Horrible Blogger

Argh! I am so sick of these interruptions to my regular blogging schedule. Last week, we had a power cut so I didn’t have access to my computer (it’s days like those I wish I owned a laptop so I could cadge off the wifi at Starbucks or Sven’s). In the morning, I like to eat my breakfast in front of the tv while watching the Rachael Ray show and then afterwards, I’ll make myself a cup of tea and sit down in front of the computer to blog and get the thoughts out of my head. It’s a little frustrating when I can’t do that.

But anyway, while the power was out it was my birthday and I was really sick for the whole of my birthday week. I woke up on Tuesday morning (the day before my birthday) and my throat was closing in on itself and my sinuses were all stuffed up. Theraflu to the rescue! Luckily, with a lot of sleep and some of the magic that is modern medicine- I felt a little better on my birthday. So Shannon took me out for breakfast and also bought me doughnuts. I got a sack load of cash this year- so I finally got to buy the one thing I have wanted since they came onto the market in 2001- an iPod!

Before then, all I had was my little tiny 512mb iPod Shuffle, and it’s done me well but it was definetely time for an upgrade. I really wanted the iPod Nano (as I think I mentioned before!) so I went to Target and bought the 8gb version. I was pretty happy with it, the only niggling problem was the fact that I had to charge the damn thing every night before I went to bed. As the days went by, other problems started to annoy me too (the video skipping, freezing) so after recieving another $100 gift from another relative, I decided that enough was enough and I went to Target to replace it. I had my heart set on replacing it with the 8gb iPod Touch…but when I got to the store, they were all out of it. Then out of the corner of my eye and in the same cabinet, I saw the iPod Classic. Now it’s easy to not notice this poor neglected model, but they just had the one model and it was 120gb for $250. I had spent $170 on the Nano, and had another $100 in my hands- so I just said ‘fuck it’ and bought the Classic. The Touch is very nice, but it doesn’t come in any large sizes and is flash memory based, not hard drive based like the Classic. I couldn’t see what the colours were like for the Classic, so I just went ahead and bought the black model. I honestly couldn’t be happier, it fits my whole music collection and a ton of my videos…with half the iPod to spare! Yikes! Well, this gives me a project to fill it up with some new music

I am waiting for Apple to release a hard drive version of the iPod Touch though. And you can bet that I will buy one to replace this if it ever comes down to it

Celebrity? Moi?

I have been told today that I am a celebrity because I have a fanbase. Say what?! Does this mean that I have to hire bodyguards now and I’m gonna get companies like Apple and Nintendo sending me freebies because I like GameBoys and iPods?

Ohhhh, I wish. While I’m at it, I would like to give a shout-out to Blizzard in hopes of getting the Wrath King expansion for free this Christmas because I promote World of Warcraft on my blog. 

ROFL. Of course, this is as likely to happen as Brad Pitt breaking down in front of my apartment building and asking to stay for the night. Gawd, I wish I will also EAT MY WORDS personally online if Blizzard actually sends me a free copy. I will video tape it and upload it to YouTube, you heard it here first

102 Views?!

Ahhhhh!!! I have my highest amount of hits in a day EVER! 102 so far today So basically, all I need to do is mention the words ‘Apple’ or ‘Nintendo’ in any of my posts and the fanboys come a runnin’ :p Heck, what am I saying? I’m a FANGIRL and I scour the internet for new Nintendo blogs…I’m so lame.

In other news, I got the new Lego Indiana Jones this morning for my DS. Nick keeps looking over my shoulder and making googly eyes at the screen. Looks like we’ll have the XBox 360 version soon…just like Lego Star Wars. 

And then….Lego Batman is in the works too. That’s probably going to be released somewhere around ‘The Dark Knight’ release, me thinks (EDIT: It’s being released in September!)

So many games to buy and not enough money to do it. Where is that $1000 refund check when you need it? Come on, get here already!

Apple vs Nintendo?!

I find this completely ludicrous

From: http://news.cnet.com/8601-13506_3-9961881.html?communityId=2017&targetCommunityId=2017

Why Apple will never kill the Nintendo DS

Has Brian Caulfield of Forbes totally lost it? In a piece entitled, “Why Apple could kill the Nintendo DS”, Caulfield contends that Apple’s new App store for the iPhone and iPod touch could be the first step in replacing Nintendo in the handheld gaming space.

“Monday…Nintendo will likely face a new and far more dangerous foe: Apple,” Caulfield wrote. “Steve Jobs’ computer and gizmo maker will likely launch a long-promised feature, dubbed the App Store, which will let outside developers pour software into the iPhone and iPod Touch. And while it’s unlikely that, say, a mobile version of Oracle’s wonky database will make anyone stand up and cheer, we already know putting games on the iPhone is a pretty powerful combination.”

We do? Ostensibly Caulfield is alluding to games that we saw at the iPhone SDK event earlier this year where Sega unveiled Super Monkey Ball for the iPhone and EA showed off Spore, but I don’t know where else he sees this “powerful combination.”

And if he knew anything about the handheld gaming market, he would probably know that Nintendo’s past is littered with the remains of companies that have tried to supplant it as the leader in the market and failed — miserably.

But to suggest that Apple could conceivably command the market and wrest control from the one company that has controlled it for over 20 years, is both foolhardy and downright ludicrous.

Here’s why:

So far, Nintendo has sold just over 73 million Nintendo DSs. Compare that to the iPhone’s lofty goal of 10 million units sold and the iPod touch’s sales, which have yet to be released, and you can see how much work Apple has to do just to catch up. In fact, last quarter, Apple sold about 1.7 million iPhones and 10 million iPods, although the exact number of iPod touch sales were not given. Considering Nintendo’s April DS sales were 414,800, I just don’t see how Apple has a chance

The DS is currently on pace to not only destroy the Game Boy sales record, but it has the opportunity to do so in about ten years assuming the same rate of sale can be maintained. Can Apple truly produce that many products and then convert those users into gamers? I seriously doubt it.

And perhaps that’s where Caulfield’s logic really falls off the tracks. Apple will most likely try to make some inroads in the handheld gaming business, but the sheer number of DS units already in the wild is enough to ensure that the iPhone and iPod touch will never come close.

Let’s face it — Apple is struggling to sell 10 million iPhones. How can it truly expect to supplant the Nintendo DS in the handheld gaming space if it’s still more than 60 million units behind?

But maybe I should give Caulfield the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps his title about “killing” the Nintendo DS was a little too strong and it’s not about the numbers. Of course, I’m not quite sure how he can run from the sales figures so easily, but that’s another story altogether.

Maybe, just maybe, Caulfield meant that the iPhone and iPod Touch would kill the Nintendo DS by selling more games in the App store. If he believes that, he’s probably even further off than even I want to admit.

Can anyone see any way for Apple to kill the DS by selling games through the App store? If the sales figures (oops, there they are again) aren’t nearly as high as the DS, which has about a 4.7 game attach rate, can we really expect Apple to beat it?

Assuming we’re going to judge the “killing” of one device in the handheld market by software sales, each iPod Touch and iPhone would need an attach rate that has never been achieved in the history of gaming: 34 games per device assuming there are 10 million iPhone and iPod Touch units in the wild.

Now that is doing something.

Sadly, Caulfield makes, well, no sense. Regardless of how hard he tries, he can’t run from the overwhelming discrepancy between the DS sales figures and those of the iPhone and iPod touch. And although he has faith in Apple’s upcoming App Store, does he really trust it that much?

I certainly don’t.

And although I haven’t mentioned it due to the overwhelming evidence that can be found elsewhere, what about the 800-pound gorilla in the room? You know, that whole issue with Apple not understanding (or even caring) about gaming at all. How does Caulfield account for that?

I understand that some folks would like to believe that Apple can control every industry it may have some impact on, but I guess I’m not that naive. Suffice it to say that in some markets, Apple can’t (and won’t) be the leader.

Is that so hard to accept, Mr. Caulfield?