Cuppacafe

When it comes to playgirl videogames don't look to me, I personally gave them up back when my Atari 2600 was still the hottest game system on the market. Back then, I was just starting out in my writing career, and was getting paid a (relatively) obscene amount of money to play a game then write about it (and keep the game). Well, when I stopped writing about videogames, I literally stopped playing the, as I determined that why should I waste time playing them when I could be working.

Well, a couple of decades later, and I just ran across this little gem called Heavy Rain that (almost) makes me want to buy a game system again. it is an interactive "choose your own adventure movie-cum-game that was developed by the Paris-based Quantic Dream. From what I understand it’s a murder mystery in the film noir genre, that was created using a 2,000-page script, and has a deeply profound and complex plot. Game reviewers from all over are falling all over themselves to praise the game, which was released last week Sony (SNE) for PlayStation 3.

The New York Times’ Seth Schiesel, for example, wrote on Friday, in what was a typical rave review of the “Heavy Rain”:

“In terms of eye-hand coordination or ‘gamer skills,’ Heavy Rain is negligible, even trivial, in its challenge, which will offend twitch fiends. Yet this is no simplistic Choose Your Own Adventure for children. This is a wrenching, often disturbing, almost entirely gripping experience for grown-ups.”

Near as I can determine, it is something wicked-cool, with soul and creativity, unlike most of the shoot-em-up videogames currently available. Needless to say, it still contains gut-wrenching violence, as you try catching a serial killer who drowns young boys in rain water. While there are some who think the game feels too much like a straight-to-DVD movie, it might also be just the kind of change that the weak games market needs to reinvigorate itself.

Here are a couple of (mature-themed) trailers for the game.

Not sure how the game turns out (or even if I'd have enough time to actually play it), but I think that I'd like to see the film version. For more videos, go here.

The Perfessor

Are you one of those folks who buys the extended warranty on products, or do you feel that a product is going to last as long as it is going to last, and the warranty is just a way for the manufacturer to extract more money from your pocket? Or, are you one of those folks who believe that products are designed to “self destruct” the moment their warranty runs out?

Well, if you have purchased Sony products, perhaps you have heard of the mythical “Kill Switch” built into every Sony machine?

For nearly 20 years Sony in Japan has been plagued by the myth of the "Sony Timer" – but is there really a kill-switch that destroys your device just after its warranty runs out? Many Japanese genuinely believe that there is.

It was the recall of more than 4.1 million Dell laptops containing faulty Sony batteries in 2006 that jump-started a rumour that has been around for decades. From 1980 to 2006 geeks and tech-obsessed Japanese had joked about the existence of the timer, creating sarcastic manga and venting anger through online forums. But the Dell recall launched the urban legend into the public eye and angry Sony sufferers jumped at the chance to denounce the company.

Unfortunately for Sony their campaign clearly isn’t going that well because the belief in such a kill switch has become so commonplace in Japan that Sony products are often avoided in that country due to a genuine belief that they simply won’t last. While the Playstation 3 still remains highly popular as it is apparently exempt from the timers’ curse; younger Japanese are wary about purchasing VAIO laptops.

The Perfessor