ozymandias
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Microsoft game platform director scooped up by Amazon
Microsoft director of game platform strategy Andre "Ozymandias" Vrignaud is departing from his position after eight years on the job, apparently taking up a new position at Amazon. In a post on his personal blog announcing the career change, Vrignaud says he "can't really talk about details at this point," but adds that "it'll become pretty evident soon enough ... and you all know where my passions lie." Considering Vrignaud's recent work on bringing Xbox Live to Windows Phone 7 and given the news earlier this year of an as-yet-opened app store for the Kindle, we're betting his talents are being applied to gaming on the Kindle. Vrignaud also lamented leaving the Xbox Live platform team, noting the "thousands of times when I've watched or engaged in a passionate debate in a conference room about some arcane subject where the platform teams (who are all also gamers) fought hard to do the right thing for the consumer." Regardless, with Amazon's promise of a Kindle app store launching before year's end, it'll likely be sooner than later that we hear more about what Vrignaud is up to.
What every superhero needs: Watchmen black SE/30
Even though reviewers and early attendees have pointed out a slew of Apple references (including a snippet of the 1984 ad) in the Watchmen film, the one we've been waiting for most eagerly is the appearance of Adrian (Ozymandias) Veidt's sleek black SE/30. In the film version of 1985, it's what every 'world's smartest man' is using as his desktop computer. Never mind that in our universe, Apple didn't introduce the 68030-based compact Mac until 1989. Looks like Gizmodo has the first photos of the all-in-one running System 6 (naturally). Hey, it's the consensus best Mac ever -- what else would you choose? Also, pay no attention to the fact that while that's a consistent ADB mouse, the keyboard appears to be for a PC. If you can't get enough Watchmen, Giz also has a spoilerific discussion of whether one of the characters resembles a certain iCEO, and the iTunes store is chock-full of smiley-face content for your enjoyment. If the idea of a black SE/30 makes you all tingly inside, check out geektechnique's slick mod on his machine.Update: Word is that there was, in fact, a security-hardened 'Tempest' model of the SE/30 that matches this description, except for the color. Commenter defor writes: IT actually IS a Tempest SE/30, model CSI-1891T (the proper model which is a SE/30 that's been tempest-ized) by Candes Systems http://web.archive.org/web/20011127001651/members.aol.com/tempestcsi/ I can't say I've seen one in black before, but it looks fully legitimate, and i've heard of them existing. The old manuals i had seen only showed the platinum variant. Those of you buying tickets to Watchmen via movietickets.com may have discovered, as I did, that there's an iTunes bonus in effect through 3/15: a chapter of the Watchmen motion comic + a "sneak peak [sic]" of the Tales of the Black Freighter animated minifeature. Be sure to scroll down on your ticket confirmation page to see the gift code, as it will not be emailed to you (at least, it wasn't in my case).Thanks to Laurie & everyone who sent this in.
N'Gai Croal vs. MS attack dog in PS3 bet
N'Gai Croal from Newsweek done gone and did it again, he baited another Microsoft guy into a bet ... a gamble they'll probably lose. The new wager is between Croal and Xbox attack dog Andrew "Ozymandias" Vrignaud. The battle lines are that Ozy says there'll be a 40GB $399 version of the PS3 once the "clearance sale" is over. Croal says that once the 60GBs are gone in the next couple months, the 80GB version will drop down to the $499 mark. Sadly, Croal's dreads are not up for grabs this time, it is merely a very expensive steak dinner -- lame! We want the hair of Croal to hang from someone's mantel one day.Previously Croal won a bet against former Xbox poster boy J Allard regarding sales of the PSP. Allard eventually owned up to his side and had the picture you see at right taken. One day we'll get Croal in a wager he's sure to lose -- more importantly, we'll get his pretty dreads too.[Thanks Copa]
Microsoft makes bet: Sony will unveil $399 PS3 this year
It wasn't too long ago when a Microsoft executive was trash-talking Sony. Nay, going so far as to make a bet against their rival gaming manufacturer. Case in point: J. Allard made predicted that Sony's PSP would downright flop. He was wrong, and to honor a bet with Newsweek's N'Gai Croal, he donned dreads and updated his Microsoft company profile page, admitting "N'Gai had it right," and that the PSP was not a failure.Looks like Microsoft is up to the same antics again. This time, Xbox director of technical strategy and attack blogger Andre "Ozymandias" Vrignaud, is the one to take a bet with N'Gai. He states that "My prediction is that you're going to see the creation of a new, low-end SKU this holiday. It'll likely remove integrated WiFi, memory card reader, and most controversially, all backward compatibility. (Remember, there's still some back-compat hardware in even the new "software only" back compat SKUs; removing the remaining CPU is a significant cost savings.) You'll see a new WiFi dongle made available. And finally, this low-end SKU will likely come with a smaller 40 GB hard drive. The low-end price will be set at $399, with the higher-end 80 GB SKU dropping to $499."An interesting concept, to say the least. Ozymandias expects it to arrive by Black Friday, the busiest shopping day of the year in the US. N'Gai accepted Microsoft's bet ... only this time, the loser will have to buy a steak dinner instead of alter their hair styles (which will simply not be as fun to write about).[Thanks, Copa!]
Xbox Live needs your input
Ozymandias, the man in charge of the future Xbox, is asking for your input on the future of Live. He points out that Live will soon extend beyond the Xbox platform, making its way to PCs and mobile platforms as well. As such, he is posting an open forum for users to share their ideas about the future of Live, asking them what they would like to see added to the service. He adds that these are ideas that should be implemented over the next five years or so, and that they need to have an overall strategy for execution. Ozymandias cautions, however, that these ideas obviously won't all make it into a future build of Live, and that you shouldn't share ideas you might do something with yourself some day. While we have no way of knowing what will make the cut and what won't, it's refreshing to see MS publicly soliciting ideas from its user base. If you have an idea, head over to Ozymandias' blog and share it. While you're at it, why not share it here as well. What would you like to see added to Live? Keep in mind, these things don't necessarily have to apply to the Xbox or even the PC.[Via Evil Avatar]
Blog debate: PS3 to load games slower than the Xbox 360
From the "PS3 can't get a publicity break" file comes news that the system's Blu-ray load times will be slower than the DVD speeds of the Xbox 360. Following our post regarding Resistance: Fall of Man's beefy 22GBs of data, Microsoft's Andre Vrignaud (aka Ozymandias) wrote about why storage capacity isn't as important as drive speed and -- wouldn'tcha know it? -- Blu-ray has bunches of the former and not so much of the latter. Former Sony employee Mark DeLoura responded with a long, thoughtful response sticking up for the format that fanboys love to hate, talking textures, audio, and even read speed. Naturally, there's some guffawing from the other side of the aisle as Ozymandias takes umbrage with some of DeLoura's claims, notably that textures and other media will take up a sizable chunk of that Blu-ray disc. One area they are in agreement on is that Blu-ray's read speed isn't as fast as the Xbox 360's. Says DeLoura: "Admittedly, Blu-Ray looks dicey from several non-capacity angles. Blu-Ray movies require a 1.5x Blu-Ray drive, or 54Mbits/second. Sony announced that PS3 uses a 2x BD drive, which is 72Mbits/second or 9MB/second. The Xbox 360 uses a 12x DVD, which should give it about 16MB/second. That is significantly faster for games and will result in shorter load times. And that 12x DVD drive should be a whole lot cheaper. (Note that the PS3 drive will do 8x DVD, and even that is faster than 2x BD.)" Says Ozymandias in response: "This is pretty much what I've been saying regarding drive speeds. A good example of where we're pretty clearly agreeing." So, they're in agreement. The PS3 will load slower than the Xbox 360, leading one to question whether bragging about 22GB discs is the most prudent course of action. Let's hope they use the compression technologies touched on in the debate to shrink the data down considerably, even if it obviates a key selling point of the console. ... but wait, it's not all settled. Be sure to read the comments on Ozymandias' last post to get a bunch of great feedback, including this gem on the finer differences between CAV and CLV drives ("a BD25 on PS3 fares better than a DVD9 on the 360"), or Kim Pallister's link back to his own feedback on the fight and the "innovator's dilemma." [Thanks, Hank; via DigitalBattle] Grist - Will Resistance: FoM justify the PS3 pricetag? [Joystiq] Point - Drive Speed More Relevant to Games Than Capacity [Ozymandias] Counterpoint - On PS3 and Blu-Ray [Mark DeLoura] Counter-counterpoint - Oddly, We're in Violent Agreement [Ozymandias]
Is 1080p really worthless? Now it's personal
There's this Microsoft supporter, Ozymandias, who recently pushed an article called "1080p Meaningless this Generation". Well, perhaps Microsoft supporter is unfair, but he's definitely against Sony's new console. Let's sum up his reasoning behind the uselessness of 1080p. Multiplatform games embrace the 720p as a simpler system specification. Doesn't expect any 1080p (or i) games for the PS3 this year. No difference between 1080i and 1080p if television is de-interlacing properly. All are valid points, but there is a bit debate to be had. Let's see how we do. Let's be honest. Multi-platform games usually aren't that great. They're multi-platform to maximize sales. It's true they'd use the 720p since it's a simpler way to go multi, but what about the games just for PS3? Namely, RPG's, or anything other than FPS's and Madden? This is a fairly moot point as it's pointed at one piece of the gaming industry, but still valid. See the article on Lair. It's rumored to be a launch title. Even so, saying there won't be any 1080p games this year, when that includes a month and a half, is an unfair estimation. In one year after release? There certainly will be. Sure. This is confusing stuff to some people, so it's something we're willing to shrug and accept. It's relating to movies, mostly, and the whole Blu-ray vs. HD-DVD is a completely different story. If the two use the same codec, they might just be equal. The guy has some points, but it's a lot of anti-hype. It's a good article and very much worth a read and some more debate as comments, but we shouldn't make such hasty judgments when we haven't even started our engines. By November of next year, hopefully there will be more great debate to be had.
