Release Date Roundup: Technology

Christmas is only like 4 months away...so, you know, new iPods are pretty much a given.

These guys haven't seen an update in ages - perhaps we'll see a new Mac Mini on September 9th?

Adobe Thermo promises some crazy @!$%# - imagine being able to save your complex graphic file in a way that'll let a talented coder edit the various objects and layers directly, creating what essentially amounts to an interactive .psd file.

Flash CS4 is going to ship with all sorts of new functions - like Pixelbender, featured here, which will let developers manipulate image and video data at runtime for cool effects.

Post-Apocalyptic combat versus mutant zombies and a dozen bizarre factions? Count me in!

Tell me guiding the evolution of an organism from single-celled life to spaceflight doesn't sound like fun. I dare you.

The rumored new Rockband Premium drumkit. Wowsers.

It's September, which means that summer is long-gone and we can all start getting ready for strategic product releases to get us ready for the new school year Christmas.

There are a few upcoming release events/announcements that I'm really looking forward to, so here' a quick roundup of various new ways you'll be able to spend your money soon!

In the Apple corner...

A week from yesterday (That's Tuesday, September 9th for those who of you who aren't sure who, what, when, where or why you are), Apple is hosting one of their semi-regular Big Press Events. This one has been announced under the banner Let's Rock, and the general consensus among people who sit around coming to consensi about such things is that we can expect new iPods, updated Macbook laptops and some kind of revolutionary change to iTunes - perhaps including a Pandora-esque Music Recommendation Feature.

A quick look at macrumors.com's Buyers Guide shows us that the iPod Classic, Touch and Nano are way overdue for updates. Similarly, the Mac Mini looks way past its expiration date - so maybe we'll see one of those rolled out in time for the holidays.

Personally, I'm hoping for an update to the iPhone. I was all set to get one until I read Mike's recent article on the subject. Now I want to wait for a revision two, but that's probably not coming until January. My MacBook is a year old and so I'm set there, but I am going to be in the market for a monitor soon and I'm trying to hold out until Apple revamps theirs - just to see where they go.

This just in from Adobe:

On September 23, Adobe is planning to announce Creative Suite 4 in a streamed online announcement. If you want to watch, you have to make sure that you sign up in advance.

Personally, I'm torn on this one. I'm still learning some of the CS3 stuff, and if they come in and change everything then not only am I going to have to pay for an upgrade but I'll have to adjust my workflow. Still, some of the things coming down the pipeline look absolutely tantalizing.

If you have an hour to kill and any interest at all in the future of Rich Internet Applications, I strongly recommend you give this a watch. It looks like if Adobe can pull this off they're going to give us a tool that essentially allows you to save your .psd files in an open-source XML format called "FXG." Developers can then import this format into Flex and essentially turn every single aspect of your file into a dynamic, ActionScript-powered toy.

Neat.

Finally, upcoming game releases:

Hey, we all have our hobbies. I am hardly able to contain my excitement with respect to Fallout 3, which drops for all platforms on October 28th. If anyone remembers the original Fallout games, they remember the fusion of slapstick, irony and tragedy with which the developers populated their post-apocalyptic future. It's like the 50's version of the future came true, then got nuked and now you emerge into a world covered in artifacts from a Buck Rodgers future.

And since the game is being developed by Bethesda, we can expect the same degree of quality that marked Oblivion. Between the character creation, the scorched-earth environs (Washington DC setting this time around!), a unique combat system and a yet-to-be-revealed plot, this one is going to eat up a lot of my free time in November and December at least. (Sorry honey!)

Before that, though, there are a few other must-haves on the horizon. Will Wright's long-awaited Spore finally drops next week on September 7th. Fans of Wright's other games have been looking forward to this one for years - after a half-dozen delays and years of fairly constant promotion we're finally going to get to tear into it. All I have to say is, it damn well better be good.

In more musical news, Harmonix is releasing Rock Band 2 on all platforms this month. Still no date that I've seen, which is weird. But yeah - it'll have more songs, better instruments and will let you play all of your DLC from the first Rockband.

I'm actually kinda looking forward to upgrading my drums, which makes me feel just a little bit like a real musician. Until my girlfriend's band comes to hang out, anyway. But if you were at the Columbus Vinemeet this past may, you certainly got your fill of both kinds of Rock Band and you understand what the excitement is about!

That is all

What upcoming releases are you looking forward to?

It's kind of a good time to be a consumer, eh? ;)

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