Sherlock Holmes, eh? What a film. I loved it at the cinema, and enjoyed it more than I did Avatar, I have to admit -- Although, I am writing as a seasoned Guy Richie fan.
So now that I have been out an bought the 'triple threat' Blu Ray, DVD, and Digital version, I get to enjoy it whenever I like - although, a tiny piece of small print has got me a little worried. On the CD that contains access to your 'Digital copy', it contains a warning that you only have a year to download it - after that it is no longer valid. Now this alone doesn't worry me - I mean, I procrastinate, but that's rediculous - what worried me most was that they had made such a big deal of printing it on the disk so that no-one missed it. Why? Why not just stick it in with the rest of the small print, or on the website?
Well a little research and about 10 Google minutes later, I had my answer - piracy, and second hand sales. I won't discuss the obviousness of how a doanloadable copy of the film can help to pirate the film, but I will discuss where the second point took me - Warner Brothers simply understand that second hand sales are on the up - especially in a reccession - and should the 1st owner of the Blu-Ray not download thier digital version of the film, which I should imagine only a small percentage actually bother, they don't want second hand buyers - a sale which they recieve no money from - to get their hands on the perks.
All fair enough, good form WB, and I for one think you are going the right way about combatting the sales that are eating into your profit (after all, WB are a massive company, they need to make money), by offering customers added bonuses for buying a new version of the film.
On the other hand, however, let's look at Electronic Arts - One of the worlds largest gaming companies - and what they are doing about the second hand sales of games. EA find themselves in a similar position to WB - second hand sales are slowly eating into their profits. So I hear you ask, "Whilst WB are trying to offer Digital copies, and DVD copies free with a Blu-Ray, what are EA doing?"
Well it started well, with Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age, EA offered users that bought new copies of the game extra content - the Cerebrus Network in Mass Effect 2 being a perfect example of shelling out the extra cash on a new version of the game being worth while, and why not carry on in this vein?? It works!
As of Tiger Woods 2011, all second hand EA gamers will have 7 days to pay an extra tenner, either via Playstation Store, or its Microsoft alternative, to access all the features of EA games.
What's most interesting is EA's argument that more people will be using the on-line features, so it's only fair that everyone pays for the extra use of the servers. Well, no, actually, it will be the exact same amount of gamers, regardless of how many have bought a second hand copy - because whilst they are playing a second hand copy, they are replacing a person that was playing the same copy before. No extra gamers. None. IN FACT, there will be LESS gamers online whilst there are copies of the game sat on the shelves of second-hand game stores.
Now in the same way as I condoned WB for needing to make money, I can accept that EA need to do the same - but my point is this: If you didn't price gamers out of the market with your £50 releases, we wouldn't need to shop in second hand stores.
The worrying part of it all is that EA have already signed up Gamestop in the US to sell what they are calling 'EA Passes' with their second hand sales of EA games. Why this is so worrying is that Gamestop looked like one of the few stores that was embracing the 'incentives' option. When Marvel's Ultimate Alliance 2 was released, Gamestop offered an exclusive, free downloadable character - an excellent way to not only attract gamers to their store, but to attract them to buy a 'first-hand' version also. So now it would appear that Gamestop have jumped on the 'rob gamers blind' band-wagon, and have welcomed with open arms EA's newest venture into day-light robbery.
Imagine if you had to give the manufacturors a cut of everything you sold at a car boot sale.
So now you are as up-to-date as I am, and we shall wait with baited breath for some small glimmer of hope that the other gaming companies don't sign up to this method of extra sales, that stores don't continue to invite EA in, and that indeed someone finds a crack for the passes.
Sherlock Holmes though, cracking film.
Extra reading:
Quick: http://www.thinq.co.uk/news/2010/5/11/ea-adds-10-tax-to-second-hand-games/
A little more in depth: http://thisismyjoystick.com/editorials/ea-a-good-idea-taken-a-step-too-far/
Tuesday, 25 May 2010
Sunday, 23 May 2010
A word in your shell-like, pal.
I've always been a little bit envious of bloggers -- They always seem to have something to say. I never did before, so refrained from ever setting one up -- but here I am, and here a blog is...
So what have I chosen as the subject for my first ever blog? Quite simply the best television series to come out of England since Fawtly Towers: Life on Mars, and, Ashes to Ashes.
On the 21st May 2010, I joined nearly 6 Million people in watching the conclusion to 5 series of epic British Television, and have to say that I certainly was not disappointed. What started in 2006 as a 'Time-Travelling cop drama," has for me changed the face of the BBC, and what counts as a 'good use of License Payers money,' and whilst I would love to debate the politics behind the BBC and it's Independence meaning that it can take on projects like the Gene Hunt story, or discuss the wonderfully crafted filming of each of the 40 episodes in question, this blog is going mainly going to discuss the plot - and what the final episode actually means (or doesn't mean).
**SPOILER ALERT** If you have not seen the final episode of Ashes to Ashes Season 3 - and intend to - DO NOT read on! **SPOILER ALERT**
That out of the way, I'll also point out now that I am writing as someone who is familiar with every episode from, "A word in your shell-like, pal," all the way through to, "A word in your shell-like, pal," (which, by the way, what a line to end on!)
Now down to business. This series of Ashes to Ashes began well - and to all intents and purposes, the first three episodes led even me - a die-hard Sam Tyler fan - to accept that maybe this time, they have finally surpassed the golden age of Life on Mars. Then came the rest of the series, and an endless barrage of questions, confusion, and very intelligent writing, that kept me glued to the television week after week after week. The series as a whole was harder to solve than a Sudoku Rubix Cube - but on Friday night we learned the ultimate truth of the entire story - that Gene Hunt's world is a Purgatory for Police Officers that died young.
That's right - Gene, Sam, Alex, Ray, Chris, Annie, and Shaz, all dead. From Episode one, Season One - and it would appear as if Gene knew all along.
Assuming that everyone who read past the spoiler warning above actually saw the final episode, and I needn't explain it all; I'll start with a few simple questions that would appear to have simple answers:
Q: We know how Ray, Chris, Chaz, Sam, Gene, and Alex all snuffed it - but what of Annie?
A: Sam saw his Dad (Vic Tyler) killing a woman in a red dress in a forest on he day he left home. That was when Sam was a child - and therefore still very much in the 'real' world. In LoM S1Ep8 Sam comes face to face with his Dad - which, we now know was NOT in the 'real world 1973', but in 'Gene's world 1973' and therefore whatever happened did not change what happened in real life. It transpired that the woman in the red dress was W.P.C. Annie Cartwright, and with Sam's line, "I followed you into the woods that day, and watched you beat a woman to death." I'm going to give that one to Vic - Vic Tyler killed Annie.
Q: The Audi Quattro wasn't available in England until blah blah blah...
A: I hate this question - who cares when the bloody car was available? Destroying it in the final episode was a master stroke!
Q: Did Sam really wake up from 1973? And did he really commit suicide to get back?
A: Yes. Yes. Alex couldn't have known about Gene and all of Sam's experiences. I won't explain further than that, I think it's self explanatory. Also, yes, believe Alex DID awake from her coma at the end of AtA s2 - purely on the evidence that she had no more crazy 'real life' visions in the third series. HOWEVER, I am also prepared to accept that Alex was shot by Gene, and died in her coma in 2009 at the same moment.
And now for something a little harder to explain, and perhaps a little more controversial... Who or what was Frank Morgan (LoM s2)? And who or what was Martin Summers (AtA s2)?
Well, I put it to you that they were same as Jim Keats - the devil. Both Morgan and Summers entered Gene's world with the sole intention of turning Sam or Alex respectively, against Gene Hunt - which, as we know, they both failed (as indeed did Keats also).
With all that being said, I shall probably post another LoM/AtA blog after the third series of AtA is released, and I have completed the epic 40hour marathon that is enevitable for almost every fan. Until then, blogs will range in subjects, and themes - depending on when and where I find something else to say!
Thanks for reading my first blog, it was written very improptu, and very late at night! Hope you stop by again soon.
So what have I chosen as the subject for my first ever blog? Quite simply the best television series to come out of England since Fawtly Towers: Life on Mars, and, Ashes to Ashes.
On the 21st May 2010, I joined nearly 6 Million people in watching the conclusion to 5 series of epic British Television, and have to say that I certainly was not disappointed. What started in 2006 as a 'Time-Travelling cop drama," has for me changed the face of the BBC, and what counts as a 'good use of License Payers money,' and whilst I would love to debate the politics behind the BBC and it's Independence meaning that it can take on projects like the Gene Hunt story, or discuss the wonderfully crafted filming of each of the 40 episodes in question, this blog is going mainly going to discuss the plot - and what the final episode actually means (or doesn't mean).
**SPOILER ALERT** If you have not seen the final episode of Ashes to Ashes Season 3 - and intend to - DO NOT read on! **SPOILER ALERT**
That out of the way, I'll also point out now that I am writing as someone who is familiar with every episode from, "A word in your shell-like, pal," all the way through to, "A word in your shell-like, pal," (which, by the way, what a line to end on!)
Now down to business. This series of Ashes to Ashes began well - and to all intents and purposes, the first three episodes led even me - a die-hard Sam Tyler fan - to accept that maybe this time, they have finally surpassed the golden age of Life on Mars. Then came the rest of the series, and an endless barrage of questions, confusion, and very intelligent writing, that kept me glued to the television week after week after week. The series as a whole was harder to solve than a Sudoku Rubix Cube - but on Friday night we learned the ultimate truth of the entire story - that Gene Hunt's world is a Purgatory for Police Officers that died young.
That's right - Gene, Sam, Alex, Ray, Chris, Annie, and Shaz, all dead. From Episode one, Season One - and it would appear as if Gene knew all along.
Assuming that everyone who read past the spoiler warning above actually saw the final episode, and I needn't explain it all; I'll start with a few simple questions that would appear to have simple answers:
Q: We know how Ray, Chris, Chaz, Sam, Gene, and Alex all snuffed it - but what of Annie?
A: Sam saw his Dad (Vic Tyler) killing a woman in a red dress in a forest on he day he left home. That was when Sam was a child - and therefore still very much in the 'real' world. In LoM S1Ep8 Sam comes face to face with his Dad - which, we now know was NOT in the 'real world 1973', but in 'Gene's world 1973' and therefore whatever happened did not change what happened in real life. It transpired that the woman in the red dress was W.P.C. Annie Cartwright, and with Sam's line, "I followed you into the woods that day, and watched you beat a woman to death." I'm going to give that one to Vic - Vic Tyler killed Annie.
Q: The Audi Quattro wasn't available in England until blah blah blah...
A: I hate this question - who cares when the bloody car was available? Destroying it in the final episode was a master stroke!
Q: Did Sam really wake up from 1973? And did he really commit suicide to get back?
A: Yes. Yes. Alex couldn't have known about Gene and all of Sam's experiences. I won't explain further than that, I think it's self explanatory. Also, yes, believe Alex DID awake from her coma at the end of AtA s2 - purely on the evidence that she had no more crazy 'real life' visions in the third series. HOWEVER, I am also prepared to accept that Alex was shot by Gene, and died in her coma in 2009 at the same moment.
And now for something a little harder to explain, and perhaps a little more controversial... Who or what was Frank Morgan (LoM s2)? And who or what was Martin Summers (AtA s2)?
Well, I put it to you that they were same as Jim Keats - the devil. Both Morgan and Summers entered Gene's world with the sole intention of turning Sam or Alex respectively, against Gene Hunt - which, as we know, they both failed (as indeed did Keats also).
With all that being said, I shall probably post another LoM/AtA blog after the third series of AtA is released, and I have completed the epic 40hour marathon that is enevitable for almost every fan. Until then, blogs will range in subjects, and themes - depending on when and where I find something else to say!
Thanks for reading my first blog, it was written very improptu, and very late at night! Hope you stop by again soon.
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