EyePet for PS3 announced

.. and it looks cute!



Since we already have the camera, this should be a fun, inexpensive game. From what I can tell, looks like it will take a year to release (late 2009).

XBox 360: Call for action!

I'm only a casual gamer but I'm intensely interested in this generation of gaming hardware. I think this is gaming's "breakout" generation. Nearly everyone is going to have one of the 5 devices out there by the time the generation is done and lot of us are going to be doing more than gaming. Some of the rules that applied to the previous generation will not apply here. The current hardware has a lot more staying power than previous generations. Sort of like the Audio CD. The Audio CD was seen by most as good enough. While DVD Audio and SACD offered better quality, people were happy with Audio CDs and they didn't buy into the higher fidelity.

In a way, Sony has the right idea with their 10 year strategy for the PS3. The Cell chip has enough processing power and by the time new hardware comes out from Nintendo and Microsoft, developers should've learnt to fully utilize all that power.

Anyway, I want to talk about the XBox 360. Against all odds (I'm writing on a Mac, I don't like paying for online gaming, I'm not interested in the Zune), I find myself liking the XBox 360. More surprising, I like it for the software! Yes, Microsoft is definitely doing good on the software front here. Unfortunately, their hardware is falling behind. Here's my call for action to get the XBox 360 back to being competitive. As of now, its falling behind and will likely be relegated to 3rd place in this generation again. Here are a few things Microsoft should do -

1. Bring sexy back.
It worked for the DS Lite. Yes, the games are awesome but MS needs to redesign the XBox.
A few suggestions -

• Get rid of the monstrous external power brick, we need one nice svelte XBox.
• It would be nice if I didn't feel the need to reach for my noise canceling headphones when the XBox is powered on - make it quieter. A slot loading disc drive might help too.

2. Make XBox Live Gold cheaper.
Yes, hardcore gamers don't mind paying for XBox Live but if you're looking to get this into kids' homes, you need to look beyond. Faced with a choice between a Blu-Ray playing PS3 with free online play and a DVD playing XBox 360 with paid XBox Live, guess which one is getting picked? Also casual gamers like me would like to play a few nights a week, but I'm not going to pay for this privilege.
Free would be nice but even $24 ($2 a month) is easier to swallow than the current cost.

3. Include wi-fi.
This is 2008! How many homes have ethernet in their TV room or bedroom? Wi-fi is everywhere. Your wi-fi accessory is outrageously priced and I don't want a Gaming adapter in addition to the noisy console and its huge power brick.

4. Increase storage.
You need to keep up or move ahead of the competition here. 160GB standard would be nice, 320GB for the premium? Personally, I'd like the ability to upgrade the drive myself, but I realize that the non-techie users (vast majority) would prefer to buy these upgrades at Best Buy.

5. Sell Media Center.
How many XBox 360 users who have Vista pay for Tivo? I bet it isn't a small number. MS needs to sell this functionality. Btw, we need the wifi toting, quieter XBox that can fit in a TV cabinet for this to happen. Create a Media Package - the 360 console with a USB TV tuner for those using Vista Premium or Ultimate. For $50 more, you can have a DVR too!

6. Make it reliable, stupid!
Last but not least, the hardware needs to be reliable. MS is lucky the users like the games and software as much as they do. I can't image a mass market device being so unreliable. My unit has been replaced twice in 2 years! I don't have much hopes for it staying alive long after the 3 year warranty ends. It would be nice if there was a trade in option for the older XBox owners on a newer console.

I'd like to end by giving kudos where it's due. These are the things that the XBox 360 gets right -

1. Great integration with XBox Live. Superb online experience.
2. Graphics on par with PS3 even while having launched first and using DVD media.
3. The best wireless controller of the current generation. Feels right, reliable.
4. Best games library of current generation.
5. Media Center is awesome.
6. XBox Live Arcade is best in class. Great selection.

Whoa, there's a SingStar Bollywood?

SingStar is a series of Karaoke games for the Sony PlayStation 2. I've been curious about some of the SingStar releases before, but this new title just hit me from nowhere - apparently Sony has released a "SingStar Bollywood" and in Europe too.

Someone did their homework too, check the song list -

* Aashiqui - Nazar Ke Samne
* Askar - Jhalak Dikhla Ja
* Chalte Chalte - Chalte Chalte
* Chalte Chalte - Suno Na Suno Na
* Chameli - Sajna Ve Sajna
* Dil Chahta Hai - Koi Kahe Kehta Rahe
* Dil Hai Ki Manta Nahin - Dil Hai Ki Manta Nahin
* Don - The Chase Begins - Ye Mera Dil
* Dus - Dus Bahane Karlke Le
* Guru - Barso Re
* Guru - Tere Bina
* Ishq Hai Tumse - O Soniya
* Kaal - Tauba Tauba
* Kaal - Kaal Dhamaal
* Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna - Where's the Party Tonite
* Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna - Mitwa
* kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham - Bole Chudiyan
* kabhi Khushi Kabhie Ghamv - Suraj Hua Maddham
* kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham - Say Shava Shava
* Kal ho na ho - Maahi Ve
* Kal ho na ho - It's the time to disco
* Kal ho na ho - Pretty Woman
* Khakee - Dil Dooba
* Kuch Kuch Hota hai - Kuch Kuch Hota Hai
* Kuch Kuch Hota hai - Koi Mil Gaya
* Kya Love Story Hai - It's Rocking
* Main Hoon Na - Main Hoon Na
* Rang De Basanti - Rang De Basanti
* Salaam-E-Ishq - Salaam-E-Ishq

I wonder how I can play this title on my PS3, I'm sure App would dig it :)

XBox 360 is back, Media Center is awesome!

Alright, finally got my XBox 360 back from the "Repair Center". I've been looking forward to trying a few things.

First, I had some WMV video (Twenty20 cricket) burned to a CD. I tried playing it, works great!

Second, I'd installed Windows XP Media Center 2005 onto my PC and wanted to try it out. It took a little bit of effort to set this up for the XBox. I had to download the Media Center Extender software from Xbox.com. When I tried that, it prompted me to install Media Center Rollup 2 from Microsoft.com. When I downloaded that, it prompted me to install .NET 1.1 and .NET 1.1 SP1!! What's up with this crap MS? Can't make all-in-one updates? I don't mind downloading all those updates in one package to skip the steps!

Anways, the final result after all the installs - stunning! I have a boatload of WMAs on my PC that the Media Center picked up and added Album art to. I also had a compatible TV Tuner card, that let me watch and record Live TV through the 360. The experience was quite compelling - the audio playback even used all the surround speakers, something that music playback from the 360 Dashboard just can't seem to. The Media Center experience on the XBox 360 is one of the standout features and I am amazed it hasn't been pushed more. With Vista, the Home Premium and Ultimate versions have Media Center built-in and with the addition of a compatible TV Tuner, every 360 user with those versions of Windows Vista can partake in the fun. I'm going to spend more time trying the Media Center functionality, watch out for that.

Third, I accumulated a few games when the 360 was gone - Halo 2, Halo 3 and Viva Pinata (for App). We'll have to try those games out. I don't think I'd really play Halo 2 after playing Halo 3 so I've decided to play Halo 2 before opening the Halo 3 game.

For all the trouble I had to go through, Microsoft sent me an anemic 1 month free of XBox Live Gold. It's worth $5 at most - well better than nothing I guess.

Frets On Fire

It's been a week of gaming! I haven't been really busy at home. In fact, I'm home alone all week. That finally gave me time to start playing "Frets On Fire", an awesome free Guitar Hero clone for the PC/Mac. If you've wanted to try Guitar Hero, you've gotta start with Frets! It's addictive. If you know to search on the right forums, you can get some awesome song packs for it as well. Check it out. I'm off to play GNR's "Welcome to the Jungle". :)

Did I mention that Frets is open-source and free? :)

Now Playing @ Home : PS3

With the XBox 360 in transit to the "Repair Center", there's never been a better time to start taking about its new rival at home - The Sony PlayStation 3. I've been meaning to introduce the PS3 to the blog for a few weeks. The PS3 is approaching the price point where I believe it really takes on mass appeal; I bit the bug earlier this month.

How do I like it so far? I like it a lot. The only real misgivings - weak online experience, no rumble. Sony has already addressed rumble so I'll skip over that one. I would give them about a year to catch up with XBox Live , so I'll continue to monitor that.

The best part? Media. The PS3 is probably the best Media player in the "set-top" form factor for the money. In fact, if they added support for DivX, XVid and WMV video, it would be the best box, period.

Let's do a quick check of media functionality starting with the really basic.

1. CD Player - Check.
2. MP3 CD Player - Check. While you are at it - make that AAC, WMA and ATRAC too. And oh, your files can be on a DVD too.
3. SACD Player - Check.
4. DVD Player - Check. Upconvert? Yes!
5. Blu-Ray - Obviously! And cheaper than stand alone BD players at that.
6. Photo Player - Check. Again, from CD, DVD, or Memory Card (CF, SD or Memory Stick)!
7. Video Player - In addition to DVD, BD discs, you can play back MPEG4 Video. I was able to download music videos off the internet and play them fine. No support for DivX though :(
8. Networked Media Player - Check. Can play all above media (digital audio, photos, video) over the network from your PC. WiFi is included, I use ethernet though. Picked up shared media from my Windows XP box (shared through Windows Media Connect) automatically. No stupid "configuration" dialogs.

There's more.

9. You can browse pictures from your digital camera. Easiest way to do this is to take the memory card and plug it into the PS3.
10. PSP Remote Play - Configure your PSP for remote play and access all media available to the PS3 on your PSP, whereever you may be connected from. This includes the internet - so yes, you can be at your friend's house connected to his WiFi playing back the content on your PS3 back at your house. Way cool.
11. Playback from devices - I was able to connect my Walkman devices and play music back through the PS3. Displays Album Art too! This worked for my NW-S205F, NW-S705F and App's NW-E005F. You can also copy music from the PS3 hard drive to the Walkman directly. So you could potentially use your Sony Walkman device without ever connecting to a PC.
12. PSP memory stick playback - I took the memory stick from my PSP and plugged it into the PS3. The PS3 let me play music, photos, video. Also let me copy content back and forth between the PS3 Hard Drive and PSP Memory Stick.

So far, so good. I'm a demanding media user though, so I have a few gripes. Here we go -

1. The PS3 did not recognize my Hi-MD units (MZ-RH1).
2. The PS3 did not recognize my SonyEricsson Walkman Phone (W600i)
3. SACD audio cannot be played back over optical audio output but only through HDMI. Whatsup with that Sony, think I want to spring for a new receiver? It's not going to be Sony ;)
4. Did not recognize my iPod when I plugged it in. You have to support the market leading device!
5. Cannot play MPEG-2 video. This is the video format of files dumped from a DVD Rip. This would be nice but would be secondary to DivX.
6. No DivX, WMV playback.
7. Would be great if it worked with iTunes sharing.

Kudos to Sony for -

1. The best allround media functionality I have seen so far.
2. Bringing the price down so quickly after initial release. $400 would make a few competitors squirm - XBox, AppleTV, etc.
3. Letting users run Linux if they choose.
4. Keyboard, Mouse support.
5. Making the power supply relatively silent and internal.

Let's bring the games on now!

To be sure, I'm happy with my PS3 even without any games. However the high-definition games on Blu-Ray make it that much more attractive!