Not since Betamax and VHS have we had to suffer through a format war. If you are a gamer, this makes picking between Xbox 360 and PS3 that much harder. (Let's not even mention the Wii which can't even play DVDs.) Not only are trying to pick a system with better games you are trying to predict the future. If HD-DVD wins MicroSoft can call all the gaming shots and rule from the Death Star they plan to build from the desicated shells of PS3s, and profits from Xboxes. If BluRay can manage to win, backed by Disney and Steven Spielberg, Sony finally gets the glory they lost with Betamax. And, nothing happens to MicroSoft because the Xbox 360 still runs on DVDs, but the add-on HD player just becomes useless, except for the massive library of HD-DVDs people will buy anyway. Luckily I am not a Disney fan and all the movies I like will be on HD-DVD.
Things like the Remastered Star Trek TOS. November 20th, TOS season 1 will go on sale. Aaannnndddd, at the Virgin MegaStore in Times Square, the first 400 people to buy said 10-disc HD-DVD spectacular, for $217.99, will get a free Tribble and a poster. Okay that's not the story. The best part is the first 120 (of the original 400) get a free Toshiba HD-DVD valued at $299. (You also still get a Tribble and a Poster.) I don't see BlueRay doing any such thing. If BluRay fails does this mean the end of PlayStation line? Or will a PS4 still be in the works? Would there even be a point for another Xbox? Maybe as a "worst case scenario" for Sony they could team up with SEGA and have a joint console release, a SEGA reGenesis Station. Just a thought.
With the three (3) consoles out (four if you still count the PS2) to choose from each have the own benefits and defects. An astute writer has 27 ideas game companies could do to improve themselves and help the gaming comunity in general. The writer paints an ominous picture of gaming that is overkill in my book, but many good points are raised. I keep coming back to issues with the PS3. The PS2 was released before the Xbox and the Xbox turned out to be a technical marvel for gaming. This time around the PS3 came after the Xbox 360, and it is the technical wonder. You wouldn't recognize it, though, due to the lack of games. In Sony's defense, the PS2 took a little time to come into its own because developers didn't understand the architecture at first. The same thing is happening, now. MicroSoft built an easy system to program for (on DVD's 8.5 GB no less) and the PS3 seems practically inscrutible to all but Sony themselves, but only because it is so advanced developers haven't figured it out yet. Sony could meet them part way and help train them, then some one can come up with a game worthy of BluRay's 50 GB. That would be a game, like Grand Theft Auto IV should be. They have started a new advertising campaign, so maybe they are on their slow turn around, like the Titanic trying to avoid an iceberg.
I went to my local comicbook store, something everyone should do at least once a week. Indulge yourself, with a superhero comic or some cards. The current issues of Iron Man and Submariner as well as a one-shot X-Men title called "Messiah Complex" and a Marvel Mythos title for the Fantastic Four. The Marvel Mythos is interesting, as they take the origin stories of their Superhero titles and give them what looks like an airbrushed overhaul in the retelling. Very nice. I also picked up some Magic cards to see where we are today with series; a pack of Ninth Edition Core (white border), pack of Saviors Of Kamigawa (got a foil), and a starter of the newest series Lorwyn (sounds like a lost land of Middle Earth).
When ever you go to a comicbook store be sure to talk to the proprietor, they tend to be fountains of hidden wisdom, or at least "knows a friend" who "knows a friend" to get you the exact comicbook you need. The pearl of wisdom I gleaned today was, "if you're writing a blog, you're a geek." No doubt a facet of a larger truth. Issue 7 of Geek Monthly (yes, there is a magazine) has an interview with Masi Oka (Hiro of Heroes). In it he says, "A geek is someone who is passionate about something. It can be about anything. It can be about musicals. It can be about computers. It can be about our show. And you can be passionate about more than one thing. I would rather be passionate about something than apathetic about everything. To be Geek is to be human." My passion leads me to share with others the true nature of what makes a geek a geek. I wish to expand on Masi Oka's description to say that geeks are passionate in one or two or more areas of expertise, but that geeks also have some peripheral or tangential knowledge of things outside their realm. You may be obsessed with Musicals, but odds are you also know the names of the people who wrote and acted in the best broadway musicals, as well as a working grasp of Movie Musicals (and those that populate them), books about musicals (and histories of people involved), TV musicals, play an instrument, have a mathematical background, and (if a fan of video games) play musical games, or a music mixing program on a computer. Hypothetical of course.
This one goes out to EmpTass. The PSP will be getting the new Star Wars Force Unleashed game, too, with extra gameplay the console version doesn't have. Sweet. That's all I got tonight, except I heard there is a plan for a Castle Wolfenstein movie. Keep your wireless charged and standby for my next broadcast.
5 comments:
Poking around this blog proves to me you are well on the road to qualifying your Geekdom. As if there was ever any question. I must admit that my own inclinations toward Geek leave a lot to be desired. But I can still appreciate a good blog, because an Internet addict - I am. I will try and follow along, so pardon any comments that leave you chuckling.
By the way that Gaming Center in Stratford is GamingEtc. The details are here, let me know your thoughts and maybe you should do a visit and then write an entry on your experience. It seems that it is more than PC games...
http://www.gamingetc.com/GamingetcStore.htm
-- DP
Thanks for the words of encouragement, there's hope for you yet, in the geek world. I looked at the gamingetc site and it reminds me of a larger version of a card gaming store in Hamden, called The Epic, which no longer exists. This weekend I'll look into it. I think I finally tweeked the site to do what I want, check out the new layout. The people that run this service must hate me. I post a blog then "fix" it for the next hour. I need a QC round and a proof reader, I swear.
Yesterday I posted this enjoyable writeup on my one and only good EB experience. I even worked a dreamcast mention into it. When I went back later to read my own genius, I found that the interwebs had gobbled it up into oblivion. It’s the kind of random event that makes you never want to caress a keyboard ever again.
But consider me back on the horse.
I am currently in the throes of console choosing. The investment modern consoles require is considerable, and of some level of himming and hawing is nessesary. My apprehension may mean I’m maturing, which is tantamount to withering, but I’m quite certain that I am irresponsible as ever – The only indecision rests on me deciding if I want to spend almost $500 on a console, or some other “shiny robot terd”.
But if the money was available, and xmas wasn’t so imminent, the 360 would be my only destination. I don’t even have the slightest inkling to capture a PS3, and I already have a Wii. Those who read my previous post's know my immediate allegiance to an XBOX to be a landmark event. The fact is Sony has wronged me so much in the past few years that I have permanent burn marks from their transgressions. I know that I am directly addressing two PSP fans, but the PSP was a horrid disappointment for me. I have all your typical complaints; the lackluster games, the horror of UMD’s, etc. I wanted a gaming device and I got a machine that, when it was done loading, watching movies and eating batteries, could occasionally be coaxed into gaming. Although I had immeasurable fun hacking it and playing SNES games, I prefer an item that is useful out of the box. Then there was the red-hot train wreck of the PS3 launch. It wasn’t so much the launch as it was Sony’s arrogance about their console, which is still aching to prove itself. Then I got to play with a PS3…and after I waited 15 minutes for it to install virtua fighter, and fighting through the OS the shine was off the apple before I even got a hankering for one.
So 360, ho! Although the RRoD is a concern, that’s what warranties are for.
But all this talk of cards has turned me off my electric narcotics, and now I yearn for overpriced cardstock. I have yet to play the star wars miniature games, both of them, and I feel an emptiness inside myself. I also want for something new, something tasty. This is an affliction that should be remedied.
I for some reason hold out hope for the PS3. I have a hard time believing that the PSX and PS2 dominating era could come to a crashing halt. The PS3 is not an Atari Jaguar, but they both suffer from software titles nobody apparently wants. I find it ironic that Sony's BluRay support earily echoes Sony's Betamax support from "back in the day."
The newest analogue games I've seen on the block are the Pokemon figures and the Halo figures. I'll pick up a couple more and maybe we can try a round with EmpTass one weekend.
I just busted open my new starter deck of Lorwyn for MagiCrack: The Gathering. These cards are crazy, like apparently I haven't been playing this in years and the cards to strange things. Bushido? A card can have Bushido? A sealed deck tourney tonight at Clockwork Comics might help me re-learn the game.
So GASP, the word betamax has resurfaced in the days of late and how Sony may be making another mistake with the Blu-Ray. All this talk of Gamestops and what not has given me the urge to go to a Gamestop, look around, plus GH3 was on the radar anyway - and once i saw the song list, i was like, heck yes here is my $40. So i picked that up and i am sure sometime tonight or tomorrow (if WOW doesn't lure me away too long) i will be rippin it up wiht Slash. Back to the basics, here, a console choice has escaped me at the moment, as i am very happy with the little i play with my gamecube and/or PS2. Now the Wii intriges me only through the physicallity of playing bowling, tennis, baseball, and the whatnot because it makes it more... live action and i wonder how the FTP are. Otherwise.. my interest in dumping 2 day's worth of salary into a new pretty machine isn't floatin my boat lately. Maybe because Blizzard took my soul and caged it deep in the bowels of some instance and only massive play time will release it. I also bought a WOW Dark Portal Starter. Why? Because i like starters, they come with a ton of cards and more space to stick your other cards, when they get unruly and no where to hide. I miss playing cards. Gandry and I will be getting to gether eventually and playing some type of CCG. Even if it called "ATTACK OF THE WALMART STORES vs. PIKCHU" CCG.
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