ColinR

1. More elegant app switching
2. More elegant app organization than folders
3. Better maps (with turn-by-turn)
4. Better Siri integration and reliability
5. A system-level way to easily share data between apps (besides copy/paste)

Alan Wake was pretty great. I sort of wished it had stuck to it’s open-world concept though… Maybe the sequel?

Nice post. I too have fewer moments these days where I really get sucked into a game. I’m not sure if this is due to me just getting older and becoming more wise to the developer’s tricks and hacks or if game’s just aren’t as good these days or what.

In terms of media coverage and reviews, I agree. We get so much coverage of a game, it’s actually possible to spend more time reading about a game than actually playing it!

Hype also kills. Many outlets spend so much time hyping a game that it can’t possibly live up. Metacritic becomes a tool just to cut through the hype.

I think we would all enjoy games more often if we all experimented more with different kinds of genres and titles. Of course, the cost of games becomes a barrier to experimentation, as does the sheer number of crap out there.

Meta: As players, I think we should be holding games to a higher standard. By continually buying titles that barely iterate on their predecessors we are telling the industry that all we will buy is iterative crap. I try to judge games with the same level of criticism I judge movies. If you look at it that way, then you would realize that if there was a film franchise that kept repeating the same kind of stories and following the same beats and set in the same settings… well, those movies would be rightly panned.

OK, so I have a real suggestion: Do video booth tours so that people can get an understanding of what it’s like to be there. Some of the booths there are pretty damn impressive if you ask me!

Other than that, I want to see the same insightful coverage of the games and upcoming platforms that ya’ll been giving us already!

All I really want is tons of booth babe coverage.

Based on the sound quality and reputation of the Play:5/Play:3 and the design of this sub, I would guess this sounds really great. I’ve heard subs with similar driver configuration (various Paradigm and Sunfire have similar opposing drivers) and they tend to go really deep for their size and have plenty of boom. They can sound really detailed too, but I have also heard a few subs with similar design that leave me unimpressed with their musicality (vs. home theater BOOM).

Sonos has some really talented folks building great speakers that outclass the competition in sound quality, even discounting all the wireless streaming features, ease of use and great design.

Dhe design of this sub is really appealing! What a pity the Play:3 and Play:5 fall off in this regard.

I think most folks would disagree with that.

I use windows 7 every day, and have office 2010 installed. The ribbon is still obnoxious. It takes up too much room, and has you switching between tabs all too frequently just to access that ONE function. It’s an improvement on the menu system MS used before that, but it’s still a mess.

I’m a fan of Adobe’s pallet system. Use the pallets of tools you need and hide the others, or make your own.

Exactly. I get the sense that it’s a lot of wanna-be designers who like to flaunt the fact that they understand what skeuomorphism is (they likely read it on Gizmodo) and they ALWAYS have to bitch about it any chance they can get. They don’t realize that it’s another tool in design that can be used to enhance the usability of something by introducing familiar elements. Yes, of course it can be overused, even by apple, but it’s not that terrible. It’s certainly less of a problem than the Ribbon’s icon (with text!) overload.

I’m glad they’re focusing on making the tools easier to use. Hopefully it will result in more really good games where the artists and level designers have the ability to create cool things without having to deal with programmers or scripters to work it out.

We are on the cusp of a TV revolution. All these boxes are a step in the right direction, but until we take the next step and introduce apps and an (active) ecosystem to take advantage of the hardware platform, all of these are just sort of stop-gaps IMHO.

Can you imagine what kind of awesome apps will start to hit Apple TV/Google TV when talented developers get their hands on the platform? I can’t wait! It’ll be like going from an iPod, or a 1st gen iPhone with no apps to what we have now!