Next Xbox to be Announced at E3?

I seriously hope that the rumours are not correct ... I mean, I really, really hope they're wrong ... otherwise I'll be seriously upset; having just bought a new slim Xbox 360 250GB console a couple of months ago, to replace my old Xbox 360 Pro 60GB console.  The rumours that I am referring to say that Microsoft is poised to announce the next Xbox console, which will succeed from the Xbox 360.  Xbox 720, Xbox 3 ... whatever you'd like to call it.

According to rumours, with the Nintendo set to reveal the next Wii, the Wii 2, at E3 ... Microsoft is pressured to anounce their next Xbox console.  Apparently, rumours go so far to say that the next Xbox console are on the desks at EA. While this might off the bat seem to make sense, I don't think it really does.  The updated Xbox 360 Slim has only been on the market for a while now ... and reveal a new Xbox console might have a negative impact on sales performance.  Furthermore, various sites like EuroGamer indicate that based on their sources say that this is highly unlikely.  Only time will time ... the earliest that rumours say that the next Xbox console will be released is late 2012 ... so if the Mayans were correct, and the world is going to end in 2012, it means the next Xbox console will never get released.

Playstation Network Down Indefinitely

Ok, just a quick update on yesterday's post.  If you were expecting PSN to be up again so time soon, think again ... it now sounds like it might still be quite a while before the PSN service is up and running.  In a phone conversation with Bloomberg, a Sony representative said "The company is in the process of adopting an improved security system and its plan to restart the services fully by May 31 is unchanged".  Sounds to me rather distinctly like he said that PSN is only coming back up by the end of the month.  If this is the case, it will mean that PSN will be down for almost one and a half by the time it comes back up.

I can fully understand that they are doing their best to improve the security of PSN, but serious hope that this is not the case ... because if PSN only comes back up at the end of the month, it means that we're not even half way through the wait yet.  Maybe I'm completely missing the point ... but, is it at all possible that all that positive feedback and defense of the downtime by PSN users has taken the pressure off Sony?  I could be wrong ... I hope so.  Comments?

Photo Critique #1

As you must have noticed, I have got a interest in photography ... actually, maybe that's understating it ... I love photography. For more than 20 years, I've liked photography.  I didn't have a proper camera at first (some might argue that I don't have a proper camera now either), but that didn't affect my interest.  I eventually got my first digital camera 11 years ago, and I haven't looked back.  Over the years I have taken thousands of photos, some that I thought were good, and a lot that were not that good. I never got any training in photography, and never did a course ... so recently I decided to do a online photography course in the hopes of taking my photography to a new level.  I also decided to start analyzing and critiquing some of my favorite photos ... because this will help me to take better photos.

Playstation Network Still Down

If you’re at all into gaming, you must be aware by now of the fact that Playstation Network (PSN) has been down since 19 April.  It was taken down by Sony after PSN’s security was compromised and breached by unknown, unscrupulous hacker(s) who stole the personal details of 77-million PSN users, including credit card details of millions of users.  Sony has been rebuilding the network since it was taken down, including moving the physical structure.   Sunday, last week, Sony said it was planning to bring PSN up again by the end of the week, at least in part.  The week has passed and PSN is still down.  It appears as though the reason why PSN is still down is that Sony had an unrelated attack on Sony Online Entertainment (SOE), the company’s MMO gaming service. A Sony spokesman wrote on the official Playstation Blog "We were unaware of the extent of the attack on Sony Online Entertainment servers, and we are taking this opportunity to conduct further testing of the incredibly complex system".

Blog Version 2.0

You either have or have not noticed that I haven’t posted anything in ages.  If you haven’t noticed, then I guess that my writing is not that interesting. I became disillusioned with writing and with my blog, for several reasons.  Writing takes time and effort.  I don’t always have a lot of time, and sometimes it’s just easier to shelf it.  Writing takes inspiration … and, while there are many things I have to share, I have not been deeply inspired by anything specific for a while.  Writing takes motivation. 

I suppose it was a good measure of naivety on my part when I started my blog, but I was sure that my writing would be interesting enough to draw ever growing numbers of readers … but I did soon come to the realization that this is not the case.  Maybe this more than anything else is what caused my disillusionment … seeing the dwindling numbers in the stats for my blog, which was bolstered by the absence of comments or feedback to my articles (except for a handful of comments that have been posted).  I suppose I’m human … I need affirmation that what I’m writing is being read by someone … I need to see that someone agrees or disagrees with me.  The lack of feedback does create the impression that either the writing is not really interesting, or that the topics and content is not relevant in any way. I have been mulling over these things for almost 2 months now, and I have decided that I have 2 options: either I officially stop my blog, or I make some changes and try again.  I have chosen to make changes, and to push forward.

Size Does Matter

If you’re thinking that I’ve ventured to a rather taboo topic … stop … take your mind out of the gutter, catch your breath and scroll down to the bottom of this post; you will see it is labelled “Technology”.

I was recently reading about the soon to be released Samsung Galaxy Tab 2, which replaces the fairly popular 7” Galaxy Tab, considered to be one of the best tablets available.  It was revealed quite early that the Galaxy Tab 2 would be a 10.1” tablet, but that other sizes would be released as well.  There have been lots of rumours of a 7” version of the Galaxy Tab 2, and I have been quite interested to see how Samsung improve the Galaxy Tab in the 7” Galaxy Tab 2.  Then a while ago, a Samsung representative told Pocket-Lint that the Galaxy Tab 2 will not be 7” version, saying “Tablets should be bigger than 7-inch”. I believe that the representative and Samsung are missing the point. The thing that made the original Galaxy Tab a great tablet was the fact that it was a 7” tablet.  Mobility is a good selling point, and by going for a larger tablet means one loses the mobility.

Is PC Gaming Destined to Die?

I have a keen interest in games … the fact that my blog is named after my gamertag should attest to this. It started with Chess and Pac-man on the Vic 20, my first computer, about 25 years ago.  In case you’re wondering, the “20” refers to the total memory, 20KB, which the Vic 20 had. This was followed by a whole plethora of games that I played on my Commodore 64 … yes, you guessed right; it had 64KB of memory. It was quite ground-breaking at the time.  Commodore 64 was followed by various early PCs, like the 286, 486 and so on … but I suppose I’m deviating from the topic.  My point is that I’ve been gaming for about 25 years now … so while my views might appear to be somewhat opinionated, I’d like to think that my experience counts for something.

Back at the Grindstone

Just got back from a couple of days leave, spent on the West Coast ... and now I'm back at the grindstone. I will be posting an article about the West Coast when I get a chance, but I thought to write a quick side note to tell you that I'm back again, in case you were wondering about my absence ... and to assure you that there will be a new post shortly.

Movie Genres 101

It’s a Saturday night (ok, actually it’s Wednesday, but that’s not the point) … you want to go to watch a movie, but there are so many choices, and spending the whole evening looking at the posters, deliberating in your mind is not an option. So I’ve decided to give a brief “introduction” to movie genres … maybe this will point you in the right direction, or maybe it will just remind you that I don’t know what I’m talking about.  This is a very brief introduction to movie genres, so don’t expect any in-depth analysis or discussion.

In case you are wondering what movie genres are … a movie genre is merely a means of categorizing the story and portrayal of the movie. As the years have passed, movie companies have realized that a lot of movies do not fall into a single genre, but instead more than one … the result is many movies now-a-days can be classified with double-barrel or even triple-barrel genres.  Anyway … here goes my rudimentary explanation of movie genres.

Why can’t we just live in harmony?

While it might sound like I’m going to rant about world peace, there is another kind of harmony that I am writing about … harmony in technology.  I suppose I need to elaborate a bit more, so you too can understand the dilemma. We all have embraced the information technology age to a lesser or greater extent … in fact, it now even has invaded our social lives.  While this is all a good thing, the problem is that our social lives have become fragmented.

In order to explain the issue, I can illustrate with the following … I have 3 friends on Windows Live Messenger (MSN), 2 friends on Google Talk, 1 friend on AIM, a couple of friends on Skype … and then quite a few friends on Facebook. I also had 2 friends on ICQ, but they switched to other systems. The issue is this … in order to chat with all my friends, I need to have Windows Live Messenger, Google Talk, AIM, and Skype installed and running on my computer, and I need to have Facebook open in a browser … well, at least if I want to chat with my friends.