I’m starting to rethink this whole Apple’s Cool thing…

I’ve been looking at there stuff more and more lately and have come to some disturbing conclusions.  Where shall I start?

iPhone: Outside of sheer storage space, 16gb on the higher end models, I’ve yet to find anything that makes this phone worth 499.  It makes phone calls, it sends text and picture messages, it surfs the web (although this is shoddy at best on AT&T’s network).  It plays music and video… In short it does the same things that many other phones do on the market… but that cost much less money.

iMac/Book: I used to have this thing with about how great they were, how indispensable they were.  And yet, I have seen several units under repair, I watch one crash earlier this week, and the available things for them are a mixed bag.  While some of them are fantastically designed (Time Machine, iPod integration, built-in iSights on the notebooks and iMacs) some are just downright frustrating. 

A few good examples: 1.) Try finding a webcam for your computer if you have a MacPro.  You can’t.  You have to either find one used (great, hand-me-down crap).  2.) You have to use 3rd party support.  While this may not seem to be a terribly tough thing, in practicality, I watched a Mac Genius fumble around and struggle for almost an hour and half to no avail.

As for iLife, it’s better than nothing, but far from the freeware that I can get for my WinPC.  I will grant the resistance to Viruses and SpyWare.  But here’s the catch, there are still viruses and spyware for mac.  In fact, the amount has grown with the increased popularity of the systems…  And try getting rid of it without redoing the machine.

iPod:  I really don’t have anything against the iPod except there insistance at using a native proprietary format (which makes them no better than their friends to the north).  I tried to transfer my music from one system to another… what a drag.  And what a shame if you have TWO computers (like quite a few households in America).  That fantastic song you just downloaded can only be on one of them (without a stupid amount of effort… and by stupid I mean more than copy/paste.)

I’m gonna simmer on this a while.

-Gr00ve

The most recent news of Wrath of the Lich King has assuaged some of my fears, answered some lingering questions and even provided some points to ponder. And while the news that WotLK hit the coveted “alpha build” is great for sure, as it means the release date approaches closer and closer to the typical Blizzard “It’ll release when it’s ready,” there remains little to be heard about any gameplay changes WotLK will bring to the board.

The latest, and probably last, patch released for The Burning Crusade brought the following: lots of daily quests, lots of gold, phased quest lines which require server-wide cooperation to complete, and, my favorite thing, the concept of being rewarded with a semi-unique namesake in the fourth Phase of the Sunwell quests.

If this patch is a preview of future things to come in Wrath, I think the collective Warcraft community is in for good things. Continue reading to see what improvements/releases could make Wrath that much more excellent.

(more…)

Not only does Grand Theft Auto IV come out, but so does Windows XP Service Pack 3!

This may surprise some of our more intrepid readers, as I have garnered myself a reputation for being a Vista supporter one of the few who enjoys Vista. And, thus far, I’ve had no gripes, issues or complaints about anything Vista does. I’ve got myself a decent rig (Core2Quad, 4gb ram, 1tb hard drive space, 7950gtoc video card [I know, it's old, forgive me]) and can deal with the chunk Vista takes to run it.

But, for some reason, whenever an OS Service Pack comes out, I get giddy. I’m not sure why, but I just do. In fact, I think I’m going to reformat on April 29thish, if not earlier, and see how XP SP3 is. Why?

The answer comes in two parts, really. During college, at semester’s end, I would reformat my computer. First, it prevented me from getting 18 million programs installed on my computer and hardly ever deleting them (i.e., my parents). Secondly, I did it for pure pleasure. There’s something about completely wiping a hard drive clean that soothes my soul.

And the more I think about it, doing a little boot-drive Spring Cleaning usually entices me to clean up the rest of my computer. Having a rabbit and dog in a studio apartment means I usually air-can my computer once a week, but I can go through, tag some of my non-or-mis-tagged mp3’s, delete some artists/albums I don’t listen to, knock off some television shows I dont need anymore (I’m looking at you, seasons 5-7 of the Gilmore Girls [my wife got me into that show and I ate it up] and the UK version of the Office) and some games I don’t plan on ever installing and playing again.

Do any of you, my lovely readers, have reformatting rituals? Are you looking forward to SP3? Leave me a note in the comments. I read them all - it just takes some time for them to get posted is all!

Mental Note: The only thing I need to do this time around, however, is set my Outlook archive/file to save to my non-boot hard drives, so I don’t have to re-load all my POP3′d emails and whatnot.

P.S.: I’m working on my column, which is the post I thought I’d have out the other day. It’s a slow process, as there’s a lot more reading to pour over before I commit myself to it. Besides, I’ve been feeling rather in the doldrums as far as writing is concerned as of late.

I’ve been, for better or worse, a pretty stalwart Internet Explorer user for quite some time now; I think since, ironically enough, Firefox went to 2.0. Firefox had tabs, IE didn’t. Then Internet Explorer had tabs. And I started using it again. No method to the madness, outside of the fact that IE auto-updated itself and I had to manually update Firefox.

Lately, I’ve been having some issues with IE and have been watching what’s coming up in Firefox 3 and the other night, decided to give Firefox 2 a try again. And, for better or worse, it’s been nice. However, what I catch myself paying more attention to, moreso than any other feature set, is the ability to have themes on Firefox.

Now, since I’ve been using IE for quite some time, I’ve gotten super used to the GUI of IE, so much that switching back to Firefox was tough. So, I’ve been looking through some themes and decided to use the ‘Vista-Aero’ theme. It’s been nice, as it does a decent job of copying the IE 7 UI.

However, I’m curious - what themes, if any, do our intrepid readers use? Are there any good ones you could suggest for me? I usually get tired of a certain theme after a week or two and wouldn’t mind looking up some other themes to use. While you may think this is just a ploy to get some comments in, I’m genuinely looking forward to see some responses. Post ahoy!

“Hey Baby. Looking for a good time…?”

We’ve laughed, we’ve cried.  It’s been a rocky and tumultuous relationship.  Often times, we will go prancing hand in hand and others I strongly must resist the urge to smack her around a bit and leave her for another mistress.

I’m talking about Windows of course.

After this latest rumored betrayal, how can I learn to trust again?  As it is already, Microsoft is already overcharging the hell out of their products.  There, I said it.  I know others have said this before, but I always have sided on the defense of Microsoft.  “Development costs, support costs, value (examples like Office which have several functions built into one).”  But if I have to start shelling out for specific components of an operating system, especially media features that were standard… there will be no more forgiveness. 

The worst part about the whole thing is the idea of a subscription; the absence of actual ownership makes my skin crawl.  With the number of free, or relatively inexpensive alternatives, how dare they?  You can get just about any flavor of linux that you’d like with minimal effort; hell, even Apple’s OS X offers a full version of there product with every feature Apple offers for $129.  A 5-License “Family Pack” is available for $199.  To get five licenses of Vista Home Premium you would spend $1200.

To think that for one minute I’m going to shell out for an incomplete OS and then shell out even more (perhaps continuously) to flesh it out is absurd.  I know that this entire rant is on the premise that Microsoft will overcharge for all of this, but there has been precedent.

I’ll leave you with this:

-Gr00veMerchant

Why pay more?

As I was trolling through my usual sources, I came across an article regarding Sony computers and their option to remove Bloatware via a “Fresh Start” service ($50) that they offer.  Pretty ballsy if you ask me.  Put something that customers do not want on their product, and then charge them money to take it back off.  Sounds kind of shady to me, but apparently I wasn’t the only person who thought so.

Soon after, Digg users had the article posted, targeted, and annihilated.  As clusters of complaints poured in, Sony then retracted the $50 fee, offering it as a free option on two of their customizable machines. 

I suppose Digg is good for something other than knocking out websites.

The warm-up: “When you want to have it all, including the ability to shift smoothly between the worlds of play and productivity, there’s Windows Vista Ultimate.”

The sales pitch: “Exclusive to Windows Vista Ultimate are Windows Ultimate Extras. Windows Ultimate Extras are add-ons that extend certain capabilities of your operating system or just make using your PC more fun. Windows Ultimate Extras currently available include”

And final sale: Over one year after release, the Vista team produced the following ‘Ultimate’ extras: DreamScene, Windows Hold ‘Em, Language pakcs for a Multi-lingual UI, Online Key Backup and BitLocker.

Awesome, I can have animated backgrounds, a new card game for when I’m bored of solitaire and other stuff I won’t use. Don’t I feel privelaged cheated to be an Ultimate user. What beguiles me is how can a team of professionals have their head so far up their collective asses as to create such a gaffe.

The Vista team didn’t go wrong in October, when they announced on the 23rd that they had finished pushing out the initial extras and failed to announce or let a detail or two slip of what was in the works.

They went wrong when they conceived the Vista Ultimate extras as an ever-evolving platform requiring continuous development and deployment of programs and other knick-knacks. Essentially, what is has become now, where users wait until their patience wears thin, poke the windows vista blog to see if any updates came up, see none and then go about their day wondering why they spent so much money on unfulfilled promises.

Where could they have gotten the Extras right? Well, for one, realize that the Ultimate platform should not be one of program distribution, but one of encapsulating distribution–where program co-exist with additional options, such as exclusive betas, game access and even Microsoft offers.

Which means, this: instead of rolling out Service Pack 1 in the fashion they did - giving Enterprise customers sole access until Update deployment in mid-March/April - they could have given Ultimate users access to this when it hit on Feb. 4. By and large, Ultimate users are power users, give them the chance to stir up some encouraging words on forums, blogs and whatnot about how much SP1 improves performance.

What else can you give the Ultimate users to give them something to toot their horns about?

The team was getting close with this offer, but it shouldn’t have been limited to additional copies of Vista. Instead, give Ultimate users a good discount on additional softwares, such as the Office suite. Give them additional discounts of Microsoft games, too. Limit it to PC-based games if you want, but I’m sure they could stir up some nice feelings if they spread Ultimate discounts to Xbox 360 software as well. Hell, they could even offload excess useless inventory onto Ultimate customers!

At this point, with how lambasted the service is, a complimentary year-long Games for Windows - LIVE gold service could come tied with Vista Ultimate.

It’s a shame that, as a Vista Ultimate user who was excited by the thought of an updated stream of exclusive extras, I feel like I’ve been terribly cheated.

When the much-aligned gaming drought is onset, I usually find myself looking to either the rest of the crap that’s dwindled out since the holiday boom, or scour the archives of my hard drive searching for an .iso I missed, say, playing Crysis or Call of Duty 4.

So what have I been doing to keep my mind sharp and my WASD hand nimble (don’t go there)?

Well, I picked up copies of Frontlines and Turning Point, both of which have turned out to be pretty big duds, Turning Point moreso than Frontlines, as I managed to find a game-stopping bug which prohibits me from switching weapons, firing them, or even having their models display correctly. So I uninstalled it. Expect a review of both of these guys coming sometime soon.

I have begun to play through Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War, it’s been the first RTS I’ve been able to get into in a long while and I’m having fun playing it so far, so we’ll see how far I get into it.

I’ve also been entrenched in a staring competition with Sins of a Solar Empire, seeing who can outlast the other. My brother only says great things about it (I’ve gotten three text messages early in the morning, saying both how tired he is and how great the game is). I played through a tutorial, liked it and never picked it up. Hopefully that’ll change at some point.

I’ve been also watching more and more YouTube lately and have been captured by this video of an Airbus A320 attempting to land in Hamburg, Germany. It’s undeniably badass.

But, let’s get to the point of the post: The gaming drought is done! The gaming gods doth rain upon us big-name releases! Hooray for Spring! What’s coming out in the next month, you ask? Let’s see:

-God of War: Chains of Olympus
-Army of Two
-SSBB
-Condemned 2
-Rainbow 6: Vegas 2
-Metal Gear Collection
-Dark Sector
-FFVII: Crisis Core
-C&C3: Kane’s Wrath
-STALKER: Clear Sky
-and maybe even Home!

Hooray for March! If I ever get a job, maybe March will be the month I find myself picking up a PSP and seeing what I can do with it.

I know I’ll become a pariah, but I can’t read this crap anymore.  I’m sick of hearing “Vista-bashing”.

I work in a consumer electronics store that happens to sell computers, and will have countless customers come in and say something to the effect of “Vista is terrible.  It’s filled with bugs.”  Every time without fail I’ll respond with “Oh really? What kind of bugs?”  And every time without fail the ‘intelligeble’ muttering comes back with a sheepish “I don’t know, that’s just what I heard.”

I guess I should attack this rant in steps. (Again, I’m not pro-Microsoft, I’m not pro-Apple, & I’m not pro-Linux)

Linus Torvalds

1.) Stop. Just stop. I know what you’re going to say, but you don’t know shit about computers. You have no basis for your argument and quite frankly need to stop pretending that you’re the next coming of Linus Torvalds.

2.) The “problems” everyone keeps talking about are there to protect your dumbass from doing the same things that screwed up your last computer. 

User Account Control is designed to warn you when something is being installed in order to reduce/eliminate the effect of malware.  Unless you intend on not visiting those naughty sites anymore, I suggest you leave it on.  For those of you who actually DO know what you’re doing, there is an option to shut it off, so stop bitching.  As far as the DRM is concerned, stop stealing things that aren’t yours.  Problem solved.

3.) Hardware Requirements: I get it, Vista doesn’t run on your 512mb Celeron processor.  It’s time to get a computer that’s not ten years old.  And on that note, don’t expect a $400.00 unit to be a gaming machine.  It’s not, it can’t, and it never will.

4.) Software Compatibility: Okay, so this one I’ll give you.  But seriously, almost every customer I talk to says “Oh yeah, I just use my computer for the internet.”  That means you need a web browser and security software.  Those should be things you replace once a year anyway. If you’re mad about the gaming situation, buy a console.

I really did try to hold my tongue, and I’m not even saying that it’s the greatest operating system on the face of the planet, but seriously… if it’s that bad, just buy an Apple.

What ever happened to the age old, plain Jane insanity plea defense? Honestly, what does any person gain from a defense of : ” [Lackey, the killer, was a] computer geek who had immersed himself in video games and lived in “a different world than you and I.”"

I’m an avid gamer, especially since I’m two-months unemployed. This means I’ve got a lot of time on my hands to do not much else but game. And yet, for all I can recall, I’ve never played a “video game” where I play a 24-year-old psychotic douche-bag looking for a vault under stairs, carrying a “starter pistol, knife (with the tip removed via a bone spreader (wtf! Where does one acquire a bone spreader at?!), stun gun, night vision goggles, mallet with a towel wrapped around it, a sledgehammer and a hatchet,” among other various tools one would need to do home improvement.

I mean, honestly. Save us the pandering, the public finger-pointing, aged Doom/Manhunt/GTA references and just plead plain insanity.