Killing monsters on my iPhone
By Asavin Wattanajantra in Editorial
Posted in geek, Gaming, iPhone, Apple on
OK, I’ve finally gone and done it. I got the iPhone. After a lot of debate about getting the thing. And I’m happy with it.
It’s what I expected. Less of a phone and more of a little computer in my pocket - it’s pretty awesome actually.
But I knew that anyway. I’m going to talk about the apps.
OK - one of the first apps I got was Gym Babes. It’s exactly what it sounds like. I was just looking through the top 25 free apps and for some reason it managed to pull my attention. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but I got this..
It’s basically films of two women of probably Eastern European origin and fairly large proportions on a treadmill. And you only see the top half. And you can do it in slow motion.
That’s it.
OK, I have had a bit of stick for downloading this app, but I wasn’t the only one to do it. I’m was quite surprised - after all the stories I heard about Apple banning apps I thought this could be a candidate.
But then again nothing rude is actually happening. It’s just a bit pointless really. Kinda like a moving version of Page Three but with no nudity. But of course that’s no reason to ban an app!
Anyway I then proceeded to download some games. I got a Poker one and the Civilization game and was impressed, but they weren’t anything special.
It was Zenonia that really showed me what an iPhone (or iPod Touch) app could do.
I’ve was a bit of a gaming geek in my youth. I used to play the Final Fantasy games on my SNES and even managed to download some emulators for my PC to download games like Chrono Trigger. I loved the Playstation Final Fantasy VII and was highly addicted to the World of Warcraft.
Thing is though, I thought I was over it. I have no games machine or TV, and my PC is completely useless for gaming now. Until I downloaded Zenonia for about a pound.
It’s like my SNES games revisited. Probably most similar to the old Zelda games, it’s a proper old fashioned Japanese RPG - trying to get your kid with spiky blonde hair to avenge the death of his father by killing monsters, gaining experience and completing quests.
It’s brilliant, but what really surprised me was the fact its supposed to have 40 hours of gameplay. On a mobile app??
OK, I am beginning to tire of sounding like an Apple fanboy but for me personally, if I knew about it, this would be the killer app.
Screw Spotify - yeah that’s cool, but actual old school SNES-style roleplay gameplaying on the move? I will never be bored on the train or on a plane ever again!
Although that’s if the battery holds out.
Oh yeah - the iPhone battery does really suck. Sort that out Apple!
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Scrabulous be damned - Scrabble gets funky
By Asavin Wattanajantra in Editorial
Posted in Scrabble, PR, funny, Gaming on
Being a business IT journalist I don’t normally get tech games releases - it would be like throwing paper into a waste bin.
However I recently got a call from a PR who was trying to sell me an online version of Scrabble - I was a touch confused by this - surely she must have seen what IT PRO is - primarily focused on business IT right?
So I told her to look at the site again, but then she mentioned that I had written on Scrabble before. More confusion. Then suddenly a lightbulb switched on - I had written on Scrabble - basically a blog on a funny story where the Nintendo DS version of Scrabble managed to beat an eight year old with the word f***ers.
So now I’m writing on it. Yeah, the games cool enough and you can play it with one player, which is good if you’re in the office and you fancy a quick ten minutes of fun (see what I did there? managed to get the business angle in).
It also put me in mind to remember the whole Scrabulous saga, when Scrabble got into a battle with two Facebook app makers for ripping them off with a game which was basically Scrabble.
I remember being quite angry with Mattel and Hasbro, the owners of Scrabble, for their heavy-handed approach. But looking back I realise they had a point - they were getting ripped off and other people were making money out of their copyright.
However it seems to have worked out now. Scrabble has a working Facebook app of its very own and the game seems to be as popular as ever, with console, computer and online versions out for people to enjoy.
But in the end a board game like Scrabble is all about the interaction, the anger and the swearing - as Tim and Daisy from Spaced will tell you.
(I reckon Shazam is a word. Pantene ‘ProV’ definitely not).
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Too old for gaming?
By Asavin Wattanajantra in Editorial
Posted in Sega, Playstation, old, World of Warcraft, Gaming, Nintendo, Sony on
Am I too old for gaming? This is a question I’m asking myself now.
First of all - a brief view of my gaming history
I used to be really really into my video games. My first memory was of a Sinclair Spectrum, playing games like Chaos and trying to create text-based games with BASIC programming language. I enjoyed it, but very quickly the Spectrum became out of date and it became the consoles which I loved to use.
I had the original NES - I also had the original FAMICOM, which I had brought back from Thailand to play with. Oh the days of chunky cartridges. Like many others of my age it was all about Mario - One, two and three - you don’t make them like this anymore. When I a kid there was also the arguments between whether Sega or Nintendo was the best console to play with. I was always a Nintendo boy but I remember the schoolyard arguments about whether Mario or Sonic was better.
Then the days of the SNES. Brilliant machine that was. Streetfighter 2 - I remember days and weeks trying to master the game but I could never work out how to do ‘dragon punches’ and ‘fireballs’ properly and so I figured then that the fighting game wasn’t my thing.
The Playstation soon came to dominate my game playing. Resident Evil 2 was great, but the one game I remember was Final Fantasy 7 - I spent my GCSE exam week playing it and although it probably affected my grades I didn’t care - I finished it and still have fond memories of the experience.
Then after the Playstation 2 which was also a time of very hard game playing it kinda stopped. I started to use my PC for games -Baldurs Gate 2 was a particular favourite but then after that university came and I stopped feeling the need to play -maybe because drink, women and football became more interesting.
Now
The most recent games were the online role playing ones like World of Warcraft. Now this is an absolutely brilliant game and I loved being caught up with the world that existed for me inside of it.
However I have no time for them any more. Role playing games and WOW just dominate far too much of your time. To get a really good session you need to have a couple of hours playing, and if you’re not careful a whole night can be gone and I can still be playing.
Can’t do this anymore. Responsibilities and stuff I have to do and now its just not in my mind anymore to play these games.
It’s sad … but it looks like I’m growing up!
Shame, my level 50 warrior is probably still out there frozen in time and waiting for me to play him again earning experience and using his double headed axe.
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