Friday, July 8, 2011

The Evolution of Gaming

well, it's friday. i'm bored. fridays are the worst for me. i work an alternative shift. so everyone i email with leaves around 4-5pm. and i'm stuck here till 9pm. normally i might still get some responses. but when it's friday... no one's lookin at their email.

digging around online i found somethin interesting that was announced at this year's E3 last month.

here's what it is -- a Kinect Fable game.

now, i don't understand why ppl are so upset. if this was a series that i'm a big fan of... i can definitely understand wanting to preserve it's quality. but i don't see how this will change anything really.

i am a Fable fan. it's a good game. a good series so far.

but come on, having one game on kinect doesn't kill the series. it doesn't effect it at all. it might follow the story. it might continue the story. but if it's a crappy game they'll make Fable IV and bam, back to normal. what's the big effin deal.

this was bound to happen. and yes, it's gonna suck for a while. but what's the surprise?? it's new technology. only way to make it better is to ... use it. duh.

personally, i'm never going to really want to play competitive or hardcore games on kinect or move. casual party games are fine. but you never know right? it's not until something comes along that makes you say "omg, that actually works" then everyone has to have it.

apple revolutionized the touch screen. it's not like it didn't exist before.
avatar revolutionized realD (3d). we definitely had that before.
nintendo revolutionized motion gaming. the playstation eye has been out since ps2. but it wasn't a hit like the wii.

so come on. give it a chance, or at least leave it alone. seriously.

oh, and on a final note... xbox has announced that all first party (microsoft-made) games made after some cutoff date will offer kinect support. not sure when that date was, but it's passed. so some questions to ask are:

1)did gears 3 and the next halo make this cut off date? will they be included in this? they're definitely first party games
2)if so, then how in the hell will we play gears, or halo using kinect. i think that's too much of a stretch right now.


i think the best way to approach this is to make games that work for it first. cuz i don't think there are any "must play/experience" kinect/move games. then you work that technology into games that fit the description.

the wii came with wii sports for free. a loooooootta of ppl played it. it was pretty much a must play, whether you were "into" that or not, i mean if you didn't, you were a nobody (kind of like the music craze with guitar hero/rock band). they didn't have great success with the hardcore market, but some games were successful, no more heroes, mad world... point is, ppl got used to the technology, it was embraced. and... it worked. it was simple and fun.

motion gaming will continue to develop. i just hope they figure out a way to make it work, make it fun, and market it the right way. actually i don't care about that last part so much.

Friday, July 1, 2011

Yet Another Consumer Report

ok so the fact that i've been posting so many consumer posts... means that i've been spending more money than i usually do!! but fun times fun times, great deals, and in the end, saving money for later!!

today, i'm here to discuss the new evo3d with sprint.


pretty?

i ordered it from that deal i posted below on wirefly. and have been playing with it pretty much nonstop since. i love it. but it could be because i'm coming from my crappy htc hero.

yes, the hero was awesome when i first got that... but that's cuz i was coming from the outdated htc mogul... lol. i see the trend. but i've never owned a phone at launch, so that's new. when i bought the hero it'd been out for 6+ months.

and quickly became outdated. i DO plan on keeping this phone through the 2 yr contract... at least.

it's fast! the specs are pretty spiffy:

weight: 170g
battery: Standard battery, Li-Ion 1730 mAh
cpu: 1.2 GHz dual-core processor, Adreno 220 GPU, Qualcomm MSM8660 chipset
mem: 1G RAM
OS: Android OS, v2.3 (Gingerbread)
screen: 540 x 960 pixels, 4.3 inches
storage: internal 1G/SD 8G


more detailed version found on this site

has all the new standard stuff, like front facing camera... the obvious thing that sets this phone apart is the 3d aspect.

you can watch videos in 3d, play games in 3d... yippee. this pretty much works like the 3ds. which, in my opinion, is not that great. it's cool to have on a phone... but frankly, i'd enjoy the phone just as much without it. you can check out what the 3ds screenshots and some video looks like here on this site.


i will say this tho. it's mad fun. i mean MAD fun, to take pictures and videos in 3d. oh yeah, it does that. hence the dual cameras on the back. i mean i'm sure i'll get bored of real quick, and it surely is just a gimmick. i wouldn't pay premium, or extra, for it. i'd rather do without it if that would help the price. but having it anyway is a plus. i've taken more pictures and videos with this phone in the first week than i have with all my phones ever combined.

video chatting isn't super, yet. eventually i'm sure it'll become more prevalent. but it works.

the big knock on htc phones has always been battery life. if you see on the back, they removed the kickstand. a very popular feature. why? bigger battery. of course, htc is making an official case with kickstand.

"Gimme more money" - htc
 here's an overview of some more accessories htc is coming out with soon.

all in all. yes i love the phone. it's awesome, it's fast. so fast. i love it. did i mention that?

the one gripe i have... is that the battery cover. on the back, is IMPOSSIBLE to remove. i feel like i'm going to snap it off every time. so yeah i avoid it like the plague.

that's it for now!