A new era for consumers loom

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Nope, it's not Superman either. It's cloud based gaming and cloud based movies, music and any other type of entertainment you might want. This is fascinating stuff (even if I do say so myself!) and her is my brief view on some of the dramatic technological changes coming our way in 2010.

Look out for an announcement on June 17th as a new service that allows consumers (gamers) to play any game, at any time and without a console is officially launched. As consumers, we’re getting used to video/music/film on demand but gaming has not, so far, really taken hold in the same way. But I like my shiny black PS3 under my shiny black TV. Munial likes his Xbox360. But imagine a world where such hardware is not required. Imagine a world where all you need is a small adapter that plugs into your HD TV and your broadband connection and you have access to hundreds of games. No need to download them. They are just there. They exist in the mysterious ‘cloud’. All we mere mortals have to do is pay a monthly subscription fee and in of we go and play whenever we want (on our TV, PC or Mac). The service called OnLive and brainchild of Steve Perlman (WebTV, QuickTime) promises that it “will change the way that entertainment applications are created, delivered and consumed.” If it takes off and has mass market appeal, I do believe it could just be the single most important development for gamers worldwide. It would, quite literally, change the entire gaming landscape.

If this happens, what would Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft and for that matter, Apple do in a world where their hardware becomes obsolete? Would they try and compete with their own digital offering? What would stores that rely on the sale of tangible gaming DVD’s and Blurays do? Would they try and compete? I would argue that they could be surplus to requirements. Ancient business models in a world where technology is developing at a frightening pace. Don’t believe that such changes can happen so quickly? You only need to take one look at Kodak to see that you ignore a changing technological future at your own peril. In 1988 Kodak employed 145,300 people and made a profit of $1.17bn on $13.3bn in revenue. By late 2009, the payroll nose-dived to 19,900 with a quarterly loss of $111m. And why? It’s because Kodak failed to see the impact that the digital camera would have on its business. What’s worse is that Kodak invented the digital camera! But Kodak has fought back hard and expects strong demand in Asia to lift its digital revenues to about $7bn a year from about $5.5bn within three years. It’s been a painful transformation though for them but they had to learn the hard way. Another example is EMI. Whether companies can learn to change and adapt given they have strategies laid out for 5-10 years can make all the difference.

There is also an interesting development by the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE), a coalition with support from every industry involved in digital entertainment. It’s claimed that this new system will provide a revolutionary new way to enjoy movies, TV shows and other entertainment. The consortium, which consists of companies such as Alcatel-Lucent, Best Buy Co Inc, Cisco Systems Inc, Comcast, News Corp's Fox Entertainment Group, Hewlett-Packard Co, Intel, Lions Gate Entertainment Corp, Microsoft Corp, General Electric Co's NBC Universal, Viacom Inc's Paramount Pictures, Philips, Sony Corp, Sony Pictures, Toshiba, VeriSign, and Time Warner Inc's Warner Bros Entertainment are working on a "uniform digital media experience". The group wants "interoperability of devices and websites" and fair usage rights that will allow consumers to copy content for household playback devices as well as burn their purchased content to physical media for playback or storage. Each consumer would also be given a "rights locker", a virtual library where all video purchases would be stored and available for download again if ever lost. DECE will also have a logo that can be places on products and websites that will inform consumers on whether that site or product is compatible with DECE standards.

Both Sony and Microsoft have already started making strides towards a more coherent digital downloads market but as the competition heats up for this 'cloud' and all its content, I think it will be hampered by fragmentation, different technical standards and different DRM solutions. But, competition is good. There is likely to be consolidation in the industry with a company, perhaps like Amazon or Apple providing new leadership in this so digital of ages.

Let'sbe honest, I’m not a fortune teller. But even if OnLive or the DECE project don’t work commercially, important strides are being made to change the way we consume content forever. Whether we like it or not. Personally, I like it. My life is becoming more and more like Star Trek all the time.

Beam me up (to the cloud) Scotty ...

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Futuristic advertising will be vulnerable to hi-tech bluetooth graffiti!

Not really of course, no, this is another example of the astonishing creativity unleashed when someone really creative gets their hands on enabling tech, or as is the case more often than not these days, a wiimote. Martin Lihs' thesis turns a simple run of the mill back projected screen displaying a flash programme into a virtual wall that can be realistically interacted with (or bombed as the kids say) via a wiimote plugged into a snazzy looking faux aerosol can, complete with groovy internal lighting that changes colour when you select a new colour onscreen (instant win).

Ok, so you don't get a lot of walls or ads in public comprised of back-projected pc screens, but this is still a very very cool little project. Check out how the spray stays consistent with a real can (although admittedly my tagging days are over) and even accommodates virtual stencils. For more virtual wii-nius have a look at wiiflash.org which is the amazing open source software that lets you create such applications. If only I knew how to code. Wait, it looks kinda easy..

Via Engadget

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Delicious Gooey Centre

It was a good thing that my Xbox died over Christmas. Yes it was. Because had it not, I wouldn't have found myself at a gaming loose end, and returning to my poor neglected Wii, and downloading what some have called "one of the best games of the year".

And indeed it is one of the best games of last year, and another fine example of downloadable goodness from the Wii shopping channel. It's certainly tops the previous pinnacle, the charming but airy Lostwinds. So come with me, to the wonderful World of Goo..

World of Goo is not a typical game, but you may be forgiven for thinking otherwise after a cursory exam. It's essentially a puzzle game where you have to get balls of goo from point A to the safety of a pipe exit, or point B, if you will. This is achieved by building goo structures along which the rest of your sticky minions crawl until the pipe is in reach, and remaining goo's are sucked to safety. Sounds like a fairly straightforward puzzler no? A kind of throwaway gameplay entertaining for a while, but nothing to get too excited about? No! This game is evil! Wondrous, devilish, enchanting, maddening! So many emotions were wrung from me as I moved through the game at breakneck speed, needing to consume each level, building ever onward and up and around!

The key to the gameplay is the impeccable physics. As you pick up and drop your goo with the wii remote the structures form according to careful rules much like a meccano set. Building a bridge across a gap is a careful lesson in engineering as you'll need to support the structure in all the right places to successfully make it across. But that's just early on. After a few levels merely building bridges and towers becomes so passe, and the game throws increasingly bizarre and inventive challenges at you that will have you tearing your hair out, and looking on in wonder at the sheer ingenious-ness of it all. New types of goo are consistently introduced that broaden the possibilities of you structures, and gameplay never, ever becomes stale as a result. There is even a brilliantly witty story as your goo traverses the island, working towards the mysterious world of goo corporation who's new z-product threatens to change everything. Into 3D.



The product of a 2 man team, the creation of the game is a real wonder in itself. 2 people. Created this whole thing. Astonishing. Not only does it have spellbindingly great physics and gameplay mechanics, but the presentation is absolutely top notch. Comparisons to Tim Burton are well founded; the art direction and music invoke all kinds of Burton and Elfman nods, and manages to create, in a physics based puzzler bear in mind, a rich and coherent world. Of goo. The music is particularly wonderful, from the breathless knees-up of the Hungarian folky panic songs, to mournful techno death marches up the red carpet, the soundtrack is full of memorable and often epic scoring, that belies the fact that you're trying to get goo in a pipe. Indeed, the level of detail and charm in every aspect of the game completely belies the underlying objective. After a while, your goo is precious to you. Every one of them is a blessing to be cherished and used in only the most efficient constructions possible. We can only hope they know our thanks are with them for the sacrifice they made.

It's not an overly long game, but re playability is massive. Aside from simply wanting to re-experience all those lovely moments, the OCD challenges are infuriatingly, well, challenging. To get each of those awards, based on number of goos rescued or time and move based challenges, means absolute efficiency that demands borderline madness. OCD indeed. There is also the mysterious World of Goo Corporation area, where the total number of goo balls available relates to the number you've rescued from the game's levels, and the objective is simply to build up and up. What's up there? Nobody knows! As you climb ever higher, if online you see other people's tower heights signposted. We're all out there building our towers higher than everybody else's! Here even more than in the main game, you'll feel the panic and sting as your intricately engineered erection wavers and comes crashing down due to a poorly supported buttress.

Yes truly an astonishing piece of gaming. Brilliantly, you can play it right now if you want, as it's available on Steam for download. I think I prefer the tactile sensation of using a wiimote, but the game is equally charming on pc. For more goo-dness, check out this awesome blog some brilliant person has made.

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Would you like some salt on that?

Should you have wandered through previously, you'll know I'm less than happy with the nintendo stars for wii points implementation. So it really raises my ire to receive patronising emails pointing me to online "tutorials" explaining how to redeem my points.

"If you ever experienced any problems swapping your Stars for Wii Points in our Wii Points Card Shop, take a look at the new tutorials we implemented."

The only "problems" I ever had are that you chimps see fit to never make any points available for sale. The "tutorials" make no mention of this potential "problem". In fact, "Step 3" as it's known couldn't be simpler: "Select the wii points card you want to purchase".

Is this a wind-up?

Ninty, I love ya, but by crikey I am going to twist your goddamn nuts off in a minute..

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Nintendo Stars for wii points: Balls.

So I was really pleased when it was finally announced that there was going to be a use for those nintendo star things that come with every game. Since there had consistently been absolutely no purpose to them whatsoever (I dont need a zelda ringtone thanks, I er, have one), it was fantastic to hear that I would be able to trade them in for the entirely more worthwhile wii points.

We all waited patiently and as promised, nearly a year later, nintendo came good. So europe thought. I, as I suspect many others found, that on the day the site was impossible to get into. Everyone was cashing their points in. I smugly hung back. "Whats the rush?" I smirked, "its not like they're going to run out". Right?

Er, no. Ever since that day, on visiting the site I have been greeted with the above screen. All denominations "sold out". This is of course bullplop. How can they sell out of codes randomly generated though an algorithm? I actually saw some available cards once, the smallest 100 point variety, useless in themselves since the minimum useable amount is 500. I bit the bullet and tried to buy a couple. Of course, I was only permitted to buy 1. A day. The next day they were naturally sold out. This means, to get the some 1000 points I am owed, I will have ammassed them by roughly... never. I have no intention of checking the site daily for the privelege of chipping away at the total I'm owed. Wtf nintendo? Give me my goddamn points like you promised! At least a notification that the cards are on sale would be nice.

Free is free, but if you're gonna give stuff away, don't give me a cynical, half arsed attempt. I have earned my stars, now hand over the points.

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..then name the system!

If ever a game was to score highly on the geek scale of want, this is it. I am left in a quandry though. Because, if ever there was a game to score highly on the must have the shiniest visuals and most solid physics ever scale, this is it. But if ever there was a game to score highly on the needs me to swing my controller around and flail my arms like a maniac, this is also it.

The wii sold alot of promises to me when I first heard about it all that time ago. The biggest one was lightsabres. I'm sure I am not alone in this. Since then however, I have succumbed (as I always intended mind) to the "proper" next gen console with all its techno bells and whistle glory. I have tasted of the sweet sweet fruit, and enjoyed licking my fingers afterwards. Now, I know that graphics etc are not the be all and end all, but the high powered beasts do make for different experiences above and beyond merely improved fidelity. The video above demosntrates this.

I really think the wii controls have done amazing things for gaming. When used properly, they are infinitely more fun to use than a standard controller, Resident Evil 4 is a prime example; awesome awesome aim mechanics. And what could be more appropriate than conducting storm troopers through the air, and slicing them down with the wiimote? But will the game be gimped by the realtively low tech? Kinda makes me wish nintendo would announce the wii2 already "hey, we made much more money way faster than we expected, we pushed our next model up a notch, and its ready already, here ya go".

Or will this be the first instance of where I buy a copy of a game on the wii, and the 360? Or is that too much geek? Even for a Star Wars fan? I want a lightsabre. But I need it to be shiny. Real shiny.

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Wii, 2 3 4..

I love me some wii. It has been gathering dust slightly of late though, not through any real fault of its own, rather fate seems set against it. My copy of mario has been hijacked, and my endless ocean has a game breaking scratch on the disc. Bugger. I could finish off metroid I suppose but, that has been feeling like hard work lately, and the easy charms of COD 4 have been proving too seductive. I'll do it at some point.

This wii fit business though, I don't know what to make of. On seeing it for the first time I slapped my forehead and declared to noone in particular, "they're going to make a fortune" - and this seems an accurate prediciton so far - but will it have the same impact outside of japan? And do I care? No, whether it does well or not is not my concern, will I buy it is. And I still don't know the answer. If my track record for purchasing nintendo hardware is anything to go by, I'll be in the queue on release day. But can I actually see myself doing yoga in the front room.. meh, maybe?

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Other Heroes

Until such time as I identify what defines me as a blogger, I will continue to share , without compromising my pledge, my interests and what not. This guy is great, many have fallen for his ample charms, so have a care before watching. Also watching this you risk getting over excited that the future has literally arrived here in the present and you may simply give up on life. Whats the point of going to work or forming meaningful relationships, we'll all be pure energy soon right?

Aside from the awesome brilliance of this and his other adaptations of the Wii, it is surely the gentleman's sweet and earnest demeanour that has captured the hearts of so many. The slightly wild eyed donning of the IR glasses at 3:51 may give some pause about the hands our future is in, but I say they're maybe just crazy enough to make it work. Swing by his blog too and say hi from me, I'm too shy.

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