I have to play Nier
As always, I want to know what you’re playing this weekend. Kindly share the games on your weekend playlist!
Steve Jobs Posts 1,600-Word Rant on Adobe Flash
Apple has posted a lengthy rant — allegedly written by Steve Jobs (*wink* *wink*) — on its stance against using Adobe Flash on its mobile products. Some of it makes sense and some of it is definitely spin, but it’s all surprisingly entertaining. Adobe has been a valuable partner to Apple over the years, but the companies are on the verge of becoming “frenemies” due to Flash being blocked from iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad.
Jobs (and probably several contributors) is against Flash since it’s proprietary, it isn’t necessary for the “full web” experience, it compromises security, it kills battery life, it doesn’t work with the touch experience, and isn’t optimized for Apple’s mobile products. Here are some of my favorite bits from the essay.
Besides the fact that Flash is closed and proprietary, has major technical drawbacks, and doesn’t support touch based devices, there is an even more important reason we do not allow Flash on iPhones, iPods and iPads. We have discussed the downsides of using Flash to play video and interactive content from websites, but Adobe also wants developers to adopt Flash to create apps that run on our mobile devices.
And also:
Flash was created during the PC era – for PCs and mice. Flash is a successful business for Adobe, and we can understand why they want to push it beyond PCs. But the mobile era is about low power devices, touch interfaces and open web standards – all areas where Flash falls short.
What are you thoughts on his supreme royal high emperor Steve Jobs’ Flash rant?
Appholes: Jon Stewart Weighs in on Apple vs. Gawker/Gizmodo
Jon Stewart addressed the iPhone HD (4G) controversy on The Daily Show in a clip dubbed “Appholes”. He did a good job summarizing all the events that have transpired and pointing how ridiculous the situation has become. He pointed out how Apple used to be the rebellious company that aimed to overthrow big brother and its recent actions have made it seem like “the man”. Here’s a funny quote from his rant:
Now you guys are busting down doors in Palo Alto while Commandant Gates is ridding the world of mosquitos. What the hell is going on?!?
Naturally, I loved his jab at AT&T:
If you want to break down someone’s door, why don’t you start with AT&T? For God’s sakes! They make your amazing phone unusable as a phone!!!
While I don’t agree with all of his opinions on the matter (I believe Gizmodo crossed a sketchy line), Stewart’s rant rules. Check out the video and let me know you think (please)!
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Appholes | ||||
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Activision and Bungie Sign 10-Year Publishing Agreement
In a tremendous move with all sorts of implications, Activision and Bungie have closed on a 10-year publishing-agreement. Here’s a snippet from the press release:
They have entered into an exclusive 10-year partnership to bring Bungie’s next big action game universe to market. Under the terms of the agreement, Activision will have exclusive, worldwide rights to publish and distribute all future Bungie games based on the new intellectual property on multiple platforms and devices. Bungie remains an independent company and will continue to own their intellectual property. Additional terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
The partnership is brilliant for Activision on several levels. It helps take attention away from nasty legal battle with its former Infinity Ward employees. It also replaces the talent lost from Infinity Ward creators jumping to Respawn. Since Infinity Ward clearly isn’t going to be the powerhouse studio it once was, Activision needed to replace it with another top-notch studio. Bungie is one of the few studios that can match the quality and success that Infinity Ward brought to the table. There are many gamers that would argue that Bungie makes better games.
As for Bungie…well, it has a partner with a boatload of money and global marketing muscle. Gamers will also see its titles on multiple platforms, which will be huge.
Naturally, I want to hear your thoughts on the partnership. Let ’em fly (please)!
Coffee Talk #134: Have You Ever Quit Gaming?
I’ve quit many things over the years. At various points in my life, I’ve quit drinking, smoking, gambling, comic books, and several other things I can’t remember. (Sadly, I’ve never been treated for sex addiction like Tiger Woods, David Duchovny, and Chazz Michael Michaels.) Obviously, I have an addictive personality. One thing I’ve never given is playing games. Certainly I’ve had a lot of stretches (too many, really) where I’ve played games way more than I should have, but I’ve enjoyed the “work” excuse for my marathon sessions.
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, your formidable Scrabble powers, The Neilsen Company rating the Cleveland Indians as the #1 most-hated team in baseball, or why you think Floyd Mayweather will beat Shane Mosley, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.
I’ve quit many things over the years. At various points in my life, I’ve quit drinking, smoking, gambling, comic books, and several other things I can’t remember. (Sadly, I’ve never been treated for sex addiction like Tiger Woods, David Duchovny, and Chazz Michael Michaels.) Obviously, I have an addictive personality. One thing I’ve never given up is playing games. Certainly I’ve had a lot of stretches (too many, really) where I’ve played games way more than I should have, but I’ve enjoyed the “work” excuse for my marathon sessions.
How about you? Have you ever played games to the point you neglected eating, sleeping, and your social life? Have you ever had to take a step back and said, “Yeah, I really need to quit gaming for a while.”? Perhaps games have made you pull and HBK and you had to leave them in order to “find your smile”. Perhaps games have made you tap out and you had to take a break in the real world to recover. I’d love to hear about your experiences. Kindly share!
Reminder: RPad.tv Scrabble Invitational Today!
Here’s a friendly reminder that the first ever RPad.tv Scrabble invitational will take place today. Scrabble is part of Hasbro Family Game Night for Xbox 360. The games will start at 4PM Pacific. Leave a comment below if you think you can play. I’d love to see you there!
T-Mobile Drops 5GB Data Cap…But There’s a Catch
In a sign of where mobile broadband is headed, T-Mobile has dropped the 5GB cap for it’s “unlimited” data plans. Consumers that use devices like the T-Mobile webConnect Rocket will no longer have to live in fear of data overage charges, but they will have to live in fear of something else. According to GigaOm:
There’s a catch: go past that limit, and download speeds will slow. T-Mobile tries to play down such a caveat, however, saying: “When used as a mobile broadband solution in conjunction with an existing home broadband service, only a very small number of customers use more than 5GB per month.”
For the consumer market, this isn’t a big deal. For people using T-Mobile mobile broadband for small-office or a home-office settings, it’s kind of crap. Some people would prefer paying overage charges over crippled service. Don’t get me wrong; it’s a nice move on T-Mobile’s part, but it could have been better.
Black Nintendo Wii Coming on May 4, 2010?
It looks like the black Nintendo Wii — you know, the one Nintendo of America said wasn’t coming — will hit stores on May 4, 2010. Kotaku has spotted GameStop flyer that touts a black Wii bundle that includes the ebony console, Wii Motion Plus, and Wii Sports Resort.
I would love a black Wii, simply because I’d enjoy having three black consoles in my entertainment center joined in solidarity. How about you? Are you interested in the ebony (Stevie Wonder) Wii? Or are you down with ivory (Paul McCartney)?
Super Mario Crossover Bring Link, Mega Man, and Samus to SMB
Ever dream about playing through Super Mario Bros. levels as Simon Belmont, the dude from Contra, Mega Man, Link, or Samus Aran? Well now you can in Super Mario Crossover! This adorable Flash game takes levels from SMB and lets you play through them as heroes and heroines from other classic titles. Each character has his or her signatures moves and music. It’s cute. It’s fun. It’s familiar and new at the same time. Give it a shot and let me know what you think!
Square Enix Undecided on Final Fantasy V and VI DS Remakes
Square Enix is considering remakes of the wonderful Final Fantasy V and Final Fantasy VI games for Nintendo DS, but cites technical challenges it must overcome. Andriasang translated some tweets from producer Shinji Hashimoto, who said:
For FF5 and 6, there are technical issues as well, so at present these are also undecided.
Man, I would love remakes of FFV and FFVI. They’re two of may favorite games of all time. Versions with spruced up graphics, slightly streamlined gameplay (you don’t mess with excellence), and tighter translations would be phenomenal. While remaking these games for the Nintendo DS makes the most sense (the installed base is ridiculous), for some reason I’m wishing for iPhone versions of these games.
How about you? Are you down with improved versions of Final Fantasy V and Final Fantasy VI?