Archive for June 12, 2006

tehjay | June 16, 2006
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Getting Better Technical Support [Part 1]

Ive been working in the technical support industry for about 6 months, supporting cable tv (analog, digital, hdtv), cable internet, and voip. I have compiled a small list of tips that will make your next technical support experience so much easier.

1. Have your account information, and identification ready. Why? Every company I have called in for support has asked for either a) your account #, or b) your identification information or c) all of the above. Having this information ready is useful because the rep can easily pull up your account, the rep will also appreciate this and if they have been properly trained they will express this to you. Some cities have privacy by-laws where customers have to confirm ALL account and identification just to make sure you are who you say you are. Would you want your neighbour calling in and cancelling your visa, or calling your ISP and having your e-mail password changed? It may become redundant, get used to it, these systems are setup to protect you, not piss you off.

2. When calling in for technical support DO NOT call in from offsite. How is the technical rep supposed to help you troubleshoot your problem when you are in the office, or driving to work? The only way that I can think of that this rule won’t apply to you is if you are calling for support on your offsite webserver or something. Even then, you should really try to be near a computer.

3. Dont Lie. Being evasive makes troubleshooting very hard. The tech rep realizes they cannot see what they are doing so they trust you to be telling the truth all the time, just like you trust them that they are going to do their best to try and solve your problem.

4. Cool down before calling in. Being hostile with the tech rep isn’t going to get things completed faster. Think about it, you are calling in for help, why would you scream at the person that is trying their best to help you? They are humans too and deserve repect too. If you don’t like what the representative is saying, ask to be escalated to higher level support or to a supervisor. Don’t demand it, be polite and ask. They understand your frustrated and are there to help you.

5. Complaining about the phone menu system, or the wait times are going to get you nowhere.  Your barking up the wrong tree.  Tech reps can’t control the ammount of people calling in at a given time, and they can’t make changes to how the phone system is setup.  They may be able to submit customer feedback about it, ask and see.

6. Don’t use your speakerphone.  It causes an echo in the headset and makes it hard to hear you.

I hope these 6 tips help out for now. Part 2 will be posted eventually.

Category: Real Life |
tehjay | June 12, 2006
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Review: Me and My Katamari

Namco has done it again with another addictive release of Katamari Damacy. Third in the Katamari lineup yet the first release of Katamari for the PSP, Me and My Katamari is a welcome addition to the lineup. If you are looking for a completely new game however, you may be disappointed with this revision, nothing really new here except for the fact that this is a portable version of Katamari Damacy. So only fans of the series may end up keeping this game in their collection.

The King of All Cosmos and the Royal Family decide to take some time off from their celestial construction and travel to Earth for a tropical summer vacation on their own sunny island. Unfortunately, the King creates a tsunami that strikes and devestates nearby Paradise Commonwealth Island. It is now your job undo what has been done.

If you have never picked up and played Katamari Damacy and you have a PSP, now is the time you should pick up this title and have an enjoyable time rolling around a ball picking up everything of equal size that you touch. The concept is pretty great, you start out as this little green character and you have to create, in this case, islands for creatures. You create these islands by rolling a Katamari around different worlds picking up everything that the Katamari comes into contact with.

The graphics are the same as the other 2 games in the series. The graphics were never really innovative to begin with, really basic, however, good graphics doesn’t make a game. The game play does. The PSP console holds up pretty well, and can render a lot of the graphics on screen at once, although some parts get choppy especially when your Katamari is getting to be a decent size. A lot of objects and levels in the game are reused so get used to seeing a lot of them.

I have always been a fan of the music for Katamari Damacy. Which again is recycled in this revision of the game. Only this time, they used the better songs from each of the previous games. There are some songs that you can unlock through finishing the game and whatnot. Favorites such as Katamari on the Rock, Que Sera Sera, and unlockable songs such as Blue Orb Song, and King of Kings Song.

Gameplay is much like that of the previous Katamari titles. You use the D-pad and the four face buttons to imitate the analog controls. If you are playing the American release you can use the thumb nub to control the Katamari, whereas if you are playing with the Japanese release the thumb nub controls the camera. The [L] and [R] buttons are used for tight turns, or to rotate the prince around the Katamari. It takes time but you will be able to learn the controls for this game, even though the learning curve is a little steep.

Some people have come across the problem of developing sore thumbs from playing too much Me and My Katamari. However if I recall correctly most games have provided “sore thumb syndrome” and we have been coping with it for years. Suck it up princess :)

Playing Me and My Katamari wirelessly is fun if you have 3 other friends who each own a copy, as only AD-HOC mode is support, and unfortunately there is no game sharing. This game would have been really great with Infrastructure support. Aside from this each player competes to make the largest Katamari while trying to sabotage the other players.

If your an avid fan of the Katamari Damacy series there should be no question about its replayability. If your just the average gamer, you may find that Me and My Katamari is fairly easy to beat and becomes repetitive after a while. All is well its still worth picking up even if you wait and get it used, or rent it from a game rental service or something along those lines.

My only main problem is the controls. I realize the game was originally designed to be used with the Dualshock controller, but the controls for Me and My Katamari are really weird. They take some time to get used to. It took me a while to get the hang of it, and I still don’t have “Katamari” control like I did on one of the PS/2 revisions.

Pros:

- Katamari Damacy for PSP
- Quick gameplay, that can be fun for hours
- Good Music
- Lots of Unlockables

Cons:

- Controls are a little akward
- Graphics and levels are recycled over and over
- No Infrastructure Support
- No Gamesharing

Scores:

Graphics: 9
Sound: 9
Gameplay: 6
Net play: 9
Replayability: 7
Total: 8

Category: Games, Reviews |