06.11.12 |
Gaming |
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As most gaming analysts predicted, this was a pretty quiet year for E3 news. Companies made very conservative moves and announcements given we’re at the end of this generation’s consoles. Several console manufacturers are also wary of making a costly misstep as mobile gaming devices (e.g. iPhone, iPad) eat up an increasing amount of their market share.
However, there were a few major trends worth noting.
Nintendo has lost its way
The 3DS wasn’t a strong seller out of the gate. Wii sales have crumbled. Nintendo is gambling a lot on its Wii U, and from what I’ve seen from E3, it looks like a non starter console. I’m aware that’s a strong prediction, but let’s break down what we’ve seen. First of all there’s the price, rumored to launch at $300. That’s almost surely cheaper than the next generation of consoles that Sony and Microsoft will offer. But then factor in the cost of those bulky controllers that I’d predict are far north of $100 each. That’s not exactly family friendly territory. There are other hardware problems as well: a controller only lasts for 3-5 hours per charge. It likely has a processor only marginally more powerful than a current gen Xbox 360 or PS3.
Finally, there’s a lack of compelling software. Nintendo’s E3 presser was depressingly conservative, even by Nintendo standards – few new IPs, no new Zelda or extra details on Paper Mario. Their flagship launch title NintendoLand doesn’t appear to have the crossover success of Wii Sports. And has Nintendo secured third party support? The company’s failure in that aspect really tanked long term sales of the Wii. The trend threatens to repeat itself with the Wii U.
Note that there are plenty of dissenters with my outlook. Josh Topolsky over at the Washington Post praised Nintendo’s “heads-down, single-minded mentality.” Time also defends Nintendo well, making some especially strong points regarding its hardware. Also Pimkin 3 looks great, but it doesn’t change my feeling that Nintendo could be out of the hardware business within a few years if it isn’t more careful.
Microsoft’s SmartGlass could be big
Microsoft had the best of the pre-E3 press conferences this year. It was yes, conservative, but it balanced the hardcore gaming and “casual” multimedia camps well. Most importantly, don’t underestimate SmartGlass. SmartGlass is a companion app for mobile devices (Windows phones, iOS, Android) that gives users the ability to control and interact with games and other XBox content. For instance, on the latest Madden you can preview and select plays before the huddle. For a TV show or movie extra bonus content is synced and displayed in SmartGlass as you watch. The Verge put together a nice preview.
Granted, Microsoft has pushed the multimedia convergence angle on every recent E3 and ended up bombing most of the time. Last year the Kinect got the hard sell. This year saw Internet Explorer for XBox, a total head scratcher. But SmartGlass is different because it’s not about selling a service or device that you have to run out and buy. A huge percentage of Microsoft’s target audience already has an iOS or Android phone, and as long as developers have incentive to make SmartGlass functionality, it could be a huge incentive to stick with the XBox over an Apple TV or Roku (there’s a nice Hacker News thread discussing this topic.)
An awkward transition period between current and next gen tech
There were a few new IPs announced that look incredible like Ubisoft’s Watch Dogs and Star Wars 1313 from LucasArts. However, their developers are cagey with regard to launch platforms. Watch Dogs may someday come to PS3 and XBox 360 but these E3 demos were clearly running on high-end PCs. I bet those demo PCs closely mirror the specs of Sony’s and Microsoft’s next gen consoles.
I’d expect any game without an early 2013 release date will debut on both current gen and next gen platforms. I’d also predict that next year is going to look very dry for console gaming as platforms shore up support for their big next gen console launches. That’s going to be a very interesting tech period. Mobile gaming will have matured by a full year, and the iOS ecosystem will be likely far more comprehensive, revolving around a completely revamped and relaunched Apple TV. Will console gaming thrive or weaken? It’s hard to say but we’ll know a lot more a year from now.
06.11.12 |
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There was some excellent gaming analysis on the latest Hypercritical episode. Host John Siracusa breaks down the E3 pressers and how Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony are positioned for future competition. Pay special attention to the last 20 minutes where the hosts discuss how Apple fits into all of this. (Spoiler: it’s console gaming’s biggest threat by far.)
06.11.12 |
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There are many Mac window managers out there and Moom is by far the best. Some like Divvy are mouse based, while others rely on the keyboard. Moom splits the difference and offers both forms of input control along with crazy customization options for power users. Arguably best of all, Moom has a fairly low memory footprint.
One little feature I use every day is their arrange windows option. Just press a key combo and every app gets resized and moved back to a custom arrangement of your choice. I’m the type of user that constantly shifts windows around to get stuff done to the point where after a a few hours I’ve got a pretty chaotic desktop. With an arrange windows keystroke I’m back to a clean screen.
This feature becomes amazing when you’re switching between using an external Cinema Display and running a Macbook Air solo. If you’re ever experienced it you know the annoyance of all your windows bunching up in a mess when you switch display modes. No more with Moom: I’ve got two different arrange window options (Macbook Air solo, Macbook Air + Cinema Display) and trigger each after I plug/unplug from the Cinema Display.
Highly recommended for $5. Do buy the direct sales version off manytricks.com though; Moom is a non-sandboxed app which makes it DOA for the Mac App Store going forward.
06.10.12 |
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I’m very late in weighing in on “Commissions and Fees”, this season’s second to last Mad Men episode from a week ago. It was well executed but something felt distinctly off. Todd VanDerWerff really expresses this well (warning major spoilers ahead):
I’m not sure Mad Men is the kind of show that desperately needs character deaths. I’m not saying I didn’t think the show built unbelievably to Lane’s end, nor am I saying that I wish it had just trundled him off to England to hang over the final two seasons of the show. Once Lane reached the point of hopelessness he reached around the midpoint of “Commissions And Fees,” having him kill himself was one of only two or three options that would have made any story sense, and the show accomplished this task with its usual mordant sense of humor…
Yet at the same time, the show seemed to constantly be fighting against the whole cheap, desperate feel of any TV death that comes up at the end of the hour and is meant to both shock and move us all at once. Please understand: It mostly was able to overcome this. But the whole thing felt just a little sordid, as though the show were stooping beneath itself.
I can’t wait to find out how this season wraps up when it drops into my Apple TV queue sometime tomorrow. I’m not suspecting a surprise on the level of Tomorrowland, last year’s closer, but I think we’re in for something fairly big.
06.08.12 |
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This Polygon E3 video a bit scattershot in terms of quality so I’d recommend just skipping to the 1:49 mark. Adam Sessler (former editor-in-chief of gaming network G4) rants for a few minutes on Microsoft’s SmartGlass, Ubisoft’s strong showing and Nintendo’s lack of direction. I agree with almost everything he says.
06.08.12 |
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Gamasutra editor-in-chief Kris Graft:
If you witnessed E3 as an intelligent enthusiast of video games, you realized the sad truth: The joy is dead, delight is gone. Joy and delight just aren’t worth the monetary investment anymore for big-budget games. Joy and delight are replaced by “I fucked your shit up, and I’m a bad-ass, let’s crack open a Dew.” It took all of these games in one place for me to finally, reluctantly, admit that this is what triple-A video games are now. At least that’s how E3 and triple-A game publishers apparently want to portray the world of video games. Are you not entertained?
06.07.12 |
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Yeah, Dragon Tattoo reviews aren’t exactly timely. But Matt Zeitz on Twitter recently brought to my attention late an excellent review from Slant Magazine I must have missed. Slant writer Ed Gonzalez has some astute observations of director David Fincher’s style:
Fincher is a meticulous, albeit chilly, observer of procedure, and the film derives much of its momentum from Mikael’s sleuthing into the lives of the Vangers and Lisbeth’s high-tech hacking, which passes the smell test more easily here than it did in Arden Oplev’s version, and from the elegance with which their storylines are paralleled…The film’s elegant moroseness, like the propulsive, sometimes discordant, volume of Reznor and Ross’s experimental score, seems intended to distract us from the fact that these two characters are banal stock types.
06.07.12 |
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Osfoora was bumped up to 1.2 late last night on the Mac App Store. There’s a few miscellaneous bug fixes along with a brand new, better looking high-res icon. The big win though has to be Twitter’s live streaming API; I’m not the type that keeps Twitter open on in the background but many others consider this essential functionality.
Osfoora is my client of choice on the Mac. I love the Tweet Marker support, inline images and overall speed. It’s well worth the $5 sticker price.
06.07.12 |
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Bill Murray is a notoriously private and quiet kind of guy, so I was surprised to see how much he opened up to Esquire editor Scott Raab. It’s not a super long interview but enjoyable. Murray apparently had met Moonrise Kingdom co-star Bruce Willis once a while ago:
I met him at this Andy Garcia movie I did, The Lost City. Willis is there and he’d had a couple drinks. We’ve all had a few drinks. And he says, “I just want you to know …” I’m like, “Oh, fuck.” He says, “I used to work as a page at NBC, and my job was to refill the M&M bowls and the peanut bowls in the actors’ dressing room. And only you and Gilda ever treated me like a human being. You were nice to me.” And I thought, Whew, that’s good. I felt like, Shit, I did somethin’ right, you know?
06.06.12 |
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This iMore article is the ultimate iOS 6 wish list. It’s smartly organized where every section examines what competing platforms already have (e.g. “what iOS could take from Android”). and far more comprehensive than I expected when I spotted it over on at Hacker News last weekend. Highly recommended.