Console Wars – Why?

The “console wars” have been an interesting, and usually quite stupid thing to watch. For those of you who don’t exactly like video games, know nothing about video games, or just haven’t visited a section of the internet dealing with video games ever, let me catch you up to date real quick. There are two video game systems out there that are mainstream and deal with everything from graphical power to high focus gaming. Those two are Sony’s PlayStation 3, and Microsoft’s Xbox 360. The Nintendo Wii is also in the “next generation” system of consoles, but they aren’t trying in any way to compete with the PS3 or 360. They lack the graphical power, and care to want to be better, and try to focus more on interactivity and group gaming, of which they succeed in. Unfortunately though, that leaves the other two systems, both vying to show that they are better than the other, to fight for the market and consumers to buy them.

Both systems carry a wide variety of similar features that are standard for this generation of gaming. Both carry an online store in which you can buy and play downloadable games, watch downloadable movies, buy add-ons for games that you’ve purchased and much more. They both have an online system which allows you to have a friend’s list, play online, send messages, etc. Both systems have a hard drive, minus the Xbox 360 Arcade, which can store and play music, photos, and videos. They each can play DVDs, CDs, and other media. Both use wireless controllers, both use headsets, both have typing pads for their controllers, both can have webcams. So, as you can see, the market standard for video games has been upped with this new group. But in the hardware sector, there are some notable differences between the two.

Microsoft's Xbox 360

The Microsoft Xbox 360 comes in three different bundles, each of which comes with multiple games to get your collection started. Each bundle comes with a different sized hard drive, and different accessories included. Which the arcade just comes with a Composite cable and 256 MB worth of external memory, the Xbox 360 Pro, now just the standard Xbox 360, comes with a 60 GB hard drive, a headset, a network cable, and Component cables. Finally, the Xbox 360 Elite comes in the color black, has a 120 GB hard drive, the headset and cables, but also includes an HDMI cable for true high definition output. Software-wise, the 360 comes with the exclusive Dashboard, now upgraded to the NXE, or New Xbox Experience.

On the other hand, the Sony PlayStation 3 comes in two different bundles. The 160 GB PlayStation 3 which comes bundled with Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune and a voucher for Pain, and the 80 GB system which comes standalone. Unlike the 360, the PS3 has a few more special nuggets that comes standard within it. Compared to the 360, the PlayStation 3 has free online through the PlayStation Network, while with the Xbox, you are required to pay $20 for 3 months, or $50 for a year, just to be able to play with your friends online. Also, the wireless controllers for the PS3 come with a built-in rechargeable battery pack, which the 360’s use AA batteries, or, sold separately, a rechargeable battery pack of their own. The PlayStation 3 comes built-in with Wi-Fi, meaning if you have a wireless internet point nearby, you can connect automatically. The Xbox 360 is wired-only, or you can purchase a wireless adapter which will set you back $100 to give you that function as well. Also, the PlayStation 3 has built-in Bluetooth, so if you have any Bluetooth headset, you can use that for your online gaming and chatting; the 360 only allows Microsoft headsets to be used with it. One of the biggest differences, though, is that the PlayStation 3 is also a Blu-Ray player, and all games made for it are put onto Blu-Ray discs, which contain up to four times the space of the DVDs that are used in the Xbox 360.

Out of all of that, the PlayStation 3 is a clear-cut winner, looking at the hardware side of things. But most people tend to look past that and look towards the software side of things, which is an extremely understandable thing to look at. This is what sparks most of the console wars that turn up in discussions. The most talked about issue is that of “exclusives”. The Xbox 360 has notably more exclusives than the PlayStation 3, including such titles as Halo, Gears of War, Fable, and more. The PlayStation 3, on the other hand, carry titles such as LittleBigPlanet, Resistance, and Killzone. A few games, though, have brought up much controversy in the land of gaming due to them being put out multi-platform, which used to be format exclusive games. Final Fantasy was the big shocker as it was announced for the Xbox 360 as well, while there is also a teaser that shows a possibility that Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots may also be porting over (source: http://www.konami.jp/kojima_pro/mgst/?ref=kjp_eng). The problem is, most people tend to think that the system with more exclusives, or “better” exclusives, as a matter of opinion, is the better system overall. While Final Fantasy XIII is coming over to the 360 as well, SquareEnix has announced that they are creating the PlayStation 3 version first, and porting the game to the 360 afterwards. While this doesn’t necessarily mean that the game will be worse, hands down, on the 360, it does mean that they are looking to not sacrifice the quality of the game just so that it can be made for both systems.

Sony's PlayStation 3

Another issue that I’ve found with porting games over is the fact that Blu-Ray discs hold at least four times more space on them than the DVDs used for the 360. If they were to port a game such as Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots over, they’d have to “dumb” the game down, and take out a lot of extra content just to make it fit on a disc to be played on it. While exclusives is a big part of having a good console, in the long run, making a good game isn’t just looking at the system it’s played on. If a game is good, it will be good on it’s own, not just because it’s on the PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360. Another issue that turns people to one system or another is it’s user base. The Xbox 360 has been around for longer, therefore meaning there are more people who play online with it. Even though that’s true, the PlayStation 3 online service has been picking up steam with the holidays approaching, and the longer it’s out, the more it sells. Also, being a free service, having built-in Wi-Fi, and including new features such as PlayStation Home into the mix, it creates a more easily accessible and immersive experience for players.

One thing I understand is that people are going to take this as a biased rant of a fanboy for Sony. The fact is, yes, I only own a PlayStation 3, but, I know a good game when I see one. I am currently in college for Multimedia, Digital Entertainment & Game Design, so I look at the quality of a game in general, not the fact that it’s exclusively on the system that I own. I am also a video game journalist, I write about video games, review them, and talk about them all of the time. My honest opinion does boil down to the fact that I believe the PlayStation 3 is better when it comes to a hardware perspective, and a software perspective as well, but I will not be so naive to say that the Xbox 360 does not have good games, is a very well made system, and has a fan base just as large, if not more, than the PlayStation 3 does. Surfing forums of sites that I regularly visit, and seeing threads ranting about how one system is better than the other, though, get to me, because “fanboys” and “fangirls” tend to put their blinders on, and only look at how the system that they own and use is the ultimate video game machine ever made. The fact of the matter is, video games in this day and age… are cool.

Media Week – Comcast Mid-Month Cap Catch-Up

Comcast Mid-Month Cap Catch-Up

Since it’s the 15th of the month, or the middle of the month for those of you that didn’t know that, I thought that I should update you on my little experiment that I’ve been doing.

Just as a recap, here’s the low-down. Comcast, starting October 1, 2008, will be capping residential users bandwidth at 250 gigabytes per month. If you go over that limit once, you will receive a courtesy call, asking you politely not to go over your limit again. If you do it a second time, your service with Comcast will become suspended for an entire calender year’s worth.

I, personally, use a little bit more bandwidth than most do I would say, as I am uploading images, downloading fonts, watching high definition video game trailers, listening to podcasts, and much much more than what a normal person would do. Because of this, I decided to do an experiment to see how much this 250 GB cap would hinder me in my daily usage of the internet. While this experiment would sound perfect, in theory, this, unfortunately, only shows me the bandwidth used on the one computer that the program is installed on, and not on the entire network, which in my house consists of my two desktops, my laptop, my mom’s desktop, my dad’s desktop, my mom’s work laptop, my dad’s work laptop, my sister’s desktop, and our PlayStation 3. Again, while I, hands down, use the most bandwidth of the family, that’s still a lot of computers to be using it.

As of today, I have used 20%, almost exactly, of the total bandwidth allowed. Remember now, I use it for a lot of things, but while this may seem like a lot, I now look back and figure that this is after half of the month. So the good news that comes out of this is that it looks like, if I stay along this track, I will not hit the limit within a month. Trust me, this is a load off of my shoulders, but I will definitely be keeping this program on my computer to make sure that I don’t get anywhere close to hitting the limit. I’ll post again at the end of the month with the final wrap-up of exactly how much I’ve used for the month in another fifteen days. Stay tuned!

Weasel’s Weblog Presents Media Week

Welcome to Media Week, here on Weasel’s Weblog! All week this week, enjoy seven days full of reviews of everything media. This includes music, movies, and video games! So keep a watchful eye out all week, and be sure to tell the world what YOU think in the comments! At the end of the week, I’ll post up the best comments, so include a website that you own or want to promote so that I can feature you. Check back tomorrow, Saturday, for the kickoff Blog that will start out this week, and let me tell you, this game is definitely worth the read!

Bandwidth Pirates Take Heed

This world just can’t stop trying to bring us down, and now even the companies that provide us with the content that you’re reading as we speak are trying to shut us down with every fiber in their being. Today’s devil happens to be none other than your cable internet king, Comcast. This news isn’t breaking or brand new, but it’s recently come to my own attention that this is going to become a major issue.

So what is it that Comcast is doing, you’re asking. Starting October 1, 2008, Comcast users will now only be able to use 250 GB worth of bandwidth per month. I’m pretty positive this means both up and downloading. This is going into their “Comcast Acceptable Use Policy”, and will be heavily enforced, based on what I have read. The first time you go over your 250 GB limit, Comcast will call you and politely tell you to stop, but if you do it a second time, Comcast will shut down your internet service for an entire year. Yes, that means 365 days of not using Comcast internet, which basically means, if anyone does go over, they’re going to stop doing business with this overpriced, overbearing giant now.

Comcast seems to think that “most residential customers” use between 2 to 3 GB worth of bandwidth in a month. I can tell you based on personal research that I am conducting, I was able to double that within the matter of three days. High Definition video and online backup services are basically going to slam you over Comcast’s limit, without any hesitation at all. And according to Comcast, they won’t be offering some sort of extra charge for people who go over, since it isn’t a part of their “residential service”, but rather, one would have to upgrade to their “commercial service”.

Comcast, and other technology websites who have been covering this story, have been trying to lighten this blow on us, by finding us ways to monitor our bandwidth consumption. Unfortunately, there is no way around this limit, so all we’re going to be able to do is play by their game if we want their internet. In lieu of this, I downloaded one of the recommended bandwidth monitors, called BitMeter. The major downfall to this application is that it can only monitor the bandwidth coming from the computer it’s attached to, and not the whole network. In my case, I have two desktops, one laptop, and my parents each have a desktop, with my sister having a laptop of her own as well.

The results have proven to be grim. BitMeter has an “ISP Restrictions” feature to it, in which one can set what their limit is, and BitMeter will warn them if they reach a certain percentage of it. I haven’t been limiting my network usage, in order to test this theory, and have been going about my daily internet surfing as usual. My usual day includes many sites, including some online gaming, both on my PC and my PlayStation 3, as well as surfing video game websites such as GameSpot, which uses HD videos now as a standard for their site. Also, I am paying a subscription fee for GameSpot to be able to view their videos in High Def, and there would be no point in me wasting any more of my money if I can’t even watch them.

As of the moment of me posting this, I have used 1.30% of my quota, in three days, which comes out to about 3.2 GB. At this rate, one would expect me to end just fine, at somewhere of a maximum of 39% even. But what worries me is that I have just been surfing lightly so far, and haven’t used any of my Instant Messengers on this computer either. While 250 GB seems like a lot, I wonder what might happen in the future. I have many plans in the future to create projects that I would be uploading to the web. According to Comcast, at a size of 10MB per photo, I would be able to upload 25,000 high-resolution images. On top of that though, with the dream and idea that I have had, I would also be uploading videos, of which can come to a whopping size of 50 MB per video.

Once again, while that comes to 500 videos to be uploaded before a limit is hit, if one happens to be watching videos AND uploading them, that limit becomes lower and closer every second. I also did some research on Comcast’s website. While this limit doesn’t start until October 1, for those who are looking to get their internet now, there is no indication of this limit anywhere, including in their Terms & Conditions pop-out that can be found in their Shop page when looking at “High-Speed Internet”.

It took me a good half hour to find, but after clicking on the “Ask Comcast” link, and sifting my way through the terrible auto-answers that their bot gave me, I WAS able to find an FAQ on what they are now calling “Excessive Use”. This page does nothing but clarify and solidify what’s already been stated, but still shows exactly what kind of unobservant, uncaring people Comcast really is. I know that is quite a large accusation to make, but this will become an issue for more than their 1% of customers that they claim on their website. This issue couldn’t be more of an issue for a lot of people, including myself, who has dreams that use the internet “excessively”, as Comcast claims to call it now, and I could not be more unhappy at the moment.

Editor’s Note: As of publishing this Blog, I would like to make it known that I am holding off my final verdict on this limit and Comcast’s events until I have finished my month-long bandwidth experiment. It is possible that one will be able to keep under the 250 GB limit, even though they are watching high definition video, but I worry about the months, such as ones that include the Electronics Entertainment Exposition [E3], where people will watch literally hundreds of hours of high definition footage in the matter of a single week. Again, I will hold off my verdict for the time being, but this is a collaboration of the research that I have done.