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More iPhone reviews coming in -- Newsweek & USA TODAY
Two more reviews of that loveable scamp of a cellphone are out on the Interwebs, and it's more more more of the same: Steven Levy of Newsweek and Ed Baig of USA TODAY are saying it's time to start believing the hype. Both writers, like Pogue and Mossberg, point out the iPhone's weak spots (EDGE, no one-touch or voice dialing, limited apps, no video capture) while furthering the basic premise: by and large, the iPhone experience lives up to the insane advance billing. Levy's long and thorough review states it plainly early on, as he reports on the reaction to his iPhone use during a visit to Pittsburgh, PA: "[W]hen I showed the iPhone to people during that trip and in the days afterward-especially people under 25-the most common reaction was, "I have to have this," sometimes followed by a quick, if alarmingly reckless, consideration of what might need to be pawned in order to make the purchase.... And there it is: one of the most hyped consumer products ever comes pretty close to justifying the bombast."Baig puts it this way: "[W]ith a few exceptions, this expensive, glitzy wunderkind is indeed worth lusting after... That's saying a lot. After months of hype, Apple has delivered a prodigy - a slender fashion phone, a slick iPod and an Internet experience unlike any before it on a mobile handset."Interesting tidbits from both reviews: Levy got a call from Steve Jobs during his evaluation period, just to check on how he was doing (!), and he noted the new thinking behind Apple's buy-it-and-go-home iTunes activation plan. Baig's article includes a sidebar entitled "The Quest Begins" with the get-an-iPhone strategies of a few would-be buyers, and Baig encountered a feature I haven't seen mentioned anywhere else; when he finished watching A Bug's Life (it would have to be a Pixar film) on his iPhone, the device asked him if he wanted to clear the movie from memory to reclaim the space. Nice.via Apple 2.0
Newsweek's Croal, MTV's Totilo hands-on with Manhunt 2
Newsweek's N'gai Croal hasn't been afraid to defend his tastes on his LevelUp blog. The site's Vs. Mode debates feature some of the best back-and-forth gameplay analysis to be found anywhere. So when Croal and MTV News game writer Stephen Totilo got to play the first few levels of Manhunt 2 at Rockstar's office, you know the resulting conversation is going to be good.Totilo's portion includes some graphic descriptions of the asylum escape in level one, which includes scenes of public urination, in-cell hangings and stealth kills via syringe and axe-based decapitation. The protagonist isn't completely cold to his role, though -- Totilo describes how he "watched Daniel vomit because of his quick-passing guilt."Most of the discussion so far, though, deals with the game through the lens of comparative media studies, comparing it to controversial movies like Natural Born Killers and Taxi Driver. Croal and Totilo both harp on the idea of organizations like the BBFC and IFCO and companies like Nintendo and Sony imposing content decisions on consumers. As Croal aptly puts it, "Unless they have good reason to believe that this game is an imminent threat to the public order, or that it will in and of itself incite adults to violence, [the BBFC and IFCO's] decision seems to me to be based on taste, and I will never believe in substituting anyone else's tastes for my own." Amen!
Totilo and Croal argue about Halo 3
For the most part, MTV's Stephen Totilo and N'Gai Croal of Newsweek don't seem to like Halo 3. In a new series of back-and-forth journalism called Vs., these two are debating the merits of Halo 3"s multiplayer. There have been two parts to the article so far, and right now the consensus is essentially that Halo 3 is too hard. Specifically, learning Halo 3 can be unforgiving. Unfortunately, for many Halo players, this is completely true. There are no training modes, unless you count the campaign. Most people aren't concerned with teaching others how to play either. This leaves the uninitiated to absorb weapon strategies, map layouts, and gametypes by themselves, which can be a daunting task. Then again, Croal and Totilo also have yet to figure out how to initiate team speak (hint: press any direction on the D-pad, fellas).We have to point out, though, that the Halo 3 multiplayer beta really isn't the best arena to judge Halo 3's multiplayer. That may sound strange, given that it is a multiplayer beta after all, but it's true. Right now, the Halo 3 beta is crowded with a relatively small sample of Halo fanatics (several million short of the projected pre-order numbers). These are people who live and breathe Halo, people who went through the Rule of Three, people who spent $60 on Crackdown just to play the beta. Naturally, you're going to be running into lots of people who are better than you. This smaller sampling also limits the effectiveness of the ranking system, as there are fewer people with smaller amounts of skill disparity. Also, and this is important considering N'Gai's misty-eyed memories of LAN parties gone by, there are no custom games in the beta (not officially anyway). Given that N'Gai is vocal about his displeasure at playing with strangers, custom games with friends sound like just what the doctor ordered.If Stephen or N'Gai is reading this, we'd be happy to show you both some friendly matches of Halo. The rest of you can read parts 1 and 2 of the series below.[Via HBO]Read part 1Read part 2
Shane Kim on Shadowrun's $10 PC to 360 price difference
Some men should be given a reward for giving eloquent and elongated responses to questions without ever really answering them. Take Shane Kim, for example. When asked by Newsweek's N'Gai Croal why Shadowrun on the Xbox 360 cost $10 more than the identical PC version, Microsoft Games Studios' corporate vice president could have simply said "because we can." (Remember, folks, before Gears of War, Microsoft was selling their first-party titles for the old standard of $49.99.)Nay, this wordsmith saw a canvas on which he could be poetic! "[These] price points are our standard pricing for each platform ... This pricing structure is not uncommon in the multiplayer-only first-person shooter genre, as numerous titles have seen success at this price point and gaming model." Do we have an answer as to how Microsoft can justify screwing console owners out of ten dollars? No. Have we witnessed a moment of linguistic triumph? Yes. Brilliant!
Caption contest: J Allard / N'Gai Croal mashup
So the story goes that Microsoft's bald J Allard and Newsweek's bedredlocked N'Gai Croal are at dinner together, and they make a bet: if the PSP sold 10m units faster than did the PS2, Allard has to dress up like N'Gai (during his next E3 keynote, which never came); if not, J gets to shave N'Gai's head. Guess who won. Not that we think of ourselves as particularly cruel, but surely we can't be expected to let this one go without a caption contest, can we?Evan: "After that unfortunate night with the Rastafarian gamers, Allard swore off marijuana forever."Ryan: "Headline: J Allard hired to manage Weird Al's White & Nerdy tour."Don: "You mean it doesn't cost an extra $100 to add WiFi to this thing?" [Snap! -Ed.]Paul: "Yeah, but does this come in Simpsons yellow?"Ross: "Behold the Zune Elite. Now with HD-UMD and minoxidil."
Is Wii less powerful than Xbox One? N'Gai investigates
Last week in an interview with eWeek, Microsoft's president of Entertainment and Devices division Robbie Bach made the claim that the Nintendo Wii "[doesn't] have the graphics horsepower that even Xbox 1 had." Is the Nintendo Wii, with or without duct tape, less powerful than the original Xbox? Newsweek's N'Gai Croal decided to investigate by talking to "two of our most reliable technical experts at third party publishers" speaking under the condition anonymity (given Croal's credibility, we trust him).The article therein is a very technical discussion on fixed function shaders, pixels and vertexes, and ultimately concludes that the GameCube 1.5 moniker isn't far off from the truth, though said one source, "keep in mind that the Wii's GPU is not as fast or feature rich as the Xbox 360 or PS3, but that doesn't mean you can't get very close results." And of course, given the hardware sales we've seen since the console's launch, how much does supreme technical prowess really matter to Nintendo?
Xbox creator J Allard loses PSP bet, wears dreads
Microsoft VP and Xbox creator, J Allard made a bet with Newsweek's N'Gai Croal, that the PSP wouldn't be able to match the PS2 numbers when it came to units shipped over a 12-month period. Judging from the screenshot, we can tell who lost. Hey J, do those dreads itch? The bet originated from playful dinner conversation between Croal and Allard after E3 in 2005. If Sony hadn't managed to ship over 10 million, N'Gai would have had to "J Allard" his head. Yes sir, shaved bald. Although humorous, we're not entirely convinced the punishment is exactly fitting. Why not up the ante and increase the stakes a bit? Now, a more fitting gesture of good faith would be to snap a picture of a purchase order receipt (courtesy of J Allard) for 50 PSP units. An early Christmas gift for every hard worker in J's office. Or for those Halo fans, how about an agreement to instigate talks with the powers-that-be on porting some 1st party software to the PSP? After all, with that with that many units shipped, Microsoft would have a nice, big user base of which to unleash their gaming pleasures upon. Ooh, now we're talking. So how about it J? Any other numbers you want to bet against?[Via CVG]
Microsoft's J Allard finally honors lost bet, dons dreads
Though it took him almost a year, Xbox 360 poster boy and accident-prone mountain biker, J (no period) Allard, has finally stepped back into the internet spotlight, draped with a dread-full wig and the aura of defeat. The utterly disturbing image above is the result of a lost bet Allard entered into with Newsweek's N'Gai Croal. The wager? Sony's PSP would not ship 10 million units within twelve months, "give or take 3 months." Had Allard been the winner, he would have been awarded the opportunity to liberate Croal's intimidating locks. If not, he would have to slap a dread wig on his own, spectacularly bald head for an entire month and be seen with it during Microsoft's E3 2006 presentation. With Allard failing to show up during the conference, however, the lost bet was never honored. Not willing to let the matter go so easily, N'Gai most recently posted an investigation and interview into why people (hypothetically) fail to live up to their part of the bargain. We'd normally be trite and say something about "better late than never", but having spent a few seconds looking at Allard's new visage... we find ourselves leaning towards "never." [Via Level Up]
"Heartland should do for the PSP what Halo did for the Xbox"
In a revealing chat with Newsweek's N'Gai Croal, opinionated God of War and Calling All Cars developer David Jaffe spoke about his ambitious (but canceled) PSP game, Heartland. He revealed the political motivations behind the title, and why the game might have been too ambitious for its own good:"The game was very much a liberal person's response to the Bush administration and the war in Iraq ... [have players] feel what it must be like to have their own homeland occupied by another country. SCEA and I went back and forth over if we would ever say it was CHINA vs. AMERICA as they were a bit worried about being so literal ... As for Phil, his biggest issue was thinking a game so epic should be on PS3. But I was always pushing for PSP, saying that Heartland should do for the PSP what Halo did for the Xbox."Ultimately, Sony didn't provide the support that Jaffe needed to complete the game. Instead, Sony pulled resources from the title to place into the PS3 title, WarHawk: "If the team would have been the right size, we would still be in production with Heartland today. That was the main reason we killed it, not enough folks to make the game ... the main issue that made it clear that we could not continue was that WarHawk kept taking our team members as they were further along in production and were the top priority."Sony's admitted to focusing too much on PS3 at the cost of PSP development, and they've promised to change. With WarHawk nearing completion, could Heartland make a comeback?[Via 1UP]
Miyamoto calls out third parties
Shigeru Miyamoto sat down with Newsweek's N'Gai Croal earlier this month and aired out his concerns with third party developers not putting their best efforts behind games for Nintendo systems. Companies often find that their biggest competition on consoles like the Wii and DS is Nintendo themselves, but according to Miyamoto, most third parties aren't rising to the challenge with their top development groups. Instead, they're depending on third- or fourth-string teams to produce their titles.While not every game from Nintendo is a blockbuster hit, Miyamoto says that the company makes sure to put its best people behind titles that are "designed to really support and sell hardware." Can most third parties say they're doing the same? If not, then how much longer will it take before developers approach their Wii releases seriously and start using their star teams to create AAA titles for the console?
Newsweek dissects what's wrong with the 360
In what looks to be a three part series detailing what's wrong with each new gen console, Newsweek's dreadlocked game journalist, N'Gai Croal has penned an article dismantling the apparent success of the Xbox 360. The article centers around a theory that Xbox afficionados will be familar with, the Xbox 360 can't seem to nab the mass market demographic. As evidence, the article points out that the Xbox 360 has managed to have hit games month after month, yet hardware sales have remained relatively sluggish. This seems to illustrate that the Xbox 360's demographic (much like the original Xbox) is centered around hardcore gamers that buy more games than casual gamers. In other words, these hit games aren't driving casual gamers to purchase an Xbox 360.
Are Nintendo fanboys hurting the Wii's 3rd-party support? One fansite editor sounds off
Who's at fault for Nintendo's lack of third-party support: Nintendo, the developers, or the fans themselves? Kevin Cassidy, founder of website GoNintendo, places the blame on the Nintendo community for showing reluctance or unwarranted disdain toward third-party Wii games.The rant, part of Newsweek writer N'Gai Croal's P2P series, makes a point out of Dewy's Adventure, a game he feels internet users have called in "kiddie" based on its looks alone, subsequently refusing to give it a chance. This is a problem Nintendo had when revealing Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker to be a cel-shaded romp with a pre-adolescent Link. Of course, that game sold well on merit of its Nintendo roots. Dewy's Adventure isn't even out yet, so opinions have room to alter wildly between now and its release later this year.Is the "kiddie" problem inherently Nintendo's, though? Regard Microsoft's Viva Pinata, a game that has been praised widely but suffers from low (though steady) sales. Is the kiddie image of the title affecting other consoles, too? Cassidy opines that Nintendo fans are clamoring for "mature" titles that include violence and gore, but we feel this is a more universal trend that is affecting all consoles.
Phil Harrison gives respect to the homebrew scene
N'Gai Croal, Newsweek's hard-hitting video game reporter, spoke to Sony's Phil Harrison about a myriad of issues. One of the more pertinent discussions for PSP fans involves his stance on homebrew: "It's always difficult, because officially, we could never condone [homebrew]. Unofficially, I am always very admiring of those people, because they do some really interesting things under very technically complex circumstances. If there was a way to legitimize that--we wouldn't get all of the community, because for some people, the whole dark under the radar element is the appeal. I respect that. I don't like it, but I respect it."Croal then goes on to prod Harrison about potentially using a PS3 as a way to develop for the PSP platform. While it's an interesting idea, it's unlikely to happen. However, with Harrison speaking at GDC about the upcoming "Game 3.0" environment, almost anything is possible.[Via DCEmu]
Reader WoWspace of the Week: February 21 to 27
Short and sweet this week. Okay, maybe the space is more grotty than sweet, but I'll let submitter Charlie explain: You guys seem to be featuring really neat and nice set-ups, so I thought I'd show you what most WoW player's desks look like! In order from left to right: Latest Newsweek, bottle of water, Bourne Supremacy, LOTR The Two Towers (Extended), a Hotpocket, an old Canon AE-1 (for when I do shoot film), Klipsch speakers (eh, they're ok, field is a little narrow), Apple 20" Cinema Display, iPod Mini (it's there, trust me), 90+ year old negatives from my grandmother that I need to take into work to restore (brown envelope), BC mouse pad, USB multi-card reader I ninja'd from work, RAZR, Dual 2GHz Power Mac G5 with 2GB of RAM, ATi Radeon 9600 with 128MB of DDR (eh, need to upgrade), old Joystick from when I used to play flight sims all night long, and my Ventrilo headset.Remember to send your submissions in to our Reader WoWspace address, along with a couple of good photos of your space.
Bill Gates: "security guys break the Mac every single day"
I'm all for competition in the marketplace. I'm even for friendly puns between rival competitors and the camps that follow them, especially since you have to have a sense of humor about them in the first place. But don't we also need a sense of reality?In a Vista-pimping interview with Newsweek yesterday, Bill Gates appears to be taking off the gloves with an all-out attack on the Mac. When questioned about accusations of copying Mac OS X features, Bill began accusing Apple of the exact opposite, and he also postulated that "maybe we shouldn't have showed so publicly the stuff we were doing." While he is of course referring to the 2003 demonstration of Longhorn, this isn't even the half of it. Bill also tried to turn their reputation for swiss-cheese security around on Apple, claiming: "Nowadays, security guys break the Mac every single day. Every single day, they come out with a total exploit, your machine can be taken over totally. I dare anybody to do that once a month on the Windows machine." I'm sorry: "Total exploit?" Did anyone else see something from the rear end of a bull just fly over their shoulder? I'm no security fanboy for the Mac, but perhaps Bill got the wrong impression of how (not so) widespread the exploits from MOAB - the Month of Apple Bugs - actually became. Or perhaps he forgot that it's Microsoft who has had to set up regular patch release schedules to help throttle the damage. All things considered, however, I can understand if Bill lost track; regularity can sometimes numb the pain, breeding forgetfulness in the process.Check out the rest of the, uh... 'interesting' interview for some other great zingers from the big G-man. If you ask me, he sure is shaping up to retire with a bang in 2008.
Jobs Confirms iPhone is a Closed Platform
Officially confirming what Dan reported earlier, Jobs told Newsweek (at the bottom) that the iPhone will indeed be a closed platform. He is quoted as saying: "You don't want your phone to be an open platform.... You need it to work when you need it to work. Cingular doesn't want to see their West Coast network go down because some application messed up."He also said something similar to the New York Times: "These are devices that need to work, and you can't do that if you load any software on them," he said. "That doesn't mean there's not going to be software to buy that you can load on them coming from us. It doesn't mean we have to write it all, but it means it has to be more of a controlled environment."I think it's interesting that Jobs is sort of blaming Cingular for the restriction (though his scenario is obviously grossly hyperbolic). Of course this simply carries over the iPod model to the iPhone, so I guess it would probably have been the case even if Cingular hadn't insisted. It doesn't mean, however, that we can't be disappointed.[Via iLounge via Digg and Thanks to Matt for the NYT tip]
Apple iPhone: a threat to portable consoles?
We've already stated on the record that we're yearning for iPhone gaming. Newsweek's N'Gai Croal, in an amusing iTunes-inspired megamix, has called out 10 companies or products who should be fearing the upcoming mega-product. And wouldn't you know it, Nintendo DS and Sony PSP make the list.For the PSP, Croal opines that the iPhone is a "threat to Sony's mobile media and communication ambitions," while also showing us how cool a touch-screen PSP would be. The Nintendo DS, meanwhile, could lose a chunk of the casual gamer market; Apple's iPhone "could cause a lot of casual DS owners to put it in a sock drawer and forget about it."However, the one thing in Sony and Nintendo's favor is Apple itself, and You as a consumer (both, appropriately, appear higher on Croal's mix). Both portable game consoles are a fraction of the iPhone's price tag, and people may not see the benefit in an all-in-one product that may or may not see a fully-fledged game lineup in the future. Also, both the PSP and DS have a sizeable library of exclusive titles, brand recognition, and history. We'd bet to say that the casual gamer would not be willing to shell out $500 for a product of convergence. Not right now, at least.
Will Wright, Stephen Colbert, and N'Gai Croal
Legendary game designer Will Wright visited The Colbert Report last night. Surrounded by a nativity scene and lacking his standard comfort mustache, Wright and Stephen Colbert philosophized on why anyone would want to, as Colbert put it, "go into another world to live a life that is just as mundane." About four minutes into the interview, the discussion transitions into Spore, which Wright describes as a "spreadsheet for God." This brings up a debate on Evolution versus Intelligent Design, which should not come as a surprise for anyone familiar with the show. Wright notes that it is a hybrid between the two theories, though "the designers aren't necessarily that intelligent." The evolution aspect, Wright explains, comes with the online world where your creations are pitted against everyone else's -- it's like "competing gods on the playing field of the world," they conclude. Watch near the end where Wright almost gets Colbert to break character by "confessing" he is almost fluent in Sim-lish, the language of The Sims. Newsweek's N'Gai Croal, who described the designer as polymathic (that means he's edumucated), followed Wright to the set to get some behind-the-scenes perspective of the interview and reveals some insight into Wright's gaming habits, like that he doesn't like MMOs because of the "rote treadmill" of leveling characters. Spore, according to Wright, is on track for a release the second half of 2007 and is currently in Pre-Alpha Five phase, which means five months until alpha phase, which means there are some lucky EA employees playing the full version of Spore right now. The full Colbert Report interview is embedded after the break.
EA's Larry Probst denies PSP gamers original games
Newsweek's N'gai Croal (awesome name) had a chance to talk to Electronic Arts' CEO, Larry Probst. Love them or hate them, EA is a major player in the industry, and their games have the power to move hardware units. Croal asked Probst about making original games for the PSP, something that seems outrageous to the CEO: I'm not so sure that I agree with the premise that we're strategically focused on building original product for the PSP. "That's news to me. It's more likely that we would target platforms like the PS3, Xbox 360 or Nintendo Wii if we had an original in mind. Our strategy on PSP has typically been to take the franchises that we build on other platforms and exploit them on the PSP."Croal points out the success of Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories as one reason why publishers should look into making exclusive games for the handheld. However, Probst believes that without more units out there, the chances of original PSP games from EA is slim. Like the rest of the sane world, he notes that Sony should lower the price, and maybe even make a redesigned console, in order to reinvigorate sales.Check out the rest of the interview to see Probst's other PSP thoughts, and why Nintendo matters.See also:Fun = DS, not PSP, says EA execEA makes a lot of money on PSP[Via Joystiq; Image via Games Blog]
Newsweek: Blu-ray the movie winner
On his Newsweek blog, N'gai Croal explores the format war between HD-DVD and Blu-ray movies in relation to gamers. While the Xbox 360 can play HD-DVD with its add-on drive, Croal says that's a non-starter because those sorts of console add-ons rarely sell to more than 10 percent of the base. Because of more studio -- and electronic company -- support for Blu-ray, and the PS3 pushing that format into homes, Croal names Blu-ray as the winner.We go with his reasoning to a point, but we're not ready to call the race for Blu-ray. Instead, we're voting for none of the above; the market may adopt HD downloads before it embraces a new disc format.HD downloads will gobble up bandwidth, but the Xbox 360 will soon sell HD movies and TV shows. Consumers without 360s will need a way to play HD shows on a TV; the real format war may be between the Xbox 360 download service and yet-to-be-announced stand-alone boxes that only download HD movies.
