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Avengers vs. X-Men Digital Strategy

By
Andy Yen
– Posted on December 6, 2011Posted in: Comics

Brian Truitt, USA Today:

Each of the 12 Avengers vs. X-Men issues will be available in comics shops and digitally on the same day beginning in April, with each print issue including a free copy for download on the Marvel app.

Perhaps it should be the other way around as well. Buy a digital version, get a coupon for a print one too. It’s easier to obtain a digital copy, especially for new or casual comics fans who may never have even thought about visiting a comics store. Give them a reason to go to the store and explore other books.

via Marvel event reaches ‘critical mass’ – USATODAY.com.

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Wait For It…

By
Andy Yen
– Posted on December 5, 2011Posted in: Sports, Video Games

via reddit

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Why There Wasn’t LTE In The iPhone 4S

By
Andy Yen
– Posted on December 4, 2011Posted in: Technology

Apple obviously doesn’t use Qualcomm Snapdragon SoCs so enabling LTE on the iPhone isn’t possible using Qualcomm baseband unless you make the phone’s PCB larger (which Apple obviously wasn’t going to do). Note that no one else seems to deliver a single chip LTE + 1x/WCDMA voice solution either, so this isn’t just a Qualcomm limitation.

Basically because as magical as Apple makes engineering seem, it just wasn’t physically possible and won’t be until at least 2012 sometime. And even then, will LTE even be rolled out in enough markets?

via AnandTech – Why No LTE iPhone 5 in 2011? Blame 28nm Maturity, Check Back In Q2/Q3 2012.

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Deadmau5 Lights Up London Skyscraper For Nokia

By
Andy Yen
– Posted on December 1, 2011Posted in: Music, Technology

Deadmau5’s got some of the best light show/visuals in the business with his “normal” set equipment. But projecting those visuals onto a London skyscraper? Hot damn.

The stunt was ostensibly for the release of Nokia’s new Lumia 800 phone, though calling it “4D” is a bit hokey. What, did that light travel across time? Nevertheless, that Lumia is still a mighty sexy phone and associating it with pretty colors and a popular DJ can’t do it any harm.

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‘DRM Does Not Work’

By
Andy Yen
– Posted on November 30, 2011Posted in: Technology, Video Games

CD Projekt CEO, Marcin Iwinski:

From the very beginning our main competitors on the market were pirates. The question was really not if company x or y had better marketing or better releases, but more like “How can we convince gamers to go and buy the legit version and not to go to a local street vendor and buy a pirated one?” We of course experimented with all available DRM/copy protection, but frankly nothing worked. Whatever we used was cracked within a day or two, massively copied and immediately available on the streets for a fraction of our price.

We did not give up, but came up with new strategy: we started offering high value with the product – like enhancing the game with additional collectors’ items like soundtracks, making-of DVDs, books, walkthroughs, etc. This, together with a long process of educating local gamers about why it makes sense to actually buy games legally, worked. And today, we have a reasonably healthy games market.

In any case, I am not saying that we have eliminated piracy or there is not piracy in the case of TW2. There is, and TW2 was [illegally] downloaded by tens of thousands of people during the first two weeks after release. Still, DRM does not work and however you would protect it, it will be cracked in no time. Plus, the DRM itself is a pain for your legal gamers – this group of honest people, who decided that your game was worth the 50 USD or Euro and went and bought it. Why would you want to make their lives more difficult?

Again, the lesson here is to treat your would-be customers with respect and add enough value to your legitimate product to make pirating unattractive.

via PC Gamer

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The Xbox 360 Is Still Selling Well

By
Andy Yen
– Posted on November 29, 2011Posted in: Video Games

From The Official Microsoft Blog:

· Xbox 360 sold more than 960,000 consoles in the U.S. alone, with more than 800,000 sold within a period of 24 hours.

· More than 750,000 Kinect for Xbox 360 sensors were sold in the U.S. – standalone and bundled.

It’s amazing that a 6 year old console can still do these kinds of numbers, though keep in mind that that 24 hour sales period spike was undoubtedly due to a $100 price cut on the 360/Kinect bundle for Black Friday. The 750k quote for Kinect sales is also a little tricky as it includes sales from said Black Friday bundles too.

Nevertheless, with numbers like these, why would Microsoft need to rush out an “Xbox 720” next year?

via The Official Microsoft Blog 

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Show Report: Chromeo 11-17-11 @ The Wiltern, Los Angeles

By
Andy Yen
– Posted on November 29, 2011Posted in: Music, Show Reports

One of the signs that you’ve made it as a live band is if the crowd has a custom chant for you as you take the stage or during the encore break. By that token, Chromeo has really made it, since the crowd at the Wiltern was already primed to let out a choral “CHRO-MEE-OH WHOAAAAAAAA OH” as soon as the lights dimmed. We came to the show to get our electro-disco inspired dance fix and we got what we came for, no more, no less.

There’s only so much a duo can do on stage musically and even backed up by three Rockette-like lady dancers/singers, Chromeo didn’t do much to distinguish their sound from their recordings. That’s not necessarily a knock on the band, as their recordings are very fun affairs, though it is noteworthy that the material from their latest album, Business Casual, sounded much more polished and alive. If your goal at the show was to get drunk, dance, and have a good time, you probably got your money’s worth. If you were looking for a dynamic stage presence or transcendant live music revelation, though, you’re going to to want to keep looking.

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3.5 Inch Phone Screens

By
Andy Yen
– Posted on November 25, 2011Posted in: Technology

We may or may not ever hear Apple confirm this, but you can bet your festively plump heiney that one of the reasons the 3.5 inch screen of the iPhone was decided upon was the ease of which you could use it with one hand. Turns out that it’s a lot more difficult to do that on a 4.3 inch Android device.

Maybe bigger isn’t always better.

via 3.5 Inches – Dustin Curtis.

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The Titanic, Recreated In CryENGINE 3

By
Andy Yen
– Posted on November 23, 2011Posted in: Technology, Video Games

Well, this is pretty impressive.

ORMEntertainment has been trying to recreate the Titanic for awhile, and their latest attempt apparently incorporates CryENGINE3, the same tech that powers Crysis 2. The framerate is a bit lacking, but hot damn does this look photo-realistic!

I hope Taiwan’s NMA news gets ahold of this technology soon. How awesome would some Mandarin narrated CGI tabloid news be?

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Review: Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3

By
Andy Yen
– Posted on November 22, 2011Posted in: Articles, Comics, Features, Reviews, Video Games

Full disclosure: I’m a huge comic book and video game geek and have loved the Marvel vs. Capcom series ever since I was a kid. I’d buy each and every release, even if they only add new characters and come up less than a year after the last one. It’s a really fun fight experience and I find the ridiculous speed and combos a nice change of pace from the more methodical Street Fighter or Tekken series.

That being said, I really wish Capcom would include a nice tutorial mode or something to make it easier for newcomers to get into the game. It’s a blast to play and there’s definitely a larger audience for this stuff now that Marvel’s successfully launched so many high profile films.

You can find my full review of the game on ComicsAlliance. I’d feel honored if you read the whole thing, but I’ll admit it’s a bit detailed for you impatient types out there.

If you’re one of those people, here are some tl;dr points:

If you skipped out on the original Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and love the characters and/or just love a good brawling game, then picking up Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 is a no-brainer. It’s strictly superior to the previous version in virtually every way. Even if you’re not normally a fighting game person, you may want to at least rent the game once just to experience your beloved characters brought to full interactive life (LifeTip for overworked readers: I’ve found that setting the game to an easy difficulty and breezing through arcade mode is a wonderful stress reliever).

As for those who own the first version, whether or not you’ll find the right value in UMvC3 depends on how often you play with others — either online or on the couch together. This is a game meant to be played competitively. Things will get very tiresome on your own once you’re done experimenting with the new characters. Feel free to skip UMvC3 if you got the idea the first go-around and have no desire to see the new characters. It doesn’t bring a whole lot new to the table.

Read the full review: ‘Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3’ review on ComicsAlliance.

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