Sony has released a new Blu-ray player (BDP-S300) for $499 - which makes it less than the Blu-ray equipped PS3, but still nearly twice as much as the entry level HD-DVD player. Have I mentioned lately how tired I am of boxes? I’m still waiting for a good deal (other than Sam’s) on the Xbox HD-DVD accessory. Until then, I’m fine carrying on with HD Xbox rentals and cable plus upscaled DVDs.

USA Today is out with a movie-ordering comparison of Apple TV versus Amazon Unbox on TiVo. Buried in the article is an interesting nugget:

Amazon and TiVo are expected today to announce direct sales that bypass the PC altogether.

Movies can currently be ordered via Amazon’s website on computer. (Unofficially: Unbox OnDemand) This method generally works out fine given movies can ‘t be watched until the download completes, but it makes sense to provide ordering directly on the TiVo unit - for both service and as a means of advertising the feature. The challenge isn’t really the technology of building the Java HME widget, the challenge is creating a well organized and friendly TV interface for Amazon’s large collection of content. We shall see…

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Normally, I’d immediately dismiss this as crazy talk… But coming from Peter Rojas of Engadget, we have to consider the possibility:

A well-connected source tells us that AT&T and Apple are working on adding IPTV capabilities to the Apple TV beginning sometime next year.

Even with Apple’s recent hard drive upgrade, the A-TV won’t become a DVR on it’s own… There’s no hidden tuner and no video input. Assuming Apple wants to go down this path (and I’m not convinced that they do), they’d need to either add a USB accessory of some sort or receive video broadcast via the Internet. So if this AT&T rumor has some truth behind it, what does it do to the chances of the Xbox 360 as an AT&T IPTV client?

Over the course of my life, I have been one of Electronic Arts best customers. It’s embarassing to admit how much money I have spent on the company, but year after year, I’m the guy who falls for their trick of repackaging the same content, over and over again.I’m not sure why I feel so compelled to upgrade each year, but for the last decade, I’ve purchased an EA title at least, once every three months. A few of these have been new games that EA has come out with, but by and large I’ve mostly stuck with the tried, but true sport franchises.

I like the sports games the best because they allow me to play a quick game without having to keep track of what’s going on. I’ll usually start with a season mode and by the end of the real life season, I am wrapping up the playoffs. When the online capabilities started to come out, I was pretty fired up about being able to skool other gamers with my mad John Madden skillz, but as a casual gamer, I quickly found out the hard way, that I was no match for the caliber players, who have the time to play online.

Right now my lifetime winning record for all Xbox Live games is under 10%. These days, I tend to stick to playing the computer, but every now and then, I’ll still log in, just so that I remember what it’s like to take a beating.

EA knows that they make their bread and butter on customers like myself. Most of their titles are franchise oriented, which allows them to have a neverending game pipeline in the works. In the past, I thought it was silly to upgrade from one title to another, just for the updated player stats, but each year the subtle differences in the gameplay was enough to convince me to keep upgrading.

Normally, overpaying for a game that I won’t play very long, isn’t really all that big of a deal, but over the last few years, I’ve noticed a disturbing trend at EA and after continuing to be disappointed with their products, I’ve finally decided that enough is enough.

Every since I first bought my Xbox 360, I’ve noticed that EA sports has been building in planned obsolescence into their franchise titles. (more…)

Geeks.com is selling a refurb Xbox 360 for $100 off. Their listed price is $324.99, but using the code GEEKBOX2 during checkout drops it by another 25 bucks. This is the Premium/Platinum model which includes a 20GB hard drive and headset, but no HDMI. While it’s not as sweet as the deal I got (new 360, half off), this method doesn’t require lowering your credit score.

(via Gizmodo)

Comcast is killing their Microsoft TV Foundation deployment in Washington State. Really it’s no surprise when you consider Motorola has partnered with Gemstar to produce and deliver GuideWorks DVR interface, plus Comcast has obviously invested a lot of time and money in bringing a TiVo solution to market. The only realistic place we’d next see Microsoft TV in the US is as a Xbox 360 IPTV solution on AT&T. But I wouldn’t hold your breath… U-verse seems to be doing just fine in rolling out Moto hardware.