The Pensive Gamer

Posted 07/27/2008 @ 10:30:33 PM by Joseph Molnar Filed under: Product Feedback , Zune

Over the years I've tried a variety of different software music players including Winamp, MediaSource, iTunes etc. Of late, my complacency had me sticking with Windows Media Player. Windows Media Player under Vista, however, is slow and temperamental on my two primary machines. Because of this I started looking for alternatives again. I tried earlier versions of the Zune software, but things weren't quite ready.

Then 2.5 arrived. I'm not sure exactly what happened, but between the speed in dealing with large collections, the ease in exploring my music, the ease in exploring marketplace music and the social aspects, I finally found a good player.

More telling, perhaps, is that the Zune software has changed my music listening habits. I'm now buying music digitally (DRM-free). I'm back to listening to music whenever I'm at a computer. And oddly enough, I find myself exploring the Marketplace and exploring friends and random people's music tastes ... searching for something I might be interested in.

All that said, there are things things I would love to see introduced or updated. Some are uniquely Zune, others are simple improvements. Without implying a priority, here are my suggestions:

• Support subscribing to automated Zune/e-mail messages indicating when new content is available.
  • Receive notifications for new albums from band/artists
  • Receive notifications for new episodes for TV shows
  • Optionally receive notifications for new albums/episodes from similar musicians/genres.
  • Easily go to the Marketplace for purchasing.
• Support social experiences. These experiences could potentially be supported not only between Zune software players, but between software and hardware players. If it was the same back-end as the upcoming Xbox Live Party system it could potentially extend to friends on Xbox 360s.
  • Listen to music together
  • Watch slide-shows together
  • Watch videos together
  • Remote participants can easily go to the Marketplace for purchasing.
• Support audio/signal analysis for music similarity.
  • Allow finding similar music in own collection
  • Have auto-lists based on similar music
  • Allow finding similar music in the Marketplace
  • Find other users with similar tastes in music.
• Content collection sync support (this could involve Live Mesh as the conduit).
  • Zune servers store the meta-information of all media a user has regardless of computer/device it is stored on.
  • Support sync'ing content between physical locations; a person can request to bring local any content in their collection. The software will fetch from the appropriate computer/device that contains the content.
  • Allow people to browse their friends content collection and provide a way to preview and purchase any content that also happens to be in the Marketplace.
• Support more player view modes. Examples:
  • A proper full-screen mode (no Windows task bar)
  • A Vista side-bar player (include a panel when viewing video content)
  • A task bar embedded player (like the minimized Windows Media Player)
  • A compact floating player
• Support more visualization options when listening to music. Examples:
  • Playlist photos. Only shows images based on those in the playlist. Include artist/band photos from the Zune Marketplace.
  • Friends. Have nice stylized view of friends with what they are/were playing.
  • Make the photos, albums, friends all clickable. Clicking will bring you to the appropriate place in the Zune software player (almost everyone I know has attempted to click on albums cover shown in the current visualization).
• More photo browsing/organization options. Examples:
  • Photo tags
  • Timeline (similar to the music release year but more granular)
• Support more photo slide-show modes (also good for listening to music). Examples:
  • Photo album. Make the screen look like a photo album with various layouts for photos. Transitions are page turns.
  • Photo-drop. Photos drop into a pile.
  • Photo-timeline. Photos are placed along a timeline and the transition has you move across the timeline/calendar.
• Miscellaneous UI and usability updates
  • Turn off screen saver when watching videos
  • Generally support the Video, Pictures and Podcast pages collection as deeply as Music (e.g. sorting/browsing options, etc).
  • If I'm listening to or watching something but then browse the marketplace or friends list and decide to preview music or videos, or perhaps I launch media from Windows Explorer or Internet Explorer, allow me to go back to what I was listening to or watching. This means going back to the exact spot in the song or video.
  • When I start-up the Zune player the player should be in the same state as when I had closed it. I particular, I should have the same playlist open and should continue playing at the exact spot in my last song or video.
  • If I add music to a playlist and I'm currently playing that playlist, add the music to what I'm currently listening to
  • Support creating video playlists
  • Support fuzzy searching local and Marketplace content.
  • Typing in the search box filters content immediately and updates as you continue to type. The Marketplace search could begin either when there is a sufficient pause in typing or the user hits the Enter key.
  • Support removing friends from within the Zune software
  • When I click the 'Save as Playlist' option on the 'visualization' page, it should default to the name of the current play-list. For auto-playlists it could pre/post-pend additional text so the user doesn't overwrite the existing playlist.
  • The social tab commonly has a Zune overlay logo when loading items in the background. This makes it look like you cannot use the content that is under the overlay (even though you can).
  • Cache more content locally on the last state of friends and their music. The Social's Friends and Me pages require waiting a fair amount of time for content to show up. I would rather it show stale content that is replaced with updated content when the updated content is finally retrieved from the server.
  • The Social's Me page seems to use the server to show what I have listened to instead of the local data. To make it appear faster, use local information first.
  • I wish the Social pages mirrored the data shown on the Zune web site. The data on the web site has more interesting data and has a slightly better presentation (though the Flash controls can be hard to use).
  • Support more background options and colours.
  • Allow viewing badges in the software player.
  • Support more permanent badges.

While not strictly software-based, here are some highlights for what I would love to see in the Marketplace:

• Support additional information for videos including production photos, history of the series, actors/directors involved, reviews, etc. This would make it similar to the information available for artists and albums.
• Make the the Marketplace artist and album data (bio, related artists/music, etc) viewable regardless of the user's region. For example, there is no reason a person in the UK, who cannot purchase content yet, cannot view the background information of a band.
• Support renting/purchasing movies.
• Support more MP3s
• Support hi-definition video content.
• Support upgrading low-definition video content to high-definition content.
• Support for events. For example, right now there are ComicCon videos but they are not straightforward to find.
• Make it so Xbox 360 Marketplace and Zune Marketplace are one and the same.
  • Content purchased in one store can be downloaded, without repurchase, off the other
  • Support the same content in both stores. This includes, trailers, game videos, etc.
• Support streamed content
  • Streamed live events like ComicCon, E3 shows, CES, music events, etc
  • Streamed live music concerts. This may require MS points to watch.
• Support sending recommendations from the Marketplace

This list may seem large, but it is not due to annoyance with the software. On the contrary, I'm extremely happy with the software. The above items are really about continuing along the path Zune is already traveling ... a complete connected entertainment portal.

Of course I don't know the feasibility of many of these feature. Some depend on where Microsoft wants to take Zune. Do they really want to be an entertainment encyclopedia? Do they want to invest in events? For device related suggestions, is the battery capable of lasting? I have no clue.

For those curious, no, I don't actually own a Zune hardware player. If my commute was longer I would highly consider it. I will consider getting a Zune once my wife's iPod dies (it is temperamental) or some form of Zune Phone makes an emergence. 

Until then, I look forward to seeing where Microsoft takes the software/service.

Oh ... I shouldn't forget my Zune Card:

Posted 06/03/2008 @ 11:00:47 PM by Joseph Molnar Filed under: Product Feedback , XNA

I'm a big fan of XNA and what Microsoft is trying to do with the XNA Creators Club. Microsoft recently released the Creators Club as a beta and I've had the chance to play with it. The Creators Club is a fantastic step forward for hobbyists and I thought I would take some time to give some feedback on the current beta. 

Much of this feedback centers on creating a circle of communication between the game developers and the community.

My immediate suggestions:

• Don't require games to be in a final state before it can be downloaded; hobbyists need feedback for incomplete games. Introduce the idea of a 'feedback' (think alpha/beta) release that is available to premium members. In this state premium members aren't performing a review for acceptance for download by the entire Live community but instead performing a test so feedback can be given to the developer. When creating a 'feedback' release the developer can place a note requesting what in particular they would like feedback on.
• Allow games to be downloaded from the dashboard when in the 'feedback' or 'review' states. The need to download to a PC and then to a 360 seems unnecessary.
• Allow a convenient way for premium members to give feedback to the developer during 'feedback' and 'review' states. Developers currently have to create a root forum post under a particular community forum; it would be nice to see this more integrated with the game profile page and have feedback actively solicited from premium members who have downloaded the game.
• For publicly released games allow any Live user that has played the game to give a review/rating of the game. I personally like the idea of rating various components of the game (i.e., story, graphics, game play) as well providing an overall value. This is a feature that, in my opinion, should be available on ALL content on the Marketplace.
• Add a 'reputation'-style system for users that provide feedback and ratings. In essence this allows developers to rate the feedback given to their games. The reputation should be focused on how constructive the criticism is. Instead of a 'star' rating (as seen on Gamertags), perhaps it is word-based such as 'Helpful', 'Not Constructive', etc. The reputation is meant to discourage users from leaving non-constructive messages like 'yer game sux' while also minimizing the risk of reputation retaliation when a developer doesn't like a review.
• The user profile should include the list of games developed and reviewed/rated. Any feedback or review given to other games should be shown so other users can easily browse and read the feedback/ratings.
• Allow any game, regardless of state, to be viewable from the Creator's Club web site. For example, I cannot view game details when a game is in the 'In Process' state.

Now on the longer term side, I would suggest:

• Enhance the game and premium member profile pages. The information on the current pages is sparse. Allow the developers to enhance them. I would heavily consider a member controlled cross between a wiki and blog. The pages should be easily constructed; the developer can choose widgets to display. Such widgets could include picture/video galleries, blog entries, release schedules, top reviews (though all reviews should always be accessible, in my opinion) etc. Naturally some of the information should be structured so that it can be viewed in the Xbox dashboard or in a mobile front-end (think Live Anywhere).
• Provide a source code repository system similar to SourceForge ; perhaps some form of coupling into CodePlex or MSDN's Code Gallery (without forcing projects to be open source).
• Provide an easy way to solicit help. This could evolve into a job-board style mechanism.
• Expand the Creators Club to include libraries (graphics, shader libraries, etc).

Bottom-line: I think the idea of community games is fantastic. But I would love to see the whole community be engaged more. XNA Creators Club has the potential to provide a fantastic social experience for creating games, let alone playing them.

 

Update: I posted the above feedback in the XNA Creators Club forums and other folks gave their feedback.  The conversation, which can be seen here, spawned some additional thoughts.

Posted 03/13/2007 @ 06:30:43 AM by Joseph Molnar Filed under: PlayStation 3 , Product Feedback , Product Ideas

When rumours of Sony's PlayStation 3 Home first came to light I couldn't help but think of books like Neuromancer, Snow Crash and the movie The Matrix. Now that we have a good idea of what Home is, I thought I would put forth some of the more (or less) reasonable additional ideas that what went through my head when I first read the rumour.

Note: I'm purposely not outlining how any of this could be monetized.

Avatars

• The avatar should be customizable such that it may not even look human (think Spore).
• Reward exploration of Home, time spent in Home or certain actions in Home. Example rewards:
  • Allow better looking/more sophisticated avatars (read Snow Crash)
  • Gain abilities like flying, swimming, jumping (e.g. Crackdown)
  • Earn homes in more exclusive locations
  • Create in-game scripts, objects and even full spaces (e.g. Second Life)
• Users can get in-Home portable media players so that they can watch/listen to music and video accessible to their console while anywhere in the Home world.
  • The accessible media should include what is on their PC (similar to media center extensions and media connect in the Xbox 360)
  • The media player can be shared with another user while both users are online (like how you can share headphones in the real world).

The Home World

• Make a proper sandbox with sophisticated physics that is fully explorable and appears as one contiguous world with no loading screens (except when teleporting).
  • Fully connected internationally; public spaces exist for each geographic region but any location can be visited.
  • Spaces can have environmental effects (e.g. day/night, rain/snow) based on current conditions in a real-life geographic location
  • Certain spaces can only be discovered by exploring. This may require abilities like flying/swimming (see Avatar abilities above).
• Allow communities/clubs to register to have large invite-only spaces in Home.
  • Support existing web communities (e.g. Evil Avatar, Kotaku) by allowing single sign-on so users of those web communities have instant access to the Home space.
  • Support reading the web community news inside the community space (Sony already mentioned they could show web sites within Home).
• Support in-Home exclusive events:
  • Have tie-ins to real life events viewable through video feeds (e.g. be front-row at GDC while sitting in Home).
  • Like a massive multi-player game, support Sony and community driven challenges including tie-ins to alternate realty games.
• All locations, including personal spaces, are persistent and accessible to people with authorization to enter.

Personal Homes

• A user can give people keys to access their home and keys can be revoked any time.
• Some areas of the home can be fully private/invite only.
• A person's personal space can take on any look/style.
  • A person can have an outside area that is customizable, from gardens to sky, or environmental elements like rain.
  • The outside of a house is customizable (e.g. dilapidated shack)
  • Internal rooms are fully customizable (e.g. you can have a cell-shaded room).

Not Game Trophies, but Game Rooms

When you buy a game it gives you a whole new room in your house. Achievements can stack up in this room, but you can do plenty more.

• Rooms are styled after the game (e.g. dungeon for an RPG or garage for a Racing game).
  • Allow atmospheric music from the game
  • Allow animated figure/models from the game (e.g. a racing game's garage room could contain the cars you own in the game)
  • Your avatar could optionally change to the character from the game. When guests join you in the room and they own the game, you see their avatar change to their game's character.
  • If the game developer didn't create their own room then a room can be auto-created randomly from a series of templates created by Sony based on the genre of the game.
• Save games could be launched here.
  • Take on appearance suitable for the game (e.g. garage doors for racing games or a portcullis for fantasy games).
  • Multi-player/co-op games could use this as the launching point to a particular save game for the group.
• Support accessing tie-ins to other spaces or web properties. For example, if a game has an auction house to sell cars, then it could be directly accessible in this room.
• See your friend's scores/achievements from here, including a portal to their room.
• Support optional mini-games (e.g. if an RPG has an in-game puzzle/card-game, it could be made available here too).

In Closing ...

Home has garnered a lot of attention but hopefully this gives you some insight as to why I was a little under whelmed, particularly after seeing LittleBigPlanet. To engage gamers and the gaming community I believe the missing elements include:

1. a sense of creativity
2. a feeling of personal involvement
3. reasons to want to spend more than an initial investigation in Home