Austin360 blogs > Digital Savant > Archives > 2008 > October
October 2008
whurley: Three Reasons Open Source Will Save The Economy
[This is the last post of our Guest Bloggers Week, and it comes from someone revered in the Austin tech scene (and probably far beyond). William Hurley (better known to all as “whurley”) has been a major force in not only the Austin open-source movement, but in organizing the increasingly popular BarCamp Austin events. He is a popular and frighteningly intelligent public speaker. Got thoughts on the post below? Leave us a comment.]
Hey, is your economy down?
All right, bad joke, but it is the country’s current collective bellyache. 760,000 jobs lost already this year according to the Bureau of Labor. Businesses are frantically jettisoning people-weight just to stay afloat. Times are tougher than Chuck Liddell. I think I saw my old CEO in line at the soup kitchen last Tuesday.
My friends, I’m here to tell you that in the face of grim economic turmoil there are opportunities. The fundamentals of open source are strong. Open source software is going to save the global economy.
Sir Isaac’s Third Law: spending trends in the marketplace are reversing course as companies search for faster, cheaper solutions to everyday business problems. Open source anyone?
Open source software is freely available, easily downloadable, and deployed and modified without any licensing cost. Though not strictly free-in-house administration and support costs money — open source software can provide a tremendous boost to struggling small and medium businesses. Three reasons open source is going to save us — watch out while I lay ‘em on ya.
You always make time when there’s less money.
You got two resources with which to do business: time, and money. Build vs. buy arguments die out when the economy softens because enterprise software is expensive. Take databases. MySQL, PostGres, and Ingres can be downloaded, installed, and up and running for little if any cost. Businesses will trade support time for fiscal cost.
Free software removes previous barriers to entry.
It’s cheaper and easier to start a business on open source. Microsoft SQL Server starts at $1,500. MySQL is free. Photoshop costs $699. GIMP is free. Microsoft Office costs between $149 and $499 depending on the version you purchase. Open Office is free. With only 20 employees, using Open Office can save you $3,000 to $10,000.
You buy the shovel, but you want the hole.
It’s amazing how easy it is to forget that software is just a tool. Companies purchase software so their employees can execute specific tasks. You don’t need a laser-guided shovel with built-in GPS navigation to dig your hole. A plain ol’ shovel will get the job done just fine.
So buck up, little campers, open source software even comes with a free pack of weenies and a bag of marshmallows. Seriously, folks, go take the money you save by going open source and invest it in keeping the people around who really run your business. They need those jobs now more than ever.
Let me know what you think,
whurley
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What’s a NaNoWriMo? This writer explains
[Omar here. Today’s Digital Savant guest blog is from Laurel H. Stoddard, who is planning to write a novel starting… Saturday! I asked her to write about National Novel Writing Month and why she decided to participate. You can leave comments for her below. Her NaNoWriMo ID is “parhelion.”]
November is National Novel Writing Month.
A couple of years ago I stumbled across NaNoWriMo — nanowrimo.org — during the off-season. I was intrigued but apparently not interested enough to make a note in my Palm about it, and the next time I thought to look it up was several months past November.
This summer I thought about it again and actually bookmarked the site, visiting from time to time and contemplating the craziness of it. I have a full-time job; I have other commitments. But I love to play with words; I’m a voracious reader and have figured I probably have something to say. I’ve just not found the perfect time to say it. What am I waiting for? Retirement?
So on October 9, I took a deep breath and registered (and I also made a contribution to The Office of Letters and Light, the 501(c)(3) organization that sponsors NaNoWriMo, for their efforts for literacy and writing, www.lettersandlight.org). This November I have committed to writing a 50,000-word novel in one month, 30 days.
What have I done to prepare? I am skimming various threads of comment under the Austin region’s postings and have learned that the Austin group of NaNoWriMo participants is the Penguins, and I, as a newbie, am called a hatchling; and a silver-haired hatchling, as it were, planted squarely amidst the span of Baby Boomers.
I’ve read the book written by Chris Baty, founder of NaNoWriMo: “No Plot? No Problem!” It has allayed a number of my fears regarding my seeming lack of preparation; it appears to me that just jumping in and floundering around is part of the game. That judging voice inside your head is less likely to interfere when you’re doing something so off the cuff that you can’t possibly be serious. Write a novel in a month??
And while Chris gives various examples of writers who procrastinate severely and still get done (you’re deemed Winner if you finish your 50,000-word novel by midnight on November 30), I think I’ll plan to work the way I advise the transcriptionists in my company to work: figure out how much you have to do and how much time you have to do it and do X amount per day. Chris suggests that an hour and half, either before or after work, or split, is eminently workable.
Let’s see. I’ll give myself the weekends for catch-up time and other activities. There are 28 working days in November. Well, really not. Thanksgiving is the 27th, and we close the office on that Friday, too. I also have an anniversary the week of Thanksgiving. Okay, so 25 working days in November. 50,000 words divided by 25 equals 2,000 words per working day. Gee, I type 80 to 100 words a minute; I should be able to crank this thing out in half an hour a day. That’s assuming, of course, that my brain gives my fingers something to crank out. We’ll see. I’m optimistic.
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Librarian talks video games, education
[Omar here. A few weeks ago, a librarian from Burnet contacted me asking if I might be able to help with a video game program they were trying to get off the ground. I asked Trisha Runyan, assistant director of the Herman Brown Free Library, to write a guest blog for Digital Savant about the project and the challenges she’s encountered. You can comment below or e-mail her at the library if you have advice or feedback.]
It began with an email from my boss, “It” being the advisement that she wanted me to learn more about the potential venue of gaming events for teens… at our local library! My first reaction was to laugh. The image of a headline on a local paper took over my frontal lobe: “Library challenges local video arcade for business.”
My second reaction was to laugh again: “Why not?”
Here is some data obtained from the first major research endeavor on the topic. (Titled, “Teens, Video Games and Civics,” this report can be found at http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/263/report_display.asp)
- 99 percent of boys and 94 percent of girls engage in video gaming.
- 97 percent of kids, ages 12-17, play these games via software installed on a computer, the Internet, or console game systems such as the Sony PlayStation 2, GameBoy, or Wii.
- 48 percent are mobile when they play, using a cell phone or a hand-held device
According to the Pew report, the five top favorite games among American teenagers are: “Guitar Hero,” “Halo 3,” “Madden NFL,” “Solitaire” and “Dance Dance Revolution.” These games are diverse in their significance for several reasons, including their suitability for a general audience and whether or not they encourage solitary behaviors.
For me, the good news was to read that while many teens will play games alone occasionally, only 24 percent of the kids surveyed stated that they only play alone. Unfortunately, in my mind, “not alone” doesn’t necessarily indicate that they are in a room with friends, at least not a linear space.
Many of the kids interact with others through the Internet. This is the first reason I began to consider the possibility of gaming events at the library as a positive concept, a common thread of interest as a means of gathering teenagers into a controlled and safe environment.
BUT THE LIBRARY!!??!!
As I began to seek the opinions of other library staff in our central Texas area, I began to feel as though I was asking Democrats to give me reasons why Gov. Palin would make a good vice-president. I decided to stop asking and began to appreciate that I work for a boss who can see the world expanding and who can recognize that this gaming thing might just be the ticket to attracting an important generation back into the world of books and multimedia that every library can offer.
The Pew Report provides excellent data on the realities of what kids are doing with electronic gaming devices and software: 76 pages worth of data and references. If you are a parent who cares, or a professional who wants to learn more about this venue, it is a good read. There is, however, much more to know. In an article dated October 5 2008, “Using Video Games as Bait to Hook Readers,” The New York Times Book Review acknowledged that the publishing industry is recognizing the value of a new genre of product development - the tie in of a book with a related video game. “Spurred by arguments that video games may teach a kind of digital literacy that is becoming as important as proficiency in print, libraries are hosting gaming tournaments, while schools are exploring how to incorporate video games in the classroom.”
Not just a little bit… during the first half of 2008, the New York Public Library attracted almost 8,300 teenagers in by hosting more than 500 of these gaming events. At the Columbus Ohio Library 300+ tournaments have been held. (For information, go to http://www.columbuslibrary.org, click on “Events” and scroll down to “Teen Gaming.”
There is plenty of data to show that “if we host it, they will come.” There is also plenty of skepticism that the cognitive skills required for successful gaming can translate into traditional reading proficiency. Apparently publishers see a connection. Take, for instance, Scholastic, the American publisher who recognized the potential of the Harry Potter series after numerous others had turned J.K. Rowling down. They recently released “The Maze of Bones,” the first installment of a 10-book series tied to a Web-based game. Random House Children’s Books and Disney are also in on the same product development track.
Does that portend that libraries will abandon our role as the sanctuary for avid readers who seek the incomparable pleasure of a good book enjoyed in a cozy chair in a quiet space? Will the ability to read become even more problematic for young adults than it already is? Will war games become a learning tool for problem solving rather than those horrid math word puzzles we had to wrestle with in school? (Remember? If Mary has two apples and George has three oranges, who will make the better pie?)
For now, our hope is to gain the interest of kids who aren’t coming to the library. Perhaps as they wait their turn they will look around and discover a magazine they like or a graphic novel they heard a friend mention… or a classic that can be shared with their parents. It will be awhile before I have answers since we won’t start our tournaments anytime soon, but meanwhile I am logging on to Yahoo Games to practice my hand at knocking out bouncing orbs and stopping fish from being swallowed by sea monsters.
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E-mail is (maybe not) dead: Pondering Gmail’s canned response
[Omar here. Our guest bloggers week continues with this entry about e-mail from Jenn Deering Davis. Jenn is co-founder and Chief of Community Experience at Appozite and a doctoral candidate in Organizational Communication at the University of Texas at Austin. She normally blogs at http://appozitegeist.appozite.com and is @jdeeringdavis on Twitter.]
I want to thank Omar for the opportunity to be a guest blogger this week while he’s gone. I had a hard time deciding what to write about; I sorted through a hundred different boring ideas before I finally settled on email. I know, e-mail! What a new and exciting topic! Well, hopefully. Keep reading…
E-mail is dead. It’s done, it’s over, it’s jumped the shark, it’s been ruined by spam and inappropriate use. I haven’t actually counted all the inbox overload tweets I’ve seen this year, but there have been a lot. People talk about declaring inbox bankruptcy, they complain (often incessantly) about the number of e-mails in their inboxes and how much new e-mail they receive every day. I’m sure many of you never reach the bottom of your inbox. For every e-mail you respond to, two new ones take its place.
I try to be an inbox zero person. The only e-mails in my inbox are the ones requiring some sort of action; I archive everything else (I rarely delete). But when I have more than 15 e-mails in my inbox, I start to feel overwhelmed, because that’s 15 items on my to-do list. There was a day last week where my inbox actually was at 0 for a few wonderful hours. It was bliss.
These email habits mean I absolutely love Gmail. Labels, archiving and search have vastly improved my storage and retrieval of old e-mails, and the ease with which I can integrate multiple e-mail addresses into one account has been great. I work from several different computers on a daily basis, so I need a good webmail client and Gmail has been exactly what I need.
But the new reason I love Gmail is the canned response, a recently released e-mail add-on from Google Labs that allows Gmail users to create automated replies (Thunderbird has a QuickText feature that is very similar, but I’m not sure about Outlook and other e-mail clients). I’m going to be bold and put this out there — I think this is a big idea. Maybe it will even save e-mail.
I don’t get very much e-mail. I’m an owner of a startup, which means I work in a very, very small company so I don’t get many CC:s or company-wide announcements. I receive around 50 e-mails a day and only about half of those actually need my attention. And only half of that half need more than a quick response. So my e-mail load is fairly light. I know people who receive 200, even 500 e-mails a day. One guy I met recently told me he gets 2,500 e-mails a day and that he personally reads and attends to all of those, but I’m pretty sure that’s physically impossible and he was just trying to look popular. (Note to that guy and his ilk: The number of e-mails you get every day does not equal how cool you are. And exaggerating about it just makes you look like a tool.)
Canned responses could help those people who get a lot of e-mails that only require acknowledgment or a short, simple response. There are a number of predictable e-mail interactions that simply need managing; they don’t need serious attention or consideration. Canned responses are perfect for that kind of e-mail and can help free up time for the more pressing issues we encounter at work. Of course some e-mail will still demand individual attention, but this is a great start. When combined with filters, canned responses could drastically reduce the number of e-mails we have to personally respond to every day.
Okay, so maybe canned responses aren’t exactly the single life-saving innovation e-mail needs. But I really like the idea and what it’s trying to do. The canned response is just one example of some interesting advances in e-mail management; there are a lot of companies working hard on various aspects of this problem, like OtherInbox, an Austin startup, and Xobni in San Francisco. Because this is a problem — we can all agree that for business purposes, e-mail is overwhelmed. We’re forced to move our interactions to other media like Twitter and IM.
E-mail is an old solution to a rapidly changing problem and the ways we did things in the 90s just don’t work anymore. E-mail isn’t actually dead, but it’s certainly ill. Or maybe this is just me. Maybe the whole impersonal, automated e-mail response is not the way to go. Because without all that e-mail, how would people let others know how important and popular they are? Or, maybe it’s that e-mail just can’t — or shouldn’t — be saved. What do you, loyal Digital Savant readers, think?
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Guest blog: An update on coworking in Austin
[Hello, it’s Omar — I’m on vacation all week, but I’ve scheduled five guest bloggers to visit with you every day this week. The first is Cesar Torres, a freelance designer and one of the four founders of Austin’s first coworking space, Conjunctured. It’s located at at 1309 E. 7th St. in east Austin, just a few blocks from downtown.]
With the proliferation of mobile phones, notebook computers and wireless Internet, there’s been a huge upswing in the number of people who find themselves working from coffee shops or alone at home.
Coworking has emerged globally as a trend in response to these nomadic workers feeling socially isolated. Coworking, in the non-traditional sense, is about people who have the flexibility of working remotely coming together to work. While that’s normally assumed to be limited to freelancers and entrepreneurs, people who work for larger companies can also partake in coworking since many companies allow for telecommuters or grant days to work away from the office.
If you caught Omar Gallaga’s coverage of the coworking scene around Texas in the Statesman in early July, lots has changed in the Austin scene since then.
To date, there are two open coworking spaces (Conjunctured Coworking and Soma Vida — both on the east side of town) and one more, LaunchPad Coworking, opening very soon downtown.
Since Omar’s article, Conjunctured — located at 1309 E. 7th St. — has now been officially open for two months. In those two months, Conjunctured has been host to a huge grand opening party, many visitors from all around and countless events and meetups. A few companies and products have even sprung out of late night coworking sessions already.
At the beginning of October, we announced a change in our membership structure and a drop in our rates. Rather than multiple levels of membership, we now have one full-time membership available for $250 a month (outside of day passes). The full time membership level allows for 24-hour access and unlimited use of our facility — which includes copy/fax capabilities, business class Wi-Fi, a conference room, kitchenette and all the espresso you can drink.
Our members run the gamut from developers and designers to social media consultants, real estate brokers, marketers, artists and musicians. We are very focused on community and try and host as many events as we can; groups like Bootstrap Austin and the Austin Cocoa Coders meet at Conjunctured regularly. If you can’t wait for their monthly meetings to check out the space though, feel free to drop by any time. Tours are normally given during our normal operating hours, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. If you’d like to host an event, you can reach us by e-mail.
For more information on rates, our FAQ or to read our blog, you can visit our Web site. Also, make sure to follow us on Twitter to keep up with the latest news, announcements and giveaways.
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The Digital Savant guest bloggers
I’ll be on vacation next week (returning on election day; woo!), but I’m leaving you in good hands. I’ve asked five guest bloggers to post entries next week on a variety of topics.
You’ll hear about a new way of dealing with too much e-mail, get an update on Austin’s coworking movement, hear from a librarian about video games and how they can be used to attract young readers, and more. The entries will be posted each weekday morning next week starting Monday. Please welcome these guest bloggers who contributed their time and talent to make sure this space doesn’t lie fallow while I’m gone.
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Review: ‘Kirby Super Star Ultra’ (Nintendo DS)
Praised by those who played it on the Super Nintendo, “Kirby Super Star” hit so late in the system’s life that most never got a chance to pick it up. “Kirby Super Star Ultra,” a Nintendo DS remake of the pink blob’s adorable 16-bit outing, gives the game a shot at a much wider audience.
Developed by HAL Laboratory, creators of the original “Super Star” and wildly popular “Super Smash Bros.” series, Ultra takes a unique approach to the Kirby formula. Players still run through a colorful dream world eating foes and gaining their powers, but the experience is split up into a variety self-contained titles.
“Spring Breeze,” a short introductory game, gives players a chance to ease into the game’s basic mechanics. Beating it unlocks more difficult entries of varying lengths, which adds some spice to the mix while still totaling up to a respectable overall length. “The Great Cave Offensive,” one of the longer vignettes, is and exploration-heavy treasure hunt, while “Revenge of Meta Knight,” provides a linear, plot-based experience.
Additions included in the update vary in quality. The new touch-screen minigames don’t exactly cry out to be played, but there are two new platformer entries that measure up to the original set’s standards, possibly because they reuse assets from said games. The graphical upgrades, including new sprites, art and cgi intros and endings to each game, show a level of involvement that’s rarely seen in remakes.
One of the most memorable features of the original, co-op gameplay, takes a hit in “Ultra”. Players will need an additional game cart if they want to tag along with a friend, though it’s hard to fault the game for the DS hardware’s limitations. “Ultra” is also pretty easy compared to a typical Mario title, but along with the bite-size format this actually plays to its favor — it’s great for short bursts of play while on the go.
“Ultra” provides a chance for those that missed out on the original “Super Star” to see what all the fuss is about, and brings enough to the table to warrant a look from old fans. It’s not flawless, but it’s a fun game that avoids most of the pitfalls seen in other remakes. Between this and the upcoming “Chrono Trigger port,” DS owners could do far worse for classic gaming on the go.
“Kirby Super Star Ultra”
For the Nintendo DS
$30
Rated E for Everyone
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The Linkdown for Friday, Oct. 24
These Internet links were procured just for you, dear Internet reader, from a rich volcano-side hill, picked by hand. The nutrient-rich soil has deepened their complex, hearty flavor. Please enjoy.
- Austin’s Small World Labs is working with one of the original producers of “Beverly Hills 90210” on a new entertainment program called “Showbizzle.” Fo’ shizzle!
- Austin Community College is having an open house about its Game Development Institute today, 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. and tomorrow, 2 to 5 p.m. at Building 3000 of the Northbridge Campus, 11928 Stonehollow Drive. You can see demos and meet faculty there.
- I tend to listen to what doctors tell me to do, unless it’s “Stop eating chips with every meal.” Dr. Steven Smith, a dental professional has asked me to alert you to Suresmile Technology, which his office has been using since 2004. You can see a whole story about it here.
- Our friend Chip Rosenthal is organizing a community un-workshop, “People Powered Media” for November 8. Mark your calendar.
- CATS! CATS! CATS! OMG!
- Game Over Videogames has a new Round Rock location, I-35 at 620.
- Richard Garriott, space flight survivor! Yay! Welcome back, man.
- I’ve been playing around with a music streaming/social networking site called blip.fm.
- Two Austin social media experts, Kim Haynes and Sheila Scarborough, were on a panel with me at Texas State Wednesday, talking about “Web 2.0 in the Real World.” You can see video clips here and check out other speakers from Mass Comm Week.
I’m on vacation next week, but this space shall not go dry. I’ll have a few guest bloggers here to entertain and inform you. More details on it later this afternoon.
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Review: ‘Wario Land: Shake It!’ (Nintendo Wii)
“Wario Land: Shake It!” seems like a no-brainer purchase. It’s a 2-D platformer with a critically acclaimed pedigree and gorgeous hand-drawn sprites from animation company Production I.G. of “Ghost in the Shell” and “Kill Bill: Vol. I” fame. To be frank: this game is pretty. Really, really pretty. You just won’t believe how impressively, mind-bogglingly pretty it is.
Where “Shake It!” begins to fall apart is gameplay. Levels typically consist of two segments: traditional left to right sidescrolling and a mad dash back to the beginning of the stage under a time limit.
The former consists of basic run-and-jump gameplay sprinkled liberally with simple puzzles. Some are more inventive than others, especially those that use speed boosters to send Wario on an out-of-control dash through various obstacles. The boost in velocity lets Wario make the leap to otherwise just-out-of-reach platforms and ram through steel barriers in his quest for riches.
“Shake It!” shines most in the second segments of each stage, where players must get back to the beginning of the level under a time limit. The best of these involves the use of a speed booster at the far end of the level to launch Wario back through new, previously unreachable pathways that sometimes recall the more fluid segments of the classic “Sonic the Hedgehog” games.
The shake in “Shake It!” comes in when using the Wiimote’s motion sensors to perform basic actions. A basic waggle will make Wario deliver a tremor-inducing punch to the ground to stun enemies, which can then be picked up and shaken for health-restoring garlic. The same goes for coins held in various treasure bags.
As fun as shaking is at the start of the game, it eventually becomes extremely repetitive, and even a hassle. Other uses of motion tech are typically enjoyable, but are overshadowed by the basic shaking mechanic.
Beyond being extraordinarily pretty, it’s hard to find anything in “Shake It!” that makes the game stand out. It is unique — a full-price sidescroller for a home console. It is not, however, remarkable.
“Wario Land: Shake It!”
$50
Nintendo Wii
Rated E for Everyone
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Controlling AT&T’s HomeManager
The same day I visited AT&T marketer Adrian Cardwell’s condo to check out the company’s U-Verse Total Home DVR service, I also got to scope out another new product that’s been rolled out.
HomeManager comes in two parts: there’s a touchscreen tablet with a 7-inch screen that sits on a charging cradle. The wireless device can be taken around the house and is always connected. You can use it to do some light Web surfing, looking up weather reports, movie showtimes, news or Yellow Pages information. You can make speakerphone calls on the device, use is as a calendar or synchronize contacts from your cell phone: it also has Bluetooth built-in.
The beauty of it is that it also doubles as a digital photo frame with an SD-card slot and USB port.
This base unit also communicates with a separate cordless phone handset which has its own small color screen.
It costs $299 and requires AT&T’s broadband Internet to work as well as a phone account or voice-over-IP service.
What was my verdict? The limited (very limited) time I spent with the device surprised me. The problem with convergence devices like this is that their functionality is usually limited, they’re often saddled with clunky software and they simply don’t usually work like they’re supposed to.
The tablet part of the package is as sleek as any Samsung retail product, was responsive to touch commands and had a clear, simple-to-use interface.
Who should buy it? Not families that already have multiple computers, laptops and smartphones. Many of the functions the HomeManager does can easily be accomplished by cracking open a wireless-enabled laptop or surfing on an iPhone.
But for homes that have a single computer that’s being frequently fought over or that needs a central place to store phone numbers and calendar information that everyone in the house can access, HomeManager is a clever little way to do it. It looks easy enough for anyone to learn and is attractive enough to sit near the flat-screen TV in the living room. The price seems a bit steep, but given that a good digital picture frame with its capabilities cost about $100 and only perform one function, it doesn’t seem so high.
Austin is one of only a handful of markets where the HomeManger is available. You can check it out for yourself at one of AT&T’s retail stores.
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In case you missed it all…
A few things you might have missed over the weekend if you were out doing fun things instead of keeping up with the news.
As story about an Austin Web site called radiouseonly.com appeared in Saturday’s paper.
If you missed the awesome video that went with the story (featuring a 1961 audio sample from KNOW, a great song about Austin), you can check it out below:
There was also a story in yesterday’s paper about “High-tech makeovers.” We paired several people who wanted to learn a tech skill with some local experts. You can see the video that went with this story below:
We also covered Maker Faire, which was in a word “Awesome.” So many amazing tech and craft inventors, so much fire and robots and Mentos dropped into two liters of Diet Coke. One day was just enough time to soak up the highlights, but another whole day would have been necessary to really see everything, and sadly I was only able to make it over on Saturday. I can’t embed the video to the event here, but here’s the direct link to my visuals and a link to Patrick Beach’s write-up of Maker Faire. And you can also see plenty of photos (more than 100) from The A-List.
Whew! It was a busy weekend.
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Maker Faire gets crafty
“That was cool.”
“That was cool.”
“Sweet.”
“So cool.”
That was the verdict from Adam and Joe, my two unpaid interns — in this economy is there any other kind? — on Austin’s second Maker Faire, held Saturday and Sunday at the Travis County Expo Center.
The event, sponsored by Make and Craft magazines, celebrates invention and the DIY ethic, with everything from battling robots (see the above pronouncements, and multiply) to life-sized “Star Wars” droids and a bicycle-powered windmill with four plugged-in electric guitars and two basses for the blades. Last year’s event, the first time it was held here, was one of the best weekend’s I’ve ever had in this town, and the ‘08 version was even better.
Because of, among other things, RoboGames, wherein engineers and roboticists spend thousands if not tens of thousands of dollars making custom, radio-controlled robots and then having them beat the hell out of each other in an enclosed gladatorial arena. It was a hit inside the arena; the three-minute matches had lots of visceral smashing, flipping, flame-throwing and destruction. The big news Saturday afternoon was Vladiator’s upset K.O. over the Judge, a 340-pound juggernaught of menace with a 5,000-pound-per-square-inch hammer. The Judge was built and piloted by former Austinite Jascha Little, who now calls California home.
“For those of you wondering what that smell is,” the announcer said after one match, “it’s the scent of burnt metal and broken dreams.”
“This is a different crowd than you see in Austin,” said Dan Seligman, 48, a commercial plumber from Pflugerville. “These people are cool because they’re uncool.”
Throughout the Faire, the vibe is both high-tech and punk rock — as well as encouraging curiosity, exploration, innovation and discovery: If you can’t open it, you don’t own it, as the saying goes. And of course there’s a sneaky educational component as well, Special effects expert and educator Steve Wolf gave a great presentation on science in movie special effects, while just outside some folks were using a plate of glass to set fire to things, including an Austin Chronicle T-shirt. There were lots of opportunities for hands-on interaction — the point of the whole exercise is to get involved. As the EepyBird (Diet Coke and Mentos fountain) guys put it, “Do try this at home.”
It’s hard not to be a little inspired, even if, like me, you are not in the least technically apt, to embrace and empower your inner geek.
“That was cool,” Adam said after meeting the full-sized, operating R5-D4 and R2-D2 robots.
“Yeah,” Joe said. “We need to learn to make one of those.”
See a video of Maker Faire here.
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‘LittleBigPlanet’ delayed due to Koran music track
The highly anticipated PlayStation 3 game “LittleBigPlanet” has been delayed a week because a background music track in the game contains phrases from the Koran, gaming Web including Joystiq.com are reporting.
Ironically, the game is a mass-market, family friendly title that Sony is hoping will bolster the reputation of its floundering next-generation video game console. The PS3 suffered from a lack of quality games in its first year and has in recent months trailed far behind Nintendo’s Wii and, to a lesser degree, Microsoft’s Xbox 360 in sales. “LittleBigPlanet” has earned glowing early reviews (including a write-up on this blog); the game allows players to design “Sackboy” or “Sackgirl” characters and to design and play through their own game levels. The game provides sophisticated, but simple-to-use tools for advanced game design. Players can then share those levels with others online and vote on them using the PlayStation Network, bringing social networking features to the game.
Sony issued a statement saying the game would be released on October 27, six days later than its original Oct. 21. A spokesperson for the company said, “We have taken immediate action to rectify this and we sincerely apologize for any offense that this may have caused.”
Rather than patching the game with an online update, Sony is replacing retail copies completely.
I played the beta version of the game and found it incredibly charming; it’s a sure winner for Sony. Which makes this gaffe all the more surprising and troubling. Sony has had a series of missteps since it announced the PlayStation 3 as the most expensive mass-market game console ever released and has suffered a series of stumbles ever since. They either have the worst luck in the gaming industry (except for the always-struggling Atari) or they’re one of the most badly managed game companies in the world.
It’s a shame because “LBP” is a game Sony needs badly and this delay won’t help them as they face off against a deluge of A-list games being released on other systems over the next few weeks.
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T-Mobile G1 (Google Android) phone: First impressions (Updated)
On Wednesday, T-Mobile will launch its G1 phone, the first to use Google’s Android platform.
Make no mistake: they’re setting their sites firmly on the iPhone. The price will be $179 and it features many of the things that have made Apple’s phone a favorite: a big, bright touch screen. A powerful Web browser that allows you to view full Web pages instead of downscaled mobile versions. 3G data speeds, music and video players, and a camera.
I’m not ready to review the phone: we’ve only had it since Sunday and, like the iPhone 3G, I think sussing out the phone’s quirks and benefits will take a while longer. But I can tell you what I think so far of the phone based on the few days I’ve had to play around with the phone.
First: it’s clunky. Though it’s made of a nice, smooth metal that feels sturdy and durable, it’s quite a bit thicker than an iPhone. It also has a bend near the place where you’d speak into the phone that gives it a less-than-aerodynamic look. If you thought this phone might be sleeker than an iPhone, it’s not. But the heft and size certainly isn’t a deal-breaker. Given that the size allows for a full keyboard that slides out, Sidekick-style, many will forgive the dimensions.
Another design quirk is a Blackberry Pearl-like rolling ball that allows you to scroll on Web pages or select items as a button. I found it distracting and unnecessary at first, but the more I used it the more I liked it.
The first thing the phone does when it boots up the first time is ask you to enter your Gmail login and password. If you have a Google account, your e-mail, contacts and Google Calendar information will automatically synchronize. It’s a beautiful feature, simple and quick, and not requiring the phone to be plugged into a computer. Why can’t the iPhone do this?
Some of the phone’s software is quite good. Once you get used to the phone’s “Menu,” “Back” and “Home” buttons, it’s easy to zip through your Gmail, enter Web URLs in the browser or send text messages.
The touch screen doesn’t seem as responsive as the iPhone, but scrolling down pages and selecting links works fine.
The Market, the G1 equivalent of Apple’s App Store is active, but the offerings are slim. I was most surprised there was no application, either built into the phone or in the Market store, for using Google Reader. I’m hoping someone addresses that soon.
After several days of trying, I still haven’t been able to get the phone to connect to my Wi-Fi connection at home. I had the same problem with the Nokia N-95, yet my iPhone and all other Wi-Fi devices in my home, work just fine. Outside of Austin, T-Mobile’s 3G service was non-existent. In New Braunfels, I haven’t been able to get 3G speeds, so the phone reverts to the pokey EDGE network. It’s no fun Web browsing or using Google Maps at EDGE speeds.
Which brings me to one showstopper: Google Maps with GPS on the phone is extremely well-implemented, offering not only standard maps, but also satellite and Street View. Street View in particularly is stunning. Not only does it offer a similar experience to what you get on a desktop, but the touchscreen makes panning around a 360-degree street image even more intuitive and fun. This is one feature I’d be very worried about if I was Apple or RIM.
The keyboard is fine, but not as great a change as I’d hoped. The keys feel too tiny and require too much pressure. Maybe I’ve gotten too used to the iPhone’s virtual keyboard, but I found typing slower on the G1.
I didn’t experience a single application crash in the time I used the G1. It seems pretty stable as a software platform.
I’ll have a full review of the phone perhaps as early as next week, but so far I find the phone to be a pretty great alternative to the iPhone, especially given that the Market store will surely grow and improve. It’s not as brilliantly designed as the iPhone or some Blackberry models, but the amount of power and features you get for $179 is pretty convincing. I’ll have plenty more to tell you about it in the near future.
Here are a few photos:
Update, 2:45 p.m. Thursday: Using the phone today, I had a half hour period where neither the EDGE network nor 3G worked at all in downtown Austin. I was out of any Wi-Fi zones, so as far as anything Internet-related, the phone was completely dead. No idea what happened, but a few minutes and several reboots later, things went back to normal.
If you want to read more reviews, you can find David Pogue’s write-up from the New York Times (which I completely agree with) and Engadget’s write-up. Engadget found several problems I didn’t encounter (specifically with the GPS). They go into great detail, but it’s not their final word; they’re promising a future full review.
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Video: hands-on (literally) with Microsoft Surface
At tomorrow’s InnoTech event at the Convention Center, everyone will get a chance to play with Microsoft’s Surface table, a multi-touch device that allows you to control applications with “Minority Report”-ease.
Playing with it myself, I found the screen to be very responsive, even if it takes a little getting used to. After a few minutes, you adjust to its quirks and are soon spinning, moving and resizing objects on screen. When Microsoft debuted the technology, it was unclear if it would take off, but seeing it for myself, I can definitely see how businesses, high-end resorts and clubs, and digital creatives will find ways to employ it — if another company doesn’t get out there and put it out more cheaply first.
Seeing is believing, though. Here’s a video I shot at the Convention Center today:
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The Linkdown for Wednesday
I’m toying with names for the posts I do where I share the best sites and news (mostly local) that I can find. “Link Heaven?” “The Linkdown?” Should I avoid the work “link” altogether? Hit me up in the comments.
Here’s what’s new for today:
- Combining stuffed-crust pizza and social network would seem to be a slam dunk, right? Not so. CNet thinks the combination of Pizza Hut and Facebook is a cheesy disaster.
- Today is Blog Action Day. Check out how bloggers are fighting homelessness today. You can see a local list of bloggers participating in Blog Action Day compiled by Rob Quigley on this page.
- Have you ever heard of Austin’s Purgatory Road? I haven’t. But it sounds spoooooky! The Web site FEARnet will be talking about the supposedly scary avenue Friday morning during a weather segment on “Good Morning America” to promote its Web show “Streets of Fear.” The episode will be on their Web site that morning. Prepare to be scared! Or lost, at least.
- I played with a Microsoft Surface table today as part of a preview of the InnoTech conference, happening tomorrow at the Convention Center. I’ll have a Surface video up later today if time doesn’t run out for me.
- Austin Maker Faire is on Saturday and Sunday. They’re expecting 35,000 people at the Travis County Expo Center. I’ll be there all day Saturday.
- Austin’s Slacker music company has a Halloween music station.
- An Austin-produced Web show, “The Rules of Man” has just posted a second episode.
- When the video service Joost debuted, I complained that the making it into an application you have to download would be a huge barrier. Now, they’ve done away with the application and you can view stuff directly on their site. But is it too late for Joost?
And that’s it for now. So… “The Linkdown?”
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Apple refreshes its notebook line
Steve Jobs donned the Black Long-Sleeved Shirt of Innovation to introduce new versions of Apple Inc.’s popular Macbook and Macbook Pro computers today.
Changes for the Macbook Pro and new aluminum versions of the Macbook laptop build on the manufacturing process that ushered in the ultra-light Macbook Air. Both are getting graphics processing updates from graphics company Nvidia and a new glass trackpad. No buttons below the trackpad: the entire piece of glass operates as your mouse, mouse buttons and multi-touch controls. The trackpad is also 39 percent larger, Jobs said. Macbook Pro prices will start at $1,999 and $2,499.
The white Macbook won’t disappear: instead it’ll be priced at $999, making it least expensive laptop in Apple history.
The new Macbooks start at $1,299 (or $1,599 for more hard drive space, a faster CPU and a backlit keyboard like the new Pros) and feature the aluminum enclosure, faster graphics and the glass trackpad.
Apple also made some tweaks to its Macbook Air, keeping its graphics capabilities in line with the other new laptops.
Apple also introduced a new 24-inch Cinema Display monitor for $899.
The Apple Store has just been updated with the new models and prices and you can see the specs on the Macbook and Macbook Pro pages.
A co-worker called the Apple Store and was told they don’t have the new notebooks out yet, but the online store has them available for sale. I imagine it won’t be long before they show up at the retail locations.
Lots more details in this blow-by-blow of the presentation from Engadget.com.
I’m not personally in the market for a new laptop (even though my one-year-old white Macbook looks permanently stained and is falling apart on one of its edges), but if I was, I’d probably hit that $1,299 aluminum Macbook. I’m not sure a backlit keyboard, slightly faster CPU and extra hard drive space is worth an extra $300 to step up to the $1,599 model.
The new Macbook:
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Topic for discussion: your perfect phone
I’m been thinking a lot about phones lately. We’ve been given a G1 T-Mobile Google Android phone to play around for a few weeks.
We can’t post a review or first-impressions until first thing Thursday morning, but I can tell you that it’s gotten me in a contemplative mood. We’ve had the iPhone out for over a year and it has been improved upon (at least from Apple’s view) with a hardware upgrade and numerous software enhancements.
We’ve had iPhone-like touchscreen phones enter the market (hello, Instinct), and we’ve also seen Blackberry and Windows Mobile phones reach toward becoming more fully rounded multimedia devices that cater to more than business users.
What I’m curious about is what you readers think. What’s your perfect phone? Is it an iPhone with a few feature fixes? Is it a version of the Blackberry? Is it an Android phone that incorporates some of Apple’s design panache? What features do you want in a dream phone that aren’t currently standard-issue? How big an issue is price or service/data fees? Does your dream phone need a keyboard?
Post in the comments. It’ll give me some context for writing about the G1 later in the week.
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Review: ‘Mega Man 9’; old-school is the new-school
Playing “Mega Man 9” for the first time is a bit like having someone go at your ego with an aluminum baseball bat for upwards of 20 minutes. You will die early, often and in a number of jaw-clenchingly painful ways. After a while you will die a little less. Then, maybe you’ll make it to the level’s robot master, where you will continue a now proud and longstanding tradition by dying just a few more times.
Then you win. You beat the level. All that death? The frustration? Poof! Gone. In its place is a tiny gem of forged from pure skill. Now the game isn’t so hard.
Now it’s a challenge.
“Mega Man 9” is a throwback to the original “Mega Man” series as it appeared on the Nintendo Entertainment System. It is designed to function as if running under the NES’s graphical and audio limitations, down to the sprites flickering if there’s too much action onscreen.
Working under these restraints developer Inti Creates crafted a 2-D platformer that feels a lot like the early entries in the series, particularly the much-lauded “Mega Man 2” and “Mega Man 3.” Levels are difficult, but not unfair. When you die, it’s almost always your fault, and skill is the only thing between you and another game over screen. Classic sound effects return, and catchy 8-bit tunes accompany every stage.
Available through the download services of the Wii, PS3 and Xbox 360, “Mega Man 9” isn’t aimed at the mainstream audiences many developers are now trying to attract. It won’t measure your weight and recommend an exercise regime, you can’t trade custom stages, and it’s not going to become a party centerpiece through which you can channel your musical fantasies. And that’s okay.
With over 60 games in a little more than 20 years, the “Mega Man” series of late has suffered its share of market flooding. “Mega Man 9” takes 57 or so steps back, and in doing so makes a significant leap forward. It may not change the direction of the industry, or even the series, but it’s fun. Damn fun. And damn hard.
Until it’s not.
“Mega Man 9”
$10, available for download on Wii Shop Channel, Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network
Rated E for Everyone
Omar here. I commend our reviewer Hudson Lockett for getting anywhere with “Mega Man 9” at all. I played it for 10 minutes and was cursing and throwing my controller across the room. Kudos to anyone with the reflexes to get very far in this challenging game.
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Apple expected to unveil new notebooks Tuesday
The rumor mill forever churns when it comes to Apple, but it looks like some recent ones about a new line (or a revamped line) of notebook computers may be grounded in some reality.
According to Wired and other sources, Apple will be making an announcement around noon on Tuesday about notebook computers.
The front-runner rumors are that Apple’s popular Macbook line will switch to an aluminum exterior, keeping it in line with other product lines (like the iMac). There’s been speculation that Apple has created a new manufacturing process (do a search for “Macbook” and “Brick” and you’ll see what they’re talking about), and that Apple will introduce a sub-$1,000 model. In fact, some are saying a bare-bones Macbook could run as low as $800, very cheap by Apple notebook standards.
I would also expect refinements, if not price cuts, for Macbook Pros and Macbook Air. I’m not feeling the speculation that the Macbook Pros and Macbook lines could merge into one product group; Apple likes having a “Pro” line and differentiating it from its consumer notebooks. I don’t see that changing.
The Macbooks in particular are due for a design change. We’ll see on Tuesday what Apple rolls out for those who’ve been waiting to buy (including a desk-neighbor at my office).
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These links are unstoppable!
It’s very hard to get excited about a collection of random links to stuff online, I know. It would be much better if I had some amazing gossip scoop, like that Jamie Lynn Spears is pregnant again (TMZ.com says she’s not) or if I had some news for you about a local company making a combination hovercraft/jetpack (get on it, engineers!). But I promise you these links will enrich you, like whole-grain rice, making your brain fat with knowledge. I do not think I am overpromising here.
- “Rock Band 2” is spectacular. Really. I have a review coming soon that I would write if I could just stop playing the game for five minutes. But even my undying adoration for all things “Rock Band” does not keep me from seeing when enough may be enough. Do we really need real-world merchandise for fake bands? Or six-inch figurines for the characters you create in the game? I’m saving my money for more song downloads, but hey, knock yourself out with the merch.
- The University of Texas is hosting a “FlowTV” conference, which, much to my disappointment, has nothing to do with hip hop music or pop-locking. Instead, the two-day conference (Thursday and Friday) explores the way that TV, Internet and media culture are converging. I guess that’s a little better than pop-locking. I just like saying, “Pop-locking.”
- Just because the economy is suffering doesn’t mean your cat should in squalor. Behold, the Cat Genie cat toilet! It’s a toilet! For cats! You should live so well.
- Opera, the browser that Firefox-eschewing geeks swear by, has released a new version, 9.6. Do you like Opera? Go get your 9.6 on.
- Austin’s Slacker satellite radio service has introduced the G2 Personal Radio Player. It costs $200 and $250 (for 4 GB or 8 GB versions).
- Another Austin company, BabyEarth, introduced a new service over the summer that allows parental shopping units to preview items they might want to buy with a live online Web cam service. BabyEarthLIVE allows customers to interact directly with sales representatives.
- Yet another Austin company, Challenge Games, has introduced a free online baseball simulator. It’s called Baseball Boss.
- This service will text you Mapquest directions for free. It’s called Free411 and you can use it by dialing 1-800-Free411.
- Finally, your prayers have been answered. A Beer Pong game is coming to the iPhone and iPod Touch. What is beer pong exactly?
There. Doesn’t your brain feel bigger now?
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Nintendo is making moves
It’s a little hard to overstate how completely Nintendo is dominating the gaming industry right now.
Sure, Microsoft and Sony (and even PC hardware makers) will benefit this holiday season from an impressive array of new games (“Gears of War 2,” “Mirror’s Edge,” “Fallout 3” are just a few), but if you look at what’s actually selling from month to month, Nintendo is regularly running the table not just with its juggernaut, the Wii, but also with its popular handheld, the DS.
Price cuts on the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 won’t change the dynamics at this point, at least not this holiday season: Nintendo has found a way to tap a whole audience of non- and lost gamers.
But they’re not resting on their laurels. Some recent moves by Nintendo point to some interesting new areas the company is trying to cover. Last week, the company introduced the DSi, which it will launch November 1 in Japan. The device is similar to the Nintendo DS, but it adds two digital cameras (one on the outside, one facing the player) and the ability to play music. It also has upgraded wireless capabilities and an SD memory card slot. The slot and wireless are expected to usher in an era where gamers can download games directly to the device, using the SD card as storage.
The only thing missing is the old Game Boy Advance cartridge slot, which means you won’t be playing “Guitar Hero: On Tour” on this thing.
Not that you’ll be playing anything on it anytime soon: Nintendo said the DSi won’t hit North America until well into 2009. I wouldn’t expect to see it here until next summer at the earliest.
Nintendo has no reason to switch to a new handheld: the DS is still selling like gangbusters (at least in North America) over Sony’s more powerful PSP system. Though gamers were skeptical at first of the DS’s touch-screen capabilities and inferior hardware capabilities, great games more than made up for it.
The DSi boldly takes Nintendo to new places while keeping its popular DS brand viable. Nintendo has been pretty amazing about keeping its systems backward-compatible. Minus that Game Boy Advance slot, I imagine the new DS will allow gamers to download copies of retro games they might still want to play.
Which brings us to the Wii. Why mess with a system that is still hard to find in stores and is still selling by the millions? Nintendo has announced no plans for a Wii successor, but rumors have been flying that Nintendo will bring to market an enhanced version of the Wii with high-definition capabilities, a so-called “Wii HD.” It would play all existing Wii games and offer game designers a platform for richer graphics and sound.
Sounds good, right? Well, Nintendo denied that rumor in an interview, but something like the Wii HD makes absolute sense. The Wii is so popular that Nintendo is repackaging GameCube-era games and re-introducing them tot many people might have missed out on them as new Wii games.
The company is wisely learning not to mess with its own success, as Sony did when it introduced its overpowered, overpriced PlayStation 3 while PlayStation 2 sales were still strong.
Instead, Nintendo is barreling ahead with its mix of ultra-casual games (“We Cheer,” anyone?), shout-outs to longtime Nintendo fans (a Wii version of “Punch Out!” is like manna from heaven to us), announcing interesting peripherals like a DS-linked pedometer and a Wii group chat device, and telling its potential customers there there’ll be more Wiis in stores this holiday season.
What can stop Nintendo? I’m not really sure. As many game developers have readjusted their priorities after seeing the runaway success of the Wii, I don’t foresee a shortage of decent games for the system. (In fact, I’m hopeful the junk/quality ratio will improve dramatically next year.)
The only danger I see ahead is that Nintendo could become a victim of its own success, giving the DS and Wii too long a shelf-life. But all of the recent announcement point toward Nintendo looking ahead and playing its cards close to the vest. They’ve got all the success they could want in the gaming world right now; we’ll have to wait and see what they do with it.
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‘Spore’: the full review
(This a follow-up to a “Spore” first-impressions piece I wrote last month.)
Perhaps it was a bit too much to ask.
Should my expectations been a little lower? I only wanted “Spore” to be the greatest computer game ever created. I didn’t think that was too much to expect from game guru Will Wright, the creator of “SimCity” and “The Sims,” the bestselling PC game of all time.
The concept was simple, but mind-blowing: “Spore” would allow you to create a creature and evolve it from the cellular stage, through evolving onto land, into tribal warfare and, finally, into space. When Will Wright presented the game in its incomplete form at South by Southwest Interactive 2007, a year and a half before its release, there was no doubt among attendees that Wright was going to deliver something miraculous.
Is “Spore” a miracle?
I’m conflicted. On one hand, “Spore” is a brilliant technical achievement. The tools it gives players to create, mold, animate and play with a mind-boggling array of creatures deserve admiration. At every stage of the game, whether you’re adding tiny fins to a microscopic creature or adjusting the fins of a giant spacecraft, you’re in Ultimate Sandbox territory. Putting the kinds of design and engineering power into the hands of casual gamers is incredibly empowering. Almost 34 million creations have been posted to the online “Sporepedia” in the month the game has been available.
But as a game? “Spore” looks back as much as it pushes the medium forward, incorporating elements of games like “Pac-Man,” “fl0w,” “Civilization” and “Warcraft” to varying effect. The five stages that make up the game end up being far less than the sum of their parts. The middle chunk of the game, which incorporates tribal life and city building felt like a chore. They played like lazy, uninspired versions of far superior real-time strategy games. The micromanaging in the Civilization stage becomes unnecessarily stressful. It was a chore to get through it.
If I’d been playing the game merely to play it, unaware that a rewarding “Space” stage was waiting for me later, I might have stopped playing. Even after I’ve played all five stages of the game, I’m in no rush to go back to “Spore” and play through it again or to create more creatures.
Yet, “Spore” is still a brilliant game for a certain audience that would rather build than level-up. As a casual game for the Nintendo Wii generation, “Spore” succeeds brilliantly. Tinkering, exploring, sharing — “Spore” excels in these areas even if it feels like a huge disappointment to the kind of gamer who grew up on Will Wright’s past games.
“Spore” does break new ground in a few areas in addition to being slickly produced. The way the game allows players to share their creations online, to bring in civilizations from other online players and to create “Sporecasts” is a smart way of building on the popularity of social networking.
And though I have to finally admit that maybe “Spore” simply isn’t the kind of game I’m interested in playing, I did have a blast playing the final Space section of the game. As your civilization makes the great leap into space, you zoom around solar systems, befriending or fighting against other species, trading loot and discovering new tools. Zooming in and out of the orbit of planets is exhilarating in “Spore” and the game mechanics (which will remind old-schools of games like “Privateer”) wear their welcome much less than the less-inspired Tribal and Civilization stages.
It made me wonder how many gamers won’t bother to plug through those middle chapters to get to the excellent gameplay of this last chunk.
“Spore” is an example of a well-made, brilliantly executed video game that I have no desire to play. The game has already found a willing audience, but those who crave fun gameplay instead of inspiring tools may be left feeling less than wowed by Will Wright’s game.
“Spore”
$50, for Mac and Windows PCs
Rated E-10, for Everyone 10+
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First impressions: ‘Little Big Planet’
Here’s a first look at Sony’s ambitious new project, “Little Big Planet” by our intern Hudson Lockett. “LBP” is due out Oct. 21. — Omar
More social than “Spore” and more sandbox than “Crackdown,” “LittleBigPlanet” is a gamer’s playground.
I had a chance to play with the beta for a few hours, and while I could easily just write “SO AWESOME” and walk away with a clear conscience, it’s more fun to share — a theme “LittleBigPlanet” takes to new heights.
The centerpiece of “LBP” is the Sackboy. Specifically, your Sackboy. More adorable than a Mii and less generic than Sony’s upcoming Home avatars, Sackboy (or Sackgirl) shows a lot of his personality through the controls the game has devoted to personal expression. Holding down the left or right triggers on the PS3 controller gives you control over your Sackboy’s respective arms. You can wave, point, and with enough force even deliver a good smack to one of your friends.
The motion controls of the Sixaxis are put to unobtrusive use here, directing the head of your idling Sackboy via tilt. You can click in the left stick to make the tilt correspond to his body instead, making for hilariously suggestive dance moves. Mapped to the D-pad are four expressions: up for happy, down for sad, left for nervous and right for angry.
Part of the fun is playing with other people, and I played with two other people in the room. The balance between cooperative play and competition is expertly handled — more than once I found myself helping a friend swing over a deadly pit one moment and competing for shiny point orbs the next. The winner gets a special nod at the end of each level, but you can always give them a good-natured smack during the celebrations.
Included in the beta were three levels from the game’s developer, Media Molecule, to show players the ropes and reward them with new costume pieces and items to use in the much-touted level creator.
Tutorials, narrated by Stephen Fry, help you get a grasp on the basics of making your own levels before setting you loose. From there you’re free to create, or check out the levels others have already uploaded to the “LBP” servers.
Though level creation in the beta isn’t anywhere near the full scope of the final product in terms of variety, the depth of possibilities was already impressive. It could probably support a healthy community of gamers for a long time as it is.
The levels I played ranged from basic platformer fare to a multi-part, tongue in cheek rendition of robbing a bank replete with a plot and in-stage dialogue. You can even mark levels after playing with provided tags that make it easy to find worthwhile levels while browsing.
After playing someone else’s level you can download it use the best bits in your own levels. That rocket car that sent you careening into a wall? Yours. That strangely stable duckmobile? Also yours. If you can see it, it’s yours to play with.
It’s a brave new creative playground, and when “LittleBigPlanet” launches in late October, it’s only going to get better.
“Little Big Planet”
$60
For PlayStation 3
Due out Oct. 21
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Review: ‘Beijing 2008’
Omar here. This is the first of several video game reviews by our intern staff. I’m working on a full review of “Spore” to post later today, but right now, please enjoy this review of “Beijing 2008” by Alex Daniel:
Still longing for some Olympic action even after the games have ended? Sega’s realistic multiplayer game “Beijing 2008” for the Xbox 360 may satisfy your craving, but perhaps not entirely.
“Beijing 2008” allows up to four players to compete simultaneously in an impressive variety of Olympic events over three different game modes. Gamers can engage in training, play head-to-head or create a dream team of athletes for their desired country to compete across the entire spectrum of track, field, swimming, gymnastics and other miscellaneous events.
Numerous as they may be, however, finding enjoyment in mastering the events is sometimes a challenge. Most of the gameplay involves furiously mashing buttons to gain speed, endlessly rotating joysticks to boost power levels or quickly holding triggers within finite time frames to determine launch angles.
Successfully executing a throw or a jump is satisfying enough, but the amount of physical exertion players must put into such tiny movements seems silly — it’s almost enough to make you break a sweat. This game surely would have made more sense on the Wii.
Still, the backdrops are vibrant and realistic, and the short, optional tutorials prior to each event make the game accessible to inexperienced and experienced gamers alike. This is also the first Olympics video game that allows online play.
A handful of the events are captivating on all levels. The gymnastics floor competition sets a DDR-like pressing of the right buttons at the right times to a peaceful oriental soundtrack, while in the diving competition all sounds cut out as you guide your diver in slow motion through complex flips and twists, before the crowd roars as the athlete submerges.
It’s a long way to 2012, but “Beijing 2008” should hold you for at least a few more weeks.
“Beijing 2008”
For Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3
$50
Rated E for Everyone
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Impressions: AT&T’s U-Verse Total Home DVR service
When it comes to DVR service, I’m a little bit like the food critic in “Ratatouille”: almost impossible to please. I broke up with my beloved DirecTV TiVo because it failed to keep up modern cable/satellite TV trends (remote recording, video-on-demand), even though I originally spent $1,000 on what at one time was my dream set-top box.
Months back when AT&T first told me about their fledgling U-verse TV/DVR service, I treated it a little like a yapping chihuahua underfoot: it seemed cute for what it was, but what I perceived as its limitations (the number of streams that could be recorded/watched at the same time) seemed pint-sized for me and difficult to embrace.
This week, AT&T has rolled out a major upgrade to its U-verse service for all but those on the most basic tier of its U-verse TV customers (the one without a DVR) at no additional cost. The new upgrade adds new features like being able to record a show on the DVR, but being able to watch it on any other TV in the house that has a receiver connected to it.
The “Total Home” allows a home to record up to four programs at one time (two in HD, two in standard-def) or to watch five HD programs at a time (two live HD programs, three recorded ones).
That’s a lot of TV and a lot to absorb. It sounds good, but how does it work in the living room real world? AT&T marketing person Adrian Cardwell was nice enough to open up his South Austin home to me to check it out.
In his condo, Cardwell had a standard U-verse DVR set up downstairs and a non-DVR receiver upstairs in his home office. We started out by checking out the basic DVR software. Cardwell told me that the software was designed by Microsoft, which set off all kind of alarm bells in my brain, but it turns out to be a good thing. The clean menus and elegant touches remind me much more of Microsoft Media Center than the rest of Windows, and that’s a good thing.
When you use the programming guide, a slightly transparent window appears over whatever you were already watching and picture-in-picture live previews are shows for other channels you’re scrolling through. Not only do you get information on that program and a live video of a channel, but you’re also told what’s playing next on that channel. They’re nice touches that make channel surfing a little easier.
We watched part of an episode of “Heroes” and the picture quality was exquisite. Often times on some TV services, even HD TV shows are compressed to the point that you can see pixellation and jagged edges on some programs, especially when it’s paused. Not so with this show. It looked great.
We paused the episode, went upstairs and were able to continue the program right where it left off on the second television/receiver.
We tried some interactive services like Yellowpages.com where you can enter your zip code and receive guide information (say, area restaurants or stores) off the Internet. There’s also a photo application for viewing images from a Flickr.com account and an interactive local weather application.
Video on demand, which included HBO-on-Demand and other services, pulled up programs almost instantly. We pulled up a recent episode of “Entourage” and there was almost no delay in getting the show to start. (By comparison, DirecTV’s HD-DVR retrieves VOD programs via an Internet connection; shows end up in a queue and can take several minutes to download enough to begin viewing.)
Shows recorded by the U-verse DVR are “soft padded” by default. That means the DVR automatically records a minute early and two minutes later than the program is scheduled. If you’ve ever been screwed by missing the last minute of “Lost” or “American Idol” because your recorder cut off earlier, it might cause for celebration. Unfortunately, if you record a lot of shows on a lot of different channels, and only have so many simultaneous HD recording streams, this inevitably causes recording conflicts. Luckily, the soft padding can be manually eliminated if you’d rather recordings stop and start at their scheduled times.
DVR recordings can also be set up through a PC or a mobile phone, a feature I’ve enjoyed using on my DirecTV account.
Overall, I found the Total Home DVR package to be slick, responsive and very, very impressive. Of course, you should take that judgment with a grain of salt: trying out a product for an hour is not the same as living with it 24/7. I had no way of seeing how the new software responds to a demanding schedule of constant recordings: even the best DVRs sometimes fall prey to glitches, lost recordings and dreaded reboots.
One issue I do have with Total Home is that because the whole home is running off of one DVR, you’re limited to 37 hours of HD recordings or 133 hours of standard-definition. That sounds like a lot of space, but if you primarily record HD, all those high-def movies, episodes of “Mad Men” and “Ugly Betty,” concerts and especially sporting events quickly fill up that space.
With competing services, you usually get multiple DVRs, one for each room, each with its own large hard drive for recording. By consolidating recordings to a single box, U-verse allows great flexibility, but not a lot of room to grow.
I asked whether external hard drives might be an option for future expansion and was told that the ports are there to allow for that, but that the ability for customers to add their own hard drive space doesn’t exist at the moment.
Nevertheless, AT&T has rolled out a very robust software upgrade to its customers and is continuing to build out some very fat Internet pipes. Streaming multiple HD streams doesn’t seem to affect home Internet use or other services that rely on that same bandwidth. Much of that can be credited to fiber optic connections, but even in Cardwell’s home, which has copper connections instead of fiber within the home, he’s had no bandwidth issues.
This week’s ongoing fight between Time Warner and KXAN is causing some cable customers to take a look at alternatives. It may be a coincidence or good planning on AT&T’s part, but U-verse is worth a look for those looking for another TV programming option.
I also took a look at AT&T’s new Home Manager device, but I’ll write about that in a future post. If you have U-verse, let us know what you think in the comments, please.
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