Why I won’t be buying an XBone

Posted on by

Last week saw the full announcement of the XBone, aka XBox One, and the PlayStation 4.

I currently have an XBox 360 and a PlayStation 3.  The XBox was supposed to be the game machine I use to play Forza 3 & 4, and also to turn into a classic arcade game box.

Sadly it’s not turned out that way.  See, yes I have Forza 3 & 4 and I like both games, I don’t play them a lot but when I do, I play for a few hours.

Turning my 360 into the classic arcade game box?  Not so much.  The games are great and fun, however Microsoft has started removing games from the XBox Live Arcade game store and it seems that all of the arcade games I wanted to download, but was taking my time downloading – almost all gone.

The XBox Games Store/Marketplace was pretty cool and at one level is still quite cool.  Being able to buy games online from work, and have it automatically download to the console by the time I got home was pretty cool.

I guess I’m just disappointed that games are being removed from the store.  I can guarantee that Sony has not been doing that with PlayStation because Sony is gamer focused.  I can pretty much find every older game that has been available since the start of the PlayStation launch.

So that was the first straw.  If you make it available, making it available for a long time, don’t just delete the games.

The amount of advertising, I still maintain, bugs the hell out of me on the 360.  Now, Microsoft has said the amount of advertising will be reduced on the XBone.  I am skeptical, and given I would be paying a premium price for a console, and paying for XBox Gold – the advertising seems gratuitous, and given I’ve worked with businesses in the digital advertising space, I have a good idea Microsoft is racking in the money for ad impressions.

The DRM space also has me concerned.  I do let my close friends borrow my PS3 games to give them a try, and they let me borrow their’s.  While I’m not exactly new to gaming (Commodore 64, Amiga CD32, Dreamcast, Game Cube, Wii, WiiU PS3, XBox 360), with the previous console generation, I’ve had to learn what games I really like.  I’ve really come into my own.

Not being able to try a game out ahead of time is a concern of mine.  I don’t want to spend the money.

Now, Microsoft has said you can lend out a game once to your friends and that you can login to a friend’s console and play a game.  This intrigues me and maybe this is what gets around my issue.  It remains to be seen how this works.

The context of people saying that games will drop from $59.99 down to $39.99 or so, I have to admit I am very skeptical.  There’s no way the game companies, the licensors, etc… are going to reduce the price of games even if DRM is applied to games in a strict way.  Microsoft reduce the price and use Steam’s model?  Ha!  Borderlands 2 is the same price on Steam as it is in stores right now, so don’t give me that.

The requirement to call into the mother ship every 24 hours is ridiculous and this is my biggest issue.  The dismissive attitude of Microsoft about this is probably the biggest reason why I am not buying an XBone.  I’ve been to way too many countries where net access is spotty and not reliable even certain places in the western world.  The rest of the world is not Seattle, Microsoft.  There are no benefits or advantages to having to connect every 24 hours It’s just not required. Simply connect every time the machine is turned on.

I don’t want to be dismissive and naive that the online gaming industry is not going to go cloud based.  We’ve seen it with digital music and I would say a good portion of games I have on my 360 and my PS3 are downloaded.  And those games are not easily shared – although if you do login with your PS3 credentials on another PS3, you can download and install those downloaded games. I have two PS3s here that I do that with.

The final thing for me about XBox is, honestly, the games aren’t there for me, at least on the 360, to warrant getting an XBone.  The graphics were also better on the PS3, it it just seemed to be a more well rounded system, games-wise.

That said, I have to admit, if I were to get an XBone, I would be interested in – Forza 5, Quantum Break and Crimson Dragon (for Scott),

Surprisingly I’m less worried about the voice command aspect of the XBone.  I just know that the first thing I’ll say when I walk into someone’s home who owns an XBox  One is “XBox on”. *GRIN*

I have no doubt that Kinect is going to be great on the One, but I really dislike playing Kinect games.  I also dislike playing Move games on the PS3 – In fact, I traded in a bunch of my Move games because I’m simply not playing them.  Move and Kinect?  They’re not really that great.

The TV functionality – I’m neither here nor there about it.   I already choose to turn on my amplifier to watch TV – why would I want to turn on both my cable box and XBox just to watch TV?

  • For the sake of voice commands?  I have to admit, I hate voice commands, it makes me feel like a real dork, even with my 360, it’s faster just to use a controller
  • For the TV guide?  My experience with using TV guides with Web TV (when I had a TV tuner card for my old PC), even Nintendo TV has been lacking, even worse in Canada as we often get forgotten.
  • I don’t even using the TVii functionality on my WiiU, so why would I bother on XBone?
  • So I can watch TV and Skype at the same time?  I don’t think so.  I’d prefer to be present to the person I’m Skyping with.
  • Getting stats and such about the program?  See TVii above.
  • Play movies?  I have an Apple TV, a PS3, XBox 360, iPad, a WiiU and even my TVs to do that with.
  • Exploring the web on my TV?  Again, there’s no need, even with SmartGlass.

The TV functionality seems really gratuitous.

Sadly for you Microsoft, I’m not willing to buy a $499 dongle to play Forza 5, though I would LOVE to play that game.  If you’ve done one thing right, it’s what you’re doing with cloud gaming – specifically Forza 5 is VERY cool.  I’d be worried about all the cars that would get scratched up with how aggressive I am with that game.

Beyond all that, another win I would say the XBone has is the controller.  I like the design and look of the new controller over the PS4.

BTW if there is one game I am looking forward to on the XBox 360 – Max and the Curse of the Brotherhood.  This may be the first game I would finish through to the end.

Hello Ouya

Posted on by 
Blah:.android mathan$ adb kill-server
Blah:.android mathan$ adb devices
* daemon not running. starting it now on port 5037 *
* daemon started successfully *
List of devices attached 
015d4363803fe80d device

The kitchen is done, except…

Posted on by

Two doors above the fridge.  The stain was off and not close to the rest of the cabinetry.  That’s it.

Dry walling was completed today in the storage locker and everything that was in our bedroom, my man cave and the living room is back where it belongs.

We have our bedroom back!  We have our dining room back (almost)!  My man cave is back!

Now it’s time to enjoy everything. 🙂

It’s almost done!

Posted on by

Another day or two of work by the contractors next week and another week to wait before we get four replacement doors and we are done!

The doors are being replaced due to

  • One due to the varnish peeling off
  • Two above the fridge as the cabinet there was mis-sized and the fridge couldn’t fit underneath
  • One for the magic corner because the magic corner’s size is bigger than first thought.

 

Nous souhaitons une agreable vol!

Posted on by

I have a gripe with Canadians.

Canadians love to shit on the national airline – Air Canada.

What those Canadian’s don’t know is that Air Canada truly is one of three, current, North American airline to achieve 4-stars from Skytrax – the world’s largest airline review site.  The others being Porter and Virgin America.

How can that be?

Easy – just fly any other airline in North America. United, American, US Airways, Southwest, Delta – they cannot compare to the level of service and professionalism you get on Air Canada.  Save maybe Porter and Virgin America.

United has vastly improved it’s service, and I see it on the way up with it’s merger with Continental.  It remains to be seen what happens with American after the merger with US Airways.

What about Westjet and Porter?  You know what, relative to the US-based airlines, they’re not bad.

Westjet, I really don’t care for because they act like Southwest yet their prices are just as high as Air Canada.  No frills?  Yes and you pay the price.  They don’t even have business class, and their mileage program is not affiliated with OneWorld or Star Alliance so why would I fly them?  They’re just not my cup of tea.

Porter, I’ve only flown once and I really enjoyed their service.  They would be my second choice, though again, their mileage program is not affiliated with OneWorld or Star Alliance.    The service is excellent, I love what they have done with the Toronto Island Airport.  I honestly have nothing bad to say about them.

There was a discussion that occurred today that started with a picture of, what looked like, a great meal in Air Canada Executive First.  Someone pointed out to me this fact after I had said, “And people in Canada like to crap all over Air Canada. They don’t know what they have until they fly on other carriers.” responding with, “…AirCanada economy blows, like the economy class of all other North American carriers.”

Food-wise, I have to say Air Canada is one of the best with Westjet on-par for food.  I heard Porter was really good but I wasn’t impressed when I flew to Chicago over a year ago.  As for the rest of the airlines in North America – this quote from me says it all: “Try any other airline – except maybe Virgin and Porter – who have better food choices. You can’t.”

Now I’ve had some amazing experiences on various airlines – British Airways First and Business class blows any experience I’ve had in business class, away.  Yes, I agree, Air Canada doesn’t compare when flying internationally, but I would hardly say they are sub-par and I wouldn’t say “they blow” like this one person did.

Then it got into providing bi-lingual service.  He was sitting in a section on a Frankfurt to Montreal flight with a flight attendant who was fluent in English and Mandarin.  He implied he wanted service in French and there was no one on board that could provide him with service.

For the record, the Service Director announces what languages the flight attendants can be of service in, and two of those, by law, have to be English and French.  As the official languages act says, service in Canada in Federal offices and on Air Canada has to be provided in both languages.

That’s not an issue, Air Canada guarantees this.  All this guy had to do was speak up and request service in french, and they would have got him a flight attendant who speaks french.

Personally, I don’t expect every flight attendant on an Air Canada flight to be able to speak both languages, but I do expect them to have an appropriate amount. Believe me, I love hearing the announcements in both languages and it helps me to remember some of my french.

Seriously, people, stop shitting on Air Canada.  Take off your blinders and if you’re being self entitled, maybe you need to show some humility.

Quartz and Appliances!

Posted on by

The past two days have been exciting here in Penthouse des Ours.  Our counter top arrived, plumbing is in for the sink, dishwasher and fridge (ice maker & water dispenser).

Not without some hitches:

  • the cabinet was too low above the fridge so it’s had to be adjusted
  • the quartz backsplash for the island was mis-measured so that’s being replaced and will take another day or two
  • we were told we’d have to re-pick our backsplash, but after telling the tile folks we’ve already had to pick our cabinets twice, and our counter three times; they figured out how to get us what we wanted.  We did not have to repick our back splash.

With a reno like this, you really have to roll with the punches.  I’m actually somewhat laughing my butt off because I know the contractors will fix it.  I trust them and in then end the kitchen is going to look amazing.

And on the plus side, our dishwasher is SOOOO quiet relative to what we had before.  Having an ice maker is… interesting.  Not sure I’ll use it but I know Scott will.

Tile goes in tomorrow, Friday, and grouting on Saturday or Monday.  🙂

The day is here!

Posted on by

We got word that tomorrow will forever now be known as… Counter Top Day!

Normally it would be May Day, especially in Morris Dancing tradition, and yes my family would try to get me up at an ungodly hour to watch them dance.

I digress.  Between 11 and 2, our counter top will be installed.  Thursday will be backsplash day if our contractor can get the tile guy in, and plumbing will also be Thursday – Working dishwasher and water for the fridge.

It’s all coming together.

In the meantime, I leave you with a video featuring dancing goat heads.  The new Pet Shop Boys single – Axis:

Gettin’ Glassy

Posted on by

The doors with frosted glass arrived today.  Also here is a view of the over the peninsula light.

Seeing all of this come together, it’s looking even better than I thought it would.  I will say it is taking a bit of a toll on Scott and I.  We’re both tired of the condo being in shambles and we just want the place back to normal as soon as possible.  Unfortunately that looks like it will be another week or two.  The outstanding items we have are:

  • Countertop installation – delayed after having to pick three different colours.  The one we picked is commonly available.  It’s not as dark as we wanted, but it will work well.
  • Backsplash installation – delayed because of the counter.
  • Plumbing – Dishwasher, fridge – delayed due to the counter.
  • Replacement of the Magic Corner – The unit ordered was too big for the cabinet.  A new door and an adjustment to the cabinet will need to be made.
  • Replacement of one of the peninsula doors – The varnish is peeling off it, being replaced under warranty.

Not too much, but that counter top is key.  It will probably be in by next Thursday.  Possibly sooner if things really go well.

Let there be light…

Posted on by

And on the 20-something-ieth day, he said, let there be light.  And it was pretty cool how it turned out.

Got wood!

Posted on by

The templating for the counter top was pretty cool.  The dot pattern is used to take pictures with a digital camera, which is then fed into a CAD program to define the contours of the counter.

Two more weeks!