http://www.gamespot.com/pages/forums/show_msgs.php?topic_id=27558483

Ryan

This blog is a part of the scavenger hunt.

Share a couple of items on your Christmas wishlist this year.
With the 3D TV I already got for my birthday this year, the only item I really want for Christmas is a 7.1 sound system, the Onkyo HT-S5300.
I've been rocking the 5.1 long enough, time to graduate.

Aside from this, I'd like world peace for Christmas!

What games will you play during the holidays?
I'll be playing a ton of GT5, good amount of Black Ops, I'll play through Tron: Evolution, I really want to go back and play some more Heavy Rain, now that I just downloaded the Noble Map Pack I'll be playing some Halo: Reach once again. Red Dead Redemption Undead Nightmare, maybe some WOW Cataclysm, a little bit of the Fight: Light's Out.

What are the kinds of food or drinks you must have during the holidays?
I've got to have a steady stream of chocolate milk, Snapple Fruit Punch, and Pepsi for liquids. Chipotle, Burger King, and Taco Bell, will likely be my three main food groups. However Chevy's sounds so good right now!

ORNAMENT HUNT ANSWER - CLUE 19

Seasons Greetings! With 2010 winding down, Santa isn't the only one making lists and checking them twice. I've had to make a few lists last week and thought I'd share the one pasted below since it had a few of my favorite things from 2010. Figured it my be handy to reference in case you missed something this past year. I hope you enjoyed them!

Jan.

• C.E.S. (I am usually really impressed by one or two gadgets, a really big 3D TV, or random new tech. Looking forward to next month to see whats new for 2011.)

Feb.

• Most Anticipated of 2010 (I always really liked this feature, even though I look absolutely horrible in it for some reason.)
• Heavy Rain (I was way into Heavy Rain, but just for the week I originally played it. I need to go back and play again.)

March

• G.D.C. Live Today on the Spot Day 1 (Behind the scenes Stig and I finally got a chance to thankfully laugh about the E3 demo appearance we had together in 2009.)
• Sony GDC Press Conference (We had a blast doing this event live.)
• God of War 3 (This game was simply awesome)

April

• Today on the Spot April 1st Episode (This one had a lot of fun business in it)

May

• Video Game History Month
• Alan Wake: Now Playing (I was in the control room watching the guys play during this shoot and it was one of the first times I really understood what Alan Wake was all about and I loved it!)
• Red Dead Redemption came out! (I played a lot of Red Dead in 2010)

June

• E3 (The live stage show, E3 Live Cam, Tonight on Spot, and all kinds of crazy stuff, like riots!)
• Mortal Kombat (Getting to close the show with Ed Boon and Mortal Kombat was awesome to say the least.)

July

• Comic-Con Stage Show (This was crazy cool. We actually helped plan out the stage and did all kinds of fun business with folks from CBS. LL Cool J. playing Sports Champions was definitely a highlight.)

Aug.

• GameSpot's All-Time Greatest Game Villain (This was crazy awesome)
• GameSpot Comic-Con Super Show (This was also one of my favorite projects of the year. Wish we would have had more time for this, but the time and effort we put into it I think paid off.)
• Quakecon 2010 (I totally got to go to Quakecon this year! Awesome event, super great people.)

Sept.

• PlayStation Move: Now Playing
• WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2011 Live Roster Reveal (This was crazy fun to produce, a bit tricky, like walking tight rope now that I think about it. But yeah, people had fun.)
• Tokyo Game Show Super Show (Luigvi FTW!)

Oct.

• Kinect Now Playing Marathon
• Terror on the Spot (Easily one of my favorite projects of 2010)

Nov.

• Call of Duty: Black Ops (Over 3million people watched this Now Playing on youtube.)
  Video Review
• Gran Turismo 5 (I am way into GT5 and its 3D action.) Video Preview, Now Playing, Video Review
• Gamer's Holiday Gift Bags

Dec. (We had a lot of the best of the year right in December.)

• Best of 2010
• Today on the Spot
• Killzone 3 Now Playing
• DC Universe Online Now Playing
• World of Warcraft: Cataclysm Live Launch

Howdy y'all!

Since the last time we got a chance to catch up, I've checked out a ton more stuff in 3D, both movies and games.

Quick list of Blu-Rays I've seen, FIFA World Cup, The Last Airbender, Clash of the Titans, Alice in Wonderland, IMAX Under the Sea, and a few of the clips Comcast has on demand. Movies like Airbender and Clash of the Titans, which both started out as 2D movies that were then post converted to 3D, simply don't do the medium any justice. The IMAX and FIFA World Cup discs look fairly good, though they are both fairly boring to be honest.

The best business in 3D I've seen or played on my screen has easily been Gran Turismo 5. Although when we first got the game in at work, I jumped behind a steering wheel, put on a pair of 3D glasses and was instantly underwhelmed. I tried changing the settings in the game and even the TV's 3D settings, but I could never get it to look right. However, when I went home and tried it out on my TV, the game looked great in 3D from the start. When playing in 3D and using the steering wheel, Gran Turismo 5 gives you a feeling that I can only describe as 'tickling your brain', which seems to occur thanks to the feedback of the steering wheel and the 3D visuals. It's the same feeling you get when playing Tumble in 3D and using a motion controller. It's almost as though your hand eye coordination works naturally when guided by accurate 3D depth. So the first time you stack blocks in Tumble, or negotiate a turn in Gran Turismo 5 by simply looking at the apex of the turn and applying the correct steering, brake, and throttle, its like magic. The brain tickle goes away after you get use to it, but you still always have the urge to look over at the other driver when you pass a car on the track, since in 3D it really does feels as though you're driving.

In more 3D news, I got a chance to see Tron Legacy in 3D last week, which was about as awesome as I expected. It was a little slower and more serious than I though it would be. Jeff Bridges does have a couple of lines that lift the mood at times, but its a serious flick that's extremely well done. I had watched the original Tron a week or so before seeing the new one, I still can't believe how ahead of its time the original movie was. I think seeing it set me in the perfect frame of mind when I saw Tron Legacy since its certainly faithful to the feeling of the first film.

After checking out the movie I picked up the game, which seems like a fairly average action game in my opinion. Check the site for the official word, but I can certainly attest to the fact that the game does 3D on the PS3 and it does it fairly well.

Alright, I better get back to work. Game of the Year production has been in full swing, you'll see the nominees later today! Also, we've got a Game Night tomorrow, check Jody's official community blog for more details there. Actually, my gamer tag on either XBL or PSN is ironmacd2, I'll hopefully be racing or shooting people online in some fashion.

Ryan

Howdy y'all,

Thanks for all the feedback on the Halloween show, and as always thanks for watching!

Just this past weekend, I snapped this picture with my cell phone (excuse the quality) of two kids playing Kinect set up at my local Best Buy.

I bring it up, and took the picture in the first place, because I was honestly shocked at how many people were standing around watching these two boys play Kinect Adventures. Everyone watching them had huge smiles on their faces, and you could tell they all wanted to try it.

The Kinect at my house got most of its use the first night we got it and a bit this past weekend. Truth be told, the 3DTV I bought myself as a birthday present this past week has likely been one of the reasons the Kinect hasn't had as much attention as it might have gotten otherwise.

I plan on posting a bit of a 3DTV report, letting you know what games and movies are cool and which to ignore. Because if you're like me, you're fascinated by cool new tech, but not always convinced you really need it, or want to pay the cost for something totally new for fear that you'll only find out when you get it in you're living room that you'll end up being disappointed. I guess, now that I write it out, I am simply describing the excitement and pain that comes with being an early adopter. In fact, the second HDTV I bought, just prior to the release of the PlayStation 3, even though it was advertised as a 1080p TV, actually wasn't. Instead, Samsung hadn't gotten some of their business right, and the TV would only let me view content with a resolution of 1080i or below. So I had to exchange the TV I had purchased for one that delivered true 1080p.

Last year with Avatar the game and movie being both released in stereoscopic 3D, I figured this might be the year for a 3DTV at home. I had honestly settled on the idea, that I wouldn't actually get a 3DTV until more 3D content was available. I figured, maybe February 2011 when Killzone 3 comes out? However, once I realized Call of Duty: Black Ops would support stereoscopic 3D, I pretty much made up my mind.

It's been about a week now, and even though I had done a lot of research, on both the technology and products available, I feel I've learned the most as a consumer actually messing with the 3DTV, games, and movies. I've learned a lot. One thing I've especially learned- whether games, videos, or movies, not all 3D content is created equal. Also, I do believe size may truly matter when it comes to viewing 3DTV's, but more on that later.

Avatar, Call of Duty: Black Ops, Tumble, Motor Storm: Pacific Rift, MLB 10: The Show, are just some of the games that support stereoscopic 3D. I would also add that the games listed are some of the better uses of the technology that I've seen so far as well. Before I get ahead of myself, I should back up and talk about the set up I've got going. The 3DTV I picked up is a Mitsubishi, WD-82738. I wanted a new TV that was bigger than my last, which meant it was pretty much this one, considering there aren't a whole lot of big 3DTV's.

Some can still argue, about DLP vs. Plasma, LCD, ect... But I like DLP's. I've had a 72" Samsung DLP in my house for 5 years, and I still think the same thing today as I did when I first bought it, which is for the size, price, and performance, it doesn't get any better. Sure, a 240hrz 42" inch will look cleaner, but its still only 42". We have a ton of different TV's and monitors in the office, some plasmas, some LCD's, so I see a lot of different displays running games all of the time and I am still more than happy with my DLP.

On a side note, one of the best pieces of advice I ever got for picking out a new TV, was when I was talking with a guy who professionally calibrates HDTV's. When I asked him at the time, what he thought the best type or model of TV was, he said "When you go into the store, just look around and pick the three TV's that you think look the best from a distance, then go stand in front of each to get a better idea. Don't even worry about the size of the TV, brand name, or anything else, just look around and pick out the TV you think looks the best." Picking out a TV this time however, I knew exactly what features I wanted; 3D, big screen, and awesome looking.

Now that I've played with it for a week, I've got to say, I am more impressed than I thought I'd be. I knew when they first showed us Avatar the game in 3D, during E3 2009, that it was super cool. Even last year, when Avatar the game first came into the office, I made sure we had a 3DTV to try it out on. I might have been impressed back then, but not completely sold.

The amount of games and movies you can play or watch in 3D had been so limited, it kind of didn't make sense, and still almost doesn't really. Unless of course, you're a complete nut job like me, who plays games and watches movies constantly, and just happened to be in the market for a new TV.

Obviously, Call of Duty: Black Ops in 3D is kind of a uniquely awesome experience, but that's not to say it doesn't have its own issues. On the PS3, which is running an HDMI cable directly to the TV, the game runs at 30fps in 3D. Kind of a bummer right? Yes and no. Yes, since if it ran at 1080p/60fps that would be obviously better. No, since its just simply awesome in 3D, even at 30fps.

I'd go as far to say I play Call of Duty: Black Ops differently in 3D. Number one reason, you get to aim down the sights of the gun! What do I mean by that? I mean, just like in real life, when you aim a gun and match up the front site post, with the back sights, you do the same thing when playing Call of Duty: Black Ops in 3D! I couldn't figure out why for the first minute or two, the aiming seemed odd in 3D, which was simply because I had to turn off the onscreen crosshairs. Once the crosshairs were off, I was set! I even went back and tried to replay a section of the game in 2D, running at 60fps, just to see if I liked it as much still. To be honest, playing the game in 2D after playing in 3D for awhile, the game just seems flat.

The Xbox 360 version required me to put the game in 720p, in order to run in 3D. I did have to change the 3D settings on my TV, unlike the PS3 version. Also, one big caveat to my praise for the game in 3D, I simply can't perform as well in multiplayer when playing in 3D as I do when playing in 2D. Something about the frame rate, or just the time it takes for me to aim in 3D, but I get murdered badly every-time I try to play online in 3D. Maybe I'll force myself to try it in 3D with the floating cross hairs turned on again.

Another game, Avatar in 3D, still looks really good. The way you feel when you're flying through the environment, or the way bullets from machine guns leave individual trails that you can see cut through the air is pretty neat!

It would be important to note, for some games, like Avatar and Tumble, there is a 3D effect slider in the options menu. Plus, most 3DTV's have a few options to tweak performance. On Avatar, I found that 3D effect slider set at 1.6, with thethe default selected, gave me a cleaner 3D image. In Tumble however, I found that that the 3D effect slider set to the max gave me the best results.

Tumble in 3D is also pretty awesome. The way your eye and hand coordination naturally works while both using the PlayStation Move and 3D glasses is kind of crazy. In fact, it makes you feel as though you're cheating a bit.

The one game I'll cautiously call attention to, at least for playing it in 3D, is The Fight: Lights Out. While I know this game has been getting pretty terrible review scores, and I can totally understand the problems people have with the game. When playing it in 3D, with the head tracking working well, I personally think its kind of the best punching dudes in the face simulator I've played. Although why not a first person view? or why not make the back of the dude you're playing transparent? Or why are the graphics kind of weak? Either way, in terms of delivering punches with a motion controller in 3D, it's kind of the only game in town, literally.

On the movies tip, none of them look as good as the games do. With that said, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, Monsters vs. Aliens, heck even My Bloody Valentine all looks pretty awesome in 3D. Some stuff like the Bon Jovi video download they have on the PS store, kind of looks like that pop up book styled 3D, as opposed to the whole window into another world approach.

I got all excited when someone told me that the Batman: Arkham Asylum Game of the year Edition was in 3D. After driving to three stores, all three of which I called first, and all three declared they had it, only to arrive and find that it was the regular version of the game, I finally found one. The big 3D logo on the cover got me excited, until I read the words, works on all TV's, glasses included. No stereoscopic, just the red and the blue paper glasses 3D. I did however find a few other things along my journey, like a remote controlled Scorpion tank from Halo.

Either way, I say when asking the question of whether to 3DTV? Or not to 3DTV? The answer is, if you're way into it, you think it looks cool when you've seen it may possibly want to get a new TV anyways, go for it! If you're on the fence about 3D at all, just wait. Prices will only continue to drop and more movies and games will become available.

If you are one of the people whose been skeptical of 3D and wonder if its worth it, you are correct for doing so. I know some people that I've shown 3D games to who absolutely love games, even the game I was showing to them in 3D was a game they had previously liked playing in 2D. Even then however, they weren't all that impressed. However, the next guy I showed was completely blown away as though it was the coolest thing ever. I guess some people just either perceive the effect more than others, just have different tastes, or likely a bit of both.

One of the main differences for how people perceive the 3D experience I believe at this point relates directly to size of the TV. When checking out Avatar in 3D at the theater, if you are like me you get that cool breathless sensation, when a big wide open landscape shot comes on. The unobstructed view of the screen, which is big enough to fill in even some of your periphery vision, just doesn't happen unless your sitting 2-3' away from a 42" screen. In my experience thus far, 82" vs. 42" in 3D is just simply a different viewing experience.

Anyhow I've got to wrap this up, I'll be posting an accompanying video shortly, showing at least some of what I am talking about. You can at least use the video to send to your friends who don't like to read! Until later GameSpotters, let me know what your experience with 3D has been and what you think of it!

---

P.S. I have to go to jury duty for the first time tomorrow, I've only heard stories of bordom really, so maybe it won't be so bad. Taking the PSP for sure.

The Halloween episode of Today On the Spot is hitting in like 17mins. I hope you guys dig it. We had some fun putting it together. http://www.gamespot.com/shows/today-on-the-spot/

Ryan

Hey ya'll,

Don't forget to check out the Producer's Note site blog for more stuff like this going forward.

Ryan

Sorry for not writing, but I didn't want to jinx the launch of tots by saying it was actually going to happen. You might have seen one or two comments I made in the forums about the show coming back in August. But after the first two times I had said it was coming I didn't want to sound like the boy who cried OTS. In any case, it feels really good to have the show back and to read what people think of the new format. I forgot how much fun it is to read all of the comments after the show.

We were hard at work on the Saturday show tonight, going to hit it hard in the morning, but I think its super solid. I shot some video in the studio today, mostly of Tor hamming it up for the camera.I'll see about getting that stuff up on the Producers Note blog.

I think I am going to go get some shut eye, see you all later!

Let me know what you think of the show btw! Also, someone should send me some user video questions, comments, or whatever you think would be cool to send.

Night ya'll, Ryan

So we're taking a bit more time to get ready, or should I say we've been given some more time to get the show ready. What could take so long you ask? Truth is we've been in production rehearsals for the past two weeks, expecting today to be the day up until late last week. We've actually done internal tests of the show and have more than a few episodes that I'd love to share, especially with all you GSLive union members, I'd love to hear what you guys think. Alright, I better get back to work, I'll see if I can smuggle you out a test episode, or some behind the scenes action. In the meantime, well be live this Friday with a Halo Wars marathon at 4:00pm PST. Maybe they'll let me show some of the show then, I'll check and see.

Ryan

Another late night working on the new show, we're one day closer to getting this thing started and I can't wait. I think you're going to really like what we're going to be coming back with. The new format really pushes the point of what we had in mind when we first created the show four and a half years ago. If you were around then, Let's GameSpot was the weekly show we had back then. Rich had joined us and took over the reigns of producing Let's GameSpot and made it a show all his own. I was crazy about the idea of live streaming video, being able to be plug a camera and game system in and show people what we were seeing in real time from anywhere that had an internet connection. That to me was the greatest invention ever; it'd be like being able to take the entire GameSpot audience with us when we went to visit someone that wanted to show their new games. If you saw the first episode of On the Spot, then you know we did exactly that. Our first episode was from EA's Tiburon Studio in Florida, where we gave a tour of the studio and showed demos of a bunch of their games. Little known fact, we managed to do that entire episode with four people, Rich, Dave Toole, Ricardo Torres and myself.

Things have changed in four and half years and it felt time for us to change the show. We wanted to build a better way to get the latest information, demos, and fun over to you. So we thought about it, a lot, looked at tons of your comments, thought some more, then decided on a course that will see the new show hit before the end of the month.

If you think it's been taking awhile, I guess it's because it has. We're serious about building a show that is going to be the most informative, helpful, and fun thing we've done. It'll be a constant learning experience for us and I hope you share your comments and let us know what you think. After all this is a show we're building for you really, were just lucky enough to be the guys crazy about games that get to do it. I'll post some video from the studio so you get a sneak peak as we get closer. I need to eat some tater TOTS and get to bed, until next time good night ya'll!

I hate being sick. I started getting sick Tuesday evening, got through Wednesday, but that night I got the full on chills, aches, and everything.

It took till Friday morning for everyone in the whole house to get sick. Now I am playing nurse for everyone else. This morning I started looking through some old boxes looking for pictures to scan in, one of the things I found was an old box of video game magazines. I started thumbing through the old mags, found a ton of the old previews, reviews, event coverage, and guides I used to write for Game Informer and EGM2. The two page Atari Jaguar preview spread I wrote is especially choice as you can imagine. Even found some old video from back then, thinking about doing a video blog and slipping some of that action in there, could maybe sneak in some new On the Spot (its almost ready) stuff in there.

For now I've got to go feed sick people! I'll check back later!

Ryan

Day one in the books! What'd you guy guys and gals think? I'll say we had some tech stuff to work out that was unfortunately done so live, but by the second or third hour I think we started to hit our stride. By the end I thought we had gotten everything pretty straight. Tomorrow and Thursday, (knocking on wood), should go fairly smooth.

We tried to stay with gameplay as much as possible the whole show. Had some stuff to work out with the virtual set. But I think the guys just worked it out. You should see some better camera action tomorrow if so. A lot of people are still cutting video and are working to get content up. The mini documentary I mentioned at the end of the show had to be re-rendered, but should be up in 3 hrs to be safe.

Going to bed soon, night ya'll. Hope you like you like the coverage.

Hey ya'll,

Sorry its been a 11 days after my last post, but I've had my head down trying to get the best E3 lined up for you possible. Today however I am happy to report we are on our way, and are about two hours away from LA. We started our convoy this morning, stopped off at Del Taco, bought some power inverters at the truck stop, and are excited to get the show on the road.

scenes from the road: http://pictures.sprintpcs.com/share.do?invite=oEIrJT8dzk824L5z8o7o&shareName=MMS&messageState=RETRIEVED

I'll try to sneak a user video once we unload the trucks and are setting up the space tonight. Can't wait to get started, write you guys later.

Ryan