Halo 3.
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Category Archives: digital pity
Transfer Complete
Using XBL and a 512MB MU, I took some time to set up my new Xbox console.
Yes, it’s olive and orangy-chrome. Yes, I now have a shiny new Gamerpic and theme. Yes, it’s the Xbox 360 Halo 3 Special Edition console. I bought it over the weekend but since I wanted to use the new hard drive, I had to borrow an MU from a friend at work. Yes, I know that I can only play my XBLA games if I’m logged in now, but the truth is that I was in that boat anyway: as part of my job I’ve beta tested a lot of hardware and I only had two games that would run offline… ah well.
Now I have to send my original 360 off to my sister and brother-in-law – they have an original Xbox that needs some upgrading lub.
I touch No More
Back it goes. The last straw was the video playback. I made the mistake of looking at The Italian Job clip on a proper iPhone today and noticed two rouge/dead pixels while playing back video on my iPod touch.
Instead I have a very shiny black iPod nano sitting next to me… in fact, I’m prepared to call the iPod touch the loser of the current iPod line up.
Continue reading I touch No More
Missing Features: iPod touch
I spent the day playing with the iPod touch and I’m… disturbed by what I’ve discovered.
In the comments of the previous post I point out that I noticed that the iPod touch is not an iPhone with no phone functions – it’s an iPod with the UI of an iPhone. Subtile distinction to some, but the truth is that the iPhone is a PDA with a phone while the touch is, well, a proper iPod.
And that’s what is disturbing me: I bought an iPod. True, with a visual, touch-based UI, I should have expected that driving with the thing would be more difficult than the original design… change tracks required an unlock swipe and then a few taps. I’m OK with that, but the two things that are missing simply left me slack jawed… you can only Shuffle all of the songs of a collection or playlist: you cannot Shuffle by Album! This is a de-facto error. A sin. A huge feature is missing – it’s the reason why I use iTunes on my PC and what was a deal breaker on the Zune. The other thing is that there’s no option for cross-fading between songs… and that’s something Gen 2 or Gen 3 had…
Deal breaker? Not yet, but I expect to find more missing things rather than “surprisingly neat things” with this device – the original iPod has spoiled me.
Well that and I fully expect to get updates to the firmware over time – these are things that can and should be added with updates…
Update: while the UI is very, very shiny, I don’t think I like it for my PMP. The UI request visual attention – there’s no way to use it without looking at it. Case in point: I was driving down the road the other day – decided to change the track. Before I used to pick up the iPod [classic], and click the right edge of the wheel. Now, if I want to do the same thing, I have to pick up the touch, press the home button, slide the slider, and tap next. If I don’t have the screen auto-lock, the screen stays on! Talk about a battery killer… oh, and here’s the worst part: if you want to change the volume at any time… yep: it has to be unlocked. So if you stumble onto a track with uber loud volume, you’d better pull the head phones because you won’t be able to lower it fast enough… even if it’s locked the slider control is less accurate than the wheel… simply just not that impressed with it (and again, the iPhone has physical buttons for volume – I might end up with the iPhone for video playback after all.)
Update 2: TUAW points out a less than obvious feature… is this a deal saver?
Falling Off The Wagon
This is what falling off the wagon looks like:
ok. Ok. Ok. OK. OK! OK!!! OKOKOKOKOKOK!!!1!11!
I’m not wearing denim shorts anymore. Except on laundry day and even then, those will be cargo styled.
Meh.
Continue reading ok. Ok. Ok. OK. OK! OK!!! OKOKOKOKOKOK!!!1!11!
Told You I Couldn’t Tell You
A little while ago, I had a long drawn-out post about something I couldn’t talk about. Was all stuff that had to be said. Some even left in the comments “that’s a lot of talk for not saying anything”. Had to be done.
Today, I was reading on the interwebs about a group of gamers got their hands on a less-than-legal copy of the same title… not only were their Xbox Live accounts banned from XBL but their consoles were banned as well. Until the beginning of the year 10000. Not too bad since the game ships in 18 days… A recap of the saga is on Xbox 360 Fanboy but I also have to point out that after they were banned, the nimrods went to the Xbox forums for technical support. Classic!
This is why the other post was so long and why I’m still not saying anything about it: as an employee they’d have the right to leave my dripping severed hear hanging on a pike in front of our office building…
And quite rightfully so.
A Return To Saint’s Row: Games Ahoy!
I finished BioShock. The other game that has been stealing my gaming time has ended has been paused until the September 25. All of which means that it’s time that I get back to finished off the games that I’ve been slacking on for a while…
And it’s quite a list, starting with Saint’s Row.
Continue reading A Return To Saint’s Row: Games Ahoy!
PAX’07: Holy. Shit.
I went to PAX today – went early in fact. Though I’d walk around downtown, get some lunch and come back before it opened at 2. At 11:40 the line hand at least 200 people in line, maybe 300.
I went to lunch – good to see that the gaming industry is alive and well, though.
OH HAI!
Welcome new visitors to my blog.
Seems I’ve been made popular lately… I’m not asking why, but by all means: enjoy what you see!
So It Went…
Furrygoat: After 1888 posts, this experiment is pretty much over. I’m sure at some point, something will be back up here in it’s place, but it almost certainly won’t be a blog. Thanks for tagging along on the ride though.
And there goes Steve, riding off into t3h sunset… a sign of things to come? Is blogging so mainstream now that it’s become passé for the pioneers of blogging? I doubt it.
I’ve often said that chat rooms people never leave – they simply fade out of sight for a while only to return at some point. It’s a Randy Axiom, actually. It’s been proven world wide over the last 20 years… the question now is does this apply to bloggers? What controversial topic will bring Steve out of the void? Time will tell.
Dear God – I just realized it: I’ve been online for over 20 years now… *sob*
Oh Hai!
Joystiq: The (not so) stringent world of video game testing There have been a lot of complaints about publishers rushing buggy games out so they can hit a certain date, knowing they can update them via patches over the increasingly popular online gaming services. So why not try and address things in the testing phase of the game? Karla Starr, a reporter at The Seattle Weekly actually took a job as a tester with a game company, and went inside the the belly of the beast to bring us a real insider’s view of game testing.
Well no shit. I went to GDC and was… well, appalled by the view of Test and the views of testers in the industry at large. There were a couple of companies that were doing it “right”. During one of the round table sessions and I expressed my dismay at the majority of what I heard from other testers, I was told “Oh, no wonder… you’re with Microsoft.” I took it as a compliment, but it was an astute observation.
What is it that Microsoft does that’s right (and made us stand out at GDC)?
Continue reading Oh Hai!
Balance? In An iPhone Review?
Gizmodo: Apple: No BS iPhone Review
It’s actually a very good review and that’s not because I agree with the majority of it all – it’s the over all level of content. Although, I think they’re observations on price a bit forgiving: after all, at&t isn’t subsidizing any part of this phone – the $499 and $599 prices are the real retail prices… usually you get a break when you sign on with a new contract, but I guess that’s the price of bleeding edge. I think they should knock more than $50 off the price to move the 4GB models, but seeing as they keep selling out, it’s a moot issue.
The simple truth is that I will share any review that can reference Rosie O’Donnell’s vagina.
Just One More
I swear to God, if I read, hear, or see one more thing that mentions the iPhone in a way that is not related to something technical and newly discovered* I will wait in line at my local at&t store, get one, open the box, and piss all over it before they activate the service.
Beyond that, I can’t wait for the “I-Couldn’t-Place-A-Call-Cuz-I-Have-No-Battery-Having-Listened-To-10-Tracks” backlash that will eventually hit the street. Not to mention the general issues with first generation hardware, or have people forgotten the broken DS Lite hinge or cracked display nano while both were in it’s first generation of hardware? Or the irreplaceable battery. Or the lack of upgradable memory. Or the inability to thumb type with it. which a few reviewers have noticed already. Or the ongoing outrage at enterprise IT departments that won’t support it for a long, long while. Hell, even Safari for Windows has been patched twice in beta.
Does anyone honestly believe this will be a perfect launch with a problem-free product that “just works”, much less live up to the amount of hype that has been generated?
Continue reading Just One More
At A Loss
The Levi’s Phone. YouTube on mobile devices. YouTube on AppleTV.
I don’t get any of this. A jeans company making a cell phone is just as useless as being able to view some random, grainy, came-from-a-VHS-tape 1982 Knight Rider episode on a 50″ TV or a 2.5″ phone. If YouTube had some regular content that wasn’t under constant threat of being pulled by copyright lawyers, it’d be a step in the right direction, but… I don’t know. I don’t get it.
Maybe people want to watch the Star Wars kid redux thrice over on the go and I’m missing it?