(Insert stupid Blog name here)

The answer here would be, "yes please."

 

T-Mobile is having some fun with their new ads...

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKG4B7wFJUo

 

I think it's a great twist on Apple's 'Mac vs. PC' ad campaign. What's funny, is that the iPhone is played as the victim, so it's not so much a stab at the iPhone (or iPhone owners), but that we're saddled with AT&T. Great marketing.

 

Besides, the actress playing the T-mobile phone is cute.

I've been trying out MotionX GPS while out of town. Very slick, and really accurate (well... when it gets a GPS signal).

 

I may end up paying for the annual fee, just because of how handy this would be when going on vacations.

Looks like a ton of EA games are on sale for 99¢ - Tetris, Need For Speed Underground, UNO, Monopoly, Madden NFL 11, and a bunch more. I suppose now would be as good of a time as any to pad out my iPhone game library. On the other hand, I'm seriously running out of space on this thing, and haven't even finished the games I already have loaded on it.

Picked up Monopoly, Scrabble and Yahtzee for a mere 99¢ each.

 

Cheaper than cheap fast food.

 

But then the prices went back up. Can't say I didn't warn ya'.

 

Speaking of cheap and fast, for today only, Driver is free!

Angry Birds Halloween has morphed into Angry Birds Seasons, and now has new wintery-themed levels. The coolest (pun not intended) addition so far - enemy fortresses made out of blocks of snow.

 

Edit: Angry Birds Seasons is set up like an Advent calendar - from now until Christmas, you get to open one new level per day. Kind of a neat idea.

Picked up 360 Panorama. Unlike the previous panorama app I bought, 360 takes a completely different approach to shooting panoramas - it does it automatically. All you do is move your iPhone around, and it automatically captures and stitches panoramas together. The slower (and more steady) you move, the better your results. It's really a pretty remarkable app and a lot of fun to play with.

 

Now I just need a panorama worth shooting.

Picked up 360 Panorama. Unlike the previous panorama app I bought, 360 takes a completely different approach to shooting panoramas - it does it automatically.

The first rule of taking panos is to rotate the camera, not yourself, to avoid parallax problems with near-field objects. Does the iPhone have gyros/accelerometers? The app may be using them to try to automatically determine yaw, pitch, and roll. Okay if they are accurate, bad news if they aren't.Oh, and almost any view which you have to turn your head to see is a good subject for a pano.

The first rule of taking panos is to rotate the camera, not yourself, to avoid parallax problems with near-field objects. Does the iPhone have gyros/accelerometers? The app may be using them to try to automatically determine yaw, pitch, and roll. Okay if they are accurate, bad news if they aren't.

Yes, the iPhone has a gyro and accelerometer. They're accurate-ish. So far though, in just some simple tests, it does a pretty-good job.

 

The trick I've found with the iPhone is that the camera is off to one side - so I have to rotate around where the lens is - not the center of the phone. That tends to produce pretty-good results but it's trickier to do. Ideally, I'd make an offset for my tripod attachment.

 

Oh, and almost any view which you have to turn your head to see is a good subject for a pano.

Yeah... but not of my office.

You can skip Hipstamatic. I picked it up because it was highly rated, and on sale for 99¢. The idea is that when you take photos, it mimics old faded photographs from cheap cameras of the 60's and 70's. Cute idea (see also: every Photoshop filter, ever made). But I found it to be sluggish, and the interface doesn't give you a good enough idea of what you're getting. With the processing power available on the iPhone, I would think real-time previews - even low resolution ones - wouldn't be too hard. This app would better be suited as a post-photography filter. Not something that impedes your progress when you're taking photos.

 

On the plus side is the free Cut The Rope: Holiday Gift. It's free, it's fun, it's adorably cute. What more do you need? My only quibble - why didn't they change the color on the candy to red and white? It would be more in keeping with candy canes and the holiday theme.

Okay, this one was too good to pass up - Game Dev Story.

 

It's a sim in which you get to create your own video game company, hire a staff, develop and sell games, and get bad reviews from gaming magazines.

 

Like so...

 

Here, one of my employees accidentally bursts into flames. Too bad we only have HMO.

 

Well, this would certainly explain some of the games out there...

 

Eh, what do game magazines know? They're all a bunch of 20-something, X-Box fanboys anyway.

 

Sadly, our first game - "Ninja Fun Ball" - wasn't exactly a hit. I would've thought Ninja-themed puzzle games would have been huge.

 

Oh well.

 

Anyway, you can try out Game Dev Story Lite for free. It's the same game, just limited to the first two "years" of the company. Highly addictive, and well-worth picking up.

Need For Speed™ Hot Pursuit is on sale for 99¢. Probably to counter all of the other big releases this week. I'm tempted to get Real Racing 2, but I think I should really try finishing some of the racing games I've already got, first.

Game Dev Story is insanely addictive. I spent all of a two-hour flight absolutely engrossed in it. After producing a couple of flops (hint: the game industry doesn't like innovative ideas), I managed to finally put together a couple of top ten sellers, despite running out of "Dead Bull" energy drink, and nearly bankrupting the company by accidentally hiring costumed characters for the GameDex expo when I really didn't have enough money to do it. Fortunately, it was good publicity and helped build our youth demographic so our next game was an even bigger hit, and now we've been able to expand and hire some more people.

 

Yeah... I'm hooked.

GDS makes me think of Stardock's Entrepreneur, a real-time-strategy game that I used to play on OS/2 (it also ran under Windows). You build up your computer company (later updates added Cars and Cola businesses) and tried to put your competitors out of business. The AI was quite good, but it was most fun played against others.

 

 

 

 

I haven't played it in a while, last time I tried it wouldn't run under Parallels. I recently got the version 6 update, I'll have to try again this weekend.

Cool. That seems very Microsoftian.

 

At one point in GDS I apparently forgot to keep enough funds on hand to pay everyone. Fortunately, the government stepped in with bail-out money to encourage the development of new products within the industry. So I suppose I should change my company's name to ChryslerSoft now.

And then there was Tron: Legacy - the iPhone app. Only 99¢. There are two games in it: a third-person light cycle race (pretty good, but needs better controls), and an on-rails shooter where you're in a Recognizer, blasting away at tanks and light cycles below you! The second one is pretty sweet (just be sure to go into the options menu, and invert the tilt controls).

 

I also picked up Doodle Jump Christmas Special. More out of support for the developers of Doodle Jump, than anything else (since Doodle Jump has had numerous free updates - including a Christmas theme already). But they say they'll be updating it as well, so it'll likely turn into something like Angry Birds Seasons.

 

Also, a ton of EA games are on sale again for 99¢. Well worth checking them out, and seeing what's available. I'd highly recommend Tiger Woods Golf, Scrabble, Reckless Racing, NFS Hot Pursuit, Tetris, Mirror's Edge, NFS Shift. There are also more board games, sports games, Sims games, Dragon's Lair, etc. Well worth grabbing 'em while they're cheap. (If I had more storage on my phone, I'd snag a few myself.)

Need For Speed Hot Pursuit is not only just 99¢ right now, but it's just had a massive free update that allows you to play as either the cop or the racer. Sweet!

I'm still hopelessly addicted to Game Dev Story.

 

My company has grown, and now has 8 employees plus 2 secretaries (incidentally - there should be a way to give your secretary a raise in this game, since the place would fall apart without her), although I'll admit it's a little odd when I find myself actually feeling guilty when I fire someone, in order to hire somebody else with a better skill set. Weird.

 

But we've won fifteen Global Game Awards (including three Runner Ups, but no Grand Prizes yet), have had thirteen #1 games, five Hall of Fame games, and regularly hire booth babes at the Gamedex expo now.

 

The game will cheap-shot you every once in awhile - random power blackouts and server crashes can hurt a game under development, and other companies will produce similar games that hurt your sales - but I guess that's to be expected.

 

One aspect I really like about the game, is that its industry roughly parallels the actual video game industry, starting just prior to the release of the NES. Each console since then has an equivalent in the game (yes - including the Virtual Boy™), so the more familiar you are with the history of how various game systems sold and their longevity, the better off you will be in the game. (Hint: develop for the 'Game Kid' early and often). You can use this to your advantage by not being stuck developing for a game system that may be end-of-life'd soon, or something that won't sell very well. Currently, I'm 19 years (!!) into the game, and the game's equivalent to the Wii has just been released. So I need to build some capital up to get a developer's license for it. That, or the PS2. I'm curious to see what happens when the game catches up to the real world...

 

The game only lists your last 32 games, so I've lost the records of the first few that I've made (should've taken a screenshot ), but my best-seller so far has sold 8,104,228 copies.

Ahh... well, it turns out the game ends after 20 years. Guess I should've read the manual first.

 

Especially since it has hints in there that would've helped the first time around (such as releasing games around the holidays for better sales).

 

I can still keep playing the current game, but it won't boost my final score any. However, it does let me start a new game with some of the same parameters I ended with, to make subsequent go-'rounds easier.

 

Next time, I'll try getting a Grand Prize game developed (never managed that) and maybe developing a console of my own.

Just picked up Sega's Super Monkey Ball 2, while it was on sale for 99¢. It's a weird little game where you roll around a ball with a monkey in it, while collecting bananas and trying not to fall off platforms. It's a little bit like Marble Madness, but with the cute factor dialed up, and the fun factor turned way down. I dunno... it's all a bit too cute and pointless for me so far. Perhaps the later levels are better, but for the first twenty you can just rush right through to the goal without collecting any bananas. Plus the music (which I'm going to shut off) is cloying - like an NES game on saccharine-flavored crack. Anyway, it was cheap. We'll see if I get my money's worth.

Propaganda Games - the developer of the PS3/XBox 360 version of Tron: Evolution (which has met with - at best - tepid reviews) - has been shut down. It's too bad to see a game studio shuttered, but if the games they were producing didn't measure up... then it's probably just as well. After all - if you can't make a good video game about a video game movie, then maybe you need to spend more time playing Game Dev Story, and taking notes.

 

I've played through it a second time now, and still haven't managed to create a Grand Prize wining game. I think you have to hit 200 points per category in order to score perfect 10's in reviews, and then you probably get the Grand Prize. I've gotten quite a few 9's, but not many 10's.

 

I've won 45 other Global Game Awards though, including 16 runner-ups, and my best selling game this time sold a whopping 24,912,298 copies. (It was a sequel to a celebrity simulation game: SimRehab.)

 

You can make sequels of games that make it into the Hall of Fame. Sequels tend to sell pretty well, although if you make too many similar games in a row, you hurt your popularity and sales go down.

 

This time, I made 56 games, 36 of which are in the Hall of Fame, and I'm 25 years into the game. After 20 years, no new consoles come out, and you can't boost your high score anymore (although you can keep making games and earning money - I'm sitting on $470 million right now).

 

Here's my crew:

 

Yes, that's a guy in a Lucha Libre mask. And an Arab Sheik (partially obscured behind the dialog balloon). The game gives you some special characters you can hire, so I figured I'd see how they worked out.

 

I decided to go through the game firing as few people as possible (to ease the guilt) and got through with only firing one person. But she's probably pretty happy now if she held onto her stock options.

 

The downside to that approach, is it limits some of the game categories you can unlock, and if you don't hire an engineer, you can't build a console of your own. Plus, there might be better employees out there than what you can train yours up to.

 

The plus side though, is that as you train and Level Up your employees over time, they get really good at creating hit games. I set my studio up with an "A" team and "B" team, so they wouldn't get burned out, and periodically subbed out some game design to give the staff a break. Picking up contract jobs and training the staff is critical to making good games and earning money. I didn't do enough of that the first time through. Also, as soon as a game gets out the door, don't sit there and watch the sales - start in on a new project. I didn't realize how much time I was wasting in my first game.

 

So I'm going to start up a third go-round, and this time focus on acquiring the best employees, at the expense of loyalty (not sure if that demoralizes the rest of the employees or not - but it would be an interesting touch). I really want to try and get a Grand Prize game this time, plus I want to try developing my own console. But that may wait for a fourth go-round. (I have the money to fire and hire anyone I want, and develop a console now. But I want to do it within the 20 year time span.)

 

Guess I should've made Slam Turismo 5...

 

Woo hoo!

 

 

I finally won a Grand Prize at the Global Game Awards on my third time through the game (note the time... I should really be sleeping instead of playing this game obsessively). Took me another four "Gran Turismo"-type racing sequels to do it. I still haven't scored perfect 10's, but I've come close (missing by only one) so that's another goal to go after. (I had a game that probably would have gotten perfect scores, but I got cheap-shotted with an "equipment failure" which, like a blackout, causes your game to lose development points. )

 

I've since won a second Grand Prize, so now I'm going to try developing a console. The trick is, I have to find and hire a hardware engineer. I've yet to see one, but I'll keep looking.

 

For this time through the game, I mercilessly fired weaker employees in favor of better ones (which you can only access as the game progresses). That really boosts your ability to make hit games. Plus contract jobs (which help you earn money and experience) are a breeze. They'll typically have 10-week deadlines, and my crew will blow through them in about a week.

 

Here's my current crew:

 

 

I'm next to the whiteboard.

At the bottom of the screen are my two oddly nameless secretaries (seriously though, they run the place).

 

From left, by row:

Dexter McPhee (Hacker), Charles Royal (Director)

Kitty Pawson (Sound engineer), Bubbles Morgan (Designer - she was my best employee last time through)

Sophie Kairo (Director), Sandy Claus (Writer)

Honey Sweety (Producer), Stephen Jobson (Producer - I figured he was a pretty bullet-proof one to hire, unless he starts having health problems )

Well, I finished my third time through Game Dev Story, and managed to hire a hardware engineer and release two consoles! They take quite a long time to develop, and they're expensive to create, but it's still cool to be able to do. (The more advanced the console, the more expensive and time-consuming they are to build, too.)

 

The game gives you some strange unlockables as you go along, which I hadn't seen before. Some of the employees are a little strange (including a bear, among others) and some of the consoles that get released are... well... weird.

 

Like this one:

 

 

I'll admit, I laughed out loud at that one. Then, my secretary topped it with this comment...

 

 

Yeah... it should be.

 

In the end, I released 47 games, with a final score of $914,868,100. That's 574,285,779 games sold, with my best-selling game hitting 44,120,233 (which is a little weird... since none of the consoles have that many systems on the market).

 

 

I won 39 Global Game Awards, including six Grand Prizes. However, despite my best efforts, I never did get perfect 10's on any game. Stupid game reviewers.

 

I'll probably keep trying though on my current game. I've got a great group of employees and tons of unlocked game categories to try out. Plus over a billion dollars in the bank to play with.

 

My final crew:

 

 

Dexter McPhee* (Writer), Walt Sidney† (Hacker)

Kairobot† (Hacker, resident robot), Francoise Bloom† (Hacker)

Sophie Kairo* (Sound Engineer), Chimpan Z-Force† (Hardware Engineer, and yes - he's a chimpanzee. I'm an equal-opportunity employer.)

Honey Sweety* (Designer), Stephen Jobson (Producer)

 

* Denotes career change since last time

† Denotes new employee since last time

 

I'm guessing Kairobot has a few fans out there...

 

Real Racing 2 is now only $4.99.

 

I can't believe the level of polish in this game. It's like a full-on console version. Astonishing graphics (the car models are PS2-worthy), slick (and well-organized) menus, great sound, smooth framerate. I wonder how good this must look on an iPhone 4...

 

Also, keep an eye out for free Angry Birds and Angry Birds Seasons level updates. Plus, there's a secret Easter Egg to be found.

 

Finally, EA is running one of their 99¢ sales again. So go buy something already.

And at the other end of the reality spectrum from Real Racing 2, is Top Gear Stunt School. Basically, you drive a variety of non-copyrighted generic cars (which can be modified in typically ridiculous Top Gear style) and crash them into caravans, jump them over huge ramps, avoid getting blown up, and so forth.

 

Yes... a grand piano is an accessory for your car. Have you never watched Top Gear?

 

The graphics are a bit dated (but hey... it's a phone app - how quickly we get spoiled), and the controls could be improved, but it's got a good amount of silly fun in it. (Although I'm getting a little tired of hearing the Top Gear theme song.) Could be cheaper though. I mean $3.99? I could almost buy a hamburger for that!

 

Speaking of cheaper, for free you would have a hard time beating Google Translate. This handy (and did I mention - free?) app translates between 57 (!!) languages, and 23 of them feature spoken playback of the translations. Plus, you can speak into the thing, and have it translate what you say. This is some serious Star Trek technology here. The voices sound very good, too, although I can't speak (so to speak) as to how understandable the non-English ones are.

 

As impressive though as Google Translate is, the technology behind Word Lens is borderline astonishing...

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2OfQdYrHRs