Austin360 blogs > Digital Savant > Archives > 2010 > June > 17 > Entry
Quick takes: E3, iPhone 4 pre-sale apocalypse, World Cup tech
Here’s just a few of the items that have been part of a few tsunami of tech news this week and my quick takes on them:
E3 — The Electronic Entertainment Expo for the last few years has been about game makers, sure, but mostly it’s a platform to see what Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony are trying to do with their respective game consoles.
Microsoft and Sony are both introducing motion game controllers this year (Microsoft’s camera-based “Kinect” and Sony’s unimaginatively named “Move”). Sony is pushing 3-D games that will debut as early as this summer (but which will require pricey 3-D glasses and a new 3-D capable HDTV, something I don’t think a lot of gamers plan to rush out and buy). Microsoft is incorporating ESPN sports into its Xbox Live service. But Nintendo may have stolen the show with its 3DS, an update of the DS portable console that adds 3-D on its top screen without glasses.
The biggest surprise, according to people who’ve seen the device in action, is that it actually works. Leave it to Nintendo to jump ahead to a functional, affordable version of The Next Big Thing while its competitors still struggle to catch up with the three-and-a-half year old Wii game console. The Kinect is rumored to cost $150, the PlayStation Move will be cheaper ($50), but will also require a PlayStation Eye camera and a second controller to be much use, and Sony’s 3-D plan is predicated on a $2,500+ purchase of a new TV.
Who will win this next round of game battling? Even without a new Wii system (Nintendo is focusing instead on bringing back classic characters like Kid Icarus and Donkey Kong as well as Mickey Mouse in “Epic Mickey”), it seems Nintendo has the advantage.
iPhone 4 disaster — Enough has been written about the Day Of The Pre-Order Snafu, Tuesday’s disastrous launch of pre-orders for the iPhone 4 (which is due out next Thursday).
Some have used the pre-order mess, in which people couldn’t order an iPhone 4 on AT&T’s or Apple’s Web sites, as another sign of dysfunction in the AT&T/Apple relationship. But at the end of the day, even with all the problems, 600,000 pre-orders were made, a stunning number that makes me think this will be the biggest iPhone launch so far. People who have been toting iPhone 3G devices are ready to upgrade, those who’ve been on the fence have finally decided the iPhone 4 is for them and the demand may be more than anyone — even Apple and AT&T — could have possibly expected.
AT&T has suspended pre-orders after pushing new ones off into July. If you’re still interested in an iPhone 4 on launch day, your best bet may be to hit Best Buy, Wal-Mart or Radio Shack instead of the Apple Store or AT&T’s retail shops.
I put in a reservation, but am still not sure if I’ll pick it up. I have a 3GS and the penalty for not being given upgrade eligibility is hefty, an extra $200 on top of the iPhone 4 price of $199/$299.
World Cup tech — I did a blog post and audio segment for NPR about Web traffic related to the World Cup and tools for watching matches online and on your phone. If you have other ways you’re plugging into the Cup, I’d love to hear about it.
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