The Last Guardian TGS 2009 trailer

Interview with Fumito Ueda and a new The Last Guardian trailer from TGS 2009. Nuff said.

Whining video games retailers

Retailers has been attempting to boycott the launch of the PSPgo. As many of you would know, the PSPgo will eschew physical distribution in favour of downloads. This has its pros and cons, of which I would not go into today - but you can understand why some retailers are upset about it. Still their excuse don't wash with me. Plenty of retailers like John Lewis sells products like Walkman and E-book readers but do not have the means to distribute the content and they have no issues with it. I also suspect part of the reason why the PSPgo is so expensive is because a larger revenue would go towards retailers than other consoles anyway. Regardless, here is one genius's (ShopTo) take on it:

Sony has decided to cut publishers and retailers for the software of the PSPgo and deal direct with developers, giving them a 70 per cent margin for any items sold on Sony PSN. I believe if they had lowered that to 50 or 60 per cent, and given the opportunity to online retailers, it would have enjoyed greater success and retailers would attempt to promote the console to the market. (source)

Statements like this makes me angry, and yet news that Sony is giving them developers a higher profit margin is brilliant - for everyone. I love physical copies of games, but recognise that there is plenty of advantage in moving towards a digital distribution platform, and if it meant that developers (the people who worked hard to make the games) earning more than soulless retailers - then so be it. For ShopTo (who I never heard of outside of its affiliate partner Eurogamer) to even suggest that developers should get a lesser cut to prop up their backward business model is ludicrous and downright insulting.

What I find amazing here is that video games retailers are unwilling to adapt despite the lessons from the music and automobile industry. This is a free market and yet they complain when things change - much like the idiots who run certain financial institutions to death. Silly people really, and I hope they shrivel up and die a slow horrible death. If retailers like ShopTo can't take it, then I suggest exiting the market as nobody will be bailing them out. These days Amazon or Play.com is all that matters anyway, and if they do not have a problem (even GAME does not), then I do not see any reasons why Sony should be worried.

The PSPgo is due out next month. Register early and you will get a free copy of Gran Turismo as well.

Opera Mini 5.0 Beta

Opera Mini 5.0 is simply the best Opera Mini yet. I've used it for half a day now and it has only crashed once so far - which is impressive considering this is merely a beta version.

The installer is quite a bit bigger than previous Opera versions (and it will download more during installation), but with data cost cheap these days - and the fact that most phones comes with WiFi - this isn't a huge issue as it was a couple of years ago. The increase in size (almost double) can be attributed to the new and slick UI.

Desktop Opera 10 users will immediately recognise the new Speed Dial. Instead of a list as in previous version of Opera Mini, you will be greeted with a thumbnail grid. Here you can assign your favourite websites as shortcuts. Like the desktop version, Opera Mini 5 will capture a snapshot of the site (well a part of it anyway).

On the top you will find the address bar and search bar. Underneath it is the navigational toolbar including access to the settings and Speed Dial. The top right plus icon is the 'new tab' button. Yes, Opera Mini 5 allows users to create tabs. Stability is fine even on my now aging Nokia E51. I tend to open more than five tabs at any one time with no sign of slowness or RAM leakage.

Press down on a link until a pop up appears. This gives you the option of opening the link on a new tab. Very useful. As you can see from the screenshot, copy and paste functionality also makes a debut. Selected text can be copied and then pasted onto the Opera's search field. You can also paste the copied text outside the browser, but doing so requires you to use a trick that forces the standard Series 60 text entry field to pop up (as documented here).

Plenty of settings are available for advance users, including the usual (image quality, font size, landscape mode) and nifty new additions such as the password manager. (Edit: turn off inline editing to gain access to your phone's standard text entry field - essential to get T9 working)

Rendering was never a problem with Opera Mini, so the results here are pretty standard to seasoned Opera Mini users. Still they are fast to load. I expect Opera to have beefed up their server too in anticipation to the beta release. Fonts are smoother due to the use of some form of Clear Type technology as well. Anyway you will have no problem browsing the web even with a small QVGA display. Here are a couple of examples on how websites such as this look like (high quality image, smallest font setting):



One downside I found is it has its own text entry system, overiding the standard Series 60 text entry field pop-up. For example with their system, I have to cycle through a bunch of symbols manually to get the appropriate symbol I want (@ for example), but with the old Opera Mini, I can press the * key and select the symbol I want quickly. Predictive text does not work here either, again due to the lack of access to the phone's standard text entry field. (Edit: Ok, turning off inline editing in the settings allows you to enter the S60 text entry field - phew!!!)

It's early days for the Opera Mini 5.0, but judging by the quality of the beta version here and the amount of new functionalities, Opera has yet another winner on their hands. Despite being only a beta software I am so impressed by the stability on my E51, so impressed in fact that I have already uninstalled Opera Mini 4!

Access the beta by steering your mobile phone's standard browser to http://m.opera.com/next

Spotify for Series 60

Brilliant news for Spotify subscribers and Series 60 users. Spotify will soon be releasing a S60 client! Even better, due to the smartphone nature of Symbian OS, you will be able to listen to it while performing other tasks like, oh you know, composing that SMS or whilst hill walking with ViewRanger. Ah, multi-tasking, who would have thought that such a basic OS feature would be useful!

The video demo highlights plenty of useful features that makes Spotify such a great application, including offline playback. Hopefully Spotify will iron out the bugs and release this soon (with last.fm integration to boot - please!). My pending new S60 phone (haven't decided yet - but the E52 is a possibility) demands it.

Sony Walkman A840 (OLED, 64GB) announced

Readers of this blog will be aware of how much I admire Sony's line of Walkman DAPs (MP3 players to you simple folks). They just sound so darn good. If you are like me (a music lover) and want the best possible sound quality without resorting to a separate amp, then do check them out.

I am pretty excited by the announcement today of the new high-end S-series and A-series Walkman. First, the S-series (pictured above). The S640 series (which replaces the S630) and S740 series (replaces the S730) will be bundled with the EX300SL in-ear canal phones. These, I have read, are pretty good headphones though obviously no match with high-end IEMs like the Sennheiser IE 8 or Klipsch Custom 3. But I am sure they will make do for the majority of people. The S740, like the S730 before it, will also have built-in Active Noise Cancellation. Not something I would bother personally, but it's there for people who do. Both will also feature TV-out abilities (720x480 resolution). Battery life is rated at 42 hours for audio - which is what you would expect from a Walkman. They will be available in capacities up to 32GB.

So that's the new S-series out of the way. Will I get it? Nope. Only because I have already set my eyes on the new A-series. The A840, which replaces the Bluetooth equipped A820-series, features a 7.2mm thickness profile and will come equipped with a stunning WQVGA OLED screen. This is the same screen that powered the gorgeous X-series. It will also have TV-out and comes bundled with a pair of EX300SL variant headphones. Now the most important bit - it will feature the same(?) S-master amp that powered the X-series! Brilliant isn't it? The same sound quality and the same OLED screen, in a package smaller than the X-series! No WiFi here (not that I care honestly - the web browser was rubbish) or touchscreen (the buttons make up for it). Best of all? It will be available in capacities up to 64GB capacities (A847)!

Knowing the way Sony numbers their Walkman series, I am curious as to why they designated the 64GB model as A847... A 128GB A848 model in the works perhaps? ;)

All of these models have yet to be announced for the Western market, but I am sure they will eventually arrive here. In the mean time while away by reading my reviews of the A818, S639, S739 and X1060 first.

Persona 3 Portable gameplay videos

Persona 3 and its FES expansion was one the highlights of PS2 gaming, so you will excuse me if I sound a little too excited about the title being remade for the PSP console. The game, due to be released this November in Japan, will provide the option to play as a female protagonist - the first among the three Persona 3 games. The video below demonstrates the RPG gameplay with visuals pretty much comparable to the PS2 version, but with lower polygon and slightly different character design (they have a more 'chibi' like proportion now). The gameplay is also being revised to incorporate battle elements from Persona 4 - which allows you to control every character rather than relying on the individual character's A.I.

Interesting if anyone has the Art of Persona 3 book, check out page 2 where you will find a concept art of an unknown female character. Apart from some slight changes, she looks similar to the new playable female main character in the PSP remake. Incidentally page 13 of the book will also reveal a sketch that is even more similar. And here I thought FES was the director's cut... Can't wait!

Lewes to Eastbourne via South Downs Way

Did a walk yesterday from Lewes to Eastbourne via the South Downs Way. The weather was brilliant for most of the day - warm with light breeze and clear sky, until later in the afternoon.

Normally most people who start at Eastbourne, but I was planning on ending there to catch the sunset at Beachy Head (plus there are more trains from Eastbourne back to London). Alas, I arrived at Beachy Head at 4.30 pm. Not really looking forward to waiting a couple of hours for the sunset, I decided to leg it to Eastbourne to catch the earlier train. Just as well as it was getting colder and the clouds were kinda ruining the view...

The route itself is straight forward and well marked. The hills can get windy at times and there are no trees to shelter from rain or the sun. You can begin at Southease (saving you a couple of miles as the railway station is right on the South Downs Way) or Glynde. I chose to start at Lewes because I didn't want to wait half and hour for the train to either stations.

At Alfriston, the South Downs Way divides with one taking you to Exceat (and Seven Sisters) via the Vanguard Way and another through Jevington and the Long Man of Wilmington. Both routes will end at Eastbourne, with the coastal route (Seven Sisters and Beachy Head) a couple of miles longer. This route is actually more scenic and worth the extra couple of miles on your precious knees.

Distance: 23.5 miles (37.8 km)
Height gain: 3862 feet

Notting Hill Carnival 2009

Pictures from Monday's Notting Hill Carnival. Last Day of Summer (really!).