PixlBit

Oh, anything that's a camera can be a surveillance device, easily, it's just the "always on" thing that makes this seem more Draconian. You're right though, internet in general kills most privacy, and Sony does have products that you can use for unscrupulous purposes, but it's the fact you have to unplug the One in order to be safe from potential surveillance that makes it that tad bit creepier.

Granted, the fact everyone has a cellphone camera almost makes us a borderline citizen-police state. Oy.

So yeah, it's not like Microsoft somehow invented unwanted information gathering, it's just being kind of (in that it can be unplugged) forced to use the thing that seems iffy to me.

Yeah, I guess by "casual" I mean I'm not jumping at the opportunity to call something a "brofest" when an American-made system showcases American-developed games that sell well on a particular console, but truth be told, my tastes are very much more aligned with things like Okami than they are with FPS in general.

But I understand that I'm in a niche base of consumers, plus I consume enough internet/TV/movies that all-in-one appealed to me; so again, too bad I know what they're doing in terms of consumer practice, and hopefully Sony doesn't follow suit too closely.

As for this being the last crop of systems, I don't know if I see it happening. Even if these fail, which I doubt, I think people are plenty excited for new consoles still, and I don't know if I believe anyone would "flock" to mobile gaming for any reason except it's relatively cheaper and more convenient for them at a given time. I don't think anyone "replaces" consoles with mobile, though they might replace it with PC, but there are people like myself that just don't feel right not gaming on a console, and they're more numerous than you might think.

In any case, we'll just have to wait and see, but I think this generation will wind up at least healthier than the doom and gloom things like my blog perpetuate online. And yes, I understand the irony of my previous statement. lol

Yeah, Fast 5 and Fast 6 got a lot of glowing reviews. I really would like to see Fast 6, it looks ridiculous but awesome. I saw Star Trek Into Darkness and it was also a great summer action film, and I also liked it better than Iron Man 3. I dunno, Iron Man 3 felt kind of empty to me. Decent fun, but not great.

I've only seen the first two F&F movies. I remember really liking the second one, but thinking the first was kind of boring. Of course, I actually saw the second one in theaters. If I don't catch 6 in theaters, I'll try to catch it and 5 on DVD. I hear 5 is the best one, or so critics say anyway.

Yeah, I listened to a review recently that did actually raise some good points about the problems in this one, but I was so entertained I didn't care. I dug it. Hope you do too.

And tribbles? What tribbles? Why, I don't think they're anywhere to be found in these Abrams films.

Nah, just sell it to an unsuspecting house and listen in on their conversations with a wireless device feeding you whatever the Kinect picks up and find out all the blackmail you c ... this thing is potentially creepier than I thought. lol

I'm probably just not gonna buy one. Especially since there's also this.

I agree that Sony could very well pull some anti-consumer policies out of their ass soon as well, but the thing is I already know Microsoft at least plans on doing these things.

Who knows, though, it could end up being a great system. I am not going to be an early adopter regardless, so time to wait is there, but I'm just fascinated by how every little nugget I get about One is negative for a consumer in some small way.

But again, who knows, and this surveillance stuff might not be based on solid evidence, even if I'd be annoyed by having to get a Kinect 2.0 regardless.

Drive would be a great game, but aside from maybe it being an 8-bit game, I see it becoming GTA: Vice City. But an 8-bit GTA: Vice City with the music and atmosphere of Drive, with a linear storyline does sound promising. Hmm...

That soundtrack is awesome, and I think I actually prefer that second song to the original in a way. Goes so perfectly with that 16-bit skyline.

Yeah, that's probably what they'll use it for if any of this is true.

Honestly, I would consider myself a casual gamer at this point, having not bought another gaming device since 2004 with DS, and was excited for the system with its all-in-one approach. Too bad I'm also an informed consumer.