Some of you may know that I'm planning to open a custom computer /
gaming center shop here in Fairbanks. If you didn't know that... well,
there it is. In keeping with my weird brain ideas about such things,
it's helpful to gauge public opinion. I realize that my "audience" here
(or on FB, twitter,
etc.) isn't huge, and may not reach the majority of folks I'd like it
to reach. So sharing this post with friends or other interested parties
would be greatly appreciated, especially if one lives in the Fairbanks
area, and even if you don't, opinions are always appreciated. That
being said, I'd like to have some of these ideas down on (non-existent)
paper, if for nothing else than to see how they look outside my head.
Computer Shop
This may not be the big money making aspect of the shop, but it'll be an important part nonetheless. I've already gone over some aspects of this in a previous post, so I won't go over those again, but there's still a decent amount to mention in regards to this. Granted, there are plenty of computer shops in Fairbanks, and for the most part they do their jobs fairly well. I'm not going to claim that I can put them all out of business with my awesome skillz, because that's just not true. (Also, "skillz" is spelled wrong.) But what I've seen (and heard from others) of these places are a couple things I've mentioned in yet another previous post: pricing, and service. Again, not to repeat things, but these are important aspects that get ignored by customers, mainly because there's a kind of mindset customers get that says, "Well, it's not like there are any other options." (Locally, at least.) I'd like to bring an alternative to these folks.
That being said, local shops aren't the only thing I'll be up against. Online shops like Amazon and Newegg tend to kill in terms of pricing structures for components. While I'm going to do my best to get as close to these as I can, it's a tough road for that sort of thing. Luckily, Alaskan customers are slightly accustomed to paying a bit more for things, thanks to high shipping rates and availability issues. So, while I'm not planning to gouge customers in any way, I'll be able to find a fair price that, while not up to raw online deals, will still be very comparable. However, this may limit my ability to sell individual components, as I might not be able to be as close to the various "sale" prices as I'd like to.
In light of that, I'm aware that there are people who will order components online no matter what, whether from a limited online sale or other such promotions. Some of these folks, while certainly budget conscious, aren't always knowledgeable enough or brave enough to build a system on their own. So, I plan to offer a builder's fee. Bring in your components, we'll build it for you for a modest fee. This fee may have to vary depending on what exactly the customer wants done to the system (windows install, drivers, transfer of old data, custom cooling or lighting, etc.), but will in the end be fair while still giving us (the store) a valuable income source.
It's worth mentioning at this point that any system we build or sell will be thoroughly tested and benchmarked. Once the OS is installed, and the relevant drivers are updated, We'll be running much in the way of hardware diagnostics, stress tests, software testing, and other important services that ensure any system we deal with is up to the tasks customers want from it. We can also install other software at the customer's request, for a minor fee, depending on the amount or type of software requested. Some tasks (such as old data transfer) can be done for a fee as well.
Now on to something that's not quite as "income conscious" as it could be. In fact, it could even incur more effort and time than it might be worth. However, I think it's important, and more importantly, it's unique. I don't think any shop in town is doing anything like this. (Though that might be for good reason.) Anyone who knows me knows that I'm pretty big on commentaries for movies and TV shows. They can be informative and entertaining simultaneously, which is a fairly rare thing. So, I'm proposing this: film the building process and sell it to the customer on a DVD.
YouTube gets lots of videos like this, typically very instructional and fairly dry. Now neither myself or the short list of people I'm wanting to work with me in this venture are stand-up comedians by any stretch of the imagination, but I'd like to think we're fairly funny folks. So by filming the building process, step-by-step, with a running commentary that's funny, interesting, and educational, we can provide a valuable service to the customer (education, information, and entertainment) while connecting with the customers on a personal level, showing we're all part of the same group. These videos would be custom made for each custom build customer (including systems brought in for us to build), incorporating their names and what we know about them into how these videos are presented. I'd also want to create more generalized versions for each of our pre-built system tiers that's tailored to how those systems are built. These would, of course, be an optional purchase, most likely no more than $15.
Like the podcast idea I mentioned previously, this wouldn't be a hugely profitable venture, at least not right away. There's equipment and software to purchase, not to mention the extra time it will take to edit and produce these DVDs. Unlike the podcasts, however, there is an actual revenue stream associated with this, albeit a small one. What this has in common with the podcast idea is that it's unique, and can bring in customers that might not have bothered or noticed otherwise. It's a hard thing to bring up in a straight advertisement (say a 30-second radio or TV ad), but that's why we're going to use lots of social media to push public awareness.
So, there's another post out into the world. Feedback, folks. Gimme some.
Friday, June 22, 2012
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Shop Concepts / Ideas - Community
Some of you may know that I'm planning to open a custom computer /
gaming center shop here in Fairbanks. If you didn't know that... well,
there it is. In keeping with my weird brain ideas about such things,
it's helpful to gauge public opinion. I realize that my "audience" here
(or on FB, twitter,
etc.) isn't huge, and may not reach the majority of folks I'd like it
to reach. So sharing this post with friends or other interested parties
would be greatly appreciated, especially if one lives in the Fairbanks
area, and even if you don't, opinions are always appreciated. That
being said, I'd like to have some of these ideas down on (non-existent)
paper, if for nothing else than to see how they look outside my head.
Community
No, not the troubled-yet-awesome television show. I'm speaking of the sense one gets of being in a close-knit of similarly passionate people. (Which is, I guess, also the show.) I've worked in one form of tech retail or another for almost 10 years, both in corporate and local settings. Each method has it's upsides and faults, with very little experimentation or even attempts to find a middle ground. Ever been to a highly polished multinational chain of stores? Sure, they're pretty to look at, and the people who work there are helpful to a fault (and even then only occasionally), but there's a couple secrets going on behind the scenes that gives of a sense of "eeeyugh." (At least, that's how it can be for me sometimes.) My problems with corporate places are thus:
So, there's faults on both sides. I'm not going to claim that I know of a perfect way to combine the positive aspects of both lines of thought, but I'm experienced enough to where I think I've got a pretty good idea of how people should be treated when they enter a business.
How does this come back to "community?" I'll be honest: not all of it does. But to me, that term covers many aspects of how it feels to be in a store: treatment by employees, fairness of policy, etc. The sense that we're all here together in a common interest and passion is why places like this future store would exist in the first place.
Another aspect of the whole "community" thing is involvement. I want the customers to be involved with how the store grows and operates as much as possible. This could be just as simple as a "suggestion box," (which there will probably be), but also semi regular surveys, not to mention just flat out talking and hanging out with the people populating the seats. A presence on the major social sites (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Tumblr, etc.) will be a major part of how we present ourselves to customers, as well as a gathering place for people to share what they like or dislike about the store itself. But in the interests of being unique and such, I also propose this: a weekly podcast.
I'm a fan of a great many podcasts, particularly gaming ones. Podtoid, Laser Time, Comedy Button, Rebel FM, Judge John Hodgman, and the Thrilling Adventure Hour are among the ones I listen to every week. Inspired by some of these, along with the now-dead TalkRadar and Penny Arcade's Downloadable Content podcast, I'm planning to do a weekly podcast where members of the community (read: customers) may vie to join in a discussion about games, tech, movies, TV, comics; nerdy things in general. Granted, we don't want each week's episode to be 5 or 6 hours long, so there will be a bit of an agenda for each episode, but what I love about many of the above podcasts is when they go off the rails with rants, sidebars, random thoughts, and heated (but friendly) debates, all covered in a fine layer of nerd and swearing. We'd take a couple hours or so after the store is closed (or even before it opens) to record an episode, I'd edit it all together and upload it to iTunes and a few other services, as well as posting links to the episode to the previously mentioned social media.
There's a bit of extra cost and work associated with this, though. Equipment, first of all. One can't do something like this half-assed, especially if anywhere between 3 and 5 people are all going to be recorded on any given episode. So, decent equipment is key, and it's not always cheap. I've gotten some advice from the Laser Time guys (particularly the wonderful Chris Antista) about it, mainly because their podcasts regularly have numerous people on it while keeping a great level of sound quality. Another cost is hosting. There are plenty of places designed for podcast hosting, but it's still another monthly fee on top of all the other operating costs of the store itself. I think it'll be worth it in the long run; maybe not monetarily, but in terms of getting our name out there for doing something no one else is really doing.
Another aspect of the "community" sense is how the store itself looks. This includes the machines themselves, the point-of-sale, shelving, wiring, workspace, etc. Some of that can be solved with a backroom for storage, tech work, system building; typical things that aren't really a part of the daily customer experience. We'll also be spending lots of time and effort on cable management, both power and network, both for safety and connectivity's sake. The machines themselves I'll talk about more in another post, but suffice to say that they'll be pretty without being overdone, with a few exceptions. I'm also going to plaster the walls (and possibly ceilings) with posters: games, movies, comics; anything that's nerdy, popular, and just plain cool. This may also extend into statues or action figures set up on display; because if good nerds love anything, it's to show off what they love.
Well, that's that for this post. More ideas may crop up that fitin this category, and I'll try to work them into the relevant posts. So, once again, I beg you to comment. Bring suggestions or ideas of your own. Criticize. Brainstorm. Call me an idiot. Whatever. I'm looking for feedback here, and the more the merrier.
Community
No, not the troubled-yet-awesome television show. I'm speaking of the sense one gets of being in a close-knit of similarly passionate people. (Which is, I guess, also the show.) I've worked in one form of tech retail or another for almost 10 years, both in corporate and local settings. Each method has it's upsides and faults, with very little experimentation or even attempts to find a middle ground. Ever been to a highly polished multinational chain of stores? Sure, they're pretty to look at, and the people who work there are helpful to a fault (and even then only occasionally), but there's a couple secrets going on behind the scenes that gives of a sense of "eeeyugh." (At least, that's how it can be for me sometimes.) My problems with corporate places are thus:
- The people working there are helpful because they have to be. Deep down, most of these folks working the sales floor want to figure out what you need, track it down, put it in your hands, get your money and send you out the door as fast as humanly possible. I've worked at places that chastise their employees for spending more than 5 minutes with a customer, even to the extent of docking pay or hours. Granted, this kind of policy is in place as a prep for the super-busy times (Black Friday, mainly), but I don't see that as an excuse. Granted, there is the rare drop that is the genuinely interested (not to mention knowledgeable) employee, but those are few and far between.
- Clean is okay. Sterile is not. A store's looks can be important, especially if there's a lot of physical product to show off. But nothing irks me more than going into a store, seeing something cool, buying it, taking it home, and discovering that it doesn't look as cool as it did at the store. This is usually on purpose, of course; tons of money is spent on just the right kind of lighting and materials that make products stand out to potential customers. I'm of a firm belief that stores that sell such things as computers, televisions, and other such devices should display these items in such a fashion that is more realistic to a consumer's eye.
- Needling money = not cool. It's astounding how many corporate policies are in place to either A) keep from giving money back to customers, or B) get as much extra money out of them as possible. This comes back up to my first point as well: one of the big reasons there are policies for getting people checked out quickly is so the customer has very little chance to second-guess their purchase. If something does turn out wrong, there are many ways to override or diminish the chance of a return: restock fees, "exchange-only" programs, gift cards, etc. I don't wholly disagree with a lot if these ideas; however, I don't think that giant corporate entities need to implement them. These are more intended for smaller businesses to mitigate or control their losses as much as possible, since they don't have a few hundred million dollars to fall back on should things go way south.
- Customers deserve a modicum of respect. I'm not a fan of the idiom "The customer is always right." It is flat out not true. That said, they do require some measure of respect and attention. Condescending to them isn't going to make them want to come back to your store anytime soon. Granted, it's tougher in a retail job that's more tech-oriented, where customers often wander in without any real knowledge about what you're selling. That's part of the job, really. Get over it. Yet I've been to many a place that treats it's customers as walking wallets that occasionally say things. When a salesperson only asks a few questions (not really listening to what the customer is saying, just listening for key phrases to direct them to a particular product) and over half of them are things like "Have you heard about our new Visa card?" or "Would you like to hear about our extended warranties on this item?" or "Did I mention our super secret club card?" there's a problem afoot.
So, there's faults on both sides. I'm not going to claim that I know of a perfect way to combine the positive aspects of both lines of thought, but I'm experienced enough to where I think I've got a pretty good idea of how people should be treated when they enter a business.
How does this come back to "community?" I'll be honest: not all of it does. But to me, that term covers many aspects of how it feels to be in a store: treatment by employees, fairness of policy, etc. The sense that we're all here together in a common interest and passion is why places like this future store would exist in the first place.
Another aspect of the whole "community" thing is involvement. I want the customers to be involved with how the store grows and operates as much as possible. This could be just as simple as a "suggestion box," (which there will probably be), but also semi regular surveys, not to mention just flat out talking and hanging out with the people populating the seats. A presence on the major social sites (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Tumblr, etc.) will be a major part of how we present ourselves to customers, as well as a gathering place for people to share what they like or dislike about the store itself. But in the interests of being unique and such, I also propose this: a weekly podcast.
I'm a fan of a great many podcasts, particularly gaming ones. Podtoid, Laser Time, Comedy Button, Rebel FM, Judge John Hodgman, and the Thrilling Adventure Hour are among the ones I listen to every week. Inspired by some of these, along with the now-dead TalkRadar and Penny Arcade's Downloadable Content podcast, I'm planning to do a weekly podcast where members of the community (read: customers) may vie to join in a discussion about games, tech, movies, TV, comics; nerdy things in general. Granted, we don't want each week's episode to be 5 or 6 hours long, so there will be a bit of an agenda for each episode, but what I love about many of the above podcasts is when they go off the rails with rants, sidebars, random thoughts, and heated (but friendly) debates, all covered in a fine layer of nerd and swearing. We'd take a couple hours or so after the store is closed (or even before it opens) to record an episode, I'd edit it all together and upload it to iTunes and a few other services, as well as posting links to the episode to the previously mentioned social media.
There's a bit of extra cost and work associated with this, though. Equipment, first of all. One can't do something like this half-assed, especially if anywhere between 3 and 5 people are all going to be recorded on any given episode. So, decent equipment is key, and it's not always cheap. I've gotten some advice from the Laser Time guys (particularly the wonderful Chris Antista) about it, mainly because their podcasts regularly have numerous people on it while keeping a great level of sound quality. Another cost is hosting. There are plenty of places designed for podcast hosting, but it's still another monthly fee on top of all the other operating costs of the store itself. I think it'll be worth it in the long run; maybe not monetarily, but in terms of getting our name out there for doing something no one else is really doing.
Another aspect of the "community" sense is how the store itself looks. This includes the machines themselves, the point-of-sale, shelving, wiring, workspace, etc. Some of that can be solved with a backroom for storage, tech work, system building; typical things that aren't really a part of the daily customer experience. We'll also be spending lots of time and effort on cable management, both power and network, both for safety and connectivity's sake. The machines themselves I'll talk about more in another post, but suffice to say that they'll be pretty without being overdone, with a few exceptions. I'm also going to plaster the walls (and possibly ceilings) with posters: games, movies, comics; anything that's nerdy, popular, and just plain cool. This may also extend into statues or action figures set up on display; because if good nerds love anything, it's to show off what they love.
Well, that's that for this post. More ideas may crop up that fitin this category, and I'll try to work them into the relevant posts. So, once again, I beg you to comment. Bring suggestions or ideas of your own. Criticize. Brainstorm. Call me an idiot. Whatever. I'm looking for feedback here, and the more the merrier.
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Shop concepts/ideas - Pricing
Some of you may know that I'm planning to open a custom computer / gaming center shop here in Fairbanks. If you didn't know that... well, there it is. In keeping with my weird brain ideas about such things, it's helpful to gauge public opinion. I realize that my "audience" here (or on FB, twitter, etc.) isn't huge, and may not reach the majority of folks I'd like it to reach. So sharing this post with friends or other interested parties would be greatly appreciated, especially if one lives in the Fairbanks area, and even if you don't, opinions are always appreciated. That being said, I'd like to have some of these ideas down on (non-existent) paper, if for nothing else than to see how they look outside my head.
Pricing
This covers a few different aspects of the store, and possibly will be the most "visible" part of the business. As such, having a unique structure is key to being distinct. Starting with the computer shop aspect of the store, I'd like to do something not seen very often in "smaller" or "custom" computer stores: pre-built price points. Basically, 2 or 3 pre-built computer "models" (or SKUs, for those of you in the retail know-how) at a set price, that are either already built and ready to be given to a customer right away, or at least have the required parts themselves kept in regular stock as to avoid waiting for parts to ship. My initial idea was for 3 skus:
Not for free though, which brings me to another point: repair/diagnostic prices. I find it mildly irritating that so many places want as much as $100 for an hour's worth of work diagnosing or fixing computer problems. I understand that it's a valuable service, especially for businesses that need their equipment, but at some point it becomes customer gouging, and I just can't do that. That being said, I haven't mentally settled on an hourly rate for tech services as of yet, but I do know it'll be surprising to a great many people. There will be flat price points for more common ailments and services; this is a pretty common practice, and I'll be doing my best to stay competitive and fair with those as well.
This brings me to the pricing structure for the gaming center itself. Common practices are to charge an hourly fee to use the provided machines, primarily for gaming, but also for more general internet usage, printing, etc. This has worked for a couple decades, along with discounts for purchasing longer blocks of time. I've even seen "combo" deals, which include a block of time, a drink and a snack. All good ideas, ones I plan to implement. However, one thing I haven't really seen much of is something that MMO players have been used to for almost 10 years now: monthly fees.
The concept that I had was this: a customer pays a monthly fee, giving them a large chunk of time to use over the course of that month. This fee (or subscription, club, plan, whatever) also entitles said customer to discounts on snacks as well as on time blocks, should they go over their monthly limit. The time in the initial block can be applied to both the "standard" machines as well as the fancier machines for a better, unique experience, which normally cost a little extra to use. (Again, more on this later.) It wouldn't have to be a recurring fee, of course; it could just be a kind if extended "special" that can optionally recurred at the customer's discretion. This structure would encourage folks to come into the store more often (possibly bringing friends), if for anything else than to get cheap snacks and use up the time they've got.
That's all I got for this particular subject. I'll expand more on the computer building, gaming center, and other ideas in later posts. Comment, folks; either on here or on Facebook.
Pricing
This covers a few different aspects of the store, and possibly will be the most "visible" part of the business. As such, having a unique structure is key to being distinct. Starting with the computer shop aspect of the store, I'd like to do something not seen very often in "smaller" or "custom" computer stores: pre-built price points. Basically, 2 or 3 pre-built computer "models" (or SKUs, for those of you in the retail know-how) at a set price, that are either already built and ready to be given to a customer right away, or at least have the required parts themselves kept in regular stock as to avoid waiting for parts to ship. My initial idea was for 3 skus:
- A "general use" machine, not super powerful, but enough to do more "everyday" things, such as emails, word processing (or other business/school type applications), web browsing, some multimedia functionality, etc. It'd retail for about $600-700.
- A more powerful second tier, which would be just a step or so less powerful (if not completely the same) than the machines that would used for the "standard" tier of gaming machines that customers would use in the shop itself. (More on that later.) It'd be suitable for HD media, higher-end gaming, some minor video/photo editing, etc. Price on these would be around $1200-1300.
- The final tier is the big banana, so to speak. A massive gaming machine built to handle current as well as future gaming software with very little metaphorical sweat breaking. I'm talking high-end processors with overclocking and liquid cooling; multiple graphics cards in a SLI or CrossFireX configuration; SSD boot drives alongside typical mechanical storage drives, and more. The market for these machines isn't huge, and I doubt I'd keep very much of these particular components in stock, but it would be a sight to see. For about $2500+, it'd better be.
Not for free though, which brings me to another point: repair/diagnostic prices. I find it mildly irritating that so many places want as much as $100 for an hour's worth of work diagnosing or fixing computer problems. I understand that it's a valuable service, especially for businesses that need their equipment, but at some point it becomes customer gouging, and I just can't do that. That being said, I haven't mentally settled on an hourly rate for tech services as of yet, but I do know it'll be surprising to a great many people. There will be flat price points for more common ailments and services; this is a pretty common practice, and I'll be doing my best to stay competitive and fair with those as well.
This brings me to the pricing structure for the gaming center itself. Common practices are to charge an hourly fee to use the provided machines, primarily for gaming, but also for more general internet usage, printing, etc. This has worked for a couple decades, along with discounts for purchasing longer blocks of time. I've even seen "combo" deals, which include a block of time, a drink and a snack. All good ideas, ones I plan to implement. However, one thing I haven't really seen much of is something that MMO players have been used to for almost 10 years now: monthly fees.
The concept that I had was this: a customer pays a monthly fee, giving them a large chunk of time to use over the course of that month. This fee (or subscription, club, plan, whatever) also entitles said customer to discounts on snacks as well as on time blocks, should they go over their monthly limit. The time in the initial block can be applied to both the "standard" machines as well as the fancier machines for a better, unique experience, which normally cost a little extra to use. (Again, more on this later.) It wouldn't have to be a recurring fee, of course; it could just be a kind if extended "special" that can optionally recurred at the customer's discretion. This structure would encourage folks to come into the store more often (possibly bringing friends), if for anything else than to get cheap snacks and use up the time they've got.
That's all I got for this particular subject. I'll expand more on the computer building, gaming center, and other ideas in later posts. Comment, folks; either on here or on Facebook.
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Being All Stupid and Such
So... much... things.
Here's a few things I'd like to talk about in the near future:
- Mass Effect 3's ending
- Vita love
- Business opportunities
- Other nerdy things
Currently, I'll bring up just the one thing: SuperBrothers Sword & Sworcery EP. Just go buy it. If one hasn't experienced it on an iPhone/iPad, it is completely worth a purchase. If you've already experienced it on these platforms, it's still worth a purchase, if anything for seeing that amazing art direction in an enhanced fashion on a full screen, not to mention the uber-hidden extra content. It's amazing to see the reactions to this game be so positive, especially since it's a genre that has supposedly been dead for years.
Here's a few things I'd like to talk about in the near future:
- Mass Effect 3's ending
- Vita love
- Business opportunities
- Other nerdy things
Currently, I'll bring up just the one thing: SuperBrothers Sword & Sworcery EP. Just go buy it. If one hasn't experienced it on an iPhone/iPad, it is completely worth a purchase. If you've already experienced it on these platforms, it's still worth a purchase, if anything for seeing that amazing art direction in an enhanced fashion on a full screen, not to mention the uber-hidden extra content. It's amazing to see the reactions to this game be so positive, especially since it's a genre that has supposedly been dead for years.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Waiting...
My Vita stuff has started to show up; everything but the system itself at this point, which supposedly will land in my mailbox on Friday. So at this point I have the games, (WipEout and Uncharted) headset, memory card, and case. So, since I'm bored. I'll give a bit of an "impressions" on these items, some gut reactions if you will.
Memory card: Jesus these things are small. Seriously. Smaller than my pointer fingernail. I'm glad that these are apparently hard to put-in/take-out of the Vita itself, because I'm seriously afraid that I'd lose this if I had to take it out a lot. The packaging for it, however, is overkill. This damn near microscopic card is surrounded by almost 6 inches of dual layers of thin cardboard, along with a plastic insert to hold it in place. I'm sure that environmentalists will love that.
Case: I went with Sony's travel pouch, mainly because it looked pretty nice, had room for accessories, and was fairly cheap. The pictures, until recently, made it seem smaller than it actually is. Having the thing in my hands, it's almost more the size of a camera bag. Surprising, but not unpleasantly so. My only worry is that the system might shift around inside of it, but considering this case is mainly going to be sitting inside my laptop bag, it's not a huge concern.
Headset: Again, I went with the official Sony headset, mainly because I liked the design of them, and I've had good luck with Sony headphones in the past. Having used them for about a week and a half, I can say a few things. They sound surprisingly good; clear, sharp sound, decent base, no tinniness to them that I can detect. The cord is a decent length, and thick enough so it doesn't just wind up on it's own. The earpieces themselves feel pretty solid: hard plastic, metal ends. The PlayStation logo on the tip of the metal ends are shiny and cool-looking. The removable ear pieces, however, are a bit flawed. They come with three sizes: Large, Medium, and Small. The Large and Small sets fit those descriptions, for sure. The Medium, however, should be called Large Minus Two Millimeters. There's not a easily noticeable difference between Large and Medium, and since Large doesn't fit in my ear, and Small doesn't stay in either, Medium is my only route, and it's a bit tight. After about an hour or so, pain starts setting in. It's something I wouldn't have complained about so much, except I also use these headphones for listening to my iPhone, which I sometimes do for several contiguous hours.
Games: Obviously I haven't played these yet, so I can't speak to the quality of the games themselves. (The rest of the internet will fill that role nicely.) I can say, that opening the Amazon box, I was afraid that I hadn't received the games, but flyers about the games. The cases are small. I had seen comparison pictures online, of course, but it's hard to actually judge the size of something based on a picture. That being said, the case size surprised me; they're about 1.5 times the size of a deck of cards, width wise. The game cards themselves are pretty tiny as well; just a hair bigger on the surface than a SD card, but about half the thickness. Again, I'm afraid that I'd lose these, which is why I'm glad the case I bought has a few slots to hold game cards. This also goes to show that Sony really wants folk to buy games digitally; you can't trade in or sell a digital game, but at least you don't have to worry about losing a tiny card.
So, the waiting continues. Hopefully USPS is correct on that delivery date, but this being Alaska, one never knows. Here's hoping.
Memory card: Jesus these things are small. Seriously. Smaller than my pointer fingernail. I'm glad that these are apparently hard to put-in/take-out of the Vita itself, because I'm seriously afraid that I'd lose this if I had to take it out a lot. The packaging for it, however, is overkill. This damn near microscopic card is surrounded by almost 6 inches of dual layers of thin cardboard, along with a plastic insert to hold it in place. I'm sure that environmentalists will love that.
Case: I went with Sony's travel pouch, mainly because it looked pretty nice, had room for accessories, and was fairly cheap. The pictures, until recently, made it seem smaller than it actually is. Having the thing in my hands, it's almost more the size of a camera bag. Surprising, but not unpleasantly so. My only worry is that the system might shift around inside of it, but considering this case is mainly going to be sitting inside my laptop bag, it's not a huge concern.
Headset: Again, I went with the official Sony headset, mainly because I liked the design of them, and I've had good luck with Sony headphones in the past. Having used them for about a week and a half, I can say a few things. They sound surprisingly good; clear, sharp sound, decent base, no tinniness to them that I can detect. The cord is a decent length, and thick enough so it doesn't just wind up on it's own. The earpieces themselves feel pretty solid: hard plastic, metal ends. The PlayStation logo on the tip of the metal ends are shiny and cool-looking. The removable ear pieces, however, are a bit flawed. They come with three sizes: Large, Medium, and Small. The Large and Small sets fit those descriptions, for sure. The Medium, however, should be called Large Minus Two Millimeters. There's not a easily noticeable difference between Large and Medium, and since Large doesn't fit in my ear, and Small doesn't stay in either, Medium is my only route, and it's a bit tight. After about an hour or so, pain starts setting in. It's something I wouldn't have complained about so much, except I also use these headphones for listening to my iPhone, which I sometimes do for several contiguous hours.
Games: Obviously I haven't played these yet, so I can't speak to the quality of the games themselves. (The rest of the internet will fill that role nicely.) I can say, that opening the Amazon box, I was afraid that I hadn't received the games, but flyers about the games. The cases are small. I had seen comparison pictures online, of course, but it's hard to actually judge the size of something based on a picture. That being said, the case size surprised me; they're about 1.5 times the size of a deck of cards, width wise. The game cards themselves are pretty tiny as well; just a hair bigger on the surface than a SD card, but about half the thickness. Again, I'm afraid that I'd lose these, which is why I'm glad the case I bought has a few slots to hold game cards. This also goes to show that Sony really wants folk to buy games digitally; you can't trade in or sell a digital game, but at least you don't have to worry about losing a tiny card.
So, the waiting continues. Hopefully USPS is correct on that delivery date, but this being Alaska, one never knows. Here's hoping.
Thursday, February 2, 2012
School, Games, and SOPA
School is back. My sleep schedule, however, is fairly well screwed from a long night of trying not to vomit on my bed. So my brain is pretty well fried, going on about one and a half hours of sleep before I'm expected to be awake and functioning. So, yeah. Fuck. Classes this time around are mostly degree-related courses, so I'm looking forward to it and all, I just need to keep my brain in a semi-functioning state. This may go badly.
The holidays came and went, and thankfully I was able to procure enough in the way of cash and gift cards to fully pre-order a PS Vita, some games, accessories, and a copy of Star Wars The Old Republic. TOR is taking a good chunk of time, and for good reason: it's one of the most solo-friendly MMOs I've ever played. I'm all for gaming becoming more of a social gathering; it's a great step forward for the medium, and it can be a fun experience to partake in. However, I've never been a great participant in this phenomenon, either in a competitive or cooperative setting. I've always been a fairly solitary person, so interacting with other humans in general puts me on edge, either in person or using a virtual analogue. It's not just because I don't want someone on the other side of the country/planet to know my approximate skill level. (Though there is that.) Enjoying gaming is, for me, akin to enjoying porn. It's not something I'm ashamed of, just something I prefer to do by my lonesome. Also, headphones are a necessity.
SOPA is something else that came and went. Personally, I'm glad. It's a piece of legislation that would've affected most of the sites I visit on a daily basis, i.e. Facebook, Twitter, news sites, etc. It's amazing. After reading the bill, it's pretty obvious that it was some jackass in power wanting to make friends in higher places, particularly in Hollywood and record labels. Providing greedy people more ways to control the people who use their products is not the way to move an industry forward; providing great services and benefits to those customers is. Piracy is not an issue that's going to go away because you restrict access to a few sites; honestly, it's not going to go away completely, period. The way to fight piracy is to make buying these products easy and hassle-free, while providing great incentives for paying customers to continue paying. The main example of this strategy in action is iTunes. Love it or hate it, iTunes dealt a huge blow to music piracy, while giving customers an easy and cheap way to buy music they love, without having to go through a bunch of bullshit that record labels had been forcing people to do for quite a while. Bigwigs like movie studios and record labels had so much control up until a decade or so ago, they thought that they'd be able to sit back and let money flow into their coffers. They did this for so long, they didn't really notice (or didn't care) that the way their customers wanted to access and use the things they had legally purchased had changed. People want access to their stuff in more ways, some of which don't work in the bigwigs' financial interests. Their reaction? Evolve with their customers, as well as the medium that they represent? Not so much. Legislation and restriction methods (read: DRM) that basically punishes people who legally obtained their products? Now you're on to something, Kim Jong.
It may not be dead, but SOPA is definitely on life support. I was skeptical about the blackouts that Google and Reddit had announced, but when Wikipedia blacked out as well, my hopes raised significantly. Never underestimate the rage of millions of idiot college students trying to access Wikipedia to answer questions for their papers. When the bill gained about 18 opposing senators over the course of 3 days, I actually was hopeful. And when it was announced that the bill was put on an "indefinite hold," I actually stood up and cheered. Freedom for consumers won out, which is kind of a rarity in these days, sadly. This needs to happen more often.
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The holidays came and went, and thankfully I was able to procure enough in the way of cash and gift cards to fully pre-order a PS Vita, some games, accessories, and a copy of Star Wars The Old Republic. TOR is taking a good chunk of time, and for good reason: it's one of the most solo-friendly MMOs I've ever played. I'm all for gaming becoming more of a social gathering; it's a great step forward for the medium, and it can be a fun experience to partake in. However, I've never been a great participant in this phenomenon, either in a competitive or cooperative setting. I've always been a fairly solitary person, so interacting with other humans in general puts me on edge, either in person or using a virtual analogue. It's not just because I don't want someone on the other side of the country/planet to know my approximate skill level. (Though there is that.) Enjoying gaming is, for me, akin to enjoying porn. It's not something I'm ashamed of, just something I prefer to do by my lonesome. Also, headphones are a necessity.
SOPA is something else that came and went. Personally, I'm glad. It's a piece of legislation that would've affected most of the sites I visit on a daily basis, i.e. Facebook, Twitter, news sites, etc. It's amazing. After reading the bill, it's pretty obvious that it was some jackass in power wanting to make friends in higher places, particularly in Hollywood and record labels. Providing greedy people more ways to control the people who use their products is not the way to move an industry forward; providing great services and benefits to those customers is. Piracy is not an issue that's going to go away because you restrict access to a few sites; honestly, it's not going to go away completely, period. The way to fight piracy is to make buying these products easy and hassle-free, while providing great incentives for paying customers to continue paying. The main example of this strategy in action is iTunes. Love it or hate it, iTunes dealt a huge blow to music piracy, while giving customers an easy and cheap way to buy music they love, without having to go through a bunch of bullshit that record labels had been forcing people to do for quite a while. Bigwigs like movie studios and record labels had so much control up until a decade or so ago, they thought that they'd be able to sit back and let money flow into their coffers. They did this for so long, they didn't really notice (or didn't care) that the way their customers wanted to access and use the things they had legally purchased had changed. People want access to their stuff in more ways, some of which don't work in the bigwigs' financial interests. Their reaction? Evolve with their customers, as well as the medium that they represent? Not so much. Legislation and restriction methods (read: DRM) that basically punishes people who legally obtained their products? Now you're on to something, Kim Jong.
It may not be dead, but SOPA is definitely on life support. I was skeptical about the blackouts that Google and Reddit had announced, but when Wikipedia blacked out as well, my hopes raised significantly. Never underestimate the rage of millions of idiot college students trying to access Wikipedia to answer questions for their papers. When the bill gained about 18 opposing senators over the course of 3 days, I actually was hopeful. And when it was announced that the bill was put on an "indefinite hold," I actually stood up and cheered. Freedom for consumers won out, which is kind of a rarity in these days, sadly. This needs to happen more often.
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Re-Vita-lized!
So despite somewhat pricey memory cards, backwards compatibility being a little late, game sharing restrictions, UMD passports, and other weird things, I still really want a PlayStation Vita. Is it because I'm an addict who wants some form of game with me wherever I go? Not really, or, at least, not entirely. Is it because I'm a Sony "fanboy?" I wouldn't say that, though I do like their gaming hardware in general, faults and all, and will usually grab one of Sony's offerings rather than Microsoft's or Nintendo's.
I think part of it might be because I'm a fan of mobile hardware in general. Ever since I was a young'n, I found myself lusting over laptops, rather than the more powerful desktop counterparts. This was around the time when laptops were rapidly approaching becoming equal to desktops in terms of raw power, but it was also when I started to notice something: mobile devices tend to innovate more than desktops or set-top boxes. It started with laptops: getting more powerful, sure, (not to mention smaller) but also adding things like hot-swappable drives, (long before things like USB came along) interchangeable covers, and built-in webcams. Then PDAs came along: Palm did a pretty good job of moving them along, but that market fizzled out not long before smartphones (the iPhone in particular) took off like so many pissed off avians.
Gaming portables haven't had much in the way of innovation, save for the last 5 years or so. Game Boy started it, really, as the one of the first to have interchangeable cartridges for each game. Then the various iterations of that system (Color, Advance, SP, Micro) as well as the various copycats (Game Gear, Lynx, Wonderswan, and many others) didn't really change the formula, and as games a a whole evolved into more mature and cinematic experiences, portable gaming seemed more or less stuck in the same place, as kid stuff. Along came the Nintendo DS, and alongside that, the PlayStation Portable, or PSP. Both innovated in different ways: the DS used dual screens and a limited touch-screen capacity to make games more "friendly" and "interactive" to non-gamers, but the system and it's tricks always seemed way too "gimmicky" to me, which turned me off of it initially. (I did own an iteration of it later, as it did eventually get a few decent games on it, but it is no longer part of my collection.) The PSP, however, was much more graphically powerful, could play music and video, surf the internet, read digital comics, download podcasts, and more. (Granted a few of these features were added months or even years later.) It was designed to be a new generation of device. Sony even called it "the new Walkman" at some point. It could deliver console quality gaming (or close to it at the time) in the palm of your hand. Literally.
So, why did the DS become so damn popular? It's hard to say, but I'd bet that it had to do with the PSP coming off as a bit of a split personality. It could do so many different things, that what it actually was as a device was a tough question to answer. Was it a gaming device? Yes, but it was lacking a couple things, hardware wise, that would've made the games it delivered more, well, payable and fun. (One analog stick is so 2001.) Was it an MP3 player? Yes, but it wasn't better than an iPod, and didn't have an easy way to organize/import music onto it. (Such as iTunes.) Was it a web browser? Yes, but a crappy one, limited by the system's memory which was pretty low to begin with. And oh, god, did the pirates go after that system with everything they had. So, in the long run, it really had it's work cut out for it, and despite some great games made for it, the system never really got a foothold in the collective minds of gamers.
The Vita seems to recognize this, and learn from Sony's past mistakes. In the wake of Nintendo's 3DS flopping, the iPhone/App Store making portable games something completely different in the public mind, and Sony's own struggles with the PS3 launch, the Vita is in a position to take aspects of iPhone gaming and it's own technological and gaming prowess and make something truly unique. A touch screen, a touch pad on the back, front and rear cameras, motion sensors, WI-Fi, GPS, 3G, (if you so choose) a high-resolution OLED screen, dual analog sticks, and games that already span from unique, casual, touch friendly stuff (Sound Shapes, Escape Plan, Little Deviants) to stuff aimed at more hardcore, traditional gamers. (Uncharted, Resistance, Ruin) And this is all before the system is actually out. The next year or so has a long list of incoming games for the device that I not only want, but I believe others of all kinds and creeds would enjoy as well.
There's a lot of potential in the Vita, more than there is in the 3DS, in my opinion, and that's part of what draws me to it. The potential in both the hardware and software is there to not only bring great times with you wherever you go, but to also share those times with your friends, whether they're with you or not. Another part of the Vita's appeal is, as I mentioned earlier, the games. The 3DS has maybe 4 or 5 games I'd ever play on it. Ever. I seem to have this problem with a lot of Nintendo's recent work, alongside the aforementioned "gimmicky" nature of their new direction. The Vita, on the other hand, has at least 10 or 12 I'd buy on release day, and that's just the stuff in the next year. The Vita isn't without problems, at least in terms of the things I'd need to make it function properly (namely a memory card, as mentioned earlier) but they are something I can easily overlook as growing pains or early adopter syndrome.
So, a preorder is at the top of my wishlist this year. It doesn't hit the states till February, but a fully paid preorder would make an excellent Jesus-Birthday gift. The dilemma I had was how to preorder it. Do I go with the First Edition Bundle, and get a game I'm not super interested in, a smallish memory card, and a system with a feature I don't really need (3G)? Or do I make a custom bundle, say with the WI-Fi only model, Uncharted, a bigger memory card, and a kit of accessories? Turns out the latter option is only $10 more than the official bundle. Sold.
I think part of it might be because I'm a fan of mobile hardware in general. Ever since I was a young'n, I found myself lusting over laptops, rather than the more powerful desktop counterparts. This was around the time when laptops were rapidly approaching becoming equal to desktops in terms of raw power, but it was also when I started to notice something: mobile devices tend to innovate more than desktops or set-top boxes. It started with laptops: getting more powerful, sure, (not to mention smaller) but also adding things like hot-swappable drives, (long before things like USB came along) interchangeable covers, and built-in webcams. Then PDAs came along: Palm did a pretty good job of moving them along, but that market fizzled out not long before smartphones (the iPhone in particular) took off like so many pissed off avians.
Gaming portables haven't had much in the way of innovation, save for the last 5 years or so. Game Boy started it, really, as the one of the first to have interchangeable cartridges for each game. Then the various iterations of that system (Color, Advance, SP, Micro) as well as the various copycats (Game Gear, Lynx, Wonderswan, and many others) didn't really change the formula, and as games a a whole evolved into more mature and cinematic experiences, portable gaming seemed more or less stuck in the same place, as kid stuff. Along came the Nintendo DS, and alongside that, the PlayStation Portable, or PSP. Both innovated in different ways: the DS used dual screens and a limited touch-screen capacity to make games more "friendly" and "interactive" to non-gamers, but the system and it's tricks always seemed way too "gimmicky" to me, which turned me off of it initially. (I did own an iteration of it later, as it did eventually get a few decent games on it, but it is no longer part of my collection.) The PSP, however, was much more graphically powerful, could play music and video, surf the internet, read digital comics, download podcasts, and more. (Granted a few of these features were added months or even years later.) It was designed to be a new generation of device. Sony even called it "the new Walkman" at some point. It could deliver console quality gaming (or close to it at the time) in the palm of your hand. Literally.
So, why did the DS become so damn popular? It's hard to say, but I'd bet that it had to do with the PSP coming off as a bit of a split personality. It could do so many different things, that what it actually was as a device was a tough question to answer. Was it a gaming device? Yes, but it was lacking a couple things, hardware wise, that would've made the games it delivered more, well, payable and fun. (One analog stick is so 2001.) Was it an MP3 player? Yes, but it wasn't better than an iPod, and didn't have an easy way to organize/import music onto it. (Such as iTunes.) Was it a web browser? Yes, but a crappy one, limited by the system's memory which was pretty low to begin with. And oh, god, did the pirates go after that system with everything they had. So, in the long run, it really had it's work cut out for it, and despite some great games made for it, the system never really got a foothold in the collective minds of gamers.
The Vita seems to recognize this, and learn from Sony's past mistakes. In the wake of Nintendo's 3DS flopping, the iPhone/App Store making portable games something completely different in the public mind, and Sony's own struggles with the PS3 launch, the Vita is in a position to take aspects of iPhone gaming and it's own technological and gaming prowess and make something truly unique. A touch screen, a touch pad on the back, front and rear cameras, motion sensors, WI-Fi, GPS, 3G, (if you so choose) a high-resolution OLED screen, dual analog sticks, and games that already span from unique, casual, touch friendly stuff (Sound Shapes, Escape Plan, Little Deviants) to stuff aimed at more hardcore, traditional gamers. (Uncharted, Resistance, Ruin) And this is all before the system is actually out. The next year or so has a long list of incoming games for the device that I not only want, but I believe others of all kinds and creeds would enjoy as well.
There's a lot of potential in the Vita, more than there is in the 3DS, in my opinion, and that's part of what draws me to it. The potential in both the hardware and software is there to not only bring great times with you wherever you go, but to also share those times with your friends, whether they're with you or not. Another part of the Vita's appeal is, as I mentioned earlier, the games. The 3DS has maybe 4 or 5 games I'd ever play on it. Ever. I seem to have this problem with a lot of Nintendo's recent work, alongside the aforementioned "gimmicky" nature of their new direction. The Vita, on the other hand, has at least 10 or 12 I'd buy on release day, and that's just the stuff in the next year. The Vita isn't without problems, at least in terms of the things I'd need to make it function properly (namely a memory card, as mentioned earlier) but they are something I can easily overlook as growing pains or early adopter syndrome.
So, a preorder is at the top of my wishlist this year. It doesn't hit the states till February, but a fully paid preorder would make an excellent Jesus-Birthday gift. The dilemma I had was how to preorder it. Do I go with the First Edition Bundle, and get a game I'm not super interested in, a smallish memory card, and a system with a feature I don't really need (3G)? Or do I make a custom bundle, say with the WI-Fi only model, Uncharted, a bigger memory card, and a kit of accessories? Turns out the latter option is only $10 more than the official bundle. Sold.
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