Game Critics: Game of the Year Winners Announced

Game Critics: Game of the Year Winners Announced - Xbox Live's Major Nelson: 

"Top 10 Games of 2007:
1.) BioShock
2.) The Orange Box
3.) Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
4.) Rock Band
5.) Super Mario Galaxy
6.) Halo 3
7.) Mass Effect
8.) God of War II
9.) Assassin's Creed
10.) Uncharted: Drake's Fortune

Game of the Year breakdown by platform:
Xbox 360: 7
PlayStation 3: 5
PC: 3
Wii: 1
PlayStation 2: 1

Game of the Year breakdown by publisher:
Microsoft Game Studios: 2
Sony Computer Entertainment: 2
EAP (Valve, MTV Games/Harmonix): 2
2K Games: 1
Activision: 1
Nintendo: 1
Ubisoft: 1"

Wii Tie Ratio at 8:1 in December

IGN: Wii Tie Ratio at 8:1 in December: "According to the software data tracking service, consumers purchased 8.11 games for every Wii console sold in December. This relates to 7.76 games for every Xbox 360 sold during the month and 5.04 games for every PlayStation 3 purchased in the same time frame."

This is VERY impressive. Clearly the cheaper hardware is turning into more software sales. Kind of takes away the, "Yeah, well it's cheaper" argument when people still spend nearly the same when they buy that much software.

AutoblogGreen gets the first drive of the Tesla Roadster!

If you're into cars at all, or helping the environment, this a really interesting article about a lot of really great technology.

"The first and so far only blog to get a test drive in the Tesla Roadster now has a report up live. This little electric sports car is certainly no golf cart! There's a full driving review with a video and lots of photos"

read more | digg story

BioShock Receives a Record-breaking 12 Interactive Achievement Award Nominations

IGN: BioShock Receives a Record-breaking 12 Interactive Achievement Award Nominations:

Lots of great games in 2007. Bioshock is easily one of the best.

"The nominations for the peer-based awards have been dominated by two blockbuster first-person shooter games, BioShock (2K Games) and Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision) by receiving an astounding 10 nominations from industry leaders and members of the interactive entertainment software business. In addition, finalists in close lead with top nominations include: The Orange Box (Electronic Arts and Valve Software), Rock Band (MTV) and Super Mario Galaxy (Nintendo of America), all up for the Overall Game of the Year Award."

EA Asks Fox News to Correct Mass Mistakes

IGN: EA Asks Fox News to Correct Mass Mistakes:

"Fox News recently aired an alarmist segment on Mass Effect claiming the game featured full nudity and sex. The reporter also said critics claim the game is being marketed to children. The gaming community has been abuzz with talk of the segment, which many view as containing several inaccuracies."

Make sure to check out the breakdown of the inaccuracies. If you've played this game you know that God of War, GTA, or even Bioshock (not for nudity, but themes) are much more mature games. These games all got a Mature rating and are recommended for players 17 and up. I'm not conservative at all when it comes to video games, but these games are not marketed to kids and are completely appropriate for 17 year olds.

Cell phone bill on the rise? Check your SMS charges

Cell phone bill on the rise? Check your SMS charges - Engadget: 

Greedy cell phone companies. If you're not upset about this you should be...or maybe you should be paying your own phone bill now that you're in college. It's a very simple and extremely cheap technology to support and operate so they're simply charging you more because you like to use it.

"Of course, this trend of rising prices accompanies a major spike in the use of text messages amongst customers, with some surveys marking a 130-percent jump over SMS use since June 2006 -- and telcos are taking it to the bank. What's most insidious about the inflated costs is the fact that SMS data is particularly low-bandwidth, and analysts say that the price increases aren't related to higher operating costs -- these companies are simply gouging customers for a service which they have embraced."

College textbook prices up 186% since 1986; enter revolution

The U.S. Department of Education released a study that states since 1986, textbook prices have risen almost 186 percent, or 6 percent a year. This is four times the amount of inflation. With college bookstores not doing much to fix problems, entrepreneurs and Web 2.0 companies are trying to revolutionize the textbook industry with easy solutions.

read more | digg story

Mac sales are skyrocketing

ChangeWave - Helping You Profit From Change: Take a look at direction of the graph for people planning to buy an Apple....

Now let's look at the direction Dell is headed...

"Apple Mac Sales Skyrocket
Past 90 Days: Consumer sales of Apple laptops (up three points to 17%) and desktops (up six points to 16%) took an astonishing leap over the holidays."

Sprint to Slash 4,000 Jobs After Subscriber Losses - New York Times

Sprint to Slash 4,000 Jobs After Subscriber Losses - New York Times: "On Friday, the company said it lost 683,000 post-paid subscribers in the fourth quarter, far more than analysts' forebasts for a loss of 350,000 to 500,000 subscribers.

Post-paid subscribers pay monthly bills and are often on a contract, making them more valuable to the company. Sprint also lost 202,000 prepaid subscribers, or customers who pay in advance for a set amount of service.

Analysts said it was a dismal performance even for Sprint, which lost post-paid subscribers in five of the last six quarters, since end-year holiday sales are usually a strong point for wireless carriers."

The Macworld is officially spinning

There has been a TON of news today from Apple. All kinds of new products. I do not have the time or energy to explain all of them. The good folks over at Engadget already did a great job of that.

Check out their info and lots of great galleries.

I also have most of the goods starred in my Google News Feed.

Check the important stuff out here.

'Big two' continue to dominate Japan

'Big two' continue to dominate Japan: Digital Photography Review: 

"However, taking compacts into account as well, Canon led the market for the fourth consecutive year. It took 21.2% of Japan's overall digital camera market, ahead of Matsushita (Panasonic), which jumped from fourth to second place with 14.9% of the market, mainly because of the success of the Lumix FX33."

Good news. Nikon is doing well in the DSLR space and have some interesting technology, but bang for the buck and color accuracy I'm still going Canon.

Weirdest alert message I've ever seen.

Silly Windows! Don't hurt yourself trying to make logic of this.

"So this morning I'm playing GTA III for old times sake, when it minimizes and this thing pops up."

read more | digg story

Another Google Street View Crash

Offbeat News: Another Google Street View Crash

Those are nice cars too! Bummer about your Range Rover dude!

Report: Apple stores' Mac sales beat PC stores by 10-to-1

AppleInsider | Report: Apple stores' Mac sales beat PC stores by 10-to-1: 

"Senior analyst Toni Sacconaghi expresses surprise at the numbers in the report, which observes that the typical Apple retail location sells about 21.4 Macs every day versus 'less than 2' for many less specialized electronics shops"

Holy crap these numbers are great. Look at the graph of how well Apple stores do compared to Best Buy! It's insane. Be sure to click the link for more details.

No More New Things From Microsoft

No More New Things From Microsoft - Bits - Technology - New York Times Blog: 

"Bill Gates, the outgoing chairman of Microsoft, had little that was interesting or innovative to show off in his last annual keynote at CES in Las Vegas on Sunday."

Wow, isn't that the truth. It was painful to watch businessmen try to be suave and cool. Getting worse, they only showed off existing products and when they did the demos weren't even smoothly functional. Gates demonstrated a Microsoft Surface table by building a snowboard. The interface was choppy, slow and unintuitive. A real let down.

PC Makers Take A Stylish Turn To Tackle Apple

PC Makers Take A Stylish Turn To Tackle Apple - WSJ.com:

 "They're racing to replace boring boxes with sexy silhouettes that will differentiate their products, entice new buyers and command higher prices."

Here's a real shock - PCs are UGLY. It only took 10 years (Apple started making computers unique in '97.) Take a look at the graph from the WSJ...good news for those of us who work on the Apple side of the fence. 

Fun Toothpick Trick

Mac market share breaks 8% mark in 2007's final days

Mac market share breaks 8% mark in 2007's final days: "Mac's market share reached 8% during the last two days of 2007, a record mark that a Web measurement company yesterday called 'phenomenal.'"

TRUE....double true.