Why isn’t there any Netflix streaming to portable devices? I mean, let’s be honest, the bandwidth taken up would be a lot less due to the need for smaller resolution sizes. Not only that, but Sony could totally make a strike there where Xbox 360 has had Netflix for a long time but the PS3 version just came out.

Overall, this would also give it an edge on portable gaming since it would be the only device that would do movie streaming directly (somehow I doubt the DSi would be able to handle the processing of live streaming) and it allows Sony to play through their promises on their devices in becoming the next generation of entertainment devices and allowing more than just gaming. This also lets them compete on an even better front with the iPod markets without taking too much risk. Truthfully, this would require a bit more work from Netflix’s side because it would require them to re-encode their movies in a smaller format and be able to serve it via their current technology. The delivery system should remain the same, so it’s really just updating the system some and movie re-compression.

I believe this would be a great move for Sony, and would allow Netflix into a newer market for their streaming which would be extremely interesting.

I think that as a user, I would have liked it better if it was an application that I could install and/or delete and could get updates with but I also understand that Netflix probably didn’t want to shell out for the bandwidth that most of the developers have to do when it comes to selling on the Playstation Network. Not sure why it couldn’t have been some sort of installer though.

In any case, the real reason I set it up was to see how it compared to several devices that I had already. The best setup yet would probably be Windows Media Center, which allows searching for movies. The Netflix interface is slick and gives you not only the top 100 movies of each genre type that you’re more likely to watch, but it also loads pretty fast. It allows browsing through the “up to 100″ movies which is nice. I think it would have been more worthwhile if it also added the search toolbar, which would have been somewhat useful.

Outside of that, it is a little more feature rich than the Roku interface, and it seems to play the movies just fine. I did run into a problem at the get-go for my test with “Red Sonja” where the sound wouldn’t play, but that could have been a Netflix side issue, and not the interface passing through. We’ll see if it starts up again. If so, then there might be some QA issues with testing this first version of the disc.

I will say that activation with Netflix was a breeze. It took all of a few seconds for the code activation to sync up. Overall, the feel of this instant streaming client is pretty good and I believe is probably slightly better than the Xbox 360 version. I would still rank it behind the Windows Media Center version due to the lack of search bar, but even without that, I’m glad that it’s now on the PS3.

Yes, the entire blocking of the PS3 browser by Hulu. And you can’t begin to understand how annoying it is. If the rumors that Microsoft is paying them to block PS3 browser is true, that doesn’t give me any thumbs up for anything by Microsoft either. Which means, if that ever gets out, Microsoft is going to lose a lot of potential multi-console buyers.

Either way? What’s strange is that the error that we’re getting is:

Based on your IP address, we noticed you are trying to access Hulu through an anonymous proxy tool. Hulu is not currently available outside the U.S. If you’re in the U.S., you’ll need to disable your anonymizer to access videos on Hulu.

Hate to break it to ya, Hulu, but your detection scheme isn’t working too well considering the fact that our IP is a legitimate US Time Warner address and it works fine on both our personal PCs which would tell me that they’re targeting the PS3 browser. Super lame, considering you’re a content carrier and much of your revenue stream comes from advertisement that you would assume needs more eyeballs on them as opposed to less. Terrible strategy deployment move.

For now, the block has really thrown a barrier up as to what we access on Hulu which also means that we don’t really access it at all since that was one of our weekly gigs. Sad part for Hulu is that from what I can tell from looking at the research for their budgets? It can’t be good to be limiting the viewership unless there was a huge payment of sorts that covered not only the money lost by the viewers but the money that would be lost throughout the time period.

 One day I was checking out some news about Second Life and found a nice interview of SpaceJunky from mmorpg. If you love live musical events in SL then you should check out this interview and the band. I will be looking for them in the future now that I’m spending a bit more time in SL. This band is the resident band of a new online show called “Life On Line“.

Check out Life On Line show here.

 So of course I wanted to check out the show and went to their website. It’s a show about virtual worlds and social networks online. A very fun talk show which brings some great news of upcoming new technologies and talent. This is where I heard of a virtual world called Twinity. This new world is a bit different. They are making replicas of real life cities which they only have Berlin right now. Even the avatars can look like you in real life by using real pictures with their facegen setup.

Made this with two pictures of me. Still doesn’t look exactly like me.

 Twinity has events going on but I haven’t attended one yet. I’m just starting to check things out and made my avatar but it doesn’t look exactly like me. You can buy or rent apartments for yourself and decorate it with stuff you buy with virtual money. This is still in beta and their will be a subscription to have your own place in the future. It looks like you will be able to use real money to buy virtual things but not sure if you can take money out yet. I still need to explore more in the world but wanted to share it with others who might want to check it out.

It seems that while Hideo Kojima is not going to be in the director’s seat for the Metal Gear Solid movie, he’ll be working very closely with those that will be to make sure that the movie goes within the realm of his vision. Personally, I’d rather see the guy in the seat itself since he does such a fine job with directing every single game. What’s also interesting is that he has voiced in the interview that it’s definitely a possibility that there could be a game that is linked to the movie and that he was very interested in it.

Seems to me that Kojima isn’t dropping Snake after all. Now if only we can figure out how to get him to hire Hugh Jackman in as Snake…

And the fact that Sony is now providing HD rentals and selling the videos is a smart move. This streaming business is starting to take off and he who has the most content at the right price will undoubtedly be the winner. But here’s the thing that Sony needs to be careful of. When the games that you download are not cheaper than the actual game on medium, then there’s no reason why people would want to buy the downloadable game. This is apparent with both PSP and PS3 games in the store, when you compare to usual market prices in the the brick-and-mortar establishments.

Similarly, if the downloaded movie isn’t cheap, then it’s not worth it. Some of the rentals were HD and saw that it was about $5.95USD a rental. While that is okay, and I don’t know what Blockbuster now rents them at, knowing that I have a Netflix account and the lowest one of those costs $4.99USD a month. But with that, you can still rent Blu-ray or HDDVD.

By being greedy a little bit for a dollar or a few dollars more, that could create a distance between your loyal consumers and your store. I believe that the people behind the pricing for the store have to be very adamant about keeping on top of the pricing of the markets for both media sales and how much price point they should go over for HD rentals. Exclusive shows do not constitute more payment (as seen with Xam’d).

We’ll see with this new offering by Sony. It’s definitely welcome, but on the flip side if they’re not careful of how they sell their content, then there are a lot less people with PS3s as those with Apple hardware.

Photo Credit: (Dekuwa)

What’s great is that Netflix is actually making progress with support which means that at some point, the content will eventually start flowing I assume. The terrible thing? With the Roku player, I would shell out $99USD and be done with it since i had a Netflix subscription already to watch instant streaming. But with the Xbox 360, you have to have the Netflix subscription AND a Xbox Live Gold account. That’s another $49USD annually that I didn’t want to spend, nor did I want the 360 to begin with and the value doesn’t make it any better. Now, if it was free for streaming like the Roku player, then we’d actually have something to talk about. But currently, to turn a value-added commodity from Netflix into an “obligation” since I’ve paid dues? Thanks but no thanks.

Visit their website and watch all their episodes!

As Mr. T of A-Team and Rocky III fame would say: shut up, fool! Go watch the WoW commercials already.

Forget Windows Vista, the WoW starts now.

D&D 4.0 sounds like it’s shooting for the Fantasy Grounds approach:

an application acting as a virtual online gaming table primarily intended for pen and paper style narrative role playing games … designed to perform many of the things you can do while playing at a conventional gaming table and move it online.

At the end of my last D&D post I wished there was an MMORPG that changed quest outcomes based on player decisions. The next version of D&D sounds more like porting the game board experience and allowing “voice chat” (oooo!) and internet play instead of being required to all be in the same room. Why couldn’t people play D&D online like this already with Skype and video chat? Or for that matter inside Second Life?

During the video I kept thinking if this came out 10 years ago this might mean something. Now, it’s just a pale example of Wizards trying to take a cherished geek game from the 70s and 80s to catch up with the current crop of MMORPGs. Too little, too late.

Jay Garmon nails the problem with Wizard’s strategy:

If Wizards of the Coast had any sense, they would have gone in the opposite direction with D&D 4.0, celebrating everything about the game that can’t be codified and automated. In a tabletop game, you can abandon the script at any moment. A good Dungeon Master can wing it, adapt, improvise, and keep up with a group of real, live human players who aren’t just in it for a analog version of Diablo II. Strip down the rules, beef up the character development. If you want online tools, design them to make character creation–not graphics creation–easier. Stop treating D&D like a vehicle to sell miniatures and prefab module adventures when there’s no way static maps and immobile figures can compete with 3D landscapes and animated, interactive avatars. Stop trying to beat MMORPGs on their terms, and beat them on yours.

Jay is so right. I never got into playing D&D with the miniatures. I did, however, covet the cool-looking dice. When our group of friends played, it was in the basement and all sitting around and rolling dice and using our imaginations. We also played other TSR games like Gamma World and Boot Hill. I’ve got fond memories of these gameplay sessions. How can Wizards emulate these experiences on the computer in 2007? Perhaps the better question is: should they?

Building on the better strategy for Wizards that Jay outlines: it would be to take all the non-gameplay elements and put them online. Use the internet sort of like the leaderboard area of Xbox Live Arcade and provide the game matchmaking features to mre easily facilitate games. For example, if we need another Level X player for our party, help us find that player wherever s/he might be located geographically.

As much as it pains me to suggest this in a day when we are dominated by too many social networks, that’s more the kind of help D&D needs than some virtual representation.

It seems with D&D 4.0 that they are starting to move that direction but again feels like too little effort and will draw unfortunate comparisons with MMORPG which have much better graphics and established user bases. Creative D&D players have already sought technology elsewhere to play the game they love. There is very little reason to use Wizards vision of how a D&D session online should be played when the players are already out there creating and playing.

Somewhat unrelated, but funny: listen to this humorous Advanced D&D session: “Mountain Dewwwwwwwwwww!” Poor Titania stuck in darkness.