Coffee Talk #409: New Game Plus and You

I love “new game+” modes. To me, they’re a nice reward for beating the game. I love being able to replay an RPG with all the equipment and powers I’ve earned. There’s something gratifying about going through a 40-hour RPG in 1/4 the time…

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, how to react when being told you’re overqualified, the future of standalone compact cameras, or walk-off grand-slams, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

I love “new game+” modes. To me, they’re a nice reward for beating the game. I love being able to replay an RPG with all the equipment and powers I’ve earned. There’s something gratifying about going through a 40-hour RPG in 1/4 the time thanks to the use of ridiculous weapons and crazy powers. If it were up to me, every game would have a “new game+” mode.

To my amazement, some of my friends don’t enjoy these modes. To them, there’s nothing fun about plowing through a game unchallenged. They think it’s boring and unsatisfying. Beating a game that way feels cheap and hollow to them.

What’s your stance on “new game+”? Do you enjoy it? Do you think it’s cheap? Perhaps it’s cheap and enjoyable? Leave a comment and let me know (please!).

iPhone 4S Pre-Orders Top One-Million in 24 Hours

Apple has announced that pre-orders for the iPhone 4S have topped one-million units in the first 24 yours of availability. Despite journalists and analysts being disappointed in the product, the iPhone is more popular than ever. In America, this is the first time an iPhone has launched on three carriers at the same time — AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon.  Here’s a clip from the press release:

Apple today announced pre-orders of its iPhone 4S have topped one million in a single day, surpassing the previous single day pre-order record of 600,000 held by iPhone 4.

“We are blown away with the incredible customer response to iPhone 4S,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “The first day pre-orders for iPhone 4S have been the most for any new product that Apple has ever launched and we are thrilled that customers love iPhone 4S as much as we do.:

Even though I expressed disappointment with the product launch, I had no doubt that the iPhone 4S would be immensely popular. It looks like a fantastic product and being on thee major American carriers is huge. Internet writers, particularly tech bloggers, are giving the product more heat than they ought to. The GPU on this thing is killer and the camera looks brilliant. Siri takes voice control, something that has been available on Google Android for years, to a game-changing level. The iPhone 4S is a great product backed by great marketing. The sales figures reflect that.

What do you think of Apple’s pre-order numbers with the iPhone 4S? Are they what you expected? Or did they exceed your expectations?

This Week’s Videogame Releases

The Q4 onslaught of videogame releases continues! Dead Rising 2: Off the Record combines the world of the sequel with the protagonist from the original game. Forza Motorsport 4 brings back Microsoft’s inimitable simulation racing style. If you’re looking for action in the friendly skies then Ace Combat: Assault Horizon is the game for you. Spyro is back in Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure, which is a crossover with a new line of toys. The immortal Hulk Hogan returns to the gaming world in Hulk Hogan’s Main Event, which allows you to do the infamous “big boot” with motion controls. If you’re looking for an athlete that’s down with recreational drugs then why not give Michael Phelps: Push the Limit a chance? Lastly, JRPG fans will want to keep an eye on Rune Factory: Tides of Destiny.

Any of you picking up new games this week?

Qwikster is Dead! Long Live Netflix!

Remember when Netflix announced that it was going to spin off its disc-based business into a separate company called Qwikster? Well, you can forget about all that. The company has decided that it’s keeping everything under the same banner, which has people speculating about what the hell is going on over at Netflix. Before I get to that stuff, here’s a clip from a statement emailed to Netflix customers:

It is clear that for many of our members two websites would make things more difficult, so we are going to keep Netflix as one place to go for streaming and DVDs.

This means no change: one website, one account, one password…in other words, no Qwikster.

The reactions have been interesting so far. Some people believe that this is a sign that Netflix is about to be bought by another company. Some analysts feel that Netflix is an ideal purchase for Amazon and would be an outstanding tool to fuel the Kindle Fire tablet.

Others believe that this is another sign of poor management over at Netflix. The company has made some head-scratching moves this year and this is just the latest in a series of questionable maneuvers.

Personally, I’m just glad everything will remain under the same roof. Keeping streaming and disc rentals is more interesting to me as a verbal entertainer. I want to sit back, grab some popcorn, and watch Netflix duke it out with Gamefly. How about you? What do you make of Netflix announcing and renouncing Qwikster so…uh…quickly?

N8R’s Book Club: What Do You Think of Preacher?

It has come to my attention that a lot of you have recently had the opportunity to read Preacher, an outstanding comic-book series written by Garth Ennis and illustrated Steve Dillon. This is one of my favorite comics of all time and I’d love to hear your thoughts on it. So let’s have a book-of-the-month club discussion, Opera style!

While I really enjoyed Dillon’s art, it’s Ennis’ writing that truly dazzled me. Preacher’s storytelling is just a wonderfully unique blend of clever, creative, ridiculous, obscene, violent, caring, and emotional elements. Throughout the series, I was continually amazed by how deftly Ennis moved from feeling to feeling. He created an interesting world with characters that you’ll never forget.

Out of all the characters in Preacher, Cassidy was by far my favorite. A large part of this is because during the height of Preacher’s popularity, I was spending an inordinate amount of time in NYC Irish pubs. He reminded me of a lot of bartenders I knew. Plus, Cassidy had so much range. He was instantly likable, almost always made me laugh, disappointed me with some of his actions, generated pity with others, and had a touching redemption at the end. He’s definitely the coolest vampire I’ve ever read. How awesome would it be to have a Cassidy limited series where he kicks the crap out of all the characters in Twilight?

Whether you’ve read Preacher recently or devoured it in the past, kindly share your thoughts on this outstanding series in the comments section. Also, when the hell is HBO going to green light a Preacher series?!?

iPhone 4S 3.5-Inch Screen: Usability vs. Visibility

I’ve noted several times on this site that I think that the 3.5-inch screen on the iPhone is too small and that I greatly prefer screens that are larger than four inches. Recently Dustin Curtis wrote an interesting argument on why a 3.5-inch screen is ideal for most people. As an example, he compared the iPhone 4 to the Samsung Galaxy S II. His findings came down to usability vs. visibility. Here’s an excerpt:

Touching the upper right corner of the screen on the Galaxy S II using one hand, with its 4.27-inch screen, while you’re walking down the street looking at Google Maps, is extremely difficult and frustrating. I pulled out my iPhone 4 to do a quick test, and it turns out that when you hold the iPhone in your left hand and articulate your thumb, you can reach almost exactly to the other side of the screen. This means it’s easy to touch any area of the screen while holding the phone in one hand, with your thumb. It is almost impossible to do this on the Galaxy S II.

He definitely has a point in terms of usability, particularly one-handed usability. Most people don’t have Andre the Giant hands like RPadholics BigBlak and Slickyfats. For people like that, one-handed usability on larger screens isn’t an issue. For most people, it’s a compelling argument that a 3.5 inch touchscreen is easier to use than a 4.27-inch touchscreen like on the Galaxy S II.

The argument against 3.5-inch screens is visibility. It’s easier to see larger screens. A lot of my iPhone friends counter this point by saying, “I just hold my iPhone closer to my face and see everything just fine.” I suppose that’s an acceptable answer, but there’s also a comfort level involved. I have a few friends with BlackBerry phones that look like they’re making out with the things as they use them; they have to hold their Berries so close to their face that it looks silly and, more importantly, uncomfortable.

Then there’s resolution. In addition to making text and images appear crisper, higher resolutions on large screens allow for more data to be packed on a screen. That’s one reason I’ve been disappointed in Android phones with larger displays coupled with 800 x 480 resolutions and greatly looking forward to the proliferation of phones with large screens pumping out qHD (960 x 540) or 720p (1,280 x 720) graphics. Plus, the videos will look awesome.

Anyway, I wanted to get your take on mobile phone screens. How do you juggle the factors of size, resolution, usability, and visibility?

Source via Daring Fireball

Coffee Talk #408: Double Dipping on Xbox Live

I’ve always hated that Netflix on Xbox 360 is a “Gold” feature. You’re already paying for Netflix service. You’re already paying for the Internet bandwidth. Why should the cost be built into your Xbox Live subscription? That’s crap…yet more and more services on…

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, dreaming of Yu Darvish in a Yankees uniform, famous atheists fighting cancer, or when NBA basketball will be back, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

I’ve always hated that Netflix on Xbox 360 is a “Gold” feature. You’re already paying for Netflix service. You’re already paying for the Internet bandwidth. Why should the cost be built into your Xbox Live subscription? That’s crap…yet more and more services on Xbox 360 are requiring Xbox Live Gold, despite them being paid for already.

Last week RPadholic smartguy pointed out that the next update for AT&T U-Verse on Xbox 360 will require Gold membership. Again, you’re already paying for U-Verse service, so why should you have to pay more for using your Xbox 360 to access it? Even AT&T realizes the charge is stupid and in a preemptive measure stated that it will credit the cost of a one-year subscription to Xbox Live Gold to its customers.

Charging for Netflix, U-Verse, etc. just seems like an artificial way for Microsoft to create “premium” features for Xbox Live Gold. It’s coattail riding or double dipping instead of actually creating compelling services that justify the cost of Xbox Live Gold. For some reason, I expected gamers to be angrier about these charges and practices. Gamers are typically loud complainers, but the typical outrage just isn’t there. What’s the deal?!?

Anyway, let me know how you feel about double dipping on Xbox Live. Is it a fair practice? Is it bogus? Does it make you angry like Mr. McGee does?

UFC Coming to Xbox Live on December 1, 2011

Microsoft has announced that UFC content will be coming to the Xbox 360 starting December 1, 2011. Live pay-per-view events, on-demand content, press conferences, weigh-ins, and more will be available. The first live PPV broadcast will be UFC 140 on December 10. Here are the bullet points from the press release:

  • Live and On-Demand Video — Event previews, UFC Countdown, press conferences, weigh-ins, interviews, workouts, highlights, and more, together for the first time on your big screen.
  • Streaming HD Quality in 720p –UFC fans demand stunning HD viewing, and Xbox LIVE brings the most premium streaming HD to the big screen.
  • Pay-Per-View with Ease — The biggest pay-per-view fights available to all Xbox LIVE members in HD and SD pricing options. Purchase directly with your credit card, Microsoft Points not required.
  • Interactive Fight Card with Predictions — Size up the fighters with the tale of the tape and view their past fight results. Predict upcoming fights, compare results with friends for points and bragging rights, and see where you stand against them on the leaderboard, all accessible while watching the fight so you’ll never have to leave the excitement of the Octagon.
  • Control the action with Kinect — Focus on the fight instead of looking for the remote. Navigate through the video content, bring up the Interactive Fight Card, or play, pause, and rewind that big punch, kick or submission…all with the magic of Kinect.

I know that most of you are incredibly excited to control UFC events via Kinect. I kid, I kid. In all seriousness, this is a tremendous partnership. UFC is incredibly popular and Microsoft is being very aggressive with its television initiatives on Xbox 360. I have no doubt that this will be a great success for everyone involved.

Any of you psyched for you UFC on your Xbox 360? What features are you looking forward to the most?

Nexus Prime Leaked Video, Launch Event Postponed

I have some good news and some bad news on the Samsung Nexus Prime/Galaxy Nexus. The good news is that Gadget.ro has posted a video of what it claims to be the Nexus Prime running Google Ice Cream Sandwich. The bad news is that it looks like next week’s launch event at Samsung Unpacked 2011 is being postponed (which doubly sucks because my ticket is non-refundable). I’m still awaiting the official word regarding my RSVP (and praying it’s a false rumor).

One of my friends at a prominent PC publication believes that Samsung needs time to completely retool its presentation. His sources told him that Samsung’s messaging was quite aggressive and very much meant to dog the iPhone 4S. He believes that in light of Steve Jobs’ death, Samsung wanted to avoid negative PR and change its message to something less confrontational. Keep in mind that we were talking about this on AIM, so there are things I might not be picking up over text.

Anyway, check out the leaked video and let me know what you think (please!). It looks legit considering that the phone has no buttons, which is something Ice Cream Sandwich can do without. There are also several Honeycomb-like features, which is another trademark of ICS. A software hack could be dismissed, but I don’t see how you could get rid of capacitive buttons.

Source