We’ve had the consoles for a while, and I think we’ve pretty much decided which we like better. I won’t give it away just yet (I’ll save it for our review), but after having some time with both, I’ve learned a few more things:

The Playstation 3’s motion sensitivity seems a little vague. This is, of course, one thing that the Wii excels at. With the PS3, you don’t have the confidence-inspiring responsiveness the Wii provides. For example, in Ratchet & Clank, there are a number of things you control by tilting and twisting the controller. When you do so, it seems like you’ve got to tilt the controller a good 30 degrees on a given axis before the game registers that you’ve moved. This leads to me waving and twisting the controller around like an idiot. I feel like I did when I was 9, playing the original Nintendo console for the first time. If I was trying to move left, I’d twist the controller, then my whole body in an effort to get my little man to do my bidding. Also, I’d make faces. Also, I still make faces. What they really need to build is a game system that reads your facial expressions and uses them to control your little man. Or at least one that reads my expressions. Continue reading →

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Elonex, a UK-based company, recently announced it’s going to be offering a Linux-based laptop for just under a hundred pounds. They’re calling it the Elonex ONE, and it’s tough not to see it as a dig at MIT’s One Laptop Per Child project.

Initially, the One Laptop Per Child project was aiming to build a simple laptop that could be sold for $100. Unfortunately, this proved a bit too ambitious, and the price is actually closer to $200. Also, the laptops build were intended just for kids from under-developed countries, and unavailable to us first worlders. I can get behind that, but the XO (the official name of the laptops) is such a fun-looking gadget, I can’t help but want to get my hands on one. I’m not the only one who feels that way, and the OLPC foundation tapped into that sentiment by offering to let us wealthy yanks buy one for $400. The $400 pays for a laptop for us, and pays for a second XO to be donated to someone somewhere else who could never afford it. Continue reading →

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I finished Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction on the PS3 a few days ago, and recommend it. I’ve never really played a cartoony action style game, they’ve never appealed to me much, and didn’t really have very high expectations for it. Maybe that’s part of the reason I enjoyed it. Of course, it could have also been the constant stream of crazy new weapons. Anyway, a few notes about the game:

Lots of guns. Lots and lots and lots of guns. You know, it’s funny how often video game characters carry around an apparently magical arsenal. I think by the end of the game Ratchet had something like 24 different weapons, yet managed to neatly stow them… somewhere. Seriously, where does he keep all that stuff? And some of the guns are gigantic. The Magma Blaster, for example is almost as big as Ratchet himself. Does he have some sort of pocket wormhole that leads to a rented storage unit in Jersey? If so, how does he change weapons out so quickly? I mean, you just select the weapon, and boom, he’s ready to fire. Sometimes you can crack off 3-4 shots from different weapons before a baddy has even had a chance to move. Curious.

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We had some interesting stuff happen this week. For me, the biggest thing was the Android phones debuted at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, but there was other stuff happening too:

• The mobile phone tradeshow in Barcelona was swarmed by Androids - I already posted my thoughts about the new Android-based phones starting to be shown. Suffice to say, I’m less interested in the phones themselves, and more interested in what industry changes the phones are indicative of.

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The Atlantis launched last week. Unfortunately, I live nowhere near the launch pad, so I have to content myself with video of it. Fortunately there’s some pretty good footage out there. It’s kind of funny watching it. It’s goes something like “nothing… nothing… nothing… 54321GO!GO!GO!GO!“, then “ahh” as it arcs across the sky. It’s a longish video (10 min.), but worth watching: Continue reading →

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It’s really unfair. The way to Sunshine Mountain is impossible, Doom Mountain the only way to go. Every step could be a trap. Is that solid ground? Sure looks like solid ground. But no, it’s a grand illusion, and you find yourself plummeting to your death. But that’s not too horrible, because as far as I can tell you have unlimited lives. However, it does keep track of how many you use, to rub it in, so to speak. I was very near 100 by the time I beat the 5 levels or so of the game. Continue reading →

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