But no – instead, they’ve ripped out the ability to consume shared items wholesale from the product. The closest analogue might be if Twitter made it so that 3rd party clients could use the Retweet functionality to push Retweets to a user’s stream — but only allowed you to consume Retweets on twitter.com.
I get that it didn’t make sense for Google to essentially be managing “two” social networks in Plus and Reader, but they picked the worst possible way to integrate the two services. I don’t care that Plus is now the place where my shared articles and comments live now. Hell, I actually welcome it, because now I have control over a potentially greater audience.
But I don’t want to have to go over to a separate website just to see the list of stuff from my trusted share community. To add insult to injury, sharing on Plus only affords a short three line preview of the article and/or thumbnail image. Even the most green Sharebro knows to share the entire article whenever possible.
This was the old process in Reader to read and comment on links:
Click on Shared Items section
Read and comment
This is the new process:
Share item in Google Reader
Open a new browser window and navigate to Plus site
Find and click Google Reader share community circle (after manually adding each person you want to share to)
Read headlines and click again to view the link in a new window
Switch back to the Plus window and find the “share”
Read and comment
Why is Google forcing me to triple the amount of work i need to do to read a shared full article? Wouldn’t have it made more sense from a usability angle to create a Plus hosted “Google Reader Followers Circle” and have a section within Reader itself to view those shared links and comment on them? That way everyone wins – Reader users don’t experience a functional retardation of their product and Google has more content and activity populating its new flagship social network.
Developer Peak Systems has a shuffleboard app that lets you connect up to eight iPhones together to create a makeshift shuffleboard table. Yeah, I know, the iPad is probably a better size for the game, but it’s much less likely that you’re going to have a bunch of iPads in the same location unless you’re involved in some really geeky activities.
It may not have the same feel as a real shuffleboard table at your local dive bar, but hey, if you’ve got a bunch of friends with iPhones over at your place for some drinking, why not give it a shot?
– Posted on October 25, 2011Posted in: Video Games
I like the dick-swinging move of Rockstar Games simply slapping a ginormous Grand Theft Auto V logo up on their website and a trailer date with no accompanying press release or media hoopla. When your franchise has sold more than 124 million copies, you make the press come to you.
“The easiest way to stop piracy is not by putting antipiracy technology to work. It’s by giving those people a service that’s better than what they’re receiving from the pirates,”
Bingo. It’s a wonder why more digital content creators haven’t figured this out yet.
Great article by Sean Cummings on how marketers are failing with their use of QR codes:
My survey was conducted in San Francisco, the veritable Mecca of the planet for tech, so it only goes downhill from here. When I asked those who knew it was some type of “barcode” how they could decipher it, 35 percent answered “with their phone.” When I asked them to actually “read” it with their phone? Only 45 percent of those were able to do it, and it took an average of 47 seconds for them to take out their phone and find the application to read the QR code — not exactly a “quick response.” Remember that agencies are putting these on moving buses and highway billboards.
It’s clearly a case of “well it sounded good in the brainstorming meeting, and everyone other marketer is doing it.” How in the world do you expect people to play Quick Draw McGraw with their phones just to see your marketing message? Even if everyone knew what a QR code was and how to decode it, it would take the skills of an Aaron Burr to be able to snap them on a moving billboard target or a 2 second window on a TV.
Unless your campaign has a really interesting use for QR codes (NOT as a substitute for a URL), just leave that crap at home. Use that money for a better GoDaddy vanity URL.
A new video demonstration of some of Google’s planned changes to the Gmail interface has leaked to the interwebs.
It’s nothing mindblowingly different, especially if you’ve taken part in “previewing” the new Gmail look over the past few months, but there’s some welcome new changes such as a display density changing option and a more “conversational” view for message threads.
Don’t plan on dropping your jaw, but do plan on letting out a positive “hmph.”
– Posted on October 20, 2011Posted in: Video Games
Originally, I was going to launch into a tirade on how ridiculous it was that the only way to change your Origin (EA) ID was to download the iPhone or Android version of Scrabble and deep dive into the option menus within the app.
You read that correctly.
It took an creative thinker on Reddit with an almost encyclopedic knowledge of EA software on multiple platforms to solve a seemingly trivial problem.
Why is this so important? Well, as most of us found out last week during the Battlefield 3 beta, the game uses your Origin ID as your only unchangeable identification within the multiplayer experience. It’s fine and dandy if you picked an appropriate nom de plume to begin with. Unfortunately, if you made the same decision I did and had your real full name as your Origin ID, you probably felt out of place on the Battlefield 3 scoreboard next to folks named “n00b_K1ll3r_69” and “HOT BLOOD FART.”
Googling and forums wading at the time basically said that your only recourse was to spend 30 minutes on live chat or phone with EA customer service to maybe see what they could do.
Did Not Want.
Fortunately, someone at EA convinced someone else that resources were worth putting towards a “real” solution and as of this afternoon, you can now change your Origin ID with a simple form on origin.com.
– Posted on October 19, 2011Posted in: Video Games
On the one hand, you could take the cynical route with this because Harrison Ford is clearly being paid to do this as an advertisement ala Bill Murray in Lost In Translation, but on the other hand it’s Indiana Jones playing a game that is essentially a 15 hour long homage to his work.
I don’t know whether to be more impressed that Harrison is actually playing and progressing in a fairly “hardcore” game or that he’s making a video of someone playing a video game not look like a 7-minute long mouth breathing sequence.
I never thought there would come a day when I would prefer playing a particular game title on my phone rather than a “real” portable game console from Sony or Nintendo.
Well, that day is here.
Developer 5th Cell’s port of its “indie” Nintendo DS hit, Scribblenauts Remix is an absolute joy to play on the iPhone and iPad and is one of the few iOS releases that had me hooked enough to want to complete the game in one day.
(To be fair, I also never thought that there would come a day where there would actually be a good licensed superhero video game. What can I say? We live in magical times.)
For those who are unfamiliar with the franchise, Scribblenauts is a puzzle/platforming game based on one core mechanic — your imagination. You see, you can bring in almost any object or living thing into the game world by simply typing it into Max’s notebook. It’s a very “wow”-inducing mechanic when you experience it for the first time because we’re so used to being limited to the constraints of what game designers have set for us.
The goal in each level is for Max to obtain a Starite by following the hints on screen. The first level’s Starite is dangling on a tree that is just out of reach. There’s many ways to solve the puzzle, depending on your level of creativity. Some might opt for the straightforward solution of creating a ladder for Max to climb. Me? My first inclination was to give Max a large chainsaw to cut down the tree, letting the Starite fall down to me, because I’m a f’in boss. You could also give Max a jetpack and have him float up there to reach it as well. Or maybe you could make a giant yellow beaver to gnaw down the tree. I’m sure you get the idea by now.
The game has a portly database of over 20,000 words so chances are that the game will have a better chance of stumping you rather than the other way around. Unfortunately, this doesn’t include proper nouns or places (for obvious reasons) or vulgar terms. Believe me, I was disappointed that I could not make a flaming pile of poop, but hey, what’s that really going to help you do?
All of the levels are fairly straightforward, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The danger with a game that provides so much freedom is in overwhelming the player with too many choices and possibilities. At no point in Scribblenauts Remix did I feel “lost.” The difficulty curve was nice and easy – almost too easy, in fact. Some of the more interesting levels have several “phases” involved, and I expected the levels to get more and more epic the further I progressed. Sadly, many levels remained very superficial in their goals. Fortunately, for those who want a more free form sandbox to play in, there’s a “Playground Mode” where you can just create objects and things and have them interact with each other.
One of the most exciting features about the game is that it supports iCloud for game saves. For people who own both an iPad and an iPhone, this feature is a godsend. I tend to play mobile games on my phone when I’m not home, but if I’m just lounging around, I’d rather use that larger screen real estate. Previously, you were essentially locked into choosing either the iPhone or iPad version to play, even if the game was a universal build. Sure, you could switch over, but you’d lose all of your gameplay progress to do so. And who would want to do that, other than shortsighted marketing folks who only look at features as checklist fodder?
There’s 50 levels included within the $4.99 universal iPhone/iPad release of Scribblenauts Remix. 40 of which are culled from the previous two Scribblenauts releases on the Nintendo DS. The remaining 10 are “exclusive” to the iOS version of the game. In full disclosure, I never finished the original game on the Nintendo DS because, quite honestly, I was annoyed by the controls in having to tap each word individually with my stylus on the onscreen keyboard. However, on iOS, inputting words is a joy because it’s a natural function of the device – just like writing a text message. A control pad isn’t necessary for this game since there’s no precision platforming to be done. Add it all up and you have a title that feels much more at home on a touch screen than on a portable game console.
Since I didn’t play the previous titles, I can’t say whether the “right” levels were picked or if the 10 new levels are worth the admission price for those who have already played the game on the DS. At $4.99, though, no one’s going to laugh at you for paying 50 cents a “new” level, especially since it’s quite apparent that 5th Cell will be adding additional level packs to the game as time goes on. For anyone who hasn’t played the DS games though, oh ho-ho are you going to have fun. Unless you don’t like words. In which case, I’ll direct you to this app instead.
The highest praise I can give to Scribblenauts Remix is that I was so enamored with the game that I wanted to not only complete the levels, but also obtain all the achievements as well. Think about it – how many games do you have on your phone? And how many do you actually want to finish, let alone get all the achievements on?
Scribblenauts Remix is available now as a universal iPhone/iPad build on the iTunes App Store.
– Posted on October 17, 2011Posted in: Video Games
Editor’s note: This was originally supposed to be posted in early June, but WordPress pooped out on, so here it is now.
Jason Schreier from Wired.com had a great article a few months back on the roles of auteurs in video game production:
Most games, like most movies, are a massive undertaking involving the work of hundreds of people. But many films — the best, some would argue — are driven by the central creative direction of a single auteur. No matter how many other people work on a project, auteur theory holds that it is possible for a single, strong creative vision to shine through. Bringing such a dynamic to videogames could result in stronger stories, more compelling gameplay — and fewer artistic and commercial failures that result from that well-established enemy of the creative process, design by committee.
Personally, I’m all in on the importance of auteurs for not only video games, but for other forms of entertainment as well. Telling me that Tim Schafer or David Jaffe is directing a new game immediately puts it on my radar and oftentimes I will buy it sight unseen because I have such faith in the auteur. That’s why something like Shadows of the Damned has my attention despite me never hearing of the game before and being totally unaware of how the game plays. The simple fact that the guys who created Resident Evil and No More Heroes are making this game is enough to get me excited.
The same holds true for movies and television as well. I used to find shows and films to watch based off of the stars in the film, but gradually began to realize that the director/showrunner has a far greater effect on the quality of the content than the actors do. Amazing acting in a poorly directed movie still drags down the movie, but a well-directed movie can overcome some poorly acted scenes.
What do you guys think? Is liking an entertainment auteur enough reason for you to check out a new title?
