The evolution of self checkout systems

It's interesting looking at how the whole self checkout system at supermarkets has evolved since its recent introduction (at least here in Oz).
The early systems were fairly simple.
Click to start.  Swipe things through.  Once you filled a bag, press New Bag, wait, then remove your filled bag onto the ground and continue swiping.  Get to the end and select one of several options for payment.
Then there were the systems that allowed you to remove the bag when it was full without prior notification.  Once it was removed, it asked you to confirm that you'd just removed the bag.
Now that confirmation of bag removal has gone, which, together with no need to press Start before scanning, leaves us with a smoother workflow.
This is the sort of change that could have been in the system from day one.

However, there are a few other aspects that have changed at the local, and I'm unsure as to whether they could have been as effectively rolled out on introduction.
In some ways, they seem to make the system a little more complex in order to offer more features / flexibility.
I mean, it seems intuitive enough now.  But is that just because I (and other shoppers) have had some time to become acclimatised to the system?  Always difficult to tell when you're trying to recall what things were like the first few times you encountered them.

Now we have the option of cash out or shopping to begin with, reintroducing that top level menu prior to swiping.
End level menus have changed upon completion of shopping.  I think this gives a fast and flexible workflow, but I also think it's introduced a couple of extra menu levels that weren't there before.

Certainly I'm liking where self serve checkouts have gotten to and where they are going, but it has given me some pause as to whether you can just roll out the wonderful end system on introduction, rather than going through years of modification to get there.  It's not a technical issue, it's a people process issue.
Maybe you can just introduce ultimate system on day zero.  But maybe you can't, quite.

Symphony of Legends

So tonight the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra together with the Concordis Chamber Choir performed music from many contemporary video game favourites.  Plenty of stuff from Blizzard with various selections from Warcraft and Starcraft, along with Uncharted 3, the Bioshock games, Skyrim and plenty more.  Above and behind the orchestra were large screens showing off gameplay and cinematics from the games being played. 
Oh, seeing the Protoss on the big screen! 
Oh, seeing Diablo on the big screen!
Speaking of which, we heard Diablo 3 music!  We saw Diablo 3 footage!  It was all pretty glorious.  Of course, a number of people were pulling out phones at that point for a snap or two.

The general lighting effects during the pieces were quite well done.  There were all manner of colours and arrangements dancing along the ceiling, along the walls and out of the side spotlights.

The night was hosted by Wil Wheaton, Scott Kurtz and Kris Straub.  From the description of the event it sounded like Wil would "make an appearance" (I took this to mean pop in and say hi halfway through then promptly leave) but Wil actually was there the entire night. 
I wasn't expecting the guys to pop in between each different game, but they did a great job with highlighting not just the particular game and what it brought to the experience, but also a brief background on who composed the music and any interesting anecdotes from its creation.

Soul Caliber capped off the end of the night.  Oh my, you forget how exaggerated those female characters are until they're on the big screen in all their beyond-comic-book-art glory.  Footage from Soul Caliber, and most of the games in general, tended to be from more recent releases since it doesn't take too many years before the sort of thing you're displaying starts to look rather prehistoric.

One of the best moments of the night was actually the Soul Calibur conclusion, where two of the top aussie players dueled it out, with the in-match music being played live by the orchestra.  V1p3r played off against Woody and man, Woody was on fire.  Must have cleared the first two fights near perfect.  Lost the next, but won after that.  The crowd was very enthusiastic between rounds.  It has me thinking about seeing the upcoming gaming exhibition.

Disappointments?
No Tristram theme.  I've actually listened to this a number of times whilst working - and of course I've hit it up on youtube right now - so I was kinda thinking this would get played. Everyone loves the Tristram theme.  Hell, they even talked about the Tristram theme when discussing the secrecy regarding the recording of the Diablo 3 music.  Oh my god, I'm having serious flashbacks to standing around for ages with red and blue potions thinking how screwed I was and how I was running out of portal scrolls and I couldn't afford anything at those ripoff shops.
Oh, and no Guile theme.  But I suppose, realistically, deep down inside, I knew this was never going to get played.

All in all, a fantastic night.  Topped with ice-cream and apple crumble and black russians.  But no Wil Wheaton photo (damn you, battery) and no Wil Wheaton signed poster (damn you, hindsight).