iPhone review: Heavy Mach.
February 16th, 2009 • No comments
I picked Heavy Mach. up after seeing the review over at TouchArcade. It illustrates one of the most fantastic aspects of the iPhone gaming marketplace in the app store: a small-time developer can make a game that, while it is obviously a high-quality game, is very simple relative to the console games of today, put a $3-$7 price on it, sell a ton of copies, and make a healthy profit to maintain a viable business. As a consumer, I don’t really have to do a lot of deliberating to decide if I should spend $3 on a game. I check the reviews on iTunes. If they are largely positive, I may look at a couple of the negative reviews first to see if the reviewer is coherent, second to see if they have a complaint I could see myself sharing. If not, I’m probably hitting the “Buy” button.
This is one such case: a game that launched to a number of good reviews including the aforementioned TouchArcade review. It looked cool enough—even slightly reminiscent of Metal Slug. If you like action arcade games, you should own this game especially considering the bargain price.
There are a number of good things to say about the game, but I will start with a few minor complaints. I believe the game could use a little more guidance. It actually took a while before I realized I was controlling the movement of the tank. The game seems to calibrate the acceleromter control such that holding the phone level moves the tank forward to the right. I thought the game was just setup so that the tank proceeded through the level automatically. It wasn’t until I reached a boss that I could not defeat in the time it would have taken me to proceed past him that I realized I could tilt to move backward or maintain my position. It also took a while to figure out how to jump. I knew I could jump after watching a video of the game in action, but it took a bit of fiddling to realize I needed to tap the lever. It also isn’t immediately obvious that the position of your tap on the screen controls the trajectory of your shot since most players will naturally tap in the direction of enemies anyway. Also, I recently discovered I have a double-jump. I discovered this after upgrading my movement so I’m not sure if this was a feature added in the upgrade or if I had just missed it before.
My only other substantive complaint is that it is a bit difficult to change weapons in the heat of battle. As it stands, the player taps on the weapon icon on the HUD to scroll through the available weapons. You can gain access to quite a few weapons at a time which makes it a bit tedious to scroll all the way through the options while also dodging fire from three or four on-screen enemies.
Others have mentioned that the in-game “Menu” button does not work which I’m sure will be fixed soon. It doesn’t really have a profound effect on the game although it would be nice to have a way to pause the action which I’m sure this button would provide.
There are far more good things to say about this game. As I mentioned, the game seems to calibrate so that holding the phone level advances your tank. You will find yourself moving forward more often than not so it is helpful to be able to hold the phone in the neutral position to accomplish this. Even the acceleromter controls are very tight. This comes from the fact that there are only three states: moving left, moving right, and not moving. It’s very easy to move around. The rest of the controls are simple. I found myself sometimes having trouble finding the jump lever while also watching the action on the screen, but this was rare.
There are two basic mechanics in the game: shooting enemies and dodging enemy fire. Shooting is simple to execute by tapping in the direction you wish to fire. Dodging is very challenging because there are often multiple enemies firing shots that take different trajectories. Although this can get a little hairy at times, it never feels cheap. You can almost always escape death by manuvering with skill. Some enemies also drop crates that contain weapons, powerups, or health pickups to get you through the tough parts.
The sound effects in the game are satisfying. Explosions, bullets, and missles all feel “large” as they should. The game doesn’t have music which makes it a bit of a bummer that it stops the music from the iPod app when you launch the game.
This is currently one of my favorite action games on the platform alongside Chopper, 2079, and Blue Attack. If you’re looking for a quick and satisfying action experience on the go, I can’t imagine Heavy Mach. would disappoint you. New levels are promised in a free update to this game that already oozes value from every orifice. Tomorrow morning, ditch Starbucks for the local convenient store coffee and spend the savings on this!
Gaming’s underground: an indie games primer
February 16th, 2009 • No comments
Like most commercial artforms, video games have a vibrant community that exists outside the commercial realm. People are making games that are less influenced by the marketability of the graphics, the concept, and the gameplay conventions—and in many cases they are not influenced at all by these factors. This gives developers and artists a blank canvas to create games that you could never find on the shelf at GameStop.
For years, indie gaming has been primarily a PC affair. Console development has had too many barriers for small-time developers to be able to even consider as a viable platform. Of course, there have always been the stories of the game developed by the guy in his mom’s basement that was discovered by someone and turned into a full-fledged console release, but that is the exception not the rule. In the past year, this has started to change slowly. Microsoft has released its development kit and launched Community Games on Xbox Live which is a platform for indie developers to release and sell their creations. The iPhone has also offered a successful and accessible platform for indie developers. Most indie games are still on the PC, but the industry has seen the value in indie games and is making inroads to having them on a multitude of platforms.
GemCraft is a deep tower defense game built in Flash and playable in the browser
Possibly the most popular platform of all for indie gaming is the web thanks to the Flash browser plugin. There are hundreds of sites that focus solely on providing a Flash gaming playground with titles spanning every genre you can imagine. Because of the ubiquity of Flash, these games are accessible to almost anyone with a computer of any kind. They reach levels of sophistication that are very close to that of applications native to a particular hardware platform and offer something for casual and hardcore gamers alike.
Within indie games are represented a number of popular genres of old that no longer receive exposure in the mainstream. There are still die-hard fans of the point-and-click adventure genre and the shoot ‘em up genre, but there aren’t enough of them to justify big-budget boxed releases outside the oddball title once every year or two. The indie scene has stepped in to support fans of these genres, and developers release a steady stream of these titles all the time.
Counterstrike started life as a Half-life mod
Indie games also invent new genres that often make their way into the mainstream. Popular PC shooter Counterstrike began its life as a freely-distributed game mod for the original Half-life. A loose genre that has gained popularity as of late is the “arthouse game.” This genre label doesn’t really describe a particular set of gameplay conventions as many do but instead refers to an underlying philosophy present throughout games in the genre to a greater or lesser extent. This genre bending and stretching often even stretches the definition of a “game” to encompass interactive works of art (drawing the ire of some).
Speaking of game mods, they too are a major part of the indie gaming community. Modern PC games often ship with sets of tools that allow players to more easily modify and extend the experience of the original release. Even before these toolsets were common, users were still known to hack together modifications of popular games. These mods can be as simple as a new map or weapon or as complex as a completely new game with entirely different sounds, weapons, characters, and levels. Modders have even developed completely different genres of games on top of existing ones.
By nature of their being not as commercially viable as big titles on the console, they are also less visible. So, where would you go if you wanted to find some cool indie games? Try these sites:
Bytejacker- Bytejacker is a twice weekly video podcast that focuses on downloadable games in general. Of course, the WiiWare and Xbox Live Arcade titles profiled are still big—too big in most cases to be classified as “indie,” but the show also covers indie PC games and iPhone games. It is currently one of my favorite podcasts and is certainly a fantastic source for indie goodness.
Indiegames.com Blog- This blog covers the hottest releases in the PC indie scene. You’ll often get video footage along with the descriptions to further entice you.
The Independent Gaming Source- Indie PC games are also the focus of this long-running blog. Subscribe to this feed and you will surely find a plethora of awesome games you would otherwise have overlooked.
Game Tunnel- Accessibility to developers is a double edged sword. In the indie scene, you will find some gems packed full of originality. You’re also going to find a lot of crap. If reviews of PC indie games are what you’re after, this is your place.
Slide To Play- My current favorite iPhone games review site. Sure, the iPhone is starting to get noticed by major developers, but it is still a largely independent playground.
Kongregate- This is the killer platform for Flash games. Kongregate hosts a ton of games and has site-wide acheivements ala Xbox 360. Completing an achievement in a game that supports them (many do) will add to your site-wide score. You can also complete certain acheivements to earn cards for use in Kongregate’s Flash-based collectible card game. The site also enables you to chat with other players while playing. I’m raddevon on the site so, if you join, look me up!
Newgrounds- You might call Newgrounds the birthplace of Castle Crashers since the game’s creators not only got their start posting games on the site; Tom Fulp himself actually started the site! The site is the original home of Alien Hominid which eventually became a modestly successful console game on multiple platforms including the latest version on XBLA. The success of that game paved the way for the insanely fun XBLA title Castle Crashers. The site hosts all types of Flash content, but a major chunk of its content is in the games section.
Mod DB- If you own any of the popular PC games released in the past 10 years, there are probably at least one or two mods you could download and install for free to give you a fresh gaming experience. Mod DB currently indexes almost 5,000 PC game mods which can be searched and sorted by the game they modify, the release status, the genre, the theme, and whether they are single or multi-player.
If you find yourself bored with a seemingly endless cavalcade of cookie-cutter AAA titles, dig a little deeper into the indie games scene. You’ll find greater variety and incredible innovation in almost every aspect of the games from story to visuals to gameplay. There are also indie developers working hard to refine more mainstream gaming tropes to levels not pursued in the mainstream. The indie scene can truly provide something for every gamer.
USB computer repair kit
February 15th, 2009 • No comments
ReadWriteWeb has posted about a new release of a Computer Repair Utility Kit—a collection of 57 applications to copy to your USB flash drive in case of emergencies. Most of the applications need not be installed on the offending machine. They cover the gamut from drive maintenance and diagnostics to spyware and virus removal. If you find yourself fixing lots of Windows-based machines, this would certainly be a useful toolkit to have. It’s under 100 MB so you will still have tons of room on your drive unless it’s a very old one.
A Computer Repair Utility Kit You Can Run From a Thumb Drive
Three great gaming blogs (two new to me)
February 15th, 2009 • No comments
Awesome gaming blogs are coming out of the woodwork. I have found two excellent blogs in the past week that were not at all on my radar before.
The first is Play This Thing! That’s their exclamation, not mine, but it is well-deserved nonetheless. The blog covers games that are otherwise starving for coverage. They cover indie games of all kinds including downloadable games, Flash games, and even board games (which makes me very happy). If you’re interested in trying games that are small and virtually unheard of, this is the site for you. I strongly suggest you try it. There are really quite a few gems out there.
Next up is Co-Optimus. Thanks to one of the podcasts that rose from the ashes of 1Up (I can’t recall if it was Geekbox or Rebel FM.) for pointing this one out to me. This blog is perfect for fans of cooperative play in games. Cooperative play has been gaining more traction in recent years. Gone are the days of multiplayer being almost exclusively competitive… and good riddance! I’m as much a fan of competing as anyone, but I don’t want that exclusively as the only multiplayer experience. This covers news and information for games that can be played cooperatively.
Lastly comes a blog I have read for some time and just realized I had not yet subscribed to in Google Reader: Jay Is Games. The blog covers casual games of all flavors (albeit mostly Flash games). Don’t let this turn off any hardcore gamers as there is plenty of fun to be had here. I’m sure you have all played Tetris and know that a hardcore gamer doesn’t have to interface with a steroid-hyped space marine with a gun the size of the typical geek’s entire body to get satisfaction from a gaming experience. The games here are fun, easy to get into, and great for a few minutes of play. Please note: if you view this site at work, your productivity may suffer greatly!
Do you know any awesome blogs that me or my readers may be missing? It can be related to anything covered on this site. Just post them in the comments. I love finding new blogs to read!
Jinni invites for your favorite movie
February 14th, 2009 • 5 comments
Jinni is a really cool movie suggestion engine. It has developed a movie “genome” that defines certain traits in movies in much the same way Pandora does for music. I have five Jinni invites for the first five commenters who post their favorite movies. Go to it!
Purchase and download old PC games on the cheap
February 14th, 2009 • No comments
Good Old Games is a digital download service offering PC games that, while they aren’t going to tax your new GTX 295, are some of the greatest titles of their time. Fortunately, they also won’t tax your wallet much. We’re not talking Ultima 2 or anything like that. Everything I’ve seen on the site was published in the last 15 years, and the quality of the games shows through in spite of the dated graphics.
Games are currently topping out at $10 and often include extras like books of artwork in PDF format, strategy guides, and other supplemental material. There is no client software eliminating a common step from the digital distribution model. Just buy and download the game you want, install, and play. The games work out-of-the-box with either Windows XP or Vista so you won’t have to manually run DOSbox to get your game working. It’s a pretty slick system.
I have to admit the beautiful web site is as much a draw for me as anything. The presentation is done with a level of care that frankly makes Steam look like a dog. (Note: I really do love Steam in spite of it’s ugliness.)
The site also seems to have a pretty strong community around discussing and reviewing the games offered. True to form, users of the site have setup an IRC channel on irc.quakenet.org. They offer forums for each game, and the catalog displays the average user review for each title.
If you’re itching for something new (to you), check out Good Old Games. According to the site, they actually screen for goodness, so you’ll at least get something that is worth a play. Just remember, good gameplay transcends and doesn’t need to rely on bleeding-edge technology.
Posterous: minimalistic microblogging and sharing
February 13th, 2009 • 2 comments
Ready to start a microblog at Posterous? OK. Send an e-mail to post [at] posterous [dot] com. Now you’re done! They will reply with your Posterous URL, and your blog setup is complete. Of course, you can go to the site and flesh out your profile, but the initial setup is done without a single form to fill out or password to create. Most anyone who uses the Internet is familiar with e-mail making Posterous the every-man blogging platform.
Being a power user (not to mention a control freak), I created my Posterous account on the site in the more traditional way of registering for web services. I did so because was unsure how the e-mail account creation would determind what URL to designate for my blog. I registered raddevon.posterous.com, got my confirmation e-mail, and started composing a quick post in Gmail. I sent the post in and received a reply asking me to click a link to confirm my address and post. I did so, but the post never showed up on raddevon.posterous.com. After noticing that my profile page still said my e-mail was not confirmed, I realized I had created a new blog by e-mailing a post before confirming my address. Sure enough, I had overlooked a confirmation link in the original e-mail I got after registering on the site.
At this point, I was prepared that I might have to recompose my post as the old one was on the other blog which was created, but, after I confirmed the address, my posts were moved over to raddevon.posterous.com! I am very impressed that the service knew I would probably want the posts on the blog I registered via the site. If you plan to use the easy e-mail method to create your blog (or even if you plan to read the registration e-mail after your web registration), you probably won’t run into this issue.
Posterous takes the minimalist philosophy to its logical end. You don’t design and tweak your Posterous page. You have the option to write a bio and upload a profile picture, but that is it. The Myspace crowd may not like the inability to customize and personalize, but the Facebook crowd will appreciate the simplicity. Every Posterous blog looks the same so you can really concentrate on making posts rather than tweaking designs.
E-mail posting is also very minimalistic. Posterous doesn’t parse any HTML in your e-mail posts. Instead, that all gets put right into the post verbatim. It will automatically link URLs even if you don’t include the protocol (i.e. raddevon.com as opposed to http://raddevon.com/; both will be linked automatically). You can, however, edit existing posts or make new ones from a web interface at the Posterous site which gives you access to a slick WYSIWYG post editor that allows for linking words and some basic text formatting.
When I first register for a service, I have trouble discerning if it’s really a cool service or I’m just enamoured with the newness of it. Right now, I’m really excited about both Posterous and tumblr. I will continue to use the services at least for a little while so that I can write a proper comparison of the two. If you’re interested in seeing the comparison, subscribe to the blog so you will get it as soon as it’s posted!
Doom 4 tidbits
February 13th, 2009 • No comments
In spite of the fact that I am now a huge Valve/Half-life fan, I still remember the time when id Software was a completely dominant force in the space of first-person shooters. Rock, Paper, Shotgun reports on a small info-leak from an interview with one of the motion-capture actors from the forthcoming sequel, Doom 4. Evidently, there are both marines and civilians armed in this game. The actor discussed the ways they differ. Check out the original article for more.
Tumblr: more than a Tweet, less than a blog post
February 12th, 2009 • No comments
Occasionally, I would like to post a quick thought or idea, but I can’t really fit it into Twitter’s 140 characters. It also doesn’t justify the trouble of making a blog post or it otherwise doesn’t really fit there. Tumblr is a microblogging service that may fill the gap between a tweet and a full-fledged blog post.
The service has been around for a while, and I have heard of it before. It just didn’t entice me to try it. Now that I’m signed up and have my tumblelog setup, I’m really liking it’s unique featureset. It has support for a number of different post types which will embed content directly into your posts. Instead of having to link to every piece of media you’d like to share, you can embed them directly into your tumblelog.
E-mail posting is supported. Once you register at Tumblr, you are given a unique e-mail address for posting directly to your tumblelog. This e-mail address can even be used to post media including photos, MP3s, and videos. Add this e-mail to your mobile device to allow for posting on the go.
Users have a lot of flexibility in the design of their tumblelogs. There are a number of themes provided, and users may also write custom HTML and CSS to style the blog themselves.
The service is very accessible. It’s easy for users to get up and running with a quick blog, and this may be a viable platform for your blog if you don’t need a robust blogging engine. It also offers a few power features like the aforementioned custom CSS, the ability to import your own blog and/or RSS feeds, and the ability to embed the tumblelog elsewhere on the web.
For someone like me who already blogs, tumblr might be a good place for posting unrelated things or stuff that doesn’t warrant a full post, but only time will tell if it will become a part of my daily workflow. I plan to give this and another similar service, Posterous, some airtime to see if they are services I want to use regularly. Check back tomorrow for a quick overview of Posterous. After I have had an opportunity to try both of the services a bit, I will post a comparison of the two services.
If you are on tumblr, please follow me. I would also love to see comments from anyone who has used both of the services on which they prefer and why. If you use only tumblr, post a comment telling how you use it and how it fits in with the rest of the social web services you use on a regular basis.
Windows 7 tips
February 12th, 2009 • No comments
I have to admit even though for about a year now my primary machine has been a Mac, I’m just a little excited about Windows 7. It’s monumental that this release of Windows will actually lower resource requirements. When has that ever happened in the past?
For all you Windows 7 beta-testers out there, Techmeme has come through with 50 seriously useful Windows 7 tips. A cursory glance at the tips reveals that 7 has a number of new tricks up its sleeve including some long-needed additions (like built-in support for burning ISO images) as well as some novelties (like the ability to screen-capture problems you have for easy sending to your in-family tech support).
I never had the Vista problems everyone else complained about (and I was even running x64). It was just a coincidence that I discovered the beauty and simplicity of MacOS during Vista’s reign over DOS-based machines, but it certainly looks like Microsoft is taking some steps in the right direction with the latest iteration of the platform.