W♥M (Archive)

The Next Generation of Gaming Consoles

Sony announced the PlayStation 4 yesterday (February 20th), without actually show it off. Instead, you're only given vague information about the upcoming system, some game announcements, and showing off the controller (this was probably a given since there were leaks online prior to the announcement). I am interested in Diablo III, but will it require its terrible "always online" requirement? I hope not. That was the one reason why I refuse to give Blizzard any more of my money.

Why should you be interested in these systems? Outside of gaming, these machines make amazing media boxes for your television. Most people (like me) use them to watch all my media or listen to all my music via a Network Attached Storage (NAS).

Based on PS3's already established "Apps" model, I wouldn't be surprised to see more video or music-related apps. Right now, you can get "Music Unlimited", which is a subscription-based model. As I wrote in my review, I think $10 is too much to ask to pay, but the $4 model won't get you very far.

Below is a comparison chart between the 'next' generation consoles. Since the Xbox has not been announced, all the information I listed below are pretty much rumors - based on a development kit via Kotaku.

Product:	PlayStation 4 (PS4)	Xbox 720 (rumor)	Wii U
CPU:	AMD's "Jaguar" 8-core 64-bit x86 CPU	Unknown 8-core, 64-bit 1.6ghz CPU	CPU Tri-Core IBM PowerPC "Espresso"
Graphics:	Custom AMD Radeon GPU	800mhz DirectX 11.x graphics processor units	550 MHz AMD Radeon GPU "Latte"
Memory:	8 GB GDDR5	8GB of DDR3	2 GB DDR3-1600 DRAM
Media:	Blu-ray, DVD, CD	Blu-ray, DVD, CD	12 cm 25 GB Wii U Optical Disc (does not support DVD, Blu-Ray or CD)
Storage:	Hard drive, size(s) unannounced	500GB hard drive, speeds of up to 50 MB/sec.	8 GB or 32 GB Flash Memory
Camera:	PlayStation 4 Eye	Kinect (requirement)	Wii U GamePad

Again, I should stress that much of the Xbox information are rumors.

I was afraid that the PS4 will require an always online connection - but Sony's game studios chief, Shuhei Yoshida said it doesn't have to be online. Xbox, on the other hand, is said to require online to play all their games. They have not squash the rumor, and I actually believe that Xbox will require online - after all, most PC games require online activation in order to run it. Remember: this is the same company that requires you to pay $80 a year to have the ability to watch YouTube.

Other interesting note is that both consoles can quietly install games in the background while you play your game. The PS4 has a duo chip, with one of the chip dedicated to such tasks - while the Xbox will also have a dedicated "block".

vu () ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ podcast.weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic

Music Unlimited

Sony is offering a free 60 trial full membership for their Music Unlimited service to their Playstation 3 members. I've decided to give the service a go and here's my thoughts on it.

MUSIC UNLIMITED
sonyentertainmentnetwork.com

I'm glad Sony got rid of the name Qriocity, which may, or may not, sound like a gay/lesbian dating website. They've rebranded it as Music Unlimited and it's now supported across their Sony platforms, including tablets, walkmen, television, and Playstation 3. Unfortunately, I haven't tested the service on any other device since I don't actually own any other Sony product and I can't really be bothered to remember my password to login from my computer. I'm sure with the single login that my playlist and channels will be synced all across the board.

My Library Country & Folk Channel Artist Biography

Music Unlimited works like those "music channels" you get bundled with your cable provider, only the PS3 version show off high resolution graphics. Unfortunately there are a few album artwork that looks terrible blown up.

Audio is played through your television speakers, unless you have some sort of crazy audio setup for your entertainment center. It all depend on your setup, but I suspect because you're streaming audio, that it's not the best highest quality of audio (not that my lame ears could detect anyway). Listening to my TV audio is OK for me, I've no complaint.

What I liked: You have access to a ton of music. We're talking more than 10 million tracks. Genre (displayed as "Channels") and playlist are curated by someone at Sony. I like them for what they are, if you're in the mood for Bollywood or Country & Western/Folk, you can tune in to see what's happening. It's a good way to discover music, but I find that they only pick really popular music (at least in the Indie section).

The other thing I like is that Sony is giving users 60 days to try out the service. Seems really generous, considering the other music services offer nothing or a week trial.

Now for the bad news: everything requires internet connection. Loading up playlist takes what seems minutes to load. Songs sometime needs over 30 seconds to buffer. Connection to Music Unlimited may be rejected when you first launch it a couple of time. Artwork for songs and albums are slow to load. Basically it comes down to network issues and that's going to be a problem for me (because newsflash: if I have trouble now, I'll have trouble in the future).

Suggestions: Perhaps let me upload or add my own music to my library. I actually own a lot of obscure/old music that it not available on Sony's network. I would also like to hear Music Unlimited in the background while I'm browsing the web or playing a game (it doesn't multi-task on the PS3 and I don't think it's possible).

The Music Unlimited service works like any all-you-can-eat music service, such as Zune or RDio or Spotify. The thing that sets them apart is that you have it on the PS3 (which is the center of my television/entertainment center). Yes, I know Zune is available for the Xbox, but that costs an additional $10 for Xbox Gold, so you're paying double the cost. And speaking of cost, Music Unlimited is comparable to other services, with a bare-bones version for $3.99 a month, to a full version for $9.99. The differences is that for $10, you get Premium Channels, unlimited playback, your library, and the ability to create & edit playlists. Basically $4 won't get you very far. If I had to pay, would I do so? Probably not, because I'm a cheapskate. I feel for that amount of money, I could be getting Netflix or buy/own an album. Or better yet, for $4 a month, I could be a PS Plus member and get one free game a month. There's plenty of options to spend my cash.

vu () ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ podcast.weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic ♥ +W♥M