Coffee Talk Archives - Page 29 of 68

Coffee Talk #398: Pick Your Personal Entrance Music

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, Mariano Rivera’s 600th save, putting a dollar value on your work, or Dyson’s hot air multiplier, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

I’ve always wanted my own entrance music. You know, like how pro-wrestlers have their own entrance music. When I was a kid, I thought it was awesome that Hulk Hogan used “Eye of the Tiger” (Survivor), Junkyard Dog used “Another One Bites the Dust” (Queen), and Kerry Von Erich used “Tom Sawyer” (Rush) as their entrance themes. Of course nothing beats Ric Flair hitting the ring to “Also Sprach Zarathustra“, more commonly known as the intro music to the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Entrance music changed when Vince McMahon realized that he could save money in licensing fees and make money by selling his own music. Awesome songs by established artists were replaced by mediocre songs performed by no-names. Sure there are exceptions. Hulk Hogan’s “Real American” (Rick Derringer) seems completely appropriate for his character. Motorhead is awesome and Triple H is a mark for the band, so “The Game” makes total sense for him. While today’s entrance music isn’t what it used to be, most of it still works.

If I had my wish, I’d borrow “Sexy Boy” for my personal entrance theme. The lyrics are ridiculous and the music is cheesy. Most of you have known me long enough to have figured out that I’m ridiculous and cheesy. I would absolutely abuse my entrance theme (and spend a fortune in background fireworks). I would use it every time I entered groceries, office buildings, restaurants, courtrooms, etc. (I wouldn’t use it at funerals and when entering bathrooms.) The music fits my personality and would be my little tribute to “The Heartbreak Kid” Shawn Michaels.

If you could have your own entrance music, what would it be? Choose wisely!

Coffee Talk #397: Wacky Videogame Names

At Nintendo’s Tokyo Game Show 2011 presser, Square Enix announced Bravely Default: Flying Fairy for 3DS. The rest of TGS 2011 should be cancelled, because it’s not getting better than that. I love the name of…

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, Novak Djokovic’s remarkable season (tennis), playing “I Hope I Get It” over and over again, or Korean girls in skimpy sleepwear, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

At Nintendo’s Tokyo Game Show 2011 presser, Square Enix announced Bravely Default: Flying Fairy for 3DS. The rest of TGS 2011 should be cancelled, because it’s not getting better than that. I love the name of this game! It’s cute and dopey and oh-so-Japanese. I loved this game before I knew anything about it. That’s how awesomely powerful the name Bravely Default: Flying Fairy is. After I learned that the excellent Akihiko Yoshida is creating art for the game, I loved it even more.

I haven’t had this much fun saying a game’s name since Drag-On Dragoon. Sadly, Square Enix renamed that game Drakengard in America. Hopefully the company won’t butcher the glory that is Bravely Default: Flying Fairy. Just say it thrice. It’s so much fun!!!

Are there any strange or unusual videogame titles that have stuck in your? Anything crack you up as much as Bravely Default: Flying Fairy cracks me up? Post the weirdest game name you can think of in the comments section (please)!

Coffee Talk #396: Bomb Threats, Gadgets, and You

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, Serena Williams displaying bad sportsmanship again, Klatch’s El Salvador Las Mercedes, or Korean girls in skimpy sleepwear, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

Last Saturday my apartment complex was evacuated due to a bomb threat. Details were scarce. One minute the police were calling for one building to be evacuated. A short time later, my building was being evacuated. My initial thought was, “Where’s my phone?!?” This was quickly followed by, “Where’s my iPad?!?” and, “Should I nab my 3DS and PSP?!?” In the end, I decided to just grab my phone and quickly leave the building. If it were a bomb threat on any other day than September 11 then I would have taken more time and packed more gear with me.

How would you react in a similar situation? How precious are your gadgets and pieces of gaming gear? Would you try to pack as many precious geek goodies in a bag before evacuation? Or is it safety first? What do you think your answer says about you?

Coffee Talk #395: Your Dream Dinner for Four

If you could have dinner with three people from the history of the world, who would be at your table? They can be game developers, actors, musicians, etc. It’s your dream dinner for four and I’d love to hear your…

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, rain ruining my U.S. Open (tennis) background noise, why my coffee beans are late (again), or dinner/drinks with two excellent people, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

If you could have dinner with three people from the history of the world, who would be at your table? The only condition for this game is that the people you choose have to be real (this is mostly to prevent one of you from choosing He-Man or Bugs Bunny). They can be game developers, actors, musicians, etc. It’s your dream dinner for four and I’d love to hear your picks! Here are mine:

Muhammad Ali: “The Greatest” would headline my dream dinner. I’d choose the Ali that was banned from boxing and speaking out against the war in Vietnam. Ali was already an extraordinary athlete with unmatched speed for a heavyweight boxer, but his stance against the Vietnam War made him so much more. He lost three prime years of his career, but inspired so many people while he was away from boxing. He became more than just an athlete. He became an icon.

John Lennon: My feelings about Lennon are similar to my feelings about Ali. He was already a renowned performance artist and songwriter, but his post-Beatles activism made him so much more. I love that he used his fame to spread positive messages and to get people to think. I also love the continued to write great songs when doubters thought he was washed up. I’d love to have ’70s John Lennon at my dream dinner.

Steve Jobs: My last spot was a tough choice. As I mentioned to you last year, I’d love to have a one-on-one dinner with Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto. For some reason, I’m being a stickler with my dinner-for-four scenario and am disqualifying Miyamoto because he would require a translator (sorry Bill!). The final spot goes to Apple’s Steve Jobs. This would be 2005 Jobs, fresh off his Stanford commencement speech. In addition to getting his thoughts on making products people are passionate about, I’d love to hear about how he felt about getting booted from Apple, elevating Pixar, and returning to make Apple better than ever.

So that’s my dream dinner for four. Now let me know who’s sitting at your table (please)!

Coffee Talk #394: What’s the Most You’ve Spent on a Game?

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, the crappy playing conditions at the U.S. Open (tennis), celebrating Josh Beckett’s sprained ankle, or why people think Victor Ortiz has a chance against Floyd Mayweather, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

Remember when you’d buy a game at a store and that was the end of your spending? DLC, online fees like Xbox Live, monthly MMO subscriptions, item packs, etc. have made gaming more expensive than ever. I’m curious to learn what game you’ve spent the most money on. Was it an MMO that kept you addicted for years? Was it an action game with consistently great DLC maps? I want to know!

As for me, it’s probably Dragon Age. In addition to buying the game, I’ve purchased all the playable DLC and an expansion pack. That’s more than $100 on a single game! I understand that the economics of gaming are different and BioWare has provided me with dozens of hours of entertainment, but damn! It just feels expensive when you add it all up (no regrets though, I heart BioWare).

So what’s the most you’ve spent on a single game? Kindly share the title and the estimated dollar amount. Was it money well spent? Or does looking through the retroscope give you buyer’s remose?

Coffee Talk #393: Are Phones Getting Too Big?

At IFA 2011, several mobile phone manufacturers showed off super-sized models. I’m talking about electronics that some feel are too big to be considered a phone, but are too small to be considered a tablet. Two examples are…

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, Klatch’s Panama Kotowa Duncan, the soul-crushing struggle of job hunting, or AJ Burnett raising his game to mediocre levels, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

At IFA 2011, several mobile phone manufacturers showed off super-sized models. I’m talking about electronics that some feel are too big to be considered a phone, are but too small to be considered a tablet. Two examples are the Samsung Galaxy Note (5.3-inch screen at 1280 x 800) and the HTC Titan (4.7-inch screen at 800 x 480). Considering that some people feel that phones like the HTC Thunderbolt (4.3-inch screen) are too big, I’m curious to see how consumers will react to these larger phones.

As for me, I’m all for phones like the Galaxy Note. I love that it packs a large screen and a high resolution. Right now I’m alternating between the Thunderbolt and the T-Mobile G2x by LG. While the four-inch screen on the G2x is certainly large, lately I’ve found that I prefer the larger screen on the Thunderbolt. More than anything else, I use my phone for reading. Whether it’s web sites or emails, a larger screen and a higher resolution would make things easier and more enjoyable for me.

How about you? What do you think of phones featuring screens that are larger than 4.7 inches? Are they too big? Or could you see yourself rocking one?

Coffee Talk #392: Bigger Disruptor — iTunes vs. Napster

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, whoopie pies sweeping the nation, Oscar De La Hoya’s admission of cocaine use + adultery, or Michael Vick’s sweet contract, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

Two of my friends were arguing over which service disrupted the music industry in the bigger way, Napster or iTunes. The Napster backer believes that creating absolute anarchy and making music available to more people than ever is an unmatched accomplishment. He argued that Napster paved the road for iTunes’ success and put an emphasis on being the first change agent. The Apple supporter acknowledged that Napster was the first major agitator, but argued that iTunes had a more meaningful impact on the music industry. He believes that getting the music business to change its pricing model is more significant than the free-for-all environment that Napster created. He also thinks the combination of iTunes and the iPod, later joined by the iPhone and iPad, changed the way millions of people buy music.

The arguments were interesting and I’m still processing both sides. I don’t have my own opinion on the matter yet, but I’d love to hear your thoughts on this debate. Please vote in today’s poll and expand on your answer in the comments section!

[poll id=”131″]

Coffee Talk #391: Powerful Brands That are Dead or Dying

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, gratuitous use of chyrons, the scariest insect, or why my coffee beans are late, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

My tech writer friends and I were talking about brands that were powerful 10 years ago, but are dead or dying in 2011. Names like Dell, Nokia, and RIM came up. It wasn’t that long ago when Michael Dell advised Apple to shut down the company, Nokia was the leading high-end smartphone manufacturer in the world, and RIM’s BlackBerry platform was considered cutting edge. It’s crazy how much can change in a decade. These days Apple makes Dell look like a joke, Nokia is no longer a player in the high-end market, and RIM’s BlackBerry OS is considered an archaic piece of crap.

Other companies like Excite, Palm, and Yahoo! were discussed. I wanted to talk about gaming brands, but most of these guys don’t know anything about that world. That’s where you come in! Remember when the “big three” of gaming was Nintendo, Sony, and Sega?!? It’s crazy how Sega went from one of the biggest players in console gaming to a middling publisher.

What brands do you remember being juggernauts in 2001 that are dead or dying in 2011? Leave a comment and let me know (please)!

Coffee Talk 390: PC Gaming is Not Dead, It’s Just Changed

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, Minka Kelly and Derek Jeter breaking up, hurricanes, or NY bagels, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

I hate the question, “Is PC gaming dead?” Of course it’s not. As long as people are using PCs, they will also use them to goof off, and one of the best ways to do that is gaming. I was reminded of this stupid question when Razer took out a full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal that proclaimed PC gaming is not dead. It’s just a teaser for a product announcement later today, but it plays on the whole PC-gaming-is-dead thing.

Just to make sure we’re clear on this issue — PC gaming is not dead! Don’t believe me? Well, ask John Carmack. He’s exponentially smarter than either of us. He recently told Gamasutra:

When you look at all the MMO money on there, there’s still a lot. And when you include Facebook games and stuff like that, and all the web games.

It’s just, I think people regret the migration of the hardcore action game, which clearly has taken a move towards the consoles. But gaming on the PC, there’s probably more hours of PC games going on now than there were five years ago.

While there might not be as many “enthusiast” games on PC as there used to be, there are more people spending more hours gaming on a PC than ever before. The market has changed and the audience has evolved. There are casual-game publishers that are being valuated in billions of dollars (USD). With all the people participating and all the money to be made, I don’t see how anyone can think that the PC market is “dead”.

Normally, I would ask for your thoughts on the question of, “Is PC gaming dead?”, but Carmack just owned the question. Of course I must end today’s column with this: And that’s the bottom line, because John Carmack said so!!!

Coffee Talk #389: Are We Living in a Post-PC World?

I’m not buying the whole “Post-PC world” rhetoric. I hate that phrase. It’s a clever bit of marketing that reminds me a bit of the term “Retina Display”. Apple, Steve Jobs in particular, has ingrained the terms Post-PC…

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, why animals freak out before natural disasters, Hustler’s rumored Rihanna sex tape, or paid Android apps that still have advertising (WTF?!?), Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

Like many of you, I spent a lot of time reading a bunch of reactions to Steve Jobs resigning as Apple CEO. One of my favorites was by Peter Pachal of PC Magazine. While I enjoyed the piece, there was a section that bugged me. Check it out:

The reason Jobs picked this time to leave active duty at Apple is apparent. He’s done. He’s finished executing a brilliant strategy of transitioning Apple from a PC-focused company to a company that’s leading the charge into what Jobs calls the “Post-PC world.” Over the past decade, Apple’s legendary success began with the iPod, evolved into the iPhone, and reached new heights with the iPad.

I definitely agree that Jobs changed Apple’s focus and transformed it into a drastically different company than it was in 1997. That said, I’m not buying the whole “Post-PC world” rhetoric. I hate that phrase. It’s a clever bit of marketing that reminds me a bit of the term “Retina Display”. Apple, Jobs in particular, has ingrained the terms Post-PC era and Retina Display to the point where a lot of tech writers think that the Post-PC is an actual era (after the Palaeozoic Era?) and Retina Display is an actual technology. It infuriates me. (For the record, I’m not accusing Pachal of either. His article just reminded me of the matter.)

See, I don’t think of products like the iPhone or iPad as post-PC. They’re just different kinds of personal computers. They’re personal devices, right? They compute things, don’t you agree? They just use different input methods, come in different form factors, and offer a different experience. I realize those sound like major differences, but I believe that my laptop, my smartphone, and my iPad are all personal computers. They’re just different kinds of PCs. Put it this way — my laptop is quite different from the Altair 8800, but they’re both considered personal computers.

Do you agree with me? Are smartphones and tablets just new kinds of personal computers? Or are they distinct device types that should not be considered PCs? Are you living in a Post-PC world? Are you a Post-PC girl? (Think Madonna.)