Browsing the archives for the Games category

An idea – Microsoft Media Pass

Dec 9, 2008

Tim

Last week, I went ahead and purchased a trial subscription to two entertainment models. I’m currently subscribed for 14 days of Microsoft’s Zune Pass subscription, and Netflix 1 at a time plus unlimited streaming subscription. I like both services a lot and the integration with the Xbox 360 is nice (although it has room for improvement). Let me give you a quick run down of both services.

Zune pass is Microsoft’s subscription model for streaming music. It costs $14.99 a month and as long as you have an active subscription you can play (on up to 3 PCs) any songs from their vast library. You can also download these songs and load them onto a DRM approved device (like the Zune) for the duration of your subscription. Along with the monthly access to the entire library, Microsoft added a new element that lets you download and keep forever, 10 songs per month. The biggest gap in this service which I didn’t realize wouldn’t work until I actually tried it, is that you cannot access the Zune Marketplace via the xbox 360 console. This means that you can’t browse and stream unlimited music directly from the xbox, a huge oversight in my opinion since most people would love to be able to select and play any music in their main entertainment room instead of just the room they have a PC in. Other than that, there are a lot of nice features about the Zune pass and Zune marketplace (social playlists and channels) that have me debating moving to a subscription based model for my music needs.

With the newest version of the Xbox 360 UI, Xbox Live Gold members and members of certain Netflix subscription plans can now access a large library of streaming content directly on their Xbox consoles. I have tried this for a few days and it is implemented very well. On the netflix website you select which movies you want to show up in your “instant queue” on the xbox, and once you navigate to the Netflix section on your console you get a nice interface that lets you play and watch the content you selected. The standard streaming quality is very acceptable and some features are available in HD which looks very nice. The best “instant queue” selections are mostly limited to Documentaries, Indie films and TV shows, but there is a large selection of almost anything you could want, and the most basic plan at $8.99 allows for you to have 1 DVD (or BluRay) out at a time to fill the gap. A couple of improvements I would like to see are allowing you to browse the entire netflix instant library via the xbox console to add films to your queue, more HD content, and also better sound on the higher quality films. It seems I am only limited to 2 channel audio, which is unfortunate.

With these two media subscriptions, Microsoft and Netflix really have a nice fulfillment of my music and movie needs. This got me thinking, with a few of the improvements I listed above (most notably the Zune Marketplace accessible on the Xbox 360 console) Microsoft could easily offer a single subscription model that would compete and go beyond anything other media service providers currently offer. Imagine if you had following options.

Xbox Media Pass Basic – 1 month xbox live gold, netflix streaming, and zune pass streaming $20/month
Xbox Media Pass Mid-range – 1 month xbox live gold, netflix streaming + 1 at a time, zune pass + 800 MS Points – $30/month
Xbox Media Pass Deluxe – 1 month xbox live gold, netflix streaming + 3 at a time, zune pass + 1600 MS Points – $50/month

The price points can be adjusted some, but you see where I’m going. I would be very VERY interested in purchasing one of these plans, and even possibly a yearly subscription if it was given at a discounted rate. The other adjustment that would have to be made according to how I have the model laid out, is that Microsoft would have to make their point system universal. 800 MS points would be good on the Xbox console or Marketplace for purchasing game or video content and good on the PC or Zune for purchasing individual tracks or whole albums. I really think if Microsoft was able to combine these services and integrate them well, they would really start to separate themselves from everyone else in both the console and media offerings marketplace.

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Long time…. no post.

Oct 11, 2007

Tim

Flickr/Pics, Games, General, Site Maintenance

So yea, we’re past months without any post what-so-ever. A lots been going on in my life, and I have been neglectful and not posted any information at all. Let me see if I can recap fairly briefly the goings on.

As I said in my last post, my family and I took an amazing trip down to the Galapagos Islands and Ecuador. It was an awesome time and a once in a lifetime trip. The wildlife and scenery was amazing. Between 5 digital camera, we took over 2500+ pictures, and I have slowly been working on getting them organized, edited and posted online. You can check out our first few days by clicking on the links below.

Galapagos – Day 1&2

Galapagos – Day 3

During my trip, Kate moved down to Nashville to start her 2 year Masters program at Vanderbilt. It was an event we had not been looking forward to, but now 2 months after the move, it has worked out alright. We are getting to see each other once ever 2 or 3 weeks and with communication and technology the way it is today, we can talk online and on the phone all day. The drive to Nashville isn’t half bad (only 6 hours) and we’re looking forward to being a mid-way point for future traveling friends who head south for vacations and whatnot.

I also moved to a new residence once I returned from the trip. Now I am renting a large house in suburbia with Matt, Newbs and Nick. So far the setup has worked out really well. We have tons of room, including a backyard and a basement where we have setup some weight lifting equipment and stuck to a weekly workout program. It has been a small challenge to get the 4 of us on a chore schedule to keep this huge place in some sort of order, but I think we everything has been going pretty well so far. I think I mentioned in a previous post that I really wanted to get a dog once I moved to a place with a yard. Well, after a week or so of debating and discussing the idea with Kate and my parents, I have decided to wait yet another year (until the move to TN) and not get a dog quite yet. It was a tough choice, but I think I have plenty of other things to keep me occupied and this way Kate and I will raise the dog together.

Even though the combination of work and life has kept me fairly busy, I still have found plenty of time to keep up my video game recreation. 2 weeks back Halo 3 hit stores, and I have been playing it nearly every night. The game is a ton of fun, and has a lot of different parts to keep you entertained and coming back for more. I also have been playing the sequal to an old classic – Team Fortress 2. This is an online PC game that is only multiplayer, but the balance, variety and presentation is top notch and I find myself constantly debating between starting up a match of Halo 3 or TF2.

Finally, wedding planning has not really been taking up much of my time, but I like to thing with everything that Kate has accomplished, I was very much occupied participating in the “yes dear” aspect of our decision making. I won’t go into great detail, but you can find all our updates and information over at our website that I linked to before. http://www.timandkateanderson.com. Moving forward I’m not sure how I plan on splitting time and content between this site and that. I know I’m going to keep posting my general life updates here, but eventually, once we’re married, we plan on turning T&KA.com over to a combined blog for the two of us. I’ll probably end up moving all my general posts to that site, but still use this site for my personal interests like gaming, technology etc…

That’s all for now. I know I promise this almost every post, but I’m sure I’ll write more frequently than once every two months.

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It’s Basic Economics

Feb 2, 2007

Tim

Games, General, Tech

I believe I’ve mentioned before that I pre-ordered a couple copies of the new World of Warcraft expansion, Burning Crusade. I did this not with the intent of using all of them, but instead making a profit off the limited availability and high demand of such an item. The original Collector’s Edition still goes for hundreds of dollars on Ebay.

The days leading up to the release of Burning Crusade, there were many Ebay auctions posting pre-orders of the CE version of the expansion for double the cost. I figured my gambling was safe. Here we are a few weeks after the release, I have all my copies (2 of which I plan on re-selling) and taking a look at ebay, it appears the market has been flooded. Copies aren’t even selling for more than their purchase value. I’m somewhat shocked. I guess a lot more people had the same idea that I did, and were able to get their grubby hands on multiple copies for re-sale. I’m sure the supply will go down as time goes on, but I’d be curious to see if Blizzard made more copies of the Collector’s Edition available due to the high demand of the previous version and increase in user base. It turns out my initial double money back guarantee, has turned into somewhat of a stock risk, where I have to wait and see how the market pans out, and sell at the most opportune moment.

I’ve been running a “less than legit” version of Vista retail for a while now, but that will soon change. I have a free version coming from a promotion put on by Microsoft, that I’ll pay to upgrade to the Ultimate version. This will go on my main machine. Then I have 2 other copies of Home Premium, that I purchased at a reduced price using my Beta Key with Microsoft’s Family Pack offer. One will go on my laptop, and the other, I’ll just hang onto for a while I guess. With the Ultimate upgrade I should have the option to purchase 2 more copies at a reduced rate, but we’ll see what comes of that. It’s kind of interesting, I really didn’t have the intent of having a legit version of Vista on my machine until I could find a good deal. But, when free and super cheap options came along, it just worked out. I’ll do a write up on my impressions of the retail version of Vista sometime down the road. Most of which will be highlighting my joy of Media Center.

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Heisman Formula

Nov 8, 2006

Tim

Games, Sports

Basically the Heisman race has come down to a very simple formula.

If S beats M, then S = H.
If S !(beat) M, AND Q beat U, then Q = H.
Else, who knows.

Where
S = Troy Smith,
M = Michigan
H = Heisman Trophy
Q = Brandy Quinn
U = USC.

I really don’t think its much more complicated than that. Sure there are a few other constants and variables like Northwestern and gravity, but those are assumed. What would be interesting is if both Ohio State and Notre Dame lose their big games. But we all know thats not going to happen so why even consider it. And it had better not, as we have already purchased plane tickets to Glendale early this week!

Short post today because I have Gears of War and it is awesome. Possibly Halo 2 awesome. It’s hard not to enjoy a multiplayer that includes a chainsaw bayonet and curb-stomp. Boy do I sound violent.

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Gears of War (Mad World)

Oct 31, 2006

Tim

Games

Gears of War is an Xbox 360 game that comes out in about 10 days. It’s supposed to be for the 360 what Halo was for the original xbox in terms of “killer app”. So far I have been avoiding the hype (knowing that I’d be picking up the game day 1), but a trailer was released last week for the game that has got me super excited. It’s so good it deserved it’s own post.

High-Def Trailer

Standard-Def Trailer (if you have a slower PC)

(btw all footage is in-game. No pre-rendered PS3 BS here)

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