The Kinect problem

Okay so it turns out I'm a prophet. Sadly this didn't mean a premonition of the winning lottery tickets, but almost 3 years ago I did point a potential issue about Microsoft's new Kinect system

"Also worth a mention those techy type shows such as The Big Bang Theory where the characters play on-screen with an XBox

Character: "Xbox: Channel 1"
Viewer: "... hey what just happened? I was watching that.""

Guess what happened to those people watching the live streaming of Microsoft's new XBox One reveal with built-in Kinect system?

Several viewers sporting 360s with connected Kinects discovered the device was responding to commands being spoken by Microsoft representatives during the live stream. Responses to the commands varied from the video being paused to the console itself being shut down.

Gosh how could anyone have possibly predicted that sort of thing could happen?

The end of console backwards compatability?

Microsoft have revealed their future console the boring titled "XBox One" which is only slightly more original than Sony's revealed (or more like hinted at) Playstation 4. What both platforms have in common (besides using Blu-ray, rechargeable and vibrational controllers etc.) is their lack of backwards compatibility. So what? The current Xbox360 will only play some old Xbox games and the backwards functionality was totally removed from the PS3 - what's the difference here? Architecture.

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Kinect

With the news that the Playstation Move is outselling the Microsoft Kinect (though as expected you can take the metrics with a pinch of salt) it reminds me that though I've mentioned using Move I've yet to relate my experiences of Kinect.

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XBox Live and the lack of security

I received a frantic call from a parent friend of mine last night. His credit card had been charged with some XBox Live purchases. His son denied all knowledge of this and he was worried that someone had hacked the account.

The outcome was that the son had done it "by accident" but working this out threw up some concerns about the XBox Live service.

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Microsoft Kinect and Playstation Move

A little bit over three years later and both Microsoft and Sony have finally caught up with the Nintendo Wii. But have they surpassed it?

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Microsoft eliminate XBox 360 RROD

Fanboys will be pleased to hear that in the brand new hardware version of the XBox360 Microsoft have complete eliminated the Red Ring Of Death that plagued so many early models... now it's a Red Dot Of Death instead. Yup they've just changed out the LEDs.

Okay slightly unfair the newer models have lessened the cause of the RROD, but still it is amusing that they've done this.

That XBox360

Remembered to call Bratus Pater about which XBox360 model he's buying.

"It's um the Arcade [Major] picked it out because I think it was the cheapest. I ordered it last night"
"Damn. Er you do know it won't play the old XBox games because it needs a hard drive"
"Doesn't it come with one? I thought it did"
"No it comes with a 256Mb memory stick"
"I think you're right, so which games can't he play?"
"The old Xbox ones or any of the new ones that require a hard-drive which isn't many"
"Hmm that's annoying"
"Yeah I thought it might be what with the old previous games being much cheaper"
"I'll have to think about that"

"Is he expecting to go online with it?"
"Yes"
"Ah you do know that none of them come with wireless built-in, your router's downstairs isn't it"
"Yeah, oh wait I'm getting a wireless entertainment bundle with it"
"Is that just an extra controller and maybe a headphone though?"
"I don't know let me look.... can't find it"

"Okay does he want to play with his friends online?"
"Yeah we know there's a subscription something like £4 a month"
"£40 a year so yeah. Might want to have a look at your order you can probably get the 60Gb version for a little more and it'll save buying a hard-drive later"
"It says it's been packed up, but there's a number to call I'll try them"

later...

"I can't cancel as it's been dispatched. The guy said none of them come with wireless built-in but I can get an accessory for £60 to do that"
"£40 from Amazon"
"Oh. And he recommended a hard-drive as Microsoft like to update the menu system and want to put in on a hard-drive he said I could probably pick up a second-hand 20Gb from eBay for £30 or so"
"About £40 new from Amazon, or Play I can't recall"
"Oh. The network connection is Ethernet isn't it?"
"I think so I'd be surprised if it isn't"
"Well it's no really hardship to run a cable up to his bedroom"
"Mmm what's your wireless signal like upstairs?"
"Not good"
"Yeah might be for the best"
"I think we might look at getting a hard-drive for him later it looks like they just slot on"
"Yeah they want to tempt you with the cheap basic package then get you to buy the extra bits later. Of course you have to buy the Microsoft-own hard drives"
"Oh yeah, wouldn't expect different"
"Of course this is a long-distance transaction so you have however long it is to change your mind"
"Yeah I'm looking at their returns policy at the moment"

Gods you've got to love my uncle. Anyway it's Gamestation he's getting it from and looking at their returns policy he can pop into Kiddy tomorrow and return it for a full refund and probably pick up the 60Gb while he's there if he decides to... hmm it's £40 more for a bundle that doesn't include the Tennis game, damn that's dumb! Wow looking at a bunch of sites the bundles for the Arcade version are much more attractive then for the 60Gb or even the Elite. Gosh you don't think this is as a result of direct competition with Sony's Playstation 3 do you? A case of "Oo look we're much cheaper then them with lots more extras"?

Of course this is all speculation, the reality is likely to be that he'll stick with what he's bought because that's what he's got and it's too much hassle to change. Then he'll find a second-hand drive at a car-boot or something. Oh and no he didn't ask which motherboard type it used.

XBox360 examination

As mentioned Bratus Major is supposed to be getting an XBox360 for his birthday, this is due to the price difference to the PS3 and the fact that all his friends have one.

So needing a present for his birthday I held my nose and dived into XBoxland ;-)

Now the price difference was stated to be £150, as the PS3 is around £300 that means they're probably looking at the cheapest version the XBox 360 Arcade for £137 of Amazon with Sega Superstar Tennis which was mentioned as well.

Now something interesting arises here, as Major wants to be able to go online and the router is downstairs this means he needs the Wireless Adaptor for £42. If he actually wants to play against his friends he'll also need Gold membership at £40 per year. If he wants to download demos etc he's also likely to need a hard-drive and the cheapest at 20Gb will cost around £37.

So £137+£42+£40+£37=£256 still cheaper than the PS3, but with 60Gb less memory and no high-definition disc player. Hmmm if they bought the next one up which comes with a 20Gb hard drive it'll cost £147 add in the accessories to make it £229 make it the 60Gb for a total of £242 or the Elite which would total £297... wait that's about the same price as a PS3.

Hmm I think I'd better have a quick word with Bratus Pater to check which version he's going for. For a tenner more the 20Gb looks much better value than the Arcade edition despite not being bundled with the tennis game. Although looking at the XBox site the 20Gb version isn't listed suggesting it's now obsolete and using the older less reliable chipsets.

Duck and cover

In the console world nothing rings my alarm bells more then seeing a new release prior to its full review in the Official Magazine of the Console. It strongly suggests that the game is a huge steaming offering to Hruggh and they're throwing it out there in the hopes that some poor young fool will drop forty notes on it without looking at all the State-side reviews warning them away from it. Klaxons really start to add their strident note when you spot that they haven't released an online demo before it hits the shelves.

Okay maybe not. I've been accused elsewhere of being too cynical, so I'll try to think happy thoughts. Perhaps the game's already overdue and now it's ready they want to release it to all those patient people who have pre-ordered it; magazine deadlines go hang this game's great and it doesn't need any reviewers adding extra publicity to its already huge greatness. Besides it got great reviews in the States so why bother with what the yokel locals think. The demo thing is just too difficult, it's an open sandbox/highly complex/insert reason here and we'd have to spend valuable time paring down the game; time that could be better spent on the game itself.

Ulp nope sorry can't do it. While the bit about the demos contains some small truth the marketing drones at video game companies will essentially kill their own mothers if they think that they'll get good free press out of a magazine; and if that means delaying the launch of a title until the rave reviews have come in then that's what they'll do. So the only reason to launch before the printed reviews land is because they know it'll compare their offering to something that should be handled by six-foot tongs and dropped into a lead-lined poop-scoop bag.

So why my post? Well we've had a few games out for the Playstation 3 recently a couple of which I've been looking at, the first "Turning Point Fall of Liberty" and the second "Dark Sector"; both out before an official review.

After the former's review finally made it into print it managed to scrape a feeble 4 out of 10, 'un'official reviews of the latter suggest it starts off okay, improves, then drops like a stone into annoying repetitiveness and as such sounds reminiscent of TimeShift though maybe not as fun or with the vertical sync problem. In either case without a demo they're not getting any money out of me.

What with the US getting these games released several months before us and the many online reviews I have to ask "How dumb do games manufacturers think we are?"

Console Wars - Built to last.

Ah the console wars, for those who don't know it the battle is still raging on with the Xbox 360, the Playstation 3 and the Wii. The Wii has sold more, the 360 has better games, and the PS3 um looks really nice. All that though is superficial compared to the really big question - what happens when something goes wrong?

This entry was prompted by a set of coincidences one of which was this link from the Guardian Games Blog about the real reason behind the failure rate of this console.

It seems easy to believe - in order to get the jump on a rival a company discards quality in the vain hope that it can be all sorted out later; a little like a cavalry charge into the enemy followed by thick fighting hoping the infantry turns up to bail them out. The most interesting point I found was the answer to the question

Q: How many times does an Xbox 360 unit have to be sent in and repaired before they will replace it with a completely new unit?

You don't they get rotated the one you get back isn't necessarily the one you sent in. Results in a nice turnaround, but as one commenter asks 'Can't wait for someone to send in a new HDMI version and get an old one in return'.

Next up is the Nintendo Wii, this part was prompted by my boss who bought two before Christmas and found one of them failed to accept a disc. It took him until last week to manage to get in touch with Nintendo who, as it was still under warranty, are sending out a Freepost address sticker and asking him to stick it in a box for return. He's intelligently going to add on proof of postage and insurance which will come out of his own pocket.

Finally we get to the Sony Playstation 3 which had bubble mixture spilled over it which got into the disc tray. This caused the system not to work... at least for a while. After contacting Sony the same day he was asked to boot it up to check and was surprised to find it worked. Two days later while playing a DVD it failed. He talked to Sony the next morning, out of warranty, damn. How much to fix? Well the easiest thing to do is we can send you out a new one for £200 and pick up the old one.

The next day a courier arrived with a big box, unsealed it, took out a new identical version PS3 and put the defunct one back in the box for return.

So what can I say? Microsoft Xbox360 - Apparently a poor manufacturing process leading to a high failure rate; Nintendo Wii - difficult to get hold of in every way; Sony Playstation 3 - robust enough to withstand accidental spillage for a time, easy to get hold of and quick to respond (admittedly when money exchanged hands)

I think I picked the right horse.