Blog Report: November 24th

Official U.S. Playstation Blog
Digital Comics Reader Now Available for PSP – Get a Free Issue!
Grace Chen - Senior Manager, PlayStation Store
November 20th, 2009
http://blog.us.playstation.com/2009/11/digital-comics-reader-now-available-for-psp-get-a-free-issue

One growing trend of this generation of consoles is the functionality of the device outside the common aspect of playing a game. The PSP has been experimenting with Movies, Music and Internet Phone for some time; so the idea of turning your PSP into a Digital Reader seems like a no brainer. With the latest firmware update, the Digital Reader is now available and although it is limited to comics (addressing the primary audience on the PSP), with success, it will lead to more and more digital publications. This post is to notify people that there is a free digital comic available, but there is a catch, that is pretty much the only combat available. To me this seems like another missed opportunity on Sony’s part around properly building up the community for the release of a product. Why would you go live with a Digital Reader, but the Publishers are not going to put up content (save this one comic) until a month after release. The audience will commit to the update and have it on their PSP, but not have access to any content. Then, when the content goes live, there is a good chance that they will have already forgotten why it mattered.

Set on Stun
XBOX with Facebook and Twitter — Winner of The Dumbest Console Idea Award for 2009
Shawn Deena
November 20th, 2009
http://setonstun.com/2009/11/xbox-with-facebook-and-twitter-winner-of-the-dumbest-console-idea-award-for-2009/

The Xbox 360 has been the benchmark for online interaction in this era of console gaming. Currently you can chat, text, video message, and even watch a movie with your friends, as well as play games. If you ever needed to do another type of social interaction, it seemed like there would be a much better device than my video game console to execute that action. Guess I would be wrong though, since with the latest update of Xbox Live you can now log onto your respective Facebook and Twitter accounts and interact with all your friends. First problem, QWERTY keypads do NOT come standard with the 360 or its controllers. In fact, they will run you an additional 30 dollars and the virtual keyboard will not due; trust me, its pathetic. Second, you would need to be an Xbox Live Gold member (meaning you pay a subscription around $40 annually), and that is just absurd considering both these services are free with an internet connection on any other platform. Lastly, the functionality of both these applications is extremely gimped due to the fact that the Xbox 360 does not support an Internet Browser. That means that no 3rd party apps can be supported, meaning all the Facebook games that people play, cannot be played on a video game console! So, what can you do? Update your status, leave messages for friends and look at pictures; wow, sure wish my iPhone or PC could do that… oh wait, they have been for years.