Bitmaster hyper-god Tettix (formerly Cicada, AKA Judson Cowan) is currently rockin' my iPhone, it's the perfect music for sitting on the bus and staring out into space. You may be familiar with this chiptune artist already, as his track "Earth's Assault on the Central AI" is currently being used as the Weekly Geek Theme song. I've found in my nerdy search of nostalgic beats that the quality of chiptune artists varies as much as the quality of old school NES games, they are all fun in their own right, but only a few are true classics. Tettix has skills. Mad skills.
He's even created tracks for Nike, Diesel and Cartoon Network. But with his albums Technology Crisis I and II he has painted a landscape for a non-existent game from the 80's. His albums take on their own narrative depending on your interpretation, much like an artist like Sigur Ros, Mogwai or Explosions in the Sky. He perfectly encapsulates what made NES music classic: catchy melodies, cohesive flow and a striking sense of mood. The best part? He has offered all his tracks online, gratis. There's even a sweet album of Metroid covers.
I'd love to commission him to do a real theme song some day. And hey! Check this out, he's also a great graphic designer. High fives all around.
Jinny and I are always jotting down ideas in a shared Google Document for a possible fancy dinner party menu. We love cooking for people, as it seems that not many people in our generation really cook for themselves anymore. We've been experimenting with a ton of different styles of food, Jinny brings mass amounts of Korean cooking knowledge to the table, while I lean more French/Italian. We'll post some of these recipes here in case you Geekateers would enjoy following along on our quest for culinary perfection.
We love making hamburgers. It's easy, quick, and infinitely variable. Hamburgers are one of those foods that anyone can appreciate (unless you're a vegetarian, in which case - get out of my kitchen) and can be instantly bumped up to gourmet status with special ingredients, and a little bit of technique. It's so simple to make your own hamburger patties, and the ones you mix at home have way more flavor and texture than those crappy frozen pre-made ones you can buy at the store. As with any dish, it's all about the quality of ingredients. If you can't find some of these ingredients, you could always make substitutions, but food is one of those things that Jinny and I never skimp on.
Here is a great Italian variation on the burger we came up with. Last time we served this to friends, tears welled up in their eyes as they uttered "This is the best burger I have ever eaten". I definitely agree. And if you're a bit squicked out by anchovies, don't worry. They only exist to accentuate the flavor, the burgers do not come out all fishy. This is an adapted recipe from the photograph there, we have since improved it. Cooking is all about evolution, like Pokémon!
Pesto Burgers
Feeds two humans
1lb ground beef (grind your own or get the least lean package at the store. The more fat the better!)
Potato Hamburger Buns
Pesto (for spreading. A jar would do. Or make your own!)
2 Anchovy fillets (packed in oil is best), minced
1 large shallot, minced
One nice heirloom or beefsteak tomato, sliced
Sriracha
Balsalmic Vinegar (any old kind will do. Don't use your best, though. Save that for salads.)
Soft cheese such as chevre (Ricotta would also work. Need a dry, salty cheese.)
2 slices panchetta (bacon makes a good substitute)
Kosher salt, pepper
1. Spread butter on the buns (tee hee) and toast until slightly brown. Let cool.
2. Finely chop the shallot and the anchovy and mix into the hamburger in a big bowl. Use your hands for this. Squishy fun ensues. Add about a tablespoon of kosher salt and a half a tablespoon of cracked black pepper. Add about 2 tablespoons of balsalmic vinegar and a hefty squirt of the sriracha. Don't have sriracha in the house? Well shame on you. You can substitute with a dash of cayenne pepper. Mix well. Squish squish.
3. Form two patties by creating a ball with half the mixture and pressing it between your hands. Try to keep the edges from falling apart and be gentle. Place on a plate and make a slight depression in the middle. Cover plated patties with saran wrap and put in the fridge to set.
4. Heat up your pan (preferably a cast iron skillet) and cook the panchetta or bacon until crispy. Do not drain, as bacon fat is what Jesus' tears are probably made of. Remove panchetta from pan and let drain on paper towels.
5. While the pan is still hot and the bacon fat is fluid (but not smoking), place your patties into the pan. Don't move them at all for the first minute, as this will impede the progress of the browning. Try to avoid the silly fast food thing where you press the meat with a spatula. You really don't want those juices to escape, and the depression you made earlier should keep the shape nice and neat. Flip once (and only once!) and cook for another minute on the other side. These are best at medium rare, but if you like charcoal burgers you could always cook them longer. Remove to a plate and let sit while you dress the buns.
6. Spread chevre on one side of the buns and pesto on the other. Place burger on the bottom bun and top with pancetta. Add a slice of tomato and serve alongside fries or tater tots. I prefer tots.
Are you the kind of person who emphatically evangelizes everything truly good that gets absorbed into your brain? Do you crave new experiences and suck the marrow out of life on a daily basis? Are you the kind of person who always has others coming up to you for advice on new gadget purchases, or what movie to go see on a Friday? Well maybe you'd like to share your sage knowledge with the readers and listeners of The Weekly Geek.
We're currently accepting submissions for additional writers. We're looking for people who are enthusiastic not only about video games, but the full gamut of geekery. We're looking for someone who yearns to get their voice heard, who is genuinely interested in blogging. More features writer than news republisher, more storyteller than dry press release rehasher. Writing at The Weekly Geek is an unpaid position but the experience you gain could be very valuable in the long run. There's the opportunity for free review copies of games, the chance to be read and edited by a group of your peers, and the satisfaction of being a part of a genuinely cool community of Geeks. Interested? Here are the requirements:
1. Submit a sample article to chris@weeklygeekshow.com with the subject line "Weekly Geek Writing Position". This article can be about whatever you want in the realm of geekiness. Be entertaining, be informative, be enthusiastic, be unique. It could be a list, it could be a comic strip. It could be a gangsta rap. It doesn't even have to be an article. It just has to show that you can provide awesome new content for the site.
2. Bonus points if you aren't already writing somewhere else.
3. Bonus points if you can draw or create your own header images for posts.
4. Bonus points if your topic of choice is a niche area of geekery (space program geek? Cell phone geek? Food geek? Zydeco music geek?)
I'll read all the submissions and choose new writers based on their writing ability, proposed schedule of posts and other unnamed arcane factors of my deciding. It's a great opportunity to get your name out there and be read by literally hundreds (!) of Weekly Geek fans. The rewards are well worth it.
posted by Chris on July 21, 2008 7:26 PM in Podcast
In the aftermath of E3 2008, Chris, Qais and Jinny discuss what ensued during the Nintendo and Sony conferences, and other great games announced at the now stripped down show. They raise questions such as: is Nintendo in the business of making money or making video games? And: what is the plural of "red headed stepchild"? Whether or not you want to have this information in your head is immaterial! It is here. Would you like to hear about our frothing demand for Mirror's Edge and EA's offerings? You can experience this.
Kind of a bit of self-promotion here, but in light of it being E3 week and one of Microsoft Game Studio's biggest holiday titles being shown, I thought it appropriate. For the past few months we've been working hard to launch a brand new Gears of War community site and I have to say this is one of the coolest things I've ever had the privilege to be involved with. I've been able to work with some fabulous designers and developers who listened to feedback, embraced creativity and were open to suggestion. This hardly ever happens when working on a large corporate website. We had our bumps and our struggles but ultimately I am very very pleased with the way the site came out. So, I have to say thanks. Thanks! I am super stoked to put this in my portfolio.
Check out the fruits of our labor over at the brand spanking new Gears of War 2 website. You can explore many new features of the game and check out screenshots, concept art and download a few cool wallpapers. Now back to your regularly scheduled geekery.
Just a little disclaimer, The Weekly Geek isn't affiliated with MS in any way, I just happen to work at Microsoft Game Studios currently.
Being able to read my RSS feed subscriptions on my phone is an amazingly geeky experience. It's one of the aspects of the iPhone that make you just sit back and revel in the glow of the future. But as much as I love Google's various services and Apple's glorious Jesus Phone, I can't help but feel frustrated with not being able to perform really basic tasks. Beyond not being able to copy and paste text, Google Reader acts a bit funky on this mobile device. While it's been fantastic to be able to read my RSS items during my commute (making me less enticed to get that unread count down while I'm at work) I'm a multitasker and the iPhone doesn't seem to like that.
For example, clicking a link in Google Reader on the iPhone opens said link in a new page, which you can scroll over to. Handy, right? Well what if the link is in the middle of an article you'd like to eventually go back to and finish reading? When you close the page you just opened and go back to Reader, sometimes it automatically refreshes the page, marking the item as read and making it disappear. This also seems to happen whenever I want to bump out to the home screen to turn on some music, or to answer a text message. Every time I go back to Reader there's a chance it will reload the page.
In addition, this morning I was having issues with Reader bumping me back to home while I'm in the middle of reading an article. I didn't even touch anything! Real frustrating. Good thing I'm Apple's bitch and will keep using the thing anyway. Curse you and your addictive devices, Jobs!
Anyone else having issues with Reader on the iPhone?
Here's a custom Munny I made to look like Mog from Final Fantasy 6. He is the best moogle. Made with Sculpey and acrylics. I'm trying to think of other cool video game related Munny customs to create, any suggestions?
posted by Chris on July 14, 2008 6:45 PM in Podcast
With all of our jaded jackassery, we at The Weekly Geek do actually acknowledge the positive things in the geek realm, and what better time to express the joys of gaming than E3? This week's episode has Chris, Jinny and Qais disseminating the massive amount of information released at the Microsoft pre-E3 conference, from Avatars to Netflix integration, Party Mode, dashboard updates and more. The Rock Band 2 set lists and drum kits have also been detailed, and Jinny and Chris talk about their current favorite iPhone apps and why you should download them now. But first, won't you download a podcast? I am sure you will enjoy it.
Yeah, I'm one of those early adopter assholes who stood in line to get an iPhone this weekend, but at least I waited until Saturday morning! That's eons in early-adopter land. The iPhone 3g was practically passé at that point. While I am not so keen on adding to the messy pile of iPhone articles the blog-o-net has turned into over the course of the weekend, I figured you guys might be interested in what applications I am running on the device, as the applications are really what make this smart phone shine. Most of these are free, too!
Twitteriffic: I'm a fan of Iconfactory's full-fledged version of Twitteriffic, and the mobile version is fairly similar. There's a free (ad-supported) and a paid (ad-free) version, the free version being the one I'm sporting. I like the interface but I really wish these things ran in the background. I'd love to get tweets growl-style while surfing Safari. Oh, and by the way my twitter name is "chrisfurniss". Obvious enough for you?
Save Benjis: Nifty little app for you to take along on shopping trips to do some price comparison. I imagine you could even use it to haggle with shopkeepers or do some price matching if you're clever. Enter the name of any product and it shows you a pricing rundown Froogle-style.
Yelp: I'm an avid Yelp-er and having an app that detects your location and brings up reviews of nearby restaurants and businesses is almost exactly like being in the future. My only complaints are that you can't submit a review from the app, and you can't click on a reviewer's name and see all their reviews. This is more for the location-specific features.
Paypal: Splitting the restaurant bill? Why not just send your half via Paypal and have your friend foot it on their card? Simple and straightforward app, though I am concerned about security. If someone steals my iPhone, couldn't they transfer a bunch of money from my Paypal account to their own?
Exposure: A good, workable (not to mention free) Flickr solution. View your photos and friends photos and such. I wish you could save photos viewed as wallpapers. Again, as with the Yelp app, Exposure has a location feature where it will show you images that have been geotagged near your GPS location. It won't, however, show you user profiles or anything helpful.
Enigmo: Classic "The Incredible Machine" style gameplay from Pangaea Software, and the only app so far I've spent money on. Great fun and the graphics are surprisingly decent. Satisfying sound effects, too.
T4Two Free: Really simple little Pong-style game with multi-touch. Jinny and I were playing this at the park by each holding an end of the phone and controlling a paddle with our thumbs. You can also tip the phone to influence the way the ball rolls. Real stripped-down but loads of potential here.
Midomi: Sing, hum or play a song directly into the speaker and Midomi claims to be able to detect what song it is. I have yet to have it work correctly. Maybe I don't *really* know how to sing Dani California after all.
Pandora Radio: Holy crap, this app is so good. Utilizes Pandora's online offerings and syncs any playlists you already have with the service onto your iPhone. Type in an artist or song title and it automatically generates a radio station based on your listening tastes. Sound quality is great, and you can bookmark songs or order them from iTunes directly from your phone. Handy!
Remote: The best app of the bunch. I can control iTunes on my Mac at home from anywhere in the house. I can also use Remote as I am walking home to queue up some tunes for when I walk through the door.
With all this device integration, I'm getting that great "Holy crap I am in the future" feeling from my iPhone whenever I use it. Personally, I love the little thing. It may not be as responsive as I'd like, and the apps not being able to run in the background is a pain in the ass but it is definitely a large step forward. I'll download a few more games and let you guys know how they are and be sure to listen to the podcast to hear about new apps we've tried, what we like and what we definitely didn't like.
Are there any you guys are using that you'd recommend?
posted by Chris on July 7, 2008 5:58 PM in Podcast
This week's podcast is weird. If you thought The Weekly Geek was already a crazy, mixed-up sort of video game blog, this podcast will re-enforce that astute observation. Your hosts Chris, Qais, Ross and Jinny discuss what they think is going to be shown at this year's E3 and if the event even matters anymore. They also talk about geek rites of passage, such as Chris' revelation that he just saw Blade Runner for the first time. A new book on nerds is discussed, dissected and judged for its cover, and they introduce a brand new geeky obsession: sous-vide cooking. Enjoy this week's podcast, for it is delicious.
Self-flagellation and guilt are two major personality traits of Geeks. A common thread in our lives is the self-hatred that comes from being told you're different than the other kids - in a bad way. Your glasses or ill-fitting clothes are wrong, your bookish manner of speech unwelcome to other "cooler" kids. We retreat to comfort, to rules and structure in a seemingly chaotic world. Thus is the thesis of Benjamin Nugent's American Nerd: The Story of My People, a book not unlike Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion for its logic and prose. Being a self-proclaimed Alpha Geek, I am always protective of my community. The mainstream view of geeks has classically been a negative one, only recently have we seen the rise of Geek Chic, the ultimate revenge. Our glasses are in style, tight thrift store shirts and beat up clothes are coveted, and our hyper-literate manner of communication welcome to prospective employers. We are, of course, a deeper people than this. We have developed a bond with other Geeks in order to ensure our survival and are protective of the shelter cobbled together with stacks of Monster Manuals and empty jewel cases. We are varied in our interests, tied together by passion alone. Misunderstood passion validated by the niche communities we affiliate ourselves with.
When I saw American Nerd was penned by the same author of Elliot Smith and the Big Nothing, I imagined a sort of Geek ambassador, a man who Knew What He Was Talking About. Elliot Smith being the ultimate Geek, one so tormented by his isolation and obsession with his craft. So misunderstood. His biography sheds insight into his otherwise isolated thoughts, so surely Nugent had the prescient ability to understand geeks, to explain them to the layman. This was a book I wanted so badly to champion. I wanted this to be a manual to understanding nerds that management types could turn to and reference when their software engineers act uncomfortable and reclusive at the company barbecue.
American Nerd excited me immensely when I first started reading it. "He understands!" I would mouth silently to myself on the bus, "He gets it!" I would tell anyone within earshot about how smart it was, how he explained why we act the way we do. I was high on the validation. For the first few chapters, Nugent achieves a Dawkins-like sense of knowing exactly what is in your head, but being more coherent in expressing it. He discusses incredibly interesting and insightful things, like where the word "nerd" comes from, discussing nerds in history and how America's physical education programs were thinly veiled Christian propaganda. He gives anecdotal accounts from his own life of nerdery, along with stories about different groups and subsets of nerds. The LARPers, the Sci-Fi geeks, the D+D nerds, the gamers. Well, the Major League Gaming gamers - the Halo 2 and Super Smash Bros. jocks. Of course being a gamer my ears (eyes?) perked up at my own subset being represented.
Nugent mentions that one major nerd calling card is their obsession with facts that would be deemed unimportant by "normal" standards. Take the pop culture nerd who kicks ass at Jeopardy!, or the Tolkien nerd who wrote their college thesis in Sindarin. Nugent knows these nerds pick through data looking for faults, and still there was a moment in the book when my faith in him as a writer was questioned. I was so enthusiastic about American Nerd up until he got a fact wrong. In the section about gaming, he talks about an MLG Smash Bros team called "Husband and Wife" because they play as Princess Peach and Prince, Peach's husband in the game. This error was compounded for a few different reasons.
Super Smash Bros is a massively popular game, selling millions of copies. Getting a character name wrong when you are writing a definitive book on the subject of nerds is just asking for trouble.
Princess Peach is not only a character in Smash Bros, but a billion other Nintendo-themed properties including the most persistent of all properties: Super Mario.
Peach isn't married, and even if she was, wouldn't she be married to Mario?
Who the fuck is Prince?
For a self-ascribed Nerd, that is a fairly fundamental fuck up. Didn't he have an editor? Wasn't there someone along the chain of Definitive Nerd Manual Construction do some fact-checking into this? Nugent then proceeded to lead his book directly down the steepest cliff he could find by ending without answering his thesis. By the end of American Nerd you realize Nugent is just talking to himself. He brings up subsets of nerdery and then leaves you hanging, wondering what his point is. While perhaps you could extrapolate your own answers as you glimpse through the tiny windows of this geek culture, any and all credibility is tossed out said windows in the last chapter, where Nugent discusses how he gave up being a nerd. As a teenager.
Wait, if you are writing a book about "Your People", shouldn't you be one of those people? As he leads you into this story of handing his Super Nintendo and collection of games off to a friend and leaving him in the dust, you realize Nugent is really just absolving himself of guilt. It's all about Kenneth, the kid with the bad family life who Nugent feels guilty leaving in his time of need. Kenneth was a dead weight on Nugent's leg, or so he felt at the time. I feel like he's written this book as a sort of dedication to his former friend; a pre-mid-life contemplative look back into his childhood. I would find this bittersweet and poignant if I wasn't led to believe he was an expert on the subject. Didn't he say in the foreword that he was "a little biased", being a nerd himself? But... he's not a nerd after all?
As I read the last few pages and shut the book, I stared out the window of the bus as it puttered through rush hour traffic. As I contemplated this abrupt end and ultimately egocentric diatribe, I couldn't help but feel like Kenneth: abandoned by someone who I thought understood me.
posted by Chris on June 30, 2008 6:44 PM in Podcast
Dear Sir or Madam,
Enclosed you will find a special extra-long edition of The Weekly Geek with such personalities as Qais, Chris, Jinny and Ross discussing issues pertinent to your life. Have you ever wondered how Rock Band 2 might compete in this growing market of music games? Now you can know! Have you ever dreamed about Diablo III? Well dream no more! Do you believe that the record industry is crazy, and did you find this out from the magical talking cat in your closet? I, uhh... no actually that's weird. Enjoy these subjects, your questions answered on air (read with optional funny voices) and a bonus secret word section in this week's fabulous (did I mention free?) podcast.
Too often when we play games from our childhoods do we experience the "rose colored glasses" effect. Our memories of these games are marred by the gaps - when encountered with the original product after so many years, we often end up disappointed. Lucky for us Capcom has remastered Street Fighter II in order to match our memories. The HD remix remarkably manages to be just like you remember Street Fighter II. No crappy port to 3d. No gimmicky control scheme. Just pure concentrated childhood. Thank you Capcom for your surprising amount of restraint.
I'm slowly starting to wean myself off my RSS reader. Being a blogger and a podcaster has really taken its toll on me as I try to find a good work/life balance. Whereas in the past I thought it would be cool to be a pro blogger and get shipped around to press events and be wined and dined by major game companies, now it's starting to look a lot less appealing. For today's rant, I'm going to tell you how the basic model for the video game blog is broken and useless.
There was a time when I was subscribed to as many game and geek blogs as I could find, and I was motivated to keep up with them. That was when they still all had original content. Remember those days? The culture has shifted now to the point of over saturation, where there is very little original content and in order to fulfill quotas and sound like "real journalists", game bloggers have ensconced themselves in the echo chamber. Here is the usual process:
1. A press release is sent out by a game company stating that their new game has gone gold, released new screenshots or gameplay video or has hit store shelves. 90% of the time this is non-news that the normal everyday gamer shouldn't care about. These press releases are sent to every single game blog in existence.
2. Game blogs who thirst for pageviews/popularity/money/whatever republish said press release and attach a cleverly photoshopped header image.
3. Every single other game blog republishes the already republished non-news press release, either citing the release proper, or whatever other game blog got the press release first.
Only occasionally is there ever original content on a game website, and it's usually poorly researched and lackluster. If you're lucky it ends up being an intelligent rant, but these rants are more blog than news (see: this website). In the rush to get their post numbers up, these blogs allow egregious journalistic mistakes such as spelling and grammar errors and publishing rumors as fact without researching them first. We see articles about bland industry-related facts, such as NPD numbers or sales statistics. Why should gamers give a shit about on what console a cross-platform game sold better? Why not just enjoy the games?
We, and by "we" I am referring to the hardcasual early adopter gamer, have lost our way. We are being dragged around by the games industry PR machine and to what end? Bloggers are hurried through media events and fed data which they are expected to digest and spew to their readers without coming up with any original ideas. We're expected to review games and promote them in order for the game company to make enough money to release the next one and the next one and the next one. And this is the culture. It's a sea of early adopters catering to other early adopters who obsessively read these blogs.
Take a look at Kotaku, one of the web's largest and most popular gaming websites. Kotaku must publishing something like 70 articles a day. Just keeping up with Kotaku is a full time job in of itself. There are literally people who sit all day on Kotaku, waiting for the next article to be posted so they can comment. Kotaku publishes so fast I imagine their editors don't even edit the content before it's pushed live.
We're geeks, I get it. We are passionate about our "hobby" and our lives revolve around it. We eat, drink and breathe video games and fail to realize that the rest of the world doesn't. The rest of the world is content with bringing out the Wii Fit every time company comes over, showing off the shiny new gadget and putting it away until the next chance. We're stuck in a loop, an echo chamber. We don't need all these PR blogs, we don't need gamer's day events. We don't need companies showing us brand new screenshots every week until a game release. The PR blogs are being driven by the needs of the game companies, not the game consumers. Here's what we should do to fix it:
1. STOP POSTING EVERYTHING A GAME COMPANY SENDS YOUR WAY. We don't need 500 websites all posting new screenshots for the Hulk game at the same time. We don't even need one. The PR company should just post new content on their own website and allow the game blogs to research and notice on their own.
2. DO RESEARCH. If a friend of a friend of a friend told you that Gamestop posted a release date for Starcraft II, it's most likely not true. Don't post a "Rumor" post to your blog just for speculation sake. Do some research. Reporting on rumors is like telling your readers you're too lazy to give them accurate information. Anyone can say they heard a rumor from someone. You're not providing content, you're just adding to the chatter.
3. STOP POSTING ARCANE INDUSTRY NEWS. Do your readers really need to care when an exec from EA steps down? How does this have even the smallest bearing on whether or not the games you play will improve or decline in quality? The games industry is so obsessed with its shitty minor celebrities, it will pretty much post anything. These people are not celebrities. They are normal people. Please start treating them as such. Sales numbers aren't amazingly interesting.
4. POST LESS. I like reading blog posts about video games. It's the reason why I have my own blog. But when a blog posts 70 times a day, there's no way to filter out the mundane from the high-quality. Focus on quality. Post less frequently and not only will you improve the level of discourse, you will save the sanity of people who actually have other things to do during the day than keep up.
What would you guys add? Have you been feeling the same frustration I have, or is this limited to people like me who run their own blogs?
posted by Chris on June 23, 2008 9:08 PM in Podcast
Here's the conclusion to our last Retro Podcast, cut short before you could hear Chris tell The Geek what happened with his teacher. Riveting, I know. We're off this week, but we hope you enjoy the second hour of classic geek from April 14th, 2004 which includes such timely topics as Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow, baseball players who are also gamers, local Ellensburg, WA radio commercials, the weather and even some music which we hope will satisfy your geek needs this week. Cheers!
posted by Chris on June 20, 2008 10:09 AM in Games
This the first generation of consoles where I've finally been able to experience all the medium has to offer. That's right, I've finally completed the set and picked up an 80gig Metal Gear Solid 4 Playstation 3 bundle. My reasons are most likely different than most, I'm not a fan of the Metal Gear series and most of the titles out for the PS3 don't really intrigue me. I was more interested in the backwards compatibility since I no longer own a PS2 due to circumstances. Divorce circumstances. That's right, I lost custody of my PS2.
There are a few games I am interested in, most notably the Playstation Network titles such as Echochrome and Everyday Shooter. And hey, maybe I'd like Metal Gear too. Who knows.
After a few hours with the machine, I have a few issues. Now that I have "caught 'em all" (to use Pokémon parlance) I feel like I have a nice objective view of what the Playstation 3 offers and doesn't offer versus the other systems.
First off, cons:
Game installation. Why in the name of sweet zombie jeebus am I forced to install games and still suffer long loading times? Is this my consolation prize for purchasing games from lazy developers? If I am committing a small portion of my hard drive to a certain game, I expect some sort of benefit. One of the main selling points of a console is that you don't have to tinker with it like you do with PCs. I don't have to worry about having compatible drivers or the most advanced video card. I don't have to worry about spending hours installing a game and downloading patches, I insert the disk or cart and it just works. Even the PSN games have this problem, you have to download them and then install them and only then can you run them. And you have to do all this manually. Which brings me to...
Convoluted Information Architecture. I'm a web designer with a specialty in user experience and semantics. I think about information architecture wherever I go. For the unfamiliar, information architecture (or IA for the cool kids) is the discipline used to develop user interfaces for websites. Basically you wireframe and mock up how a user will flow through your website and ideally you streamline the process to make it as easy as possible for people to access your information. This will make or break a website. Have you ever been to a website that has one too many registration forms before you go to the shopping cart, and you abandon the cart in favor of Amazon's on-click ordering? That's poor information architecture. Sony is horrible at IA. From having to blindly accept license agreements that have zero bearing on my own personal use of the console, to putting my money in a virtual wallet instead of just outright purchasing the damn game instantly, everything feels like the worst puzzle fashioned to confuse and discourage. It's like they had focus groups that told them that hands down they loved watching loading bars, and they all got a perverse sense of satisfaction from selecting "I accept" over and over again. No, I don't want to take your survey. I could give two shits about your licensing agreement. No, I don't want to receive product information and deals from Sony. I just want to play your damn game. Can I play the game I put in my system now, please?
Feature bloat: Subtlety is a skill Sony truly lacks. From the obnoxiously shiny outer shell, needlessly flashy touch-sensitive eject and power buttons and the useless compact flash/sd/memory stick slots, the Playstation 3 is trying way too hard to do too many things at once. It forgets that it needs to do ONE THING well - play Playstation games. Why not sacrifice the outmoded compact flash slot for a Playstation 1/2 memory card slot? While memory cards are indeed old-tech, it would have been nice to not have to purchase an adapter to transfer my old save files. I want to play games on your game console, not have a locked-down system that pretends to be a media center. If I want to transfer my photos via compact flash somewhere, I'll use my existing computer, not my freaking game console.
Lack of features: Seems like a contradiction, but stick with me here. Even though the Playstation 3 has a load of features, they don't tend to be the right features. Sure I've got this media center where I can play games and music and videos, but I already have a place where I store my videos and music. I'm not about to transfer my entire music collection over to my game console. I want the ability to stream my content over your box, and I want it to be as easy as point and click. Every solution I've found to stream media from my Mac to my PS3 has been a tinkerer's dream and my nightmare. I don't want to have to run Terminal every time I want to play music. I just want to be able to press start and have it go. I don't want to have to tweak a bunch of settings in order to run my games and media at their max potential, I just want it to work. Just make it work. Update: I was pointed toward Nullriver's MediaLink software, which works like it was built-in to my Mac. Should have known the creators of the excellent Connect360 would have my console streaming solution.
Jeebus that Earth views visualizer is pretty.
Additionally, the lack of a system like Xbox 360's achievements is one of the biggest failings. Xbox has set a new standard for how games are played, an innovation classically reserved for Nintendo. The d-pad, analog stick, rumble... all of these changed the way we play games, and now with the persistence of the Internet and social media we want a way to show off our progress to our friends. While the 360 feels like a party every time you hear the blip and see one of your friends sign on to Live, Sony's system still feels insular, like a console for loners. I'm not compelled to flesh out my friends list like on the Xbox.
And now, Pros:
Now I can play my PS2 games again.
Are any of you PS3 owners? Can you fill me in on why people think this console is so awesome? Cause I'm just not seeing it at the moment. Even Metal Gear Solid 4 feels like the most popular game in some parallel universe.
posted by Chris on June 16, 2008 6:28 PM in Podcast
This week, resident geeks Chris, Jinny, Qais and Ross manage to go a full thirty minutes without saying the word "ass monster", proving that geeks really are the bastions of intelligence and maturity they claim to be. Of course this is in reference to the Spore Creature Creator being released this week, allowing anyone to create any malformed genital-monster their heart desires. The geeks talk about M. Night Shyamalan's new movie The Happening and how it's might be intelligent design propaganda, the new Ghostbusters video game and how it might not suck, how Google might be making us stupid, why the $100 laptop project might just be stupid (according to some people), hard-hitting food issues such as a discussion as to why Ted Allen's new food show is going to be awesome and a dip into the mailbag. That's right, YOUR barely legible letters read on air! Show notes after the jumpitty jump.
Remember, kids! This podcast is not really work safe! Only listen with headphones or around questionable company!
posted by Chris on June 11, 2008 11:12 AM in Movies
Pop quiz! Is this A: A promo poster for a Robocop CGI remake coming in 2010 or B: A promo poster for a Robocop CGI remake coming in 2010 as seen in the original Robocop? Considering the original Robocop was set in "an indeterminate future time" either option is possible.
As our escapist futuristic fantasies finally catch up with us, we seem to be looking at retro-future-nostalgia for comfort. The future is pretty weird, you guys.
posted by Chris on June 9, 2008 5:54 PM in Podcast
Join Weekly Geek editors Ross, Jinny, Qais and Chris this week as they discuss the new iPhone, how Apple may (or may not!) destroy the Nintendo DS, Republicans playing World of Warcraft, in-game ads, how the Atari movie could be an epic of our times, and the art of Adolf Hitler. The only other place you could get such a crazy mix of topics is if you were to be harassed by a meth-addled hobo! Don't let the hobo get you! Download the podcast post-haste!
Note: Due to unfortunate technical disturbances in the force, Ross' audio is at whisper-level. Instead of just scrapping this perfectly decent podcast, I opted to release it anyway for posterity. I apologize in advance for any burst eardrums caused by audio schizophrenia.
posted by Chris on June 2, 2008 6:48 PM in Podcast
With companies catering to the swelling masses of "casual" gamers, hardcore gamers are starting to feel slightly underrepresented. This week, Chris, Qais and Jinny talk about (more like obsess about) The World Ends With You and what it does to shake up the RPG formula, how Guitar Hero for the DS may actually be good, Beyond Good and Evil getting a much-deserved sequel, and the strange subset of hardcore Warcraft III custom map players. We then proceed to rip through the mailbag, where we actually read your actual letters on the air. I don't know how it works, I'm not a scientist.
posted by Chris on May 26, 2008 9:23 PM in Podcast
We're digging into The Weekly Geek archives this week and presenting you with an authentic Geek experience all the way from 2004! The past! It's like you're a time traveler or something. This week, join The Geek and Frodo back on KCWU FM for the 7AM hour of April 26th. Enjoy some music, hear some old news and listen as someone wins a game that is surely in the bargain bin at a Gamestop by now. We return next week with your regularly scheduled jerkfaces. Enjoy!
You may not believe it, and when I heard it I scarcely believed it myself, but there's more to being a geek than just video games. What! Crazy! I know! The thirst for new stimulation isn't limited to just the digital realm of "veedoo games"! Music is what we crave, and the newest Weekly Geek Music Podcast is just the thing to satiate even the most ravenous of melody fiends. Mike and Chris present to you their top albums for this period in the space-time continuum, with artists like Portishead, Wolf Parade, Death Cab For Cutie and Nine Inch Nails. Perhaps, in listening, you will discover your new favorite band. These things are known to happen.
Full set list and links to purchase tracks after the jump.
Oh hai! Just thought I'd come and check in on you guys, here. What's up? Gearing up for the long weekend? Are you going to be going outside and grilling animal flesh with the rest of the US, or perhaps you will shun the sunlight as I do and partake of some games? Here's what I've been playing recently, what are you playing this weekend?
GTAIV - Of course, this game really doesn't leave my Xbox. I haven't had much time to devote to gaming this week (hence the lack of game diary posts) but when I do get a chance I like to sit down and envelop myself in the trials and tribulations of one Niko Bellic. I'm a good 70% through the game now, just got all my friends to over 90% and I'm spending a fair bit of time just messing around with the side quests, whereas a week ago I was completely into the main storyline. The main storyline continues to amaze, don't get me wrong, but I really appreciate how I can just sit down and do a few side quests in a short period of time. Very good for the hard-casual gamer such as myself.
The World Ends With You - Seriously, you guys need to be playing this game. I have no idea why the gaming press hasn't covered it more because it is completely brilliant. It's the perfect commuter's game, great for short bursts of satisfying play, and is as deep as you want it to be. I want all games to be this thoughtful, precise and engaging. There's little sense in explaining it. You have to experience it for yourself.
Penny Arcade Adventures: On The Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness - Episode 1 - Like any good PA fan, I downloaded the shit out of this game and proceeded to devour it. It's a gorgeous game and genuinely hilarious, though the battle system took me a REALLY long time to figure out. I'm still not sure I understand it. I'm playing the XBLA version, which apparently was designed last as the controls are horrible. It's difficult to target things for one, but it also doesn't help that the UI is slightly confusing at times. It took me a while to make sense of the battle UI and it took me even longer to realize which player was highlighted. I'm also having conflicting thoughts about the massive amount of dialog for every single little thing. On one hand it's consistently hilarious, and on the other hand I feel compelled to check every trash can and mailbox, which feels like a shallow gameplay device. I'd rather the locations I can investigate be a bit more hidden instead of right there in my face. But maybe it will pick up? At the very least, congratulations you guys. It's awesome to be able to say "this dude I know made his own video game". Despite any niggling concerns, you guys did a fucking fantastic job.
posted by Chris on May 19, 2008 6:22 PM in Podcast
This week, Qais, Chris and Ross the Transparent Underground Gnoll meet at the Fortress of Geekitude to discuss the state of video game trade shows, Konami's new Rock Revolution and what a new drum peripheral could mean for crowded living rooms everywhere, making worthwhile games for children, the Great Slipper Collapse of 1985 (includes bonus Fraggle Rock discussion) and then the boys dip into the mailbag. Which isn't a euphemism.
You may recall my Steampunk Nerf Gun post from a while back, where I painted a Nerf Maverick all metallic to go with a costume I was making. I got an email from the creator of the Grab-it Pack(™!) who saw the post and mentioned that multiple people have purchased this pocketed accessory as a holster for their Nerf Mavericks.
Extra pockets are always nice and the Grab-it Pack actually looks like an incredibly useful pack if you're going hiking, cosplaying as the Man-With-Too-Many-Pockets or raiding a tomb full of ancient treasure and secrets.
They are about 23 bucks and you can order them from GrabitPack.com.
posted by Chris on May 12, 2008 5:03 PM in Podcast
It's ladies night on The Weekly Geek, as Colette and Jinny join the very manly Chris and the always testosterone-heavy Mack in what is possibly the ladiest podcast ever. Is Guitar Hero IV going to rock Rock Band? Is Lost Winds Colette's favorite game evar? (Protip: it is!) Other topics include mini map dependence, Emerald City Comic Con, Crisis Core, and more great TV. Enjoy the brisk flavor of this special podcast... ladies.
I've avoided making Game Diary posts this last week because A) I've been taking a "vacation" as it was my last week of unemployment and 2) I've just been playing Grand Theft Auto IV. That's not to say I haven't had any fun, I've been enjoying the crap out of it. The story, the game play, everything about this game is a love letter to the video game industry as a whole and if you haven't checked it out for whatever reason, at the very least rent it. You'll most likely enjoy the sandbox as much as I have. Niko, as a character, is one of the most compelling I've seen in a game, right up there with Gordon Freeman for me. He is a criminal, sure, but his motivation for his actions is something you can actually relate to. The dialog wanders from funny to poignant, surprising you in its serious tone.
I'm only about 50% through, as well. The game is just plain massive. I can see it's going to stay in my Xbox for quite some time. I haven't even taken the shrink wrap off of Mario Kart Wii...
What have you guys been playing? Anything interesting I've missed out on?
Nintendo's insistence on using an arcane series of numbers to connect to friends on the Wii hasn't stopped the majority of intrepid internet users, as yet another website is making it easier to link up to friends for some hot kart on kart action. WiiTransfer has a nifty tool that allows you to share your friend codes with other Twitter users, so if you have a bunch of friends who like to be kept up to date with every single mundane detail of your day, this service is for you.
Now if only Nintendo would bring voice chat into the game, it may actually be playable online.
You know those booths at comic book or anime conventions selling game soundtracks? Yeah, those are usually dirty pirated bootleg knockoffs. Same goes with soundtracks you buy on eBay or from *most* websites. Square Enix bootlegs are notorious, considering they have such a vast library of hard to find soundtracks. The official SE store has a sale going on right now, so you have absolutely no excuse not to purchase the official Chrono Trigger Soundtrack for $16.99. Also on sale are soundtracks for Final Fantasy VII, VIII, IX, X, XI and The World Ends With You. Sweet!
This week isn't ALL about Grand Theft Auto IV, though it's hard to talk about anything else this week as its been ruling most gamers' lives. In a good way. Chris and Qais discuss the greater value of Grand Theft Auto as a piece of high art, completely without sarcasm! No, seriously! Why don't you believe me?! We then move on to Guitar Hero's brand being diluted, and Qais talks about insomnia and what kind of snacks he likes when he's pulling an all-nighter.
We all feel that sense of dread when we have to call customer service to try and troubleshoot a malfunctioning product. You have to wait while a computer routes you to a disinterested associate who may or may not solve your problem and may or may not be polite to you. Some dude named Jason has figure out how to get to escalate your problem quickly to someone who is a bit more skilled than your typical call center specialist.
Check out the super simple procedure over at Jason's blog.
Wondering how EA and Harmonix were going to make the Wii version of Rock Band successful without all of the amazing downloadable songs? Today comes the announcement of Rock Band Track Pack volume 1, which brings a nice selection of 20 songs previously available for download on the PS3 and 360 versions to the PS2 and the Wii. Set to be released on July 15th, here's the track list.
30 Seconds to Mars The Kill
All American Rejects Move Along
Blink – 182 All the Small Things
Boston More Than a Feeling
David Bowie Moonage Daydream
Faith No More We Care A Lot
Grateful Dead Truckin’
The Hives Die, All Right!
KISS Calling Dr. Love
Lynyrd Skynyrd Gimme’ Three Steps
Nine Inch Nails March of the Pigs
Oasis Live Forever
Paramore Crushcrushcrush
The Police Synchronicity II
Queens of the Stone Age Little Sister
Ramones Teenage Lobotomy
Smashing Pumpkins Siva
Stone Temple Pilots Interstate Love Song
Weezer Buddy Holly
Wolfmother Joker & the Thief
**All 20 tracks utilize original master recordings**
What I'm curious about is whether you have to switch your disks out when you want to play these specific tracks, or if just inserting the disk into the system somehow unlocks them on the original disk? Hm. While this is a great thing for Wii and PS2 Rock Band owners (personally the DLC is the best part of the game for me) I'm really curious as to how it will be implemented.
Every once in a while, Woot has a Photoshop contest that really brings out the funny. This week the subject was "an especially inappropriate franchise (an old TV show, comic book, classic novel, ancient myth, cartoon, movie, etc.)" Here's my favorite (and the winner!)
Bitmaster hyper-god Tettix (formerly Cicada, AKA Judson Cowan) is currently rockin' my iPhone, it's the perfect music for sitting on the bus and staring out into space. You may be familiar with this chiptune artist already, as his track "Earth's Assault on the Central AI" is currently being used as the Weekly Geek Theme song. I've found in my nerdy search of nostalgic beats that the quality of chiptune artists varies as much as the quality of old school NES games, they are all fun in their own right, but only a few are true classics. Tettix has skills. Mad skills. 
This the first generation of consoles where I've finally been able to experience all the medium has to offer. That's right, I've finally completed the set and picked up an 80gig Metal Gear Solid 4 Playstation 3 bundle. My reasons are most likely different than most, I'm not a fan of the Metal Gear series and most of the titles out for the PS3 don't really intrigue me. I was more interested in the backwards compatibility since I no longer own a PS2 due to circumstances. Divorce circumstances. That's right, I lost custody of my PS2. 
