Kinect vs iPad Sales

Why compare Kinect vs. iPad sales this Christmas shopping season:

A lot of comments on the web from people who don't understand why this matters.

Here is why:

#1 Makes the X-Box a hot product again, and the Kinect may be the hot product for Christmas, little Jimmy which do you want for Christmas an iPad or the Kinect?

#2 Battle for the living room, X-Box is back in the front of people's minds here vs. Apple TV. Don't miss the ESPN content deal that also happened on X-Box.

#3 The amount of consumer $$$ spent on video games shifts back to consoles from the app stores.

Now some of these are false choices as I believe in the era we live in computing technology and interactive entertainment of all kinds will flourish it is not an either or scenario. House and cars sales not so much, but that is another story...

Blu-Ray 99% on Power DVD 9

From AVS forum, Problem with an invalid certificate. Unchecking "Allow connection for Invalid certificates" and then going to Advanced... Manage Certificates and deleting them...

Blu-Ray the gift that keeps giving, I have bought a few and rent them from Netflix, if they worked as well as DVD do on my PC I would buy a lot more...

iPhone Stylus

I just want a stylus today with my iPhone, I had trouble selecting the middle of a tweet that I wanted to add a space to. It kept wanting me to copy and paste or would auto-correct and add a period. The real problem with all of the Microsoft's early tablets was they didn't drop the keyboard and they were not as sexy thin as the iPad.

Maybe all of this was caused because I found my old Palm IIIx in the closet this weekend, the stylus, the scribble writing, the memories...

Now if I could just find that old HP T-1000 tablet...

Mobile LandScape

So HP buys Palm. Huge move and it puts them into mobile in a big way. This gives them leverage when dealing with Microsoft and it gives them patent protection versus Apple, just ask HTC how important that is. Well done HP and well done investors like Elevation Partners in Palm, you saved a company that was well worth saving.

Windows Classic

I bet they turn XP into Windows Classic on the desktop...

Oddly enough I find myself equally excited about the iPad and the Windows 7 Phone (needs a new name btw). I can see using both with AandA (my new RPG that is under development). Would like to see you be able to use the Zune Phone as a controller on the X-Box and for it to have an Indie Games store via XNA.

For the iPad I want native PDF viewing and a better UI than just a scaled iPhone one. Can't wait to have more pixels for iPhone apps...

Disqus

Added Disqus for comments, enjoy! My twitter is: @RealZenfar it is what I use with Disqus very nice...

Windows 7 Mobile

Zune Phone!

The only choice for MSFT at this point. You have to have a hardware baseline and you have to have an app store. This device will have both of those. Also they will catch up in number of apps available as they have a huge developer community and better development tools.

Now the question is if this enough to beat the iPhone or just be a solid 2nd place. Time will tell, of course Apple is already moving on to strike back in the Tablet wars, as an owner of one of the first Tablets the T1000 from HP power by a Transmeta Processor, I can tell you that it doesn't matter who is first in the tech game, but who gets it right...

Now Playing

Now Playing: Torchlight (PC) Maffia Wars (iPhone) Gerbil Physics (X-Box Indie Game) Now Watching: Spell Fury (youTube)

XNA on the Zune

All I want for Christmas (other than Peace on Earth) is an Indie Game store on the Zune and Windows 7. Well and the ability to write an Indie Game that uses multiple Zune in 2 way communication with an X-Box Indie Game on my Plasma TV...

Quote of the day

Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves."

President Ronald Reagan

Now Playing

Torchlight, Champions, Left4Dead 1, Fallout 3 (expansions and just wandering the wasteland)...

"... the vigor of government is essential to the security of liberty;"

The Federalist Papers

Smashing Atoms

We live in the future. At least until 2012 :)

iPhone vs. Nintendo

The iPhone is a great platform for casual games and it really hits Nintendo right in the DS. Apple is very happy to have games on the iPhone, as long as it does not dominate the device, in my humble opinion.

One important thing to notice about the DS, Wii, and iPhone is the include a ton of ways to interact with the real world and the device that are not in traditional game platforms or controllers. This is a big deal and part of what makes them so compelling. When Microsoft adds the Natal we will see a revolution on that platform as well.

It is all about the sensors and interacting with the real world. And the more of this the better. Would like to see a standard sensor filled controller for the PC.

NASA on a crusade to debunk 2012 apocalypse "myths"

NASA Debunk not as much fun as Mayan Countdown! available on the X-Box and other platforms soon...

Xonar D2 and Fallout 3

So the main problem with my Rig was the settings and drivers for the Xonar D2. I got the latest drivers from ASUS. Then I had to set the microphone to on (even though I don't have one) so that the Windows sounds would work correctly. Next I had to turn off the games mode (glowing green button on the ASUS control panel), to stop the crashes in Fallout 3 and Blu-Ray problems. Everything seems stable now.

Windows 7 is a worthy competitor to OS X. The taskbar is improved and once you turn UAC off things get close to the way they should be. I still like the everything for an application is one folder convention from OS X makes a lot of sense when you consider the amount of disk space available on a modern machine.

Torchlight rocks btw! When ever you can buy digital and buy direct, of course I say that on my way to pick up Dragon Age at Gamestop (still fun to make a game run for the big ones).

Direct Games!!!

Wow take a look at these digital and direct games:

Natural Selections 2

Torchlight

League of Legends

The future of PC Gaming is here!

Windows 7 not just an Update

Windows 7 is not just an update to Vista. I think I would like it more, if it was, because then all of the drivers would not have to be updated. It is clear that the drivers and the internals of the OS have changed. It appears that there is no easy way to make yourself Admin other than right clicking and saying Run as Admin on every .exe you want to run. It removed my Vista Windows Mail during the upgrade for no rational reason as well. I now have crashes in Fallout 3 and my LG Blue-Ray/HD-DVD combo drive crashes regularly. Still the OS starts faster before is crashes.

Slowly things are getting better, ASUS has drivers for the XONAR D2 PCI card, of course ASUS is kick ass company, just like Nvidia which has the best drivers in the biz. LG is not keeping their firmware current on the Blu-Ray/HD-DVD drive. Also Power DVD does not have an Update for PowerDVD 7 for Windows 7, since PowerDVD 9 does not play HD-DVDs, buying it is not an option at this time.

Microsoft let people run as Admin if they want to ok? Also this whole we don't support 7 from third party software and hardware companies has got to go. I want to see 7 be a hit, but when you upgrade it has issues. Also we need an XP to 7 upgrade disc.

Thanks Microsoft things are getting better but we are not there yet, also you should buy Palm.

NPD

Is this the peak for Wii? This could be the waiting for a price drop crowd on the PS3. When will Natal launch?

Should traditional games on the iPhone be tracked for mobile?

NPD Report

AppStore Millionaire

So what is an AppStore?

To me there are a few things that define an AppStore:

1) Direct link to the customer, the only other company involved is the one running the store.
2) 70% for the developer.
3) Ability to sign up and submit on-line.

I plan on creating an App for every AppStore that follows these guidelines. So far that includes X-Box Indie Games and the iPhone AppStore.