Does anyone remember when the only real players in video games were Nintendo and Sega? I do.
I remember when the wars were about "Super Nintendo is prettier and Sega Genesis is faster." Now, Nintendo is barely a blip on the map kept alive by their Pokemon franchise and their handheld sales. Even in their home Japan barely anyone has a Game Cube. Sega dropped out of the hardware business thanks to bad timing and the deeper pockets of Sony with their equal-if-not-lesser-quality but far more popular Playstation 2 system. At least Sega supporters could look for quality games from the company. Their sports titles were exceptionally good, but in the increasingly monopolistic world of huge corporate mergers, buyouts, and licensing deals, Sega couldn't cut it. This time it's their sports unit. How long before they bail entirely? How long before Nintendo follows?
I await a time when the only businesses that can remain alive are huge multinational conglomerates like Sony and Microsoft.
In looking back over the worst day of the year, I have to say (now that it's safely past and I can no longer jinx myself) it wasn't so bad.
Despite nearly getting my bike stolen (ala being a flake and leaving the key in the lock), dropping half a piece of sushi in my lap and onto the floor and subsequently knocking over the soy sauce, screwing up my big new project, and catching a cold, it was bearable. Definitely not the worst day of the year. So that means there could be worse. Ack.
It's time for "story follow-up." My iPod Woes story, in case you cared, slowly unfolds to reveal something that a lot of people apparently knew but I didn't: iPods in general have less-than-ideal bass response. I gave my "test song" a try on Will's iPod Mini and the result was the same exact "muddiness" as he described it. Thankfully (I guess?) it is not my specific unit but a general iPod problem.
I do really love my iPod. I guess Apple, along with many other portable music player companies, failed to provide adequate bass response. I've noticed that this happens in a lot of handheld music players. Alas, but at least it's on a "relatively" small number of songs. I find it interesting, though, that people still rave about sound quality on the iPod. It seems they don't really listen to songs with a lot of bass or something. That or they are generally bad judges of sound quality? Hmm (strokes beardless chin, contemplating) ...
I've been thinking lately about things I miss about home, things I don't miss about home, and things I appreciate about Japan. That'll be coming soon.