Why I will buy the iPad

After the pre launch hype exploded into a million voices screaming in rage or intoxication one argument about the iPad seems to remain; why would I need one if I have a laptop?
Last week I didn’t have an answer to this question. I figured I might buy one for my mom as she has no use for the extra complexity of a full laptop, but I presumed I would hold off until tablets had evolved a couple of generations.

But yesterday I realized I will buy the iPad. Possibly even the first generation machine.

I have an avid interest in gaming and game design. But I rarely play games anymore, it’s just to time consuming to start up machines and and load save games. I don’t have two hours without interruption to play games. I have many short periods interspersed throughout the day. Today I fill these periods with gaming, reading and twittering from my iPhone. Only one thing could make this more enjoyable, a larger screen.

The iPad is the perfect casual media machine. A tad expensive perhaps, but still worth it. I’m getting one.

PS3 Bluray Disc drive failure

I was playing Uncharted last night. Really liking that game even though I wish they’d spent a little more time on polish. Greatly looking forward to Uncharted 2.
All of a sudden, all sound effects other then footsteps disappear. I get frustrated and blame the developers for slouching. A moment later, the game asks me to pop in the disc.

17 different tries with different sorts of discs later I google around and find out my drive is broken. Well that’s to bad. But it led me to realize something: everyone known that MS repair service is working like an oiled machine these days (after an initial BDSM relationship with their customers), but who knows anything about Sony’s return policies?

I’m going back to the reseller store to find out, this is going to be interesting.

Final Fantasy boosting PS3 sales in Japan (Console Wars)

PS3 sales skyrocket as Final Fantasy Advent Children complete is released with the playable demo of FF13.This is quite probably one of 2009s biggest releases on the PS3 and points to the outcome of this generation in the console war.
There will be no #1 gaming platform.

The Wii has outsold everything x2 and but still has poor support from and to third parties. The Xbox 360 has a clear lead over the PS3 but is clearly not a winner though Microsoft has made both a ton of money and millions of new customers. The PS3 continues to stagnate with good support but far from the great support of the golden PSX days.

In conclusion I miss those days, there was a clear winner, a clear platform that every developer aimed for and a wide spectrum of games.
Maybe the next generation will see a renaissance of games development. Maybe we’ll see total domination by Adobe Flash or OnLive.