Here is a very cool website that answers that question. How many times have you checked a site and it was down only to realize it was only you? Check out this site, it’s very cool:
Author Archives: admin
ROI and gaming
Pretty decent article on investing in a game and ROI
Xbox One Update: No DRM, No restricting used games, and no region lock
The update specifies that the Xbox One will not require a daily internet connection for games to be playable, that Microsoft will not restrict used games, and that region-locking will also be dropped, and also you can make money and get fun at same time playing at https://nevadaonlinecasinos.com.
Now read a very funny article about it – well here is the text:

Xbox One Rumors Put to Rest…
Microsoft’s new system is actually very awesome, it was just a bad marketing job and users that do not understand the features. PC gaming is 10x better and ahead of console gaming and MS took a step in this direction while sony is staying in 2005. Let me explain…
MS is implementing a cloud (sony is too but it is not the same thing). What this will mean is that you will install your game on your machine and then you will never need the disk again. You go to a friends house, log in and you can play. No need for your disk. You can lend your game to up to 10 friends too (although the time will be limited). How awesome is that? Its like PC gaming. Disks are an outdated technology. My laptop doesnt even have a disk drive. I was so happy to see MS moving in this direction and cannot believe Sony is making them mandatory and people are happy about this old technology? Its like demanding a home cordless phone over a mobile and claming the home one is better lol.
About the 24 hour online check in. It is most definitely needed. Since you do not need the disk after installing on the cloud why wouldnt every single person just sell it? They need to prevent that. It makes total sense. Plus, the majority of gamers play online. I havent played a non online game since maybe 2007. I cant even log into WoW without being online. With this I just need to ‘check in’ every 24 hrs, then I can play offline for 24hrs if i wanted.
Kinect – it will NOT be monitoring you. That is just a bad rumor. You can set it to do what you want. Do you really think MS would spend millions (and i mean many many millions) to record people? Do you know how expensive server space and how big video files are? I dont think people actually believe this…
Xbox One Strategy: What MS needs to do right now
If Microsoft’s Xbox One wants to win the console war, right now, its very simple. Lower digital game prices $10-20. It’s that simple. Show us, as users, that all of your security issues to prevent piracy are so that developers can rest assured their is less pirating, which should increase profits. As a result you should be able to lower the cost of digital games as the PC has done. So do it and do it now. Additionally when users are not buying the disk, case, etc they lower your costs anyway. So if you want to get your rep back fast, make the announcement that digital games are going to be lower.
My thoughts on xbox one
After speaking with two different game designers this weekend as well as reading more information, my thoughts on xbox one have changed dramatically. Here are my most recent thoughts and sure these can change in the coming months are we get more information:
1. Multimedia – If I am spending a few hundred on one of these things (consoles) I expect it to do more than play games. I am excited for the multimedia features of the xbox one. I felt like sony dropped the ball here and should be doing more. MS is really going to shine in this area.
2. xbox live – what can i say, its always been better then PSN. Now that PSN will be the same price I dont see how anyone can justify it considering it was down for 3+ weeks last year. Im sure sony has fixed those problems though but I do not think anyone can argue psn is better. xbox is now getting 300,000 servers, which is amazing.
3. Always online – I only play online. Who doesnt play games online? I have for many years now…maybe since 2007. I pretty much have awesome internet everywhere I go so its not a complaint. I am surprised people are not mad that these systems require always electricity:) All of my PC games, like WOW, are always online too. Plus many sony games will require online access as well. I cant really figure out this one. I do not see people complaining that WoW is only online.
4. Installing games. Just like every PC game I have to install. This is actually awesome. I can now go to a friends and just sign in to play my game. No need to use disks anymore – welcome to 2013 MS. The cloud is the way to go. This is a major selling point for me. I felt like sony actually went backwards here. their cloud is very limited and wont be available until some point in 2014. I do want to see more details on both systems cloud.
5. used games – yea i dont buy them. gamestop is causing an increase in prices. stop supporting them. they are hurting all game publishers, especially the smaller ones. suppport game developers not gamestop. Also if MS’s new system works to help prevent privacy, there is a change the game prices could go down for digital versions.
6. Kinect – I dont really care much for kinect but after thinking about, its kinda nice. it would be fun to mess around with. and no its not always on or recording you, you can set it to do what you want. it will also be kinda cool to skype with people like my family on tv vs my ipad.
7. Games – Well I think the exclusives are better for MS. I am a huge halo fan so thats always a sell for me. Titanfall looks interesting and will be available on PC too. All the other games I want seem to be on both systems although I imagine MS’s cloud will be really cool for Destiny.
xbox one needs to change its marketing among other things…
Edit: my thoughts after talking to several game designers and doing some research on the system. I am still really annoyed about he price though. $500 is too much for a game system…grrrr
This post will discuss why MS needs to change course now if they want their console to do well. Whoever came up with these ideas is not a gamer and should be fired from MS. Gamers are rebels. They do not like conformity and the marketing for this console is everything they hate, in this case the Google Correlate tool will work well for uncovering related marketing topics. Now just a word of warning – Sony is probably going to be doing this same stuff (well not price) they are just keeping quiet at this point as they should seeing what MS is going through. Its not really MS or Sony’s choice, rather the game publishers. I will also note that I am more than likely buying an xbox 1 (not on release though, I will wait for halo).
Edit: Here is a good explanation of all of these things. Basically what it comes down to is MS did a terrible job marketing some awesome new features and they actually made them sound bad: http://www.neowin.net/news/anonymous-xbox-engineer-explains-drm-and-microsofts-xbox-one-intentions
1. Price – this is the biggest. Given the current economy, people are not going to spend $499 when they could get the sony for $399. It does not matter what you include in the console. Its the price tag people will see. $499 for a console is too expensive regardless.
2. Features – 24 hr online check, no borrowed games, etc. – since these changes would only affect a small % of gamers, why have them to begin with? People are just bashing the system because of them even though they wont be affected. Do not try to educate the community, its not going to work. Whoever thought it would needs to be fired.
3. Kinect – People could care less about kinect and now feel like they are going to pay for something they wont use. Have a bare bones system with no kinect. Heck have no storage, let people use their own. Things like this would reduce the cost and people would be happy.
4. xbox live – there are rumors you are going to charge more for things like netflix and such? Keep xbox live pricing as is. Its only going to confuse people and make them mad. Dont do stupid stuff. If you want to be # 1 listen to gamers not your business analysts.
5. Exclusives – you better get your exclusives in check. The bigger games are all multiplatform. If bungie’s new game is awesome PS4 will win this gen for sure. COD and battlefield already make it not important which console you have.
E3 2013
Get ready for the latest gaming announcements and trends – E3 2013 begins today! This week we will get to see the latest technologies in the gaming world and see what they have to offer. I am most excited to see what the PS4 and Xbox One have in store: http://www.e3expo.com/
Microsoft Press Conference – 1 p.m. ET
EA Press Conference – 4 p.m. ET
Ubisoft Press Conference – 6 p.m. ET
Sony Press Conference – 9 p.m. ET
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
Nintendo Direct – 10 a.m. ET
source: http://fansided.com/2013/06/10/e3-2013-live-stream-schedule-announcements-games-list-and-more/
Video on formative assessment
Here is a nice introductory video on formative assessment that I showed in my class last week.
MOOCs: Why I am confused
Why am I confused about MOOCs? I am confused because we have had online learning since the mid 1990s. We have conducted a million research studies on them, we have tried them, tested them, all colleges have them, etc. But all of a sudden we change their name to MOOCs? What changed? I honestly cannot figure it out. Maybe the way universities would accept credit could change but nothing about learning in the course has. For instance, I was reading this article sent to me by a colleague yesterday and saw something really interesting in the article “Tennessee will run two kinds of courses — traditional and online — side-by-side, and the results will be compared.” I thought wow – didnt we do this 1000 times in 1995? Dont we have a book entitled the no significant difference phenomenon? Havent we tested everything in online courses from comparing them for achievement, looking at social presence, class numbers, workload, time to teach, etc? SO WHY THEN ARE WE REPEATING THESE EXACT SAME EXPERIMENTS? Its not like we have 1 experiment, we literally have 1000s to look through which answers all of these questions. So are MOOCs the future of learning? Here is why I think they are not. 1) Online learning is tried and tested. Completion rates are nearly half that of regular universities. That means on average 60% of students graduate from a normal college who start, around 30% graduate from online universities. Why the high drop out rate? MOTIVATION. Why do MOOCs, who actually have less intructor/student interaction believe that they would improve that? I think motivation will actually be worse. 2) Why would someone pay $1200 for a course that has 5000 students in it vs paying $1200 for a course that has 10 students in it and a dedicated instructor? 3) The biggest scam of all MOOCs – believe that the content designed by leaders in the field is somehow better than the content designed by UoP. Guess what UoP, Walden, etc hire these same people to develop their courses. There isnt a difference. Its no different than using that person’s book in the class. Unless you have them as a professor and have access to them, there is no difference.
Anyway, those are my thoughts for the day. Until I see how MOOCs are any advantage to a student I will continue to think they are just an extension to online learning and soon enough coursera will be another online school that competes with UoP and Walden.