Rogers Caves to Nothing: iPhone Plans Still Disgusting

 

In a wonderful bit of last second damage control Rogers Wireless announced today that it’s offering a 6gig data plan for $30/month plan with your new iPhone.

On first blush this all seems well and good – the petitions worked, Rogers caved, and now dancing and fornication can begin on top of a mountain of new Apple products. Except we’re still getting screwed, now it’s just going to be twice as hard to get people to believe you.

The main problem is this magical new pricing is available for a limited time only, until August 31st to be specific. After which point one assumes that the previously announced rate for 6gigs of data goes back into effect – namely $115 for your 2gigs of data and voice.

This is unfortunately not the only point of contention with this newest “deal” from Rogers, in fact it serves to highlight all the things that are still wrong with this company – and the telecommunications industry in Canada in general.

A look at why you should still be vehemently boycotting Rogers and their iPhone after the break

Ryan in Nepal

An old friend of mine from elementary and high school is blogging his way through a trip in South Asia.

Part rediscovery of roots and the first year of his life and part completely new adventure, Ryan’s keeping the usual summer vacation log from places no one thinks of as “usual” vacation spots.

Give it a read at ryaninnepal.blogspot.com or check the link on the right

Getting the Band Back Together: Rock Band 2 ‘Announced’

Announced is in quotes because, lets face it, this was as inevitable as fat kids eating pudding.

IGN’s reporting that the official word has come down from Harmonix regarding Rock Band 2‘s release this fall – September on the 360 and “later in the year” on PS3. Wii? who knows.

The article’s a little sparse on interesting detail beyond the usual “its bigger, its badder” rhetoric but the salient points include:

• Full compatibility with your RB 1 DLC
• All DLC works with any version of Rock Band
• “Improved” instruments
• The necessary UI tweaks

Some brief musings on Guitar Hero: World Tour vs. Rock Band 2 after the break 

Blizzard Fires Up Secondary Money Printer, To Run On Souls

Don’t you wish you were invited to Paris?
For my part, I have two friends in the city of lights at this moment who have no clue that Blizzard just stroked the game boners of millions of geeks to completion.

Behold, Diablo 3 – The beginning of the end for so many of us after finally breaking free of WoW

Trailer below and gameplay footage embedded after the break.

Unlimited Data With Your Rogers iPhone? Think Again

Rogers took this morning to announce their pricing scheme for the imminent 3G iPhone launch in Canada.
Lets get it out of the way quickly – we’re getting screwed. yet again.

Plans for your mainditory 3-year contract will start at $60/month (Rogers or Fido, theres no deal to be found going Fido this time) netting you a whopping 150 minutes, unlimited evenings and weekends (starting at 9 p.m.) and… wait for it… 400 megs of data and 75 sent text messages.

Things scale all the way up to $115/month with 800 minutes, unlimited evenings and weekends and 2 GB of data with 300 sent texts.

Dont forget thats all before your manditory 7-dollar network surcharge (for which a class action lawsuit is currently underway). Gotta pay to improve the network right? But then, whats your bill paying for?

Something seem wrong there? Hell, a lot seem wrong there? Lets take a look after the break.

Edit: Rogers now has a direct link to their pricing
Edit: Thanks to Andy Peating for his handy direct comparison chart 

Sleep Is A Concept

One that I’m going to have trouble grasping for the next week or so.

Procrastinations a bitch…

I say this every year, but if only I could just start earlier I’d be fine… Except I’m lazy, and probably have a little ADD. Plus I keep pulling this shit out of my ass so I don’t learn my lesson.

As soon as I can get this term work done I can get back to the important stuff

Talking about the Louis XIV and Foo Fighters concerts of the past few weeks and finally getting down to business with writing out my thoughts on Pownce and Socialthing.

Oh, and theres this book I’ve been meaning to read for a while now… I’m kind of embarrased to even admit to having bought a copy, but having been promised the potential of life changing revelations I’m gonna give it a shot.

Until then…

Sonic Unleashed

The good people at SEGA ON (“Who?” You might ask; well Das SEGA Magazin apparently) are reporting they have leaked in-game scans, concept art and.. hold on to your rings now… video of the next title in the Sonic franchise.

If this is in fact leaked footage and not an Easter weekend hoax job let us all begin by being cautiously optimistic – lest we forget the mountain of borderline shovelware thats plagued us since Sonic Adventure – then proceed to throw that out the window and get a raging 16-bit hard on.

Some of those camera angles do look nigh unusable though. And if the camera fails, this whole game does too.

The Morning After

Waking up drunk the next day is an experience I don’t relish, but it is a decent bellwether of win levels experienced the night before so I guess one shouldn’t complain too loudly.
It’s also infinitely preferable to the next step down the ladder – the blackout.

Luckily (or not so much depending on who you ask) there were no strangers in my bed this morning to constitute a true ‘morning after’ story. Also, I didn’t soil my sheets with any excess of green beer and chicken balls, nor did I wake up not knowing where I was.

All in all a pretty tame night one would say.
There are however a few points I’d like to highlight that bump the night up from ordinary so grab some coffee (as I plan on doing) and check it after the break:

Happy St. Patrick’s Day

Posting anything else would just be me putting up content while buzzed out of my head at quarter to four in the morning.

Not a good idea.

See you in the morning – hopefully.

Manhunt 2 Grabs A UK Release

The BBC‘s reporting that the Video Appeals Committee has upheld their decision to let Manhunt 2 hit UK shelves – well, the edited version at least.

After taking their politically motivated censorship fight all the way to Britain’s High Court, ostensibly because no one else would think of the children, it looks like the BBFC’s finally had their dicks proper slapped.

Oh, and they aren’t happy about it, and I love it. From the article, David Cooke the director of the British Film Classification Board responds saying

“However, the Video Appeals Committee has again exercised its independent scrutiny. It is now clear, in the light of this decision, and our legal advice, that we have no alternative but to issue an 18 certificate to the game.”

Q-Fucking-Q. Next time maybe don’t waste British taxpayers money. Especially on a pretty tame property like Manhunt… that sold mostly on hype from this type of crap… that isn’t even that good!