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--- Saturday, January 13, 2007

Meanwhile in Maui...

Permalink: 1/13/2007 05:32:00 AM

traffic on maui
Originally uploaded by i 2 i.

A shot for those of us stuck in winter, haha.

--- Friday, January 12, 2007

Playstation 3: Day 5 (Round-up) .. Blu-Ray, Tony Hawk PS2/PS3 comparison, Looking Forward...

Permalink: 1/12/2007 02:02:00 PM

I received my first Blu-Ray movie from Netflix yesterday afternoon, "Gone in 60 Seconds", (one of my favorite movies of all time), and came to the conclusion that next-gen DVDs aren't really something to be terribly excited about. My TV is 36-inches, and I couldn't really see any stellar quality from anything other than the introductory CGI for one of the studios that worked on the film (flying through the desert with lightning going on to the big tree). That looked amazing, but the movie only looked alright. However, it was produced in 2000, so perhaps more recent titles look better?

Great movie though, I did encounter a bug in the PS3 playback software about midway through the film... something that's been reported with this movie... that the playback freezes and you have to skip the scene and rewind. Not a huge deal, it's new technology and this was the only hiccup.

What I am excited about with next-gen DVDs is that they can store more on them, which means increased bonus features, plus better quality is always a possibility.

Tony Hawk's Project 8

One thing I've noticed is that Amazon seems to sell most next-gen games for $49.99, versus $59.99 in-stores. And, they offer free shipping (plus no sales tax in most states). This is fantastic for anyone complaining about the new price-point. However, the free shipping is also crappy shipping; an idea around this is if you upgrade to Amazon Prime (which is something small [$] yearly) you get free two-day on everything... so whatever floats your boat.

I traded in my copy of Tony Hawk's Project 8 for PS2 (which sucked), for the Playstation 3 version. At first, I hesitated since I figured it was basically the same title... but I was pleasantly surprised that it was 90% different.

For starters, the Playstation 2 version separates each area into a map... something somewhat different than what Tony Hawk's American Wasteland, the previous title (which was fantastic), had at least attempted to avoid. The Playstation 3 version of Project 8 has the entire game's world as one seemless area, with no load times. It's extremely well done.

The graphics are clearly a step-up from the PS2 version as well, which only offered progressive scan (480i/480p).. versus the PS3's full-HD (720p/1080i/1080p). However, the people's faces look rubbery and fake... c'mon Neversoft. There's even frame-rate lag (game slow-down, skipping) in some situations, which is weird, but this was reported and doesn't affect gameplay nearly at all.

Also, the goals you're sent on in the next-gen [PS3] version are much more interesting, and the map order, being seemless, makes more sense. One feature offered exclusively to Playstation 3 is the support for the controller's "tilt" sensing; in that you can balance the board, steer, and even activate certain tricks.. just by moving controller in certain directions. I prefer the old style (button mashing), but A+ for effort to the developers.

Game Round-up

So, in the end, I now own [for PS3]:
(+) Tony Hawk's Project 8
(+) Need for Speed: Carbon
(+) Resistence: Fall of Man
...plus my entire PS2 library. I could not be happier; between the Wii and the Playstation 3, the only thing I want now is the new Grand Theft Auto 4 coming later this year. Even though the fact that I own a PS3 has sunk in, I'm still incredibly excited to play it (and the Wii) and Sony has done an excellent job so far. (It's just too bad that they're so damn expensive!)

Labels: playstation 3

--- Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Playstation 3: Day 4 .. Hands-off!

Permalink: 1/10/2007 07:46:00 AM

Day 4 was a little more hands-off of the PS3, as I'm immersed in "Need for Speed: Carbon". Reminds me of "Need for Speed: Underground 2", which was one of my favorite titles of all time.

In other news, someone suggested a solution to the no-charging-controllers-while-the-ps3-is-off-because-it-shuts-down-its-usb-ports'-power problem... plug it into the Wii... haha! The Wii does *not* shut off its power to the USB ports when the console is in standby, unlike the PS3.

So, ironically, the Wii does truly compliment the PS3... in more ways than expected!

Labels: nintendo wii, playstation 3

--- Tuesday, January 09, 2007

Playstation 3: Day Three, ... Graphics

Permalink: 1/09/2007 12:01:00 AM

First I wanted to post a few quotes from an article I spotted in the BBC's Technology column, concerning Blu-Ray: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6243383.stm

"We recognise that the two formats are here to stay."
But the backers of Blu-ray are much more bullish and are predicting victory. ... Blu-ray has more backing from film studios and more makers of the players, but HD-DVD has sold equally well in the first year of release. ... But the Blu-ray camp believes a library of exclusive titles and the power of PlayStation 3 - which has an in-built Blu-ray player - will see the format pull ahead in the next 12 months. ... Mike Dunn, president of worldwide home entertainment for 20th Century Fox, said: "I really believe the format war is in its final phase." ... Supporters of Blu-ray believe that the late arrival to the market in 2006 of new next generation Blu-ray DVD players has given a more even picture than is true. ... Currently there is an even number of titles available for both formats but most analysts predict there will be more content available for Blu-ray than HD-DVD next year. ... Seven of the eight major US film studios back Blu-ray and five of them are exclusive to the format.

The HD-DVD vs. Blu-Ray battle feels like XM vs. Sirius to me... XM has the clearer name, but Sirius is catching up due to its content. However, I am slightly biased... being both a Sirius subscriber and "Blu-Ray"-equipped viewer.

One thing that I noticed today was the PS3's new, smaller game cases were not exclusive to the system... and in-fact the next-gen DVDs also share them. HD-DVD cases are red, Blu-Ray are blue. Very nice.

Image credit: http://www.thedigitalbits.com/articles/ces2006/gallery01.html

Below is a side-by-side comparison to a previous generation DVD case. (a Nintendo Wii game, for example.) Now that I realize that this is considered to be an accepted case format (not just exclusive to the PS3), I agree... it's a step in the right direction.

In other news, my two game demos, "Gran Turismo: HD Concept" and "Genji: Days of the Blade", were ready to be played this evening. Overall I wasn't that impressed with the GT... it was clearly just a port of Gran Turismo 4 for PS2 with some minor functionality added. However, the "Genji" demo had some fantastic graphics.

Sorry about the flash in this shot:

Title screen, and a shot from "Resistance: Fall of Man":

...Way better than anything I've seen on Xbox 360. I only wish that I hadn't finished playing "Tony Hawk's Project 8" on PS2 before upgrading, as I'm sure that would have looked fantastic as well.

Labels: playstation 3

--- Monday, January 08, 2007

Playstation 3: Day Two ... New Games, Old Memories, and the Playstation Store

Permalink: 1/08/2007 01:27:00 AM

Last night I spent a few minutes searching for this "Playstation Memory Adapter" to import my old PS1/PS2 memory cards to the PS3's hard drive. The "CompUSA" near me had "Limited Quantities"... which, when I arrived, turned out to be 2 of them. Hooray. Brought it home ($15), copied my data over. Done. Now that this thing is useless, I'll probably just return it. It doesn't make any sense to me why Sony would include three memory card slots (Compact Flash, SD, Memory Stick) and not one for a legacy Playstation memory card. :(

The way the new memory works for older games is... data is stored in "virtual" memory cards on the PS3's hard drive. You can assign them to one of two slots, emulating a system like that of a former Playstation console. PS3 games, of course, store their memory in a fashion similar to the Playstation portable... in one big list.

Tonight I also checked out two other things: another new game, and the PlayStation Store.

The Playstation Store is similar to Nintendo's Wii's online store... but instead contains mostly Game demos, and content for the PlayStation Portable. (which can then plug into the PS3's USB port, or connect wirelessly, to download these files once they're saved) Unfortunately, I sold my PSP in favor of a Nintendo DS Lite, so no neato features like that for me. (not that I care) One thing that caught my attention was the Gran Turismo HD Concept... available for free, fully playable demo. I've begun downloading that and the demo of "Genji: Days of the Blade"... which I know nothing about. Also available for download is Lemmings, which I least expected.

Today I also opened my second game, "Resistance: Fall of Man"... which I feel is an interesting combination between No One Lives Forever 2, Half-Life 2, and Medal of Honor. Interesting game... the graphics and effects are very good, the story seems okay, but I definitely miss the point-to-aim sensors from the Wii's controller. Going back to the analog sticks could be a lot worse, but I wish Sony would come up with a new aiming technique on their own.

So far, so good. A couple more hiccups I've noticed:
(-) Even if the PS3 is in Standby mode (versus being completely switched off using the I/O toggle on the back), it doesn't charge the controller when plugged-in. The PS3 must be turned on for that to happen... seems kind of silly, I've been leaving mine on all of the time now.
(-) When using the PlayStation Store, you can't do anything while the console is downloading something... and I mean *anything*. If you close the screen it cancels the download and returns it to your list. This makes no sense, and should be fixed.

Stay tuned.

Labels: playstation 3

--- Sunday, January 07, 2007

Break-down: XBox 360 [versus] Playstation 3 ... and Game Console Consolidation.

Permalink: 1/07/2007 01:50:00 AM

I have Playstation 1, Playstation 2, and now Playstation 3 games. I also have Gamecube, Nintendo 64, and Wii games. I have three XBox 360 games that I never play. Today, I decided to ditch the PS2 and 360 for a Playstation 3.

Since my PS2 was "modded" (to play bootleg/burned games), I realized I'd have to actually purchase some of the discs I didn't have legit copies of and still wanted to play. Lucky for me, they had either Greatest Hits or Used copies of the four games I planned on keeping.

The old:

Four PS2 Games, Two PS3 Games, One PS3 Controller (extra), and a PS3 later... I was getting rid of a Microsoft product that I never used (which will hopefully eBay with the games and controllers for around $350 or more), cleaning up my TV area (especially with the single HDMI cable, versus like 40 other hookups, and built in Wireless), and replacing the old console(s) with a better DVD player... all in one box.

The new:

Price/Features

A fully loaded XBox 360 is the same price as a Playstation 3, but the XBox 360 has options to break that number down... where as the PS3 only offers minor reductions.

XBox 360: $598
(-) external HD-DVD player ($199)
(-) "pro" version (hard drive, wireless controller) ($100)
= $299
[ without a wireless controller, hard drive, high-def. DVD player ]

Lacking:
(-) HDMI port (although it supposedly will receive one in the future)
(-) Built-in wireless internet
(-) Built-in high definition DVD player (only an external add-on.. for $199) Also, keep in mind, that Playstation 3 uses the high-def DVD format to store more Video Game data.. something the XBox 360 cannot, even with the external add-on.
(-) Bluetooth peripheral networking
(-) No hard-drive included for cheaper version, which is required for reverse compatibility with XBox games

Playstation 3: $599 (... $1 more, haha)
(-) 20 GB Version ($100)
= $499
[ ... you loose 40GB of hard drive space, wireless internet (wired only), and media card slots ]

Lacking:
(-) Early adopters, introductory price range
(-) Good games, the starting launch really sucked. (somewhat typical)
(-) Although it can play PSOne and PS2 games right out-of-the-box... you cannot import your data from your old memory cards without an adapter ($15, if you can find one), or use your old controllers for things like Guitar Hero... which would also require another adapter... which doesn't ship until February. Lame!

Interface

The XBox 360 is built-around its XBox Live online service... where as the PS3 is a fairly simplified approach in comparison. (offline targeted, with some online features to-the-side) The 360 offers movie trailers, game downloads (demos/arcade classics), and can interface with your iPod or Media Center PC. The PS3 can basically only interface with your Playstation Portable, but also copies songs/pictures from CDs and provides some content from its own Playstation Store. The PS3 also features a built-in web browser.. something the XBox 360 does not. (probably due to lack of hard drive on some models)

Other Notes
(+) HD-DVD versus Blu-Ray ... comparison at Wikipedia
(+) Since every PS3 includes Blu-Ray playback.. I immediately cruised over to Netflix. They support both high-definition formats... you simply have to enable it in your account under "Format Preferences".
(+) Playstation 3 doesn't support WPA2 wireless networking encryption (yet), and those utilizing it will need to use Wired networking or revert to plain WPA.
(+) PS3's game cases are smaller than the traditional DVD-style used by everything else. Cool? Not if you have a DVD rack. Luckily I utilize a shelf with the Wii and PS3 as bookends. :)
(+) EDIT #1: My favorite feature so far is the L2 and R2 buttons have been changed to analog paddles.. which feel like car pedals. (gas + brake) This is awesome for driving + shifting with the (R) control stick in Need for Speed Carbon.. very realistic.
(+) More to come...

Labels: playstation 3, xbox 360

--- Monday, January 01, 2007

"MySpace Prank"

Permalink: 1/01/2007 03:02:00 AM

I love this video. That kid is my hero.

"This kid puts nude pics on this girl's myspace site and the mom is pissed. The mom calls him and the kid plays audio/soundboard from Dr. Phil when the mom asks to talk to his dad."