July 2007 - Posts
The good: Community Server 2007 is a great platform, and should help in the long-term with posts, management, and spam.
The bad: Community Server 2007 has changed their theme format, and I simply don't have the time to go and rebuild the whole theme.
They are having a contest for new themes, so my hope is some nice ones will come up and I'll just end up using one of them. That said, if any of you guys are bored and web-savvy, and want to take a spin at recreating an "Ozymandias" theme, I'm happy to pass along the original art assets. 
Just wanted to let you know the site has been updated to Community Server 2007 (with thanks to the Community Server guys, as always!) The site may look a bit funny for a day or two until I have time to work on updating the theme, but will work as normal otherwise. In theory, we'll have much better spam blocking as well.
Had a couple of folks who were curious how I found that Inversed Earth image; it's not the sort of thing you generally come across surfing the web. Simply put, I'd been pointed to a great blog called thought bucket, run by a gentleman named Jack Turner. I don't know him, but I've enjoyed the random, eclectic collection of things he's posted. Check it out!
Deep thought for the day: In the future you already finished reading this sentence.
Just thought this was pretty darn cool. It's a vision of a reversed Earth (with land being water, and vice-versa) from a design group called VladStudio. Hit the link if you want different-sized wallpapers of it (though some of the higher-res ones require payment).
... with another fine steak dinner on the line.
This time around my good friend N'Gai Croal of Newsweek's "Level Up" fame is dissenting with my assertion that there's a low-end $399 PS3 SKU coming this holiday. He firmly believes Sony will return to a one-SKU strategy, priced at $499. To quote:
We pinged him back with our prediction for the remainder of 2007 after store shelves had been cleared of the 60 gigabyte PS3: one SKU, $499. Not long thereafter, Vrignaud placed a call to Level Up HQ, challenging us to a wager on the subject of Sony's pricing plans for this holiday. We initially demurred, but Vrignaud persisted, and we acquiesced; this time, we won't even be able to blame intoxicants, seeing as we accepted during business hours.
The bet is as follows: Vrignaud says that Sony will start selling a $399 PS3 by Black Friday 2007, the official start of the holiday season. We say no.
Technically, I agreed to a badly-worded bet. All N'Gai has to do to win is have me be wrong on my $399 assertion; he doesn't need to be correct about the pricing of "his" single SKU. But so be it - that's what one gets when distracted by his flowing locks.
<sigh>
If only he'd agreed to wager on them yet again! Just think of the trophy "bead" curtain one could create across the office door. (For what it's worth, I wagered a shaved head on my part; probably not as potentially utilitarian as my bead curtain, which probably drove us to the more reasonable steak dinner.) 
Sony announced a PS3 "value pack" (no sarcasm intended) for Europe at E3 this year. I've seen a bit of confusion as to what that means, especially as it relates to the "price cut" (sarcasm intended). There's actually not much to this - what you're seeing here is a channel-clearing exercise.
I linked to the vaguely-attributed ThreeSpeech purposely as they include a picture of the value pack packaging. You'll note the value pack is nothing more than a box containing a bunch of other boxes; this was repackaged in Europe using existing stock, and certainly didn't come from any factories as a new SKU.
So why the channel clearing? Simply put, it's in preparation for both a real price cut and new SKUs this holiday. You already have an 80 GB SKU for $599 in the US; it's basically the high-end version, especially if you ignore the gimped back-compat functionality. The old 60 GB SKU is being cleared out for $499 as quickly as possible - as you might recall, this was the supposed "price cut" that Sony announced. In reality, once supplies are gone in the next couple of months it'll be gone forever. However, that doesn't leave Sony in a good place. A single, $599 SKU would be untenable; if they don't move significant hardware this holiday they'll basically be dead for this generation.
My prediction is that you're going to see the creation of a new, low-end SKU this holiday. It'll likely remove integrated WiFi, memory card reader, and most controversially, all backward compatibility. (Remember, there's still some back-compat hardware in even the new "software only" back compat SKUs; removing the remaining CPU is a significant cost savings.) You'll see a new WiFi dongle made available. And finally, this low-end SKU will likely come with a smaller 40 GB hard drive. The low-end price will be set at $399, with the higher-end 80 GB SKU dropping to $499.
So there you go - nothing magic about the current value SKU. It's just a classic retail technique of clearing the channel for new SKUs. Now we just need to wait a few months for the announcement - it'll have to be before Thanksgiving, so I'd expect October.
Just wanted to let you know I'm at the Seattle Casual Games Conference all this week... and sadly, without net connectivity! <sigh> So I'm unlikely to be writing much up as the iPhone keyboard just isn't up to a long blog post.
In all seriousness, the conference should be quite interesting. We've had some great feedback from the Microsoft presentations Monday (especially around XNA and Arcade Games), and I'm looking forward to hearing the presentations today.
The other shoe has fallen. In my earlier "what price cut!?" post I stated that 60 GB drives were likely to go away in the future; I just didn't think it would be so soon. It appears the "price cut" is only applicable to the 60 GB PS3s in inventory, meaning only the $599 PS3 (with 80 GB hard drive and bundled Motorstorm) will be available in the future. To quote a GameIndustry.biz article:
SCEE president David Reeves has told GamesIndustry.biz that the 60GB PlayStation 3 will no longer be available in the US after stock sells out - which he predicts will occur by the end of the month.
Reeves was speaking at an E3 event to announce the introduction of a new PS3 bundle in Europe. When asked about possible criticisms over whether SCEE should have given consumers the option to pay a lower price, as SCEA has done, he replied, "Well, they're not really are they, because what the US are offering from the 1st of August is a USD 599 version with one game.
"All they're doing is taking their stock in trade that they've got at the moment of the 60GB model, marking the price down and it will all be gone by the end of July."
When asked to clarify if this will mean the end of the 60GB model, Reeves answered, "In America, yes."
SCEA announced a USD 100 price cut for PlayStation 3 earlier this week. A new 80GB model will come bundled with a copy of Motorstorm and will retail for USD 599.
So we're going backward here. First we had a price cut that wasn't a price cut (because the price of entry to play a PS3 game remained the same as it was at launch). Now the lower-end $499 option appears to be of limited duration, leaving only a $599 option. Yes, there's more value to that $599 option, but the price of entry to play a PS3 game still appears to be $599 (once stock of the 60 GB PS3 sells out).
You're drinking the Sony Kool-aid if you believe a price cut occurred at E3 this year. (I need to swing over to NeoGAF later and watch the implosion. ) In all seriousness, this does set up an interesting holiday season. I guarantee we'll see a real PS3 price cut before Thanksgiving; the current sales spike is going to die very, very quickly as people realize the console is no cheaper than it was before.
[Edit: Now Sony is backpedaling and claiming the 60 GB unit will be available for the "foreseeable future". True - but since they're likely only building 80 GB units going forward (due to 60 GB hard drive availability dropping), this basically reinforces that they're just selling through their old inventory before the Holiday (and a price cut). I don't see anything that contradicts the earlier comments.]
[Edit: Oh, this is a fun one! From a reader's comment:
Even though they are backpedaling this interview has Kaz saying it clearly. http://atvs.vg.no/player/index.php?id=10235 Go to about 1:50 and he clearly says the 60 GB is no longer in production and there will be a single $599 SKU again shortly.
Right hand, meet left. <sigh>]
Short form: not a lot for the core gamer, but to be fair, Nintendo is trying to go after a very different audience. Wii Fit is very, very cool. More thoughts:
- Demographic numbers were interesting - it's positive to see the audience broadening, and Nintendo has to be applauded here.
- The Wii Zapper and Wii Wheel fell extremely flat with the audience - not a single clap of applause, even when announcing they'd be bundled with future games. The magic of the Wii is the pointing controller; embedding it into a shaped piece of plastic just isn't exciting to me.
- The "innovative" Metroid control is "more of the same" thinking; aiming in an FPS with the Wii controller is wonky, and adding Z-targeting just doesn't make it any better.
- Nintendo is getting defensive about their lack of comprehensive online system. It was interesting to see Reggie try to point to the Nintendo DS WiFi network as proof of their online commitment, as well as a few more games with online support on the Wii. The problem is simply that these implementations are all per-game, and there's no platform commitment. I hope and assume there is work going on to eventually allow gamers to select a unique account name (or at least single Wii Code) to play across games and build a friends list. And I assume that will integrate your Mii to act as your avatar. Unfortunately, it's still not here and Nintendo is falling well behind Microsoft and even Sony here.
- Nintendo is pushing the "healthy gaming" aspect hard; it's definitely one of the more intriguing aspects of the Wii. Wii Fit looks very, very cool - it's the first fitness "game" I could actually see people using regularly, and the "Wii Balance Board" peripheral you can stand on seems pretty capable. The board measures your weight as well as pressure as you shift positions on the board. And the software tracks your progress over time (and allows you to compare with friends). Very, very cool - I think you'll see a lot of publishers jumping on board (no pun intended) this peripheral.
- Super Mario Galaxy for November 12th. This is probably my most anticipated game for the Wii, and it still looks like a ton of fun. Interestingly, no one applauded the date announcement - maybe it's just not good enough to hit holiday any more? Weird.
- Mario Kart Online looks like a lot of fun, but my concerns about the online network (or lack thereof) still stand. <sigh>
All-in-all, not a lot there in the keynote except for the fitness angle. But who knows, maybe that's all Nintendo needs to keep selling Wiis next year? I know I'll be picking up Wii Fit myself!
[Edit: It appears IGN is really pleased with the Metroid FPS controls. To quote:
It plays better than any first-person console game ever... really. And it's one of Wii's best lookers, too.
In fact, the heroine's tight maneuverability and speed nurture a level of accuracy never before possible in a console-based first-person experience. Retro has included three different sensitivity levels for fans, so if you're the type who prefers a big bounding box and slower turns, you can do that. However, we highly recommend that all gamers play Prime 3 with advanced controls, which shrink the bounding box so that Samus turns quickly when your on-screen reticule begins to stray in any direction. Previously, Call of Duty 3 was the benchmark for accurate controls in a first-person game on Wii, but Prime 3 blows that title out of the water. If you've played any FPS-style game on Nintendo's system before, you will probably be running and gunning in Corruption and absolutely loving the freedom and speed of the controls in a matter of seconds, not minutes. It really is the new benchmark and simultaneously proof that smart studios can really utilize the Wii remote and nunchuk for some dazzling results.
Now, it's worth noting that IGN previously had good things to say about Wii controls in Red Steel; comments which were proved patently wrong when watching the accompanying video (take a look at the 14:35 or 16:20 minute marks.) So I'll reserve my judgement until I can play personally, but just wanted to highlight the experience they had.]
Yes, I've seen the news about the PS3 "price drop." We've all known it's been coming for quite a while - heck, I even put a stake in the ground way back at the beginning of the year. To quote:
The Playstation 3 will have an effective price drop of at least $100 by Thanksgiving 2007. By effective, I mean that it’s also possible that the price will remain the same, but at least $100 of value will be added to the bundle.
And guess what? It's the latter that happened; the PS3 has remained the same price, but with additional value bundled in. Remember, six months ago the PS3 launched at two price points: $499 (20 GB SKU) and $599 (60 GB SKU). The 20 GB SKU faded away, leaving just a single 60 GB SKU. Today all that's happened is that the existing 60 GB SKU is now $499 and the new 80 GB SKU is $599 (with bundled Motorstorm).
Simply put, a few months ago there were two versions costing $500 and $600. Today there are two versions, costing $500 and $600. You get a bit more bang for your buck, but this isn't going to move the needle significantly on console hardware sales. At the end of the day, the price of entry to play a PS3 game is still $500, just as it was when the console first launched.
Couple of other thoughts to consider. The new 80 GB SKU at $599 doesn't have the backward compatibility hardware in it, so it's not even as full-featured as the launch consoles. And the 80 GB hard drive isn't that big a surprise. Drive prices drop and suppliers find it expensive to keep manufacturing older drives when they can migrate their production to higher-capacity drives at the same price. Sony very likely can't even get 60 GB drives in volume anymore; expect to see the 80 GB drive to become standard in the lower-end SKU when the next, hopefully real, price drop comes.
All-in-all, not much to see here. Sony is still in a tough spot. On the one hand, they desperately need to keep the price high to try and recoup some of their costs. On the other, they need to drop price to sell more units. My guess is we may see a second, "real" price drop as soon as this holiday if the needle doesn't shift much after a few months.
Just wanted to point you to a warranty change we just announced regarding the "three flashing red lights" error some people have had. To quote:
As of today, all Xbox 360 consoles are covered by an enhanced warranty program to address specifically the general hardware failures indicated by the three flashing red lights on the console. This applies to new and previously-sold consoles. While we will still have a general one year console warranty (two years in some countries), we are announcing today a three-year warranty that covers any console that displays a three flashing red lights error message. If a customer has an issue indicated by the three flashing red lights, Microsoft will repair the console free of charge—including shipping—for three years from the console’s purchase date. We will also retroactively reimburse any of you who paid for repairs related to problems indicated by this error message in the past. In doing so, Microsoft stands behind its products and takes responsibility to ensure that every Xbox 360 console owner continues to have a fantastic gaming experience.
Can't add much more, except to say that it's less likely that future consoles will have this issue. Again, to quote:
We have been following this issue closely, and with on-going testing have identified several factors that can cause a general hardware failure indicated by three flashing red lights on the console. To address this issue, and as part of our ongoing work, we have already made certain improvements to the console.
Look forward to your comments!
Have had the iPhone for just under a week now, and wanted to share some more thoughts.
Overall, I am absolutely in love with this device. It feels fantastic in the hand, the screen is drop-dead gorgeous to look at, and in general it "just works" as you'd expect. In particular, the touchscreen UI is just as responsive, intuitive, and accessible as all of Apple's promotional videos show.
Pause and internalize that for a moment.
Everyone I've shown this phone to wants one - no exceptions. The only thing that is keeping a few folks I know from getting one today is a lack of Exchange support. You can work around some of this by syncing your phone to a PC with Outlook on it; that'll sync your contacts and calendar to the phone (though obviously you don't get push email or the ability to create contacts on the road). Yes, I've seen the same rumors as you about Apple licensing Microsoft's ActiveSync technology. I don't know if it's true (nor would I be able to say if I did know), but I can say that most of the fencesitters I've met are waiting for some sort of Exchange support and they'll jump as soon as it might be available.
Some other thoughts in no particular order:
The Good:
- iPod support is great - I was even able to import WMA Lossless songs from my music archive into iTunes for Windows. It simply transcoded the music to 256 Kb AAC (the higher setting I chose) and it just worked. I could even add album art to the music that was missing it.
- UI is coherent and extremely well-integrated together. Everytime you have a "I want to mail my picture" sort of thought there's a button just waiting for you right there.
- Camera is surprisingly good quality, though simple (more on the simplicity below). It takes easily the best "camera phone" pictures I've seen, and I've been using it to flesh out the contact photos in my Outlook address book.
- Virtual touch keyboard works fine. The larger screen makes the buttons a bit bigger than they might have been otherwise, and the predictive text technology is quite good - even with my fat, pudgy fingers.
- WiFi is beautifully integrated. Sitting in an open hotspot? No problem - the phone sees the signal, and asks you (once) if you'd like to use it. From then on, it'll automatically switch to that SSID anytime you're in the area without bugging you. I wish to god the Smartphones I've had in the past did the same - I ended up never using the WiFi support because it was such a pain.
- Voice quality (ie, "does it work as a phone?") is fine. I, and one other iPhone owner I've discussed this topic with, haven't had problems. The speaker volume (when being used as a speaker phone) is a bit quiet for my taste, but the audio quality has no issues I can tell. I suspect people who have problems are in poor-coverage areas.
The Bad:
- There are some minor annoyances in the iTunes Windows client UI. The one that bugs me the most is in the "select a folder" to sync photos UI. You can only select the top level folders on a drive, and not sub-folders. Since I store photos by year and topic (//server/photos/2007/summer BBQ), I can't sync specific events easily. I've also had a few crashes, usually when shifting tabs, saving changes, all the while the phone was syncing.
- While the UI is generally extremely consistent, there are odd exceptions to the rule that highlight the 1.0"ness" of the product. The one that always gets me is the difference between zooming back out on a photo or in Safari (double-tap) and the Google maps applet (tap two fingers).
- Camera is very, very (very) simple. One button to take a picture - that's it. No zoom, no cropping, no white balance, no flash, etc. The UI is nice and clean because of it, but I hope there will be some expansion here in the future.
- AT&T's EDGE network can be slow. The built-in WiFi support helps a lot here, but you really feel it when you're out of range of a hotspot.
- Applications are limited. The ones on the phone are nicely done and useful, but I'm already looking to external websites for "iPhone applications." I'm hoping that Apple opens up the platform to software developers over time.
The Ugly:
- Said it before, but no Exchange support is currently the biggest blocker to people I know adopting this phone. Yes, even more so than price... but remember, I live in the Seattle-area/Microsoft influenced part of the country. I fully expect price to be more of an issue elsewhere - though it appears Apple's sold over half a million of these guys in just one weekend, so they seem to be doing ok so far.
All-in-all, I really feel Apple's set a new bar here for a mobile communications device (note not just a "phone"). I'm really looking forward to seeing what Microsoft, Motorola, Nokia, and other mobile providers do with future devices. Competition is a good thing!