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Watch Google's robot 'Spot' play with Andy Rubin's real dog
The US military recently decided that Google's Alpha Dog and Spot robots weren't ready for active duty, leaving the four legged robots with nothing to do. In the meantime, Google is doing with its battery-powered Spot robot what we probably would -- using it as a dog toy. The company recently unleashed it on Cosmo, the terrier that reportedly belongs to Android co-founder and Playground Global boss Andy Rubin. The adorable result is that Cosmo, clearly the boss of this arrangement, sees the hapless robot as an existential threat that must be barked at and harangued (no butt-sniffing, luckily).
Daily iPhone App: Guitar! by Smule plays a familiar tune
Smule is the company behind a lot of excellent music apps, and its latest release is called, simply, Guitar! by Smule. Just like much of Smule's other work, the app is designed to let you "play" a guitar via your iPhone, tapping and strumming various notes that run across the screen. That in itself is not all that innovative, but Smule's tie in to its other apps and the company's substantial licensed music library is. With Guitar!, you get access to some really great guitar pop songs, and the team has also connected this app up to the Sing! karaoke app, which means that the singers putting in their voices to match your guitar are just fans playing along as well. That makes this app a little more special than just a standard music game. Still, despite that extra connection, there's not much else to make this one stick out -- you only get two songs for free, and then you'll either need to pay for a few more songs, or earn a whole lot of points to purchase others to play. It's nice that Smule has provided the app for free, and if you like these games they've made, this one is worth a download. But Smule is definitely starting to follow a formula here, successful as it may be so far, rather than inventing something really brand new.
WRUP: Comically speaking
It's the weekend, and the WoW Insider staff takes the time to reflect on the coming weekend. Some of us will do glorious battle on behalf of the Alliance or Horde... others of us will be wiping up baby spit. It's a mixed bag like that. We have shockingly few Black Ops 2 players in the house, though. But our mutual love turned to the subject of comic books this week. We enjoyed several conversations in the press room about our favorite characters, our favorite stories, and even our favorite writers. So we posed to the staff... what's your favorite comic book character?
Magic 2013 brings (the Xbox version of) Magic to the iPad
The iPad is ideal for card games -- its size and wonderfully inviting touch screen makes it excellent for representing physical cards on a digital device. That's why, back when the iPad was first introduced, one of the most popular apps was a simple deck of cards, a virtual set of graphics that you could move and slide around the screen as needed. Traditional card games have always been well-represented on the iPad, and collectible card games really shine. As the iPad has matured, we've seen more and more virtual card games arrive, from Hothead's popular Kard Combat to enjoyable titles like Ascension and Shadow Era. For the longest time, however, Wizards of the Coast has declined to bring its monstrously popular collectible card game, Magic: The Gathering, to iOS. There have been popular versions of Magic on both PC (and even in the browser) and on game consoles, but up until this summer, there was no official way to play Magic on iOS. Fans had even released makeshift versions of the title on the App Store at times, all of them crushed by Wizards of the Coast's legal threats. Finally, about a month ago, we got what we'd been waiting for. Magic 2013 is an official version of Magic, the full game playable on the iPad's gorgeous screen, with all of the modern game rules and strategies (mostly) intact. But is this the version we've been waiting for, or is it yet another stopgap to let Wizards exploit the brand on iOS without actually pulling players away from its core physical card game? In short, this is the game you've been looking for if you're a Magic fan. It's as close as you'll get to playing real Magic almost anywhere, and it's plenty effective at imitating the real thing. The biggest drawback of Magic 2013 is that it's basically a port of the popular Duels of the Planeswalkers console series rather than an all-new iOS version, so all of the complaints about that series (that you can't truly build your own decks, and that most of the content is buried in a segmented campaign) are still mostly valid here. But otherwise, this is Magic, and all of the features that you'd hope to find in an official Magic game, including multiplayer online play, unlockable cards, Two-Headed Giant and custom game modes, and any other little extras, are all here for the taking. The base game is free and that is just a tester version. It offers just five levels, and doesn't include any of the larger features or card unlocks. A very reasonable US$9.99 unlocks everything else. While you can buy other cards or packs, the single $9.99 charge will get you most of the Magic you want: A full 30-match campaign, 10 decks to choose from and multiple opponents, including that online mode. There's no problem with content here at all. The digital game obviously isn't as flexible as the offline game (where you can put together your own strategies or play any number of custom rules), but given that Wizard definitely doesn't want to stop selling physical cards, all of the limits here are completely understandable. The biggest issue with Magic 2013 isn't in what it has, but in what it doesn't, and that's an iPad-specific interface. Again, the interface is lifted straight from the console version, which itself was originally designed to work with an Xbox 360 controller. As a result, Magic's digital cards just don't feel as real as they should. You do swipe cards up to play them, but tapping to attack simply moves them into position, and cards tap themselves rather than having you push them to the side. It's mostly an aesthetic argument, but still -- the iPad's screen is so well designed for tactile interaction that it's disappointing the developers didn't take more advantage of it. Wizards is probably leery of investing too much in a brand new version of the game, so hopefully later versions will have a more touchscreen-specific interface. The other issue with porting over from the console version is that games tend to run a little slow. The game moves through each phase with plenty of time for either opponent to jump in and cast spells or play cards, and all of that waiting seems less workable on the iPad's closeup screen. Again, this is the fault of the way the game was designed (and, to a lesser extent, the way Magic works in general), but I can't help but think that if the game was remade completely for the iPad, it would run just a little smoother than it currently does. Once you figure why everything moves as slowly as it does, however (and you'll have no problem doing that if you're an expert Magic player already), there's not a lot of other issues. The cards are clear, colorful and easy to read, and matches work just as they do in real life. The game's graphics are actually a little flashy for Magic, I thought, but they're also well-designed, and the music is pretty good as well. I don't know if this is the ideal version of Magic. Personally, I will probably tend towards playing the game on the Xbox, since that's where this version started and that's what I'm most used to. But we do finally have Magic: The Gathering on the iPad, and it runs as well as you'd want an official Magic app to run, with all of the boxes checked that you'd need. Hopefully, when the next version of the game comes around (Wizards has been releasing both new digital and physical versions on a somewhat annual basis), iOS will get a copy of the game that's been designed just for the excellent touchscreen it's rendered on.
Rocksmith's Bass Expansion comes to PC on October 16
Ubisoft has announced that the Bass Expansion for its educational guitar game, Rocksmith, is arriving on the PC on October 16. The DLC pack, which includes bass tracks and teaching functions for either a standard 6-string guitar or a 4-string bass guitar, hit Xbox 360 and PS3 earlier this August.In addition to content for the game's current songs, the Bass Expansion allows you to access bass information for any DLC songs in the future, so it's quite an investment. The Bass Expansion will be available for $29.99, the same initial price as the console versions. One important bass-playing thing it won't teach you is how to look cooler than the lead guitarist while you play. Better get started working on that right now.
Daily iPhone App: Ocarina 2 makes for more virtual tunes
I'll be honest -- since the first Ocarina app came out, I've become a fan of Smule, the company behind it. Its mix of creative energy and technical know-how is a great match for Apple and a good example of software made well. But I have never really been a fan of Ocarina the app, just because I think blowing into your iPhone is kind of silly. Ocarina 2 doesn't dissuade that notion. It's about the same app as the first one, though Smule has wisely applied all of its knowledge from the intervening years, including a sort of Magic Piano-style play mode, as well as the freemium "get some tunes free, pay for more" model from Smule's past few games. There is still a freestyle mode to play with, as well as a world mode that lets you hear what other users are playing from around the rest of the globe. Ocarina 2 is a smooth, well-packaged app, and if you loved the first version, you'll enjoy this update. The freemium features might turn some people off, but in general, Ocarina 2 is a good time for players of all ages. I just wish it wasn't quite so, you know, silly.
Smule's Ge Wang plays Magic Guitar for us at CES
We got to sit down for a quick chat with Smule's own Dr. Ge Wang at CES in Las Vegas last week, and the result is the video below. Not only is the co-founder overseeing Smule's musical experiences for mobile devices (and its recent merger with Khush, another musical developer), but he's also an assistant professor at Stanford's Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics. And, as you can see, he's a mean Magic Guitar player as well. Those gloves he's wearing are Altec Lansing speakers sewn onto some gloves (with the fingertips cut off) for the Stanford Mobile Phone Orchestra. Wang was actually in Vegas to accept the Kids at Play Interactive's Emerging Pioneer award, which is an impressive achievement as well. Always good to see Smule's co-founder out and about. He says Magic Guitar is selling well, the merger is moving along smoothly, and Smule continues to aim towards expanding its social connection features across apps in the new year. He couldn't share specific plans, but we'll wait and see. When he's kind enough to strum a few virtual bars for us like this, who are we to argue?
Daily iPhone App: Magic Guitar
Smule, as we've said before, is an interesting company. Its goal is to bring new musical experiences to people through technology like the iPhone. The company's latest release, Magic Guitar, definitely follows that philosophy. Like the very popular Magic Piano for the iPad, the app enables you to "play" guitar music, even if you don't have any experience with the real thing. The most interesting thing about Magic Guitar is you hold it. The idea is that you're fingering chords on a guitar neck, so you're supposed to hold the iPhone in the palm of your hand, with your fingers wrapped around the far side. As "notes" fall down towards a line on the screen, you're supposed to put your fingers down where they drop, and as you do, various notes in the song will be played. It's tough to explain, but once you see it in action, it makes sense. Unfortunately, while Magic Piano offers a variety of songs to play, Magic Guitar takes a freemium route. There are only a few songs that come with the free download, and some of those are very short, with only one verse and a chorus. Additional songs need to be purchased through the app, and Smule has chosen a weird, currency-based system for purchases. You buy points instead of the songs. There are some good pop tunes available, and it would be fun to hear and see some of them being played, but I felt awfully limited by the initial choices and didn't buy any. The app itself doesn't do a great job, either, of giving you specific feedback on the notes you play. Hitting the screen a little ways off from the target note does make the sound come out differently, and a match is scored with one to three lightning bolts. I found it fairly easy, even when I thought I'd made a few mistakes, to score well. Of course there are other difficulty levels, but I think the app itself pales in quality to something like Magic Piano, where there were a lot more choices of both songs and game modes. At any rate, all of those arguments are somewhat moot, given that the app in question is free to download anyway. If the idea of playing a guitar on your phone sounds interesting at all, you should definitely give it a shot, though I think Smule will find that there's not quite as much interest in in-app purchases on this as on their other musical apps. That balance of free content versus paid content is often a tough one to hit right, and I think Smule fell just a little short of the line this time.
Younger audiences play more freemium games, but 25-34 year-olds pay for them
Flurry's latest post is yet another interesting read on freemium games on the App Store, specifically which age groups are playing them, and which age groups are paying for them. They've used consumer spending data across over 1.4 billion sessions, which means this information is as accurate as you're going to get outside of Apple's own databases. As you can see above, the patterns are interesting. Younger players are the primary users of freemium games, and that's not really surprising -- we've known for a while that the younger generation is downloading and playing more games than anyone else. But that third blue bar is the really interesting one: The people actually paying for freemium games are primarily in the 25-34 age group, right in the middle of the demographics. Sure, they're playing their share of the games, but freemium titles are almost completely funded by that stripe of the age demographic. And when you consider that the average freemium title only really pulls in-app purchases from a small percentage of its audience anyway, that age group becomes even more important. This seems logical, as most successful in-app purchase items are for convenience and time-saving. The 25-34 age group has more money but not as much free time as the younger audience, and thus are willing to shell out for items that help them in the game. But the big question is whether this will change as the years go by. As the younger audience gets older, will they become the main payers for these titles, or just stay the main players? We've only been playing with this model for a few years, and if the younger audience keeps playing without paying, freemium could be a short-lived trend.
The Daily Grind: What game did you spend the most time not playing?
Picture this: it's Saturday afternoon, and you're absolutely determined that you're going to spend some time leveling up in your game of choice. It could be World of Warcraft, it could be Star Trek Online, it could be anything. But you log in, and you note that before you go to town, you just need to check up on your auctions. And, oh, right, there's a bit of crafting you should do. Plus an old friend sent you a letter, you should respond, and the next thing you know four hours have passed and you have to log off without having gotten a single experience point. This doesn't mean that the time spent was a wash, naturally, but looking back you didn't really wind up playing the game so much as existing in the game space whilst doing other things. Sometimes you might even have more fun playing the auctioneer, but it's still time spent in a game all about orc-punching wherein no orcs were punched. So when did you spend the most time not actually playing the game you were logged in with? Was it in-game business that needed your attention, or were you alt-tabbing away until you lost track of time? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
WoW.com Interview: Dr. Hilarie Cash continued
One of the thing we continually see whenever the media talks about Internet addiction and how this all works is this tendency to say it's the game's fault. Well because the government is so worried about this whole thing, the government has -- obviously a completely different kind of government, and a different kind of culture and society than we have, but because the government's worried, and because, the way I understand it, the game developers in China don't want to get in trouble with the government, they've created things like if you keep playing beyond a certain point you start losing points, and things like that.
Breakfast Topic: Playing at work
We talked about this a while back, but the coolest thing I pulled out of the "working at Blizzard" article last weekend wasn't the on-site gyms, valet parking, subsidized cafeteria, or the amazing swag, it was than when your boss walks in the room at Blizzard, it's totally OK if you're playing a game. Of course, as a freelance writer, I've got a little freedom to play with any free time I have, but my free time comes in small amounts these days (I only made it to 78 this weekend) -- being able to play WoW at work (and have it count) would be great.Of course, some of you play WoW anyway (or just read our site -- don't worry, we won't tell your boss) even if you're supposed to be doing something else. And some jobs (security guards, IT tech support, a few call centers) lend themselves well to playing WoW during breaks, or just when the boss is not looking. What's your situation? Are you not near a computer to play WoW on at work, do you bring your own external drive in to play during lunch, or are you constantly alt-tabbing in case the boss stops by?
How to keep raiding when the power goes out
The thing I love most about summer is the thunder storms. Forget the constant days of 90 degree weather making my apartment bake even when the air conditioning is on, it's those storms rolling in with lightening striking a few hundred feet from me that I love. My guild-mates are going to love that too, especially when I'm raiding with them.We've had our first couple weeks of this in game, and already I've heard "Be right back, Tornado," from some guildies living down in Kansas. Luckily everything was okay and no one got hurt, but the fact still remains – we lost our head Mage for 30 minutes, and that's 30 minutes of our life we can't have back!While a Mage having to take a break in the middle of raids isn't a show stopper, having the main tank (my role) go offline is. I've had the unfortunate situation of having that occur a couple days ago. The computer I was raiding on wasn't plugged into my UPS (Uninterruptable Power Supply), so I was disconnected from everything when we lost power for about 30 seconds. However with a bit of tinkering around, I was able to put myself in a situation that lets me stay on even when the power hiccups.
Playing with your keyboard
Yesterday I talked about how to increase your game play by using all those buttons on your mouse. Today, we'll take a quick look at some theories on how to use your keyboard more effectively. Next week I'll present my complete keyboard map for tanking, and give lots of examples of why I have things where I have them. But for now, let's look at some basics.I use a Logitech G15 gaming keyboard for main World of Warcraft computer. The keyboard is nice for a lot of reasons: The keys are hard plastic and clean easily. I can often be found eating hot pockets (Mom! Hot pockets!) or pizza roles during raids, and it's nice to be able to easily clean the keyboard if I make a mess. The keys light up. This is very useful late at night when I turn the lights off. The LCD screen is very adaptable. I use the LCD screen to display who is talking over Vent. No more asking "Who just said they need a mob taunted off them?" (of course, if they wouldn't pull agro in the first place or DPS the right target, we wouldn't have that problem now... but that's another article.) There are 18 additional programmable keys on the left side of the keyboard. So the G15 is a nice choice for a gaming keyboard. We all know this, of course. Most of us play with one, or something similar. There are a few good and basic strategies for making the most of your G15 or other keyboard.
Leveling Mom and Dad through Zul'farrak
I think there's something so awesome about this story from Rufus on Livejournal-- his mom and stepdad have never gamed before, but they've leveled two characters up to 40, and during a run in Zul'farrak, they actually took on a whole gang of mobs, and lived.We've talked about playing with older folks before, but that's not even the best part of this story-- the best part, in my view, is the thought of two people discovering that they can do something they never thought possible. There is definitely an accomplishment and a thrill that comes with gaming (and this game especially-- taking out trolls is always fun), and it's awesome to think that these two were able to discover that.I did a run of Dire Maul last night on my up-and-coming Hunter, and just like that Blackrock Depths run a little while back, there were a few newbies in the group-- we had to explain tanking and aggro a couple of times, and I had to use Feign Death. But even through just the chat channel, you could tell they were having a ball running through all the demons in the old elven city. That kind of stuff definitely makes me happy this game is around.
The odd couple, playing together
Playing with friends is probably the most fun you can have in WoW-- while it's fun to solo, a good group is where it's at, and there's no better group then playing with people you know. Unfortunately, because even people who have a lot in common hardly ever level at the same rate, level differences grow quicker than expected, and pretty soon it's just not possible to play with friends without someone wasting their time.Until friendship shows up anyway. Lev over at WoW Ladies writes about an interesting duo she made with another player-- after joining up for a quest in Winterspring, they've rolled 10 levels together, and even played on their alts. And the weirdest thing is, she's 22 and he's 14, so you don't think they'd have a lot in common, but she says they play together great (she has a younger brother, and she compares their relationship to that). In the comments, someone about her age confesses to being grouping buddies with an 80-year-old person, and someone else tells a story of leveling up 40 levels with someone they met in game.Makes me kind of jealous, actually-- I've played a long time with the same people at 60 (and now 70), but leveling, I was never at the right rhythm to really grow with anyone else, either in common or otherwise. On my very first character, I played a night elf hunter (duh), and got some help from a night elf priest on how to start playing the game. I still have that guy on my friends list on that realm, and still see him play online, but he outstripped me in terms of levels a long, long time ago (he's 70, and my hunter is stuck in the late 50s). Now, it'd be nice to somehow technically be always able to play with friends (you could have instances that averaged your levels, or just play with premades, which is what I think Guild Wars does), but I think that's just one of the drawbacks of having a leveling system-- unless you only play those characters together, someone will always fall ahead or drop back.
Food on the flying mount wing
I don't really have much to say about this one-- just press play and watch the absolutely cutest WoW video ever. That flying mount must look pretty tasty. (Almost) completely unrelated: every time the guildies and I run Sethekk Halls and run into those Cloud Serpents, their "Wing Buffet" ability makes me think of all-you-can-eat wings. But then again, I could be thinking of something completely different.[ Thanks, ongra! ]
College bookstore puts WoW in the window
The Tensor was walking past the bookstore at "Unnamed University" (oh come on, you can tell us-- The University of Washington, maybe?) and saw the sight you see above. That's right, a college bookstore has WoW proudly displayed in their front window.Are they actively trying to distract their students from work? Don't get me wrong-- there are plenty of good reasons to play WoW, even if you're supposed to be studying for a career. But I'm glad WoW didn't get released until I was out of college with a degree-- I had enough trouble when I discovered Civ, sophomore year, as it was.[ via WorldofWar.net ]
How to get your girlfriend to play video games
Speaking from years of experience, we know how hard it can be to get your girlfriend interested in playing video games. Granted, it might be impossible to drag her into play-til-dawn Halo 2 sessions online, but dropping into casual gaming with a Wario Ware: Smooth Moves round or two is entirely doable. Need some tips? Wikihow has an entry up on how to get your girlfriend to play video games, which offers up some gender stereotypes like this: "Don't get games that involve things like strippers, prostitutes, and sex. Unless she has a really good sense of humor about such things, she probably won't like it." Well, where's the fun in that? Oh, we keed, we keed. True, most of the article is common sense, and it might actually be helpful to some of you out there who have had a hard time getting your significant others interested in jumping into the game with you. However, some of it is just plain whacked, like explaining to your girlfriend how to stretch and uncramp her hands. If your girlfriend doesn't know how to do this already, then you've got more serious problems.For those of you who need a girlfriend in order to find this article useful, check out Wikihow's hilarious "How to get a girlfriend if you're a nerd" entry. We're not sure whether to laugh or cry. For all of you female gamers out there, let us know how they could improve this entry, and don't worry about being gentle ... blast away.[Thanks, WebPimp]
Do you play WoW at work?
This would actually make a good Breakfast Topic, but I figured it'd be more appropriate if I asked it right in the middle of the workday: do you play WoW at work?I've heard people do it, but personally I couldn't imagine how I'd pull it off. Most of my workday (when I'm not slaving away for the Weblogs, Inc. overlords here) is spent in an open office, and so even if I did find the time to squeeze a little adventuring in between my actual work, I have so many people looking over my shoulder that I'd get caught before long. Of course, when I am supposed to be writing for this site, I'm usually playing WoW anyway, so that evens out, I suppose.It seems, though, that if British cops can get away with playing on the PSP at work, WoW is just a sneaky laptop away. So some of you out there must be playing WoW at work right now (don't worry, we won't tell your boss), but how are you possibly pulling it off? Are you just letting it run while you do actual work? Or finding some time on your lunch break to level a little? Or are you all out hacking and slashing your way through Azeroth while a conference call goes on in the background? There is always the argument that playing WoW makes you more productive, but somehow I don't think my boss would buy that.
