Hello guys and gals! Thanks for keeping the site moving while I’m away. Things will be back to normal (whatever that means) soon! I’m currently typing away in the Cathay Pacific lounge in Hong Kong, waiting for my flight to Los Angeles. I’ll be back on Thursday night and will crank out a bunch of content on Friday.
Asia has been fantastic on several levels, but I really miss you guys!!!
Today’s question: how are you doing?
There’s not a whole lot going on this week in terms of game releases. The only interesting title I see is Splinter Cell: Conviction
Are any of you picking up Splinter Cell: Conviction? Or are you picking up an older game or a title I forgot about?
Conan O’Brien’s search for a new home is over! The popular late-night host (that was completely dicked over by NBC) will be hosting an 11PM show for TBS. The network currently runs a late show hosted by George Lopez; when the time comes, Lopez Tonight will be moved to the midnight slot. Here’s the skinny from Variety:
In a surprise announcement, TBS revealed this morning that the former Tonight Show host would join the cabler in the 11 p.m. time slot this November.
Lopez Tonight, which currently airs there, will shift to midnight. Like Lopez, the as-yet untitled O’Brien show will air four days a week, Mondays through Thursdays.
One interesting rumor was that O’Brien’s managers were considering an Xbox Live show. How crazy would that have been?!? For now, I’d love to know what you think of Conan’s move. Do you think TBS has a winner with the Conan/Lopez combo?
Thanks for keeping the site going while I’m away. My trip is almost over and things will be back on a regular schedule soon. For now, I wanted to ask what you’d do if you had one week in Asia. For the sake of context, I’m going to assume you’ll want to include some gamer-related activities in your Asian vacation. Would you want to checked out the Internet cafes in Taiwan? Visit game companies in Japan? Or maybe catch a professional StarCraft match at a stadium in Korea?
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, JR’s excellent chipotle ketchup, Gilbert Arenas’ adventures in a halfway house, or Tiger Woods’ return to golf, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.
Thanks for keeping the site going while I’m away. My trip is almost over and things will be back on a regular schedule soon. For now, I wanted to ask what you’d do if you had one week in Asia. For the sake of context, I’m going to assume you’ll want to include some gamer-related activities in your Asian vacation. Would you want to checked out the Internet cafes in Taiwan? Visit game companies in Japan? Or maybe catch a professional StarCraft match at a stadium in Korea?
There are so many different and diverse gaming activities in Asia. In some countries, consoles are king. In other countries, online gaming at Internet shops is where it’s at. Professional gaming in Korea is one of the most unique phenomenons I’ve ever come across; pro gamers have corporate sponsors, have their own baseball cards, and are pretty big celebrities in the country. So if I had to pick, I’d love to watch a professional train for a tournament and watch him/her compete in it.
Now it’s your turn! What would you do during your Asian gaming vacation?
For the longest time, this was my favorite episode of Reset. The first segment is one of the best things I’ve ever done. It’s also a little nostalgic since I ended up living with two of the people in the clip. Anyway, please check it out and let me know what you think!
Part 1 — Ah, the “Table of Truth”! At the time of this Midway event, I was annoyed that all the people available for interviews were publisher producers. I was hoping for people from the dev teams. I called an angst-filled audible and decided to talk about these Midway games with my journalist friends…but I waited until they were sauced. Watch EGM Shane Bettenhausen, G4TV Ted Regulski, and super freelancer Christian Nutt talk about games over several drinks. I love this clip and I really hope you enjoy it.
Part 2 — This was a fun Atari trip to Austin. I interviewed Shiny’s David Perry on The Matrix: The Path of Neo and Atari’s Kyle Peschel on TimeShift. I know a few of you are longtime Dave Perry fans. I’m pretty sure my arm was really sore from interviewing two really tall dudes. Ha! That’s what I get for preferring stick mics over lavs.
Part 3 — Here’s a week in the life of me! I went to three press events in a week, starting in Austin, going to Chicago, and ending up in Las Vegas. I got some flack for this segment for being too “insider”. I thought it was kind of neat to show people what it was like to attend a press event and hear some of the stuff I actually say to journalists. It’s a little long, but it’s a different kind of fun too. I vaguely remember a bunch of us getting hammered in downtown Austin. The bus back to the hotel broke down and we had to hang out on the lawn of an office park for a couple of hours until a replacement came. Good times.
From San Francisco to Hollywood to Redwood Shores, this episode of Reset has some interesting variety. It starts out at a new developer studio started by former Blizzard employees, goes to the hippest videogame store in America, and ends up EA’s campus.
Part 1 — Kat caught up with Flagship’s Bill Roper (ex-Blizzard) to talk about the company’s debut game Hellgate: London. While we all know how the game and company ended up, it’s interesting to take a look back at it through the old retroscope…and this segment.
Part 2 — Kat and I paid a visit to Acme Games, the coolest videogame store either of us have ever been to. Acme offers a unique experience that’s way different from going to GameStop. Naturally, this stylin’ game store is in Los Angeles.
Part 3 — Three games. Three journalists. Three times the fun! I went to EA’s campus to check out Battlefield 2: Modern Combat, The Sims 2: Nightlife, and The Godfather. Game Revolution’s Ben Silverman, Game Informer’s Billy Berghammer, and GameSpy’s Willy Tuttle weighed in with their opinions on the games.
As many of you know, Apple announced details on iPhone OS 4, which will be available in Summer 2010. There are several new features included in this release. The bigger ones have been dubbed “tent poles” (which makes me laugh…even though it shouldn’t). Here are the major features and my take on them.
Multitasking — This is way overdue. As wonderful as the iPhone UI is, the lack of multitasking is a deal breaker for some users. Apple promises that its implementation of multitasking will be intuitive and natural. Considering how easy-to-use the iPhone OS already is, I’m sure that will be the case.
Folders — This isn’t a big deal for me, since I usually only keep three pages of apps on my phone. However, I know a lot of people with ridiculously cluttered iPhones. For users like them, this is a godsend.
Enhanced Mail — This feature is also overdue and most welcomed. I’m currently juggling three email accounts that I use frequently. There are two other ones that I use every week or so. For business users, being able to sync to multiple exchange accounts is extremely powerful. Come to think of it, I use the Exchange method for syncing my Gmail contacts. Should I get a job at a company that uses Exchange (i.e. most places), it would be excellent to have both.
iBooks — Some people are thrilled with this feature, but not me. I will not read books on my iPhone. If I had an iPad, I probably wouldn’t read them on it either. I love the E-Ink display on my Amazon Kindle. It’s so easy on the eyes and comfortable to view for hours. I don’t understand people that prefer a backlit LCD/LED screen over E-Ink for reading.
Game Center — Achievements for iPhone games? Sure, why not?!? I know a few of you are Xbox 360 Achievement whores. Having those type of rewards implemented in the iPhone games ecosystem would make things more addictive and keep people playing. At the very least, I’m sure it will be a much smoother and more interesting implementation than what Nokia tried to do with the N-Gage platform.
Enterprise Features — RIM is the undisputed king of business smartphones with its BlackBerry line. Along with multiple Exchange account support, these features should have RIM more than a little scared. In the short term, BlackBerry will still dominate enterprise use, but its OS is falling way behind iPhone, Android, and others.
Some of you already started talking about iPhone OS 4 in Coffee Talk, but I’d love to continue the conversation here. What do you think of iPhone OS 4’s features? What tent poles excite you the most (*snicker*)? Are any of the minor features (spell check, enhanced wallpapers, etc.) interesting to you? Do you think not being able to multitask on devices before the iPhone 3GS is the real deal or a cheap way to get people to buy new iPhones/iPods? Chat it up at your earliest convenience (please)!
Technically, it’s coffee time where I am so the column name still applies. Ha! As expected, jet lag is totally kicking my ass. I didn’t believe in jet lag for the first 25 years of my life. I thought it was a sissy excuse for tired people. Then I did a quick work trip to Tokyo and was disoriented for several days after I returned. For all of you younglings reading this, it only gets worse as you get older.
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, Jim Carrey’s next girlfriend, Fusion Garage’s JooJoo tablet, or the Yankees and Red Sox taking 12 hours to complete three games, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.
Technically, it’s coffee time where I am so the column name still applies. Ha! As expected, jet lag is totally kicking my ass. I didn’t believe in jet lag for the first 25 years of my life. I thought it was a sissy excuse for tired people. Then I did a quick work trip to Tokyo and was disoriented for several days after I returned. For all of you younglings reading this, it only gets worse as you get older.
Anyway, gaming has been great with trying to deal with jet lag. Some people just stare at the ceiling until they fall asleep. I find EV training in Pokemon productive and repetitive, which usually helps me catch some Z’s. This trip I’ve been playing the hell out of Civilization Revolution for iPhone. Yes, I’ve played the game essentially the same way for over a thousand times, but I still love it. The repetition is soothing and it helps me relax.
When you guys and gals deal with jet lag or insomnia, what do you do? Is there a certain game you play? Maybe a graphic novel you bring with you on the road? How about web browsing on your phone? Let me know (please)! Maybe I’ll incorporate your techniques into my jet-lag fighting regimen.
The second episode of Reset is full of anime goodness…with a little bit of western thrown in. Kat Hunter and I checked out cosplayers and games at Anime Expo 2005. Back on the home front, I caught up with Neversoft to talk about Gun.
Part 1 — Ah, cosplaying. I still think most American cosplayers are hacks compared to their Japanese counterparts, but there were some pretty cool costumes at Anime Expo. You’ll recognize characters from Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, Katamai Damacy, Metal Gear Solid, and more in this clip.
Part 2 — Neversoft made it big with its Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater games, so I was surprised when the company went all western with Gun. I interviewed two peeps from Neversoft in front of two hanging people (they weren’t really people) to learn more about the game. They answered the question that was on everyone’s mind at the time: how is horseback riding in Gun different from Zelda and Shadow of the Colossus?
Part 3 — Kat and I checked out a bunch of anime-based games from Bandai. Learn more about Inuyasha, One Piece, Zatch Bell, and more!
The Reset reruns continue! Here’s the first “official” episode of Reset. Joining Zoe Flower and me is the excellent Kat Hunter. At the time, I knew Kat for a few years and found her to be totally charming. She went on to become a great friend that bailed me out of a few drunken situations. Ha! The only hitch was the one time she brought me home, but didn’t know that I had moved. My old roomies were not pleased to have a drunk Raymond thrown upon them. Uh…let’s get to the show!
Part 1 — I interviewed some of my favorite journalists at an EA Sports press event to talk about NBA Live 2006, Madden NFL 06, and SSX: On Tour. Check out what Game Informer’s Andy McNamara, Electronic Gaming Monthly’s Bryan Intihar, and freelance writer Chris Kohler had to say about these games.
Part 2 — I went to New Orleans to attend an excellent launch party for Conker: Live and Reloaded. I had a blast and was a little tipsy by the end of the shoot. Watch me lick a Conker ice sculpture and convince two girls to do the same. Ha! I also talked to several of the developers from Rare as they played their game and partied in N’awlins.
Part 3 — Zoe met up with fashion giant Marc Ecko to talk about his game Gettin’ Up: Contents Under Pressure. In addition to being her always-charming self, she learned some new slang from Ecko. It’s bombin’!
