Just in case you didn’t read my interview with Tarver Games’ Chris Cross (and shame on you if you didn’t — Cross is a sharp dude), here’s the exclusive Ghosts Attack video that accompanied the piece. It’s one of the more interesting games for iPhone. Please check out the video and lemme know what you think (please)!
Tag: Mobile Tech
Tarver Games’ Chris Cross Talks Going from Consoles to iPhone, Ghosts Attack, Little Helmet Heads, and More!
Chris Cross achieved a great deal of notoriety in the gaming business from his work on the Medal of Honor series. You’d expect a game designer that had success on big-budget console-games would continue to work on big-budget console-games, but Cross has gone in a different direction — iPhone gaming. He recently started up a new development house — Tarver Games — and has a few iPhone/iPod Touch products in the works. Tarver’s first game, Ghosts Attack, has been submitted to Apple for approval and should be out shortly. I recently interviewed Cross to learn more about Tarver Games, get the skinny on Ghosts Attack, ask him why he went from consoles to iPhone, and to ask him some of your questions.
Cross is an excellent and entertaining person. Check out everything he has to say and be sure to hit the break for an exclusive Ghosts Attack video.
Raymond Padilla: Chris, you’ve had tremendous success on home consoles. Why head to the iPhone? Is it the excitement of undiscovered territory? A new challenge?
Chris Cross: Thanks Ray — Yes, I have had success on home consoles and who is to say I won’t again? But for the moment, we (Tarver) have decided to bring our first IP — Ghosts Attack — to the iPhone. Just take a look at what’s going on today with games, budgets, platforms, and accessibility. The iPhone offers both developers and consumers an incredible chance at amazing products and apps for a fraction of the cost of console products.
RP: Some of my readers might need a primer on your upcoming game, Ghosts Attack. Would kindly give a brief primer on the game?
CC: Ghosts Attack is an alternate reality/FPS with a twisting — and a bit twisted :) — storyline. Ghosts Attacks integrates Google Maps technology with a dynamic alternate reality gaming experience. You explore a parallel world that was accidentally discovered by a group of scientists 40 years ago. Using the Map Kit in the iPhone SDK we let you use our own world map as your guide. There are mysteries to uncover, hostile enemies to fight, fast shooting action, a remote rover to pilot and a whole lot more.
Coffee Talk #20: Bluetooth Headsets and Gaming
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, how badly you wish you were at the Canyon of Champions today, Nigel McGuiness’ corny lines on TNA Wrestling, or the sleep vs. Dragon Age: Origins debate Coffee Talk is the place to do it.
Up until a few years ago, I felt that Bluetooth headsets were exclusively for wankers. It was just impossible not to look like a complete tool when using one. My stance has softened after the sensible banning of mobile phone use while driving and the PlayStation 3’s inclusion of Bluetooth. One of the things I like about the PS3 is that it allows you to use any Bluetooth headset you want, rather than a proprietary one
One line of Bluetooth headsets that I’ve had extremely positive results with is Aliph’s Jawbone
For now, I wanted to ask you if you use a Bluetooth headset with your PlayStation 3 or mobile phone. What model do you use? What are your priorities when selecting a Bluetooth headset? Price? Style? Features? Leave a comment and let me know (please)!
AT&T Sues Verizon Over “There’s a Map for That” Commercials
Verizon has been kicking out some pretty clever television commercials that poke fun at rival AT&T’s deficiencies. Between the “iDon’t” and “There’s a Maps for That” (seen below) spots, Verizon has attacked the iPhone’s shortcomings and the AT&T network’s inferior coverage. AT&T has had enough and is doing the American thing by suing its rival. According to GigaOm:
AT&T today filed suit against Verizon for its “There’s a Map for That” advertising campaign. The AT&T complaint alleges that the Verizon ads use misleading maps that show wide areas of the country where AT&T doesn’t have 3G coverage, and implies that in those areas AT&T has no coverage at all. The two companies had been back and forth since Oct. 7 on the ads, with Verizon apparently tweaking them a bit, and adding some fine print, but AT&T isn’t satisfied. So it wants them taken off the air and Verizon to pay for any losses incurred by AT&T as a result of the ad being successful.
Can’t we all just get along?
iPhone Games Dominate New Releases in App Store
Apple’s iPhone has evolved into quite the multifaceted device. While it was initially lauded for being an easy-to-use smartphone with a fantastic web browser and outstanding movies/music capabilities, it quickly became a prominent gaming system. In fact, games have been dominating Apple’s App Store for iPhone and iPod Touch
From August 2008 to the same month in 2009, more apps were released in the “games” category than any other and, as a result, the iPhone (and iPod touch) became a new handheld gaming platform, one that impacted Nintendo DS. The Japanese game device maker acknowledged that the iPhone and iPod touch were among the reasons why its profits declined drastically in the most recent quarter.
Are any of you taking iPhone gaming seriously? Or do you think it’s more of casual gamer thing? I’m loving Civilization Revolution and greatly looking forward to Ghosts Attack. If you have any iPhone game recos, I’d love hear ’em!
Raymond’s Random Rants
– I received the Wrestlemania 24
– Speaking of HBK, what a remarkable career he’s had — especially the second half. I never bought into the “boyhood dream” and I only started really enjoying his matches just before his first hiatus. Since his comeback from back surgery, it’s crazy how good he has been. While he can’t do some of things he used to in his younger days, his storytelling and psychology are the best they’ve ever been. Plus, nobody sells moves as good as Shawn does these days.
– I’m still wondering why the hell R-Truth is on the cover of the WrestleMania 25 box. What’s up?
Nokia Killing N-Gage Platform, Moving Everything to Ovi Store
Nokia has announced that it will be dissolving the N-Gage platform in 2010 in favor of the Ovi Store. While the company is positioning the move as simply making Ovi a one-stop destination, it’s really the final nail in the coffin for Nokia’s ambitious but horribly flawed venture into gaming. The N-Gage blog stated:
N-Gage games can be purchased until the end of September 2010. While the N-Gage.com site together with the N-Gage Arena and other community features will remain in operation throughout 2010, the Ovi Store will be the new central place for all the mobile games that Nokia and other publishers offer from this point forward. We will no longer publish new games for the N-Gage platform.
I was really high on the potential of N-Gage leading up to its launch. The idea of a quality gaming platform with social features integrated into a mobile phone sounded awesome. Nokia was huge at the time and seemed like the perfect company to pull it off. Talking to various execs had me psyched for the device…
…but then I went to a launch event in London and was disappointed in the realization of N-Gage. From the vertical screen to the side-talkin’ taco to the clunky interface, Nokia had failed on too many levels. It never recovered from its initial failures either. It’s a shame, because the company had some really great ideas, but somewhere between the idea stage and the product stage, so much was lost.
Did any of you ever play around with N-Gage? Or was it always a joke to you?
Barnes & Noble Not Leveraging Stores for Nook E-Reader
Inexplicably, Barnes & Noble will not be leveraging its 700+ stores to sell its upcoming Nook e-Reader. This negates a huge advantage it has over Amazon and its competing Kindle products. According to paidContent, the book store giant will have demo units at all its stores, but only select outlets will be selling them. The site reported:
Its 700-plus U.S. stores should give Barnes & Noble an edge in the contest for e-reader dollars but many won’t be selling the actual Nook on site. Instead, I was told as a customer, the booksellers will order a device for in-store customers from the BN.com website to be shipped to their home, much as the buyer could do online from home. Only certain stores will carry the Nook for on-the-spot sale.
The only reason Barnes & Noble should restrict sales to certain stores is if it has a severe supply problem with the Nook. Otherwise it’s just wasting a huge opportunity. The device is expected to come out at the end of November — right in the middle of the busiest shopping period of the year. It just seems flat-out dumb not to take advantage of all those shoppers. Hopefully, for B&N’s sake, this was just a case of a foolish salesperson giving out poor information.
Google Voice Lets You Use Voicemail Features with Your Number
Google has updated its Google Voice service to allow you to use your current mobile number with the service’s useful voicemail features. In addition to allowing you to manage your voicemail online, the service also transcribes voice messages. The transcription quality can be off (sometimes leading to unintentional comedy), but I find it to be very useful. I love not having to go through the customary (and archaic) voicemail systems to listen to messages. Anyway, here’s a little video that describes the new feature.
Are any of you using Google Voice? If so, let me know what you like and don’t like about it. If not, go sign up! I highly recommend it.
iPhone and iPhone “Killers” Explained in Religious Terms
In the most brilliant tech analogy I’ve read in 2009, TechCrunch’s MG Siegler explained the deal with iPhone and iPhone “Killers” in religious terms. He wrote:
In a religious sense, the iPhone is a monotheistic religion. Basically, its OS believes in one device. Yes, I know there is the iPod touch, as well as variations of the iPhone (original, 3G, 3GS), but these are essentially all the same device with essentially the same hardware, just boosted specs. Meanwhile, Android, Windows Mobile, BlackBerry, Symbian, etc. are all polytheists. But “pagans,” while perhaps not exactly right, is a cooler term, so let’s go with that. All of these other mobile OSes are pagans. They answer to many devices, their “gods.”
With this analogy in mind, the notion of one of Apple’s competitors coming up with a single device that will destroy the iPhone is stupid. That’s not the battle being waged. It’s not about the Motorola Droid vs. iPhone or the Nokia N900 vs. iPhone. The real battles in those cases are Google vs. iPhone OS and Maemo vs. iPhone OS, respectively. While it’s easier to write about the T-Mobile myTouch taking on the iPhone, that’s not really the point.
And also, MG Siegler should get some kind of medal or a trophy for this analogy.