My Personal Tech Wishes & The Words Of An Idiot

Alright, it's been quite a while since I've posted on this blog and I feel bad for that. I'm going to be better at it, I promise.

First off, I'd like to direct your attention to an article I found on cnet today that made me laugh. The article is Michael Pachter's thoughts on how well a Wii 2 will do in the market. "But wait," you may say, "Nintendo hasn't even announced plans for a Wii 2 yet. How could someone make predictions about it?" Well, if you asked that, you're thinking exactly what I and all the commentors on the article were thinking. No, Nintendo hasn't said anything that would lead people to think that a Wii 2 is on the way, but that hasn't stopped Mr. Pachter from giving his "professional analysts" opinion on the console. According to Mr. Pachter, the Wii 2 is doomed to fail no matter what the console includes. One of my favorite quotes from his analysis is this: "I just think Nintendo's blown it; I think by the time the launch [their next console] if it's Christmas 2011 it's 2 years too late, and for sure 1 year too late." Does anyone else find the humor in that statement? Is seems that Mr. Pachter can't decide how many years late a Wii 2 would be. If it's for sure 1 year too late, doesn't that mean it can't be 2 years too late. I've always thought that if something was "for sure" that meant it couldn't be anything else, but perhaps I was wrong all this time. If you read the article, be sure to also read the comments on it further down the page. I was glad to see that I wasn't the only person who thought Mr. Pachter was blowing steam hoping to sound intelligent. Predicting the doom of anything before it's been released or announced seems to be the way of Michael Pachter, though as we see in this article, also posted on cnet. Granted, Mr. Pachter isn't saying that the Nintendo 3DS will fail, he's just pointing out that it should be priced higher than it is and that we will see stores struggling all year to keep them on the shelves. To me, that doesn't seem like something Nintendo is going to regret. It may just be me, but I think Nintendo would want their newest handheld system selling so well that it is hard to keep stocked. As long as Nintendo has made enough 3DS units to satisfy the initial demand, I think they're going to enjoy a profitable year. I'd just like to end this section by saying that I look forward to reading more of Mr. Pachter's predictions for the gaming community, if for any reason, for a laugh.

Anyway, the other thing I wanted to talk about was some of my wishes for the tech toys I'd like to have in the future. It's tax filing season, which means that I'll hopefully be getting some extra money from the government in the next month or so. Last year I used my tax return to buy myself a 42" HDTV and I can honestly say that it was quite possibly one of my best purchases ever. I've enjoyed that TV every single day since I got it. Also over the year since I got the TV, I've gotten a PS3 and a Wii as well as a wireless set up for Rock Band. I've also finally entered the world of the smart phone with my T-mobile MyTouch. All in all, it's been a good last year for tech for me.

So, with some more of that government money coming my way, what did I want to buy for myself? The first thing that came to mind was an iPad. (If I hadn't bought a TV with my return last year, I was going to get an iPad with it.) I'd like to get an Xbox 360, but for now, that's not really at the top of my priority list. So, after I decided on getting an iPad, I was faced with several other decisions. Do I buy one of the current gen iPads, or do I wait to see what the iPad 2 is going to offer? If I go with a current gen one, do I buy brand new or refurbished?

I finally decided to wait to see what the iPad 2 is going to offer. I've waited a year to buy an iPad, so what's another couple months? Well, to be honest, with how much I've been wanting to get an iPad, another couple months could prove to be very difficult. Especially if it turns out that the iPad 2 doesn't offer anything that special. But, waiting until it's released will at least (hopefully) lower the cost of the first gen iPads so that I can afford a 64 gig one.

It's been rumored that the iPad 2 is going to have dual cameras, which I would really like, but isn't a tipping point for me. There are also rumors milling about that it will have an SD card slot or a regular USB port. The SD card slot seems more likely to happen than the USB port. Apple has always used their own USB connectors on their portable devices, so why would they stop now? USB would be nice for loading files from your Flash Drive, but you'd be able to do that with an SD card just as easily. If it turns out that the iPad 2 is going to have an SD card slot (regular SD, not micro) I'm probably going to opt for the it instead of the first gen. As a photographer, I'd love to be able to pop my memory cards into my iPad to view them and upload them to Facebook. The reason having cameras isn't going to tip my mind in favor of an iPad 2 is that I have cameras that I could use for taking pictures and a laptop that I use for Skype. Although, it would be entertaining to use the cameras if they included a Photo Booth app. I've always had fun playing around with pictures on Photo Booth, and I can only imagine that it would be easier with a touch screen.

Anyway, that's it for now. I'm really going to try to be better at updating this blog.

Nintendo 3DS

I'm sure most of you have heard of Nintendo's plan to release a new version of their supremely popular handheld gaming system, the DS. The new system, the 3DS, is supposed to destroy the PSP. (the DS's only real competition.)

The 3DS is going to have a screen that allows for 3D gaming without the need for special glasses. Honestly? I think it's a cool idea and I'm excited to eventually play with one. My only worry is that the 3DS is going to be just like the DSi. Don't get me wrong, the DSi is an awesome system, it just could have been so much better. As much as Nintendo wanted people to play with the cameras and the sound apps, they just weren't as popular, in my opinion. I think most people were more excited for the DSi Ware Store that was released with the DSi, the only problem with that is that Nintendo hasn't done a whole lot with the DSi Ware Store to make it stand out from things like Apple's App Store. There are so many great things that Nintendo could be releasing on the DSi Ware Store that they haven't yet. Things like a Virtual Game Boy console, or downloadable NES & SNES games. They could still do that, they just haven't yet.

But, that's not what I wanted to talk about here. I wanted to talk about things I hope will either be in the 3DS, or in Nintendo's next portable gaming system. My first hope is that the 3DS will have some sort of built in memory that can hold more than the DSi does. Sony released the PSP Go, which had a hard drive, but they removed the UMD drive, which made quite a few people angry and caused the system to not be as popular as Sony hoped. Nintendo could totally take that idea and make it infinitely better. Have a hard drive in the 3DS, but keep the ability to play DS cartriges. I've heard that the 3DS is going to be able to play video, so I can only hope that means there will be a hard drive, otherwise we'll all have to rely on SD cards to watch our videos, which could be a pain.

One other thing I'd like to see on the 3DS is, as I've mentioned, a better DSi Ware Store. The Store has so much potential on a system made by Nintendo. They have a whole catalog of Retro games they could release in the DSi Store that would make the DS sell even better than it already is. I mentioned my want for a Virtual Game Boy console. There are so many ways that could be awesome. Imagine downloading one of the Game Boy Advance versions of a Pokemon game, playing it, then being able to transfer Pokemon from there to one of your DS Pokemon Games. It could be pretty epic.

Back on the topic of the 3DS being able to play video, I'd like to see the DS system (any incarnation of it) be able to do the things my PSP does. With my PSP, I can watch videos, look at pictures, listen to music, browse the web and the Playstation Store, and play games. My PSP can be more of a portable media device rather than just a game system. Now, the DSi can do some of the things the PSP can do, it just doesn't do them as well, or as smoothly. I'd like to see the 3DS become more of an all-in-one system. It has the potential to be, it just hasn't yet.

My final thought on the matter? Nintendo has an almost flawless track record with their portable gaming systems. I think that, even if the 3DS doesn't do any of the things I've mentioned, it's going to be successful. I can still hope for some of my ideas to be used though, right?