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iPad 2 Nitpicking

Bwana — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 02:19:17 +0000

Tablet wars. Gotta love ‘em.

I found this interesting article from John Gruber at daringfireball.net. He rips into Walt Mossberg’s review of the iPad 2. Specifically, he focuses on the Mossberg’s drawbacks of the iPad 2:

So Mossberg’s second “downside” is that battery life for movie playback — with the brightness set 25 percent higher than Apple’s factory default — exceeds Apple’s stated 10 hours by nine minutes. Apple says you can play video for 10 hours, Mossberg gets 10 hours and nine minutes, and it’s a downside?

[...]

I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a review where a product that exceeds the manufacturer’s stated specs for battery life gets dinged for battery life.

I gotta say I agree with Gruber’s disagreement of Mossberg’s battery life “drawback”. It seems to be really reaching, but then again, a lot of the iPad 2 naysayers are doing the same thing.

The iPad 2 is a real thing that you can go buy in a store tomorrow. What is Mossberg comparing the iPad to? An imaginary tablet, available today, that does have Flash Player and 4G networking, on which neither technology has an adverse effect on battery life? Why not list the lack of a quad-core processor, instead of the iPad 2’s actual dual-cure one, as a drawback, too?

Bingo. I don’t think I could have stated that better myself. I find it puzzling that Mossberg would mention Flash/4G as drawbacks on the iPad 2 and those drawbacks are not even working on the competitors’ tablets Mossberg mentioned. I guess it comes down to pleasing everyone:

Mossberg’s entire review is only 1,500 words; measured by the word, a full third of what he has to say about it are these “drawbacks”. By contrast, his 1,200-word review of the Motorola Xoom — a tablet nearly everyone, including Mossberg, agrees is inferior to the iPad 2 — contains one 62-word paragraph of “downsides”.

Sounds like Mossberg was tired of being called an Apple lover

DC Universe Online: Will It Last?

Bwana — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 22:33:53 +0000

Some of you may not know, but I love comic books. I grew up reading Marvel in my early years and gradually moved towards DC Comics in my adult life. So I was definitely excited to see that DC was releasing a MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) called DC Universe Online.

It first caught my attention by the brilliant cinematic trailer. I literally got goosebumps watching this because it was so well done. Many people who watched this, really wanted this to be made into a movie. It’s just that good.

The trailer is very important to understanding the story of the game. SPOILER ALERT! Lex Luthor has traveled back in time to save humanity from the clutches of Brainiac. He has released Braniac’s “exobyte” technology to give ordinary people super powers to fight against Brainiac. As a character in the game, you have been captured by Brainiac since the exobytes granted you powers and you manage to escape his harvester ship to join the heroes or the villains.

Now on to the gameplay elements. This game is not World of Warcraft. Let me repeat, this game is not World of Warcraft. With that said, DC Universe Online (DCUO) plays like an action game with real-time attacks, blocks, and special abilities. This sub-genre of MMORPGs has been deemed “Action MMO” by the industry, and has been very popular in the Korean market. Most notably, Vindictus, is the latest of the genre which has been popular in the west as well.

Controls

DCUO is available on both the PC and PS3 platforms. If you think about this situation, you can’t help but come to the conclusion that the control scheme is going to stink on one of these platforms. It’s a valid assumption, because games like Final Fantasy XIV completely dropped the ball in bringing a smooth control scheme to the PC platform. For more information on that, check out my first impressions of that disaster.

I’ve been playing on the PC platform and immediately noticed a unique control scheme for a PC MMO. The mouse has no cursor. The mouse is used for combinations and camera movement, while the keyboard is used for ability shortcuts and character movement. For example, if you wish to conduct a superhero combo, you would click the left mouse button once or twice and then, hold down the right mouse button. It took me 5-10 minutes to get used to this control scheme during the game’s tutorial phase. All in all, I was happy with it and got used to it rather quickly. If you’ve played action RPGs such as Torchlight/Diablo, you should be used to the large amount of mouse clicking to engage enemies.

Rating: 8/10

Social Features

DCUO has basic features such as leagues (essentially guilds), groups and general chat. I’ve found that these features lack considerably. For one, the group and guild chat stops working for unknown reasons and no one knows why. The interface for chat on PC is terrible and has horrible response time. I find it to be the most frustrating part of grouping up with people. The player search controls are quite confusing at first. For example, to add a player as a friend requires you find a hidden option in a drop down. Little things like this make it counter-intuitive and can drive you nuts if you let it.

This is easily my number 1 gripe with DCUO

Rating: 4/10

Questing/Leveling

DCUO employs a mentor system, where your character is introduced to superhero’ism by one of 6 heroes/villains: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Joker, Lex Luthor, Circe. These mentors guide you through initial character development and direct you to various assignments in the cities. Depending on which mentor you choose, your character will begin in either Metropolis or Gotham. As you level up, you venture out into the alternate city which will include instances that the game calls “Alerts”.

The questing operates at a good pace for both novice MMO players and experienced ones. I found myself able to level quite easily and found no issue with this part of the game.

Rating: 9/10

PVP

If you’re interested in Player Vs. Player (PVP), DC Universe Online doesn’t disappoint. The “open-world” PVP can be a bit intimidating for those who wish to just level their character and interact with the storyline. What does “open-world” mean? It means that players can attack opposing forces anywhere in the world. It adds a suspenseful, yet dynamic element to a seemingly boring quest grind. Say you’re killing 20 of the Joker’s henchmen, and you’ve got one more left. All of a sudden, five villains fly in from out of the sky and ambush you. Even if you try to go back and kill that last henchman, those villains will there waiting on you. It’s quite fun.

There are also PVP dedicated areas, or instances, for you to enjoy. They range from 2v2 all the way up to 5v5 matches with various objectives. The Legends PVP mode allows you to even play as characters such as Batman, Robin, Harley Quinn, The Joker, and Nightwing. There’s also various rewards and gear you can earn with your wins in these instances. You’ll find some of the more attractive armor can be obtained through PVP. Overall, I believe it is a success and couldn’t find anything wrong with it.

Rating: 10/10

Lore

I was happy to see that the DCUO lore was consistent with fairly recent developments from the comic books. Before the game was even released, I knew they wouldn’t have a problem bringing DC content in the game.

There’s a wealth of lore that has been around since the birth of DC Comics in 1934, and a lot of that is present in the game. For example, we see the classic clashes between Batman and Joker, Superman and Lex Luthor, Wonder Woman and Giganta, Green Lantern and Sinestro.

One area of the lore that I have to speak against, is the performance of voice actors to play the parts. I was happy to see that DCUO nabbed most of the voice actors from the popular Justice League and Batman series of cartoons (including Mark Hamill as the Joker!), but some of the voice actors are just plain terrible. The immersion of the game suffers due to this incredibly bad voice acting. You can tell it was rushed and that voice actors were not at their best. It is quite disappointing.

Rating: 6/10

Endgame?

In the time that I have played DCUO, I was unable to participate in the majority of the endgame, so I will not comment nor rate it. I did however, reach level 30 and completed the final quest which opened up the raids. I was quite shocked by what I saw.

Batman thanked me and invited me back to the bat cave.

This is quite unheard of in DC lore and is reserved for no one. Even if Superman entered the bat cave, Batman would reach for his Kryptonite to get him out of there. I couldn’t believe they made him such a softy. I’ll try not to hold it against DCUO.

Conclusion

Overall, I think the game has a lot of potential in an already crowded 2011 MMO lineup. It’s a refreshing take on the level grind with a much more interactive controls scheme, decent lore, and virtually unlimited content to expand with. SoE has promised that a majority of this new content will not cost us money. Given that there are rumors of Green Lantern powers in the works, I’m pretty excited for the game. I recommend this MMO to you PC owners out there to try. Even if you don’t play beyond the first 30 days, you’ll get $50 worth of fun out of the game.

Now will it last? This is a hard question to answer with a high level of certainty, but I’ll do my best to guess. I think the game will be solid for at least another 6 months. I believe there’s enough in the game and to come for it to be one of my top MMO picks of 2011. Beyond those 6 months will be totally up to SoE which doesn’t have a very good track record with keeping MMORPGs up to date and interesting.

Final Ratings

Controls: 8/10
Social Features: 4/10
Questing/Leveling: 9/10
PVP: 10/10
Lore: 6/10

Overall: 7.4/10

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Red Dead Redemption: First Impressions

Bwana — Tue, 18 May 2010 18:00:18 +0000

This game is ESRB Rated M for Mature. Parental discretion is advised.

If you love westerns like I do, then you probably couldn’t help but be interested in Rockstar’s new project, Red Dead Redemption. I stated in the past that I wouldn’t get the game simply because of it’s Grand Theft Auto ties, but after a bit more research, I felt I could give it a try. I’ll share with you some of my first impressions. I’ll try to keep it spoiler free. If you don’t mind spoilers, check out the first two hours of the game that I streamed live:

I put in about 2.5 hours in single player and an hour in multiplayer.

Single Player & Gameplay

The voice acting was up and down. There was some genius moments and there were some really dry moments. As you ride your horse with certain people, you have conversations about things ranging from general small talk to background story. Overall, I was satisfied, and judging by the genius moments I encountered, I believe the voice acting will get better.

Controls are average to decent. Horseback riding takes practice and shooting while on horseback takes even more practice. That didn’t surprise me. What DID surprise me was the awkward controls on the Playstation 3. I’m not sure if previous GTA games did this, but Rockstar decided to put aim and fire on the L2 and R2 buttons. Why!??! This was so frustrating and caused me to die or make mistakes many times. I didn’t investigate whether you could change these controls yet, but you bet I’m going to look very hard. (If you know how to do this, PLEASE let me know in the comments)

Graphics are typical for a next gen system. I wasn’t blown away like I was with Heavy Rain, but the subtle effects impressed me more than the obvious ones. The lighting to me was very well done. As you enter buildings at night, the ambience can be very convincing. I was riding to a mission and noticed a slow, subtle sunrise in the background. Very impressive.

The story line so far seemed very typical of a Western one. Good. That’s exactly why I bought it and was glad they didn’t do anything weird or stupid. I haven’t done many of the “side” missions, but I imagine they will not disappoint.

Multiplayer

My first impression of multiplayer was terrible. I don’t blame Rockstar, but as with many multiplayer games, the people you play with determine your fun factor. The first game I joined consisted of individuals with TERRIBLE microphones. Not only did they have bad mics, but they were constantly talking about nothing. I could not find the mute function in multiplayer and I hope I just overlooked it. It is absolutely essential to be able to mute the microphones of annoying individuals.

After I got past the bad mic posse, I got into some decent matches. The awkward control scheme really stood out here as I had to react quickly. Instead of aiming, I would bring up the weapon selection screen with L1, and would quickly die. Latency wise, it was an enjoyable experience and I actually had a lot of fun once I got the hang of the game modes and controls. Since I never played GTA4, I was at a disadvantage, but I heard many times on the mic that it was pretty much just like GTA multiplayer.

Conclusion

I’m glad I bought it. There’s a lot to this game that I didn’t get a chance to explore, but based on what I’ve seen so far, I think it’s a good buy. Some may want to dismiss it as “GTA in the Wild West” and I say to that: So what? I actually think their formula works better in the Wild West than it does in modern times. RDR is worth a rental if you’re in the fence. I think you’ll be impressed.

Thanks Atomic Powered!

Bwana — Thu, 28 May 2009 14:36:56 +0000

It’s that time! I would say again, but this is the first time I’ve done it here on Bwana.org. I want to thank our very first advertising sponsor, Atomic Powered. Atomic Powered offers a variety of iPhone applications, some of which I have reviewed. Here is my review of Quake Info for iPhone/iPod Touch in case you missed it:

Check out their other apps when you get the chance. Thanks Atomic Powered for helping me pay the bills!

From An iPhone To A T-Mobile G1

Bwana — Sun, 03 May 2009 19:06:52 +0000

T-Mobile was gracious enough to supply me with a G1 review unit. I’ve been playing with it for about a week now and I’ve seen and learned quite a bit. A lot of people are curious about how it compares to the iPhone’s experience. It’s a hard question to answer directly, so I’m going to be producing a series of videos on Bwana.TV (my video blog) about the Android experience and some of the applications that are available. Unfortunately, I’m not able to purchase any applications since the review unit is tied to a separate account, but I’ll do what I can amongst the free applications.

So stay tuned to Bwana.TV for a bunch of T-Mobile G1 videos, and how it compares to the iPhone experience.

Apple iPhone 3G Review

Bwana — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 01:05:35 +0000

If you read my original iPhone review, then you know that I was pretty impressed with Apple‘s first generation cell phone. My first impressions were nothing short of stellar. The original iPhone wasn’t perfect, and I pointed out a few flaws in the first iteration. Since that review, Apple has addressed some of the flaws via software updates. Here are my original gripes along with Apple’s fix:

On the same note, one cannot add ring tones to the iPhone. This basic feature of just about every cell phone on the market strikes me as surprising that it’s missing. The fact that it’s not there at launch brings up serious questions as to what’s going on at Apple. Speculation continues on “what’s coming” but I’m not talking about what’s coming, I’m talking about what’s not there now.

Custom ringtones were added in firmware 1.1.2.

The iPhone also lacks customization. Aside from ring tones, you can’t customize the application standby screen. You are stuck with plain black. The only thing you can customize is the wallpaper which is only present when the phone is locked or making a call! Why include customization on screens that you’ll barely see. It’s a minor annoyance, but it’s a standard feature on many smart phones.

Apple added the ability to customize icons on the home screen, including arrangement and Mobile Safari shortcuts. This area still needs improvement.

The iPhone needs applications. The included applications are brilliant and work well for the most part, but Apple needs to embrace the developer community and create a real SDK. This is one of my biggest gripes at the moment because it could literally put the iPhone in the “unstoppable” category. The iPhone needs more applications and it needs them badly.

The iTunes App Store was introduced on July 11th.

I’m not going to dwell on the software too much, since the original iPhone is reaping the benefits of these improvements. I’m now going to look at the newest piece of hardware Apple has released, the iPhone 3G. I was blessed with two iPhone 3G’s by jim48116 by way of donation to Bwana.TV. Jim enjoyed my work so much, he felt compelled to honor us with this gift. Thanks Jim for your generosity! My wife and I have been using our iPhones for approximately 2 weeks which, I believe, is enough time to conduct a proper review. First, let’s talk about impressions.

First impressions

Gather around boys and girls, I have a story to tell you. While many owners of the iPhone 3G had terrible issues on launch day regarding activation, ours was a little bit more, unique. While standing in line at our local Apple store, we were greeted by an Apple rep who asked us a very important question: “Do you have any corporate discounts on your AT&T account? If you do, you’ll need to call AT&T and have it removed prior to activating an iPhone 3G”.

“We’re fine.”

I had a corporate discount many years ago, but I had it removed when I bought my first iPhone. A couple of hours later, we reached the front of the line, where we met another Apple rep with a snazzy mobile touchscreen device. We gave him our information and suddenly we heard: “Uh oh”. Uh oh?!?! Uh oh?!! There are no Uh ohs!!! He informed us that I did have a corporate discount on my account. I tried to plead with the guy that it was removed last year, but he told us he couldn’t proceed. My spirits were broken. I wanted to go home right then and there and lick my wounds. Fortunately, Yah blessed me with a loving wife who calmed me down and convinced me to go to a AT&T store and get it removed. Long story short, we got it removed, was able to go right to the front of the line, and pick up where we left off. We walked out with two brand new 16GB white iPhone 3Gs! Whew!

Out of the box, the iPhone 3G lives up to Apple’s high standards of packaging. I was sort of disappointed since Apple & AT&T implemented a new activation policy. While it’s just plastic wrapping, this unboxing (as seen in the video) was not as genuine as the previous. The iPhone is neatly wrapped inside the box and includes a standard AC adapter (smaller than previous gen), headphones, and stickers. The iPhone 3G did not include a docking unit. Surprising.

In the hand, the iPhone feels surprisingly sturdy. I expected the new plastic back to feel really flimsy, but I felt confident it could stand a little punishment. I’m still going to be getting a case since I believe if it experiences a genuine Bwana drop, it’s going to shatter like fragile glass. The curved edges of the iPhone 3G give it a more comfortable fit inside the palm of my head. I also found this new casing to be less slippery than the 1st generation iPhone.

The good

Everything I loved about the original iPhone, I love about the new iPhone. The little things mean a lot. This time around, I’m going to focus on the improvements the iPhone 3G brings to the franchise.

3G speeds – The most obvious improvement is the addition of 3G speeds. This means the iPhone can theoretically surf the web, view Youtube videos, pull up Google maps, stream music (via apps like Pandora and Tuner) at speeds that rival wifi at home. Check out this speed test I conducted while running errands:

Results of the iPhone 3G Speed test

That’s a lot faster than the previous EDGE speeds of the 1st generation iPhone.

GPS – The iPhone 3G includes a GPS chip which means you have very accurate global positioning capabilities. While this is useful for traditional apps like Google Maps, it is becoming extremely valuable for position aware social networks, such as Loopt. I believe this is where the value of GPS lies.

Surfing + Talking = win – With the introduction of 3G technology, you can now hold a phone conversation and use the data features of the iPhone. Stuck in a boring phone meeting? On hold? Having a one way conversation? Fret no more! You can browse the web whilst pretending to talk. A great feature of 3G tech.

Those are the major advantages of the iPhone 3G. There are a bunch of little improvements that aren’t worth writing about, but still help iPhone owners in day to day activities (a normal headphone jack is one that comes to mind).

The bad

As with any device, there are drawbacks to consider, and the iPhone is no exception. There have been many reports of software glitches in iPhone Software 2.0. Since these glitches seem to be apparent on both old and new iPhones, I’m going to focus on 3G specific issues.

Battery life – When using the 3G speeds, there is an obvious drawback of battery drain. While the iPhone 3G was rated the best of breed in terms of 3G battery life, it still stinks. I rarely use the 3G (only when I’m away from Wifi spots), but when I do, there is a significant battery hit.

Accessories – Both my wife and I noticed a drop in quality in the iPhone 3G’s accessories. The headset feels flimsy and is prone to glitches. We’ve had numerous reports from callers that we sound “low” or “like we’re in a tunnel”. The AC adapter has also been “streamlined” and it feels very cheap. I’m afraid to handle it as rough as I did the previous for fear it will fail me. Also, the lack of a docking station is a disappointment as well.

Hardware button quality – Both my wife and I also have come to the conclusion that the hardware buttons are not as “smooth” as the previous iteration. At first, I thought it was because they hadn’t been broken in, but I do not remember having problems with the volume controls not working on the first iPhone. It seems like you have to press them harder in order to get things done, and with plastic casing, it seems like a unwanted hazard.

Overall impressions

Overall, I’m happy with the iPhone 3G. I believe it presents an attractive upgrade for those who are interested in faster browsing speeds while on the go, GPS-based social networking, and improved technology during calls. I find myself using the iPhone 3G a little bit more than the previous iteration, mostly due to the wave of new applications from the iTunes App Store. Again, this benefit is not unique to the iPhone 3G and if you are interested in that, I would recommend looking up used iPhones on eBay. (Sorry, we’ve already sold ours for $300+ each)

I’d like to also mention the drawback of the carrier contract. Since the iPhone 3G is a worldwide release, I don’t want to dwell on the shackles of AT&T too much. As reported on the web, Canada has its hands full with Rogers as well. When considering the iPhone 3G, always factor in carrier costs, including data plan costs over the life of the contract, and cancellation fees. They are important.

Conclusion

Even with its reduced battery life and flimsy casing, I believe the iPhone 3G is an improvement over its predecessor. Given the choice, I would easily choose the iPhone 3G. As I stated in my previous review, look out Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, and LG: Apple is here and is improving.

Rating: 9/10