Nick Glover

There’s been a lot of hype about Apple’s latest gadget, and, especially on the technology blogs (here’s lookin’ at you, Gizmodo), a lot of posts about how it’s going to change everything. I will concede that it will change one thing: bringing tablet computers to the masses. Beyond that, it is probably the most limited-use piece of technology I can think of. It has a 1 GHz processor, no better than, say, the Nexus One. It’s probably got a better video card, but in the end, it can’t really do much of anything the Nexus One can’t do. Or the iPhone, for that matter. It’s basically just a big smartphone, though they are putting iWork on it (does anyone actually use iWork?). The problem with that is that you can’t stick it in your pocket, so it’s not nearly as useful as a smartphone. Ok, but it can have 3G, so maybe it’s more like a netbook, you say. Except the iPad is more expensive, can’t multitask, and can’t access Flash. It’s slightly more portable than a netbook, but considerably less useful. Hell, it’s not even as useful as an average Windows tablet because those run actual Windows, so you can do whatever you want instead of being locked in to whatever Apple deems appropriate for it. I’m sure the iPad is a fine piece of hardware, but the software makes it utterly impractical for anything. It’s time people had a reality check and realized that.

In case you couldn’t tell, I’m in a bit of an anti-Apple mood right now (not that my points are any less valid) because my iPod decided to die on me after only two years or so. The battery was completely fine a week ago, then, one day, it just decided to completely run out. Generally speaking, batteries are supposed to gradually lose their charging ability, so I’m not sure exactly what went wrong (maybe they program it to stop working after two years). I don’t have the money to get it fixed or get a new one, so I decided to put my music on my phone instead. That meant using new software. New software is fine, except that iTunes does such a horrible job of tagging everything that it was an enormous task just fixing the mess it made. Using Media Monkey (which, by the way, is awesome), I discovered a good number of my tunes had no tags at all and most (if not all) of the songs have duplicate album art within the file, which is probably why some people (myself and a friend included) see random album art on their iPod on songs that show the correct art in iTunes. Unfortunately, Media Monkey doesn’t work on my Mac, so I guess I’ll be managing my library on my desktop from now on.

It just occurred to me that you could go to the store a steal a CD and probably end up with a less severe punishment than if you downloaded those same songs illegally. Um… what?

Dear craigslist.com buyers,

When you send me an e-mail asking about my item and I send you a reply, it is only proper for you to send me a reply indicating whether you actually intend to buy the item or not. As a seller, it is very frustrating when we receive e-mails that seem to go nowhere. Did you even get the e-mail? Is my account suddenly not working? So please, next time you try to do business, be courteous.

There’s been some buzz lately about Microsoft adding ads to the main dashboard of the Xbox 360. No one seems to be very happy about this. I think that many people are forgetting that there are already ads on the dashboard they should be upset about.

Why are the ads such a big deal? Well, mostly because most Xbox 360 owners are already shelling out $50 a year for Xbox Live. Generally, when you pay for services, you don’t have to put up with ads (cable TV being an equally lame exception). Some people have suggested that only non-paying members should see ads,  but frankly, non-paying members aren’t getting any services, so there’s no reason they should see ads, either.

Contrast Microsoft’s actions with Sony’s. Online memberships with the PS3 are free and you will never see an ad anywhere on your XMB. Why does Microsoft still think they can charge AND put ads up? I might understand the ads if they stopped charging, but I don’t expect that to happen any time soon.

So what’s going to happen if Microsoft keeps going with their ad plan? Probably nothing. I would guess that most Xbox 360 owners either don’t own a PS3 or don’t use their PS3 for much, so they will probably keep giving Microsoft money. On the other hand, Xbox 360 owners might start noticing the clean interface of the PS3 when they go to their friend’s house and start thinking twice about paying for another year of Xbox Live. Microsoft is playing a tricky game with their install base, and if they’re not careful, they might lose out next time around.

If you like your Xbox 360, my suggestion is to get mad and let Microsoft know it. They’re pretty stubborn, but sometimes they do listen.

Today I experienced, perhaps for the first time, a very real example of being stereotyped. In high school, I used to enjoy challenging stereotypes by dressing strangely (but behaving as I normally would), but then I was expecting people to make assumptions about me. Today I was not expecting that. I was driving home from the Post Office when I drove past a lady on the side of the road. She was wearing gloves and the same shirt as another person across the street, so I’m assuming they were there to do some sort of clean-up work. When the car in front of me drove past, she waved the car through as if to say, “Go ahead, you can go through,” but when I drove past, right behind the other car, she motioned as if to say, “Whoa buddy, you need to slow down.” I was going exactly the same speed as the car in front of me, about 30 mph, which was certainly under the speed limit for that road. I can only assume that she assumed since I wasn’t driving an expensive BMW like the person in front of me, but was instead driving a bright orange car, she figured I was an awful driver. I’m not really sure why she was waving us through at all, considering there were only her and her friend (coworker?) on the side of the road and no other work going on. But I was a little peeved that, even though there was no way possible for me to be speeding (I had been behind the other car for quite a while, so it’s not like I was speeding until I got there), she assumed that I was a terrible driver.

The new PSP Go is a rather ambitious move by Sony to completely forgo physical media and distribute games only digitally. While there are a few obvious downsides to that–for instance, not being able to sell games to make money for new purchases–there are some less obvious ones, at least one of which is entirely the result of Sony’s bizarre account management.

On the Xbox 360, if I don’t like my gamertag, I can pay a certain amount to change it. Doing so allows me to retain all purchases and other account information, but I am no longer stuck with the childish name I had before. On PSN, there is no way to change your name. I should mention that in Japan, as far as I am aware, it is possible to change your PSN name, but for whatever strange reason, Sony has decided to disable that feature for American gamers. That creates a lot of account problems that will become very apparent when the PSP Go hits stores. A while ago, I decided I didn’t like my PSN name and Xbox gamertag, so I decided to change them. On the Xbox, it simply cost a small fee, but on PSN, I had to create a whole new account. Accounts are free, so why not? Of course, in so doing, I am no longer able to use many of my save files without logging into the old account; my PSN purchases are still linked to the old account as well, though I am able to play them with the new account, at least while the old account is still on the system. So far, I only have the minor inconvenience of restarting a couple of games.

About a month or so ago, I wanted to purchase Ratchet and Clank: Size Matters for my PSP. However, my PSP was still set up for my old account. I tried to figure out how to link it with the new account, but there were no obvious instructions on how to do so that I could find at the time. Such instructions were certainly not available on Sony’s web site. So I figured no big deal, I’ll just keep using the old account on my PSP. I don’t play online, so who cares what my name is?

As it turns out, it became a very big deal. Today I wanted to download Final Fantasy VII from PSN. I have it on disc, but I wanted to get the digital copy so I could play on my PSP, too. According to the PSN rules, though, you can only play the game with the account you downloaded it from. That meant it was back to the drawing board with the PSP. I figured out how to swap accounts, so I set up my new account by deleting the old and signing in with the new. I went to Ratchet and Clank to see if it was still working. It was. Having done everything I needed to do, I downloaded FFVII on my PS3, then copied it over to my PSP. When I went to copy it, it told me that my PSP was still activated on my old account and needed to be activated on the new account. I said OK. FFVII transferred and ran just fine. However, now that the PSP is activated on my new account, I can’t play Ratchet and Clank anymore, at least not without re-activating the system on the old account. I can also no longer play the SOCOM game that came with the system (as a voucher for a download).

So what does all that mean for the PSP Go? Well, right now I have two games that are legally mine that I can’t play simply because Sony won’t let American gamers change their account names. That means that when you get a PSP Go, you better be damn sure that you pick the name you want, because if you want to continue playing the games you purchase, you are going to be stuck with that account forever. As far as I am aware (though I have e-mailed them to try to sort it out), you are also unable to transfer those purchases to a new account.

So, congratulations on your upcoming failure, Sony. It could’ve been great, but you chose to hold inconsistent account policies, despite the pleas from many, many gamers for change. Maybe one day you will realize that screwing your customers isn’t the best way to get their money.

Today, I am supposed to be getting a new phone. However, Verizon has decided that they only want to ship things via FedEx. FedEx likes to pretend that packages they deliver are more secure because they require signatures for everything, but here is why they are wrong (and also why, as a result, they are not the fastest or most convenient shipping option):

The most lax option they have is the “indirect signature” option. What does this mean? It means that they won’t leave the package at your door until someone signs for it, but that someone can be just about anyone. In fact, they even accept a signature on the slip of paper they leave at your door. This option is really no better than just leaving the package, because someone could simply take the slip, sign it, and put it back the next morning so they can steal the package. It’s a bit more complicated than just taking a package, but it’s not really any more difficult.

So now that we’ve established that signatures aren’t really any more secure, how does that make them a slower shipper? Well, think about it. Most people work during the day. FedEx delivers packages while people are at work, which means that, at best, you can either a) pick up the package later by driving to the depot, which basically defeats the purpose of having something shipped (not to mention that you are now paying them to let you pick it up yourself), or b) sign the slip and wait another day for them to deliver again because they won’t just ask your neighbor, despite the fact that they are allowed to do so with the indirect option. So you are stuck choosing between inconvenience or waiting longer. I really think companies just need to hire common sense consultants who can point out all these stupidities to them. Some of these problems are so obvious I can’t believe they haven’t figure them out by now.

FedEx, you are the suck of the day.

There are a lot of options out there for gamers right now, which turns out to not be such a great thing. In the gaming world, it seems that the only person who doesn’t win is the consumer, because if we want the ultimate experience, we have to waste a bunch of money to get every platform. I don’t even want to think about all the money I’ve spent acquiring my consoles. But now that I’ve made those investments and the platforms have had some time to mature, it’s time the developers owned up to what they’re still doing wrong.

PC

I don’t even know who would fix the PC’s problems, but it’s biggest issue is a lack of uniformity. When I buy a console game, I know that it will work exactly as it works on every other console. When I buy a PC game, it might work great or it might not work at all, even if my system is high end. The problem, of course, is how to get uniformity without limiting choice. I don’t have any answers, but something needs to change.

Xbox 360

First of all, you’re still charging people to play online? While your service is slightly better than Sony’s offering, it is certainly not enough of an improvement to warrant a monthly bill. Let me list a couple reasons why I object to that bill:

1. A lot of your demo downloads are only available for Gold subscribers. That means I have to pay to download a free demo. What part of “free” don’t you understand?
2. Game developers these days seem to have decided that their games are just too pretty to part into split screen modes, instead requiring friends to either a) set up a second TV for a LAN party or b) send their friends home so they can play online. The problem with option b is that in the old days, I could have just played that co-op game sitting next to my friend for free. Now, I have to pay an Xbox subscription premium just to be anti-social.

Of course, there’s still the huge, obvious problem of the red ring of death. How long has your console been out and you still can’t fix it? I have an NES that has given me less problems than the Xbox. Get your act together.

Playstation 3

As I understand it, Sony has decided not to bribe developers into giving them exclusive content. While I admire your commitment to fair practices, Microsoft does not share my sympathy. You are depriving your loyal customers of a lot of nice downloadable content. Unless you can convince game developers not to jump on the Microsoft bandwagon, it’s time you start throwing out some cash.

Speaking of Microsoft, they gave you a pretty good idea how to run your online community, but it’s taken you an awful long time to get yours in shape. You’ve finally got it mostly right, but you’re missing a couple features that keep Microsoft’s offering ahead of yours, namely unity. The Xbox has a very unified experience stretching across games, whereas you seem to leave that up to game developers. Game developers are lazy. Do it yourselves.

Fix your controller. I don’t mind the d-pad being where it is, but those long-throw triggers need to go. The sensitivity seems too quirky, but the easiest fix would just be to have the back curve up rather than down so my fingers don’t slide off all the time. How hard is that?

Finally, get developers onboard with your software. Although Xbox fanboys will disagree, it’s pretty obvious the PS3 has the most capable hardware, but mutli-platform games tend to get the short stick when it comes to your console. I don’t know if Microsoft is just paying the developers to sabotage your console ports, but something needs to be done.

Wii

The Wii is the biggest case of lost potential. Unfortunately, it has also sold so many units that Nintendo thinks it must be perfect. Wrong. First off, all of your display options suck on anything but a standard definition, 4:3 television. Move it to high definition and everything just looks bad, but move it to a widescreen TV and you’re in trouble. Sure, you can set the Wii to display widescreen, but it only looks right if you also set your TV to stretch mode. That works fine if you’re only ever going to play Wii games, but lets face it, your game library is lacking and people like me are going to play Virtual Console or GameCube games. Every time I load one of those up, I have to switch my TV back to side bar mode, because otherwise it stretches the 4:3 picture, which, by the way, still doesn’t fill the screen, for whatever reason (hint: it’s not a problem with my TV). Even if you can’t play nice and just support HD, you could at least make your system work with widescreen TVs.

Next, we’ve got the control scheme. The latest products out of Nintendo are meant to be innovative, but, unfortunately, what that really means is that you are forcing developers to rethink everything they do just so they can sell games for your system. It seems that a lot of the time, that means that the developers are simply going to ignore the console. Even if they don’t, how long do you think people are actually going to enjoy waving around their controller? I, for one, have started to completely avoid games that require constant motion. I play video games because I want to be lazy, not because I want to exercise my forearms. Developers seem to be listening and are starting to ignore motion controls in action games like the upcoming Muramasa. Good. Sure, motion controls are great for shooters and racing games (if done right), but most of the time they’re just annoying. Forcing your “innovations” on developers leads to second-rate games, leading to decreased customer satisfaction. Fanboys will say that it’s the developers fault for not catering to the Wii, but let’s be honest: it’s Nintendo’s fault for forcing them to do so in the first place.

DS

I have more trouble finding things that went right with this platform than I do finding things that went wrong. First of all, the DS suffers from the same problems as the Wii: it’s too unique for its own good. If it was the only handheld on the market, that would be fine, but it competes against the supremely normal PSP. Like the Wii, developers have to rethink not only control schemes, but also display schemes.

And why do we even need two screens? Sure, they work great when you want to display a world map or something, but often a game simply doesn’t need a second screen, so developers have to come up with some gimmick just so gamers don’t feel like they are underutilizing their investment. It isn’t a totally awful idea to have two screens, but the execution needs work. For instance, it might be better to have the second screen just slide out. That way, it can just stay hidden if a developer decides not to use it, thus we aren’t forced to stare at a blank screen and don’t feel like we’ve wasted money.

Why on earth is there a microphone on this system? I can not think of a single practical use for it. I have never thought, “Oh, awesome, I get to yell at my DS on the crowded subway to activate my next objective!” And now you want to add a camera, too? Please, stop. I don’t even like the touch screen most of the time. It seems to encourage developers to use it more than necessary, much like the Wii’s motion controls. For instance, in Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, the touch screen is useful for drawing paths for various weapons, but I despise having to use it to control movement and to swing my sword. I think I have managed to execute a forward roll on purpose exactly twice. I would much rather not have you waste all those buttons.

Playstation Portable (PSP)

The UMD is the single worst idea Sony has ever had, at least when it comes to gaming. As if a big screen doesn’t waste enough battery life, now there are also moving parts. Why was the UMD ever necessary to begin with? I can fit more data on an SD card than I can on a DVD. There is no practical reason for stupid little discs. Thankfully, Sony seems to have listened, and has begun selling games as downloads only. However, that is not a very ideal solution for people like me. I like to trade in my old games when I want new ones, but there is no way to trade in a downloaded game.

Aside from a lack of quality content for older gamers (a problem also plaguing the DS), the PSP’s biggest problem is expense. Even when I see a PSP game I would love to own, I am not about to throw down $40 for a game for a portable system. Wii games are only $10 more than that. As far as I can tell, the new download-only option for games seems to be lowering that cost, and I hope it stays that way.

Last, but certainly not least, is the problem everyone has: the second thumb stick, or lack thereof. The PSP seems to suffer from an identity crisis. On the one hand, it is basically just a portable PS2. On the other hand, Sony seems determined to keep it a typical handheld system and refuses to put a second analog stick on it, despite the fact that just about everyone that owns a PSP would like one and developers continue to make first-person shooters for the system. Those developers have even begun programming games to allow PS3 controllers to be connected to the system so that players have access to the additional thumb stick. Either keep the system a standard handheld and remove the one thumb stick or go all the way and add a second.

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Have any additional complaints? I’d love to hear ‘em in the comments. NO FLAMING!

Today I was trying to copy some discs for my uncle and I realized that every CD ripping/burning software I have tried sucks. I have an older version of Nero that came with my disc drive and it freezes up quite often, usually when my disc is just about finished burning, but sometimes near the end of the image creation process. I tried CDBurnerXP, but that insists on me selecting which type of disc I want to copy, and when I select “Audio CD,” it rips all the tracks to wav files and then burns them all again as an audio CD. So then I tried InfraRecorder, which can’t seem to even read the discs in the first place, rendering the program completely useless. Right now I am using ImgBurn, but it has far too many options and seems to require .cue files to be selected when I’m trying to select the image to burn. I don’t know what those files are, but I do know that when I tried selecting the ISO that ImgBurn created for me, it said that it wasn’t a valid image file. Uh… what? And the default image file type is .bin, so I have to browse to a new location and select ISO to use the normal standard.

If someone could just make an image ripper/burner program that is super easy, works with ISOs like everyone else, and has very few (if any) settings to mess with, that would be great. I want three buttons at most: rip to image, write from image, and copy. Copy would just create an ISO (not some stupid, useless bin file) and then burn it so I don’t have to do it in two steps, then it would delete the temporary file. And the program wouldn’t make me deal with .cue files, which I don’t even understand why I need since I SHOULD be able to just burn from an ISO.