The Technological Developments of Xbox Live Through History

Back in the days of the pre-industrial era which was the in early 1900’s to around 1926. In this period children didn’t have as much supervision as they do nowadays, and they were inclined to go outside to play with the other neighborhood kids. During this period of pre-industrial the base roots of video games deprived from the basic rules and structures of the games children used to play at that time. The phenomenon known as Children Street Culture was when one generation of children passed their games and knowledge to the next and so on in urban cities, during the pre-industrial era. Entertainment in this era was largely based on children’s game such as hopscotch, British bulldog, head up sevens up, and dodge ball.

Children used to incorporate what materials they had into games. For example during the winter they gathered up an array of snowballs, created forts, and battled all day long. During the summer they collected conkers, and sycamore seeds. The lack of material items in that period led to children being very adept at scavenging free materials for use of entertaining games that deeply incorporated rules and emphasized on winners and losers.

As time passed and technology progressed, computers were created. During the mid-20^th century in between the period 1940 to 1945 computers were first made and they were the size of entire rooms. These computers were all run through programming; there was no OS system like windows in those times. In February 1961 a computer programming class in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology created Space wars, the earliest known computer game. It took well over 200 hours for the class to compete the initial version, a student Alan Kotok was the main creative genius behind the game. Afterwards approximately 11 years later in September 1972 the first arcade system was released, which from that day onwards changed the face of entertainment.

1970 was the beginning of the arcade centers. In the late 1970’s arcade centers starting popping up all over America with games like Space Invader, Pac-Man, and Pong. In the industrial era entertainment was capitalized by companies since arcade systems could be easily mass produced and sent all over the country. During this period there was a shift in the entertainment industry. No longer were kids rushing to the fields after school to play sports and games with friends, instead they all started to crowd inside the local arcade centers to rank up high scores, and see who’s the best at certain types of games. Computer programming changed entertainment by incorporating the basic premises of rules and structures of the games children play such as hopscotch and sports and turning them into arcade games with similar policies and organization. During the late 1980’s with the introduction of fighting game series such as the Street Fighters sparked nationwide tournaments and local rankings. The form and shape of entertainment was increasingly beginning to change.

In the post-industrial society, the entertainment industry took a change. During the 1990’s the number of arcade centers across North America started to decrease, its popularity began to dwindle. This was all due to the ever more popular home based consoles. Children were no longer dwelling long hours at their local arcades but instead enjoying gaming in the comfort of their own home. In November 25 in 2005 the Xbox 360 was released by Microsoft, and with it came a different take of entertainment. In the pre-industrial era children played games and competed with one another in playgrounds and fields. Now in the post-industrial society a new way of competition emerged, composed of video games. It started in March 2002 the Major League Gaming (MLG) was founded by Sundance DiGiovanni and Mike Sepso and was the first ever professional video gaming league. The thin lines between Major League Sports and Competitive Video Gaming were beginning to merge. MLG consists of 6 Pro circuit tours throughout Canada and the United States a year, where teams composed of 4 compete against each other. The winners of the tournaments win millions of dollars and become overnight millionaires. Currently the games they most utilize are Halo 3, Call of Duty 4, and Gears of War 2, with the top teams being Str8 Rippin, Triggers Down, and Final Boss. Today video games emerge as a type of competitive sport. For example most Xbox 360 games consist of leader boards, and online ranking systems to see who the best players in the world are, through the use of Xbox live, which connects all 360 users to a single community.

The historical precedents of Xbox live was the evolution from pre-industrial era where kids wanted to be the best player in the playground, to the industrial era of arcade center tournaments, and then finally the post industrial era of Xbox live which connects gamers from all over the globe. Gaming has come a long way from the ancient times of Samaria and Egypt illustrating our ancestors enjoyed playing board games thousands of years in the past to modern competitive gaming leagues.

Reference List

Children’s street culture. (2009, February 6). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Children%27s_street_culture&oldid=268925252

MLG Corporate. (2009, February 6). In MLG Pro Retrieved from http://www.mlgpro.com/about

Industrial Revolution. (2009, April 3). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Industrial_Revolution&oldid=281551608

Vintage Coin Operated Fortune Tellers, Arcade Games. (2009, April 3). In marvin3m. Retrieved from http://www.marvin3m.com/arcade/

The evolution of gaming: computers, consoles, and arcade. (2005, Oct 5). In Ars Techncia. Retrieved from http://arstechnica.com/old/content/2005/10/gaming-evolution.ars

The Future of Xbox Live

In the year 2059 Microsoft and Sony have joined forces in the Entertainment Departments to merge the Xbox and Play station into one console called the X-Station. This 13^th generation video game console targets both casual and hardcore gamers as their user base, but the X-Station is technologically more geared towards the hardcore gamers who are considered veteran players. The specific purpose of this device is to be an all in one media center source for every family’s home theatre centers. With a purchase of an X-Station users can freely stream all types of Media from their home user base pc. The X-station provides of the most comprehensively advanced codec system with allows it to view all types of formats with little or no ease. Besides streaming media it has the most powerful gaming community because of the merger of Xbox live. As well families can rent movies, TV series, watch HD programming trough an HDMI cable, surf the web with full windows 7000 support, have access to an application store, and able to get the latest news via real time.

The first milestone that led to the necessary merger of those two Departments is the problem with exclusive video games. The production values needed to create video games was getting higher and higher as technology advanced. The standard Video Game budget for a project was $20 million to $50 million and up. By the year 2032 video game producers couldn’t make enough profit to sustain their companies. This was all due to having exclusive games to specific consoles. Third party developers were becoming the future of video game producers as the first party developers were becoming a dying breed. The economic crisis that began in the year 2009 added more catalysis to this current situation in 2032.

Microsoft and Sony had to put forth incredible sums of money in these exclusive console games and copyrights for certain series. They both had to drive fans to buy their consoles by publishing their own games. They began to lose money, while Nintendo’s console Revolution continued to soar very strong in terms of sales. On August 27 2008 Pachter said, “The cost of making a game is so high that you need to recover it by selling a lot more units.”(Pachter, 2008) In 2032 Microsoft and Sony lost a total of 7 billion dollars due to lack of hardware sales. As well David Dennis, said “Third party (publishers) are looking at the same things we are and they want to put games into as many people’s hands as possible.” (David Dennis, 2008). Ever since the year 2007 up to 2059 all Grand Theft Auto, Final Fantasy, and Metal Gear solid games became multiplatform.

The second Milestone in the development of the X-Station was the massive success Nintendo achieved with their console and handheld. In the Year 2050 Nintendo released there 12^th generation console called the Revolution, and then afterwards in the year 2054 Nintendo released next gen handheld console called the NintendoD3. These two entertainment devices managed to outsell Sony’s and Microsoft’s 12^th gen console combined. Nintendo was getting an incredible amount of money by targeting casual gamers. Since 2006 when Nintendo first released the Wii they had taken over the niche of the casual gaming market, and continue to do so strongly in 2059. In order for Microsoft and Sony to get a better grasp of the gaming market they needed to merge their entertainment departments.

Relations from the past that factored into this present situation with the release of the X-Station began in the year 2005. During that time period the Wii managed to sell over 70 million units worldwide, and the Nintendo Ds and Dsi sold over a combined 250 million units worldwide. On the other hand the Sony had lost a great deal of money because of the price of their console and Microsoft couldn’t compete with Nintendo. During 2008 BMO Capital Markets analyst Ed Williams stated, “The lack of a dominant console means it’s too difficult (for software makers) to give up on a console.” With the PS3 or Xbox 360, you don’t have a clear winner like the PlayStation 2 or PlayStation were.”(Ed Williams, 2008) As time passed onto to the 2050’s exclusive video game deals were as good as dead.

The merger of both Entertainment departments occurred on November 22 2055 on national television at The Sony headquarters in Tokyo Japan. It is expected that with Sony’s arsenal of advance technology and music production studios combined with Microsoft’s talented crew and existing Xbox live user base will make the X-Station very successful in the near future.

Reference List

Wii. (2009, April 5). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wii&oldid=281912686

Era of exclusive video game deals ending. (Aug 27, 2008). In Reuters. Retrieved from http://www.reuters.com/article/reutersEdge/idUSN2637967820080827?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0

Crime Syndicate is closer to Home than you may think

In the past month alone there have been over 5 shootings in Surrey. The sudden cause of this commotion lies in the ill fact of massive gang wars, and drug traffickers occurring around all over the lower mainland. As well all these shooting activities are occurring in very local and heavily visited locations, which are becoming the scenes of these violent acts. For example at my local movie theatres which is a five minute drive from my home, a violent shooting occurred at the Chevron gas station at 122 Street and 72A Avenue. Two men were shot on that cold Wednesday night on March 4 2009. What makes this even more astonishing is that this was the sixth shooting in Metro Vancouver within 24 hours! Within minutes of this occurrence several police vehicles and ambulances were sent to the crime scene, and the entire gas station was closed off by police tape. From eye witness accounts two people were shot, one man was shot in the head, and the other in the leg. Luckily, “Both men from the vehicle suffered non-life-threatening gunshot wounds and were taken to hospital” (Officer Walsh).What makes this so overwhelming is that it happened in such as eventful location where people go to watch movies, get Starbucks, and go to Chapters. Ironically two days after this incident I went to watch a movie with friends and looked over the crime scene, and still couldn’t believe it happened so close to home. Another example of shootings in populated areas was when Twenty-three-year-old Nicole Marie Alemy was shot while with her four year old son who was traumatized by the scene of her mother being murdered. This all took about while she was in her car, travelling through the intersection of 148 Street and 96 Avenue at about 10:30 Monday morning. Lastly one of friend’s whose name here shall go unknown saw his neighbour’s house burn down. Even I hear multiple police sirens throughout the night, a great deal more this past month then I have ever heard before. What are we to do when these shootings are all being completed in our own backyards? Who knows but things must be done fast. Surrey shooting victim was mother of two (February 16, 2009). BC Local News. Retrieved from http://www.bclocalnews.com/surrey_area/surreyleader/news/Surrey_shooting_victim_was_mother_of_two.html 2 men shot at Surrey gas station (2009, March 4). CBC News. Retrieved from http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2009/03/04/bc-shooting-in-surrey.html Mom gunned down in Surrey shooting, child escapes death! (February 16, 2009). Now Public. Retrieved from http://www.nowpublic.com/world/update-mom-gunned-down-surrey-shooting-child-escapes-death

The Technological Development of Xbox Live Through History

Nowadays it seems all new technologies that surface are created from already pre-existed technologies, and Xbox Live is no exception to this system. Xbox live historical precedent in the pre-industrial era would without a doubt have to be the online support that came with the Sega Dreamcast. The Dreamcast arrived at the scene of console gaming in 9/09/1999, and it was the first gaming console ever to support online play with players from all over the globe, and it even came with a dial-up modem connection to allow users to easily connect to the server, but this connection never supported broadband connections, which resulted in very unhappy customers. Aside from that, just as with Xbox live, downloadable content was a major addition, and was readily available for all users, but due to memory and space restrictions during that time the hardware had very limited capacities, it never really took flight and grew. Consequently the Dreamcast did not have a great effect on society and the gaming community because of lack of support, as well as the games released at launch had graphical glitches constantly. Though on the other side the Dreamcast was the first console that allowed arcade players that usually play in their local mall arcades have the necessary tools to play their favourite fighting/racing game without leaving the comfort of their own house. With all things considered the Dreamcast had limited upgrades such as memory and space for user which drastically decreased its popularity, and its online functions didn’t contain any type of interface like the Xbox.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/20/DreamcastConsole.jpg

After the horrible failure of the Dreamcast that was due its lack of third party support, it was eventually put out of commission. Then in November 15/ 2001 the original Xbox was released. After about six month of the official release of the Xbox the first generation of Xbox live launched, because it was going through beta trials. This first generation greatly took all the superior features that the Sega Dreamcast online comprised of and improved upon it. Microsoft provided better support than its predecessor (Dreamcast) by actually putting in an Ethernet cable slot for easy connection for broadband users, while on the contrary the Dreamcast required a separately broadband adapter. As well for digital distribution of content through downloading, the original Xbox had their own built in 10GB hard drive, and weren’t restricted with memory like the Dreamcast. With the use of broadband internet and more available memory, there was in increased bandwidth that allowed the ability for users to use voice communication with teammates in games. Xbox live improved upon the online support of the Dreamcast to greater extents when they introduced the friends list, where users can easily keep track of their friends. The social trend that Xbox live followed was to be different from its other competitors Sony and Nintendo by focusing on their flagship console seller: Xbox live. Finally, the first generation of Xbox live proved that users wanted to be play games online on consoles by its great success, and growing community.

http://img.tomshardware.com/us/2002/02/04/everything_there_is_to_know_about_the_xbox/interface1.jpg

http://pictures.xbox-scene.com/4/uix/file_manager.jpg

Now finally in the next generation of Microsoft’s Xbox took its place on store shelves in November 26 in 2005. This seventh-generation console called the Xbox 360 came out with brand new generation of Xbox live that greatly improved every single aspect of the original. First of all the space capacity was greatly increased from the original, with the options to buy a 20GB, 60GB, and 120GB hard drive. Before Xbox users got demos from monthly magazine subscriptions in the format of discs, but with the new space capacity of the system, Xbox live has the option for users to download demos digitally for free to try out. To this date there have been millions of downloads through this Xbox live marketplace (location to digitally download and purchase content). Compared to the bland bleak look of the old Xbox live interface (plain green text) with very little features, the Xbox live marketplace is a sight for sore eyes with its easy to use interface. Another improvement with the upgraded service is the new experience involving voice chat. Sure, the original live also had voice chat, but you could only talk with others when you were playing the same game. Now users are able to chat with their friends in parties up to 8, at any time. With the technologically advanced Xbox 360, its higher processer power and bandwidth have gone a step further than voice chat, and have introduced video chat through the vision camera. This modern service of an online gaming community has created a social and multimedia blend with its extra contents, such as streaming videos, renting movies, watching television series, and streaming media from the home pc. Overall this new iteration of Xbox live has affected society a great deal by already achieving over 17,000,000 users, and having over a billion hours logged in (Xbox live wiki chart).

http://www.krunker.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/new-xbox-experience-2-thumb.jpg

Xbox Live. (2009, March 18). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 05:12, March 19, 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Xbox_Live&oldid=277990969

Marketplace home. (2009, March 18). In Xbox Official Site. Retrieved March 19, 2009, from http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-US

Dreamcast Connects Console Gamers. (2009, March 18). In Gamespy. Retrieved March 19, 2009, from

http://archive.gamespy.com/articles/july03/25smartest/index17.shtml

Xbox Brings “Future-Generation” Games to Life. (March 10, 2000). In Microsoft. Retrieved March 19, 2009, from http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2000/03-10xbox.mspx

Wiki Reflection

This was the first time that I ever created and maintained a wiki, while I’ve used many wikis for information; the thought of creating one never crossed my mind until the YouTube video gave me a different interpretation of the purpose of a wiki. Ironically the topic we asked to discuss was Crowdsourcing and with my surprise we as a group were Crowdsourcing as we wrote about Crowdsourcing (ironic isn’t it).

Working in class with my group members I’ve discovered the great benefit that comes with a wiki is the ability to store and gather up information constantly in an astonishing amount of speed. We were able to come up with a ton of content within the time limit, because we sub-divided the work between the four of us. This experiment actually worked out extremely well, due to having a group of people work together simultaneously in the same room, each with their own part. Since we all sitting in close proximity it was easy to communicate with what each member had to contribute, and any topic that one had missed was quickly discovered by another, and when one of us posted anything the others checked up and made revisions with the others consent. As well we created a reference page that was consistently updated by each member as they had new links to add in proper APA style.

The huge drawback we encountered was that when two people were edited the same page the person who started editing second cannot save the changes to the page. We learned this the hard way when a group member posted his information in the near beginning of the class, and it didn’t save (even worse news is that he forgot what he just wrote). This research assignment was vastly different from what I’m typically used to, in the sense that someone was constantly looking at my work and modifying or bending the contents if necessary. Additionally it also differed in the usual style I’m used to because of the aspect of working together as a group at the exact same time. At other times when I worked with research projects in a group we usually tend just do our own part and then finally put everything together in the end. While in this assignment group members can see what you’ve come up with the moment you post or create information, making them aware of all your actions.

The experience of created a wiki in the same room was different because we were able to check everyone contributions instantly, while if we were at home everyone world probably come and check up on it when they have time in their schedule, or not feel obligated to edit it at all. Overall, creating a wiki was a great experience for me, and I look forward to utilizing it for any future group projects because of its easiness.

StudioLab #2

Arvindar Gill

Herman Braitch

Eric Lin

Ken Co

Phillip Peach

Part 1:

Herman Braitch

Interview with Arvindar Gill

1. Tell me about the different ways that you used communication for 24 hours in your journal.

Watching television, internet, playing around with adobe products, call from home and cell phone, transferring USB Drive data, playing on Xbox live to keep in touch with friends, Microsoft word

2. What was the most common communication media that you used in 24 hours?

-USB drive and Microsoft Word

3. What was the most common purpose for the communication media you used?

- working on my school assignments or playing and talking with friends over the web

4. What do you think you learned most about the role of communication media in your everyday life by keeping this journal?

-without it I would be hopelessly lost and scared.

5. What was the most surprising thing that you learned from keeping this journal?

- The amount of time spent completing assignments with a variety of teammates would take almost 4 times longer than normal without it.

-There was barely anytime that I did not use technology throughout the day. I was very surprised at the necessity technology imposed on my life.

6. What are some of the positive implications about having communication media in your life?

- saves time with information, talk with friends, play games

7. What are some of the negative implications about having communication media in your life?

-easy to procrastinate

8. How do you think your life would be if you did not have access to communication media; please talk about both the positive and the negative things that might happen.

- I would work a lot harder because of all the loneliness

9. if you had to choose one communication media to take on a desert island, which one would you choose and why?

-I would have to pick a satellite phone so I can call for a pick up.

Arvindar Gill

Interview with Herman Braitch

1. Tell me about the different ways that you used communication for 24 hours in your journal.

Mostly used a couple of web based ones. Consisted mainly of Cell phone and Television.

2. What was the most common communication media that you used in 24 hours?

Probably web-forum and MP3.

3. What was the most common purpose for the communication media you used?

Get information, learn and stay connected with friends.

4. What do you think you learned most about the role of communication media in your everyday life by keeping this journal?

I used electronic media constantly.

5. What was the most surprising thing that you learned from keeping this journal?

People are hopelessly dependant on the internet.

6. What are some of the positive implications about having communication media in your life?

Lots of connectivity and easy to find information.

7. What are some of the negative implications about having communication media in your life?

Lots of time wasted, can to used to procrastinate.

8. How do you think your life would be if you did not have access to communication media; please talk about both the positive and the negative things that might happen.

Almost impossible to keep in contact with family. Lots of time spent meeting people face to face – direct. Less time spent looking up trivia. More sunlight.

9. If you had to choose one communication media to take on a desert island, which one would you choose and why?

Satellite Phone – can be used pretty much anywhere. Quick and easy rescue.

Ken Co

Interview with Eric Lin

1. Tell me about the different ways that you used communication for 24 hours in your journal.

Watching television, talking with others with msn, and lots of face book

2. What was the most common communication media that you used in 24 hours?

-Social Networking sites like Face book

3. What was the most common purpose for the communication media you used?

- Talking with friends and socializing over the web

4. What do you think you learned most about the role of communication media in your everyday life by keeping this journal?

-without it I would never really make new friends, and keep up to date on my social life

5. What was the most surprising thing that you learned from keeping this journal?

- The amount of time spent socializing

-without communication media I’ll get bored

6. What are some of the positive implications about having communication media in your life?

- saves time with information, talk with friends, play games

7. What are some of the negative implications about having communication media in your life?

-easy to get off tasked when working on projects because friends can contact you easily

8. How do you think your life would be if you did not have access to communication media; please talk about both the positive and the negative things that might happen.

- I would take my school work into higher consideration, positive

- I wouldn’t have much of a social life because staying in contact with others would be too difficult of a task, negative

9. if you had to choose one communication media to take on a desert island, which one would you choose and why?

-I would have to pick a laptop with an infinite battery time

Eric Lin

Interview with Ken Co

1. Tell me about the different ways that you used communication for 24 hours in your journal.

Used my laptop to stay connected with friends and watch anime.

2. What was the most common communication media that you used in 24 hours?

My laptop and my Sony Ericsson W380 phone.

3. What was the most common purpose for the communication media you used?

To stay connected with friends and download or stream files.

4. What do you think you learned most about the role of communication media in your everyday life by keeping this journal?

Without it my day wouldn’t be filled with anywhere near as much social activity.

5. What was the most surprising thing that you learned from keeping this journal?

I use my laptop and phone in synch every hour and talk to over 14 people a day with direct contact.

6. What are some of the positive implications about having communication media in your life?

It keeps me close to friends that are to far away to normally talk to, and it gives me something to do during a boring math lecture.

7. What are some of the negative implications about having communication media in your life?

As I said before it is really easy to fool around during a serious class or lecture.

8. How do you think your life would be if you did not have access to communication media; please talk about both the positive and the negative things that might happen.

Almost impossible to keep in contact with my friends, I’d be more social on a direct face to face basis.

9. If you had to choose one communication media to take on a desert island, which one would you choose and why?

Laptop – I would be able to watch anime until the battery died, I wouldn’t want to waste time with a phone because it probably wouldn’t receive a signal.

Part 2:

Upon being given the assignment our first move would be to hire a secretary at the hotel in which we would use to house all the guests when or if they’d arrive. Each member of our group would be split up to take one region so we’re able to get to all the guest speakers. To keep in constant communication most of our members will be staying at the destination for the entire year and will only head home until the time of the conference with their assigned guest. Most hotel bookings will be made before hand or by the secretary upon request.

Herman’s Adventure

Within the group my task is to go to Sydney, Australia to invite a certain someone named Gerald Gubberman to act as a guest speaker in a conference located in Vancouver. Without using any of the previous listed technology I would first drive over to a five star hotel of Hotel Le Soleil in Vancouver and also make arrangements at the luxury car rental shop to book reservations for the specific dates of the conference. Then I start to speak with a travel agent in order to book a first class cruise trip to Sydney Australia. Upon arriving at the port in Australia many taxi drivers would be waiting for customers, so I would tell one of them to take me to Sidney’s City Hall. Then at City Hall I would look up the address of Gerald and take another taxi drive over to his residence to confirm his attendance to the meeting. Afterwards I would travel to the nearest post office to send a letter using FedEx 1 day delivery system to tell the secretary of this arrival, and we would both return back to Vancouver in the cruise ship. Upon arrival at the docks I use the taxi service to send him personally to his hotel room, and set up this rental car in the nearby parking lot.

Arvindar’s Adventure

My journey would begin with me trying to find a steam ship that still operated and made frequent travels to India, my home country, and where I am able to speak fluently with the natives. I would ride the ship for almost three weeks until I reached my location. There I would book a hotel room which I would use as my base of operations. After resting up and getting used to my legs again I would find the federal government building in a New Delhi through the local residential listings. Once at the building I would find the location and whereabouts of the speaker whose attendance I must confirm. I would then taxi my way through the massive crowds and commotion India has to offer. Though the speaker is from Delhi he relocated into a remote region located in the Punjab, days away from where I stood. After hours of moving through the chaos of India’s bustling streets and roads filled with local shoppers, merchants and even cattle, I eventually reached Neil Gounder’s quaint village. I would then ask my taxi drive who I had hired by day to go around and ask for his house, in minutes I would reach his doorstep. There Neil would give me a confused look to see someone with such unfamiliar clothing in such a remote region of India. Here I would let him in on everything regarding the First Annual Technology in Context conference and ask for his confirmation. After confirmation was received I would then book a cruise for him and me to Vancouver from the docks around New Delhi a year from that day using taxi to get the message to the harbour and the same steam ship that brought me to my secretary back in Vancouver. I would also give him all the required information he needed including my secretaries phone number, my hotel and personal phone and my address at both locations. I would then set off back to Vancouver after staying at his village for a year to make sure he gets to the conference. Once at the docks Neil and I would be picked up in Vancouver by a famous escort service that would take use to a five star hotel booked the previous year. Neil would then ultimately present at the conference when the time for it would arise.

Ken’s Adventure

The mission to communicate the committee without using any communication media from the world will start off with a little traveling to Travel Masters where I would speak with an agent to take the fastest airline trip to London, UK. Although it would be difficult I would go over to the nearest information station at the airport to grab the local white pages book to look up the name James Hindenburg, from there I would take the local bus and mingle with the bus driver to make sure I’m dropped off at the right place. At his house I will confirm his participation in the meeting, and send in a Morse code message to the secretary to confirm. Afterwards we get airline tickets and headed back to Vancouver together. From the airport I grab my car which is still there to take James to a Hotel which made reservations before flight by post mail, and also a car escort service will pick him up on the day of the conference, this reservation was made with one on one communication at the escort service shop.

Eric’s Adventure

I would book their flights, hotel and car rentals in Vancouver before I leave for China to invite the speaker; as well I am a Chinese immigrant so I speak the language with great authority. Once the crop dusting plane has landed in Beijing, I would go to a police station and ask for the city hall to ask for information about Jack Bauer the person that speaks about technology of context. After a quick commute to his place located not too far away from Beijing, I tell him why I had arrived at his doorstep and ask him to confirm his attendance. I would then hand over all the information needed for him to make it to Vancouver on a chartered cruise that set off two weeks after I arrived, this cruise he would take all year until he made it to Vancouver a year from when it first set off. To make sure he would find his place to the conference I would take the cruise myself, though the bill would be hefty if would be worth it. When reaching the docks a year later the taxi service would pick us up and take us to a hotel until the day of the conference.

(Done by Hired Help) Phillip

My journey would start out with me seeking transportation to Rwanda. It would require me to take a pre World War 2 plane that ran without the use of electronic communications. Once there I would hire a guide and use the rivers to get close to Rwanda on a canoe. There in a major city I would go to the federal government building under the guidance of my tour guide and ask for the whereabouts of Chuck Yallas. His last known whereabouts were at the end of the city. It would take 3 hours to get there. Once there I would ask for his confirmation. I would ensure that he received all the information about the hotel bookings and car rentals through word of mouth. Then to make sure he found his way to the conference in Vancouver I would probably spend a year at Rwanda dressed as a barbarian dwarf and teach children how to cosplay.

What were the most difficult parts of the mission?

- The most difficult part in arranging five guest speakers all over the world together in a single room had to be thinking of new more tedious ways of getting information across to others without the use of the basic communication media that we already listed.

Which communication media would be most missed in the world and why?

- The internet would be most missed because without is no one in the world would be able to connect to any social network. For example there’d be no e-mail, Face book or text messaging; Society has grown a necessity for the internet.

What are the expenses for the planning and coordination of this conference? (You do not need to worry about venue expenses, food, or any other details aside from the planning requirements listed above).

Cruise trip in total $55,000

Taxi $2000

Car Rental $10,000

Hotel booking $75,000

Airfare $40,000

FedEx $750

Escort Service $3,000

Tour Guide Service $600

Canoe Rental $500

Hired Help $50,000

Secretary Fee $10,000

Xbox Live in Contemporary Society

Xbox Live in Contemporary Society

By Herman Braitch

#301093258

Tech114

1. Describe the technology you have selected. Is it a personal technology or device, an online service, or part of a media infrastructure? What does it do? How is it used?

Ah, Xbox live, an addicting social network that has claimed more lives than it has saved. Xbox live is an online multiplayer gaming sensation and digital media social network created and operated by the one and only Microsoft. Microsoft’s growing social network on the Xbox 360 was originally created in 2002 with the release of the original Xbox (that time its features were very limited). This online service is given with a monthly fee, and allows all Xbox 360 owners to connect to one another. With this ability to connect and create your own friends list, users can have a party chat up to 8 people, play games together, video chat one another, talk with others on msn, and even download and create content on the Xbox live marketplace.

2. Find at least one research, news or magazine article that describes a social, cultural or political effect that has been brought about by your technology.

http://www.insidesocialgames.com/2008/11/27/xbox-live-the-shift-to-social-networks/

3. Briefly summarize the main (or relevant) ideas in the article(s).

Xbox lives community has grown to approximately 14 million by the end of November 2008. Other digital dealers have also seen increased sales, and subscriptions, due to the current evolving digital era. The way entertainment is distributing around the world is changing. Digital means of employment is increasing, because since the first time Xbox lives was launched in 2002 it has already produced over a billion dollars with its sales on the Xbox live Marketplace. Microsoft is trying to make a more engrossing social network with its multiplayer gaming options and to create new entertainments methods for the users. In the near update people will be able to make their own avatars to represent themselves in this growing social network, and also be able to stream a vast collection of movies if you have an existing Netflix account. With the success of Nintendo’s Mii’s and sales of the Wii, Microsoft wants to get more into casual gaming in order to create a better entertainment bundle. Lastly Microsoft believes they are the leaders in interactive entertainment, due the success of Xbox live.

4. Do you feel that this effect is positive or negative? Why?

I believe this effect is positive and negative in both respects. In the positive side Xbox live is bringing in more and more digital distributions for the consumers to enjoy. Users have the option to buy old Xbox original games digitally and play new arcade games and demos every week. In positive respect Xbox live is trying to become the only entertainment network people need, by giving the players more and more features too use, for example in you can rent movies for 24 hours or so on it, or stream any one of the available movies that Netflix has to offer. Microsoft is just trying to create face book on a gaming community. On the negative side the most problematic thing is getting your Xbox live gamer tag hacked (http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/933/933332p1.html). With all this content being digitally distributed there must be a way to purchase it. People have to buy Microsoft points with either a credit card or buy cards at a store. In either way you basically have money in your account. Someone able to hack your account and steal your personal information is very easy thanks to Microsoft’s very pathetic customer service. In all honestly with a couple of calls to customer service you could easily pry information from the reps loose mouth. In conclusion Xbox live needs better security if it keeps pouring content on the marketplace. Another negative effect would be an addiction to the new services and features to an extent where people will barely leave their house. Xbox live could very much be a drug for innocent victims.

5. Try to think of a plausible way that this effect could be reversed or overcome by another technology or social trend.

For a new social trend technology to replace Xbox live would be very difficult because of its increasingly growing community and user base. The only other services that might have a slight chance of overcoming this social network would have to be the Play station 3 and the Nintendo Wii. The play station 3 has a built in blue ray player, some of the same features of Xbox live like movie renting, and the soon to be releasing Home might create a brand new social phenomenon in the community. On the other side Nintendo Wii has already sold over 40,000,000 worldwide. With this huge community behind Nintendo could easily overcome Xbox live, by creating extensive online services for an all in one entertainment source.

References

Xbox Live. (2009, February 10). In Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopaedia. Retrieved 04:28, February 12, 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Xbox_Live&oldid=269854639

Hacked on Xbox 360: A Victim’s Tale. (November 24, 2008). In IGN. Retrieved from http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/933/933332p1.html

Xbox Live – The Shift to Social Networks. (November 27th, 2008). In Inside Social Games. Retrieved from http://www.insidesocialgames.com/2008/11/27/xbox-live-the-shift-to-social-networks/

Well then hello world this is Herman Braitch a simple idealistic undergraduate at SFU. This is my first time actually posting a blog and I was never really into reading blogs. But here goes anyway. A little bit about me is that I love playing video games on my *modified* xbox360 and Nintendo DS ( thats all you’ll ever need). Other than that I spend a great deal of time on the internet, doing a variety of different things.

My favorite technology if I had to pick one would without a doubt be storage spaces/hard drives. With all that content available over the internet the only way to really access it by downloading. I have 3  1.5TB hard drives attached within my computers, and I currently believe ones fully stuffed with my HD porn collection (please don’t ask for it). Well enough about that the more concerning matter is that because of technological advances more and more hard drive space is becoming available to people and as well as server space, for example you tube increased there size capabilities from 100MB limit to 1GB limit, and stream videos at 720P.  With more storage being made theres more content to create. Thats it for my rant, see you guys in class.

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