Lummox

My original MagSafe connector for a gen.1 MBP frayed right under the collar within a year of use (the metal sheathing looked like it was coming out). Apple gladly exchanged it right away for free, no questions asked. What I noticed with my replacement power adapter is that the rubber collar was a good 2mm longer than my original one's was. Clearly it was a needed design improvement. I try to keep the MagSafe end from getting too twisted up now as I can see the inner cord getting a bit twisted and I'd like to keep it from fraying again, but look at the Flickr page it's pretty apparent that whomever took that picture didn't really try to take even decent car of their adapter. That plug itself is pretty chewed up.

Sandbox!!

Mix:
2 parts Halo universe
1 part Original Halo concept
3 part Ensemble RTS pedigree
3 parts Xbox Live goodness
2 parts AWESOME
=
One incredible experience. *

* I reserve the right to change this formula after actually playing the game...

That was a REALLY long survey. I lost count of how many pages I went through, but it was interesting to see what ideas they were trying to find support for.

The one I found most interesting was the Mobile TV add-on. What quickly turned me off was the proposed pricing model which included pretty significant periodic fees (can't remember if it was monthly or yearly). C'mon... it's TV on a 3" so-so resolution screen! I'll stick with my LocationFree TV thanks. Cost me $50 off eBay two years ago, and not a dime since.

I would like to see a redesigned PSP with some more modern features. Bluetooth, higher res screen, touch screen, ditch UMD, etc.

Invitations to the survey were sent via email from Playstation.com, so I'd assume you'd have had to have registered your PSP there and perhaps opted in to some feedback options.

Horde mode. Just ear-to-ear grinning insanity, it is.

I'd turn my stocks to gold. While the price of gold is low and getting lower, they aren't as depressed as my stock holdings, so it would actually be an improvement!

The terrain deformation mechanic was interesting and kind of fun to use. Some neat weapons (like the ST-4 "land torpedo"). I thought the controls were ok, but the graphics need a lot of work. They look really grainy and unpolished. I had a lot of graphical glitches running on the upper level of the jail cell rampways (looked like flickering between crouching while I was standing/running), and lip-synch wasn't great. Hopefully it's just a sign of the unfinished nature of the demo that will be cleaned up by release.

Not that I was even considering picking this title up anyway. Maybe if it were released in May when an average game like this might have had a chance...

Does PSN Jeopardy include Sean Connery?

Wow. That list certainly doesn't look easy, but who doesn't like a good challenge? :) I do agree with some others though; Platinum is only going to go to the truly hardcore Warhawkers.

Some look pretty easy to get though. Bandwidth donor is an easy Gold; create a ranked dedicated server and go to sleep/out. I think several of the trophies which only require a specific event to happen will be quickly achieved if you arrange a set of servers with other people looking to get trophies. Then just have to coordinate and take turns getting trophies off each other (i.e. Team 1 lets Team 2 control the whole map for World Victory, then Team 2 lets Team 1).

And besides jetpacks and Tau Crater, there are (finally) going to be training missions??

Considering the August time frame, I'd hazard a guess that it may be a Madden 09 PS3 bundle. They are already planning to release the Madden 09 PSP bundle, it's the 20th anniversary of Madden NFL games, and they need to win back the core sports gamer which makes up a large chunk of North American games revenue after last year's Madden frame rate debacle.

I'd also like to see some minor hardware upgrades to the 40 GB SKU (addition of USB ports and flash reader would be nice to have).