DeAno's Perspective: The Google+ Takeover

Google+ comments are live on YouTube, which is a great thing that provides easier threaded commenting and more control over where your comments go and who can see them, and for the content creators provides more ways than ever to monitor discussions around their videos, stop racist/homophobic trash from ever appearing on their videos at all, makes audience interaction easier and more seamless than ever, and generally provides a better experience for all involved.

This hasn't come without complaints, so I thought I'd go ahead and address the main issue that I see popping up, as well as clear up a critical misunderstanding.

The main issue/misunderstanding that I'm seeing from people goes something like this: "I don't want a Google+ account!  All I want is a YouTube account!"  Let me make this totally 100% crystal clear: There is no such thing as just a YouTube account.  Back in 2011, VP of Product Management +Bradley Horowitz said in an interview with Wired that Google+ is Google.  People either forgot or thought that he was kidding, so let me lay it out for you.  If you think of +Google+ as just a social network or basically Google's version of Facebook, you're not seeing the big picture.  Google+ is the backbone for each and every service/product offered by Google.  Everything from YouTube to Google Calendar to Gmail to Hangouts to Blogger to Android to Maps to Drive - everything ties back to Google+.  To not want a Google+ account is to not want an account on any of Google's services whatsoever - they are one and the same.

If you choose not to use the social aspects of G+, so be it!  No one is forcing you to even touch the stream, and there are millions of G+ account holders that opt not to.  It's there for you if you want it, and if not it's really not that big of a deal.  The important thing that you need to realize is this how it's going to be from here on out.  Google+ is Google, and that's just the way it is.

TC Summit 2013

Photo by +Michael Banks 

What an amazing week!

Actually, let me back up.  This amazing week actually happened about a month ago.  See, back then I was in Google's Rising Star program for Google+, having a high product knowledge and an equally high disposition to share that knowledge in the Google+ Help Community, assisting other users in their G+ journeys in any way I could.  I'd been in the program since its inception and was just doing what I do.

About a month ago I get an e-mail from the Community Manager for G+ +Natalie Villalobos who wanted know if I'd like to become a Top Contributor for the product.  That's pretty much like being in the minor league and being called up to the majors, so because I'm not an idiot I accepted straight away!  A bit of paperwork later (including a NDA), and within 48 hours I was a newly branded TC...right along with my buddy +Kim Beasley as I quickly found out.

Photo by +Michael Banks 

Happy to be apart of the program, I quickly got to know the other TCs in my group that I didn't know already and got to work helping to provide the #BestHelpOnTheWeb that the TCs are famous for.

The next day, I get another e-mail from Natalie, this one an almost "by the way" sort of thing, explaining that Google was having a summit for their TCs and that they'd be flying us all out to the Bay Area for a few days...and that it was happening in three weeks.

Yeah...this is pretty much the point where I had to get out of my office and walk around for a bit and process what was happening here.

Fast forward to September 30th, and the good times began!

First thing was first, though - while there were fifteen G+ TC's there for me to meet, three in particular were extra important. The four of us have been friends on Google+ for a long time and became TCs around the same time period - we all took this journey together and it led us all here.

+Kim Beasley, +Ayoub Khote, +Michael Banks, and Yours Truly.
The Fabulous Four 

That accomplished, it was time to party! It was an amazing experience being able to meet with the rest of the crew, talk to Product Managers and give feedback directly, and even pick up a few new toys!

The Google Goodies!

Your highly motivated and truly dedicated team of TCs represented +Google+ well. We were the loudest, we had the most energy, and we were always front and center. There's not a single person who was there that doesn't know who the G+ TC 10X Mafia is!

Front and Center!
Photo credit: +Ayoub Khote 

Anybody can be a Top Contributor - it just takes a lot of work and a lot of love.  Basically a TC is a fellow user with a high level of product knowledge that uses it to help other users in the official Forums and/or Community.  TCs are chosen by Community Managers or suggested to CMs by other TCs, who look for consistency and the quality of a person’s answers.  

Being a TC is a lot of hard work, but there are some perks (like being able to attend the TC Summit).  You’ll tend to learn of new products and features long before anyone else, you have the ear of Product Managers and other Googlers actively looking for feedback for future changes/additions to the product, and a whole lot more!

You can go here for more information on the TC program, and if you think you have what it takes to join our ranks feel free to apply!

It truly hurt to have to leave my friends and come back home (I started missing our CMs the instant I'd left their presence), but it's good to know that we are all just a Hangout away and in two years we're doing it all over again! I'll leave you with this summation from +Ayoub Khote.

"We are the crazy ones, the loud, the proud, the happy dancers, the new kids on the old block... the ones who do things differently -- we're not fond of formality... You can join us, be annoyed by us, admire or vilify us, but the only thing you can't do is ignore us because we will change things... we will push a louder, prouder, Googlier help experience, and while some may see us as the crazy ones, we see wonder, because we who are crazy enough to be loud and proud, to make noise and not care, to not stop until we have answers, and to be more than a team, but be family? We can change the world, and our sense of wonder and joy are the things that will ensure we do." 

Your Google+ Top Contributor team.

To Live And Die In L.S.

Sorry I've been a bit quiet these past few days.  I've spent 41 hours in San Andreas with my buddies Michael, Franklin, and Trevor in a grand adventure that was full of excitement, trepidation, drama, danger, and ultimately triumph.  Through their eyes I've base-jumped from mountain tops, robbed jewelry stores, woken up drunk on a beach in my underwear surrounded by dead bodies, driven an ATV out of a cargo plane, and much, much more.

Grand Theft Auto V is the culmination of every lesson that +Rockstar Games has learned as they've made games this generation - you can clearly tell that they've taken the best aspects of everything and put them here.  Example: the constantly weakest point of every GTA game I've ever played has been the shooting mechanics, but for this one it felt so good that I did something I would have never dreamed of attempting in previous games - turning free-aim on; and it felt great.  

Gone also is the slightly floaty driving physics from GTAIV and in their place is some of the best driving in any open world game I've ever played.  Driving was a joy, plain and simple.  Every car feels different, but just as important is who's driving because each of the three main characters have varying levels of skill behind the wheel.  If you're driving with Franklin, you'll pull moves that you wouldn't even try with the other two because he's the only one that can handle it.

The map is huge and highly dense; you'll never be far away from something interesting to do or see.  Random events also spice things up quite a bit - I was once driving up north to participate in a race on the water and happened upon a fairly ugly car crash that only had one survivor.  Ended up deciding to help her out, and turns out that she was a very capable driver that quickly became my go to driver for any heists I had going on.

Ah yes...the heists.  These set pieces will require lots of planning and forethought and were easily my favorite missions in the entire game.  I won't give any of them away (except for the jewelry store thing I mentioned earlier), but I will say that they were incredible.

Another thing I particularly enjoyed was the writing and the voice acting, which is absolutely top notch.  Each of the characters have their own personalities and viewpoints, and even when working together it's not unusual to have them bickering with one another.  During a particularly long drive to a small town north of Mount Chiliad, Michael and Trevor had a conversation/argument that had me laughing so much that I had trouble keeping the car on the road!

I could wax on for quite sometime, but I'll sum it up by saying that this game is simply amazing and stands with +Naughty Dog's The Last of Us as being one of the finest games I've ever experienced.  In short, games like this are why I'm a gamer.

Fantastic job, +Rockstar Games.  Next up, GTA Online - see you all in San Andreas!

Grand Theft Auto Online Revealed

Wow.  Just wow.  Before I even get into this, if you haven't seen the reveal trailer, that's where you need to start.  Don't worry, I'll wait.

As exciting as that is, it's easy to not fully understand what +Rockstar Games is doing here, so I'll break it down.  First off, it's important to understand that while Grand Theft Auto Online access comes free with Grand Theft Auto V, it's actually an entirely separate entity that will change and evolve all on its own.  Yes, it uses the same map and assets from GTAV (for now, anyway), but it's really its own thing - if you're thinking of it as just the online mode for GTAV, you're not seeing the big picture.  You'll be able to create your own character that you'll access via the same character switcher that we've seen in the previous GTAV gameplay video (remember that fourth empty spot?  This is what it's for), and once you're in that online world you can use your in-game cell phone to call up your friends and have them join you, even if they're currently playing just the single player.  You can do minor robberies on your own to earn cash and reputation, but to get the big bucks you'll have to form a crew and plan a heist.  There's also different ways to spend downtime, doing things like races, base jumping, tennis, golf, and more.

Some other points that need to be mentioned:

• You can set bounties on other players if there's someone you really want dead.
• You'll need to deposit your money in banks because if you don't, you can be mugged and robbed.
• NPCs react to your voice when you speak into your headset (your character's mouth will even move).  Example: if you're doing a robbery and you're shouting at someone to hurry up and give you the money, they'll move a lot faster.
• You can also invest your money in the online stock market and even bet on the outcome of online matches.
• While some missions are always there, others will be totally dynamic.
• You can customize cars and they are yours, but they can be destroyed or stolen...but if you've insured it, the car can be replaced for a fee.
• When I say that the world is dynamic and consistent, I mean it.  If some of your friends (16 people exist in a game world at any given time) are in an epic police chase, you can turn on the TV in your apartment and watch what's happening in real time.

Earlier on I mentioned that the world of GTA Online uses the map and assets of GTAV for now, but Rockstar has already alluded to the fact that the world of GTA Online will expand.  I wouldn't be too shocked to see San Fierro and Las Venturas added to the mix at some point in the future.  While GTAV is a current generation title, I also wouldn't be shocked to see a stand-alone GTA Online come to the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 at some point in the future.

This is the most ambitious thing that Rockstar has ever done, and I really can't wait to get my hands on it when GTA Online becomes available on October 1st 2013.

Gamescom 2013 Is One Week Away!

On Wednesday August 21st 2013, the annual Gamesom convention will kick off in Cologne, Germany, but the press events will happen a bit earlier.  Sony's press event will be on the preceding day at 8am PDT, which you can watch on PlayStation Home or at the Gamescom page on Sony's site.  Microsoft will also be holding theirs a day early, but I haven't been able to confirm if there will be a livestream of it (if you find one, feel free to let me know!).

Yesterday I recorded a DeAno's Perspective video that outlined some of my thoughts going into this, which I've embedded for you below.

 

We should see a more information on both announced and unannounced games at the event as the battle for your eighth generation dollars heats up.  I said in my video that I didn't really care about Nintendo, and I still don't (let's be honest - they're not in this fight), but I'm hoping to see some positive news from them as well.  At this point, though, it'd pretty much take a Wii U2 to get my attention.  As far as Microsoft and Sony are concerned it's anyone's ballgame, so let's see how this all plays out!

Family Sharing Is Nothing To Cry Over Missing: It Wasn't What You Thought It Was

I fucking knew it.

I'm presuming that most of you, either through a previous post of mine or some other method on the Net, know that Microsoft took off all the DRM and online checks that the Xbox One was set to have.

Most gamers were happy about this, but there's also quite a few that were excited about many of the features the XB1 would support that it now doesn't/can't.  Some are rather benign like not needing to put in a disk for games (buy the digital version: problem solved), but one rather substantial feature the upcoming console would no longer support is Family Sharing.

As most gamers understood it, this feature allowed you to have ten different people on a special list and everyone on that list would have access to all the games you'd buy via a shared games library.  Anyone could play it at any time and when they were done someone else could have a go.

XB1 gamers were already assembling their ten players and planning who was going to buy what game so that all of them would be able to play everything, but I had serious doubts about this feature.  There was simply no way in hell publishers would go for it; I knew there just had to be a caveat.

There was.  A Microsoft employee laid it out via a blog entry in which he bemoaned the fact that this wouldn't get to happen.  I'll quote the relevant section for you below:

"First is family sharing, this feature is near and dear to me and I truly felt it would have helped the industry grow and make both gamers and developers happy.  The premise is simple and elegant, when you buy your games for Xbox One, you can set any of them to be part of your shared library.  Anyone who you deem to be family had access to these games regardless of where they are in the world.  There was never any catch to that, they didn't have to share the same billing address or physical address it could be anyone.  When your family member accesses any of your games, they're placed into a special demo mode. This demo mode in most cases would be the full game with a 15-45 minute timer and in some cases an hour.  This allowed the person to play the game, get familiar with it then make a purchase if they wanted to.  *When the time limit was up they would automatically be prompted to the Marketplace so that they may order it if liked the game."

Did you get that?  Family Sharing was nothing more than a glorified demo, like the full game trials that PlayStation Plus does all the time.  Ten of your friends wouldn't just be able to play the full game from across the country - they'd get at best an hour of game time before having to buy it for themselves.  Just like the PS+ Full Game trials, your progress would be saved along the way and if you chose to buy the game you'd pick up from where you left off - that's the only benefit this had over a regular demo.

I know some of you were looking forward to the features of the XB1, but I'm happy they went ahead and made the changes now.  Can you imagine the shitstorm had the details of Family Sharing come to light when that feature was still on the table and people were using it as a selling point for the console?  Or worse yet - no one found out about the details until after the launch?  It would have been an unmitigated disaster!  So just sit back and relax knowing that you didn't miss out on some game changing feature; it worked out better this way, Xbox gamers.

Question time: Are you going to get a next-gen console this year?  If so, which and why?  Hit up them comments and let me know!

E3 Is Next Week!

The big show is right around the corner now.  I know that MS dropped a hell of a bombshell yesterday that I should certainly have words about, but I'm going to wait until after the press events when we have more details; at that point I'm digging in.  If my understanding of Microsoft's game policies on the Xbox One are even halfway accurate, then you can be certain to see a rant here in very short order.

Anyway, that's for another time.  What are you guys/gals looking to see next week?  Let me know in the comments!

Does Backwards Compatibility Really Matter?

The 8th generation is here!  So far we've had the pre-E3 announcements for both Sony's PlayStation 4 and Microsoft's Xbox One (the Wii U is NOT an 8th generation console - no amount of angry comments will change that, so get over it).  There's still much we don't know about either console that I expect we'll have to wait for E3 to discover, but something we know right here and now is that neither console will support games from their respective predecessors.  Indeed, no backwards compatibility whatsoever seem to be in the cards here, and I've seen some people that are really not particularly happy over it.

My question (in case you somehow missed the title of this article) is does it really matter?  It's easy to say, "Hell yeah it matters DeAno; are you fucking stupid," but really think about it, and be honest.  How many Gamecube games did you play on your Wii?  Wait, that wasn't a fair question; if you're reading this blog I very seriously doubt you bought a Wii unless you have kids.  Let me try again.  For you launch model PS3 owners, exactly how often did you play PS2 games?  Play many PSOne games on either your PS3s or PS2s?

If you're anything like me the answer is yes...for that first year.  The previous consoles were still supported and had a great library while the current gen system really didn't have all that much going for it.  Past that first year, though?  Please.  Sure there are a few stalworth classics that were fun to have another go at, but by and large I was buying current generation games for my current generation console, and so were you.

Don't get me wrong, here.  Backwards compatibility is a cool thing to have.  I remember when it was announced that the PS2 would be able to play PSOne games; that shit blew my mind!  Sure we'd seen that happen before on Nintendo's handheld consoles, but for a main living room gaming console, it was a huge deal.  That and the fact that it could play DVD movies out of the box killed the Dreamcast in less time than it took for you to finish reading this sentence.  It sold more consoles than any other console in gaming history.  It was a game changer!

What would have happened if it couldn't play PSOne games?  Pretty much the same thing.  Even without being able to play PSOne games in addition to the CDs, DVDs, and of course PS2 games that it could play, people would have still bought the shit out of it.  While being able to play past games was very cool, people bought it to play the new games.  I know that's why I bought it.  Even when it came time to upgrade to the PS3 the biggest factor that played a role in the purchase was the expandable hard drive and the multimedia functions (and of course the fact that it played PS3 games).  I don't buy a new console to play old games.

I'm getting off topic.  This entire blog post started as me asking a very simple question on my Google+ page and went out of control from there, so let's get back to that.  Is this really an issue that you care about and if so, why?  Let me know in the comments; I'm really interested to know what you think!

The Xbox One Has Been Revealed, But Where Are The Games?

Note: This is a rant.  For those unfamiliar with my rants, I tend to cuss a lot.  You've been warned.

After all the rumors and speculation, today Microsoft finally showcased their newest console at a press event in Redmond, the Xbox One.  It has responsive voice commands, plays live TV, multitasks kinda like Windows 8's split-screen feature works, and there's some fantasy football shit and some other kinda TV bullshit and a fucking Halo TV series and you can Skype people (yay, it can finally do what my cell phone has been able to do for the past 4 fucking years; I'll plan the parade).

Don't get me wrong here; I liked a lot of what I saw.  It was damned cool!  The new Xbox has a lot of very impressive features...except for apparently the ability to play fucking games.  Did any of you watch the press event?  I counted; it was 28 fucking minutes before they even started talking about games.  They brought EA studios on stage to talk about their games, and they pretty much played a sizzle reel with a bunch of CG bullshit, and then it was on to talking about a Halo TV show (but not a game, why would they be talking about a game?) that apparently Steven Spielberg is involved with but didn't care enough to actually show up at the fucking event.

Then they started talking about the fantasy football shit, and just when I thought that they might show me something, they began to wrap up the show!  I was getting really upset at this point (I'll explain why in a bit), when they finally started talking about showing a game!  Just when I was getting my hopes up, they said the words Call of Duty.  I disconnected the livestream right then and there.

A couple of months back Sony revealed the PlayStation 4 and took a lot of grief for not showing what the console looked like.  Their argument was that what it looked like wasn't important; they showed the controller (the part of the console you'll spend 99% of your time interacting with) and they showed what it can do.  "That," they argued, "is what matters to gamers."  They were fucking right.  Here, look at this:

That's the Xbox One.  It's a fucking box with a slot in it so you can put a Blu-Ray into it.  Would you have rather known that or did you maybe want to see some of the fucking games that this games console can play?  During Sony's PS4 reveal, they showed off the features of the controller, they showed off the new interface, and they showed us actual games running the fucking console.  Meanwhile, hey at least we know that I can watch How I Met Your Mother live on the Xbox One...just like I can on the shit I already have.

Microsoft has a real chance to get me this generation, but unless they straight-up blow the doors off the place at E3, Sony is getting my money next generation.  At least they still know that at the end of the day, it's all about the games.

"Offline?" What's That?

Man ever since +Google+ introduced the new Hangouts app, I've never seen so much whining about a paradigm that no longer is relevant.  People just can't seem to move on, get past it, and wake up to the year 2013!

What am I talking about?  The old "online/offline" thing.  Here's the situation: in Google Talk there was a little dot indicator to show you someone's status.  Green meant online, orange meant away, and red meant offline.  In Google Hangouts, the app that replaces Talk, that indicator is no longer there...and people are freaking the hell out.  If you doubt me, allow me to share a few choice comments I've snagged from the Google+ Discuss community and a few from the comments in the posts of the peanut butter powered CM of Hangouts, +Dori Storbeck:

• "I want to see who is online... not second guess if they are or not." 
• "On desktop at least we have "green" for online people, but yeah I'd hope that basic features like "green" and "orange" would be on mobile as well."
• "Any chance you can add the ability to change status (Busy/Online/Away) in Hangouts? There is a bug (maybe a feature?) where if I use Hangouts strictly, people who are using Gtalk view me as offline."
• "hate that my contacts are no longer grouped online. I used to see friends online and just say hello. Now I have to search for individuals. Not crazy about the Gtalk replacement."
• "I WANT to see who is online..  ...... I don't want to look in Gmail to see my list of people"
• "It does matter who's online and offline.  If i want to contact someone offline, I'll send them an sms.  Sometimes I go offline so I don't have to receive IM's.  I don't want to come back online with a bunch of IM's waiting for me."
• "I don't need to chat with people who are offline.  I don't want to see a long, convoluted list.  I just want to see those of my contacts who are online, plain and simple."

I could probably go on, but I think I've made my point.  Bottom line is that people don't want this to change, but here's the thing: the way we use the internet has changed enough so that this very simply doesn't matter anymore.  

Think back to when Instant Messaging first came about and really got pushed into the limelight.  E-mail was the best way of getting in contact with people that were far away, long distance calling was expensive, but with IM you could have a conversation with anyone on the globe if they used the same IM service you did and were in front of their computer.  That last bit was the most important; they had to be in front of their computer and they had to be online (remember that dial-up was the standard back then, and people usually only connected when they had to).  Back then, you needed an indicator telling you what their status was.

Now let's fast forward to today.  Broadband internet is the standard; our computers are always online.  We carry around internet connected phones that are more powerful than the computers we used when we first sent men to the freaking moon.  You can have a live video conversation with someone on the other side of the world and it costs you just as much as it would if you were in a video call with your next door neighbor - and that cost is normally free.  Quick question for you, dear readers: are you ever actually offline?  Think about it.  You might not be sitting at your computer 24/7, but I'm willing to wager that your lovely internet-connected smartphone isn't more than 10 feet away from you right now.  Hell, for the majority of you it's very likely either in arms reach or you're reading this very article on one right now.

Online/offline is a bygone product of an internet era that is over, and has been for a long time.  You don't need to know if a person has their cell phone in their hand before you send them a text message, so why in the world would it matter for an instant message?  The world has changed.  The way we use the internet has changed.  I'd suggest that you all change with it.

The Next Xbox - What I'd Like To See

Earlier this morning we broke the news on +Geeks of the Round that Microsoft would be revealing its 8th gen console next month on May 21st.  Rumors have been flying all over the damned place about it, getting particularly heated after Sony revealed some details on the upcoming PlayStation 4.

Some of the rumors are good, and others are freaking horrible.  I'm sure most of you have heard the one about requiring an internet connection to function, which would probably be the stupidest fucking thing they could ever do.  Seriously, they go that route and they may as well just hand over the 8th generation to Sony (who said very specifically that they would not be doing that).

We'll be getting some much-needed details soon enough, but for now I just wanted talk about some things I'd really like to see in the next Xbox (whatever they end up calling it).

• Less Hardware Issues - Let's face it; the 360 was a damned trainwreck when it launched back in 2005.  The Red Ring of Death is something that still plagues the system to this day, but not as badly as it was back then when it had a fucking insane 30% failure rate.  That seriously cannot happen again; people will be far less forgiving if the same thing happens two generations in a row.  Fix that shit!

• More Real Exclusives - Let's be real here: the 360 sucks at exclusives.  Don't get me wrong here; games like Alan Wake, Gears of War, and the Halo series are fantastic, but most of the 360's bread and butter has been multiplatform titles like Assassin's Creed and all the Call Of Duty games.  Meanwhile Sony has been taking risks and gave us awesome exclusives like inFamous, Uncharted, Heavy Rain, The Last of Us, Beyond: Two Souls, LittleBIGPlanet, Resistance, Killzone, White Knight Chronicles, God of War - the list goes on.  Microsoft needs to get on the ball and and get their game studios working on content that simply cannot be found anywhere else.  If your best games I can just as easily play on Sony's console or my PC, what the hell do I need your console for?

• Seriously, Don't Require Online - This has been the rumor that has been killing their momentum for pretty much every gamer who's looking forward to buying a next gen console (sorry Wii U, but you don't count).  There are still people in lots of places around the world, even here in the U.S., that don't have access to consistent high-speed internet.  I know soldiers that take their 360s with them when they're on deployment so that they can play some Madden when they're off duty.  By requiring the console to be online at all times, you've totally eliminated all of these people from wanting to own your console.  This is stupid.  Don't fucking do it.

• Larger Storage Format For Games - Back in the early 2000s, DVD was a perfectly acceptable storage format.  It was fairly large, scalable to a degree, and was enough for most games at the time.  By the end of the 6th generation we were starting to see games that came on two DVDs, so clearly something larger was needed.  Sony's answer to this was the Blu-Ray format used in the PS3, which had more than five times the storage of DVDs.  Microsoft's answer was...to do DVD again.  What the fuck were you thinking!? This idiotic move single-handedly held back multi-platform 7th gen games because developers were unable to take real advantage of Blu-Ray's storage capacity to avoid alienating 360 gamers.  Games that were two disks on the 360 quite easily fit onto one of PS3's Blu-Rays with room to spare!  Don't do this shit again, Microsoft.  Swallow your pride and put a damned Blu-Ray drive in your next console.

What do you all want to see in the next Xbox?  Let me know in the comments below and we'll find out details on what we can expect next month!

Yay For Google+ Comments!

Google Plus and the Blogger platform finally come together in the absolutely perfect way, not only easily allowing G+ accounts to comment on Blogger posts without those annoying Captcha things, but also putting any public post that links back to your blog post in the comments as well which allows you to monitor all conversations about your post in one place.

Fantastic idea!  Might actually start blogging a bit more often now...no promises though, so your best bet remains to follow me on Google+.