Joe Tech » Gaming

The Nokia Lumia 800 Attracts Gamers

Joe Tech — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 17:31:20 +0000

The Nokia Lumia is designed to attract new fans to the Windows Phone ecosystem, and one of its key targets is gamers.

2011 has been the year when smartphone gamers have been able to pick from a wide selection of large-screened devices to make it easier to play games in greater detail in sharp focus. As a Windows Phone, the Nokia Lumia also has greater integration with Microsoft products; Xbox Live support makes it easier for gamers to pick up a game on their console and then their phone, or to check their status remotely when away from their Xbox.

Two of the most popular games so far for the device are Jet Car Stunts and Burn the Rope.

Jet car Stunts comes with 3D graphics, perfectly utilizing the AMOLED screen with 800 x 480 pixels and the ClearBlack technology reducing reflection glare. With a fast 1.4 GHz processor and 512 MB of memory, the device is more than capable of keeping gameplay speedy.

The 3D graphic accelerator is put to good use as well in Jet Car Stunts. With colourful tracks, which increase in difficulty the more your progress riders jump through hoops, leap over divides and ramps using 3D graphics to enhance gameplay and the experience. The handset is held like a steering wheel so users tips and turn to navigate the tracks. To speed up or slow down there are large buttons on the screen that only needs users to move their thumbs while playing. The game is available at the Windows Phone Marketplace for $2.99

Burn The Rope again utilizes the Lumia’s fast processor to incorporate movement of the device into gameplay. The aim of the game is to set fire to a rope and then twist and turn the phone to guide the flame until the rope has burnt away. The flame has to be directed upwards so while it may sound simple the phone needs to be tilted to make sure the flame is heading the right way, or it will burn out. The path of the flame gets faster and more intricate as users pass through the different levels. The game is available from the Marketplace for $2.99.

The speedy processor and screen resolution, along with the 3D capability means the Lumia 800 has a real potential for the gaming market. The new device marks the first delivered in the new partnership between Nokia and Microsoft, suggesting a desire to make a greater splash in the smartphone market. Whereas the App Store and the Android marketplace have made a big splash in encouraging gamers to turn off their console and instead play on their smartphone, Windows Phone has not had a similar appeal. Some critics blame this on a limited number of apps in the Windows Phone Marketplace but it could be more to do with a focus on the Xbox as one of the main Microsoft gadgets on the market. The interactivity and integration between the Nokia and the Xbox suggests this is definitely a target market for the Windows Phone. Their existing dominance in the gaming market, and the appeal they already garner amongst gaming fans, suggests Apple and Android may well be looking over their shoulder.

Simon writes on behalf of Best Mobile Contracts, the UK’s leading mobile phone comparison website, where you can find the cheapest mobile phone contracts for the new Nokia Lumia.

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Urinal Video Game Console – Controlled By Pee

Joe Tech — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 13:51:13 +0000

Just when you thought all the weird stuff came from Japan. UK company Captive Media has unveiled a video game console that installs above a modified urinal with sensors that you use to control the action of the game with your stream. See it for yourself in the video below.

One thought here is that the video games will help guys with their aim, but I think it make work in the opposite way. Just one of the games offered is a skiing game, and my video game skiing history tells me that might involve a lot of flailing left and right. I’d hate to be the person who has to clean the bathrooms at those pubs. To be fair, the games they use seem to be calibrated more to their need, which may alleviate some of my concern. Perhaps more effective – though arguably less fun – are products like the Urinal Fly which have been out for some time.

Stranger, still, you can post your scores to Twitter via the Captive Games Twitter account. I’m guessing the logistics behind inputting your own Twitter username and password were a bit much.

I’m not sure if this urinal video game console is a good or bad idea. What do you think?

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How To Sell Your Old Video Games Online

Joe Tech — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 08:43:26 +0000

What do you do with your games when you’ve beaten them or you upgrade to a different console? In the past, I’ve found myself making my way up to the game shop to get their trade-in value or sometimes have my older games turned away completely. Then there’s eBay, where I’ve been known to take my chances on it selling at all. But now I’ve found a new way to sell old games. Some ex-eBay employees have harnessed their knowledge about online markets and user experience into Glyde, a site made specifically for buying and selling things like your games.

Sell Old Games Online

Glyde’s selling process is a little different from what I’m used to. To sell your old video games, you just have to start typing in the name of a game, select it when Glyde finds it for you, and click the Sell button. Then you tell Glyde the condition of your game and it will auto-set the market price for you. You can raise or lower the price and then list the item. Although you have to fill out some required information for your first listing, the process is a lot faster and easier than most sites.

To review this site, I figured the best thing to do would be to create an account and start selling. In a test scenario where I might sell the Halo 2 XBOX game in Excellent condition gave me a suggested selling price of $2.25. After the $0.27 transaction fee and $1.25 mailer cost, the total money made from the sale comes out to $0.73. My first thought was that this seems like a pretty low price to let go of my game for. Despite it being an older game, I found it to be a bit low compared to other online shopping sources, as well. I next checked out how much I’d get for Halo Reach, which fell a lot more in line with the average selling price on other sites at $11.51 after fees.

The thing that I found most appealing about the selling process is the shipping procedure. Once someone has purchased your game, Glyde sends you a pre-addressed mailing envelope to ship your game in. All you have to do is pop it back in the mail and you’re done. This is a vast convenience over the way I have to ship things I sell elsewhere, which usually includes a lunch hour wasted at the post office.

Buy and Sell Anything Online

While Glyde may be well-suited for selling old games, you can buy, too, and they don’t stop at just games. I found the iPad, iPhone, Nook, Kindle, and even books. The selling process is pretty similar throughout, but the questions displayed on the selling page are geared towards what you’re selling. When selling an iPhone, for example, you’re asked about if it works and the amount of scratches on it. With a game, you’re asked more generally about the condition of the game.

Buying is pretty straight forward, but the feature that stands out is that Glyde shows you the item that is closest and cheapest for your search. This seems like it would be a no-brainer, but sadly, eBay, Amazon, and Google don’t default to such a listing. In addition, I like that the packaging isn’t suspect to the whim of the seller. You can pretty well expect your item to be delivered in what Glyde deems adequate packaging.

Conclusions

Where Glyde may occasionally fall short in seller earnings on a sale, it doubles up on convenience and ease of use over all. The shipping system stands out in a way that promises to quietly eliminate the usual shipping concerns most buyers and sellers face on other platforms. Personally, I will definitely look to Glyde when it comes time to sell games or some of the books I have sitting around here.

Although the preceding was a sponsored review, as always I strive to provide an honest opinion of the product or site reviewed.

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Swann Micro Hornet RC Helicopter Review

Joe Tech — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 02:50:46 +0000

I’ve had a lot of fun reviewing RC toys in the past, and the Swann Micro Hornet R/C helicopter I received was no exception. From what’s in the box to price to how easy it is to fly, I’ll introduce you to one of my newest toys in this review.

(view all photos)

In The Box

When I opened up the packaging, I found the Micro Hornet, a remote control unit, a spare set of main rotor blades, and a screwdriver to open up the battery compartment on the remote control. I like when the manufacturer includes that little screwdriver. It’s just enough to get the job done and I hate getting all excited about a toy, opening it up, and then having to hunt around for tools first. The helicopter came fully assembled and just needed a quick charge (about 30 minutes) to get up in the air. These small indoor helicopters charge pretty quickly but only give you about five to eight minutes of flying time on a charge. For anything else, that might be a problem, but for a beginner toy like this, five minutes is just about enough time for a little practice session. Also in the box was a USB charging cable so you don’t have to use up the batteries in the controller between flights and, of course, the user’s manual.

How To Fly The Hornet

If you’ve never flown an R/C helicopter before, the idea of it can be a bit menacing, even for an easy one like this. Unlike R/C cars, you’re in the air, untethered. If you mess up, it could crash to the ground, smashing into bits. That’s what I thought, anyway. When I got it in the air, it wasn’t long before it came back down, a few times, but took no damage at all. This durable little helicopter took a few falls from me. It was also easier to maneuver than other R/C choppers I piloted. Like every helicopter I’ve flown, steering is the easy part and the hard part is applying just the right amount of finesse to the controls to keep from hitting the ceiling without plummeting to the ground. It only took a few practices to get that down, though. The controls on this were more complicated than other R/C helicopters, offering movement in six directions: up, down, forward, backward, left, right. The additional control took a little longer to get comfortable with, but ultimately made smooth flight easier to accomplish.

Specifications

Rotor Diameter – 4.5″ / 115mm
Dimensions – 5.5″ x 4.5″ x 2.75″ (Including rotors)
Weight – 0.53 oz / 15g (Helicoptor only)
Helicopter Battery – Built-in 3.7V 130mAh Li-poly
Remote Control – Infrared
Remote Control Batteries – 6 x AA

Conclusions

Priced around $35-$50, the Swann Micro Hornet is a great entry level R/C helicopter for anyone who has ever wanted to try flying one. It’s tiny enough to fly in a small room comfortably but offers all the controls to get smooth flying down to an art. You’ll need to pick up a 6 pack of batteries before you can have any fun, though. This helicopter is priced higher than the last one I reviewed, but seemed a bit more durable and includes more advanced controls. If you don’t mind paying a little more, you’ll get what you pay for with the Micro Hornet.

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Netflix Apologizes, Renames DVD Service To Qwikster, Draws More Fire

Joe Tech — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 21:13:54 +0000

A couple months ago, the household name, Netflix, brought household outrage by eliminating their popular DVD/Streaming package and replacing it with the option to purchase two separate packages at a large price hike. Today, it seems that the wisdom “better late than never” might not apply to the apology email that Netflix sent out to its subscribers and posted on its blog. If the comments on the blog post are any indication, Netflix is in for another round of abuse.

The Apology that was sent out on behalf of CEO Reed Hastings started out feeling very heart-felt, opening with “I messed up. I owe you an explanation.” Hastings follows this with his sincere apology for the way Netflix rolled out the price/package changes:

It is clear from the feedback over the past two months that many members felt we lacked respect and humility in the way we announced the separation of DVD and streaming and the price changes. That was certainly not our intent, and I offer my sincere apology. Let me explain what we are doing.

After the brief apology, the email goes on to point out that the pricing and package change was part of a much bigger move to turn the DVD side of Netflix into a completely separate company, complete with separate charges on your card if you have both services. The new company, Qwikster, will handle all the physical discs with Netflix freed up to focus on streaming. This leaves me with an obvious question…

What Are You Doing, Netflix?

As a subscriber only to the streaming service, neither the previous nor the current changes leave me with the feelings of betrayal others seem to have experienced, but as a business owner, I’m scratching my head. Netflix built a wonderful monopoly on the DVD-by-mail business and even began a decent transition into streaming. Despite kiosk offerings from RedBox and Blockbuster, Netflix still had the largest selection with a solid customer base. The pricing and package changes damaged customer loyalty, but this feels like Netflix is positioning themselves to move out of the DVD-by-mail arena completely.

At Least There’s Games By Mail Now

One thing I felt positive about in this announcement is that ~~Netflix~~ Qwikster will be offering games by mail as well. Though I’ve honestly never gotten serious enough about the idea of games by mail to sign up for a competitor like Game Fly, I love the idea. Sadly, the thought that I can’t do it through Netflix leaves me in the “maybe some day” area. Frankly, I’ve always had small nervous breakdowns when a disc from Netflix or RedBox looks like someone tried to watch it by scratching it up with a set of keys, so maybe this saves me from a mid-game mental meltdown anyway. You disc-scratchers know who you are.

The Streaming-Only Upside

Because I only subscribe to the streaming service at home, this change may actually present a large benefit to me. I often wonder when Netflix will bring the streaming library up to speed. They have millions of discs for mailing out, but far too often do I find myself searching for something only to find it unavailable for instant watching. I’m crossing my fingers that we’re headed for a larger Instant Watch selection, but I’m not holding my breath.

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Google+ Gets Serious With Games

Joe Tech — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 19:44:17 +0000

When Google Plus launched about a month ago, the search giant found themselves with ten million users on the new system in the first week and many touted it as a threat to Facebook’s impressive numbers. One thing that was missing, however, was an addictive gaming platform like Facebook’s. Then came Games.

MySpace founder Tom Anderson and Dell CEO Michael Dell suffer my Bejeweled Blitz wrath.

Thursday, Google briefly launched Games before making it vanish. Last night, the Games tab showed back up again and it was loaded with some of the most popular online games from Zynga, Rovio and Wooga. With 16 games, including Angry Birds and Bejeweled Blitz, they’re off to a good start. The game play experience is much like Facebook’s and you have to approve the game’s access to certain account details in order to play.

With all the buzz about Google+ Games, you may be wondering what’s so amazing about it. What makes it better than Facebook? The answer is nothing. Just as Google+ isn’t going to replace Facebook, Games won’t be the thing that topples the blue giant. It is a big step forward for Google+, though and will help ease the transition for Facebook converts. More than anything, it’s a testament to Google’s commitment to not let Google+ burn out like Wave and Buzz.

Here’s hoping they keep the momentum and wow us again in another four weeks.

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Infinity Control iPhone Game : Space Traffic Control

Joe Tech — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 07:13:40 +0000

Although the following is a sponsored review, as always I strive to provide an honest opinion of the product reviewed.

I love my iPhone games. With my busy lifestyle, I rarely have time to get a game loaded up on my WII or XBox and just a few minutes of game play is all I’m looking for at a time. So many games on the iPhone meet my basic gaming criteria and Infinity Control is no exception.

Game Play

The game’s creator offers this introduction to Infinity Control:

Welcome Recruit! You have just joined the Federation of International Space Marines! You start on earth where you learn the basics managing incoming craft while avoiding passing by satellites, then you will help the researchers maneuver craft around the dense asteroids of Saturn. Keep ahead of satellites orbiting around earth while docking ships! Watch out! The random appearance of black holes is possible!

Playing the game is as simple as drawing lines with your finger… but the lines are flight paths… for space ships. The screen shot below should give you a pretty good idea of what it takes to become a flight controller in space.

Over all, the game play is pretty straight forward and very easy to get the hang of.

Strategy and Features

The strategy of the game is just as simple as the controls. You have a red space station and a blue one on the screen. Entering the screen from all sides will be red and blue space ships. Your goal is to get each ship to dock safely to its matching colored space port. To do this, you swipe your finger along the screen to draw a flight path. As with any flight control, you need to make sure that you don’t direct your space ships into each other or other objects. The video below demonstrates this.

The game starts out incredibly easy and gradually increases in complexity as you play. Having to think about the colliding paths and plan ahead is critical to getting a good score, often involving re-thinking your ship’s path a couple times to avert disasters.

Conclusion

This was a fun game, but very simple. With limited goals and no enemies or weapons, it’s more of a test of coordination than it is a battle or puzzle game. At $0.99, it’s as cheap as it gets (other than free) and it does offer the ability to just play forever, unlike games with levels that get beaten. For a buck, it’s a good game that will remain unbeatable for as long as you play it, which is always good. Get your own copy and let me know how long it takes to beat my high score of 77.

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Sand Slides – A Simple But Addicting iPhone Game

Joe Tech — Tue, 03 May 2011 10:36:06 +0000

Although the following is a sponsored review, as always I strive to provide an honest opinion of the product reviewed.

With a $1.99 price tag in the App Store, Sand Slides, a physics-wielding original game runs the risk of being overlooked in a sea of flashy games with thousands of downloads, but when you dig deeper, sometimes you find gems.

First Impressions

I have to come right out and admit that I judge a book by its cover, occasionally, and that’s true with software more than anything. When I first saw Sand Slides, I thought it had some potential, but the graphics didn’t draw me in. They weren’t bad, but I’ve been spoiled with some of the more popular games, I guess. At first glance, this looks like a simple game without a lot of depth, but looks can be deceiving. To be fair, I’m not sure how much you can dress up sand.

How To Play

This is where simple comes in. The basic premise of the game is to get the sand to flow in to the correct bins by color. Blue sand goes in the blue bin, yellow in the yellow, etc. Sometimes you get lucky and it can fall straight in, but usually, it’s up to you to create a slide by drawing a line. The slides help guide the sand to its proper destination.

At the start of the game, you get a kind of bank of 30,000 grains of sand and every grain that goes into the wrong colored bin deducts from your bank and every grain that you get into the proper bins adds to your score. Below is a video showing how the game play works.

It looks easier than it is to keep all your grains, though. In the harder modes, you can easily lose with one simple mistake.

Hard To Put Down

This game was surprisingly addictive. You could spend hours just trying to beat your own personal best score, and when you do, there are several other difficulty levels to try. This is also one of those games that generally only lasts a few minutes, opening the door to that “just one more game before bed” mentality. Losing track of time with Sand Slides was not hard to do.

Conclusions

At $1.99, Sand Slides doesn’t stand out as a deal that you can’t pass up. There are plenty of well-polished games in the App Store that I could easily spend money on, instead. That said, beauty is not just skin deep. The addictive nature and smooth play of this game are features even some of the best dressed apps forget about. If I’m playing this game months from now, it’s $1.99 well spent.

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Just Pop Bubbles To Win This iPhone Game

Joe Tech — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 06:33:01 +0000

If you have an iPhone or iPod Touch, you’ve probably played plenty of games with zombies, castles that need destroying or defending, or unhappy birds flinging themselves at pigs. The game I’m reviewing today has none of that. What it does have is bubbles that you have to pop, and it’s called Just Pop It from Zoltán Kovács.

Game Play

Unlike most games, this one is surprisingly simple. It starts with an empty grid and a set of four teal colored bubbles, each with the number 3 in them. You get a bubble on the grid by aiming and releasing your finger on the screen. The number inside a bubble indicates how many times you must hit it with another bubble of the same color before it pops. Each time you pop a bubble, you get another bubble to throw at the grid. When you run out of bubbles, the game is over. A bubble can be bounced off the virtual walls and top, but not the bottom. If a bubble touches the bottom, the game ends. It’s as simple as that.

The grid includes an overlay with the level, number of total bubbles popped, and number of bubbles to pop until the next level in large numbers, making it easy to read while playing.

Addiction Factor And Longevity

This game is addicting, and that caught me off guard. It doesn’t look very exciting, and frankly, it isn’t, but after I started playing I had a hard time putting it down. I attribute this partly to the fact that you just want to keep going until you beat your high score and partly to the fact that by time the game has ended, you’ve already put in a lot of work to get that far. Unfortunately, I don’t feel like this game will remain addictive to me for very long. I’ve been playing for a few days and it’s still fun, but it starts the same way every time and I don’t know if there’s enough variation to keep me interested. If this game follows the path of some other games and introduces updates with new ways to play, it will renew my excitement.

Everything Else

The graphics are done about as well as I might expect for a game this simple and I actually prefer that they’re not over the top. This is like playing pool, in a sense, so I’m happy to not be distracted with too much while I’m angling my shot. It starts and runs smoothly, but has a bug that prevents you from continuing an interrupted game. If you exit the game for any reason, it will crash right after you re-enter the game, forcing you to start it again from scratch.

All things considered, I like the simplicity of Just Pop It, but I think it needs some variations in levels to justify the cost for the full version. Grab the Lite version and generate your own conclusions.

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NZXT Avatar – A Beautiful 2600 DPI Gaming Mouse

Joe Tech — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 08:15:53 +0000

I’m not much of a gamer, but it didn’t stop me from getting excited about reviewing the NZXT Avatar Gaming Mouse. Part of my excitement was the anticipation of trying out lots of features I, a non-gamer, may never use again, but I was also excited because I love beautiful tech products.

OK. It’s a thing of beauty, and we’ll get back to that, but gaming mice don’t make it on looks, alone.

A Comfortable Power Mouse

I decided to use this mouse for a while for gaming and everything else I do on my computer. I wanted to put it to the test for a week. You know what they say about time and flying. I’ve been using the Avatar mouse for an average of 10 hours a day for much longer than a week and I’m loving almost everything about it. I say “almost” because I was annoyed at first. I dove in and started using it right out of the box, disregarding the install CD. Out of the box, the side buttons already perform various actions and are so conveniently situated for clicking that I found myself doing unexpected things with unintended side button clicks. Of course, for gaming, you’ll want to pop in the CD and program all seven buttons to your liking right after you plug it in. The other item of annoyance is the rubber grip on the sides, most specifically that it seems to collect dirt quickly. I’m thinking a simple wash cloth will remedy this.

The rubber grip was also one of the things I really liked about the Avatar mouse. Fast-paced gaming for any notable period of time generates palm sweat and even a little bit makes most mice slippery. Try dodging baddies when the mouse slips. The traction provided gets you to safety quickly. The ergonomic design makes it almost cuddle right up into your hand, so getting to feel right at home with it is a quick process. What I hadn’t planned on using longer than for the review quickly planted its flag on my desktop, even though I sometimes feel like I’m taking a Ferrari to grocery shop.

Features And Specs

When you pay about $60+ for a mouse, you want features. It’s priced well for a gaming mouse as long as it delivers and the Avatar’s features fully justify the price.

With seven programmable buttons, Avatar does all the work while you just have to remember which button does what. In addition, you can customize some of the more common mouse functions like the scroll wheel and the optical sensor. Let’s talk about that sensor for a second. I comes in at a crazy 2600 DPI for precision accuracy. Not only that, but the 4 Speed DPI switch enables you to go from slow sniper movement to quick attack movement in a matter of seconds and the LED lights on the side show you the current DPI. And you thought the lights were just to look cool.

For the fans of the numbers, here’s the specs:
Max Speed
– 40 Inches/Second
Max Acceleration
– 15g
Max Frame Rate
– 6469 Frames/Second
Resolution
– 650-2600 DPI
Image Processing
– 5.8 Mega Pixels/Second
USB Reports
– Up to 1000 Reports/Second
Buttons
– 7 Buttons, 5 Million Clicks

Did I Say Beautiful?

I’ve mentioned it already, but I’ll say it again… This is one sexy piece of hardware, especially for something as normally mundane and boring as a mouse. The best part is that most of what makes it look better also makes it work better. From the sleek ergonomics to the Tron-like DPI LEDs, the Avatar mouse catches the attention of everyone who’s near my desk for more than a minute.

And just look at it in with the lights off. ‘Nuff said.

Should You Buy It?

I can go on and on about how neat a product may be, but it really comes down to weighing the value against the price and factoring in “neat” last. That said, this is not a mouse I would personally buy normally. Given how rarely I play any games that require this level of sophistication, its coolness alone doesn’t squeeze it into my budget (not that I would dare part with it now that it’s on my desk). Avid gamers, on the other hand, should take a second look as this is a smart mouse that would look great with any desktop setup and just might give your kill count a boost.

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