Raymond Padilla

Nintendo Selling Refurbished 3DS, DSi XL Hardware

Nintendo’s online store has been updated to include refurbished 3DS and DSi XL hardware. The products come with a one-year warranty and “are guaranteed to be fully functional, but may have minor cosmetic blemishes.” A refurbed 3DS costs $129.99, while DSi XL units are available for $99.99. On Amazon.com, a new 3DS can be had for as low as $165, while a new DSi XL runs for $143. Refurbished hardware bundles packaged with a game are also available.

What do you guys and gals think of Nintendo’s refurb deals? Are they a good value? Or would you rather buy a new system? Any of you planning to pick up a refurbished 3DS or DSi XL?

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Vaping Diaries #59: Brian Worthy Talks The Vapor-Mart

One of the newer vape shops in Los Angeles is The Vapor-Mart, located on the border of Hollywood and West Hollywood. For those of you not familiar with LA, this is one of the coolest areas in town, full of trendy restaurants and clothing boutiques. Adorned with paintings and sculptures from local artists, the vibe of The Vapor-Mart totally fits the neighborhood. Check out the video interview with co-owner Brian Worthy to learn how the store got started and to see some sweet artwork.

On the hardware side, the store focuses on new to intermediate vapers. There are cig-alike products, as well as smaller kits that feature the eGo-T and eGo Twist. More advanced mods include the SmokTech Bolt and Joyetech eVic. Top-of-the-line products include gorgeous mechanicals like the Atmomixani Gus 22 and 69, as well as House of Hybrids products like the Zenesis Sidewinder and Z-Atty-Pro. In the future, the store hopes to include more mechanical mods and rebuildable atomizers.

As for e-liquid, the shop is proud to only offer juices that are made in the USA. The lineup includes Mountain Oak Vapors, Virgin Vapor, Villain Vapors, Zeus e-Juice, and Desert Horizon. Customers are free to sample all the e-liquids they wish. For tasting, the shop has a great bar setup, with Vivi Nova Mini clearomizers loaded up with 0mg nicotine versions of all the juices. Customers just to need to put their drip on the clearo and the clearo on their battery to find the right juice for them.

The Vapor-Mart has partnered with local Los Angeles artists to offer some beautiful paintings and sculptures. The store gets some unique decorations that make the place look fantastic, while the artists get free gallery space. Should the art sell, all proceeds go to the artist. It’s a win-win situation for the store and the artists.

While there are loads of vape shops north and (especially) south of Los Angeles, there aren’t that many in the city itself. I love that stores like The Vapor-Mart and the Vaping Ape LA have opened up within the last few months. Hopefully this is the start of a burgeoning LA vape scene. On a side note, my fine friend Paul and I often lunch near The Vapor-Mart, usually before a trip to the excellent Golden Apple Comics. It looks like our long lunches are going to get even longer, with good food, nerdy conversation, comics, and vaping on our agenda.

Google Now Available For iOS

Google has updated its Google Search app for iOS to include Google Now. For those of you not familiar with the product, Google Now is an intelligent search assistant that uses natural language input and a card-based system to serve you information. Many tech experts feel that Google Now is a much more powerful and effective alternative to Apple’s Siri product. While there are certainly similarities, I believe that the products are different enough that a direct comparison is somewhat inaccurate. In practical terms, I’ve gotten way more mileage out of Google Now on my Android devices than Siri on my iOS devices.

Here’s a clip from Google’s blog with additional info:

Google Now is about giving you just the right information at just the right time. It can show you the day’s weather as you get dressed in the morning, or alert you that there’s heavy traffic between you and your butterfly-inducing date—so you’d better leave now! It can also share news updates on a story you’ve been following, remind you to leave for the airport so you can make your flight and much more. There’s no digging required: cards appear at the moment you need them most—and the more you use Google Now, the more you get out of it.

Due to the way Apple manages notifications and background processes, Google Now for iOS is slightly less powerful than its Android counterpart. It currently lacks some of the cards found in the Android version too. That said, it’s still a very powerful information tool and I recommend giving it a go.

If you play around with Google Now of iOS on your iPhone or iPad, I’d love to hear about your experience with it in the comments section.

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Vaping Diaries #58: Cafe Ahlusion Opens This Week

Ahlusion is one of my favorite e-liquid vendors in the vaping business and I’m thrilled that the company is opening its cafe this week. In addition to being able to hang out and enjoy some of the best e-liquids around, you’ll be able to enjoy beverages made with the same ingredients as the juices. For example, the company has a sasparilla beverage based on its unique and delicious W&A Sasparilla e-liquid. The site also states, “Don’t be surprised to find some of our actual flavors on our site also avialable in coffee, tea, smoothie or juice form.”

As an added bonus, you’ll be able to watch some RPadTV Vaping Diaries video reviews starring Raina Lee and me. I’m sure that customers will enjoy staring at the super-cute Raina and I’m also sure that I’ll scare some customers away. Ha! Seriously though, I feel honored that Ahlusion’s Wlad and Alley are playing my videos at Cafe Ahlusion. Check out the two photos in the article featuring my reviews. Hopefully I’ll make it out to Swartz Creek, MI some time in 2013, enjoy Cafe Ahlusion, and interview Wlad. It sounds like a brilliant trip — exquisite e-liquids, a cool cafe, and chatting with a true master of vaping juices.

Coffee Talk #580: The Appeal of Videogame Live Streaming?

My friend Paul and I were talking about the popularity of videogame live streaming…and how we don’t get it. Since both of us are out of the target demographic (he’s Statler, I’m Waldorf), there’s a very real chance that it’s simply a generational thing that’s beyond our understanding. Hopefully, you guys and gals can help me understand why millions of people enjoy watching someone playing a single-player game, because I don’t see the appeal. Right now, I’m all Edwin Starr when it comes to live streaming: “What is it good for? Absolutely nothing.”

Where’s the fun in…more

Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, losing count of the number of injured Lakers, attempting (again) to master rebuildable dripping atomizers, or cheesecloth, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

Where’s the fun in watching a person play through a single-player game? Wouldn’t you rather…oh, I dunno…play the game yourself? Do people use live streams to make purchasing decisions? That’s somewhat understandable. I could almost buy the argument that watching a live stream can give a gamer a more honest view of a game. However, I much rather read a review from a critic that I trust. That seems like a more efficient use of time.

It kind of bugs me that I feel like a crotchety old man that just doesn’t get it. That’s where you come in! Please help me understand the appeal of videogame live streaming in the context of single-player games. If you enjoy them, kindly list the reasons in the comments section. If you don’t, but understand why other people do, then please explain it to me. Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you’re my only hope.

What Are You Playing This Weekend?

After working on secret-project game, I’m itching to run around and beat the crap out of bad guys using a variety of superheroes. I’m also gearing up for the Iron Man 3 review screening on Monday. With all of that in mind, I think this weekend is going to be all about Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2. I love these kinds of action-RPGs — always have. From Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance to X-Men: Legends to Justice League Heroes, I’m always down to beat the crap out of minions, break objects to find power-ups, and occasionally tackle boss characters. For my tastes, it’s a tried and true formula that I can’t get enough of.

How about you? What’s on your weekend playlist?

Vaping Diaries #57: Ahlusion Review IV

Ah, another Ahlusion review. These are always fun to do because the company is so good. My excellent friend Glenda was over this week and tried some of the Ahlusion goods I had. She had a moment that reminded me of one of Alan Rickman’s lines in Bottle Shock; she got quiet after vaping them and said, “All these Ahlusion juices…are…so good!” Anyway, back to the review. This time around I vaped the company’s Boba Tea with Lychee, Honey Cured, and Peachy Criminal. Two of the e-liquids were outstanding — easily two of the best I’ve had in 2013. The other was good, but not what I was expecting. Here are the breakdowns and steeping notes.

Boba Tea with Lychee: Raina and I covered plain Boba Tea in January and enjoyed it. I had high hopes for this juice, since I often order boba with lychee in real life. As far as the lychee flavor goes, it’s spot on — very clean and flavorful. Unfortunately, there’s too much of it. It drowns out the milk tea flavor associated with boba. The milky sweetness that I like in plain Boba Tea is overpowered by the lychee, making this juice more like Lychee with Boba Tea than Boba Tea with Lychee. While this juice was definitely well made, the flavor wasn’t quite what I wanted or expected.

The good news is that Ahlusion has changed the formula from when I ordered the juice. The company says that it should be more balanced out now. Considering that the majority of my Ahlusion experiences have been fantastic, I’m willing to give the company the benefit of the doubt and will revisit the flavor in a future review.

Honey Cured: This juice is part of Ahlusion’s phenomenal aromatic line of tobacco e-liquids, which includes two of my favorite tobacco e-liquids: Blue Grass Burley and Vurley. Like those two fine juices, I absolutely love this one, but it’s a little bit different than its sisters. For people intimidated by the aromatic line, this is a great starter juice since it’s not as bold as the others. It’s still way more flavorful than the majority of tobacco e-liquids on the market, but the somewhat lighter tobacco combined with the sweet honey taste makes it more approachable than the other aromatics I’ve enjoyed.

As for the honey flavor itself, its very sweet and natural-tasting. Normally, I don’t enjoy e-liquids that are too sweet, but this one is amazingly well balanced. The strength and complexity of the tobacco combines with the bright honey sweetness perfectly. I’m often amazed by how masterful Ahlusion is with blending flavors. Honey Cured is another example of why the company is better than the vast majority of its competitors. Like the other aromatic juices, this one isn’t ideal for carto/tanks; it tastes great in a clearomizer and tastes divine in a dripping atomizer.

On a side note, I spilled some of this juice on my sleeve and a cute girl in an elevator thought it was “hot” cologne. This is the first e-liquid I’ve vaped that lead to a coffee date. Bonus! (Also, hi Kyung!)

Peachy Criminal: I love peach. I love tobacco. Ergo peach-tobacco e-liquids should be a homerun for me. As I learned with HHV’s Georgia Peach Tobacco, that’s not necessarily the case. Fortunately, this juice surprised me and exceeded my expectations. Some people feel that this juice has too much going on, but I completely disagree. I loved the blend of Smooth Criminal’s nutty and sweet tobacco combined with a fantastic peach flavoring. It comes together brilliantly. Whereas HHV’s juice tasted like the flavors were fighting for supremacy, the flavors in this e-liquid complemented each other marvelously, resulting in a blissful vape.

One caveat with this juice is that you should give it a long steep. For me, the juice started to “bloom” five weeks in and really started to change after two months. Some people like to steep their Smooth Criminal for as long as four months. In my experience, five weeks is good, but two months is better.

While I loved Honey Cured (as I thought I would), I’m going with Peachy Criminal as my favorite of this batch. I’ve had other full-bodied tobacco e-liquids that I’ve enjoyed as much or more than Honey Cured, but I’ve never had a better peach tobacco than Peachy Criminal.

Steeping Notes
On the advice of Wlad from Ahlusion, I’ve been trying a new steeping method starting December 27, 2012. When the e-liquids arrive, I leave them uncapped for five minutes. Previously, I left them uncapped for about two days. After the liquids are given a few minutes to oxidize, the caps are put back on. The bottles are shaken every day for at least two weeks before vaping.

Boba Tea with Lychee
50/50 PG/VG ratio, 0mg nicotine
Uncapped: January 1, 2013 2:12PM
Vaped: April 4-10, 2013

Honey Cured
70/30 PG/VG ratio, 6mg nicotine
Uncapped: January 12, 2013 2:50PM
Vaped: April 5-10, 2013

Peachy Criminal
50/50 PG/VG ratio, 6mg nicotine
Uncapped: January 1, 2013 2:12PM
Vaped: April 5-10, 2013

Review Process (Updated February 17, 2013)
RPad.TV e-liquid reviews focus on the flavor of the e-liquids, since throat hit and vapor production can be altered by the PG/VG ratio and nicotine level selected. Each juice is vaped over a period of days in an atomizer, a cartomizer/tank setup, and a clearomizer. The exception is naturally-extracted tobacco (NET) juice; since those are known to clog up cartomizers quickly, those are vaped in atomizers and clearomizers.

No Nintendo Press Conference at E3 2013

As Polygon reported yesterday, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata said that the company will not have a traditional press conference at the E3 2013 trade show. Instead, the company will focus on smaller events. Whether this is a sound strategy or not remains to be seen. What’s certain is that is creates a perception problem for Nintendo. Its major competitors, Microsoft and Sony, are going large with events to promote upcoming console hardware. By not having a competing presser, many pundits believe that the company looks weak, whether that’s a fair judgement or not.

For my part, I couldn’t help but think of the last major console company not to have an E3 presser: Sega. Before it was Microsoft vs. Nintendo vs. Sony, it was Nintendo vs. Sega vs. Sony. I distinctly remember videogame journalists predicting the demise of Sega when the company announced that it wasn’t having an E3 press conference. Many of them had the knee-jerk reaction that it was a sign of the company’s impending doom as a console-hardware manufacturer. And that knee-jerk reaction was right.

Nintendo’s supporters are defending the move by saying that E3 doesn’t matter anymore, the trade show isn’t for the enthusiast press (and by extension, readers of enthusiast outlets) anymore, and that Nintendo plays a different game than the other console companies. I’m not going to argue any of those points because that’s not a debate that can be won. What’s undeniable is that by not having an E3 2013 press conference, Nintendo has created a perception problem that the company’s marketing and PR teams will have to fight.

Of course I want to hear your take on the issue too, because you guys and dolls are smart and awesome. RPadholic smartguy and I touched on it briefly in the RPad.TV live chat, but lets keep the conversation going. What do you think of Nintendo not having an E3 2013 presser?

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Insomniac’s Ryan Schneider Talks Ratchet & Clank Movie

Insomniac brand development director Ryan Schneider talks about the upcoming Ratchet & Clank movie in this GameSkinny interview. I was totally jazzed by the article, but I have a lot of biases here — I’m a mark for Insomniac, I’m quite fond of Ryan, and I’ve been friends with the interviewer for years. Naturally, I want to see if you guys and dolls are excited about a Ratchet & Clank movie as I am. Before we get to that, here’s a clip from the interview: Continue reading “Insomniac’s Ryan Schneider Talks Ratchet & Clank Movie”

Microsoft Xbox “Reveal” Event on May 21, 2013

Microsoft has sent out invites for a press event on May 21, 2013 and is flooding social media with the tag #XboxReveal. The event is months after Sony’s PlayStation 4 reveal and weeks before the E3 2013 trade show.

Since all of you know what’s coming, let’s have some goofy fun with this one. I will playfully ask, “What do you think Microsoft will reveal at the #XboxReveal event?” You will kindly provide facetious answers. For example, “Obviously Microsoft is putting out a new toaster that requires an always-on Internet connection.” Let’s do this!