In today's news:- Microsoft tells Apple to Zune itself
- A feature no one asked for
- Wii and PS3 kiosks heading to stores
- The week's best quotes
- One of those anime things
READ MY LIPS:When General Motors tried to sell the Chevy Nova in Mexico during the 1960s, they discovered an unfortunate problem. In Spanish, the word "nova" means "no-go." Well, the brainiacs at Microsoft didn't seem to care to check out the name of their new MP3 player against the world's major languages. When told the meaning of the word pronounced Zee-yoon in Hebrew, the conversation with Bill Gates undoubtedly went something like this:
Microserf: Uh, Mr. Gates, there's a problem with the new Zune.
Bill Gates: A problem? Is it that damn brown color?
Microserf: No, it's not that, sir. It's... it's... it's the name.
Bill Gates: The name? What's wrong with the name?
Microserf: Well, uh, in Hebrew it means... it means...
Bill Gates: Spit it out, boy. It couldn't be that bad.
Microserf: It means FUCK!
Bill Gates: FUCK? Fuuuuuuuuuuuuck.
HERE'S A FEATURE NOBODY ASKED FOR
Last week, Sony introduced a new Walkman MP3 player to compete with Apple's iPod. The big, new, iPod-killing feature of this one? The ability to upload music directly from a compact-disc player. Think about this for a moment: Most CD players run at 1X speed, meaning a 45-minute-long CD will take exactly 45 minutes to upload the songs to the player. If you let the batteries run dry, you'll have to upload the whole thing again.
And, as NinjaSistah asked when I told her about it, who owns CD's anymore?
RUMORS:
Sony's not worried about the PS3 overheating, right? Then why are they installing an extra cooling fan in their store kiosks? Read about it here.
Speaking of kiosks, Wii and PS3 kiosks are already winging their way to Best Buy, Wal-Mart, GameStop and EBGames stores. Call your favorite store to see if it has already arrived. More...
Don't play the Wii in direct sunlight. That's the word of a blogger on the Nintendo Gal website: "That's right, if you have the sun beaming right onto the sensor bar, it doesn't work." More...
QUOTES:
"For this Christmas I think the price for what it specifically does as a video games machine [it] is a bit pricey..."
-- Sony Computer Entertainment Australia Managing Director Michael Ephraim, talking about the Wii's price. From Australia's Age newspaper.
"E3 is not a place where product is sold anymore. The industry is recognized as a big part of mainstream culture, so the need for a big glittering event to validate the industry is not what it used to be," he said. "What is needed ... is to focus on the fact that E3 is much more about media-related opportunities. The question is what is the most efficient way to create those opportunities."
-- Douglas Lowenstein, president of the Entertainment Software Association, the trade association that owns E3.From SFGate.com
"When building a house, traditional Japanese builders start with the tiniest detail and gradually expand from there. Western builders are the opposite. They start with the picture of a whole and add details to it. When Westerners look at old Japanese buildings, they often wonder how the builders drew the blueprint for such a complex shape. But the secret is that there never was a blueprint. It is this fundamental difference in approach that makes Japanese buildings fascinating to their eyes. The same thing can be said about animation. The way we create large images for movies is similar to that traditional architectural method. I think that explains the appeal Japanese animation can have, particularly in the western world."
-- Toshio Suzuki, president of Japan's Studio Ghibli. From the Wall Street Journal
Naruto, Vol. 5 - Shinobi Weapons: As I was saying yesterday, join three young ninjas -- Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno -- as they continue their training. Sort of like Pokemon without all the dang cards, eh? Get the thing here.
Labels: Anime, Apple, evermore, Games, Gamestop, iPod, Microsoft, Movie, Ninjasistah, PlayStation, PS3, Sony, Videogames
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