Here are some BlizzCon 2010 screenshots and concept art for the excellent Diablo III, including a few shots of the new demon hunter class. The game had the longest lines at the show and after playing it for a few hours, I totally understand why. Diablo III is going to be the hotness!
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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.
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?
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Nintendo of America has announced that red versions of the Wii and DSi XL will be released in America to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Super Mario Bros. The bundles will be available on November 7, 2010. Here’s a snippet from the press release:
Red Wii Bundle: This limited-edition Wii hardware comes in beautiful red to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the original Super Mario Bros. game. The bundle includes New Super Mario Bros. Wii and a new red Wii Remote Plus controller, in addition to all the other included items, like Wii Sports and a red Nunchuk controller. It will be available while supplies last at a suggested retail price of just $199.99.
Red Nintendo DSi XL Bundle: This special-edition Nintendo DSi XL bundle is also red in honor of the 25th anniversary of Super Mario Bros. and features three iconic Super Mario Bros.-themed graphics. The bundle comes with Mario Kart DS, which looks gorgeous on the extra-large screen. That’s in addition to the pre-loaded software of Brain Age Express: Arts & Letters, Brain Age Express: Math and Photo Clock. It will be available while supplies last at a suggested retail price of just $179.99.
Damn…I want both of these…but I’m not sure which one I want more. How about you? Do you want either of these consoles? If you dig both, which one would you buy first?
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…
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:
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?
At its “Back to the Mac” press conference, Apple unveiled new 11.6-inch and 13.3 inch MacBook Air laptops. Both models feature instant-on capabilities for super-fast boot-times and flash storage for zippy data access. The 2.3-pound 11.6-inch models feature 1.4GHz Core 2 Duo CPUs, while the 2.9-pound 13.3-inch models feature 1.86GHz CPUs. The smaller model has five hours of battery life, while the larger model has seven. Both models feature Nvidia 320M GPUs.
Here’s the price breakdown as per Apple’s press conference:
The 11.6-inch model has an option for a 1.6GHz CPU, while the 13.3-inch model has a 2.13GHz CPU option.
It’s disappointing that the new MacBook Airs use old CPUs, but it’s understandable from a positioning standpoint; the company still wants to sell plenty of its popular 13.3-inch MacBook Pro models and would have killed those sales by placing an i3 CPU in the MacBook Air. Furthermore, these are meant to be thin-and-light models that are all about fast boot times and fast hard drive access, not raw power. Still, it would have been nice to cut video on these babies.
Check out the pictures below and let me know what you think of the new MacBook Airs. Are you drooling for one? Do you think they’re too expensive?
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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.
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 wanted to play Kinect…but that’s probably what I’m going to have to do.
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?
Microsoft has announced the launch games for its upcoming Kinect motion controller for Xbox 360. Here’s the list:
Microsoft has announced the launch games for its upcoming Kinect motion controller for Xbox 360. Here’s the list:
Kinect Adventures
Kinectimals
Game Party: In Motion
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1
Your Shape: Fintess Evolved
Dance Central
The Biggest Loser Ultimate Workout
DanceMasters
EA Sports Active 2
Zumba Fitness
Kinect Sports
MotionSports
Deca Sports Freedom
Kinect Joy Ride
Adrenalin Misfits
Fighters Uncaged
Sonic Free Riders
I know that most of you are longing to add four fitness games to your library, but what about the other titles? Do any of these Kinect launch titles interest you?
Kirby’s Epic Yarn — my favorite game of E3 2010 — is out! What? You need to hear about other games too? Oh fine. There’s actually a bunch of interesting titles coming out this week. Fallout New Vegas will be popular with enthusiast gamers (it’s actually #1 on the Amazon charts as of this writing). Fight fans will want to give EA Sports MMA a look. Want some fun with peripherals? Power Gig: Rise of the SixString features a real guitar as its controller. Time Crisis: Razing Storm gives PlayStation Move owners some visceral shooting fun. DJ Hero 2 is out for gamers that want to spin and fade.
Really though, you should all be buying Kirby’s Epic Yarn…but do let me know what games you’re planning to buy this week.
Here’s another set of benchmarks to illustrate that the T-Mobile G2’s 800MHz processor is far from underpowered. This time around, I ran benchmarks on my friend’s Evo 4G (thanks Steve!). Last time, I used a Samsung Fascinate running Android 2.1 for comparison. Like I said before, that’s an apples and oranges comparison since the phones run different versions of Android (though that didn’t stop some idiots on Reddit for blasting me and the article — morons). This time, both phones sport Android 2.2 (FroYo).
It’s the same deal as before — I used Greene Computing’s Linpack andAurora Softworks’ Quadrant benchmark tests. Each test was run three times and the scores were averaged. Here are the results.
Linpack
Quadrant
The results are pretty interesting. The Evo 4G uses a 1GHz CPU that’s made with an older process and the older Adreno 200 GPU. Even though the G2 runs at a lower clock speed (800MHz), it’s made with a more efficient process. The real kicker is the G2’s newer Adreno 205 GPU, which offers significantly better performance. That’s a big reason the G2 bested the Evo 4G in Quadrant.
Don’t get me wrong, the Evo 4G is a fantastic phone and I really enjoyed using it. The G2 is also an excellent phone and I’m currently loving it. I just wanted to fight against the stupid people on the Internet that are blasting the G2 for having an 800MHz processor. Clock speed isn’t everything people!
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?
