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Niantic is shutting down Field Trip, its first app
Niantic built its reputation on location-based games like Pokémon Go, Ingress and Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, but its roots are in its Field Trip app for finding nearby activities. And believe it or not, the company has kept the app going since 2012 -- even after the split with Google. Now, though, it's ready to wind down its original project. The team is shutting down Field Trip's services sometime later in 2019 in order to "prioritize" its efforts on augmented reality experiences.
Field Journal: A strong CoHmmunity
Last week a package arrived for me, sent by the incomparable Beau Hindman. He had been clearing out some of his old gaming paraphernalia, and when he happened on his old City of Heroes disks, something spurred him to offer them freely to anyone in the team who wanted them. I gratefully accepted. Ever since they arrived, they've dominated my thoughts, despite some highly dramatic events in the time since, weighty and uplifting alike. It's a game that just keeps inspiring acts of generosity and kindness. I started playing CoH on the very day it went free-to-play, but it struck a chord with me nearly instantly. I soon found it had an amazing community on top of everything the developers were responsible for, and that's when I fell in love. It went from "that old game probably no one plays anymore" to "the best MMO I have ever played" to "the cancellation that broke my heart" in all too short a time. Fortunately, the example set by the incredible community and its determination to carry the torch helped to mend my coronary fractures. As much as there is to learn from all aspects of MMOs, the single most important element will always be community. I can think of no finer example to look to than CoH.
Field Journal: Picking up the pieces of Fallen Earth
I was introduced to Fallen Earth way back in the mists of time, around when I first started reading Massively. It was one of the earliest Choose My Adventures, and I was so impressed that I made my own account and joined in on the fun part of the way through. My character even made a few cameos in the column later on. I have a lot of fond memories of the game, and a significant part of that is due to the crafting system. There are some really good ideas in there, even if the execution has always been a bit flawed. Despite those flaws, I wouldn't trade my early days with the game for anything. Well, other than a better version of the same game.
Field Journal: Tortage and the problem of starting areas
It's been quite a while since I've played Age of Conan. Rather than try to figure out where I had left off and what I should be doing with my existing character (and possibly ending up with nothing much to write about), I decided to start anew. The starting experience in and around the sub-tropical pirate city of Tortage is rather distinct. Since I'm already familiar with it, I knew I could find enough in it for an entry in this journal. So I leaped into the fray on my Stygian Herald of Xotli to refresh my memory while slicing, dicing, and frying pirates. I had a fair bit of fun doing so, but from the start, I had one nagging complaint distracting me: This isn't very representative of the game after Tortage. It's true that few starting areas in MMOs are, but AoC makes for an interesting case in how sharp that division is.
Field Journal: Across the DC Universe
Funny story: DC Universe Online was the first superhero MMO I played to any meaningful extent. I briefly dabbled with Champions Online when it went free-to-play, but it didn't grab me enough to make me continue past the introductory area. A couple of months later I gave the still-fresh-from-launch DCUO a try. The game gripped me for the next four months, and though I would eventually find City of Heroes to be the crown jewel of capes-and-tights massively multiplayer games, DCUO is still one of my favorite MMOs. Why is that? There are several factors: the feel of combat, abundant collections that satiate my compulsions to find all the things, a costume system that lets me change any part on the fly, the inclusion of an achievement system that actually means something, and a vigorous update schedule including quite a lot of new power sets over time. Even little things contribute a lot, like how much of a badass I feel running at super speed up the side of a building and flinging myself from the apex for several blocks to land running up the side of another huge skyscraper. The biggest reason for me, though, has to be how well-realized the setting is in the game -- how Sony Online Entertainment has capitalized on the license to present a snapshot of the DC Universe at its best.
Field Journal: Making peace with Vanguard
Vanguard: Saga of Heroes is a weird game. It seems almost purposefully to have been designed to turn away players before they can get a chance to see any of the good in it. Although I've tried it before, I've only recently been able to find some of that good, much to my even more recent dismay. One of those good things I've found is the Diplomacy system. There's nothing revolutionary about it, but it is a solid and interesting minigame that stands apart from anything most MMOs offer. It's more than just a minigame, though; it's integrated with other systems to create a distinct and worthwhile approach to playing the game apart from adventuring. What makes a simple, card-based tug-of-war all that? I'll try to explain.
Field Journal: Neverwinter gonna let you down
My original plan to talk about some of the better quests in Neverwinter's Foundry has been replaced with the burning need to rant about some of the common pitfalls in the less stellar entries. I'm not going to mention anything by name because I'm not here to shame anyone. I just need to explore some of the stupid design decisions that keep cropping up. I make no claim to great skill with the Foundry myself. I still haven't gotten around to much map decorating in my first adventure, though I did pull the trigger on publishing. (You can find it with the ID: NW-DNGJU57ID.) What I can claim is a critical eye and an understanding of what makes a good story with the tools Neverwinter gives you to tell them. There are plenty of good stories, so picking something from the featured pile will usually work out great, but when you go digging in the new and unrated adventures for hidden gems, you'll find far more rough than diamonds.
Field Journal: Seeking instant gratification in RIFT
I've always been pretty open about my feelings on RIFT: I have an immense admiration for the mechanical ideas and the sheer effort Trion makes, but the world-building and aesthetic choices put me to sleep. The game firmly belongs in the category of those games I wish I liked but don't. While I played the game's first 20-something levels (not to mention trying out several alts into their teens) early in its existence, it just could not hold me. Further attempts, such as during free weekends, in the unlimited free trial, and after the conversion to free-to-play, uniformly resulted in my milling about for a couple of hours before getting bored and uninstalling yet again. Maybe if I ignored the world entirely and focused purely on constant activity, I could get into it. Fortunately, RIFT's Instant Adventure system offers just what I need to test that theory.
Field Journal: Floundering in Neverwinter's Foundry
Given that I'm a roleplayer, you might think that I find Neverwinter's Foundry an amazing expressive tool that I relish wholeheartedly. To that I respond with a resounding sort of! I love that it exists and seeing all the neat, even mind-blowing creations of others. Actually using it to make something of my own, though? That's pretty daunting, and I'm not talking about the interface. I am a very creative person, but there are many kinds of creativity. I've long since given up trying to be the game master in tabletop games given how painful it is for me to prepare and how I bring so much more to the table as a player. I'm the expressive sort, coming up with great ideas on the fly that make things more fun for everyone, drawing everyone's characters, that sort of thing. I'm not the constructive sort, so I have a hard time building worlds compared to inhabiting them. That might be why I had to stick a cameo from my own Trickster Rogue in the quest I designed.
Field Journal: Pandaria's pastoral paradise
This week in Massively's Field Journal, I'm turning my attention to the big one, the game that must not be named, World of Warcraft. Some of you might say that's what WoW Insider is for, but our sister site's staff is made up of hardcore players who have kept up with the times and are used to the game's ways, some perhaps to the exclusion of other MMOs. What I'm offering is a look at the introduction of the current expansion with fresh eyes, from someone who used to be that person but hasn't been for a long time.
Field Journal: The true meaning of MMO holiday events
Field Journal is a bold and exciting new take on MMO journalism. Or the meandering ramblings of a chronic game-hopper. I haven't decided yet. Each week I'll be setting for myself a new "adventure" or "field trip" into a game to explore some aspect of it in detail. I'll be sharing my thoughts and experiences, especially on games without a dedicated column. Anything from the most obscure indie to the elephant in the room is up for consideration. There just has to be something in it we think is worth gawking at and talking about! Given the timing, I wanted to kick things off with a look at seasonal events in MMOs. To make it special, I thought, why not tackle the events of a few games in one go? Oh how naive I was. Let me tell you, there's nothing like seeing the same flavor of holiday cheer over and over again in supposedly different worlds to strip away one's capacity for goodwill to all developers. Fortunately, there were a few bright spots.
Google's Field Trip app gets you into 13 museums for free right now
Museum buffs and tourists might want to download Google's Field Trip app right now. As we've told you before, the location-based app shows you cool things to do while on a trip. For a limited time, the app will also get you into 13 major US museums for free, as Google announced on the Field Trip Google+ page: Rumor has it you can visit 13 museums in 6 cities for FREE with Field Trip... RUMOR CONFIRMED!!! For a limited time you can walk into any of these for free: Conservatory of Flowers, SF California Academy of Sciences, SF Walt Disney Family Museum, SF Museum of Contemporary Art, LA Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago Adler Planetarium, Chicago The Field Museum, Chicago Museum of the city of New York, NY Museum of Arts and Design, NY National Building Museum, DC Portland Children's Museum Portland Art Museum Pittock Mansion, Portland If you are around one of the following 13 museums, you will get a Field Trip card with "Free Entry" in the title (check the 'nearby' tab). Show the card on your phone to the admissions staff and they'll take care of the rest. Enjoy your Field Trips! Living in Europe I'm pretty spoiled, as almost every major museum is free. But looking at the list above -- especially seeing three of Chicago's best museums (my old stomping grounds) -- leaves me feeling a little envious of my US friends at the moment. Field Trip is a free download for iOS and Android.
How to turn off Google Now and keep your battery charged
Google has recently added its Google Now service into its search app for iOS, but there's one big drawback to getting constant weather, traffic, and other local information on your phone: Location Services runs constantly. You can tell by the little arrow icon up in the corner of your home screen. Usually, that service only flips on when your phone needs to know where it is, but Google can be greedy with that information, keeping your Location Services on all the time, and thus draining your iPhone's battery much faster than it would otherwise. So what's the solution? Inside Apple's Settings app, you can manually turn off Location Services for each app that uses it, so if you want to keep Google Now from draining your battery you could turn off Location Services altogether. Another approach, suggested by Mac OS X Hints, is to turn off the Now feature within the Google Search app, and only re-enable it when needed. Not the best solution, but it works for sure. Our commenters point out a somewhat less draconic approach to toning down Google Now's location access: in the Privacy settings within the Google Search app, you can disable Location Reporting. With that option turned off, Google Now won't keep track of your location in the background -- it will only check when the app is actually open and in use. This may decrease the utility of the traffic cards, for instance, but it should help battery life. I had the same issue, actually, with Google's Field Trip app. I thought the app worked great, but it definitely drained my battery, and the constant notifications got to be a bit much. The solution I found there was simply to sign out of the app when I didn't want to hear from it, and that's worked all right; it does reduce the spontaneous discovery of nearby attractions that Field Trip tries to deliver, but that's a trade I am willing to make. Ideally, both of these apps would have big on/off switches included, so users could make sure the apps were only active when they were needed. We should note that Google's help document for Google Now suggests that the location reporting feature ought to have minimal impact on battery life, but that isn't necessarily matching up with the real-world experience of users with this first version on iOS. Hopefully, Google will hear some of these complaints, and we'll see the apps work a little less greedily in the future. Post updated to clarify MacOSXHints recommendation. Update: Google has gotten in touch with TUAW to say that these claims of battery draining simply aren't true. The company says they tested the apps thoroughly, and while other apps using Location Services may drain your battery, Google tells us that these apps won't. Whether or not you want to leave these services on, then, is up to you. Here's Google's full statement: Reports that Google Now drains battery life are incorrect. We understand people's concern about seeing the Location Services icon stay on when they use Google Now. Many apps that keep the icon on actually do drain the phone's battery because they require very accurate location. (For example a navigation app has to run your GPS all the time to keep you from missing your turn.) Google Now is built very differently: it uses cell towers and wifi hot spots for much lower battery impact. We extensively tested Google Now on iOS for months and didn't see reports of significant battery impact -- we would encourage you to try it in the Google Search app for a few days and we don't expect you to see significant impact on your battery. If you are seeing a problem, please do tell us (just tap feedback in the app settings). We take user feedback very seriously.
Google releases new iOS app 'Field Trip'
Google has released a new iOS app today called Field Trip. The app had previously been an Android-only one before today's launch. The app is a location-based augmented reality app that displays information on your screen or via audio into your Bluetooth headset when you are near an area of interest. Field Trip uses technologies from a little bit of everybody to accomplish its goals. It uses code and search from Google, maps from Apple and hyperlocal place information from companies like Thrillist, Food Network, Zagat and Run Riot for food results; Sunset, Cool Hunting, WeHeart, Inhabitat and Remodelista for shopping results; and Songkick and Flavorpill for local music gigs. From the app's App Store listing, these are some of its highlights: Discover thousands of interesting places/experiences that fall under the following categories: Architecture, Historic Places & Events, Lifestyle, Offers & Deals, Food Drinks & Fun, Movie Locations, Outdoor Art and Obscure Places of Interest around you. Choose from three different modes to set frequency of Field Trip notifications. See "Field Trip"-worthy places around you on a map, by tapping on cards in map view to pull up enthralling points of interest around you. Go on a Field Trip while you drive. Field Trip can detect when you're driving and automatically "talk" about interesting places and experience around you. Came across an amazing story or restaurant? Mark it as a favorite to easily come back to it at any point. Capture the memory of a special place, by sharing a wondrous discovery through email and social networks such as Google+, Twitter and Facebook. Wondering where the gem that you recently discovered is? Find your discovered field trip cards in the "recent" section. Field Trip is a free download.
Google's Field Trip location-discovery app comes to iOS
Android users have had access to Google's Field Trip for several months now, but the location-discovery app is just making its way to iOS now. The service runs in the background on your smartphone, alerting you when you're near a historic spot or Zagat-recommended restaurant, for instance. In addition to helping you discover new POIs, the app can act as a tour guide with audio read-outs about nearby places, and you have the option of posting newfound locales to Google+, Facebook and Twitter. Click through to the source link to give the free download a whirl on your iPhone or iPod.
Google's Niantic Labs launches Field Trip app for Android, helps the working world play hooky
While Apple struggles to figure out how to help its users find their way, the mapping experts at Google have just launched a way to get folks to diverge a bit from their given path. Field Trip, released for Android by Google-owned Niantic Labs, runs in the background on your Android handset, eagerly waiting for you to get near a point of interest. Once that happens, it leaps into action, showing you a card for one of thousands of cool locations -- historic spots, museums, restaurants and the like. Google's partnered with a bunch of taste makers for the project, including Flavorpill, Cool Hunting and its own Zagat, to get things done. You can vote choices up and down, change the frequency of pop ups and post your findings to Twitter, Facebook and that one Plus social network. There's also a driving mode serves as an auditory tour guide when you're behind the wheel. The app's available now as a free download in Play. The iOS version, on the other hand, is coming soon. Psst... yes, it appears to be US-only for now. Bah, humbug.
The MMO Report: GW2 field trip edition
This week on The MMO Report, Casey treks to Burbank, California, to check out Guild Wars 2's voice-acting studio and interview ArenaNet lead writer Bobby Stein. Stein tells the crew that his team has been working on GW2's voice-overs for three years, resulting in approximately 70 or 80 times the amount of voice work for Guild Wars 1's final installment, Eye of the North. Casey also interviews a trio of women portraying female Charr characters, but it just wouldn't be an MMO Report field trip if Casey hadn't given the voice acting a try himself. Rising to such stage directions as "he's a cat" and "now try it drunk," Casey receives a hard-earned standing ovation from the sound booth. All this and more in the MMO Report video tucked behind the break!
Apple preps 2010 school field trips
Apple, through the Apple II, served as the gateway to computing for me; my third grade classroom had two Apple IIs neatly tucked away in metallic lock cases. With them, I was exposed to word processing, printing and, most importantly, Carmen Sandiego. Education is deeply ingrained in the Apple ethos. During his keynote at Macworld 1997 -- where he made his return -- Steve Jobs, in a not so understated way, said that "Apple is the largest education company in the world" and that this provided the company "an incredible foundation...and legacy to build off of." This legacy lives on, as Apple, through its retail stores, offers a variety of mediums to teach kids about and expose them to computing and content creation. Last week, Apple opened up spring registration for field trips to its retail stores. Breaking with the tradition that students are to bring apples to their teachers, Apple provides a way for teachers to their students to the Apple...store, that is. During these field trips, K-12 students can create a variety of digital masterpieces: a photo album using iPhoto, an edited video using iMovie, or a song in GarageBand, among them. When complete, students can showcase their creations with others in the store. Now that's a class act. [hat tip to The Loop]
Apple Stores welcome kids via Field Trip
Letting a bunch of kids loose in a candy store might be a sticky mess, but letting them loose in an Apple Store should be a delightful, brushed metal and glass wonderland of fun. Right? That's the idea behind Apple's new Field Trip program for elementary, middle and high school students and their teachers. Apple is inviting groups of up to 25 students for the hour-long programs, which can feature a big-screen presentation of work that the students have already done in class (Keynote/PowerPoint, movies & more) or hands-on creation sessions that allow the kids to make new projects in the store. Parents and friends are welcome to come watch the fun. Session reservations are available through November 21; the 'school champion' organizing the event gets email templates to send to attendees, the option of printed invitations, and a complimentary subscription to One-to-One training for a year. Not too shabby. [via Apple Hot News]
