smooth
Latest
TUAW's Daily App: Awesome Solitaire
Awesome Solitaire is (surprise!) an awesome solitaire game. The usual card game is so simple by now that presentation is everything, and Awesome Solitaire has presentation in spades. If you play in Awesome mode, the graphics are flashy, you get rewarded with points for combos, and the animation looks smooth and professional. Heck, the background is even animated with the accelerometer. My one argument is that there's no sound on the app at all -- as flashy and smooth as the graphics are, you'd think there would be some sparkling sounds to accompany them. But then again, I often turn the sounds on my phone down (especially in public), so the lack of sound on a pick up and play game like this doesn't hurt too much. This is the absolute coolest version of solitaire you will ever play on your iPhone. There aren't a lot of actual game options (there are lots of other versions if you want a little variety), but if you just want to sit back and move solitaire cards around, this is the way to do it. Oh, and one more thing: the app is free through the weekend. You really have no excuses at all -- go on over to the App Store and download this one.
ZTE's Smooth Android slider is a not-so-smooth Pre knockoff
We hate to yell "Pre!" at the top of our lungs here, since we'd really like to see further exploration of the portrait QWERTY form factor for Android, but it's hard to avoid the form factor and stylistic comparisons. The new "Smooth" phone from ZTE is a low-end handset running Android 1.6, with a 2.8-inch QVGA screen, WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS and a love for Palm industrial design. The phone, which is being shown off at MWC, should retail under 1000 Yuan (about $146 US) and be released in August of this year as a low-end smartphone contender.
Verizon's Samsung Smooth is not
Calling a bottom-of-the-line, EV-DO-less clamshell the "Smooth" might be reaching, but then again, we can kinda understand Verizon's dilemma here -- it's not like you can call it the "Rough," the "Disappointment," or the "Crap" and expect to sell too many. The phone, which goes by the u350 moniker when it's dealing with the FCC, should be within shouting distance of free on contract (after the $50 rebate is applied) thanks to a VGA cam, lack of memory expansion, and the aforementioned lack of 3G data. A good backup phone? Sure, but a smooth backup phone? That's a stretch, guys. Look for this one to be on shelves before the month's out.
Verizon rebate form further substantiates four new phones
We've had bits and pieces of this for days now, but it's finally starting to come together. Right in the midst of the year's craziest cellphone show, Verizon Wireless has outed its latest rebate form, which sheds some overly legitimate light on four presumably forthcoming handsets. Casio's Exilim C721, which we've already seen pictured, should arrive mighty soon alongside the LG Versa, Nokia 7205 Intrigue and Samsung's Smooth. Obviously, there's no definitive ship dates and prices listed, but considering that the offers are valid from February 15th through March 28th, we'd say your wild imagination can probably handle it from here.[Via phoneArena]
Lichborne: PvE Gems for Death Knights
Welcome to Lichborne, your weekly dose of Death Knight discussion.Now that we've covered most standard pemutations of gear gathering in past Lichborne columns, I figured this week would be a good time to start talking about taking the extra steps to really trick out your gear. This week, will focus on gems. Not only will this help you take your gear to the next level, but it gives me a good excuse to talk about some new discoveries and discussions going on as we try to figure out the best ways to squeeze the most DPS out of a Death Knight. So to start, let's talk about which statistics you'll want to focus on when you gem.
Scattered Shots: A PvE gem and enchant guide for Hunters
Welcome to this week's edition of Scattered Shots, which is dedicated to shiny things and dust.So by now you've seen our normal dungeon gear guide, our heroic dungeon gear guide, our reputation gear guide, and our holiday gift guide. Between all of them, you should be able to put together a nice solid set of gear that should let you tackle 10-man Naxxramas pretty easily. But grabbing the gear is the easy part. To go the extra mile, you need to grab those gems and enchantments. Let's look at some of the best gems and enchantments you can take along to secure your place in the DPS charts in Naxxramas.
Hitachi's Reel60 processing technology eliminates 'judder'
Expanding a bit on the Reel60 technology first unveiled in a trio of 1080p sets from Hitachi, the company has reportedly developed a system that eliminates the "mismatch between the motion of films seen in a movie theater and the way that same motion appears on television." Dubbed "judders," these jagged edges will reportedly no longer be apparent on select Hitachi sets, as the Reel60 technology perfects the 3:2 pulldown process by "creating interpolated frames based on the original film images." Interestingly, it wasn't mentioned whether Hitachi would be holding on to its newfangled discovery or licensing it out to other manufacturers, but if anyone feels like coughing up the dough to pick up a P50V701, P50X901, or P60X901, be sure to test it out and sound off below.[Via DealerScope]
Smooth Moves through smooth video
OK, we enjoy the quick, pick-up-and-play style that the WarioWare games have presented in the past, but Smooth Moves might be taking things a little too far in terms of content. We've watched this video several times and are certain that a minigame does, in fact, ask you to spray down naked men with champagne.Yes, you read that right.While it isn't gratuitous and we assume the video is safe for work overall, just a word of warning to some of you who are incredibly scared at the prospect of shaking a bottle of champagne and letting it loose upon unsuspecting, naked men.
WarioWare: Smooth Moves to use Mii avatars
Another juicy tip sent in by one of our readers, this bit of news pertaining to the upcoming Wii title WarioWare: Smooth Moves is that the game will allow players to utilize their own Mii. If you're unfamiliar with the term Mii, then you weren't paying attention yesterday. This information was found via the Wii Preview 2006 online press kit, which is available here. No examples were given of how Mii functionality would be implemented into the game, just that it will be a "special feature."[Note: The Read link and link in the post to Nintendo's online press kit requires a username and password.][Thanks Nushio!]
Goro Abe interview [Update]
For those of you unaware, Goro Abe is the director of development for Warioware: Smooth Moves, the Wii installment in the popular Warioware franchise. In a lengthy Q & A session, Goro discusses how the team comes up with the quirky minigames the series has been known for and some of the challenges that come from developing a title for Nintendo's next-gen system, and even discusses his role in bringing Wario to Super Smash Bros. Brawl.[Update: It's Goro, not Masamichi.]
Chris Grant co-host on Gaming Steve podcast
Joystiq's very own Christopher Grant is not only posting from the 2006 Game Developers Conference, he's also starring in a podcast.Okay, so technically he's just co-hosting an episode of an ongoing podcast with Gaming Steve, but you can't miss this opportunity to hear Chris's laid-back, sweetly smooth voice. (There are reports that Chris also sounds somewhat like a stoner, but we wouldn't be able to tell you what those kind of people sound like anyway, so what can we say?)As for the podcast itself, Chris and Steve go into the events of the last day, enthusiastically sharing about Microsoft's bloggers breakfast with Peter Moore (inset), Phil Harrison's PS3 keynote, what the new Battlestar Galactica might have to do with games, and everything else that they saw in San Jose. And, hey, maybe if we're lucky, we'll get another guest Joystiqer co-hosting with Steve today. More from GDC as we get it...See also: Direct download link for the podcast in question [55 minute-long MP3] Gaming Steve's "Day 3" report on GDC 2006 [where we got the pic] Joystiq @ GDC: In the beginning... [w/a little bloggers breakfast info] GDC: The PS3 keynote blow by blow
