As someone who plays an alarming amount of games on a wide-variety of platforms, holding my attention past journalistic obligations can be a real challenge. More often than not, when I’ve turned in a review or preview, I’m immediately off to the next game. Very few titles manage to stick around and when they do I know I they are special. Only a couple games in recent memory have succeeded, including Battlefield Bad Company 2, MLB 10 The Show, the glorious Mount&Blade and my eternal passion, Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved on XBLA, which I will apparently be playing until the day I die. I can now add Pocket Legends from Spacetime Studios, a mobile action/MMO for iPhone and iPad.
If you haven’t heard of Pocket Legends then listen up: imagine having a portable version of a game like Diablo and World of Warcraft on your iPhone and/or iPad, featuring fully-realized 3D graphics, great sound, instanced dungeons, tons of loot, 3 character classes and low-latency multiplayer. Too good to be true? That’s what I thought. Pocket Legends will make a believer out of you.
I recently conducted an interview with Cinco Barnes, Creative Director at Spacetime Studios, which you can find here.
I’ve been following the development of Pocket Legends since the day it was released and have been very impressed by Spacetime Studios relentless updates. This is a game company hell-bent on winning, delivering fan-requested features and functionality at a blistering pace. Recently, Spacetime Studios released their biggest update yet in 1.1 and in so doing, have evolved Pocket Legends into something even more grand.
Here are some of the biggest changes:
Players can now trade items, which is great because prior to this, you couldn’t give your bestest friend in the whole wide-world that epic sword you randomly looted, so now you can silence the bitching and moaning.
You can now stash lucrative items in a vault for later use and expand the size of the vault by paying a small fee.
Instead of purchasing items like potions from the Store tab from within the character interface, players can now visit a proper vendor and, like World of Warcraft, marvel at the sheer number of players standing around, showing off their spell effects and emotes.
NPCs have a little more soul now, engaging the player in conversations and serving as tutorial guides for the uninitiated.
Players can now use Private Tells to secretly communicate. This is especially useful now in light of player trading, as you can easily pester that warrior in your group to kindly trade you that epic bow in exchange for something else.
The host of a game can now kick players, so that level 6 warrior who joined your level 25 group to leech XP can now be properly shown the door.
Those are the biggest changes, with quite a number of smaller features that add a great deal of polish. As awesome as this update is, Spacetime Studios isn’t going to just kick back and leave well enough alone. They have big plans in store for Pocket Legends, plans that include the following:
Increased Player Customization
Bank
Mailboxes
Quests
Secure Trades
Pets
PvP
Guilds
World Map
Player Housing
Auction House
Achievements and Leaderboards
Randomized Dungeons (oh God yes!)
That’s a hell of a list for a hell of a game.
If you haven’t joined the Pocket Legends bandwagon then you should get off your ass and start downloading. If you have just a shred of interest in MMOs then you owe it too yourself to see where the genre is going and how effective the mobile platform can be in handling this game type. Hell, even the Xbox 360 and PS3 continue to suffer an MMO drought; meanwhile, who would have thought the iPad and iPhone would fill the void? Blizzard may not want to dilly-dally on their mobile plans too much longer…
If I’ve piqued your interest then great. You can start downloading Pocket Legends right now, free of charge. Still not convinced? Check out the video below:
The iPad launched with an impressive lineup of titles, including Geometry Wars, Warpgate HD and X-Plane, but Pocket Legends, an action-MMO from Spacetime Studios quickly established itself as my favorite. Here is a game that delivers the goods; great 3D graphics, intuitive touch-controls, fast-paced action, atmospheric audio, addictive gameplay, smooth-as-silk multiplayer and a bevy of new content added at a blistering pace. Perhaps best of all, Spacetime Studios has delivered a game that is free to play, so there is no barrier to entry, though if you want to progress past level 13, you will have to pay a small, one-time fee that unlocks new content and maps.
At its core, Pocket Legends is an action-MMO, more along the lines of Diablo than World of Warcraft. Think of games like Torchlight, Nox and Dungeon Runner and you’ll have a pretty good idea as to what you’ll find waiting for you in Pocket Legends. Three character classes are on offer, including a range-class, magic and tank with different styles of play for each. Randomized loot drops from mobs and, for the most part, has a paper-doll influence over the look of your character. Tons of skills can be unlocked as you progress through the game, allocating those skills to a handy toolbar, much like you do in a traditional MMO.
Multiplayer is seamless, allowing a player to create their own instanced world that others can freely join via a built-in server browser, or one can opt to make the room private so you can play either alone or with friends. With a full group of players running a dungeon, Pocket Legends has showed no signs of lag or slowdown, even when the action comes on hot and heavy, a real testament to the amazing job Spacetime Studios did in pulling off this small wonder.
Interested in knowing more about how Pocket Legends came to be and its plans for the future, I was able to pose some questions to Cinco Barnes, Creative Director at Spacetime Studios, which you will find below.
First of all, congratulations to you and the rest of the team for delivering a quality product right out of the gate for the Apple iPad. Not only a quality product, but a breakthrough for the platform as it proves the device is more than competent at pulling off a mobile MMO. I understand the team was originally working on the iPhone version but shifted gears at some point and delivered the iPad version first. What was this transition like and why the decision to go after iPad first?
Apple’s iPad just blew us away! As soon as we learned about it, even with “Pocket Legends” in its final stages of development for iPhone / iPod Touch, we knew we needed to take advantage of iPad immediately. Within hours of Apple’s announcement the team was talking about how to leverage the big touchscreen, the faster processor and how the game experience would improve due to the new device’s larger form-factor.
Transitioning to iPad allowed us to put out a broader, more immersive version of “Pocket Legends” first. And to be quite honest, we also wanted to be part of the excitement surrounding iPad’s debut. As longtime Apple fans, the Spacetime team was really buzzing about the device and we figured a lot of other gamers would be, too.
People are using the term MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online) to describe Pocket Legends, though I have found it has far more in common with a game like Diablo and Torchlight, neither of which I would define as an MMO in the traditional sense. How does Spacetime Studios define Pocket Legends? Has the term ‘MMO’ evolved to encompass a wider breadth of games?
Spacetime defines “Pocket Legends” as a ‘Real-time 3D Mobile MMO’ due to the thousands of persistent characters, deep avatar and play-style customization, the huge list of loot items, the rich role-playing combat system, and the obvious real-time 3D technology. Additionally, “Pocket Legends” is an ongoing service with regular content updates and gameplay improvements. We involve our growing community in the way that all good MMO games should.
Once the team started down the path of making a ‘Mobile MMO’ we discovered that there are certain aspects of the traditional PC MMO that don’t carry-over into the mobile gaming platform very well. These things include features that players often use to define the MMO genre (like big open worlds, crafting systems, etc.). We designed a more streamlined experience to fit properly on the device and in the context of ‘gaming on the go.
You’ve released a free version of Pocket Legends, allowing players to progress to Level 13 with full access to the first zone. If players would like to progress further, they can pay $1.99 per zone pack. This is a unique model, generous in content for uncommitted players. How is this model working out for the company? Did the team explore other options for generating income, like a set monthly fee?
The model works great! We had a lot of spirited discussions related to the revenue model throughout the game’s development. These discussions ultimately led to one simple conclusion: we want everybody to be able to play “Pocket Legends” and we want everybody to be able to invite their friends without the hassle of an upfront cost.
Spacetime Studios also generates income from selling upgraded items from a virtual store within the game, something quite common on PC-based MMOs. This is always an interesting area of debate amongst gamers because some argue the items you buy with real money are usually better than anything a player could find in-game through grinding and/or boss battles. Is this true of Pocket Legends? I’m interested in knowing some of the internal debate about what to make available for sale when weighted against in-game items earned through play and reward.
The team at Spacetime Studios is comprised of serious gamers – so we’ve never been interested in making a game system where you can ‘pay your way’ to the top. There really wasn’t any debate at all. We just made it so the best stuff comes only from loot drops. However, we do see the value of supplementing the play experience with purchases of ‘very good’ and ‘really cool-looking’ items! In this respect, we want people to enjoy the bling, the color variety, and the handful of special extras that come from buying items with real money – just not the top of the power-curve.
Did Spacetime have access to an iPad prior to release? If not (I assume not), then I am fascinated how one goes about designing a game for a device they have never held or used. It seems there is a lot of faith involved, especially in something as ambitious as Pocket Legends. How can the team be so sure the frame-rate will run at an acceptable speed?
Faith, yes. Lots of faith! At the point we started working on the iPad version of the game we already knew that the iPhone / iPod Touch version ran very well and was a lot of fun. We were quite certain that the iPad’s larger presentation and faster processor would make the experience much more immersive.One notable advantage we have in this regard is the Spacetime Studios technology.
Our engine and tools suite (which has been iterated and refined since 2005) is amazingly flexible, configurable and provides the kind of performance analysis we needed to ensure that the game would run beautifully on iPad.The Spacetime engine also allowed the team to play the iPhone or iPad version (in a simulator running on our desktop computers) with a simple configuration switch. This minimized the translation cost of development between the two device platforms and gave us tremendous confidence that the iPad version would rock.
What was it like when the team was finally able to play the game on a physical iPad?
It was an incredible rush for the team to play it on the iPad! We had all been playing “Pocket Legends” on our phones for months and we were very happy with its immediacy and portability. But then once we could play the game on a much larger screen with all the cool bells and whistles (bigger HUD, the larger skill pop-up window on all the time, emotes on all the time, and the more immersive 3D camera) we were floored! It was suddenly a more substantial, more immersive experience. We started talking about how we’d play on iPhone while we’re out and about and then play on the iPad when we were lounging at home. In the few weeks that I have been playing Pocket Legends, I have seen a ton of content updates, including content for the free version, which is great. Along with new content, the team seems committed to squashing bugs and adding new features. What’s the philosophy at Spacetime at about this level support?
Our philosophy is pretty simple. We play the game for fun as much as we can. We read the forums carefully and we take their advice very seriously. We then decide on the priority of bug-fixes and new content based on a mixture of our personal experiences as gamers and the feelings expressed by our players in the forums… and it all seems to work quite well!
What were some of the biggest challenges in bringing Pocket Legends to the iPad?
The biggest challenge was actually making the 3D mobile MMO technology that runs on the iPhone and iPod Touch. But in terms of the iPad specifically – the biggest challenges involved how we’d take advantage of the larger touchscreen and the faster processor.We spent a lot of time re-designing and revising the in-game interface (the heads’ up display that shows skills, emotes, status, etc.). We also spent considerable time creating a new camera for the iPad that had an additional ‘pitch’ axis, allowing you to play the game in more of an ‘over the shoulder’ perspective. These were both pretty big changes from the iPhone version and big design challenges. Any words of wisdom to other developers about working with the iPad?
If you are planning to release your game on both the iPad and on the iPhone you’ll be doing yourself a favor if you design for the smaller devices first. That way you’re not down-scaling your iPad game to fit on a phone or Touch… but upgrading your graphics and taking advantage of more screen space, faster processor, etc.It’s a lot more fun for us developers to up-scale our work! I assume Spacetime has big plans for Pocket Legends as the game evolves. Any chance gamers may find some form of PvP added?
We love PVP in many varieties so – yes. No idea exactly when we’ll do this (or what exact form the PVP games will take) but we have plans for this and several other major systems to come online in future updates. Can you offer fans any hints as to what they can expect from Pocket Legends in the near future?
We’ll have basic ‘banking’ and trading features coming online. We also have plans to integrate more storytelling (NPC conversations, etc.) in a future update. And further down the line we have a number of friend, group and guild-related features that we’re excited to include.
In the short-term we’ll be adding more dungeon maps (free ones, too) and more loot item drops – especially more epic and legendary high-end stuff!
Why do you think so few companies are delivering true multiplayer experiences like Spacetime? It seems most multiplayer games are either turn-based or stuck with local WiFi.
The team has a lot of experience shipping 3D games on multiple platforms and just as much experience in the world of MMO games. As a studio we just really love 3D and we’ve had fun in the past pushing the limits of real-time for large-scale MMO games (like “Star Wars: Galaxies”). Has anyone on the team worked on other titles that gamers may be familiar with?
The team’s collective PC MMO resume includes games like “Ultima Online,” “Star Wars Galaxies,” “SWG: Jump to Lightspeed,” and a few other titles hard-core fans might be familiar with. We’re also the guys behind Clockrocket Games’ “Zombie Weatherman” and “Shotgun Granny” (and several other games) for iPhone and iPod Touch.
Instead of delivering a standard fantasy world that so many other companies are perfectly content with, the team at Spacetime obviously took the time to create some fresh character classes and races. How did this come about?
The earliest iteration of the game fiction was totally the ‘traditional’ medieval fantasy thing. But as we went along we really never fell in love with it. So we kept collaborating and brainstorming – pushing to find something fresh that resonated with all of us.
Somewhere along the line we started relating the game archetypes to ‘animals.’ We thought that maybe a ‘cartoon bear’ would be a good ‘tank’ archetype. It followed that a ‘bird’ with his quick reflexes and great eyesight would be an excellent ranged combat guy… and so forth. Once we had these basic ideas in-mind we reached out to one of our favorite character concept artists (Brett Bean). As soon as we saw his first pencil sketches we knew that we had found what we were looking for! What is Spacetime focusing on now? Further extending Pocket Legends and/or do you have a new project underway?
At the moment Spacetime is 100% focused on continued development of “Pocket Legends.” We have new content and application updates in the pipeline and it’s all really very exciting for us! Thank you for your time, Mr. Barnes.
Pocket Legends is available for both the iPhone and iPad. It is free to play, so you have no excuses for not checking out one of the top games currently available for either platform.
I received my new Apple iPad on April 3rd, a Saturday morning, delivered by an obviously exhausted UPS driver whose day was not yet half over. Taking quick possession of the package, I wasted little time in using an abandoned door key to slice through packing tape, eventually exposing the Apple packaging within. Like everything else Apple does, even the packaging shows clear signs of design and thought. Whereas it probably took you an hour to open the plastic shell of a recent tech purchase, including time spent devising new curse words, the Apple iPad is freed from its cocoon in under 5-seconds, with no curse words required or primed.
I’m A PC, With Apple Tendencies. Does That Make Me Bitechual?
I’m a life-long PC user. I’ve never owned an Apple product, save for a brief stint with an Apple II+ in the 80s, and that was only to play the original Wolfenstein and the Pinball Construction Kit. Since that brief interlude, I’ve been PC the entire way, even casting aspersions on Apple owners when my allegiance shifted towards the Amiga 500 and 2000 computer for many enjoyable years.
Like most PC loyalists, I have gazed upon Apple products over the years with much envy, though no true PC-enthusiast should ever admit such a feeling, lest he lose his tech-cred, but truth is truth. One cannot argue with Apple’s design philosophy or the quality of their products. One can argue about Apple’s Nintendo/Disney-like control of the platform and its schizoidal treatment of developers; all valid concerns.
Two central issues have prevented me from securing an Apple computer over the years: expense and lack of quality video games. I’ve built every computer I have used for the past twenty or so years, computers that were incredibly cheap to compile yet extremely fast, with the latest 3D cards and whatnot. Buying a pre-built computer like an Apple that sells for 4-8 times what I can build for the PC platform just didn’t seem like a wise move. Less wise considering I didn’t see much in the way of Apple software that couldn’t be found on the PC. When it came to videogames, Apple wasn’t even trying very hard to penetrate the market and this was a deal-killer for me. Even today, Apple computers are still lagging behind in the video game market, though it has made some serious inroads over the past few years.
About two years ago, I purchased my mother an Apple iPhone, as I thought it would be the perfect fit for her needs. It was, and still is. She loves it. It was this period of time that I frequently found myself in the same room with the iPhone and I couldn’t help myself; I had to fiddle with it and explore the apps. I was hooked. What a great interface. What power. Problem is, I don’t need a phone. I’ve never owned a mobile phone and have no plans to ever own one. As an anti-social recluse, I simply have no one to call. So I thought too myself, “Self, this iPhone is pretty cool, but what I really want is something with a bigger screen that doesn’t bother with all of this phone nonsense.” Self was pretty happy when Steve Jobs revealed the iPad. I was immediately sold.
No Flash! No Multi-Tasking! No Camera! Apple Control!
The above subhead pretty much sums up the argument people waged against the iPad. The only one of any concern was Apple’s refusal to support Adobe Flash, but this has turned out to be a non-event. In the 48-hours I have been using the iPad, I have yet to miss Flash. Besides, the Flash problem will be resolved, one way or another, very soon, as HTML 5 is gaining traction and moving rapidly. Adobe will lose this war.
Multitasking is not a concern of mine. I barely “multitask” on my PC. I suspect most people don’t really multitask when you look at their actual activities, as they do one thing at a time, switching from one program to the next with Alt-Tab (on a PC) or the taskbar. The act of switching between two different programs, and the action required to toggle between the two, is no different than hitting the Home button on an iPad and launching a different app. When you return to your original app, it remembers what you were doing and you can continue onwards. If Apple had called the Home button “Alt-Tab” then all this talk of multitasking would have faded sooner. Besides, like the Flash War, multitasking will soon be coming to the iPad in a future OS update, removing one more argument against the device.
No camera? I don’t even use the webcam I have on my PC and I’ve used the Live Vision camera on my Xbox 360 a grand total of one time, so this omission has no bearing on me. If I want to take pretty pictures then I’ll use my Canon digital camera, which is far superior to anything you’d find on a mobile. Again, like all of the other arguments, the lack of a camera will be addressed in future versions of the iPad for those of you who just can’t function without one.
That leaves Apple Control as an argument. If you read Cory Doctorow’s editorial at Boing-Boing, the Apple iPad is marked with the Number of the Beast and represents all that is wrong with the world. He feels Apple exerts too much control over the platform, serves as Gatekeeper to applications, and stifles innovation from 3rd-party developers. Unfortunately for Cory, his argument is hollow and without merit, especially in the face of reality. Despite Apple’s control of the platform, it hasn’t prevented hundreds of thousands of apps from being created and sold by companies not named Apple. Thousands of people and companies are now making their living off the iPhone and Apple doesn’t appear to be standing in the way.
Of course, if you absolutely have to have pathetic “boobie-apps” then I guess this is where you’ll win the argument about Apple Control, yet I don’t find myself caring in the least. I’m not going to miss an iTunes app store littered with useless boobie programs, nor will I boycott the platform based on their exorcism.
As a final blow to Cory Doctorow’s weak argument against the iPad, it took less than a day to “jailbreak” the iPad, meaning it will soon be open to every hacker who wants to dabble on the platform. So much for a closed environment.
2001: A Space Odyssey
There was one more reason I decided to pre-order an iPad, sight-unseen: Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. According to my mother, 2001 was the first movie I ever saw in a theater. I was two years old in 1969 and don’t have any crystal-clear memories of the event, but 2001 has been a part of my life ever since. I’ve probably seen the movie more than any other. So how does 2001 tie in with the iPad? Simple: the iPad is in the movie. The device depicted in the film, and the movie poster, left an impression on me like a Tie-Fighter left an impression on a kid in 1979. I wanted one. I ‘ve wanted one ever since. In 2010, Steve Jobs finally delivered the device of my childhood dreams, akin to finally getting my hands on a mythical Gobstopper or light-saber.
Central Figure Holds iPad-Like Device, 1969.
Crew of Discovery Eat Breakfast While Viewing Video on iPad-Like Device
My Experience With the Apple iPad
Weight: The first thing you notice about the iPad is the weight. At 1.5-pounds, I wouldn’t call it super-light, but it doesn’t feel like a boulder, either. It feels just right, enough heft for stability, not enough weight to bulk your arms up to Hulk-like proportions. It quickly becomes evident that you will have to conform to the iPad instead of the iPad conforming to you. Each person will find their own sweet-spot in how best to hold it, or forsake holding it and just prop it up on your lap, set it on a table, whatever. With an avalanche of 3rd-party accessories on the horizon, you can expect a slew of options that will help maximize the experience. Heck, even Apple’s iPad case can be folded into a useful stand, perfect for reading iBooks or watching videos.
The Screen:A thing of beauty. Super-bright at the maximum setting, crystal-clear resolution at 1024×768. Games look fantastic and videos look just as good.
iBooks:I’m surrounded by hundreds of actual, physical books. I’ve easily purchased thousands of books throughout my life. Hell, I’ve even written a few, so tangible books have a special place in my heart. However, after spending some quality time with iBooks, I can say without hesitation that I will never buy another physical book again unless I have no other option. I stayed away from the Kindle because it seemed over-priced for the little it could do. Glad I waited. Now I have more power than the Kindle and a far superior reader. Even the Kindle app for iPad is better than what you’d find on an actual Kindle. If you’re an avid reader ready to make the digital leap, then the iPad cannot be beat.
The Apps: The iPad is only as useful and “magical” as the Apps that give the device its function. Whether I’m using Brushes, a great paint program or Netflix, which is significantly faster than the Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii versions, I’ve been impressed at the vast majority of popular apps. Larger screen real-estate makes a mountain of difference. Most impressive, from a technical level, is Desktop Connect, a $12 app that allows you to control the desktop and programs on your PC or Mac. So, from the comfort of my bed last night, I was able to play a little Mount & Blade Warband, a PC game, from my iPad. You could also use Desktop Connect to launch your PC’s browser if you really need to watch Hulu videos.
The Experience: Navigating the interface and apps of the iPad is a joy. Everything is just so easy, so responsive, so fast and intuitive. It’s an addicting environment. Some apps are better-designed than others and I attribute this to very few developers having access to an actual iPad during this initial phase of development.
The overwhelming majority of apps and games currently available were created on an iPad emulator, which unfortunately cannot emulate the weight of the device or how it feels within your hands. As such, a game like Geometry Wars, which is awesome, has one noticeable design flaw in where they put the Bomb button, i.e., at the lower end of the screen, right in the middle – the the most difficult location to press when using the iPad in landscape mode. It’s little things like this that are the most apparent, though fortunately it is all easily fixed. Now that the iPad is out in the wild and developers have the actual device, future apps will be better designed.
Integration into My Life
This is the most important aspect of the Apple iPad: how will it integrate into your life? Do you really need one? Within the first 48-hours, the iPad has already become an integral part of daily routine. It has become my full-time web-browser, part-time game console, lightweight and portable word-processor, my art canvas, my bookshelf and my social connections. I am officially unshackled from my desktop PC, able to roam around my house, hang out in the backyard or sit on the toilet.Yes, you heard me: the iPad passes the Toilet Test with flying colors; no tech gadget can be successful unless it passes the Toilet Test and I am pleased to say I was able to do my business and use the iPad at the same time.
The iPad is always there. It’s the kind of device you leave sitting on your coffee table while watching TV, always accessible. Considering it boots within a second and can launch the Safari browser in the blink of an eye, connecting with websites via the super-fast WiFi-N standard, it’s the ultimate reference device. With a latop you’d have to open the display, boot it up, wait and wait and by the time your browser is launched you may have lost interest in whatever impulsive piece of information you were intent on looking for. Even better, the iPad runs anywhere from 10-12 hours on a full-charge, which is nothing short of amazing.
For instance, last night I was watching 60 Minutes and they previewed a story about a smokeless tobacco called Snus. I’ve never heard of Snus, so I grabbed the iPad and knew everything I needed to know in under one minute, before 60 Minutes even had time to return from a commercial break. If I had been using a laptop, it would have still been booting by the time the commercial ended. Without the iPad, I probably wouldn’t have been inclined to use a latop or venture into my office and do a Google search. Better yet, once I had the information on Snus I was after, I passed the iPad around the room and everyone else was duly informed. Passing a laptop around isn’t the easiest thing in the world.
What’s Not to Like?
The iPad doesn’t ship with earbuds.
The screen is a fingerprint-magnet, though very easy to clean.
Sound quality is excellent, though stereo speakers would have been nice.
Some 3rd-party apps not intuitively designed because they didn’t have a reference model.
Periodic WiFi hiccups that find Safari and apps hanging when trying to connect. If I disable Wifi and reconnect, this problem seems be get solved. Seems like a problem that can be fixed with an update, though there is the likelihood my router is to blame. Anyone else having this issue?
The pricing of Apps is all over the place with little in the way of consistency. I’ll chalk this up to growing pains, much like those initial months of iPhone apps. Eventually the market will settle and prices will begin to gel with reality.
Looking Onward
As great as the iPad is, it will only improve with new OS updates and vastly superior applications. It’s an incredible device, a true showcase of engineering. However, there is one area that is really bothering me, though it has less to do with the iPad and more to do with traditional media: the pricing for newspapers, magazines and comic books. What the world needs is a Netflix for print-media. Let me explain:
I’d love to be able to read some Marvel comics, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and a few magazines like Time and Newsweek. Unfortunately, the current pricing model leaves a lot to be desired. You’ll find an inordinate amount of nickel-and-diming going on and this ultimately will prove a problem for traditional media. Take the fantastic Marvel Comics app as an example. With this application you have full access to Marvel’s current slate of comics, plus tons of back issues. Problem is, you have to pay for each issue individually. I’d rather see a flat-fee in place that allows members to either read everything they want, or at the very least, tier the subscriptions at various content levels.
In a perfect world, I’d love to pay a single subscription fee that allows me access to a huge amount of media. Your membership fee would include all the titans; The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Time, Newsweek, Wired, Popular Science, Marvel, DC, Image, etc. All you can eat for, say, $15 a month. Just like Netflix. Work for you? Sure works for me.
One Happy Customer
I love to poke holes in things. If any of you happen to read my video game editorials then you know I am fully capable of ripping something apart. I don’t have allegiances to products because I spent my own money on something. Quite the contrary, I am usually more critical when my own money is involved, like when I ripped Mass Effect 2 a new a-hole. I was fully prepared to feel regret and remorse at the purchase of my iPad. I salivated at the thought of writing a brutal editorial about the many failures of Apple’s new device and the traffic it would bring. Unfortunately, the iPad is too great for an angry editorial. It truly is a magical device that has already found more uses than I imagined possible.
Best of all, this entire post was written from my iPad, all 2800 words. I wrote some of it from my sofa, some of it from the kitchen as I waited for my coffee to finish brewing, some of it from the toilet just to see if it could pass the Porcelain Test. I initially suspected that typing on a glass screen would be a pain, seriously reducing the amount of words I generate per minute, but this concern did not manifest. I’d say I’m currently typing at about 95% of my normal speed, and this will only improve as I become more comfortable.
Do you own an iPad? Have questions about the iPad? Can’t believe a PC loyalist has turned his back on you? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Being an invested spectator during the handling of the Nintendo DSi XL / 3DS affair over the past couple weeks has been one of the most fascinating, and confounding, situations I have seen in the nearly 20 years I have been watching the industry.
Now it’s not the first time there has been a bad hardware launch, this isn’t our first exposure to an information leak, and we’ve certainly seen more demonstrations of bad Public Relations decisions. The SEGA Dreamcast, PSP Go pictures, and caged nude dancers are three of the first examples that come quickly to my mind, while readers will no doubt be able to come up with even better ones of their own.
But this perfect storm is quite unique. Days before the launch of another very optional $100+ incremental hardware upgrade, Nintendo hastily shoots out a short, detail-light press release announcing their next big handheld which will be 3D-capable!?!
What was the response?
I had been expecting to write an article myself on the NDSi XL once I had made my purchase, but here is an excerpt from an email I wrote to one of the Staff here, Mike Siciliano:
I ended up waiting on my purchase of the NDSi XL. It is just a lot of money and frankly I am pissed at the constant baby steps of hardware improvements and releases Nintendo makes and insulted they would have the gall (sp?) to announce another major piece of hardware (an entire new platform!) just days before the XL release at retail. I almost feel like writing an article about that. Will it play NDS games? If so, and it’s not to far off, I am not going to play their game this time and I’ll just be frustrated, increasingly angry, and try to wait it out. In this economy gamers and parents of gamers don’t have money to throw around but many of them do have an almost religious loyalty to Nintendo that could very easily be taken advantage of. Sometimes I wonder if they are just doing what they do, or doing what they think they can do?
I try to remain as objective as possible professionally, but in this personal email my frustration isn’t very well hidden as I start thinking more and more about Nintendo operating as a company trying to make their money selling hardware. I called my local GameSpot and it seems 12 other pre-orders had been canceled and the initial numbers of pre-orders were already lower than they expected. This, of course, is not scientific, but it shouldn’t be ignored if you believe that the buying audience was already restricted to very loyal Nintendo-philes. (Oh, were you supposing large print-dependent senior citizens had always been waiting, wallet-in-hand, for a larger screen before joining Nintendo’s “Touch Generation”?)
So why did they do this? Who decides to upstage themselves and distract from the slow bleed-out of hardware upgrades already in progress? Whoever it was seems to have placed a much higher value on being “first”, rather than trying to contain the possible financial repercussions or message control.
I had been expecting to write an article myself on the NDSi XL once I had made my purchase, but here is an excerpt from an email I wrote to one of the Staff here, Mike Siciliano:
