Krantzstone

@whySoSerious

Unfortunately, I have to agree. I used to be a Sony fanboi (I'm Japanese, after all) but a string of bad Sony purchases (lower end consumer-level headphones, etc.) have served to ruin that formerly good name to the point where I no longer seriously consider Sony as a decent electronics manufacturer. Supposedly those in the audio/video business say that some of the professional-level high-end Sony products are still quite good, but it seems like poor business practice to slap their good name on any old product, whether good or bad. For a while after Sony purchased Aiwa (another formerly great Japanese audio manufacturer) they proceeded to put the Aiwa name on their lower-end products, but I don't think it helped except to ruin the Aiwa name as well rather than improving the Sony image.

I too have been unimpressed with the Sony Ericsson partnership (my sister's SE phone is chintzy and the fake metallic paint has been scraped off to reveal an ugly off-white plastic underneath) and I even returned an SE phone that I tried out and opted for a Siemens.

I'm actually writing this post from my sister's old Sony VAIO however. The LCD on it is surprisingly good (and the only part our dad didn't replace: the insides were swapped with another VAIO with a broken screen) and the P3 inside still runs XP, albeit a little slowly. All in all, however, until Sony starts bringing their 'A' game to their products to match their Apple-like premium pricing, it's doubtful I'll bother to look at Sony much unless I have money to burn.

/of course, the VAIO Z is pretty sexy and the P is kind of cute...
//what was wrong with the Xperia X10? It sounds good on paper...

@deliteguy

From what I've read, the Blu Ray playing capability of the PS3 rivals all but the best standalone Blu Ray players, which is why apparently a lot of people have been buying a PS3 just to watch Blu Ray movies. It's now at a pretty good price for a combination Blu Ray player and game console/media player. I'm definitely considering getting one when I make the leap to Blu Ray.

But which button for secondary fire? ;)

/ducks and runs
//posting from sister's MacBook

Their new ad slogan:

EA Sports - It's (not) in the game. (You have to pay extra for that.)

@Tuan X

FOP FOP FOP

If they were flatter/thinner, you could use them as interactive dinner settings (at some posh bistro) and order food from your table.

Then play games while waiting for food/drinks to arrive, like those old Galaga videogame tables. Maybe text the cute girl sitting at the bar, via some form of geolocating app. Play networked trivia?

@fast

I read that as "Deutsche Bank central".

I think this contest should include residents of Canada. :(

@iPhaze

Yeah, I know what you mean. It's like the Samsung Galaxy S - it deserves so much more than to seem like a cheap clone/knockoff of Apple, yet it's unmistakable and undeniable: in a realm where brand differentiation is particularly important (considering many of the innards are designed and built by the same OEMs), companies attempting to confuse consumers through conflation of catchphrases, brand names and similarity of design in order to bandwagon their way to success is not only obvious to even the casual tech-savvy customer but makes it seem like a company is a follower in the tech world, rather than a leader.

I don't even particularly like most Apple designs (although their new iPhone prototype looks kind of nice, and I like their new unibody-shelled MacBook Pros) so I don't really understand why so many PC manufacturers (and apparently smartphone manufacturers) feel the need to ape Apple designs. Sure, they are currently enjoying unprecedented success in the popular market in terms of mindshare and brand recognition, but I would think most companies would rather put out new products that strongly differentiate their products from their leading competitor, not try to look more like them. Apple didn't get where they are by copying the PC designs of the day, they did it by getting some serious industrial designers with a flair for style to distinguish themselves, and they did it well. I'd argue that their minimalist designs often veered away from actual usability or ergonomics, but some people enjoy form over function, and Apple has clearly distinguished their brand as a maker of lifestyle devices and despite still being (in terms of market share) a relatively niche computer manufacturer, in terms of mind share they're clearly head and shoulders above the large number of Asian clone PC manufacturers who may push more units but haven't managed as yet to put out any one recognizable product which has caught the eye of popular culture and the average consumer.

I actually like HTC designs because they don't look anything like Apple's iPhone. Now if only PC manufacturers had a similar interest in totally rethinking their laptop/desktop designs that moved away from existing bland designs without simply trying to copy Apple...

Thought Microsoft owned Turbine? Or was that a long time ago (just checked Wikipedia, I guess that was a long time ago), it's been a while since I played Asheron's Call.

Played DDO after it went free, but it didn't capture my interest much although I liked that it was free and supported through microtransactions revenue. Currently on DarkFall, and while I had high hopes for a full PvP loot-oriented MMO without levels or classes, it turns out that grinding for skill and attribute percentages is even less exciting than levelling, and not being able to be competitive in PvP until you spend an intolerable number of hours doing tedious tasks is not my idea of fun. Considering trying Mortal Online, but I can't get the damn thing to work without crashing. It may need some more time in the oven...

Won't someone please make a less-grind-intensive MMO?! People have lives and don't necessarily want to pay X-amount per month just to spend most of it doing endlessly repetitive and pointless tasks just to become half-way decent. I suspect most people want a game that is easier to pick up and play, with an emphasis on time investment in the roleplay aspect of the character (as opposed to number-crunching) and its advancement as much in the social aspect of the world (as opposed to just game mechanics). If anything, spamming up skills/levels is anti-roleplay and despite the 'Massively Multiplayer' moniker, most MMOs lack any sort of meaningful social interaction, which I think is a major fail. Especially in this age of social networking, an MMO that doesn't have extensive and convenient tools for social interaction are probably missing what was arguably one of the best aspects of oldschool MUDs: the people. I've yet to see an MMO that really understands that or solves the problem of how to successfully implement it in the context of a 3D game.

Roleplay is also greatly missing from most MMORPGs, which I think is a pity. Although RP on MUDs when done badly can result in a lot of misused 'thee's, 'thine's and 'thou's, the best of it worked very much like immersive and interactive fantasy fiction. There has to be a better way to rework that kind of interaction into a 3D realm than has been done so far. Too many MMOs resort to Out Of Character interaction in favour of number-crunching and game mechanics advantages, and forget the point of even having a fictional fantasy (or science fiction) setting for the game at all.