What if WW2 was an MMO?

*Hitler[AoE] has joiined the game.*
*Eisenhower has joined the game.*
*paTTon has joined the game.*
*Churchill has joined the game.*
*benny-tow has joined the game.*
*T0J0 has joined the game.*
*Roosevelt has joined the game.*
*Stalin has joined the game.*
*deGaulle has joined the game.*
Roosevelt: hey sup
T0J0: y0
Stalin: hi
Churchill: hi
Hitler[AoE]: cool, i start with panzer tanks!
paTTon: lol more like panzy tanks
T0J0: lol
Roosevelt: o this fockin sucks i got a depression!
benny-tow: haha america sux
Stalin: hey hitler you dont fight me i dont fight u, cool?
Hitler[AoE]: sure whatever
Stalin: cool
deGaulle: **** Hitler rushed some1 help
Hitler[AoE]: lol byebye frenchy
Roosevelt: i dont got crap to help, sry
Churchill: wtf the luftwaffle is attacking me
Roosevelt: get antiair guns
Churchill: i cant afford them
benny-tow: u n00bs know what team talk is?
paTTon: stfu
Roosevelt: o yah hit the navajo button guys
deGaulle: Eisenhower ur worthless come help me quick
Eisenhower: i cant do **** til rosevelt gives me an army
paTTon: yah hurry the fock up
Churchill: d00d im gettin pounded
deGaulle: this is fockin weak u guys suck
*deGaulle has left the game.*
Roosevelt: im gonna attack the axis k?
benny-tow: with what? ur wheelchair?
benny-tow: lol did u mess up ur legs AND ur head?
Hitler[AoE]: ROFLMAO
T0J0: lol o no america im comin 4 u
Roosevelt: wtf! thats bullsh1t u fags im gunna kick ur asses
T0J0: not without ur harbors u wont! lol
Roosevelt: u little biotch ill get u
Hitler[AoE]: wtf
Hitler[AoE]: america hax, u had depression and now u got a huge fockin army
Hitler[AoE]: thats bullsh1t u hacker
Churchill: lol no more france for u hitler
Hitler[AoE]: tojo help me!
T0J0: wtf u want me to do, im on the other side of the world retard
Hitler[AoE]: fine ill clear you a path
Stalin: WTF u arsshoel! WE HAD A FoCKIN TRUCE
Hitler[AoE]: i changed my mind lol
benny-tow: haha
benny-tow: hey ur losing ur guys in africa im gonna need help in italy soon sum1
T0J0: o **** i cant help u i got my hands full
Hitler[AoE]: im 2 busy 2 help
Roosevelt: yah thats right biznitch im comin for ya
Stalin: church help me
Churchill: like u helped me before? sure ill just sit here
Stalin: dont be an arss
Churchill: dont be a commie. oops too late
Eisenhower: LOL
benny-tow: hahahh oh sh1t help
Hitler[AoE]: o man ur focked
paTTon: oh what now biotch
Roosevelt: whos the cripple now lol
*benny-tow has been eliminated.*
benny-tow: lame
Roosevelt: gj paTTon
paTTon: thnx
Hitler[AoE]: WTF Eisenhower hax hes killing all my sh1t
Hitler[AoE]: quit u hacker so u dont ruin my record
Eisenhower: Nuts!
benny-tow: wtf that mean?
Eisenhower: meant to say nutsack lol finger slipped
paTTon: coming to get u hitler u paper hanging hun cocksocker
Stalin: rofl
T0J0: HAHAHHAA
Hitler[AoE]: u guys are fockin gay
Hitler[AoE]: ur never getting in my city
*Hitler[AoE] has been eliminated.*
benny-tow: OMG u noob you killed yourself
Eisenhower: ROFLOLOLOL
Stalin: OMG LMAO!
Hitler[AoE]: WTF i didnt click there omg this game blows
*Hitler[AoE] has left the game*
paTTon: hahahhah
T0J0: WTF my teammates are n00bs
benny-tow: shut up noob
Roosevelt: haha wut a moron
paTTon: wtf am i gunna do now?
Eisenhower: yah me too
T0J0: why dont u attack me o thats right u dont got no ships lololol
Eisenhower: fock u
paTTon: lemme go thru ur base commie
Stalin: go to hell lol
paTTon: fock this sh1t im goin afk
Eisenhower: yah this is gay
*Roosevelt has left the game.*
Hitler[AoE]: wtf?
Eisenhower: sh1t now we need some1 to join
*tru_m4n has joined the game.*
tru_m4n: hi all
T0J0: hey
Stalin: sup
Churchill: hi
tru_m4n: OMG OMG OMG i got all his stuff!
tru_m4n: NUKES! HOLY **** I GOT NUKES
Stalin: d00d gimmie some plz
tru_m4n: no way i only got like a couple
Stalin: omg dont be gay gimmie nuculer secrets
T0J0: wtf is nukes?
T0J0: holy sh*tholysh*thoylshti!!!111
*T0J0 has been eliminated.*
*The Allied team has won the game!*
Eisenhower: awesome!
Churchill: gg noobs no re
T0J0: thats bullsh*t u fockin suck
*T0J0 has left the game.*
*Eisenhower has left the game.*
Stalin: next game im not going to be on ur team, u guys didnt help me for ****
Churchill: wutever, we didnt need ur help neway dumbarss
tru_m4n: l8r all
benny-tow: bye
Churchill: l8r
Stalin: fock u all
tru_m4n: shut up commie lol
*tru_m4n has left the game.*
benny-tow: lololol u commie
Churchill: ROFL
Churchill: bye commie
*Churchill has left the game.*
*benny-tow has left the game.*
Stalin: i hate u all fags
*Stalin has left the game.*
paTTon: lol no1 is left
paTTon: weeeee i got a jeep
*paTTon has been eliminated.*
paTTon: o sh1t!
*paTTon has left the game.*.

Sony lied?! Tell me it isn't so?!

Kaz Hirai of Sony is quoted to have said:
"Well, again, just from a hardware perspective, the 499 dollar price adjustment that we did for the 60 GB version, for the american market, uh, we're no longer in production for that product, so uh once that product is gone from the retailer shelves, then we're back to the $599 SKU only, so it's not like we have a two price strategy here in the US"

[PROOF]
=============
So Sony is pulling another bait and switch tatic. They have SO many unsold POS3 60GB that they are lowering the price in order to get them off the shelves and to make the 80GB model look more reasonable. LOL!!!

Tretton Gets Grilled on the PS3 Price Drop

Link

Ok, so it's been a while since I've posted. But I just saw this video (thanks Kotaku)

and felt compled to voice some things. So let's get some facts going on here.

These quotes where taken directly from the movie above:

1) The PS3 has been out for about 8 months.
Ok, this is good, it takes about this long to really figure out where the market

is an how well a system is going to do. By now you should be able to see how

the long term is going to be for the gaming system.

2) Sony is betting that the PS3 will be around for 10 years or, at least, support
it for ten years.

Ok, So the PS1 was released (in the US) on 9/1/1995 so it was dead in 2005.

So we don't need to 'worry' about that system.

The PS2 was released on 10/26/2000.. so it's got 3 years to go, and there are some
newish games coming out for it. But I don't believe many of the main developers are
even thinking of developing for the PS2 any longer. Without new games it's going to
be a slow, lingering death of the PS2. The PS3 was released 11/17/2007, so it's got a

while. But with out any real 'new' development for the PS2, or updates to the toolkit.

Who cares about the PS2?

3) Sony has a history of passing on savings to consumers as quickly as possible.

*Blink* What? Ok, that's marketing BS as we all should know. NO Company
'passes on the savings' as quickly as possible. Business are in business for ONE
reason.. to make money.

4) Current Sales:

So the current world sales figures show the following:

Nintendo Wii: 2.8 million

Microsoft Xbox 360: 5.6 million

Sony PS3: 1.4 million

So this shows that the PS3 isn't selling anywhere NEAR what said it should.

(or what they thought it should.. Jack should have read my blog)

5) Sony believes they will sell an additional 10 million PS2's this year.

(so.. 10 million units in 5 months) and plans to convert those customers
to PS3's.

6) "The PS3 is still dominant"

There's nothing I can really say here that wouldn't leave me giggleing like a

12 year old that just saw his first set of real boobs.

Ok, so now we have the 'facts' here what they are telling me.

1) The PS3 has been out for 8 months, and sucks in the market

it's over priced, the games (mostly) blow goats, but it's a cheap
Blu-ray player.

2) 10 years? When processor power doubles every 18 months?

in 10 years we'll be looking at the Xbox 720, and the Wii2 (?? Mii2 ??)

the PS3 will be falling WAY behind on the tech scale by that time.
Just like how the PS2 is in comparison to the PS3 today.

3) Well, I guess I did say something about that above didn't I?
but still, savings my ass. it's about 'saving my ass'

Sony screwed up with the PS3.. totally and completely.

From the pricing to the lackluster games, to the complete
rip offs of XBox Live and the Wiimote. From all the broken promises

to all the flat out lies.

4) as for the sales figures.. well I still need to add an 'I told you so'

most of those figures where morons standing out in line.. getting shot

getting mugged waiting to sell the 'bad boy' on Ebay and quite a few

of them lost money. Even IF the PS3 sells another .5 million, it will
still be trailing the Wii. You and I both know Nintendo will pull all
stops around Christmas and you won't be able to spit with out hitting a Wii.

5) So, let me get this stright. You are telling me that the PS2 is going to

OUTSALE the PS3 this year? And, better yet, sale MORE then the PS3

in the same time frame?! THAT fact alone makes me wonder what monkeys
Sony has in place in the upper floors of Sony HQ, and what drugs they are on.

6) *sigh* Dominant? What facts out there lead you to believe that the PS3 is
Dominant? I just just see the dust that's collecting on the boxs at my local Frys.

Bottom line, the Drop drop will help sales a little. Sony screwed up the first round by over pricing the POS3 in the first place. But not enough to make Nintendo or Microsoft sweat.

I'm more worried about the long term effects of the PS3 on Sony's bottom line.

Over priced machine that isn't selling well. Takeing MORE of a loss from each unit

because of the too early price drop. There's just not enough time to get more units

into the household before christmas. Which is what I blieve Sony is trying to do.

The more units in the home before christmas, the more profit to be made during the

holiday season.

on a side note.. Does it upset anyone else that Sony believes their customers will buy anything
just because it has a PS logo on it? Converting all the PS2 customers to PS3.. What a load of shit. First.. if you are buying a PS2 now, it's because you can't afford a Wii or a 360. So what would make you believe that can convert those customers? Beyond that, Sony already dropped the BC (Backwards compatibility) in some units in Europe with plans to release those 'upgraded' units here in the states. Now why would I want to buy a PS2 now.. build up a library of some pretty great games, NOT to be able to use them in the PS3?

MOVIE THEATERS FOR GAMING

CINEGAMES: MOVIE THEATERS FOR GAMING

Screw the Toshiba headsets, this setup involves entire modified movie theaters in Spain (video is not in English, but it's worth it to see what this looks like). Enrique Martinez worked with Yelmo Cineplex in spending more than $390,000 to bring this projector paradise to life. Charging just four dollars for a ticket, 50 gamers each get to sit down and play video games with the following extra entertainment:

"Fog, low smoke, black light, flashing green lasers, high-definition digital projectors, vibrating seats, game pads and dozens of 17 inch, or 43 centimeter, screens attached to individual chairs. And naturally, there's buttered popcorn."

Basically, LAN party + rave = $$$. And it's slowly spreading - theaters in Germany and Toronto tested the concept recently, and with the help of TimePlay's theater network system, there are even plans to bring it to USA and "allow moviegoers to play 15 to 20 minutes of interactive, ad-sponsored games before the start of movies." No more shitty movie previews! Suddenly eight dollar movie tickets sound totally reasonable and I actually want to get to the show before it starts.

They're approaching the idea wisely though, they've prepared for all age audiences. Not only are games like Battlefield 1942 working already (you can see it in action in the video), but they're also bringing basic games like Bingo to the silver screen. Yelmo is even working on using the setup for educational and senior citizen projects, so hopefully in a few years they'll be able to take the world by cinematic storm. I honestly don't care though - give me Pac-Man with a room full of real A.I. ghosts chasing me, and I'll be pumping out Hamiltons all day like I was at the world's most expensive arcade. Happy Feet? More like happy hands, I haven't even played this yet and I'm addicted.

the ESRB understands...

From Next-Gen: Following up on online want ads, Entertainment Software Rating Board boss Patricia Vance tells Next-Gen that the ESRB is moving from part-time to full-time game raters, a switch that she says will help produce more consistent ratings. Vance elaborated, “Having full-time raters will allow for each [rater] to have greater experience actually reviewing content and recommending ratings, given the increased amount of time each one would spend doing it. This would provide each rater with a greater sense of historical parity for ratings, not to mention helping them to be more attuned to pertinent content and how it should be considered from a ratings standpoint.” You know what? I think it's fair to say that the ESRB has pulled its head out of its ass. In the last six months, they've partnered with some of their political opponents, they've partnered with the PTA, they've increased emphasis on point of purchase displays, and in general they've stopped saying that underage consumers buying inappropriate content is someone else's problem. With this announcement, they've stopped pretending that the method being used to rate games wasn't a problem. Look. Gaming in the U.S. was a 12.5 billion dollar business last year. It's big boy business now. You can't depend on volunteer raters playing a game for an hour, or totally rely on the people who made the game to tell you about all the "objectionable" content. That's just not a logically sound process. The new process may not be perfect, but it definitely sounds like an improvement. Well done. posted by Bill Harris;#;#

CompUSA has confirmed it will be closing about half of its U.S. stores

CompUSA has confirmed it will be closing about half of its U.S. stores, 126 in total. The closings will happen over the next three months as inventory is shifted around to the best-situated and best-performing locations. CEO Roman Ross said:

Based on changing conditions in the consumer retail electronics markets, the company identified the need to close and sell stores with low performance or non-strategic, old store layouts and locations faced with market saturation.

Translation: "the fact that you can get just about anything we sell online, without having to deal with any of our condescending, less-than helpful staff members is rendering our physical locations obsolete, so we're closing them." I do feel for the folks that are going to be out of work, but the last time I was in a CompUSA, the sales drone asked me if I was looking for the Bed, Bath, and Beyond next door, so I can't say I'm all that sorry to see them go.

Closures Will Affect 50% of CompUSA Stores [Next-Gen]

Putting the game back in video game

 

Steven Johnson has written up some thoughts on the Nintendo Wii. His fifth point is especially interesting and I can't help quoting almost the entire thing:

Wii Sports trades the onscreen complexity of goals and objectives and puzzles for the physical, haptic complexity of bodily movement. Since the days of Pong, games have been simplifying the intricacies of movement into unified codes of button pressing and joystick manipulation. What strikes you immediately playing Wii Sports -- and particularly Tennis -- is this feeling of fluidity, the feeling that subtle, organic shifts in your body's motion will lead to different results onscreen. My wife has a crosscourt slam she hits at the net that for the life of me I haven't been able to figure out; I have a topspin return of soft serves that I've half-perfected that's unhittable. We both got to those techniques through our own athletic experimentation with various gestures, and I'm not sure I could even fully explain what I'm doing with my killer topspin shot. In a traditional game, I'd know exactly what I was doing: hitting the B button, say, while holding down the right trigger. Instead, my expertise with the shot has evolved through the physical trial-and-error of swinging the controller, experimenting with different gestures and timings. And that's ultimately what's so amazing about the device. Games for years have borrowed the structures and rules -- as well as the imagery -- of athletic competition, but the Wii adds something genuinely new to the mix, something we'd ignored so long we stopped noticing that it was missing: athleticism itself.

He's not exactly right -- for example, drifting in Mario Kart is difficult to do until you develop a "touch" for it and is not easy to explain to others -- but the Wii does take it to a new level.

Source: Putting the game back in video game
Originally published on Tue, 13 Feb 2007 23:53:53 GMT

Playstation 3 Fanboys Strike Back: Losers? How Dare You Lynch!

 

Playstation 3 Fanboys Strike Back

 

Losers? How Dare You Lynch!

Some people took umbrage at the use of the term "losers" to describe the various people involved with the PS3's launch (consumers, Sony, media, etc.). Some also accused ExtremeTech's editors of plotting to publish "flame-bait" in order to reap more traffic.

 

Ahmedfarazch writes:
I think it's you who is the biggest loser, writing such a lame article just to generate some traffic! I think ExtremeTech after all these years has become stagnant and lazy

Well here's some background on how my column actually took shape, Ahmed (nice to know that folks in Pakistan are reading ET). It never came about as a suggestion at an ET editorial meeting. Instead it popped into my head as I watched the PS3 media coverage on TV and read stories on the web. The more I found out, the more I considered the situation to be pretty much total lunacy. At that point I had some strong feelings.

The usual way I express those feelings is to sit down and write. So what readers got was a visceral reaction to what I'd seen happening during the PS3 launch. It was an honest and straightforward opinion piece that covered the gamut of my reaction to what I'd seen. Nobody at ET even knew I was planning to do it until I mentioned it. It basically evolved organically as most of my opinion pieces do.

Now could I have toned it down? Made it blander? Made it more...palatable...to those easily offended fanboy types? Sure, but then why bother to write it in the first place? Sometimes an emphatic response to certain things happens and that all came out in the writing of my column. While not every column or review I write contains such emotion, some do and I don't apologize for that at all. You'll see more of it from time to time.

Also, the fact that it was an opinion piece seems to have escaped a few people who claimed that we weren't publishing "objective" reviews, etc. Well an opinion piece is just that, it's not a review nor should it be considered as such. If a reader does make that kind of mistake, it's on him or her to realize that what they are reading actually is meant to be.

One last point, a couple of folks in the forum had a sense of humor and thought I might have written my column because I couldn't get a PS3 at launch. Heh, heh. Thanks for the thought guys but I wasn't in the market for one.

You're Not a Real Gamer Lynch So Shut Up

One of the misconceptions by some readers was that I'm not a gamer and had never played a console system before.

Dragonwarrioriv writes:
You don't understand how people could pay $500+ for a video game console eh? That's easily understood because, well, you aren't a gaming enthusiast. And, your opinion as a tech editor is severely tarnished in my opinion. Why? Because you're a non-gamer writing an article about games. Leave that to the grown-ups, Jim. Stick to the writing that you do best.

I've been gaming since Pong so, yes, I have played lots of different consoles and hundreds of different games in my life. Apparently though, one is not considered a real gamer unless one worships at the altar of Sony and accepts everything the company does as gospel.

Also, some of the fanboy geniuses found my profile in the story and assumed that it was completely up to date. Well sorry for the confusion guys but Tribes isn't my favorite game at this point, World of Warcraft is what I'm playing these days. The info in the profile is outdated and shame on us at ExtremeTech for not updating it earlier.

Blu-ray Uber Alles
Another point that some folks disagreed with me on was the inclusion of Blu-ray in the PS3. This has added around $150-$200 to the price of the PS3 console. Is it worth it? Not in my book, but some disagreed strenuously with me on that.

Masaville writes:
I am thoroughly enjoying the Blu-ray player in the PS3, which by the way is significantly cheaper than a stand-alone player. That alone justified the $500 price tag of the PS3.

Jimbonics writes:
The 200 dollar price difference between the 360 and P3 is easily justified by the inclusion of the Blu-ray. The 360's HD-DVD add-on is $199, so.....

I'm glad that folks are enjoying the PS3's Blu-ray drive but my feeling is that Blu-ray is still an unproven format and may succumb to the betamax syndrome as time goes by. It faces stiff competition by HD-DVD and it remains to be seen whether or not Blu-ray will even survive. So why should PS3 gamers be forced by Sony into coughing up more money to support a format that may go the way of the do-do? Why not make it an optional drive that not all PS3 gamers have to buy?

Wake up PS3 gamers. You are being used as pawns in the DVD format wars. Doesn't this bother you? You've been forced to pay a higher price for your game console solely to support Sony's bid for high resolution DVD supremacy. Shame on Sony and shame on the PS3 gamers for going along with it.

Ziff Davis: Part of the Media's PS3 Hype?

Some folks took me to task about the column because they felt that ExtremeTech and other Ziff Davis publications had hyped Blu-ray and the PS3 in the past.

Digit_F6 writes:
WHERE WERE YOU BEFORE ALL THE HYPE?! Last time I checked, you guys (at Ziff Davis) were all saying how great Blu-ray was and how the only way to get it "cheap" was with a PS3. However, you were also saying that the public should wait until the Blu-ray format was implemented and available with more movies. But guess what? SONY CONTROLS A LARGE PORTION OF THE EMTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY!!! Why wouldn't the idiots go out and buy a PS3, especially if the PS3 is the only thing that plays Blu-ray discs?

I put a small part of the blame on YOU JIM, and any other journalist for helping sustain the demand for this electronic dope if not outright helping create it (the demand, that is). Think about THAT at the upcoming CES show! You didn't say what an over priced piece of junk you thought the PS3 was THEN so in a small way you are guilty for the problems the marketing strategy created. You might even say the same for XBox, Nintendo and even "Pong." But because YOU (journalists and any one else of influence) didn't help LESSEN the demand you might as well have shot those people yourself

So how dare I write a column pointing out all the flaws and problems with the PS3 launch, eh Digit? Well I don't speak for anybody at Ziff except myself in my column and nobody else who writes for Ziff speaks directly for me in their columns. Each of us has a unique voice and we express it how and when we want to.

So you may very well have read a lot of what you thought was hype, written by other writers at Ziff Davis. Just remember that they speak for themselves and not for me (and vice versa). Whenever I feel compelled to write about something, I will do so regardless of what anybody else at Ziff Davis or any other company has already written about that topic.

Shortages? There Are No Shortages!
Another thing some folks took issue with was shortages of the PS3 (and other consoles at launch).

Mkozlows: "Fake shortages?" This is a ridiculous canard tossed out by people who want to seem sophisticated and cynical, but who are actually clueless. The reality is that the console makers can pretty much sell everything they can make at launch, and they would absolutely love to sell millions and millions of consoles— but they can't, because they can't manufacture them that fast. Sony in particular was nailed by manufacturing difficulties that caused them to scrub the worldwide launch, and even then massively underdeliver to the US and Japan. You don't piss off Europe and revise forecasts downward as part of a clever marketing ploy. The shortages are real.

Sorry Mkozlows but I have to disagree. All Sony and any other manufacturer would have to do to avoid a "shortage" is give themselves enough time to stockpile their products before launch. Since they don't do this and never have, it's clear that they are aiming to induce hysteria among the masses via media reports about fake shortages. It's an excellent marketing strategy but that doesn't make it any less of a lie.

We Hate You, You Jerk!!!!!

Although I got some very well written feedback, with detailed responses, I also got what can only be called fanboy gibberish. These folks went right off the deep end, without pausing or looking back.

Read the article that started this storm: PlayStation 3 Losers Need to Get a Life .

Here's some of the classier fanboy feedback (profanities are bleeped):

From Yulier:
You BLEEP. I hope you know you just insulted Millions of people. YOU PC NERD STOP PLAYING A GAME THATS 3 YEARS OLD ,TRIBES LOL WHAT AN OLD BLEEP BLEEP GAME.YOU BLEEP UP BLEEP

From Nathan:
You know BLEEP all rofl, it's a sad day in hell when losers like you start trying to think they know BLEEP about what's cool and what's not.

From Amandeep:
YOUR A PIECE OF BLEEP!! I HATE YOU!!! YOUR A BLEEPING BLEEP!!! YOU BLEEP BLEEP

From Graham:
What a stupid BLEEP you are...ignorant, brainless, BLEEP little BLEEP such as yourself.

From Justin:
Have a cry you stupid BLEEP.

Well what can I say to you guys? Your intelligent, thoughtful, and articulate emails have me reeling and reconsidering my position on why some PS3 gamers are losers. Not.

Nathan, Amandeep, Graham, Justin and Yulier weren't the worst emails I got. One actually included an alteration of a photo of me. The alteration involved Michael Jackson and a male body part. I can't get more specific than that or include it here as, I said above, we are a family-friendly site. Suffice to say that some folks were off their meds when they were emailing me. Fortunately, I've got a thick skin so none of it bothered me though I did find most of it amusing in a silly sort of way.

Thanks for all the email and feedback in the forum, guys. Glad you all liked the column, enjoy those over-priced PS3s.

Source: Playstation 3 Fanboys Strike Back: Losers? How Dare You Lynch!
==============================================

Yeah, this is a long post.. sorry, but it's been a while since something worth while was posted in the 'general' area of the news.
I, for one, have got to say that it's posts like this that really make me wonder how the human race has ever survived this long.  I mean really.  Going off like this only because you don't you are too stupid to see though the hype and had to have someone point it out to you.
.. Just liKe I've been doing since like March of '06   LOL :)

PS3 named among the Top 10 most overrated products of all time!

Posted Jan 18th 2007 10:30PM by Ed Stasick

Those two-faced bastards over at PC Magazine -- who just last month rated the PS3 over the Wii as the new console to get -- have published a Top 10 list of the "Most Overrated Products of All Time!"

Rounding out the top 10 is our very own PS3. We think the PS3 is a bit young to join any "all time" lists just yet, but the list does have merit for its entertainment value. Here's the complete list of the losers:

1. Any version of MS Windows after Windows 95
2. :CueCat
3. Lotus 1-2-3
4. AOL
5. Apple iPod shuffle
6. Microsoft Bob
7. Google Video
8. Bose QuietComfort 2 Headphones
9. Microsoft PowerPoint
10. Sony PlayStation 3

You can see it all in print by picking up the Febrary 6th edition of the magazine.

Source: http://www.ps3fanboy.com/2007/01/18/ps3-named-among-most-overrated-products-of-all-time/

Feature: CES In Adventure Game Mode

 

By: Michael McWhertor

I'd been to three E3s, but this was my first Consumer Electronics Show and my third time in Las Vegas. Having grown up regarding CES as the game show, I'd always been awestruck reading the write ups on the far off games Nintendo and Sega were showcasing at the CES. It seemed like a gaming orgy on a scale my pre-teen brain simply could not comprehend.

But after having stalked the halls of the Los Angeles Convention Center for my trio of E3 adventures, CES in its heyday paled by comparison. E3 was the end-all, be-all gaming event.

With E3 transformed from media freakshow, stuffed to capacity with millions of blinding lights, thousands of pimply-faced "industry professionals" and subwoofers blasting at molar loosening levels, to a series of meetings, I was hoping CES would fill the missing gap. Sure, we'll have PAX and E for All Expo, but CES brings in every consumer electronics company in the world, meaning at least a strong showing from Sony and Microsoft. And it's in Vegas, where freakshows are the norm.

After staying up on Saturday night until 3 AM treating my liver to the lion's share of $100 worth of overpriced booze at clubs Beauty Bar and Lure, I was rudely stirred at the ungodly hour of 8 AM by Crecente. He'd flown in at the last minute to sit in on a group interview with Bill Gates. "Let's meet up" he said. No, let me sleep and eat a breakfast buffet, I thought.

Begrudgingly, I made the three mile, thirty minute drive over to the convention center, snagged my press pass, and met up with Crecente, who spilled the beans on his interview with Gates. We sat in the near-empty international Cafe, planning coverage. The calm before the storm.

After news had leaked during the weekend that Microsoft was enabling the Xbox 360 to use the company's IPTV service, Microsoft officially announced it at the keynote that evening.

Other than that, Uno and Geometry Wars on Vista were the only thing most gamers really cared about. Underwhelming.

Sony's moment in the sun also focused a small portion on their gaming business, touting a million PlayStation 3s shipped to North America. I was thrilled not be live-blogging either of these keynotes.

I just assumed that CES would be on par with E3, maybe less so from a video gaming standpoint, but still full of the hustle and bustle. I was pretty wrong.

CES is a very different beast. For one thing, there's the layout. Lugging around a laptop and the collected swag seemed tough when walking from South Hall to West Hall in the LA Convention Center. That's nothing compared to the confusing layout of the LVCC, which has North, South and Central halls, with bus loops and golf carts to shuttle conventioneers from hall to hall. Add to this multiple press tents outside Central, as well as the Sands Expo Center, The Venetian, and the Las Vegas Hilton and you'll have to quickly become familiar with the layout, the bus schedules and the most efficient route to the press room. I finally understood the geography of CES around 2 PM on day four. Way too late.

On day one, I had two appointments scheduled, one with the Games for Windows group, one to discuss the Xbox 360. During the former we walked through the new features of Vista that impact gaming. From new ways to look at system requirements, to Uno on Live, we talked nothing but Vista. I eagerly awaited my playtime with Guitar Hero II which I could hear on the other side of the meeting room wall.

After finally enjoying the free pastry and coffee provided by MS, I met with Xbox's Peter Moore and Aaron Greenberg to discuss the Xbox 360, HD-DVD and the new IPTV service. This was my first time talking to both, and, yeah, I'll admit it, I was oddly "starstruck" when meeting Moore for the first time. Here was a guy I'd been reading about since his days with the Dreamcast. Talking to Moore about Crazy Taxi was more surreal than I thought it would be, partly due to the slow effectiveness of the courtesy coffee.

I decided to pick myself up with a little gaming just across the street at the spacious Microsoft booth, which held stations for Vista, Zune, IPTV, Xbox 360, Live Messenger and more. In the gaming area, the most space was given to Shadowrun and Halo 2 for Vista. It was clear that Microsoft was treating their booth like an E3 exhibitor. They had product managers and developers—like Flagship's Bill Roper—overseeing each demo unit, ready to answer questions.

The priority given to Xbox 360 games was a bit more unusual. While they smartly gave Guitar Hero II two kiosks, Fusion Frenzy 2 was given prime real estate, despite being largely ignored. Inversely, the never-seen-before Def Jam Icon was hidden away, nestled between a load-bearing column, making actually getting to the demo harder than necessary.

The wait to get on an Xbox 360 or a Windows machine was no more than five minutes. Far different from E3, where standing fifteen to twenty minutes watching someone else's game was not uncommon. In other words, playing games at CES was a breeze.

It was time to find Sony, get my hands on some Heavenly Sword, Lair, and whatever else SCEA was showing off. On the way, I took in the sights, the 100-plus inch televisions from Sharp, Panasonic, LG—they're the ones who were pimping their big HDTVs with Sonic the Hedgehog and Virtua Fighter 5.

At the Sony booth, the wait was a tad longer, but only four games were on display. No Warhawk, no Heavenly Sword. I left Gran Turismo HD and Resistance alone, concentrating on Lair and MotorStorm. It was regrettably clear that the PlayStation business wasn't being displayed with the same importance as the Games for Windows and Xbox business (my booth tour was scheduled, rescheduled, then ignored when I showed up for it). SCEA PR staff were on hand, tucked away behind a desk littered with PSPs.

Fortunately for Sony, the crowds gawking at the PS3s were considerably more impressive than what was at the Xbox 360 area. They even attracted one Sony superfan.

The following few days were spent playing tons of forthcoming Xbox Live Arcade releases, including Alien Hominid, Heavy Weapon, and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Since the number of Windows and 360 titles outnumbered everything else, that's where the majority of my gaming took place.

But there were other fringe-gaming moments at the show that kept my attention. A trip to the Sands Expo led me into the Kentia Hall of CES, clogged with random video game exhibitors. GameDaily was there. Tons of chairs with built in sound systems were available for the sitting. Games powered by exercise bikes. The single Wii title from Majesco, Cooking Mama, was behind closed doors, but still playable. After no more than an hour at the Sands, I had exhausted its gaming content.

From that point on, I looked high and low for games, played the Crysis demo thrice over, even watched Johnathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel do his usual Quake 4 schtick. Played a member of Team3D in Counter-Strike. I became a fixture at the Microsoft booth, playing Hellgate London, Def Jam ICON (until I "got it") and squeezing in as much Guitar Hero II as I could.

At one point, I helped what you'd call a non-gamer figure out how to play MLB 2K7. As he was initially holding the Xbox 360 game controller backwards, with the top facing him, it took quite some time to get him up to speed. It was the first time in a long time I'd seen anyone that green at gaming.

After four days, I was ready to get the hell out of Vegas. With only one formal party invite (half the reason I go to these things is for the booze, obviously!) and lots of solo coverage it was a less fun and games type of experience, more of a charting the Las Vegas Convention Center one. It was clear that video games were not anywhere near the highest priority at CES.

I was surprised by how much I liked Shadowrun, glad to have had time with some great Xbox Live Arcade titles. Also surprising was how disjointed the Sony global presence was and how disappointed I was with Lair (please fix!). That Nintendo has zero representation, save one third party cooking game, was disappointing.

We'll see how the rest of the year's gaming events shape up, but CES is no E3 replacement. That's for sure. With all those glossy gadgets, games just don't have the opportunity to shine. Michael McWhertor

 

Source: Feature: CES In Adventure Game Mode
Originally published on Tue, 16 Jan 2007 02:00:27 GMT