Art Of Geek

Futureshop.ca game pre-orders are a scam [Update 1]

[Update 1] Given the difficulty I had securing a PLAYSTATION 3 on launch weekend back in 2006, I got in the habit of pre-ordering popular PS3 games from Futureshop.ca months in advance as a security precaution in case they were in short supply come launch day.

So far this hasn’t really been worth it, because there hasn’t been a single game released that I wasn’t able to simply walk into a local store on launch day and pick up off the shelf. The PS3 just doesn’t have enough of an install base yet to make it an issue, I figured. But for must have games, I sitll pre-ordered them just in case.

Now me being the impatient impulse buyer I am, I usually don’t wait for my pre-order to arrive via Canada Post, since that would mean waiting an extra 2-3 days before getting it. What I do is go pick up the game on launch day and then cancel my order online or by calling Futureshop.ca’s top secret toll-free customer service phone number. If it’s already shipped, it only costs me $1.99 for the shipping since I just return the unopened package for a refund (they don’t refund shipping charges, obviously).

I figured if any game was going to deviate from the status quo, it would be Grand Theft Auto IV. Since it was supposed to come late last year, I had pre-ordered it back on August 19, 2007. Today is the official launch day, but many stores opened at midnight to accommodate the crowds of GTA fans that were anxious for their ‘fix’. So being the game junkie I am, I headed over to a local Future Shop at around 11pm to stand in line. When I got there, there must have been 50-60 people in line. By the time midnight rolled around, there may have been 200-300 or more people in line. It was chilly (and I didn’t listen to my wife and wear a warmer jacket), but I had no problems picking up a copy of GTA IV. I don’t think anyone had a problem, it looked like the store had plenty of copies of both the XBox 360 and PS3 version to go around. One fellow line-goer said that Best Buy across the street had received 1200 copies of the game. I suspect this Future Shop probably got a similarly crazy amount, given that Best Buy owns Future Shop.

So yes I played the game for about 3 hours before getting to bed, and yes it’s as amazing as everyone says it is. Since this isn’t a review of the game (there are plenty of those at that link I just posted 19 words ago), I won’t bother going into any more detail about the game. Just go out and buy it, it’s as near perfect a game as has ever been made, blah, blah, blah. Back to my story.

This morning I check my Futureshop.ca GTA IV order status and expect to see that my order has already shipped, since I had forgotten to call them last night to cancel. To my surprise, instead of it saying “shipped” or “in process”, it lists the status as “out of stock”. So I check the product page at the online store, as seen in the image to the right (click to enlarge), to see what the store stock status is like. The four stores closest to me are all showing the game in-stock, but the online store is again showing out of stock. Now it doesn’t really matter since I have the game already, but this really struck a chord with me.

So to cut a long story short (is that even possible at this point?, I’m not sure…) So, to sum up, I pre-ordered my copy of GTA IV from Futureshop.ca more than 8 months ago, and I’m still not guaranteed a copy of the game from the initial shipment of inventory gets at least ships on launch day, yet anyone can just stroll into any Future Shop retail store on today and pick a copy up off the shelf. I pose the question to you, my readers (and more importantly to Future Shop): What is the point of pre-ordering your game in advance? Don’t answer that, it rhetorical. There obviously is no point. Future Shop’s online video game pre-orders are a scam. Or in other words, total B.S.

I have since cancelled my Metal Gear Solid IV pre-order from Futureshop.ca, and won’t be pre-ordering any future games from them. Since Best Buy owns Future Shop, and their online stores are likely one and the same, I’m extending this boycott to bestbuy.ca as well. From now on, if I want to pre-order a game, I’ll stick with EBGames, since they seem to take pre-orders pretty seriously. But I’ll likely just take my chances on launch day going forward, since the video game software industry really does seem to have mastered the art of maximizing launch day sales by ensuring they stuff the channel with sufficient inventory. Now if only the game hardware companies could do the same, people wouldn’t still be having a hard time finding a Wii.

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Update 1 - 4/30/2008, 11:25 am: Well looks like my assumption about EBGames taking their pre-orders seriously was incorrect. According to Kotaku, EBGames U.S. upper management gave instructions to their stores to provide copies of GTA IV to walk-in customers at the expense of customers who had pre-ordered the game. Not sure if this policy applied in Canada or not, but it’s a pretty safe bet it did.

Absolutely shameful.

Add comment April 29th, 2008

This is what it sounds like when a console dies [Update 4]

[Update 4] Time flies when you’re having fun. I’m reminded of this as I think about the fact that I’ve owned my PLAYSTATION 3 for almost a year and a half now. I almost can’t believe I’ve been enjoying it for that long, but considering how much fun I’ve had with it, it’s no wonder. But another way to look at this timeframe is by how many months it’s been since the warranty has expired. Of course, how many months doesn’t really matter, it’s really just a question of whether it is expired or not.

Unfortunately my PS3’s age falls on the wrong side of that expiry date. Unfortunate because last night, my PS3 died. I was sitting on my couch racing a virtual VW Golf GTI around a virtual track in Gran Tourismo 5: Prologue (a fantastic racing simulator, by the way) when suddenly my PS3 beeped 3 times, shut itself off and just sat there with a flashing red LED. My first thought was that the game had just crashed really bad, so I tried turning the unit back on using the DualShock 3 controller. Nothing. I then tried pressing the power button on the front of the unit, the red light turned solid indicating the system was in standby mode. Another press and the system turned on, beeped 3 times, flashed a single amber LED and promptly shut itself down again with the flashing red LED as before.

I tried everything I could think of, including letting it cool off for over a half-hour and trying again, turning off the physical power switch in the back of the unit and even resetting the unit by holding the front power button for 10 seconds while turning on the physical power in the back. I also tried swapping out my upgraded 120GB hard drive with the original 60GB hard drive that came with the unit and even tried powering it on with no hard drive installed. Same thing every time.

So I called Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA), and they’ll be shipping me a pre-paid shipping casket box for me to pack my beloved console’s remains in and send it off to be replaced. Since it’s out of warranty, it’s going to cost me $160 CDN plus tax. Not too bad considering repairing any electronics these days usually costs an arm and a leg and a new PS3 would cost me $400-500. Still, it hurts. But what hurts more is knowing that I’ll likely be without it for 7-10 days, by the time I get the shipping box, send it back and receive the replacement.

The replacement will most likely be a factory re-certified unit, which basically means refurbished. Sony assured me that the replacement is shipped out 3-4 business days after receiving the defective unit. This is a relief as I expected it to be more like 1-2 weeks. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I get a working PS3 unit in time for Grand Theft Auto IV’s release on April 29. It’s already bad enough that I can’t play Gran Tourismo 5: Prologue, which I just got 2 days ago.

I hope Sony’s standards for cosmetic beauty are strict, I’d hate to get a replacement PS3 that was in worse physical condition than mine is. The customer service operator told me they would ship my GT5P game disc back with the replacement unit, since it’s stuck in the drive with no reasonable way for me to get it out myself.

So I’m trying to look on the bright side. I still have the hard drive with all my game saves on it, which should work fine once installed in the replacement PS3 I get back. This is a good thing since I haven’t backed up my data in months. Also, not having the PS3 at home to keep me occupied will mean I have some free time to do other things, like work on my website, get out and enjoy the fresh air, and spend more time with neglected loved ones. I’m just bummed I won’t be able to taunt XBox 360 fanboys about the RROD anymore. Ah, of course I can, my PS3 will have to die at least twice before I have to worry about losing that privilege.

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Update 1 - 4/18/2008, 12:45 pm: I just received the return shipping box. I’ll be packing up my dead PS3 when I get home from work and dropping it off at the nearest Purolator depot tonight.

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Update 2 - 4/20/2008, 2:30 am: I shipped my PS3 off on Friday evening. Funny thing is the paperwork that came with it, and that were emailed to me by Sony instructed me to attach a copy of my proof of purchase if my PS3 is in-warranty, but said absolutely nothing about how to provide payment if my PS3 is out of warranty. I called Sony back, and they seemed really out of touch about the whole process, which surprised me, since they supposedly have been dealing with out of warranty PS3 repairs for over 5 months now. They insisted I had the correct paperwork and that if I wanted to pay by credit card, that I should just write my card info and address on a piece of paper and include it in the box.

My confidence level in the rep I was speaking too wasn’t the highest at this point, since she had to put me on hold for several minutes to research the answer to every single one of my questions, all of which were pretty straightforward, like “how do I pay for my repair”? I wasn’t impressed and even asked for a supervisor to whom I expressed my disappointment with the poorly documented process, and the lack of training provided to the call center staff. He did apologize and understood my frustration, but said I was the first to raise an issue about the process with him. He did say he would pass my feedback on to the appropriate channels, and provided me the phone number of the repair depot in Ontario where my PS3 was being shipped so I could provide them with the credit card info by phone.

I called the toll free number for the repair depot, and the phone was promptly answered by a guy who shall remain anonymous to protect his job. After bringing him up to speed with my situation, he told me that he couldn’t take my cc info until they had received my PS3. He did confirm that there was definitely two different sets of paperwork/instructions for in and out of warranty repairs, and agreed that I had been provided the wrong ones. He instructed me to simply attach a copy of my receipt to the form as it instructed. When they receive it, they assume the in-warranty status has already been confirmed by the call centre and don’t bother checking the purchase date, so my repair would be covered under warranty.

So I did as I was instructed and am keeping my fingers crossed. I’ll be sure to update this article with the outcome of this ordeal.

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Update 3 - 4/22/2008, 10:30 am: According to the online repair status website, my replacement PS3 was shipped this morning! So with a little luck, I should have it by tomorrow. Best part is, I was never contacted to provide payment, so looks like the guy I spoke to at the depot knew what he was talking about.

As an aside, the shipping and repairs are all handled through Purolator. Like many consumer electronics manufacturers these days, Sony has contracted out the shipping and repairs of their Playstation products, at least here in Canada. I don’t blame them, Purolator probably does it all cheaper and far more efficiently than Sony could do it themselves. This also explains why Sony’s support staff are somewhat clueless as to the actual behind the scenes process.

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Update 4 - 4/24/2008, 10:35 am: Good news! I received my replacement PLAYSTATION 3 yesterday afternoon and there was no charge for it! The bad news is I tried reinstalling my 120GB hard disk that I had removed before shipping the unit back, and when I powered the unit up, it displayed a message saying that the hard disk needed to be formatted in order to be used. Crap. I sat for a moment wondering if there was anything I could do–nothing came to mind. So I went ahead and formatted it.

I dug out the old USB hard drive that I had last used to back up my PS3, and restored the last backup dated October 30, 2007. So I’ve lost about 5 months worth of game saves. Not the end of the world as I had finished a few games recently and already traded them in. The saves I will miss most are from Oblivion, which I had recently finished the main quest in, but still planned to go back and try to finish all the side missions. Probably about 10-20 hours of gameplay lost. The second worst loss is my progress in Assassin’s Creed, which I have been already been having a hard time motivating myself to play with all the other great games vying for my attention *cough* Call of Duty 4 *cough*. With the new COD4 maps coming out today and Grand Theft Auto IV hitting stores next week, I’m afraid my chances of picking up Assassin’s Creed again are getting pretty slim…

2 comments April 17th, 2008

DualShock 3 controller initial impressions

Yesterday news broke that the Sony DualShock 3 controller for the PS3 had been spotted at big box retailers stateside. After reading the news, I proceeded to check the store stock for local Best Buy and Future Shop stores to see if they were in Canada too. Future Shop didn’t have them, but the Best Buy near my house did. I then remembered I had a growing stack of games at home that I had either finished or otherwise wasn’t likely to play again, so I called the EBGames near home to see if they had them, which they did.

So a quick stop at home to collect my unused games and I was off to EBGames to pick up a couple of DualShock 3’s. After coming home from my little shopping excursion, and struggling with the hulk-proof plastic packaging, I was finally able to plug the two new controllers in to charge them. This is the bittersweet thing about most geek kit. The euphoria experienced by getting a new toy home and unboxed is invariably doused by the unfortunate necessity to charge it’s batteries for 8 hours. Not wanting to use the controller while it’s charging for fear of upsetting the battery Gods (hey, the first charge is the most important one in a young battery’s life!), at least I could hold and visually inspect it.

My first impressions:

• It’s a tad heavier, but not in a bad way, more in a good way.
• It feels much more solid. My old Sixaxis controllers seemed to creak and flex a bit if I applied twisting pressure with both my hands. When I do the same on the DualShock 3, it doesn’t budge. It’s solid as a rock.
• It’s plastic shell is completely opaque, unlike the Sixaxis which was slightly transluscent.
• Besides the above and the DualShock 3 badge on the front, it looks and feels identical to my old Sixaxis controller, which is good because the Sixaxis is the most comfortable controller I have ever used for long periods of time.

So overall, I’d say the DualShock 3 is a nice improvement over the Sixaxis, and there’s absolutely nothing to complain about as far as I’m concerned. Sure, it still doesn’t come with a USB cable, but I think in this day and age of conservation, we have to support such decisions, even if their reasons for doing so were purely economic. Given that the controller is essentially disposable, at least we won’t start building up a collection of redundant USB cables. It’s bad enough we’re throwing out the entire controller when the battery dies. OK, so maybe there’s one thing to complain about: a removable battery would have been nicer to the environment, although most likely at the cost of aesthetics and rigidity.

Before I got to bed, and after the dual DualShock 3’s had had a good 7-1/2 hours of charging, I decided I didn’t want to wait until the next day to feel the force feedback love. So I fired up Super Stardust HD for a quick asteroid smashing session and was pleasantly greeted by the soothing pulses of Immersion’s patented force feedback technology. While SSHD might not be the best game to showcase the new controller’s capabilities, it was enough just to get a feel for it and also to confirm that you can easily turn force feedback on/off via the menu that appears when the PS button is pushed. It felt good to have force feedback back, as though for a brief moment all was right with the world. Now if Infinity Ward just adds force feedback support to Call of Duty 4 for PS3, all would be right with the world.

1 comment April 8th, 2008

Classic Lode Runner, on your Mac OS X Dashboard!

Mention “Lode Runner” to any veteran computer user and chances are they’ll not only be familiar with it, but they’ll have fond memories of playing it. It’s been remade so many times and for so many platforms over the years that many younger gamers are probably familiar with it as well. It was after the topic came up with a friend and fellow computer veteran earlier today that I became determined to find a version of the game I could run on my Mac. While there are one or more Lode Runner-like shareware games for Mac OS X, it became clear to me after a bit of searching that if I wanted the original Lode Runner, I was going to have to run it under emulation.

The world of emulators on the Mac is very diverse. I had a lot of choices available to me of which version of Lode Runner I wanted to run, on which computing platform and using which emulator. I ended up choosing the original Lode Runner game running on the Apple II, and rather than using a traditional emulator, I decided to go with one that came packaged as a Dashboard widget, that way I could quickly jump into a game of Lode Runner no matter what I was in the middle of doing, and just as quickly put it away when I’ve had my fill. Following these step by step instructions, you’ll be able to get your Lode Runner on too.

1. Download the AppleIIGo Dashboard widget from the developer’s website and then click “Install” and “Keep” when Mac OS X prompts you asking if you want to download and install the widget.
2. Download the Apple IIe ROM image from here. Extract using Stuffit Expander.
3. Download Lode Runner for the Apple II from here and unzip it.
4. Call up Dashboard, and click the bottom right hand corner of the AppleIIGo widget where the little “i” is.
5. On the backside of the AppleIIGo widget, click the “Disks” button, followed by the “ROMs” button. Two Finder windows will open. Click the “Done” button to flip the widget over.
6. Drag the file APPLE2E.ROM file that you unstuffed in step 2 to the Finder window named “ROMs”.
7. Drag the file named loderunner.dsk that you downloaded and unzipped in step 3 to the Finder window named “Disks”.
8. Call up Dashboard again and click on the little “i” to bring up the AppleIIGo settings again.
9. Select “loderunner.dsk” from the “Disk Drive 1:” popup menu, and then click the “Restart” button.
10. Play Lode Runner.

Here are the controls:

Action	Key
Up, Down, Left, Right	I, K, J, L
Dig left, Dig right	U, O
Stop moving	Space
Switch to keyboard controls	Ctrl-K
Switch to joystick controls	Ctrl-J
Suicide	Ctrl-A
End game	Ctrl-R
Pause game	Esc or Stop or Ctrl-M
View High Scores	Return

A more complete list of controls and commands are available here, including editing commands for creating/modifying your own levels.

Hit any key to start a game. Collect all the barrels until the exit ladder appears, then climb up the ladder to move onto the next level, all while avoiding the bad guys chasing you. Remember that bad guys will pick up barrels they walk over, which they will drop sometimes on their own or when they fall into one of the holes you’ve dug.

The only two caveats with playing Lode Runner like this is that there is no sound (the AppleIIGo emulator doesn’t support sound), and the screen can be a bit small. Those shouldn’t really get in the way of some good old school fun though, since the sound isn’t important to gameplay, and the graphics are simple enough that you shouldn’t have a problem seeing all the detail you need. Of course, you can theoretically play any Apple II game using the AppleIIGo Dashboard widget. If you successfully get any other classics running, tell our readers about it in the comments!

Have fun, and let me know what level you manage to reach. So far, I’m up to level 5.

13 comments March 3rd, 2008

flOw: Breaking the mold of casual gaming

Those of us who have been lucky enough to get our hands on a Playstation 3 here in Canada will probably agree that there isn’t exactly a huge selection of content for the next-gen console yet. Like most people, I don’t have a huge amount of time to spend playing games, so this hasn’t been a problem for me, and I’m fully aware that the situation will get better as time goes on. March seems to be the month the floodgates will open on game releases, no doubt to coincide with the console’s March 23 European launch. It’s given me time to finish the games I already have before my attention is distracted by newer, shinier things.

So yesterday’s release of flOw was a welcome addition to the console’s catalog. This seemingly simple casual game is unlikely to keep me away from other retail Blu-Ray titles that are waiting to be finished, but I was excited to get home from work and give it a try. I had heard little about the game ahead of time, in fact I think my first real exposure to came from the online Flash version I heard about on Digg or Slashdot. The game intrigued me, as it really was nothing I had seem/played before. I purchased and downloaded the game last night from the Playstation Store, priced at $8.99 here in Canada ($7.99 in the US). I’m not sure why we continue to pay some of the cheapest prices in the world for digital online media, but I’m not complaining. Sure it’s no “at par” pricing like iTunes 99¢ downloads, but we are still getting better than market exchange rate!

So I played the game for about a half hour, maybe 45 minutes. It’s kind of hard to say because you really can lose track of time in this game. The basic premise is you are a water-born organism that has to eat other organisms in order to grow and evolve. It’s basic gameplay seems to be somewhat of a cross between the classic video games Snake and Joust, in that you have to eat to grow and evolve, but the other creatures you are trying to eat, are trying to eat you too, so you have to try to approach them from angles that will allow you to eat them without exposing your body to their mouth. Everything you eat, changes your body so you are constantly evolving based on what you eat.

The game takes place in a body of liquid, which I’m going to assume is water. Each level takes you deeper in the body of water, and you can vaguely make out what organisms exist in the next deeper level ‘behind’ you on the screen, which adds to the feeling of immersion. The ‘levels’ are relatively short, but there is no waiting between them, and you can easily move deeper and shallower through levels at will by eating the appropriate shaped and coloured floating cells. Red with inward pointing arrows to descend deeper, and blue with outward pointing arrows to ascend to the previous level.

I almost have no clue about how many levels I passed in the 30-45 minutes I played because there is no indicator about what level you’re on. Not only are the levels not indicated in any way shape or fashion, but there’s no score and no menu either! The game’s interface is completely devoid of any information whatsoever. When you launch the game from the PS3’s XMB interface, after viewing the customary bevy of brand logos that adorn the startup of every game, and a screen that describes the controls, you just start playing. No need to press the start button, or navigate any options. In fact, there are NO options. There’s nothing to configure whatsoever. The same screen that describes the controls also mentions that a second player can join in at any time, but I didn’t have a chance to try the multiplayer option out, so I’ll have to revisit this aspect of the game in a followup posting.

The refreshing surprise about the game when I first started playing is it’s controls. It uses the Sixaxis motion control completely for movement. You simply tilt the controller in the direction you want to travel, and your organism responds instantly. This game really showcases just how accurate and sensitive the motion sensor is in the Sixaxis controller. It took a bit of practice to realize that I had to use very subtle movements in order to have accurate control in the game, and after a bit of practice, I quickly got the hang of it. I have to say this method of control seems so utterly intuitive for this type of game, and I applaud Sony for releasing a game that truly takes advantage of this feature, rather than most PS3 games that add motion control as an afterthought. In fact the only other inputs you will use on the controller in playing the game is to press any button to speed your creature up in some fashion (this will vary based on what state of evolution your creature is in) and the Start button to pause/unpause the game. That’s it. This game’s control is as simple as it gets.

One other indicator that is missing from the screen, is how many lives you have left. Because you don’t die in this game! When predators eat parts of your body, you simply de-evolve into a simpler organism, which makes you a smaller target and insures you can still defeat the bigger stronger creatures you are up against–creatures that you will no doubt eventually become, once you’ve evolved far enough. The bigger and more evolved you become, the more ‘hits’ you can take before being devolved to something much smaller. So the trick to survival is to keep eating and learn the movement and tactics of each new enemy organism so you can get better at defeating them. Not having to worry about dying in this game really adds to the relaxed and enjoyable game-play. The words “game over” do not exist in this game whatsoever.

When you’re tired of playing, you simply exit the game as any other, and your progress up till a certain point is saved, to continue at a later time. There appear to be specific save points, which aren’t identified in the game, so there is the potential that you will lose some of your progress when you quit and come back. From what I can tell from my limited time playing, the save point appears to be when you pass a major milestone your evolution. When I finally quit the game, and quickly went back in to see where it continued from, I had lost a good few minutes worth of gaming, but nothing that I can’t get back the next time I play. I’m wondering if maybe had I paused the game before quitting, whether it would have saved my progress a little further. I’ll experiment on this next time I play.

flOw’s graphics are simple yet beautiful at the same time. The game supports both 720p and 1080i/p, so everything is very crisp and clear on modern TVs. The graphics are an interesting mix of 2D objects interacting in 3D space, much like looking at micro-organisms through a microscope. The game is very conservative with it’s use of colour, focusing more on shape and physics. Everything moves in a very natural and life-like manner, and everything seems to affect the movement of everything else in the way one would expect objects to affect the flow of the water around them. It’s probably a very complex physics engine, but it’s not apparent to the player. Everything just seems to move naturally, which I think is one heck of an achievement, from a developers perspective.

So is the game any fun to play? Yes, but not in ways that one might be used to. There’s no bright colours, annoying sound effects and fast-paced action that are usually associated with most addictive, repetitive, casual games such as Tetris. Playing this game doesn’t feel like work the way that playing Tetris does. It seems designed for longer average play time, with difficulty increasing at a slower pace and the subtle background music and natural freeflowing movement intended to relax, rather than stress. It’s really an anti-video game, in almost every way I can think of. From the relaxed atmosphere, slow difficulty progression and simple and intuitive controls to the utter lack of progress indicators, lives, menus and options, it really feels like the developers set out to create a game that has as little in common with traditional video games as possible, and succeeded.

flOw is a uniquely addictive game that one will play just for the sake of playing, as opposed to trying to beat the high score or attain a certain level. I can’t even imagine how people will discuss their progress in flOw with friends, given the lack of any clear progress indicators such as score or level names/numbers or any language at all. If flOw is the anti-video game, then maybe it isn’t meant to be discussed at all. Maybe it’s enjoyment should just be experienced and then forgotten about, which makes it the perfect game for people who don’t want to think about their games.

Add comment February 23rd, 2007

Linux on the PS3: Sony’s master plan or recipe for disaster?

Holy penguins Batman! Terra Soft Solutions has just announced plans to release Yellow Dog Linux for the Sony Playstation 3! For those not familiar, Terra Soft got it’s claim to fame for it’s Yellow Dog Linux distribution for PowerPC based Macintosh computers, and even did some good business selling Macs with Linux pre-installed–the only company to ever get authorized by Apple to do so.

After Apple dropped the Intel bomb at WWDC 2005, Terra Soft has stayed commited to the Power CPU architecture. They seem to have done well for themselves by switching focus away from Apple hardware towards IBMs Power and PowerPC based servers. No doubt putting Terra Soft on the short list of favored linux developers for the IBM/Sony/Toshiba developed Cell platform. Yes, this is no unauthorized hack boys and girls, according to the Terra Soft press release, they’ve got Sony’s blessing (and even their support) to release their Linux distro for the upcoming PS3 game console:

Under basic agreement with SCEI, Terra Soft was granted a unique opportunity to develop and bring to market a complete Linux OS for the Sony PLAYSTATION 3.

The video game console market is like the cell phone and razor blade business. Sell your expensive console at a loss to gain market share, and make back the money on the sale of video games, services and accessories. This is the reason why Microsoft and Sony have been so protective of their consoles and tried to thwart attempts to install unauthorized home brew software on their consoles. If you are losing say $100 per console sold, and 10,000 people buy your console just to use them as an inexpensive Linux web server, then you’re going to lose $1 million on those sales, that you’re never going to recoup from those customers. Likewise, video game piracy is a big threat to profitability as well.

So what does Sony have up their sleeves? Reading the Terra Soft press release further provides some insight into just that very question.

In development of Yellow Dog Linux v5.0, Terra Soft integrated and enhanced code from Barcelona Supercomputing Center, Sony Group, and Fedora in order to offer the following:
- kernel 2.6.16
- gcc 3.4.4 and glibc 2.4
- Cell SDK 1.1
- OpenOffice.org 2.0.2
- FireFox 1.5.0 and Thunderbird 1.5.0
- Nautilus 2.1.4
… and a suite of Personal Accessories, Development Tools; Sound & Video, Internet, and Networking applications.

There’s no doubt that the idea is to turn the PS3 into a full fledged personal computer with all the basic apps most users would need/expect. Whether you’re an institutional or corporate client who wants to set up an inexpensive supercomputer cluster, or just your average home user who wants to surf the web, send/receive email and work on some Office documents, Yellow Dog Linux has everything you need right out of the box to get started.

But Linux isn’t ready for the home user, right? Will your average PS3 gamer have any clue of how to install and setup Linux on their PS3? Well Linux has come a long way over the last couple of years. Distributions like Ubuntu are making inroads into the desktop Linux market, and Linux adoption continues to grow as every new release gets more and more refined. Usability is near on-par with Windows and installation is as simple as anyone could expect. But when a company develops a Linux distro for a very specific set of hardware, it makes it easier to focus on improving ease of use. According to Terra Soft:

A single-click installer enables absolutely anyone to install without instruction. Post-install, the default suite of applications presents an intuitive, self-guided means of exploring Linux without the confusion of multiple applications in the same family. An Advanced installer mode enables selection from greater than fifteen hundred packages, as is expected from a complete Linux distribution.

Sounds like they’re catering to everyone from your average Linux novice to advanced users as well. This is a very good thing. While Microsoft is busy patching loopholes to prevent people from hacking the XBox 360 to run Linux, Sony seems to be embracing this open source OS completely. This has the potential to greatly shift the value proposition in the PS3’s favor. Now, not only are you getting an HD capable next gen game console AND BluRay movie disc player, but a personal computer with no limits on what you can run on it. It’s now obvious why Sony made sure every PS3 configuration includes a hard disk drive.

If you think Linux on the PS3 is all about attracting users though, you’re sadly mistaken. It’s probably more about developers than it is about end users. Linux has an absolutely huge following in the developer community. After all, Linux is all about developers working together to create great software. By fully supporting Linux on their upcoming console, and being the only console that does so, Sony will instantly gain the interest and support of a huge developer community, and a huge library of software which will be a recompile away from running on their hardware. Trust me, every Linux developer who has even considered buying a video game console will be counting their pennies to get a Playstation 3.

So the big question still stands. How is Sony going to make money off of the PS3? My guess is they figure they can afford to lose some money from the odd purchasers who buy a PS3 to only run Linux, because they can recoup more money from consumer PS3 sales than Microsoft can from the XBox 360 since they will also make money from BluRay movie sales, and licensing of BluRay and Cell technology to other companies. To Sony, the PS3 is an important part of winning market share in several different markets that they can’t afford to lose in. With this latest announcement from Terra Soft, Sony is finally starting to show all their cards. If Sony sees demand for Linux on PS3, can dedicated Cell based PCs and workstations be far behind?

I was sitting on the fence about which next generation game console I planned to buy (if at all). This announcement has just made my decision a lot easier for me. I currently have an XBox with a mod chip installed so I can run XBox Media Center on it for playing downloaded video content in my home theatre. But the XBox can’t handle HD video playback at 720p or higher, and my 50″ LCD projection TV is crying for HD content. Given that Microsoft is making the XBox 360 even harder to hack than it’s predecessor, I started to consider using a Mac mini to do the job of playing back video, with it’s great Front Row remote and on-screen interface. But if I can just install Linux on a PS3 then for around the same money as a Mac mini I’ll have the media playback capability, plus a sweet ass gaming console and a BluRay movie disc player. Sure, it won’t be able to run Mac software, but if I really want to do that in my living room, I’ll just use my Mac notebook. That’s what notebooks and WiFi are for after all.

Add comment October 17th, 2006