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The Art of Wushu: Understanding the Meridian System
Age of Wushu is not the most accessible game. It is full of confusing systems that are hard to decipher, and a large part of the "skill" in the game is being able to wade through the mess of gameplay elements and produce an optimized character. Meridians are one more extremely confusing system to handle. There are nine meridian lines, advanced characters can activate four of them, and even training them at all is pretty confusing. Training the correct ones adds another layer of complexity to an already confusing game. I'm not a huge fan of the system -- it causes a number of metagame problems, particularly due to the increased HP inherent to everyone who trains a meridian line. However, it's there and we have to make the best use of it. How do we do that? Read on!
Nintendo's Rob Lowe discusses casual versus core product cycles
In an interview with Casualgaming.biz, Nintendo UK product manager Rob Lowe was asked if the casual, family-friendly gamer has become more valuable to the video games industry than the core gamer. "There is clear room for both and any publisher can demonstrate clear value in both casual and hard core," he responded, suggesting Nintendo sees the benefit of having titles aimed at both markets. A fair assessment from the company who reigns supreme in the hardware sales charts. According to Lowe, casual and core software have the same ability to sell, but each at a different pace. While core titles usually sell well within a short time, casual games have a better ability to sell consistently throughout their lifespan on the store shelf. "For every Carnival Games there is a BioShock and for every Wii Fit there is a Resident Evil 5," Lowe said. "It's really just different product cycle." A strong argument, even if Lowe couldn't name two recently released core titles on his own platform.
Star Trek prequel coming to the iPhone
I have no idea how much of this is spoilers, but if you want to walk into this summer's Star Trek movie with a completely blank slate of expectations, you should probably move on to the next post. Spoilers ahead!Ok then. Apparently J.J. Abrams, who's directing the new Star Trek movie, has worked with some comic book creators to (get this) bring a prequel of the prequel to the small screen before it appears on the big one. Whew. They're releasing a series of iPhone apps, which are actually "mini-comics" telling the pre-story of the movie. And here's where it gets really confusing (and spoilerific): apparently, while the movie is a prequel featuring a young Kirk and Spock, the story's villian is actually a time-traveler from Star Trek: TNG times. Which means the iPhone comics actually star Picard and his TNG crew, and tell the story of the movie's villian, a Romulan named Nero. I originally though the film was a non-canon reboot of the series, but no -- apparently even though we've never seen this era on film before, it is still mean to fit right in the Federation's universe.Still with us and interested? You actually are a Star Trek fan! (I prefer Star Wars myself.) The comics are going for 99 cents each (you can apparently pick up the same comic in print for $3.99), and are available in the App Store right now.
Survey finds mobile phone setup to be excruciatingly difficult
We can't say we've ever toyed with a mobile that was so difficult to setup that we'd rather move our bank account from one institution to another just to experience something easier, but apparently we're in a quaint minority. According to research gathered by Mformation, some 85 percent of those polled were "frustrated by the difficulty of getting a new phone up and working." Out of the 4,000 individuals that were surveyed, all but 5 percent said they would "try more new services if phones were easier to set up." In fact, 61 percent admitted that they would simply stop using an application if they couldn't get it working right away, with actions such as web browsing, reading email and sending picture messages being atop the list of "greatest wants." Hear that, carriers? That's the sound of lost revenue from selling phones that people can't operate.[Via All About Symbian]
Millions miffed at poor quality from holiday HDTV purchase
It seems that all of those witty predictions claiming that HDTVs would sell like hotcakes this holiday season have apparently been proven accurate, but the consumer backlash that we all assumed would follow is now in full swing. While it's no surprise that the mystery surround HDTV is further complicated by glossy marketing and a lack of technical support all around, a recent report claims that "about 19.5 million consumers" who purchased an HDTV over the holiday break are now complaining about the quality. Apparently, the "plug and play" approach that has become quite common on today's electronics didn't work out so well with HDTVs, leaving customers baffled that their TV wouldn't magically display the clean, crisp imagery they viewed on the in-store displays when making their purchase. Customers are still having a difficult time understanding that special programming packages, set-top boxes, and / or OTA antennas are required to receive HD content, taking the wind out of their presumably puffed sails. Consumer confusion over making HD "work" with HDTVs has gone on for quite some time, and even though some companies are making the leap and offering up that helping hand, it seems the majority of folks are still wandering around in the (heavily pixelated) dark.
