Kurt's Thoughts

Dear Sony,

The next time you decide to do a marketing promotion for your products, try to avoid using your competitor’s products in your online advertising bugs.  Thanks.

Sincerely,
Microsoft’s fans

Apparently Sony’s marketing department did an advertisement for their upcoming PSP’s GranTurismo 4 and decided, "Feh.  All racing games are the same.  Let’s just steal the artwork from Project Gotham Racing 3.  No one will know the difference."

Oh yeah?  Apparently, IGN, Major Nelson, and Team Xbox noticed.  

• Sony Site Snafu:  
  http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/758/758402p1.html
• PSP using PGR3 Screenshot: 
  http://www.majornelson.com/archive/2007/01/25/psp-connect-using-pgr3-screenshot.aspx
• Sony to Publish PGR 3 as Gran Turismo 4?
  http://news.teamxbox.com/xbox/12628/Sony-to-Publish-PGR-3-as-Gran-Turismo-4/

Here’s the imagery they stole from Bizarre Creations (the developer we contracted out for the programming work on the PGR series) courtesy of IGN.

For those of you who’ve been to one of our 5 sake tastings, have you ever wondered where I got the idea for the "competitive sake tasting" idea from? 

It was from this photo below:  Of the 25-30 people on the tour, we were challenged to taste 3 mystery sake and match them to 6 known sake.  The winners were the 6 you see toward the center of the photo, I being the one on the far right. 

Yes, we were all a little liquored up but we were having a lot of fun.  We had an Indian property mogul, a Finance lawyer, the wife of a cosmetics company owner, a Japanese TV star, and her boyfriend, a New York orthodontist.  And then there’s me – the Microsoft geek.

Those of you from Mattel who’ve never seen Barbie advertised to adults might want to check out this photo I took of the Barbie display in Tokyo, Japan. 

The Japanese love this stuff.  Women dress… well… often like Barbie dolls.  And it’s kinda hot in a nasty school girl kinda way I suppose.  I mean, seriously:  Check out some of the styles featured in the photo below.  And there was a lot more where that came from – much of which I saw on the streets below.  (This by the way was in a major department store called Isetan, on the 7th floor of a 12-15 story building with a basement.

And yes, that’s me holding on to the bag of fashions my wife bought.  I was dying for a chair to sit in.

Well, well, well.  I can finally include videos into blog posts on my Live Space.  (See http://thespacecraft.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!8AA773FE0A12B9E3!31132.entry) 

So here’s a look at one of the videos I have posted to my Soapbox account:  (Originally, I posted a link that allowed folks to peruse every video I had but then I thought twice about it and frankly, there’s probably a few videos in there that might be NSFW so…)

http://images.soapbox.msn.com/flash/soapbox1_1.swf
Video: Spiders on Drugs 

On a completely tangential note: Here’s a recent quote from one of the Vegas web sites I frequent.  Hilarious. 

LAS VEGAS FUN FACT:
"If you hit on 15 with the dealer showing a 6, it’s actually legal for the table to kill you."

Several of my coworkers have discovered the hard way that not all LCD TV’s/Displays are created equally.  In fact, the cheap ones are often quite limiting.

Take for instance the Vizio 47" LCD, VGA-compatible, "1080p" input-capable display.  This is a monitor most commonly found sold at Costco for… well… 25%-50% less than the price of any other brand.

In order to use an Xbox 360 at 1080p using a VGA connector, you have to set the resolution to 1920×1080… a feat Vizio owners will find impossible.  This is because, despite the supposed "support for 1080p", when using a VGA connection, the maximum resolution is really 1360×768 on the 47" model.

Huh?  So wait:  How does one get the advertised 1080p a.k.a. 1920×1080?  Well, it’s actually deceptive wording:  The display will not actually take 1080p input over VGA or HDMI/DVI.  When you use a Component connector instead of a VGA connector, you’ll discover that you’ll get "1080p"… but as anyone will tell you, Component video doesn’t provide 1080p… only 1080i.  What’s happening in the background is that the display is taking the 1080i signal and upconverting it to 1080p to provide a simulated 1080p, flicker-minimized experience.

So why do you care?  Well, there’s a lot of reasons.

1. What about VGA?  If you intended on connecting your computer to your display for a truly digital signal with 1080p/1920×1080, to your new Windows Vista Media Center, you’re gonna be sorely mistaken.
2. What about sync?  Whenever there is upconversion, there’s delay, and whenever there’s delay, there’s annoyance in the viewing experience:  Particularly if you’re playing Gears of War and reaction time is important.  This is why it’s so important to have minimal lag between the Xbox & the display.

The bottom line is that if you’re going to buy a display of this caliber, avoid being cheap.  You’ll regret it in the long term and end up with more disappointment than elation.

Here are thirteen quick, painless and easy (yet powerful) things you can do to protect your privacy and help defeat invasive data mining done by corporations and governments alike.

For example:

• Avoid Filing Change of Address Orders with USPS.
• Call the OneCall OptOut Number.
• OptOut of the Databases of Many Online Data Vendors.
• Use Private Phone to Protect Privacy in Online Auctions.
• Don’t Use Your Middle Initial.
• etc.

http://www.icwt.us/index.php/2006/12/31/13-easy-ways-to-safeguard-your-privacy-in-2007/

XBox 360 vs Playstation 3 vs Wii:  I love a good marketing chart!

• http://www.nexgenwars.com
• http://www.gamesystemwars.com/index.cfm
• http://www.videogamecharts.com

One of my vices (or virtues if you talk to the right people) is I have a adoration for Las Vegas & Blackjack in particular. 

Some find Vegas artificial.  One friend of mine even went so far as to call my favorite home away from home (Venetian Hotel & Casino) "tacky".  Y’know, I actually think it’s one of the more beautiful hotels on the strip.  With the exception of the table area being cavernous and the large pool being very mediocre, the Venetian has been my favorite hotel of all the Vegas properties. 

(Well, except for may be the Hard Rock.  And there’s completely different motivation around my love for that joint.  But I’ll save that story for later.)

Additionally, Blackjack is the only truly beatable game in Vegas.  Some say craps is doable but I don’t know too many people that have been successful at "dice control" as they call it.  Meanwhile, I know several folks that have been successful at Blackjack. 

Recently, I decided to cut & paste a few of the article links that I’ve found to be very interesting in the past few weeks, just so that I could share them with friends.  So here’s a few of the articles I’ve found to be "interesting" in the past year.  Hope you do too.

• 21 No-Nos:  Things you should never say or do when you play blackjack
  Some of these might seem like they fall into the ‘duh’ file however there are a few on there that are golden rules of 21 that a lot of people just don’t know – like regarding playing a 6-5 table.
  http://www.casinoplayer.com/archive/0612cp/total.htm
  
• Casino Childcare Facilities in Las Vegas
  What’s so interesting about this?  There are no longer ANY casinos on the strip that provide childcare whatsoever.  This is a complete 180 from the old days where Harrahs, Treasure Island, Excalibur, and Circus Circus all had top of the line facilities.  Nowadays, many casinos like Wynn & Bellagio completely PROHIBIT baby strollers on the premises.
  http://www.lasvegasadvisor.com/ctable.cfm?id=17
  
• Las Vegas Blackjack Report:  Luxor Redux – January 2007
  I’m actually not that fond of the Luxor.  Nonetheless, this was an interesting observation on the state of Blackjack play in the one of the town’s bigger hotels.  Apparently, the casinos have clamped down so much that they’ve squeezed out their mid-level players so only $5/hand cocktail leeches play.
  http://www.bjinsider.com/newsletter_84_luxor.shtml 
  
• The Gloves are Off – An Interview with Daniel Negreanu
  Daniel Negreanu is one of the world’s best poker players and he’s also both a very rationale, shrewd individual as well as a somewhat unusually outspoken Christian when it comes to politics.  He comes out swinging on the topic of the current administration’s advocacy of making online poker illegal.
  http://www.allinmag.com/article.php?article=763
  
• 24 Hours In Vegas or Debt in Venice?
  So Simon Singh, a British mathematician and author wrote an interesting article about his trip to the Venetian Hotel & Casino and his strategy to beat the casino.  It’s an interesting tale and worth the read.
  http://www.simonsingh.net/24_Hours_In_Vegas.html
  
• Blackjack Strategy Charts Online
  Ken Smith, famed Blackjack player, has created a site that will automatically display the appropriate Blackjack basic strategy table for the type of game you’re playing depending on the rules you input.
  http://www.blackjackinfo.com/bjbse.php
  
• Owners of Las Vegas Casinos
  Steve Wynn?  Kirk Kerkorian?  Sheldon Adelson?  Who are these people?  They’re all folks that own or own controlling shares in Las Vegas’ largest casinos.  Here’s a list of folks that own each of the properties in America’s adult playland.

http://www.jetcafe.org/~npc/gambling/casino_owners.html


• The Documented House Rules for Blackjack in Las Vegas Casinos
  Every casino has different rules for Blackjack.  Some play with surrender, some don’t.  Some hit soft 17, some stand.  Some pay 6-5 on naturals, some pay 3-2.  It all depends on where you go, so it’s important to know who has what.  and that’s what’s on this chart.
  http://www.jetcafe.org/~npc/gambling/bj_conditions.html

If you’re skeptical about the concept of "video game lore", this will make you a believer.

In the mid 90’s, there was a game underdevelopment called "Penn & Teller’s Smoke & Mirrors".  It was never released but the product was basically finished.  It was just… well… really BAD.

But sometimes, things that are "really bad" mature over time to "really good".  This fella over at Waxy.org wrote up a whole thing about the game.

http://www.waxy.org/archive/2006/02/28/penn_tel.shtml

Also someone else wrote up a massive thread about the game.

http://archives.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1667022&perpage=40&pagenumber=1

Most of the hype revolves around a game called "Desert Bus".  The objective is to drive a bus from Arizona to Las Vegas for 8 hours.  It’s in real time so you have to play the game for 8 hours straight.  The bus needs an alignment as well so it veers to the left and if you don’t actually lean on the joystick, (in other words play) you can’t win.  

The game was designed in response to Janet Reno’s original complaints around the violence in games and how games should more accurately reflect real life.  Penn thought she was full of crap and decided to demonstrate what Janet Reno’s games would be like. 

The kicker is that after playing the game for 8 hours, you will have 5 bug slotches on your windshield and you’ll get ONE point for successfully doing it.  Apparently one kid actually did this back in the day with a pirated copy that was leaked to him.  (The game was never released)

There’s another game that’s hilarious.  It’s a racing game where the right controller ALWAYS wins.  No matter what your opponent does, you’ll always win.  And there’s a panic button that exists in the event your opponent wants to switch controllers:  It makes the opposite controller always win.

Etc. etc.

This was taken from a post on Gamespot.  It’s a list of all the missteps Sony’s made over the past year from A to Z.  They’re all legitimate and real near as I can tell. 

All I can say is WOW.

———————————-

We all know Sony has been taking a lot of bad press from the PS3, but lets take a look back at the year that has lead us to the Nov. 17th release date.

First, we start with Sony itself. Yes, I was going to only make a timeline of the PS3 news, but how can you ignore this arrogance from late 2005?

Nov. 10th, 2005 – Sony is caught hiding a rootkit inside music CD’s that place a virus on users computer. Sony’s Tom Hesse defends the decision by stating that people don’t know what it is, so they shouldn’t care

Now that we know Sony cares about us, lets move on to the PS3…

Feb 27th, 2006 – Sony misses it’s Spring launch date
May 8th, 2006 – Sony holds it’s E3 conference announcing the pricing of the PS3 at $600/$500
May 8th, 2006 – New PS3 controller will have six degrees of motion, but no rumble feature. Sony’s Phil Harrison states that rumble was last gen and no longer needed.
May 31st, 2006 – Sony’s Phil Harrison denies copying the Wiimote and states that the PS3 will replace the PC
Sep 5th, 2006 – Gamers looking to get the best picture out of Sony’s premium PlayStation 3 package will need to shell out extra for proper hookups.
Sept 6th, 2006 – PS3 is delayed in Europe until March 2007
Sept 6th, 2006 – PS3 launch shipment is cut from 2 million to 400,000 in the US (100,000 to Japan)
Sept 8th, 2006 – Sony’s President admits that the company’s hardware is in a current state of decline
Sept 26th, 2006 – PS3 first-party titles announced to be the same price as third party titles, at $59.99
Sept 26th, 2006 – Square Enix will not exclusively support Sony’s PS3 as much as they did with the PS2.
Sept 29th, 2006 – Sony’s President Ken Kutaragi states that his company does not care about the Xbox 360 and Wii competition.
October 12th, 2006 – Sony Exec calls the 360 and Wii "too expensive"
October 19th, 2006 – The infamous spec sheet comparison and how Sony claims the Xbox 360 requires HD-DVD to play games
October 20th, 2006 – Announced that Sony may have to replace your PS3 controller for you after it no longer holds charge
October 24th, 2006 – Sony sinks Lik-Sang
October 26th, 2006 – Sony’s Q2 profits decrease by 94%
October 28th, 2006 – Sony president Ken Kutaragi said he expects the PS3 to be capable of running games at a stunning 120fps
October 30th, 2006 – PS3 will push Sony $1.71 billion into the red
October 31st, 2006 – Japan launch of the PS3 is cut to 80,000 units
Nov 8th, 2006 – Sony ships without update. You must update your PS3 out of the box in order to use PlayStation Network
Nov 9th, 2006 – NBA Live 2007 is cancelled on the PS3
Nov 9th, 2006 – Oblivion is pushed back from launch title to Jan 2007
Nov 10th, 2006 – Sony’s Phil Harrison states that he can no longer confirm a March 2007 launch for Europe
Nov 11th, 2006 – PS3 launches in Japan and rewards few
Nov 11th, 2006 – Sony unprepared for Japan launch
Nov 14th, 2006 – Sony will miss 400,000 unit target for the US. Approx 150k to 200k will be shipped for launch
Nov 14th, 2006 – PS3 has backwards compatibility problems
Nov 16th, 2006 – PS3 downscales 720p games instead of upscaling to 1080i
Nov 16th, 2006 – Sony’s Jack Tretton comments on the PS3 BC problems and states that the Wii has 0 backwards compatibility
Nov 20, 2006 – NYT not impressed with PS3
Nov 20, 2006 – Game Devs Prefer 360
Nov 20, 2006 – PS3 annoys Joystiq
Nov 21, 2006 – PS3, PSP Rainbow Six held till ’07
Nov 23, 2006 – Saving Sony, one console at a time
Nov 25, 2006 – Sony retracts 1080i fix statement, leaving customers in lurch.
Nov 26, 2006 – More PS3 exclusives head to 360
Nov 26, 2006 – Bloomberg: Sony missed PS3 ship targets
Nov 30, 2006 – Sony shuffles senior execs
Nov 30, 2006 – Analyst: "I cannot imagine a PlayStation 4"
Dec 4, 2006 – Sony Australia: Wii "More Fun" than PS3
Dec 8, 2006 – Court rules for Immersion; Sony to pay up
Dec 11, 2006 – Industry watchers weigh in on "record-low tie ratios" for Wii and PS3 and other results from the month of the new systems’ debut.
Dec 19, 2006 – Time says PS3 was a bust
Dec 20, 2006 – PC World Calls PS3 a top tech mistake of 2006
Dec 20, 2006 – Forced bundles and high retail price put consumers off, claims tracking firm.
Dec 21, 2006 – Virtua Fighter 5 dukes it out on Xbox 360
Dec 21, 2006 – Sony files patent for wiimote style hand-held controler
Dec 27, 2006 – PS3 Greymarket Watch: Scalpers Returning PS3s Back To Stores.
Dec 27, 2006 – Gamers who queued for days to buy Sony’s PS3 are frantically trying to trade them for the much cheaper Wii.
Dec 28, 2006 – Sony’s PS3: High-Scorer No More
Jan 4, 2007 – Sony spokesman David Karraker: "Everything that we put on store shelves sold out,"
Jan 4, 2007 – A Gran Turismo game without force feedback? Say it ain’t so!
Jan 8, 2007 – PS3 demand slows, stores stocked aplenty
Jan 9, 2007 – Sony Misses Worldwide PS3 Shipment Targets. They shiped a million in the US, but not in Japan.
Jan 10, 2007 – Motorstorm isn’t going to be running in 1080p at 60FPS, despite Sony VP of Marketing David Dille saying this week that it would.
Jan 11, 2007 – Analyst: Lagging PS3 Sales ‘Troubling’

While it’s not all of Sony’s fault, they have done little to apologize for their delays and arrogant statements. It’s a bad trend that they’ve started, and the more they continue the more we’ll be seeing article after article on Gamespot…..day after day about something else they’ve done to flaw the PS3’s image.

http://www.gamespot.com/pages/forums/show_msgs.php?topic_id=25247543&page=0

Seriously… this clip was too funny not to share with the world.  It’s a parody of Apple’s iPhone and Steve Jobs’ announcement around what it can do.

Conan O’Brien on the Apple iPhone:
http://soapbox.msn.com/video.aspx?vid=b474f921-c6ce-4cf3-a824-1afb7b0d61dd

Sales up 28% – Courtesy of NPD
(Taken from http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=137693)

HW Sales (month and LTD)
Nintendo DS 1.6 mm 9.2 mm
PS2 1.4 mm 37.1 mm
GBA 850.7 K 35.1 mm
Xbox 360 1.1 mm 4.5 mm
Wii 604.2 K 1.1 mm
PSP 953.2 K 6.7 mm
PS3 490.7 K 687.3 K

Top 10 Video Games – December 2006
360 GEARS OF WAR – MICROSOFT 815.7 K
PS2 GUITAR HERO 2 W/GUITAR – ACTIVISION 805.2 K
PS2 MADDEN NFL 07 – ELECTRONIC ARTS 737.1 K
GCN LEGEND OF ZELDA: TWILIGHT PRINCESS – NINTENDO 532.9 K
WII LEGEND OF ZELDA: TWILIGHT PRINCESS – NINTENDO 519.2 K
PS2 WWE SMACKDOWN VS. RAW 2007 – THQ 484.5 K
NDS NEW SUPER MARIO BROS – NINTENDO 427.5 K
360 CALL OF DUTY 3 – ACTIVISION 410.8 K
NDS YOSHI’S ISLAND 2 – NINTENDO 407.2 K
PS2 CALL OF DUTY 3 – ACTIVISION 365.3 K

Top 10 Video Games – Annual 2006
PS2 MADDEN NFL 07 – ELECTRONIC ARTS 2.8 mm
NDS NEW SUPER MARIO BROS – NINTENDO 2.0 mm
360 GEARS OF WAR – MICROSOFT 1.8 mm
PS2 KINGDOM HEARTS II – SQUARE ENIX 1.7 mm
PS2 GUITAR HERO 2 W/GUITAR – ACTIVISION 1.3 mm
PS2 FINAL FANTASY XII – SQUARE ENIX 1.3 mm
NDS BRAIN AGE: TRAIN YOUR BRAIN – NINTENDO 1.1mm
360 MADDEN NFL 07 – ELECTRONIC ARTS 1.1mm
360 TOM CLANCY’S GRAW – UBISOFT 1.0 mm
PS2 NCAA FOOTBALL 07- ELECTRONIC ARTS 1.0 mm

Top 10 Titles – December 2006 INCLUDES ALL PLATFORMS (consoles and portables)
Madden NFL 07 – Electronic Arts 1.9 mm
Call Of Duty 3 – Activision 1.1 mm
Cars – THQ 874.0 k
Need for Speed: Carbon – Electronic Arts 871.6 k
360 GEARS OF WAR – MICROSOFT 815.7 K
PS2 GUITAR HERO 2 W/GUITAR – ACTIVISION 805.2 K
Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy – LucasArts 792.3 K
WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2007 – THQ 731.6 K
Tony Hawk’s Project 8 – Activision 713.9 K
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance – Activision 642.9 K

Top 10 Accessory Items – December 2006 Units
360 WIRELESS CONTROLLER 823.8 k
WII REMOTE CONTROLLER 646.7 k
WII NUNCHUK CONTROLLER 497.1 k
PS2 8 MEG MEMORY CARD 474.8 k
PS3 SIXAXIS WIRELESS CONTROLLER 336.0 k
PS2 MEMORY CARD 8 MEG 286.0 k
PS2/PS DUAL SHOCK2 CONTL 263.4 k
PS2/PS BLUE DL SH2 CNTL 245.2 k
360 PLAY & CHARGE KIT 224.6 k
PS2 CORDLESS ACTION CNTLR 219.9 k

Here’s something that’s been floating around the office:
http://halodance.ytmnd.com/

Don’t ask.  All I know is I find myself dancing around whenever I hit that web page.

There’s a few things in life I just LOVE.  Sure I love my wife, my family, and my dog.  And of course my friends.  But in the space of things that aren’t about people, I love:

• Las Vegas & Blackjack
• My job & my employer

Then along comes the Vanishing Point game:  A viral game that’s been going on for the past few months around Windows Vista.  Apparently, one of the clues leads to the fountains of the Bellagio Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.

Microsoft + Las Vegas? 

Damn.  That’s like Chocolate + Peanut butter.  Fried chicken + Waffles.  Red Vines + Mr. Pibb ...CRAZY DELICIOUS.

This is a handheld camera video taken at the fountains in front of the Bellagio of what happened on January 8th: http://assets.vanishingpointgame.com/time_0108_720.wmv

I opened my Pocket PC today to start reading the RSS feeds from my Mobile Newsreader and guess what is on page one of half my technology feeds?  A story about HD DVD vs Blu-Ray.

Guess who’s chosen HD DVD as their standard for publishing films?

• http://www.tgdaily.com/2007/01/11/ces2007_hddvd_blu_ray/
• http://www.sgknox.com/2007/01/11/no-porn-on-blu-ray/
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirates_(porn_film)
• http://slashdot.org/articles/07/01/11/213258.shtml

Ladies & gentlemen:  We have a winner and new champion by knockout…