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How an AT&T smartphone comes to life: behind the scenes (part one)
Have you ever wondered what happens behind the scenes to get a smartphone pushed to market? If you have, congratulations on advancing to the next echelon of mobile geekhood. We've often pondered the same thing ourselves, but the industry has been historically tight-lipped about the ins and outs of designing, testing and launching a smartphone. Fortunately, our thirst for knowledge was quenched by none other than AT&T, which happily loaned us the time of two senior product managers, the folks that make the magic happen. AT&T Foundry innovation center walkthrough On the ground with AT&T's Network Disaster Recovery team Verizon Application Innovation Center walkthrough Dante and Chris (last names withheld, per request) have the ultimate geek dream job: they don't just play with the latest prototypes, they're the ones who make sure they get made. Pretty plush gig, right? They're the ringleaders -- the decision makers responsible for making AT&T's smartphone lineup come to life, and their duty is to do it in a way that keeps the carrier at the front lines of innovation. So what drives these two men? What goes into their thought process, and what exactly happens behind locked doors in order to produce a groundbreaking smartphone? Join us in this two-part series as we learn some of their secrets.
Games at Google service revealed in job listing
Search engine giant Google is apparently looking to get even further into the gaming market, according to a job listing on its corporate site. The prospective employee would serve as a Product Manager for Games at Google, and "design strategies for game distribution and discovery, player identity, game mechanics, and more" as well as "initiate and prioritize projects within engineering, assist in determining the best technical implementation methods, track product development, and develop product launch plans." Unfortunately, there's not much to go on so far -- the listing does refer to a "gaming platform" at Google, as well as "developer relations," so in between the lines here there's the idea of some service that would involve other developers in some way. But whether that means games actually developed and released by Google or just a portal to games online, we'll have to wait and see.
Forsaken World offers a look at the Stoneman Protector
There's always that moment when starting to play a new game -- just what are you going to choose as a character? Will a neat racial choice capture your eye? Perhaps you're so fond of playing a particular class that no matter what the race is, that will definitely be your choice? Maybe you just love the idea of creating a character that is completely different from who you are in the real world. Well, today we have a short video in which Forsaken World's Project Manager, Shoko Bogen, tells us her reasons for wanting to play a Stoneman Protector. Along with this peek into Forsaken World's enormous tank class, we've also gathered up a bunch of new screens that show off various aspects of the game. From large-scale battles to laid back fishing shots, you'll find lots of new eye candy in the gallery below. Or, for those who prefer sound and animation with their eye candy, you can catch the preview video behind the break. %Gallery-107517%
The Daily Grind: What would your MMO dream job be?
I'll be Frank and you'll be Ernest, and we'll both admit that we as players have the tendency to be armchair game designers. No, no, don't deny it; it just makes you look defensive. If there's a single theme that pervades every official MMO forum out there, it's that the players think they know what's best for the game, even more than the devs themselves, and if they were making the calls, Game X would be mopping the floor with World of Warcraft. So hey, why not indulge in the daydream -- what if tomorrow you could have any job in the MMO industry? If you could make a very real, very direct impact on the games that are being made or are operating in live mode, what would it be? Would you be a writer, finally free to pen the perfect quest? Would you be a project manager, in charge of the direction and goals of the teams at your disposal? Would you be a big-shot CEO, making the major calls and shaping the future of the company? Or would you settle into a creative role as an artist or composer, helping to contribute to the game's frills? No, wait, I got it. You'd totally want to be a quality assurance tester. Those guys and gals get all the glory, am I right?
In search of a GTD solution
An application called Today was released recently by the developers of PocketTweets. It's a $15 application that integrates with iCal to display tasks and events, offering a complete interface for entering new tasks and events without opening iCal. It came at a time when I was furiously trying to make a homebrew task management system come to fruition using iCal and Mail, but ultimately left me in a not-much-better place than I started. I appreciate the simplicity of the app, but it doesn't provide much power beyond just using iCal to begin with. Anxiety, which is free (and features a HUD interface which somehow always earns points in my book), provides similar integration -- at least for tasks -- as do several other great little applications. But none of them allow for the task sorting, flagging, etc. that would make them truly useful to me. So I tried to make my own way...
Warhammer: We're not trying to "kick WoW's arse," we swear
Computer and Video Games supposedly has an interview coming up with Warhammer Online's project manager Attaba Rahim (although we haven't actually seen it on their site yet-- man it's a pain to navigate around), but until it gets posted, they have an interesting quote from him. Apparently, WAR isn't planning to try and put the smackdown on WoW.It's probably not true-- this is the old, old PR tactic of saying your competitor doesn't matter to you before release. That way, if your game does beat them, you can say it was "a nice surprise," and if it doesn't, no one throws your words back at you. Still, whether you believe him or not, Rahim says that EA Mythic would rather "deliver the best MMO ever" than "kick WoW's arse." Rahim also calls WAR an evolution rather than a revolution-- "players want something different but with some familiar elements."I've played an early build of Warhammer (and our own Barb Dybwad played the latest version), and I have to admit that if anyone can "kick WoW's arse" (whether Mythic actually wants to or not), they're definitely in a good position to do it. Of course, they have to actually get the game done first. If you see the rest of the interview at CVG, let us know and we'll update the post here.
