About a week ago, I had a very strange dream. Funny thing, I didn’t so much as see a glimpse of the dream until about eight hours after I woke up but the instant I did remember it, all of the feelings I had experienced during the dream came flooding back in that second. Many of the finer details are fuzzy, as dreams typically are, but I remember the overarching concept pretty clearly. So, what was so interesting about this dream?
Well…I died.
As a gamer, I’ve been involved in the world of online gaming for quite some time now. In that time, I’ve experienced my fair share of negativity directed my way by my fellow online gamers. Now, I know all too well that the realm of online gaming (especially Xbox Live) has long been a festering cesspool of ignorance, bigotry, idiocy and cruelty but every now and then, I’ll experience something personally or have something brought to my attention that really irks me. This is the latter scenario. Just take a look at the video posted below for a few minutes. That should be more than enough to make you sick to your stomach.
Read More »
When Microsoft revealed their officially branded, pre-configured USB flash drives that will soon be released to take advantage of the Xbox 360’s soon to be unlocked ability to support additional means of storage (via an update that will be released April 6th) many gamers were in uproar due to the relatively high price of these flash drives. These people were hurling all kinds of complaints at Microsoft, calling the flash drives a rip-off, overpriced and saying that Microsoft “should be ashamed of themselves”.
Seriously?
Now, to an extent, I agree with some of these complaints. Are these flash drives expensive? Yep. Are they overpriced? Most definitely when you consider that third party options are available with just as much storage for half the price or even less depending on where you look. And therein lies the problem I’m having with their arguments. Third party options exist. So, if someone were to ask me, “are they a rip-off?” I would reply, “no, not as far as I’m concerned”.
I’m fine with calling them overpriced because, well, they are and I can’t see why anyone would want to buy them over a third party drive. In my eyes, something can only be a rip-off if no other options are readily available. That is clearly not the case in this scenario. Microsoft’s flash drives are not even on the market yet and flash drives that can be used with the Xbox 360 (it supports up to 16GB per drive) have been available in varying capacities for years now.
I would agree with the detractors if Microsoft somehow made it difficult to properly format a third party flash drive for use on the Xbox 360 but, as has been seen on just about every gaming blog out there, the setup process is as simple as scrolling over to the system settings, clicking “Memory Options” and hitting “configure now”. Three steps which will likely take no more than a few minutes to complete and should save you a great deal of money over going with Microsoft’s pre-configured flash drives.
What is likely the problem here is that people are still upset with Microsoft over the unreasonably high prices they charged for their proprietary Xbox 360 hard drives and memory cards and with those upset feelings, I can sympathize. I agree wholeheartedly that the prices Microsoft was and still is charging for the Xbox 360’s hard drives were obscenely high ($130 for a 120GB hard drive? What?) but fortunately, in this case, you have the option of looking to third parties for your storage needs. Because you have the freedom to choose whatever storage options you like, what problem should you have with Microsoft? If you don’t like their prices then, by all means, buy from someone else.
What Microsoft is doing here is exploiting of consumer ignorance. Now that sounds horrible, sure enough, but, news flash kids, just about every company out there does this. Welcome to the wonderful world of capitalism. Neither Microsoft, nor any other company is at fault for anyone being an uninformed consumer. The reason I don’t have a problem with what Microsoft is doing is because it is not their responsibility to ensure that you are informed when you enter the marketplace. It is your responsibility to do the research necessary to make informed buying decisions. If you do end up making a poor choice as to what to do with your money, then you have no one to blame for yourself for not doing the proper research.
I hope this sheds some light on the subject of Microsoft’s officially branded USB flash drives. As overpriced as they may be, they’re hardly a rip-off.
Before I get into this editorial/rant, let me set the record straight. I absolutely, positively do not hate Sony itself or the PlayStation brand. I do not blame Sony for the actions of the people who have chosen to stand behind them. I have nothing against the PlayStation brand and I honestly believe that Sony is doing great things with their stable of consoles and handhelds.
Their fanboys on the other hand? They are among the most illogical, irrational, arrogant and all around idiotic group of people I have ever come across. In the past five years of going to various forums and just being in tune with the internet in general as it relates to gaming, I’ve come across just about every type of fanboy you can think of. Microsoft fanboys, Nintendo fanboys, Apple fanboys, even Sega fanboys and none of them, without exception, can compare to Sony fanboys in terms of sheer annoyance.
Before you read, keep in mind that these are my gut reactions and are meant to be taken with a grain of salt.
Earlier today (or yesterday, if you want to get technical) I was in the midst of a History class while Apple unleashed their latest invention upon the world so I missed all of the liveblogs and typical launch fervor that was surely running rampant throughout the internet around 1PM EST but after coming home and seeing just what Apple’s iPad is going to be when it releases in approximately 60 days’ time, I couldn’t help but feel underwhelmed. After the veritable deluge of rumors and speculation that has been spreading through gadget blogs for months now, I was expecting more. I was expecting more or less an Apple netbook (minus the keyboard) running a pared down version of OSX for $500 – $1,000, I was not expecting Apple to unveil what is essentially a giant iPod Touch. Honestly, given its feature set, I have no idea why this thing needs to exist, especially at the prices Apple is charging for the different versions of the thing (and there are a lot of them).
Musical Musings Tumblr Blog Updates
