September 2008 Archives

Over the weekend I made a post (that has now been removed at the request of TiVo) about a survey I did.  I thought it was cool and wanted to share so I posted it to TiVo Community.  That was on Saturday afternoon.  There were a handful of comments but not much action.  Then sometime late Sunday afternoon it started showing up other places.  Here are just a few (in chronological order as best I can):

Gizmo Lovers

Gizmodo

PVRblog

Engadget

TiVo Blog

There were even a few Digg submissions:

Digg link to Gizmodo Story
Digg link to my blog
Digg link to Engadget Story

The other cool thing was my server running Movable Type with MySQL on Windows Server 2008 via a Verizon FIOS 20/20 connection seem to survive without a hiccup.  I will look at logs to see how much traffic I did, should be interesting.

Hopefully what was seen will some day make it to reality.

I wanted to post some thoughts on Mercenaries 2 as I am just about 2/3 through it and I think I can speak to it pretty well.  The game has been reviewed average at best, it averages a 73 at both Game Rankings and Metacritic. I can’t say that I totally disagree with these scores.  That being said the game does have some redeeming values.

I will start with the bad with this game because if you can’t get beyond that the rest of my review won’t help.  First, this game is very buggy.  I have had a few crash bugs but not too many.  There are some really odd physics bugs, like the one in the screenshot of floating (in the air) storage containers.  Also the usual clipping stuff but it seems to be worse than recent games in this case.  The graphics are just bland, the textures are pretty low res and the poly count on most items is low as well.  The story is so thin that it barely explains why you are doing what you are doing.  After getting about 2/3 through the game I have seen maybe 30 minutes of poorly written cut scenes that can mostly be summed up to I don’t like these people go blow them up.  The last annoyance is enemy mystery boxes that endlessly spawn guys.  In some cases the buildings keep spawning guys even after the building has been blown up and is in flames or is rubble.

Now after beating up on the game I will give it some praise.  The game is at its core just fun.  Basically this game is a big open world game where you get to run around blowing EVERYTHING up.  When I say everything I mean everything, from trees to castles with some ships and lots of vehicles and enemies.  There is a huge variety of vehicles including motorcycles, big rigs, tanks, helicopters, jet skis, ships and some cars.  I haven’t found anything yet that I can’t steal and drive myself.  The driving (flying) mechanics seem to be pretty good as well (even if the controls are silly).  The world itself is large and has lots of different terrain and elevation.  Once you are in the world there is no loading, the only loading is entering your home base and the various faction bases.  While you are running around you have a choice of about 20 handheld weapons as well as calling airstrikes.

Some other quirks are just questionable design choices I think.  It is REALLY hard to die, I mean you have to try to just run into a firefight and stand still and get hit over and over.  Along these lines the vehicles are pretty tough too and while in them you are invulnerable until they are destroyed.  While driving most vehicles you can’t shoot and they have a gunner spot for co-op, but without co-op the vehicle just seems incomplete.  The entire map is immediately visible if not accessible.  Similarly every objective in the game is outlined in the menu at the start of the game removing what little surprise the story might provide.  There is really no consequence to angering a faction since you can just pay them off.  One of the factions is on an island which makes getting there annoying if not hard at times.

The final question is would I recommend this game, maybe?  If you played the first and like it then definitely yes.  If you just want to run around a big world blowing things up then yes.  If you want a non-buggy game with any story at all well then pretty much no.  The game was in development for a very long time, it started sometime around the launch of the 360 if not before.  It seems that they just got tired of working on it and just shipped it out rough edges and all as a result it could have been great but rather is just ehh.

This post was originally pulled 9/29/2008, but since the TiVo Premiere has been announced now I figured I could put it back up.

I got an invitation to take a survey on consumer electronics yesterday.  I went to take it this morning and found that the survey was sponsored by TiVo which definitely got me interested.  As it went on the survey showed videos and screenshots of a fairly different interface from where TiVo is today with their 9.X software line.  I will sprinkle the screenshots through my post and you can watch the three videos here Video 1, Video 2 and Video 3.

The biggest change is something that seems to be in every other DVR now which is being able to watch Picture in Guide while navigating the Menu.  This is a feature that every Motorola based Cable / FIOS DVR and DirecTV DVR has had for quite a while.  The excuse from TiVo has always been performance of the menus which is already bad getting worse when the processor has to deal with video at the same time.

The next interesting feature is a line of pictures across the top as you can see in the next few screenshots:




The top line of pictures is a combination of recent, suggestions, favorites and ads.  The first screenshot is just an example layout.  Then in the second shot you can see they added an ad for a BMW.  The third shot is navigating the top bar and showing the fly-out that gives you more detail and then would allow you to watch, record or download.  The last screenshot is the ability to control what shows up on the top bar which I think is a really powerful idea.

Another new idea seen on the main menu is the ability to categorize shows by viewer.  That is such a simple idea that makes so much sense.  Just simply having a larger folder that shows can be placed in so that my shows don’t clutter up other peoples lists and vice versa.  It appears to be some idea of community as well with a “Connect with family & friends” button which seems to be taking the idea of thumbs up and genius lists to the next level.

In Video 2 it shows searching for movies and being able to download them.  The current TiVo software can do this with Amazon, however the screenshot below shows not only Amazon but also Netflix and Blockbuster Total Access.  Also it is showing all three as being in HD.  Having all these sources available seems like a great variety potential.

The last big interface change that I saw was also in video 2.  It is a cross between Microsoft’s Media Center interface and Apple’s Coverflow.  Either way it is a much nicer more visual interface than the current TiVo one.  You can see a screenshot below but it is much better in motion in Video 2.

Who knows if any of this will ever be released.  It shows some good ideas I think and hopefully it is the way TiVo is looking.  They need to leap back ahead with features instead of just being a little more refined version of the cable / satellite DVR’s.

With today's announcement I think it would be interesting to look at the screen sizes and resolutions of the various generations of iPod's that had color screens. 

Today's release was now the 4th gen Nano following up the two generations of Mini in similar sizing.
1st Gen - 1.5" - 176 x 132 pixel - .168-mm dot pitch
2nd Gen - 1.5" - 176 x 132 pixel - .168-mm dot pitch
3rd Gen - 2" - 320-by-240-pixel - 204 pixels per inch
4th Gen - 2" - 320-by-240-pixel - 204 pixels per inch
It seems like they are using the exact same screen on the 4th gen and have just rotated it 90 degrees to shrink the overall package.

Also today came the second release of the Touch.
1st Gen - 3.5" - 480-by-320-pixel - 163 pixels per inch
2nd Gen - 3.5" - 480-by-320-pixel - 163 pixels per inch
No changes there it seems.

The classic has gone through many revisions, however I am only going to talk about those that had color screens.
Color - 2" - 220-by-176-pixel - 0.18-mm dot pitch
Photo - 2" - 220-by-176-pixel - 0.18-mm dot pitch
5th Gen - 2.5" - 320 x 240 pixel - .156-mm dot pitch
5th Gen V2 - 2.5" - 320 x 240 pixel - .156-mm dot pitch
Classic - 2.5" - 320-by-240-pixel - 163 pixels per inch
Classic 2nd Gen - 2.5" - 320-by-240-pixel - 163 pixels per inch
Again it seems like same old screen that has been there since the original 5th Gen.  I think the latest ones are more power efficient and probably better at video.

One interesting note is the pixel density is the same on Touch and Classic just different size screens but the Nano has much denser pixels.

Rumblings have already started regarding the Xbox 3 or 720 or what I think it will be the 1080. I figured I would add my own predictions to the mix. I have no knowledge to really base these predictions on other than watching the technology and video game world. I will break the predictions down component by component and try to give some reasoning for each.

Overall Goal – When the Xbox 360 and PS3 were being designed they were hoping for 1080p but really only barely managed 720p. Many games actually run at 600p or 640p for performance reasons. Even with today’s graphics chips 1920x1080 at 60 fps is possible and in another year it should be almost guaranteed. Also by the time the next Xbox comes out TV and Blu-Ray makers will have drummed 1080p into the consumer consciousness. I think one of if not the major selling points of the next Xbox will be the ability to play games at 1080p with a locked 60 fps. This is where I get the Xbox 1080 naming idea. It also works out well as a combination of 3x360.

Processor – This one I will admit is just a random guess. I can pretty much guarantee it won’t be cell based though. I also don’t think it will PowerPC based only because that architecture appears to be stuck in neutral recently. Although since the last one was a joint design between Microsoft and IBM they could do the same again. My bet however is an Intel CPU, probably a quad core hyper threading CPU that can execute 8 threads at once. It will be in the 3-3.5 GHz range but be much more efficient than the existing 3.2 GHz processor in 360.

Graphics – As I said above the goal of the graphics processor will be to be able to 1920x1080x60 fps with 4xAA probably. There is no reason to do anything beyond 1920x1080 since that will be the top of what consumer displays can do for the foreseeable future. Given another 12 months of graphics improvements hitting a locked 60 fps at 1920x1080 with some head room for AA or AF should be quite doable. The maker of the chip could be any one of nVidia, AMD (ATI) or now even Intel. I wouldn’t even venture a guess at this point.

Sound – This one is pretty much a stab in the dark. I am guessing it will do real time encoding of at least Dolby Digital + or maybe 7.1 channel 48 KHz PCM. It will most likely also support decoding of Dolby True HD and DTS:HD MA and bit-streaming the same.

RAM – I have to believe that the next Xbox will share the uma architecture of the first two. With that in mind it will need really fast RAM for the graphics, probably GDDR5 by the time it is built. I figure a minimum of 2 GB of RAM but a more likely amount of 4 GB. This both based on price and need.

Hard Drive Storage – This one is fairly easy. It will most likely be a 500 GB 2.5” SATA drive. It might be bigger or smaller but probably not much. The other variable is if the next Xbox will be able to have 360 drives attached full time or just for initial transfers. As always more is better especially given the possibility of total digital distribution.

Optical Storage – There is much discussion currently about the death of standard distribution methods and the switch to digital distribution. I don’t think 100% digital distribution will be possible even in a few years. I base this primarily on Internet access speeds and the size of games. I don’t think there have been any dual layer BD-ROM games on PS3 yet, but there have been 3 disc DVD games on 360 which is about the same as a single layer BD-ROM. That is about 25 GB for a single game. Currently the top end of Internet access is about 20 Mb/s. At that speed and a best case scenario it will take 171 minutes or about 3 hours. However on the more common 3-6 Mb/s connections it will take 9-19 hours. Remember these are best case as well, not the way real world access works most of the time. I don’t think it will get all that much better in the next 12-18 months.

With all the above in mind I feel pretty confident in saying the next Xbox will have a BD-ROM drive. This is purely based on availability and storage size. I am not saying it will play Blu-Ray movies, but it probably will just for convenience. I don’t see it being anything else unless some new optical format magically appears in the next 12 months.

Alternative Storage – One of the possibilities I wanted to mention was the idea of using something like USB thumb drives or SD cards as a distribution medium. It is in a way going back to the cartridges of the NES-N64 era, only now they can hold 32 GB and not cost too much. I don’t see this as likely but not impossible.

Network – It better have Gigabit Ethernet and 802.11n built in. If wireless is a freaking add-on like the 360 then someone should be fired.

Controllers – Even with the success of the Wii I can’t believe that there won’t at least be an option of a standard controller. Most consider the 360 controller to be close to ideal so I can’t imagine much change if any at all with the next one. I would also bet there will be another controller that will be a cross between the Wii-Mote and the current 360 big button controller.

Online – With the coming revision of Xbox Live it is obvious that Microsoft is pretty sure of its path regarding online. Whatever the next Xbox is or does I am pretty sure it will have the current (or soon to be current) Live with probably just more revisions. Hopefully they won’t break compatibility or the profiles from the current system.

Backwards Compatibility – This one is tough to predict. When the 360 was announced and for a year after release people continued to harp on the 360’s lack of 100% backwards compatibility. Now however the PS3 has totally dropped PS2 backwards compatibility only 18 months after the console launched and no one really seems to care. I think Microsoft will have some level of backwards compatibility simply for PR even if they don’t have 100%. This is all dependent on the architecture and how Microsoft transitions developer tools.

Release Date – There are two options I see at this point either fall 2009 or fall 2010. I am inclined to go toward 2009 since some people are already talking about it. The flip side is that not too much is being talked about yet so it might not be until 2010. Either way it will be announced at whatever is the E3 and then release in Nov.

The other twist that I think is possible is that Microsoft leaves a the 360 on the market for online stuff and tries to target Arcade games to both platforms.  A $150 arcade pack could live for quite a while like the PS2 is for Sony playing Live Arcade games.

Pricing – Who knows $400?

There it is, my predictions for the next Xbox.  In 12-18 months it will be interesting to see how close if at all I got to the real specs.