Is all well in Aussie TiVoland?  Not according to an online  report on UK site The Register. Natalie Apostolou, reports that the Australian  TiVo licensee has dramatically cut its staff in recent weeks.  Tech blog, Gizmodo asks the question, is TiVo dying in Australia?  TiVo Australia say it’s business as usual on their official Facebook page, which might be a reassuring message if it wasn’t surrounded by  a sea of negative postings from an unhappy customer base.  The Incomplete Gamer is an unashamed fan of all things TiVo, as you’ll know if you’ve spent any time here.  Stick around  however, and we’ll take off our rose-colored glasses just long enough to examine what went wrong with TiVo down under.

Over Christmas last year I wandered into my local Myer department store, wallet at the ready, to buy my first HD TiVo,  a 320GB HD TiVo.  Not my first TiVo, however.  The Incomplete Gamer  has long been a fan of the TiVo.  Two Series 1 models imported from the US, have faithfully been recording their content (albeit Standard Definition) for over five years at Incomplete Gamer HQ, but this was to be my first foray into the world of TiVo HD.

I’d resisted for as long as I could, but TiV’o’s cash-back deal, combined with a Myer One 10% discount, meant that a shiny new TiVo could be had for under $400, complete with wireless USB dongle.  Trouble was, the Myer salesman knew nothing of TiVo’s current marketing promotion, and even a quick look at the website wasn’t enough to convince him of the mechanics of the transaction (he wanted me to obtain the dongle via redemption, where as, I was convinced it was meant to be supplied in store).

In the end it was all too hard and I walked out of the store TiVoless.  Tivo had finally hit a price that represented value for money, and the word had even hit the street (or at least Ozbargain and Whirlpool).  Trouble was, it hadn’t reached the staff at Myer.  I didn’t end up buying a shiny new TiVo.   My Series 1 models are still doing what they do, relatively quietly.    To satiate my desire for HD recording I imported a PS3 PlayTV from the UK for the princely sum of $38.  Interestingly enough, the PlayTV unit doesn’t really get a great workout.  My viewing habits and I suspect a large number of the Australian TV viewing audience have changed dramatically in the last five years.

Timing is everything

TiVo launched in the US over ten years ago into a market served with a vast amount of free-to-air and cable TV programming. TiVo was the answer to the following question: In such a vast sea of TV programming, how do I find what I want to watch, and then record it, so I can watch it when I want to? There was a ready made audience for TiVo. Millions of American with multiple cable TV and free-to-air-TV services, but no single device capable of providing all of that programming data and the ability to record it in a seamless idiot- proof fashion.

Ten years on in Australia and it’s a very different landscape.  Here there is really only one cable TV provider (Foxtel) and a much more limited free-to-air TV offering.   Digital TV has launched and with it, its own Electronic Program Guide (EPG).  Sure the commercial channels have thrown some additional channels at us, but really done little else but shuffled their existing programming across their new channels and padded it out with re-runs.

In this environment, TiVo’s trump card (really its only card in the pack), was its famed functionality.  While in the States, TiVo is sold  at a lower initial cost and a monthly subscription to cover the cost of the supplied EPG, in Australia, such a pricing model was never an option.  Put simply, no one would have paid for a free-to-air EPG supplied over the internet, when DTV offer a free guide.

One up-front payment might have been viable, if the price was right.  It wasn’t.  More fully featured DVR’s with larger storage capabilities went head to head with TiVo and Australians voted with their wallets.

But pricing and poor in-store product knowledge were not the only issues.  The world has moved on since 2000 and so have our TV viewing habits.  Here at IG HQ we’re far more likely to buy our favorite telly on Blu-ray and DVD.  Around the country, millions are doing likewise and those that aren’t are downloading shows using Bit Torrent or Usenet.

Obtaining the rights to market a product as iconic and beloved as TiVo may have seemed at first glance, like a license to print money. But imagine if you will if someone offered to you the rights to market and sell Sony Walkman cassette players, only these units would only function if they had access to wireless ADSL broadband.  Ludicrous right?  An outdated technology, further crippled by needing access to wireless broadband in order to be fully functional.

TiVo will always have a special place in our hearts, and we’re not giving up our Series One recorders, but we won’t be lining up to buy or sell TiVos any time soon.

The Incomplete Gamer has a brand new home, and it’s all your fault.  Too much traffic is never a bad thing, except when you’re on a capped bandwidth hosting plan.  You may have noticed the site was missing in action during the last two days of May as a result of exceeding our bandwidth limits.

With our traffic continuing to build, and not wanting to risk another disappearing act, we went looking for a company offering both unlimited GB’s of space and unlimited GB’s of transfer.  We also wanted great service at the best price in town.  JustHost.com ticked all the right boxes and while it is still early days, we would like to thank the Just Host support team for their assistance in making the move painless and swift.

While we’re tipping our hats, a quick shout out to WordPress Hacks.  Their advice on how to move a WordPress site to a new host or new domain proved invaluable.  You might notice some slight tweaking over the next few days as we restore the site to its former glory.  Thanks for your patience and, as always, a big thank you for stopping by.

There’s more shape-shifting going on in the fourth and mercifully the last series of ‘til Death than your typical episode of Fringe.

But rather than different characters inhabiting the same character’s body, over on the set of ‘til Death, four different actresses have played the role of Ally Stark,  daughter of Eddie and Joy Stark.  Just in case that wasn’t confusing enough, the shows producers have elected to play episodes out of order so that one Ally actress appears, is replaced, and returns throughout the final series.  One of the actresses playing Ally, even played a different character on the show – a waitress – one episode before joining the cast as Doug’s wife Ally.  Read on to make sense of the nonsensical and why we think ‘til Death didn’t merely jump the shark, but jumped in the pool and bludgeoned it to death.

Here at Incomplete Gamer HQ we love a good sit-com.  The show ‘til Death showed early promise.  It had a reasonable premise; examining the contrast between an older married couple, Eddie and Joy Stark (Brad Garrett and Joely Fisher) and their new newly wed neighbours, Jeff and Steph Woodcock (Eddie Kaye Thomas and Kat Foster).

It never rose to the heights of Garret’s previous sitcom, Everybody Loves Raymond.  Nor was it ever on our list of must see TV.  Still, when in the need of a 20 minute chuckle, it could always be counted on to deliver a few laughs, so we’ve stuck with it through four seasons   It’s our back up comedy for those times when we’ve exhausted all our gems – our episodes of Modern Family, Community, The Middle or The Office.

Unfortunately Season Four is a stinker.  There’s no kind way to say it, but it’s true.  It’s almost as if the writers saw the writing on the wall and just gave up trying.  The jokes have become meaner and at times downright racist.  Where a show like Two and a Half Men can push the ‘risque envelope time and time again and still elicit a belly laugh, ‘til Death’s attempts  at humour more often than not felt forced vulgar.

But perhaps the most obvious sign that the show’s writers and producers were simply showing up and no longer cared was in the casting of Ally Stark.  In Season One and Two she was played by actress Krysten Ritter (left).  Season Three saw actress Laura Clery (right) assume the role of the daughter.

Laura didn’t stick either.  That brings us to  Season 4 were two more actresses have stepped into the character of Ally.  Lindsey Broad (left) was first out of the gate appearing in ten episodes, while Kate Micucci formerly of Scrubs (right) was the fourth to try out for the role that no one else seems to want.  Not only that, she actually goes from playing an extra – a waitress with one or two lines in the episode ‘Check Mate (Season 4, episode 17), to playing the character Ally the very next episode.

The producers and writers have made light of the casting changes.  Son-in-law Doug (played by Timm Sharp) remarks throughout Season 4 that he is convinced that his life is a sit-com.  In one episode, where the family is talking about  who to invite to a baby shower, Doug remarks, ‘What about the Woodcocks? And Kenny, and the other five girls who played Ally?’

Now it’s not like ‘Til Death is the first show to ever have to back-fill a character with a new actor, and casting problems aren’t always the fault of the show’s producers.  Lose one actress and your unlucky, but lose three actresses in four years seems more than  a little sloppy.

With all the casting changes, screening the final episodes out of order just exacerbates the continuity problems even more.  It seems like the producers are having a laugh. As long as someone is.

UPDATE: Stop the clock, or more accurately the Day Calendar.  Halo 3: ODST is in the building.  Ordered on the 1st, dispatched on the 4th and in the Incomplete Gamer Mail box today – Friday the 21st of May.  We won’t tell you that our purchase was in part motivated by a desire to play the Halo Reach multiplayer beta, if you promise not to highlight the fact that the beta just ended.  Fact is, we’re excited about playing the single player campaign and at a smidge over $28 we still feel like a winner!  Read on to find out why we’re rating the online retailers.

The Incomplete Gamer is proudly Australian and proudly Scottish.  What can we infer from that I hear you ask?  As a Scotsman, The Incomplete Gamer loves a video gaming bargain as much as the next man, and in fact ,possibly a bit more.  Being an Aussie and residing in Canberra, The Incomplete Gamer sometimes has to cast out his net to distant oceans in order to find the Catch of the Day.  OK, that’s enough of the fishing metaphors.  In order to be of service to our readers we’re making the ultimate sacrifice and ordering games from a select few on-line Video Game retailers in the coming weeks.  The cynical amongst you might think we’re just using any old excuse to get our hands on the latest new releases.

Ok, you’re on the money, but if we can assist you in landing a bargain, and not getting fleeced or inconvenienced at the same time then all the better.  The first ocean to trawl (sorry) is http://www.mymemory.co.uk/.  We’ve been lured by the promise of free shipping (from the UK even) and a price of only $28.14 for Halo ODST.  Compare that to JB Hifi’s online price of $72.60 shipped, and MyMemory is looking like quite the bargain.  The proof is in the pudding as they say and I’ll check back in with you once the game has arrived in Oz.

UPDATE: The order is currently showing as pending…which wouldn’t be of too much concern if not for the fact that the game is now showing as ‘Out of Stock’.  It would appear that the promise of the Halo Reach Beta (availalble free to owners of Halo 3: ODST, has caused a last minute rush for the game.  We’ve contacted MyMemory to find out exactly what ’Pending’ means to our order?

UPDATE: The order updated from pending to shipped within 24 hours.  As long as the Icelandic volcanic ash is playing fairly I expect ODST to arrive at the Incomplete Gamer labs with the next day or two.

Can’t get enough of The Incomplete Gamer?  I’m spreading the love and my writing to GameFlavor, a network of four sites, PS3 Informer, PSP World, Xboxist and The Red Shell.

You can find my first rant online and awaiting your reading pleasure right now!  Read on to discover why Alan Wake fans are reacting in horror. Game Reviews: Your Number’s Up.

I’ll still be dishing up regular servings of Incomplete Gamer.  Think of it as a bonus extra course!

Just last year came exciting news from Nottingham in the UK. Keep in mind there’s been nothing of note come out of Nottingham since the tales of Robin Hood emerged, and that was 800 years ago. This exciting news even has something in common with the fictional world of Robin Hood, in as much as  it concerns videogames and the tales they have to tell.

Dr Souvik Mukherjee is a researcher and videogame narrative expert from the School of Arts and Humanities at Nottingham Trent University. How great would it be to have such a niche qualification? The academic conferences are possibly lonely affairs, but it has to be neat being an expert in a field that no one else has studied.  But I digress.  Now according to Dr Mukherjee, the complex mesh of possible storylines and deep levels of involvement in videogame narratives relate to, and often surpass, the experience of earlier narrative media, such as books and films. In short he believes computer games have the same value as literary texts. ‘Take that Mum. Zing!’

Says Dr Mukherjee, “Though often unfairly dismissed as toys for children, computer games are far more complex than that. Most gamers, adults and children alike, play these games because of the stories they tell. So, whilst many focus on the violence in videogames, the narrative potential of these games should also be explored.”

He would get no argument from Lionhead boss Peter Molyneux (Fable, Fable 2) who, back in March 2009, famously predicted “Godfather” levels of storytelling in games by 2016. At the time, Molyneux was taking part in Edge Magazine’s issue #200 roundtable which had posed the following question: ‘By 2016 (the year when Edge issue #300 should be published), will we be any closer to that completely immersive narrative experience?’ As reported by MTV, Molyneux explained, “We’re starting to realise our uniqueness, and that we’ve got the ability to do things that no other medium has had before. I think by 2016 we’re going to have a truly amazing story, which will be cited as the equivalent of ‘The Godfather’ on film.”

In April 2009 at GDC, Molyneux upped the ante even more. Speaking to VG247 he said, “I think I was wrong about that Godfather line… I think we can surpass where the Godfather is. Here’s the thing about games: you’re involved in them. And part of the stories that we tell, if we tell them in the right way, and we give you access to the right tools as you’re playing, you will feel engaged and involved in them in a way that you cannot feel engaged and involved with any film, or even book.”

Back in the forests of Nottingham, Dr Mukherjee studied how games have been influenced by earlier forms of media such as film, comics and graphic novels and in turn, as was the case of Max Payne, can contain a strong enough narrative to lead to a film adaptation.

Not a great adaptation to be sure. For the purposes of the column and consistent with my fine tradition of procrastinating, I watched the movie the other night. That’s a hundred minutes of my life I’m never getting back. Of course failed adaptations aren’t always the fault of the source material. (In the case of the Max Payne movie, and in defence of Remedy, had the script been more true to the videogame, the movie may well have been more successful). For every Shawshank Redemption, and indeed The Godfather – stories that successfully make the transition from the page to the big screen – there are films such as The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy which fail miserably.

While I largely agree with Dr Mukherjee’s findings, and while I certainly admire Peter Molyneux’s audacity and ability to generate a headline, I’m not sure that the videogame medium needs to surpass or supplant any other existing medium.
Just as great cinema in no way makes great literature redundant, I believe gaming can similarly expand its narrative scope and emotional capacity to engage its audience without diminishing in any way the importance and relevance of other art forms and other mediums. Videogames don’t need to topple other art forms and other media to be taken seriously or to achieve greater mainstream and critical success.

The narrative that exists on a canvas is different to the narrative running through a poem; the story structure of a screenplay, different to that of a short story or a novel. Different is the key word. Not better; just different.
Great books, great films, poetry and art can and do exist side by side. So can videogames. Let’s not forget that there are already fine examples of good story telling in the videogame world; games such as Shadow of the Colossus or Bioshock.

Narrative structure in videogames can be simple and clichéd, or minimalist, as was the case with Ico.  It can also be rich and multilayered like last year’s blockbusters Grand Theft Auto IV and Metal Gear Solid 4, or the story driven challengers from 2010, Heavy Rain and Alan Wake.

While film and the written word may have both short and long form, videogaming is still very much an evolving medium, not yet constrained by convention. I have no doubt it will continue to mature and develop.

Videogaming doesn’t need to topple the works of Shakespeare (or for that matter the works of Mario Puzo) anymore than Hollywood needed to, in order to achieve greatness and acceptance as a legitimate art form.

Parts of this article were originally published on PALGN, (25 April 2009) .  © Jeremy Henderson

In order to be of service to our readers we’re making the ultimate sacrifice and ordering games from a select few on-line Video Game retailers in the coming weeks.  If you read Part One of our Rating the On-line Retailers you’d know that already.  You’d also know how to get your hands on a cheap copy of Halo 3: ODST and free postage to boot.  Today we’re trawling another UK site, Zavvi.com, in search of a deal on up-coming Xbox360 exclusive, Alan Wake.  If a price of just over $70 Australian sounds good and the possibility that it will ship to your door before the Australian release date sounds even more enticing, then read on.

Here at the Incomplete Gamer we’ve pulled the trigger on our next Video Game purchase, a pre-order of the Collector’s edition version of upcoming action thriller, Alan Wake.  If you can find a better deal than Zavvi.com then we’d suggest you snap it up fast.  You see, Zavvi seems pretty unbeatable.  Thanks to the vagaries of regional release dates, Alan Wake hits the UK on the 14th of May, a full six days before Australia.  As both Australia and the UK are PAL territories you’ll have no problem playing the disc on your Aussie 360, and there’s a real chance we’ll receive our copy of the game before the 20th of May.  Sure, review code would be better (just in case any publishers happen to be reading) but we’ll take advantage of any way of obtaining our games early, as long as it’s legal.  Then there’s the matter of price.  Our own Aussie  Game are currently advertising a price of $109 for the Collector’s Edition version – a saving of $10.95 of the RRP in Australia.

Zavvi’s advertised price on the Collector’s Edition is 39.95 UK pounds.  Postage is a reasonable 2.35.  Converted into Aussie dollars the damage is only a smidgeon over $70 – $A70.48 to be exact.

Realistically, here in Australia, you won’t be able to pick up the standard game in store for anything less than $79 on the 20th of May. Seems like we’re on a winner. We’ll keep you posted on how we fare.   Have any experiences with Zavvi or any of the other reputable on-line gaming stores.  Let us know how you got on?

DISCLAIMER: Incomplete Gamer.com has no association with Zavvi and has not entered into any financial arrangement in return for this post.

Now here’s the kicker.  There are two ways to recharge a PSPgo – either directly into the power socket, or via your PC’s USB port.  When your battery has enough charge to power the unit up, then your PC will be perfectly happy to both trickle charge the battery and let you synch your data, game saves, games and other media to your heart’s content.  However if you are unlucky enough to find yourself in my shoes with a battery that’s all out of juice, then your PC USB sockets won’t be capable of jump starting your handheld into life.

If you’re the kind of person who backs up his data on a regular basis, then you’ll be fine, but if you’re not ‘that guy’ (so  pretty much everyone else on the planet) then your in deep doggy doo.  Read on, and hopefully you won’t make the same mistake.

So I make a quick call to the Sony support line.  The good news is it’s still under warranty.  Purchased in October, the battery has only lasted a little over five months.   The bad news is they’d like me to send it in to them and they’ll take a look.  The promise is that as long as I haven’t tried to drown it in the bath or back over it in the driveway, they’ll send me out a refurbished unit.  I don’t want a bloody refurbished unit.  I bought a new one only five months ago and I’ve given it the right royal treatment – leather case, careful handling, chocolate truffles, I even bought it the official cradle – and now my reward is to get it swapped for someone else’s.  Annoyingly, I actually sprung for GAME’s extended warranty.  If the unit fails after October 2010, GAME will give me a brand new PSPgo right there in the store.  This time however I’m stuck with Sony’s offer of a refurb.

Now I’ve done the right thing with the PSPgo (not that I had much choice once I’d traded in my original PSP’s) but I’ve downloaded a few games, Gran Turismo, Assassin’s Creed, a couple of Syphon Filter titles and Resistance Retribution. There’s a cool 6 or 7 gig of data right there.  No biggy.  I’m on a fairly generous plan with TPG.  Still, re-downloading  the content – some of which has to be done through the PC is a right pain.

Still,  to ensure that no one ends up with my content, I wipe the memory.  I don’t want to get a refurbished unit back in a couple of weeks, only to find I can’t download my content because it’s now associated with someone else.  The biggest loss is my save files.  I as able to rescue a few older ones from a folder in the dark corners of my laptop, but the rest are gone forever.

Sony want me to hand the provide consignment note , console and cables to my nearest Australia Post branch.  Apparently they will box it up and send it off to Sony on my behalf.  I’m not so sure this is a great idea.  While my local postie is regular – I get mail most every day – very little of the letters I receive are actually for me.  I’m not quite sure whether it’s deliberate, or just extreme incompetence, but I’m not filled with confidence either way.  I decide to drop the handheld into GAME in Tuggeranong to let them sort it out.

Unfortunately GAME ring the very same Sony support number I rang an hour or so ago… 20 minutes later and I’m informed that the Game staff member will take the console off to the post office and hand it over the counter.  All I seem to have achieved is to add an extra pair of hands into the equation.  With an assurance that my PSPgo should be back in a couple of weeks, and with nothing more than the original receipt I walked into the store with, thirty minutes prior, I depart.

Two weeks on and my PSPgo is back at home.  It’s good to have it back, but I can’t say I’m too impressed with the battery failing so early in it’s life.  Here’s hoping the unit was just a rare dud.

No…not your old typewriters, we need you.  No, not you, the one who didn’t recognize the image to the left.  We need you…yes you, the one with a passion for video games.  Actually our requirements are a little more exacting.  We need you, yes you, the one in the back row with an opinion and an original thought, the one with something worthwhile to say that hasn’t been said a million times before.

I know, we’ve raised the bar quite high.  The bar.  If you can’t see it, you might have to look up.  Yes there it is…hovering above you all shiny and menacing.  Think you can pass over it?  Then we’d like to hear from you.  The pay’s non-existent, and the review code looks suspiciously like a retail game that you just purchased yourself.  On the positive side of the fence, we can offer you an opportunity to showcase your talent and unique voice to a growing Australian and global audience.  if that’s the best offer you’ve had in a long time and you think you’re the man or woman for the job then drop us a line in the Contact Form below.

Can’t tell you a great deal about the town.  It was night for much of the time, an inky dark that had me reaching to adjust the brightness and contrast settings on my television.

Word on the street is that Bright Falls resembles Twin Peaks without the pie.   Certainly the fare being served in the diner looked less than appetising.  Which brings us to why we’ve ventured here in the first place.  We’re hungry for news of upcoming Xbox360 exclusive Alan Wake, and Microsoft and game developer Remedy are happy to whet our appetites, serving up a six episode prequel (the aforementioned Bright Falls) between now and the game’s release on May 20.

Impressions?  Bright Falls had us genuinely spooked and intrigued in places, but don’t take our word for it.  The best place to see the episodic  Bright Fall videos is right on your Xbox360.  Head over here to the Xbox360 marketplace now and start queuing the files.  The third episode is due to land on May 3rd.  That’s today! Don’t forget to also keep your torches trained on IncompleteGamer.com for our up-coming review.