Woot! recently had a deal on an 8GB Eye-Fi memory card that I took advantage of for the express purpose of no-brainer automatic photo uploads from my digital camera directly to my Flickr account, which I thought would provide a smoother and higher quality workflow than using my iPhone 4. As such, I set the Eye-Fi up last night and took some very casual photos. While the transfer process really didn't go well (I'll need to experiment a bit more), transferring only two photos correctly and requiring me to manually transfer the rest, the end result was still some photos of recent items in my collection that also happened to be in my staging area, which I decided to share below with some minor commentary so the initial work wouldn't be totally wasted. Enjoy:

Alrighty then... This launches my first podcast entry into the bank of Armchair Arcade podcasts - My first topic focuses on Nintendo. I do not really rant on this as it might seem, however I do inject an opinion that most certainly will not be shared by all.

It is unedited. There are typical pauses, clearing of the throat, etc as I gather my thoughts. Although I personally prefer to edit a podcast and try to strive for high production values, there is something to be said about purely focusing on the fun aspect of it all.

I hope you guys enjoy it.

Download the m4a.

I recently tweeted - to some degree in frustration after reading the same tired complaint yet again - "For all those who insist console gaming is holding PC gaming back, I'd like to know what that might be other than slightly nicer graphics." In other words, we continue to hear talk that this almost six year old console generation is responsible for holding back what the state-of-the-art in PC gaming can be. But really, keeping in mind that both the Xbox 360 and PS3 are capable of 1080p and full surround sound, and have default controllers with lots of buttons, how exactly are consoles holding PC game designs back? Sure, PC's have more memory, storage and polygon-potential, as well as more buttons thanks to its default keyboard, but really, what game designs would be getting exactly if consoles didn't exist? Flashier versions of current games don't count.

What games would PC developers be giving us if they weren't "held back" by consoles? How much more power is really needed given the designs currently being unleashed? I can't think of one game released where I thought, "boy, more processing power/memory/storage would really make this game so much better". If a dev said, "I have this really radical idea, but I can't do it because consoles are holding me back," THEN I'd listen and maybe even agree. Wanting more polygons is not a design issue.

Okay, probable flame bait here, but Peter Vesterbacka (marketing lead for Angry Birds) is claiming that the glorious days of console gaming are over. His argument? For one, as we all know, innovation isn't coming from the big companies these days (the ones who target consoles), but rather indies (ahem, Angry Birds). Secondly, there's a huge cost difference ($60 console game; $.99 Angry Birds). He also thinks that tablets pose a real threat to consoles. The main claim there is that "four generations of new tablets come before a new console." These comments followed a session by Satoru Iwata (Nintendo CEO) who wonders if the rush of mobile and social games might destroy the industry, making it impossible to earn a living as a developer.

What do you think? Are the days of the big three coming to a close?

Edge Magazine is running a nice article responding to Crytek's Cevat Yerli's rant on PC vs. consoles that we discussed previously. It brings up some good questions, such as whether PCs will step up their invasion of the living room and the effect that might have on the divide: Surely, though, if you were to click a button and magically beam your PC output to your TV today, you’d still be pretty far from a console-like experience. Neither Microsoft nor Steam has shown any real interest in a living-room game UI, even though it’s entirely feasible. In the end, believes Ployhar, the choice might be made for them.

Website CVG is reporting that Crytek boss Cevat Yerli has claimed that developers' focus on PS3 and 360 is holding back game quality on PC--a format he believes is already "a generation ahead" of modern day consoles. I say, "too bad, Yerli, it's good for us gamers!". I've been pining for a reasonably stable PC spec to stop the technological arms race since the days of the 486 PC, but it's never happened. Ever since more recent times when the PC has had to take a back seat in software sales to consoles, it's been the console hardware that's been dictating what kind of big budget software has appeared on PC's (outside of a few high profile exceptions from the likes of companies like Blizzard). Why do I consider such a scenario a win? Simply because we NEED periods of 5+ years or so of stability in order for software developers to catch up to the hardware and start to butt up against the limits of what is possible. If the hardware remains a moving target, then there's less chance for normal coding challenges to be minimized, which leads to more opportunities for innovation since more focus can be placed on design rather than wrestling with the technology. With budgets already in the millions of dollars and team sizes in the hundreds, access to more power is obviously not the answer to the call for better games. Despite what some would like us to believe, there is no noticeable (i.e., real world, not benchmarks) technological divide between high end PC's and the PS3 or Xbox 360 outputting 1080p. Modest platforms like the iPhone and Nintendo DS have already long since proven that it's not necessarily power that succeeds, it's clever design. With that said, no matter what side of the debate you're on, I'd think it's hard to argue with how pleasant the idea is that the hardware we have in our possession now should be able to play the latest games for at least a few more years before requiring an upgrade, right?

http://retromaster.wordpress.com/a2601/

Features:
* Faithful FPGA implementation of the 6502 CPU and TIA (Television Interface Adapter) custom chip.
* Composite Video (currently NTSC only) and Audio output.
* DB9 connector for a MegaDrive/Genesis joypad.
* On-board 512Kb Flash memory for storing cartridge roms.
* Support for most bankswitching schemes used by original game cartridges.
* Design fits in a 100K-gate Spartan-3E FPGA.
* Custom PCB dimensions: 3.25? by 2.5?.
* Complete VHDL source code available under GPL.

A brand new episode of my Clone Wars-series. This time I take a look at the Yobo FC3 Plus. It will be a multi part video so be sure to check out all the parts if you don't want to miss out.