You go out for some drinks, enjoy a nice sleep, and wake up to find that Facebook has gone “full retard“. I really don’t understand what Facebook’s design team was thinking. The redesign is awful. It’s way too busy and it makes it hard to focus on content. The only way this makes sense is if the redesign was the work of a Google plant that infiltrated Facebook in order to make Google+ appear more elegant than ever.
Of course none of the complaining matters. Like millions of other people, I still have to use Facebook as a promotional tool. Millions of people will bitch, but few of them will leave. In the immortal words of General Akbar, “It’s a trap!”
I mostly hate the Facebook redesign. The one reason I like it is that it’s making a few of my friends use Google+ more and I greatly prefer that social network. What do you guys and dolls think of the Facebook redesign?
Sony Online Entertainment has announced that DC Universe Online will be switching to a free-to-play model featuring three tiers. Between the attractiveness of being “freemium” and the popularity of DC Comics’ “The New 52“, the game stands to catch another wave of success. Here are some more details from executive director of development Lorin Jameson via PlayStation Blog:
Free Access – Just like it sounds. Download and play the game for free. You also get all ongoing game updates (except DLC packs).
Premium Access – This next level of access opens up to you if you spend at least $5 in the in-game store. Premium Access grants you additional benefits that improve your experience in the game, such as more inventory slots, more character slots, bank slots and more free Vault tickets. So all you have to do is pick up some cool items in the store or buy a DLC pack and you unlock Premium Access. The best part? Once you unlock Premium Access you keep it for the life of your account.
Legendary Access – With Legendary Access you can unlock the maximum level of features and benefits. To unlock Legendary Access you can pay for a $14.99 per month game pass, or save big with a discounted multi-month pass. Lifetime members are automatically granted Legendary access. Legendary Access also includes all DLC packs at no extra charge.
I haven’t touched DCUO in months, but I’d be interested in giving it another go if any of you are down. So how about it? Any of you guys and dolls thinking of playing DCUO when it becomes free-to-play?
Despite some questionable changes and one change that should have been made but wasn’t, I’m still keen to pick up the Star Wars Blu-ray compilation. I’m a nerd. Of course I love the original trilogy. I’m even enough of a homer that I enjoy bits and pieces of the new trilogy. I’m totally down to watch all six, spot the changes, whine about them, and enjoy the enhanced visual quality in all its glory.
How about you? Do you plan on picking up the Star Wars Blu-ray compilation? Or has George Lucas offended you for the last time? Kindly take today’s poll and discuss!
Imagine the title of this story spoken by the narrator of The Super Friends. What? That reference was too old?!? Damn it…. Anyway, as some of you know, I started writing for Padvance yesterday. Below are the stories I’ve written so far. If you’re interested in the topics, I’d appreciate a visit over there. Thanks muchly!
I wanted to use this edition of Coffee Talk to reaffirm my message from Coffee Talk #100 and to thank you for your readership. Yes, I’m Raymond Padilla and I’m still your verbal entertainer. I’m not a journalist. I haven’t thought…
Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, Intelligentsia’s La Tortuga Honduras, Mariano Rivera’s record-breaking save, or Charlie Sheen’s celebrity roast, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.
I wanted to use this edition of Coffee Talk to reaffirm my message from Coffee Talk #100and to thank you for your readership. Yes, I’m Raymond Padilla and I’m still your verbal entertainer. I’m not a journalist. I haven’t thought of myself as one for a long, long time. I’m a verbal entertainer. My goal is to make you laugh, think, or cry with words. Sometimes it’s written word, sometimes it’s audio, and sometimes it’s video. While I enjoy posting stories, I get a real charge out of using them to start conversations with you all. That’s the best part of this site — the interaction with you guys and gals.
In the past I’ve said that calling most people that write about games “journalists” is an insult to actual journalists like VentureBeat’s “Dancing” Dean Takahashi and the LA Times’ Alex Pham. Being a verbal entertainer is a lot like being a professional wrestler. Certainly there’s an athletic component to pro-wrestling, but most people don’t consider WWE Superstars to be professional athletes. Similarly, there are journalistic aspects to what I do and sometimes I engage in actual journalism, but it’s not what I’m about. I’m a verbal entertainer!
The last few months of running the site have been difficult. Losing my Amazon Affiliate money in July was a huge blow that my bank account hasn’t recovered from. The hosting problems created by the morons at AnHosting caused the site’s traffic and ranking to take an enormous hit that it hasn’t recovered from. I wanted to make sure that you knew that I’m still committed to the site and still committed to being your verbal entertainer. I’m not going to be able to spend as much time on the site as I’d like due to my finances, but I assure you that it’s not going away any time soon.
Thanks for dropping by Coffee Talk #400. Let’s make our way to #500!!!
So…who’s buying Gears of War 3 this week? Anyone? Anyone?!? If that’s not your bag then you can pick up Supremacy MMA for some arcade-style fighting laced with modern MMA. PSP gamers looking for some a game with crazy depth and challenge should consider Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 2 Innocent Sin. It’s a light week with most publishers wisely deciding not to go head-to-head with Gears, but there are still some solid choices.
TMZ caught up with HBO boxing analyst Larry Merchant at Los Angeles International airport. The topic at hand was, of course, his confrontation with Floyd Mayweather, Jr. following his fight against Victor Ortiz. It’s a great guerrilla-style interview and Merchant gives some sharp answers despite the clips run-and-gun nature. Below is the confrontation with Floyd, for reference. If you have a chance, check out both clips and let me know what you think (please)!
Before you cancel your Netflix subscription (or not in light of Qwikster game rentals), I highly recommend catching Bangkok Adrenaline. This action movie totally caught me by surprise. It’s a classic martial arts movie that was made in 2009. And when I say “classic martial arts movie”, I mean it has that awesome combination of incredible martial arts and brilliant choreography mixed with laughable acting and chintzy production values. Brilliant stuff.
I was initially drawn to this movie because I missed Thailand, but I was quickly captivated by Daniel O’Neill’s martial arts. He mixes tae kwon do, kung-fu, and capoeira to form a wonderfully telegenic fighting style. Also, I was surprised to see the dude that play Gregor Clegane (The Mountain) in Game of Thrones. Also (x2), Priya Suandokmai is frickin’ hot! If you’re a fan of martial arts movies and gorgeous half-Swiss half-Thai women then stream Bangkok Adrenaline as soon as you’re able to.
Now its your turn to suggest one movie we should all watch. Please make sure it’s available on Netflix streaming.
The age of Claudio is almost upon us! Claudio Castagnoli, my favorite indie wrestler for the past seven years, has been revealed on the Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) site as Antonio Cesaro. FCW is WWE’s developmental division headed up by Steve Keirn (The Fabulous Ones, Doink the Clown).
If you haven’t seen Claudio in action then you owe it to yourself to watch his YouTube clips. He has the size that Vince McMahon loves combined with wrestling ability that Ring of Honor marks like me cherish. His European uppercuts are amazing!
It’s funny that WWE saddled Claudio with a name that sounds even more Italian. Years ago I envisioned Claudio being introduced as Santino Marella’s cousin with a limited knowledge of English. Claudio would play up his “Heeeeeyyyyyyyy” gimmick and Santino would give him the rub by constantly taking advantage of him. Claudio would initially get sympathy from the fans and have the opportunity to win them over for life with his superior wrestling skills. You know, I should write wrestling storylines or something….
So yeah! I’m super psyched that Claudio’s WWE career is progressing. I can’t wait to see him on the big shows soon! He has the talent and charisma to be a top-of-the-card guy. I’m counting on all of you to become Claudio marks too! Heeeeeeeyyyyy!!!
Netflix has announced that it will be separating its streaming business from it’s disc-based business. A new spin-off company named Qwikster will handle disc-based rentals, including videogames. Similar to Blu-ray pricing, videogames will be an optional premium service on top of the monthly Netflix Qwikster fee. In a letter to Netflix customers, CEO Reed Hastings wrote:
Qwikster will be the same website and DVD service that everyone is used to. It is just a new name, and DVD members will go to qwikster.com to access their DVD queues and choose movies. One improvement we will make at launch is to add a video games upgrade option, similar to our upgrade option for Blu-ray, for those who want to rent Wii, PS3 and Xbox 360 games. Members have been asking for video games for many years, but now that DVD by mail has its own team, we are finally getting it done. Other improvements will follow. A negative of the renaming and separation is that the Qwikster.com and Netflix.com websites will not be integrated.
A-ha! All of the sudden Netflix’s recent price increase makes a lot more sense! It will be interesting to see how this all pans out. Obviously streaming is where all media is heading, but many consumers still prefer discs due to things like DVD features, multi-language subtitles, and the unmatched quality of Blu-ray. There are also more movies and TV shows to choose from on disc, though the gap is getting smaller all the time.
Then there’s the GameFly factor. It’s very, very smart for Qwikster to get into the games business. GameFly is, by far, the leading rental service in the country. I wonder how many people have both Netflix and GameFly subscriptions. I also wonder how many of those people will cancel their GameFly subscriptions when Qwikster game rentals become available. Since I’m doing a lot of wondering, I’ll just wonder about the number of people that were considering cancelling their Netflix subscriptions, but are giving it second thoughts now that games are part of the mix.
Naturally, I want to know what you make of all this (I can make a brooch or a hat or a pterodactyl!). What do you think of Netflix as a standalone streaming video service? What do you think of Qwikster as a service that lets you rent movies, television shows, and games? Will you subscribe to both, one, or none of these services? You think the peeps at GameFly ought to be worried? Shout it out in the comments section (please)!
