I’m loving the latest batch of Final Fantasy XIII-2 screens. They’re full of moogle goodness! Several of the shots show the game’s moogle in cutscenes and in action. In addition to being awesomely cute, the moogle fits into the combat and puzzle aspects of FFXIII-2. There’s also this cool shot of Serah wielding a comically large bow. It’s amazing that her skinny arms can even lift it!
Anyway, please check out the screens and share your thoughts on ’em. Kupo!!!
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My friend Parisi posted a link to this story about Jani Lane’s deceased body being found at a Comfort Inn in Woodland Hills, CA. The news bummed me out more than I thought it would and I was genuinely surprised by how sad I felt. After thinking about it for a few minutes, I shouldn’t have been surprised at all. I loved Warrant as a youngster. “Heaven” was one of the first songs I learned how to play on guitar from start to finish. Yeah, they weren’t the greatest band in the world, but they were fun and they were definitely a big part of my youth. The band became part of my adult life too. My BB Zoe Flower and I usually perform “Heaven” during videogame industry karaoke. (We’re awesome at it, btw.)
I know that RPadholic N8R got to meet Jani Lane. Any of you get to meet him? Any other Warrant fans out there?
The word on the street is that one of the first HTC phones with Beats Electronics will be the HTC Vigor for Verizon. Droid-Life claims that the phone will resemble the HTC Thunderbolt, but its innards will be much more powerful. The Vigor is rumored for an October 2011 release. Here are the specs (also rumored):
Well color me curious! It will be interesting to see what kind of processor the Vigor uses. The next-generation Qualcomm Snapdragon processor (Krait) is slated for a Q4 release. It features an updated Adreno 225 GPU that compares favorable to the GPUs in the Nvidia Tegra 2 and Samsung Exynos processors. I’m also curious to see what battery life will be like. One of the few things I didn’t like about the Thunderbolt was its poor battery life. I’m hoping that HTC includes a hefty battery that adequately supports the formidable combination of 4G LTE, a 720p screen, and a powerful process.
Any of you interested in the HTC Vigor?
With Nintendo’s recent financial report and the company’s bungling of the 3DS, a lot of people are saying that Nintendo is doomed. As someone that has covered the company for several console generations…
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 many idiots it takes to perform a successful server migration, Austin Aries on Impact Wrestling, or not missing Alex Rodriguez in the slightest, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.
With Nintendo’s recent financial report and the company’s bungling of the 3DS, a lot of people are saying that Nintendo is doomed. As someone that has covered the company for several console generations, I find this amusing. We’ve come full circle! People were saying that Nintendo was doomed during the N64 and GameCube days, ignoring the heaps of money it was making with its Game Boy products. When the Nintendo DS and Wii were breaking sales records, people were asking, “Can anyone stop Nintendo???” A rough launch, currency exchange issues, and the tail-end of a console’s lifespan have Nintendo doomed (again). Funny how it goes….
One of the byproducts of this gloom-and-doom reporting is that “experts” believe that Nintendo should ditch the hardware business and focus strictly on software. In a lot of ways, it reminds me of how people used to clamor for Apple to get out of the hardware business and just be an outstanding software developer. Yesterday I read an extremely stupid article written by a writer I usually enjoy. TheAppleBlog’s Darrell Etherington wrote:
Nintendo wouldn’t be the first gaming company to stop making hardware and turn its attention entirely to software if it did change its focus to developing for Apple. Sega made the same move back in 2001, based in part on the same kind of mistake that’s causing Nintendo’s headaches today.
That’s one of the dumbest comparisons I’ve read all year. First of all, the financial situations are completely different. Nintendo has always enjoyed great margins on its hardware. Even when it was being outsold by Sega, Sony, and Microsoft, it made strong profits on hardware sales. The company has always had a lot of cash in the bank. Sure, Nintendo is having a down year with a mishandled 3DS launch and the Wii being on its last legs, but how does that compare to Sega, a company that was losing money at the height of the Dreamcast’s popularity?
Secondly, why would you even mention Sega as a reason for Nintendo to drop hardware and focus on software?!? Sega went from being part of the “big three” companies in console gaming to a middle-of-the-road game publisher. That’s hardly a success story.
I just don’t understand why people are calling for Nintendo to exit the hardware business at this time. Sure, the 3DS will not be as popular as the DS. I sincerely doubt the Wii U will put up the numbers that the Wii did. Having said that, I expect the company to make a lot of money with both products. This talk of Nintendo dropping hardware seems way too premature.
What do you ladies and gents think? Should Nintendo leave the hardware business? Or is that just crazy talk? Do you think Nintendo would develop games for Android and iOS while it still sold consoles? Do you think the admiration Satoru Iwata and Steve Jobs have for each other means anything in business terms? Should Ninten-Do or Ninten-Don’t?!?
Google is rolling out games for its Google+ social network. Launch titles include Angry Birds, Bejeweled Blitz, Bubble Island, City of Wonder, Collapse! Blast, Crime City, Diamond Dash, Dragon Age: Legends, Dragons of Atlantis, Edge World, Flood-It!, Monster World, Sudoku, Wild Ones, Zombie Lane, and Zynga Poker. The gaming functionality of Google+ is being deployed on a rolling basis, so not everyone can access it right away.
For consumers, Google wants to keep games simple and out-of-the-way compared to Facebook. Users will have more control over what gaming information they share and see on their stream. On a recent post on the Official Google Blog, senior vice president Vic Gundotra wrote:
Sharing is about more than just conversations. The experiences we have together are just as important to our relationships. We want to make playing games online just as fun, and just as meaningful, as playing in real life.
That means giving you control over when you see games, how you play them and with whom you share your experiences. Games in Google+ are there when you want them and gone when you don’t.
For developers that make money through in-game purchases, Google+ is especially attractive. According to VentureBeat’s “Dancing” Dean Takahashi, Google’s cut of in-game purchases is 5 percent, as opposed to the 30 percent Facebook takes in. Obviously Facebook has a much higher installed base, so developers stand to make more money on that social network based on the sheer amount of players. As Google+ continues to grow — remember, it hasn’t even been out for two months — it will be interesting to see if developers start to favor it over Facebook.
Sadly, games haven’t shown up on my Google+ account yet. How about for you? Anything there yet? What do you think of Google+ games? Will you give them a whirl?
Former WWE and current Impact Wrestling legend Hulk Hogan is concerned about the recent riots in London and has a solution. No, it’s not training, saying your prayers, and eating your vitamins. The situation in London requires more than the three demandments of Hulkamania. Hogan recent told BBC Radio 5 Live:
I just heard what’s going on in the streets, man, and I thought just maybe Hulkamania should run over there, start dropping legs, start hitting people with big boots and just stop the action.
I will do anything, because I love my UK Hulkamaniacs, brother.
I am so sure that Hogan will not being going to England. Perhaps it’s just me, but I don’t see how sending over an old guy with a bad back, two bad hips, and limited intellect will accomplish anything. Though it would be hilarious to see footage of a lager lout no-selling Hogan’s three moves.
If you want more wisdom from Hogan, be sure to click on the source link. The quotes are…amsuing.
I’m actually going to try and not play games this weekend. A good friend of my just got back from two months in Asia and we’re going to catch up. When I’m not hanging out with him, I’m going to try and read as much of George R.R. Martin’s A Dance with Dragons as possible. I’m about 60 percent of the way through the book and really enjoying it. Tyrion Lannister rules!!!
How about you? What’s on your weekend playlist?
Before I get started, please know that the videos in the post are totally safe for work. Now let’s get to the matter of nerd pr0n! With movie titles like On Golden Blonde, Forrest Humps, and Romancing the Bone, it’s clear…
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, to VPS or not to VPS, the demise of George Lopez, or AJ Burnett’s August record for the last three seasons (it sucks), Coffee Talk is the place to do it.
Before I get started, please know that the videos in this post are totally safe for work. Now let’s get to the matter of nerd pr0n! With movie titles like On Golden Blonde, Forrest Humps, and Romancing the Bone, it’s clear that nothing is safe from the adult entertainment industry. Recently, a lot of my friends have been sending around the trailer for Star Wars XXX (embedded below). I know there have been adult movies that spoof popular fantasy and sci-fi movies, but why not videogames?!? It turns out that naughty videogame movies are here!
During an email discussion of Star Wars XXX, a friend informed me of Sex Fighter II, an adult movie parody of Street Fighter II. This movie has an actor dressed as Ryu doing…imaginative things to an actress dressed as Chun-Li. On one hand, I’m sure there are people at Capcom, as well as Capcom fans, that find this disturbing. On the other hand, it’s about frickin’ time! In a way, pr0n spoofs legitimizes the videogame business, similar to how a “Weird” Al Yankovic parody legitimizes a pop artist. At least, that’s the way I feel.
Oh yeah, disclaimer: I am not endorsing Sex Fighter II. Now please share your thoughts on the important matter of videogame pr0n. Do you have any cool titles in your head? Have you started writing any scenes that started with, “Then Samus took off her helmet…”?
[Updated 8/11 with awesome PR photo.] HTC CEO Peter Chou has revealed that his company is investing $300-million in Beats Electronics. Some of you will remember Beats as the high-end audio company founded by hip-hop legend Dr. Dre and Interscope super-producer Jimmy Iovine. The goal is to improve the audio quality of HTC phones and leverage the Beats brand. AllThingsDigital had more from Iovine:
Beats CEO (and legendary music producer) Jimmy Iovine told AllThingsD that the partnership with HTC is just the latest piece of his crusade to improve the sound in modern electronics. Iovine said that the shift from listening to music on stereos to one where MP3s are played on computers has led to “an entire generation lost to bad-sounding music.”
There’s no denying that Beats has a certain cachet and will be useful for marketing purposes, but I wouldn’t expect HTC phones to suddenly have magical audio quality. Current Beats products, like Beats by Dre from Monster Cable, are decent goods that are also overpriced and overrated. I’m sure Beats Electronics will help improve the audio quality of HTC phones, but I mostly see this as a really expensive marketing move.
HTC phones with Beats technology are expected to arrive in late 2011.
What do you think of HTC teaming up with Beats? Does it make you more interested in HTC phones? Or is it just a marketing ploy to you?
[Update: Below is an amazing photo of Chou, Dre, and Iovine. This was, by far, the best part of the press release.]
AT&T is fighting the “evils” of unofficial tethering. Verizon is doing the same. But who’s fighting for your right to party tether?!? That would be a nonprofit group called Free Press. Both AT&T and Verizon left the 700MHz auction with huge chunks of spectrum. Verizon has been using that spectrum for its 4G LTE network. Free Press believes that Verizon charging additional fees for tethering and blocking third-party tethering apps violates the FCC’s auction rules.
The organization lodged a complaint with the FCC, calling out Verizon for not allowing third-party tethering on its LTE phones. Verizon replied that it didn’t do any blocking; it merely “suggested” to Google that third-party tethering apps should be unavailable to its LTE phones through Android Market. In a press release addressing Verizon’s (almost funny) response, Free Press policy director Matt Wood said:
Verizon Wireless essentially claims that subscribers who use tethering apps are stealing service, but this argument is as ridiculous as it is offensive. When users buy wireless data service — whether capped or unlimited — they should be free to decide how they use that data. Verizon would rather call tethering a separate service and require its subscribers to pay twice for the same data. But under that warped view, what’s to stop a carrier from deciding that instant messaging or streaming video applications compete with the carrier’s own services, and consequently blocking subscribers from accessing these applications?
The good news is that Free Press is correct. The 700MHz spectrum is supposed to be “open”. The bad news is that the definition of open was bastardized by corporate lawyers and lobbyists. While blocking tethering solutions violates the auction in human terms, intentional vagueness and convenient loopholes will almost definitely allow Verizon to keep blocking unofficial tethering solutions.
I love that Free Press is fighting the fight against American mobile carriers. It is completely ridiculous that the same data gets handled and charged for in different ways. While I somewhat understand the need to reign in unlimited customers, double dipping on a tiered data system is a total scam.
Between outmoded data caps, silly throttling, data discrimination, and dumb tethering rules, it’s almost as if the carriers don’t want mobile broadband to truly evolve. Oh wait, they’re all afraid of becoming dumb pipes….
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