TechMaven

Incredible season for technology

It has already been one amazing season for new technology.  From the early kickoff of the iPhone (and numerous copies) to the recent releases of Rock Band, Amazon's Kindle, a TON of games for PS3, XBOX360, and the Wii, and more than a few releases in the GPS world (even ones for mountain bikes) - there's no shortage of stuff to drool over and eventually buy. 

I haven't written in quite a while and plan on writing a few posts soon about the Kindle, Rock Band, and a few other things I've managed to pick up or play with.  If you're reading this and have an idea or question, post it as a comment.  I'm interested to know what you're buying.  Or intentionally not ;)

And no, that gadget pile isn't stuff I own.  Well at least not all of it.  I probably did at one point though. 

I'm finishing the fight

Finally.  Halo 3 is here. 

Is it awesome?  Duh.  Are the graphics great despite the BS pixel nerds that are talking about the 640 lines issue?  Yes.  Is it actually fun to play?  Of course.  Is the story good?  So far.  I'm only 5 missions deep.

I'm glad that all of the reviews of Halo 3 have been 9.5's or greater.  I haven't found anything about the game that I don't like yet except for a few random crashes (never really had any on my XBOX 360) but a reset fixes it.  I'm surprised at how difficult Heroic is, and Legendary is insane.  I'm playing on Normal right now to get the game done then I'll go back for the rest. 

I played my CMO Sam Decker tonight on XBOX LIVE and it was rather entertaining, but our lag was terrible.  I'm sure neither of us (being minor gamers at best) have invested in the time or router technology to ensure a fast connection, but it was fun nonetheless.  He's a better shot than he looks.

This is AMAZING

Video games hidden in LP records that have to be recorded to cassette tape then played with NO instructions or any guidance whatsoever.  AND BY THE THOMPSON TWINS.  Amazing.

This is crazy.

http://crunchgear.com/2007/06/19/video-games-hidden-in-lp-records/

Great find Crunchgear!

Remember Wing Commander?

Wing Commander was the best PC game ever.

Do you remember Wing Commander?  This was by far the best game I ever played on my 386 SX-16.  I had to turn the "turbo" switch off just to get the damned ships to fly at a speed that was humanly manageable. 

Why was this game so awesome?

• There was a story!  And the story was awesome.  The Kilrathi were out to get you and you had to defend the terrans accordingly.  Who could want more than that? 
• The controls were easy.  Fly around, point your mass drivers at something, shoot.  Repeat.  It worked!  The little crappy joystick I had worked just fine.
• It wasn't too easy.  The game was hard to master, because the ships changed characteristics and gave you a run for your money.  It was fun to keep dying and trying.

This was a game I'll remember forever.

 

Video games that SHOULD have been made

Ever wonder what games COULD have been made, and SHOULD have been made, but weren't made?  Well check these out.  Absolutely hilarious.

Playstation 3 Scan Lines

Alright, so after I finally got a cable (see earlier post) I had the fun of plugging everything in and immediately seeing a scan-line scrolling up across my screen.  It didn't look good at all. I tried different inputs thinking maybe it was something with my inputs on the Pioneer tuner (even though I was doubtful).  I tried different cables for other inputs and even tried the PS2 standard def AV cables in case there was a problem with the PS3 cable I had.  I tried a different plug on the wall and different power strips.  Nope.  Only thing that seemed to work is totally removing EITHER the Tivo3 or the PS3 from the setup, which wasn't doable in the long run ;)  I turned to the web, searched for "PS3 screen interference," and found this post that wasn't super-helpful.  But it got me thinking...

I moved the PS3's plug to a different outlet and bam - it got better.  I could still BARELY detect a scan line (showed up worst when watching Superman Returns) but I could still see it.  I was just going to suck it up until about 30 seconds went by and I had to do more research.

Eureka - this post really helped.  Turns out I have, like others have noticed, a "ground loop" issue.  Read on if you're seeing Playstation 3 induced scan lines on your nice HDTV.  Note that this won't happen with HDMI for the PS3 input but I bet it still happens for the other devices in your setup.  Now my Tivo3 and PS3 are living in harmony and all is well.  Moral of the story is there's generally an answer on the web and trust your instincts.  And buy HDMI enabled stuff ;)

PS3 Component Cable Weakness

So I get a PS3 from Best Buy (see my earlier post today) and I get it home thinking of COURSE it has component out cables in the box.  (I know, I should have read more carefully).  I head back to Best Buy and of course they don't have any.  They don't tell me however that you can use PS2 component cables because the PS3 has the exact same video output port as the PS2 (and the PSOne).  Finally, after more than a few calls and stops to various retailers, I land some PS2 component cables and all was well.

What I find to be a bit outrageous is Sony foregoing the component cables for a box they built for the sole purpose of being HD.  Their Blu-Ray disc player is really USELESS without an HD connection.  These cables are maybe $20 retail, probably $2 to produce, and the XBOX360 Platinum includes a set of their own. 

Sony is doing a great job of making sure their customers feel taken advantage of and held hostage at every turn.  With the fake blogging incident  recently and their current standing in the console wars  , some customer love would go a long way to re-establishing them as a brand that people can like.

image credit: Joystiq

My PS3 Buying Experience

First I have to say that I already own a Wii and a 360.  This obsession with technology is something that my friends laugh at and parents never understood but it will drive me for a long time.  I knew I had to have a PS3 eventually, but I was prepared to wait until March or June even.  The only game that I wanted for PS3 right now was Resistance: Fall of Man and that was only because it was exclusive to PS3.  Reviews on it were decent and I love sci-fi shooters.  Anyway I had already passed on a few online bundles because they were including obscene numbers of games (Walmart's bundle was up to 10 games, I couldn't honestly tell you that there were 10 games available at launch).  I *was* using PS3 Locator off of XPBargains.com on the hopes of finding a bundle that wasn't ridiculous, but wasn't having any luck.

Then there were stories about Best Buy hoarding their stock of PS3's to release a December 31st flood.  The stories said 25 per store, minimum!  That was more PS3's than most of us thought existed - and based on data from Hoover's that would be 785 stores x 25 units = 19,625 total PS3's available on December 31st.  Based on a $600 per PS3 price that means about $11,775,000 that SHOULD sell in a few minutes, right?  Wrong.  Read on.

I decided to drive by the Austin arboretum store just before midnight on December 30th.  To my surprise there was no line, no one waiting yet to get one of these 60GB PS3's, and seemingly no interest at all.  I figured it must be the holidays and at some point in the near future the line would start collecting.  I didn't want to sleep there to get one of these, and now significantly doubted that I'd have to, so why not just get up early the next morning and roll on over to check it out.  I was taking a chance but I didn't really have to get a PS3 right now anyway.

I got up at 5:45AM, threw on some clothes, let the dog out, and headed over to Best Buy.  There was no one waiting.  I saw a few cars that looked like people MIGHT be waiting, but turns out one was an employee that had to head in momentarily and another was a security guard (maybe to contain the mayhem that was about to ensue?  I was hopeful).  This is the scene at the Best Buy that morning:

I had my Macbook in hand and a fresh cup (or 4) of coffee so whatever, I'm ready to wait.  I wanted to get a PS3 at this point and I fully expected Murphy's Law to kick in if I even attempted to leave.  Soon enough a (very cool) Best Buy employee comes out and asks what I'm there for.  I didn't realize there was a choice - so I asked what else COULD I be there for.  So this is when it starts to get interesting - he said that most people were asking about the Nintendo Wii.  Most people?  There wasn't anyone there.  He told me that a bunch of people had already been there but all were asking about a Wii.  When told that there were PS3's available they usually left. I was first in line, what an accomplishment, and I was definitely getting a PS3.  At 9am.  And it was 6:15.

I spent the next few hours playing Wingnuts 2 (demo, and surprisingly fun) and chatting it up with other folks as they waited in line.  No wait, they didn't wait at all - once they found out the Wii wasn't coming, they left.  Here's what the line looked like right up until they started handing out tickets:

I finally got a ticket and sure enough it was numbered.  Amazingly they had NO ONE ELSE show up for a PS3.  I called a friend of mine at 8:30 to tell him they were available because he'd been looking for one for a while.  He appreciated it.  And got one.  Easily.  By showing up at 9:00AM, three full hours after I did.  Clearly the demand for PS3 is simply not the same as for the Wii.

Update: When I stopped back in that same store at 2:00PM they still had 8 60GB and 1 20GB units left.  The store was packed, signage was up that they had the units available, but nothing.  They weren't selling.  I'm sure they sold them by the end of the day but it is still quite surprising that these units didn't sell faster.  Or maybe it isn't.