@Butano: In regards to the pen digitizer, the spec sheet suggests that's just for the Pro, which would make sense as that also suggests the Pro has a larger resolution (at least that's how they spoke of it as I recall).
I'm pretty much an Anti-Apple Advocate (or Triple A), and unfortunately I have to play Devil's Advocate here. When the bomb crew posts news about the iPad, people lose their shit:
WHERE ARE THE GAMES!!?
They say. But just doing a casual look through these comments, I don't see any of that for this device. There was pretty much nothing about games at that conference apart from a light mention of "it'll play games", and that was it. They didn't even show any of the games that are already available on the Windows 8 Store.
I have no problem with this or the iPad being on the news section, but I'm just saying at some point being a fanboy crosses the line into being a hypocrite.
I haven't had too much trouble with the touch controls. I did 300 pull-ups in the tanker and it felt great using my fingers to "pull up" on the rear touch pad. I did screw it up a few times, which would never happen using buttons, but I attribute that to me screwing up the touch. If you pay attention to your relative placement, you get it every time.
I like the rear touch pad when it's used for features that aren't too demanding, but still offer an intelligent alternative to using buttons. Pull-ups aren't a major gameplay action, just an extra that is performed by an extra control set. That's how developers should utilize touch on a device with a full suite of sticks and buttons.
Also the item switching on the touch screen is wonderfully redone.
I'm pretty much not an Apple guy, but some of the functionality of the video editing software and the garage band stuff is decent for the fact that it's included in the box (I still think Cubase is top notch for audio recording and editing though).
I'd be interested in getting a crazy powerful Mac for the purposes of editing, and maybe even development, but I don't know that I'd sink that much into the laptop when a 650M isn't "powerful" by any sense of the term. It's mediocre at best, but I would say that it's "powerful" when compared to other Apple hardware components. A 650M is like the equivalent of what would be a "630" for desktops. Not a whole lot of juice in that. Still, for the games I own on Steam that are also compatible with Mac, that'd probably be enough. That GPU really would only come in handy when using programs like Unity, UDK, or Game Salad to handle 3D rendering for development.
Is $2400 (when equipped with 16GB of RAM which would actually be somewhat useful for the listed purposes) actually worth it when you are just going to use it for that? Maybe, but only if you make money doing any of that stuff. Otherwise, get something else.
@BraveToaster Your free outage games should be tied to your subscriptions under your account settings, at least that's how it was for me.
It's a bummer though that you experience so many disconnects on your PS3. For me it's the other way around, but I know it's just users DCing on me on the 360.
I don't pay for either service though now. I don't see the value. When I get free trial codes I just use those. That feels more justified for certain services that should he free out of the gate.
Yeah, the PS+ has a disclaimer about full games expiring when it's up as you download, but it also has a clause about DOC stating that as long as you have the game, the DLC will remain free for continued use. The activation download is technically seen by the PS3 as DLC for the demo, so once I saw the clause, I checked the information tab on the game files and saw that it didn't contain the PS+ DRM timer like Shift 2. I let my stacked trial run out and loaded up the games and was happy to see I was correct.
Actually, the games you just mentioned that you got for free will remain free for you as long as you keep them on your HDD. Those games are downloaded via demo and then an activation 100kb file. The PS+ DRM only functions on actual full direct downloads, ie no activation download. Once you let your PS+ expire, you'll notice you can still play those games. At least that's how it worked for me. I stacked two trial codes for a month each and got all the free games of Tue past two months, which means I got those for free now since my PS+ ran out. Shift 2 of last month expired, but Shank 2 has no time period on it and I could still load it up.
The XMB, or rather the entire Playstation OS, has it's own issues though thankfully navigation and clutter is not one of them. The way that system handles downloads and software updates alone is a big waste of my time.
I don't love either OS and don't think they display large libraries particularly elegantly (most important feature for me personally), but I will say that I appreciate the lack of obnoxious ads and unwanted services on XMB that are always staring you in the face on 360. Steam is still my favorite "platform" from what's out there, though they are overdue for a UI update as well.
Indeed I have a lot of games and sometimes it's a hassle. At least on my PS3 I can create folders and then have further options in how to sort them from there, but I don't want to divide my PSN games folder further because I like having those together. I could probably put them in folders based on genre or something, but I dunno. It's basically exactly like steam in that it's one big scrolling list, but with steam you have the benefit of additional ways to display the list, like as icons or just as text, and you have the benefit of greater resolution with which to read and scroll.
I find I have no problems navigating around either ecosystem, yet I find the XMB lacking fun and flair while the XBL dashboard has all the flair and fun of your local TGI Fridays and almost as unbearable to look at. Neither of these media experiences are in anyway cool, easy to use, or intuitive. Both experiences are ruined by bad ads (XBL gets Diablo 3 ads, PS3 owners say there are no ads but every time I turn it on there are 9 boxes on the front page giving you the skinny on the next tester episode.), hidden away major features, and the inability to tell what new games have come out on each marketplace I do have to say that there are pros and cons to both but I do believe that the "better" GUI is neither. They Both suck at telling you any pertinant information unless you wanna drill down 300 screens then your lost...
I agree with your "What's New" complaint, but all the ads are localized there as opposed to on the biggest images on every page you navigate through on the Xbox Dashboard. On the XMB, you just hit left, up, or down, and it's all hidden away. You can even select to have the PS3 boot a game on start-up and there's even an option to completely disable the What's New tab and feed in the upper right.
To the point of the PS Store, I never understood by the FBI crew complains about this. There's a fucking New Releases tab. It has everything listed by newest and even has sub-categories for new add-ons and deals right inside featured beside the newest games and demos. It is so easy to navigate, I don't understand this complaint.
Someone else said it takes a long time to load and this is very true. It takes quite some time. My personal complaint with the PS Store is the inconsistency in which games utilize the in-game purchases. Sometimes it pops up a quick store tab with just what you need and works great, and sometimes it fucking exits the game and takes a year to load up the store, only to tell you there's nothing there. Then it loads the game up after another year. It's a crapshoot and I wish Sony would have nailed it down. I'm just thankful the Vita does in-game purchases seamlessly.
Having used both, I find the XMB to be much faster. It isn't inundated with ads and if you want to load a game it'll take you right to it. All the menu options are clear and it doesn't place a priority on single items within it, it groups things together. The one problem with it is that it takes an extra second to load the menu options while in a game, but you can still navigate to what you want if you know where it is, which if you use it more than once every two months unlike the bomb crew, you do.
However that's thing: everyone is used to the thing they use the most and can forgive functionality problems when it's what they're comfortable with. It's how iOS people are. There are many many things you can't do with iOS, but it looks fancy and people have used it for years, so they say it's better when it's not. This is how Blackberry was a few years ago.
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