June 2007 - Posts
Yep, it's true! Couldn't help myself - was visiting the SoHo store today in New York and they had a ton in stock.
Not going to do a review or anything, but I will say Apple has set yet another amazing UI/interface bar with the iPhone. The interactivity and general responsiveness is amazing - it really does act like those videos you've seen on Apple.com.
Here's a link (since the hyperlink embedding button seems to be wonky today): http://www.apple.com/iphone/usingiphone/guidedtour.html
And the phone itself is gorgeous. Trust me, to use one is to want one.
About the only really real problems I have (so far) with it are:
1. Price - there's no getting around the fact that this ends up being a $650 phone (after tax).
2. No Microsoft Exchange syncing - though I haven't had a chance to try it on a PC with Outlook installed, so I don't know what it does there.
3. Only supports EDGE network (and not 3G). Not a problem when you're by a free WiFi hotspot, but slow otherwise.
They'll fix all this - but in the meanwhile, I'm off to play!
Just wanted to point you to a couple of interesting posts today.
The first was Jerry/"Tycho" of Penny Arcade fame talking about ThreeSpeech (the "unofficial" Sony blog), as well as commenting on Microsoft bloggers in general. As usual, his writing speaks for itself, so I'll just quote the piece referring to Microsoft blogs:
Microsoft's marketing isn't slimy, it's just bad. Inert. The entire platform strategy was designed to secure a leadership position in the next generation, and once they achieved it, they were paralyzed by it. I thought it was rudderless behavior until I realized that they had simply reached their destination and sort of unpacked their things. As for their blogger phalanx which encircles the web, their position as explicit partisans dilutes their message automatically. Unless you are searching for quantifiable facts like release dates or raw platform orthodoxy, their editorial content is understood to emanate from that circle of cursed megaliths in Redmond.
For what it's worth, I'm actually good friends with Jerry (and the rest of the PA crew), and don't take any offense here. I completely agree about the "challenged" attributation of ThreeSpeech opinions. I'm certainly not thrilled with all of our marketing (and frankly, Apple manages to spank us so badly at times that it really, really smarts!) Can't argue that one. But I was somewhat struck by his opinion on corporate bloggers.
I can't argue the fact that simply being employed by a company in an industry you're commenting on is going to have the effect of causing people to suspect bias. And in fact, there's truth to the statement. The simple fact that I can't write about some of the confidential things we're doing removes a huge chunk of topics right off the top. And I'm sure the very nature of working on something you believe in passionately can also tinge a viewpoint. But I can also say that a lot of folks at Microsoft (especially those in the games division) are super-passionate about what we've built and continue to build.
There have been plenty of times that people have sent us feedback (some of it solicited here, in fact). And it's good stuff. You'd be amazed at how often we're already working on identified problems - we're gamers here, it's not like we don't know. Unfortunately, sometimes we just can can't enable certain things. To use one of Jerry's favorite quotes of mine, it's often a "time and space" issue. Sometimes we're able to get to it later, sometimes we never get to it. But I can say that there's a lot of deep, internal soulsearching when we make the tradeoffs on what we build. There's some magical stuff coming down the pipe in the next few years... give us the benefit of the doubt. We tend to deliver on our promises, even if it takes us three versions to get it right. 
One of my coworkers was also struck by Jerry's comments, and he wrote up a heartfelt response. Take a read, and whatever you do, keep up the communication and the comments. (Yes, even you Mr. "Ring of Death and DVD attack" man. ) We're slow sometimes, but each and every one of your comments are heard.
Sorry - just couldn't resist the title... and it's all the funnier because there's really nothing to beware here. Just that inflammatory yellow journalistic streak taking a cheap shot.
Anyway, just saw over on N'Gai's blog his announce of Nintendo's Wiiware initiative - basically bringing original arcade games to their downloadable platform, versus the old-school classic content they've had previously. Many of us in the industry have known about this for well over a year, but interestingly, it hasn't leaked. Guess there's still a bit of professional courtesy out there.
I'm really looking forward to seeing what arcade developers can do with the Wiimote. I've said before that I don't think the Wii will have long legs. Even today, I struggle to find games I want to play. I honestly haven't turned the box on in months, and am currently just waiting on the next Mario.
That said, this arcade initiative is very interesting and could be just what the Wii needs to survive. Imagine (as I think is unfortunately likely) that third party support falls off the map by next year (meaning third parties just haven't been able to duplicate the Nintendo magic). Toss in a price cut or two, and the Wii could well become a $100 online-connected, arcade box... one that would fit well in every dorm room in the world. Obviously there will be price cuts from the other guys as well, but Nintendo is well-positioned to be the lowest cost console out there. If the games start flowing, I could easily imagine the Wii becoming a significant player in the arcade space - coincidentally, a space where higher-end graphics don't matter as much. Not a bad place to be.
I like Halo. That's probably not a shock to anyone - in fact, you probably expect a love of Halo to be a part of the Microsoft indoctrination process. That said, I really do like Halo, even without the brainwashing. I'm not a big fan of the multiplayer (I know, I know - heresy!), but I love the story and Halo mythology. There's just something epic about the Forerunners and the hints you glean about them as you play the game that's completely hooked me, and I'm looking forward to finishing the story arc with Halo 3.
The game isn't perfect. In fact, I'll expose myself to the Microsoft snipers and say that in many ways Halo is over-rated. The weapons are good, but nothing mind-blowing. Gameplay is a lot of fun (and extremely well-balanced), but man... can it be repetitive! I just finished replaying Halo 2 (on Windows) and was reminded of this when I went through the umpteenth cloned hallway and walked through nigh-infinite series of ambushes. <sigh> And for the sake of not breaking my keyboard against the wall, I won't even mention Halo 2's non-ending.
All that said, probably the most frustrating aspect of Halo for me is the wonky audio mixing. As I said, I just played the single player game of Halo 2 through to remind myself of the story and try and catch aspects I'd missed before. Unfortunately, even the second time through there are many places where Cortana tries to speak but you can't hear her clearly, or one of the sentinels (Penitent Tangent in Halo 2) hints at backstory but you just can't catch it. It's incredibly frustrating, but luckily someone pointed out a great Halo Universe "bible" that you can read to get a great summary - including integrated details from the novels.
Take a read if you've never "gotten" the Halo mythology. And do check out the games if you haven't... they're a ton of fun, especially co-op. Frankly, the most fun I've ever had on a console was playing through Halo 1 and Halo 2 on the Xbox with a friend on the couch. Good times!
That's according to this Reuter's article. To quote:
Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) President Kazuo Hirai was quoted by the Nikkei newspaper as saying that 200 software titles and 180 download-only titles would be released for the PS3 in the current business year to next March.
At present, there are 60 software titles and 50 download-only titles available for the PS3 worldwide, the newspaper said.
Seems pretty aggressive to me considering the six month timeframe. That would mean Sony would need to release 33.3 retail titles a month to hit this target. If you include the download-only titles, Sony would need to release 63.3 titles a month to achieve this. (It's worth noting this is just a simple average, and the majority of these sales are going to happen in the peak holiday sales months of November and December.)
I'm not doubting that we'll see plenty more titles this holiday - that's almost a given with a $100 PS3 price cut pretty much assumed by the industry. But I'll bet when we look back at the number of titles released next year it won't be anywhere near these projections.
[Edit: Folks pointed out a clarification from Sony that states only 145 titles will be coming to the US by March 2008; 105 boxed retail games, and 40 Playstation Network games. Still aggressive - that's 24 titles a month. But you can squint and maybe see getting close if you count all the multi-platform SKUs (which I'm sure they are).]
It's been a while since I've written about Sony... mostly because there hasn't been anything really of interest to write about. The corporate puppy has been thoroughly kicked, and it appears the consumer message is finally getting through.
Next-gen just put up an interview with Eric Lempel, the Director of Playstation Network operations. Lots of interesting quotes in here. They're not terribly surprising (at least to those who have been reading this blog for a while), but interesting nonetheless.
“Microsoft had a year jump on us for the launch and essentially we’re offering a lot of the same stuff. I don’t think there’s a big difference in exactly what we’re offering when it comes down to the nuts and bolts of what’s actually there for the consumer… We’re not charging money for our service. That’s a key differentiating factor.”
Obviously I'd disagree here. Right now Sony is trying to follow a "checkbox strategy." If you looked at a list of network features side-by-side, it's quite obvious Sony is trying to go down the list and check off missing items. Friends list? Check. Presence? Check. Online Marketplace? Check. What's not said here is that there's no integration among those features... I wrote about this a long time ago, but simply put, the online network wasn't even being designed when the console came together and there are fundamental holes in the experience that are either very difficult or impossible to fix.
More interesting is that you're beginning to see the cracks in the "free is better" mantra we've been hearing for the past five years. Believe me, I get that free is good... but you've all seen that you get what you pay for when it comes to an online service. As Next-gen says, however:
...that could be open to change in the future.
“Right now that’s our model. In time anything can change but right now we’re happy with it.”
I've got to swing over to NeoGAF later and see the tizzy that's spun up from this. The reality shoe is finally dropping.
[Edit: added a link to the NeoGAF forum post - it's already started.]
There's also a quote highlighting the, shall we say, "inspired emulation" of Xbox Live features:
Lempel did concede that Sony was working to replicate a number of Xbox Live’s most successful features including cross-game invites, the ability to access the cross-media bar in-game, and an achievements system.
“I like how their marketplace is integrated directly into their user interface….Talking across games is fantastic. That definitely builds momentum for games and actually migrate users to other games and keeps you in touch with your gaming community.
Again, due to the lack of planning and huge amounts of memory the system UI takes, much of what he's talking about will be difficult to impossible to do well on the PS3. But it's good to hear some steps will be taken in this direction, and it lays the groundwork for a better online framework next generation. I'm not kidding when I say I really want the PS3 experience to be better. I'm a gamer, too, and I know there will be some first-party games out of Sony that I can only play on the PS3... and I'd like to not suffer while doing so. More importantly, you can never understate the importance of competition to driving this industry forward.
Finally, an Achievements clone is coming... most of folks here have known the likelihood of this for a long time, but it's good to hear a commitment:
“We’re working on an achievements system... I can’t say if it’s definitely tied to a gamerscore or something like Xbox does but that is an important feature.
I'll be curious to see if there's any innovation here. Not a snide remark, just honestly curious if there will be more than a "here's a 3D trophy instead of a bitmap" achievement. Time will tell!
I wrote earlier about Ubisoft's remake of the classic Prince of Persia by Jordan Mechner. Downloaded it last night, and it's fantastic, especially if you remember playing the original for many misspent hours of your youth. I just came across a great video on Gametrailers.com which shows off differences between the PC, Genesis, and Xbox Live Arcade versions - good for a trip down memory lane.
Also of interest is the rumor (which I can't find right now) that Jordan is working on another side-scroller for next year. Karateka, anyone?
[Edit: Just read through the whole Wikipedia article on Karateka and came across this gem:
The Apple II version came on one apparently single-sided disk. As an easter egg, a second version of the game was placed on the flip side of the disk. If one put the disk into the drive upside-down, the game played identically to the first side, except that the game was displayed vertically flipped. According to Mechner, this was done as a joke, causing naive users to call tech support and ask why the game was upside-down. Invariably, they would receive the reply, "take the disk out, insert it right-side up, and reboot".
Mr. Mechner has just leapt to the top of my personal game god pantheon.]
Yep, Sony has created a Playstation blog to allow the gaming community to more directly communicate with the company. No snide comments here - this is a positive development for the entire community. While I may personally strongly disagree with many aspects of the PS3 strategy, the fact that Sony is willing to have a dialog with gamers directly is a great step forward. I hope the feedback they get helps improve the PS3 - I mean this sincerely. Competition is good, and helps drive us all.
Welcome aboard Sony!
As with most things high-def, there's a lot of confusion around video codecs and what they do for you. I was pointed to this great summary of video codecs (including quality testing), and just wanted to share. It's an easy enough read such that most people won't get lost, and you'll begin to understand just why people get so passionate about their preferred codec.
Fun quote for the day:
Here’s a fun and jaw-dropping fact about digital video: At a post-production house, an uncompressed two-hour film in digital cinema resolution and quality will clock in at about 12 terabytes, less 9 to 18 gigabytes for the accompanying 16 channels of 48 or 96kHz audio.
Some of this can be explained away when you consider digital cinema’s 4096 x 2160 (or 4K) resolution, but the data rate is still monstrous – far too high for commercial cinemas to read and project, let alone store. This is why digital films are perfectly – or ‘losslessly’ – compressed to no more than 500GB, resulting in visually identical footage that requires a bit of decoding processor muscle.
Even after you account for the drop in resolution from 4K to 1080p, it’s still clear that no consumer format has enough space to deliver this kind of perfectly reproduced image quality. And that’s just the film – we haven’t even thought about the space needed for the extra features we’ve come to expect from our discs yet. This is where ‘lossy’ codecs come into play. They’re much more complex than lossless codecs, and we’ll examine them after we’ve looked at the basics of compression.
Just came across a great post from Wired highlighting some of the lost arcade games of the USSR. I'm an old arcade guy. Back in the day I had a paper route solely for the ability to go collect on bills and get just enough to go and play at the arcade all weekend. Some of these games would have never passed muster, but they're fascinating to see!
I also apologize for the lack of meaty posts recently. There's been a lot of stuff happening both inside and outside of work, and frankly, by the time I get back home and take the dogs out I'm pretty much done for the day. Hopefully things will get to a more even keel soon.
My favorite game has to be the first one shows - OBGON. To quote:
Driving games make up a large proportion of Soviet-made video games. The title of this one, Obgon, means to "pass" or "overtake." There is a single pedal on the floor to accelerate. Soviet driving games did not offer gearshifts or brake pedals.
Came across this great spoof of the old Interactive Fiction games (aka Text Adventures). In this case the writer sends up Zork (and the IF genre in general) beautifully. Check it out if you have any memories of that golden era and want to relive your glory days. I did.
Just a quick note to let you all know I'm consolidating my domain management and moving ozymandias.com to another registrar. This may mean intermittent access to the site for a short while, but hopefully it won't be too long. Thanks for your patience!