CEL '08

It's been one of my short-term dreams as a tech geek to get to attend a tech convention. And while Consumer Electronics Live '08- held by Summit Live- is no E3 or MacWorld, it's a good attempt at creating a family-friendly gadgets convention- and probably the only local effort to date.
So anyway, we went to the SMX Convention Center which is of course found opposite the Mall of Asia, signed our forms, got our tickets and name stickers, and got in.
When you first go in the huge doors, you'll see the LG stand, and behind it, huge black columns of what are obviously Apple gadgets.
So probably you're thinking, "OK, OK, I get it, but what about the gadgets?". Well, OK, OK! I'm getting to them!

Apple
My friends know that I'm pretty much an Apple fan (note the lack of the syllable, boy) so the first thing I did was to go to, yup, the Apple booth. It was minimalist with black tables, with the real units placed beneath their respective columns for mass fondling. Maybe you've heard about the new MacBooks that just came out recently, and yes, I got to try them, but not exactly as extensively as I could've wanted.
When up close and personal, the laptops are just as beautiful as they are in the pictures. Problem is, the added sheen and gloss will turn off a few people, and the new "buttonless" mousepad may require a little getting used to.

And to be honest, the only thing I tried in both MacBook and MacBook Pro was the keypad. How hard do you have to push to activate the huge button? Are the new four-fingered gestures useful?

It may appear conspicuously absent, but the mouse button you normally see in MacBooks are now located in, well, the entirety of the trackpad, meaning that anywhere your finger is on the trackpad, you can just push it with a bit of force. Still, you can tinker with a few settings to exert less effort in clicking the huge thing, but when you get used to it, it actually feels really nice.
Same applies to the gestures. While you may have to memorize them, they will affect your work immensely. When you swipe four fingers up, your open windows instantly go up to reveal your desktop. When you swipe your four fingers down, you get to choose which of the open windows you want to put your attention into. Swiping left or right will reveal the application switcher- much like the effect of pressing Alt-Tab on a Windows computer. (The picture is a bit dark because I forgot to turn on the Flash, I'm sorry.)
Once you get used to this mouse, it's hard to go back. The multi-touch trackpad is still brimming with innovation. And they're cheaper here!

So, the iPhone 3G is old news, but that booth was still crowded. Likewise were the iPods.

Enough about Apple though. Let's see some phones that kick the iPhone's butt.

SamsungSamsung makes some really nice phones. Their first attempt (I think?) in making an "iPhone killer"- the Giorgio Armani phone- is very laggy however, therefore using it was a bit of a pain really.

Things change when you try out the Omnia.
It already looks cool when you see the home screen, and that's because it acts like the Windows Vista Sidebar. Meaning that you can drag "widgets" onto the screen and play with them. This is a nice touch, and a useful one at that.

But how about something not iPhone-related for a change? Over here, we have the Samsung Soul with its dynamic four-way directional pad. This means that depending on the feature you're using, the orange-lit directional pad will change its symbols accordingly. And if you touch that keypad, you get this vibration ("haptic feedback") that lets you know that the phone knows you're pressing one of them buttons.
And then we have the err... to be honest, I forgot what it was called, but it was advertised heavily in the newspaper. It's this Samsung phone that has a roller that reveals itself if you slide the phone to the left. It's flimsy to tell you the truth, and virtually unusable.
The scrolling wheel on the left side sucks.

And then there's the one with the 8-megapixel camera which is nice, as well as the i600 which is an elegant, serious smartphone.
Yes, this thing may have an 8MP camera and excellent face detection, but does it really rival my beloved Cybershot? ....YES IT DOES... kind of.

Still, Samsung also brought its caravan of other products with it: air-conditioning, laptops, and of course, their beautiful high-definition LCD TV's.
Samsung HDTV's: Still beautiful

Nokia
We then headed for the Nokia booth, which was pretty elaborate. Ironically (since they are a very popular company), they were a bit stingy on the demos, but we did get to try out the latest Nokia E series models, namely the E71 and the E65- both capable phones in their own right. Still, the shortcut buttons found in both are more invasive than useful since they're placed right on the softkeys, so you should expect some mayhem if you're in a hurry.

The Nokia E65.

The E71, which froze.

I can also really see now why my dad's batchmate hated the E71: the Messaging function has been placed into a menu item you need to access before being able to access the feature itself. Not only that, the demo model we used hung/froze on us (as seen above), but the Nokia representative's excuse was: "Ay OK lang po sir, prototype lang kasi yan.". Doesn't that make you want to raise your eyebrow?

Other than those two, there were only plastic models on display, which sucked.

LG and HTC
If Nokia was stingy with the stuff they wanted people to actually try out, both LG and Taiwanese brand HTC didn't even have anything to offer for the people to try. I was very disappointed of that, especially with HTC, because their phones look extremely nice (and have the most potential to kick out the iPhone).

LG, however, also brought out its caravan of appliances and TV's. Its centerpiece TV, the Scarlet, was especially a looker.
Sony
But Samsung and LG just can't beat Sony's huge booth. Almost everything they have right now has been towed there. From their newest Vaio's (which were announced days ago) to their nicest Bravia TV. Ironically, they didn't bring in their Sony Ericsson phones which I was dying to try.

VAIO's style is only second, if not at par, with Apple.

VAIO for the ladies.

HD never looked so good.....

My dad was interested in the digital photo frames though, which were overpriced. Their new Cybershots look pretty though, likewise with the new Walkmans.

Walkmans still live!

my|Screen
I don't like the my|Phone brand very much, but I was curious to see how my|Screen would hold up to its competitors. To be honest, the quality of the picture is solid and pretty good since a PS3 was used to demonstrate its capabilities, and wow, they had 50% discount.
Their booth was probably the most unique actually. They had this island motif, and their space was just full of sand.

Others
Many other brands participated, such as Canon, HP, Acer, Bose, Mazda, BMW, etc. but we didn't check out the latter 4.

Canon had some neat printers and cameras which are their forte, while HP showed off their desktops. Adobe made an appearance as well to promote Creative Suite 4, but the only attendant of that booth was a guy playing Chess in the Mac being used.

Canon printers print nice pics.

And... that's about it, really. The numerous gadgets were rather overwhelming, and to make a description on them all would be madness. Still, I kind of liked the convention and it wasn't bad for a first time. (And too bad we missed the 6:30pm gadget giveaway, and that there are no games...)

Sorry for the sloppy writing... it's getting late. Heck, I was intending for this to be posted into separate Twitter feeds during the show, but... no Wi-Fi.

E3: Nintendo Duds and Sony Rocks

Today saw gamers getting both hyped and disappointed, and that's because Nintendo and E3 finally revealed some stuff, but still hid others as well.

Anyway, let's start with Nintendo's first.

Living up to its casual gamer mantra, Nintendo has announced a huge pile of casual games to delight that audience.

#1 Wii Sports: Resort
Riding from the success of the pack-in title, Wii Sports, Nintendo is following it up with Wii Sports in a summer theme. I'm not exactly warming up to the game's concept as of now, and that's because it only adds Jet Skiing, Frisbee and Swordfighting. God, I hated swordfighting in Bleach. I don't know what's gonna make me like it now.

It also ships, however, with the new MotionPlus accessory for the Wiimote. I mean, the Wiimote itself is already motion sensitive, but the company states that this accessory will make the experience even more intuitive and life-like. Hmm...

#2 Wii Music
Remember that tech demo Shigeru Miyamoto demonstrated a long time ago when the Wii was getting released? Well, it's becoming reality.

Using the Wiimote and an extra pair of drums that come shipped with the title, Wii Music will help anyone do music without having to match the rhythm or beats and fail.

You can play the violin, saxophone and the drum using the Balance Board as well.

I don't see how the team at Nintendo will prolong the novelty of all this shallow gameplay, but it would be astonishing if it got at least a 7.0 on GameSpot.

Still, it looks pretty good at parties.


#3 Third party titles
Nerds get their Star Wars wish as Nintendo presented Star Wars: The Clone Wars featuring light saber duels and more. In my opinion, it's gonna suck.

Shaun White Snowboarding. It's old hat, but it looked really fun on the Wii Fit Balance Board.

Another game that's old hat is Rayman: Raving Rabbids TV Party, but it looks extremely funny especially with your butt controlling the Wii Fit balance board!

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is coming to the DS with its own engines and sandboxing as well.

And despite some bad critical reception for Guitar Hero: On Tour, it's getting a new installment called Decades.

And then, there's Call of Duty: World at War. This new CoD transports everyone back to World War II, but now, it's the Japanese you are fighting instead of Hitler's army. It features the flamethrower, and hopefully will also have the online capabilities of its next-gen brethren.

#4 The DS and the airport
A representative relates, "If you're like me, a person who spends way too much time on the airport, my time is almost always spent playing my DS. But what if the DS provided me with some great information like the nearest ATM or Mexican restaurant when I land? This is all being tested."

The title is called Cooking Navi or something like that, and I don't know how all of this will work.

#5 Animal Crossing: City Folk
It's the cutesy simulation title everyone loves: it's Animal Crossing!

OK, I'm not that much of a fan of these kinds of games except the Sims, but I have to tell you that the probability of this game being a system seller is high, especially since it will also be the first game to feature voice chat.

Yes, you read right: Voice chat.

Voice chat isn't as private as people would like, though, and that's because the voice chat accessory is made to look like a loudspeaker. Hmm..., I'd like to see how this will go.

Anyway, there are also new features in Animal Crossing: City Folk, most notably being able to take the game online, as well as sending messages to a friend's PC or cellphone. That's actually pretty cool.

Of course, this feature has been much requested, and I think the game will unveil even more surprises once it releases in the holiday of 2008.

#6 Vague Announcements That We're Keeping An Eye On
Nintendo is still not unsheathing its potentially huge collection of secret games that are being lined-up especially for hardcore fans. Satoru Iwata, CEO of Nintendo said that the Mario and Zelda teams are on to something big, and Shigeru Miyamoto confirmed, also vaguely, both.

"We're still looking for unique ideas... and we even toyed with the idea of first-person Zelda.," says the legendary Mario, Donkey Kong, and Zelda creator.

Overall
Overall, there's not much in store for the Nintendo gamers out there, but I have a fuzzy feeling that this is just a spoonful of what's to come. Nintendo is definitely taking the mysterious-ness a little bit too far, but that's just gonna make fans crave for more.

And then there's


Sony doesn't disappoint compared to Nintendo, and that's because they unveil some really, really cool blockbusters.

#1 Ratchet and Clank Future: Quest for Booty
Ratchet and Clank return for a new adventure- a pirate adventure. But it's only available through the online PlayStation Network so yes, it's a downloadable.

#2 Resistance 2
One of the best launch games in the PS3 has come back! Will it surpass the first?

#3 God. of. War. III!
Yes, it's finally been announced! God of War III looks like a great epic mythological tour of one of the most famous modern game characters: Kratos. Sony teased everyone with a trailer, and that's about it.

In the end there will only be chaos.

#4 Little Big Planet
Once again, this little bubbly platformer impresses with its custom, user-friendly construction of levels and online sharing features, thus causing more excitement among the PS community. It ships in October.

#5 Resistance goes to PSP
For the first time, Resistance Retribution for the PSP gets shown. And it looks really nice!

#6 inFAMOUS
It looks really promising and it's about a guy named Cole who survives an explosion and gets some neat electric superpowers. The twist in this game is that you are free to do what you want, and it's either you ruin the fictional city of Empire or enrich its citizen's lives. It's all up to you.

#7 Gran Turismo TV
Basically, it's a feature found in existing game Gran Turismo 5 Prologue that enables you to watch licensed videos online. Top Gear has been announced to provide some content, as well as a Ferrari feature.

#8 PS3, even cheaper!
There's no word on what's gonna happen to the older 40GB model, but one thing's for certain: the 80GB model will have a huge price drop and will cost $399! Now that's a compelling reason.

#9 Games, even cheaper!
Warhawk, Oblivion, Ninja Gaiden Sigma, Need for Speed Carbon, Resistance: Fall of Man get the Greatest Hits pasted on every cover, and that means they're cheaper.

#10 Don't forget: The PS2!
Sony says that 130 Titles are coming to the PS2 this year, and will include Lego Batman, and more family-friendly titles.

#11 PSP game sequels!
Patapon 2, Loco Roco 2 and Midnight Club LA are the newest titles announced. Cause for PSP owners' excitement? Hell yeah.

#12 DC Universe Online
This is basically an online game that features heroes from the DC universe, although you can also make your own.

#13 MAG
MAG is a title that will allow for whopping TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY SIX player battles! They will be divided into squads and will have different skills.

#14 Video Store
Like in iTunes, you can buy movies in the PlayStation Video Store!

As you can see, I was even more hyped up in the Sony conference than in the Nintendo conference, because almost everything they showed was really, really cool. Ironically, I don't even own a PSP or PS3!

Sony is so gonna have a good year. I guess FF13 is not gonna be the end of the world after all!

E3: Final Fantasy shockers!

Day 1: The Microsoft Keynote
Before I go to the really, really, really big shocker/s, let me clear these out first:
>Gears of War 2 gets a new trailer.
>Rock Band 2 gets AC/DC, thus causing rhythm fans to go baloney.
>The casual audience gets more games on the 360 Live Arcade platform, one of the most prominent being "I'm In The Movies!" which looks more like an Eye-Toy game for the PS2 by Codebreakers.
> Microsoft rips of Sony's SingStar karaoke series with their own "Lips".
> There's a new Halo game coming out called Halo Wars- and it may not have Master Chief!
> Resident Evil 5 gets co-op on our asses (although IMO, co-op will feel like SSBB's Subspace Emissary: it doesn't look like it's given much thought because the camera only focuses on the first player).
> Fallout 3 goes to 360 and not only PC.
> Mirror's Edge looks really sweet!
> Take a look at Spore: Will Wright's new simulation thingy.

BIG NEWS:
When you see Final Fantasy, what comes in your mind?

Cloud Strife, Tidus, Yuna, Squall, and oh, the PlayStation.


Now, it's all gonna change because the newest installment of the Final Fantasy series goes to the XBox 360.

Oooh, that's gotta hurt, Sony!

And then, come more rip-offs, courtesy of MS.

OK, they've revamped their famous dashboard, and it looks pretty nice. But look more into the first picture and what do you see?
A F**KING MII.

Thinking about it just sickens me, especially since the 360 was built almost primarily for the hardcore. And now they're going the way of the Wii? This is of course gonna be inducing some competition, but personally, when I mix the two terms XBox and avatars together, I get lost.

I mean, yeah, there seems to be a lot more Home-like options than that of the Wii, but still, this is just too derivative.

Tomorrow: NINTENDO!!!!
(Picture credit goes to my friend Hallway_Giant from the GameSpot community.)