TiVo Announces Premiere and Premiere XL Models

TiVo has announced that it will be offering two new digital video recorders in early April: the $299.99 Premiere and the $499.99 Premiere XL. Both models feature a new interface that several tech bloggers have described as “TiVo meets IMDB”. The new interface is based on Flash and will support downloadable extensions. Here are some bullet points:

TiVo Premiere
New HD user interface for optimized search & discovery
Records up to 45 hours of HD programming
Support for NetFlix, Amazon Video, and YouTube
Connects to your cable service, replacing your cable box
Access the world’s largest on-demand video store
Schedule recordings online or with your mobile phone

TiVo Premiere XL
3 times more recording space — up to 150 hours of HD
THX certified for premium audio and digital quality
TiVo premium backlit remote control

Users will also have to pay the TiVo service fee, which ranges from $12.95 a month to $399 for lifetime service.

I’m amazingly psyched for the TiVo Premiere XL. I want one now!!! *sigh* Too bad I totally can’t afford it.

Any of you going to spring for a TiVo Premiere or Premiere XL?

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American Idol Recap 3/2/10: Top 10 Guys

Yes, I’ve finally gotten around to writing an American Idol recap. I’m pretty much doing this for three people, but I hope some of you RPad.tv regulars enjoy it too. Anyway, let’s get on with the false idolatry. Last night was supposed to be the top 10 girls performing, but Crystal Bowersox (and her smoker’s teeth) threw a wrench in those plans by ending up in the hospital. Instead, the guys went a day early. Some of them were good and some of them truly sucked. Either way, an extra day of practice wasn’t going to help any of them. Here’s how it went down.

Michael Lynche “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World”: Big Mike took on a big song by James Brown. I didn’t think he could pull it off because he’s a lovable teddy bear and JB was a lovable bastard. Surprisingly, he started the show off with a strong performance and didn’t have to rely on the “I just had a baby” card. It was a good performance that will surely keep him around for another week. I’m pretty sure that the judges are soft on him because he’s frickin’ huge. Would you criticize a singing version of Michael Clarke Duncan?

John Park “Gravity”: The lone Asian-American male on the show looked extremely nervous or incredibly disinterested (or possibly high) during his pre-performance interview. Dude was totally staring into space instead of flirting with the camera (eye-f*cking the camera gets you at least 10 percent more votes). Park told Ryan Seacrest that he chose this John Mayer song because it’s relevant. Yeah, I’d say gravity is pretty relevant. I was really pulling for Park to succeed but he was completely boring last week and was only slightly better this week. He’ll probably stay around a bit longer, but I doubt he makes the overall top 10.

Casey James “I Don’t Want to Be”: Kara DioGuardi’s object of lust busted out some mean guitar licks on this Gavin DeGraw song. Unfortunately, American Idol is (allegedly) a singing competition and his vocals were flat. He sounded small and several Idol singers from several seasons did a much better job with this song. That said, it wasn’t a bad performance by any means. A decent performance and his looks will keep him on the show a bit longer. Confession: I really like this song and I have no idea why.

Alex Lambert “Everybody Knows”: Lambert revealed that he made up his own language in sixth grade. This kid keeps getting better all the time! His awkward dancing from last week, obvious stage fright, and incredible mullet has made him my favorite contestant so far. He actually has a really good and really unique voice too — as if Rod Stewart’s pipes were transplanted into a younger man. As for his performance…I loved it! I wasn’t expecting an “unplugged” version of John Legend from this kid, but he totally nailed it. I’m pretty confident that he’ll be around for several weeks, but I worry about nerd-hating teenagers overlooking him. He does bear a striking resemblance to Gollum, after all.

Todrick Hall “What’s Love Got to Do With It”: Major sucktitude two weeks in a row from this dancer-singer. Seriously, this kid needs to stick with musicals. He completely sucks as a soloist. He butchered this Tina Turner song with a funky (in a bad way) arrangement and weak vocals. Simon Cowell laid a pretty mean zinger on Todrick by telling him he should dance…and not sing.

Jermaine Sellers “What’s Going On”: The show went from suck to blow with this horrendous rendition of Marvin Gaye’s classic. Sellers should apologize to all of Gaye’s relatives, anyone associated with Motown, and…well, to his parents for embarrassing them. Just when I didn’t think I could dislike Sellers more, he told the judges that he’s safe because he knows God. While I don’t believe in God in the sense that Sellers does, I’m pretty sure He has better things to do than protect crappy American Idol contestants. This guy needs to go!

Andrew Garcia “You Give Me Something”: After wowing the judges during Hollywood Week with an acoustic version of Paula Abdul’s “Straight Up”, this son of an LA gang banger hasn’t impressed. He hasn’t done anything wrong, but he also hasn’t done anything as distinct, original, and good as his “Straight Up” performance. Perhaps he peaked too soon…or perhaps he’s just Danny Gokey Light (with Gokey’s homophobic Christianity replaced with gangta values!).

Aaron Kelly “My Girl”: The judges were right to praise Kelly for his vocals (probably the night’s best) and rail him for an old-fashioned arrangement. Last week they were on him about his confidence. This week they’re on him about not being a distinct artist. The kid is 16! He was disowned by his parents! You really think he’s going to have his sh*t together? I’m impressed that he can walk out on the stage and flash (what appears to be) a genuine smile! Like others have said, Kelly reminds me of David Archuleta. The only difference is that I wanted to beat the crap out of Archuleta whenever he appeared on my television screen. Kelly is way more vulnerable and I feel like I should protect him.

Tim Urban “Come On Get Higher”: This guy shouldn’t be on the show. He was axed once, but got a second chance due to a contestant having a recording contract. He was — by far — the worst performer last week. He’s totally skating by on his looks and I hate all the people that voted for him just because he’s handsome. While he wasn’t as wretched as last week, his performance was still lame. Thankfully (for him) Jermaine Sellers and Todrick Hall made him look better than he actually was. Ellen gave him an awesome backhanded compliment by saying that he should look into acting because he’d excel as a handsome actor that can also (kind of) sing. On a side note, Ellen wasn’t nearly as useless tonight. She actually gave a few pieces of meaningful advice (by Idol standard).

Lee Dewyze “Lips of an Angel”: Another good-but-not-great performance. This guy has a great voice, but his song selection is way off. As Simon likes to say, he was “forgettable”. He did well enough to stick around, but he should be doing better. [Side note for Christian: Doesn’t this guy remind you of Rocker?]

Last but not least is this one-sentence summary of last night’s Idol: The skinny black guys completely bombed.

American McGee Taking on Little Red Riding Hood + Concept Art

After tackling Alice in Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz, and Grimm’s Fairytales in videogame form, American McGee is going with Little Red Riding Hood for his next game. The Spicy Horse game designer (that loves to slap his name on boxes) posted some concept art for American McGee’s Red and according to GameSetWatch will be pitching the title at GDC.

The concept art is definitely cool, but I’m interested to hear what you think of American McGee. There’s a whole generation of gamers that have no idea who he is. There are a bunch of gamers that think he’s some guy that feels the need to put his name in the title of every game he works on. There are also a bunch of people that loved what he did with Alice and are waiting for him to do something similarly great.

What do you think of Red and American McGee?

Source via GameSetWatch


250GB Xbox 360 Hard Drive Listed on GameStop for $129.99

Update: The listing has been removed. Thankfully I still had it opened in a window and captured an image. Ha!

GameStop has listed the standalone 250GB Xbox 360 hard drive for $129.99, shipping on March 23, 2010. A roughly comparable external hard drive on Amazon costs less than $60. While the proprietary enclosure adds to the price and Microsoft has always had a high markup on accessories, $130 seems a bit ridiculous.

Of course that’s just my opinion. I’m sure you have one of your own and I’d love to hear it! Is Microsoft’s 250GB hard drive overpriced?

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Today’s Poll: ApocalyPS3 vs. Infinity Ward Ousting

March started out with a bang, hey? On one side you had loads of PlayStation 3 gamers unable to do much with their precious consoles (it only does…nothing?) because of a date-processing error. On the other you had a few high-ranking execs from Infinity Ward ousted under curious conditions. Which story was the bigger deal to you?

I’m telling anyone that will listen that both stories are being overblown. Yes, the 8005010F PS3 error was a massive inconvenience for (probably) millions of gamers, but comparing it to the Xbox 360’s red ring of death is moronic. There’s a huge difference between an issue that can be solved through a software update and faulty manufacturing leading to hardware failure.

The Infinity Ward situation is also being extremely exaggerated. Yes, it’s a big deal that popular execs from a hugely successful developer were dismissed and a giant franchise was given to a “lesser” developer, but the “security guard” issue isn’t that big a deal. It’s common for security to be present when people are dismissed — mostly to protect against IP theft, but also to prevent a scene from being caused. The way this aspect of the story was being played up, it sounded like Activision hired Mafia goons to keep the remaining Infinity Ward employees inline — that’s just complete B.S.

Anyway, which story was the bigger deal?

[poll id=”29″]

Konami’s Hideo Kojima is now Tweeting in English

If you can’t get enough Hideo Kojima in your life (and really, who can?) then you’ll want to follow the legendary developer’s Twitter feed. Whether he’s talking about going to the gym, his latest stomach ache, Castlevania, or Metal Gear, Kojima always has…uh…something to say. Check it out!

Is the WWE Attitude Era Coming Back?

Last night’s episode of WWE Monday Night Raw was one of the best I’ve seen in a long, long time. The wrestling was decent, but the mic work was truly memorable. There was a certain edge to a number of promos — an edge that has been missing ever since the WWE made the decision to go with PG programming. Perhaps it’s because the company is a month away from WrestleMania or perhaps it’s because it will soon be competing head to head with TNA Impact, but last night felt a bit like the old “Attitude Era” of WWE. Here’s why.

– Triple H was great on the mic. Hunter is one of the best WWE Superstars in the company and he works really hard, but his promos usually bore me. He was outstanding putting Shawn Michaels over. His promo was passionate, strong, and meaningful. For a guy that’s often accused of only putting himself over, he was superb at reminding everyone in the WWE Universe that HBK has been the company’s best performer for the last several years.

– Cena was great on the mic. Sixty percent of the audience loves Cena. Forty percent of the audiences loathes him. His promos are often all over the place. He can be too cute. He can cross the line between being passionate and just yelling at the audience. Last night he was calm, strong, and purposeful. He also managed to help Batista — a guy that usually needs a ton of help on the mic — get over. That was probably the best aspect of his promo. Cena has never been great at carrying people in the ring or on the mic. Last night he did a good job with the latter.

– Batista cut the best promo of his career. Never mind that he looked like he just arrived from the Blue Oyster Bar (see Police Academy). Big Dave was awesome on the mic last night. Keep in mind that I am not a Batista fan at all (he’s a hack in the ring and his promos usually blow). Batista was ruthless and funny (love his line about accusing Cena of kissing kids and fat chicks). I was genuinely shocked by his promo and for a few seconds thought I was transported to a Bizarro universe where Batista possessed superior mic skills.

Sure, last night’s show had some problems. Cheech and Chong getting high on Hornswaggle’s Lucky Charms was silly. Bret Hart using a crutch with the wrong arm to sell his “broken” leg was lame. The Divas pillow fight…well, Gail Kim looked really hot so I didn’t mind that at all. My point is that the three promos I listed above were unusual for this era of WWE. They were great and edgy (if you can forget that Batista looked like a member of The Village People 2010). I’m hoping it’s a sign that WWE is getting its attitude back.

What do you think? Was last night an aberration? Or is WWE kicking off the Attitude Era, part II?

Coffee Talk #97: What’s Your Favorite Final Fantasy?

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, Bobby Kotick talking about creativity, March coming in like a lion for the gaming business, or the hotness of Mika Brzezinski (again), Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

With Final Fantasy XIII coming out next week and Wired’s Chris Kohler spilling the goods on the Japanese version of the game in the latest RPad.tv PadCast, I thought it would be a good time to discuss your favorite game in this legendary series. There are so many brilliant Final Fantasy games that it’s tough to choose. For the sake of this conversation, let’s stick with the mainline games (Tactics, Crystal Chronicles, etc. do not apply).

As for me, it comes down to IV, V, VI, and X. I’ve probably played IV the most, V has the outstanding job system, VI took interactive storytelling to a new level, and X was just wonderfully polished. My favorite usually changes, but it’s always one of these four games. Today I’m going to go with FFV because I absolutely love job systems (remember, FF Tactics is my all-time favorite).

So let me know what your favorite FF game is and why (please)! In addition to your pick, I want to hear the reasoning behind it. Warning: if you pick FFVII then I expect a pretty lengthy explanation or I’ll probably think you’re a VII fanboy.

PlayStation 3 PSN Error 8001050F Solved?

A bunch of my friends in the Twitterverse have said that their formerly 8001050F-crippled PS3s are working again. Still, I’m not going to sneeze on either of my PS3s for at least a week. I don’t want to anger the gods that sent down the 8001050F curse to our lonely planet.

Anyone have any luck getting their PS3 console going again?