#43; New look, new update!

If you’re a fond visitor of this blog, which I wholeheartedly hope that you are of course, then you’ll notice that I have searched from the cold-hearted depths of the blue world by going from my old dark blue template to quite a bright, bubbly new look! I noticed the design over at mashable.com and immediately fell in love with it. Although it does remind me of Twitter, if that’s a good thing or not? Nevertheless, I hope you readers are as happy with the result because it took a bit of work to get it working, but in the end, was definitely worth it!

Also, this morning I got notified by Microsoft that I had been accepted into the Xbox 360 Dashboard Update Preview Program. Catchy name. Nevertheless, the update was a big software update for the console whereas it added several social networking features to it’s service – Twitter, last.fm and Facebook to be precise – as well as a few numerous minor updates. If you know me, I annoy the bejesus out of plenty of people on Twitter because I do really enjoy using it. Fair enough I do update a lot but still! So to have Twitter on my most played console is either a) a dangerously stupid idea to lose followers or b) an interesting addition to an already rich-in-features console.

I’ve spent the day using the update and it’s definitely managed to get some opinions from me as the features have been dissected, analysed and caused a great deal of scientist-like-beard-stroking. First of all, the Facebook update is the biggest surprise for me. Over the past year or so, I’ve moved away from how much I use the website as it has become a social networking mess of rotten applications, status updates created with the typing ability of a horse, and just general mess of a website at times. (Thank god for Facebook Lite). However, the actual application for the 360 is mildly impressive. Photo exploring is fantastically done with the ability to view your own and others, status updates don’t drown your screen and there’s no site of the general annoyances that bug me so much on the website itself. It’s clean, it’s efficient, it works very well and it gets a thumbs up from me surprisingly.

Next of my checklist is last.fm. Now I’m a fan of last.fm anyways, even though it reveals just how secluded and sad my musical library seems to be with the aural range of a singular band at times. I blame Muse. They started it. Anyways, last.fm gets a thumbs up too. The only downside for me is that you get advertisement videos popping up when listening to the band radio stations within it’s database, much in the same way Spotify reminds you it is ready to take control of your mind every few songs, but that is easily ignored. The application on the 360 allows you to view a slideshow of photos concerning the band currently playing as well as browsing and searching bands and music from afar and beyond. No sign of any data-related inclusions such as viewing lists of most played and whatnot though, although it does scrobble your currently playing songs on there. A big improvement for me would be for it to be available during games but, seeing as it is an independent application you have to download rather than a piece of the dashboard, it’s understandable. This does lead me onto my final point though…

As if you haven’t guessed by now, my final area of review here is Twitter. Whilst many people have their own opinions of the service, I think it’s fantastic and over the year especially the boost in popularity has seem me use it a lot more myself as more people become accustomed to it. However, the Twitter inclusion into the Xbox 360 is a failure. A miserable failure at that. Let me explain; Twitter is all about real-time updates, about being able to give a short message giving your current status or a quick message to share, key word being quick. Now if you want to tweet from the Xbox 360 whilst playing a game, you will have to quit the game, find the Twitter tab on the dashboard, input your message, then leave the area, and load your game back up and go through the opening menus and load your save back up. The reason this annoys me so much is that Facebook and last.fm are standalone applications you have to download, whereas Twitter is not. It is integrated into the dashboard anyways, which makes me wonder, why on earth can’t you tweet from the popup Xbox Guide that is easily available to message, chat, view friends, etc? Surely an option to send a tweet would make far more sense in the middle of a game than leaving it and going through several unnecessary steps? It’s very disappointing. Whereas Twitter on the 360 will allow you to view trending topics, search for people, and view messages, @ messages, DM’s and the likes, I’m astounded that the obvious idea of allowing you to be given the opportunity to tweet on the Xbox Guide has been completely missed and left out hasn’t been utilised here.

Anyways that’s my view on the update program and the main updates it provided. The actual final dashboard update I believe is available on November 17th so if you have an Xbox 360, remember to check it out then and tell me what you think!

#42; Operating Problems

Tomorrow sees the release of Windows’ latest operating system, Windows 7. There’s been a fair amount of anticipation about Windows 7, as it seems set to correct everything that many people feel went so wrong with Windows Vista. From my own personal point of view and usage of Vista over the years, I am part of this group that feels Vista was a pretty poor piece of software from Windows. However, I do realise there will be readers thinking ‘Well I’ve never had a problem with Vista’ – fair enough. This isn’t any propaganda or persuasion to get people to upgrade, this is just me explaining why Vista will soon be a past memory and one I won’t be reminiscing in anytime soon.

The biggest problem with Vista was when it was first released. I managed to use the OS not long after it was made public in January 2007. When it was first released, to me at least, it was almost unusable. There were bugs left, right and centre, the operating system itself caused some serious conflicts with games and program being used, and the hardware itself that the system required was a bit annoying. Whilst most computers at the market at the time could run Vista with no problems, or so was thought, features such as Windows Aero seemed to be pushed in and rushed so quickly they just caused crashes and problems. It was very, very annoying. Furthermore, you had this ridiculous amount of programs with the Windows tagline greeting you on a fresh install. Shovelware forced upon you that I was never going to use. If you want to find a way to annoy me instantly Microsoft, that was a perfect start.

Going back to the mention of gaming, XP was a fantastic system in it’s support and compatibility of games amongst it’s system and various system requirements that all PC games have. Vista needed, and still needs, more powerful requirements although it’s obviously less important and obvious with no games including XP requirements anymore for obvious reasons. I’m a big fan of older games but once more with Vista, they just simply did not go hand in hand – the biggest example I can think of is Theme Hospital which is near impossible to work with Vista for reasons I have no ideas about, yet it worked fine on XP and even on the Windows 7 beta I had no issues. To be honest I wish I had a greater understand as to why these problems occurred with Vista when other operating systems have no problems! Annoying!

My final area of annoyance I’m gonna quickly discuss is the fact that I’ve lost god knows how much work over the past 2/3 years with Vista. I understand if there is scepticism that this is Vista’s fault but how is it I can use these programs (NetBeans, Borland, etc) on XP in our student suites at university on XP perfectly well and then, when it comes to home use and Vista, it be such a pain in the arse to achieve a positive outcome without problems? It’s been really frustrating and this is almost turning into a rant but I’m holding back for my own sanity I think! for myself, it’s been too frustrating.

Oh, and User Account Control. Quite simply the stupidest feature I have ever encountered.

No operating system is perfect. I’ll happily admit that Windows Vista in it’s current state (with two major Service Packs now available to help) is a lot more usable and stable, and it is nowhere near as bad as when it first came out, but for me it still doesn’t make up for it. Over the years the many crashes, moments of lost work unexpectedly, conflicting hardware and software, rushed inclusions and just general frustrations I’ve experienced with Vista want me yearning for Windows 7. Sure, you could argue that I should jump over to the Mac or try out Linux (something I actually have plans for very soon but enough on that for now) but for me, Vista is soon to be a recent memory I’ll hopefully not be revisiting. The funny thing is, for all I know I could come back on here in a few months and absolutely destroy Windows 7 and everything it’s supposedly promising to do for the user.  Should we have to pay for these major upgrades though? Not necessarily no. But that’s life.

Apologies if these seems an annoying few paragraphs to you, or seems a bit fickle to be so annoyed at Vista, but it’s my own personal views and I respect that everyone will have their own experiences with the way they used their computer. I just hope now that Windows 7 lives up to the promising feedback it seems to be getting!

Operating Systems. Serious Business.

#41; Tim Freakin’ Schafer

It’s OK. I understand if you don’t know who Tim Schafer is. Let me educate you into his world of greatness.

Tim Schafer. He created some of those wonderful games you may not have heard off above (and more including Day of the Tentacle and Manic Mansion!). The games he gets involved with end up being funny, fantastic, completely underrated (see Grim Fandango and Psychonauts especially) and he has a wonderful reputation in the gaming industry. He’s also a funny guy to boot and quite down to earth about not only his but games in general as well. Simply put… he is a legend in the world of gaming, and this week, he has his next epic Brutal Legend coming out for PS3 and X360, a game I’ve been anticipating with a huge amount of expectancy for a long, long time. It’s finally here!

I just wanted to write up a quick entry regarding the man because his games have gone under the radar too many times. Grim Fandango is my favourite PC game I’ve ever played, or at least tied with Monkey Island series (hey who co-wrote them I wonder?) but so very few people have even heard of the game which is an absolute shambles! If I could as all of you readers to do one thing this year, it would be to go out and find a copy of this game online for a few pennies or something and play it. It’s such a charmingly funny yet addictively brilliant adventure game set in the world of the afterlife that probably makes no sense yet once you get into it’s wonderfully dark yet witty and well-written story, you’ll realise just how sad it is that the game has been ignored for some long. It is truly magnificent!

Furthermore, Schafer’s last release (and yet first game with Double Fine Productions, whom he found and still owns) was the just-as-brilliant Psychonauts, an adventure game based in a world of psychic abilities filled with fantastic characters, varied settings from area to area and just a stupidly under bought game by the general gaming consumer. The genera reception is that even though it got such wildly excellent acclaim from inside the industry, gamers just did not buy it. Why?! I should really mention that Psychonauts is now available on the Xbox Originals service if you own an Xbox 360…

But yes, I can’t begin to tell you how excited I am for Brutal Legend. Having played the demo last week, and again after that, and again for a few more times, just that small snippet alone sent my excitement values into overdrive. It plays great, it looks superb, it oozes charisma and personality with it’s characters (Jack Black is perfect for the game, love him or hate him) and I really do hope it succeeds because if there’s something Mr Schafer deserves, it’s a big hit of a game. I’ll end this with the man himself explaining just what Brutal Legend is…

#40; Xbox Generation

If you know me, then by now I’m sure you’ll know how much I enjoy my video games. There is no denial from me that I am a big gamer; a geek; whatever term you feel suits possible for us who enjoy our games! At the moment I own the 3 major consoles – Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 being my own whilst the Wii is more my brother’s console that I rarely play in all honesty. This afternoon whilst doing, well, absolutely nothing it occurred to me just how little I play one console in comparison to the other. For example, take a look at my games collection at the moment:

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work out that I have way more Xbox 360 games than I do Playstation 3. This has always been the case – even when I have owned 5 or 6 games for the PS3, they sit alongside 15-20 Xbox 360 games! Yes, I do play the Xbox a lot more than I do Playstation and honestly, I prefer the Xbox 360 to the Playstation. But what is the cause of this? I certainly don’t dislike the Playstation… and there are games I own on the Xbox 360 that I could happily buy on the Playstation 3. It just got me thinking, what is it that I prefer about Microsoft’s console over a brand name that has been synonymous with video gaming for the past 15 years or so?

Well, let’s consider the facts. I got given the Xbox 360 as a Christmas present 3 years ago this coming Christmas, whereas the Playstation 3 I bought myself this time last year. Perhaps it’s more of the fact that the Xbox 360 feels more of a complete console to me – it does everything I need it do, it does it whilst looking magnificently pretty, it has a superb online setup working behind the scenes and whereas it’s about as reliable as a chocolate teapot at times, it is just a console I’ve vastly enjoyed playing over the years since getting it. To me though, this is just personal opinion and doesn’t explain why I prefer the Xbox…

Maybe if I change focus and take a look at the Playstation 3 as a console then perhaps I can solve it. It doesn’t die on you as much as the Xbox 360 does, which is a major bonus, and it does have a strong line-up of games behind it. again, these can easily be purchased on the Xbox 360 though so the exclusivity of titles on the console isn’t so strong for me. It has the classic Playstation controller that has been a stronghold in analog based joy pad designs since the original Playstation, and it has Sony who, with Nintendo, are arguably the fathers in modern video game consoles. Once again though… there is just something about the Playstation that doesn’t attract me in the same way that the Xbox 360 does.

Hmm.

It’s really very odd to analysis and work out why if I’m honest as I can’t seem to find solid reasons behind why I prefer the Xbox over the other. Sure, Xbox Live and always being able to socialise during games online is a huge benefactor to my bias without a doubt, the Playstation Network for me just doesn’t compare despite being free, and services like Xbox Live Arcade and the upcoming Twitter/Last.fm/Facebook update will be fantastic for a Twitter Addict for myself, but at the end of the day, I just prefer my gaming on my Xbox 360. Hopefully that will not cause any shouting at me in accusation of being a ‘360 fanboy’ but there’s certainly nothing wrong with the Playstation 3 – for me, Sony have just lost a bit of their mojo that saw many people my age grow up in the era known as the Playstation Generation.

I think I may investigate my ideas further with this eventually… there’s a lot that can be said about consoles these days…

#39; Inspector Gadget

 

Let’s face it – if you love your technology you LOVE it when you have a new gadget in your hands to mess about with and just explore. Today I had that awesome privilege after I gave in to quite a long term decision to buy myself an iPod Touch (it’s not iTouch!). I’ve been wanting to get my hands on one for such a long time and, well, I gave in. I sat down, thought about the pros and cons, got heavily persuaded by Sidepodcast, then decided that with my current iPod Nano starting to fill up then maybe it’s time to take that step up the ladder to a new world of iPod goodiness. And here it is!

I’ve spent a few hours fighting my way through this new world of applications, touchy-ness and general bouts of loud music, to the point where I have decided that the iPod Touch was totally worth giving in for. I absolutely love it! At first it’s been a bit of a pain getting used to the keyboard – my name has evolved into the likes of LLkeh and Lujeh plenty of times in this inexperienced newbie state of mine – but I’m settled in with it all now and well impressed by what it offers to me as not only an MP3 player, which is obviously gonna be it’s main use, but as a thing that does things in an awesome way kinda thing. I believe that’s the official term anyway.

One of the main attractions to me was the fact that the iPod Touch, much like it’s more social sister in the iPhone, supports applications in many forms. Whether this be for social networking, gaming, stupid boredom stuff or whatever, chances are you’ll find an app that will please you. There are plenty of games available for the Touch and, with my being an avid gamer, I can’t wait over time to try out a few. at the moment I have only two games that I’ve purchased – the Secret of Monkey Island, of course, and the fantastically underrated point and click adventure game Beneath a Steel Sky, which decided to inform the world earlier today on my twitter about it’s arrival into my world.

As I say though, so far I’m very impressed and I can’t wait to discover more awesome and useful things the Touch can be used for. In terms of an mp3 player, it more than fulfils my neediness for something that provides excellent quality playback and, with 32gb of space, I’m more than spoilt with the amount I can put on. As I say though, I’m still very new to this whole world of applications and awesome stuff, so please do recommend any applications you think I should check out (paid or free, I’m not too choosy!) as I’d love to know from the iPhone/iPod Touch owners what’s worth checking out.

Ooh I do love a new gadget! It’s like Christmas but without the whole Christmas bit!