Tough luck, Nintendo

Today will be remembered as the day that Microsoft killed Nintendo.

You may have heard of the Nintendo Wii U, the Wii's older brother. Basically it is a souped up Wii console. The main USP of the U is that they have ditched the USP of the Wii. Gone is the Wiimote, the wand like controller that magically filled Nintendo's pockets and rudely poked a stick into the game console world's side.

Wii(ll)U buy it?

The Wiimote has done something to the games culture that Nintendo have become adept at - making games fun. Microsoft were releasing their next round of Halo and more Gears of War were churning out; the serious gamers had their clawed hands full and their bank accounts empty. The Wii brought a greatly under appreciated demographic into the mix - children. And more importantly their parents. The Wii's approachable Miis and the pure fun of swinging a plastic stick and seeing your avatar swing a tennis racket were a concoction for success. Success that Microsoft and Sony wanted a piece of.

Sony released their blatant 'oh shit why did we not think of that' Play station Move, effectively a Wiimote with a big glowy ball on top, along with their Sixaxis controller - a standard looking PS controller but with accelerometers in.

Microsoft at least upped the ante with their laser ranging, voice identifying, Kinect. Although extremely novel and pretty damn cool, the Kinect falls down on the games for it - development houses have yet to come up with a kind of game that feels a natural use for the (lack of) controller. So even though it might be one of the most impressive bits of kit in the games market, there isn't really a market for the games.
So if it's not the Kinect that will kill Nintendo, what is it?

Well let's go back to the Wii U. So it's a console with greater specs that than the original Wii, that isn't hard as the Wii had very low specs comparatively to its competitors, and in fact the U is still no wower in that department. The USP is the 'second screen' of the controller. Obviously this isn't a new concept, if you care to think back to the Sega Dreamcast. The idea is that the game you are playing on your big screen will have augmented fun on the handheld little touch screen. From maps for your RPG to throwing frisbees and the like. Nintendo have spent a lot of money developing a controller which has a large touch screen, accelerometers and gyroscopes.

What Microsoft have done is realise that you have one of these already.

Some kind of singing game. Each to their own.

Today Microsoft release SmartGlass.

SmartGlass is an application for your phone or tablet which turns it into a second screen for your Xbox. Nintendo's USP just became a SP.
Your average "smart" phone contains a touch screen, accelerometers , gyroscopes, magnetometers, bluetooth, WiFi... the list goes on, so luckily for Microsoft, they haven't had to spend a penny (/dollar/yen) on hardware development.

So as Nintendo are fast in production for their November release date, Microsoft have already jumped the gun and released a product which is better than the Wii U in most ways, without having to actually release a new product. And the best thing is, you don't have to buy a new phone, tablet or console.
Tough luck, Nintendo.

AZ: The Complete Guide to Insufficiency by David Thomas Broughton

36 weeks late...

C: The Complete Guide to Insufficiency by David Thomas Broughton
As suggested by Chris Sparrow

This is not your normal album. This album was not recorded in a studio with thousands of pounds of equipment. This album was not mixed, adding layers of instruments over each other, compressed, mastered. This album was recorded in a church. This album was recorded in one take. This album is what it is and what it is is simplicity.

This album has a very slightly out of tune guitar.

When Chris offered up this album to the failed fortnightly (not biweekly) A-Z project, he described this album as “mostly just eccentric mumblings over looped acoustic guitar”. And to be honest I cannot add much more to that description.

There isn't much to this review. Then again there isn't much to this album. Sometimes you don't need much for perfection (... the album’s alright too).

6/10
Serving suggestion:
Do not listen to this album if you are yearning for intricate lyrics painting grand vistas or odysseys but more if you are looking for some beautiful music as bed to your evening, before you go to bed or as you stay up into the wee hours of the evening.