Category Archives: Reviews
E3 Fails to Deliver The Next Gen Of Gaming
Sorry for the delay! Apparently I forgot to hit send on Monday. #fail. But for you Wednesday subscribers, you get an extra blog post! (Which is as follows):
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Depending on who you ask, this year’s E3 was either terrible or merely disappointing. Some are concerned the big three console developers aren’t keeping pace with the times. Others were surprised we didn’t see new consoles from Microsoft or Sony, but at the same time we saw tech that made Nintendo’s latest offering seem irrelevant. And you may have to get used to it, since apparently the Xbox 360 (and likely the Playstation 3) aren’t going anywhere for a couple of years.
This console cycle has been ongoing since November 20th, 2005 with the launch of the 360. That’s not a ridiculous length of time, but when you consider how quickly tech moves certainly these systems are definitely out of date. But there’s no question the next wave of consoles is being held back because Sony and Microsoft have invested a lot in these current consoles and, with a weak economy and evolving gaming climate that focuses more on mobile gaming and the casual market, there has to be a strong set of services with the consoles for new consumers to justify a purchase. In other words: this year, Microsoft focused their E3 conference on services because they feel that’s what will encourage non-gamers to buy an Xbox as opposed to having more new games than the other guys.
That and Kinect.
Still, not everyone centred their presentation around services. Nintendo seems focused on keeping the WiiU as a games machine. I’ll point out now the release of the WiiU could herald the start of the next cycle but I think their marketing tactics for the Wii have not endeared them to hardcore gamers and, while the Wii attracted the casual market, they failed to keep the interest of that market so it remains to be seen if they can win anyone over with the new device (especially with Microsoft’s Smart Glass offering something comparable, and better). Still, the WiiU’s fairly outdated hardware (expected to be marginally better than current hardware, which is 7+ years old) and none too impressive launch line-up (disregard the title of that article, and look at the fact most of those titles are the same sequels and rehashes we’ve come to expect…and most of the third-party games will be out on 360/PS3 months prior, if not already) means the WiiU likely won’t be bringing us that truly next generation experience anytime soon.
That just leaves Sony, and by most accounts the problem is not so much what they showed off at E3 as what they didn’t show off. They offered glimpses at next year’s games, next year’s products…but not their next console, and not what people have to look forward to this year. They’ve maintained the PS3 has a 10 year life cycle, but it’s becoming abundantly clear older hardware is allowing PC games to enjoy a resurgence and even several conference attendees gleefully talked about their computer game projects that were coming up. It begs the question what Sony can do to reinvigorate their Playstation division.
An obvious answer would be open the next-gen flood gates and let the tech finally catch up on the PC world (for a little while anyways). But right now that seems to be a step no one is willing to take and, until that happens, you can expect the same old boring E3s and the same old boring consoles as the big 3 manufacturers try to find new ways to sell old tech to new customers.
-PG
What I’ll Miss About My Blackberry
Yes, it’s true. I’ve gone over to the dark side…no, not Apple. The other dark side. Yes, Android.
I got myself a shiny new Samsung Galaxy SII, thinking the grass is always greener on the screen of the other side. I was right. But there are a few things I’ll miss about Ol’ Reliable. Here’s a few things to know if you’re thinking of making the switch.
The Blinking Red Light: This is easily one of the best, most overlooked Blackberry feature. A light that blinks when you have messages. Why is this useful? I don’t have to activate the screen to see when I have messages, saving me battery life and time! Granted, other phones besides Blackberries have this feature…but my Galaxy SII does not sadly.
Email: It’s taken me a little while to get email all sorted out on my new phone. It’s almost up to par, but I must admit email was stylistically easier to look at with RIM’s OS. As well, there were more options for setting up different types of accounts. Still, most conventional email types work fine.
Keyboard: The SII keyboard is excellent, but no touchscreen keyboard will ever match the precision or the speed of a physical keyboard.
Screen: I’d be crazy to say my old Blackerry’s screen had anything on the Galaxy SII picture wise or colour wise, but it was better at dealing with glare from sunlight. It’s near impossible to read the Galaxy SII’s screen sometimes in bright light! This is actually a fairly common problem with a lot of touchscreen and more modern phones, not just the Galaxy SII.
Media Buttons: I had the same problem when I tried an iPhone (though it’s even worse on iPhones). Using my old Blackberry Curve, there were buttons build into the top of the phone to pause or start the current song, go to the next one, and go back one. With most non-Blackberry phones (and most Blackberries which aren’t Curves, I might add) you need to unlock the phone and change the song using the screen. It’s a bit easier on Android than iOS since you can do it from the app tray at the top of the screen. But not nearly as easy as with my old Blackberry!
So, it’s true. RIM does still have a few redeeming convenience features with its phones and things that keep people coming back. But do I have any regrets about trading up? None whatsoever. These minor gripes are insignificant when compared to the speed and functionality the SII gives me over anything RIM could offer with its current lineup.This isn’t meant to be an ad for the SII, but if you are on the fence with your current Blackberry then the next few months are great times to start looking elsewhere.
-PG
There’s a Social Network For Everyone: Part 1
NOTE: Sorry to those who got the draft of this blog post early. Keyboard error! Hope you enjoy. -PG
As per David Hall’s suggestion, this week I’m reviewing a new social network I discovered via StumbleUpon. It’s called CatHugger.
Not sure I want to hug that cat...it looks angry.
CatHugger is a freemium social network for – you guessed it – cat lovers. There are three levels of membership: ‘Stowaway’ (free), ‘First Mate’ ($25/year), and ‘Admiral’ ($50/year). As you can probably guess from those names, there is a nautical theme to the site. No, I’m still not sure why.
After signing up (for a free account), the first thing I did was upload pictures of my cats.
Of course this post would include pictures of my cats. How could it not?
From what I can tell, there are just under one thousand users but it is well set up to keep you coming back. There are arcade games with leader boards, and on your home page you can see when new blog posts, photos, videos, and polls go up as well as bulletins from the admins. There are also a fair number of resources for users, like cat health tips.
Touching on the games for a moment, I was expecting most of them to be ‘cat themed’ or in some way related to cats but that’s not always the case. The first game I tried was a simple side scroller where you move a cat through various obstacles. But others included a game about milking cows, and another about defending a castle from an army of orcs! (and no, I was not in command of an army of cats).
CatHugger seems well set up for sharing as there are all kinds of submission options front and centre on your “Helm”, whether you want to write a blog, submit a song, or just ‘Meow something’. That being said, the privacy settings do offer plenty of control so if you’d like to restrict access to just people you friend then you have that option (and in hindsight, maybe I should have set THAT first before uploading pictures). The profile customization also seems quite strong, though I honestly found myself a bit confused by it and wish they did more to explain it since I couldn’t seem to apply the changes I was making. Removing widgets and apps was easy enough (though there were a lot to remove, and some of them like “Site Stats” you aren’t allowed to remove) but when it came to colour customization and the like the instructions were non-existent.
I mentioned before the site is ‘Freemium’ and it’s not just the subscriptions you can purchase. They do have a merch store, as well as a “Gift” system that I’m still trying to make heads or tails of. Both of the subscription accounts offer you a set amount of points monthly to spend on cute little pictures and such you can send via their internal mail system to other users. However, it doesn’t explain all the ways you can get these points if you’re a ‘Stowaway’ (somehow I had 5 points) or if they do anything else but buy gifts. When attempting to send a gift you can select points and there’s a greyed out option for ‘money’, and yet you can buy points in the store.
If I had to sum up CatHugger in one word, it would be ‘disorganized’. It leaves too much up to the user to figure out. I discovered after using the site for a bit you’re supposed to set up your account then set up sort of ‘slave accounts’ for each of your cats (and that’s meant to be one of the perks for the paid accounts…the ability to have over 5 cats registered to your account…wait, people might need that???). The customization is great, but also a lot of work. It should be noted that the site is still fairly new, and there are plenty of broken links along with a few spelling errors. I was willing to forgive a lot since there’s this big logo that says “From the Rescue Ship Archangel” which made me think the money they’re making is going to help rescue cats or some such thing. Indeed, they make that claim on their front page…
Proceeds from paid memberships feed and vet the cats of the Archangel Cat Rescue.
…though I haven’t been able to find a website for them thus far. Still, I can assure you CatHugger.com is the finest social network for cat lovers that I have come across.
If you know of any other niche social networks you use or want me to check out, leave a comment or email listeners@talknowledgy.ca! I plan on doing more of these reviews…
-PG
