The Google Gamer Blog

Chrome Game Review: From Dust

2013-03-17T20:25:00.001-03:00

For the Chrome-Gamers out there. "From Dust" by Ubisoft is a high-end graphics-heavy game (really breathtaking visuals) that is available in the Chrome Web Store. This goes to show the potential for larger apps doing bigger things right in your browser thanks to Chrome’s Native Client.

Get "From Dust" from the Chrome Web Store

The Official "From Dust" Site

However, here's the kick to the front of my pants, my Chromebook doesn't have the graphical power to play it, which is uber disappointing because I bought it with the hope it would be better tuned for Chrome games.

What a let down, because when I played this on Playstation 3, I was mesmerized The gameplay is both challenging, unique, and fun-as-hell, but the story and setting are what hooked me.

You basically play a benevolent spirit-god in an origin myth of some primordial people, assisting them as they exit the underworld and enter the land of the living using your god-like powers. To me, that is a vindication of video games as an expressive medium, it gives us a creative narrative in which we interact and take a direct role in advancing. Oh the possibilities...

U4EM2MFWHSVT

5 "Polite" Suggestions for the Chromebook

2013-03-14T22:22:00.000-03:00

It's been a couple weeks and change since my previous article on my Chromebook, and after rereading what I posted, I feel as if I was too harsh. I've gotten more used to the little guy and now I'm proud to say that, despite issues (which all gadgets suffer from in some way), I think the Chromebook is an awesome invention with devastating potential. Most of it's failings can be easily ignored, because it makes up for it with it's innovative strengths. So here are some of the ideas I came up with to improve the experience. I don't know no technical jibber-jabber, so I have no idea if these are even feasible ideas, but there's nothing here too fantastic, and hopefully the men and women of Google are already hard at work implementing these basic ideas.

1. Let the Chromebook run Android Apps

If this topic were a horse, it would be dead and I'd be beating it, but whatever. It's still the most sensible and desperately needed upgrade that could fling the Chromebook quite easily into super-stardom.

Android OS has consistently proven itself through mainly one saving grace, the Google Play Store. With the vast sea of Apps at your disposal, any limitations of the hardware can generally be overcome. Chromebook should be able to rock some sweet Play Store apps. Chrome OS and Android OS are comparable in scope, 2 GB of Ram is more than enough to run your average Android app and a 16 GB hard drive can be stuffed to the gills with all the smartphone classics. Some time ago I owned a BlackBerry Playbook tablet which featured an Android Player, allowing it to utilize selected Android apps. It's the same principle with the CB. There will no doubt be complications with touch-screen involved, but anything that can be done with a finger can be done with a mouse cursor, more or less.

2. More Touchpad Gestures

Dolphin Browser (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The touchpad is really starting to grow on me, it's becoming eerily comfortable. The problem is it doesn't really go beyond scroll and context menu (unless you wanna gamble with those flag things). I want to see all important functions for browsing be elegant scribble-gestures on the touch pad (like a figure skater on the ice). Split the fingers to X out a page, slide them together again to open a new tab, glide them in an up and down direction at once and you open an incognito page or whatever. It's all a delicate dance. This seems to me to be a task less suited for a simple touchpad and better for a full 10-finger capacities touchscreen that's being used as a touchpad. Cause that would be awesome, like having Dolphin Browser-style gestures. Think about it...

3. More Native Apps

It's time to bust this myth that we shouldn't have any native software on Chrome OS, it's backward forward-thinking. Just because Chrome OS began as an internet browser doesn't mean it has to be JUST an internet browser anymore. It's an OS now, it needs to act like it. Chrome OS needs some better native applications to access data stored on the computer and use it. The video player wonks, the music player wonks, the "Files" app is mediocre. Since I finally got Google Drive to work Offline, document editing has been great, but still, Scratchpad wonks, and now that I have GDocs offline, it serves no function whatsoever. I can also list a bunch of functions I would rather do natively than in browser window. Give us a real media player, with playlists and libraries, no more searching through Files, give us a real interface to play with our stuff.

Google Chrome OS on VMWare (Photo credit: berrytokyo)

If 'El Goog' is dead set on us going straight to the cloud and nowhere else, the very least they could do is give us some richer web apps, ones that can go offline and interact with data and files on the SSD. Google Play Music on Android plays MP3s that are natively stored, why couldn't they do the same for the Chromebook?

4. More Free Stuff

The 100 GB of Google Drive space was an amazing sweetener for the new Chromebooks, an offer that was well worth it for choosing a Chromebook as your next mobile computer. Not to mention the ballin' 1 TB for Chromebook Pixel users. Why not do more stuff like that? I mean Google has their entire cloud-service empire at it's disposal, surely it could spare a good deal or two. Why not gives us some credit to buy music or a couple of movie rentals on the Play Store? Why not cross promote and give us some tokens for buying apps for Android? How about just a rebate, sent right into our brand new (mandatory) Google Wallet accounts? This could actually up the competitiveness against Windows and Mac, because they don't give you crap (who else hates only getting the trial version of Office). The Chromebook remains most attractive because it's a cloud surfer designed to command Google's pre-existing internet menagerie anyway, so why not use exclusive deals from said menagerie to hock more Chromebooks. Everybody wins!

5. Do something with the Desktop

I realize this is a petty complaint, but bear with me. It serves literally no purpose. The only option when you click up the context menu is to 'change wallpaper'. It exists solely to exist, it seems, and that's fine for a lot of things but not in an OS, no sir. The shame is there is so much you could do with it. Take Android's cue here and fill it with apps and widgets (yes, Chrome Widgets!), make us want to go back to the desktop from time to time. However, make sure it looks like Chrome and not Android. Clean and simplified, like a kitted-up version of the New Tab screen in desktop Chrome.

My Month with Chromebook

2013-01-26T14:26:00.002-04:00

English: Picture of the new release of Google Chrome OS Русский: Картинка, снятая с ноутбука, запускающего новый релиз Google Chrome OS (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

So it's been a roughly a month or so since I bit the bullet and bought that Chromebook. Gone are the days where I pined over the specs and jpegs, wondering if I was seeing the next phase in computer evolution or if it was just another gimmicky electronic soon to go the way of Ngage or MIDs or that $100 Indian tablet everyone was excited about. I have it in my hands as we speak, I'm writing this post on it right this moment. Are you curious about it? Do you WANT to know more? Do you NEED to know more? Well then, let's continue, shall we...

The thing is, all the other reviews out there say the same things I could say, and my opinion... "optimistically meh!" I like my Chromebook, I like it a lot, but it frustrates me to no end. It's like managing a boxer who refuses to meet his potential because of his childhood issues. However this is not a human boxer, there's no personal growth here. It's an electronic gadget, so it will only advance as far as it's human-designed programming will let it. Which makes me wonder if the Chromebook and Chrome OS aren't just flawed to begin with.

The Chromebook is gimped. That's the best way to describe it. Because of it's physical and mental limitations, it cannot compete in the same market as Windows PCs or Macs. It does not posses the capability to do this, however, it can still excel in the territory it was created for, namely: internet browsing.

The Chrome Web Store as seen from Google Chrome OS (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

To begin with, I love the hardware. This thing is a solid little netbook. The size is perfect, the weight is perfect. Though it's made out of plastic, it comes out as more solidly constructed than bigger laptops. Sometimes I walk around with it in one palm and typing on it with another (I have big hands).

One thing about it's hardware set up that is both a breath-taking innovation and frustrating personality quirk is the unique Chrome OS specific touch pad. Instead of the standard two button, you get just a thick black rectangle. I suppose this might invite Mac users more, but as a PC Veteran it was just too radical for my old bones. However, I manned up and got use to it, and now I cautiously appreciate it. It allows navigation through more of a gesture UI rather than a point and click UI. Tapping two fingers gives you the context menu, and dragging two fingers up and down allows super-easy scrolling. It feels weird at times, sometimes even unresponsive and overly complicated, but you get used to it. In fact, I occasionally find myself trying to two-finger scroll on my old PC only to be instantly disappointed.

Now we get to the sad part. As no human, no matter how strong or pretty, isn't much use without it's brain, no computer is worth much without it's software. Unfortunately, Chrome OS is still a little underdeveloped or perhaps the very premise is a bit autistic. Everything people criticize about Chrome OS is true. It gives you a robust and speedy internet experience, but without a WiFi connection there is next to nothing you can do on it. Oh sure, you can read files, watch movies, listen to music, and type out poorly formatted things in Scratchpad, the only native word processor, however, without internet this thing becomes essentially a brick, a power-consuming brick.

Let me clear up something; YES, you CANNOT install programs on a Chromebook or on a Chrome OS device. Instead, you install Chrome Web Apps that you download from the Chrome Web Store. What's the difference? Well, these are apps that can substitute the functions that you needed a PC before to run, they are usually much smaller, in fact a lot are just dedicated bookmarks that take you to sites on the web that can handle those functions in the cloud. The problem is, as you guessed it, they do not equal the power of a regular PC program and it's all a scavenger hunt to find the right app that works for what you want. However, finding the right web app can also make you realize you didn't need to buy that $100 program to do that minor thing when there was an internet service which could do it better and for free. It's all in how you wanna look at it.

Chromebook Test (Photo credit: slgckgc)

I reassure myself by telling the world this isn't a computer, it's a Chromebook. It has a different purpose, a different design, it was born to a different destiny, but all that culminates to is the fact that it WILL NOT replace anyone's PC or Mac anytime soon. I use it as a sort of mobile internet device, a speedy little internet note-taker for life at school or just on the go, and it's great for that, but it will not revolutionize the industry, at least not yet...

I'm still looking forward to updates, to see what the Googlenauts can tweak and add to make this thing the new flagship for the cloud that we all hoped it could be. Until then, I will put up with the crap.

Next article, instead of dissecting the hardware and commenting on specs just like every other tech site on the web, I want to get into some suggestions for how it could improve. I've always been an idea guy, my head in the cloud so to speak (get it?!?!), and honestly people have always liked me better for the ideas I came up with rather than anything I could accomplish with my hands. The curse of the writer I suppose. Until then, peace.

FINAL SCORE: 7 out of 10 (some clear problems, but not terrible, has some growing-up to do)

FINAL CRITIQUE: Buy this if you like to experiment with new styles of computing, or you just need the internet in your life, but other than that, stick to the old school.

The Dawn of a New Era

2012-11-26T19:14:00.001-04:00

Ladies and Gentlemen, I have gotten myself a mutha-f*cking CHROMEBOOK! Stay tuned for my impressions as I go straight to the cloud up in this piece.

He who hesitates is lost...

2012-11-13T17:04:00.001-04:00

Google Nexus 4 and Nexus 10 sold out internationally:

I'm starting to wonder if Google just doesn't make enough of their stuff to begin with. These things are sold out, along with the Nexus Q and the new Chromebooks. Maybe that's the genius of it, don't make enough so you can brag about it selling out. Whatever, I still like what they're peddling, I can wait...

'via Blog this'

In Google We Trust...

2012-10-30T03:35:00.002-03:00

Get Ready to Vote with Google | Official Google Blog:

My friends, fellow free men and women, I have news for you... Voting does matter, and yes, things can change. You may think me naive or foolish, and thats ok, because I think you are a traitor if you don't vote. Its my extreme point of view, but what can I say, I grew up in the 90s, I freaking love extreme. Its not my intention to offend, if you have a solid, principled reason why you are abstaining from voting then I say good for you. For example, if you truly do not believe in any of the candidates, major or minor, etc.

However, most folk I know who aren't voting will whine and moan about the government, express an endless amount of uninformed opinions, pick and choose winners and losers, etc., but when asked who are they voting for, they openly admit they didn't register and moan about it being too much of a hassle or, even worse, how nothing will change. That is lame.

My friends, voting is NOT hard. Its basically a 20 minute chore you do every 2 to 4 years. If you believe in the principles and the value of Democracy, YOU VOTE! Thats what Democracy means! LITERALLY! If you are upset that the politicians don't listen to your opinions, thats because your vote is your opinion, and if you are upset that your vote is going to get washed out in the stream of 300 million other votes, I got news for you, thats what your opinion is worth, just a drop in the bucket. You don't vote because it works, you vote because you are free, and free men and women have this right that is unquestioned and inalienable.

If you need info on the platforms, the polls, the trends, the latest news, the location of your voting station, etc., Google has once again come to the rescue with its Voter Information Tool. A load of nifty widgets and stuff to help inform your choice.

So, man-up, woman-up, or tranny-up and go vote!

'via Blog this'

A Tablet for the cost of a Used Car

2012-10-27T15:24:00.001-03:00

Casio announced new Android tablet for the ridiculous price of $2,500

One question. What the hell?

The Google Doc Saints

2012-10-25T17:24:00.001-03:00

Direct from the Official Chrome Blog, also off of my computer, comes automatic icons to open your various Google Drive word editors. At the moment you have Docs, Sheets, and Slides. With the kinks pretty much worked out of Offline Docs, the Drive has become a hot ticket. In fact, I feel its finally begun to live up to its promise to oust Microsoft Word as the unchallenged word processing champion. Sure, Open Office has been around and Libre Office was there too, but both were merely clones of Word proper. Than again, there's not much innovation in word processing is there, right.

Wrong, stupid! Google did it by making Google Docs a Cloud application. No longer will students have to lug around those heavy Flash Drives and hope the .DOC or .DOCX version is up to date. The Drive gives us our book-reports and term papers on the web, accessible anywhere, anytime, even the phone. Another great advance thanks to the growing essential power of the cloud barons over the software Luddites. Ha! The barbarians...

One click to Docs, Sheets, and Slides:
Posted by Jonathan Rochelle, Director of Product Management, the Official Chrome Blog

Chromebook sells out in less than 24 hours!!!

2012-10-23T21:14:00.000-03:00

And just like that, the new Google Chromebook is now sold out

Did I call it or what. Everyone that scoffed at the Chromebook and said they didn't see a point you are now official labeled a DUMBASS. You got no imagination, buddy. I knew, oh yes, the internet and its horsepower are the future, no one would deny that, so why than would you think an internet corvette like this would do anything other than take over like Stalin. Yet, there were hurdles to jump, because every new technology has them, without exception. The key was the cost to the consumer, as it almost always is. The Chromebook promises a cheaper, quicker, smarter solution, but until now it failed on the first one. Now its Three-for-Three.

Enjoy your Chromebooks. Also enjoy your free 100 Gigabytes of Google Drive as well.

Rollin on Candy Chromebook, now just $250

2012-10-21T11:50:00.000-03:00

New Chromebook's best feature: low price

I like the Chromebook, or rather, I like the idea of the Chromebook. Think about it. The vast majority of electronic humanity uses their computers for one thing, internet lolz. So why not make a computer made exclusivity for internet, tearing the expensive guts out of the hardware and slathering a Cloudsource shine on the software, and who better than the unofficial lords and masters of the web, Google. Ideals aside the Chromebook had its issues as the first decent web-based notebook, but I'm glad Big G stuck with the idea, and now they've lowered the cost to $250 on the next Samsung and Google Chromebook. Thats basically tablet bracket, literally actually, the Google Nexus 7 16 GB is around the same cost. This is the kind of move that could actually make the CB worth it to invest in.

Leaked on Picasa: Sony Nexus X?

2012-10-15T12:34:00.001-03:00

Is this real? Supposed images of the Sony Nexus X pop up on Picasa

I can haz?

Jet Set Radio skating onto Android 'this summer'

2012-07-20T15:46:00.001-03:00

Jet Set Radio skating onto Android 'this summer'

One of my unquestioned favorites, looking forward to this download. JSR will also come to Xbox and PS3 via the online stores.

Nexus 7 is better than iPad

2012-07-17T06:19:00.001-03:00

We all know it.

Nexus 7 Started Selling Out As Of Last Week

Who wants a 5 inch Ice Cream Sandwich?

2012-07-10T04:49:00.001-03:00

AT&T to roll out Android 4.0 update for Samsung Galaxy Note on July 10th Wish I had one... The 'awesomest' update? S-Note gets hand-writing to text function. Things are looking up, kid...

Project Glass: Let Google turn you into an Omnipotent God!

2012-06-26T05:01:00.001-03:00

Watch this "concept" video and you'll see what I mean. Good to know Google will one day let me avoid ever having to speak to anyone every again... except for myself.

EA, Wooga pulling games from Google Plus | Joystiq

2012-06-18T21:14:00.001-03:00

EA, Wooga pulling games from Google Plus | Joystiq: 'via Blog this'

Looks like the faithless are scrambling for their pieces of silver. God forgives, Nerds don't...

Actually, the user drought that G+ has been weathering patiently seems to be catching up with them finally. These developers, as Judas-like as they may be, are noticing just as easily as we are that while G+ may boast a large user base, most of those people abandoned it in the first few months and sailed back to the homeland of Facebook. No users means no playing games, and if no one plays the games, well... I don't even know what that means, its too scary a conclusion to think about. Is this a dreaded sign of things to come? Google Games is needed now more than ever!

Sonic The Hedgehog 4 Episode II Comes to Android

2012-05-16T14:34:00.001-03:00

What an unexpected delight!

Listen up all you Sons of Sega, you Genesis Generation, you Dreamcasters, you People of the Blast Processor. Treading in the wake of Mega Man comes this retro futuristic gem from the ole blue blur, Sonic the Mutha-F***in' Hedgehog, always down but never out.

Sonic 4 is actually out for several platforms: Xbox Live, Playstation Network, soon it will be on the various iThings. On the Android side, it's currently only availible for Nvidia Tegra 3 powerhouses, but will become "omniandroidal" soon.

I think this the route that the ailing Sonic franchise needs to take, a return to it's original style. Not everything is meant for three demensions.

$6.99 is a small price to pay for potentially epic nostolgia.

Sonic The Hedgehog 4 Episode II Comes to Android

Google Docs Walks! Google Drive Thrives!

2012-05-02T01:02:00.000-03:00

I'm a big fan of Google Docs, or as it's now called Google Drive, and this new expansion has opened the cloud service to file formats beyond just documents. I've always liked the idea of having all my documents available to me as long as I have an internet connection. The fact that it's Android counterpart blends so well with the whole cloud network seals the deal. Now for the super-cherry on my big pile of cherrys (I f**king love cherries, bro), Google Drive now has a desktop paradox folder, one of those hard to fathom wonders of the emerging cloud revolution. It allows you to place a Google Drive folder in Windows Explorer so you can save your Word or Open Office docs, or anythign else really, right to Big G's cloud storage. It's able to do this because your Drive exists on both your hard drive and the internet, or something. It's nifty even if it feels a bit like evil sorcery.

While I like the Drive, I'm dissapointed that Google felt they had to do away with the whole Google Docs brand. I thought it was becoming a distinct alternative to client-side doc writing, allowing documents the freedom to have multiple real time authors, easy doc conversion, URL links for sharing, growing integration with the rest of Google's gang services and all the other perks of being part of the internet, rather then shoveling data onto it (It's not a big truck. Old-ass reference for the win!). It's name is also a disappointment, but that's the usual for Google. It's a fine designation for an app, but in many places, mainly on Google's OS platforms like Android, the title will be truncated to remove Google, and it will just say “Drive”, which is confusing and stupid, but what should I expect, it does it with everything else; Music, Books, etc.

The genuine problem I have with G-Drive (such a better name) is the same I've had since it was Google Docs, you can't edit content offline, which remains the biggest stumbling block to the advancement of the cloud in general. Every time my internet goes out, I have to switch back to Open Office to get any writing done. I'll also sometimes find that I've been writing a lengthy document that hasn't been saving because I neglected to notice the net was down, than I just X-out the sucker, thinking I'll find it later. Ok, that hasn't happened to me yet, but it totally could, and that's puts the kind of fear in you where you think you need to vote for an idiot to be safe.

What the Drive needs is an offline document editor that's client-side, installed on the hard drive. If they don't have a stupid name in mind they could call it Google Docs, or something like Google Docs Editor or Google Document Writer, just give it a name geeks can respect in their tools. This really doesn't seem difficult, just place it on top of the Drive sync software. You then should be able open a native Google Docs program and save your file directly to the drive. It could also simultaneously upload saves while editing, and update the document automatically if edited somewhere else. It's the true application of the cloud, where desktop and internet exist simultaneous to one another.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing what Google comes up with in their burgeoning mega-cloud. Google Drive is by far my favorite cloud storage, though they all have their strengths, and it has become my go-to site for my professional documents. However, Microsoft SkyDrive giving me 20 gigabytes of data at no cost, for a reason I'm not entirely sure of (I think it was a gift), has endeared me as well. You got anything for me too, Big G? Peace.

What is Google Play? Unrelated: what happened to my Android Market app?

2012-03-16T21:59:00.000-03:00

The Android Market, Google's bargain bin of awesome, is no more. Raising from the depths comes the enigmatic and slightly perplexing Google Play Store. What's changed? Pretty much just the name. Long live the Google Play Store!

There's more to it than that of course. The whole Play thing is a huge re-branding of Google apps and services under one heading (cause just Google isn't enough) and according to my secret source (the Internet, shhh) it's integrating it's various digital distribution platforms into one convenient system. Ergo and such, you've no doubt noticed some of your "favorite" Google apps receiving new names. The new family includes; Play Music, Play Movies, and Play Books (please keep in mind that some of these services are only available to rich white boy countries, no offence intended to white boys who aren't rich OR to Asian countries who are included in this category) Here's a simple equation I created to clear up this unification, I call it the "Playthagorian" Theorum (get it, lol);

Android Market times the sum of Google Movies plus Google Music plus Google Books equals Google Play divided by the sum of Play Music times Play Books times Play Movies x Android Apps. Thanks 8th Grade Algebra!

What's REALLY new to Play? Well, how about daily deals on apps and music and stuff, much like the Amazon Marketplace with it's free paid app a day idea. Also, remember that new privacy policy they harassed us for so long about reading, because of that, apparently they're also able to hock their ads more effectively. For example, ebook purchases will now effect the ads you see in Play Movies (cause now that you've read the book you need to be disappointed by the movie), which effects the ads in Play Music (cause the movie sucked but the soundtrack was tight), and so forth and etc.

With this fellowship of the ring forged, and Google Wallet acting as Frodo, Google is poising to march to Mount Jobs and... I think my analogy can end there. They're going to be able to directly compete with iTunes for control of the digital media sales market, because while the Play Store looks just like the Market, it's focus is shifting from browsing and buying on your Android phone, to more of a one-stop Google department store you visit on your daily desktop/laptop surfing and pushing the content right to your device. If you have ever used the Market's website to download an app before, you know that it's quite convenient. You browse for your choice in a nice big desktop window, you connect your smartphone to your account, and when you purchase your app, your phone beeps, and you find out it downloaded itself onto your SD card before the "Thank you for shopping..." page even loaded in your browser. Now that's convenience! Now Google want's that ease of distribution for all it's other impulse purchase websites for that obvious, but never mentioned, reason anybody does anything with a computer or the internet, compete with Apple. The Market has always done great, but the three media apps have been struggling since their creation. Sewing them all together and creating a media Frankenstein seems as good a way as any to rebuild interesting, and one brand name helps. However, one does not simply compete with Apple...

Check out this YouTube video from the new The Google Gamer Blog: Official YouTube Playlist for a brief overview;

What effect does this have on the gaming? Nothing I can tell. Games are still treated the same as apps except for the usual categorization difference within the shop, and on your phone they're still just tossed in there with your other apps. It's a travesty that music, movies, and books get individual representation, but games are left to blend in to the background. How great would a Play Games app be, organizing all your grinding and button-mashing and DPSing into one convenient interface that could share to G+ or something. The name even makes sense, as opposed to Play Books, that just sounds like a bad Spanglish translation.

It seems a shame to toss out the iconic Android name for a somewhat meaningless white-washed title like Play. One does wonder if Google is tossing out the old school Android moniker for a slightly more efficient clone that bears the Google logo instead. Than again, if it makes things easier for the customer than who cares. It's also possible we could see the Chrome Web Store eventually march under this banner if Google really wants to integrate everything they could possible sell or paste an ad bar to. They sure have been into that lately.

Check the links for more info and better spelling (though significantly less wit and charm) and tell me what you think of the new Play family. Peace.

English:::
"One company, one store: Why Google axed Android Market for Google Play" from Digital Trends
"The Android Market is now Google Play" from Phandroid

Spanish:::
"¿A dónde fue el Android Market?" desde Esmandau.com
"Google unifica su oferta de aplicaciones y contenido"desde ArteOrebe.com

SDK Opens for Playstation Suite, finally

2012-03-10T21:18:00.000-04:00

The long awaited software development kit (SDK) for the Playstion Suite is just around the corner. As mentioned in previous articles; the PlayStation Suite is an Android App that allows you to play ported versions of classic PSOne games on your smartphone and/or tablet. The "showcase" game for this service, that has been shown almost every time, is Crash Bandicoot. Not the best choice, the failed Sony brand mascot who hocked stuffed-crust pizza and lives on more as a gamer in-joke than an actual game people wanted to dredge up.

However, it was the only choice really, unless they wanted their flagship Suite game to be a soccer game (maybe in Europe), as the list of games was scant, at best.

Finally, that's about to change with the SDK coming out in April. That means all those busy bees looking to breath new life into the PSOne's hardcore classics can get t

This app is not for just anyone with any old Android device, your device must be "Playstation Certified", which is some what of a marketing gimmick that basicly acknoledges a hardware and performance minimum that devices must carry. However, as there are plenty of top teir Android devises that are not considered certified, it's a mostly arbitrary distinction. In fact, to date, the only smartphones to be certified are the Sony-Ericsson/Sony Mobile Xperia line, beginning over a year ago with the intriguing (but not that interesting) Sony Xperia Play, and Sony's two tablets, the S and the P.

It has been anounced though that a future HTC smartphone will be shooting for the first non-Sony Playstation certification, so who knows if we'll see the Suite run the gambit of Android devises.

http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/07/playstation-suite-open-to-all-developers-from-april-full-sdk-co/

PS: I'm starting to hate technology. My laptop has AIDS and is dieing, my smartphone has a brain tumor, my tablet is gone, and my sister's tablet is dangerously skitzophrenic. Please excuse the quality of this post becuse I'm hurrying to post it so don't smash this piece of shit out of frustration. Senerinty now...

Chrome Game Review: Kingdom Rush

2012-03-02T17:55:00.000-04:00

This may not be the best way to start a review on a Tower Defense game, but I freakin' hate Tower Defense games. I put TDs in a category called "not real" games, in that sort of snobbish, elitist disdain that a film buff might have for your average Action flick. They're casual, the bastards of social games, not the grandiose epics we Hardcore Gamers crave. They're pretty much the same mechanic copy/pasted to every game, with the sprites changing to fit the setting, but no real attempt to be unique or innovative is made. They're the kind of cheaply made game that clogs Androids and iPhones so developers can make a quick couple of cents off the ads. Also, let's not forget that this whole scheme is nearly a decade old, I remember playing lame-ass TDs on Newgrounds and JibJab, and not alot has changed.

Yet as I am typing this I am willed with an awe-inspiring feeling of befuddlement, because I love Kingdom Rush for the very fact that is counters every gripe I listed above with a new, fresh, innovative take on the classic scheme, while at the same time being a quintessential example of a Tower Defense game. I generally like to be befuddled, it's a good feeling, especially when it's about a game I can properly obsess about.

Facts:

This game comes to us by way of the Chrome Web Store, however, it's hosted in like a billion difference places across the web. In fact, the app actually takes you to another flash games site, which is just pointless in my opinion, this app is a glorified bookmark. This is what bugs me about Chrome Apps, most are just straight rips from the website, I was hoping we'd actually get some APPS, you know, mini-programs that can give you an improved experience over the website. Oh well, it's got the potential and I'm patient.

Kingdom Rush comes to us courtesy of Ironhide Game Studio. Let's get critical!

Gameplay:

The bedrock of every game, the bones, the bricks and morter, the roots, the firmament, etc. The great question that defines our medium, does this game play? Very much, sir.

If you've ever played a Tower Defense game, you know the drill. There's a winding path across the screen where various baddies will shlep on threw. If they get to the end, they sack your tower, steal your gold, fondle your wife and daughters, etc. You lose. Your job is to build defenses all along that path and kill those blasted invaders before they get to your goodies. To build more towers to defend, you need to kill dudes and collect gold or it's equivalent to buy them, creating the unique balance of gameplay. This method has been the tried and true mechanic for TDs with little diversion.

Kingdom Rush, however, goes way way beyond that. In KR, you have multiple types of towers to build that offer different benefits against specific bad guys. Simple right, it's like a matching game. Well as they start introducing more bad guys, you find that one tower may not be enough for a certain type of monster, you may need one to break it's defense and another to kill it. Than, you start seeing enimes giving power buffs to others and the game changes again. KR really shines in that every tower placed on stage has to be carefully chosen; you need soldiers to create chock points, you need archers and magic to take out flyers, you need armor breakers to gang up on heavies, etc. With all this RTSing, especially in those moments when hordes of heavies stomping towards to, it creates a frantic rush (get it) to put up a defence. No worries, though, you're main job will be to upgrade your defense, and there are a lot of upgrades to make to your towers, including divergent tech trees in the ultimate upgrades. There a plenty of moments where the entire battle hinged on choosing the right upgrade at the right moment, unleashing a powerful attack to exploit a weakness.

In my opinion, this game is both simple enough to get your balance quick, but complex enough to have to constantly sharpen your tactics to handle the massive, massive plethora of bad dudes. Not to mention the Boss fights, nuts, simply nuts. I had a lot of fun

Art:

This game looks good, just plain good. The sprites are that good old medieval style, with a distinctive chibi/cartoon style. Though simple, they are still intricate enough to have a wide array of movements, actions, gestures, etc. I don't know how they knew with would work, but there was never a moment I lost sight of a big guy, never a moment that I was confused between my troops and theirs, and even when the screen was literal covered in bad dudes, I could still maintain control of what was going on and what threat I had to deal with next. This is a well drawn game.

Story:

Beleive it or not, the story telling wasn't bad, and here's why, they didn't do anything stupid. It's a simple tail of a kingdom getting attacked by an evil menace. All the various units were standard fantasy fare, so you didn't need to ask too many questions.

It remined me a lot Warcraft 2's story telling, remember that? A simple, elequently written page of text about the dire straights you're in and what must be done. KR apes this well so that every stage was a plot point in the overall arc. Also like Warcraft 2, it provides a map as a context for what you're fighting for, a nice tough. It's a minor part of the game, but I'm glad to Ironhide put some effort into it anyway, because that's what turns a good game into a great game.

I'm not going to give this a number or a letter or thumb in a particular direction because that's stupid, I'm not into rating games, I prefer to praise them or slam them in my own words, because there's really now adequate system for judging the value of a piece of creative work. I liked this game alot, I started playing it at 6 at night and then looked up later to find it was 6 in the morning. There's your number, I gave it 12 hours of my life. Download it, it's lotsa fun. Peace.

BlackBerry PlayBook gets Android Apps, Owners Step Back from Ledges

2012-02-25T01:12:00.000-04:00

So if you're one of the 16 people who bought a BlackBerry Playbook, you've been eagerly and patiently waiting for a savior in the form of "The Update", BB's much needed software gear-up to BlackBerry Tablet OS 2.0 (stupid name) that is giving us access (limited access) to Android Market, letting Android app developers hock their wares to the BlackBerry faithful (but only if they feel like it). If you are one of the rest of humanity who didn't get a BBPB, than please try not to laugh at our "update" that gave us things you got like 3 years ago and still left us like 2 years worth of catching up.

One of the main problems that stunted the PlayBooks was that BlackBerry App World is barren for apps. Seriously, it was embarrassing, there were maybe 40 apps in that stupid market, and adding insult to injury, they were terrible! Like made by children, and only some were of actual use to people (no freaking email client), while most were those lame pointless goofy apps that no one downloads or, god forbid, spends money on. It's a shame too, cause this little tablet is a freaking powerhouse, video looks amazing, HD games look amazing, it's fast, it's smooth. It's like a gifted child who was neglected and uses it's incredible, unfocused talent to hustle tourists (like Good Will Hunting, the PlayBook is the Matt Damon of tablets).

I could go on and on about how this tablet is gimpy and primitive and tethered and under-developed and a late bloomer and a bunch of other anthropomorphic rhetoric, but it's a happy day, the PlayBook's finally going to school, and with a little luck, it will one day grow up to be a mediocre Android tablet. The interface is well done, no crap adapting the Android and BlackBerry Tablet OS control schemes. In fact, I think it might be an improvement to both OSs. You get the simple grace of BBTOS and the graceful simplicity of Android. Good stuff. A few gems are popping up too. For example, Dolphin Browser has been ported over, which is my browser of choice on my Galaxy S. Before, there were no alternative browsers, just BlackBerry's generic web surfer, which was unfortunate because with so few useful apps you spent most of your time using bookmarks anyway. What's great on the PlayBook is Dolphin's gesture controls, which are a welcome contrast to BB Browser's super tiny buttons you have to Five-Finger Exploding Heart technique to get it to register (honestly the Tab close buttons DO NOT need to be that small). Picasa has also got an app, they had one before but you had to pay, and I would say "LOL screw you" to that BB developer, but like most BB developers he's already been screwed by BB (burn!).

Of course, this is RIM, a company that prides itself on having delusions of grandeur, so it's not smooth sailing yet. The Android apps trickle in slowly with no indications that they are any different from the BB apps, so you can't instantly tell the difference between a brand new QNX butt-nugget or an awesome kid-tested, mother-approved Android classic. Also, most apps seem to just be straight rips of phone apps, looking a little fugly on a tablet (but that might just be how it is, cause making apps for proper Android Tablets was never that big, shame too, so much wasted space in these apps). They also feel a bit rickety, like they'll force close at any moment.

All in all, this is a good step for the beleaguered RIM, as soon as they realize it's not 2003 anymore and BlackBerry is no longer the titan of free enterprise communication, the sooner they can stop beating up Chinese flight attendants and get back on track to making tight, gourmet electronics. Virtually everything the BlackBerry brought us years ago can be done now by any other smartphone, and usually faster, better made, cheaper, and open not just BlackBerry users. No one's impressed with your private email server anymore, guys, and BlackBerry Messenger is no longer seen as impressive new form of instant communication, so slick that both Presidents and terrorists a like were using it to plan bombings, but now BBM's a restrictive, out-dated form of communication that every freaking tablet/smartphone can do better and for FREE! If you don't shape up RIM, you're gonna have a breakdown and wind up making feature phones in Indonesia (which considering how big Indonesia is and how popular BB is there might not be the worst outcome)

There I go again. All I want to say is, there are still moves for BlackBerry and it's PlayBook to make. The update was much needed and looks pretty good. Let's see what else you got, you crazy canucks. Of course we'll give you a second chance, you're BlackBerry.

Old School Gamer Swag

2012-01-17T23:10:00.000-04:00

Today I'm proud to showcase an aspiring artist as well as a gamer, as well as a GIRL! This girl gamer artist showed me some of the art she did with hama beads and I was freaking floored. Look at the detail, look at how perfectly they copy the game sprites. It's like they are actual 8-bit sprites. She's contemplating selling them, so if you want to convince her to go through with it, contact her at her Tumblr email and be charming. I got the little Google+ keychain, obviously. Cool huh? Peace out till we meet again.

Jennifer Pabon on Tumblr

LaseRtRon has been PWND

2012-01-16T03:16:00.000-04:00

Little bit of an issue folks.

My computer, though a pillar of the internet community, is showing it's considerable wear recently. It's to be expected, it's been through a lot, now my charger has stopped working, and combined with my battery problems, my good friend is on his death bed. It may be time for the great one to leave the game.

Oh, well, eso paso...

So the blog is gonna get a bit of a breather. In the mean time, chew on this link.

Sony Tablet S Review: A Tablet That Goes Beyond Basics

I'm thinking of getting a Sony Tablet S (Product Site) to replace my computer (whose name is LaseRtRon by the way). There's a good deal at Sam's Club. Reviews make it seem solid, but if you think differently let me in the comments. I know that a Sony product can sometimes be a gamble.

One of the deciding reasons I'm looking at the Sony Tablet S is the fact that it's PlayStation Certified, currently the only tablet to be such. This ubiquitous distinction means it has the privilege of wielding the mighty PlayStation Suite on Android, an app in which you can download and play PlayStation Uno games! I would freakin' love to rock me some Final Fantasy 7 or Soul Reaver on a tablet. However, the suite is a little barren right now, observe the Wikipedia article below.

List of PlayStation Suite Games on Wikipedia

That's chump change, man, small potatoes. Although, it might be cool to play Wild Arms again, I never did finish it. I'm sure they'll add more. Considering how much people spend for nostalgia on the Nintendo Virtual Console you know they would be selling kidneys to get classics like Fear Effect or Bushido Blade, or at least I would, I've got another.

I also really like the Sony Tablet P cause it looks like a big Nintendo DS. It's a design that has made the DS super versatile while being super portable as well. Sony has, at the very least, shown it's still really great at making sexy, black bricks.

Be back real soon. Peace.

OnLive To Be Integrated Into Google TV Products

2012-01-12T12:20:00.000-04:00

OnLive To Be Integrated Into Google TV Products

Some time ago I read an article that concerned Google and gaming. It seemed someone had found a bit of code or something (I don't know the technicals) that showed the Google TV set top box could support a controller.

There were no real mentions of this or it's intention by the Google people, but that's cool, it was clearly a potential that they wanted to give their device if they ever choose to develop it.

However, what was easily dismissed was in fact the seeds of something greater, Google was poised to enter the console war by a feint. A complete sneak attack! But who would have thought they would bring such big guns to the fight...

So OnLive and Google are coupling off to bring us a high-strung, ADD baby called Pwning. OnLive is an up-and-coming gaming-on-demand service that pumps high-def video games threw your tubes and onto your computer, your tablet, your TV, your phone, and most things with screens. What gives it this incredible power? The cloud, of cource.

OnLive plays it's catalog of games on it's own computers and sends you the action in the form of a video stream. At the same time, you're mashing the buttons on your keyboard or controller and it's sending the directions to the sprites on the web, all simultaneous and such.

At least that's how I understand it. I'm cool with the explination being magic too.

So this creative use of emerging technology means potentially anything with a moniter can play some hardcore, graphics heavy pwnage. That's a direct afront to both the Console and PC Gaming markets. No longer would man toil at lowered frame rates or being deafened by loud-ass cooling fans. The hard part would be done by the super-heroes of the internet, and we enjoy the fun.

This is just another one of those examples of how Cloud Computing is a clear alternative to pretty much everything. Crazy stuff...

So why have you never heard of OnLive? Because everyone's afraid of it. You can feel the hesitancy in the industry towards it. No one wants to play with the new kid. Critics are scrambling to dissect it and out it as a mere mortal, while the giants of the industry just ignore it and hope it goes away.

Becoming buds with Google just made sense. Like two boys on the playground, Google and OnLive are spoiling to take on the whole class.

This move gives OnLive that industry support it needs to flourish, plus Google's fat stacks won't hurt. Google benefits as well, they no longer have to tinker about with the idea of gaming while never really committing, like a woman on a diet eyeing a piece of chocolate cake she knows she wants. OnLive has a solid manager and Google has a solid fighter. It's like Rocky or something.

In many ways it's a perfect match. Google has never been a hardware company or a software company, they're an internet company, that's what they do almost flawlessly. Using their whole network as a cannon for game bombs just makes more sense than building an entire system from scratch. Pretty sneaky sis...

Another thing OnLive has lacked is decent games. It has a few gems, but no where near even the backest of back catalogs of the Gaming Giants. Google's presence and cheddar might certainly be able to sway some big titles to the service, and, dare I say... invest in making "Cloud Games".

Issues of lag have been reported in the more top-tier games, which I suppose is to be expected with this futurist space technology, and now that Google, the Imperial Space Navy of the Internet, has it's back, expect to see those problems disappear. Not to mention, the Google Fiber project, a venture into actual internet service providing, is boasting connections at 1 gigabit/second, well well well above OnLive's optimum required connection speed, we could see crazy smooth YouTube demos pretty soon. I hope you're enjoying yourselves Kansas Cities (both Missouri and Kansas).

OnLive's presence can also seriously affect the sales of the Google TV set top box. It's struggling at the moment, because it's so lacking in content, but Google's impressive app library is growing everyday, putting some cool stuff on your boob tube. With OnLive, the box ups the ante with real, hardcore gaming, not just Android casual games and Angry Birds ports.

I personally feel this is a major boon to both companies, a union that just makes sense. In a way, success is really their's to lose. I know Google fairly well, but I don't know OnLive or how they operate. If they can deliver on what they promise, they can leap out ahead of every gaming platform; console, PC, mobile, tablet, TV set top biggity boxes, etc., with Google along to help pick up the money. Good things 'a coming, people, lord willing. Peace out.

- Julian H.

The Google Gamer Blog

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