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What Was Hot in 2006

thirtyfootscrew — Sun, 31 Dec 2006 13:19:01 +0000

I know it’s cheesy but I thought I’d do a little roundup of 2006 and then later on a series of predictions for 2007. The lists are all Top Fives and are based on techie stuff unless otherwise stated.

1. Podcasting
I had a look in 2005 and there really wasn’t any great content out there, I came back in 2006 and it was like the whole ‘industry’ had exploded with some well established shows as well as some new favourites, this was really the year the podcasting became established.

2. Video Gaming
With the Xbox 360 released in December 2005 (but generally available March 2006) and the December launch of the Wii and the PS3 (US only) this really has been the year for gaming. More than that Nintendo have performed an amazing feat by pulling games out of Geekdom and into popular culture, not only with the Wii but with this year’s release of the DS Lite and the wonderful Brain Training.

3. Beta Releases
I’m not sure what’s happened but in 2006 nobody wants to release a product without having a public Beta, this has been true for games (Phantasy Star Universe + Final Fantasy XI on the Xbox 360), PC software (Office 2007, Windows Vista) and everything regarded as Web 2.0.

4. Video & Broadcasting
This year has seen a fundamental change in the way people watch and interact with video, of course nobody missed the popularity of YouTube and its acquisition by Google for $1.65bn but the I find the complementary changes in the broadcast industry to be even more interesting. Many major players have been trying to get into the User Generated Content (UGC) market ranging from pointless attempts by people who just don’t get it (MTV Flux) to well-done but still distinctly old-media (BBC’s Your News).

5. High Definition
In 2006 we saw the launch of both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray, heralding a new era of home cinema – let’s just hope that one of the two competing formats wins sooner rather than later so consumers can buy with confidence. 2006 also saw the introduction of Sky’s High Definition Satellite service, sadly it was over-priced, delivered late and has limited quantities of genuine HD content. This year also seems to be the year that people started to buy HD TVs in great quantities, at the end of 2005 I didn’t know anybody with an HD TV, now over half of my friends either own or are seriously considering an HD TV and the prices still keep on tumbling.

Well, I’m convinced I’ve missed something but that’ll have to do, I think I’ll go to bed now and hopefully dream of 2007, if I do then you’ll have my predictions tomorrow!

Phantasy Star Universe Open Beta

thirtyfootscrew — Sun, 15 Oct 2006 13:33:37 +0000

I logged on to my Xbox 360 earlier today and as usual thought I’d check Marketplace first, I found Phantasy Star Universe under the Demos category so I thought I’d give it a go. At just under 1GB it took a while to download, but having heard about the Phantasy Star series before and knowing what a cult following they get I thought I’d have to try it. Whilst it was downloading I went about playing Oblivion and chatting to Private Custard over Xbox Live, once we’d both downloaded it we decided to jump in to the demo and explore the game together.
Phantasy Star Universe Dance-Off

Having never tried a MMORPG before I didn’t think the demo would last that long, 8 hours later – I realised I was wrong. The game is pretty accessible, even for a noob like me – the most similar game I’ve played is probably Final Fantasy VII on the original Playstation. The controls are easy enough to pick up and the missions I tried mainly consited of bashing-up monsters, though the combat system here is real-time rather than turn-based. Using real-time combat makes it feel a little like a hack’n'slash as well as an RPG which I prefer as there’s no time waiting around for players/monsters to make a move, I understand this might actually put some die-hard RPG fans off but I think it could also bring in some new players who don’t usually go for RPGs.

Being new to MMORPGs I was very pleased with the whole notion of interaction with others, I liked the way that you could collaborate and trade but not fight (as it would always end up in chaos). Private Custard and I went through a particularly beefy mission which would have caused us some serious gried had it not been for some other players joining our party and sharing the pain we were going through – a great demonstration of how MMOs work.

One neat feature is that the game allows players to perform certain actions to express emotion as opposed to just using keyboard (or voice if in the same party), these include Waving, Laughing, Crying, Bowing, Jumping and Dancing. The most fun part of the whole night was the dance-off that we managed to get going in the main lobby – through the night it involved at least 20 people dancing and up to a hundred or so watching. Personally I think it’s a great thing that people from all over the world can get together online and coordinate to achieve something so completely silly – no guns, no arguments, no fighting, not even any bad language – just silliness. I do however acknowledge that it’s more than a little bit sad.

Please see video above or visit page on YouTube.