Zephyrus of the Anemoi

My dear friend and former roommate Elijah Loving just launched the revamped edition of his website, The Sixth Age. The Sixth Age is a graphic novel that he has been working on for the last couple years. The site was scheduled to officially launch on May 31st, but we were lucky enough to be granted access several days early. I highly recommend stopping by, perusing the art gallery that is available, and catch up on the info available about this world that Eli is building.

A little bit of info I think everyone should know about Elijah Loving:

• He plays goalie in soccer (footy if you’re European).
• His artwork is amazing.
• He once had a concussion that required he be awakened every 2 hours during the night. Since I was the only person that cared enough about him to do this horribly difficult job, I watched the entire* Star Wars trilogy with him in one night. He didn’t even make it through A New Hope before succumbing to the brain hemorrhage and I had to start smacking him awake.
• He beat Chuck Norris in a fight, but because he’s such a humble person, he has lied about it ever since to preserve Chuck’s image and ego.
• He is more organized than you.

So if any of these fun facts has inspired you to learn more about the awesome-sauce that pumps through his veins or how it can result in such incredibly cool watercolor art, then visit his site now.

*By “entire”, I am referring to the only Star Wars movies that matter, i.e. the original trilogy. If you disagree with this statement, kindly remove yourself from my website and do not breed.

This Next week, I’m going to be bringing you a number of reviews of iPhone apps I’ve been using lately. But before I do that, I wanted to point out a few apps I’ve been on the fence about but think would make really great additions to my collection.

Oregon Trail – This is essentially the same game we played as kids (assuming that most of my readers are past their childhoods) on Apple IIGS and IIE computers in grade school. However, the graphics have received a complete overhaul (even compared to the more robust Mac version from 10-15 years ago). The nicest part of this game is the addition of a number of new mini-games instead of just hunting and rafting the river at the end of the game. While I haven’t purchased this one yet, it’s at the top of my list as I know my son will enjoy it and am looking forward to wasting my day away placing my “friends” into my family and laughing as they die of dysentery.

Myst – With graphics that appear to be from the DVD-rerelease of Myst in the Anniversary Collection and a new touch-screen interface that makes playing this game extremely easy, this has been heralded as the best version of Myst yet. While I was rather partial to RealMyst from the early ’00s, I can’t argue that this game is flooding my brain with memories of trying to solve a number of puzzles that were just difficult enough (and too difficult in terms of that blasted audible puzzle, though I still blame that on not being able to play with proper headphones in a quiet home) to keep me engaged for hours. I hope that this game is successful enough that the sequels will see a rerelease, as well.

Pocket Tanks Deluxe – I have not yet played this game, but I own the Mac version and wasted a great many hours on it back in college. My son loves the Mac version, as well. This is actually the most robust artillery game I have ever played. With a variety of weapons randomly generated for you and your enemy to choose from, the variety of every battle is guaranteed. As you play the game, you will need to adjust your aiming (as well as your thinking) based on which weapon you’re using. I highly recommend this game to anyone that loves artillery games, has played this original Mac version, or who just plain wants to waste several hours of their life blasting away at their friends and family (two-player pass-and-play is included).

Chronicles of Inotia: Legend of Feanor – Since the release of the iPhone, I have been waiting for an iPhone version of Diablo. I have been teased with games like iDracula (which is more like Geometry Wars meets Van Helsing) and have been very nearly satisfied with Underworlds (for which a more robust review will be coming). But Chronicles promises a very uncomplicated and direct type of Diablo clone. Simply tapping to move and to attack, with a minimalist HUD to enhance usability of the touchscreen and an anime/J-RPG art style, I’ve long been looking at this game as a way to pass the time. Perhaps once finished with Underworlds, I will look to this to fill the gap left behind.

The Quest – I have long been a fan of The Bard’s Tale series of games. For those that have never played a Western-style RPG but rather only played J-RPGs like Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest, Western RPGs focus more on the view of the world through the eyes of the player. While Oblivion and Morrowind are often cited today, when I was younger the king of kings was The Bard’s Tale series. Gameplay for this game can be difficult to explain if you’ve never played RPGs from this era/category. So I recommend checking out the lite version.

Orions: Legend of Wizards – This particular game I’ve been looking at for a long time. The primary draw is the concept of a card-based strategy game that I can take with me everywhere. The pick-up-and-play nature of the game is also a big draw, as receiving a phone call or having to do actual work does not result in starting over or losing progress. While the game is not as robust as say Magic: The Gathering, it certainly does appear to satiate the desire to play something extra-nerdy where manipulation of stats to your advantage will be a key skill.

Last Cannon – What at first appears to be a simple missile command-style game quickly evolves into so much more. With a dark story (that of you manning the final cannon on your planet in an attempt to fend off the invading alien hordes), a puzzle mechanic based around destroying groups of enemies of the same color, and simple controls, this game has quickly garnered excellent reviews. For only 99¢, I still don’t know why I haven’t purchased it yet. It will be on my iPhone soon.

I read this over at 8-Bit Theater quite some time ago and wanted to tell you all about it, but got distracted and saved it as a draft. I figured I might as well show it to you now. Enjoy!

This post is in direct response to a post by my friend MisterD on his tumblog. It concerns Star Trek and it is laden with spoilers. So, if you still haven’t seen it yet, don’t read this. Also, go out right now and see the movie. What’s wrong with you? Where are your priorities?

Now, on to the important stuff. But first, select episodes of Star Trek (the digitally remastered versions) are available on iTunes for $1.99 each. You can get there via this link here.

WARNING: Ahead there be spoilers!

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At the suggestion of @pulletsforever that bloggers embed episodes of Dollhouse on Hulu into their blogs, I thought I’d give it a shot. Here are the final two episodes is a link to the final episode (because Hulu does their embeds stupidly) of the first season below. I recommend going back to watch the episode prior to the finale if you haven’t seen it already. If you have seen them already, watch them again. Nothing says “money” to execs like repeat viewings. Enjoy!

To whom it may concern:

I would like to take a moment of your time to plead the case for Dollhouse. It has had a rocky season and it needs all the help it can get.

First, I would like to thank you for the little things that were different in the way Dollhouse was handled versus Firefly. I’m sure the number of fans that assaulted your company was very high when Dollhouse first began airing (and they feared that the show was being “mangled” by the studio), crippling its chances of success. Likewise, a similar situation probably occurred when it was believed that the studio was intentionally holding back an episode of the show instead of airing it (due to the issues with funding for a pilot that was never aired versus a DVD release of 13 episodes.

I would like to apologize on behalf of those fans. They desperately want this show to succeed and don’t always realize that they may be hurting its chances rather than helping.

Now, on to the meat of the matter. As I’m sure you are aware, Dollhouse is a show that faces some stiff opposition. In a technological landscape that allows fans to download complete episodes of their favorite shows the day after they air (both legally and illegally), watch them for free via websites that are already looking to the future of broadcasting (such as Hulu), and record their preferred shows via DVR and skip past the commercials, advertising dollars for big-budget shows like Dollhouse can be hard to come by. On top of all that, the difficulty in getting reliable viewing numbers with the antiquated Nielsen system make shows like Dollhouse difficult to keep spending money on. How can you be certain you’re getting a proper return-on-investment?

Unfortunately, you can’t anymore. Not until the DVD release is available, not until the second season starts, and not until a method is in place for reporting accurate internet views and live and recorded viewings on televisions. With advertising on sites like Hulu and other streaming media locations a much smaller source of income, the profits for a show like Dollhouse dwindle as the world gets better educated and more connected.

Which brings me to the point of my e-mail. We love Dollhouse. We love it because Joss Whedon created it and we feel that we got shafted on Firefly and so we fought so hard for this show, even though the first three episodes kind of sucked (we’re not pointing fingers, we’re just saying). But we also love it because it is an incredible show, one with depth and controversy and incredible writing. No other show on television will be able to touch on the subject matter that Dollhouse can (voluntary / involuntary slavery, who are we without the experiences that define us) which makes it an important piece of television history. Or, it will, if it’s allowed to live.

As the world has moved more and more to delivering content over the Internet at a time of the viewer’s choosing, viewership during live broadcasts have tapered off dramatically. The secret is not to create more reality TV or to cancel good shows to give other shows a try. The answer is to embrace the Internet. And if any one man knows how to get the most out of the Internet, it’s Joss Whedon. Look at Dr. Horrible. A low-budget project with big names and incredible talent. Think of what you could do if you were the first studio to truly embrace the Internet. Air episodes of Dollhouse with the SAME commercials you air on television during the first week it’s online. After the first week, let it become just like all the other episodes on Hulu with the same commercial shown 4 or 5 times during the 45 minutes it takes to watch. Or get a corporate sponsor for the show that already embraces the Internet. Put a single 60 second advertisement at the beginning of the episode and let people stream it commercial free. Create an alternate-reality game to prep people for the second season. Ask fans of the series to market the show for you via guerilla marketing tactics. All of these are ways to increase viewership. And if you really want to help, keep the episodes online for free all summer long and encourage fans to share them with their friends and family so that when the new season starts, they’re caught up, too.

I promise you, that if you make the effort to push this show, and let Joss do what Joss does best, he won’t disappoint you.

But don’t tell him I said that, he doesn’t need the pressure.

Thank you for your time,

Jared Cash
Dollhouse Fan

PopCap Games has finally released Peggle into the App Store and it is well worth the wait. The most faithful and effective conversion from a desktop game to the iPhone yet, Peggle benefits greatly from its initial interface which was entirely mouse driven. Unlike Enigmo for the iPhone, by Pangea, in which the interface focuses on a zoomed in version of the game, Peggle allows you to tap once to point the marble shooter in the direction you wish to fire and a “scroll wheel” on the side of the game board that lets you fine-tune your shots. And, for those really tough shots, a double-tap on the screen will zoom in to let you see things up-close and personal.

The premise of Peggle is simple: fire marbles from the top of the screen at pegs on the lower part of the screen. Pegs come in a variety of colors, with orange being the primary targets as once they are all eliminated, you can move on to the next level. You have only 10 balls to fire, however you can earn more by doing a variety of tricks (such as earning 25,000 points in one shot or bouncing your ball into a moving bucket at the bottom of the screen.

Peggle for iPhone is exactly the same as Peggle for the Mac/PC, but at a more affordable price point of $4.99. If you are a fan of great puzzle-action games, PopCap Games in general, or Peggle for the computer, then I highly recommend this download. If it sells well, it will surely inspire a port of PopCap’s latest release: Plants vs. Zombies.

Lexcycle, makers of the amazingly awesome iPhone app Stanza, have been bought by Amazon.

I’m going to let that sink in for a moment, as you might already know why this is important. If you don’t, I’ll tell you shortly.

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Go ahead, take your time.

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All ready? Good. Stanza is the most popular ebook reader for the iPhone and easily one of the most awesome apps ever created for Apple’s gorgeous little do-everything device. Amazon is the creator of the Kindle ebook reader, a piece of hardware that competes with the iPhone in the same way that all other handheld devices do: poorly. The purchase of Lexcycle by Amazon has the potential to break a lot of hearts. But there’s also a chance for the iPhone to gain a much larger library of books in a short period of time.

There are two scenarios here.

1) Amazon sees Stanza on the iPhone as a serious threat to the livelihood of the Kindle. Jeff Bezos, megalomaniac that he is, orders his minions to come up with a solution to this “problem”. Being creative types, they naturally come up with the idea to just buy Lexcycle rather than innovate </sarcasm>. Amazon now decides to incorporate any tech from Stanza they can into their Kindle app for iPhone and the Kindle device itself and quietly kills Stanza.

2) Amazon sees Stanza on the iPhone as a serious threat to the livelihood of the Kindle. Jeff Bezos, drunken shitmonger that he is, drunk-dials the lead programmer for Lexcycle and begs him for inspiration on how to make the Kindle better. Lexcycle decides instead to sell itself to Amazon for fuck-tons of money. Amazon now decides to pin its future on Stanza for iPhone as an alternative to selling the Kindle (something they’ll still do because they have a fragile ego). Stanza continues to thrive on the iPhone and Kindle for iPhone dies a quiet death before the Kindle itself also ceases to exist several years later.

As you can see, iPhone owners that prefer to read content digitally stand to get seriously screwed here, but also have a chance to win big if Kindle books can be purchased through the app itself. However, if Amazon strips ePub support from the app in favor of exclusively supporting the Kindle format, it will only be a matter of time before another reader rises up to take Stanza’s place. It will be interesting to see what happens from here.