Max Zuckerman

Max Zuckerman

Total Posts: 10 |
Max's Blog
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Guitar Hero: World Tour up close and personal-like

Posted By: Max Zuckerman | Oct 10th @ 4:32 PM
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I’ve been sitting on this one for a little bit until closer to launch… that’s right, it’s almost Guitar Hero: World Tour time (October 26th to be exact).

“But Max, I already have Rock Band… what’s the big deal with this?!?”  I don’t know which one is better yet, but based on what Brandon told me about the track editor where you can make your own instrument tracks for your own songs and share them online, this might be the killer “must have” feature of the video-console-rockin’-out-style-games.  I also really liked the symbol additions to the drums, the pressure sensitivity, and not mentioned is the ability to use the drum header to plug in a real electronic drum set to rock out in some real style………… ohhh man I must do that!

So here’s the question ladies and lads:  are the new features of Guitar Hero: World Tour compelling enough to get you Rock Band owners to buy another set, or did you all just wait for this game anyway??
Tags: activision, guitar hero world tour, Rock Band, Xbox

Lead Designer of Rock Band tells all.... ok not all, but a lot

Posted By: Max Zuckerman | Sep 12th @ 1:28 PM
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It's no secret that I'm a huge fan of Rock Band by Harmonix (which by the way has a pretty cool web site design sporting a picture at the Central Square T stop in Cambridge, MA).  At this year's Penny Arcade Expo (PAX), I found the Rock Band 2 stage and man, people were really rockin' out.

And, of course, watching from backstage with a smile on his face was Dan, Senior Designer at Harmonix and the lead designer of both Rock Band 1 and 2.  We saw some game play, talked about the development process, hit on some new features, and had a little jam session.  This releases for the Xbox 360 in just a few weeks, so get ready to rock out!
Tags: harmonix, Rock Band

C8: Zune Rocker shows us Zune Social and the new FaceBook application

Posted By: Max Zuckerman | Mar 25th @ 11:06 AM
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From Channel 8:
"Cesar Menendez (my favorite Zune Rocker) has shown me how the Zune team has taken music back to its pre-digital roots when people used to gather at record stores and tell each other about the latest and best ways to rock out--or mellow out, depending on your style. It's called the Zune Social and it really is an interesting concept that leverages the back end from the XBox Live infrastructure and allows you to create a profile that displays your songs played, favorites, and friends. From there you can find out what others are listening to, get a taste of it, and share it with others... very cool stuff."

Cesar also demoes the integration with FaceBook in a new app which you can download by going to your Zune Social homepage.

Check out the video on Channel 8!
Tags: FaceBook, Zune, Zune Social

See the Windows Mobility Smackdown at TechReady 6 on Channel 8

Posted By: Max Zuckerman | Mar 16th @ 2:31 PM
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From Channel 8:
Every 6 months, Microsoft holds an internal-only conference called TechReady for our technical team in the field. It's an amazing convergence of people from all over the world coming together to learn about our technologies directly from the product teams as well as to give feedback about what customers are saying. In fact, it is not uncommon to see a product manager and a technology specialist getting into a heated debate about what's working, what's not, and where things should go in the future.

Although this is usually for-Microsoft-eyes-only, I managed to get you guys a sneak peek at one of the most highly anticipated sessions every year: the Windows Mobility Smackdown! This draws a huge crowd that literally lines up an hour before the session starts just to get a seat at all... and man do people go nuts for this one. The product team unveils some of the coolest Windows Mobile features, literally throws prizes into the crowd, and some lucky few walk away with a brand spankin' new Windows Mobile device.

Check out the video over on Channel 8.
Tags: Seattle, techready 6, windows mobile, windows mobility smackdown

Is this the future of Software and Services? It could be...

Posted By: Max Zuckerman | Jan 12th @ 9:00 AM
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Other than jetpacks and freeze dried food, there may be some other things to look forward to in the future. OLED displays, surface computing, and of course a robot that walks your dog for you...

Some of us, however, believe there could be more to how technology progresses. Will new genres of devices emerge or will we continue to converge and overlap in capabilities? How will these devices work with each other? What will the interface be like?

Check out this video to catch a glimpse at what software and services could potentially lead to in the not so distant future...

 

[Click to read the full post ]
Tags: future, S plus S, S+S, services, software, software+services

Windows Mobile 6.0 Devices for your Shopping List

Posted By: Max Zuckerman | Dec 13th, 2007 @ 4:52 PM
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Windows Mobile 6.0 was released a little under a year ago... so when I heard one of my favorite Mobile Specialists, Jason Langridge, was in the US, I had Laura Foy kidnap him in her truck and bring him to our studio for a little WM6 devices showcase.

He saw what she did to Tina, so he screamed for help happily complied. Smooth move, Jason.[Click to read the full post ]
Tags: Seattle, windows mobile, WM6

Enthusiast AND Student? Win a PC!

Posted By: Max Zuckerman | Dec 6th, 2007 @ 9:13 PM
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Ever feel like even though it's a jolly good time reading about all the latest and greatest cool technologies out there and seeing the ins and outs of how people are using it, you would love to get your hands on some of this tech yourself?

Well if you're a student... chances are 3 of your last 3 meals had the words "Ramen" or "noodle" in it and it's not just because you love the smell of boiling water. Gadgets cost MONEY!

So in the spirit of kicking off my joining the Channel 8 team, I have begun a series in which you (the student enthusiast community) help me decide what computer components to you, and in the end I'm going to build it. Ready for the crazy? One of you will WIN this shiny new piece of hardware and you can save all your holiday cash for more noodles Wink

So if you're a student, head on over to Channel 8 and "jump in." (yeah I stole that from X-Box).[Click to read the full post ]
Tags: max builds a pc, students

Hacking a Media Center DVD Library

Posted By: Max Zuckerman | Dec 6th, 2007 @ 3:52 PM
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If you're like me, one of the inputs on your TV is your desktop or laptop computer. It's one of the best ways to surf the web or share pictures and videos with others.

But my favorite feature, hands down, is the ability to have my entire DVD collection available to me in a very intuitive and slick-looking interface all on my TV. The best part is I don't have to physically insert a DVD every time I want to watch one. I can just browse my collection very easily all on my TV/monitor and hit "play!"

See how I set this all up in my tutorial on Channel 8.[Click to read the full post ]
Tags: DVD Library, Media Center, windows vista

Like having 2 graphics cards? How about 4? And why not add 4 CPU cores too...

Posted By: Max Zuckerman | Nov 19th, 2007 @ 12:00 AM
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About a year ago if you asked a PC building enthusiast what processor to use, he/she would probably have pointed you toward a slick 64-bit AMD chip which at the time was the some of the best performance at a sweet price, win-win right?

That all changed when the Intel Core 2 Duo chips came out with better performance and even lower price points. The Intel fanboys rejoiced as the top spot had returned to the chip making giant. To this day Intel has remained in the lead with multiple iterations of the Core 2 Duo architecture with increased speeds and even doubling the cores (Quad Core chips) thus solidifying their top dog status.

AMD, however, has not given up... not by a longshot. While we all have waited to see the results of their ATi acquisition, today I had the chance to check it out firsthand. That's right, folks, AMD has its own triple-play to show off: new true quad core 64 bit CPU--the Phenom, a new Radeon 3800 series set graphic cards, and to support it all... a fancy new chipset known as "Spider."[Click to read the full post ]
Tags: AMD, phenom, radeon 3850, spider

Get a yourname@live.com email now!

Posted By: Max Zuckerman | Nov 6th, 2007 @ 5:23 PM
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Ever since we came out with live.com I have been a huge fan of the domain name.  You say "Google it" I say "Live it!"  To each his own.

Either way, for a long time I have been asking the product teams to use username@live.com instead of user@hotmail.com as my email address... and today they have delivered! Starting right now you can go here and register a name, like bubba@live.com, but you better hurry before all the good (short) names are taken and you end up with something like clownmember.f4r7@live.com.
Tags: email, hotmail, live.com, Windows Live, windows live mail
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