October 2008 Archives

You've probably seen this but it's quite a laugh and probably one of the best 'spoof' photoshopped vids I've ever seen:

For my money McCain shades it, in dancing terms at least - but the thing which really amused are, as ever, the comments from youtubers - including some operating under the illusion that it is, in fact, real.

brento1138 said "COOL! I didn't know they had this dance off! Wow! Amazing!"

Whereas oop1127 felt there must be some doubt in peoples' minds and felt obliged to set the record straight, saying "It's not real... they put their hands on some other dancers body's it's really obvious." Thanks for clearing that up, oop1127.

yahuj believes the medium of dance could boost the Republicans, earnestly saying: "Palin would be so much more popular and successful if she danced, or posed for magazines. It doesn't need to be vulgar, it can be in good taste."

A more measured opinion comes forth from AndrewKlilly: "Stop Whining About Mcain & Obama, They both suck. Vote for republican so the Nazi's don't take over. THIS VIDEO IS BETTER THAN THE CRACK YOU ARE SMOKIN IF UR VOTIN FOR THE NAZI PARTY!! FOR REAL!" I think your caps lock got stuck towards the end there Andy!

Finally, and tastelessly, albeit amusingly iamthinbone says: "HEY! I thought McCain can't lift his arms over his head due to torture in Vietnam. Well look at 1:40."

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Is this the end of the 'ipod generation'?

Well Steve Wozniak, creator of company Apple certainly thinks so.

In a recent interview he said "The iPod has sort of lived a long life at number one," he says. "Things like, that if you look back to transistor radios and Walkmans, they kind of die out after a while.

"It's kind of like everyone has got one or two or three. You get to a point when they are on display everywhere, they get real cheap and they are not selling as much."

This will be of concern to us media types who love nothing more than summing up a massive group of people (ie the young in this case) in one easy catch-all phrase.

This has the joint effect on saving on words (keeping stories and articles slimmed down and concise) and also making us sound like we're 'in touch' and, dare I say, 'with it'.

I refer, of course, to that group of people known as 'editors' who love nothing better than proving to executives and directors how in touch they are with the 'web 2.0' revolution (which incidentally Wozniak and many others think has somewhat been over-egged) than dropping a catchprase that makes them sound cutting edge.

I remember a while ago the 'print 1.0' phenomenon of Sudoku leading editors to drop this number game into every press release and document to show how they were moving with popular crazes.

So now our glorious leaders might have to find a new catchphrase to move with the times. In the interview I linked to Wozniak says over investment in the Web 2.0 social networking may backfire, which rules out 'Facebook Generation' as it's so 'old hat, dear boy' now.

Suggestions on a postcard - but I'm going to look even further to the past for inspiration. I remember loving William Gibson's groundbreaking techno thriller series - so I want editors to refer to the 'Cyberpunk Generation'.

They'll be ahead of the game, because after all, we haven't as yet got cranial sockets to 'jack in' to the web, although I'm sure they're almost here!

That's technobabble - so far behind it's ahead!

The release of a video game hailed as the biggest in Sony PlayStation's history has been delayed amid fears that some background music could offend Muslims, it was revealed today.

LittleBigPlanet's release date was put back after it was discovered that one of the background music tracks to the game included expressions from the Koran.

It was reported that the game would be re-programmed without the offending song, a track by Mali-born singer Toumani Diabate.

A statement on the LittleBigPlanet website said: "We're sure that most of you have heard by now that one of the background music tracks that was licensed from a record label for use in the game contains two expressions that can be found in the Koran.

"We have taken immediate action to rectify this and we sincerely apologise for any offence this may have caused.
"We will begin shipping LittleBigPlanet to retail in North America the week of October 27."

The British-created game features a rag doll hero called Sackboy. Players can customise the toy and then control it to run and jump through a world designed to appeal to all ages.

The concept was developed by games designer Media Molecule, based in Guildford, Surrey, and allows players to design their own level in detail and share it with friends over the internet.

A statement on Media Molecule's website said they were "shell-shocked and gutted" by the delay.
"We learnt... that there is a lyric in one of the licensed tracks which some people may find offensive, and which slipped through the usual screening processes," it said.

"Obviously MM and Sony together took this very seriously. LBP should be enjoyable by all."

As a customer of Plusnet I am used to getting emails advising me of 'changes to my terms and conditions'.

Recently one included informing me of a new charge to terminate my service - nice given that when I signed up I had to agree to pay a penalty for leaving within a set period.

But after about three years with them this has now reduced to nothing - but now they've just decided to impose a blanket £20 fee.

There was another one a year or so ago informing me of a change to my download limits.

When I signed up with Plusnet for their plus package there were none, but this changed to 4gb 'peak' and 40gb 'off peak' a month ('peak' it transpires is whenever you actually want to download something...).

I never bust it or come anywhere near, because I don't really download much apart from software patches (although due to the buggy nature of some games these can be pretty huge some times [are you listening EA?]).

EA recently distributed the excellent Spore to journalists thorough their download system, as opposed to sending out a physical copy.

The 3.5gb file was pretty huge and I noticed afterwards that my internet was moving rather slowly - in fact my dial up connection from years ago would have put it to shame.

So I contacted Plusnet via their online customer service, and got a quick response - I'd busted my download limit for 'peak' times and they'd punished me by throttling back my broadband speed.

BUT they instantly waived the restriction (not permanently) and opened my account back up again, which was nice, but also possibly because they realised I'd been unfairly punished - after all I'd never before come remotely close to doing it before.

For me it just threw into stark relief the powers of companies for changing their conditions.

A key point for me with signing up to Plusnet was the no download limits - I just don't like feeling I'm operating on a rationed service, although I'm not a big data hog.

But they just changed it and sent me an email, just like changing the 'switchover' charges.

So the lesson may be - read the small print when you sign up to something - just so you know what it was when they change it.

And now with Plusnet if I decide to take my only recourse as a customer and clear off, they've changed the T&C so I get charged for that too.

THEM console thingies are getting more and more popular according to figures released today.

ELSPA (the Entertainment Leisure & Software Publishers' Association) has revealed barely creditable figures that the 'installed base of consoles' (whatever that means) in the UK has doubled from 8.8 million in September 2007 to 17.3 million in September 2008.

The figures do not include sales for older second generation systems such as PlayStation 2, so they are pretty staggering (and don't include 'in the back of the wardrobe' systems).

Whilst Sony and Microsoft have added a million installed users in the last 12 months, Nintendo has proven to be the biggest winner with an increase of some 2.5 million Nintendo Wii consoles and 3.3 million Nintendo DS handhelds.

From September 2007 to September 2008 the Nintendo Wii installed base has risen from 1.1 million to a staggering 3.6 million, while the Nintendo DS has soared from 3.8 million to 7.1 million. By comparison, PlayStation 3 unit sales have risen from 0.4 million to 1.4 million and the Xbox 360 from 1.3 million to 2.3 million. Sony's PSP handheld showed a comparatively moderate increase from 2.2 million to 2.9 million.

All figures were provided by High Street retail chain The Game Group.

Michael Rawlinson, Managing Director of ELSPA, said: "There can be little doubt that video games are now one of the major forms of entertainment in the UK. Not only that, our industry is proving to be remarkably recession-proof when even major banks are failing.

"The reason is very simple - games can offer terrific value for money. I appreciate that it is only violent or controversial games that tend to garner tabloid headlines but the truth is that the overwhelming majority of games sold in this country are for all players of all ages - and that is why the Wii with games such as Wii Sports and Wii Fit are proving to be amongst the nation's enduring favourites."

Below - two typical XBox 360 gamers (Glenda and Roberta) joining the 2.3 million other users.