Monday, July 31, 2006

Persistence, In a Bad Way

Okay, I know some of you guys work at Microsoft. And there's something that Microsoft really needs to do with the 360, a feature that is so obvious I can't believe it's not already standard.

Here's the thing: many types of HD sets are, in certain situations, susceptible to burn-in. And the most common situation is with a persistent onscreen image that is too bright--a stock ticker, for example, or a station logo.

Or persistent onscreen elements in games. Like the scoreboard in the 360 version of NCAA this year, for example, which has this laser-bright EA logo. And that EA logo is even present on most of the off-field Dynasty screens as well.

It should be a requirement from Microsoft that any persistent onscreen element for a game include a transparency setting that is user-controlled. I should be able to dim the scoreboard to make it as transparent as I want. I should also be able to dim the heads-up display in first person shooters.

Mark my words: Microsoft is going to get sued over this, and I think there's a good chance that they'll lose.

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