Nintendo Wii System Update Upsets Homebrewers, Yawn June 24, 2010

From the “What Else is New?” category, System Update 4.3 (mentioned here) for the Nintendo Wii has predictably made it harder for modders, homebrew enthusiasts, and pirates to run their illegitimate software on the console.

Nintendo has been doing its best to keep modders out of its hardware for some time now.  The last 4.2 update also did this, because it replaced the bootloader modders used to replace the console’s operating system with Linux with one they said was pretty buggy but I never had any problems with it.

I don’t trust homebrew code further than I can throw it.  I don’t modify my consoles in any way, because I find it more likely it would restrict me from doing legitimate things with my console, give my system a backdoor for the software creator to exploit, or at the very least hamper my performance.

System Update 4.3 also promises behind the scenes code improvement, which should make system performance a bit smoother.

Playstation Plus is Not Xbox Live Gold, Stop Comparing June 18, 2010

I saw a lot of articles over the past two days comparing the pros and cons of Xbox Live Gold to Playstation Plus.  Other than the fact that both services charge users fifty dollars a year to use them, they have absolutely nothing in common.  Comparing the two (Microsoft went as far to say that Sony’s imitating them, well more that their service has “attracted imitation”) is like comparing Apples to Zebras, and here’s why.

Xbox Live Gold is practically a required service in order to use full functionality of the Xbox 360.  You cannot play your games online (unless it’s an MMO), or host large party voice chats without paying for the extra service.  You are also forced to wait an extra amount of time to access downloads from the Xbox Live Marketplace

Sony’s doing something completely different with Playstation Plus.  All the features that are currently offered to their current users will continue to be offered.  You will not have to pay anything in order to play multiplayer games online, and still have trophy support and voice chat.  Playstation Home will remain free.  What you will be offered for paying the premium is access to bonus digitally distributed content.  To start off with you will have early access to beta tests and demos, as well as full PS1 and PSP Minis games.  You’ll also have access to Core, the digital magazine for PS3 that reminded me a lot of Substance TV.

My issue with Playstation Plus is that when they announced it at the Sony E3 Conference, the presenter clearly said that you’d have access to your content “for as long as you had the Playstation Plus subscription.”  To me, that means when you terminate your account, you lose access to all those full versions  of games.  So you could in theory be paying fifty a year to play Final Fantasy VII and six other games so you don’t lose access to it.

It’s a much better deal if I wanted Final Fantasy VII to just buy the game and own it outright.  At $10 US per PS1 game I’m paying a heck of a lot less.  Honestly I think they’re lumping Core into this because a lot of people (myself included) did not renew my subscription to the digizine after the first year.  However, that whole year I was constantly getting free game unlock codes as a thank you for being a subscriber.  Let me tell you, getting a copy of Syphon Filter PS1 was a lot more valuable to me than a lot of those issues.

These are not similar services in any way.  Stop comparing them.

My Favorite E3 2010 Moment June 16, 2010

Many people have asked me what I thought was the best moment of the E3 2010 Conferences.  Well, speculate no longer, it was this moment.

You really get me, Kevin, you really get me.

Flash 10.1 Released, now HD YouTube Videos Won’t Run Like Flipbooks June 14, 2010

From the “two years late” department, Adobe has finally gotten around to taking Flash 10.1 out of beta and put it in the hands of everyone who goes to their site to upgrade their old versions of Flash 10, or since most people don’t know about that sort of thing, probably versions of Flash 8 or 9 (anyone with versions older than that have probably had their computers die on them by now).

The important extra feature about this release, GPU rendering.  That’s right, something that video players have had since 2003, making rendering HD video since then on mid range and high range PC’s extremely seamless and beautiful.  Well, even though flash has supported HD video for a few years on sites like YouTube and Gametrailers, you’d probably notice that the videos in HD would usually run like crap, because until yesterday flash was CPU rendering only, which in this modern time is equivelant to having your software stuck in 1998.

So you’ll probably notice an increase of performance on our YouTube embeds if you upgrade.  You’ll probably also notice you won’t have to cut the Gametrailers feeds to download the video instead, because their streaming videos (since they forced flash playback) have been unwatchable.

Look Ma, no Cord! June 2, 2010

After enjoying Alan Wake, I decided to get a little funny with one of my favorite parts of the game.  This is the gift a friend of mine gave me for my birthday after I raved about what Barry Wheeler was wearing in the game for tactical purposes.  The lights are LEDs, powered by USB, in my pocket, something you can’t see, is a USB charger meant for cell phones and iPods.

As you can see, it works, no extension cord needed.  I might be able to pull off a pretty funny Halloween costume with this thing.

Whatever Happened To Whistle Blower Zero? June 2, 2010

About a year ago, a guy calling himself Whistle Blower Zero erupted on YouTube for 48 hours.  He claimed to be a former GameStop employee who for forty minutes ranted on about how broken the GameStop corporate structure was, and how that by basically turning themselves into Pawn Shops, they were making billions by selling destroyed and damaged products, and charging the same price for them as a new game.

He also charged them with scamming their employees out of their working money by refusing to pay them by check, and making direct deposit extremely difficult to get processed, instead giving them debit cards that was accepted by practically no one, didn’t work on ATMs, and had fees for every time you used them.  He was pretty certain this was somehow illegal.  I’m sure you’ll remember my earlier video the time I got a debit card of my own (and what I did after recieving it).  If you’re not going to use them to preorder games (and if you’re already a GameStop employee who could blame you for not wanting to), they’re useless, and you’re not going to be able to use the full amount on them unless you can specifically set the value of what is on the card to match the balance on the card.  This pretty much sounded criminal to him, and it sounds pretty criminal to me.  I’ve never worked for anyone who refused to pay by check, and employers that won’t seem pretty shady to me.

Instead of responding to his valid claims. GameStop made a phone call and banned all his videos from YouTube, which is unbearably easy to do in this day and age.  Eventually his whole account got banned and has not returned.

I have heard a lot of GameStop debates on the gaming forums of the web, and yet no one but me seems to remember this guy, or the claims he made.  GameStop hasn’t had to deal with them directly, since their plan obviously worked, by banning his videos then ignoring the guy’s claims, they figured he’d dissapear and nobody would remember him.  I guess they were right.

So, Whistle Blower Zero, if you’re out there, who are you?  Why did you do it?  Did you succeed?

Club Nintendo, Another Example of a Rewards Program Done Right May 30, 2010

I have been a loyal member of the Nintendo Fun Club…ahem, sorry, Club Nintendo, since the inception of the program in the US last year.  GameStop, pay attention, this is another example of a rewards program done right.

What makes a rewards program good is if it offers achievable prizes of value by buying something the consumer was probably going to get anyway..  By doing that it offers further value for your purchase, and can be the deciding factor between buying something now or later on when it may be cheaper, and can get the customer to continue to buy your products and not go to your competitors.

For each new game purchased for the Nintendo Wii or DS, you receive a certain amount of points (50 for wii games) that can be amplified by filling out surveys, or telling the club what you intend to buy and then actually buying it.  You also get points for filling out occasional surveys.  Like at a carnival, you can trade in these points for exclusive goodies you can redeem for no further charge, and if you make a certain point total in a year you can get another free gift automatically.

The good part is the majority of the exclusive goodies are not that high in points to redeem, with most of them requiring about 5 game purchases to redeem if you don’t catch any surveys (trust me, Nintendo easily makes five good games a year, and games like Wii Fit have a much higher value than something like Mario Kart).  Filling out surveys can lessen the amount of points required by as much as a whole game.  On top of that they’re expanding, and offering more exclusive goodies.  This year they are offering beautiful posters of the evolution of the art of Mario or Link, for free.

When I picked up Super Mario Galaxy 2 today, something I was going to buy anyway, I went over my point total for the year, and I was able to order that Link poster set.  Disney also offers something similar for buying their Blu-Ray and DVDs, recently I purchased a rare Oswald the Rabbit D23 pin from it (Can’t wait to play Epic Mickey).

GameStop is Starting a New Rewards Program, It Sucks May 24, 2010

GameStop has announced today that they’re replacing their overpriced Edge Card (they charged $14.99 a year for 10 percent off on used only games, you’d need to buy over a hundred used games to justify the price) with a free and paid reward program.

I have absolutely nothing against free reward programs.  Many retailers and supermarkets offer their customers free rewards simply for shopping where they would shop normally.  Coupons, discounts, and gift certificates are issued for free to program members, just for regular shopping at a store.  But this program looks like a pretty twisted version of much better programs just to exploit customers.

This sounds like a pretty terrible idea, since the point system is far too high and the rewards are far too cheap to justify so high a point value for the goods offered.  You get ten points per dollar spent on new games, and twenty points spent on used games.  There are a few bonuses offered, like points for signing up and points for your birthday.

The rewards range from coupons for $5-$10 off purchases ranging from 4000 to 8000 points to even free Xbox 360 controllers or Turtle Beach X11 headsets for 40,000 points.  So you get five dollars off for every 400 dollars spent?  You get a free 360 controller for spending 4000 dollars there?  That’s rediculious!

Now, if you want to know a much better program, Best Buy offers a program that gives consumers gift certificates good for anything in the store just for spending money there.  If you become a member of their Reward Zone, you get one point for every dollar spent, and if you have a premium account or credit account you get an extra percentage on top of that.  250 points equals a free five dollar gift certificate, and they do add up, you can use them on anything you buy.  They also will send you free coupons, usually once a month in the mail, and while those do have restrictions (like 10% off only on games, movies or music), they’re free coupons!