Building Beauty

If you’ve ever used an Apple product, you already have an idea of the device’s build quality. When you first pick up the iPad, it feels as solid as the iPhones that have come before it. It’s not heavy but it has enough weight behind it so that it doesn’t feel flimsy. (It’s hard to quantify but if you get your hands on one, cop a feel). The display is bright and highly readable and don’t believe the hype, the iPad is not just an over-sized iPhone. Apple has continued with their minimalist input button design, with a Home button on the face of the device, a volume rocker and rotation lock on the right side and a lone power button on the top. Although the speakers are in the bottom of the iPad, the headphone jack is at the top of the iPad. This may get annoying with the headphone cord getting draped over the screen from time to time.

Powering Up

As you start the device up for the first time, you realize that you need to connect your iPad just to get it setup. Why the need to connect to iTunes to set up this mobile device? Apart from this hindrance, setting up was a breeze with iTunes. iTunes painlessly transfers apps and media that you wish. You can also easily sync your mail accounts, contacts and calendars. (I speak from a Mac perspective, I have not tried to sync my iPad with a Windows machine).

1st Party Apps

The stock iPad apps have been given UI makeovers to better utilize the larger display of the iPad. The calendar and contacts apps are now double-paned, offering a list of information on one side and a more detailed view on the other. Given the larger display, there is no need to drill down for your information. YouTube loads videos quickly over wifi and displays them just as vividly. The Photo app can now turn your iPad into a very expensive photo frame by letting you display your photos with timed transitions in between them.

The Safari browser benefits from the larger screen real estate and handles most webpages with ease. If you’re quickly wanting to browse a website or two, the iPad takes the hassle out of booting your laptop up. Speaking of which, one press of the Sleep button and your iPad is up and running. This definitely beats the few minutes your laptop or desktop would need to get started.

Like any on screen keyboard, this one will take a little getting used to. As I type this article from my iPad, I haven’t had to correct myself too often but I have easily hit K instead of L or G instead of H. There is word prediction that helps auto-complete words that you punch in.

Sadly missing from the iPad is a clock app. It’s a shame that I can’t use the iPad as an alarm clock without purchasing a 3rd party app. Seeing as though the iPhone comes with a very functional clock app, I would think that the iPad would also get a similar version. Also missing are the Stock and Weather apps that come with the iPhone. Though the stock app isn’t one I use often on my iPhone, I can see businessmen using it. I will however miss the weather app.

3rd Party Apps

Here is where users or potential iPad owners should start thinking that the iPhone and iPad are different. Although you can run all of your iPhone apps on the iPad, at their original size or double the size, they look ridiculous. Functionality aside, iDevices are known for their beautiful user interfaces and design and developers need to start thinking about making applications that take full advantage of the iPad screen real estate. I rely heavily on Wallets, a Mac and iPhone app that allows me to store sensitive data such as passwords and application keys. To date, there is no iPad equivalent. Potentially, many of your tried and turn iPhone apps may never appear on the iPad. It is at the developers discretion to update and deploy their apps to iPad.

In addition, iPhone apps updated to work on iPad seem to carry a hefty price tag. For example, FieldRunners, a popular game on iPhone, costs only .99. The iPad version commands a much higher price tag of 7.99. It’s up to you to decide if the extra dollars are worth the app purchase.

Apps that were ready for iPad’s launch will continually see updates as the platform continues to mature. Early adopters may be burned by this. In this writing of this article, WordPress for iPad crashed and all my unsaved work was lost. I chose to switch to my laptop to finish the article.

Productivity

I chose not to spring for the iPad’s iWorks suite of Numbers, Pages and Keynote (Apple’s answer to Excel, Word and Powerpoint). They are all hot sellers on the App Store and reviews have been above average for all. For my personal use, I believe I’d turn on my laptop to get any significant writing or number crunching done. Without the keyboard dock, I can’t truly comment on the productive power of the iPad. It would be nice to have one to determine how well it keyboard works with the device. It would also be nice to see how well the iWorks suite matures as the iPad continues to gain popularity.

Perfect Fit
Does the iPad replace either my phone or laptop? It definitely doesn’t. It does seem to fit right inbetween though. I no longer have to keep my laptop around to browse websites or check my rss news feeds. I no longer have to use my phone to do the same. Web browsing on the larger screen is pleasant and works well for small short bursts of browsing. The “instant on” experience will make me reach for my iPad faster than I would for my laptop or phone. Though I dreamt of owning an HP Slate, that idea vaporized when HP canceled the device. Without any real competitors on the market yet (bring on the Android tablets), the iPad will have to handle my tablet needs for now.

no need for dear game system,

flash games are cheap fix.

Update: This haiku was entered into the “Flash Game Summit Haiku Competition” and I won !

My prize? A pass to Flash Gaming Summit 2010 in San Francisco, CA.

Check out Flash Game Summit or follow them on Twitter.

Feel free to visit the review site at Social Game Reviews or follow our reviews on Twitter @ SGReviews. Make sure and leave your comments too, we value your opinions and your views will help make for good dialogue !

As an avid Fifa Soccer fan, I always get anxious every October when the release of the new version is imminent. My anxiety is more of a panic than it is a sense of comfort when it comes to this year’s iteration of the world’s most popular football game. I’ve strayed away from playing Fifa on the console for many years (owning my last Fifa game on Gamecube and PS2) and have chosen to get my footy fix on the PSP. I thoroughly enjoy being able to play a quick game of football on the go and while the visuals may not be next-generation console-beautiful, the PSP version is as feature rich as the console versions and that keeps me coming back for more, every time.

Although I set aside money into my yearly Fifa fund for the game, I wonder if my money would be better spent if the model for producing and delivering sports videogames were to change.

Case in point: after viewing the Fifa 10 PSP website, the following updates were made to the game:

• More responsive gameplay


• Improved goalkeepers


• Prematch scouting reports

These are just 3 changes made to FIFA 10 on the PSP this year. Another feature that was marketed on the website was this year’s Fifa would have better collision detection, but I’ll get to that shortly.

Given the list above, the first two (2) items are tweaks to the gameplay system and 3rd is simply an update to the game’s UI and loading screen system (as prematch scouting reports are represented as load screens before matches).

Now back to collision detection: I don’t think ANY company should market a better collision detection system as a feature that should sell the next iteration of their product. Better collision detection should be one of many minor tweaks that a game should have over it’s lifetime. Unfortunately, console games rarely ever receive any kind of performance or bug fixing updates. Once the game doesn’t ship with a game-breaking bug, it won’t see any bug fixes in its lifetime. (This is where the iPhone wins as a platform: applications and games frequently receive bug fixes via updates keeping games up-to-date).

One ugly bug (I say bug because I know it isn’t a feature) in Fifa 09 AND perpetuated into Fifa 10 occurs when you make a substitution. On making a player substitution, the player who comes onto the field is NOT visible for a few seconds (assumedly because the 3D model for that character is being loaded at the time). This is quite obvious when you make a half-time substitution to both of your strikers: the game will restart and you won’t see any of your strikers in the starting circle, just the football.

In addition, Fifa 10 PSP includes a two new modes and one rehashed mode from Fifa 9.

Fifa 10 offers a rehashed “Be A Pro” mode that monitors your player’s club performance which decides whether or not your player earns a position on his country’s national squad.

Last year’s Interactive Leagues has been removed but Fifa 10 sees the addition of “The Season” which lets a player play through a complete season with a team, removing any Manager Mode or Be A Pro aspects from this mode.

Fifa 10 also includes a Practice Arena which needs very little explaining.

With one online mode removed, one rehashed mode returning and one new mode added, Fifa 10 only feels like a small update to Fifa 09. More evolutionary, less than revolutionary. Fifa 10 features gameplay tweaks, improved goalkeeping features and improved UI updates which also add to the overall game but they still make FIFA 10 feel like a minor update to Fifa 09.

The question I ask myself is “Did I get value for money” on purchasing Fifa 10. Playing full price for a game that has VERY similar roots to it’s predecessor (graphics, models, modes, even sporting the same bugs) does not feel like a situation where I have gotten value for my money. Although I has quite happy to receive Fifa 10 as a birthday gift this year, I could have been quite content with playing Fifa 09 for another year (I have already done this: I owned Fifa 07 and played it for two years, skipping Fifa 08 because it was a small improvement over its predecessor).

Recently, I’ve wondered what sports videogames would be like if they were based on a yearly subscription model that expired after a two-year period.

Game prices being what they are, especially from powerhouse publishers like Electronic Arts, usually hit the store with an MSRP of ~ $40 USD (PSP) and ~ $60 (Xbox 360, PS3). Following the PSP model, over 2 years, you would have invested $80 in Fifa products.

Superficially, if Fifa 09 and Fifa 10 shared a similar code-base, the development team did not have to spend extra resources to build Fifa 10, as they already had a working base to build from. (These savings are never passed on to the consumer but then again, they will never state that they simply rehashed last year’s game and sold it at full price this year).

Why not offer the first year offering of the game (in this example, the first year offering would be Fifa 09) as a paid product (MSRP $40 given the current market price) and offer the second year offering (Fifa 10 in this example) of the game as a paid downloadable or UMD installable upgrade. Potentially, the update would have to be priced less than the game from the previous year, possibly at $20. The update in this case would offer tweaks and updates (such as better collision detection, better goalkeepers,UI updates and roster updates) but allow the player to enjoy the benefits of being able to continue playing on his year 1 game profile. Potentially, savings would be experienced by the publisher/developer given that a much smaller team would be needed to produce the second year update as opposed to building a new version of the game every year. This would also give the team 2 years of preparation time before the next substantial iteration of the game. This would allow developers to focus more of their team on creating a revolutionary products every 2 years, instead of churning out evolutionary (read lack-lustered) products every year.

What do you think: Would you be happy with a 2 year model for sports games or are you happy paying for rehashed versions of the same game every year?

*UPDATE* Where’s the PS3 to PSP connectivity? PS2 to PSP connectivity seems like such a legacy utility to add and like other features, it feels like an after thought. I’m hopeful for FIFA 11.

The steps used to disassemble can be found in detail on the “Pimp My Console” website. The site has 2 tutorials that are quite in depth: one is a video tutorial, the other is a picture by picture walk through. I will only document my experience here.

Image 1. Two Nintendo DS’s waiting to be cracked open

Image 2. The DS on the left is the patient, the DS on the right is the donor.

Image 3. The batteries and rubber pads were the easiest parts to remove.

Image 4. Back of the DS housing removed.

Image 6. Removing the connected wires.

Although the video makes this part look pretty simple, re-attaching the black wire takes some finesse (because it has to be passed under the silver metal casing in the center of the DS). Solution: I tied thread to the end of the black wire and passed the thread under the silver unit instead. The circuitry under the unit made it slightly more difficult to pass the actual wire back under without snagging it on parts of the circuitry. The thread was met with less resistance and once it was through, I simply (and gently) pulled the black wire through.

Image 7. Left – DS with replaced directional pad and buttons. Right – scrapped DS.

Next up: I’ll consider changing out the screens. Which means I’ll have to test the screen on the broken DS first to make sure it works.

*UPDATE* GO GREEN ! GO WHITE !

This picture was taken in Wendy’s in East Lansing. Even videogame characters need to make a living.