Student arrested for making a map of his school {Joystiq}
May 2nd 2007 11:20AM @ 57.
"IF you dont have a solid understanding of the American Legal system dont comment - go read a book and the Consitution and then I'll listen to you."
I fully understand due process and the fact that being arreseted and questions is fully legal. I think the legal authorities handled this case reasonable well.
That's not the problem.
The problem is the school board, which falls outside of the notion of due process and the lovely "innocent until proven guilty" ideal.
The police arrested him, questioned him, and no charges were filed. He was released and all is well in that regard. The school board, on the other hand, still deemed it necessary to punish the kid (despite being legally innoncent of any crime) by putting him in alternative school and denying him traditional graduation.
I understand that the school is a semi-private entity that operates under it's rules and isn't bound by Constitutional law. Nonetheless, I can still be outraged and upset by the boards's actions. Public education is both a service provided to all as well as required by all (ie. truancy laws). Allowing an entity that effects most American's lives to arbitrarily dish out discipline is bogus. I *highly* doubt the student code of conduct in this school district includes anything forbidding the making of an interactive map of a school facility.
Student arrested for making a map of his school {Joystiq}
May 2nd 2007 10:10AM @48
No. "Security+lives>freedom of speech" is not true. Atleast, it isn't in America -- or shouldn't be atleast. This country's culture was built on the idea of "Live free or die" . Restricting civil freedoms to save lives is fundamentaly anti-America.
This isn't Europe. The US is one of the few nations were speech is supposed to be fully free and protected. Consider the differences. In the US, hate speech is fully protected -- it's outlawed in most European nations. The same goes for organizations such as NAMBLA and the like. Even speech with 90% of the nation dislikes and which may be harmful to a majority of the population is protected and allowed.
Unfortunately, the US is slipping and becoming a nation that values lives over freedom. Freedoms are being eroded life and right. It's a shame.
Stop the press: Gaming grows up with demographic {Joystiq}
Mar 14th 2007 1:44PM The "everyone I know" comments are silly, as are most of these polls. Everyone I know likes anime, owns predominately Nintendo systems, and are all CS or Engineering majors in college. What does that all prove? It proves that I mostly known/hang around people that have similar interest to my own, just like everyone else does.
It's all about perspective. You can argue that the Gamecube failed last generation. I could argue that it didn't, that despite selling less it was profitable -- unlike the original XBox. Heck, I hated the 64 -- I loved the GC. It's all perspective. I imagine I'm one of the few that spent around 9 months exclusively playing Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life with my wife 2-5 hours a day, every day. I suppose I'm also one of the few that used my GC to play GBA games on the big screen. Those facts alone make it my favorite last gen system, and I haven't touched on the 10-20 other games that really rocked on the system. And honestly, with games that have good replay value, 20 games for 4 years if enough for me.
The 360, PS3, Wii, DS, PSP all have their places and their fanbase. And to be honest, I'll probably own all but the PSP by Winter 2008. The only people that should be ashamed to call themselves gamers are those that can honestly say "There's not a single exclusive game on console X that I want to play". There's no shame in admitting you really like one game and think it's awesome, but decide for other factors that owning the console in question isn't worth the one game. If you can honestly say you wouldn't play that game given a free console + game package though, then you really should re-evaluate your priorities and decide if it's about "rooting for the team" or "being a gamer".
New Super Paper Mario Wii screens (in our favorite ratio) {Joystiq}
Feb 21st 2007 3:50PM I wish the graphics debate would die someday, but it looks like that'll never happen.
I do, however, dislike people calling those of us who prefer 2D graphics over 3D graphics (or atleast don't mind them), Nintendo fanboys.
Up until this generation (ie. the Wii), Nintendo has competed in the graphics-race as much as the other guys. The N64 aimed to be a power-horse, the GC was much better than the DC and PS2, etc.
And, to be honest, I've hated that.
I really, really dislike 3D games. I find them tolerable now, but don't think they add much to a game's experience whatsoever. Link to the Past was the best Zelda, Final Fantasy 6 (ie. 3 in the US) was the best FF, Chrono Trigger is the best RPG, Super Mario World is the best Mario, etc. In my ideal world, we'd all own upgraded SNES's and still be playing 2D platformers, arcade fighters, arcade shumps, and RPGs. The day the game industry stops making 2D games and retro-inspired 3D games is the day I stop buying games -- period.
To hell with handhelds too. I'll gladly pay $50 to play Super Paper Mario in 16:9 glory on my projector (70" screen) with surround sound. Moving to a pair of 3" screens and low-quality stereo-output is not worth $20 in savings. On a related note, Nintendo needs to get around to making a Mario Kart Wii ASAP. It's ridiculous that the handheld edition of Mario Kart is the best in the entire series, and that because of such I spend more time on my DS daily than the Wii connected to my home-theatre. Heck, I play 90% of my GBA games through my old Gamecube's Gameboy Player.
Zelda: A Link to the Past teams up with Sega on Wii VC {Joystiq}
Jan 23rd 2007 5:44PM I always find it odd that people can't understand paying above a certain amount for a game that is "X years old". Heck, I wish SNES games and SNES systems were still available and sold in game stores at their original price -- there's no logical reason for the game to depreciate in value over time.
A CD containing music from the 60s costs about the same as a CD containing music produced yesterday. Entertainment doesn't really depreciate in value. If something is enjoyable, it remains enjoyable. Same thing applies to movies too.
It's been well over 10 years since the SNES, and despite advances in graphics, physics, AI, and other things there has yet to a single new game that I find more enjoyable that 3-4 of the SNES's greats. WTF is the point of "next-gen" again?
