Microsoft: "We Done Goofed"

As I previously documented, the Xbox One thus far has been a bit of a disaster.  Basically, Microsoft wanted to change everything about how game ownership has previously worked.  You could no longer just lend someone a game without jumping through hoops.  Used games of any kind would face similar restrictions.  The system would require a connection to the internet once every 24 hours or it would no longer function.  The reaction was, to put it mildly, bad.

But today, Microsoft decided that their policies sucked, most likely due to the backlash, and changed many of them to reflect what the PlayStation 4 and the current generation of consoles already do.  They updated the Xbox website to reflect these changes.  

While I've already preordered my PS4, now I'm debating if I've made the right choice.  I think that, for right now, at least, I'm going to hold on to the order I've already made and then get the Xbox One at some point next year when the exclusive games I want are released.  The PS4 is still $100 cheaper, after all.

Texty Texts

Texting is a wonderful invention.  It allows you to quickly and effortlessly communicate with anyone.  Effortlessly for anyone else, that is.

I may be the worst texter in the history of forever.  The way I think leads me down a dark, dark path when it comes to texting.  I tend to overthink things.  And by "things" I mean everything.  Instead of going with the flow of a verbal conversation, a text message allows me to sit back and articulate my thoughts.  For me, this turns out to be more of a curse than a blessing.  Texting to me is akin to an extreme sport.  It wears down your body and requires acute focus and the right mentality.

A typical example of my texting procedure is as followed:

After deciding on the content of a message a message, I type it out, just like anyone else.  But at this point, simple hitting "send" is not a option.  There are a multitude of additional checks that my message must pass before I dare send it.  I will sit there and edit it over and over again.  The words must flow perfectly.  The meaning must be unable to be misconstrued.  My attempts at humor must not suck.  The text must be an appropriate length.  And after summoning the courage to send the text, due to my inability to not overthink, there is approximately a 90% chance that I believe that I failed on all accounts.  And then all I have left is the prayer that what I sent wasn't the worst thing ever to be documented.  If I were to die right then and there, do I want my final words to be from a poor text message?

If I've ever had a text conversation with you, I guarantee that you were on the receiving end of a similar scenario.

A few weeks ago I saw an episode of How I Met Your Mother where Ted attempts to text his latest girl which immediately reminded me of my internal struggle:

 "I started things off with something cute and charming: "I was thinking about you, so I thought I'd send you a little texty text". And the moment I hit 'send', I realized, it wasn't cute at all. It was the lamest thing anyone has ever sent to anyone. And the worst thing about texting is that once you send it, you can never get it back."

Right in the feels.  And he's right.  You can never get it back.  It's out there for the NSA to mock forever.  Therefore, the saga continues...

Fresh Off the Vine

If you don't know, Vine is a new app from the creators of Twitter that allows for the creation of 6 second video loops that can be shared.  These sometimes lead to hilarious results and get posted to YouTube, such as below.

Repeat ad nauseam 

EDIT 6/6/13:  The link appeared to be taken down so I swapped it with another.  hopefully this one stays up.

The Xbox One Reveal in a Nutshell

The other day I shared my thoughts on the Xbox One.  Search any gaming website or forum and you can see that my concerns are shared by many.  In reality people are freaking out.  The press conference Microsoft held the other day has led to nothing but negative press and word of mouth.  Maybe they can stop the bleeding at E3, but the common perception of the announcement is summed up nicely in this GIF.

UPDATE:  Since this topic is too fun to stop talking about, Cracked just posted an article that, in their unique style, explains the problems with the Xbox One.  The article also includes a video that I've seen floating around the 'net today summarizing the conference in under two minutes that I've included below.  If the point hasn't been driven home yet, this video is sure to do it.

The Third Xbox is Xbox One, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Always Online and the End of Lending Games to Friends

The Xbox One console, the revamped Kinect sensor, and the console's new controller

As I mentioned earlier, the next generation Xbox was announced today, and is officially called the Xbox One.  Before I say anything else, I want to comment on the name.  My initial thought was that it was confusing and stupid.  Why would Microsoft name their third console Xbox One?  But after a while I understood their reasoning.  The Xbox One is supposed to be the 'one' item you need for your entertainment center.  The choice is still going to lead to confusion for the uninformed, I'm sure.  PlayStation 4 is going to sound a lot more appealing than Xbox One just due to the bigger number.  Some might think that the Xbox One is synonymous with the original Xbox and think that it is inferior to the Xbox 360 while that console is still on sale.  If anything, at least the name is better than Wii U.

I won't waste time talking about all of the features of the Xbox One.  If you are interested in the console, I'm sure you've already seen everything.  If not, this article from Kotaku covers everything nicely.

What I will discuss is that every nightmare scenario that has been rumored for months has come to fruition.  Every.  Last.  One.  Said scenarios after the jump.

Source Filmmaker vs. Batman

     So I've been on a huge Batman kick ever since I saw The Dark Knight Rises at the midnight premier, and these Team Fortress 2 videos made in Source Filmmaker really hit the spot.  What's Source Filmmaker you ask?  Why it's only the tools game developers Valve use to make movies for their games, such as this spot for TF2 (important details within for understanding a joke in one of the later clips).

     Recently, they released these tools free to the public to do with as they please.  So far, almost every video has involved characters and areas from Team Fortress 2, but that doesn't stop the work people do with Source Filmmaker from being amazing.  Both clips I am highlighting can be seen after the break.

25 Years of Cat GIFs

     25 years ago yesterday (meaning June 15, 2012, I was just a little slow to the trigger), saw the introduction of the .gif file format, which is commonly used throughout the interwebs to showcase brief animations to enlighten the poster of said GIF's audience.  An example and personal favorite as of late is this gem showcasing a scene from Anchorman:

He dabbles in jazz flute.

     IGN posted an article detailing a brief history of the GIF yesterday, so I suggest checking it out.

Lastly, this wouldn't be a post about GIFs without cats, so here you go:

Obligatory