Coffee Talk Archives - Page 45 of 68

Coffee Talk #238: Favre’s Streak vs. Ripken’s Streak

Brett Favre received a ton of attention going into yesterday’s game, simply because people were curious to see if his streak of consecutive games played would continue. The whole thing got me thinking about another streak: Cal Ripken, Jr.’s.

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, Zach Galifianakis lighting up a joint on Real Time with Bill Maher, the San Francisco Giants flushing away the Bonds era, or the worst Halloween candy ever (it’s Necco Wafers), Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

Brett Favre — the NFL’s master of drama — received a ton of attention going into yesterday’s game, simply because people were curious to see if his streak of consecutive games played would continue. Dating back to September 1992, Favre hasn’t missed a game. Although he received a facebuster yesterday, he extended the streak to 292.

The whole thing got me thinking about another streak: Cal Ripken, Jr.’s streak of 2,632 games of baseball. From May 1982 to September 1998, Ripken didn’t miss a game.

Which streak is more impressive to you? Football is a contact sport and it’s easier for players to get injured. That said, baseball players play way more games and have a longer season. Certainly both streaks are a bit manufactured and went on longer than they ought to, but they’re both impressive. Anyway, kindly vote in today’s poll and discuss!

[poll id=”82″]

Coffee Talk #237: What’s Your Halloween Costume?

Today’s Coffee Talk is super simple. I just want to know what you, your family, and your loved ones are wearing for Halloween. Part of it is because I think it’ll be cool to compare and contrast everyone’s costumes. Part of it is…

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 coffee grinder I want, the coffee grinder of my dreams, or this one time…at band camp, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

Today’s Coffee Talk is super simple. I just want to know what you, your family, and your loved ones are wearing for Halloween. Part of it is because I think it’ll be cool to compare and contrast everyone’s costumes. Part of it is that I’m still undecided on what to wear and maybe I’ll steal one of your ideas. Ha!

I suppose it’s time for a Halloween confession too. I remember seeing someone in Greenwich Village dressed as golfer Payne Stewart for Halloween ’99. He was wearing knickers and a sweater vest, just like Stewart wore on the golf course. He was also zombified and had a propeller sticking out of his chest. The costume totally cracked me up — and still does to this very day — but I felt so guilty for laughing considering that he died on October 25, 1999.

Anyway, tell me all about your Halloween costume (please)!

Coffee Talk #236: Do You Care About Gaming Affinity Programs?

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, Brian Wilson’s resemblance to Randy Savage (or Bonesaw), continuing this excellent discussion on people Justin Timberlake should sleep with instead of Bolivia Bunn, or Taylor Swift blossoming before our very eyes, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

Sony announced that it will be testing an affinity program called PlayStation Rewards. According to the press release, “Everyone who participates in PlayStation Rewards has the opportunity to earn a wide range of exclusive rewards. Some examples include exclusive PSN avatars that display member status in the program, dynamic themes and PlayStation Home content, as well as the opportunity to participate in members-only sweepstakes and giveaways.”

I’m fanatical about affinity programs like Starwood Preferred Guest and United Mileage Plus (even though UAL sucks for not having a DEQM promotion this year). For some reason, I’m not nearly as interested in videogame affinity programs. Club Nintendo is pretty cool, but I’m not (yet) interested in PlayStation Rewards, Xbox Live Rewards Squad, or GameStop PowerUp Rewards. To be totally honest, part of it is because I get a lot of videogame goods for free, but part of it is that the gaming programs are kind of dull.

How about you ladies and gents? Are you into any affinity programs? How about videogame affinity programs in particular?

Coffee Talk #235: Downloadable Games Should Be Like E-Books

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, your World Series prediction, the Celtics thrashing Miami Thrice, or Bryan Danielson acing two WWE shows in a row, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

One nifty feature about e-books is the ability to borrow and lend them. This adds a social element to e-readers and takes advantage of the digital nature of e-books. Digitally downloaded games should be handled the same way. The social impact would be awesome and the borrowing/lending could be a more effective marketing tool than demos.

Let’s say RPadholic thundercracker buys a strategy RPG called Christina Aguilera’s Quest for RPad. He knows that Final Fantasy Tactics is my all-time favorite game and thinks that I’ll love Christina Aguilera’s Quest for RPad. He clicks a button on the menu screen and pushes the game to me. The next time I turn on the console, I see a notification that says I have a game available from thundercracker. I would be able to play the borrowed game for a limited time and have the option to buy it.

I’d love to see a feature like this implemented into PlayStation Network or Xbox Live. A friend’s opinion is worth more than any reviewer’s. Plus pushing games to friends would be fun. I hate to use modern buzzwords, but it would add a “social discovery” element to gaming. What do you think? Would you use something like the borrowing/lending scheme I mentioned? Would you want something different? Do you think publishers would go for borrowing and lending?

Coffee Talk #234: My Router’s Name is Scarlett Johansson

Inspired by one of Bill Simmons’ readers, I’ve decided to change my router’s name to Scarlett Johansson. This way I’m always “connecting to”, “connected to”, or “searching for” Scarlett Johansson (this is not too far from reality).

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 chances of the Yankees signing Cliff Lee and/or Jayson Werth, how much Jayson Werth looks like WWE Edge, or Cain Velasquez kicking the crap out of Brock Lesnar, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

Inspired by one of Bill Simmons’ readers, I’ve decided to change my Internet router’s name to Scarlett Johansson. This way I’m always “connecting to”, “connected to”, or “searching for” Scarlett Johansson (this is not too far from reality). Sometimes I will be connected to Scarlett in multiple ways (PC, console, mobile phone, etc.). I’m not a selfish man, so when friends come over, they too can connect to Scarlett Johansson. This is going to be brilliant!

Out of curiosity, what’s your router’s name? Go ahead and smack yourself in the head if your router is named “LINKSYS” or “NETGEAR”. I think you should all rename your routers this week! What names are popping around your head?

And yes, today’s column was particularly fun because of the photo research I “had” to do. Here are some bonus pics.

Coffee Talk #233: Data Caps vs. Data Throttling

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 last time you rode Amtrak, Phil Hughes rocking it tonight, or the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in Orange County brought to you by Disney, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

The mobile world is a-changin’: AT&T has moved to a tiered data system, Verizon is launching its tiered pricing soon, and T-Mobile will unleash a strange hybrid of tiered plans complemented by throttled “unlimited” plans. The days of truly unlimited mobile data are coming to a close. Which scheme is worse? Tiered data plans with hard caps or throttling data after a certain number is hit?

On one hand, a lot of consumers — ones that use less data than they think — can save money in a tiered system. A lot of iPhone and iPad users don’t come anywhere close to the 2GB limit that comes with the $25 data plan. (Yes, some of these people are hipster lamers that never download apps.) Data hogs and those that want less restrictions will be happy with T-Mobile’s data rates…until they hit 5GBs of data and the company can throttle down bandwidth.

Both pricing schemes suck and stifle the future of mobile computing. Developers are limited in what they can do with mobile apps because they don’t want to create a brilliant program that consumers will avoid because it hits the Internet for too much data. Consumers won’t use the devices they have as much as they would if data were truly unlimited. Unfortunately, data caps and data throttling are here to stay. Which one do you think is worse?

[poll id=”80″]

Coffee Talk #232: Will Kinect for Xbox 360 Be a Mass Success?

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 Yankee bats finally waking up, the theory that Mark Teixeira was dragging the entire team down, or Intelligentsia’s Itzamna Guatemal Finca La Soledad, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

Kinect for Xbox 360 is shipping in two weeks and my industry friends can’t stop talking about it. A lot of them are dismissing it, saying that it’s too expensive, the launch titles are crappy, few enthusiast gamers give a damn about motion controls, and it’s simply impossible for some people to make Kinect work in their living rooms. I don’t completely disagree with any of those things, but I have a feeling that Kinect is going to sell like crazy. Here are three reasons why:

Kinect has generated more mainstream interest than many enthusiast gamers think. Whether it’s Kudo Tsunoda on Jimmy Fallon or Oprah giving away Kinect units to her audience, the system has gotten ample mainstream attention. Hell, RPadholic N8R’s son wants one and it’s not like he’s on the Internet reading gaming web sites all day (he’s not, right Nate?).
The pre-orders have been strong. Microsoft has been suggesting that Kinect supply could be a problem for the holidays. Some people believe that this is artificial, but the pre-order numbers are there. I was shocked to see that Kinect is #13 on Amazon’s videogame sales charts. This is a $150 product that’s not out for two weeks!
The biggest reason I think Kinect will sell is that Microsoft is throwing a large wad of money at it. Product director Aaron Greenburg mentioned that it will be backed by hundreds of millions of marketing dollars. The word on the street is that between Kinect and Windows Phone 7, Microsoft’s entertainment and devices division will spend $1-billion this holiday season. The sheer amount of marketing should result in hefty sales.

Keep in mind that I’m saying all of this as someone that’s mostly uninterested in Kinect games (of which there are currently two I’m interested in). Most of my industry friends don’t care about Kinect and most of the people I “see” on the Internet don’t care either, but I have a feeling that it’s going to put up some nice numbers this year.

What do you think? Will Kinect be a mass success? Or will the hundreds of millions of marketing dollars be a waste of money?

Coffee Talk #231: Rearranging Your Living Room for Kinect

I’d have to get rid of my coffee table in order to use Kinect for Xbox 360. I kind of like my coffee table. It’s useful and handsome. It’s also heavy. I’d worry about my right knee giving out if I had to move the coffee table every time I…

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 Yankee bats completely choking (except for Cano), winning the lottery today, or BlizzCon 2010, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

RPadholics Iceman and N8R chatted with me about this topic yesterday: Do you have to rearrange your living room to use Xbox Kinect? Do you plan to? Do you find it ridiculous that this new form of gaming requires you to move furniture? Or is it worth it for the new and exciting experience?

Coffee Talk #230: Airplane Movie Review!

I’m about to hop on a flight back to Los Angeles, but before I do that I wanted to talk with you about two movies I saw on the way here: Cyrus and Grown Ups. I enjoyed both movies in very different ways. Here’s the lowdown (not D.Lo Brown style):

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, Big Ben’s return, whether or not I should stalk the freshly single Christina Aguilera, or NY pizza totally ruling, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

I’m about to hop on a flight back to Los Angeles, but before I do that I wanted to talk to you about two movies I saw on the way here: Cyrus and Grown Ups. I enjoyed both movies in very different ways. Here’s the lowdown (not D.Lo Brown style):

Cyrus: I really wanted to see this movie in theaters. I’m a fan of John C. Reilly (best sidekick actor ever!), I was curious about Jonah Hill in a dark role, and Marisa Tomei is hotter now than she was 15 years ago (plus, she’s super talented). The three of them were fantastic, the script was an interesting blend of romance and dark comedy, and some of the conversation scenes were filmed in a really stylish way. Cyrus hits different emotions that rarely come together. Off the top of my head, I can’t think of a movie that’s a romantic comedy, a dark comedy, and a drama at the same time — very cool and very different. It’s surely not a mainstream flick, but I enjoyed it immensely and regret not seeing it in theaters to give it some support.

Grown Ups: This movie, on the other hand, should not be seen in theaters. Having said that, I enjoyed it too and was surprised at the three or four times I laughed out loud. It’s certainly not a good movie, but there’s some funny writing and great delivery. In a way it’s kind of like the original Ocean’s Eleven (the Frank Sinatra one); you know it’s not a good movie, but there’s something entertaining about watching a bunch of good friends working together. Plus, I admire Adam Sandler for serving up strong comedies, dramas, and action movies (okay, two out of three). Plus (again), I have to support Rob Schneider for being part Filipino.

Anyway, those were the movies I caught on Saturday morning. Any of you see anything interesting lately?

Coffee Talk #229: What Kind of Headphones Do You Use?

Whether it’s playing games, listening to music, or watching a movie, a good pair of headphones can drastically alter your experience. Today I’m going to talk about the headphones I use and get some recommendations from 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, Christina Aguilera being single, your ALCS/NLCS predictions, or touchscreen phones having more bacteria than urinal handles, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

I’ve been using the same headphones for the last eight years and am extremely happy with my gear. At home, I use Grado’s SR125 open-ear cans; they offer incredible sound quality at an incredible price — the SR 125s sound as good or better than cans that cost two to three times as much. On the road, I opt for in-ear headsets with foam tips. The foam tips completely rule at blocking out airplane noise. My Etymotic ER-4Ps offer a perfectly balanced sound, while my Shure E4Gs offer more bass and a sound most people prefer for pop music.

What kind of headphones do you guys and dolls use?