Hidden Peanuts

I was recently asked about my take on the next-gen console wars. Now that the annual E3 trade show has come and gone, things are going to heat up quickly.

There are three main competitors in the console gaming race: Microsoft’s Xbox 360 (available now), Sony’s Playstation 3 (available in November), and the Nintendo Wii (available fourth quarter this year sometime). I’ll comment on each in order.

The 360’s main advantage is that by the time the other two consoles hit the public, Microsoft will have been on the market for a full year already. In gaming time, a year is an awfully long time to withhold the newest games from oneself. But really, there just aren’t any games that make me want to buy a 360. Sure, there’s World War II shooters that look pretty interesting, and racing games that look really pretty (ok, really really pretty). But take away the upgraded graphics, and the games are not much better than what I can get for my existing Xbox. The difference is certainly not enough to justify $400 out of my budget for the 360. But this said, when Halo 3 is released for the 360 (next year sometime) I will finally break down and buy the console. I just love that series too much! And by that point, I’m hoping the price of the system will have dropped a bit.

I have zero interest in obtaining a Playstation 3 - the price turned me off entirely. $600 will get you the higher end system, and $500 the lower end (missing a lengthy list of features). There is simply no way I will ever pay more than my monthly rent for a video game console. And there isn’t even a game like Halo 3 to get me excited. Everyone was buzzing at E3, wondering what the PS3 controller would look like. Well, it looks exactly like the current PS2 controller. But silver. The only two new features are an extra button in the center (stolen from the 360’s design) and a degree of motion sensitivity (stolen from the Nintendo Wii’s design). Plus, a feature of the PS2 controller has actually been removed: rumble force feedback.

Microsoft and Sony are both heavily pushing the fact that their consoles fully support gaming in high definition. What I think they’re forgetting is that the average consumer does not have an HDTV yet. Even I, who normally fits an early adopter profile, don’t plan on getting one in the next few years.

Which brings me to the final entry: the Nintendo Wii. Putting the strange name aside,
I really can’t wait for this one. The controller is fully motion sensitive, and many games will take full advantage of that fact. For example, play a tennis game: you swing the controller as if it were a racket. A racing game: you hold it like a steering wheel. Nintendo is aiming at both the existing gamer market and the vast group of those who have never owned a console. By simplifying the controller, they hope to remove an intimidation barrier and broaden the system’s overall appeal. Sure, the system will be missing some features (like true HD images - again I don’t have a TV to use that anyway), but the rumored price point of $200-$250 is the best thing Nintendo has going for them. The Wii is the only system of the three I plan to buy at launch day.

For me, Nintendo is the obvious winner. I mean come on, they’ve even managed to get me excited about a tennis game! And I can understand why many will still be drawn to the Xbox 360. But the Playstation 3? I can’t fathom how it can be successful. It will be overpriced, unoriginal, bulky, and perhaps most importantly - very few of their game previews at E3 made anybody sit up and say ‘wow’.
Anyway, that’s my two cents.

If you don’t follow gaming news regularly, you might have missed that Nintendo recently officially named its next video game system: “Wii”. (It’s pronounced ‘wee’, and yes the internet has been ablaze with puns!)

Previously code-named the Revolution, the system has the potential to be just that for console gaming. For example: the controller is fully motion-sensitive, meaning you can do things like play tennis games as if you were holding a real racket.

Anyway, to my point. Time magazine recently got some hands-on time with the new system. The article isn’t available on their website yet, but it is in Lexis Nexis (”A Game For All Ages”, by Lev Grossman, in the 5/15/06 issue). This quote was particularly illuminating to me: (the italics are my emphasis)

“But the name Wii not wii-thstanding, Nintendo has grasped two important notions that have eluded its competitors. The first is, Don’t listen to your customers. The hard-core gaming community is extremely vocal–they blog a lot–but if Nintendo kept listening to them, hard-core gamers would be the only audience it ever had. “[Wii] was unimaginable for them,” Iwata says. “And because it was unimaginable, they could not say that they wanted it. If you are simply listening to requests from the customer, you can satisfy their needs, but you can never surprise them.”

I think that advice can be applied to any profession, including libraries.

The Second Life Library 2.0 initiative really fascinates me. Second Life is a free online role playing game. Unlike most games of this type, there are very few limitations on what you can do in the game world. The official site does a much better job of explaining the concept than I can.

So what is the Second Life Library 2.0? A bunch of librarians and organizations like OPAL and the Alliance Library System are building a library inside the game world. They play on offering reference service, instruction programs, and pretty much anything else possible in the game.

There’s a couple of reasons I love this idea. It definitely accomplishes outreach to an unserved population. At the same time, there’s a definite Cool Factor that libraries can sometimes lack. Thumbs up to all involved!

I really want to help out with this project, but unfortunately Second Life will not run on my aging computer. I’m hoping to get a new system later this year, so maybe I’ll join up after that event.

As I mentioned recently, this weekend I built myself an Xbox Media Center to add to my home theater system (know that I use that phrase very loosely).

While the guide I used provides much more detail, essentially there is a weakness in certain Xbox games that allows users to execute their own code. Naturally, a bunch of geeks quickly ported a tiny version of Linux to run on the system. Using Linux, you gain FTP access to your Xbox’s hard drive. From there, you can load in any number of open source interfaces.

I went with the Xbox Media Center, and couldn’t be happier.

What it can do:

• Stream almost any video/audio/image file from my PC over my network and onto my TV
• Listen to streaming radio
• Read and play my iTunes playlists
• Play DVDs
• Read daily comic strips
• Subscribe to any RSS feed, including podcasts
• Read my Bloglines account
• Pretty much anything a script written in Python can do.

Of course, there are limitations. What it can’t do:

• Play DRM-encoded media files
• Moving backwards in DVD movies doesn’t work very well
• Record TV
• Play HD video smoothly (the processor just isn’t fast enough)
• Play Xbox games on Microsoft’s Live online service

There are a number of less legal add-ons too, mainly focused on pirating games. But I’m honestly not interested in that. If I wanted to, I could even install emulators that let me play older systems’ games. And notably the XBMC system I have installed, even without the illegal add-ons, already out-functions Microsoft’s own version available for the Xbox. For example: Other than Realplayer files, I have yet to find a video format that XBMC will not play. And believe me, I’ve thrown it some oddball examples. Microsoft’s version is limited to a select few.

I am utterly amazed at how well this all works. The net cost to me was about $150 for a used Xbox and assorted other materials (outlined in detail at the guide linked above). For that small price, I’ve moved my consumption of digital material off of my small laptop screen and into my living room.

I highly recommend building an XBMC, and would be happy to answer any questions about it that I can.

Today I finally broke down and preordered Black, an upcoming shooter for the Xbox (and other systems). While there at Electronics Botique, I got talking with an employee about the game - in particular the demo, which I hadn’t had a chance to try.

EB just happened to have an extra copy of the Official Xbox Magazine, with the aforementioned disc included, on hand. The very nice employee threw it into the deal, free of charge.

Only one problem: my Xbox refused to recognize the disc as a game! Not having a receipt for the magazine, I couldn’t take it back and swap for another. Naturally, I turned to Google.

Poking around various gaming forums showed that I was not alone in my problem. Nobody seems to know why, but the OXM demo discs run into this pretty frequently. Luckily, there is a solution: Boil the disc.

Yes, I said boil it. Again nobody seems to know where this advice comes from, but countless forum posters swear by it for fixing demo discs. The running theory is that it removes some sort of finishing layer off of the DVD, allowing the Xbox drive to more clearly read it.

Figuring I had nothing to lose, I set a pot on the stove. I brought some water to a boil, tossed in the disc, and then immediately took the pot off the burner. I let the water cool enough to remove the disc by hand. Patted it dry, and voila! It works!

You may wish to add salt to taste.

Oh, and the demo is a whole lot of fun. Stunning graphics, especially considering that this is not an Xbox 360 game. Glad I made the purchase, and can’t wait for the full version.

James Cameron recently announced plans for the gaming tie-in to his next big sci-fi movie.

In the weeks leading up to the movie’s release a Massively Multiplayer Onling Game will be available, set in the movie’s world.

I know absolutely nothing about the movie (’Project 880′ for now) itself, but this idea excites me. What better way to get movie-goers involved than to let them be characters?

There’s another brilliant crossover idea in the article, involving a reality show and an online game, but you might as well read the source rather than have me repeat it.

This made my day.

That link is to a CNet article, focused around an interview with author Sean Stewart, on the topic of Alternate Reality Games. I’ve played two of them now, including Last Call Poker which is mentioned extensively in the article, and often have trouble describing the concept to others. They’re bunches of fun, and amazing community building tools! I won’t try to describe the concept here beyond calling the games a combination of scavenger hunts, social experimentation, puzzle solving, and a whole lot more.

Plus, I’m the librarian mentioned (but not by name) about half way through page 1
I solved a very cool puzzle on my lunch break one day, using an obscure hymnal stored in our microfiche collection to crack a code.

ARGs are a niche genre, to be sure. But they’re amazingly deep, intelligent, and involving. I’ve made some great friends through the communities to boot. Can’t beat em!

Despite my general feelings about the G4 network, which is supposedly devoted to video game programming after rising from the premature ashes of TechTV, it still has one show worth watching: X-Play.

X-Play is simply a video game review show. A heavy dose of cheesy (but mostly well done) humor and obscure references help it stand out. The show isn’t perfect, but hosts Adam Sessler and Morgan Webb have helped me discover a game or two that I wouldn’t have otherwise. Despite the outward trappings, the reviews really do identify the cream of the crop pretty accurately. They aren’t afraid to call a game crap if that’s what it is. I’ve really been missing the fact that G4 isn’t part of my cable lineup on Knology just for this one show. Not enough to pay extra for it, but still.

Anyway, to the point. You can now get downloadable vidcasts of their reviews! The show’s official site has a link on the left side to the feed in iTunes as well as generic rss feeds for your app of choice. Each review is nicely segmented into its own file.

This was a great surprise to end my day on.