A video collection of 9 creepy female looking robots. Could we be looking at the future of ‘wife-buying’ technology?

As I was reading various video game articles today, I came across one that really stood out to me. On Gamepolitics.com, there’s an interview with PC Gaming Alliance President, Randy Stude. The entire interview is very interesting, and is a very insightful look into the future of PC gaming. I want to talk about one major point that Randy brings up in the interview.

Interviewer - “Could the outrageous development cost of new consoles bring PC gaming back to the mainstream?”

Randy Stude - “The guts of every console should tell you that the capability is there for the PC to act as the central point for all the consoles.

Well, why not? Why shouldn’t that be the case? [Sony is] certainly not making any money on the hardware. I mean, can’t they create a stable enough environment to specify that if Dell’s going to sell that notebook and say that it’s PlayStation 4 [compatible] that it must have certain ingredients and it must meet certain criteria? Absolutely they could that. Are they going to do it? I don’t know. I predict that they will. I predict that all of the console makers over time will recognize that it’s too expensive to develop the proprietary solution and recognize the value of collapsing back on the PC as a ubiquitous platform.”

That’s quite a bold statement to make, but with the perception of PC gaming that most people have it’s smart. Dare I say he has me somewhat convinced that it could happen.

Microsoft, and Sony lose money on every gaming console that they sell. The money they make is through markup on software, and accessory sales. So, is it such a crazy idea to put hardware on PC’s?

First, it would save the need of building an entire console and therefore saving production dollars. Second, it’s another option to give consumers who want to enjoy your products. Also, you could still sell accessories for the PC, which could still help you generate your profit.

Although it’s an idea that’s quite a ways from happening, I agree with the point Stude has made. If Sony, or Microsoft are looking to up their profits, they might want to start looking into it themselves. Nintendo need not apply, because of the juggernaut they are, profits are sitting pretty. Considering they actually make money on their console sales, integrating with PC’s is a moot point.

I’d say about 1 in 2 people reading this either play World of Warcraft, know someone that plays it, or has completely lost their lives to it. The reason I know that is because the expansion pack to WoW, Wrath of the Lich King set record numbers for sales its first 24 hours upon release.

World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King sold 2.8 million copies in its first 24 hours of release. Although all the markets are looking down because of the economy, video games, WoW in particular are looking like everything is gravy. The main reason being is that during turbulent economic times people still want to be entertained. Even more so than when times are good.

The Lich King Is Laughing Maniacally At All The Gold

So, just how much money has Blizzard, now Blizzard-Activision made off the WoW franchise? Well, it’s estimated that around 11 million subscribers play WoW. Most of those people have upgrade to the Burning Crusade, the expansion that came out prior to Wrath of the Lich King. Then tally up those software totals, with the $15/month that WoW players must pay in order to play their game everymonth. Financially it estimates to about a $1 billion/year industry.

Just think of how much money you’d have right now if you had invested in Blizzard back when their big release was Lost Vikings on the SNES.

For all of you blondes out there, a keyboard has finally been made for your needs. Instead of a boring ol’ ‘Enter’ button, you will have the ‘Yes I Want It’ button. I know it might be for blondes, but it would be pretty sweet to have a Yes I Want It button.

There are very few shows that truly do stand the test of time. Star Trek is the greatest example of a show going beyond its means and still providing great entertainment for future generations. Sure, it’s campy, hoaky, and has considerably dated special effects. Even with its problems, the stories, characters, and lessons still have an impact to this day. Just watch the debates between Kirk, and Spock in the old shows and tell me they don’t still ring true.

The show also pushed racial boundaries like never seen before. On the Enterprise, there was an American, Scot, African-American, Asian, Russian, Vulcan all working together side by side. As we strive for racial equality, Star Trek is a great reminder of just how far we’ve come.

Fast forward to 2008, and we have less than a year to wait before the new Star Trek movie. It’s a re-imagining, showing how the crew and Enterprise got its start.

I’m cautiously optimistic as is most Star Trek fans, some not even optimistic. I’m quite puzzled by the casting, as I’m pleased with what I thought would be the hardest roles to cast.

The actor they have playing Captain Kirk looks spot-on from the trailer. I was really afraid they were going to try and get an actor of high star quality to play Kirk. Some might have seen this as a smart option, but there’s no one out there that’s going to shine brighter than the original William Shatner. So, I’m quite pleased with the decision of casting someone who hasn’t quite reached star status yet, but looks to have the potential to do so.

Zachary Quinto looks like he was born to play the role of Spock. He has the physique, facial structure, and judging by his performance on Heroes as Sylar the ability to play the logical, if sometimes cold Spock.

The rest of the cast leaves me scratching my head though. Two of the rest of the Enterprise crew are played by actors that I have seen in comedies only. John Cho really doesn’t fit into what the original Zulu character was. In the trailer I provided, it shows Zulu in an action scene. If you watch past episodes of Star Trek, Zulu was never in any action scenes what so ever. Simon Pegg as Scotty could work, as Scotty did little more in the show than provide some cheesy one liners about the Enterprise’s power and beaming.

Karl Urban as Leonard ‘Bones’ McCoy is probably the most questionable casting choice out of all of the Enterprise crew. I have nothing against Urban, as he is a entertaining actor. What I question is that Urban has quite a bit of star quality, so much so he runs the risk of outshining Pine as Kirk. Unless he trims a bit of his muscle, he runs an even greater risk of being more of a physical threat than Captain Kirk as well.

I’ve been kind of nit-picky, but when you’re rebooting a classic series such as Star Trek; it’s bound to happen. I hope that all of my criticisms are wrong, and everyone comes out amazing in their roles. This picture here I think shows that even with some of the cast choices I disagree with look to do the show justice.

Let me preface this article by stating that I don’t condone piracy. I believe that piracy of electronic media is wrong and should definitely not be condoned.

Now, that my preface is out of the way I’ll say that the RIAA is one of the most heartless organizations in existence. I really don’t think they care about who they go after aslong as they make an example out of dirty downloaders.

I don’t have very much pity for pirates who get caught downloading, or in this case uploading. There are circumstances though, that the RIAA should just back off. Their latest victim, being one of them.

Ciara Sauro is a nineteen year old, who suffers from pancreatitis. She is continually in a hospital, as she waits for a rightful donor. I’m not going to do the math for you, but just research how much it costs to have a hospital visit that long. Now, Sauro could be looking at fines around $8,000 for uploading 10 songs.