Idealty's Domain: Let's Talk Tech

Easily one of the biggest games to come out this generation, GTA IV is finally out in solid form and spinning in over 8 million PS3s and Xbox360s worldwide after less than a month on the market. Reviews had initially placed its average score at over 99% which made it the highest rated game of all time! Over the past two weeks, it had dropped slightly to 97.6 on Xbo360 (#1 all time) and 97.4 on PS3 (#3 all time). Needless to say, it had lived up to the hype in terms of sales and critical acclaim. But does the game warrant all of this acclaim? Is it really the best game ever made? After only 6 hours of playing the game myself, I would have to say that it is a great game but not necessarily the best of all time. The game is definitely the best GTA game ever released. I admire the shear size and attention to detail the game exudes. Things like stopping to pay a toll to go across and bridge and the cops chasing you if you don't is one of those touches. The ability to call a cab from any...

Today is more confusing than any other time to be a game console buyer. Since their respective launches, there have been more than 5 different SKUs of the Xbox360 and 4 different SKUs of the PS3. It is annoying, but one of the main criteria that both Sony and Microsoft use to differentiate the SKUs are their HDD sizes. For example, the 360 currently has the Core w/o a HDD, the premium with a 20GB HDD, and the elite with a 120GB HDD. Meanwhile, the PS3 has had a 20GB, 60GB, 40GB, and an 80GB SKU, of which only the 40GB remains on store shelves. So it would seem that the 360 is a better deal since ultimately, it comes with a largest HDD in the 120GB SKU. But there is a fundamental difference between Sony and Microsoft's HDD strategy. The Xbox360 is a "closed" platform, meaning that only Microsoft designed HDDs built specifically for the Xbox360 can be used in the system. However, the PS3 is an "open" platform meaning (in this context) that the HDD which comes with...

I will start a new series a post called "Ps3 Secrets Revealed" that primarily serve to educate current and future PS3 owners on some of the neat and unprecedented features present in the hardware that they may not know about. The PS3 is easily the most complicated piece of gaming hardware ever released and the amount of things that it can do is staggering. Sony has done a poor job promoting and educating many on its features primarily because there are just too many to manage and discuss. So, that's what I'm here for. In case you're wondering, No I am not doing this feature because I'm just some biased ignorant Sony lover that wants to brag about the PS3. I can say that I've owned all three of the current generation hardware and currently still own a PS3 and Wii. I waited in the rain for 5 hours on a work day to get a Xbox360 only to be denied! I then purchased it off of ebay for over $200 above the MSRP. Not to mention I thought the PS2 hardware was horri...

You have to commend Nintendo and what they are achieving this generation with both the Wii and the DS. Here is a company that once dominated the market but spent much of the 90s and 2000s languishing in the shadows of their competitors, including Sony, Sega, and Microsoft. Most thought that Nintendo would fall the way Sega did and drop out of the hardware business after the GameCube. Instead, After over 10 years of playing 2nd and 3rd fiddle, Nintendo is once again dominating the market and the Wii has achieve unprecedented success. Not only is the Wii alone outselling the PS3 and 360 combined on a month-month basis in every major territory around the world, but their brilliant business strategy allows them to be the only hardware company to actually make a profit on every single Wii system sold (chalk it up to the relatively simple and old technology powering the machine). It is one of the greatest comeback stories ever! If there ever was a doubt, just take a look at the official hard...

Gran Turismo 5: Prologue Platform: PS3 Develepor: Polyphony Digital Release Data: 4/15/08 Price: $39.99 Screens: The next installment of the critically acclaimed Gran Turismo series, which has sold nearly 50 million units to date, is on its way to the PS3 next month. However, there is a catch. The prologue in the title indicates that this is not the final and complete version of GT5. In fact, it's more of a progress report as Polyphony is breaking down the release of GT5 into increments to tide fans over since the scope and development time for the full game would have too long of a wait. Indeed, the existence of this game is smart marketing by Sony to milk one of its biggest franchise on its still young PS3 which has been starved for big games. The first installment came out in December 06 titled Gran Turismo HD concept which was a free demo featuring a single new location to race about 20 cars around with new HD graphics. It looked great and was a great free tease of what GT5 ...

Never have I seen a gaming system be as widely criticized and hated on as the PS3 between it unveiling back in May 2005 and the end of 2007, a year after it's November 2006 release. Hardcore gamers and gaming press would bad mouth it as if they were paid too, consistently pointing to lack of features compared to the competition, high price, and "No games" as reasons to not buy the system. The criticism went much farther than simply recommending its competitors as the PS3 literally was the laughing stock of the industry and Sony simply could do no right. Many times I've heard of casual people walking into a game store and asking "What about the PS3?" and the clerk responding with a chuckle saying "Nobody's buying it! It's too expensive and has no games. Xbox360 is much better". The impression most had was that the PS3 had a horrible 1st year, with a launch that resulted in its limited hardware not even selling out weeks after release, limite...

PC gaming has traditionally been a difficult and expensive hobby due to constantly evolving hardware and high cost components (particularly graphic cards). However, the last year or so has seen a nice selection of graphic cards released by both Nvidia and ATI that are not only great performing cards, but present an unprecedented value to the costumer with very low prices. Nvidia GeForce 8800GT Released: October 2007 Price: ~$250 (512MB) Specifications: 8800GT Details Upon its release, the 8800GT literally changed the PC graphics market overnight. Delivering performance virtually equal to the 8800GTX (Nvidia's second card from the top) but for half the price, you could not find these cards online or at stores for months after its release. Despite its numbering as an 8000 series, this is actually the first card to use Nvidia's G90 cores (all of the other 8000 cards use the G80 core) which features several improvement such as 65nm manufacturing resulting in less heat output and po...

2008 was not the year for HD-DVD. After only 2 months into the year and a total of only 22 months in the market place, competing format Blu-Ray has claimed a fast and decisive victory. Even though many in the industry believed that the battle was looking to stalemate judging from status of the battle as of the end of 2007, the press releases came steadily beginning in January 2008. Each one delivered one more nail in the coffin of HD-DVD and by mid-February all of the backers of HD-DVD had raised the white flag. First a bit of review. For those not familiar with the two competing HD formats HD-DVD, backed primarily by Toshiba and Universal Pictures, and Blu-Ray Disc, backed primarily by Sony, Pioneer, and Disney, have been competing for the hearts and minds of consumers to be the legitimate successor to the DVD format. The main advantage of both formats include the upgrade to high definition video and audio with several times more resolution and fidelity than a DVD can ever offer. Si...

Wow! Well it's been nearly 7 months since I've updated this blog and that time has finally come. Grad school and life in general has definitely kept me busy, but starting now I will be posting much more regularly about the numerous topics that have risen in the interim period. Of course, I will also talk about newer topics as they come along. Hope you enjoy the read, find out something useful, and have fun!!