News Picks: February 7, 2006
Filed under: Media , News Picks , PlayStation 3 , Xbox 360
Oblivion in the News
I am a huge fan of Oblivion. It is my only game with a 1000 Gamerscore. In my News Picks from last week I mentioned I would get the Shivering Isles expansion if it was going to take advantage of Microsoft's new Gamerscore policy. Well, according to this article on GameSpot Bethesda is going to add new achievements.
There are also multiple sources indicating that the PS3 version of Oblivion should load faster, handle the draw distance better and run at a more stable framerate. This is great news for PS3 owners. It is good to see a year of additional work didn't result in a straight port. My personal recommendation, assuming you have a couple hundred hours to kill, buy this game.
Battle of the Downloadable Videos
This week has seen Walmart and Amazon make some announcements regarding movie and television downloads. While Walmart appears to be having trouble, Amazon's move to work with TiVo makes a ton of sense. Downloading movies to watch on a PC just isn't, in my opinion, a great experience unless you are about to head on an airplane. You really need a device that makes it simple, like an enhanced cable box, Xbox 360, a PS3 (coming soon) and later this year, a TiVo.
The real issue with downloadable videos is this new move towards subscription based pricing models (ala Netflix). The internet has provided this great medium for "personalized" content when you want it (i.e. videos, movies, sports feeds, TV shows) but with it, we are seeing a serious movement towards really monetizing the user experience. The sad part of this is that internet bandwidth and storage systems are becoming cheaper by the day, yet subscription models are increasing!
I hope that the providers change their ways and think about how to deliver a quality experience without taking the consumer to the cleaner. If not, we'll be in a spiral similar to what cell phone calling plans have turned into.
For your own interest, the following calculation is a great way to see how subscription model pricing is taking you to the cleaners:
1) Categorize your monthly budget and expenses (i.e. take the total budget number for each month and then sum up all of the subscription based items that you pay for each month including internet access, cell phone, cable / satellite TV, TIVO, internet music service provider, online gaming subscriptions such as WoW, land-line telephone, water, electricity, car insurance average out monthly, home insurance averaged monthly, etc.).
2) Subtract the cost of subscription services from your monthly budget -- this may astonish you somewhat. If you live off of $1000 / month, you may be paying 50% or more of that to these subscription services .
3) Multiply the total cost of your subscription services x 12. This is how much you spend each year. It adds up quickly!
Now that you've seen the total cost per year -- ask yourself if each of those services is really necessary (excluding water + electricity) =)
... so said 'Ming' on 02/08/2007 @ 09:03:52 AM [Direct Link]
One disclaimer -- not everyone has moved to a subscription model (i.e. itunes, xbox live, etc.), but the trend has been towards this.
There are also many physical medium subscription models including gameznflix, blockbuster, netflix, gamefly, which deliver a traditional medium that allow you to use the content as you wish for as long as you keep it. IMO that is much better than the restrictions imposed by DRM (i.e. only allowing the content to be used on the client that downloaded it)
... so said 'Ming' on 02/08/2007 @ 09:06:37 AM [Direct Link]
Yup, people need to look at their spending habits. If you buy or rent a lot then a subscription service may be cheaper. That doesn't describe me pesonally. Also, in terms of buying, I prefer to own something tangible.
Interestingly, I have been buying less on DVD and renting from the Video Marketplace more. While a slight correlation, I am also finding there are less DVDs worth purchasing these days.
... so said 'Joseph Molnar' on 02/09/2007 @ 08:46:31 AM [Direct Link]
I would say that there are fewer DVDs worth purchasing as well as fewer movies worth watching ;) C'mon Hollywood -- it is time to focus on quality instead of quantity and special effects.
... so said 'Ming' on 02/09/2007 @ 01:20:31 PM [Direct Link]