Results tagged “Apple”

Uh oh, Mac Fans! Apple's "I'm a Mac" ads have been on airwaves for a good while, so long that a random person likely couldn't tell you precisely how long they've been on unless they've been analyzing them carefully. Well, Apple is officially done with them. The ads sent plenty of mixed messages, and it was uncertain as to whether it actually sold Macs or merely irritated people. The ads are already gone from Apple's website, and have been replaced with ads telling you why you want a Mac.

The manga industry has fallen on hard times lately, along with the anime industry. The most recent casualty is CMX Manga calling it quits. They will officially be a memory in July, though fate of the ongoing titles you're collecting from them have an as-yet unknown fate. Now, I'm sure there are plenty of Tenjho Tenge manga fans cheering right now, but it's never great when people lose their jobs, or when the manga industry shows further signs of weakening.

(Not to defend their silly censorship, of course.)

The PSP may be the best selling console in Japan this year, but its life has been tough outside of that country. Sony knows this, and they're not about to give up. They're currently prepping an ad campaign to let people know that this thing still has some life left in it. Hopefully they're successful, because its upcoming lineup is very good. They realized they needed to keep it alive long enough for XSEED to localize all of those Falcom games!

Pac-Man had its 30th birthday last week, and Google celebrated by having Pac-Man playable on its home page during Friday and Saturday. Chances are anyone who worked on a computer outside of the house during those two days got absolutely nothing done. It was one of the most evil, despicable things Google has ever done. And it was great.

NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Project set the longevity record for operating on the surface of Mars Thursday with it's still-operating rover: Opportunity. "Still-operating" is in that sentence because NASA also had another rover on Mars called "Sprit," which they lost contact with on March 22nd. Opportunity is passing a record set by NASA's Viking 1 Lander back in November of 1982. 

Japan, the country that brought you a live-sized Gundam, is now building a life-sized Evangelion model near Mt. Fuji. They're giving it the very basic, though slightly nonsensical, name of "Evangelion: World Life-Size EVA-01 Construction Project." It will come complete with a cockpit. This is not April, so know that I am not making this up. Given the nature of where it originated, a life-sized Evangelion is actually pretty frightening when you think about it. They're probably not building this to wage war with, but you never know with Japan these days. Even creepier: a life-size Kaworu Nagisa figure with be opening with it, which is far creepier.

You don't even have to follow video game news with any sort of frequency to know that the Nintendo DS is a big seller. But we might make history if current sales trends keep up, because if they do, the DS will be the best selling video game system ever by the end of the year, according to analysts. Not to say it doesn't deserve it either, as it provides constant entertainment for everyone, not just gamers. And it does a pretty damn good job of it.

It's good that we're moving towards non-DRM digital games, and it's something Rockstar realized when prepping Max Payne 2 for a digital release via Steam. A pity they decided to go a more dubious route and use a pirated version for an official release, which a few internet sleuths found when they delved into the game's code. I understand that they wanted to save as much money as possible with a release they assuredly wouldn't profit from, but apparently they underestimated how fastidious some PC gamers are.

You usually hear about how the NPD tracks video game sales from multiple corners of the internet, but they also track the U.S. Smartphone market, which yielded some interesting data. The Android OS managed to move past Apple to take the number two position in the market, though it's still behind RIM OS used for the Blackberry. That's no too surprising given that the other two are offered on more cell phone services than Apple, which is only offered with AT&T. Still, I'm sure someone's crying about this.

Though it was uncertain for a while, Marvel appears to be going forward with a Luke Cage film. There will be plenty of doubt as to whether they can pull it off, but here's hoping they can. But who will play Luke, though? My vote was for Michael Jai White, but he's already tied to another super hero. If people even remember (or want to remember) that movie.

Lastly, be sure to check out the Falcom Punch that was Friday's news from XSEED. I believe they call bombshells like that "badical," or something.

A middle finger raised to my ISP and a little date adjustment and away I go with the news that would've been posted last night.  I should probably raise my other middle finger to Apple, since that seems to be what everyone else is doing.  The iPad was just supposed to be another device used to simplify our lives and make Apple a lot of money in the process.  Instead, there are people smashing it with baseball bats, blending it, and putting it through a rather strenuous and some would say unnecessary stress test.  I wonder, did the Nintendo DS have to go through all this?  The Sony PSP?  Even the Nokia N-Gage, for all it was hated, wasn't destroyed so publicly and so thoroughly.  And in Japan, I bet no one ever decided to buy an Xbox 360, destroy it, and upload the video to YouTube.

There's also been "the first ever ritual reboxing of an Apple product", where a blogger decided that the iPad isn't necessary for his daily life.  What makes him an awesome person is that he did not smash his iPad or crush it or throw it out.  He calmly reboxed it, even polished up the screen, and went to return it.  He was even willing to swallow the restocking fee.  I sincerely hope that the people at his local Apple store weren't complete asses to him when he returned it.

(As a side note, the search for the Canadian lingerie product known as the iPad continues.  I'll have to go to the local sex shop and see what they have available.)

A symptom of my ISP problems yesterday is that, while I can report the rumour that EA is trying to woo the former Infinity Ward executives, we all know by now that it's true and has already happened.  Respawn Entertainment is their new company, and currently consists of two people.  Themselves.  They have a website that pretty much only says they're hiring, and their office is currently anywhere they can find a couple chairs, as they pretty much stated in their interview with Eurogamer.  I should fire an E-mail their way, just to see what happens.  I'd be far from eligible and if they respond, I'll have to admit that I'm not really interested or qualified, I just wanted to see what would happen.  Besides, I have other plans for the near future.  Activision has plans for their future, too: they've countersued Mr. West and Mr. Zampella.

Another update to some previously reported news: in Europe, Amazon has given a PS3 customer a partial refund over the Other OS debacle.  Due to how European law is written (and as far as I can understand), if Sony decides to remove some features in their PS3, the onus is on the retailer to make things right with the customer, despite the retailer having no control over what Sony does.  Meanwhile, George Hotz (the hacker who said he was going to restore Other OS into 3.21) has done what he said he would.  And no surprise here: 3.21 has bricked more fat PS3s.

This past week has been a shitty week.  First, a friend from New Jersey sent in a news article talking about the upcoming change to the rules of Scrabble.  Then one of my co-workers told me about it the very next day.  Then they had the nerve to mention it on the radio later that day.  What the rule change means is that players will now be able to use proper nouns in a Scrabble game.  As if Scrabble players needed to be reminded Beyonce exists.  Mattel was quick to point out that the traditional sets would continue to be sold, and that the new rule would only apply to a new variation they'd be marketing.  As for my opinion, well, here it is.

It's worth 81 points for those of you who care about that.  I would've presented a much stronger opinion, but it wasn't allowed in the Official Scrabble Player's Dictionary, 4th Edition.

One of my favourite comedians posted this Tweet last month.  Well, he may just get his wish, just not for the problem he wanted solved.  An alternate reality game is supposedly going to bring gamers all around the world together to solve all the major problems of today.  World hunger, poverty, disease, they're all there.  I want to say something sarcastic right now, but part of me wants this to work.  More power to this.  After all, if a gamer can suddenly decide to break the longest standing video game record of all time, and then succeed in his three day marathon attempt, who knows what we're capable of?

Cheating, is apparently what we're capable of, at least in Korea.  Yes, a video game scandal is being compared to the White Sox scandal, the biggest sports scandal of all time.  Anyway last but not least, in Australia... hey, nothing new to report from Australia regarding gaming this week.  Sweet.

The music industry in Canada, the one in the United States, and even the one in Great Britain just love to cry about those pirates who download music illegally and cost them practically the entire world's supply of money, if you believe what they say.  Musicians have been joining both sides of the debate ever since Metallica decided that Napster was the work of the devil.  Now, one of the stars of Radiohead has joined the fray.  Ed O'Brien figures that even those who download music illegally still spend money on concerts and merchandise, so it actually works out better for the artists than if they'd spent money on CDs, only a fraction of which would go to the artist.  Whether this is true or not is up to the fans to decide, I guess.  The RIAA doesn't seem to care, though.  After a recent court ruling in their favour, the RIAA appealed, presumably because they want more money.  Although why they would then offer an even lesser amount is perplexing.

Yesterday I mentioned Microsoft's unexpected honesty regarding the sales of their Xbox 360 video game console.  Well, AT&T was also brutally honest about their service, saying that their own service in places like San Fran and the Big Apple does tend to be on the sucky side.  It makes me wonder if this is some bold new marketing plan they've come up with, and if so, when the TV spots are going to show up.  But speaking of the Xbox 360, if I had one that got stolen, I wish I had a crutch I could use to chase the thief with.

Apple is probably feeling a lot like Sisyphus right now.  The new iPad device that they're trying to bring to market next month?  Another company already owns the name and has released a similar product nearly a decade ago.  Fujitsu is claiming that they own the patent for it, despite it lapsing last year.  And if that's not bad enough, a maker of women's lingerie also markets a product called the iPad.  This is the best I can come up with, though.  The product in question is hard to find.

I've never really had any love for Ubisoft, but they've never done anything to make me mad at them, other than attempt to ruin a classic gaming series with poor translations and crummy releases.  Well, now they've done it.  If not for the fact that I'd rather play games than mobilize armies, I'd be organizing an anti-Ubisoft angry mob and storming their Quebec offices right now.  What did they do now?  Well, they're trying to steal people's personal data from them by introducing a new DRM system that requires you to do everything except sign your firstborn to them in blood.  If you want to play their games, you have to let them know you're playing them, and allow them to hold onto your save data.  Also, you're not allowed to play their games now unless you're connected to the Internet so that they can spy on your computer.  I can't believe I've been writing for this blog for over a year without saying what I'm about to say: Fuck you, Ubisoft.

Nickelback thinks everyone wants to be a rock star.  Earlier this month, a group of wives got together and revealed that not everyone wants to be at Rockstar.  In fact, speculation has risen that such drama is going to delay some upcoming games.  Whether it's true or not, I deserve to be shot for this.  In fact, the whole roundup reads more like an editorial column than a news column this week, so I'll conclude with this: students ain't being gooder in skul no mor.  Except for this one.

Now that I'm done, I'm going to go back to gaming with my big brain.

The iPad is probably the most talked about new gadget right now.  This may or may not be good for the device.  My thoughts on this device are: I don't care, let's talk about games.

Yoshinori Kitase revealed that part of the delay in development for Final Fantasy XIII was due to the PlayStation 3's arrival on the market.  In other words, it's all Sony's fault.  It makes me wonder what effect the decision to create a version for the 360 had on the development time for the game.  So what Kitase is saying is that if they'd just stuck with the PlayStation 2, the game would be out by now?  And speaking of March releases on the PS3 for games that are also available on the 360, Grand Theft Auto: Episodes From Liberty City is being ported to the PS3.

Mass Effect 2 is out for the Xbox 360 and it's been selling very well.  Unless you live in certain places that, for some reason, haven't received copies of the game yet.  This doesn't seem to be Microsoft's main worry, though, for they have other fish to fry.  Microsoft's lawyers have filed a motion to dismiss an anti-trust lawsuit filed against them by Datel, a company that made unauthorized memory cards and game controllers for the Xbox 360, citing an earlier precedent set by Apple.  An observation: it seems like the only times anyone working for Microsoft are brutally honest about their products are when companies like Datel threaten the dominance that Microsoft tries to get on the market.  One could argue, though, that it's not really a monopoly as long as there's competition, and it's not like anyone's allowed to make unauthorized games for these systems.

Is it possible that video games can improve your sex life?  That's what Lara Roberts is saying.  She is a mother of two who says she lost over a hundred pounds while using Nintendo's Wii Fit software, and claims it saved her life.  And trust me when I say there is a major difference between her before and after pictures.  And come to think of it, I wouldn't be surprised if this is why Jann Arden looks like she's lost weight on the cover of her new 2009 album, "Free".

And last but not least, Google Street View seems to have caught some illegal tree cutting in Vancouver.  Given that a lot of this kind of thing happens over there, it's good that some of it happened on camera.  And since I missed last week, stay tuned tomorrow for more geek news!

These days, finding out about another virus that can attack Microsoft software is just another part of your day.  Like, you wake up, get dressed, eat breakfast, brush your teeth, find out that there's another piece of malicious software kicking around.  It's become routine.  Then, once you're ready for work, you take your cell phone with you and check it for messages as you get behind the wheel of your car.  It's sure come a long way, the cell phone.  And some people claim that they'll make handheld game consoles like the Nintendo DS obsolete.  Two words for you, Andrew Lim.  Nokia N-Gage.  How about eleven more words?  The buttons are too small, and too close together for gaming.  Also, which DS games are you comparing iPhone games to, Lunar: Dragon Song?

In other news, another witch hunter has been forced to leave gamers alone, this time by the economy.  The National Institute on Media and the Family has shut down, and according to its founder, David Walsh, it's because the economy is so poor that he can't afford to continue his work.  Oh, boo hoo, we won't have to worry about another ill-informed anti-gaming crusader.

Bad news for NaNoWriMo participants.  (Good news for me: I'm at 35327 words.)  Science fiction seems to be on the way out.  Or at least, the authors of the genre are out of ideas.  The days of tech-inspiring science fiction may be over, but that doesn't mean that science fiction can't continue onward.  We might just have all the technology we need right now.  However, if you're a smoker, you apparently can't get your awesome technology repaired, at least by Apple.  Naturally, smokers consider this to be unjust.  What I consider unjust is to have to be around smokers who stink heavily of cigarettes.  The worst was about a year ago, when I bought a box of trading cards from someone on eBay who didn't mention they were a smoker.  When I received it, I found that the plastic shrink wrap around the box was contaminated with cigarette smoke, so I quickly removed it.  Once it was off, I found the box was also contaminated.  When I found that the wrappers around the cards were also contaminated, I was angry.  But fortunately, Upper Deck packages their cards well, and the actual trading cards within were fine.  I washed my hands thoroughly before I even touched the cards.  I can definitely see why Apple doesn't want to handle computers that are owned by someone who smokes.

Bad news for college students in the Pitts.  The mayor wants to raise your taxes.  It's bad enough that you're going into debt to pay for your education, but now you're expected to pay the city government for the privilege of going to university there.  Of course, if you want your voice heard, you could go to the public hearing.  You know, the one on the 30th that takes place in the morning, when you're supposed to be in class.

Bad news for the Chinese.  The Internet is a great resource for information, unless you're a Chinaman using Bing anywhere in the world.  Then again, all search engines seem to do similar things.  Still, Bing takes the cake for censorship.  And, of course, Microsoft blames it on bugs.  Heaven forbid they take responsibility for their own programming.

If you're sick of all this bad news, here's something a little more uplifting... well, not unless you have some very powerful muscles: the Internet is very heavy.

So hey! I'm doing the News Roundup this week. And I didn't even know it! Funny how things work.

It's possible that you may have known that Microsoft released Windows 7 released last week, unless you haven't been paying attention. Though if you haven't, you may use some other OS and ignore whatever Microsoft does. Which is fine! You probably do, though, if Amazon claimed it was bigger than Harry Potter. Fortunately, for Windows users, 7's reviews have been incredibly favorable, a release that's nearly the exact opposite of the much-lambasted Vista launch around two years ago. And speaking of OS', some rival company called Apple launched a televised counterattack. The adds were full of a similar amount of both truth and dramatization, though time will tell if they have an affect. They certainly have in the past, comparing their market share.

Speaking of Apple, they also announced a series of new iMacs and a new Macbook. If you were the kind of person who was waiting for a lower priced line, these are not the computers you were waiting for. The Macbook, though, is more reasonably priced, though it's still more expensive than a plethora of Windows-equipped computers that have similar -- and in some cases, more -- features.

Speaking of Apple, they also have a new mouse, and it looks pretty...well, weird. This thing doesn't have any buttons. The interface is similar to their iPhone/iPod Touch, in that it registers your commands based on your own gestures. All of the aforementioned iMacs will come packed with this. Certainly an intriguing device on the surface, though reviews so far are pretty mixed. Most companies take a few revisions to make a product the majority find appealing, so give them -- and the other companies that will probably make one in the future -- some time.

The Hollywoodified adaptation of the late Osamu Tezuka's classic manga/anime Astroy Boy released in theaters last Friday. Ostensibly, it appears as a beautiful-looking venture that tries to capture the charm that made Tezuka's work such a classic, but various critics are saying that it's the exact opposite. That's a pity, though if you're the type to enjoy classic manga, you may be interested in that Astro Boy and other assorted Tezuka works are coming to US iPhones free. This is following the transition of his works to online archives last year.

Apparently a lot of Americans sure like using Twitter; one-fifth of you, to be precise. I haven't used it personally, but apparently there's an inherently addictive quality to letting others know what's going on in your life in 140 characters. Don't be surprised if that number happens to jump in the future. Soon we will all be twits.

During an interview about Microsoft's upcoming Natal console (or something), Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer told Gizmodo that Blu-Ray was coming to Xbox 360 as an add-on, similar to their now-defunct HD-DVD add-on. Apparently something was lost in translation, as Microsoft later denied the existence of the add-on. A pity for 360 owners that don't own a Playstation 3 or Blu-Ray player, sure, though this really isn't surprising given that he's done it before. Guess he's a little excitable, huh?

I hadn't intended for this update to be such a war between Apple and Microsoft. Honest! I'm not a fanboy of either, by the way.

Image courtesy of Monsters & Critics.

One of the worst economic recessions in recent history has nearly dragged on for a year now. Even if the recession were to end tomorrow job growth and creation would still be a lagging indicator. In others words, job loss would continue for a while even as the economy steadily improved. Many college graduates across many fields have been hit hard as they've left school only to be laid off from a job or are completely unable to find work in their respective field. One New York college graduate was so upset by her jobless situation that she took matters into her own hands by suing her school to recover the $70,000 she spent obtaining her degree. Call me unsympathetic but many of us are unable to find field related work after college and we're not suing our universities-- yet.

In news of a less frivolous nature, Google CEO Eric Schmidt is resigning from Apple's board of directors as the companies increasing find themselves in competition with one another. Unfortunately Schmidt's resignation from Apple comes too late to avoid an FTC inquiry into both companies. Better late than never, FTC? If having the CEO of one major IT company sit on the board of another IT company doesn't raise a few possible anti-trust red flags I'm not sure what does. On the upside for Apple, rumor has it the upcoming Apple tablet tentatively called the "MacBook Touch" could act as a gaming console. I personally feel it's silly to call what is essentially a tablet a gaming console at heart, yet denying the possibility of it also being used for gaming would be foolish. If the upcoming "MacBook Touch" was first and foremost a gaming device rather than a personal computer/multimedia hub, a price point of $800 would be way too high. If viewed as a PC/multimedia hub that also happens to play games a mere $800 is very reasonable.

To be fair I'm certain the upcoming MacBook Touch (or whatever it'll eventually be called) will be used a fair amount of times to check up on Facebook and Twitter. Unless the said popular social networking sites are down due to distributed denial of service attacks. On Thursday that is exactly what happened to both sites to the detriment of heavy users. Unsurprisingly, security experts are not shocked about the DDoS attacks. In a brief world without Facebook and Twitter people can always find other things to do like take the time to learn to play Guitar Hero while solving not one, but two Rubik's cubes.

While I'm on the subject of games, there has been an update in the Activision lawsuit against Double Fine. The lawsuit over Brütal Legend was settled, and thankfully Activision received little to nothing in terms of compensation.

The anime distributor 4Kids Entertainment has put itself up for sale after several years of steady profit loss. Outside of the Pokemon anime the company was not very popular with anime fans, as 4Kids often lived up to its name by editing (or butchering) anime series never intended for kids. And in a case of either "too little too late," or "what the hell took so long?!" 4Kids has begun releasing subtitled episodes of Yu-Gi-Oh! on Youtube. The anime distributor had originally released the first 12 uncut and subtitled episodes on DVD in 2004 and never picked up the project again until recently. Uncut and subtitled Yu-Gi-Oh! episodes are awesome (in my opinion), but having to wait five years for the project to resume is just madness.


Image courtesy of Gizmodo.

As a 26-year-old I'm old enough to remember older technology and life before the internet, but young enough to easily embrace new technology. That said, if someone offered to trade me their old Sony Walkman in exchange for my (barely working) iPod for a week I'd probably utter an incredulous "Hell no, I wasn't born yesterday!" followed by an inquisitive frown. If the said person was my parent I'd be mindful of profane utterances and politely decline the offer. Even if the offer consisted of just using the Walkman for a week without an exchange I'd still decline. After all, cassette tapes are a pain compared to the ease of CDs and digital files. In the case of 13-year-old Scott Campbell, he found the offer to be too intriguing to turn down. His detailed account of the events begins with the line, "My dad had told me it was the iPod of its day," and goes downhill from there. To Campbell's credit, he did attempt to make a fair comparison between the devices and found the Walkman had some advantages over typical MP3 players. I'd be surprised if he wasn't happy to have his iPod returned after such a week.

The Sony Walkman may have been great decades ago, but the iPod reigns supreme at the moment.  And we all know the iPhone 3GS is hot stuff right now, but perhaps it's a little too hot for its own good. I'd hate to have been the one to discover an overheating issue with the 3GS while in the middle of a phone conversation. Ouch. But MP3-loving anime fans definitely have more to look forward to on iTunes, with the upcoming addition of anime songs from Bandai Visual. Thankfully with the doing away of DRM on iTunes songs can be converted and enjoyed on any MP3 player.

While on the subject of digital music, while it was already confirmed at E3 that Last.fm would be coming to Xbox Live, more details have emerged. Joystiq is reporting Last.fm will be free for Gold subscribers and just $3 dollars a month for unlimited advertising free access. Silver members would have access to the service for three hours per month with advertising.

Last week it was announced the upcoming Nintendo DS RPG, Sands of Destruction will be accompanied by a 13-episode anime release via FUNimation. The news is notable, considering the game itself isn't due out until sometime in 2010. The Anime News Network states the DS game's North American release as Spring 2010, while Amazon.com lists January 2010 as the release date. The anime itself is produced by Production I.G and aired on Japanese TV from July to September in 2008 under the title World Destruction. It is unclear if the release is simply just a box set, or if an online video stream will be present prior to a DVD release. In other news, Watchmen was dethroned from its 11-month reign as the best-selling graphic novel in North America by volume 27 of BLEACH. Awesome.

The popular illegal file-sharing site, The Pirate Bay plans to go legal thanks to some new ownership, and rumors of a slim PlayStation 3 continue to proliferate online.

If you are reading this blog right now I'm going to assume you already know Apple's newest iPhone the 3GS, was released last Friday. The event kicked off to lots of fanfare and long lines, but owners of the previous iPhone who want to upgrade seem to be getting the worst deal. $400 to $500 just to upgrade the old 3G if it was bought it after September is just harsh, especially when new iPhone owners can get the device for as little as $100 (with the usual strings attached). Even so, a binding contract with AT&T (or any other provider) may be worth the price considering how many families are choosing to drop their land lines in favor of cell phones. Let's just hope those families have an excellent provider. Nothing is quite as frustrating as not being able to get a signal in your own home.

On the games front Final Fantasy is on a roll.  Even without a PS3 demo of Final Fantasy XIII, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete managed to dominate Blu-ray sales in early June. It was the second best selling Blu-ray movie during the first week of its release. Only Defiance did better, gaining 14 percent more in sales than FFVII:ACC. Some may feel FFVII and its various spins-offs are overrated but it simply cannot be stated enough just how popular the Final Fantasy VII franchise is. It would have been interesting to see how the movie would have sold if it came bundled with the said demo, but not having the bundle doesn't seem to be hurting sales.

The world of dubbed anime became a little poor when FUNimation writer and actor, Spencer Prokop passed away on June 7th. Prokop had been fighting pancreatic cancer for two years and died at the age of 51. Some of his notable works include work on the English scripts of School Rumble, One Piece, and Mushi-Shi. This news story is tragically similar to Guin Saga author, Kaoru Kurimoto who passed away last month, also due to complications from pancreatic cancer.

Last week was pretty eventful in the world of foreign politics, especially in Iran. What's most notable is how social networking sites are being used there to report current events after foreign media reporters were ousted from the country. To many Facebook and Twitter may seem like wastes of time, but using the power of social networking to skirt government crackdowns in Iran is simply amazing. Speaking of social networking, MySpace isn't doing well thanks to Facebook and Twitter. In fact, one third of the social networking site's staff members were laid off. While it is always sad to see people being laid off during hard times such a cut isn't surprising. If MySpace were to go away tomorrow I'm not sure it would be missed, unless of course you have a thing for viewing the badly coded and frequently annoying profile pages there.

On the lighter side of geek news, Namco Bandai announced CLAMP would be designing costumes for Tekken 6. CLAMP is best known for the character (and costume) designs for Code Geass, Tsubasa Chronicle, and Cardcaptor Sakura. Depending on how much you like CLAMP's designs the news is either welcome, or you're currently too busy banging your head against your desk to finish reading this sentence. However, I doubt this announcement will stop any Tekken fan from buying the game when it releases this fall, especially when it comes with such a nice bundle.

Unfortunately, there was no Geek News Roundup last week. I debated posting a really late one but ultimately declined in favor of finishing up my E3 post. So this week we have a mix of new stuff (and by "new" I mean news from last week) and older stuff.

Jon Lech Johansen (pictured above) is the co-founder of DoubleTwist, an online software company headquartered in San Francisco that has one purpose, to unify all media platforms and devices. Basically, with the help of DoubleTwist any media purchased through one company (i.e. Apple's iTunes) could be easily converted to work on another device (such as a Sony Ericsson Walkman). To advertise the launch of the software Johansen placed an ad at a subway entrance next to an Apple store in San Francisco. The ad essentially mocks Apple, and was removed and redone several times before finally being approved by the marketing company that owns the space. Awesome ad aside, this could be a great way for people locked into DRM media to finally break free of it, legally. To be fair, Apple did away with DRM on iTunes months ago, and anyone can convert their files to use on many other devices with existing software. Although DoubleTwist promises to make the experience frustration free.

Speaking of devices, the debate over the price of Sony's PSP Go still rages on. Many feel the price of what is essentially a revised PSP is much too high (myself somewhat included) but there are some good reasons for Sony's high price point. As Levi Tinney on GameSpite points out, retailers are a major reason for the higher price of the hardware. It all makes sense logically (as does the reason for Sony not cutting the price of the PS3) but it doesn't make it any easier on the wallet. A return to saving up for new items is looking good right about now. Also, if the new head of SCEE (Sony Computer Entertainment Europe) is to be believed, Wii owners will eventually "upgrade" to a PS3. It was unclear if SCEE President Andrew House meant Europe specifically or Wii owners worldwide. Still, Sony's business plan this generation has been so spot-on that he's probably 100 percent correct in his predictions. (Sorry, I had a strong bout of sarcasm there.)

In older news from previous weeks, FUNimation CEO Gen Fukunaga spoke with the Anime News Network about online episodes of shows leaked ahead of their respective Japanese broadcast times. The fact that an episode of One Piece was leaked early on May 30th before its Japanese broadcast led to FUNimation suspending the simulcast of the series, and temporarily pulling other series from its online video portal. Since then, security has been improved and many of the series that were removed are back online, with the exception of One Piece. As I've said previously, while FUNimation isn't blameless the leak has probably set same day online simulcasting back quite a bit. Still, it seems inevitable that one day anime (and hopefully other types of TV series) will be simulcast worldwide for all fans to enjoy.

While online video streaming is popular TV still plays a major role in the lives of many. On Friday (June 12th), analog broadcasting was finally shut off and the United States finally made the transition to Digital TV. The switch was originally slated to happen in February, but was delayed at the last minute to give unprepared households extra time to get ready. For the most part the move has worked as the number of unprepared households fell from 5.8 million to 2.8 million. Man, I'd hate to be the person who woke up on Friday or Saturday morning to discover a snowy picture instead of their favorite channels.

A study has revealed what many people have suspected for quite a while now, Twitter is over hyped. According to the study, 10 percent of Twitter users actually generate about 90 percent of the content on the web site. More than half of the users open an account, try the service out, and never use it again. Limiting updates to only 140 characters can only have so much appeal, especially when Facebook offers a similar service with the addition of a "blog," photo gallery, and various applications. For the record, I still prefer LiveJournal.

Finally, having a computer at home could be an injury just waiting to happen.



Image Courtesy of Wired.com.

It was a surprise when Apple announced a new variation of its iPod Shuffle on Wednesday, the kind of announcement the company usually reserves for a larger event or a press conference. The new Shuffle makes a few improvements to the unit, aesthetically and ergonomically, but it's also a step back in a few ways.

Too many people around the internet joked about the Shuffle becoming even smaller with each iteration, and Apple just proved them correct in a way. Interestingly enough, this model actually does away with the controls on the actual unit, and instead relegates them to a section on the headphones packed in. This is actually a good thing if you think about it in a few ways; at the same time, it's also pretty unfortunate.

Controls off of the unit themselves can be incredibly useful for someone. If they're merely traveling outside by foot, they don't have to dig the entire unit out of their pocket to adjust the volume or skip to the next song. The Shuffle has always been about convenience and simplicity, and this is simply the next step for it. Honestly, sometimes you don't want to show everyone on the street or bus you shiny and beautiful piece of hardware; this way, they won't see it at all.

This is also great for people who exercise. For example, I like to work out on the treadmill or the elliptical machine, and there will be times where I don't particularly want to hear the track that's playing or think the current song has its volume too loud. Pulling my iPod Nano (2nd generation, if you're interested) out of my pocket, unlocking it, and proceeding to make the adjustments can be a major hassle; it can either make me lose the current rhythm I had on either machine, or worse, make me lose my balance. Having the controls on the headphones eliminates both issues.

On the other hand, there are some aspects of it that will sway potential buyers of the unit. The catch here is that to work the new Shuffle efficiently, you can only use the stock headphones for the unit. This would be perfectly fine if it weren't for the fact that the audio quality of them has mystifyingly deteriorated over the last few years. It's true that the majority of people concerned about audio quality are audiophiles who probably would invest in anything but an iPod Shuffle, but when you're aware of the quality issues, it makes the purchase of this considerable rather than essential. The purchase of this now depends on how much you love or hate the stock headphones, and whether they stay in your ear.

Here's hoping Apple enlists the help of third parties to make alternate (and better) headphones. Though, knowing them, I'm not going to hold my breath; and that's a bummer, because it effectively kills the interest of a lot of people. Me included.

A leaked GameStop employee training video has hit the internet. In the video employees are taught how to approach and help female shoppers by the "Director of Womanly Studies, Ima Smartone." Somewhere between my constant groans I've discovered why some overly helpful employees at GameStop store are hard to put up with. Though to be fair it also happens at Game Crazy too, maybe they share training videos. At least the video is so bad it's good, in a very bad sort of way.

Speaking of bad, it would have been very bad if the Japan branch of the Swiss bank, UBS was unable to cancel its order for $31 billion dollars worth of Capcom bonds. The employee had only wanted to place an order for $306,000 dollars worth of bonds. If that doesn't define costly mistake I don't know what does. Several unlicensed Final Fantasy sword replica dealers may have an answer to that rhetorical statement. At least four major retailers found themselves to be the subject of a $600,000 lawsuit by Square Enix. It looks like that replica Buster Sword and Gunblade just became a tiny bit harder to come by.

Remember when Brian Caulfield of Forbes.com argued how the iPhone could kill the DS? Now Nicholas Lovell, a GAMESbrief consultant, argues that the iPhone and the iPod Touch will ultimately kill the PSP. I'm not sure if having the ability to play games on the Touch or iPhone instantly makes it an appealing device for gamers, especially at a starting price of $229. Lovell makes the argument that software ultimately wins the hardware war, and he'd be right-- if must have games were available on the iPhone and Touch. To keep it short, unless all of the major game developers start developing PSP quality games for Apple I doubt the PSP is going to die because of Apple's entry into the gaming market. (Piracy and Sony's own lackluster efforts are a different matter.)

If you are eagerly awaiting the 4th Spider-Man movie in 2011, how about a Broadway musical in 2010 to hold you over? Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark will debut in a little under a year, features music by U2's Bono, and will be directed by Julie Taymor, who also directed The Lion King. If Broadway worked for The Lion King surely it could work for Spider-Man too. By default this musical is bound to be way better than most (or all) of the live action anime movies planned for this year.

Sometimes a writer may rarely practice what he or she "preaches" when tedious tasks are involved. In my case, I wrote an article about the need to recycle old electronics in a day and age where people don't recycle--especially in Philadelphia. Roughly a year later, I find myself with an old CRT monitor that I no longer need, a busted cell phone, and an iPod Nano with no battery life. Being busy and all I could easily go the hypocritical route and toss them on the curb for trash collection-- but I won't. Instead I have loftier plans for my old wares, donation and perhaps some recycling. If you find yourself in a similar position here are some relatively painless ways to get rid of those electronics without sending them to a landfill. Besides, who wants to be responsible for sending off hazardous waste that may end up back in the environment?



When it comes to electronics, you only need to be concerned with reuse and recycling. In fact, it's best to reuse old electronics rather than recycling them first. Reuse of an old item guarantees that it will make it to the end of its life cycle before being reduced to raw materials. After all, if it's not broken and can be fixed, why not use it again? If you're looking to make a bit of profit, selling your old working monitor, cell phone, or gaming console on places like Craigslist and eBay may be best. However, if those items are just too old to sell quickly (or at all), donation is another option.

Non-profit technology groups can be found just about everywhere. They will often accept old computers, and monitors for use in community centers, training, thrift stores and other opportunities for low income communities. If the computers are simply too old to be reused, they'll be recycled instead. Helping out others and finding use for your old computers is always a win-win situation.



If your electronics are too old to be reused or don't work anymore then recycling is your best option. Broken electronics are demanufactured for their parts and are used in the production of new products. Doing so cuts down on the amount of raw materials needed for new electronics. Many manufacturers and retailers have extensive recycling programs where you drop-off or even mail your unwanted electronics to be disposed of. Even Apple will take back broken iPods, cell phones and computers free of charge. If going to the store to recycle old electronics isn't your style, your city or town government should have its own hazardous waste removal program in place.

No matter how you choose to get rid of your junk, doing so needn't be a waste. So the next time you have a computer, iPod, cell phone or whatever, that you no longer need or want, think twice before trashing it. Not only will you do the environment a favor, but you may do someone else or even your wallet a favor. Captain Planet will certainly thank you by not ramming his foot into your crotch.

So today was the day where weeks of hype finally came to an end, as Konami finally put to rest what that ambiguous "A Next Metal Gear is..." banner actually meant. There were actually a few leaks through the cracks last night, as a small shot of it surfaced on various websites. Nerds can now rest, as there is now nothing wrong on the internet; that secret game is....Metal Gear Solid Touch.

To be honest, when I first saw it, I thought the Forbes writer who said that Apple could kill the Nintendo DS might have had a point. The iPhone/iPod Touch now had the backing of a major studio that just announced four games for it today. Aside from MGS Touch, there's also Frogger, Silent Hill: The Escape, and DanceDanceRevolution S Lite.

Frogger seems like a game that should have been there when the store launched. The game's available for everything nowadays, especially if it's portable. Nice to see that's coming, though.

 As for Silent Hill, it looks like an abomination. honestly. From a purely observational standpoint, it looks like something the newly-hired workers put together in their free time as a  fun little side project; like a development style similar to Mega Man 2's, but on a much lower scale. Then there's DDR, which...don't you play that game with your feet?

I'd like to know who greenlights this kind of stuff over at Konami. So much for there being a new Ac!d game in the franchise, too. Its games like this that remind me of what was releasing for the DS circa late 2004/early 2005. Developers suddenly had this dual-screened piece of hardware with a touch interface, and they reacted by putting games that resembled tech demos. I think the iPhone/iPod Touch has the potential to be a viable gaming system, but it has a long way to go. It won't be supplanting the DS though.

It seems like everyone is going bankrupt these days. If it wasn't bad enough with the banks, the Big Three automakers are also in need of a bailout from the government. But who's looking out for the video game industry? GameDaily reported that Midway Games is close to filling for bankruptcy and needs $150 million in the next 50 days. Unfortunately, it looks like the game publisher can't blame this one on the entirely on the economy.

Amazon.com became target of pirates when a Firefox browser add-on installed a "Download 4 Free" link on the retailer's merchandise pages. The link took users to the site The Pirate Bay, where they could download torrents of the pirated merchandise. Amazon.com immediately targeted the creators of the add-on, Pirates of the Amazon, forcing them to take the site down. Later the Netherlands based creators revealed that the add-on was a parody, and part of a experiment for the Media Design course at the Piet Zwart Institute. If only more college class experiments could be so interesting.

A college experiment parody is one thing when it fools many people, but how about the suckers who fall for advertising puffery? Such was the case in San Diego, where 70-year-old William Gillis filed a lawsuit against Apple, claiming that the company lied about the performance of its newest iPhone model. Apple responded by stating, "...no reasonable person in Plaintiff's position could have reasonably relied on or misunderstood Apple's statements as claims of fact." In short, don't believe the hype spewed out by Apple commercials. Oddly enough, no one seems to be holding AT&T responsible for its 3G network performance where much of the problem seems to lie.

You might be familiar with Michael Vick and certainly O.J. Simpson. For both are football players caught, charged and convicted of doing very illegal acts to others (including animals). But you might not be familiar with New York Giants wide receiver, Plaxico Burress. He accidentally shot himself with a handgun in a New York nightclub, and in adding insult to injury has been charged with possession of a loaded handgun without a permit. Leaving that gun at home (or at least getting a permit for it) may have saved him from a mandatory three-and-a-half jail term under New York law, and possibly the loss of his career with the NFL. Talk about a glaringly stupid way to end up on the wrong side of the law.

And who needs science fiction in TV drama when you can have science fact? According to Wired.com factually accurate science is boosting ratings for some of network TV's hottest drama shows. In short, who needs Star Trek and Stargate SG-1, when you can have CSI and Numb3rs?




Image Courtesy of Gamespot.