Sony made the PS3, which they’re selling for around $600, a rather high price point for a gaming system in the eyes of most people. It’s that expensive because the PS3 is also a Blu-Ray DVD player, able to play one of the competing next-generation DVD formats coming out. (The other is the HD DVD.) Because of the Blu-Ray player, Sony is losing money on each unit, a lot of it, since Blu-Ray players are more expensive. Still, that’s OK, since gaming console company always make money in licenses from the game. Problem is, Sony has to sell about 30 games in order to make the money back for one unit. That’s a lot of games! The gaming community and the press have been making fun of Sony for this obvious bout of fiscal stupidity, especially since their competitor, the Nintendo Wii, has sold so many units, each at a profit from the start.

While conventional wisdom would tell me that Nintendo’s won this round, I’m not so sure they have. Sure, when it comes to gaming systems and profitability, Nintendo has both Sony’s and Microsoft’s geese. But Sony’s business plan has a lot less to do with gaming and a lot more to do with the total entertainment package, a market in which Nintendo doesn’t play, and Microsoft barely shows up. The key here is the Blu-Ray technology.

Recently, I’ve observed that everywhere the PS3 is being sold, adjacent to the PS3 display is another display, full of Sony films. Films in the Blu-Ray format. Call me crazy, but wouldn’t it make sense that Sony is banking on BOTH the sale of games and movies to get them the profit they need? I mean, what are you more likely to buy, 30 games, or 10 games and 20 movies?

This makes a lot of sense if you think about the crowd they’re going after, the “Get more bang for your buck even if you have to pay a bit more for it”. (In addition to the “must…have…latest…and greatest” crowd.) Why have they not made as many units? Not because there won’t be a demand, and not because they can’t, but because their intended audience, the video/audiophiles who *would* buy 10 games and 20 movies are the ones most likely to purchase the units anyway, and they don’t want to have many units in storage. Remember that companies have to pay for storage, so if you can eliminate that cost, you can increase your bottom line. Once production costs go down for them, over the next year or so, the rest of us (who are waiting until the price drops to get a PS3) will purchase them at a point where they’re at least breaking even on the units, with all game and movie profits going towards the bottom line.

Think about it: Has Sony made another Blu-Ray player which they’re losing money on? Probably not. They’re banking on two specific crowds to get them to profitability. Additionally, by spreading a Blu-Ray player around along with a popular gaming system, you make the format more acceptable. Finally, making this many Blu-Ray players will lower the costs of production for other Blu-Ray players.

Here’s the scenario Sony is banking on: parents buy Blu-Ray player (PS3) for their kids. Kids play it in parents’ 52″ flat screen. Parents, who had a DVD player before, decide to try Blu-Ray, since now they’ve gone out and spent $600 on the darn thing. (They might as well use it to, and get more bang for their buck, right?) They fall in love with the higher quality and more features of the Blu-Ray movies, so they start buying all their movies on Blu-Ray. Kids play games and watch movies, parents buy movies, and then, a few years later, the system burns out from overuse. The family now has to buy another. (Anyone had this experience with their PS2? The overuse/burnout thing, I mean.) This is great, because BestBuy is selling the PS3’s for only $299 by this time. The gaming entertainment systems are profitable to produce. Sony has just made their profit from both ends.

True, this business scenario is, at best, a gamble. But it’s a calculated risk, and Sony’s people are no dummies. If you’re only looking at this from the gaming side, it’s stupid and makes no fiscal sense. If you’re looking at the total package, its a pretty smart move on the part of Sony.

In the long run, I think Sony will succeed with this strategy. In the short run, they won’t see a dime in profit, but I don’t think they care. They’ve learned their lessons from both the MiniDisc and PSP UMD’s. They may have another lesson to learn, but I think they’ll continue pursuing this business model, what I call the unified entertainment system model. (This, I believe, is why Microsoft named Sony as their biggest competitor during the US anti-trust trials. MS is going for the same end, a unified entertainment system, although they bring other things to the table.) Provided they have enough cash to keep it going, I think this strategy will — again, in the long run — work for Sony.

Instead of putting up an insightful and witty post this time (one without the word “booger” in the title), I’ve instead decided to follow suit with Renagade Zen and post a picture of myself as a South Park character.

Using the South Park Character Generator, you can — and should — do the same. (For anyone interested in posting their South Park character picture who doesn’t have any place to upload it, just email it to me, norb@gnorb.net and I’ll store it on the server for you. Note that images can’t be hotlinked from anywhere else, though. Sorry.)

For the record, there’s no option to choose a fat body, which eliminates the possibility of about 65% of the US population being able to create true-ish self-portrait (that includes me), but allows us to see what we’d look like if we were paper cut-out cartoons and in shape-ish. Also, I know the whole “South Park” thing is somewhat (a decade) old, but I checked with 1997 and no, it didn’t mind if I borrowed its joke for a while.

The meme continues…

Edit: Here’s The Wife:

Frankly, I think the perfect ending would have had aspects of the Normal and the Good, instead of what it ended up being. That’s just me, though.

I just finished watching (amazingly, for the first time) Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children (AC).** Great movie, especially if you like CGI and action scenes. Much better than Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (TSW), but only if you know the Final Fantasy VII (FF7) storyline. (Otherwise, stick with TSW, where Sandra Bullock and Alec Baldwin lookalikes save the world from… itself. And ghosts.) Of course, like any other addiction, this one little taste of the amazing addicting FF7 storyline has spurred within me a hunger for more knowledge about the ever-expanding world of Cloud, Tifa, Aerith and the rest.

** Note: Since I wrote that I’ve seen the movie four more times, all within the span of about a week. It would’ve been more, but I’ve also spent time seeing all the extras, comentaries, and deleted footage. What can I say? I’m an extras junkie.

Anyway, I won’t get into explaining everything about the FF7 story world here, but if you (like me) neglected the world for almost a decade, here’s what’s been going on: a number of follow up backstories and after-the-event stories have been and will be released over the next couple of years. In fact, if you go to the FF7 Wikipedia page (which I recommend doing if you need a refresher), there are links there to all kinds of information about the new Compilation of Final Fantasy VII storilines:

Games: Before Crisis: Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII Snowboarding***, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII, and Dirge of Cerberus: Lost Episode – Final Fantasy VII

***Note: The snowboarding game is based on the little snowboarding minigame within the game. It’s a simple game, so it’s been only released for mobile phones. Makes me wish they’d also release the Chocobo races (and raising) for mobile phones, as well as Final Fantasy X’s Blitzball game as a standalone.

Movies: Last Order: Final Fantasy VII, and Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children (Uhm… duh?)

Not Fan-Fiction Stories: On the Way to a Smile, and Maiden Who Travels the Planet.

Lots of stuff, I know. The cool thing about these is that you get to find out stuff like what happened between Cloud and Tifa in the years between FF7 and Advent Children (The Case of Denzel and The Case of Tifa, both of which make up On the Way to a Smile), and what Aerith found after she died (Maiden Who Travels the Planet). The downside is that it seems the FF7 writers couldn’t quite keep from altering their own histories a bit. (Nothing of massive significance, but enough to cheese more than a few diehards off.) Of course, after reading all of that, you may want to head to IGN and read the translation of the Final Fantasy VII Ultimania Omega. Heck, you should probably head on out to the AdventChildren.net forums to read a full episode summary of Before Crisis, which has not yet been translated and may never be.

As I read all this, here are a couple of striking (at least to me) observations I made while reading all of this:

• When people die in this world, they go to the Lifestream, which is a bit like the Hades of Greek mythology. If you had a lot of regrets, then you were there in a prision of your own mind. If you lived a good, regret-free life, then you had a good afterlife. Eventually you sunk down into the lifestream and became one with the planet. Reminds me of the words of Milton: The human mind is a wonderful thing, for it can make a hell out of heaven and a heaven out of hell.
• What the heck is with the Zack guy?! He’s got to be the coolest character EVER! The dude gets his groove on with both Tifa and Aerith! Amazing. Even more amazing is that he’s such a frigg’n huge part of the story even though he’s a minor character (until Last Order, where he becomes a major character). Seriously, minor characters shouldn’t be allowed to be this cool.
  
• Turns out that Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy VII are related. Look to the Lifestream for answers on that one.

Anyway, what’s a bunch of info and spoilers without some video goodness, eh?

The following video is from FF7, and shows the last fight between Cloud and Sephiroth. (Features the Omnislash.)

By the way, to find out more about what exactly is going on, and why Cloud had to descend into the Lifestream to fight Sephiroth at the end of the game, you’ll have to read The Maiden Who Walks the Planet, which also explains why Aerith seems to keep popping up whenever Cloud’s in trouble or the plotline conveniently needs a loophole. Also explains more completely the backstory of Advent Children, and why it’s such a great story about forgiveness.

The following videos are from Kingdom Hearts, with Cloud and Sephiroth fighting, and a guest appearance by Tifa.

Of course, if you haven’t seen the movie, you can munch on this little bit, which, if nothing else, gives you a taste of the amazing (and fantastically unrealistic) fight scenes in through the movie. (Sorry, it’s in Japanese.) By the way, don’t miss the limit break at the end of the scene, a new version of the Omnislash.

Finally, what sudden fancy (and relapse into addiction) is complete without the “Which character are you?” quiz? According to Quizilla, turns out I’m one of the following, with only a one-answer difference:

Vincent was my first result. Do I agree with it? Actually… yes. But explaining that is another story entirely. (Read a few of my older articles, especially those on theology and philosophy, and you’ll begin to see why I say that.)

And that, as they say, is that.

Quick Rundown
There’s this guy, Rumisiel, who’s actually not a “guy”, per se, but an angel (even though the only differences between him and humanity are wings and supernatural powers). He’s been suspended from his job as filing angel in Heaven (which runs like a giant bureaucracy) for being a lazy slacker. The problem is that just before he is suspended, he ends up misfiling a couple of files, those of Ash Upton and Emily MacArthur. By misfiling their files, Rumisiel ends up turning Ash — a male, 17 year old high school student and racer — into a girl, and making Emily — a female, 18/19 year old high school graduate to be who just qualified to get into Harvard — two years younger, thereby erasing the past 2 years of her life, including all grades and entrance exams. He introduces the two and they start a rather strange friendship whose only glue (at first) is that they’re the only ones aware of what’s going on. (Rumisiel explains why they’re the only ones that can remember what they were before the change.)

Throughout the story, Ash is getting used to being (and apparently, all his life having been) a girl, including his acquisition of breasts, estrogen, and looks from guys who just want to get into his/her pants. All this while trying to remember that “she” is actually a “he”. Emily, on the other hand, is discovering why it was she wanted to get into Harvard in the first place, and realizing more and more that her life has not necessarily been her own, but rather deeply controlled by her mother’s expectations. And of course, there’s Rumisiel who’s trying to do whatever he can to get back into heaven before someone up there catches his mistake and makes the changes permanent. (Oh, and did I mention he used to date Lucifer’s niece?)

Thoughts and Impressions
My first impression when I saw the comic was that it was going to be another supernatural/drama storyline with more than enough attention paid to boobs and sex. Sadly, I was right. Some of the themes dealt with here are definitely “R” rated. (I tend to be a bit of a puritan prude, so most people would tell me it’s actually PG-13, sexual innuendo and tension not withstanding.) Still, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The comic has a great style and feel to it (in the manga style), something which will likely be enjoyed by most most fans of anime and manga.

Marvelous artwork aside (and, if nothing else, this is enough of a reason to enjoy the comic), the story line is pretty solid, generally witty and enjoyable. The combination of great artwork and good story-telling is enough to make Misfile strangely addicting, especially if you enjoy manga/anime/comics that don’t involve mutants and aliens in tights. To put it another way, Misfile has a bit of a Love Hina appeal to it, with a scaled-down Ah! My Goddess feel, so if you liked either of those, you’ll probably like this.

While going through the comic I was very impressed by the detailed references to street racing and car engines. (That’s not really saying much, considering my severely lacking depth of knowledge on the subject.) If nothing else, you’ll learn a thing or two about auto-work from reading Misfile. In addition, unlike with most manga of this style, it’s surprisingly easy to put yourself as the reader in the shoes of the characters, something which personalizes them and greatly enhances the reading experience.

On the downside, I find the emphasis on sexual tension and innuendo — the lowest common denominators for humor — to be a distraction sometimes. (Yeah, yeah: Ash, a girl, has the hots for Emily, we all get that, and since he used to be a guy it’s… uhm… well, it’s… uhm… yeah.) In addition, I find that there’s a lack of depth in the theological realm, something I’d really like to see more of. One very notable exception to this is Rumisiel’s illustrated explanation of the fall of Lucifer, which is a pretty good (and slightly, but not detractively, embellished) synopsis of the Biblical account of the whole ordeal. (CEOs aren’t mentioned in the Bible, right?) Overall, however, we get the usual humanizing of theological creatures, even though angels DO tend to be a bit one dimensional and not generally smart in most theology. (At least the “not generally smart” part is portrayed correctly here.)

Luckily, neither of these “flaws” really detract from the story line, which is great.

Note: A tip to Chris: Read up on a few holy books from the Middle East, including the Dead Sea Scrolls, the books of the Apocrypha, and the Lost Books of Eden. I think you’ll find more than enough ammunition there to add some theological depth to the heavenly hosts.

Conclusion
As I wrote this, I noticed that it’s 6/6/06, a numerically (but not otherwise) significant day in the world of Biblical theology. Coincidence? I think so. Total coincidence.

In any case, I find Misfile to be an extremely entertaining manga with a great story line, pretty good character development, and great art. Although I have a bit of hesitation about the theology and constant sexual tension, here’s my biggest beef with the comic: it has an addicting story line, one that makes me want to flip the pages to find out how it all ends. Since Misfile is still being written, and therefore hasn’t ended, that can only lead to the eventual frustration of reaching the end without reaching a resolution (something I, to my dismay, have already done). For that, I have no choice but to say (in the spirit of the topic at hand):

“Damn you, Chris. You’re a filthy, manga-crack peddling bastard. And like a crack addict with his drug, I hate loving Misfile as much as I do. But please… keep drawing.”

A few days ago I found one of the most comprehensive Matrix character databases on the Web. The Matrix, as those of you who know me personally are (and those of you who keep reading will be) aware of, is hands down my favorite entertainment franchise. (Maybe “series” is a better word?) The story line, the Alice in Wonderland references, the cinematography, and — of course — the layer upon layer of philosophical and theological innuendo are just some of the things that have gotten me almost totally hooked. (And yes, I’m aware that most of the “philosophical and theological innuendo” is probably due to the speculation people have made in light of the Wachowskis not talking about the specific meanings in the movie. Great marketing move: put it out there and let the masses fill in the gaps with their collective imaginations.)

Anyway, in the site there are links to some of the Matrix comics which Warner Brothers put out online. Check them out if you have some time. (Go to the “Comic Section” to find a list of the characters in the comics and links to their respective comic online.) One that caught my eye was Run, Saga, Run, in which a young girl studying under the Oracle decides to go out for a night of fun and ends up being chased around by a bunch of agents. She holds her own, but is she able to escape?

Guess you’ll just have to find out. (Click on the image to read the comic.) The image above is probably my favorite pane throughout any of the comics featured on that site. I’m not one much for comics, but art like that will get my attention just about any day. (Also, check out the cool gear, backpack and glasses.)

Mortal Kombat vs. Street Fighter 2: Nice little flash movie where Ryu and Scorpion duke it out. Awesome fighting scenes, including 14-hit combos, fatalities, and a surprise ending. (Thanks to Trapp for this link.)

BlogMaverick: Success & Motivation – Redux: Mark Cuban, owner of the NBA Dallas Mavericks, the IceRocket search engine, and entrepreneur extraordinaire shares a few of his favorite stories outlining how he got to where he is today. A lot of gold nuggets for anyone who dreams (and doesn’t just wish) about owning a business and becoming mega-wealthy.

Yet Another Flash Game: This game is quite possibly one of the strangest games I’ve ever played. You’re this guy, living in an asteroid and (I guess) you’re trying to stop another asteroid from crashing into yours. Pretty addictive, if you have the patience. (I can get to about the 7th board before my eyes start bleeding.) Someone had to be on something when they wrote this.

Sock Master’s Video Game Controller Family Tree: How did the current home-console controllers come to be? How have they evolved? You may have noticed some similarities between the current generation controllers, or between them and the previous generations of controllers. So, how do they all tie together? Here’s how.

Australian Antarctic Division Picture Gallery: Think you got it bad with the snow? Try having to go into the freezer to warm yourself. Still, awesome pictures of the ice shelf down under from The Land Down Under.

My second exposure came when I was looking for pics of Elita Loresca for the Does God Hate Florida or Something story. While looking, I stumbled upon this forum thread, which referenced Loresca’s apparent resemblance to the comic’s main character, Monica.

Ok, I thought. I’ll bite. If it had as many fans as it seemed from this forum, maybe there was something I was missing. (Hint: I was.)

Here’s a quick run-down on the comic from the author himself:

Wapsi Square follows the day to day stories and relationships between a group of five post college friends and a school teacher turned bartender. Amanda is a motherly professional photographer who is convinced the intelligence of the world is dropping but still remains optimistic. Monica is the diminutive museum curator that has yet to realize how cute she is. Jaquline, Shelly, and Owen are the members of the punk band Fermented Banana and good friends of Monica and Amanda.

Various story lines deal with relationships, single life, mythical monsters, muscular women, bra shops, goth looking loners, cigars, real ale, microbreweries, bikinis, photography, dating, guitars, music, bands, night clubs, swing dancing and the Aztec god of alcohol.

Sounds like your typical, 20-something popish-type comic, doesn’t it? Well, you’re in for no surprise: it is. But it’s not bad; it’s not all breast-jokes after all. In fact, they’re more like bra jokes, which probably wouldn’t have been as funny when I was single, and didn’t really every hear many conversations about bra sizes. (When those jokes — or rather, funny observations are done, they’re done in a generally respectful manner. Here’s an example. Keep in mind that most of those jokes involve the fact that the main character, who’s based on the author’s fiancée, is a 4′11 girl with a 28G bust line.)

While reading through the story line, there were some spots where I would laugh rather loudly at what was going on. See, the reason I didn’t find the comic funny the first time I read it — breast jokes aside — was because Wapsi Square is one of those comics which requires a certain knowledge about the characters as well as an understanding of the situation at hand in order to be funny. As a comic strip, that’s both its major strength and its greatest weakness. Strength in that it’s just good enough to make you want to keep reading. The problem is that a joke will usually start in one episode, but not quite get to its punch line in until several episodes later. On the bright side, when you get to the end of a joke, it’s usually funny. Unfortunately, there’s a good chance that you may get bored and stop reading way before you get to the joke. In other words, this makes for a great comic book, but a not-so-great comic strip.

Another thing to keep in mind about the strip is that although you don’t need to be a 20-something to understand it, you may need to be intimately familiar with the “Gen-X/Gen-Y” sub-culture to find it funny. (This may simply be my ignorance of how other age groups see things.) In fact, that’s actually why I like the comic, because it’s not inherently funny (it’s not a Peanuts or Dilbert), but it’s funny in the “Hey, I’ve been through that” sort of way. With observations about

• the stress-relief qualities of bubble wrap,
• the effectiveness of home excercise equipment, and
• getting stuck in places you’d rather not, only to find out everything you knew was wrong (click “next day” a few times to get this one),

this is one where, if you haven’t been through this — and I think to some extent most 20-somethings have, or are going through it now — you may not find this too entertaining. If you’re in that crowd, start from the beginning and enjoy the read.

By the way, probably an important point which I forgot to talk about, but the artwork is pretty good. If you start reading from the very beginning you’ll see how the drawings evolved and improved. Overall, the artwork reflects the series, its audience, and its humor very well.

Side notes

• Here’s a series I found particularly entertaining, relating to swing dancing and going out with large, muscular women. (You’ll have to click “next day” like 8 times in order to see the whole story and get the punch lines.) I found it entertaining because I have gone swing dancing with women which were my height (not a very common occurrence, given that I’m 6′1), as well as some which were much shorter than I (like The Wife).
• Here’s anoter series I found interesting, this one about the Aztec god of alcohol. I’m not much of a drinker myself, but I’ve met more than a few people who might have at one point shown their appreciation and affinity towards this diminutive god. (Again, you’ll need to click “next day” like 8 times to understand what’s going on and realize that a good part of it was actually funny.) By the way, here’s its follow up.

Anyway, so I took the test and here are my results…

1. Hinduism (100%)
2. Seventh Day Adventist (96%)
3. Orthodox Quaker (94%)
4. Eastern Orthodox (93%)
5. Roman Catholic (93%)
6. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (91%)
7. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (84%)
8. Orthodox Judaism (83%)
9. Sikhism (79%)
10. Islam (75%)
11. Jainism (73%)
12. Bahá’í Faith (69%)
13. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (66%)
14. Liberal Quakers (65%)
15. Mahayana Buddhism (65%)
16. Theravada Buddhism (65%)
17. Jehovah’s Witness (61%)
18. Reform Judaism (56%)
19. Unitarian Universalism (54%)
20. Neo-Pagan (38%)
21. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (36%)
22. Scientology (31%)
23. Taoism (31%)
24. New Age (31%)
25. New Thought (26%)
26. Secular Humanism (25%)
27. Nontheist (22%)

Hily crap, I’m a Hondu! Ok, not quite. It doesn’t surprise me however that my faith alignment is as it is. I’m pretty “Liberal” for a Christian (not Hillary Clinton liberal, more like “a few notches below Bob Coy” liberal), in that I believe God to be bigger than any idea we can assign to Him. And the fact that I have a LOT of Hindu friends — well, it rubs off, I guess. (Besides, the next 7 results might have something to say about my beliefs. Only surprise there is “Quaker”, and that comes more from ignorance than anything else, since I don’t know oats from Quakers.)

This isn’t the first time I’ve taken this test, so it’s interesting to see that a few things that were on top before now aren’t. (Buddhism, Unitarian Universalism, and Bahai’i for example.)

There are more tests and I’ll keep updating this with any info I get about — err — myself(?). If you want to take the Belief-O-Matic, or any of Beliefnet’s tests, head down to the Beliefnet Quizes area and take a few of your own. You may find out a bit about yourself as a result.

Edit: Just found the “Which Christian Theologian Are You test. (Not Beliefnet related.) Aparently, the Christian Theologian I’m most like is…

Augustine!
You love to study tough issues and don’t mind it if you lose sleep over them. Everyone loves you and wants to talk to you and hear your views, you even get things like “nice debating with you.” Yep, you are super smart, even if you are still trying to figure it all out. You’re also very honest, something people admire, even when you do stupid things.

“God will not suffer man to have the knowledge of things to come; for if he had prescience of his prosperity he would be careless; and understanding of his adversity he would be senseless.”

(Click on the test to take it for yourself.)

Surprise, surprise. Although I’ve long admired the simple beauty of OS X, I’ve never quite gone ahead and given in to the temptation of buying a Mac. (Although I did convince my sister and now-mac-head brother in law to buy an iMac.) Really, I’ve been a Linux person for years but — well, I guess using Lindows/Linspire isn’t too far off from using OS X, aside from all the functionality and beauty that is. And the megalomaniacal owner.

No, wait. Never mind. Got that.

Anyway, with that said, I’ll obligatorily ask, “So, which OS are you?” (Insert game show music.)

Edit: I also just took the “Which File Extension Are You” test. This one’s a bit less useful than the previous, but what the heck.

Uhm… yeah. That’s exactly what I am. Although I’ve gotta say, MS Word really ain’t that bad of a program. I use OpenOffice.org at home, but mostly because it’s legally free, and donating $30 is better than forking $99 over. (Heck, even StarOffice, at $80 is a better deal).

centesimal — adj 1: relating to or divided into hundredths 2: the ordinal number of one hundred in counting order.

History: From Latin centsimus, from centum, hundred.

Synonyms: hundredth, 100th.

The challenge: Use it in a sentence not involving math. For example, the I.Q. of some of my acquaintances is quite obviously so high that mine must seem not only decimal, but centesimal by comparison.

Ok, now you try.

More like this can be found at http://www.sheppardsoftware.com.