Nintendo has confirmed that the Wii U will be released in time for the 2012 holiday season. I know that a lot of you were down on the Wii and the Nintendo 3DS, but it’s my civic responsibility (not really) to check if you’re at all interested in picking up a Wii U…
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, disappointing ramen, creme brulee, or paying homage to Juan Epstein, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.
Nintendo has confirmed that the Wii U will be released in time for the 2012 holiday season. I know that a lot of you were down on the Wii and the Nintendo 3DS, but it’s my civic responsibility (not really) to check if you’re at all interested in picking up a Wii U. So how about it?!?
If you’re already on the hook, please tell me why you’re set to pick up a Wii U. If you’re definitely not buying it, please tell me what you don’t like about the system. If you’re taking the wait-and-see approach, please tell me what features and/or games you’re waiting for.
It was difficult watching the Australian Open semifinal between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. I had no faith in Federer winning the match. He was never the strongest player on the tour, nor did he ever have the biggest serve, the most…
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, disappointing ramen, creme brulee, or paying homage to Juan Epstein, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.
It was difficult watching the Australian Open semifinal between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. I had no faith in Federer winning the match. He was never the strongest player on the tour, nor did he ever have the biggest serve, the most powerful ground strokes, or the most stinging volleys. His beautiful game is based on outstanding movement and precision ball striking. At age 30, he has lost half a step and his reaction time is a wee bit slower. Amazingly, he’s still good enough to go deep in any major tournament. I just don’t think he’s good enough to win another grand slam (without some fantastic luck and a friendly draw).
Roger Federer is the most dominant athlete I’ve ever seen. He terrorized the tour from 2004 to 2007, winning 11 of the 16 grand slam tournaments in that time period. He spent 285 consecutive weeks as the number-one ranked player in the world. He reached the semifinals or better in 23 grand slam tournaments in a row. He appeared in 18 of 19 grand slam finals from the 2005 Wimbledon Championships through the 2010 Australian Open. He’s had some rough moments over the last few years, particularly on clay and against Nadal, but I don’t think I’ll see an athlete like that again in my lifetime. He’s been playing at the highest level of the sport since 2003 and for four years he was virtually unstoppable.
Of course, that’s just my opinion. Who would you say is the most dominant athlete you’ve ever seen?
Kotaku’s Stephen Totilo recently posted a bunch of “Xbox 720” rumors. The most interesting one was that it will have some sort of anti-used-games measure. Half of me thinks this is preposterous, while half of me sees this as the way the business is going. Naturally, I’d love to hear your thoughts on the matter. Before I get to that, here’s an excerpt from the article:
I’ve heard from one reliable industry source that Microsoft intends to incorporate some sort of anti-used game system as part of their so-called Xbox 720.
It’s not clear if that means that the system wouldn’t play used games or how such a set-up would work. Obvious approaches–I’m theorizing here–like linking a copy of a game to a specific Xbox Live account could seemingly be foiled by used-game owners who would keep their system offline. My source wasn’t sure how Microsoft intended to implement any anti-used game system in the new machine.
This would have huge ramifications for the gaming business. Developers and publishers would love the move, while many retailers and most consumers would hate it. Part of me thinks that it’s a little too bold of Microsoft, as it would alienate too many partners that have helped the Xbox and Xbox 360 become so successful. Part of me thinks that it doesn’t matter too much, since physical media will eventually become obsolete; people will bitch and moan for a year and eventually forget that it was even an issue. As a verbal entertainer, I’m hoping that the rumor is true. I’d sit back, grab some popcorn, watch the crazy fallout, and talk about with all of you.
What do you make of the rumor that Microsoft’s next console will have anti-used-games measures?
The good news is that Blizzard will be holding the Battle.net World Championships in Asia at the end of 2012. The bad news is that Blizzcon is on hold until 2013. In a recent press release to promote the the Battle.net World Championships, this little line was slipped in:
In light of our jam-packed schedule, we’ve decided to hold the next BlizzCon in 2013.
BlizzCon is an awesome event full of passionate fans, great panels, and cool products. I’m bummed that it won’t be happening this year (especially since I skipped BlizzCon 2011). That said, I’m excited about possibly trekking to Asia for the Battle.net World Championships.
Any of you bummed about BlizzCon 2012 not happening?
Radiation from the largest solar flare in six years will be hitting planet Earth today. This, of course, means that many of us will be getting new super powers. Some of the effects will be immediate, while others will see their powers manifest over,,,
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, RIM’s new CEO, Mitt Romney’s tax returns, or the third Olsen sister, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.
Radiation from the largest solar flare in six years will be hitting planet Earth today. This, of course, means that many of us will be getting new super powers. Some of the effects will be immediate, while others will see their powers manifest over a longer period of time. Since a number of us are about to become Übermensch, I thought it would be a great time to discuss the superhero powers of your dreams.
As for me, I’m going to go with Wonder Man’s ionic powers. The dude is pretty much immortal and invulnerable since he’s made of ionic energy. Not having to eat, drink, or breathe is handy too — super useful for apocalyptic events and alien invasions. And to be completely honest, this choice is mostly derived from picking up Peter David’s underrated My Fair Super Hero from the discount rack at the comic-book store recently.
Now it’s your turn! As your body is bombarded with an unusually high amount of solar radiation today, what kind of super powers are you hoping to get?
The teams for Super Bowl XLVI are set! It’s that classic East Coast battle of the New England Patriots taking on the New York (Football) Giants. While the AFC and NFC Championship games are still fresh on your minds, I wanted to hear your initial picks for the Super Bowl. Who are you picking? What’s your spread? Who’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, the Red Sox pursuit of Roy Oswalt, watching Moneyball over and over again, or wishing you were on an airplane, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.
The teams for Super Bowl XLVI are set! It’s that classic East Coast battle of the New England Patriots taking on the New York (Football) Giants. While the AFC and NFC Championship games are still fresh on your minds, I wanted to hear your initial picks for the Super Bowl. Who are you picking? What’s your spread? Who’s going to have a break-out game? Who’s going to choke?
Of course this topic will be revisited in early February, but I wanted to get your gut feelings after yesterday’s games. So have at it (please)!
Last night my friend Paul and I were talking about Jon Stewart’s hilarious and sad rant about Apple and Foxconn. It got us thinking about the possibility of American-made consoles. Initially I was dreaming about Microsoft, being an American company and all, pricing the next Xbox a little higher than the competition…
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, Verve’s El Salvador Los Toreros Bourbon, the sad fall of Kodak, or people Tebowing in front of abortion clinics (see Tosh.0), Coffee Talk is the place to do it.
Last night my friend Paul and I were talking about Jon Stewart’s hilarious and sad rant about Apple and Foxconn. It got us thinking about the possibility of American-made consoles. Initially I was dreaming about Microsoft, being an American company and all, pricing the next Xbox a little higher than the competition but using American factories to assemble it. Paul thought that was too unrealistic, so he proposed Microsoft releasing two versions of the Xbox 720 (or whatever it will be called): one made in America and one made in China/Mexico/insert-cheap-labor-country-here. That’s when things got more interesting.
It’s still unrealistic given how publicly-traded companies work, but let’s play this game for a bit. Would you pay extra for an American-made videogame-console? How much extra, if anything, would you pay for a console that supports American factory workers? It’s totally cool if your answer is $0; I’m sure that most U.S. Americans don’t care, but I’m curious to see if some of you do and how much more you’d be willing to spend. Kindly vote in the poll and expand on your answer in the comments section.
CES 2012 has come and gone! What did you think of this year’s show? Any products or technology jump out at you? Taking an informal poll of my friends in attendance (mostly videogame journalists, a few tech writers), television technology was the most exciting thing at CES 2012. Between…
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, wishing that Steve Nash gets traded to a playoff contender, Snooki starting a boxing promotion company, or celebrities Tebowing on the red carpet, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.
CES 2012 has come and gone! What did you think of this year’s show? Any products or technology jump out at you? Taking an informal poll of my friends in attendance (mostly videogame journalists, a few tech writers), television technology was the most exciting thing at CES 2012. Between OLED TVs and 4K TVs, there were several televisions on display that had my peers drooling. These are models that most people won’t be able to afford this year or next, but are glimpses of television’s exciting future.
Personally, I was impressed by LG’s Blast Chiller. Found in select LG refrigerators, Blast Chiller can bring take a can of beer from room temperature to icy cold in about four minutes. I’m trying to get LG to send me a review unit…and several cases of Guiness so that I can thoroughly test Blast Chiller.
I was disappointed that Sony didn’t get more attention with the Vita. I suppose that most videogame writers have had Japanese units for several weeks already, but my tech writer friends didn’t really seem too interested in Sony’s next handheld. If anything, tech writers and mainstream journalists seemed fascinated by Razer’s Project Fiona. Being new and unusual definitely helped Project Fiona grab some headlines.
Here are the three products that came up the most in conversations with my peers:
Razer Project Fiona — Razer’s gaming tablet is extremely powerful, but is it something people want?
Razer revealed “Project Fiona” at CES 2012 — a high-end gaming tablet featuring an Intel i7 processor and Windows 8. This isn’t your typical tablet; it doesn’t use an efficient mobile processor and doesn’t play relatively small apps. This is a powerful machine that plays gamepad-enable PC games out of the box. Check out my article on Project Fiona at Padvance if you have a chance. I’m super curious to hear if this product interests you. Please let me know!
Here are the official press images of the Samsung Galaxy Note for AT&T. This “phablet” is a unique product that’s considerably larger than most phones and smaller than most tablets. A lot of people I bumped into at CES 2012 are talking about the Galaxy Note. Everyone thinks it’s a “cool” product, but most aren’t sure who it’s for and if it will sell in America. Please check out the images below, read my Padvance hands-on preview, and let me know what you think. Will people be drawn in by the Galaxy Note’s unusual form factor and use of a stylus? Predict the future!
