NINTENDO WII: FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Wii here at technobabble have just received a Nintendo Wii (well bought because we were in the right place at the right time) and would like to share some thoughts on this new innovative system.

The Nintendo Wii is the least powerful, smallest, and wierdest designed thing for this generation of gaming. That said Nintendo still has a winner.

The Wii is about a 1/3 the size of the XBOX 360 and a quarter the size of the monstrous PS3. The Wii-mote (as it has been deemed) is a great interface to the system and Nintendo takes great advantage of more tactile feel with t a built in speaker and rumble feature.

The Wii doesn't have a built-in hard drive but it does have built-in memory. That memory will last you for a while and even if it doesn't the Wii has a SD card port.

The Wii also sports 4 GameCube controller ports and 2 memory card ports. This is great for backward compatibility and Nintendo has done a great job in integrating this into their console.

The slot loading drive is quick thus making load times much quicker than in the past (quite opposite to the GameCube).

No the Wii doesn't support DVD playback (although reportedly it is enabled in Japan so look for it here in the near future) and it doesn't play CD's but that's OK since you still have a PS2 or something around somewhere :).

The Wii Shop is great, when it works. I seem to have the hardest time connecting with the Wii to the store and I'm apparently not alone. One quick search on Google showed me that.

The Virtual Console emulated games really work fantastic. I haven't found a single glitch in anything that I have but others have posted a problem with saving ghosts on Mario Kart 64. The only thing I'd have to say about the Virtual Console that could be improved is the need to have more games and Nintendo is slowly working them out there.

There is no online play available for the Wii yet. Nintendo has been always weary about online play for some reason and promised it on the GameCube for years (which ended up being a bunch of crappy Phantasy Star games).

If you can find one, BUY IT. That's all I can say. The console is well worth the price. Only thing I'd say about it is get a couple extra Wii-motes and nunchuck addons so you can play with friends. Well then you might need a bigger TV.........

PLAYSTATION 3: FIRST IMPRESSIONS

We here at technobabble have received a whole bunch of goodies to check out and one of them is a brand-new Sony Playstation 3 60GB.

Well we did have to pay for it but we bought it at the $659.99 price point rather than the $699.99 that Futureshop and Best Buy Canada are trying to sell them for.

Unlike other things I have unpacked in the past (iPods, WoW: BC, digital cameras etc.) the packing job on the PS3 is rather functional but ugly. I guess Sony figures that since they're losing loads of money on the PS3 its doesn't matter what the packaging looks like. Actually I believe the packaging is really important to how the user feels about playing the console. The feel the packaging gave me was "OK you know what to do, hook it up, put in a game and play".

The PS3 is just as easy to hook up as the PS2 and because it has wireless networking built-in you don't have to even hook up a network cord. One unfortunate thing about the PS3 is that Sony gives you really cheap component cables to hook up to your TV. In fact they are the same as the ones provided for the PS2 and PS1. There is no shielding at all so if you have any electronics around you will have to really prepare a cord setup so as to not get a lot of interference.

The firmware on the PS3 is great and easy to use. The setup is just like a PSP and as you know, if you have a PSP, it is extremely easy to use. The only drawback to the PS3 is the keyboard interface. It's a keypad just like on a PSP. This is OK but it makes inputting text take longer than it really should.

The PS3 allows you to import your CD's onto it in different formats including MP3, AAC, and Sony's own ATRAC. I would stick to MP3 as the encoding for AAC and ATRAC seems to put artifacts and skips in the audio tracks.

DVD playback is flawless and if you have an HD display you can also watch BluRay discs on it (I don't have an HD display at the moment but someday I will :)). I would have liked to see Sony bundle a remote with the system though because the controller can be a little complicated to use for controlling video playback.

While we're on the subject of controllers why don't we talk about the new Sony SIXAXIS controller. Sony created this new controller to replace the DUAL SHOCK 2 controller of the PS2. What's changed? Well the PS3 will only allow wireless connectivity so it's completely wireless (except when you need to charge with the provided mini-USB cord). The controller dropped the rumble feature (oh so loved by most and really needed for racing games). However Sony did add an internal gyroscope so that the SIXAXIS controller can detect what angle the controller is at (hence the neam SIXAXIS)

As you know with the new PS3 you also get the Playstation Store. There isn't much on there besides about 5 demos and a few trailers so don't look for much, but I'm sure that Sony will get it together in the next few months and get the Store looking like a store. The setup of the Playstation store is rather complicated and really needs to be completely redone. Maybe a more database driven system like iTunes or something like the sort. Having the store setup to run over the internet just isn't efficient and Sony could learn a few things from XBOX live.

Online play is easy, and as for playing with other people I can't say yet because the only games that we have are demos and they are not online.

The only real disadvantage between the PS3 and the XBOX 360 is that you cannot stream content from your computer to your PS3 like you can with the XBOX. Even though the PS3 has a 60GB HDD (or a 20GB if you went for the cheaper version) I would love to save that space and just stream from my computer.

So if you have a cool $699.99 to drop on a PS3 I'd go for it but don't be discouraged by what salespeople may say. I think some are comparing it to the XBOX 360. You have to remember that XBOX live has been around a lot longer than Sony's Playstation Network and I'm sure Sony has good ideas on what to do in the future to improve even more.

WORLD OF WARCRAFT: THE BURNING CRUSADE - FIRST IMPRESSIONS

So the Burning Crusade is out and we here are technobabble were able to get a hold of 4 copies (1 collectors edition and 3 regular expansions) for our playing and review pleasure.

The first thing I noticed is that no level 60s are willing to help anyone anymore in dungeons/instances because of Outland. Kinda suxxors on a server with mostly level 60s on it (Kael'Thas).

Other things happening. OH! The Draenei dropped from the sky with the Exodar. The Draenei are pretty cool. The males are probably a little too large compared to the female counterparts (or the other way around) but who cares? We now have Shamans. Only problem is almost every Draenei IS a Shaman. Kind of annoying.

There have been reports of Blood Elves dancing everywhere. Actually, not really. The Horde seem to be taking their new race with stride. I have to say though, if it wasn't for the lore behind the Blood Elves and what is currently happening in the Blood Elf areas, they don't seem to be a Horde race for the most part.

Lots of Alliance are spamming that Draenei rule and Blood Elves suxxors. I have to disagree. The Blood Elves seem to be a lot more fun to play. This might be do to the fact that I play a Night Elf as a main. The Draenei are a lot of fun as well and you seem to feel a lot of urgency when you start playing them.

What are your thoughts?

CANADIANS GET GOOD DEAL ON PLAYSTATION 3

You know how I always say Americans have the best value with technology and get everything first. Well, here's a first where we north of the Border have the advantage over the Americans. Due to the strong oil economy in Canada and the War on Terror being promoted by the United States the Canadian Dollar has gone up in value against the American Dollar.

As you all well know the Playstation 3 is not a cheap piece of hardware. In the States most merchants are selling the 60GB version of the console for $599.99US (such as Best Buy and EB Games etc.). Well, here in Canada we can purchase a Playstation 3 for $659.99CAN.

When you convert these the American price to Canadian Dollars the Canadians end up winning out for the cheaper price.

$599.99US = $703.25 (As of Jan 1 2007)
$659.99CAN = $659.99 (obviously :))

$703.25 - $659.99 = $43.26 CAN

Canadians are saving a swift $43.26 compared to Americans.

Canadians be warned. If you think buying your PS3 in the U.S. is going to be any cheaper you are completely wrong. Keep that in mind the next time you see one.

WORLD OF WARCRAFT: THE BURNING CRUSADE RELEASES AT MID-NIGHT

World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade (herein WoW:BC) is to be released tonight at mid-night following release parties all over the west coast.

The east coast gets left out of the festivities unfortunately but it doesn’t really matter. WoW:BC is going to be a hard find come tomorrow after opening of any software retailer. I have three copies on pre-order myself and I am told I won’t get them until the end of the week.

WoW:BC’s biggest change is that you can now go to level 70. Considering I am only level 54 I guess I have a lot of work ahead of me.

Tomorrow Blizzard is not running it’s usual Tuesday maintenance which is good but the real problem will be logging into the servers. I don’t think there will be a giant influx of new players but there will be many who will be trying out the new characters. Feel sorry for those doing quests in the starting areas for these new races.

If you don’t have a copy by mid-night have no worries. You can still order online and hopefully have them by the end of the week.

PLAYSTATION 3 SALES SLOWING?

I have been everywhere in Chatham-Kent (the county where I live in Ontario) and cannot find one single Nintendo Wii. I was expecting the same result in the search for the Sony Playstation 3. Not so.

Surprisingly the PS3 is available in abundance in out county’s Wal-Mart but this rings a question. Why are there any in the first place? Sony claims that they are selling like crazy but where’s the proof. Sure the retailers have them but I don’t think they’re selling them as fast as would be expected.

Now certain factors come into play here in this county. Lately there has been a lot of job loss and that perhaps has put a limit to how much people will spend on a gaming console. When you think about it $650 (CAN) is a lot to ask for a console even though you could almost use it to power an MRI machine.

Now I am currently debating whether or not to purchase one. I am happy with my XBOX 360 but I could get rid of my Playstation 2 (well all three of them that I have around the house) and just use my PS3.

I am almost convinced the 360 has this generation hooked as I believe the Nintendo Wii is more of a novelty item and will wear out it freshness in a short time. The PS3 just hasn’t seem to have taken off but I hope this is just a slow spell.

ARCHOS 504 REVIEW

Now before I start this review I just want everyone to know there will be a separate review from Cee as soon as she can get some time with the Archos 504.

OK. The Archos 504. Quite a dandy little machine if I do say so myself. Why don't we get a little information about this particular machine before I tell you what I think.

The 504 is part of Archos' fourth generation of multi-media players and recorders. Specifically, the 504 will play movies, music, record audio with a built in microphone, view PDFs, run picture slideshows, and record video directly from your television with an adapter sold separately.

Our 504 in particular included the smallest hard drive available in this model (40GB) but that's still 10GB more than my 5th gen iPod with video. The hard drive is easy to access and it is a standard 2.5" used in most laptops today. Considering this it could be upgradeable if you ever feel the need to explore that option. The exterior of the 504 is made of a brushed metal of some type as well as pretty strong plastics. The 16:9 screen has a glossy finish that doesn't reflect but gives very good colour.

The user interface (or UI) is easy to understand, however the buttons can take a little getting used to especially for those coming from an iPod. There are icons on the main menu that indicate clearly what they are for but there is also an iPod like menu structure you can use instead but just going into the "browser".

The audio quality is pretty good though my iPod still seems to have better bass response. You can adjust the bass in the Archos but it seems interfere with the rest of the sound somewhat muffling the playback. the 504 also has a built-in graphic equalizer. I have been wanting one of these for a long time in the iPod. You'll want to replace the headphones that come with the unit as they are rather unimpressive in sound quality.

The video playback is astounding. The colour depth of the screen is only 16 bit but it looks just amazing. The backlight on the 504 also doesn't drown the colour on the screen with too much light keeping blacks fairly black. My only wish for the 504 is that it supported DivX and XviD as I do have some podcasts that I watch that are done in those formats. There are also some support problems with WMV formats as well. It will play most standard WMV but when I started playing a few of my own WMVs the player wouldn't play them.

The picture slide show feature include in the 504 is also very good including a few different transition effects. The picture viewer also has a zoom capability witch seems to eluded the iPod as well. You can also customize the background of th 504 with your own pictures or any of the include 90 pictures.

The power saving on the unit is great but almost too good. It is always shutting off and just when you want to use it. It doesn't shut down when you are watching a movie or listening to music thank goodness but if you wait to long browsing through menus you will have to boot the Archos all over again.

The lithium ion battery is excellent in the 504 providing enough power to watch 2 whole movies in a row or 17 hours of music.

Now sure it has all those features but what do you sacrifice when you have all of them? Portability. This unit it huge and quite heavy compared to the iPod. It is roughly 2.5 times bigger and heavier than the current generation 30GB iPod. If you are looking for portability then you will have to go for the Archos 404 becuase it is half the size of the 504.

What really is the kicker is that you can hook the 504 up to the TV and record shows and watch them whenever you want. That is awesome. You can also, through the same accessory, play what is on the 504 on to the TV. The iPod can play movies on TV but it cannot record. Kudos to you Archos for that great feature.

All in all the Archos 504 is a great video machine. The audio playback is pretty good and almost on par with the iPod. It comes down to whether or not you want great portability or a multimedia powerhouse.

PLAYSFORSURE SUCKS... AND A LITTLE ON THE ARCHOS 504

As you all know we here at technobabble just got an Archos 504 to review and hopefully enjoy. The Archos 504 is a PlaysForSure compatible device which means that it is compatible with Microsoft's Windows Media files using digital rights management (DRM for short).

That said, when we unpacked the 504 we were excited to see how these Microsoft services worked and how easy there were to use.

The first hurdle is finding a music store. Now you guys in the United States have it great. You have all these services available at your fingertips (eg. Napster, Yahoo, Amazon etc.). We don't have them here (sure you can download the application but they don't work - plus the Yahoo player sucks). Well it turns out there are two actual services you can get here. One from Telus and the other from Sympatico.

Well, neither of these work with Firefox and the Telus music website doesn't work on the new Internet Explorer 7.

So that leaves you with Sympatico. I cannot stand Sympatico one bit and the website is just awful to navigate. Also, it's just a carbon copy of Napter's website. Microsoft, why can't you bring the cool services here instead of pawning off you services to companies that don't understand anything about music?

What does this leave me? Absolutely nothing except iTunes. Yes, I know that you can't play FairPlay DRM music on the Archos 504 but there is a way around it and I find it much more simple. You can burn the music and import them into iTunes as MP3's. No, you can't sync the 504 using iTunes so you have to enable disk mode on the 504 to copy your music over.

Yes, American's can complain all they want but we don't have anything here in Canada. Basically, you have to pirate music and video if you want to get it legally here in Canada.

Other than that the Archos is a great media player, if you can get the music and movies on it. One complaint. Don't believe everything you read on the box. The box for the 504 says:

"Video player: plays MPEG-4 (1), WMV (2), & protected WMV (2) files."
"Play H264 (3), MPEG-2 (4) & VOB (4) files with optional plug-ins."

Yes the player plays all those formats BUT you have to PAY for them. What a load of CRAP! I had to pay an extra $40 (US) to get the darn plug-ins. That is utterly stupid. If you are selling a media player for $399 (CAN) and want to make even more money off the people that buy the player by making them buy the darn Plug-ins to play the most popular formats, that company is going to die and I am just about ready to take it back because of this.

Hold on to your iPods people. They may have small screens but its a lot easier.

UPDATE: OK. Just thought of one more music service that will work. You can use eMusic. However, not all music on on there and there is now video. It is all in MP3 format thus there is no DRM.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: ARCHOS 504

You know how it goes… You’re going to the store to get a World of Warcraft gamecard, but some shiny thing caught your eye and now you come home with some new fandangled gadget. Yup, (sigh) that’s what happened to Jeff and me. We were looking at HDTVs for some reason or another, then somehow ended up at the mp3 player section. Of course, being a girl, I spotted the sleek, modern, brushed aluminum Archos 404. It stared at me with its flat matte screen and said, “You want me”. OOOO, I did too!

Of course Jeff began looking into it. There was also the Creative Zen 30GB widescreen video player beside the boxed Archos. So, after a few minutes of building up my courage to go ask the sales guy if he could open up the display, we were able to read all the details and stuff on the boxes. However, there was no Archos 404, but the 504 and 604 (with wi-fi). Now, with all his crazy knowledge about technology and all those funny words that make no sense to me, Jeff began reading off what stuff the 504 and 604 had and comparing it to the Creative Zen. Naturally, the sales guy wasn’t from this department but from the music department - he was just covering someone on lunch break - so, he couldn’t give us any more information on the products except for the prices. When the sales guy from this department finally came back, he really didn’t have much more of an idea than Jeff did.

In the end, I decided to go with the Archos 504. It has 40GB hard drive (Jeff thinks this is important - its the same size as a laptop 40GB hard drive - whatever ), a 16:9 glossy LCD display, a small giant battery (17 hours while listening to music and 5.5 watching video on the built in LCD screen), DVR capability (with $100 adapter), plays Windows “PlaysForSure” media (including Windows media video and audio), H264 (a popular video format on the internet), and also mp3s of course. The 604 had 10GB less, but had wi-fi, and the 404 also had 30GB but no wi-fi. Why I didn’t go with wi-fi? I wanted the extra 10GB instead and it was a little cheaper.

After getting the Archos 504 out of the box (we’ve only had it for a very short time), we found that it is quite a bit thicker and wider than the 404, due to the wide screen. You can’t just throw it in your pocket, it’ll fit, but it’ll be uncomfortable. It’s smaller than a PSP still. The controls are pretty easy to use, not as direct as an iPod, but the Archos can do a lot more. I really like the fact that you can record TV shows with it - I like my TV! It’s really different than anything I’ve ever had (only iPods and CD players).

More to come and pictures to follow. I’m excited to use it!!!

APPLE BUSTS OUT WITH iPHONE

Apple released information on the Apple iPhone in partnership with Cingular wireless. Yes, the rumors were true and here's the picture to prove it.

The new iPhone sports a thin, touch sensitive, exterior while still being packed with features.

Features include either 4 or 8 GB of internal memory for music, calender, contacts, and no dial-pad at all.

The iPhone is compatible with the iTunes store and will play music, audio and video podcasts, and movies from Disney and now Paramount.

The pricetag? Just a mere $499 for the 4GB model and $599 for the 8GB model (and that's with a 2-year contract). Those are American dollars too. Oh, and, you can only get it from Cingular Wireless.

What a rip. Canadians get left out in the cold (like the pun?) again waiting for the "new" and "cool" Apple product. Well, I won't be springing for one of these till the come to Canada, hold at least 30GB of music, and heck, maybe $300 cheaper.

UPDATE: Cisco is now suing Apple on the iPhone name. Cisco has had the iPhone name copyrighted for years now and just released at VOIP phone with the iPhone name. Apple had to have seen this coming and so did I. It will be interesting to see who wins.

GAMASUTRA DECIDES ON BEST GAME PUBLISHERS OF 2006

Gamasutra has decided on the best game publishers for 2006 and doesn't surprise anyone with the winners.

Number one being, of course, EA- Electronic Arts. Even if they weren't number one they'd be number two. EA is huge and has so many different departments that it's not surprising at all that they are number one. EA also has some of the best sports games around and that guarantees a high number on the best publisher ranking.

Number two is an old friend. Nintendo. Being around since 1933 they've been around the block a few times and seem to have learned the way to stay in the game. The GameCube, widely known as a flop to most due to the lack of games coasted along just fine because of the sales of a few games. One of them Super Smash Bros Melee. The Nintendo DS and DS lite have boosted sales for Nintendo since they are extremely successful and might I say as well, FUN! Games for the DS are the most interactive out there and continue to intrigue people now. Of course the Wii is the major console of the year and re-invents gaming all together. Time will tell us if Nintendo can keep this up.

Vivendi Games clocks in at number twelve encompasses the most popular MMO ever, World of Warcraft. This game was responsable for most people decline in work done in the workplace (hehe). It is known for it's great lore and great gameplay only rivaled by few games.

Skipping down the list a bit is Square-Enix, one of my personal favourites, is number thirteen. Final Fantasy XII is the most driving for this but Kingdom Hearts II and Dragon Quest VIII were extremely popular as well. Square-Enix missed the mark by a little when they said they were determined to bring out a game every month but they've done a great job.

NCSoft is fifteen with its Guild Wars MMO and expansion called Factions. The MMO market is dominated by a few namely Everquest, Word of Warcraft, and Guild Wars. The games is extremely well designed and is easy to play. The challenging enemies and special quests you need to do in the game are great and need to be as you can only reach a level of 20.

Here's the complete list for your reading pleasure:

1) EA- Electronic Arts
2) Nintendo
3) Activision
4) SCE- Sony Computer Entertainment
5) T2- Take Two Interactive
6) Microsoft Game Studios
7) THQ
8) Ubisoft
9) Konami
10) Sega
11) Bandai Namco
12) Vivendi Games
13) Square-Enix
14) Capcom
15) NCSoft
16) Eidos
17) Lucasarts
18) BVG- Buena Vista Games
19) Atari
20) Midway

MOTORIZR Z6 ANNOUNCED

Motorola has announced its new evolution in cell phones that began with the Motorola RAZR.

The new MOTORIZR is a slide phone like LG's Chocolate phone. As you can see from the picture its basically the RAZR but the display slides up to reveal the number pad instead of flipping open.

It has 64MB of on-board flash memory and expansion up to 2GB for storing your music. You have to use Windows Media Player 11 to sync but that's OK since Media Player works better now.

What's a cell phone without a camera? Well, Motorola thinks you need one and they've included a 2 mega-pixel camera.

This is also Motorola's first attempt at using their new Linux OS on a phone. That can only improve the interface as Motorola's OS' never seemed to work great at all.

This looks to be a great phone. I would like more music storage maybe 4 or 8 GB so that I could ditch my iPod completely. However, it would have to be compatible with Apple's FairPlay copy protection. Guess I better hold on to my iPod a little longer.