Markers for 40k games - Easy as cake

  Hey guys!  Just wanted to share a quick piece of work I did the last couple of weeks, markers for my 40k game.  Now, the reason for these is simple, I forget everything, good and bad.  I forget if I moved with jump packs in the movement phase, I forget ever-living etc. I would forget my dice if I didn't have a huge game tote to bring everything in.

 So, enter the fine folk at Objective Secured who made fantastic markers for Infinity.  So, I stole the idea and used it for 40k (and soon for Dropzone Commander as well.)

  Turns out, these are dead easy to make!  All you need is your favorite art program, some bottle cap inserts from amazon and patience.

I made three sheets so far, but I will be making more as time goes on.  I just played a game of dropzone commander and I saw a huge need for these in that game as well.   Here are the sheets made in the YouTube video...  Download links are after the jump break.

Instructions and more photos after the jump break... 

First Look - Space Hulk PC Game

  Yeah, it's here.  The Space Hulk PC Game.  How cool is that?  Here is a first look at the game.

Overall  B+
Graphics - A-
Gameplay - B-
Immersion - A
Learning Curve - A (if you've played Space Hulk Board-game,  B- if not)
Fun Factor - B+
Buy - Yes, if you love the board game, Yes if you are just curious (BA Curious??).  No reason to give it a not buy for any reason.

  Graphically, the game is great.  It has the real feel of the cramped and tight corridors of the Space Hulk.  I have not seen the error/issue that some have reported with marines and Nids walking through walls, but I haven't played through it all.  There is a darkness and fog of war that pervades the game and makes it feel very good.

  Gameplay - Well, the lowest score went here.  Not that there is anything wrong, as far as I have played, it is very faithful to the game and has the same fun value.  There is an issue with animating every genestealer and terminator.  Moves tend to take too long to 'play out'.  At least, you can issue order to all your squad(s) personnel at once, so you can speed it up that way, but there should be an option to just move your guys statically to speed it up.

  All the options you know and love are here, and they all seem to work, but there are a few niggling things that might bug you if you never played the board game.  Quite honestly though, this is a very simple game, just like the board game.

  Immersion is great, you do feel the threat and tension of the board game, and the situation.  There are bugs upon bugs upon bugs and they are scary as hell when they come up in huge groups.  The voice acting is pretty good, but again, it gets a bit repetitive after a while.

  One nice twist is the shoulder cam.  As you order and move your termies around, you get a shoulder eye view of what they are seeing in the upper right corner of the screen.  Really makes you feel like you are in the control room giving orders.  Very nice touch!

  The learning curve is pretty easy, even if you don't do the tutorial missions.  It's not hard to figure out the action points, and what it takes to move and act.  No real "gotchas" in the game.

  Fun Factor... very good.  The game is the board game we all know (and hopefully love).  I'd say it's a must have and for $29.99 on Steam, it's a pretty decent deal.

Enjoy the new game and have a great weekend.  I've been sick all day and I think I'll go sleep... lol

The Rules - Digital Edition - Quick Review

  Hmmmm, another $40 gone and all I got was a whole crap-ton of electrons that exist only on my iPad.  But are those electrons worth it?

  In my humble opinion, GW should be giving the rules to 40k out for free.  Like any good pusher knows, get 'em hooked and you have a customer for life.  This product ought to be handed out at every convention and game store like candy.  "hey little kid, want a rule-book?".  The problem is, we all know this is not the GW way.  Instead, I got to pay $40 for the honour of having the rules on my iPad.  Yay me!

Back to the question - is it worth it.  Yes.  overall, an emphatic yes.  Why?

1 - Current.  The rules are current with the latest FAQ and changes, so that means a bunch to me.  No more searching the rules and the printed out FAQ pages, or going to the GW site to look for rule changes.  That is too cool.

2 - Portable.  Hmm, huge unwieldy rulebook vs slim, trim iPad.  Well, you decide.  It is a matter of personal choice anyhow.  Some folks are saying that iPads are too easy to carry off (i.e. steal) at Cons and such.  I guess that might be an issue, but only if you're a five year old.

3 - iBooks functionality.  Highlighting, notes, book marking, hot linking and all the other iBooks format tools make it super easy find.  There is also a great glossary section and everything is linked and cross linked so you can find what your looking for very easily.  Just being able to highlight sections and takes notes is handy enough, but the fact that you can actually just sit there in review mode and see all your notes and what-not makes it very handy.

  As far as I can see, the rules are the same as the book, albeit with updates and FAQ changes.  There are some changes to the reference section, but these are obvious changes that you would expect after a year of being out there in the wild (6th edition).  There is no more need for the reference section statlines and info for the factions, as just about everyone has the codex(es) that they need.

  Drawbacks?  Hmmm, I'm trying to think of some.  I know some folks balk at taking the iPad to games for fear of loss/breakage, but I say... be careful.  That's all, just know where you are and what you're doing, man up.  I did hear an argument that the total cost (iPad+Codex+rules) was just too high.  <sigh> my only possible answer to that is STFU.  It's a product, not a requirement.  If you have the tools and money, go for it, if not, there are a myriad of other options. 

  So, for $40, you get all the meat, none of the fluff, in an easy to use format.  No more books for me, I have my iPad and I am ready to game.  Rules, check... Codex, check...  Dice... there's an app for that.

  Now, if only Army Builder would get the damn iPad version out... LOL

Hobby Management - Project Tracking Spreadsheet

  Ok, so I was listening to the video-cast from WGConsortium last night, and they were talking about how they stayed on track with their hobby work commitments.  Made me start thinking about the spreadsheet I use to track my stuff, so I thought I might share the sheet I made.

  It's real easy to use, and be warned, it has no protections or cell locking, so you can mess up the format pretty easily.  Luckily, that’s not really a big deal.  It's just a tool I use to keep me on track of where I am on any particular project or task.


Here are the columns and how they all work;

Unit = The name of the unit I need to work on.

Index = The number of the fig from the squad (10 space marines would get #s 1 thru 10)

Loadout / Notes = I use this column to keep notes on the weapons each fig gets if it is not to be magnetized or anything else I need to remember.

The next 8 columns are the check off area.  They use conditional formating in Excel to go from red to green if you type anything but a space while the cell is highlighted.  This is how I get the 'bar graph' effect that shows me with a quick glance where I am.

The columns are;

Built - is it built and ready for the next step?
Magnet - Is it magnetized (if necessary)?
Primed - Is it primed yet?
Basecoat - Base coat applied yet?
Painted - Painted is the big time eater :)
Based - is it all based up and ready to go?
Detailed - are all the final details done? (Clearcoat, clean up, bits added)
Complete - Ok, all done now!

To use these columns, you can enter any character (except a space) and the cell will change from red to green.  If you decide to go back, just highlight the cell and hit delete, it goes red again.

The last three columns are rarely used, but they are for

Due Date - Really?  Hobby Deadlines... I hate that
Estimated Time - How long do I think it will take, in hours
Actual Time - How long did it really take... lol.  I use this to modify my guesses in the future.

  So there it is, pretty simple, but it works for me, and it might for you.  Who knows?  I'll just leave it out there and you decide it it's useful or crap.  Feel free to change it however you like, it all free.

The link to the file...  Blank Build and Paint Plan (xlsx)

And a filled out one for example...  Eldar Build and Plan


Hope you like it and see ya soon.

iPad Software: Quartermaster

  I just recently purchased Quartermaster for the iPad.  I had tried it a few times in the past, but never really considered it.  This time I tried to actually use it to build a list and went through all it's features.  I have to say, it's pretty darn good.

  First off - It is not Army Builder or even Battlescribe.  It will not prompt you through to make a completely legal and certified tournament list.  If you are not sure if certain combinations of weapons/effects can be used, you will need the codex by your side. 

  That said, if you know what you are doing, and do not want/need your hand held during the list building process, this is a GREAT portable list builder.  You get all the options and none of the overhead.

  To start, you have to get the program, here are the links;

Quartermaster Web Site Link

iTunes direct link

  Then you will need Templates.  Templates are the files used by the program to generate the lists and all the assorted options that come with those lists.  You can either download the Template files or make them yourself.  I'm a lazy bugger, so I downloaded them.  There is a great site for them here;

QM Templates website for Quartermaster Template Files

  Keep in mind, the template files are separate from the program for the same reasons that they are separate for Army Builder and such, Intellectual property/copyright/oh bugger off rules.  It's not a problem with the program or the software, it's just the silly rules we live by.
 
  Now that you have everything installed, build lists to your hearts content.  It really is as simple as tapping to add the unit, then tap the unit's name to add options to it (like Force Swords and Heavy Bolters and Lascannons, oh my!)  From the main screen, you will see a listing of all your lists built so far (or the two demo lists that come pre-made).  AT the top right is all the menu items.  YOu can edit the templates (or add your own) from here.  The Star button is nice, it allows you to designate favorite lists which are then moved up the screen to be at the top for easy access.  The blue + button makes a new list.  It does not ask for point limits or what rulesets you will be using.  That is up to you.  It does keep a running total of your list points though.

Desks and Buildings and Battlescapes... oh my

Delphia, all broke... a sad panda

A while back, there was a night.  A very hellish night.  Lots of things happened, but the end result was this.  My computer desk's glass top exploded into a gozillion pieces and Delphia took a nose dive.  (Delphia is my 27" iMac
with the i7 processor, 16GB RAM and all the bells and whistles).  This was a bad night.  Not only did I spend bowling league night cleaning up broken glass, but I had to sweat out whether or not the Apple guys could fix her again.  Long story short, I got wayyyy lucky.  It was only the glass, and they had one left (yes, 1, uno, singular... the last one) in stock. The great guys at the Apple store in ABQ uptown got it replaced lickety-split and I was off back home in short order.

In defense of the ignorant (Mark Zuckerberg).

Most of you know that I very rarely defend the rights of idiots to be... well, idiotic.  The time has come for me, however, to try and put up a small defense of Facebook's CEO, Mark Zuckerberg.

Now please understand, I have fun laughing at this tool too.  He has done some amazingly stupid things lately, and I guess he still refuses to hire someone to polish his image a bit.  His latest fiasco with the iPhone has been pulled from his Facebook page (I wonder why?)

(For those of you unaware, he bought an iPhone this weekend and then posted that he had trouble with it, needed 4 chargers and a land line or some-such and got pretty soundly beaten up for being retarded.)

Lets look at his track record, lately...

- Facebook privacy issues.  Well, this was handled about as badly as anyone could have fumbled it.  He made Adrian Peterson and Eddie George look like great ball handlers.  How do you manage to blow something that big, and then continue to blow it day in/day out for so long?

- Interviews and sweatshirts with cryptic symbols.  I won't go into it, google it of you like.  Suffice to say that looking like a lost little child in front of your peers, pundits and the whole tech twitterazzi is a foolish idea.

- Posting on facebook that you're not quite as competent to manipulate an iPhone as the average...say... 8 year old.  Really dude?  Come on, you didn't really think that the whole world would see your post, have an epiphany and move back to the Palm Pre, did you?

In his defense, however I will say these two things...

1. He is 25 for god's sake.  He's also a multi-gozillionaire and CEO of a pretty heavy-hitter of a company.  At 25 most of us were burned out from college/military life and thinking about career choices.  This guy is thinking about which Bentley to drive today... the black or the yellow private jet... hmmm.  Young people are generally ignorant and have to learn by experience.  Mr. Zuckerberg is filling up his experience bag really fast and will be the better for it.


2. He wrote a massively useful and worthwhile web app (Face Book) and made it into a huge company.  Why do we all of a sudden think that this makes him a wise and thoughtful CEO and technology mover/shaker?  He is capable of making the same, or better,  stupid mistakes as anyone.  His problem is his dumb mistakes end up on CNN while ours end up on a few friends iPhones and other picture cams...  The guy has no experience in managing security postures and concerns for millions of people and made some bad decisions.  He is trying to fix them, lighten up, people.  Warren Buffet wasn't a brilliant investor at 25 (or was he, not sure, have to Wiki that one...), Bill Gates wasn't brilliant at 25... well, he was, but he made his (huge) share of mistakes too.

So let's all lighten up a bit on poor Mark.  He is getting thrashed just because he is successful.  But do remember, that he is laughing all the way to the bank, and he who dies with the biggest bank account wins.  Mark is winning...

The future comes, in some ways, quickly...

In some ways, the world is becoming very advanced.  I have to admit to being a computer nerd/geek/pundit since I can remember.  If you want to see my history with computers, here is the story. The things that we have seen in the last few years really amaze me sometimes.  We are catching up with science fiction in so many ways, even though we seem to be earth-bound without hope of exploring space anytime soon, but that is a rant for another day.

Think about it, we have communicators from star trek, we're starting to get tri-corders and I work for the company who will one day bring you the death star :)  (I work for the DOD in the Missile Defense Agency's Directed Energy program, we just successfully tested the first Airborne Laser against a bad guy Missile.)

Well, if you're like me, you watched the movie Minority Report and saw Tom Cruise using that amazing computer interface, where he just gestured and things moved around on the screen.  I know I loved that interface, even more than Hugh Jackman's computer in Swordfish. Well, here is the news... it's real.  That interface from Minority Report was, and is real.  The guy who did the tech consulting for the movie is really a Professor who does this for a living.  He recently gave a talk at TED which I will link for you here.



John Underkoffler points to the future of UI

If you think we have a future that isn't filled with civil war, zombies or alien invasions, watch this and be impressed, then wait, like me, for this to happen :)

God I can't wait for the future... oh hell, it's here now.  my iPad is calling, gotta go.

Print is Dead, Long live the iPad!

Or how I learned to love the computer that isn’t a computer after all…

Ok, so I have lived now with my iPad (named Ruth) since the release date.   (Yes, I was an early adopter who convinced himself that he didn’t want 3G.   I still stand by that conviction.  This thing is dangerous enough with just Wi-Fi.  But read on.) Now, a while back, some of you may recall, that I blogged about how Print was dead when the Kindle came out.  I stand by that assertion even more now.  But I do intend to amend my earlier stand on the big newspapers.  The reason, the iPad may just end up saving them??  This little device is amazing!

I have learned one huge thing about the iPad in the months that I have had it.  That is, quite simply, I would be lost without it anymore.  The reason?  It truly is all things to all people.  I know, I know, that’s a pretty heady thing to generalize.  How can I make such a blanket statement?  Easy.

This device is going to change the world.

That’s right, I said it.  I feel better too.

Why will it change the world?  (please Bill, tell us why you think this.)  Ok, I’ll tell ya.

#1 It will teach people that it is ok to be a content consumer and not a content creator.  It is my belief that that too many people and companies have believed for too long that in order to be a part of the “internet society” you have to add to the miasma of stuff that is out there on them interwebs.  The sheer number of blog-o-sites that used to infect the internet has finally calmed down, the cream risen to the top (i.e. Huffpost, Boing-boing, Mashable…) and the rest have fallen away.   The iPad will demonstrate to people that it is ok to just view, consume and use the internet, you don’t always have to contribute to it. (Disregarding FaceBook, twitter and baby-blogs (like me!))

#2 It is an internet enabled application device.  Notice I did not say it was a computer.  In my view, it really isn’t a computer at all.  Oh sure you can do word processing and spreadsheets, even presentations, but is that really it’s focus?  I think not.  There is a great video on YouTube of a guy that put Velcro on his iPad and then stuck Velcro all over his LIFE.  When he was in the car, the iPad was his navigation device, on his motorcycle, it velcro’d to the tank, giving directions again.  In the kitchen, it was stuck to the cabinet letting him read recipes.  In the bedroom it was stuck to the wall to watch movies.  Although this was a funny video, it drives home my point.  It is not so much of a computer as a useful application device.

#3 It will not replace your laptop on trips, or will it?  Let’s be real for a moment here.  When you pack your laptop for the trip your taking, do you take it to do a) lots of business related spreadsheet and document creation or b) solitaire, e-mail, twitter, YouTube, CNN, more solitaire, a movie, a TV show stream etc?  I’ll bet most of us answered B.  I know I did.  Here’s why, if you’re on the plane and the spreadsheet you’re working is still not done, chances are your too late to get it done right anyhow.  I know, I know, some of us are always working and that time in the plane is perfect to get a lot of office stuff done.  (I think you’re the exception, but then again?)

#4 It will manage and consume as much of your life as you let it.  Trust me on this one.  It will handle your calendar, your to-do lists, your shopping and everything else that you download the app for.  You could conceivably run your entire digital life from it.  Or, you can just use it to make the things you enjoy a bit more enjoyable.  It’s your choice.

#5 Don’t listen to the Nay-Sayers who whine about the no flash memory slot, the lack of drives, no output connectors etc.  Computers need those, and this is not a computer.  Get over it!  It is NOT A COMPUTER. It will do a myriad of things that a computer will do,  but it is not a computer.  The Apple Haters will continue, but I don’t care, because it is immaterial to my point.

I said this device will change the world, and it will.  I have not said that it will be the first/last of its kind.  As I write this, every silicon valley company is desperately rushing a tablet to market.  In Taiwan I hear you can buy tablets by the dozen,  cheaply.  Who knows what the offerings from Micro$oft, Google and HP will be like?  They might be lame, or they might be better, but here is the deal.  One way or the other, Tablet computers are here to stay and there is now a bar to aim for.  The iPad may end up the winner or the whiner, but it certainly has changed the face of computing for everyone.  Everyone is now forced to make a competitor.  Who knows, something may come out that is way better, but we all win, no matter what happens.

Cases in point.  I just had to do an online class for business.  I did it all, almost exclusively on my iPad because it was web based.  My friend Mark and I play war-games (The board game type, not the shoot-em ups on computers).  I have been able to put most all of the rule sets we  use on the iPad for reference during the games.   It is incredibly handy as a reference during the game.  Using GoodReader to view PDFs, I can search for the terms we need to look at.  It’s a huge timesaver.

So, in summary, this pseudo-review ends by noting the last great thing this device does.  Read books.  It has completely replaced my Kindle, not in the least because Amazon made that happen.  They released their book reader software, made it completely compatible with the iPad and then made it so that all my books magically appeared from my Kindle onto my iPad.  Do you think Jeff Bezos at Amazon see’s something coming too?

I think so…  The iPad has changed the world.  The computer is personal again... Now let’s all sit back, watch and enjoy.

Print is dead!

Dr. Egon Spengler... a modern prophet.  (For the, hopefully, few of you who do not know the works of Dr. Spengler - go here)

Print is officially dead, long live the electron!  I just celebrated my 24th anniversary, and my wife got me a Kindle for a gift.  Wow!!!  I have had many a cool gadget in my day, it’s kind of my schtick, but this is the coolest of them all (until the iPhone 2.0).  But beyond being cool, I think this is the beginning of something big.

Now, I have had many e-book readers in the past, and all of them have sucked ass in one way or another.  The Kindle??  definitely does not suck ass!  While this bit of prose will be a semi-review of the Kindle, keep in mind that I am also talking about the future here, and it may not be the Kindle itself that drives the nail in the coffin of the printing presses.  But the coffin is closing, and things like the Kindle are doing it.

I toyed around with the Sony E-book reader a while, at the Borders store in town and I found it to be cumbersome, fuzzy and generally a joke.  Coupled with the paltry selection of books they have and it’s a dead product.  (And that is not just my pure hatred of Sony coming through, they can’t give them things away.)  I also used every version of my PDA with MS-Reader installed.  Too small for most books.

Well, in walks the Kindle, with it’s gorgeous screen, luscious lines and smoooooth buttons. (Ok the buttons aren’t smooth, but that line was getting kind sexy, no?)  It looks at you, with those little “read me” eyes and says - “I’ll even play your MP3s while you read, baby”.  Face it, you’re doing the reading rumba with this thing before you know it.  Best part is... in the morning, it’s still there, ready for the newspaper and a good comedy.

Truly, the screen on this thing is better than white paper.  It has just the right contrast for me, and the print font is perfect.  Of course, the font is scalable, so you can have teensy print or really big print, your choice.  It does everything a book will do an alot more.  You can dog-ear pages, annotate passages and even look up the really big words in the built in dictionary.

Truly, this thing is a wonder.  But beyond that, I think it is ushering in a new era.  Imagine if you will, an 8th grader on the first day of school.  Rather than getting a ton of books to lug around all year, he gets his Kindle (or similar) device with all the years books already loaded on it.  And not the old books that alot of our school systems are struggling along with, revised updated editions.  All the handouts that teachers would give out are now just uploaded to the classes Kindle’s and assignments are handed in the same way.  Even better, spin this up to the same kid in college.  Same device, just has to get the book(s) for each class uploaded at the beginning of the semester.  The cost savings to the school system are immense, as it is to the publishers and teachers.

Obviously, this is a few years down the road, but even now, I get the New York Times delivered to my Kindle every night, ready to read in the morning.  Time Magazine, same deal.  More are coming all the time.  Granted, Amazon is making money with the Kindle now, selling books and their selection is a tad bit limited.  But I have gone to a bunch of sites that offer many books free, all the great classics are totally free.

While I will not say that the Kindle or it’s progeny will kill print media, a device like it will.  A full blown laptop PC (Macbook Air?) with this screen, in this format is coming soon, and you will see it take the world like the iPod did.  Mark my words.

As to reviewing the Kindle itself, I have a hard time doing it fairly.  The thing is just about perfect.  I’m not sure if I am just so enamored with it, or if it is really this good.  I have thirty books on it right now, and I am finding myself staying up WAY too late reading.  What a joy that is!  The controls are intuitive and VERY easy to use, the management of the device is made incredibly easy by Amazon.  Maybe in a future blog I’ll have some things to say against it, but for now, I can’t give it up.

If you decide to get one, please use my store link to get it so I can buy some good books :)

My new iMac!! Yes, I am in the Cult of Steve!!

Well, after working some overtime and getting some “gumint cheez” (aka Bush’s attempt to fix the recession) I went and took the plunge!  I got the top of the line new iMac.

A bit of Geek-bragging;

• 24 inch screen at 1920 x 1200 resolution


• 3.06 Ghz intel Core 2 Duo processor


• NVidia GeForce 8800GS with 512mb memory


• Built in 802.11n, Bluetooth and Gigabit Ethernet, USB/Firewire ports


• 4Gb Memory, 320Gb HDD

Damn this thing rocks!  And of course, as soon as I unpacked it from the box, plugged it in, and BLAM, it was running.  No hours of reconfiguring windows.

As usual, I had to name it soon after using it, and it had me a little bewildered for a bit.  Then I saw the jet black reflective Apple logo on the front and it hit me, Indigo.  The name sticks and now Indigo gets along famously with Lippy the Leopard powered MacBook Pro and Maxi, the homebuilt PC.  The only thing that keeps me from being totally happily networked is the fact that Maxi has Vista on it.  Needless to say, that only works when you hold your tongue just right.

I was tempted to upgrade Maxi again, even though it’s still top of the line.   Pam brought a new Intel chip home from the Employee program, and it’s a quad core.  But when I looked at how I was using machines around here lately, I knew it had to be a new Mac.  I was spending all my time on Lippy (The MacBook Pro), even so far as setting up a dock station for it and an external monitor, keyboard and mouse.  I was using it as a desktop.  At that point I knew the future for me was Mac.

Yes, I know, I was a Micro$oft flag waver for years, but Vista changed all that.  Installing the 64 bit edition of Vista Ultimate was the DUMBEST thing I ever did.  I’m still on the cusp of putting XP back on the machine and using a boot manager.  The boys in Redmond really blew it this time and they’re losing market share for it :)  I love it!

No, I don’t think Micro$oft is in danger of falling down, or that Apple will capture enough market share to challenge the windows base any time soon.  I do think that this will spur on Apple development and make more software available.  I just hope that the average Windows developer doesn’t make the change over to the Mac.  Most windows programs are badly written and prone to bugs.  The Mac world doesn’t tolerate things like that (Another nice part of switching).

So, I welcome Indigo to the fold, and she seems to like it here.  Not even a Kernel panic yet, and she is the main workhorse here.  Uptime tells me she has been running for 9 days 13 hours and 55 minutes.  I believe the last reboot was caused by a firmware update too, not a crash.  I do love it so.

The only problem, learning to program i n XCode and Objective C :)  Well, I’m off to work on a new project!  Ciao for now :)

Blu-Ray - Part deux

I know most people hate my Blu-ray ranting... but I cannot help it.

Golly gosh, guess what, without competition, blu-ray prices have gone up???  Who would have thunk it?

Unfortunately you would hope that with Sony being able to sell more Blu-Ray players, they could up production and lower price points for consumers. But unfortunately for us, Sony would rather gouge it's customers... They have been doing it for decades, so why not now?  Especially seeing that Sony gets licensing fees from studios on every title sold and not to mention that they are themselves a major movie studio.

Analysts says consumers did not end format war.

“As we poked and prodded through the ups and downs of the format war, we noticed a recurring theme -- HD DVD seemed to have things going in its favor on more than one occasion. Consumers adored the low priced hardware, studios were coming on board and Sony's PlayStation 3 (along with all the other Blu-ray players) was priced extraordinarily high. Not to mention Sony's absolutely awful track record with formats. In a recent interview with ABI Principal Analyst Steve Wilson, BetaNews found that he believed that the outcome of the format war wouldn't necessarily benefit the consumer. Besides being more expensive and less developed, some Blu-ray players have had quite the time performing as advertised. According to ABI, "it wasn't customers' likes or dislikes that powered the fatal blow in the format war, it was Warner Bros.' decision to switch allegiance to Blu-ray, along with subsequent moves to dump HD DVD by major retailers such as Wal-Mart, Netflix and Blockbuster." Frankly, we can't argue with that one iota.” - Quoted from EngadgetHD

For me? I'll  be sticking with plain old DVD. As much as we all like the way Blu-Ray titles look, the  cost of the players and not to mention the stupid costs for media compared to DVD is just way too high.  The early adopters, in this case, are going to get royally screwed by a company (Sony) that just got raped by Micro$oft and they’re looking to make you their prison bitch!

How Sony got slapped by Micro$oft... and Nintendo... all for Blu-Ray

Balmer gloats and drinks the Champagne of sweet victory...

"Ohhhh, we so sowwy abowt PS3" Chairman apologizes for PS3 recalls...

I can’t believe the war is finally over.  Sony wins!!!  Blu-Ray is the new heavyweight CHAMPEEEEN of the Wooooorrrrrrrrlllllllldddddd.

WRONG!!!!!

You know who won this fight?   really?  MICROSOFT!!!

And everyone who bought a Blu-Ray disk, player or sticker helped them do it.  The best part is, they don’t even realize how they were duped, manipulated and used so that MS could pump up the XBox 360 and demolish the PS3.  Sorry, legion of  Sony fans.  Even as you bought your Blu-Ray PS3s you were lining the coffers of Micro$oft.  Well done!

Lets forget the fact that the format of HD-DVD was better.  Blu-Ray has ALOT going for it, and it won the war because it was the better technology.  Since the release of the two specs, the only thing HD-DVD had going for it was it’s cheaper format and easier structure.  In every other major category, Blu-Ray kicked it’s ass.  So why did it take over 2 years of constant fighting to bury HD-DVD?

Well, set your way back machine to when both companies were announcing the new 3G video game machines.... Xbox 360 and PS3.  MS knew it needed to do something incredible to make a dent in Sony’s market domination with the PS2.  Then Sony offered them the greatest gift the business world has ever seen.  They trumpeted how the PS3 would have and be a Blu-Ray player.  Instantly, Balmer and Gates were hugging and crying in their champagne brunch!

They knew they would go with the abortive format from Philips called HD-DVD.  They knew they could leverage a format war, that Sony would spend BIG money on Blu-ray, all the while, developing the XBox 360 download service and getting a LEGION of fanbois to embrace the digital delivery method.  (Can you say, Apple TV, NetFlix, TiVo etc)

And just like the dupes they were, Sony POURED money into Blu-Ray, spent HUGE money to woo the major studios and bought off major game developers all in a vain attempt to win a format war that they had won at the starting gate.   And the side effect of all this?  MS was able to market the 360 way ahead of Sony, they had great games at the rollout, all while Sony and it’s developers tried desperately to get killer games onto the system.  (Meanwhile Nintendo walks in and slaps both of them, but that’s another story.)  As Sony poured money into Blu-Ray, they had to slight something, and it was game development.  Sony even went so far as to buy the Blu-Ray equipment for some smaller game developers.  What a bonus if you’re a small developer.

“My favorite iteration of the HD DVD campaign was the negative push whereby all you heard was how Blu-ray disks would scratch easily and be ruined by a single thumbprint, or how they are hard to manufacture, and on and on. This was an orchestrated attack and none of it was true.”, John C. Dvorak

So here’s the scoop...

1. MS never intended to back HD-DVD


2. Blu-Ray was better from day 1


3. Sony poured capital into backing/hyping Blu-ray


4. MS didn’t spend a dime on HD-DVD


5. 360 rolls out with network that works and people get behind digital delivery model for stuff


6. PS3 rolls out with lousy games, network flaws and some very Un-Sony-like problems


7. MS “loses” the fight and Sony wonders why it cost them so damn much to win


8. Phillips/MS/HD-DVD people all giggle and watch the latest Blu-Ray copy of “The Office”

It truly has been fun to watch this fight.  I’m kind of proud of Steve Balmer, he managed to win a fight like this without buying another competitor.  In fact, he showed more style than Bill Gates.

Oh, and congratulations to all you PS3 / Blu-Ray buyers.  You’ve got some great hardware there... <snicker>  But just think... 2008 is going to be the year of the PS3.  (Unless of course, they roll out some more clunker games...)

I am so tired of Mac Haters

As many of you know, I have switched my focus and effort from the PC world to the MAC world.  This was all brought about by the abortion known as

Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate Edition 64 Bit Edition.

After installing this bloated piece of software crap (designed by Micro-tards, marketed by scumbags) I started a several month long journey into the depths of MS-Hell (Version 6.6.6).  Drivers that did not work, were not signed or simply sucked so much ass that an 8th grader in Hoboken could have done better.  And those great Apps.  WOW... holy shit, look at the great updates there... ummm, solitaire is fuckin cool now and Mah Jong comes STANDARD baby!  Too bad networking was broken and User Account Control was implemented so poorly that you had to be asked every 8 seconds if you really wanted to do anything at all??????  They managed to break everything of value that was in XP, or move it to some incomprehensible new menu structure.

In my humble opinion, Mac’s are just better.  Easier, faster, able to do things intuitively etc.  Are they perfect, nope, far from it.  Are they a damn sight better than XP or Virus... you damn right they are.  When you start up your mac, you just start to get things done right away, no searching for disks to insert, no begging for the latest signed driver file to download, you just do it.  To me, one of the biggest things I notice on the Mac is the style.  Yes, on a Windows box you have 967 choices of programs to get a certain task done while the Mac world may only offer 2.  I will tell you one thing though, in the mac world, you’re going to use one of those two programs and wonder “Why doesn’t the PC do it this way?  It’s so much better,easier,faster...etc...”  Even during my switching period, where I didn’t know how to accomplish certain things, as I learned about it, I found myself saying “wow, that’s awesome” ALOT!

What is really starting to kill me is the constant tirade of Mac hate out there.  It’s easy to see where it comes from.  The Microsoft flag wavers got their asses handed to them with Vista and they are seeing the market share numbers creep ever so slowly up for Apple.

This is not to say that Apple will ever dominate the marketplace, far from it.  The will however, command respect in the marketplace and the decades long dearth of software will begin to ease as developers realize they need to support this market.  So instead of droning on and on, let me just present my list of things and some answers.  Trust me, if you want to get the measure of your life back that MS and PCs are snarfing from you, SWITCH!  Ask me how!

1. Macs are toys - show me a computer that isn’t... JP Getty made a fortune without a PC


2. The Mac OS won't run games - Ok... so far I must agree... mac gaming is lame


3. Mac’s are too simplistic - And there is a problem here?


4. There’s no software for it. - Have you looked?  MS Office is on the Mac, dolt!


5. Microsoft bought Apple - I love that one...


6. If you want a REAL computer use a PC - Otherwise you can’t have your viruses and spyware


7. No Macs on the network, they are a security risk - And Windoze isn’t? - eeegads


8. Macs are so expensive - You get what you pay for


9. 95% Market Share for Windows, Game Over, Game Over, (repeated ad infinum)


10. I can build a windows system for 1,000 dollars cheaper - assuming the OS is of equal value


11. Apple stole GUI from PARC - Which MS then promptly stole from apple...


12. Macs are for artsy people and not getting real work done. - Me? Artsy?  My ass


13. Mac's don't work with the internet. - I love that one...


14. “Mac's are slow. d00d, I can get a 3GHz PeeCee for $150, but MAC'S are only like 2.0GHz at $5,000. OMG Tahts stoooopid!11!!.” - UGH, where do I start??


15. Mac's are only good for working with graphics - <cry> old habits


16. Mac's crash every 2 minutes. - My iMac has been uptimed for 3 months... (Not even a reboot)


17. Mac's don't even have USB or FireWire. - WHAT?


18. Macs don't have solitaire - 

Happy Winter-een-mas!!!!

HAPPY WINTER-EEN-MAS to one and all, and to all a good week!

It’s that week of the year again, the geek holiday, the gamers week. All you who play Guitar Hero, BioShock, HALO 3 or whatever can revel this week, knowing that this is YOUR week to lose time, money, friends or whatever!

For the few (I hope) of you that don’t know WEMas, here are some links for you... It’s ok to feel some shame about not knowing, it’s not ok to not learn!

The Winter-een-Mas main page

Winter-een-mas FAQ