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Postcards from WildStar: See you, space cowboy
Welcome to Postcards from WildStar, a look at Carbine's new MMO. This is our final set of impressions, so be sure to check up on our previous postcards, and we hope you enjoyed the series! Well, here we are, friends. End of the Postcards from WildStar line. You've met my purple-haired, green-eyed defender of the forest, and tagged along as she fought her way through Dominion foes and savage beasts. You've been welcomed into her home and watched in horror as she died – often – in WildStar's PvP. Though to be fair, the "horror" part might just have been me. (I'm not very good at PvP!) MMOs are monstrous beasts and massive undertakings. They require a significant time commitment and sometimes month-to-month monetary compensation. The goal with these postcards has been not to give a finalized review, but to offer thoughts and impressions on the many aspects of Carbine's entry in the genre. Having poked and probed around for nearly two months now, I'm ready to wrap things up and give a summary conclusion. Read on to see where I place WildStar in the annals of MMO history.
Postcards from WildStar: Come at me, bro
Welcome to Postcards from WildStar, a look at Carbine's new MMO. Catch up on our previous postcards, and stay tuned for our final postcard next week. Another week, another Postcard from WildStar. But I've got to confess, friends: The hiking boots are starting to wear thin, and we've covered my impressions of most of the game's many systems. First, I introduced you to my Aurin Esper Settler – or in layman's terms, my furry, psychic, summer camp counselor. Next, we talked about the game's stat system, revealing an intricate, sometimes confusing, set of rules that govern how characters are strengthened. I also gave my impressions of WildStar's combat, saying that I found myself excited as enemies showed off new and more complex attacks via the game's telegraph system. After taking a break from the grind of quests and combat, I kicked up my feet and relaxed a bit with my home and floating crystal gardens. So what's left? You are. This postcard, we go head-to-head as I check out WildStar's PvP. En garde!
Postcards from WildStar: I'm a level 50 interior designer
Welcome to Postcards from WildStar, a look at Carbine's new MMO. Catch up on our previous postcards, and stay tuned for more in the coming weeks. Welcome again space adventurers, to another installment of Postcards from WildStar, where I dissect Carbine Studios' new MMO and discuss all the gooey bits I find inside. In our first postcard, you met Shas, the purple-haired bunnygirl and telekinetic warrior I chose to represent me on the colorful planet Nexus. In our second postcard, I talked about how she fights off the land's dangerous flora, fauna and Dominion faction foes. Today, you'll see where she lives and find out how she's earning a living out on the frontier fringes of space. Wipe your feet on the welcome mat and make yourselves at home, because in today's postcard, we're talking housing.
Postcards from WildStar: There's a reason I failed stats class
Welcome to Postcards from WildStar, a look at Carbine's new MMO. Catch up on our previous postcards, and stay tuned for more in the coming weeks. Hello my spacefaring comrades, and greetings once more from the planet Nexus. Welcome to the second installment of Postcards from WildStar, a short series that explores several aspects and impressions of Carbine's new MMO. Last week, we talked about character creation, classes and Paths. This week, we descend to the planet's surface to get a feel for gameplay and dissect what makes WildStar different. Shall we?
Postcards from WildStar: character creation checklist
Welcome to Postcards from WildStar, a look at Carbine's new MMO. Stay tuned for more entries in the coming weeks. Like my fellow postcard-sender and Joystiq contributor Sinan Kubba, I've been an MMO player for many moons. I lost myself to Star Wars Galaxies in high school, and to this day, I consider it – well, the state it existed in before the Combat Upgrade and New Game Enhancement patches drastically altered it – my favorite game of all time. It did things differently, and I'm a fan of different. Thus, it was with keen interest that I watched the development of WildStar, an MMO from Carbine Studios and NCsoft that professed it wouldn't be the same old, same old. The game has been out since June 3, and I've been tinkering around inside this colorful blend of sci-fi and fantasy since. Now that E3 is over and I've had more time to play, it's time I share some impressions.
Postcards from The Secret World: A R'lyeh close look at multiplayer
Welcome to Postcards from The Secret World, a trip through Funcom's new title from the perspective of a player new to MMOs. Read parts one and two if you haven't! As I've written before, nearly everything about The Secret World has appealed to me since it was announced. That said, the least appealing aspect was always the fact that it was a massively multiplayer game. As a fan of horror and games like Alan Wake and Silent Hill, The Secret World struck the right chord. The fact that it was an MMO was an afterthought.I don't play a ton of multiplayer games and, when I do, it tends to be with a close group of friends, so saddling up with strangers isn't a terribly exciting prospect. But The Secret World is an MMO, after all, so this week I was determined to do exactly that. After seriously typing the letters "lfg" for the first time in my life, I delved into a dungeon with four other people. I'll admit I was nervous and died during one of the boss fights. In my defense, I was distracted by taking screenshots for this very article. Dumb, I know.It was okay though, because after that ... we fought Cthulhu.%Gallery-161251%
Daily iPhone App: Postcard on the Run
I've traveled to over 30 countries since 2009, and today I wish I had brought Postcard on the Run with me. I've been using the app for the last few weeks and have become infinitely fond of it. Postcard on the Run lets you take a picture on your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad and turn it into a postcard that can be instantly snail-mailed to anyone in the world. I know, I know; that sounds suspiciously like an app by a certain company in Cupertino. But Postcard on the Run succeeds where Apple's Cards app consistently falls short. It's fun, it's uncomplicated, and it's even kinda kooky. When you launch the app, you're asked to select a photo to use as your postcard image. You can choose to either take a new photo, use an existing photo from your camera roll, or choose any photo you've posted to Facebook. That Facebook integration alone makes the app more useful than its closest competitor. Once you've chosen a photograph, you can zoom in or out of it and position it as you please. From there, write a short message of up to 200 characters, and choose your font and color. The next screen is particularly cool, as it lets you sign your name with your finger (or even draw little doodles on the card itself), which adds a level of personalization that you don't find in other apps. What's really nice about the app is it offers you some unique tools and lets you apply some unique features to your postcards to make them more memorable. The most handy tool is called "Postal Gopher." If you choose a recipient from your address book whose address you don't have, the Postal Gopher feature will send a text or email to that individual requesting their address. When they reply, their address will instantly be added to your saved postcard order, which will then be automatically processed and sent. Another nice feature is the ability to add a GPS photo map right onto the back of the postcard, particularly handy if you take pictures of lots of things you see when out and about. For instance, I can snap a picture of a cool, old bookstore in Germany to use as the postcard and the recipient can see right where I took the photo. But perhaps the most fun element is the ability to add smells to your postcard. Using the appropriately-named "Smell Mail" feature, users can choose to add one of eleven scratch and sniff scents to their postcards. It's an old throwback to the time when scratch and sniff was "high-tech." But that's really the point of Postcard on the Run: With the digital world moving so fast, receiving another quickly written email isn't that meaningful anymore. If you don't agree, just ask your mother (or mine). She'd much rather get a letter or postcard from me while I'm on my travels than an email. And even in this instant-everything, living-behind-a-touchscreen world, it's still really nice to have a physical memory that you can thumbtack onto your wall or hang on your 'fridge. The quality of the postcards is also top notch, with the same glossy goodness that you'd expect from any you'd find in a souvenir shop. I've already sent several holiday greetings to friends around the country using them. Each postcard costs between US$0.99 and $1.69, including postage. It's only another 50 cents if you add a Smell Mail scent to it as well. Check out the gallery below, where you'll find more samples of the postcards plus also screenshots of the app. Finally, those of you with keen eyes might notice that some of the postcards in the gallery are addressed to singer and actress Selena Gomez. That's because she's involved with the creative direction of the app, and those are some duplicates of postcards she liked that were sent to her from fans, which she was kind enough to share with me. If you're among the millions of her fans be sure to check back Friday for my exclusive interview with Selena about her involvement with the app, and keep an eye out for a sweet promotion and giveaway from Selena, Postcard on the Run, and TUAW in the very near future. Postcard on the Run is a free download and the perfect app for sending a little holiday love. %Gallery-142245%
Postagram creates postcards from Instagram photos
We've been fans of Instagram for a while, so we were keen to see what would happen when its developers opened Instagram's API to others. While there have been a few toe-in-the-water experiments, the first really interesting idea we've seen is Postagram. The service allows you to turn any Instagram image into a 300 dpi postcard for just US$0.99, posted to anywhere in the world. It'll be delivered within 2-5 days in the USA and will take a bit longer to get elsewhere. Sounds like a bargain. Download the app now and give it a try if you already have Instagram installed. Postagram has a special launch offer that gives you your first postcard for free. Perfect for sending real postcards to your parents and anyone who isn't quite up there with you on the cutting edge of e-postcard delivery this summer.
Put yourself in the picture with PixyMe
Do you remember the personalized movies that had been showing up in your email a while back? The one that sticks in my mind was a 'get out the vote' video the Obama campaign sent out a month before the presidential election. The story told by the video was that Obama lost by just one vote and it was you, whoever you are. You name was smoothly integrated into about a dozen places in the narrative. It was a real attention getter. PixyMe (US $1.99) brings a static version of this technology to your iPhone or iPod touch. This beautifully designed and rendered app lets you incorporate any name or short phrase seamlessly into an eCard or postcard, appearing as though it were part of the photograph. The resulting personalized photo can be either emailed, sent to Facebook, saved in your photo album, or sent as a high-quality physical postcard to any address in the world. It works remarkably well, as you can see from the picture on the right and the gallery below. It's unfortunate that this app has the all too common problem of dropping you into the fray with scant instructions. That would be okay for a simple one-trick-pony, but this app is fairly complex and has functions that need explanation. There is an info screen at the end of all the options, but all it gives you are the raw basics and a link to get to the PixyMe site. What you probably don't know is that on the site is a great introduction and all the information you need to get started quickly in a video tour. You can view it at the end of this post. I feel that this video should be incorporated into the app or directly linked to rather than dropping you at the site. That's my only complaint. The rest of the app is a delight.
EVE Evolved: Postcards from EVE: Reader Submissions
As a tribute to EON Magazine's "Postcards from the Edge" feature, last week I started this two-part series of postcards from all around EVE Online. In last week's first part I presented a gallery full of postcards from my own travels in EVE. I then asked readers to email in any of their own screenshots that they wanted to appear as postcards. This week, I finish the series with a mixture of reader submissions and my own remaining postcards. As with last week, they're all high-resolution shots suitable to be used as widescreen backgrounds. Feel free to save them out from your browser to get them at full resolution. Thanks go to Massively readers "Mike", "Mark Pittam" and my corpmate "Retalus" for their submissions. Included are some shots of the new planets coming with the Dominion expansion in December and a lot of pictures from Sleeper space. Hope you enjoy! %Gallery-76973%
First Look: Postman 2.0
I hadn't really noticed, but it turns out there are lots and lots of postcard apps in the App Store. It makes sense, the iPhone (and to an extent, the iPod touch) is a great virtual postcard device. Snap a photo while on vacation, add a quick message and send it off via e-mail, all from within the iPhone itself. It's actually a neat example of old and new communication methods fusing together. Yesterday, Steve looked at Postcard Express and today I'm looking at Freeverse's Postman 2.0 (iTunes link). Released just a few weeks ago, Postman was one of first applications to take advantage of some of iPhone OS 3.0's capabilities, Google Maps integration and mail sheets. With Postman 2.0, Freeverse has redesigned the interface (using the talents of the Iconfactory's David Lanham), added themes, made it easier to position text and improved stability with other services. The Basics Like most other postcard apps, Postman 2.0 lets you take an image from your iPhone's camera, a stored image on your iPhone or iPod touch or use a pre-loaded professional image as the basis for the "front" of your card. Postman also integrates with Google's Location API and can use your current location to get a Google Map that can then be uses as your image. Themes and Text Effects Postman 2.0 now includes a bunch of pre-configured themes that you can apply to your image. The themes are pretty nice, adding a bit of kitsch and polish to the digital postcard experience. My favorite was the retro TV set that frames your location. Clicking on the theme applies it to your photograph instantly. You also have access to various text styles using a variety of fonts, including MarketFelt, Helvetica and Times New Roman. You can adjust the size of the text, as well as the color. You can then move the text around the front of your postcard to position at will. If you don't want any text, just clear the text form. When it comes to the back of your postcard, you can adjust the font and sizing there as well. You can also change the weather indicator, depending on conditions or your mood. You can disable the front or the back of the virtual postcard, which is nice if you just want to send a little stylized note, or you just want to share a quick vacation picture. %Gallery-67684%
Everything old is new again; frog design does an iPhone app
Early in Apple history, long before Jonathan Ive came along and performed his design miracles, there was frog design. Under the helm of Hartmut Esslinger, frog design was responsible for some of the more memorable early Apple designs, including the iconic Apple IIc and the Imagewriter II printer. More importantly, Esslinger defined the Snow White design language that was used by Apple between 1984 and 1990 to define how Apple products of that era would look. History is repeating itself now, with frog design recently releasing a new iPhone app, Postcard Express [App Store]. The $3.99 app definitely doesn't break new ground in terms of functionality -- it creates and sends digital postcards from your iPhone photos. As with Postman, SodaSnap Postcards, and other apps of this type, Postcard Express lets you either take a new picture or use an existing gallery photo to send an electronic postcard to your friends via email. Unfortunately, frog design's savvy doesn't appear to extend to iPhone apps, as Postcard Express is not only more expensive than any of the other apps, but version 1.0 has some serious shortcomings.
First Look: Postman adds social networking to the iPhone ecards mix
In the ecosystem of the App Store, the postcard-sending app occupies a healthy niche; about two pagefuls -- 60 apps -- show up in the store, for a category weighting of 0.125 flatulans. The flatulan, of course, is the unit of measurement of App Store penetration, equaling the 480 individual apps that include the word 'fart' somewhere in their description. Among those postcard apps, there are several standouts for virtual cards (ADA winner Postage, for example) and even a few that let you send physical postcards for a small fee (TapTapCards, goPostal and Postino). With Postman (iTunes link/website), released today by Freeverse and Taptivate for $0.99 for iPhone OS 3.0 devices, the postcard-sending app category gets a social media boost. Postman lets you deliver your two-sided ecards (yes, the app gives you the option of simulating the back of a traditional postcard, complete with stamp graphic) via Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, email, or simple upload to the postmanapp.com website for public review. You can already track several tweeted postcards (some which probably should never have been sent.) You can also simply save your postcards to the photo roll on the device. Creating postcards with Postman is fast and easy; all the controls are persistent in a small icon bar at the top of the screen and large front/back and 'share' buttons at the bottom. Postman has style and several handy features. In addition to using your own camera images/photo library or the included stock images for postcard sources, you can locate yourself on a Google map and use that graphic instead (this leverages the Map API in iPhone 3.0). Once you pick a graphic, you've got a choice of one-click filters to apply that spice up the look of your card. You can easily switch fonts and colors for your text input on the card front or back, and then send with a couple of taps. There are a few rough edges with the first release. I found the lack of a portrait mode frustrating, as I'm actually a faster typist on the vertical keyboard; not that you'll be keying in a chapter of War and Peace, but there's quite a bit of room for copy on the postcard back and I'd like to be able to rotate on that screen. The selection widgets seem cramped a bit, particularly the one for the stock templates. It would be nice to save postcards in progress and switch back to them, but for now there's only one card and no way to revert to earlier versions. If you want to have super-slick, email-only postcards from your iPhone, and are willing to spend a couple of dollars more for some added flexibility, you may be better off with Postage or the still-awesome Comic Touch. For $0.99, however, the first pass of Postman delivers ease of use and some very handy delivery mechanisms on the back end.
First Look: Postino adds e-card options to iPhone postcard app
The ability to send physical postcards from your iPhone is not a new concept, but the just-released Postino (link opens iTunes) from AnguriaLab adds a new twist to an old favorite -- having the option to send e-cards for those who want to send a postcard, but not bother with the hassle of a paper card.Launching Postino takes you to a simple navigating screen: Photo, Message, Signature, Address, then the almighty Send. You can either select a photo from your camera roll or take a new picture. For this experiment, I chose a photo I'd already taken of my favorite sushi bar here in the Phoenix area. I added an optional frame, a message, then, in a neat twist, drew in my own signature. Shaking the palette for the signature area clears it so you can start over.For the purposes of this review, I chose to send the postcard as an e-card to my most willing and unsuspecting test subject -- my fiancé. You can either type in the e-mail or address, or choose from your contact list. Physical postcards can be sent worldwide, which is a feature lacking in the other postcard applications that we've reviewed in the past. All you need to do is purchase a virtual stamp through the app, which costs $1.99USD with up to 20% discount with bulk purchases, via PayPal. After you send the postcard, you can use the Recents tab to check on the status of both the e-cards and the physical ones.The final product generated via e-mail is the two halves of the card side by side, which is one of the things I would tweak. The postcard was bigger than the available screen size, even when I expanded Mail to full size on my MacBook. The e-card sends out at 1200x1600 pixels for the full card. The picture itself turned out great and would look good on a physical postcard, but a smaller size would be perfect for the e-cards. My fiancé also appreciated the e-card he was sent, though he did comment on the need to scroll to see it all. Postino is currently available for free through the App Store, but will soon cost $.99USD. If you want to give it a try, now's your chance.%Gallery-64690%
Postcards from the EDGE network
Two new apps both provide the same service to iPhone users -- sending postcards to U.S. addresses from your iPhone. I'm not talking about virtual electronic postcards; instead, these are real postcards that are printed at a location near your recipient's address, then delivered by the U.S. Postal Service. All you need to provide is a photo taken by your iPhone, the address(es) of the recipient(s), a personalized message, and a credit card number.The two programs are both free, although there is a cost to send those postcards. Continue reading this post to learn more about Go Postal and TapTap Cards.
First Look: Memento
A couple months ago we reviewed SodaSnap, a free application for the iPhone that allows you to send postcards. SodaSnap didn't allow you much flexibility, and was definitely not an iCard replacement. However, Memento for iPhone and iPod touch [iTunes link], which brings Mail.app-like stationery to everyone's favorite mobile platform, is a better alternative. Each "stationery theme" allows you to add one picture and some text to the message. When you open the application, you are presented with a screen that shows all the messages saved as drafts, plus the ones that you've already sent. To start a new message, tap the "+" in the top-right corner of the screen. To add a picture, just tap in the gray area with the camera icon. A popup menu will ask if you want to take a new picture or browse for one in your photo library. Once you've selected the image, it will be placed in the gray area. This application is solid and has some nice themes to choose from. There is still room for improvement, however. I would like to see more themes (the 14 provided themes are nice, but they get old after a while). I would also like to see the ability to add more text, as you currently can only add a small snippet to your message. This is one of those applications that is just cool, and it has a variety of uses. If you're looking to surprise Grandma with pictures of her grandkids, then this is the application for you. You can download Memento for $2.99 (US) from the iTunes App Store. %Gallery-36741%
Postcards pitch LittleBigPlanet to the masses
Weren't sure how serious Sony is about getting everyone hyped about LittleBigPlanet? On the heels of news that LBP's Sackboy is being positioned as the new (fabric) face of PS3 comes a Best Buy blitz of lovely postcards extolling the game's many virtues to customers who'd otherwise look at it and say, "Huh?"The crew at PS3 Fanboy has the whole lot of them scanned in all their cute-yet-informative glory. Give them a look!
Postcards from the Age of Conan beta
One of the things we really love about the way Funcom is handling the development of Age of Conan is how they just keep us craving more by letting out little tidbits. When we were lucky enough to catch the demo of AoC at Dragon*Con 2007, we were thrilled to see how it was progressing. The Postcard series on the official AoC site is building further on those little tastes. Their intrepid beta adventurer, now in his second week of "postcards" gives us some glimpses into how life is progressing in-game after the new player areas. This time around, we get to follow him across the landscape, through ruins and into angry mobs of Picts, and into even more intriguing territory. We won't spoil the surprise for you, though. If you want to know, you'll just have to pop over to the AoC site and check out the screens and story for yourself.
Guildwatch: Wish you were here
I like it when people spend a little time to gussy up their guild's raiding pictures. A good, detailed guild kill picture (like the one from Order of the Raven on Aggramar above), is like a nice little postcard, a souvenir for everyone on the raid. If your guild has a particularly nice or well designed kill shot, send it to wowguildwatch@gmail.com (along with your drama, downed, and recruiting tips as always) and we might have a whole gallery of them to show off next week.In the meantime, click the link below to get your weekly dose of drama, downed, and recruiting news. It's all the guild action you'd want, without ever signing a charter!
