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.
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.
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.
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.
