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Poll: What medium delivers your HDTV programming?
After examining which carrier actually offered up the most HD programming regardless of price and investigating whether you were actually satisfied with your level of service, we began to wonder what the split was on mediums. If we had to guess, we'd say cable will likely rule the roost, but particularly among HD junkies, satellite is looking more attractive all the time. So, what kind of provider dishes out your HD content? You know the drill, toss in your answer below. %Poll-10921%
Breakfast Topic: What's your anti-class?
We're not talking about drugs here, and I don't mean to ask what class you just can't seem to beat in PvP. Nope, today's topic is a little more humbling and personal. Charly over on WoW Ladies wants to know: what class can't you play?Me, I've never been able to play a Paladin to my satisfaction-- despite my obvious concerns (which have come up before and which I won't belabor here), the class just never vibed with my playstyle. Warlock is another one that, for whatever reason, I've just never been able to play past about level 10 or so. It's not that I think they're bad classes-- it's just that I personally just don't vibe with their playstyle.What about you? Are there any classes that you just can't seem to play and get into? What's your anti-class?
Is the Horseman too easy?
Now, a little while ago, Blizzard implemented an Arena points system, where as long as you ran 10 arena matches, you could stock up points and then use them for Arena weapons. So raiders (who didn't PvP much, but wanted the weapons) would save up their points even if they lost, and buy the weapons once they'd saved enough. Arena players, however, cried foul-- they said the Arena weapons had become "welfare epics." So Blizzard required a good Arena rating to buy those weapons.As of Tuesday, it's Hallow's End in Azeroth, and there is now a Headless Horseman event in Scarlet Monastery's Graveyard. Everyone I know (including me) has run the event multiple times, and Epics are dropping like Hallow's End candy. So here's the question: should Blizzard really be giving out Epics for an event that takes just a few minutes and only a modicum of skill? Aren't these as "welfare epics" as they come? Is the Horseman event too easy to be giving out loot like this?Now, obviously, the rings and helm that the Horseman drops are hardly the Arena weapons that Blizzard had to put behind a rating. Though they are Epic, they're not that amazing-- one trip through Karazhan could probably replace all of them. But Karazhan is a ten main raid, and this is an event that can be done with as little as three people once every day (and I wouldn't be surprised to see it soloed by some ambitious Paladin before long). Already, three days into the event, my guild was running a 66 Mage in there just to get a "free" epic ring for him to use, four levels from now. Isn't that a bit much?
A friend for life, or pet of the week?
00hshiny is asking a question about what Hunter pet to get for raiding on WoW Ladies, but something even more interesting struck me about her situation: she's made it all the way to 67 with a pet she's had since the beginning.I know it happens (my friend went all the way with his first pet), but I've leveled one Hunter and am now working on a second, and I can't imagine leveling all the way up with just one pet-- it would get too boring after a while! Hunters, have you done it?Of course you'd need to train other pets at some point, just to get more skills. And it's very common for Hunters to reach 70, and then get different pets for different activities-- a PvP pet vs. a soloing or raiding pet. But I wonder exactly how many pets Hunters actually play with (as in, fight with enough to reach the highest loyalty levels). BRK apparently changes pets all the time, but what about the rest of you Hunters? How many pets have you had, in terms of actually using, not just taming for learning skills, from 1-70?%Poll-3004%
The most powerful character in Azeroth
Killah sent us a interesting question: who is the most powerful character in all of Azeroth? We've talked about this one before, but it's been a while, and considering that we've learned a lot since last December about Azeroth and what's happening in it, I'd say it's worth another look.So who's on top? Last time around, we said Sargeras or Elune, but let's refine things a bit-- those two may both be very powerful, but Sargeras is currently "ceased to be," and Elune, who supposedly created the world, doesn't actually use that power much, does she? If she was so peaceful and in charge, why's the world called Warcraft?Still, looking down the list, Elune does seem to top it-- if you're talking about potential power, she's it. Aman'thul and the Pantheon are up there-- they toppled Sargeras and have even killed the Old Gods. But the most powerful character that we know for certain is actually in Azeroth right now? Besides the winner of the our One Boss Leaves tournament, I'm not sure. Nozdormu? The Lich King?Unless by "most powerful character," Killah actually means player character. In that case, I have no idea. Awake? One of the guys from Team Pandemic?
Questions answered at BlizzCon
There were so many questions I as I stood in line on Thursday to pick up my BlizzCon badge, and now looking back, I am surprised at how many of them were answered. There were just as many questions that popped up because of BlizzCon, I'm not exactly sure if I'm better off. I know, for instance, that my three favorite lost concepts will finally get treatment, namely the creation myth surround the dwarves in Uldaman, Dalaran the bubble city, and the mysterious Grim Batol. I also know that one of my favorite characters from the War of the Ancients trilogy will finally get into the game, the red haired mage Rhonin. But what happens to his twin children, and his wife, the sister of Sylvanas? What will happen to the area where Dalaran is currently? Will they update the quest in Uldaman to reflect the additional info about the creation myth? You see what I mean? The more questions are answered, the more arise. It's a vicious, tantalizing cycle, and one I am definitely enjoying being caught up in.
Breakfast Topic: You're in charge
Richard Bartle (who also blogs over at Terra Nova) gained notoriety among WoW players this week for saying that if Blizzard put him in charge, he'd shut the game down for good. His point was not that he's angry at WoW, but that if players suddenly woke up without it, they'd move on to other, more interesting and varied virtual worlds. WoW is the 800 lb. gorilla in MMO gaming (and in some cases, videogaming) right now, and if Bartle could do one thing with that gorilla, he'd get it out of the picture, so other games would have a chance to shine brighter.Yesterday on Terra Nova, he asked players the same question he was asked, and today, we'll ask it to you. If Blizzard called you up this afternoon, and said "Boy, we really love the way you're playing this game, and we want to put you in charge," what would you do? And not just in terms of the game world (although I'd love to finally buff Shamans), but in terms of the game business itself. Would you start working on a sequel, or make plans to push out expansions every six months instead of every year? Would you combine the realms together, or create an hourly payment plan instead of a monthly one?Or would you shut the whole thing down and let players have a chance to play something else (or get back to their lives)? If you were in charge, what would you do?
Calling the shot: mounting / not mounting flat-panel above fireplace
While the question of hanging your new flat-panel above the fireplace or mantel has been around for years, it's about time the issue was actually tackled and looked at from a safety and feasibility standpoint. Admittedly, there are literally dozens of factors that can go into making said decision, and while no answer will be right for everyone, hopefully the following will lend a hand in easing your frantic mind. Granted, the more affluent homes that are often showcased in marketing promos make hanging a TV look like child's play, and while you may be able to cough up enough dough to let an experience installer come in and handle the dirty work for you, there's quite a few things (and alternatives) to consider. Of course, safety concerns surrounding recalled TV mounts, heat generated from a raging fireplace, and the actual wall material should be inspected first and foremost. Additionally, you should certainly consider just how difficult running every last cable (present and future) from your components below through the wall will actually (not) be, and for those working sans an AV cabinet, you might want to ponder just where you'll be placing those game consoles, receivers, and media players without ruining the overall allure. Still, there's no denying the attractiveness of a flat-panel HDTV hung neatly on a living room wall, but be sure and hit the links below and do a little planning of your own before pulling the trigger.Read - HDInstallers - Safety ConcernsRead - Audio / Video Interiors mounting walkthrough
Popular Mechanics cranks out another ten HDTV myths
Truthfully, it's quite sad that these top ten lists of HDTV myths keep popping up, as it just reinforces the sad truth that many folks are still mystified by the prospect of HDTV. Nevertheless, Popular Mechanics has doled out its own version of the woefully popular rundown, and making the cut are the ever popular tall-tales that an HD set-top-box is somehow required to receive any HD programming, a 1080p TV is unquestionably superior to a 720p counterpart, and that an HDTV will magically convert all programming to stunning high-definition. Additionally, we shed a tear just thinking of those who still believed that all flat-panels are indeed HD-ready and that pristine video quality is only channeled through stupendously overpriced cabling. A few newcomers to the list involved 1080p panels that actually can't accept 1080p signals from a scaling player, and the unbelief that HD video can't be recorded onto standard DVD-Rs. Of course, there's no shame in being duped by a unintelligible big box employee or just not being up to speed on the HDTV minutia, so take a few and hit the read link if you're looking to clear up any lingering HD haze.[Photo courtesy of Chris Eckert/Studio D, thanks Matt]
Perler bead crafting evolves
This question mark block has extended its form into the fabled third dimension! This mysterious realm of depth is unexplored by either 8-bit explorers or Perler bead artists. This bold scientific discovery promises to usher a new age for Super Mario Bros. crafts!Shown above, an artifact from the third dimension, looking very much like one of our own question mark blocks, but somehow composed of many two-dimensional blocks working in tandem to form a strange array of squares. These squares exist simultaneously in the normal two dimensions and in the newly-discovered third! This is a hypersquare.[Via Wonderland]
More Times Square silliness
As sort-of promised, we've got some more coverage for you. After meeting up with various head honchos of the geeky online blog community (Christopher Grant, Andrew Yoon, Raw Meat Cowboy from GoNintendo, Chris from Advanced Media Network, I'm talking to you), the "festivities" started. They opened with a rather lackluster performed by someone named "DJ Ravidrums", who was essentially a drummer playing along to some prerecorded music. Bah. But then ... wait! It's friggin' Reggie!This man should have received a deafening applause. Eardrum-destroying. And truth be told, it wasn't bad. But Nintendo made the mistake of setting up the stage on a side-street, in which there was no way anyone standing in line could watch. As such, the viewers of the event were curious bystanders and members of the media, such as myself. Can you imagine this sad scene?"Hey, guys, it's great to be here. You can fill in the blanks, right? My name is Reggie, and I'm about ...!"Only around nine or so people shouted the obvious answer, including myself. How horrible.Still, the speech he gave was decent, and the rest of the stage performance consisted of some TRL/Miss USA woman and more of that weird drumming guy. Exit, stage left.Where to now, we asked ourselves? Well, let's check out the Wii display upstairs and then HOLY CRAP it's Reggie again! Yes, the Regginator was giving yet another interview for a major station (don't ask, we don't know), and right afterward, a few well-informed fans ran up to him to get their DS Lites signed. He was busy, he was in a rush, but Nintendo Wii Fanboy was able to edge in one question! And here it is."Reggie. Honestly, and PR spin aside, do you truly believe that the Wii is going to take first place in sales in the next generation against the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360?"A slight pause. He turns to stare me down."Absolutely. There's no doubt in my mind. We're offering what gamers want, and they're going to love it."Hear that? It's the sound of oh snap.And by the way, that man's handshake is a vice of absolute death.
Reminder: send us your tips!
We TUAW bloggers use a variety of methods and resources to track down the news, tips, tricks and other forms of Mac interestingness we post, and among the most important of them are the tips from readers like you. However, we've noticed an increase in questions in post comments on how to send us tips, so we thought it might be a good time to post a reminder.Our tips form is linked at the bottom of our category list (pictured here, though yes: it's tiny and hard to find. Rest assured, we're working on it), and its URL is located in the same place as virtually any other blog in the Weblogs, Inc. network: tuaw.com/tips gets you to our tips form, while DVguru.com/tips will let you drop our sister blog on all things digital video a line as well.So if you've found a hot piece of news, a killer tip or someone who turned their PowerMac into a mailbox, be sure to send it our way, and your name just might get emblazoned in the TUAW archives with our post.
Sony & Panasonic understand HDTV is confusing and want to help
High-definition is one of the most overwhelming and confusing new consumer electronic products the public has ever seen. There are so many different options and decisions to make that it overwhelms consumers to the point that that they simply give up and don't buy anything. Sony and Panasonic has recognized this and recently stated at the fourth annual DisplaySearch HDTV conference that they are going to try to help. What they are going to do is still up in the air but anything, even if it means teaching the general public about their products, would help. We here at HDBeat feel that a more general marketing strategy that will target mainstream media is one of the best ways in educate, and yes, sell their products. Even retail level hand-outs is rather nice to have but many large brick and mortar stores do not allow this, but some do. Really, anything they can do will be appreciated. You know, we do get tired of doing all the work sometimes.
Ask HDBeat: err, we are stumped with this one
Whenever someone sends a question over to us, we research it in depth and then post our best answer. Some of these questions are tough, but we can usually come up with it though, but this is the first time we have been stumped -- we are hoping our readers can help us out on this one. SJ sent over this question that we just cannot come up with a solid answer for. I am planning to get an Xbox 360 soon, and an HDTV to go along with it. I decided to look for CRT HDTV's first since they provide the best picture and are cheaper, but I noticed that there are no CRT HDTV's with a native resolution of 720p (which is the 360's native resolution). All the CRTs have a res of 1080i...why is that? Is it some kind of industry standard or are there some technical issues related to it?Does anyone know for sure (read: give sources) why there isn't any 720p CRT HDTVS?
Missing from WWDC 2006: The Finder - not a word
We've been hearing talk about a completely redesigned Finder in Leopard as far back as October of '05. Granted, all that stuff is just rumors and wishful thinking but it is probably the one feature throughout the majority of the Mac community that everyone nearly 100% agreed was outdated and in need of a major, major update, sometimes even a rewrite.So what happened to it? The keynote's up, and as I cruise through it to verify, the only time the word 'Finder' seems to be mentioned is when talking about something you can do with a different app. There wasn't a peep about a Finder update, or even a feature bump.The one saving grace that we're going to have to pin our hopes on is the Finder being one of those top secret features Steve said they couldn't even preview today. You can bet the bank if there is a Finder update coming, it isn't in the Leopard previews that are being handed out to developers today. Could we still see a Finder update? Well, let's just hope either that Apple schedules another flashy event before Leopard is released in Spring, or that Steve's Macworld Keynote has even more in store for this next installment of Mac OS X.
Sunday Survey: iPod FM transmitters - yea or nay?
I recently came upon owning a car again (a '99 Chevy Astro baby!), so what do you think is the first thing I needed to do? Why, figure out how to play my iPod through it, of course! It has a cassette deck, but my wife's new Toyota Matrix doesn't, so I moseyed (yes, moseyed) on over to my local Apple Store to see how the recent crop of FM transmitter accessories match up. In the name of saving money, I decided to try the Griffin iTrip (it was the cheapest).In the words of that old dude from the end of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: I chose "poorly". It's a cute little transmitter, but - at least in my van - my radio couldn't pick up a clear signal unless I manually held the iTrip up against the face of my radio (and yes, before you ask: I tried nearly every frequency up and down the dial before giving the iTrip the i-boot). I decided that maybe I needed to spend a little more money and exchanged the iTrip for Belkin's TuneBase. Since it has an adjustable arm and base, I figured I could position it exactly where it needed to be for a more reliable signal.The TuneBase proved to be a better choice mainly for that radio proximity factor, but using an FM transmitter in general proved to have too many quirks for me. For one, neither of these units pumped out a strong enough signal, so I always had to crank the volume on my stereo to reach a proper jamming audio experience. But if I switch to the radio, or simply skip a track on the iPod without manually adjusting the volume, blaring static pours through the speakers until the FM transmission kicks back in with a new song from the iPod. Ultimately: it just felt like too quirky of a device and too much of a compromise to pay $50 (iTrip) or $80 (TuneBase), so I settled for a good ol' fashioned $15 (non-iPod branded) cassette tape adapter from Best Buy for now.But what about you, music-loving TUAW readers? Are you happy with your iPod FM transmitters? Which one are you using, and did you need to get creative with any workarounds? I wish I could find a solution for both the Astro and the Matrix (especially since the Matrix's gas mileage is killer), but so far my efforts have failed. Share your thoughts and teach me (and hopefully others) your ways!
Question: How much non-HD content do you watch?
One of our writers, Ben Drawbaugh, has been gone on record numerous times during our weekly podcast saying he doesn't watch something if it isn't in HD. (period) Now we were wondering about how much non-HD content you watch. Sure there are some great show in HD but there are also some amazing shows that are not. Scrubs (up until the last episode), any F/X show (Nip/Tuck, The Shield, Rescue Me), The Simpsons, Myth Busters and Survivor. Are you as vain as Ben? Or do you sit back and enjoy the show (Surviver is a bad example for that one) even though it is only 480i/p. I know I sure do.
Have Questions for the WoW Developers?
Well, World of Warcraft Stratics has been given the chance to interview the game's developers and is taking questions from you. They will be selecting 15 of the best questions to forward on to the development team. So if you have questions, here's a chance to get some answers. The deadline for entry is May 7th, so you have a couple of weeks to consider.
Lair off-screen trailer looked good at GDC
Stills and screenshots can only do so much to convey how good a game looks. Here's an off-screen video presentation of Lair recorded from GDC, showing off the Factor 5 game in action (or, should we say, motion).You might recognize some of the animation from videos seen elsewhere, but it was nice to catch the newer footage of a dragon wireframe model meticulously rendered with layers of musculature and skin, too.If that's not enough for ya, you can always just listen in to the audio, which features a young lady from Washington asking questions of a developer with the hope of getting hired. Consider this a lesson in networking.[Via GameBrink]
Ask TUAW: What will you do with Windows on your Mac?
We've seen a video of Windows on an iMac in action, and this weekend Dave Caolo posted the results from our poll that found the greater majority of TUAW readers were happy, at least to some degree, that Windows XP can run on a Mac. Now we want to ask: what are you going to do with it?Are you an enthusiastic Mac user who can't wait to get in on Half Life 2? Is there an app or two your office (campus/business/etc.) needs you to run? Or might you simply have a hankering for Minesweep? We want to hear why you'll be giving your Mac a split personality, of sorts, but there's one rule: please keep the anti-Windows sentiments to a minimum. Yes, this is a blog about all things Apple and our favorite operating system, but how about we make some room for the visiting team just this once?
