Archive for February 15th, 2010
3 items.
See, 2F is a blog and as such we are mandated by the powers that be to fulfill certain obligations, no matter how unenthusiastic we are about it. One of those is to at least mention things like a brand new social network launched by one of the biggest internet juggernauts around. So to ensure we aren’t visited by any grade 19 bureaucrats here it is, our required Google Buzz post.
First, if you are unaware of what Google Buzz is, it is a fairly strait forward social networking platform with a great deal of similarities to that of FriendFeed. The service allows you to leverage your Gmail contacts list to build the foundation of your social network contacts and start sharing rapidly. It is similar to Twitter in that it allows for the posting of short messages but differing as it allows for easy conversation tracking and actual dialogue. It also enables direct embedding of pictures and videos and allows for the automatic import and aggregation of lots of other internet services.
I started using FriendFeed about two years ago. I watched it grow from basic rudimentary functionality to a fully featured social network. With that in mind I can say that Buzz reminds me a lot of that first few months of FriendFeed with one major exception. One had the name of former Google employees associated with it and the other had the actual Google name on it. This difference is largely one of perception, and is a discussion for another day.
So without further incoherent rambling on my part. Here are my incoherent opinions on Google Buzz as it is… in bullet time.
The Good
- It was crazy easy to get started. It loaded up gave me a list of contacts to put on my list and let me check/uncheck whoever I wanted to include or exclude. I guess this feature has been changed in the last couple days in the amidst a barrage of privacy concerns.
- If you are already a pro with Gmail, you’ve got a leg-up on Buzz. The layout is similar, it exists right there in Gmail, and if you have hotkeys enabled in Gmail, they also work in Buzz. Great for speedsters who are attached to the J/K keys.
- I rather enjoy the service forwarding conversations I am actively engaged in to my Gmail Inbox where I can easily continue to interact with it.
- Google Reader integration allows for super easy sharing of interesting articles while automatically importing thumbnail images. One unique feature of the Reader integration is the ability to expand the shared content in Buzz to show the entire article if you are interested in reading it without clicking through.
- As a communications platform it blows garbage like Twitter out of the water. Marketers and celebrities may not enjoy its differentiation as it doesn’t really cater to the one-to-many one way blast style communication that they enjoy in Twitter. For the rest of us though, this opens up the possibility of actually building real relationships with people.
The Bad
- People have complained about the Reader integration auto-adding contacts to their Google Reader. I think this will probably be resolved when lists get properly implemented. This is kind of one of those areas where you are left wondering why it wasn’t put in for launch but whatev’. I think people need to prune their subscriptions down to people they actually want to see content from.
- The threads are probably the biggest disapointment in Buzz and stand the chance for the most signifigant improvement. What I had really hoped to see from google was Buzz to act as more of a public Google Wave framework. All the threads should really just be Waves allowing replies to specific comments and embedding of content into the comment streams themselves. This would have been groundbreaking in this style of platform.
- Browsing the Buzz. For some reason, and I seriously don’t know what it is, Google Buzz is a complete pain in the ass to browse. I think the main two complications that make it uncomfortable are the uncollapsed comment streams and the bouncing it likes to do when threads are updated. I am guessing this will be addressed eventually.
- Chrome compatibility, I lacks it. Which is a real “WTF?” moment.
PRO TIP: If there is anything I have learned over the last two years of using social media platforms it is definitely this: Don’t waste your time following the Social Media Elites. You know who they are. All they talk about is all the shit you don’t care about. Just go out there and find people with similar interests and find your own community. Your enjoyment level will be exponentially higher without having to rummage through the bullet hell of those guys’ streams.
There you go, I have now completed my Community Service as ordered by the District Court and you probably have just reread everything you already knew about Buzz. But if you are still reading, which I’s probably less than 1% of you, a final thought. Google Buzz is solid, real solid. For a product that has been out for less than a week it already competes well and I have contacts with people that I was completely unable to convince to use other services.
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One part Adventure, two parts Puzzle, and a dash of “the Doctor” just about sums up Rotor’scope’s most basic constituent parts. But there is more to developer Nivel21‘s latest game. It weighs in with 150 puzzles, facebook integration, and comes complete with a puzzle building engine to allow players to create and share puzzles.
Gameplay
At it’s heart Rotor’scope is a puzzle game with an adventure wrapped around it. The game specializes in spacial puzzles with a vast array of various puzzle elements that add to the complexity of the basic puzzle design. At the most fundamental level, you are given a few colored block which, once aligned in a row of three or more disappear. The game then adds to this system with blocks with slightly differing behavior, such as wild card blocks or blocks that switch colors with adjacent squares. To move the squares, you manipulate the playing field’s orientation by rotating it clockwise, counter-clockwise, or a vertical flip. The puzzle selection is managed by using a “world map” like top down view of the mansion the game takes place in and as puzzles are solved more rooms and puzzles are unlocked.
The gameplay itself is functional and is adequate for a puzzle game. The puzzles themselves range from simply finishing them in one move to requiring dozens of resets and retries. I like to think I am a person at least one standard deviation away from average intelligence, but some of these puzzles had me seriously questioning in which direction I was deviating. In one situation I spent what seemed like hours trying to crack a puzzle that was required for progression in the game. Fortunately it was very near the end and was eventually accomplished solidifying my title as Puzzle Lord Victorious.
Story
You follow the story of Julie as she has just recently acquired an old dilapidated mansion previously owned by Professor Rotherbaum and is intent on repurposing it as a hotel. Upon her initial investigation of the mansion, she stumbles upon a device that later is identified as the Rotor’scope. This device allows Julie to unlock various mechanisms around the house and in some cases even repair them. As she works her way through the various rooms she finds a strange man locked in one of them. He introduces himself as Traveler and gives Julie the run down on whats been happening. Oddly enough, I suppose for the purpose of moving the story along, Julie opts not to fry him with a taser and joins the adventure to locate the missing Professor Rotherbaum.
Being the huge Doctor Who fan that I am, I found the story rather enjoyable. The similarities between the two are unmistakable with story line parallels and character dynamic equivalents. The character Traveler is quirky, gives the impression of intelligence, and has a sorted relationship with time. Meanwhile Julie appears to be thrilled with the prospects of adventure and makes the best angry/pouty face ever. In fact, I often found myself put off by the having to go solve another puzzle to get more story and dialog. This actually became my biggest caveat with the game. Perhaps as a result of poor pacing with regard to at times solving several puzzles in a row before getting any interesting interaction.
Audio Visual
My significant personal bias may, once again, show through in the visuals portion of this section. This is because the game itself has a very Steampunk / H.G. Wells look to it with period clothing and lots of brass gears and cogs. You find yourself approaching the point of feeling a bit hit over the head with this during the animated sequence leading up to each of the puzzles. In the scene you see an animated mechanical door open as it depicts the Rotor’scope system. It plays this every single time you enter the puzzle system and plays a particularly annoying musical bit with all the gears crunching and whirling. Fortunately the sequence is capable of being skipped and, believe me, you learn which button does that quickly. Don’t get me wrong though, that really is the only negative within this category, the mansions art is fine and the character designs, while stylized, are very nice with great detail given to the expressions to really communicate the tone the dialogue should take on.
Within the game there are puzzles that sometimes aren’t necessary for purposes of progression. It is in these cases the game typically rewards your efforts with a bit of art. The artwork is pretty great and for once I actually found myself interested enough to flip through them. The picture above is one of these pieces of art, featuring the time machine “AnyThree”.
The audio of the game is adequate and serves its purpose in a way that doesn’t typically detract from the rest of the game. The music is normally very relaxing and doesn’t grind your gears as the hours count up. The only real audio annoyance is during the animated sequence I already complained about previously. My main audio complaint for it was that it seemed a bit louder than I would have liked it to have been.
Summary
So lets recap here, Rotor’scope has an infinite number of puzzles, a decent story influenced by some of our favorite sci-fi shows, and some pretty decent art worthy of its own merit. It hits the cash register at 400 Microsoft Points on the XBox Indie Marketplace and that feels about right. This isn’t really your typical indie title, it is made by people I would describe as industry professionals and feels pretty polished. That said check out the demo for sure, if you are a fan of the aforementioned influences I would encourage a buy with just a little whiff of reservation.
Two new Xbox Indie Marketplace titles this morning. As per the usual, we haven’t had a chance to play these titles yet, so any speculation made on the quality of these games is based on the initially available information and is, as previously mentioned, pure speculation.
Asylum
The first game is Asylum, a strategy game in which you must aid in the escape of monsters through a series of what appear to be turrets. I get the impression Asylum is a bizarro tower defense. So far the community hasn’t responded too favorably receiving an average rating of two and a half stars. Developed by Silver Dollar Games and is priced in at 80 Microsoft Points on the indie market place.
Fish Listening to Radio
Honestly, I have no insight on this one. I don’t really even know whats going on in the screenshoots, but for some reason I kind of feel compelled to try it, so I will. But for now all that needs said is that it is developed by Popcannibal is wedged securely into the “other” category, and rings up at 80 Microsoft Points.
