As E3 2009 edges closer, I’ve become fascinated with the proposed technology surrounding the rumored Microsoft and Sony motion control peripherals. I’m not convinced that either of the consoles needs the option in order to be successful or that the new motion detecting systems will make them any more competitive with Nintendo’s runaway juggernaut, but the concepts are intriguing nonetheless.  I do have a lot of questions, which is why I hope the rumors are true.
Microsoft’s system seems to be based off the ZCam developed by 3DV Systems. The camera aspect of their motion control works by emitting short burst of infrared light and then measuring the refection to judge distance, angle and movement within its scope of vision.  I liken it to sonar but with light.  I should reiterate that this is infrared technology (found in most television remotes) so unlike the current crop of eye toys, this system needs no ambient light and can work equally as well in dark rooms. Additionally, the software is smart enough to detect changes in position of your head, body, hands and fingers.

While that sounds exciting, recently a new rumor surfaced on the web concerning J. Allard and something called the “magic wand”.  Allard is joined by four others as inventors of an external electronic device manipulation system according to their patent application.  The description states that the system “can utilize one or more sensor from a collection of sensors to determine an orientation or gesture in connection with the wand.”

Allard’s magic wand sounds different than 3DV’s ZCam, although I can see that it’s possible they could be used in conjuncture with each other.  But, the mental image I get from Allard’s wand reminds me of the diagrams shown in Sony’s motion sensing remote patent application.  The Sony appliance seems to use LEDs as a photonically detectable element to recognize and track a user's manipulations of the game controller.  The accessory would spot changes in movement including twisting, turning, side to side, wand-like and jerking.  I believe, like the ZCam, the system uses infrared technology so playing in an overly lit room would no longer be required.

I’m not certain that in couple of weeks, I’ll understand any more about these gadgets than I do now.  Last year there was a flurry of speculation linking motion control to the release of the Banjo-Kazooie game, and that went nowhere.  All of this conjecture could be more fluff.  But, if there is any truth to these rumors, I am anxious to hear how the products work and see what comes from their implementation.

Prefect Dark coming to Xbox Live Arcade?  Forza Motorsport 3 announcements?  Call of Duty to be set in Viet Nam?  Motion control?  PSP redesign?

As we edge ever closer to this year’s E3 convention, the rumor machine has revved up and dropped into a higher gear. Leaks from South American conferences and “those close to developers” have provided new tidbits of information for the gaming community.  For the video game industry (and politics), leaks are often the way to test the public’s receptiveness to an idea, and increase the public’s awareness of a forth coming project.  But, last year someone let the cat out of the bag early and spoiled the soup.  Last year’s Intellisponse leak revealed many of the potential surprises from the “Big 3’s” press conferences.  And, I suspect, this tarnished the magic that is E3 for some game enthusiasts. As a result, the Final Fantasy XIII/Xbox 360 trailer became one of the few talked about announcements.

I can’t say that I will stop reading Kotaku or visiting Giant Bomb until the convention has started.  In fact, my video game related traffic will probably increase as June draws nearer.  I am a gamer, after all.  However, I hope there isn’t another massive reveal this year.  I enjoy rumors when they are just that, rumors.  I don’t want to run across Deep Throat’s video game diary this month and have it spoil the anticipation that this years Electronic Entertainment Expo will bring.  I maybe asking too much, but this year, I’d like to experience a few “whoa!” moments as the week long event unfolds.

The recent Giant Bomb article on Braid for the PC had an interesting ancillary bit of information that caught my attention.  Maureen Flannigan played “Evie” on the 1987 syndicated sitcom, “Out of this World”. The show was about a teenage girl who was half alien (the outer space kind) and half human complete with all the standard scenarios associated with lesser sitcoms since “Three’s Company”.  After revisiting an episode on Youtube, I can say, it was no “ALF”.  Hell, even “Small Wonder” had a ridiculous charm that this show was missing.  And, that may have been the reason why it entirely skipped off my radar.  I watched a lot of TV in the 80s and 90s, so I thought I’d seen just about everything from “Blue Thunder” to “Tales of the Gold Monkey”, but I don’t remember ever seeing an episode of “Out of this World.”  Anyway, jogging down memory lane got me thinking about all the old syndicated shows I killed time with in my youth.  The 90’s especially were a golden era of syndicated adventure and schlocky CGI effects.  It was a time of rebirth for the second reel feature, but updated for the modern television generation.  I think I liked many of those campy action shows more than their network prime time competition, which is why I am saddened to see those types of shows no longer being made with the same regularity that they once were.  In fact, it seems that the syndicated show is in itself a dying archetype.  With the exception of the game and talk shows, which don’t count in this discussion, the only show I can find that follows the old format is “Legend of the Seeker”.  I tried watching an episode once, and flicked it off after about 10 minutes.  “Cleopatra 2525” had more going for it back in the day, and that isn’t saying a lot.

So, here is a list of the shows that I can remember enjoying and some I just remember. I’m sure I am forgetting some, because if “Out of this World” is any clue, my younger days weren’t quite as misspent as I would have once believed. 

• “V.I.P.” – okay, there was pretty much only one reason anyone watched this show and it wasn’t the writing or expertly staged action sequences.  Boobs.  Not only Pam Anderson but the three other female co-stars all found ways to garb themselves in clothes seen primarily on street corner at .  I dug the secretary/geek girl played by Leah Lail.
  

• “Baywatch Nights” – What happens when actors known for their suntanned pecks want to experiment with “acting”?  Spin off the lifeguard characters from a vapid beach drama into an X-Files inspired 90’s mystery thriller.  Tell you the truth, I’m not sure why I watched this show.  I can only guess because of its subject matter and I was deeply into that genre at the time.

• “Poltergeist: The Legacy” – A secret society is formed to battle the forces of darkness.  Basically, something spooky would happen, the team would go out to investigate and more ghostly stuff ensued.  I’m not sure if it was this show or another I can’t recall that began series life like an episode of "Unsolved Mysteries" but as the show developed became more traditional in its construction.

• “Friday the 13: The Series” – More horror mystery television.  In this 80s series, Robey and her TV cousin inherit a curio shop which had sold cursed items to unsuspecting customers with the intent of capturing their souls.  Now it was up to the pair to gather all the devil’s play toys with the help of their crotchety uncle.

There were many other shows I watched as well like “TekWar”, “Highlander: The Raven”, “The Adventures of Sinbad”, “Due South”, “Lonesome Dove: The Outlaw Years” and even a few episodes of “Thunder in Paradise” starring Hulk Hogan and Jack Lemmon’s son Chris.  I guess with the expansion of cable television, the days of the syndicated action drama have evolved into basic cable programming.  Scifi channel originals like “Stargate” and Comedy Central’s new “Krod Mandoon” are just the types of shows that a decade ago would have found their way onto every CW and UPN station afternoon program schedule.  So maybe the future of crap TV isn’t as bleak, as I thought.

Okay, so let me paint the picture.  I’ve had my PS3 since the February following launch and I’ve never had any real problems with it.  I've sent my Xbox in twice, but nary a complaint from the Sony hardware.  Until recently I’ve gamed about equally on both platforms.  Since I started playing Persona 3 FES, the Playstation has been getting a lot of extra play for long periods of time. Five or six in the evening until have not been unusual.  Anyway, all was working well for years now.  But, this evening the sound from my PS3 died.  Great picture, no sound.  The sounds from the satellite, DVR & Xbox 360 were all working fine.  So, what gives?  Ugh, was it broken?  Had I played it too much recently and it over heated to the point of failure?  Maybe it was something else. God, let it be something else because I’d go nuts if I had to shelve Persona for however long it takes to get one of these things fixed.  Plus, I wasn’t looking forward to spending the cash for the repairs.  It’s a 60 gig fully backwards compatible model, so I wasn’t going to except a modern rig as a replacement. But anyway, like many people, in times of crisis I turned to the web. All I can say is “wow”.  I never knew so many people had the same problem.

There was an abundance of complaints and advice for fixes from all sorts of websites.  So, I started with the official forums at Playstation.com.  Someone detailed how to reset the video and audio by holding down the power button for 5 or 10 seconds, then restarting the system and following the onscreen guide to instruct a PS3 to utilize the HDMI cable.  I reset everything to “automatic” since I was using the single HDMI cable option.  My sound system was hooked through my TV, so optical audio wasn’t an issue.  But, it was all for naught.  Still, the console remained silent.  Ack, I’ve got blu-rays from Netflix that need watching.  How am I going to do that if I can’t hear anything?  Do they make silent movies on blu-ray yet? Well, back to the net for further advice.  Another site mentioned making sure the BD/DVD audio wasn’t set to bitstream.  So, I returned to my home theater set up and corrected that in hopes that it could sing once again.  But, no dice.  My PS3 remained silent.  Finally, I came across someone online who not only had the same problem I was experiencing, but the same type of TV.  You see, my old TV died a couple of weeks ago and I picked up a Samsung 32’ 550 LCD for a reasonable price.  It has 3 HDMI ports, a computer connection and other junk I’ll likely never use, but hey, that’s progress.  Well, this is what I read…

“I have a Samsung LCD LN-40A450C1HXZA. I was not getting any sound on my HDMI inputs. I would get a picture but no sounds. I called Samsung at 1-800-726-7864. They instructed me to power off my TV and reverse my HDMI cables. I did this for both my cable box and Xbox and it worked. They said if the problem continued that I may need a firmware update.” http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/55099

Hmm, “reverse my HDMI cables”.  That’s wacky, but what have I got to lose at this point.  I mean my next option is playing phone-tag with the service departments at Sony and Samsung, and I certainly wasn’t looking forward to that.  But  >>happy day<< it worked.

Suddenly, I could hear the audio from old Uncharted trailers on the hard disk.  Movies played again, and most of all, the sweetness of the intro song from Shin Megami sang loudly.  Ah, the sweetness of life.  Anyway, that’s my story and I thought I’d share it with you in case any of you run into a similar problem.  Of course, this still means at some point in the future, I’m probably going to need to update the firmware on my TV, but I’ll worry about that tomorrow.

In the days following the mass shooting in Germany , public policy advisers are presenting changes to legislature that would ban the sale of "addictive" games to all minors under legal adult age.  A study of approximately 45,000 students was made focusing on their online and computer gaming habits.  The results, as interpreted by the investigators, demonstrated that 20% of the survey pool were addicted to games with 23,000 more in danger of becoming addicted.  Two of the games mentioned in the study were World of Warcraft and Counter Strike. 

An argument can be made that anything can become addictive if boundaries are not established concerning reasonable use.  Everything from shopping to pornography to gambling carries the risk of becoming a compulsive behavior.  These addictions are not the same as drugs or alcohol, where a foreign chemical is introduced to the body affecting the brain; however they can have similar characteristics.  The behavior becomes repetitive without rational motivation leading to destructive consequences.  The addict is unwilling and unable to break free from the cycle. Some video games, like World of Warcraft, freely admit that there is a potential for abuse.  As you log in, reminders urging the player to get out and experience other things flash across the bottom of the screen.  From my own experience, I understand the "siren's song" of such game play.  I'm not sure if I was ever addicted, however, I know that I chose Warcraft over all other games when I had time to play games.  The social demand kept me returning.  I felt I had an obligation to my fellow guild mates to be available for whatever opportunities that might arise during the course of each evening.  I also had a responsibility to get better for the team.  Every hour spent playing something else was time that could have been used improving my Warcraft characters, so that when group events were initiated, my avatars would be able to not only hold their own weight, but pick up the slack of others, improving the overall dynamic of the experience.  In essence, it was like a job.  Of course, I am an adult.  My decisions have repercussions and I accept that.  At this stage in my life, I understand the extent to which my actions can influence my wellness as well as those around me, but what about those unable to fully comprehend this for themselves?  Children are protected from potential hazards, first and foremost, by their parents.  However, it does not end there.  Society as a whole recognizes that for the benefit of the community, restrictions must be placed on some forms of behavior.  Minors, still in the process of developing into adults, are afforded the strongest oversight.  Certain goods, such as alcohol and cigarettes, are bound from children until they reach a specific age.  Gambling and other forms of entertainment deemed inappropriate for minors are also prohibited by state laws.  Even sexual relationships between two consenting partners can lead to societal intervention if one or both are considered to be too young.  It is the duty of government to protect the weakest among us.  Sometimes that means limiting the ability of children to act on their desires until they are better able to understand all the choices available to them.  So, where does that place video games?  Germany may seek to impede underage gamers from purchasing certain games without parental approval.  In theory, this is no different than what is already in effect in many countries.  Games of a decidedly graphic nature aren't allowed to be sold to minors beneath a specific age.   What would change is what is considered harmful to children if they proceed with the researcher's suggestions.  If Blizzard, by their own warnings, admits that their product can become addicting, and if society already restricts other potentially addictive forms of entertainment from children, shouldn't games like World of Warcraft be restricted, as well?  It certainly falls to the parent to oversee the use of such games, just as it is their responsibility to monitor alcohol consumption or credit card debt.  New laws would not deny a parent from deciding that their child is mature enough to handle extended play of Counter Strike, they would only deny minors from buying the games without parental approval.  Perhaps by doing so, parents would become aware of the risks attributed to such games.

What do you think?  Is it in society's best interest to regulate the sale of "addictive" games to minors or has government overstepped its bounds by emplacing these barriers between the seller and purchaser?  Is it "no big deal" or another sign of "the nanny-state" trying to legislate good behavior?  Would you be affected if similar laws were enacted in your homeland?  If you weren't affected, would that change your opinion? 

Study source: http://www.welt.de/english-news/article3391625/Counter-Strike-does-not-teach-teen-violence.html