Amazon.com is having a great promo that gives you $40 in credit if you buy $80 on select titles. There are lots of great games in the mix, so you’re bound to find something that tickles your dual analogs. Purchases have to be made by October 31. The code will be sent to you within seven days of the items shipping.
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 brilliance of Chris Jericho, Mark McGwire’s return to baseball, or how important it is to cherish your loved ones while you still have time, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.
Today’s Coffee Talk is going to be a little different — it’s not going to be on gaming and it’s going to be a little more personal than usual. You see, on Sunday, I lost a dear friend to cancer. This is one of the most heartbreaking experiences of my life. I’m so sad that I won’t be able to talk to her, hear her laugh, travel with her, go to the boxing gym with her, or share a drink at our favorite coffeehouse. I’m trying to focus on all the wonderful things she brought to my life and remember all the excellent times we had. Two of the things that are helping me do this are Facebook and Twitter.
I know a lot of you hate one or both of these social networking services. That just seems silly to me. They’re tools. They’re as useful (or not) as you let them be. Facebook and Twitter have been amazing for helping me deal with the loss of Rannie. I’m happy to read people’s stories about her, see photos they’ve snapped of her over the years, and see people celebrating her life. Friends from all over America, Japan, Thailand, and several other countries have shared their thoughts on Rannie. These people have been using Facebook and Twitter in a beautiful way.
Sure, a lot of everyday tweets and status updates consist of people telling you what they had for lunch, someone claiming they have a brilliant article to share with you when it’s really a Rick roll, and other nonsense. That’s just people using these tools for frivolity, which is totally fine, but they can also be used for much more. You can use the same hammer to hilariously stub your friend’s toe or help build a house for a homeless family. Like Eric Clapton said, “It’s in the way that you use it.”
So I guess I’m asking and telling you a few things today. What are some useful ways that you use Facebook and Twitter? What do you think is missing from today’s social networking services? Most importantly, try to remember who and what is important to you, and cherish all of it, because life is short.
Inexplicably, Barnes & Noble will not be leveraging its 700+ stores to sell its upcoming Nook e-Reader. This negates a huge advantage it has over Amazon and its competing Kindle products. According to paidContent, the book store giant will have demo units at all its stores, but only select outlets will be selling them. The site reported:
Its 700-plus U.S. stores should give Barnes & Noble an edge in the contest for e-reader dollars but many won’t be selling the actual Nook on site. Instead, I was told as a customer, the booksellers will order a device for in-store customers from the BN.com website to be shipped to their home, much as the buyer could do online from home. Only certain stores will carry the Nook for on-the-spot sale.
The only reason Barnes & Noble should restrict sales to certain stores is if it has a severe supply problem with the Nook. Otherwise it’s just wasting a huge opportunity. The device is expected to come out at the end of November — right in the middle of the busiest shopping period of the year. It just seems flat-out dumb not to take advantage of all those shoppers. Hopefully, for B&N’s sake, this was just a case of a foolish salesperson giving out poor information.
A recent study on digital distribution by Today’s Gamers produced some interesting numbers on gamers’ purchasing habits. While around 40 percent of American gamers buy levels or add-ons, only 22 percent buy full games. Here are some other tidibits found by Gamasutra:
58 percent of the U.S. population plays games on consoles, and 41 percent plays PC games; 43 percent of those console players download either levels or complete games.
But for Xbox and PlayStation 3 alone, the figures jump to 73 percent and 68 percent, respectively. The download figure for Wii users is 46 percent.
While I expected the number of people that buy full games via digital distribution to be lower, I didn’t think it would half the number of people that buy levels. A lot of you have mentioned that you still prefer having a box and physical copy, while a few of you have stated that you don’t like that you can’t resell a digital copy. I wonder what’s stopping most people.
Either way, if similar studies produce these kinds of results, it might make publishers think twice about digital distribution. Even publishers that equate it to probable death.
My friend, colleague, and hero Mike “Busta” Capps, president of Epic Games, needs your support. He’s in the running for the North Carolina Technology Association’s tech executive of the year. With your help, he can win this prestigious award.
There are several reasons why Capps is the obvious choice. As a gamer, you should be thankful for Epic titles like Unreal and Gears of War, not to mention the hundreds of games powered by Epic’s Unreal Engine. Secondly, Mike is just an excellent person and lots of fun to hang out with. Lastly, he actually tolerates being called “Busta” Capps (just don’t call him Mikey C — Cliff already owns that gimmick).
Voting closes on October 31, so vote for Mike (a lot). Let’s show North Cackalacky that gamers look out for their own!
Google has updated its Google Voice service to allow you to use your current mobile number with the service’s useful voicemail features. In addition to allowing you to manage your voicemail online, the service also transcribes voice messages. The transcription quality can be off (sometimes leading to unintentional comedy), but I find it to be very useful. I love not having to go through the customary (and archaic) voicemail systems to listen to messages. Anyway, here’s a little video that describes the new feature.
Are any of you using Google Voice? If so, let me know what you like and don’t like about it. If not, go sign up! I highly recommend it.
According to Japanese newspaper Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Nintendo is readying a new DSi model with larger screens. The company is targeting the new model towards older consumers that have problems reading text on the DS and DSi, as well as people looking for a portable console that’s suited for watching movies and reading digital books. Andriasang reported:
The Tuesday morning edition of the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reports that Nintendo will be attempting to spur sales of its DS line of portable systems. Domestically, the company will be releasing a DSi hardware revision within the calendar year. By the end of the fiscal year, it aims to release the current DSi in Korean and Chinese markets.
The new domestic DSi, which goes unnamed in the paper, is the current DSi with a larger screen. The new screen size is over four inches, well above the current model’s 3.25 inch size.
I’m curious to see if the upcoming model will be snatched up as quickly as its predecessors. With the DS and DSi doing way better than I expected, I’m not going to question Nintendo on this. Still, I have to wonder if older consumers are clamoring for a larger screen and if people want to use a handheld gaming system to read books. Perhaps that’s the case in Japan, but in North America and Europe? I’m doubting Nintendo on the need for this model, but the company has made me eat crow too many times in the past so….
Continue reading “New Nintendo DSi with Larger Screens on the Way”
After a mixed PPV in Bragging Rights, WWE Monday Night Raw followed up with a show in Buffalo, NY hosted by two NASCAR studs — Kyle Busch and Joey Logano. These two were, by far, the least interesting guest hosts to me, but I completely understand that NASCAR has a huge following. Anyway, here are some random thoughts on tonight’s Raw.
– Chris Jericho is just amazing. Like Hammer, he’s magic on the mic. I loved how he smiled proudly, holding up the Bragging Rights trophy, and I love how he cleared out when the cards were stacked against Big Show. One of the most impressive things about Jericho’s current run is that he can lose and still remain strong. Tonight was another example of that. He lost, still maintained his spot on the totem poll, and was able to give Kofi Kingston the rub.
– Speaking of Kofi, it’s awesome that he finally dropped the goofy Jamaican accent. His promo on Orton was very good — way better than I thought he was capable of at this stage. It’s funny, I didn’t know that Kofi’s accent was a work until I was eating with him at Summer Slam ’09. He just started speaking in a neutral American accent and it totally froze me.
Continue reading “Raymond’s Rant on WWE Monday Night Raw 10/16/09”
In the most brilliant tech analogy I’ve read in 2009, TechCrunch’s MG Siegler explained the deal with iPhone and iPhone “Killers” in religious terms. He wrote:
In a religious sense, the iPhone is a monotheistic religion. Basically, its OS believes in one device. Yes, I know there is the iPod touch, as well as variations of the iPhone (original, 3G, 3GS), but these are essentially all the same device with essentially the same hardware, just boosted specs. Meanwhile, Android, Windows Mobile, BlackBerry, Symbian, etc. are all polytheists. But “pagans,” while perhaps not exactly right, is a cooler term, so let’s go with that. All of these other mobile OSes are pagans. They answer to many devices, their “gods.”
With this analogy in mind, the notion of one of Apple’s competitors coming up with a single device that will destroy the iPhone is stupid. That’s not the battle being waged. It’s not about the Motorola Droid vs. iPhone or the Nokia N900 vs. iPhone. The real battles in those cases are Google vs. iPhone OS and Maemo vs. iPhone OS, respectively. While it’s easier to write about the T-Mobile myTouch taking on the iPhone, that’s not really the point.
And also, MG Siegler should get some kind of medal or a trophy for this analogy.
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, if Lyoto Machida deserved that decision over Shogun Rua, T-Mobile’s new pricing plans, or how awesome it is to have the Yankees in the World Series, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.
First off, kindly vote in the Saved by the Bell poll. It’s important…like very. Now getting back to the topic at hand….
Achievements and trophies. Trophies and achievements. They’re essentially the same thing — a little pat on the back for doing something in a game. In some cases, the reward is for something you would have done anyway. In others, you’re coerced to play more of a game and/or play it in a different way just to get some meaningless points or symbols. Don’t get me wrong, I love these things. I want them. (Even if I don’t know why.) What I find curious is that some gamers greatly prefer one over the other.
Familiarity might have something to do with it. Microsoft wisely incorporated achievements during the early planning stages of the Xbox 360. By introducing the system on day one, it was able to establish achievements as the norm and get gamers hooked on the whole idea. Sony’s trophies came much later and support hasn’t been consistent. This has changed, but there are some early releases that don’t support trophies. All that aside, some people prefer trophies because they rather have a symbol than a number. Personally, I don’t care either way — I want them all!!! (Unfortunately, I’ve played so many games on debug units and/or under shared accounts that my personal scores suck *sniff*)
On this fine Monday Monday (so good to me), I want to know which system you prefer and why. Are trophies your bag? Or do you dig achievements?
Continue reading “Coffee Talk #11: Achievements vs. Trophies — Fight!!!”
