Decreasing anonymity through anonymity – 12-16-09

When Microsoft launched Xbox LIVE in 2002, it introduced a concept not seen before: the gamertag. Now, the basic premise of the gamertag is not revolutionary, a name you make that you will be identified in online multiplayer games, the function of it being tied to a subscription service made it different. In order to use a gamertag in an online game on the Xbox or Xbox 360, you must pay for Xbox LIVE Gold, a subscription service that costs $49.99 a year.

In the past, online games allowed you to choose your name when you entered the match. This created utter anonymity. Not only did it prevent anyone from knowing who a player really was, it also removed all consequence for his or her actions. With anonymity comes a tendency to do or say things that a person would not do in face to face communication. In an online community without subscriptions, if someone got punished for acting like a jerk, all they had to do was log out, make a new name, and log back in.

However, with a Gamertag, there is a value with that name. If a developer bans you from the game, you have to spend more money to make a new account. Accounts need to be associated with credit cards as well, so if a credit card is associated with many accounts and all of them have been deemed to be troublemakers, the credit card info can be banned from the service as well.

Microsoft may have been only looking for another way for them to get money, but they ended up creating an online community where bad behavior, while not completely eradicated, has a real noticeable cost to it.

It’s like surfing your music, man. – 12-16-09

Audiosurf is not a new game. However, I have been reintroduced to it thanks to my Zune HD.

The game itself is not that complex or amazing. It’s a point-to-point racing game where you hit colored blocks to gain points while avoiding in obstacles. What makes it great and what makes it worthy of being discussed in this blog post is the tracks. The tracks are your music.

In order to race in Audiosurf, you have to tell it a song you want to race on. Then, the game analyzes the file, adding climbs and descents based on tempo as well as placing the blocks based on the beat of the song. I haven’t tried it on the Zune version, but the PC version does have a limit in terms of song length. Freebird is just outside the range.

It builds on the metaphor of the car at night being similar to a spaceship, with your music being the soundtrack. Your “car” in Audiosurf is a spaceship and the background is black with the track lit up in rhythm to the song and with colors associated with the tempo (reds, yellows, oranges for fast and blues and other cool colors for slow).

Audiophiles will say you haven’t heard your music until you’ve heard it on Vinyl. I say you haven’t heard your music until you’ve raced on it.

I CAN TASTE YOUR ZUUUUUUUNE! - 12-16-09

Last week, I got a Zune HD, and I have once again been amazed by Microsoft’s ability to make a great device.

Visually, it’s an eye-pleasing gadget. All of the buttons are either flush or only stick out by about a millimeter or two, creating a clean “slate” appearance. The back of the Zune isn’t rounded like the iPod Touch, but a flat-sided hexagon. The back is brushed metal, with the screws showing on each corner, with a black strip of plastic at the very bottom of the back.

There are also some usability features that make the Zune HD a better device than the earlier models of Zune. For instance, the headphone jack is on the bottom of the device, so if you rest it on the table while writing blog posts, you don’t have to be constantly turning it around to switch songs. It’s already aligned the way you need it to. Due to the “HD” aspect ratio of the screen, all of my widescreen videos will play and take up the whole screen of the device without any letterboxing. My most used feature, however, is the button that I call the controller button. It’s on the side of the Zune, and when pressed it brings up all the media controls: play, pause, volume, next/previous song. It will even activate when the screen is locked, so I don’t have to make the device use its beautiful screen for longer than I need it to.

The biggest differentiator that Microsoft has been trying to sell the Zune HD on is its screen. It uses an OLED display, which creates a high-contrast gorgeous picture. Microsoft coupled this technology with a design decision to make the User Interface based around a black background with white text and/or pictures, which just makes the foreground objects pop. I was curious how OLED screens worked though, since I had heard that they also are supposed to give better battery life to portable devices, so I looked them up on Wikipedia.

A large differentiator between OLED and LCD is that OLEDs have no backlight. Each LED emits light on its own and just will not turn on when a pixel that LED is lighting needs to be black. This is what creates the high picture quality because there is no light behind each color that washes them out. Also, the O in OLED stands for Organic, which leaves opportunities wide open for OLED displays to be on surfaces other than gadgets. Think t-shirts with screens, or paper that lights up. Apparently, OLED displays do not last as long as traditional displays due to the organic nature of the display. For instance, blue OLEDs have a life-span of 14,000 hours (five years at 8 hours a day). This is not as large a disadavantage for portable media players such as the Zune because there will be a newer and better version of the device well before the screen loses quality. Also, all PMPs with screens have a screen-shut off timer when playing music so even if you use the Zune HD for 8 hours, you’re likely only using the screen for a maximum of 1 hour if you’re also doing some web-browsing or use some apps.

Hissssssssssssssssss! That sounds like steam, right? 12-16-09

In 2004, Valve entertainment released a new game distribution program called Steam. While not the most creatively titled service, it has grown to become one of the most influential forces in gaming, helping to make the PC for more than just WoW when it comes to games.

The biggest difference that Steam has from traditional stores is that when you never buy physical media unless you’re buying a physical game that supports Steam. The games are tied to an account you make and you can download games as many times as you need to without having to ask for permission to re-download. Also, the only time there is a CD Key is if you buy a physical disc, and that’s just to activate the game with Steam. You do it once and never need to do it again. So, you never need to worry about losing your disc or the CD Key. This has revolutionized my gaming habits, making PC games a reasonable thing for me to play now since Steam has actually made it convenient to play on my computer.

The service is not perfect, however. Being a download-service, users have to deal with their ISPs when getting their games. Some companies, like Comcast, have bandwidth caps so if you go on a buying spree, you can have your internet shut off or have to pay extra. Also, if you lose your internet connection you may lose the ability to play the games. Usually Steam allows you to play games in “offline mode” but without being to validate your account, some games just may not run.

Podcasts – 11/25/09

Podcasts have become my primary source of commentated news in the past few months. Podcasters, even journalists, often speak their mind more freely on the show than they do on their website or publication, allowing the listeners to really appreciate what they really think as opposed to what they think will make their bosses happy.

Podcasts, like The Engadget Show and Xbox 360 Fancast, are how I really learn about the world around me that I’m interested in. They give me the same news that I can find on their respective sites, but packaged with discussion which is more helpful for keeping the information in my head as opposed to something I read once and forget.

Not to mention, they serve as edutainment. I haven’t laughed as hard as I did when the Xbox 360 Fancast discussed dropbears in a long time. It was actually a little dangerous because I was driving at the time.

Borderlands – 11/25/09

Borderlands is one of the most beautiful games I have played in a long, long time. It’s not too technical impressive, but it has a cohesive art style that I appreciate. As opposed to going for photorealism, Gearbox decided to make the game a high-detail variation on Cel-shading. As opposed to looking like a Saturday-morning cartoon, it looks like an interactive and moving version of a graphic novel.

Other games have taken this style of visuals. One such game is Crackdown, an open-world game in a dystopian future-city. The style has advantages of allowing the game to do more because the graphics are not that stressful for the hardware but end up still looking beautiful. That blend of practicality and beautiful is something I want to reach in my designs.

I Love I Love Bees – 11/25/09

Ilovebees.com was a site that hosted an alternate reality game for Halo 2. Hidden in a trailer for Halo 2, the link for ilovebees.com brought users to a seemingly normal bee site. However, moments after visiting it, evidence of something deeper appeared. The site layout and images began to appear corrupted and then the countdown appeared. Counting down to a day in August, players scrambled to find out the mystery of the haunted apiary. What they found was a brilliantly told story that got people to talk and think about the story in the Halo games.

In the story, Melissa, a ship AI has part of her sent back in time to 2004 while another part goes into a geek’s computer. The story concluded with the combination of both pieces in 2552 and a heartfelt thank you to all of the players. Players would actually talk to Melissa by going to GPS coordinates discovered on the site. After the game concluded, an archive was posted on the front page to let players or interested people listen to all of the audio logs.