Awesome.

Yesterday, Revision3 issued a press release stating that in 2009 they served over 1.5 billion minutes of online video. That’s a lot of minutes. And I’m personally responsible for at least 9,360 of those minutes.

For the past 4 years (give or take) I’ve been a faithful viewer of loads of Revision3 content. What can I say? They just have loads of video content that I’m interested in. They’re really my go-to source for movies, gaming, comics, tech and general internet lolz.

They offer me everything I can’t get on regular TV.
I love that.

Every week I consume about 3-4 hours of Rev3 media. I think that puts me into their medium to heavy use consumer.  But really this only consists of regularly watching 4 shows each and every week. There are three things that Rev3 does really well to keep me as a heavy consumer:

1. Multiple ways to consume
2. High production values
3. Reliably scheduled content delivery

Multiple ways to consume

Being a heavy Apple user, I tend to subscribe to a lot of podcasts via iTunes. The best part about using iTunes as my main download storefront is that it allows me to watch the shows when/where I choose, PLUS gives me the ability to build a backlog of shows thanks to the autodownloading of subscriptions. The fact that I can watch shows on my desktop in the bedroom, networked laptop, iPhone when commutes, and also streamed to my big screen TV via Xbox 360/PS3, makes it that much easier for me watch a whole lot more.

And then there’s also the ability to stream from their Flash player directly from the site, on their YouTube channel, the m.revision3.com mobile site, or if I lived in the US of A I’d also be able to watch it directly from my TiVo dashboard and also on Virgin America domestic flights.

They understand that I want my media lots of different way. I appreciate that.

High production values

Homemade YouTube videos are good and all, but watching those just makes higher quality internet shows look that much better. Revision3 does a fantastic job of offering all their content in HD-quality downloads (usually just over 1 gig for a 1hr show), and all of their shows really do look top notch. Some shows are shot in an actual production studio, some out of retrofitted garages, and others on locations… each with their own look and feel, and they all have extremely high quality visuals.

I’ve come to trust that everything coming from Revision3 will have a certain quality of polish. It stands as a real seal of approval. I appreciate that.

Reliably scheduled content delivery

It amazes me sometimes to think of how I anticipate the release of a weekly video podcast more than almost all regular TV. And the shows are released on a reliable schedule. And they rarely have an off-season hiatus.

Rev3 seems to space out their release of their shows throughout the week. Some are made available on Mondays, others always come out on Wednesday. I’m sure that spacing out the content helps relieve the bandwidth stress of having every show available at once, but for me this works out great. I’m sure if they were all released at once I would overdose myself with content watching them all back-to-back.

So, what are my top 3 Revision3 shows you ask?

1. Totally Rad Show – this is my jam right here. Movies, video games, tv/comics. Everything I need in a show. I’ve been watching since episode 1. I trust the guys opinions. I believe that they’re all genuine dudes. I feel like they’re my friends. Maybe that last point is due to following them all on Twitter. I plan on attending their live taping at PAX East this year too, but I doubt we`ll become IRL friends. This is also one show I can watch over again multiple times in a week if needed. Always good for background noise.
2. CO-OP – for a group of video game journalists, these guys can be pretty funny on camera. I like that they’ve all got different characters/personas that they play. And the shooting/editing is extremely well done. The most MTV-looking thing on Rev3. The Area5 team here as real street-cred when it comes to games. Formerly the 1UP Show, I was hugely relieved when Rev3 picked this up and added it to their roster of shows. The analysis is deep, AND this is also the best show to learn about indie games and the developers behind them.
3. Diggnation – the one that started it all. Without Diggnation I don’t think I would have known about Rev3. This show has been on for 5 years now and I still watch it every week, but I don’t know if it has the power to sustain for that much longer. It’s still fun to just hangout with Alex and Kevin on the couch, but it seems like they’re both moving on to much bigger and better things in the near future. I appreciate that the guys are still doing their thing.

PS – my dark-horse show is ROFL. Watching stand-up comedy is always fun.

Okay, I’m really excited for next week now. I hate to say it, but I’m a sucker for all of Apple’s marketing techniques. Their planned product leaks play me like a fiddle. With every new rumour that flies across my Twitter stream, I just can’t resist clicking! And over the last few weeks we’ve been inundated with new reports on the Apple trifecta. And the January keynote is always the best, so I know we’re in for something good. Historically this is when the coolest stuff gets announced. This year will be the most interesting keynote since the 2007 iPhone announcement.

If I were Steve Jobs, this is how I would introduce the products:

1. New iLife (blah)
2. Tablet/iSlate (yippie!)
   and “One more thing…”
3. iPhone OS 4.0 (maybe meh? dunno yet)

New iLife

First off, you start with a new version of iLife. What’s with them not numbering them anymore? I guess it’s iLife ’10. This part of the presentation will be boring. Steve will show off how the new software lets you zoom in and out on your pictures with ease – “like butter” as Jobs is known to say. Maybe they’ll offer some new features, but really it’s just photo cataloguing and dummy website building so I don’t know how exciting it’ll be.

If they were really smart, they’d introduce an auto-LOLcat maker into the new iPhoto. I can see it now… import an image of your pet and the software automagically attaches the funniest caption possible and uploads it to icanhascheezeburger.com for you! Brilliant. Finally a timesaving feature I can get behind.

Tablet/iSlate

Everyone knows this is coming; it’s no big surprise by now. So, now we get to the meat of the presentation. This is the time, approx. 1pm Eastern time on Jan.27th, 2010, where I’ll be feverishly pressing refresh on all my live-blogging favourites (engadget, gizmodo, tuaw, etc.). What will this Jesus 2.0 device do exactly? I have so many unanswered questions right now…

• What’s the name? – will it really be teased in the playground and called the “Apple iS late”?
• Will it just be a big iPod? – it better not be because I already have my iPhone, so why would I need it? It can’t be that simple. I know that it’ll run a version of the iPhone OS, that’s a given because of the huge success of the iTunes App Store, but it’s gotta do more…
• Will it have 3G access? – probably. This thing can’t just be wifi because I want to take this with me on the go. Also, this device shouldn’t totally cannibalize the MacBook and iMac lineup. It’s gotta be a companion product that complements your internet experience when you’re away from your desk. So means it needs to have 3G. And I hope you got that unlimited (or 6 gig) data plan with your iPhone, because this badboy will be tied to your wireless account. I’m guessing the data will be shared via a SIM-card that’s connected to your existing plan. But if this doesn’t work that way… man will I be upset. If I need to pay another monthly data bill ontop of my home webs and mobile webz, then I’m out. Well at least for the first six months. Then I’m sure I’ll cave.
• How will you type on it? - nobody’s 100% sure on this yet. If I were a betting man, I’d place my money on handwriting recognition with a stylus. This is a crazy bet though. When Jobsie announced the iPhone back in 2007 he basically said everyone who used a stylus for the their phone was stupid, but given the fact that people aren’t sold on typing on their iPhones all the time there has to be another way.
• … I could go on… – but I won’t. There are too many questions about this thing. But I do know that if it’s available for under $1,000, I’m sure I’ll be getting one. I think it’ll fill the web-surfing-while-watching-tv need that I have. Right now the iPhone does this, but something bigger would be nice. 95% of the time it’ll be a TweetDeck device that lets me see the social media commentary of whatever I’m watching. Kinda like MST3K, but more texty.

and finally, the famous “One more thing…”.

I feel like it’s been forever since we’ve had an eye-popping one more thing revealed to us at the end of a keynote. The last cool thing I remember being unveiled at the very end was the Apple TV in 2006. All of the recent one-more-things have been lame and predictable. I mean really, announcing the new MacBook after the new MacBook Pro? Really?!? Gee, I didn’t see <sarcasm> that </sarcasm> coming.

I hope that Apple is able to surprise us, but I doubt it’ll happen.

So, after all the buzz of the magicTablet has exploded on Twitter and the Apple Store goes down, Jobs will say those magical three words everyone loves to hear, and he’ll bring it all back to the iPhone.

iPhone OS 4.0

The key here is OS, as in operating system. My guess is that Jobs will say: “One more thing… your iPhone just got smarter”. Well he won’t say it exactly like that. I’m sure that Apple marketing will have jazzed it up a notch. Maybe calling it an awesomephone is the new term? They should definitely make fun of the Nexus One and it’s self-proclaimed ‘superphone’ status. Nevertheless, the iPhone OS will get a massive update.

For a while now people have been saying that the latest iPhone update has been on hold until the Tablet was released. Probably because they share a lot of the same code base, and releasing the iPhone update would show everyone out there what they’ve been hiding up their sleeve. This makes sense.

So my big hope for this “One more thing…” part of the big show, is that the iPhone gets an update to give us multi-tasking and all the other items that Android and Nexus One have that the iPhone doesn’t. The product hardware is still incredibly solid, and is the industry leader in touch displays almost 2 years later, so I don’t expect anything dramatic this time around. Maybe a new camera with a flash, but that’s it.

But please Apple make me wrong. Give me something I’m not expecting!

If there is a new iPhone that completely blows the current generation away, I would love it. They would have really fooled all the bloggers with one of the biggest curveballs yet. Just imagine if the Tablet isn’t the only big announcement next week?

What if they drop subscription TV on us instead?… Hmmm….

And just for old times sake, here’s my fav part of the 2007 iPhone keynote. It’s amazing how much this changed our world forever by giving us YouTube lolz in our pocket.

On the latest Christmas episode of the 4 Guys 1 UP podcast (iTunes link), @JWHDavidson and @DavidEllis had an interesting discussion on video game downloadable content (DLC) during their 2010 predictions segment. This got me thinking of how the iPhone 3GS and it’s adoption by mainstream culture will help push microtranactions, like video game DLC, into almost every type of media we consume.

One of the subtle features of iPhone OS 3.0 software update was the ability for developers to include in-app transactions. Now when you’re playing a game, or using a new application, a “friendly” pop-up message could tell you that that next level/weapon upgrade/app feature can be yours for just a mere $1-2. Just click to charge your credit and continue.

This payment strategy is currently used on a few iPhone games but it’s no where near ubiquitous…yet. Give this time.

The iPhone app ecosystem has evolved into a demo culture. Without a FREE demo (maybe $0.99), the barrier of entry for many people is too great to even try your product. The “try before you buy” mentality is one of my favourite aspects of the iPhone app store. And if the app/game is good enough, like most people, I will pay to continue.

One of the smartest thing the iTunes store did was have 1-click credit card payments. It’s so easy to click yes that the toonies practically jump out of my virtual wallet.

Facebook games are eating people's souls... and their free time.

Currently, DLC/microtransactions are used by plenty of game developers allowing users to:

• Unlock new character clothes; this is lame
• Download new multiplayer maps/vehicles/weapons/missions
• Reveal epilogue story content; Prince of Persia and Tomb Raider both did this last year
• Rock Band and Guitar Hero $1.99/song downloads, and
• Facebook’s Farmville and Mafia Wars items (I’m not linking to these games because you already know what they are. I’m sure you have 3 sad cow requests sitting in your FB inbox right now)

That last bullet point is the big one, that’s why it in bold. There are literally hundreds of millions of people playing Flash games on Facebook everyday. That’s waaaay more than the amount of PS3s, Xbox 360s and Wiis sitting in living rooms today. And Zynga, the largest developer of social games on Facebook, is raking it in.

In fact, Farmville is bigger than Twitter. It’s more than twice the population of Canada.

I guess people really care about their fake farm pets. It’s becoming so popular that many gaming insiders are predicting that Facebook games could kill console gaming.

Now this all comes back to my prediction that we’ll be seeing a lot more microtransactions in the near future. As people get more use to the idea of paying for Farmville and Mafia Wars upgrades, they’ll slowly start understanding that concept for everything else

This means in the not too distant future we could be seeing:

• On-demand video rentals, now with upgrades: pay $5 for the movie, and an extra $2 for all of the extra DVD content (e.g. behind-the-scenes, director commentarty, blooper reels, etc.)
• TV a-la carte instead of monthly cable subscription: Apple is supposedly working on this, but chances are it won’t come to Canada for a long time, and it still won’t work well for me unless they simulcast live sports
• Supersized movies: Avatar really paved the way for the 3D movie upgrade. Pay $3 more for more awesomeness for your eyeballs? ABSOLUTELY!
• Bitesize gaming: eventually the entire game will be DLC level by level. Instead of paying $60 for a full game, download the game demo for free and only pay a prorated cost for each level you play. This will open the doors for people to actually try games outside their usual bubble because it will be cheaper to try. AND you can at least feel like you’re saving money when you stop playing crappy games.
• Subscription based gaming: Rock Band is the perfect example of the next-generation platform “game”.  Instead of buying a physical disc every year, you can simply download new tracks as they’ll released. I’m sure we’ll be seeing a lot more annual games moving to this model… I’m looking at your roster updates EA Sports and 2K Sports games. Oh yeah, and a little game called WoW is doing okay using this model too.
• Everything will work on your phone: as more stuff moves inside the browser, it’ll also move into your pocket.

Get your credit card ready.

I’ve mentioned OnLive to friends and colleagues before, and I’m always kinda surprised by how little enthusiasm they have for this streaming video game technology. When they get this in the market it will change the game forever.

It’s almost here!
And I want this now.

I will gladly pay a monthly/yearly subscription for:

• Not having to buy every gaming console
• Never upgrading my computer to play games
• Spectating, and playing, via my iPhone
• Renting games from the comfort of my couch
• Saving valuable apartment space by getting rid of all those game boxes
• Playing my content ANYWHERE! The portability of playing my game saves at grandma’s house on her 13″ black-and-white TV will blow people’s minds.

Too bad their beta testing only seems to be US-based.

If you’ve got a spare 48 minutes or so, watch this video and prepare to want upgrade your internet tubes. Perlman shows off the slick UI, spectator modes and answers some good questions from the crowd at the end.

PLEASE DON’T LET THIS TURN INTO DUKE NUKEM FOREVER!
*crossing fingers till late 2010*

Source: Gamer Tag Radio

I’m not sold on this yet. Seems like it’d take longer because you’re only using one finger instead of pecking with both thumbs. Take a look at the rest of the Tips & Tricks videos and tell me if I’m wrong.

I wonder if Swype will make its way on to the iTablet/iSlate?
Hmmm….

TechCrunch did a side-by-side comparison and guess who comes out on top?