Interscription

So after reading this article on lifehacker.com, it got me thinking.  As anyone who knows me is aware, I’m a subscription entertainment junkie.  I currently have a Rhapsody subscription for my music, a Gamefly subscription for games (an awesome service, use this link to try it out, and send me some love!), and I’ve been demoing Netflix for it’s watch now product, which I’ll probably review at some point.  I also subscribe to every premium cable channel under the sun for their generally high level shows.

The theory of the article is that subscriptions are generally not the value that they seem to be as most of us actually consume far less than we think.  The argument doesn’t quite resonate very much for me on most things.   Let’s go through a couple of the subscriptions in my life:

• Read more: To Subscribe or not to subscribe…

Just goes to show you that sometimes buying a toy you don’t fully understand can bite you.

Yesterday my wife and I settled in front of our new Sony Bravia TV (purchased through PowersellerNYC…awesome customer service and prices <end_shameless_plug>) and decided to rent a movie from the Xbox Live Video Store. The movie was Death at a Funeral, a very funny story about British shenanigans at a funeral. Since I only had 440 Microsoft points left in my bank (and this wasn’t really a made-for-hi-def experience), I decided to rent the 480p standard definition version (the 720p high definition version was 480 MS points, and I didn’t feel like re-upping my bank. Incidently, Khidr and I will be doing an extensive gripefest about the M$ economy in another post, but on with the current story…).

• Read more: Reverse 3:2 pulldown, CineMotion, and how choppy video sucks

Continuing with my recap of 2007, I move on to the not so high points of the year; the things that sucked.

Some of the Lowlights of 2007:

• Read more: 2007 – The year that wasn’t.

Last night dragonwyntir and myself  headed into philly for the sticky red carpet event of the month: A free screening of Battlestar Gallactica – Razor, the two hour film produced to keep rabid fans from going comatose while waiting for the 2008 return of the final season of the show.  The event was hosted by Microsoft, specifically by Mass Effect and the new Zune, although no Zunes  or attractive blue aliens were on display, but we were treated to a few AAA trailers of Mass Effect, and the same Zune commercial, twice (I have no problem with you hawking your wares a bit when you treat me to a free screening, and I know you paid a lot for that ad, and I definitely hope my Zune makes me trip my *** off when I get it, but if you want to show me two commercials, make them different commercials!!! I get it, pink bunnies, sign me up).

• Read more: Battlestar Razor!

Tim: Thoughts on the Internet TV beta?

• Read more: Email Kung-Fu: Volume I, Internet TV Beta for Windows Media Center

There you have it; your resident 360 fanboy commenting on the the Blu-Ray vs. HD-DVD format war.  I should probably blog to the world my true feelings on the matter, and why I think we should all go home.  Much ado has been made regarding the recent Paramount HD-DVD exclusivity deal, and while I do agree this will string out the battle for quite a bit longer, there are two major points that I don’t think HD-DVD supporters like to think about:

• Read more: The Hi-Def format war is OVER!

There mere thought of uttering that phrase brings vivid images of Khidr  and dragonwyntir reenacting the beat down scene from full metal jacket (replacing the bars of soap in a sock with Xbox Controllers).  “All just a bad dream, Fatboy” indeed.

But I digress.

• Read more: There is more to life than just video games….

While no one can claim to handle this kind of thing perfectly, I get a warm gushy feeling (a G-RATED one, Beavis) about all the hullabaloo that gaming receives in this day and age.

Speaking of gargantuan press events for gaming alone, we’ve got:

CES
E3 (now in bite-sized variety!)
TGS
"X0#" Events

…and these are just the big ones!  Indeed exciting times to be a gamer.

• Read more: X06…or “Why You Bought a 360″