Part of Amazing Week 2012 Back around 1981 I first got a chance to play with a video camera. It was a Sony HVC-2000P. It was about the size of… well, I can’t think of too many modern items that are that size. A box of cereal, perhaps, with a can of beans glued to one end to represent the lens? It weighed about 2.5kg, so imagine the cereal box had a couple of bricks in it.
Part of Amazing Week 2012 In 1981 I was watching the BBC TV show “Tomorrow’s World” when the CD player was first introduced to the UK. The presenter demonstrated the system, and showed how dirt and dust would simply rinse off the disc and it would still be completely playable. He talked about how the disc was read by a laser and would never wear out. I later read more about the system in hi-fi magazines.
The new PS3 software update includes a change to the Terms of Service. The new agreement states that you waive the right to ever sue Sony in a class-action lawsuit, then says: RIGHT TO OPT OUT OF BINDING ARBITRATION AND CLASS ACTION WAIVER WITHIN 30 DAYS. IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO BE BOUND BY THE BINDING ARBITRATION AND CLASS ACTION WAIVER IN THIS SECTION 15, YOU MUST NOTIFY SNEI IN WRITING WITHIN 30 DAYS OF THE DATE THAT YOU ACCEPT THIS AGREEMENT.
A couple of nights ago, I noticed my TV/DVD combination was acting up. PAL DVDs would play with a horrible irregular juddering motion. I checked broadcast TV and the PS3, and they were both fine; I checked the DVI/HDMI cable, that was fine also. I started to suspect the DVD player. Friday, I bought a new DVD player. $44 at Fry’s Electronics. It had the same problem. Further investigation and experimentation eventually revealed that the issue was a setting on the TV.
Sony has revised the terms of service for the PlayStation Network. The new TOS says: You may not provide anyone with your name or any other personally identifying information other than your own Online ID As it happens, I broke the new TOS twice at the weekend without realizing it at the time. I’ve told people in Team Fortress 2 and Burnout Paradise both my name, and the fact that I live in Austin, TX.
GamePro reports NPD sales data: Console <th> June sales </th> Wii <td> 666,700 </td> PS3 <td> 405,500 </td> Xbox 360 <td> 219,800 </td> PS2 <td> 188,800 </td> Of note, these are sales to end users, not number of consoles shipped; Microsoft prefers to cite the latter. The Wii is now the #1 console in the US by installed base. So it seems as though as predicted, the Xbox 360’s best days could be behind it.
Last week, Sony finally released a PlayStation 3 bundle that actually shipped with the rumble controller included, rather than expecting people to spend an extra $60 to get one. The bundle also comes with Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, the new iteration of one of my favorite games. This new MGS4 bundle promptly sold out everywhere online. So on Saturday, while rothko was helping to run a local election, I figured I’d try a few stores to see if anyone had one in stock.
You’ve probably noticed that a new Grand Theft Auto game is out, GTA IV. As usual, the release of a new GTA has resulted in a new round of articles criticizing (or outright excoriating) the game. I’m a big fan of GTA. I’ve played every 3D GTA game from start to finish. As such, I feel I can provide an informed perspective on the game series. I see a number of annoying misconceptions and deceptions repeated time and time again, the most infamous of which is the claim that the game rewards you for killing prostitutes.
When the Xbox 360 came out, it was portrayed as something everyone wanted, the amazing new console that was selling out everywhere. Yet the next week, when I walked into Costco they had a pallet piled high with the things. When the Wii was launched, it became the console that was really selling out everywhere. But by then, Microsoft had moved on to their new story, that the Xbox 360 was the biggest selling next-gen console.
The New York Times reports that most people have decided to sit out the HD format war between Blu-ray and HD-DVD. I’m one of them. I remember DCC vs MiniDisc. MiniDisc won, if by ‘won’ you mean ‘lingered for a few years longer’. I also remember SACD vs DVD-Audio. Both of those lost, in that even people who have DVD players capable of playing DVD Audio (like me) typically don’t bother to hook them up to support it (like me).