October 2nd 2006
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Life, Misc.
Microsoft have recently released a ‘Technical Refresh’ for all Office 2007 Beta 2 testers. As long as you have Beta 2 already installed, you can download the Technical Refresh for free (unlike the original Beta 2 which is now a charged download of £1.20). You can download it now, at the Microsoft website for free and I’ll give a brief overview of what the update does to the current Beta 2 programs. This isn’t a complete list of changes but it’s a rough guide of what you can expect.
Technical Refresh
This update or sorts is compatible with Windows Server 2003, Windows XP (SP2) and Microsoft Windows Vista RC1. The update improves the Office 2007 suite by making the programs faster and there are also some graphical enhancements. The update provides the programs with new splash screens and new program icons which look really nice and are a refreshing modern design. Inside the programs, there are subtle user interface changes as well with the main program menu being revamped. There also seem to be a change in some of the icons used inside the programs itself, especially in Excel 2007. All in all it’s more responsive, aesthetically more pleasing and feels like something you’d like to use. There’s no risk; download it today and update your Office 2007 installation. It’s a mean 500MB download but took me longer to install it that to download it so, just warning you this isn’t dial-up friendly (not like anyone is using dial-up anymore… I hope).
General Thoughts
I’m really pleased with Microsoft’s new Office Suite. Although there’s a great free alternative out there (OpenOffice), you can’t been good old Microsoft Office. You go onto any PC with Windows installed, you’re almost guaranteed to find an installation of Office on it. The new look and feel to Office 2007 is ver nice, very modern and very curvy. It wouldn’t be possible really to have made this version, as it is, without the adoption of even bigger screen sizes - the 17, 19 and 21 inches in screens we see so widely nowadays. It has even more flexibility than the previous versions of Office and it’s much easier to use with toolbars replaced by tabs and sections. It’s much more user friendly and will allow both new adopters and seasoned users to become familiar quickly and be happy to use it. It brings some new features that I welcome with much anticipation like SmartArt and Formulas. I just hope Microsoft take notice of OpenOffice’s gaining popularity and price it competitvely.
September 27th 2006
Gaming, Misc.
I think I’ve done enough talking about Nintendo’s latest games console, Wii. I’m sure you’re sick of hearing me talking about it anyway so I thought I’d post a final roundup of all the information we know, suspect and don’t know about the Wii. Sorry, I promise this is the last post this month on this subject :D. You can probably tell by now that I’m a fan of the Wii and I just want to spread the word.
Availability
I’m going to start off with the juicy details of when you can get your ugly mits on the Wii. It’s hitting the UK on the 8th of December this year in white and with around 20 games at launch - not including the free copy of Wii Sports included with the console! The box will cost £179.99 and this includes: 1x Wii console, 1x Wii Remote, 1x Wii Nunchuck, 1x Wii Sports, 1x Sensor Bar, 1x Wii Stand, basic cabling and one £20 voucher to download any of the content from the Wii’s Virtual Console. Also, the Wii’s Internet browser, developed by Opera, will be available for free until June 2007 via the Virtual Console as well.
The USA gets the Wii on 19th November, Japan on the 2nd December and Australia on the 7th December - Europe is last as usual.
Main Features
Nintendo have takes an unconventional approach to their newest console by reinventing the hardware used rather than just upgrading it. The Wii has dumped the traditional controller design in favour of a remote. Yes, a remote like the one you use to change channels on your TV. Why? Nintendo has said it appeals to both gamers and non-gamers by providing a new and unconventional way to traditional gamers and a familiar control to those who have never played on a games console before. The Wii Remote (or Wiimote as it’s known) detects your movements in all 3 spacial demensions and also includes accelerometers to judge the speed of the remote - this is used in games like Wii Tennis and Wii Golf.
The Nunchuck attachment plugs into the bottom of the Wii Remote and includes an analogue stick, the same spatial detection capabilites as the Remote and two extra buttons, Z and C. The Wii also boasts 4 Gamecube controller ports to if anyone still has those controllers, they can use them for any Gamecube games they have lying around.
The Wii console itself is the size of 3 stacked DVD cases and features a slot-loading disk bay that will accept both Wii and Gamecube disks. Nintendo recently announced they curbed DVD playback ability to cut costs and speed up production - who needs another DVD player anyway; especially when they’re only around £30. At launch, the console will only be available in white but Nintendo have said that more colours are to be phased in over time. The Wii won’t support High Definition but will support widescreen formats - mind you, the graphics capabilities of the Wii don’t really call for HD output anway.
Virtual Console
As I’ve said, there will be around 20 new titles for the Wii available to buy (including the new Zelda title and the much advertised Red Steel) but Wii owners will be able to purchase 20 years of gaming history for around £5 - £10 for games from classic consoles like NES, SNES, Nintendo 64 and even the Sega Mega Drive! This is a great idea and Nintendo hope that it’s version of the Xbox Live Marketplace does just as well as the original has.
Games purchased via the Virtual Console can either be stored on the Wii’s internal 512MB storage or onto an optional SD memory card that can be inserted into the SD card slot on the Wii. The use of SD cards to expand the Wii’s memory capability is a genius idea because SD cards are relatively cheap and it means the consumers don’t pay stacks of cash for branded memory cards. It also means that you can take your games and play them on another Wii as well.
The Virtual Console, like the Xbox Live Marketplace, will have it’s own virtual currency. I’m going to call them Wii Points and you can buy 2000 Wii Points for around £14 apparantly - although this amounts seems a little too exact so maybe they’ll make it a bit more logical and make it £10 for 2000 points. Like Microsoft, this is where Nintendo hope to make most of their money.
The Channels
The Wii’s interface, like the Xbox 360 and the PS3, features a dashboard like feature. For the Wii, it offers different ‘channels’. These include the Mii Channel, News Channel, Weather Channel, Photo Channel and an Internet Channel (when you’ve downloaded the Opera browser for Wii). Although the channels like the Weather and Photo channel seem useless - who really checks the weather every day? With the power of the Wii, is photo editing really an efficient process when it can be done quicker and better on a PC? But, for first time users, they may seem pretty neet such as parents drawing devil horns on their children’s heads while they’re at school.
The Mii channel allows you to create your own 3D avatar that you can place in games like the Wii Sports games. The avatar is sent to the remote and assigned to that remote so you can take the remote with you and add your avatar to a game over your friend’s house - pretty neat and fun. During E3, Miyamoto appeared in the demo of Wii Tennis and recieved an applause of claps and laughter and that’s when the first signs of the Mii channel originated from. You can view the different channels and how they work on the official site.
Pre-Ordering
So, now I’ve got all the amazing details out the way, you’re probably wondering where you can pre-order the damn thing! It looks like there is going to be a shortage, like the Xbox 360 in December last year, but not as big a one. These retailers are currently accepting pre-orders of the console in bundle form and/or on-its-own form: PC World, GAME (console on its own only available in stores; bundles online), Gamestation (in store only), Play.com and HMV.
September 26th 2006
Blogging, Misc., Technology
You’ve no doubt heard of the new media player from Microsoft, dubbed Zune. I realised that I hadn’t actually talked about it on here so this post’s objective is to rectify that fact. I’m going to try and acumulate all the things we know, don’t know and suspect about this media player. The viral site at http://www.comingzune.com has been updated twice with some rather mysterious yet encouraging animations. Check it out.
Main Features
It’s been revealed that the Zune’s main selling point is the ability to send songs and photos to other Zune owners using the built in Wi-Fi. But, it was also revealed that those songs sent over Wi-Fi will basically be adverts - the recipient will only be able to play the sent song 3 times in as many days. You decide whether Microsoft are shooting themselves in the foot. On the subject of DRM, don’t forget to contribute to anti-DRM day on the 3rd October over at DefectiveByDesign. So, even if you’ve made the song yourself, the Zune will apply ‘viral’ DRM to that song so the recipient can only listen to it 3 times.
The Zune will host your music, photos and video and will sport a 30GB harddrive to store this on. Although this is no way near the new 80GB iPods storage capacity, Microsoft hopes that the Wi-Fi fad and it’s larger 16:9 aspect LCD screen will make up for the storage shotcomings. I don’t know anyone who’s used all their space on their iPod so maybe it’s not that bad. There’s been no word on the codecs that the Zune will support but you can expect the usual support for Microsoft’s own formats like .wma, .wmv and the obvious .mp3 and .jpg - but will Microsoft drop a blow and make us convert most of our songs, videos and photos and waste valuable hours? We’ll just have to wait for the official announcement.
The Zune also has a built-in FM tuner so you can listen to your favourite radio station when your 3 plays of that song your friend sent you runs out. In my opinion, this is something that all portable media players should have because it’s the small things that count.
And, the final point in this section, there’s the obligatory software to compliment the Zune. It looks like an iTunes-like program for Zune owners will allow them to purchase songs in two different ways: pay-per-song or unlimited downloads for a monthly fee. This software, dubbed ‘Zune Marketplace‘ will basically allow you to purchase tracks, maybe even albums and hopefully video. Of course, just like iTunes it won’t be a full market straight off. Artists and labels will be added over time, as with video - hopefully even branching into video (I do hope the vidoes available on iTunes will be available for Zune, especially with it’s 16:9 aspect ration screen.
Zune Peripherals
The Zune apparantly has a number of peripherals lined up for it. On the official Microsoft press release, there are details of the first party accessories that are lined up. You can take a peek at them here and also oggle at the lovely press photos of the Zune iteself. There are also a handful of third party peripherals apparantly lined up as well.
Zune Not Coming Zune
Although I’m going on about the Zune, It’s a sad fact that Microsoft has decided to release the Zune this year only in the USA. Unlike the Xbox 360, which recieved a world wide launch (although with severe shortages), the Zune is apparantly going to be phased into other countries during 2007. This could be problematic. The consensus is that the Zune is to be released around the 14th November in the USA - do you want to get outdated hardware after waiting months to get your hands on it? I wouldn’t. And certainly giving Europe a ’special’ colour Zune won’t make up for the lost time and hardware update. The Zune, in the USA anyway, is to be priced less than the current iPod pricing. This would put the Zune, here in the UK and Europe, at around £170 and €240 (I’m not very good at currency conversions). I mean, if the Zune came out here in the UK in time for Christmas, I would get it to accompany my Wii.
Conclusion
So, it’s both better and worse than the iPod in it’s own rights. Microsoft are entering an already flooded market and I think should’ve tested the Zune on a smaller population (such as here in the UK :P) before trying to crack iPod country a.k.a the USA. Microsoft have already started to get the brand out, giving away free Zunes to middle-aged women on chat shows and getting it reviewed by some well known and respected bloggers. Will the Zune take a chunk out of the iPod dominated market? Probably not. But, it’s got some nifty features and if Microsoft want to really break into the market, they need to rethink a lot of the features as well. They should take the viral DRM away - say no to DRM - and also make sure they support as many popular codecs as they can (OGG, DivX etc.) to appeal to both the general public and those tech savy enough to use other formats. Microsoft, hear our cries (atleast hear them before the European launch)!
September 22nd 2006
Gaming, Misc., News
In the spirit of the news that one more retailer is now taking pre-orders for the Wii, I’ve decided to post a video that I think you’ll like. Shows just some of the titles that will be available from when the console launches to about 3 months in to 2007. Enjoy.
Direct Link: http://ms.nintendo-europe.com/wii/wii_video_001.swf
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