Cap

Reportedly, this still doesn't fix my issue of the first keystroke on my MBP not being accepted 90% of the time (I had to press R twice to get this post started). :(

I just got the Sprint card.. and I suppose buying it at the store was easier than buying it online. I needed an unlimited plan (I work from a ton of locales and move lots of data on a daily basis), so Sprint was really my only option.

Having to download the drivers sucked.. but the rep at the Sprint store gave me those numbers you had to wait on the phone for while I was purchasing the card. I basically left the store, found a free wifi access point at a nearby coffeeshop (though I could've gone home and done it too), downloaded the drivers, and basically had everything up and running in under fifteen minutes.

The speed is great, and now it's really nice to be able to go on personal trips and still be able to work from literally anywhere on the road.

I can haz gadgetz?

Wow, I'd actually consider purchasing a 1-year contract just to see what the Zune is like. Seems like a pretty decent way to check it out.

I'm confused, Sheppy, the Wii units were shipping weekly nearly the whole time since its launch (they still are shipping weekly if the stores in Baton Rouge are to be believed). There were FAR fewer consoles than promised by Sony (less than 500,000 as I recall by the end of '06?). Nintendo with their "$100 profit" (again, you say this like it's a bad thing) shipped more consoles in the same amount of time. So I'm confused about that point.

I'll go ahead and concede that the negative press is getting more airtime than the positive press, but that could also be because the positive press is fewer and further between for a company that gives the middle finger to its customers on a nearly-weekly basis.

Sheppy,

For the record, I completely agree with you. I'm not sure what else, short of admitting failure to meet consumer expectations, would appease the snarling masses represented here. I'm neither disappointed nor upset by Sony (nor do I think they are going to be out of business or any of that other crazy nonsense) so far as the actual system is concerned. It's more like I'm completely and utterly confused by Sony's treatment of its consumers, as well as its apparent lack of objective vision. It seems to me that Sony, at least ever since the PS3 was first announced, has been acting like the consumers are LUCKY to have Sony around to make the glorious PS3 (as opposed to Sony being grateful for the consumers). I'm not sure that point can be disputed. Personally, at this point I'd be happy if they even dialed down their own rhetoric a little bit.

Like you said, the games will undoubtedly come for the PS3 eventually. But if Sony cries wolf enough times about how amazing things are and how each game is a groundbreaking godsend, some people may actually miss out on the games that are worthwhile, or even miss out on the system altogether.

I hate to bring up Nintendo, because that seems to be a source of much conflict in this thread, but I've definitely heard them admit past mistakes. Even Miyamoto himself admitted that Wind Waker was "boring," and that he didn't want to make the same mistakes ever again with a Zelda game (I didn't think it was boring, but it was tedious at certain points). Nintendo has also criticized itself for botching release dates (though that has done little to fix the problem, at least they admit it's a problem). That's more than I've ever heard from Sony about anything.

With consumers becoming increasingly savvy, it seems that the stiff-upper-lip routine is getting fewer companies very far (just look at the massive response jetBlue got for admitting it messed up and was going to fix the problems immediately). I would greatly appreciate it if a Sony exec. went on record saying, "We're working tirelessly to get great PS3 games into the hands of gamers," as opposed to "Resistance Fall of Man is the single greatest FPS to ever grace a console." Their focus is all wrong.

I actually have been playing my Wii more than my 360 as of the past few weeks. Maybe that's because I lack HD, but I really enjoy just turning on Wii Sports and goofing around for forty-five minutes or so. Whoever it was that said the Wii games are all "gimmicky" is completely right. However, what isn't taken into account is that the DS was EXACTLY the same way until developers started figuring out creative ways to use the touch screen/system's capabilities. Kirby's Canvas Curse (which should be added to the list of amazing DS titles) is what convinced me to go buy the system. Then came Meteos and Bomberman, which were both a blast to play (and still are).

Add those games, as well as Elite Beat Agents, Megaman ZX, and Children of Mana to the list. I'd also say Brain Age, but I got my score to Age 20 within a couple of days and use it now exclusively for the Sudoku puzzles.

I think the Wii will continue to have gimmicky third party support until a few killer apps get released for it at some point toward the end of this year (if not a little after). In the meantime, the "ports" (you all say it like it's a dirty word) like Super Paper Mario and such, as well as the gimmicky games, are keeping me relatively involved with the system.

I'm not sure what the PS3's deal is, exactly. I'm willing to forgive the game quality, because, as has been stated, it's in the beginning of its life cycle. The equivalent would be expecting a newborn to spout Chaucer right out of the womb. It's just not possible. The developers I know are not happy with the system, but I'm sure all of that is subject to change as they become more familiar with it. I'm looking forward to playing the new Final Fantasies and Metal Gears on my friend's PS3 (as well as a couple other titles like White Knight or whatever it's called), but I think Sony is going to need to establish new franchises (just as MS is doing with Gears of War) to make the system really sell. The Blu-ray is excellent, but seriously not enough for me to fork out over half a grand.

What worries me is I'm afraid the PS3 is going the way of the PSP reputation-wise and there's not a ton that Sony is doing to stop that from happening. In the face of criticism and adversity, Sony seems to be completely out of touch. It's like when the DS started to really gain momentum. Did Sony respond? Not really. Did UMDs sell the PSP? Nope, and as a result stores are stuck with a bunch of PSP movies they can't sell. "It plays movies" is not as compelling as "It has great games," just like "It has Internet capabilities" isn't as compelling as "It has great games." At least not for a video game machine.

I really loved the PS2 library and hope Sony gets it together to pull something off with the PS3. They just seem so full of themselves at this point, bloated with self-assuredness brought on by apparent group-think.

I wish there was a Mac program to stream my movies to my Wii... there's a PC program for it :(

Also, it doesn't work with MS Word.. go figure. Uninstalling... sigh.

So, neat idea... but it doesn't work inside Firefox, which makes it virtually useless to me, as most of my find commands happen in my browser. :( I wanted it to work so badly!