Xbox Adventures.. Phase 1

So... yes! I am a proud new owner of an Xbox One, and we've spent the last week or so with it.
It came with Halo: Master Chief Collection, Batman: Arkham Knight, and Assassin's Creed Unity (which didn't arrive for a few more days).
And somehow I was convinced to get a game Eli would play, so we got another Batman game: Lego Batman 3.
Plenty of games, and it wasn't even intended as a "gaming machine".
I have played a bit of Halo (I never actually played any of them before) and some of the others... only reinforcing my bad reflexes and sense of direction and how bad I am at consoles :)
I haven't even bothered to sign up for my free trial of Xbox Live Gold yet, but if you want to be my Xbox Buddy, I am OssianGrr

As for the media stuff.. overall, great.
The FiOS app works well, and integrates with the "OneGuide" which is an interesting side effect. (This is the thing that's meant to work with HDMI-passthrough IR-blastthrough cable boxes, which I'll get back to in a moment).
Netflix, Amazon, all the usual media apps..
Unfortunately I didn't make the connection until after logging in to all of these accounts that the SmartGlass app can use your phone's keyboard, and therefore LastPass, instead of needing to use a controller to navigate an on-screen keyboard to type my random jumble. Oh well, useful for the future anyway.

We created 3 separate accounts on the system: One for me (really the "primary" account), one for Talita, and a "Kids" account for Eli with limited privileges.
Oddly annoyingly, even the "PBSKids" media app locks out 75% of its features when a 7-year-old tries to use it, but that's not really that bad.

There are some media apps that seem to be missing on the Xbox One, but are allegedly on the 360, so maybe they'll catch up soon.

And unfortunately, our receiver's "universal remote" didn't work over IR with the Xbox, so I ordered a new cheap universal remote (this one), which works absolutely great with all of our components. Despite being a little clunky to program, I recommend it as a cheap alternative to Harmony remotes.

We've experienced a couple of strange glitches, like starting up to a dark screen -- or in the middle of a Netflix movie, the screen turning into vertical lines -- but they haven't happened often enough for me to be worried.

It's definitely quieter than the PS3, and that on its own is a benefit.

One other media-related thing, which is silly and inconsequential: long ago, I bought a Region 2 DVD set of a UK-only Red Dwarf release (The Bodysnatcher Collection, note the amazon UK address). And I could play it fine on my PC with VLC, or I could watch the ripped videos, but I like the preservation of menu structures and subtitles, bonus features and such.
I tried ripping and re-burning the DVDs to make them regionless, but the PS3 still didn't like the fact that they were PAL format.  Well, good old Xbox can play the burned copies. Yeah.. really silly for something I'm probably never going to actually watch again.

So, now that we're getting used to the interface, I've got a $50 Microsoft Store credit which I'm going to apply to buying a Kinect at some point. That will change everything.. again.
So, expect a new blog post about that when it arrives.

And then  I find out that in a few months, they're revamping the entire UI of the home screen.. so it will be another learning curve.
Hopefully stable after that.

Oh.. and speaking of HDMI-passthrough cable boxes?
After we get the Kinect, which is needed for the whole IR-blaster setup, I might look into this. The article is about using a digital tuner box to get OTA channels on the Xbox interface, but allegedly it also works with cable-from-the-wall if you're paying for service. If that does work, then we could theoretically ditch the cable box, save on monthly cost, and truly have all* of our mediastuff going through the Xbox itself.

Overall I am not disappointed.
I'm very happy with my purchase!

* Except for the Chromecast, which is still useful and convenient for pushing certain types of content. And with missing "apps", and no Flash in the Xbox IE browser, Chromecast is still a convenient way to legally, freely, stream certain content to the TV without a cable box.

Mobile Adventures, and on to Xbox Adventures

I have been an iphone user for about 2 and a half months now.
I must say, I think I've adjusted well.
I've gotten myself to the point I was always at with Android: Dozens of apps installed, but using only 5 or 6 of them regularly, of course.

I'm adjusting to all of the quirks of iOS.. missing some features of Android.. but still overall happy.
I'm using my old Note3 "as a wifi device" a lot less than I expected to, and that's a good thing.

Since I'm on T-Mobile's "JUMP" plan, I fully expect to be moving on to the next iphone6+-sized iOS device when it's released (or early next year when I'm "paid up").
As for T-Mobile.. I do sometimes lament the lack of service especially inside buildings, but I am sticking with them because their crazy CEO is working on some amazing things.


Now on to another "new chapter": The Xbox One.

Yes, although I coined the term X-odus way back during the first E3 of the new console generation, the XBone has come a long way. I've finally ordered one (small thanks to a few simultaneous special promotions aligning after the release of the new 1TB model), to partially replace my aging "60GB back-compatible" PS3 which has a fan you can hear from Texas.
With the number of media apps and features available on Xbox One, the primary purpose here isn't actually for gaming. There will obviously be some of that (especially after I add the kinect; part of the promotional stuff is a store-credit I can apply to that later) but mainly I am enamored with the idea of a truly singular integrated, searchable, UI for all streaming and local-media sources.
Depending on how things go, down the road I may even be able to eliminate our FiOS set-top-box entirely (while still paying for the necessary evil of TV) and still have access to all of the channels we care about.

Due to the promotion, the console comes with 3 games:
Halo Master Chief Collection comes in the box. I have never played a Halo game. I had a PS1, PS2, and PS3 (in addition to the Dreamcast and other older consoles) but never an Xbox. So I'm willing to give that a shot.
Assassin's Creed Unity comes for free whether I like it or not. I've only played the first AC game and I enjoyed it until it got repetitive, but this one only has a "resale value" of 6 bucks so I will definitely hold onto it.
Batman Arkham Knight was the game I chose for free from their limited additional list, and I'm also looking forward to it.
I do think I might take extra advantage of trade-in programs at Gamestop going forward, before the games lose their value, though.

I will provide further updates on this, the setup process, the gameplay, and the stupid stuff I test with it (Can I finally watch my set of PAL Red Dwarf DVDs on my TV? With or without region-stripping? Stay tuned...), soon. If I remember the blog is still here.
It might even arrive before July 4th weekend, but doubtful...

Bonus news:
At the end of July, the original store of Ossian merchandise -- http://www.printfection.com/ossian/ will be gone. Printfection changed their business model a year ago or so, and they only grandfathered their old personal stores in a buy-only state (no adding new products). So, for now, http://www.redbubble.com/people/ossiangrr is the "main" place for Ossian merch, although I'll need to find another source for GRRillin' BBQ aprons and maybe a few other things...
Ossian's 10th anniversary is also quickly approaching, coincidentally, so stay tuned for that.

Mobile Adventures: the first week

So it's been about a week and a half since I've officially been an iphone user.

I'm still a little confused about itunes, and particularly whether I can have it installed on multiple PCs to sync with the same phone, and I'm too afraid to try.
And it took me a little while to realize the dextrocentric interface where "swipe left" is favorable over the lefty-instinctive "swipe right", and stuff like that.

I wish there were an app drawer rather than putting everything on homescreens.

Not all my videos/pictures are uploading to G+, which I thought I'd set up.

Drawing with finger is not nearly as easy as drawing with my S-Pen stylus, and the "capacitive styluses" (styli?) that do work with iphone are weird and not as precise.

And there are certainly other quirks I haven't quite figured out yet.

But overall, I am happy.
There's a lot less lag in running apps, and with the camera, etc.
Everything I need to do works, and none of my complaints are things I can't get over.

I still haven't completely given up on the Note 3 as a "tablet", and still definitely have some android-specific apps I intend to keep running there, but I am slowly decomissioning some of the stuff on it so I can use them less and less primarily.

I should have been keeping more detailed notes, so that this would be a more interesting blog post, but.. so it is.

Please leave any questions in the comments so maybe you can shake things out of my memory that are more noteworthy.

Mobile Adventures, Chapter 1 and a half

The new iphone arrived today!

Initial setup has begun (but is stalled; see below).

First off, powering on the phone for the first time took an awfully long time. Several minutes.
One would think that maybe it was formatting the (usable part of) the 64GB userspace.

That worried me a bit.. But as soon as I saw the "Hello", I started getting to work.
I answered all of the questions, set up Apple Pay and iCloud, and still had trouble with the fingerprint scanner but eventually got it working (although it required me to take off the protective plastic before my real screen protector comes tomorrow).
And then I was presented with a very familiar iphone home screen.

Now what?

After confirming that Safari was working (on wifi) -- and had my Chrome bookmarks, which I forgot I had already set up to sync with icloud -- the next step was to actually make a call!

I dialed my home number.

And got connected to the T-Mobile customer service center.

Hrm.
So OK, I followed the prompts and figured there was something I needed to do to finish activation.
I said "Activate a new phone" to their prompt, and got through to an operator.
He told me that, yes, he needed to activate the new SIM card.
Could I remove the SIM and read him the numbers on it?

Well.. uh.. no, I'm calling you from this phone!

So I had him call back on the landline, successfully removed the nanosim, and somehow found a good enough light source and still have good enough eyes to read off the gigantic stream of numbers on that tiny sim:


Success!
The phone worked. I was able to make calls. Thanks, operator dude.

Let me try all the other stuff out..

iMessage: check.
Hotspot: check.
Visual Voicemail... what? voicemail shows a keypad and dials the vm number?

I called support back. They did some fiddling on the account, told me to reboot multiple times, Reset Network Settings, reboot again, but still.. the "default" iOS Visual Voicemail was nowhere to be seen.

She said it might take awhile to get working, and she'll call me back in a few hours to confirm.

So, meanwhile, I'm not touching anything on this phone. I can't afford to start configuring anything and need to do another reset (or worse, get an entirely different phone).

Hopefully this will resolve itself. It's such a stupid little thing, but I thought it was a standard feature of iphones...

For now, hopefully I'll at least be able to use the iphone as "a phone" + "a mobile hotspot for my old android tablet to do my networky things"...But I assume this should be a relatively easy fix anyway.

Stay tuned!

Mobile Adventures: Migrating carrier and platform all at once. Chapter 1

I've been a Verizon Wireless customer since Verizon Wireless existed. And I've had the same mobile phone number for all this time.

My first "smartphone" (my 3rd or 4th actual cell phone) was the good old Palm Treo. After fumbling around for a couple of years with a Palm III, modem, and patch cable to my Motorola StarTAC, this phone was a real dream come true. It combined the PalmOS I was used to and a phone in one "small" package.

When I was up for phone renewal, and the iphone was still an unproven first-generation device that didn't even have 3G capability, I decided that I didn't see the huge deal about smartphones anymore, was a little tired of the phone "app" being able to crash, and instead I took upon myself the LG Dare; a "feature phone" with a touch screen that pretended to be smart.

But then came Android.
When I was up for upgrade from my Dare, I sided with my nerdy Linux instincts -- as well as the physical keyboard slider -- and got the original Motorola Droid.
I loved that phone. I rooted that phone. I wish I could have kept it forever.
But it did have a few flaws -- mainly a lack of RAM -- and I also eventually broke its USB port so it could no longer charge :(

But in the last days of my Droid, there was a new hope.. the Galaxy Nexus. NEXUS! A line of Android phones for developers with pure un-skinned Android, "guaranteed" to get the latest updates directly from Google!  A cool curved screen!

Sadly.. as much as I loved this phone as well.. it never lived up to the Nexus name. Verizon held back on updates. I eventually did (begrudgingly) root it, but it was never perfect.
I began to get jealous of my iphone-having friends, with their consistent interfaces and easy backup that didn't require "jailbreaking". But that screen.. with my experiences in Android so far, the iphone was too small and had too few buttons.
So I bought an ipad, to have "the best of both worlds" (in theory).
And that would keep me with Android for another generation.

After an unfortunate incident with a treadmill and a headphone cable in the gym, I lived for 6 months with a cracked-screen Galaxy Nexus. Despite the fact that I was paying for the replacement insurance, I didn't want to pay $99 for a refurbished replacement _and_ worry about my backup hacks not working.

And I waited..

The Note 2 looked interesting -- a mini-tablet that also worked as a phone, to satisfy my Android Tablet desires at the same time as carrying a single device around.
But it was near the end of its life cycle.
So I waited for the Note 3.

And that's what I have now.

Side-note which becomes important later (the story is almost over, don't worry):
Somehow, when I bought the Note 3, there was a mix-up with the SIM card and they never marked me as "on-contract". So I was on a month-to-month agreement with Verizon, and could break with them at any time.
Except my wife, currently with her iphone, had just signed a new contract as well.
That made it tricky.

And for all the hatred I held toward Verizon, they still without a doubt had the network with the best coverage.

Nonetheless, after a year and a half with my Note, we were having a discussion on how to save money, and the subject of cell phone bills came up.
A friend had recently switched to ting.com's "GSM Beta", so we'd talking about the T-Mobile network.
At this point, out of abject curiosity, I found T-Mobile's "Test Drive" program, something I wish existed for all carriers: They send you a free iphone for a week, with unlimited talk/text/data. You do whatever you want with it, and bring it back.
Signed up for it.
And, to my surprise, the network wasn't half bad! There were still a couple of dead spots, but in the name of saving money, those were worthy sacrifices. Where it did work, it worked at-least-as-well as Verizon, if not better data performance.

OK, I was sold on the network! And my wife was kind of sick of hearing about it, but she was on board.
The good news (which turned out to be moot; I swear this story is short!): newer Verizon phones, like the Note 3 and definitely the iphone, are unlocked for GSM networks and "just work" (sort of) on T-Mobile's network.
There were mixed reports on whether the Verizon Samsung Galaxy Note 3 would work on T-Mobile (spelling it out for search engines) . But it would at least get a voice signal and maybe onto the HSPA+ network. Good enough.

As for ting vs. T-Mobile?  Yes, ting gives you a lower monthly bill on paper, but T-Mobile has the benefits of data roaming and crazy promotions (like 2 lines with unlimited everything, still way cheaper than Big Red).

So we pulled the trigger! T-Mobile would even pay off my wife's Early Termination Fee if we traded in a phone. I've got this fully-functional Galaxy Nexus sitting around, right? Even though it has a cracked screen, they just have to take it. Right?

So we got all ready to go to the T-Mobile store. Walked in. Told them we wanted to switch..
First, I asked if I could try an appropriately-sized SIM card in my phone to see what would happen. Lo and behold, it got a connection.. on the H+ network, but -- again -- that's good enough for my usage if it means saving money on a new phone for awhile.
So we said "Yes, let's do this".
"Oh, in case you didn't hear, just like last week or so we changed the trade-in policy so the phone has to be in perfect condition. Do you have something to trade in?"
So.. no, they would not take my Galaxy Nexus. :(
But the thing about iphones.. one of the things that I really envied about iphones .. you can back it up, wipe it, and restore a pristine image of your backup without shenanigans, including the current state of your open apps.
So my wife was more than willing to make the ultimate sacrifice, and upgrade her Verizon iphone 5s to a T-Mobile-branded iphone 6.

And that's where we were until about last week. No major problems on the network, she's loving her phone, my phone is working and -- surprise surprise -- it even got onto T-Mobile's LTE band!
There are a few flaws with my phone on the network. The special control codes that start with * don't work. I had to modify the DTMF Tones setting to get touchtones to work at all.
Some other minor stuff.
And I still suspect that my phone's antenna is just adequately picking up the T-Mo signal while any newer phone could be better.

And I'm generally frustrated with Android, especially in the Verizosphere.  My phone is stuck on 4.4.4 until Verizon (yes, they still control my updates) decides that my phone is lollipop-worthy.
Good luck with that.

So... fine.. especially due to the T-Mo "jump" program (wherein I can trade my phone in after I've paid half the price to get the next big phone), here goes a year-long experiment.
Thus begins my transition from android (galaxy note 3) to ios (iphone 6 plus), and I'll be trying to document it here on my blog.

My plan is to still keep my Note 3 around as a wifi-only "mini-tablet", and certainly not re-pay for paid apps on a different platform if I can help it. But to use the iphone as a primary phone, and see where it takes me.

The new phone should arrive Thursday, but I may not start using it until next week when the case arrives (the phone is effectively "leased" now, so it's extra important to keep it in pristine condition).

Did you actually read this far? Thanks for caring!

Do you wanna have a game night?

The idea for this song popped into my head the other day, it's been stuck in my head ever since, and I just had to write it down somewhere.
If I had any singing or video-editing talent, I might even do something on youtube with it.
If you don't know what this is a parody of, congratulations for avoiding pop culture.
Feel free to share as long as you attribute it to me :)

And no, it's not directed specifically at my gaming group, no matter how much it resembles reality...


Do you wanna have a game night?
A song parody by OssianGrr

Do you wanna have a game night?
Whatever should we play?
I'll set up Lords of Waterdeep,
or BSG,
Formula Dé...

We used to do this weekly,
But now we don't.
You don't have to tell me why.

Do you wanna have a game night?
(It doesn't have to be this weekend...)

[Zero new messages in your inbox]

...OK, Bye....

[Later...]

Do you wanna have a game night?
I just bought a brand new game.
While I could sit home all alone,
and play Hearthstone,
It's just not the same.
["Greetings, friend." "I will crush you!"]

I'll just unwrap the plastic
And read the rules,
And pop out the cardboard guys...
[Pop pop pop pop]

[Cut to montage of graduations, weddings, babies, moving, other grown-up real-life stuff]

[Later...]

Come on, I know you're out there.
You haven't unsubscribed.

Quorum's only 2 or 3.
(Well, ideally, it's 4 or 5.)

The gaming group is shrinking,
It's just you and me.
What are we gonna do?

Do you wanna have a game night?

Blind Thoughts on D&D "5th Edition"

(I always start my blog posts with something like "Hey, I haven't updated this in awhile. Here's some real content!")

Hey, I haven't updated this in awhile. Here's some real content!

So there has been a buzz for the last couple of years about "D&D Next", "Fifth Edition", or whatever you want to call it.

And the other day, an official release announcement was made.

http://io9.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-dungeons-dragon-1578575603

I know very little about this new version of D&D. There are only 2 mechanical differences that I know about so far:

• Critical hits are a lot more straightforward. Crit on a 20, and damage is "full damage for the weapon, plus an additional die" rather than x2/x3/x4/x2+x2=x3 stuff.
• In place of a lot of bonuses/penalties, you instead have an "Advantage" (roll 2d20 and take the higher value) or "Disadvantage" (roll 2d20 and take the lower value).

I'm sure there are plenty more minor differences from 3.5 like this one.

And here is the major question on everyone's minds:

"Why?"

When D&D 3rd Edition came out, and especially relevant to 3.5, Wizards of the Coast released the rules and other non-setting-specific minutiae under the OGL.

The intent of the OGL, as far as I understand it, was to create 3.x-compatible content. Supplements, Settings, Adventures, etc. And in that, it was successful.

But then came Pathfinder

And everything changed.

Paizo, the minds behind Pathfinder, took the OGL to its extreme, which (I think) WotC did not expect.

Pathfinder was not only a concerted effort to streamline and improve some maligned D&D 3.5 rules, but the rules were kept entirely "open".

With Pathfinder, the entire rules -- and some of the setting -- are available for free (legally), online. Physical core books for Pathfinder are "nice to have", but they are not necessary to play the game. This makes the game a lot more accessible to players. 

So then came Fourth Edition

Disclaimer: I have never played D&D 4E. 

In what I believe to be a gut-reaction to this "technically legal abuse" of the OGL, Wizards of the Coast had a drastic response. Fourth Edition rules barely resemble Third Edition. They are a completely different game, and not under any sort of open license.

The specific rules of D&D 4E have not been extremely popular with experienced roleplayers; die-hard D&D Nerds stick with older editions, or Pathfinder.

Where does "Fifth Edition" Fit?

Wizards of the Coast are not calling the new edition of D&D "Fifth Edition". They're not calling it "Next". It's just "Dungeons & Dragons".

From what I understand of it, it resembles 3.5E a lot more than it does 4E. But is just different enough that it can be legally separate from the OGL.

But then the question is obvious: Even if the rules are better than 3.5 in some way, why should I pay $150 for the core books of D&D when I can play Pathfinder for free?

That isn't to say $150 is a lot of money. I think it is a very reasonable price for a game that doesn't expire and has infinite possibilities.

But $150 is still > $0. And Pathfinder's not bad (it still has some flaws, but it's built on a lot of good optimization ideas).

So the only logical conclusion is...

Marketing and Support

Despite the flood of games out there on the market, "Dungeons and Dragons" is still the name you think of when you think of fantasy RPGs. Even Pathfinder players will say they're playing D&D.

That's one major advantage Wizards has in the space. 

They also have Hasbro behind them, which I'm sure is happy to assist in selling more books.

But even then, 5E has to stand out over the other options. Wizards has to use their massive budget and name to supply the community with extras they can get nowhere else: Online tools. High quality miniatures. Accessories galore. Sponsored events. Whatever you can think of.

If Wizards can not pull this off, then 5E will be a failure. Sure they will sell some books. Sure there will be enough player word-of-mouth to say "hey, this system is really good". But unless they can do something that really pushes the nerds back to WotC as strongly as Paizo pulled them away from 3.5, this new edition will simply never take off.