PS3's Blu-Ray is Turning 2. Point Oh.

The next PS3 firmware upgrade is looking damn good. Great, even. Here's the feature list. The two features I'm looking forward to most? Blu-Ray 2.0 and increased PSP-PS3 interoperability (ugly word, that). Oh, and the improved PS3 web browser (with improved video streaming capabilities) is very welcome indeed.

As an aside, let me say that I love it when the highest quality products win out over inferior crap. Such was the case with Blu-Ray vs HD-DVD. VHS did not triumph over Betamax this time around. Hooray for that.

In-Game Wrecka Stowe

Rock Band is getting an in-game music store this week. My two-word response: Hell yes.

Let's hope this is a preparatory feature leading to what really needs to happen: The creation of a much, much larger music library. As it stands now, we get an underwhelming three new songs per week (not counting the recent anomalous 6-song Grateful Dead pack). Yawn. I want an iTunes-calibre library of Rock Band-friendly songs to choose from. And I'm sure I'm not alone in this. 

One would think that music labels would jump on this new distribution (and revenue-generating) opportunity. Existing songs are already selling very well even though at $1.99 they cost double what the average iTunes song costs.

Here's hoping the new store interface is a hint of vaster libraries of music to come.

Personal Pirate Flag At Half Mast?

I'm afraid to go homebrew with my PSP. This is a terrible blow to my pirate soul. Am I getting old?

Yes, of course I am. But this particular unwillingness to be weird is a little frightening. It used to be that "modding" was the first thing I'd look into. But now I'm slow in the head and willing to wend my way to the guv'ment trough, money in hand, a scofflaw no longer.

So while other people are rocking multiple retro-system emulators with a custom PSP firmware setup, I'm sitting here with my (admittedly excellent) Patapon, Lego Star Wars, (and not so excellent) flOw and Gangs of London.

Nuts. Who wants to play Hogan's Alley again anyways? Okay, I do. But I can do that already on my Mac's NES emulator. And when I do it isn't really fun. But how cool (in an uncool nerd sense, which is the only sense I have)... how cool would it be to have every retro gaming system in the palm of one's hand, along with massive libraries of crap software to go with them?

Pretty cool. That's the answer. If you're a dork. And I am. But not enough to go homebrew on my PSP, I guess.

Put me out to pasture.

Reader, Meet Author

We need some readers, even if we don't yet have the content to retain them. Any thoughts? Let's get the w3rd out about our fledgling video game / pop culture hell-hole.

Oh, and check out the fuckin' sick news about Grand Theft Auto 4's multiplayer. You best have your PS3 by then, lady-friend. We're already missing out on some good times in Paradise City.

Boyz II Men already! You already admitted here that Wii didn't start the fire. Shamon!

Dirty, dirty, dirty.

"Tangent!"

If you are a member of Blogger, you may know that when creating your profile you are given a "Random Question", which will ostensibly compel you into a fit of creativity, opening a conduit through which you may provide startling insight into your very aenima.

The question is chosen at random - and in fact, if your conduit is not so opened by the question offered, you may request a different one.

Here's what I was given:

You get to ride the big roller coaster three times in a row. What will keep your dad from taking a bite out of your candy apple?

PSN Store = Bore (Lately)

Yeah... so the last three weeks have been kind of meh on the Playstation Network Store. Rock Band tracks are the only interesting things to look forward to of late, it seems, and even those have been kinda lame over the last month or so.

I bought flOw the other day. I like the zen simplicity of it, but I never feel compelled to play it. I guess I'm more goal-oriented than I thought.

Before that, I picked up Go! Sports Skydiving. Mistake. One word review: Shit. I'll be hard-pressed to pick up another game in that series. Why did I give it a second chance after the abysmal Skiing effort? I suppose that I figured it would be hard to screw up Skydiving. It's such an interesting activity to base a game on, really. But no. No "Go!". Ever again.

PixelJunk Monsters was fun for a little while, but I have very little interest in it anymore. PAIN is extremely limited, sporting as it does only one cityscape. They keep releasing more characters to hurl into that one cityscape, and I'm not buying 'em because a rag doll by any other name ooches the same in the same old playground. That game seriously needs another level. One just doesn't cut it.

The PSN game with the greatest longevity is probably Super Stardust HD, and that's because it is a pure arcade shooter. Even the original Asteroids is still fun in a pinch.

Just a few thoughts. I want the PSN Store to be kewler than it is, basically. Shamon! I'm tired of the HD trailers (why would I download that shit when I can just fire up Youtube and see the same thing?) and XMB Themes. I want to be able to download kung fu directly into my brain.

I'm impatient for the future. That's what it is. Hurry the fuck up and get here because I'm not going to live forever.

So Luke Skywalker. Never my mind on where I am or what I am doing.

Also: Too old. Too old to begin the training.

End. GOTO 10.

...and You, and You, and You and You and...Not You.

Presumably, no one is reading this page today because it is release day for "Pro Evolution Soccer 2008", a game I have been anticipating for months.
You can buy it for your PSP, or
You can buy it for your PS3, or
You can buy it for your PS2, or
You can buy it for your XBox 360 (and admire the way the light from the RRoD reflects off of the case), or
You can sit, like me, and put one more check in the "AGAINST" column for the Wii, because it won't come out for the Wii until next week.
The two biggest releases of the past couple of weeks - assuming you are not eight years old or a ridiculous Nintendo fan-kid (yes, I'm looking at all of you who pined for "SSB:B"...ugh) - are "Bully", a re-packaging of a 2006 PS2 game, and "PES2008" which...apparently...you can't have.
Everyone else can, however - so wish them luck.
I know it's a little thing - what's a week? - but it's yet another jab in the eye for this stupid platform I have saddled myself with. Is the Wii so lame that it doesn't rate the same release date as all the other platforms?
While waiting at the DMV yesterday afternoon I picked up "The Senior Times", a good-hearted rag targeting the blue rinse brigade, which touches on important issues such as support garments and liquified foods. The feature article on the front page was that piece of technology that is igniting friendships throughout the senior care facilities of the Pacific NW: the Wii.
Apparently I rock the same video games that your grandma does.
Wii can has our medications now?

The 60 In 360 Is For Failure Rate

There is an interesting poll over at Cheap Ass Gamer asking readers about their XBOX 360 reliability. 

As of this writing, there have been 2946 respondents. Of those, nearly 60% claim that their 360s broke once or multiple times. Another 11% say they've owned a 360 for less than a six months with no problems. And a mere 29% have been problem-free for over six months.

Could it be that only the jilted are responding to the poll? Perhaps. But those numbers are ugly any way you slice it.

I wonder if the 360 is built in the same Chinese factory as the Rock Band guitar. I've had two faulty replacements to my original faulty plastic Fender. Le sigh.

PSP vs iPod Touch: Early Thoughts

My household recently became flush, temporarily, and we decided to spend our newfound entertainment dollars on two snazzy devices: The Sony PSP and the Apple iPod Touch. Here are some of my thoughts after using both over the last fortnight or so:

Gaming: The PSP obviously kicks the iPod Touch's ass on this front, which should of course come as no surprise to anyone. What may come as some surprise is that this is the only area in which the PSP excels over the iPod Touch.

Video: The PSP turned out to be somewhat of a pain in the ass as a video player. It's far more persnickety than the iPod in terms of what it will play. Images on both screens look great, but getting those images to display is simply easier on the iPod Touch. Both units can pipe video out to larger display devices via component video, which is great. Ultimately, the iPod wins on this front for ease-of-use and broader file compatibility.

Audio: Both devices handle audio well. The iPod Touch offers a superior interface. It's just easier and more fun to operate the iPod with an oily finger than to push the PSP's buttons. Subjective, I know, but that's the tenor of this entire piece so deal with it. :) The PSP is less finicky with audio files than it is with video files, thankfully. In terms of functionality, this category is a tie, I suppose, although the iPod Touch's interface is better, cleaner, simpler. Buttonless = Modern.

Internet: The PSP utterly failed to impress me as an internet device. Web-browsing is hampered by a limited browser and a text-entry method that can most charitably be described as clunky. There is no way to access your email accounts via POP or IMAP. I was able to send and received messages via my web-based gmail account, but again, the experience was far from top-notch. The best internet PSP feature is its Skype app, which works very well after you spend $40 for the required Sony Headphones and PSP Headphone Remote (sold separately -- le sigh). Meanwhile, the iPod Touch is very nearly a pleasure to use, which is incredible considering it consists of exactly one button and a sheet of glass. You get a very capable mini-Safari for web-browsing and an equally capable Mail application that allows you to access your various POP and IMAP accounts with ease. I find the iPod Touch's solution to text entry to be very much acceptable, especially when compared with Sony's painful "solution." The iPod Touch causes you to use a hunt-and-peck, single-finger-typist approach, while the PSP forces you to use two hands to navigate a cell phone keypad interface. Not so good, Sony.

Conclusion: If you want an internet device and media player, get an iPod Touch. If you want a mobile gaming device, get a PSP. No surprises here, I know. But I was somewhat disappointed to learn that the PSP cannot compete with the iPod as an internet device, at least not with its current firmware (3.90 as of this writing). The PSP can do some very interesting things in tandem with a PS3 via its Remote Play functionality, so if you own both, you'll enjoy both more than you would enjoy either one singly.

There are no surprises with the iPod Touch. It performs very well as advertised and its lack of gaming capability cannot be a letdown as it never pretended toward offering a gaming experience. The news here is that while the PSP offers net functionality (including the recent addition of a Skype app that does work well), that functionality is largely underwhelming at best. Don't go into a PSP thinking that you're buying the total package.

I know both devices will continue to evolve. I know there is a healthy PSP homebrew firmware community. I know Apple is releasing an SDK for its mobile devices very soon. All of that is beyond the scope of this piece which is concerned with comparisons of out-of-box versions of both devices. For the record, I love both, but for very different reasons.

Aight. 'Nuff said.