My laptop is back. I scooped the sucker into my bag and took it to the office. The techie there discovered that it wasn't the hard drive, but the laptop chassis that was faulty. He plugged it into another chassis of the same model and the hard drive sprang to life. I guess the proprietary HDD connector got knocked asunder and just wouldn't read the drive anymore. Luckily, this means that all of my data is intact.
It also means that I can get back to editing podcasts during the week. I'm in the midst of editing Episode 100 and recording some video of the lame bag-o-deuce games we brought up for the 100th Episode Bonus Video. Sword of Vermilion video, here we come! Speaking of podcasts, we did not record today. I am on call for work, meaning that at any point during the day I could get a call from the office to go in and help test or fix something, which would take an unspecified amount of time. Better to just save it 'til next week.
So, E3. I saw so very little of it, because I had no internet access thanks to my dead laptop. I got a glut of info on Friday, and here's what's jumping out at me:
- The Conduit (Wii) - I don't think this game got much coverage outside of IGN. It's a first-person shooter on Wii, and in my opinion, it looks like quite a bit of fun. The controls look dead-on, though with the advent of Medal of Honor Heroes 2, no first-person shooter on Wii should ever come with shoddy controls. I mean, come on -- just learn something from the studios that do it right. (i.e. NOT the Red Steel team.) This game looks like one of the rare occasions in which a third party developer tries to push the Wii's graphics a bit. The environments look a little crappy, but the character models look pretty spiffy, for once using normal mapping -- or something that simulates normal mapping. Their details, then, end up popping off the screen pretty nicely. I expect the environments to get better as development continues, and I'll be a bit disappointed in the lack of effort if they don't.
- Final Fantasy XIII (X360) - Wow. What a big win for Microsoft. As I own a Playstation 3, I would have been able to play this either way -- but if there are any enhancements that come to the game by way of Xbox Live, of course that might sway my purchase decision. There's also the fact that my Playstation 3 sits in the living room, and I usually like playing videogames from the comfort of my bedroom so that my father or roommate can watch television as they please.
- God of War 3 (PS3) - Yeah, it's God of War. Yeah, I'm definitely looking forward to it. No, this wasn't a surprise and nor did I really care much about the trailer. It was like half a second long and just showed him being pissed off. The spoiled brat in me would have liked to see a little more.
- Wii MotionPlus (Wii) - Dual Shock. I hope Nintendo looks this up in the history books. Remember what happened? The original Playstation controller ended up getting completely dumped in favor of this puppy. The dual analog sticks presented a significant enhancement that designers could take advantage of. Splintering the market, though, was a risk. Do developers take the time to develop for a controller feature that not everyone would have? No matter -- by standardizing the Dual Shock as the PSone's controller, Sony ensured that this would become less and less of a worry. In this case, Wii MotionPlus is being bundled in with Wii Sports Resort. That's not the ideal situation, but it's better than what my skeptical side predicted Nintendo would do (sell standalone, and for some asinine price).
(Yeah, I'm taking two paragraphs on this. Sue me.) I'm not sold, though, on one of the Nintendo personnel's contention that "maybe it'd be best to keep the technology limited to a few games". I'm paraphrasing of course. But when I read that, the first thing that popped into my head was, "e-Reader". Remember that thing? Compatible with... how many games? What about back in the day -- Super Scope 6. Yeah. Besides, think of how beneficial Wii MotionPlus would be if used properly in games. Right now, a lot of people complain about the very vague approximation of your movements with the current WiiMote. I found the swordplay in Red Steel mostly dull and clumsy. What about those clumsy, unresponsive gestures that constitute "punching" in Wii Sports boxing? Now, fast forward to something like Top Spin 4, should this game ever surface. Think of it being played with Wii MotionPlus. Think about how much more responsive your top- or back-spin on the ball could be. Standardize this thing, Nintendo. If you're going to wait for a year before you do, at least make it affordable. And for chrissakes, don't make two games for it and let that be the end of it.
- Netflix (Xbox 360) - My sister has a Netflix subscription. I have XBL Gold. 'Nuff said. (For those who are still wondering, those who have XBL Gold and a Netflix subscription can use their Netflix account on their 360s without paying extra for the service.)
-Home (Playstation 3) - I'm not mentioning this because I'm excited about it, but rather because I felt sorry for those eager to hear SOMETHING about the software. Instead, there's a 30-second trailer and no release date. How much did they really progress on it? If a lot, they sure as hell didn't show it. Still, this isn't as bad as my biggest gripe, which as...
- Storage Solution, or lack therof (Wii) - A short story. Yesterday I went online with my Wii for the first time in months to do some WiiWare/VC shopping. I pick Lost Winds, but instead of being allowed to pay for it, I'm told to move my data onto an SD card. Wii, off. Mood, sullied. Yes, I have an SD card. Yes, I've moved data before. It's still immensely annoying, though. I was ready to play some of Lost Winds right then and there, and I really wasn't in a waiting mood. Now, if Nintendo let us play stuff from the SD card -- or if they had a mass storage solution available (like I don't know, a USB hard drive?), I wouldn't have this problem. Was this at all talked about during the conference? No. Instead we were regaled with tales of how much Nintendogs and Pokemon and Brain Age sold. All right. We get it. You're the market leader (at least as of the recent NPDs).You're making grandma happy. Now please make ME happy.