How come stuff like this is never in the Post-Dispatch? 😉
Month: March 2006
DS Lite
You should go to cabel.name and watch Cabel’s video review of the new DS Lite. He’s put together an informative and humorous intro to what’s slowly starting to become my most sought after gadget.
Sleeping Monster
Kari’s sleeping more and more as the days pass. Which is a good thing. But I still feel a bit on edge when she grunts while asleep. I tense up, awaiting the sirens scream to shatter the crystalline silence that permeates the still air. Most of the time you can tell when she’s waking up. She grunts a bit, then a bit more, and then lets loose with the aforementioned deafining shriek if you wait too long. Oh, and the time of what is defined as “too long” varies from night to night.
She’s getting so big. I know that is totally cliche to say, but it’s also totally true. She’s well over 12lbs at this point (7 weeks) and is holding her head up for a decent amount of time. Her eyes are bright and attentive, and mesmerize me with their depth of innocence.
As I write this she’s sleeping next to me in her bed. Mom’s in the other room catching some rest. I wonder if I’ll remember this night when I’m old and grey. If I’ll remember the hum of the air purifier next to the chair and beside it the aquarium’s gurgle. I hope I remember her, and how such a truly amazing thing it is to call her daughter.
Pre-Order and Demos
I remember when Final Fantasy 3 (6?) came out. There was a huge hype surrounding that game and I drug my dad to 4 different stores looking for it. I knew game retailers were allowing you to pre-order the game, but I didn’t. I guess I’ve never dug the idea of pre-ordering. I’m not really sure why. Perhaps it has something to do with the whole hype machine?
That said, I now realize that there is a level of convience in pre orders. You set down a few bucks, and the game store will call you the day before they get it in. You then come in, pay the remainder (if any) and walk out with your game. No guessing when they’ll have it in!
FunEBstopLand (Ebgames, FuncoLand, and Gamestop are now owned by the same parent company) has a pretty lenient pre-ordering system. You have to put down a minimum of $5 toward the game. And if you change your mind you can just apply that $5 toward any other purchase.
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I didn’t pre order Daxter because I thought it would be a hard title to find. The whole reason I pre-ordered Daxter was a demo disk. I’m now on this crazy hunt to find all the demo UMD’s that have been made. So far there’s only a handful, but I think it would be neat to keep collecting them.
Some developers are releasing demo UMD’s for their new PSP games. Which I think is a great idea. Let the users taste the game before they slap down $40 to $50 for a game.
In Japan, Sony has set up Playstation Spots. These are kiosks you can bring your PSP to and wirelessly download demos. The demo’s only last until you turn off the PSP, but it’s a great way to get people in the stores, and trying the new games. I would totally spend waaaaayyyy too much time at FunEBstopLand if we had these in the US.
*I’ve played the demo and I must say. OMFG! This truly is a console caliber game on a handheld. Georgous and fun. I can’t wait until the full version is released.
UPDATE: The release date has been pushed UP! Daxter is coming out Tuesday! Woot!
Software Update
Why can’t 3rd party developers tap into Software update? Right now you can only update software from Apple directly. I would love to be able to run Software Update and see Adium, NetNewsWire, Google Earth, and the like ready for me to update. I can’t see how hard it would be.
With my limited understanding of how Software Update works I’ve devised this idea:
1. Software update is initiated, checks the .pkg’s in the Recipt folder
2. Then it connects to Apple to ask for updates, while now checking similar settings on the 3rd party websites. Developers would create a directory that hosts the updates. Software Update would pull the new .pkg from the directory listed in the Recipt folder. (Which would be created when the program was first installed.
3. Software Update lists the updates available.
4. Select the updates, read the EULA, enter your password and viola!
A receipt would have to be written, and the developers would have to have a page setup on their site in order to get this to work, but I would think it wouldn’t be that hard to actually do. There could even be a distinguishing mark next to 3rd party updates, to keep them visually seperate from Apple’s own updates.