Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Friday, March 26th, 2010
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There’s still a lot to be said in the “games as art” or even “games as legitimate forms of expression and entertainment” debate, and articles like this will… probably work for both sides. Tom Bissell was a successful and prolific writer, but after a cocaine-fueled run through (ironically) GTA:Vice City , he found himself more and more a slave to the console . He’s battling it as he would any other addiction in some ways, but what makes it different to him (different from, say, his coke habit) is that his experiences aren’t fleeting, chemical fantasies but episodes of true profundity and emotion. It’s an interesting story. His game habit has certainly reached the point of interrupting his productive life (at which point is is properly called a pathological addiction), and the persistent stigma on games as junk experiences gives the habit as negative an air as a drug addiction. But it’s worth noting, as he does to some degree but not enough, in my opinion, is show that his time with games is as meaningful to him as, say, a trip to the museum would be to an art lover. If he says he finds meaning and transcendent beauty in things like the skyscrapers of Liberty City, can anyone really contradict him? One of the consequences of Generation i and Generation X growing up is the implicit acceptance of games next to TV and movies as perfectly acceptable and potentially important creative works. It’s exciting, and while the controversy will rage for years to come, we’ve got smart and introspective writers like Tom on our side, as well as beautiful and intelligent games like Portal and Shadow of the Colossus . Hold the line!
Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Friday, March 26th, 2010
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Short version: The drive performs as well as any other, and the e-ink display is handy. It’s up to you to judge whether it’s worth the extra cost. Features: E-ink display shows label, free space, USB 2.0 or Firewire 800 interface Included Smartware backup software On-drive encryption MSRP: $150/320GB, $180/500GB, $200/640GB Pros: Bus-powered E-ink display is handy and works great Interface and drive are as speedy as expected Cons: Slightly ’spensive Full review: We’ll keep this one short: the main feature being reviewed here is the e-ink display on this thing, and I may as well just tell you that it works great. I can’t make a call for you on whether it’s worth the slight, but noticeable, premium, but you can rest assured that it’s useful and works well. The drive is very straightforward, as drives should be, and has both a USB 2.0 interface and a FireWire 800 one. I conducted an informal test of drive speeds by copying files totaling ~1GB on and off the drive, and these were the results: As you can see, USB 2.0 copies at the expected 20-30MB/s, though multiple small files to the drive does tend to bog it down, as is often the case. FireWire 800 didn’t trip at all, providing a constant 40-50MB/s. The drive comes with nice little short, white cables for both USB and FireWire 800, and thoughtfully includes a FireWire 800 to 400 adapter. The SmartWare software loads as a virtual disc when the drive is mounted. While I would rather it simply mounted two partitions, like LaCie does, but it didn’t bother me much. You can turn off the VCD but it’ll keep a menu bar or task bar element there for access. You may have seen the software before, and maybe not; it’s straightforward and backing up is simple and customizable, letting you choose which types of files to back up. It maps your entire drive every time you start it up, which is kind of annoying, but at least you know its information won’t be out of date. Of course you can also lock the drive; it’s provided with 256-bit encryption accessible through a password program that launches from the virtual CD. Or you can turn it off and it’ll load up instantly. The SmartWare software is also where you customize the e-ink label. You can put up to 12 characters, anything that fits on a 13-segment display. So no hearts or stars, sorry. If you’ve got the money to get a few of these, this is a great way of keeping track of his and hers, or which is audio backup and which is video backup, that sort of thing. I mean, you can always label a drive with a bit of masking tape and a sharpie, but this is more official, and looks cooler. Conclusion The price is a lot to ask if you’re looking for a lot of plain storage : 30 cents/GB for the 640GB version, and you can get drives for as little as 10 cents/GB. But if you want for something sleek and portable, and the e-ink appeals to you, this drive should serve you just fine. Product page: Western Digital My Passport Studio
Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Friday, March 26th, 2010
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Image via A Homegrown Life We’re toying with the idea of having a weekly or monthly game night. You guys would pick the game and venue, and we’ll provide some sweet-ass prizes. Cool? But we need to know some details up front so click the link below for a four-question survey. Oh, and sorry, none of us have a PS3 so that’s not an option. Click here for the quick survey.
Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Friday, March 26th, 2010
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OK, so PAX may be crawling with people dressed as Chris Redfield and, um, Generic Skimpy Outfit Female, but it takes a certain kind of geek to walk around with a WWE championship belt . I use the word “geek” with all due respect, of course: we’re all geeks here at PAX. He brings up a good point: while PAX in Seattle may be the “original” home of the show, it took a trip to the east coast for the show to really come alive . Left for today (that I’m aware of): Nvidia announces something , and a “Is PC gaming dead?” panel discussion. That one I’m looking forward to probably more than any other talk.
Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Friday, March 26th, 2010
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Rockstar wins the early “which publisher has the biggest line?” award here at PAX. I think they get a free pizza party at the end of the day as a result. They’ve got Red Dead Redemption in there, so people have been queuing way around the block. Thankfully it’s only 900 degrees in the convention center, so people should be in high spirits for the duration of the show.
Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Friday, March 26th, 2010
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So yeah, we’re living in the age of 3D . I just made a quick run inside the main PAX East (henceforth know as PAX), and Nvidia has 3D games all over the place. There’s no escaping it~! Shooters, racing games, even World of Warcraft . Of course, I left my Authenticator in the hotel home, so I couldn’t play. Hopefully tomorrow, friends. Also, word on the street is that Nvidia will announce something fairly substantial in a few hours. I’ll see what’s up.
Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Friday, March 26th, 2010
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Greetings, fellow gamers. I’m in Boston for PAX East . It’s all the fun of the Penny Arcade Expo , but done east coast hip-hop style. It’s just me and I have no idea what I’m doing, but expect a steady stream of video game goodness in the next two days. Any requests—specific game you want to see or whatever? Pick a fight with a certain publisher? Let me know!
Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Friday, March 26th, 2010
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Quick note as the headline pretty much says everything you need to know, but Major Nelson announced that Xbox 360 is getting USB mass storage support April 6th just like we thought . You can bring your own flash drive to the party but the service will only support up to 16GB and the 360 will format your drive the first time. Official drives will come from SanDisk sometime down the road, too. Anyway, April 6th, kids.
Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Friday, March 26th, 2010
The disc required to get Netflix up and running on the Wii should hit subscribers mailboxes sometime today. Here’s a quick look at the Wii-ish interface and controls. Nifty, eh? Too bad there’s no HD content on the Wii version. [via Download Squad ]
Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Friday, March 26th, 2010
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Oh, look! The first screenshots of Sonic The Hedgehog 4 ! I do believe Sonic now hold the record for longest wait between the third and fourth game in a series, beating Street Fighter IV . That’s my gut feeling, but that has proven wildly inaccurate in the past. Incidentally, I’m currently en route to PAX East , and supposedly Sega will be there. My first order of business will be to tell them that Napoleon: Total War was fantastic. My second order of business will be to badger them for Sonic The Hedgehog 4 info. As you can see, it looks like old school Sonic, none of this Adventure business.