Buy A PS3 Without The Wait

The catch? It will cost you seven large. Seriously? Could anyone actually do that and still speak of it in public without getting like ... stoned from nearby villagers for fear of whatever possessed them might cause undo evil upon the world?




tagged: playstation 3, gaming

Quick Observation

I think it's funny as hell to read all these articles about people waiting in line for days to pick up a PlayStation 3 - facing weather, line-jumpers and even people armed with BB guns (damn - real life griefers while waiting for your new console ... that is harsh) and then scroll down to the comments and see gems like "wtf, how stupid - why wait for a PS3" or "PS3 is too hard to code for - the games will all suck you suckers."

And so on.

Need anyone more evidence that the majority of people commenting on the Internet do not represent the majority of gamers? Not that 700 people huddled outside a San Fran Sony store represent any kind of majority vote either ... but clearly there's a distinct division between much of the blogosphere and the reality on the ground.



tagged: game, gaming

Just To Talk Lost "Midfinale"

I'm breaking my vow of silence over last night's episode. I so very wanted to break it over last week's episode - which was the first Lost episode I pretty much unequivocally enjoyed from beginning to end since somewhere near the middle of Season Two. The flashback was tight and relevant. The island was dangerous and menacing. And we got to see a whole new perspective on part of "the mystery".

That is what Lost is about to me. It was fun. It was interesting. And for a change, I actually felt like paying attention to previous episodes had paid off.

So someone tell me what the hell last night was. Most of the episode was Kate mooning over one guy or another - be it Sawyer, Jack or Mal from Firefly (and as a side note - how did we get stuck with a pair of nobodies like Paolo and Nikki if Nathan Fillion was available? Seriously?). The Others are now an incoherent mess disguised as being enigmatic. Is Juliet trying to get Ben killed or not? If so - which is more important - making it seem like an accident or having Ben die? There was probably no less than fifteen times last night that she could have gotten Ben offed - even inadvertently.

Largely last night felt like pandering to the Kate-Jack/Kate-Sawyer crowds (I can't remember their nicknames and I can't pretend to care). Much of this "half-season" has felt like it was bordering on paying attention to this soap opera and now it felt like it simply boiled over. Who cares if they've escaped from their cages when there is a smoldering hot Sawyer in front of them? A sane woman, that's who. Kate has left that particular group now. Kate (and heck, Sawyer too) deciding to remain in captivity simply because they believe they are miles away from their old beach is a) counter to both of their personalities and b) counter to rational thinking.

It's nothing short of convenient writing to get a sex scene and to set up the end scenario. It was cheap and tawdry.

And while we're on the subject of insanity - really what is Pickett's damage? His vendetta against Sawyer is completely nonsensical rage. It's another concept which only fits to serve the overall plot. If the Others are really this set of half-cocked lunatics - how are we to buy that they are calculating and manipulative. Why must Pickett wait for Ben to be under to execute an innocent person? It makes as much sense as just waiting until he was ... asleep or something. Does Sawyer even know Colleen is dead?

Why can't Pickett just head off and kill those actually responsible? This one aspect of the last few episodse doesn't feel interesting like a mystery - it feels confusing like a mess. Pickett's anger - justifiable. His inability to exact revenge in any way that makes sense? Now bordering on stupid.

The only likable portion of last night was Jack's endgame plan. It makes sense that he wouldn't care if Kate and Sawyer shacked up (I know I don't). It makes sense that he wouldn't trust either Juliet or Ben. It makes sense that he would use his skills as a physician to gain the upper hand. I'm not entirely sure how medically sound the actual trick was (he ripped open Ben's kidney? And he can sit back and wait an hour?) ... but at least the concept felt sensible.

What's sad is that they didn't simply open with that, write a decent episode and leave us with something tangible for the hiatus. Honestly, I'm not even sure I care if Kate and Sawyer get away. They had their chance and they were reduced to whiny horny teenagers. Please, someone just shoot them so that we can get back to that monster eating people.

OK - I'm back into my hidey hole to try and finish NaNoWriMo. Happy November, y'all.




tagged: lost, television

I'll Be Back

Tomorrow marks the beginning of NaNoWriMo and hence I will be trying to direct all of my downtime to writing a really bad novel in one month. I will be blogging excerpts on occasion at the Sunset Winterland Blog.

For Halloween, I give you Seance, a (very) short story that I may send to Pseudopod for their "flash" series.

Also, I may have an upcoming interview that I will likely post upon my return. Until then, enjoy yourselves and have lots of candy and turkey.

(sign from revalani's photostream)

PlayStation 3 = Power Hog

According to New Launches, the PlayStation 3 consumes almost twice as much power as the 360 and over four times that of the PlayStation 2. While they wonder how much this will add to your power bill (probably not much unless playing daily) - I wonder how they manage to shove a PSU that hefty inside the case without melting the casing or installing a massive fan.

Update
Wow. This has actually gotten forum-bitten. So let me elaborate a little.

First, I just thought this was technically interesting. When I was wondering how Sony managed to get this kind of PSU into the PS3 case without melting the case or using a big fan - I was actually wondering how they went about it. I know, it's odd on blogs to say what you mean, but there you go. I don't assume PS3's will cook waffles, heat rooms or melt their casings.

Because Kotaku ran with that and suggested you could make breakfast on it doesn't mean I was.

Second, some have pointed out that a 380W PSU does not always generate 380W of heat ... that's merely it's maximum capacity. True, although I would guess Sony would be shaving this as closely as they could. Still, as pointed out the PS3 is a multi-functioning device and so it's hard to tell what would necessarily warrant that load. Do you have to be pulling HD movies into a game that's on Wifi? Who knows. I don't.

But the real point is that simply because a PSU generates 380W of heat doesn't mean that the console is the equivalent of a coal fire. Since the invention of fire, we've managed to find a few ways to distribute heat in ways outside of simply burning ourselves.

The fact that it's not a brick supply is a bit of a mixed bag, for instance. Because it's inside a chassis it will be more likely to retain heat within the enclosure - but at the same time has better access to whatever the chassis throws at it to cool it down. Brick supplies aren't necessarily the best route to keep things cool - but they are a cheap and easy one.

By comparison - your average Dell is probably using a 300W or 400W PSU. Course, your average Dell is a noisy bitch you wouldn't want under your television. My Mac Mini uses an 85W brick supply and generates almost no noise at all except for when under pretty high load.

The answer to this mystery, easily findable by anyone wishing to spend the five minutes to google something rather than debate it wildly, is that the PlayStation 3 apparently makes good use of heat sink and heat pipes to control the heat instead of a massive fan or fans. It's not exactly Star Trekkian by today's standards, actually, Zalman makes great CPU fans that utilize large copper sinks to require small, slower (quieter) fans.

It's not that it's wild high-tech stuff - it's just more expensive than the stock fans you usually get with your PC. Might even explain some of the PS3's price tag (and if so, hats off to Sony for spending a little more to keep the machine cooler and quieter).

OK - just wanted to clear that up. Sorry for not answering my own question earlier.



tagged: game, gaming

For Sunday: Cellar Door

According to Donnie Darko, it's the most beautiful phrase in the English language. Well, maybe, but this is a decent little indie short just for your Halloween fun. Although the terror that is a cat on a treadmill came as a close runner up.

Gotta love the Internet.

I Am Bully's Complete Lack Of Controversy

I would like to call out Joystiq's summary on Bully's non-controversy as the kind of thing that's rather grand to read. While certain people might try and zero in on this subject material as a sign of the decline of Western Civilization, it's nice to see the gamesphere take the high road and realize that, well, it's just really not. If guys like Jack Thompson want to hang their homophobia out on a public limb - let them. The rest of us can live in a rational world if we like.



tagged: game, gaming

Tetris Weightlifting

From the always excellent MAKE:

Tetris Weightlifting is a prototype entertainment fitness system that allows players to lift weights as the means of control for a modified version of Tetris. User testing with the device suggests great potential for combining casual games with exercise activity.

-- Tetris weightlifting



tagged: game, gaming

Serenity Fans Versus Universal

The movie Serenity was many a Firefly fan's last best hope for a continuation of the great Joss Whedon series. Sadly, it was marred by budgetary expenses (since the television sets had been scrapped, the producers had to spend bucks rebuilding them) and pretty haphazard marketing. The latter was in part because Universal had hoped that fans of the show would spread the word for them.

Sadly, this was a dumb strategy. Not that Firefly fans didn't spread the word - it's just that every Firefly fan already knew of the movie and planned to see it. Universal failed to garner a demographic outside the loyal fanbase and the movie barely made a profit, sealing doom for a sequel.

Slashdot is reporting that Universal is threatening legal action against fans for utilizing the Serenity brand without a license. The irony here being that many of these fans were using to brand to ... perform viral marketing.

In response, the fans are submitting an invoice for their time to Universal.

The problem, of course, is that Universal probably has the legal high ground here. Still, there is possibly no greater example in current popular culture of fans being the bedrock of a franchise - outside of perhaps the return of Family Guy to broadcast television. They watched the show, they bought the DVD's and they went to the movie. They've done everything they've ever could to help out and certainly the spirit of Universal's actions, if not the letter, is in the wrong here.

Firefly was, in my opinion, where science fiction needs to tread. It was serious and mature while still appealing to a mainstream crowd. The show never relied on special effects or over-the-top scifi hocum pocum to deliver a point. It relied on solid acting and strong writing. The fact that it couldn't survive on either television or the silver screen is a sad statement on both our entertainment industry and our culture.





tagged: television, firefly

Thompson's Brilliant Legal Tactics

As this video portrays (Joystiq via Destructiod), Batjack Thompson's real gift as a lawyer is annoying judges. The judge spends almost a good ten minutes giving Jack the smackdown while explaining why he isn't recusing himself from the restraining hearing on Bully (if I'm hearing the judges mumbling correctly). Thompson proceeds with a rather childish rant at the end and accuses the judge of violating his own order.

Remember that "great victory" Thompson got by getting the judge to review the game? Based on this, I don't think we have much to worry about. Thompson pissed off the judge in Alabama, pissed off the judge in Miami and will probably continue to think that a tirade is somehow a decent legal strategy.

And wtf was on that sign?


tagged: game, gaming

A Marketer On Lost Season 3

I understand that there are Sci-Fi and spiritual forces at play on the island. I dig those. To a point. Now you're just becoming too high-maintenance for this marketer. We've now got so many hatches (above and below sea level), the "lucky" numbers, the damn Polar Bears, branded sharks and washed-up Pirate ships. And (oy!) the friggin' "others". I don't want to become attached to the "others". It was just perfect enough having the characters from the tail-end of the craft enter the scene last year. That made sense. All were stranded. All were connected somehow. All had endured the same fall-out-of-the-sky experience.

Now we have gated island communities...who hold book clubs? Not cute, too complicated. Too much of the wrong drama. When all I want are complex characters--and a true ensemble cast. I've been having to tell some clients lately that their offerings and business models are far too complicated. If I'm grappling with how to communicate them, how are the prospects going to feel?

That's right, overwhelmed. One could say...lost.

-- Is "Lost" Losing its Luster? Characters not plot. Complex not complicated

An interesting take on the show's rating drop. Also, I didn't realize that Lost slipped out of the Emmy running completely last year.

Still, I would disagree that it's not the amount of information we've been given - I think it's a matter that we don't know what to do with any of it. Season Two didn't leave the audience feeling empowered. I didn't feel rewarded for having tracked any clues except for the fact that I had caught them in the first place. The hatch situation resolved itself without a plausible explanation. Previous assumptions, some supported by the producers themselves, now seem completel off-base.

I agree with her other point completely - Lost has a lot of strength in the characters. But it can't be all flashbacks and inneundo. I think flipping Locke back to Hunter Mode might be the smartest thing the show has done this season to date. I'm just hoping the inclusion of Paolo and Nikki don't negate all that...





tagged: television, lost

Best Case Fan Ever

From PC-Doc's photostream.



tagged: game, gaming

10 Worst PlayStation 3 Reports

As we near November and I go on a little writing vacation, let's go back in time and revisit some of the fine reporting that has been done on the PlayStation 3. Slowly as the console approaches launch - blogs and game sites seem to be warming up to the machine. For so long, though, it's been a punching bag. Let's peruse.

10. Gizmodo disapproves of the size of the PS3's package
I'm willing to chock this up as more funny than anything else, but I doubt we will see many holiday shoppers concerned about the heft of the PS3 box.

9. Peter Moore doesn't like the PlayStation 3
The above is a Eurogamer article on Moore dissing the PS3 controller, but that's because there are too many examples to pick from. To this day why anyone is suprised why a paid Microsoft shill might not like the PS3 is beyond me. I guess everyone just likes a good catfight. What's sad is watching a company utilize its headstart mostly to spread FUD around the blogosphere (and the blogosphere happily going along with it).

8. Joystiq decides ex-Nielsen analysts are "small and obscure"
Entirely not sure why the big J felt the need to belittle a perfectly respectable analysis firm putting out a valid survey, but I guess it's not kosher to report good news for Sony without doing such.

7. Sony's production delays are outrageous
It's true that Sony's launch is going to be kicked in the kneecaps with hardware shortages and supply problems. What's funny is how angry everyone is about this fact when they were so polite about Microsoft doing the same thing a year ago. On the last Next-Gen podcast it was even asserted that this behavior was simply unfair to the customer. It's odd how this console that much of the gamesphere insisted nobody would want will be such a problem not to have.

6. Kotaku estimates PS3 Games To Cost $60 - $90
This was actually widely reported - but I didn't want Kotaku to feel left out. Following a Japanese report, many people leapt to the conclusion that games would average out at about $80 or so. This turned out to be false ($60 is still in there though), but was fun while it lasted.

5. Gizmodo predicts PlayStation 3 flop - sees it in the LCD TV's
Citing a "snowball effect" from dropping their LCD TV line, Gizmodo assumes that Sony knows the PS3 will be a flop. Using similar logic, news about exploding batteries assumes the PS3 will self-combust after the first play. No ... wait, that one actually makes more sense.

4. Guardian reports PS3 may not play used games
To be clear, Aleks K of the the Guardian Gamesblog did the right thing and actually vetted this after they reported it - and found it to be completely false. Still, it was shocking to read a blog of the Guardian's stature fall for this rumor - which started when someone was bored and read a patent request for a completely unrelated (and to date unknown) product.

3. Boing Boing determines HDMI costs $100 (sans cables)
Cory Doctorow isn't a big fan of Sony, Apple, Microsoft or any other company which apparently uses any kind of DRM. He has a particular dislike for Blu-Ray. That's all well and good, but he instantly jumps to the conclusion that including HDMI is not only unfriendly to the customer - but also really expensive. Sadly, his math doesn't pan out since he ignores all the other differences between the two PS3 skus.

Which now both have HDMI, if I recall correctly.

2. LA Times reports PS3 may not play used games
I get to list this twice because nearly a year after the Guardian corrected itself, the L.A. Times returns to report virtually the exact same myth - only with more length and even less facts (the patent would appear to have been pulled at this time). Even G4's Attack of the Show would go to report this - ignoring that the concept behind it is physically impossible for the PlayStation 3.

1. Boing Boing declares that the PlayStation 3 won't play Blu-Ray movies
That's right, people - megablog Boing Boing read an article on C|Net about the troubles PC's might have with next-generation decoding for movies and assumed that meant Sony's PlayStation 3 would not be able to play Blu-Ray movies. Even though the article never mentions the PlayStation and it's clear to pretty much everyone on the planet that Sony has a major yen to get everyone playing Blu-Ray movies in their living room with the PS3. Cory would later go on to realize his mistake and post a correction - but I'm pretty certain he still used the word "cartel" a couple of times.



What's sad about this list is that there is so much to knock Sony about ... why go making stuff up? They have their crazy ad campaigns and absolutely boring press conferences. They decide to name their next generation online service nothing ... nothing at all ... and I can barely find a snarky comment on it anyway. What, a "Who's on first" comparison is too much of a stretch here? Sony is exploding laptops and once probably installed a rootkit on the machine of someone you know. Rootkit people -rootkit. Whenever you feel the need to kick Sony in the gut - and I know we've all been there - just say rootkit ... because honestly you can simply not beat a company enough for a mistake like that one.





tagged: sony, playstation 3,game, gaming

Mini Reviews: Killer 7, Rise of Sin Tzu and Hunter Wayward

Gamefly delivery last week and some free time contributed to a quick take on a few titles:

Killer 7
This was something of a darling of the review crowd for it's unique presentation style - which can best be decribed as somewhere in between blocky and cel-shaded. This is all well and good in my book, but the rest of the game's presentation was too incoherent to me. Perhaps this is one time that a manual would help explain why I walk into a building under the explanation that I'm "cleaning" it out ... only to find out that it's actually my ... home? Oh, and I'm somehow like five people at once and I can flip by changing the dial on the television.

Hey, I like weird - but this starts to go beyond that and enter into the prohibitively confusing. Can I get past the ghost who is somehow guarding an elevator by changing personas? No. Why? I don't know. Can I shoot the thing that I can see but apparently haven't proper "scanned"? No? Why? I don't know. And so on. Killer 7, honestly, feels like a game that is working with only half of a concept.

Batman: Rise of Sin Tzu
Batman: RoST is one of those games that doesn't really do anything wrong - but does very little exceptional. It's a very basic brawler - a kind of mildly updated Double Dragon with 3D graphics and some Batman flair. OK if you need a two player coop rental, I guess.

Hunter The Reckoning: Wayward
Not having played (or even really acknowledged the existence of) the original Hunter, Wayward came as a bit of a surprise to me. It hasn't been terribly well reviewed but I was trying to find new coop games for The Girl to try. Perhaps it was my lowered expectations, but I ended up having a lot of fun with this title.

As an action RPG - it's pretty limited, for sure. There isn't much character customization I can find ... essentially you just "upgrade" after so much experience. It's rather like the new Gauntlet without as much purchasing (none, in fact - there is no ingame store or anything). Where Wayward shines ... and I wish other action RPGs would liberally steal from it here - is it's combat system. Especially the melee which despite being mostly button mashing actually feels a little like swordplay. It's subtle, but being able to accurately pick your targets with the analog combined with a few movement features (jumping, etc.) gives the action a bit of versatility which is largely missing from most Diablo clones. It's simple - but it's fun.

Which is good because I'm not sure there's much more to the game. You hack apart incoming monsters, about 90% of them being zombies it seems, in rather sparse but well textured landscapes. Sometimes you have to find certain objects - which means destroying garbage cans and the like - and you can save "innocents" to get more continues. That seems to be the majority of the gameplay.

So I can see where someone might have been peeved for paying $50 for this title, but anything less than $30 and the game is pure gold I think. The Girl hasn't ventured into Zombieland with me yet, but I'm guessing two player mode is even more fun.





tagged: game, gaming

Lost: Women and Children First

Oh no, the episode was Every Man For Himself .... that's right. Personally I love a good con story so as a standalone piece of television, I'd rate this episode pretty highly. A little predictable perhaps - both the Warden twist and fakemaker was pretty well broadcasted I think. I am, however, glad it turned out to be a fakemaker. If the writers had wanted us to believe that Sawyer had chest surgery, recovered in a few hours and than survived being outside in a filthy cage and having the tar beaten out him ... I think they may have crashed their own plane of plausibility. That kind of sloppy writing would probably make me stop thinking about the show completely.

We didn't learn anything particularly new about Sawyer, other than he has a kid and fans of the show will now have another character to suggest that "maybe X is Sawyer's kid" to go with "maybe X is Him" or "maybe X is the real Sawyer" or "maybe X is Jack's dad's hooker" or "maybe X is the monster".

We learned Kate may or may not love Sawyer and that's it is good to be flat-chested sometimes. Personally, I'm just darn glad the whole episode didn't pan out as some kind of elaborate ruse to get Kate to profess an emotion.

Oh, and before I rail against the machine for a few paragraphs - some of the dialogue here was just top notch. Jack's scenes with Juliet were brilliant and Michael Emerson (Ben) is proving to be simply golden in nearly every moment he has.

Now, the questions, caveats and concerns:

Question: How could they not know Sawyer's age?
The have everyone's full names. They had a complete bio on Jack. They seem to know if you are bad or good - but they didn't have a birthdate for "James"? Seriously? It would have made more sense for Ben to walk up to Sawyer and state, "You are thirty five years old and weigh one ninety four." And then break into a comedy routine with Sawyer debating the obvious truth.

Caveat: No crash cart?
I'm assuming this is a plot point to be explained - but a co-worker this morning informed me I assume too much. She might be right. I mean, The Others have a book club, cartoons, tapes of recent baseball events, a submarine ... but not basic medical supplies? They've got the big freakin' needle from Pulp Fiction but they don't have a critical piece of hospital equipment?

Question/Concern: Why can't Bernard play golf? Or Rose? Who needs a Paolo?
The introduction of Paolo and Nikki feels forced and artificial - and sadly so does the delivery of most of their lines so far (all like five of them). Why the producers felt the need to pad an already large ensemble with a couple people that look like they wandered in from the set of a underwear ad really escapes me. The possibilites don't feel good - either they are tapping out on flashbacks for the main characters or Pool Boy and Hot Girl have been introduced just to get killed off ... which means the show has completely surrended its edge. Either way, doesn't feel good.

Concern: Desmond
Desmond was such a neat character - until he got crushed into a small ball by the implosion of several feet of concrete around him and was somehow transformed in the Messiah. These kinds of characters quickly devolve into a "thing" and not so much a "person". Desmond will become the "link to the island" or "the speaker of the true way" or some such. What sucks is that Desmond is now such a left turn from what most of us consider reality that the show hardly feels worth analyzing anymore. To quote from Green Wing - next week on Not Making Sense, I'll wax an owl. What's the point in trying to figure out what happened or will happen when miracle saves and precognition is on the table?

Concern: Why was Pickett so shocked and surprised?
No, I get that he was angry for losing his wife. That makes sense. There is, however, I think a fundamental contradiction with The Others. They do everything they can do to scare and intimidate the Losties. Kidnapping, killing, mind games and funky costumes. They're also smart, as Ben is often good about saying. They can think well in advance and form complicated tactics to meet their end goal. I wouldn't be surprised if Ben didn't get himself captured just to have the groundwork ready for Michael to betray Jack & Co.

So why do they constantly act shocked when the Losties defend themselves? They seem so annoyed that anyone might pull a gun to keep from being pulled into the jungle. They launch a stealth attack to steal a boat from frightened armed people - but it's the Losties fault that "Cole" died? How can they be so clever and fundamentally stupid at the same time?

Perhaps there is a twist down the way to help explain much of this. Problem with having faith in the show is it seems to be willing to bury the past pretty quickly. Much of Season One's questions seem to revolve about Walt and his relationship with The Island and his potential and whatnot. Then he disappears and later is whisked away on a boat. Season two is all about the hatch - but it implodes before we can get a full understanding of what was going on there. Both aspects seem to be completely left behind as we move on to understanding the Book Club now.

Hopefully we'll get more answers before they go imploding away onto a boat (or some such).




tagged: television, lost