Hardware
Vita Vs Mobile
2The PlayStation Vita. If you’re a gamer and/or technophile, and the idea of carrying around a PlayStation 3 in your pocket doesn’t make you salivate, then you’re either dead, or aren’t being honest with yourself. Sure, you may not want one, or will be quick to point out that you wouldn’t be caught dead with one, but you cannot deny that this thing emanates power like a leaky nuclear reactor. Massive OLED touchscreen? Motion controls? Dual cameras? Wifi and (optional) 3G connectivity?
But that all sounds like a smartphone, doesn’t it? After all, smartphones have touchscreens, most now have motion controls, dual cameras and, of course, wifi and 3G. And they play games. Judging by the statements of many media outlets, you’d think that the Vita was already consigned to the junk heap of time, a relic, and an absolute waste of time, resources, and cash because smartphones – and tablets – are where handheld gaming is headed.
Not so. I’m talking from a my position as a gamer, the kind of person who pre-orders these kinds of things, sight unseen, because it raises the hairs on the back of my next whenever I see obviously airbrushed PR photos, or when I read and re-read the specs as if it were some kind of vintage erotica. This is the evolution of hardware for the gaming community. First came the early consoles, then the PC, then more powerful, dedicated and tethered consoles, and now a first class gaming machine that is free of the in-place restrictions that we’ve been saddled with thus far. Hallelujah!
But “mobile” gaming nowadays is all about smartphones, right? Publishers and developers are eschewing desktop or console titles to bring their little works of art to the iOS, Android, and, yes, Windows Phone. For $0.99 USD, you can have a game in your hand – a tiny, tiny game in your relatively not-so-tiny hand – that can compete with whatever you’ll find on the 3DS or the Vita, right? If you listen to the breathy statements of pundits, you’d think so, but the truth is that the Vita is made for games, while mobile devices have games available. Being a gamer and being told in no uncertain terms that the Vita is DOA because so many people have smartphones is missing the point. There will ALWAYS be a market for devices like the Vita or the 3DS. Of course, unless the market is overwhelming the competition, pundits usually declare it a “failure”, which is the same thing in my mind as calling every movie ever made “a failure” because Avatar made more money then they each did on their own. Sounds stupid, doesn’t it? So why would we consume the same rhetoric when it comes to situations like the Vita versus smartphones, and games versus apps?
The question now being asked is “will consumers bite” when the Vita is released at $250 USD, considering you can get a 3DS for $170 USD, or a 16GB iPod for $199. As a gamer, my knee-jerk reaction would be to punch someone in the face and scream “HELL YES!”, but the key lies with a single word: consumers. Although mobile games can’t hold a production-quality candle to what we’ll see on the Vita, there are now, and will always be, more smartphones in the hands of the general public then there will be Vita in the hands of gamers. That is a fact. Then – and only then – when you throw in a morass of inexpensive, “throw away” apps, you’ll see that yes, smartphones will bury the Vita through the sheer force of numbers. But numbers do not equate to quality, nor is it a barometer of potential satisfaction with what you’ll end up finding on your app store of choice. With a lower barrier to entry for developers (I use that term lightly in many cases), you have to wade through a lot of shit before you find the diamonds that the mule ingested in order to smuggle them through customs. So sure: smartphones have the number advantage. But you can’t tell me that the PlayStation Junior isn’t going to blow these wannabes out of the water in tech specs, performance, features, and visuals when it comes time for it to take the stage.
Leave the smartphone games to your mom and grandparents. If you’re a gamer who’s disenfranchised with the 3DS, support the Vita and show the industry that we as gamers aren’t going to hang our heads and simply agree to get our mobile gaming from the sub-standard fare being dumped into app stores around the world. Put down your fanboy placards and smarter-than-thou troll quills and realize that there’s a huge chunk of the gaming industry who is ready to chase the shiny of mobile gaming, and to hell with their current constituents, and take a good, honest look at the Vita. Do you want this to be the last hurrah for gaming hardware designed and dedicated to gaming? Doesn’t matter that it’s from Sony. It’s platform neutral, because it will the last hope of all gamers before we’re swept into the mediocrity of the tower defense clones or the physics-based platformers that clog in the smartphone ghettos.
Skylanders! The Final Word (For Now)
7For our regular reader, I apologize for this deluge of Skylanders related posts, but aside from Rift, it’s what I’ve been occupying my time with recently, and now that I’ve had some time with it, I wanted to keep people in the loop. Skylanders is a pretty expensive proposition, and I’ve heard from a few people who have expressed interest in picking this up for their kids for the holidays, so I feel that I’d be remiss if I didn’t do my part to help them in their decisions.
I’m into Skylanders for about $117.99 at this point. Part of that is me, part of that is me bowing to pressure from my daughter. We took advantage of the Toys ‘R Us deal whereby holders of their rewards card could get a coupon for a free figure by spending over $100 between launch and December 24th, and we crested that ridge by taking advantage of TRU’s buy 2 get 1 free deal which brought us to the grand total stated above. We got the TRU exclusive Legendary three pack, the Darklight Crypt expansion, and a lone figure, and are awaiting our coupon. I had gone in wanting to get another three pack as the freebie, but TRU had sold out of normal three packs by the time we got there. I guess everyone had the same idea, so at least the game is selling.
Now We’re Thinking With Portals
I took the portal device to the PC, plugged it in, and installed the driver with no issues at all. I then proceeded to log into the website and register the four figures that I had been allotted by my daughter: Trigger Happy, Legendary Chop Chop, Legendary Spyro, and Ghost Roaster. Placing them on the portal told me that the figure was unregistered, and asked if I wanted to associate this with my account. I haven’t read up on it (documentation is still pretty scarce), but I assume that these characters cannot be registered to another account (like my daughter’s) without first unregistering them on my own. Thankfully, when you select a character from your lair, you can unregister it with the click of a button. I don’t know if unregistering will pull the character from your vault or not.
I spent about an hour playing online…well, playing is a generous term. There’s not a lot to do in the online world, as I had stated previously. Your character has a different leveling scheme between the web and console games, so you can’t jump from one to the other to work on the same stats. However, I believe that stats raised via the console game do have and effect in the mini-games of the web version. One question I have is whether or not the money you earn in one transfers to the other, and vice versa. This is important because you can earn a lot of cash in the web version playing the mini-games. It can be spent online to upgrade and expand your personal skyland, but money is also used in the console version to buy upgraded powers. I wouldn’t want to go all Martha Stewart in the web version when I could spend the money going all Bruce Lee in the console version.
Going All Bruce Lee In The Console Version
Last night my daughter and I returned to chapter 2 of the console game. Our task was to liberate a golden propeller engine from a pirate airship so we could fit it to our balloon in order to reach the sky fortress we apparently have to reach. We learned a few things about how the game progresses in this level:
- More enemies are introduced as the game progresses
- Some enemies are designed to really mess with you. One enemy protects nearby allies against ranged attacks. Playing Trigger Happy, this really sucked, and because it’s all auto-aim, I had to angle myself to take out this support character before I could go after the allies.
- There’s bosses and mini-bosses. We ran into a troll-thing which took more attention to drop then a normal enemy. Then we ran into two of them at a time. Then we ran into his boss at the end of chapter 3.
- Puzzles are to be expected.
- Optional content is to be expected. This sometimes takes the place of elemental gates which require Skylanders of a certain elemental bent, but we ran into a situation in chapter 3 where we had to activate a button, and were given 22 seconds to secure a newly-reveled gem before the gate closed on us. We failed that, as we were unsure where the gem was in relation to where we were, and where we needed to be.
- At the end of each chapter, you’re given a scorecard which shows how many of the stage features you achieved. We have yet to achieve more then 25% on any of the chapters we’ve tackled, which makes me throw my hands up in confusion because we never saw opportunities to find the things they say we should have been able to find. And yes, there is a strategy guide, although my daughter told me in no uncertain terms that she did not want this; she enjoyed finding things on her own. I, on the other hand, am taunted by the things I did not find, and will be revisiting these levels over and over until I have found them all.
I can say in all seriousness that the shit does get real in chapter 3. There’s a lot of jumping puzzles here, and the elemental gate zones seem to be taking longer to complete (maybe they just suck, though, as one air gate zone had us jumping directly INTO a teleporter which sent us back to the beginning). There are also far more enemies per square inch then there were previously. We ran into carefully placed ambushes filled with ninjas, chompies, ranged-protection ghosts, blue elemental whirlwinds, and strolling trolls. Although we didn’t die, we did lose enough life for me to worry, which actually made me happy; I was growing concerned that this game would be a cakewalk, but the difficulty seems to be ramping up nicely.
Definitive Decision
I am very pleased with Skylanders, pretty much all around. The materials they provide are of excellent quality, from the design to the paint jobs to the heft of each piece. The portal peripheral works on both console and PC without a hitch. The hot-swapping mechanic is fast and useful and can be both necessary and addictive if you’re a completionist. The game is targeted at a younger crowd, but don’t let that fool you, adults: if you dismiss it as “child’s play”, it’ll chew you up before you know it. It’s an excellent parent-child coop game, although the virtual tether between the two characters may lead to sibling or interpersonal conflict with friends. Same goes for the kids.
On the downside, there’s the obvious expense of it all. Skylanders is calibrated like Pokemon, so if you have/your child has an addiction to collection, it’s going to cost you. If you’re a completionist, you’ll need at least one of each elemental type in the game, and that’s going to cost you. I wish the web version was more relevant and useful beyond it’s potential for cash farming. Right now, the friend list is useless since there’s no multiplayer (that I can see) games, and you have to actually enter “PortalMaster #12345” when looking for someone to add to your friends list (this is a kids game, so privacy is in full effect). Thankfully, the web game isn’t necessary, and you need never approach in order to feel that you’re getting your money’s worth.
If you’re a parent thinking of picking up the starter kit for your young’n this holiday, do so, safe in the knowledge that the physical component will keep the product relevant in their minds, and that the game is fun and challenging for both them and for you (if you’re so inclined to play, which I do recommend). At this point, I hope this is lucrative for Activision, as I’d like to see a sequel or maybe some DLC for the game to keep it going and to make the investment in hardware worth it in the long run.
Skylanders! Now With More Unboxing!
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Home now, and after my daughter and I ate dinner, it was Skylanders unboxin’ time!
What you see through the box window is basically what you get: three figures, the base, and the game. Each item is firmly wedged into the plastic. I was a bit afraid I was going to rip the figures in two trying to get them out of there, so parents, make sure you don’t leave your kids alone with the packaging. The figures are pretty sturdy, but you never know when or if they’re going to be structurally unsound.
Beneath the game is a packet of paperwork which includes a poster of all available figures, some technical instructions, a sheet of stickers, some trading cards featuring the stats of the three figures, and the codes needed to load the lil’ buggers into the online component. Parents, make sure you take ownership of this packet or else your kids may inadvertently toss some important paperwork. Remember, though: the codes are secondary, since you can plug the base into the PC and load the characters in by placing the figures on the base.
The figures are really well done. They’re sturdy and the painting is top notch. I was expecting some slapdash sweatshop paint job, but it looks like Activision upgraded their contact and got the professional detailing on these suckers. The figures are quite hefty to boot, so they won’t blow away in a slight wind. The base is also pretty formidable. The USB cable is quite long, so you can snake it behind the TV, around the receiver, and over the river and through the woods to wherever you want it to sit. I plugged it into the back of the Xbox Slim, and it liked it just fine. I’m glad, since I don’t want the cable to hang out the front of the machine, although if you have an old school Xbox with Kinect, you may be SOL if you keep the two connected. PS3 users are naturally SOL, since the USB ports are only on the front. Wii should be OK, I think. (As an aside, thanks to Pete Smith for linking Ars Technica’s article from today, where they explain that the 3DS version has a portal which is smaller then the console version, and which connects to the 3DS through the magic of wireless. How awesome!)
When you plug the base into the console, the ring around the base lights up, and the top platform starts to pulse different colors. The colors change in response to what’s going on in the game, and who’s on the base. Although you’re supposed to be watching the action on the screen, it’s a thoughtful touch.
I’ll save the impressions of the game for another post, to keep this one to a non-headache-inducing length, and because I want to get some screenshots of the online version to post alongside.
Skylanders!
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If there’s one thing I enjoy, it’s gimmicks. Especially if those gimmicks are video game related. Extra especially if those gimmicks are video game and tech related. Want to make your product irresistible to me? Make it a video game with a hardware component that has both a physical component for a console and and online component, all using the same hardware. Basically, make it Skylanders.
I found out about this thanks to the universal suck that is TV. My daughter was watching something on Cartoon Network, and the commercial for Skylanders came on. At first, I wasn’t sure what it was. I thought it was some kind of hokey Chinese import like Zhu Zhu Pets or the Xia Xia Whateverthefuck new thing I saw the other day. Then I looked it up online (condensed here for your eyeball’s pleasure):
- It’s a hardware platform (literally).
- You place your plastic hero on the platform.
- Your hero shows up in the game, where you can adventure (and stuff).
- It’s available on Xbox, PS3, Wii and, somehow, DS. The only difference I can see is the software, so one connectable platform is potentially good for all platforms (DS notwithstanding)
- It’s made by Activision, so there’s that cash grab angle, but it seems to be a soup to nuts offering because…
- There’s a friggin’ Flash based version that allows you to connect the base to your computer to get your heroes into the online version!
- It’s a Spyro property, which I didn’t know until I hit the site for the first time.
This concept isn’t original, no. There have been other peripheral based online games in the past, but I’m hoping
that Activision has enough muscle behind this to give it gas. So far, they’re really pimping this product. Toys ‘R Us, where I got my starter kit, had a massive wall of product including a demo station, and their website is currently wallpapered with it. They’re also running a decent deal right now: Purchase at least $100 worth of Skylander products between now and December 24th and they’ll send you a coupon to get a free figure. It’s not outrageous: the base Xbox pack was $69.99, which is $10.00 more then a standard new Xbox release (and you get 3 figures, the base, and the game). A single figure is $7.99. A pack of three characters or an expansion set is $19.99. If this is on someone’s holiday wishlist, then you can easily break that $100 barrier in one trip, although I did not.
I have yet to actually try the system, so this is all “still in the box” reporting. I did register for the website* and tried the Flash game briefly (I was at work at the time). It seems very, very slick, which gives me hope that Activision isn’t putting all of it’s cash into World of Warcraft or Call of Duty. The good thing about releasing it now, as opposed to sometime in the middle of next month, is that they can get it into people’s hands and get feedback that they can then turn into results for the holiday season and Giftcardimus that follows in February (because most stores are still short on stock in January).
I’ll report back tomorrow to let everyone know how the setup faired, and a basic rundown of what can be expected when you pop open that box.
* It seems that anyone can go to the site and register for the online game, and when they asked if I wanted to connect my base to detect my figures, or to enter a code, I said “skip it”, and they gave me a free Spyro to run around with. So if you’re curious or bored, go ahead and create an account.
He Does More Then Cut Your Grass
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Who would have thought that something that had become a joke in the past would surface with a kind of vengeance? And by vengeance, I mean real honest to gawd potential.
Virtual reality. For those old enough to remember, it conjures up shudder-inducing visions of massive helmets that caused spinal damage, and horribly rendered wireframe polys that were anything but visually immersive. We have had experiments like the Nintendo Power Glove which have tried to allow us to interact with the environment in *ahem* “natural ways”, which has lead us to the era of the Kinect: hands free gaming – with dignity-free gaming as an added bonus. But real virtual reality kind of became a joke, fell by the wayside, and languished in a muddy ditch while we marched on by with our wooden wagons.
Blame the technology, I suppose. VR is meant to bring you into a world, with the goal being a suspension of disbelief at least to the point where you engage your senses on a level higher then you would if you were connected to your game would through a series of buttons and directional pads alone. Even examples of “higher end” VR systems from the past were never that impressive, with crappy graphics and lurching frame rates. Forget about having a real quality product on the consumer market. But maybe it’s time to revisit that.
Sony has mentioned that they’re working on it. They showed a headset mounted display at CES which sports twin OLED screens. Close in the user so all he sees are those screens, and then add some kind of tracking of the head and hands, feet, arms and legs, and voila! You have VR! We may actually have hardware in the home that can handle this now, with the Xbox and PS3, and the next generation of each console should pack even more horsepower under the hood to drive dual displays and track our mad flailing in our living rooms.
Is VR something that would interest people, though? Sony is betting heavily on 3D TVs, supporting it with the PS3, but there’s a growing backlash against 3D in movie theaters. It doesn’t look particularly good for Sony’s efforts. Would VR be 3D 2.0, or could it be a step beyond the current generation of motion control madness that sweeps the nation?
Sony At E3
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Sadly, I didn’t watch Sony’s keynote last night. I had some friends over, and although most of them are console-agnostic, their collective history trends towards the Xbox, so I felt that their time would be better spent going over the Microsoft news and videos.
We started watching Sony’s presentation, and saw some gameplay from Uncharted 3. I have to say that it was “OK”, and I’m not coming from a place of animosity towards Sony or Uncharted. I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that I was watching it on TV, and the quality of the picture wasn’t that great. I don’t know if it was due to the presentation, the channel, or both. This was followed by the gameplay for Resistance 3, which I can say I was not really a fan of. It seemed too much like Call of Duty: ruined buildings with holes in them, and collapsed roofs strategically and conveniently placed to allow you a singular route from one side of the map to the other. It seemed way to cluttered. I admit that I am a Halo fan, and I prefer the openness of the Halo maps to yet another shell-shocked, burned out city.
We ended the period after the announcement of the 3D bundle that Sony is offering: a 24” Playstation branded 3d monitor, glasses, HDMI cable and Resistance 3 for $499. I expected $599, so I guess this is a pretty good deal. Extra glasses will sell for around $60 a pair. Sony also announced a really great 3D feature: the ability to have 2 totally different full screen experiences on the screen at the same time. 3D displays operate at 120Hz, normally with the offsets running at 60Hz each. The lenses each pick up one of the two “flickers”, which provides the 3D effect. Sony’s new tech allows one player to see his character and his PoV at one 60Hz with both lenses, while the other player on the couch sees his own character and his own action at the other 60Hz. It’s brilliant, really. Sadly, Sony seems to be the only one rushing into the arms of 3D, which is not surprising, since Sony also produces 3D TVs they’d like to sell you.
What I missed, and what was the real reason I wanted to watch the Sony keynote at all, was the Vita announcement. I checked on the official site and the PSN blog, and when I read about it, I got goose bumps. It has a touch screen on both front AND back, front and rear cameras, Sixxaxis gyroscopic/accelerometer controls, compass, wifi, 3G and GPS. Visually, it’s stunning, but it’s the potential applications that this kind of hardware could muster that really make this a must-have device for me. One idea that seems to surface a lot: augmented reality, thanks to the cameras. Sony has done some AR in the past, with EyePet and Eye of Judgement on the PS3, and there was an AR fighting game for the current gen PSP, but I don’t think it’s available here in the U.S. I’d hope that AR takes off with the Vita, because it seems powerful enough to handle it. Another genre would be location-based games. We’re seeing the start of this genre on smartphones, but most of them overlay crap on Google Maps and call it a game. Put the Vita power behind it, and it’d be interesting to see what developers can come up with. Still, the Vita comes into the world at a good time. Unlike the PSP, which has had PSN and PS Store crammed into it, Vita should have tight integration from day one, working in tandem with the PS3 hardware, passing game data back and forth via the cloud, downloading content from the store…this is how mobile gaming should be done. There’s a lot of holes in the specifics still to be filled in (namely, the AT&T pricing plan for 3G service), so my excitement comes with an asterisk…but a very small asterisk. I’m trading in my DS and some games to Amazon for credit, because they pay better then GameStop.
Last Minute Addendum: I can’t believe I blew over these items: The Vita is priced at $249 for the wifi only, $299 for wifi/3G. This is a real kick aimed squarely at Nintendo’s crotch, and since N has a solid fanbase with cultural franchises, I don’t see this as toppling their mobile dominance. It won’t help sell 3DS’s, though.
Also…Dust 514. I’m kicking myself for not including this one above. Why is CCP talking about their EVE Online-linked FPS at a Sony keynote? Turns out that Dust 514 will be a PS3 exclusive. If that elicits a “huh?”, then you’re in good company. As someone said, Microsoft is very adamant about third-party server access, so that may have something to do with the console choice. Will Dust 514 ever show up on the PC? It’s where EVE has it’s fan-base, so I don’t think that a PC version is out of the question, although we know how well things end up when it’s a console-vs-PC FPS melding.
PSN: Rights Or Privileges
5Quick take: PSN has been down for as-of-yet unclear reasons (I subscribe to the “alien probing of the servers” defense myself) for several days, with no ETA in sight. There’s been theories that Sony may end up on the business end of a class-action lawsuit over this, which certainly leads us to the title question: is access to online services like PSN and Xbox Live a “right”, or a “privilege”?
These are dangerous waters, when we bring out the “RorP” question. Some say that many gamers have an overdeveloped sense of entitlement as it is. Some say that – at least in the case of PSN – it’s free, so you don’t have any rights to it’s availability whatsoever. Personally, I don’t have a horse in this race, although I do have a PS3, am a PSPlus member, and it’s preventing me from activating my complimentary PC copy of Portal 2. I figured I’d wait until it all blows over and be no worse for wear.
Then I checked out Monday’s Penny Arcade, and this line tripped me up:
The store, your friends list, these aren’t perks. By 2011, they’re bedrock assertions of the medium.
This is really a true statement. Aren’t these consoles sold to us with a major bullet point being the opportunity for “being” online? Sony and Microsoft make such big deals about how so much of their business relies on being connected – their services like Zune and Qrocity, their DLC, and of course, the online multiplayer – that one could be excused to believing that any console which does not sport such robust online abilities is sub-par, last gen, and is certainly not a competitor. Do we pay for PSN? Not unless you’re getting the PSPlus service. Have we paid into PSN? I’d say we have, if the promise of the online abilities factored into our decision to purchase the “Sony Console Experience” in any way, shape or form. You may not play online much, if at all, but who hasn’t browsed online catalogs offered by the included electron marketplaces?
I’m still sitting the one out. I’m not so hot and heavy into my consoles that I think pitchforks need to be taken angrily out of the shed. If Sony fixes the issue, shrugs and then pretends it never happened…well, I wouldn’t put it past them. They’re Sony, and have been known to stumble terribly in customer relations decisions. However, if they decide they want to make good with the public, I’d welcome it, and I think it would head off a precedent that will harm the “always on” gaming culture marketing point, should Sony decide they wanted to trot that pony out for PS4.
WoW! It’s On An iPad!
3Games available for the iPad, despite the exhortations of those who have everything to gain by pimping gaming on the device, fall amazingly short of what we get on the PC or on dedicated consoles. It seems that the whole catalog of iPad games is made up of match three, tower defense, Canabalt clones, Fruit Ninja clones, Farmville-esque clones, and keep an eye out for the the impending dearth of Angry Bird clones. A few upcoming titles, like Aralon, are worth noting, but otherwise I cannot agree that gaming on the iPad is worth anything more then an occasional diversion. What the iPad really needs is a knock-it-out-of-the-park-OMG-how’d-they-do-that application that simply cannot be ignored. Like World of Warcraft.
The chances of a native WoW client on the iPad are probably non-existent, but don’t confuse having WoW on the iPad with playing WoW on the iPad. It is possible to play it via Apple’s tablet, although you really, really have to want it to the point where you’re willing to wrestle with the implementation.
I received an email from PandaElf, a company which makes a product called everyAir. They had seen my mention of playing EVE Online via SplashTop Desktop on the iPad, and asked if I’d like to give everyAir a try, gratis (in the interest of full disclosure, I took them up on this offer). They have a video on YouTube that shows WoW being played on an iPad, so I figured it’d be worth a shot. What really interested me was that their app was focused less on standard remote desktop with video streaming ability, and more on how you translate the all-touch screen input of the iPad to the keyboard and mouse controls traditionally used with PC titles. SplashTop worked well with EVE because in EVE, you don’t ever have to touch the mouse to move; everything can be done through the menus and panels. WoW and Lord of the Rings Online, however, were non-starters; the mouse interaction was too wonky, and trying to use the on-screen keyboard as an analogue for the physical keyboard (WASD or arrow keys) didn’t work at all.
everyAir’s solution is to give you a D-pad, and a virtual mouse that behaves much like the analog stick on a PSP. To the right of that virtual mouse are three buttons: right, left and none, which represent the mouse buttons. While streaming WoW, clicking the “left” button toggles it on or off so when you move the v-mouse, it’s as if you were moving a real mouse while holding down the left mouse button. You can activate both the left and right buttons at the same time for complete mouse movement. This is a natural feeling and intuitive solution for movement on the iPad, but at one point during my trials, the concurrent use of the D-pad for movement and the virtual mouse for looking just stopped. I could use one, but not the other. Also, the v-mouse seems to have an artificial détente: moving the nub to the edge of the circle will rotate your camera as expected…to a point. I’d expect it to continue to rotate until I let up, but it just didn’t do that. I’d like to see that fixed, as it’s my primary gripe with the app thus far.
Performance wise…well, we are talking about some esoteric voodoo involving compressed video being shoved through your local WiFi (no internet play, folks) while expecting controls to be buttery smooth and responsive. It’s not. I’m not going to get all ranty on this point, because I have no idea what’s involved in what I can only surmise is a herculean feat of even getting the set-up to the point at which it does work. I’ll assume that a good chunk of PandaElf’s focus will be about improving the overall performance. The video is passable, in that you can tell what everything is on-screen, but since everyAir is resolution dependent, how you run your game natively has an impact on how it shows up on the iPad. At 1620×1200 on my desktop, the text was nigh unreadable on the iPad. I do normally scale the UI, though, which makes everything – including the hot-bars – smaller, so shame on me, but at least using the hot-bars can be accomplished by clicking on the screen with your finger. I’m sure that playing around with resolutions may allow for a better result, but be prepared to have a diminished experience when running on the iPad (hint: run in Windowed (Fullscreen) or Windowed mode. everyAir has the ability to auto-adjust itself to the foreground application on the desktop).
I did have some issues with Minecraft. The D-pad was unresponsive, and when the game was maximized on the PC, I couldn’t exit or minimize the game using the control bar, nor could I access any items on Windows’ taskbar. LotRO also didn’t’ work at all (not even the launcher), but I blame that on the DirectX version I’m using for the game not being compatible with everyAir.
everyAir is available on the iTunes App Store for $4.99 USD. You’ll also need to download the server component that must be running your gaming rig. Considering that I’d give this three out of 5 stars, I don’t think $4.99 is outrageous if you really, absolutely must have WoW on your iPad. I haven’t gone into combat via the iPad yet (I’d strongly advise against raiding with it, ATM), but if you want to log in to check your auctions, or to do errands around town, everyAir will help you out when you can’t get to the PC (like when company is over). I’d say that PandaElf has a potential app leader on their hands if there is any way that they can improve the performance on the LAN, and can provide iPad analogues for the relevant activities that we take for granted with the old-school keyboard and mouse combo. Short of having WoW on the iPad, this kind of app is the next best thing.
I’ll be taking some video of the experience, and will post an update when it’s available.
[Gallery not found]OnLive On iPad!
5No, sorry, but they did release the OnLive Viewer for iPad here in the US sometime last night.
The viewer encapsulates the same functionality that the “Arena” feature of the full-blown service offers. When you enter the Arena, you are presented with an endless wall of tiles of live video. Tapping on any of the tiles will send you right into viewership of that game as it happens.
There were other options within the viewer app which appear to match what the full service offers, but I didn’t get to test them out. According to the iTunes description, the viewer allows you access to the Brag Clips, your friends list, chat features and trailers. The Marketplace tile was present, but I have no idea if it works, or if there’s anything planned for it.
The big question is: will there be an OnLive iPad client that would allow you to play your OnLive games via the tablet? There was a demo of such a beast a while back, but this current release isn’t it. Personally, I don’t see this happening for two reasons. First, without an advanced, custom control system, a lot of games offered via OnLive wouldn’t play well on the iPad, and second, Apple wouldn’t allow it. It would compete with the games they offer through the App Store. It would be nice to have, assuming the controls could be worked out, but we’ll have to wait and see.
