"Of course, as we've heard, games can move from the 360 to PCs to second-gen Zunes"

Nilay, you should not rely upon the PS3 fans/360 haters for your information and writing incorrect posts. From the FAQ on http://forums.xna.com/ShowThread.aspx?PostID=46553

Q: Will this feature only work on newer Zune devices?
A: XNA Game Studio 3.0 currently will support Zune 4/8, Zune 30, and Zune 80 devices.

Notice the Zune 30. It is second gen firmware, but the first gen hardware will run the games.

From the FAQ at http://creators.xna.com

Q: Will this feature only work on newer Zune devices?
A: XNA Game Studio 3.0 currently will support Zune 4/8, Zune 30, and Zune 80 devices.


Opening your mouth before you even try to find out the facts is not a good idea.

@Scott

Can you give me the location where I, as a hobby game developer, can download the free SDK so I can develop games and play them on an iPod? I am not talking about games developed by companies that pay out $1000s of dollars for the SDK, but games generated by the community.

@Gar

Mind telling me which player that is? All Toshiba HD players - even the first, the A1 - have supported at least 1080i.

You should stop using Best Buy/Circuit City/BDA as your source of information (Best Buy and Circuit City "sales people" were well known for claiming that HD could only do 720p).

@Blackstar

Sony announced at CES that this will be possible. Of course, it is only possible with a Sony player (PS3) to a Sony device (PSP) with a Sony memory format (Memory Stick). Blu-Ray is open and not owned by one group like that evil Toshiba/M$, so you can use players from any manufacturer (small print: to use the format to the full potential, only Sony products can be purchased).

I would not say it has been a clean launch, and the software has not been what I would call stable. If you look over my posting history, I have not been favorable towards apple, but I saw the Touch as a tool that I could use for browsing the internet, so I got one. Shortly after, they wanted to charge me $20 for a small upgrade. I still cannot get the locator to work in the Google maps application. I was reading at another tech blog just today that people who did not buy the upgrade are having problems syncing their Touch where it nags you to upgrade (and pay $20), and if you click no to the prompt, you cannot sync picture folders correctly. The GF is a Mac fan, and so I bought her one for Christmas. She is running an earlier version of OSX, and she cannot sync hers because it will not allow her to upgrade iTunes. There was the price drop - which they made up for (kind-of, you had to buy apple products with that $100 refund). My Blackjack broke (dropped into a puddle) and at the prompting of the GF, I got an iPhone. It works OK, except every third time or so I press the home button the screen will briefly turn on, then go blank. The backlight is still on, but the screen does not show a picture. Once you go into Safari, it crashes constantly where the screen goes black and then takes me back to the home screen. I cannot tell you how many times I have tried typing a comment here on Engadget, but before I am done it crashes. I am using the latest firmware, so it is not because I am using older software.

There is a lot of great stuff in the phone and Touch, but I would not say it was flawless.

And as for them clearing out inventory, I don't agree with that. I can see them doing it with the iPhone if they were going 3G. But this does not account for decreases in Touch production. You do not cut production of the touch if the phone is going 3G, and you do not cut production if you are increasing memory capacity. You just make fewer of the 8GB models and make more of the 32GB model, balancing out the production numbers.

"But seriously, with 200GB Blu-ray discs, who needs to worry about the next best thing?"

So when the argument is HD DVD vs. Blu-ray, we need all that extra space on Blu-ray for uncompressed audio, being able to store entire seasons of TV shows on fewer disks (meaning fewer times to get up and change the disk), etc. But when something else will be available that could hold more - which could mean uncompressed video (to me, much more important than uncompressed lossless audio vs. compressed lossless audio) and TV seasons that will fit on one disk - Blu-ray is good enough. Maybe with that extra space, Disney can fit a POTC and the extras (which, we have been told by Blu fans, are useless) on one disk.

At a former job, a couple times a month I would have to deal with the press/bloggers. The problem is that the bloggers would demand full access just like the press. They would want access to upper level (or even top) management, all product information just like the press, and would demand press passes for conferences with all the priveleges of that press pass. But then they would turn around, not "report" accurately nor fairly, and use misleading pictures such as the one above. When called on it, the first thing is to hide under the "I'm a blogger, not a reporter" unbrella. Look at political blogs, they want to be treated like the press, but then go to court so that they do not get labelled "press" so they do not have to abide by election laws. This site used words like "source" (http://www.engadget.com/2007/05/16/iphone-delayed-until-october-leopard-delayed-again-until-januar/) and even called themselves "reporter" (http://www.engadget.com/2007/05/17/regarding-yesterdays-apple-news/) on a post causing an APPL stock drops.

Blogs switch back and forth between "blogger" and "reporter" when it fits their needs. If bloggers want to voice opinion rather than undistorted fact, then more power to them. But don't turn around and want to be taken seriously. Don't try to be treated like the WSJ, but act like The National Enquirer. And certianly don't ask to have the same priveleges as the press.

A few months ago the HD supporters said that Blu sales - such as BOGO - would stop because most of the studios were going Blu exclusive and there was no competion. The Blu people said it would not happen. If you go to Blu forums (such as the Blu-ray forum on avsforum.com) they are complaining that for a while there have been no new sales on Blu disks. Meanwhile, Amazon has a 50% off sale on many HD disks. I guess with no competition, that did happen - no reason to dicount Blu disks.

@Chad:

Show me where I can buy a Microsoft branded phone today. But nice diversion, trying to distract from the topic being discussed and Josh trying to spin the numbers to detract from WinMo and make the iPhone seem better because there is only one manufacturer.

And for your last sentence, Apple, FireFox, Sony, Nintendo, Logitech, etc. do not do the same? If you think they do not, well, there is nothing more I can say to get through the blinders.