E3 2009: Microsoft, Part 2 - My Thoughts

Since I stupidly left my notebook at home, I'll have to go from memory here. Luckily, this is the part of the event that I paid the most attention to. Odd that it wasn't the games, right?

What I really like about Microsoft this year is that they didn't focus 100% on games. While its true, a platform is only as good as the games available on it (as Sony is discovering), in this day and age, that's not all a piece of hardware is good for - playing games is only part of the whole media experience. They also didn't focus on who sold what and how many, like they did last year, which is a point in their favor, as well.

Beyond the games, Microsoft seems to be changing the way we think about entertainment in the living room. To start with, integrating Netflix's streaming services into Xbox Live last year was a huge step forward. Now its going to get even better, being able to browse DVDs and adjust your queue right from the console interface. Just last weekend I was showing a friend of mine how the Netflix streaming service worked, and I had to get on my PC to show him some things because I couldn't do it right on my 360. We ended up watching five episodes of 30 Rock, which I will now watch religiously all summer while there's nothing else on TV.

The point being, improving the Netflix functionality is awesome. It will be nice to be able to take some or all of that functionality that was once only available through the PC interface and make it available through the Xbox dashboard.

Last.fm is also coming to Xbox Live, so now instead of just streaming movies and TV shows, we have streaming music coming in, and it will be free to gold members of the service (its not that expensive, get over it).

In a move that was praised by my wife, the social butterfly that she is, Microsoft is also bringing Facebook and Twitter to Xbox Live. You'll be able to do just about anything you can do with these services online through the dashboard interface this fall. What I like best is the new ability to take screen shots from inside a game and immediately caption them and post them to your Facebook. (In the first draft of this, I wrote "screen snots". I laughed out loud.) That might be really fun. The only issue is, it sounded like the functionality would have to be on a game-by-game basis instead of built into the Xbox itself. I don't know how I feel about that - I think you should be able to do it inside every game you own, even if you have to access the Xbox menu and tell it you want to enter a "screen shot mode" or something. Still, the service sounds pretty cool if it can become widely supported by developers.

Quickly, I'll mention that the movie and TV download service through Xbox live will now allow instant play (streaming) of the movies you purchase and offer them in full 1080p. They're also expanding the regions of the world where the service is available, which is always a good thing.

The part of the presentation where my eyes remained glued to the TV was where they introduced "Project Natal". This is a motion- and voice-detection device that, I think, could drastically change the way we experience interactive entertainment on our televisions. It allows you to use your body as the controller.

What impressed me the most was the demo Peter Molyneux and his team at Lionhead put together of a real woman interacting with a digital boy named Milo on the screen. These interactions were simply amazing. She was able to converse with him and he would, through this technology, be able to pick up on her emotions, the inflections in her voice, determine how she's feeling and respond in kind. He would "toss" her an item and she would go through the motions of picking it up. She would draw on a piece of paper, hold it up to the device and that piece of paper would be digitally rendered on-screen to give the appearance she was giving it to Milo.

At this point, the possibilities of what gaming could be entered my head. I was imagining games where you were able to interact with the environment in the game by opening doors, hiding behind corners, climbing ladders, leaping gaps - all with only your body and no physical controller. Imagine interacting with an in-game companion such as Elika (from Prince of Persia) or Sheva (from Resident Evil 5), where they could pick up on your expressions and voice inflections and respond to them in ways that we never thought were possible. Imagine playing Madden or Fifa and giving yourself a full body workout instead of just hiding behind a controller working your finger muscles. The possibilities are endless.

If Microsoft is able to come forth with this technology at a reasonable price and actually make it work, without turning it into another useless gimmick of a peripheral, things will be simply amazing.

Microsoft seriously brought it this year and didn't disappoint. Their presentations were entertaining and enlightening and it really seems like they're pushing the boundaries of what is possible with interactive entertainment.

I'll echo my thoughts from the beginning of my last post - I'm turning into a Microsoft fanboy. They're doing so much, and its so good, that its hard not to be. Sony sure better bring it now, because its going to be incredibly difficult to top the whole Xbox experience.

Post of the Day: 5.21.2009

Mass Effect 2 to be dark and broody. What's wrong with that? I spent five years watching Battlestar Galactica, I can handle dark and broody.

Post of the Day: 3.13.2009

30 Rock Passes Along Wise Sims Parenting Advice. I might have to check out these clips and should probably start watching the show at some point. Maybe the summer will allow me enough time to catch up on some DVD watching...

Post of the Day: 5.11.2009

Chuck Versus the (Gaming Related) Top 10 List!

Post of the Day: 4.27.2009

FFVII's Cloud apparently has universal appeal - a poster that bears a striking resemblance to our pointy-haired hero made its way into the Caprica pilot/movie that was just released this week.

Goodbye Battlestar Galactica

I must take a moment away from gaming to mention that the ultimate finale of Battlestar Galactica will air tonight in a two-hour feature that will (hopefully) nicely wrap up the show's four season story line. I've been thinking about it since last weekend, when the first part of three (one last week, two this week) aired.

At first, as they progressed through these final episodes, I wondered how on earth they were going to wrap things up in such a short amount of time. After all, there's a lot of questions one has from watching the last four years worth of the show. Does it really all come down to two or three hours to wrap everything up? They had a few "slow" episodes the last few weeks and only a couple of them, at most, seemed to be related to what the audience really wants to know. (In retrospect, this whole second half of season four would probably make more sense being watched in a marathon DVD session than waiting a week between episodes where the audience could forget the nuances of the previous week's events.) Then, I realized after talking to someone else about it that, knowing the writers, they will likely end it in a way that we aren't expecting, but that still wraps things up in one way or another. My wife and I are guessing they're just going to kill everyone, that would fit with the extremely dark tone of the show the last couple months (as opposed to the regular dark tone of the show, right?). Perhaps they will answer some questions, but I highly doubt they will answer everything. That annoys me, to be quite honest. Are they just going to let big, unanswered questions hang out there for all time? I hope not. We shall see tonight.

Post of the Day: 3.2.2009

Best Buy doesn't like anime anymore. I stopped by my local Best Buy after work today and, unfortunately, nothing was on sale. I suppose that's a blessing and a curse - looks like my store will still be carrying quite a bit of anime, although I was hoping to snag cheap copies of Haruhi or Cowboy Bebop.

Post of the Day: 2.17.2009

If you're a fan of Fringe like I am, this will likely be right up your alley - Abrams' Fringe Fits Adventure Game Requirements.

Post of the Day: 2.11.2009

I haven't played it yet, but its kinda cool that Tales of Vesperia is getting its own anime flick.

Post of the Day: 2.3.2009

Super Bowl XLIII Score Almost Perfectly Predicted by 'Madden'.

Streaming Netflix Leaves a Lot to be Desired

Most technologically-minded people know by now that Netflix is able to stream movies near-instantly to your TV (also in HD) or PC (unfortunately not in HD yet), assuming you have a piece of hardware that is capable of doing this. My XBox 360 happens to be one such piece of hardware.

I was chatting with a friend and he was talking about all the TV shows he was spending time watching in HD with Netflix, streaming through his 360. So, I decide to give it a shot. It would be nice not to have to wait for discs when I want to watch something. Note this, because its important - the whole point of streaming is to watch a show instantly without having to wait for the typical disc-mailing process.

So, I set everything up and get to watching stuff. I started watching the first season of Sliders. I watched the first three episodes and when I went to watch the fourth, to my surprise it said, "This episode available on disc only". Odd...but ok, one episode. As I got to looking at the rest of the shows (a mix of typical live-action TV and anime), I noticed several series, most notably the new Doctor Who seasons, have nearly half the season available "on disc only". A couple of my anime have the "disc only" episodes scattered throughout, so any way you look at it I would have to wait for the disc to come in the mail to watch things straight through.

Now, remember my point above that I said to note, because it was important? Here it is again: The whole point of even bothering to use this streaming Netflix service is to watch a show instantly without having to wait for the typical disc-mailing process. It makes no sense whatsoever to even bother using the bandwidth and storage space necessary to stream these shows - in HD, no less - if your subscriber is going to have to rent out the disc anyway to see every episode. What is the point? And, more importantly, why is this even an issue? I can understand why perhaps an entire series isn't available on demand, as there are licensing issues involved, I'm sure. But for half a series to be available and the other half not? Why? How does this happen? What's the point?

If Netflix truly wants this service to take off, they need to be more consistent with what they have available, because I'm not going to bother if every other episode of the series I'll have to rent the actual physical disc anyway. The quality is great, the convenience is great, but the selection and availability of episodes leaves so much to be desired its probably not worth bothering with it.

Stargate Worlds to Have Free Content

In typical MMO fashion, FireSky, the developer behind the upcoming MMO Stargate Worlds, announced that they would be including much of the game's extra content in the monthly subscription cost, and would not be charging their customers extra for said content.

While this is good news, it strikes me as odd that such a big deal would be made out of something that should be done anyway. Just about every MMO in recent memory follows this model, including World of Warcraft. I suppose it has to be noted by the developer because its not often that an MMO that aims to be successful comes around that is based on a television series that has thousands of fans worldwide, many of which are not gamers. They may not be familiar with how MMOs typically work.

I just dread the day the developer has to fudge Stargate lore to make something work better in-game. It'll be interesting to watch the fan reaction to that.

Xenosaga: The Animation Finished

Its taken me a while, but I finally finished the current series of the Xenosaga anime. I played all three of the games and the far-out story was quite intriguing, albeit hard to follow. So, I thought I'd try out the anime, which currently only covers the events in the first game.

What surprised me was how well they describe the plot throughout the anime so much better than they did in the game. You would think, being a game with a ton of available play-time, the plot would be fleshed out better than in any sort of movie or television series. But, that's not the case here. I actually thought the plot was explained better every step of the way in the anime. In several episodes they did an in-story recap of what had transpired previously, without it seeming forced.

They did so much better capturing the emotions between Shion and KOS-MOS, as well as the sacrifices they all made, in the anime. Conversely, there were some pretty major story segments of the game that were completely changed or left out altogether, perhaps some for the better. It does get off to a slow start in the first four episodes or so, but toward the end, I was on the edge of my seat all over again.

Don't get me wrong, the games were very well done, but I just think the anime did a much better job explaining the story overall, and keeping the audience up to speed with what was going on. Granted, the game has to make allowances for game play segments, which really should make up a good chunk of that experience. However, with as many cut scenes as they had in the first game, I thought the possibility would have been there to explain things as well as they did in the anime.

Its definitely worth checking out if you enjoyed the games, or if you just want a very well done sci-fi anime in which to lose yourself.

New MMO Players Ignorant?

Recently I've been keeping tabs on the discussions going on at the Stargate Worlds forums. It seems many people there are interested in the upcoming MMO just because its Stargate, not because its an MMO. One person I saw post today in the beta test forums was looking forward to beta but had never played an MMO before, he was interested only because it was Stargate.

Now, this is good on some level. I know players in LotRO who have never played an MMO before, and were drawn to this one because it was based on the lore in the books. In other words, they're fans of the media off which the game is made, not the game genre itself. More fans of the books equals more players, which equals a more successful game, right?

Something just disturbs me about all these people asking about beta invites for Stargate Worlds who openly admit they've never played an MMO before and are completely ignorant when it comes to this genre of games. If I was a developer, there's no way I'd send out beta invites to these people. To be successful, the game must be an MMO first, and a Stargate lore machine second. This means the testers need to be looking at it with that mindset, not an "oh look, this was in episode 315!!!" mindset.

While LotRO has a very comprehensive, while still fairly strict, license for The Lord of the Rings book trilogy and The Hobbit, you still see plenty of areas where they are forced to take creative license to make it work as an MMO. This is something I still don't think some fans of the books who started playing LotRO because of that aspect alone realize. Come to think of it, this problem plagues any MMO that has a deep, rich back story, even mega hits such as World of Warcraft.

I also think some potential players are ignorant in what they expect to see in an MMO such as Stargate Worlds. People seem to have high expectations, mostly based off of vague statements that the developers have made. They read things into their words and assume the game is going to be just like they or the developers envision it. In reality, it rarely works that way.

Maybe I'm just jaded from being around MMOs for quite a while - I've seen developer's unfulfilled promises, game lore altered or added for the sake of game play (which is a good thing) and just about every aspect that goes along with playing an MMO. Some people, especially people who are drawn to these MMOs because of the franchise, not because its an MMO, have no idea what they're getting themselves into. And yes, this bothers me on some level.

Changing My Tune

You'll have to excuse the posts devoted to American Idol, but we're at a crucial point in the season, and I have some issues with the way things have played out over the past couple weeks. But, before I start ranting, let me say this. The final six contestants (and I'll extend this to the final eight, since I'll be talking about the ones who left the last two weeks) are all excellent singers and performers. I would not mind it at all if anyone except David Archuleta won the whole shebang. Also, I realize that every week one person has to go, regardless of how good they are, especially in a competition this intense.

That being said, Jason should have gone instead of Michael last week, and Syesha should have gone instead of Kristy this week. Here's why...

Simply put, they've grown the least out of them all. Jason always seems like he's stoned and, while I actually did like him, his last few performances haven't been all that great. Syesha always goes for those power ballads. There's almost no variety, nothing different or interesting about either of them.

Kristy has grown tremendously over the last few weeks. I wasn't a fan of hers at the start, but she grew on me. Michael was incredibly more dynamic of a singer than any of the other guys, except maybe David C.

Here's my thoughts on the final six...

Brooke: I love her. I think she's my favorite of the remaining girls. I like the emotion she expresses in her music, I like how she seems to have a personal attachment to each song, I love the guitar and piano (especially the piano) and I like her song arrangements.

Carly: I actually used to prefer Carly over Brooke, but lately, in my opinion, she's only been so-so. She's good, don't get me wrong, but she's not as good as she was earlier in the competition. She has good variety, though.

David A: Honestly, he annoys me to no end. He shows no variety as his songs are always the same type of deal. Week after week it feels like I'm watching the same performance. He can sing well, no doubt, but variety and showmanship he does not have.

David C: I really like him. Finally, there's a rocker that has the very real chance to win this whole thing. I like how he takes risks, probably more than any other contestant. If there's one thing I want to see from him, its a bit more variety. He's going to start to fall into the one-trick pony category (along with David A.) if he's not careful.

Jason: I used to like him more than I do now. The last few weeks have been lackluster for him, although I do like it when he's just sitting there playing his guitar. More variety in the arrangements here would be nice, as well.

Syesha: Power ballads show off that she can definitely sing, but it shows very little variety. To me, they always look like they're forced. Although, she has remained pretty consistent across the board. However, that shows little to no growth, as well.

My picks for who is leaving next week? David or Syesha. Who will likely leave next week because America, in general, will screw up again? Jason or Brooke. Who will win it all? I would actually like Brooke to win, at this point. However, it will likely be David C. or Carly. If its David A. I will have to vomit.

Stargate Continuum - High Praises from Gateworld

While the recently released feature-length wrap up to the last two seasons of Stargate SG-1 - The Ark of Truth - was fairly well received, and sold very well, many people don't understand the differences between the two Stargate movies coming out this year.

The Ark of Truth was most definitely not a stand-alone Stargate movie. I think some people were expecting it to be, in some manner, and didn't like it as much because of that. All this last movie was aspiring to be was a feature-length "last episode" to the series to tie up the story arc of the last couple seasons. That's it. Sure, it has some manner of feature film quality to it and a larger budget than your average two-episode SG-1 show, but all it really was was a continuation of the series.

The next movie - Stargate Continuum - aspires to be a whole lot more. Its a stand-alone adventure for our favorite characters, which apparently serves well to introduce people to the franchise, as well as refresh the love long-time fans have for this world that has been 11 years in the making.

The big-wigs over at Gateworld were able to attend a special screening of Continuum recently and they had nothing but the highest praise for that movie. The Ark of Truth apparently pales in comparison to Continuum as a feature film. This is good to know. While I did enjoy The Ark of Truth very much, I think I'm looking forward to Continuum even more. Set your calendars for July 29, 2008!

Reality TV This Season

If I may step outside the realm of gaming for a moment, I'd like to talk about the only two reality TV shows I watch - American Idol and Dancing with the Stars.

Tonight, American Idol aired their "Idol Gives Back" program, which is something I thoroughly enjoyed last year. This year it was pretty good, as well. One thing that kept bothering me during the whole program is the fact that they rarely let the contestants go over to the Kodak Theater stage. Then, after the fact, I found out that the Kodak Theater segments were filmed Monday night and only the parts of the show that was held at the Idol studios was live.

So, anyway, my picks for the top two spots? David Cook and Carly. I actually like all of the remaining eight except for David Archuletta, who downright annoys the pee out of me. I really like Carly and David C. though.

As for Dancing with the Stars, my favorite professional got voted off this week - Julianne. Of course, she didn't have the best partner in the world. Adam Carolla may be funny, but he's also highly annoying. I feel sorry for her. As it stands right now, I think we'll see Jason/Edyta and Kristi/Mark in the final two, if they keep up their momentum. However, I wouldn't rule out Shannon and Derek, they might just be contenders for the top spot if they keep doing what they've been doing the last couple weeks.

Now back to your regularly scheduled gaming goodness.

"Short Wait" For BSG Season 3

We've been waiting quite a while for this - Battlestar Galactica, Season 3, on DVD. It finally came out today. I've been slacking in my anime watching as of late, but I've been picking up the pace some because BSG season three was due to be released, which we have yet to see, and season four will be aired starting the first week of April.

But, alas, Netflix once again doesn't stock enough DVDs and I'm presented with a "Short Wait" notification. You guys at Netflix know how popular BSG is, right...? I don't see how you could actually overstock on that show, since so many people are interested in it...especially with season four coming down the pipes.

The Ark of Truth Hits Store Shelves

So, the huge finale to the last two seasons of Stargate SG-1 was just released last week, straight to DVD. According to some people I've talked to, it was sold out fairly early on at some Best Buy stores. We've been waiting for this movie for nearly a year, since the final episode of SG-1 aired last spring. Was it worth it? Definitely!

A lot of people are hating on The Ark of Truth because of a few continuity issues (all of which are rather subjective, as is) and overuse of some previous themes and foes.

~~~ SPOILERS BELOW THIS LINE...YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED ~~~




Overall, I definitely enjoyed the movie. Its a fitting conclusion to the last two seasons of SG-1, that's for sure. Too many people like to nitpick, and personally, I fail to see how you can enjoy a movie (or anything, for that matter) if you nitpick so much. Its a movie, its for entertainment purposes. I sure was entertained, that's really all that matters. There were a few issues, though. Here's my run down of pros and cons of the movie.

Pros:
~ The story overall, the IOA sub-plot.
~ Tobin becoming a good guy (although this was hinted at near the end of SG-1)
~ Excellent camera work, good transition from television to movie format.
~ Awesome soundtrack, mixing original Stargate, SG-1 and Atlantis themes all together.
~ The replicator surprise - I was completely not expecting that.
~ The Daniel/Vala dialog near the start of the film.
~ All the archaeology stuff...reminded me of early SG-1.
~ The way it all came together at the end - Morgan Le Fay telling Daniel that she has already helped and the audience figuring out that we've already seen the results of her help.
~ The contrast between Morgan Le Fay and Adria really shows the differences between the Ori and the Ancients. I don't think that distinction had ever been seen on-screen like that before.
~ The final scene where the team referred to the fact that there's still a lot of unexplored planets out there. Things continue on, business as usual (until Carter decides to transfer to Atlantis, that is).

Cons:
~ No RDA.
~ As much as I liked the introduction and the surprise, too much focus was given to the replicators. Seems like they relied on it as a crutch to fill time.
~ Too little Adria, although I liked the fire effect that surrounded her in those few short scenes.
~ Where was Doctor Lam in the Infirmary scene near the end?
~ Lack of screen time focusing on SG-1 discussing the moral implications of forcing the Ark of Truth on the Ori, you would have thought this would definitely be something that Daniel would bring up.

Again, great conclusion to the last couple seasons of SG-1. What it is not is a stand alone movie to introduce people to the Stargate franchise. If you try that, even with the prologue that recaps seasons nine and ten, they're likely to be more confused than interested in watching the whole series.

Cheapest Entertainment Possible?

I was reading Tobold's Blog this morning, and he had up a post discussing the possible price per month to play Warhammer when it comes out later this year, and how it will likely be more than a monthly WoW subscription (which is $14.99). This post isn't about the differences between MMO pricing, but about something he wrote later in that same post.

"If you buy a MMORPG and play it for a year, you still pay less money than if you buy a regular video game every 2 months. Counting on a dollar per hour of entertainment basis MMORPGs are extremely cheap. Even watching paint dry is more expensive, if you have to pay for the paint. Movies, books, magazines, everything costs more per hour of entertainment than World of Warcraft does. Total profits of the video game industry are declining, because too many people spend too many cheap hours in WoW instead of buying new expensive video games that can be played through in 10 hours."

I completely agree. WoW (or, really, any MMORPG with a price point around that of WoW), is probably one one of the cheapest forms of entertainment in the world. While I personally still spend money on other forms of entertainment, even outside of gaming, if all you did was play WoW for your entertainment purposes, you'd probably save a ton of cash.

Let's break this down. A monthly subscription to WoW is $14.99. Let's say a month has 30 days. That is a tiny bit less than 50 cents per day or about two (2) cents per hour. (No, no one plays 24/7/365, but that's what it breaks down to.)

Let's compare a bargain matinee movie. I just went to see Cloverfield last weekend and it was $6.50 for the ticket. The average movie is probably about two hours long, or less. That's $3.25 per hour of entertainment.

The average PS3 game is $60 these days. The time it takes to play through console games are variable, so we'll give everything the benefit of the doubt and look at a typical RPG, which is about 50 hours long (going off the average FFXII play through time, even though I played longer). That's $1.20 per hour. Keep in mind 90% of games are shorter (Heavenly Sword takes roughly six hours to complete, making it $10 per hour).

I won't even get into books, cable TV, rented movies, concerts and the like because they all come nowhere close to costing only two cents per hour of entertainment. This all boils down to the fact that if you want cheap entertainment and a cheap hobby, play MMOs. ;)