You Are Quite Feeble

I went to sleep at around 1 AM last night and woke up today at 8.30 AM. Very, very unusual to say the least.

I took a shower, shampooed, brushed my teeth, and Listerined. Let's just say it had been a while.

Things I thought about in the shower for some reason, and made a brief stop to look for on Wikipedia:

- The Japanese "Rising Sun" flag. It's sort of badass. I've been playing a WWII era game this last week involving a Pacific theater multiplayer stage, where teams are either Marine Raiders or the Imperial Army. Kiefer Sutherland does the voice cues for the Marines; pronouncements like "We are taking this fucking flag!" and "A lot of good men died out there today, all for nothing!" The Japanese voice cues are done in English with a fairly offensive accent.

- The Drumitar.

Interesting facts I discovered within 10 minutes or so:

- Japan didn't nationally adopt their current flag (officially) until 1999.

- Roy Wooten was found guilty of tax evasion in 2005.

I realized this morning that having no sleep schedule whatsoever was also subconsciously giving me license to not do anything I've been needing to do. There is always a mental subtext of "Well, I'll get around to it once I get my shit together. I just need to focus on staying awake right now." Not that I wasn't aware of this before, but it struck me how, today, I will not be able to get away with wasting the next 14 hours of wakefulness. If I had woken up at, say, 3 AM, this would certainly not be the case.

Gossip Girl is my favorite show of the new season. It is very much like The O.C., yet instead of annoying-but-beautiful rich kids and the outsider in Orange County, this show revolves around annoying-but-beautiful rich kids and outsiders from the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Mind-blowing!

A sampling of the lead actors and actresses' names:

- Connor Paolo
- Leighton Meester
- Taylor Momsen
- Blake Lively
- Penn Badgley
- Kelly Rutherford
- Chace Crawford
- Nan Zhang

Those would be, respectively: Male, female, male, female, male, female, male, female.

Chuck
Plot summary: Unassuming Geek Squad ("Nerd Herd") employee becomes an operative for US spy agencies.
Outlook: Fresh but basically silly premise that doesn't seem to have much staying power.
Notable cast members: Female CIA agent is insanely hott and a good actress, yet a complete unknown. Sarah Lancaster (Scrubs' Gift Shop Girl, What About Brian's Marjorie). Adam Baldwin (Firefly's Jayne).

( continued... )

Thanks to 2K Sports, starting this winter we can relive the Sebastian Telfair Era in the most realistic basketball simulation ever produced.



No word on whether Franchise Mode will track the likelihood of point-shaving referees throughout custom seasons.

not that XKCD isn't always good...



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required daily reading for me:

- XKCD - Simple but hilarious observations about the modern world, technology and adult life through the eyes of an engineer. The artist just moved to the Cambridge-Somerville area, and promptly put up a Wiki-whiteboard in his apartment.

- Get Fuzzy - Darby Conley is a Concord native, huge Sox fan, and draws by far the funniest nationally syndicated comic strip in circulation today. Another 'guy with pets' comic strip, but will completely wash the bad taste of Garfield out of your mouth.

- Pearls Before Swine - Just discovered this one a few weeks ago. Artist has a political science degree from UC-Berkeley and a law degree from UCLA. Not that you'd necessarily be able to tell from the strip... it's smart, but mostly silly. I plan on buying a few of the books soon to get up to speed.

- Questionable Content - The appeal to me is, say, 20% the quirkiness, 40% the humor, and 40% it's soap operaness in webcomic format. Artist happens to live in Easthampton.

- Honorable mention for Non Sequitur and The Boondocks (currently in repeats), but the quality of both is maddeningly inconsistent.

- ...plus a bunch of videogame related ones, of course.

.:

A long time ago, for at least a couple of years I think I was convinced I wanted to be a cartoonist. Biggest problem-- at some point I realized I would have trouble being funny (on paper, anyway) once a week, let alone every day. Hmph.

- Awesomely stupid recap of the Lost season to date.

- I thought the Heroes finale tonight was pretty disappointing (and even pointless until the last few minutes), but I'm still very glad that alissaaa and Paul convinced me to get into the series a few weeks ago.

- On the other hand, 24 has been terrible all year, like, in an admirably consistent manner. Actually, the 2-hour finale tonight was probably the worst episode of the season, and possibly funnier than any half hour of (intentional) comedy programming I've watched this year.

- The Riches continues to be fascinating and funny after 10 episodes, a nice 180 after what I thought was a terrible pilot. It's a crime to have to watch it letterboxed in FX's standard definition (same goes for Nip/Tuck). Sure, Eddie Izzard's genius comes across pretty much regardless of medium, but we can all agree that Shannon Woodward in a tiny plaid skirt deserves as many pixels as possible.

- This Sunday's episode of The Sopranos was probably one of my favorite ever. After pretty much writing them off after some of the weirdness last season, I think they have slowly but steadily built up quite a head of steam heading into the home stretch here. I will really miss some of these characters when they're gone; Dr. Melfi and Tony during their psychobabble sessions come to mind in particular. Meadow and A.J.'s conversations are starting to remind me a little of my own relationship with my sister. Only I didn't try to drown myself in the pool or anything yet, and (I don't think) I sound like that much of a moron.

- The Daily Show has had a couple of tough guests during the last few shows. Don Rickles last week was prone to telling long rambling stories that weren't all that funny, and Jon Stewart kept punctuating every couple of sentences with a forced sympathy guffaw. Tonight's guest was a journalist with an extremely heavy Lebanese accent. I could understand about 90% of what he was saying with great concentration. But I'm used to crazy accents, I'm guessing it was worse for other people to watch. It's probably in extremely poor taste to be complaining about an elderly comedy legend and thick foreign accents, but dammit, it makes for bad TV.

- The Halo 3 public beta has been kind of underwhelming thus far (and of course, I feel OBLIGATED to play since it's only happening for a few weeks). Visually, this can't (yet) be Microsoft's flagship product for the 360. I'm hoping there's a lot we haven't seen yet (even though Bungie announced recently that the game itself is finished and that they'll be in bug-fixing mode until September). Either way, tradition dictates that this winter I will be renting the game and having a marathon session with one or two of my cousins.

- Anyone ever heard of/played the board game Catan? I've been kind of hooked on the 360 version of it for a few days.

- Everyone knew it was coming, but I'm still very impressed by the details of the StarCraft 2 announcement. The gameplay video, while technically stunning (I always thought that Warcraft III's transition to 3D robbed it of most of its former attention to detail and personality, while this shows just the opposite), also gives a good sense of how the RTS genre is going to evolve.

- I had a quality weekend, even though I got locked out of my house and ended up hanging out in my driveway for several hours playing basketball, practicing my golf swing (no kidding) and finally sleeping in my car while I was supposed to be at following's birthday dinner.

- Big day tomorrow. Huge day tomorrow. Tommy Heinsohn's in New Jersey.

- Yeah, so I should sleep.

About a week ago, I found a ridiculous coupon for 60% off two video games from Amazon. I already have many games that I haven't finished and I was planning on holding off on new purchases until Virtua Tennis 3 was released. But I just can't resist a good promotional code. So I looked through the eligible titles and ended up buying:

Call of Duty 2 (Xbox 360) - your standard war shooter... great reviews, reportedly high production values, all that. At least one publication's "Game of the Year" for 2005. I'm already having fun with it, despite the technology being very far from the cutting edge at this point (Call of Duty 3 was released months ago)... So yet another reason why Microsoft's "Achievements" concept is complete genius-- old games that you haven't played will always have some appeal.

LocoRoco (PSP) - I've been using my PSP about once every two months. Sony is releasing an updated, slimmer PSP with internal memory soon, so the whole "awesome gadget" appeal is about to be permanently gone. LocoRoco was a title I had heard bits and pieces about; something that introduces a whole new genre, and one of those games that is worth playing as much for the audiovisual experience as it is for the gameplay itself ('Okami' for the PS2 comes to mind). The one drawback is supposed to be that it's pretty short... but considering I don't use my PSP much anyway, it seems like a good match. Plus I'm getting it for basically $10.

In LocoRoco, you don't control the character, you tilt and shake the landscape by hitting the left and right triggers. Just watch the trailer:



Surprisingly fun.

- Sure, Britney needs a little help right now. Years of therapy, even. But she's going to look damn cute once her hair grows in a little.

- The spawn of Tom Brady and Bridget Moynahan is going to grow up to be a superhero. He/she doesn't have a choice in the matter.

- I can't bring myself to care about the mess Anna Nicole has left behind. Not even a little.

- My new company's stock price dropped 42% a couple of weeks ago after restating earnings for the last three quarters. Soon afterwards they became the recipient of something like 15 class-action lawsuits on behalf of shareholders. Now we're getting those emails that say stuff like, "it is very important that all Company documents that may in any way relate to these events be preserved as evidence to assist us in defending the Company... All paper records, electronically stored information, e-mail or other electronic communications related to the restatement of financial results must be saved." Obviously, these are very exciting times for the subprime mortgage business.

- I've finished watching 5 of 6 seasons of Northern Exposure. Unquestionably better than anything else I've been watching on TV these days. I'll definitely be missing the fictional community of Cicely, Alaska when I'm done.

- The OC's series finale is Thursday. wahh, i guess.

- Grey's Anatomy is in the middle of the dumbest cliffhanger ever. Unless they do something unexpected. They won't. For my three friends who are getting married this year, I will be reciting the entire Izzy Stevens "I believe" speech at ONE reception. Which one will just have to be a fun surprise.

- Crackdown officially goes on sale today for the Xbox 360. Hopefully I'll find a copy somewhere during lunch today. Again, the concept in a nutshell is that it's a Grand Theft Auto style "sandbox" game where you're a superpowered cop. Judging from the demo, the biggest draw is going through the game trying to level up (allowing yourself to jump higher, get better cars, etc.). Once I'm done with it-- which seems like it could be a month or less-- I'll probably be heading back to Gears of War until Virtua Tennis 3 comes out.

- I spent a night last week doing a website design for a friend of a friend's new T-shirt business. Primary concern was doing a design that was quirky but not too crazy for your typical inebriated college student. Here's my mockup... the actual site likely won't be quite that polished.

- This three-day weekend could not have come at a better time. I had drinks with Eugene a couple nights ago, he always forces me to take a look at what I could be doing right now. I don't have the answer quite yet, but at least I'm thinking about it in a healthier way.

- The Celtics currently own the worst record in the league. The conventional wisdom is that they should continue to tank the season so they can position themselves for one of the top 2 picks in the draft (resulting in Greg Oden or Kevin Durant). When the season started, Paul Pierce was healthy and they were a decidedly middle-of-the-pack squad. Today Paul Pierce is once again healthy, Wally Sczerbiak is back, and a few of the younger guys have gotten leaps and bounds better during the 18-game losing streak. I don't see how this is supposed to work. I'm just going to enjoy watching and not worry about it.

- Ah, did I mention-- spring training has officially started. Everyone's there except Manny Ramirez, but his mother is ill (seriously). My big question: How good does Daisuke need to be for the average fan not to be disappointed?

...brought to you by the Nintendo Wii.

i've received word after a long wait that my soon-to-be employer has enacted a hiring freeze until February. in the meantime i've grown a beard that would make a TSA employee hyperventilate, and i've set new personal records for Circadian rhythm weirdness. but mostly have been filling my hours with video games and movies and television. not to mention hours and hours of reading RSS feeds about useless shit.

i've been playing lots of Gears of War and, more recently Saint's Row (a GTA clone, basically) on the video game side. many, many nights playing GoW deathmatch after deathmatch from 1 AM to whenever i started to fall asleep (might be 6 AM, might be 3 PM). by the end of many sessions i'd often find myself in matches with teammates speaking French and wondering why i wasn't talking back.

( movies, tv i've been watching in the last few months )

i'm trying to finish up Saint's Row for the 360 soon, as i'm planning on buying Crackdown when it comes out. it's a similar type of game in the GTA ("sandbox" genre) vein, but instead of a criminal, you're a cop. with superhuman strength and agility and badass cars.



and if time permits someday, i may go outside!

an upcoming PSP title that blurs the line between 3D and 2D platforming... maybe a cool enough idea to make me consider taking my PSP out of storage, along with Loco Roco?



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Pope Condemns Violent and Sexually Explicit Games

Any trend to produce programmes and products - including animated films and video games - which in the name of entertainment exalt violence and portray anti-social behavior or the trivialization of human sexuality is a perversion, all the more repulsive when these programmes are directed at children and adolescents.

whatever-- i have it on good authority that Vice City was Jesus' game of the year in 2002.

in all seriousness, it's not exactly enhancing the debate to make blanket statements like this. i'm willing to bet that 95% (if not all) of the videogame examples he is thinking of are rated for "Mature" audiences (17+) in most countries. but then again, i guess he's saying that these types of media shouldn't exist at all... alright, so i assume if i want to avoid material "exalt[ing] violence and portray[ing] anti-social behavior or the trivialization of human sexuality" i can just stick to the Bible, right?

it's a good time to be a 360 owner.

The PS3 is a total disaster on so many levels, I think it's really clear that Sony lost track of what customers and what developers wanted... I'd say, even at this late date, they should just cancel it and do a 'do over'. Just say, 'This was a horrible disaster and we're sorry and we're going to stop selling this and stop trying to convince people to develop for it.'

Newell on PS3: A Total Disaster (kotaku)

(Gabe Newell is co-founder of Valve Corporation, developers of the Half-Life franchise.)


Nomura Securities of Japan predicts Sony will miss its PS3 sales target by 25% due to what they call "poor sales" of the console in North America.

Analyst: PS3 to miss target by 25% due to poor sales (joystiq)


Gamestop and EB Games [are] offering $100 off the purchase of a PS3 by handing over your PS2. The PS3 does play PS2 games, albeit a little jagged, so getting $100 off for trading it in could be construed as a good deal -- especially if you're part of the PS2 sporadic "disc read error" crew. This advertisement and deal is one the first true signs that retailers have stock and want those systems out the door.

$100 off PS3 by giving up PS2 (joystiq)

HD-DVD continues to outsell Blu-Ray offerings at Amazon.com

Microsoft exceeds 10 million unit goal for Xbox 360 sales by 2007

Gears of War sales reach 2.7 million, 360 accessory + game 'attach rates' continue to lead industry, 5 million Xbox Live subscribers

what were the PS3's strengths supposed to be again, for the extra $200?

more powerful hardware, meaning better graphics + interactivity: well, right now the best-looking title available on any console is Gears of War, a 360 exclusive. John Carmack (id software's co-founder, effectively the father of 3D gaming) agrees with Newell that the 360 is a superior console for developing purposes. two head-to-head comparisons (gamespot, 1up) of similar titles on both consoles came away either calling it a draw or giving the edge to the 360. One developer has already let slip that a title being developed simultaneously for both systems will feature better crowd AI on the 360 because the hardware allows for better threading capabilities.

Blu-Ray: there's yet to be any evidence that a 360 game has been, or will be, truncated due to a lack of game disc space... plenty of titles continue to be developed side-by-side for both consoles with identical content. the conventional wisdom among 3D developers is that full-motion video cutscenes were primarily what was chewing up disc space during the last generation. now, more cutscenes are being drawn with the in-game engine. naturally, better quality textures for the 3D environment/objects take up more space as well, but the funny thing is that the 360's texture memory bandwidth is much better suited to handle them.

a free online service: sure, the price is definitely a plus for them. but for my $4 a month i get voice messaging, private chats, customized profiles, a unified ID + friends list across all games. I can also download stuff from the service (e.g. games, HD movies, whatever) and continue to play games or browse the service at the same time. PSN does not yet support those features.

Xbox Live Arcade titles that I own and play online include Lumines, Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, Texas Hold 'Em Poker (which i've probably spent 30% of my xbox time with), Uno, Doom, Zuma, and i'll be buying Worms (yes, that Worms) when it comes out this month.

I don't personally play any of them, but tons of classic coin-op games are on the service, like Pac-Man, Defender, Gauntlet, Galaga, Frogger, etc. There are also several fantastic original titles like Geometry Wars and Hexic HD. (complete list). meanwhile, i don't think i've heard of any of the (very few) games that are on the playstation network. i understand that it's been online in its current form for less than two months, but they've had four years to take notes on Xbox Live, and their current PS3 users are basically beta testers whether they like it or not.

now, with all that and the anecdotal evidence that Sony thinks their customers are complete morons, wouldn't you rather have a 360 and a Wii? or an iPhone?

it's a no-brainer that i spent more time in 2006 with plastic Gibson SG replicas (of Guitar Hero I and II fame) than my actual Gibson SG Special. and i don't even own the games.

i suppose this trend could go either way in 2007, but it's not looking good.

ugh, Gwen Stefani sounds like Fergie in the first single from the new album. Love Angel Music Baby was my favorite album of 2004 (and i'll stand by that), but this is totally cringe-inducing. maybe "Pharrell" should stop making HP commercials and pay more attention-- this time you've gone too far.

oh yeah, it features totally non-subtle sampling of the yodelling puppets song from Sound of Music. the fact that this is gonna be the first single worries me a little.

.:

Marvel: Ultimate Alliance comes out tomorrow today. i think that this series (including X-Men Legends I + II) are the only RPG's i'll ever be interested in. (trailer)

when it comes to the best PC game ever though, i think i may have installed it a few hours ago:

The Typing of the Dead

Guitar Hero II Confirmed for Xbox 360 (darkzero.co.uk)

featuring a new (wireless!) controllah.



it's 6.00 PM and i'm still at work! and i'm gonna be here till 9! and i'm making livejournal posts about dumb shit!

When Miyamoto told the reporter at the NYT that the new Nintendo console would cost $250USD, the reporter asked why it was $50 higher than previous Nintendo consoles. Miyamoto said it was due to differences in the exchange rate. So the reporter said "Fluctuations?"

Miyamoto replied "Fluck you Amelicans too!"

- random slashdot comment)

too bad i'm boycotting Madden until the exclusive NFL license expires.

Madden 07 taught me everything I need to now about football. (slate.com)

Televised football would instantly improve by throwing a few Madden flourishes into their coverage. For starters, they should ramp up the use of the so-called SkyCam—the XFL used bird's-eye views all the time, and it was the only reason those games were worth watching. Also, when the team on offense huddles up, a graphic should pop up noting how many tight ends, wide receivers, and running backs have entered the game. Ditto for the defense. And after the play is over, they should quickly flash a Madden-esque graphic with multicolored vectors depicting the routes that the receivers just ran across the field.

:.


http://pxlt.livejournal.com/221584.html

i think they SHOULD present her as heavier. SOME of the incessant perkiness has got to go if she's opening up every broadcast evening with body counts and whatnot. she's still lovely and wholesome.

next Tuesday, September 5th people! i wonder if we're finally going to see a flagship network news programme in HD? then again, i guess they can't Photoshop her in real-time.

.:

Women spend two and a half years on their hair

the new Mac ads are excellent. very funny.

still not as funny as these spoofs though.

i'm gonna go watch some BitTorrented HD Deadwood on my big TV, streamed from my Windows Vista beta to my Windows Media Center-enabled Xbox 360. someone make a commercial about that.

also, moving sucks.

i finally broke down and bought a DVD a couple of days ago. Batman Begins. i only did it to get free shipping on something else, but it's a little disappointing. this HD-DVD/Bluray scorched earth war thing totally needs to get moving.

did i mention that i didn't completely love that movie? cause i didn't. that might change on a 2nd viewing at home, but overall i was kind of meh. i think a) i expected Scarecrow to kick much more ass than he did, although i don't want to take anything away from Cillian Murphy's treatment of dr. crane, it was nicely done. and b) katie holmes ruins everything. and c) ...no, maybe that's it. i don't know. it was done with much respect for the character (obviously the complete conceptual antithesis of something like Batman & Robin), so i'm certainly looking forward to more. heath ledger as the joker is going to be great. i caught A Knight's Tale on cable the other day and it totally ... no, he's honestly going to be really good.

i bought the dvd mainly so i could see the new batmobile on my own tv, cause it will be sweet.

speaking of The Batman. i just started watching a cartoon series entitled The Batman. it's really not good. it's got this total phoned-in shite theme song by The Edge* featuring a creepy whispered voiceover of "THE BAAAAT MAAAAN" as an ending. (and the "lead guitarist of successful mainstream rock band does superhero cartoon theme song" thing has already been done, and done better w/ Joe Perry and the Spider-Man theme from Fox Kids a few years back. so no.) actually other than an early, fairly impressive treatment of Bane and the regular voice work of Audi HOF'er Ming-Na, it doesnt have much going for it so far. to be fair, it's really kind of an impossible task following up the Bruce Timm series of the past several years.

i've watched most of those DC Comics cartoon series (all of Batman: The Animated Series, Superman, Batman/Superman Adventures, Justice League/Justice League Unlimited, most of Batman Beyond, none of Teen Titans).

you can't watch all the way through a series like JLU and not love the DC comics universe. part of the fun of not being super-obsessive is that you can be a fair-weather fan of everything... i still love Marvel comics, but the Bruce Timm produced stuff is really as good as it gets as far as cartoons go. who would have thought that Hawkgirl would be my favorite DC comic book character ever? the voice acting cameos are brilliant too... Jason Bateman, Dennis Haysbert, Steven Root, Alfred Molina, Oded Fehr, Dakota Fanning (great episode), Tom Everett Scott, pretty much everyone from Firefly...

i spent a few hours the other night searching for and comparing mp3's of the theme songs to these shows and deciding which ones would make the cut to get on my iPod. maybe i am obsessive, i take it back.

my iPod currently has about 49 of its available 57 gigs filled up with music.

my life is a constant deafening sensory overload. and i want more. i can't afford to take anything halfway, so i simply don't start half of everything. i've changed my mind (ha, nice choice of words), the medication isn't working.

someone needs to wind me up and point me in the general direction of something productive and/or beneficial to humanity.

:.

just try and tell me this doesn't look fun.

( ooh, video game talk )

You Are 60% Abnormal

You are at high risk for being a psychopath. It is very likely that you have no soul. You are at high risk for having a borderline personality. It is very likely that you are a chaotic mess. You are at high risk for having a narcissistic personality. It is very likely that you are in love with your own reflection. You are at medium risk for having a social phobia. It is somewhat likely that you feel most comfortable in your mom's basement. You are at low risk for obsessive compulsive disorder. It is unlikely that you are addicted to hand sanitizer.

:.



.:

Your Boobies' Names Are...

Love Muffins

not surprised at the first (in fact, it's pretty dead on). quite surprised at the second (although, i definitely spend more time reading about video game + CGI technology than actually playing games, so that skews things a bit) ...last one's pretty disappointing.

a Daily Dish reader writes:

I would ask [the soldier who wrote to you insisting that the portrayal of the war effort is unfairly negative] that if a car bomb in Detroit today killed five policemen, as happened today in Mosul; if the president was forced to declare a state of emergency in Dallas because 140 people were kidnapped and killed this month, as was the case in Basra; if a priest was gunned down in Washington D.C., as was the case today in Baghdad where a Shiite muazzin was killed; if the major of a Westminster, Md., was killed by a bomb hidden in his air conditioner, as was the case in a city 60 miles north of Baghdad today; if jittery police forces fired upon and killed two women, one of them pregnant, north of the capital - if all of these related events happened in the United States this day, May 31 - a day after another 54 were killed by a car bomb in Washington - do you think the news media would, or should, report that despite the violence, all was well in most of America?

.:

not to harp on this, but honestly--

saying i'm against the war but support the troops is like saying Barry Bonds is a cheater- but he's still one of the all-time greats. just shut up.

:.

Sony's PS3 gamble: Should Blu-Ray have been optional? (arstechnica)

handicapping HD-DVD vs Blu-Ray

so the PS3 is around $600. the guaranteed thing-- 3 to 4 million PS3's (in fact, every last one that is distributed to retailers) WILL be sold for the holiday shopping season. buyers: tons of rich video gamers and some early adopter videophiles looking to get a cheap Bluray player.

most likely, a significantly smaller number of HD-DVD players will be sold during this same time period (including the Xbox add-on). the target market is only early adopter videophiles who will have to pay $500 and up for a player that is not guaranteed to become the 'standard'.

so then what?

quick case study: the PSP, while overall not a great success for Sony, demonstrated that gamers were willing to try out a proprietary video format with dubious value (Universal Media Discs, or UMDs). sales were surprisingly brisk at first, then things tanked because people saw that it was incredibly stupid to pay $20 for a UMD (special version of a DVD that could only be played back on a very small screen that was awkward to passively sit and watch for two hours).

fact: all of the videophiles and many of the gamers who buy a PS3 this winter will also have HDTVs (a reasonable conclusion for the gamers given the fact that they're demonstrating obscene amounts of disposable income).

conclusion: millions of PS3 owners just might buy Bluray movies. and then Sony gets instant revenue and credibility in the next-generation optical format wars (HD-DVD vs Bluray market share will be a joke at that point).

then Sony can do the unprecedented (for that early in the product cycle) and immediately start to drop prices as soon as consoles quit flying off the shelves. (but this would require Sony being smart and nimble with their business strategy. that doesn't sound right.)

side note: the PS2 was manufactured with a built-in DVD drive, a technology which had been around for four years by its launch. launch PS2 (game) titles were actually still on CD-ROMs, yet newer titles (towards the end of the console's lifespan) probably average around 2-4 GB per disc (close to a full single-layer DVD). one might reasonably assume that the storage space needed for PS3/Xbox 360 games will expand from the current 3-6 GB per disc to a conservative 18-25 GB. 25 GB bluray discs are already being mass-produced, 50 GBs will be coming out this summer... and a 200 GB prototype has already been developed. therefore: either the (integrated dvd only) xbox 360 is setting itself up to have crappy games by the middle of its life cycle, or developers are going to take the foolhardy (see: SegaCD, 32X) step of requiring gamers to purchase an expensive HD-DVD add-on to keep up.

counter-argument: much of the space being taken up by current generation (xbox/ps2) games is devoted to full-motion video (FMV) sequences. prerendered cutscenes. but the 3D engines of the next-generation consoles are able to render much more realistic cutscenes in real-time. the code for these cutscenes use a fraction of the disk space and tend to incorporate assets (textures, most significantly) that might be a part of the game anyway. thus: next-gen games don't need any more space than a DVD.

.:

i hate the word "gamer".

i also hate the word "sassy". for some reason, i kind of enjoy the word "sass".