New Piece of the 3D HDTV Puzzle is on Shelves! May 24, 2010

I was in Target yesterday while my friend was getting a coffee just looking for a deal on any games, I didn’t find any, but what I did find was a lot more valuable.

I had mentioned previously for you earlier technology adopters who visit the site, 3D HDTV will only be possible if you had a 3D HDTV, a 3D Blu-Ray (or game) player, a 3D HDMI cable, and 3D Glasses.

Well some manufacterers have released TVs, but everything else on the list has not seen release yet, now another piece has come out.

Vizio has done something pretty impressive.  They’re selling a next-generation HDMI cable that is not outrageously priced!  Previously unheard of, a manufacterer of cables is not overcharging for them.  The new cables are HDMI 1.4, support 120hz and 240hz (depending on model), ethernet, and 3D.  I’ve seen bitrates listed on those cables as high as 10.2Gbps.

I wanted to buy a pack of these from the manufacterer, but I guess everyone universally thought this was a good price, because they’ve sold out online.

The final piece of the puzzle, the 3D Blu-Ray (and game) support, will be released by Sony along with their 3D Sony Bravias which will be coming out next month.  The PS3 will be fully 3D Blu-Ray compliant with a recently released firmware update, so if you want a player now, buy a PS3 (if you don’t already own one).

Remember, you will still need to buy 3D glasses from your TV manufacterer.

Looking for 7.1 Audio Content for Your New Home Theater? Go Through your PS3 Shelf May 11, 2010

I spent this last weekend building an entire next generation home theater system for my room.  I already had a 1080p native 120hz HDTV, but while playing LEGO Rock Band I knew I was missing the immersive audio experience only surround sound could provide me.

Back when DVD was the king, I had a 5.1 audio reciever.  When I upgraded to blu-ray the reciever was obsolite and I ended up pulling it and putting it and the speakers into storage, where they’ve mostly been collecting dust.

I had the speakers already, and a subwoofer, and I knew they’d be compatable with a new reciever anyway (saving me some money), so I went on newegg and got a fantastic deal on a home theater reciever.  I figured all I needed was a reciever and maybe some extra wire, and that would be all.  Turned out, my whole room needed to be upgraded.

I was now requiring power from seven different sources.  TV, reciever, subwoofer, Xbox 360, wii, PS3 and HD-DVD adapter, so I needed to buy a heavy duty power strip.  I also needed to buy a much larger TV stand.  Easier said than done, TV stands are mostly designed to be as horrible as possible to electronic components.  Most are overpriced and entirely enclosed.  If you put an Xbox 360 inside an enclosed enviroment and leave it running, in all likelyhood your whole house will burn to the ground pretty quickly (your 360 will likely red ring first but it will keep running).

I figured with so few movies supporting 7.1, even on blu-ray, the need of seven satellite speakers was low.  I figured the five I already had were going to be adaquate, but to be forward thinking, I made sure the reciever supported 7.1, DTS-HD MA, HDMI, and Dolby Digital TrueHD (and of course uncompressed PCM).

I was pretty right about the 5.1 being standard on my movie shelf.  All of the Blu-Rays I had were native 5.1 in some way, either through uncompressed PCM, Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital, and DTS-HD MA.  Very, very few movies I had were 7.1.

Then I checked my game shelf.  I hadn’t updated a lot of my PS3 games in a while, and I decided to pop them in and download the new versions.  Uncharted 2: Among Theieves‘s version 1.7 update alone took about 5 minutes.  Then I started going through the audio options in Uncharted 2.  Dolby, DTS, but then I saw Uncompressed PCM 7.1 on the list.  Wow, that was really nice of the developers to include that.  The surround tracks really gave a whole new level of atmosphere to the game’s visuals.

I figured this had to be a fluke.  So I decided to go trophy hunting through another recent Sony game I had, Infamous.  This also had uncompressed 7.1 native audio.  I tried an older one, Heavenly Sword, which doesn’t even support trophies, and it had 7.1 uncompressed audio too.  Now, I already knew that God of War 3 supports 7.1 from several user posts in the game’s official forums.  Heck, even the platform’s bomb Lair has a 7.1 audio track.

So that’s a stack of games for a single platform that natively supports a superior sound system.  However, Sony doesn’t post audio specifications on the back of their packaging anymore.  Best I could notice was look for a Dolby or DTS logo on the back near the copyright information.  Best I can get in my Xbox 360 games is last generation Dolby Digital 5.1, and since my 360 is so old I don’t even have an HDMI connection on it to use audio and video, I have to use a last gen optical connection to get all my audio output.

Please Sony, if you’re going to include HDTV support specifications on the back of your game boxes, also include your audio support specifications.  I know you’re looking for things to rub in Microsoft’s face, you’ve got something and don’t even realize it.

FYI, I had tried Heavy Rain when calibrating the system, it maxes at 5.1, which is why I figured at the time that 5.1 audio was standard.

Bright Falls Alan Wake Websiodes Behind Schedule on Live May 9, 2010

I’ve been glued to my seat waiting for Alan Wake‘s release next week.  I was so happy when I read that the game’s prequel would be a weekly live action series released to Xbox Live.  Well, that series is seriously behind schedule.

After the first two episodes of Bright Falls were released the day after it was scheduled, and the third episode was never released last week.  Today, the fourth episode was scheduled to be released, and it has not been yet.

The official Bright Falls website however has seen its episodes released on a regular schedule, the Tuesday of the week after what was supposed to be the initial Xbox Live premere.  Well Xbox Live has not premered one episode of the series yet, usually someone else is able to get their episode up on time way after Xbox Live should’ve released it.  Who is the guy on Xbox Live managing this content?  Is he an idiot or something?

The fourth episode was scheduled to be released today on Xbox Live.  It has not been.  Currently the final two episodes are scheduled to be released next week, just prior to the release of the game.

LEGO Rock Band Music Transfer: Is ALL this Really Necessary? May 9, 2010

I picked up LEGO Rock Band a few days ago at Best Buy for several reasons.  One was the low price, another was my nostalgia for LEGO, and the last was the ability to transfer the tracklist to Rock Band 1 and 2.  Being very familiar with the transfer procedure for Rock Band and RB: AC/DC, I excpected a similar procedure to transfer the songs.  Boy was I wrong, and let me tell you, the hoops they make you jump through just to be able to play “Ghostbusters” in Rock Band 2 almost makes it not worth it.

First off, there is no licence transfer option or disc download option like in Rock Band.  There also is no 25-digit Xbox Live key like in Rock Band AC/DC, what you have is something infinatly more annoying.

If you want to play LEGO: Rock Band songs on other Rock Band games, you have to first pull out a one time use key from the disc case.  Try redeeming it on Xbox Live and you’ll just get an error.  No, you have to take that key and register it to the Rock Band official website.  From there, you choose if you want the exchanged key for either Playstation 3 or Xbox Live (and if you choose wrong by accident you’re on your own), and you then get your 25-digit key.  Redeem that code.  Does that download you the songs?  No.  Does it patch the game so you can transfer your songs from the disc to your HD?  No.  All it does is patch the game so you can spend ten extra dollars to download the entire track pack from the Rock Band Store.  All 1.26GB straight from Xbox Live, which will probably take you about a half hour and you’ll need to be connected to the internet the whole time.

Does it really need to be THAT complicated for me to spend ten dollars to download the tracklist to my HD?  I paid five for the tracklist of Rock Band 1, and that downloaded from the disc, no codes were needed.  A patch sure, but that installed automatically.  Was this to prevent the rental market from swapping discs around?  There is no rental market for games anymore.  Was it to prevent resales?  Well I can assure you resale value of this game is probably zero now.

Please stop doing this, you tried it, it didn’t work, don’t put it in Rock Band 3.

Editorial: A Beta Preview: Why Aren’t More Companies Doing this? April 29, 2010

The Halo Reach beta video was released this afternoon and is avalible to download to all Halo 3 ODST owners who boot their first discs up.  It is a very detailed video narrated by Aisha Tyler who goes over the rules of the beta and what is avalible.

The video, taking up several minutes, keeps smack talk to a minimum and specifically shows all the new components of Halo Reach, including the menu interface, matchmaking, and gives a rundown of weapons, controls, maps and gametypes.

So simple an idea, do a video where someone tells you how to play the game.  I haven’t played a second of the Reach beta yet but I feel completely ready to play.  Why aren’t more companies doing this?

The beta will not start until May 3rd, they’re probably going to take the video down once the beta becomes active.  If you have a copy of Halo 3 ODST and intend to play the Halo Reach beta, you owe it to yourself to watch this video to be fully briefed on it before you play.

Editorial: Have the Extreme Ghostbusters Solved Alan Wake’s Problem Before? April 28, 2010

For those of you who haven’t taken a look at the Alan Wake X10 Trailer, please do so before reading the rest of this article.

Did you catch the post script to that?  Alan Wake was writing something beyond his control.  I did, and then I realized I had seen something like that before, and then I remembered where.  When I was growing up I loved the Ghostbusters (naturally, they were awesome on all levels).  In 1997, when I was in middle school, a new series based around Generation X was released on weekday mornings.  With the ghostbusters now middle aged and only Egon still living in the firehouse, when the ghosts returned and him no longer able to fight, four of his community college students, each with their own specialty took up the new proton packs to fight a newer stronger generation of ghosts.  They called themselves the Extreme Ghostbusters.

The ghostbusters have been known to fight anything, gods, demons, posessions, all in the name of a day’s work, but one episode of Extreme Ghostbusters touched on a myth that I think is the same myth that Alan Wake is evoking.  Demons were terrorising New Jersey, taking human hostages, and they looked very similar to a popular series of books.  One of the Extreme Ghostbusters was a fan of the books and recognised them and they discovered the writer, paticularly one based off of RL Stine, was bringing these creatures to life through his writing.  He was compelled beyond free will to type down his stories, and with it, everything he wrote was coming true.

The trick was that it had to be written for it to happen.  At one point, to save a fellow ghostbuster, one of the ghostbusters was able to mess around with the typewriter as something was happening, turning a weapon that the demon was holding into a banana, which meant that no matter how crazy whatever was typed, it would happen.

In the end, the Extreme Ghostbusters triumphed by destroying the typewriter that the writer was using to weave the story, breaking the demon’s control over him and destroying everything that had been done.  All in the day’s work of your neighborhood ghostbuster.

Thank you Sony Support for Saving Me March 23, 2010

Well I’m very happy right now.  I had a serious issue downloading the God of War: Unearthing The Legend documentary due to it’s incredibly large filesize and Sony’s unnecessary DRM system on videos preventing them from being downloaded or played on any PS3 other than the one it was registered on, and after being unable to download it more than once I hit a serious problem.

Well that was Thursday.  I sent an issue to Sony Support that day.  Today I got an email, they had restored my download link, and I was finally able to download and now watch the HD version of this fantastically produced documentary.  I still argue this should’ve been released on a seperate Blu-Ray (or at the very least released with no DRM), but its nice they fixed my issue.

So if anyone’s having problems with their download codes still (like I did) contact sony support.  There’s a phone number in the booklet that’s a good place to start.  However it will probably take anywhere from 48 hours to 4 days to help (take into account I don’t think they work weekends).  Their support staff are a bunch of really nice really helpful people I can’t give them better props.

UPDATE:  I did a little reasearch on cases similiar to mine, (IE people wanting to download or redownload videos after the initial download wore off because maybe the file got deleted accidently or intentionally because they take up A LOT of space).  Sony official policy is to give you ONE extra download after asking them nicely (Like I did) then upon a second request say SOL.

So apparently there was no question I was going to get one more shot at the file, but I’m screwed if my PS3 breaks or I want more hard drive space.  After I get paid, I’m going to invest in a high capacity flash drive and back it up.  I have no other option.  Is this really necessary?

God of War III Ultimate Edition: The Empty Box March 18, 2010

For those of you collectors out there, who just love collectors editions in every way shape and form, you’ve had to deal with extremely high priced ones with very little substance as of late.  Originally collector’s editions would be 10 dollars over the initial price, come in a slightly better package and include a second disc with behind the scenes goodies which would be well produced and informative and entertaining.

Within the past year, I’ve noticed that these CEs have become more fluff than actual content.  But recently the God of War III Ultimate Edition has earned my purchase.  I paid 40 dollars more than the initial price for a mostly empty box.  The box the game came in is quite beautiful, but it’s empty.  Other than the hardcover art book (which is the standard size and shape for most other CE artbooks I’ve seen, there’s nothing in the box.  The case the game comes in is identical to the standard edition, and the disc itself is identical as well.

The difference is (other than Pandora’s box and the Art Book, the only physical additions, and those alone would not fetch a 40 dollar price tag) that there’s a tiny leaflet included inside the game case with three download codes.  One for a downloadable skin and Combat Arena, both of which could’ve been unlockable game content, one for a downloadable documentary starring Peter “Robocop” Weller which is taking me over an hour to download and is going to use up the very last of my 60GB PS3’s storage space, and one for two soundtracks to be downloaded off the God of War site, which doesn’t work because the God of War site is no longer accepting logins or code redemptions, all attempts to do either are just frozen, and then met with an error message.

Is it that hard to make some CDs?  Is it that hard to do a second Blu-Ray?  You have to be kidding me if you charged 100 dollars for this thing that you couldn’t have done all that and still charged the same price?  Hell, I would’ve gladly sarificed having an empty Pandora’s box (which can’t fit the PS2 versions of the games, but can fit the God of War Collection if you need a place to put that disc) for having instead this content on physical discs.

I really like collector’s editions, but what’s collectable about revolving it around a leaflet with codes on it?  It’s a great empty box though.

Don’t Redeem Your God of War: Unearthing the Legend Codes Unless its on a PS3 You Intend to Watch it on for the Rest of Your Life March 18, 2010

Following up on what I was saying earlier, I decided to redeem my God of War: Unearthing the Legend documentary code. I really wanted to watch the documentary badly, so I redeemed my code and realized, oh crap, I don’t have enough space for it. The file is 3+GB. Not a problem I figured, I had another PS3 downstairs with much more storage capacity, so it shouldn’t be a problem. So I deactivated some authorizations on the one I had, and reactivated on another, and started the download of the documentary on the other PS3.

Then I tried watching it two hours later after the download finished and it didn’t work. Whatever crap Sony put in the video, even though my authorizations were all valid and allowed me to download the video no problem (If they weren’t, I wouldn’t have been able to download the video at all) refused to let me watch the documentary. So I decided if the file was going to work anywhere it was going to be on the original PS3 I put the code into, the one with very little space left. In frustration I deleted the video and set about the way to change my authorizations (again) so I could go back to watching the video on my original PS3, only to find that the HD video was no longer in my download queue, and there was no way to get it back.

I called up Sony support to get them to rectify the situation, and they told me it would take about two days for them to email me back with either a new code or for them to reactivate my download. So until then I’m stuck watching the SD version of the documentary (unacceptable if you own a 1080p 120hz HDTV). But here’s the big problem with all this. When you download that video, it’s tied to that playstation for life. Authorization be damned! So what’s the point of activating/deactivating playstations if the content’s going to be tied to whatever it was first redeemed on in the first place?

You’ll never be able to redownload it again or watch it on a different playstation! If this was a blu-ray I could watch it on any blu-ray player I wanted in the house or bring it to a friend’s house (adding to the collector’s value of the box!). Who’s brilliant idea was this?

I also asked the guy about the God of War soundtrack site (since apparently manufactering CDs and making websites that don’t crash when people try to use them is hard) and they still have no ETA on when either the site’s coming back up or when the replacement codes for people who redeemed them and had failed downloads will come back.

Lets try comparing to other competing services. Apple’s iTunes is considered by many to be draconian at best but they offer a whopping five activations for downloaded content, and even have some DRM free files for a slightly higher cost, and when you deactivate/reactivate content on your systems, it actually works! The files don’t care where they were initiatlly bought or downloaded, the activation certificate is all they care about.

Next time Sony, spend an extra dime and buy some CD-Rs.

Editorial: Why I learned to Stop Waiting For Duke Nukem Forever March 13, 2010

In 2003 on my former website The Deep Six (which was online then it went offline, then it went online again, now it’s lord only knows) I posted just before the release of Max Payne 2 some things for 3D Realms to do to celebrate something unfamiliar to them, the release of a game. I had no idea at the time it would be six years later and we’d be talking about that project’s demise.

Does anyone else think it a bit shitty that more news about Duke Nukem Forever has been released since the game had been cancelled than when it was operating? I mean, a whole synopsis hit the internet, trailers of really cool mostly complete gameplay footage, pictures and concept art. You know, the kind of stuff that would get released normally if you were making a game. But none of this stuff had been released during the development. Could you understand now if they had bothered to release what that artist had posted together overnight people would actually continue to care about your product?

You had the worst management system in history. That’s not nearly insulting enough as it should be. I don’t think anyone could actually come close to being as bad a manager as what was seen in this game. They made tons of royalties from Duke Nukem 3D that were still coming in, and they were making tons of money off the Max Payne franchise, enough to sustain them for years.  The managers always thought there was going to be an infinite amount of time and would not put a time restriction on innovation, and because of that, there was no progress.  At some point the bubble is going to burst for you and the money’s going to dry up, and it did.

So now the party’s over. Why shouldn’t I be bitter about this? Well had they managed their game properly they could’ve finished it well over six years ago and still had more money left over and released the game. Why should I care about this? After 2001 when they released that fantastic E3 trailer, I really wanted to play the game. Then the years passed more and more, and no information at all was coming out, and I slowly paid more attention to real games that were coming out instead of fantasy ones that only existed in the mind of George Brussard.

Last I heard Take 2 has filed an injunction demanding the source code for the game, probably so they could give the development to one of their teams to finish it. I hope they get it, I really do. I know if they hand it to a competent development house and lit a fire under them they could have the game released in a year. 3D Realms has shown they are not a competent development studio, they’re a joke, plain and simple. Gamers gave them all the rope they could have and they just continued to wrap it around their necks, and then the chair under them broke.