Tactical Intervention = Counter-Strike 2?
From the creator of Counter-Strike comes Tactical Intervention:
Apparently, it uses the same Source Engine.
Other issues that posed problems early-on in Counter-Strike are also addressed, specifically snipers, camping, and waiting. "I hated how powerful snipers were in Counter-Strike," said Minh. "They really unbalanced the game." With players camping at sniping points around the map, Minh remembers playing and watching games that took way too long, especially for players who died early and had to watch from the sidelines. TI resolves the waiting issue in a simple manner: make the rounds faster. "I wanted to make TI faster so people aren't waiting around as much between rounds," explained Minh. "The average round should be two minutes, maybe less, so people aren't waiting around as much."
I'm already sold on this one.
BT feat. Jes – Every Other Way
12 Seconds of Every Other Way on 12seconds.tv
Looking at Google Trends, this is going to be a big one.
Top 10 things missing from the Zune HD!
10. Checking the battery life is missing (besides checking the "lock" page). Would rather know the actual percentage rather than a graphical icon as well.
9. No PNG/GIF file support? Gahh gotta convert it to jpg manually.
8. Saving pictures from the internet browser (for example, the map of the campus would come in handy). On the ipod touch, you just press and hold onto the picture and it'll save.
7. Calendar/planner (now I have to memorize my class hours/locations for the first day of school tomorrow).
6. Map software! iPod touch has the ability to cache your directions so you don't need wifi for directions.
5. Ability to manually change the ip/gateway/dhcp for the wifi.
4. Tabbed browsing for the browser.
3. Built-in speaker.
2. Media Center syncing! (right now I have to convert wtv -> dvr-ms ->mp4->whatever the zune software converts it to to sync with the device).
1. Apps APPS APPS!
More on the Zune HD.
Hardware: I can't really judge 3D graphics at the moment, so that'll wait until the apps start rolling out. The biggest disappointment of the Zune is that it does not have built-in speakers. That's a huge selling point for the iPod, for me at least. It is such a hassle to look for your earphones when you want to play a quick game or listen to a song for a few minutes. So far I haven't had any problems with the touch screen, even with a screen protector film on. The wifi works just as described but there is a problem which I will address later. I can't get HD output yet since I don't have the accessories at the moment, but so far the videos are beautiful on the Zune (note: you cannot view true HD on the screen of the Zune, the player will downscale any HD videos to fit your screen). There's three buttons, on top, on the left, and on the bottom of the front side of the player which are power, music controls, and home respectively. I really wished that the Zune had dedicated volume controls. There were a few times that my 1st gen iPod touch was playing extremely loud music which I forgot to turn down after using it in the car. With the 1st gen iPod touch, you needed to press the home button twice to bring up the volume controls, now the current gens have dedicated volume control. The HD radio is nice but I don't listen to the radio at all so it's useless to me. For those wondering what's so great about HD radio, well it's similar to your HD television. It's not similar in the fact that the content is high definition, but it's similar in the fact that I believe (correct me if I am wrong) it's receiving a digital signal. This means that you'll never ever hear static artifacts in the audio. It's sort of an all or nothing signal, either you'll crystal audio playing or you'll hear nothing (or skipping).
Screen: The biggest selling point of the Zune HD is the screen. It is beautiful and can definitely be viewed from all sides of the device. The colors are gorgeous as well. For those who are wondering what's so special about the OLED screen, well here's a little experiment. Go to your screen saver set up and run the "Blank" screen saver. You should then see a black screen, BUT with a backlight. It isn't completely BLACK at all. With an OLED screen, it is as if the computer is painting with real ink, there's no backlight so the colors are extremely vivid and pure. It's also supposedly more battery efficient.
GUI: The interface/menus are nice but I was expecting extreme liquid smooth movement and transitions from each menu. It's still smooth but not as much as I hoped it would be. I do prefer this interface over the iPod touch at the moment, mainly because it separates Apps from the important features like Music/Video/Browser. Of course on the iPod you can select 4 apps to put into a fixed position so you'll always have easy access, but I'd rather have a separate section just for apps if I wanted to. When I want Music/Video/Photos/Browser/Settings/Marketplace, I want those to be instantly accessible. All other applications can be accessed with an extra step to get through in my opinion. Another thing I hate about the iPod touch interface is that, it's impossible to go to page 9 of apps in a few seconds. You have to swipe your finger furiously on the home page just to get page 9. And who can remember what exactly is on page 9 of the home screen? I find myself simply using the search function on the iPod, which even then can sometimes be a hassle to type in. With the Zune, all apps are alphabetical and in a simple list. Everyone can remember the name of their apps that they want to run, so this makes more sense. There is one annoyance found in both devices however. The music selection sorted by artist name is a big problem. Typically you have artists that collaborate with each other, such as Second Sun & Cedric Gervais, Second Sun & Paul van Dyk, and etc...When you sort by artist, there's separate artist name for each of those collaborations. So when you get to the tracks that are part of a specific album of a specific artist, it doesn't play the collaborated tracks since those are filed under a different artist name. So that's one thing that both players can improve upon. The Zune doesn't provide cover flow, but it does show a 3x4 grid of albums which is a lot faster than cover flow. It's not as nice as cover flow, but it does help you get to your music faster which is the most important thing. Usually however, my music does not have covers since I get a lot of unreleased music and I listen to live set rips.
Software: The Zune suffers from a few software problems which isn't necessarily a bad thing since it can always be improved upon with software updates. First off, there's no way to change the IP/DHCP/Gateway settings, which is a huge thing for me. I won't say why but it involves multiple networks going on. Secondly, the I don't believe the wifi can connect to networks that have shared key enabled which can probably solved with a software function. I had to manually disable it on my router for the Zune to connect to the internet. Third, I'm still figuring out how to get the browser working. It's not displaying any web pages at the moment. It is however connected to the internet since I can browse and preview songs in the marketplace. There isn't any map software either, which I have used a lot in the iPod touch.
Overall I think Zune fans will be happy with this product. There aren't enough features to convert any iPod fan over to the Zune, but once Microsoft gets the App Store going, it'll all boil down to the battle of scoring exclusive killer apps.
The Zune HD 32GB…
Got it today. Biggest disappoint would be that there are no built-in speakers. But that isn't a big issue NOW since there aren't any apps. The OLED screen is extremely nice though, you can tilt it at 90 degrees and still see the screen clearly. Amazing. Will post more after I hit the gym and let this thing charge for a bit.
Does it make sense?
So the new Zune software just came out. It's a 133mb download, BUT after running the executable, it ends up downloading a huge update. I assume the Zune software linked on the website is a much older version, and now the 133mb program is downloading another 100+ mb to update the Zune software to version 4. It doesn't make sense. Just link the version 4 executable on the website, let me download it, and boom, install without any further updates. Ridiculous.
Update
So after updating and installing, I ran the Zune app and guess what? Yes, another update, to version 4. Apparently the previous update was for updating the base version 3.0 to the latest 3.5 or whatever. Ugh, Zune software fails + my internet is too slow == double fail.
Apple Stuff…
I have yet to get a mac myself, I have always wanted one to develop for the iPod Touch/iPhone, but I've already sold my iPod touch since I've heard from "reliable" sources that the iPod touches WILL get cameras. Now that the iPod touch came out, it looks like that isn't happening. Very disappointing... I'm now out of an iPod and a big decision to whether get another iPod Touch or move on to a Zune HD where I ASSUME I can develop on my PC.
Now if I get a Zune HD, I'm expecting at least a 2 year life in this. So there's no way I'm getting an iPod for at least 2 years. UNLESS they introduce the iPod touch with a camera and some sort deal with ATT of a 3G subscription so I don't have to rely on wifi (which is my biggest complaint of any wifi only devices), or maybe I'll just settle with an iPod touch GPS. Either way, it'll take a lot of convincing from Apple for me to switch over from a Zune HD back to an iPod again, but that's if I get the Zune HD.
There's also a Creative Zii coming out. Supposedly it has 1080p output, GPS built-in, HD camera/camcorder, Wifi, OpenGL support, multi-touch + accelorometer, and support for Android. Lots and lots of features, but the brand name hasn't been all that great.
Apple does have an advantage in my perspective however. They were first to get the App Store out and thus I have spent lots of cash on games and apps. If I lose the iPod Touch completely, I lose the apps all together.
Decisions...decisions....