With summer and warm weather rolling around, in addition to a major American holiday, people are looking to get out and do things like camping and going on vacation. People start milling around the internet, nearby stores and garage sales looking for the best deals. However, there's one thing the majority of people have in common. They're impatient. They want the best deals, and they want the best deals NOW.

Being a power seller on eBay, I see these people on a daily basis. People are constantly asking how fast things will ship, and if I'll be willing to let them buy the item before the auction is over, and if I'll be willing to ship things faster than normal. These people need to realize that not everyone on eBay is a retail outlet with armies of people in the packing and shipping departments waiting to fulfill every order the instant they come in.

So from an eBay seller to you, I will share something from an old shop sign I once saw at my uncle's house: "Lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine." Please remember that next time you buy a tent from me one night that you need the very next day.

Okay, enough capitalizing on Sony's smart mouth.

Nintendo has an interesting announcement. Granted it's from last week, but I really didn't notice until recently. N-Sider is running an article with some developer highlights from the Nintendo Corporate interview with Iwata and Miyamoto.

The Wii Development Kit will cost as low as $1,732. That's cheap enough for "bedroom programmers" to buy and start building Wii games. Heck, that's cheap enough for me to save up for and start building Wii games. I'm not sure how much the other kits cost, so I can't compare... but everyone I see is in awe at the low cost. (Someone on Digg said they thought dev kits usually got for about $20,000... and an old article about the 360 said it's dev kit might sell for $100... but, remember, the 360 is essentially a Windows system in the first place. However, I'm sure it won't be only $100.)

Needless to say, third party support is high priority for Nintendo.

Hey, look! It's TW! Well, actually, it's John Carmack, from id Software. They make Doom. (...and lots of awesome old DOS games away back in the day. Commander Keen, anyone?)

He talked about game developing.
He said the Playstation 3 is really hard to make games for.
He said it's almost twice as hard!
He's one of many developers who's said this.
He says the Xbox360 is a lot easier to code for.

Lots of developers are saying the PS3 might be uber-powerful, but it's uber-hard to write games for. The Xbox has been criticized by players for being too much like a computer. However, you must realize that because of that, the Xbox is one of the easiest consoles to make games for, because it's essentially a Windows computer.

Sony is sacrificing their developers to make a super strong console. That's not smart.

Articles have been blasting price cuts across the internet since E3, claiming they've heard that Microsoft plans on cutting the retail price of the 360 on the release day of the PS3. While it would be nice if it happened, Microsoft has finally come out and said, "no, we're not doing that".

I'm not too unsettled by the news. Personally, I think the price of the 360 is tolerable for what it offers as far as cutting-edge, state-of-the-art high-definition games go. However, it would have been nice to pick up a Wii and a 360 for less than the cost of PS3, hahaha. I'm still going to buy a 360 Platinum when Halo 3 comes out... call me a fanboy, I don't care. I already bought an Xbox just for Halo 2.

Reminds me of something Peter Moore said during E3 in regard to the price. In an interview posted at Joystiq, he's quoted saying "we had a price drop on Monday when Sony announced their price." The best quote out of E3 2006, period. Microsoft is already losing money on 360s, and they're trying to cut production costs, yes... but it would be folly for them to cut the retail price and lose MORE money. As it is, you would have to be a really die-hard Playstation fanboy to reject the 360's price and get a PS3... especially when most, if not all, E3 reports say the PS3 shows nothing graphically better than the 360. (Which is all the 360 and the PS3 are doing this year... making better graphics.)

read more | digg story

Another installment of Sony Says! This time, Sony CEO Howard Stringer is calling the shots. (More like shots to their own feet!) Once again claiming that the price is high, but the PS3 is worth it, and that if it lives up to its "total potential", then the price won't be a problem.

He then blasts Xbox360, saying it's a cheap, transitional product, and that the PS3 is a "future-proof, higher technology which will keep you going for many, many years". Yeah... let's see how long Sony goes without releasing an ingeniously-titled Playstation 4, shall we?

Microsoft and Nintendo know their stuff... Nintendo, of course, is throwing a wrench into the gears of gameplay, as they always do. (This time, it's a particularly gigantic wrench.) Microsoft at least says that it's all about what the customers want, and the Xbox360 gives high-definition gamers what they want, right now, for cheaper and better... and I believe them.

read more | digg story

Well, well, well... Apple has leveled the playing field a bit.

It seems OS X is now a closed operating system. (It's been said for a while, but I always thought it to be rather a rumor, than fact.) As in... no longer open source. Granted most Apple users won't notice anything, but a major difference fanboys use to boost OS X over Windows is the fact that you can legally alter anything in the operating system.

Well, no longer. It seems these pirates Apple was so keen with disregarding has finally got the best of them, and they've closed the kernel. This will (maybe) help keep people from hacking OS X to work on current x86 systems.

Apple? Welcome to the world of the ever-popular x86... home of pirates and virus makers. Microsoft is plagued with these problems, and now you know how it feels. It's not the cakewalk you expected it to be, is it? I'm guessing all the fanboys suddenly consider a closed OS to be the next best thing to hot dogs, now that Apple does it. I have a feeling that Microsoft's closed operating system will still somehow remain to be the most vile thing on the planet because of not being open source.

Some try to support Apple by saying "who ever recompiled their kernel, anyway?" Well, that was never the question before you couldn't... it was always the idea that you could if you wanted, not if you ever really did. I've actually recompiled a kernel, once... I needed to add several features to my FreeBSD installation. Now, you'll just have to trust Apple to give you everything they think you'll ever need.

You know, I think Apple should release OS X for any and every x86 system legally. I'd seriously buy it in a heartbeat and put it on a computer I built myself. Unfortunately, I don't think that will ever happen. I don't care if you think so or not, but Apple hardware is incredibly expensive to me and many others. If OS X was available for "regular" computers, many, many, many people would just buy the software and forget buying the overpriced computer. (The downside of being an early adopter of technology... it's never, ever cheap. (And some say never, ever worth it.))

Disclaimer: A Microsoft fan at heart (Windows, Xbox, MS DOS, etc. (I like to play games)), but I would like to buy an Apple system, as well. I don't hate Apple, but I will do anything to knock fanboys whenever I can.