atomicsolar

For me, it’s all about the games – the hardware side is always a bit pants (remember reading about how the lines for Gamecube were massive – nice, but it didn’t translate into consumer interest), and there is always hope that more will be shown than expected – hoping there will be some serious Halo 4 reveals, and not like Halo 2 where they started over.
I think the one thing I would like would be an exclusive on how David Braben has finished The Outsider, and it’s coming soon (I can dream, can’t I?).
Given the rather sweet coverage the Polygon crew has done on games like Journey and such, a decent look at XBLA and PSN – given that Limbo is on PSN these days, and Sony has the aforementioned Journey, are Microsoft putting any efforts into getting genuine kudos grabbers onto XBLA?

It boils down to choice, basically. However, in terms of Paul’s job, the internet is an easier tool to use in the course of his work, not an essential one.
If you are a reporter, and a lack of internet stops you working, frankly, you are in the wrong job.

Pfffft. What did Silicon Knights’s engine do that they couldn’t get Unreal to? Suck. I played a demo of Too Human (charitable donations to…), and it was woeful. There was nothing in that demo that couldn’t have been done on the original Playstation in terms of gameplay, let’s face it.
Ultimately, they made a lot of noise about their game that they had to have known would come back to bite them – gamers have not been overly kind to Peter Molyneux over some of the statements that he has made over the years, but at least he wanted to deliver; there is no way on this Earth that Too Human was ever going to do much beyond what it attempted to do.
Frankly, they should consider themselves lucky if they get a dollar. And I speak as someone that loved Eternal Darkness back in the day. Long since disposed of after the near eye gouging that happened post Too Human.

Enjoyed Zack & Miri myself – haven’t seen everything (Jersey Girl for example), and only watched the first Q&A. I watched Never Let Me Go after it was discussed on the Per Diem smodcast, up to that point I had had no real idea as to what it was about, so I owe Smith a beer for that one.
I disagree on the movie success aspect. It has been suggested by Smith himself that studios have tried to get a ‘Kevin Smith film’ but then turned around and tried to change the very things that they claim to have wanted. The idea that anyone in the movie business can, without error, state what constitutes a hit is so false, it’s unbelievable – the truth is that cinema audiences are so fickle, it’s impossible to figure out anymore.
Also, I have to go back to Red State – there was something that felt almost too real about the film, perhaps in that there was no lead character in the normal sense – just as you got used to someone, a new character was introduced (Michael Parks and John Goodman were outstanding), the situation was the lead, and it was creepy as hell.

It’s bizarre, really, that the articles about the internet that I have found to be of interest, not to mention enjoyable to read, in recent times, have all come from the very same writer that announced that he has left the internet. Ever since Paul’s announcement he has written pieces that put forward notions that I had not considered (the discussion of ‘browsing’ gave me cause to step back – I haven’t considered my internet use as browsing for some time, although it would qualify – prefer the term ‘extremely vaguely focussed hunting’ in retrospect).
Pass on my compliments to Mr Miller, please. Also, the quality of the video work on this site is just fantastic, the camerawork, editing et al, just spot on.

Crossing fingers for it hitting UK as well. Gutted he’s only directing one more movie, thought Red State was fantastic (Mallrats remains my fave, Jason Lee rocks!).
Would, right now, love to hear a discussion on the Avengers and the superhero movie in general – ever see An Evening With Kevin Smith? The Superman story is both amusing to hear, and sad for a movie fan.

Reading this is making me wonder if a lightweight intervention is in order here. I’m a big fan of Paul Miller, hell, he’s one of the reasons I got into This Is My Next (the others were Nilay and Josh), and I enjoy these updates.
My concern here is that Paul may be too active in his avoidance – I get the need to leave the bar, he asked to watch the game, therefore he has asked for internet use, but the friends pushing phones in his face is one of those social things that is hard to avoid these days.
If it is deeper rooted than Paul wanting to avoid accusations of breaking his own rule, then it may well need to continue, but if it is merely to avoid those accusations, then perhaps some leeway could be granted?
By the way, put me down for the book – should be a good read.

What the hell is that network playing at? The keyboard bug was a pain that you really notice has been dealt with once it’s gone.
Hey networks, concentrate on keeping your signals up, leave the software to the people that do the work.

It is if you’re the Goddamn Batman.
Given how good the first two are, I cannot comprehend them dropping the ball with this one, but shouting about it being the end has made one hell of a rod for their backs. The ending will either be amazing or people will burn their DVDs and blu rays in the streets.

Ooh no. Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace were full of Sony placements – surprised they didn’t put the logo on the Aston Martin DBS.

The original design looked too much like Ellen Page anyway, so that was probably on dodgy legal ground anyway.
I’m surprised they didn’t go with a design more like the actor in the first place – a direct visual guideline to animate the facial expressions surely beats the animator looking in a mirror going ‘oooh’.

Is it Vimeo that has the video of Josh riding what I assume is the U3X? Saw it a while back.
As for this, I am flummoxed. I would be mortified holding a conversation riding one of these things when the other person was walking.
Independence in barrier free environments? What?

On the one hand, the use of real life scenarios could come back to bite them. On the other, fictional ones wouldn’t give the premise as much vigour. Sounds like a good game in the making.

‘Too’ tough would have done it – Point Blank FTW!
I cannot see this complaint going anywhere – all Activision has to say is ‘where did the term come from?’ and it’s all up in the air.

Nope.

More likely to end up as something that can’t be trademarked, at least by a games company.

I never thought I would want to be struck blind. I am astounded.

Mere mention of the name makes me want to kick a cat across the room. Shame there isn’t one about.
I kid. I kid…
Gerbils fly more satisfactorily.

Hell no. Every time I see that film, I can see the sphere get a hefty whack. Not a good thing.
Is no one working on NPDE anymore? Remember seeing a figure of either 0.1 or 1% of the speed of light.
Worldships, can’t find a damn thing on ’em. Hopefully, I still have that issue of New Voyager.

Someone went nuts, no doubt about it.
However, it’s a slice of history, and if it still works well enough.
Despite the advantages of digital, there’s something to be said for the mechanical. A real shutter sound beats a digital recording any day.

‘Bolder camera’? What does it do, ask people out on your behalf? Tell you to take a few steps closer to the edge of a cliff because there’s a bit of grass in the frame? Nicked from Blackberry?
The Kin was an answer to a question that people were getting ready to stop asking, just no one knew it yet. Throw in Verizon’s pricing as the final nail… Then there were the decisions; photos, video all heading to the cloud, but still 8 gb of storage on device. Zune pass needs unlimited data, so what the hell?
I still feel it would have done well put out in Europe on a unltd data plan with the phone free.

As for Zune, I can remember sneering as I read an article re the Zune announcement – obviously following, and to make it worse, the hardware looked like the iPod as made by Fisher Price (not a bad idea, their stuff was hardy as hell when I was a kid, ever see the hinges on the 70s airport). I found it laughable.
But care to guess what I use for digital music now?

A great read. The stories of the people that have been suckered are nauseating, although the flat out gruesome details of the introductory tale are more than ample to illustrate just how unpleasant this ‘business’ is.
As for the use of the term ‘Internet Marketer’, what should they be called (use of any other term could be interpreted as misleading, ignorant or potentially slanderous)? The use of the term ‘snakeoil’ should give it away – back in the day, such travelling salesmen would happily proclaim medical properties, and most likely preyed on the ignorance of their potential customers most likely thinking of them as doctors (if it sounds like a duck…). As with any genre of industry, there are those that seek to abuse the rules in order to favour themselves, hence the need for so many governing bodies, perhaps negative assumptions should be made, if that meant that the rest of the industry would wake up and do something about it.
With regards to the legal aspects of what goes on on the internet, do we really need new legislation for every last thing? Why can they not view what the law is intended to prevent, at least to get things moving faster in the interim – OT example – in the UK the Video Recordings Act of 1984 made it illegal to sell or purchase videos without a certificate from the BBFC – for years many thought that there was a loophole in that there was no mention of existing ownership (once in possession, one was safe). Courts and police viewed it differently, in that the law was intended to prevent ownership, therefore all the bases were covered.

The game has been on my radar for a while, although it had started to drop a bit.
Now I’ve tried the demo, there are still things that don’t convince (not enough of the sand physics aspect in the demo, usual ammo nonsense), but as a fan of Apocalypse Now, I like the sound of this variation, and the fact that you can shoot legs out is good news (anyone who shot an enemy in the groin in Goldeneye will understand – I once dropped a Helghast with two shots to the foot in the original Killzone), and there’s a feeling of 100% commitment to the story – no soft pedalling. If the game can maintain the sense of scope and balance the story with the gameplay, this could be something good. A little clunky, and I would enjoy it more without the team element, as that needs a ‘get to cover’ order.
Still, being positive, right now, it’s on my buy list.

I like the little flourish in portrait mode when the list of place names comes up with the compass pointer next to them – if it’s been done, it’s been done, but first time I’ve seen it.
Way more effective than other apps I’ve tried in the same vein.

I could watch this all day – particular favourite would be the recommendation to get in the water.

Nah. Big logs. With loads of teddy bears running around for target practice.

There’s the potential for an amazing website in any entertainment media, unfortunately, particularly in film, television and music, there are some extremely unpleasant egos that write equally unpleasant to read articles and reviews. Because they have landed a job writing about music, film or whatever, they somehow regard their opinion as far more valid than anyone else, and yet, more than games, more than tech, it is a painful open sore that it is, in the final analysis, just an opinion.

It does nothing Miller! NOTHING!

Something rugged, with little compromise?
Finally, someone gets it. Now if only they applied similar logic to the Micros…
I’m very interested to see the image quality on this.