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The best of Massively's MMO Family column
While young children aren't Massively's target demographic, we frequently encounter MMOs that appeal to kids as well as MMO gamers with kids. That's why we ran the MMO Family column for over four years. Helmed first by Lisa Poisso and then Karen Bryan, the column reviewed kid-friendly games and offered advice and insight on how to survive as the parent of budding MMO gamers. Enjoy our picks for the very best of their collected work in MMO Family.
The best of Massively's Field Journal and MMO Mechanics columns
During their tenure at Massively, Tina Lauro and Matthew Gollschewski were responsible for two generalist columns on the site: MMO Mechanics and Field Journal, respectively. The Field Journal was dedicated to covering interesting elements of mid-tier games, the sorts of MMOs that are popular but not quite popular enough to merit their own dedicated columns, whereas MMO Mechanics represented a deep-dive into the game mechanics and systems that influence the entire industry. Though the columns had short runs on the site, they both still represent some of our most compelling and interesting work. Enjoy this roundup of their material!
The best of Massively's League of Legends column, The Summoner's Guidebook
Former Massively writer Patrick Mackey was first brought onto the team to cover Champions Online in his Behind the Mask column, and he did so with technical expertise and brutal honesty that was even better-suited for his ultimate column here: The Summoners Guidebook, which for two years covered Riot Games' League of Legends, one of the biggest games on the planet. Today, in honor of that column's lengthy run, we share the very best of Patrick's articles. If you'd like to follow his future League of Legends blogging, you can find him at Boot Camp for Gamers.
The best of Massively's Guild Counsel column
Karen Bryan is a seasoned MMORPG gamer and guildleader who cut her MMO teeth on EverQuest and went on to run guilds in Vanguard, Star Wars: The Old Republic, and beyond. That made her the perfect choice to pen Massively's Guild Counsel column, through which Karen dispensed advice to guild leaders, guild members, raiders, and even guild-less gamers for over three years. In honor of her column's long run, today we round up the very best of her Guild Counsel articles, those saturated in her trademark wry humor, wisdom, and timeless advice for MMO players old and new. Enjoy.
Chaos Theory: The best of The Secret World in 2013
When December wrapped up, so too did The Secret World's first full calendar year, having debuted the summer prior. Coincidentally, the timing also marked the first year of the buy-to-play business model; the game transitioned in December 2012. Looking back over those 12 months, I wonder what can be said of the horror-themed MMO. Certainly updates and new content didn't come as quickly as players would have preferred (what game can ever deliver that?!), but there was still plenty of activity during that time. We're going to delve into highlights of TSW's year that started with awarding all players a coveted pet to counter an exploit discovered during the 2012 holiday event and ended with Hel on earth.
These are a few of my favorite things - 2013 Edition
As 2013 comes to an end, here are a list of my favorite Mac apps that I used over the past year. Now there are a few important things to remember: you'll notice that many of these are not "new" apps because, well, I don't care when the apps were made nearly as much as I care if they're good and I find them useful. Instead, this is a list of the apps that I used or enjoyed the most in 2013, and expect to keep using in the future. All prices listed are in US Dollars, rounded off to the nearest whole dollar (because we all know that 99¢ is just a marketing way of saying $1, right?). If there is no price listed, then the app/utility is free, although most gratefully accept donations. Favorite New App of 2013 Bartender ($15) is the app I never knew I wanted until it existed, and now I never want to use a Mac without it installed. Bartender lets you hide apps on your menu bar, as well as organize the ones you want to remain visible. You can even use it to hide built-in OS X menu bar icons such as Notification Center and Spotlight. I even use Bartender on my Dell UltraSharp 29" Ultrawide monitor which is essentially one monitor as wide as two monitors. Favorite App of 2013 Keyboard Maestro ($36) is my favorite "non-new" app of 2013. Version 6 came out in 2013 and the app is continually improved. The more I learn about Keyboard Maestro, the more I'm impressed with it. I have written about it a lot and posted several macros on Github. I've even done some one-on-one consulting and training. Even after all that, I'm still learning new tricks that it can do. (Peter Lewis, Keyboard Maestro's developer, commented that he's still impressed to see what users come up with to do with his own app!) Keyboard Maestro's cost may seem high in a world where software is often reduced to "fart-app pricing" but it does the work of several apps. It can launch applications, move and click the mouse, execute scripts, insert (static or dynamic/variable) text, manipulate windows, control menus, create/move/copy/rename/delete/trash files, control iTunes, capture images, control iTunes, send notifications, and more. Keyboard Maestro comes with a 30-day trial which is enough time to overcome the initial learning curve and start making it work for you. The developer is very responsive to questions and support requests, and there many others using Keyboard Maestro too, so you're likely to find more tips in the year ahead if you read their sites too. More Automation on the Mac Keyboard Maestro is only the tip of the automation iceberg. TextExpander ($35) and Hazel ($28) both continued to be essential tools in 2013. In case you're not familiar with them: TextExpander inserts text (or images, or runs scripts) on demand when you type a shortcut, and Hazel automatically responds to changes in files and folders. TextExpander is great if you find yourself needing to re-type the same thing over and over. I use it to insert frequently referred-to links, create templates for shell scripts or MultiMarkdown documents, and mail signatures. You can even "nest" snippets within other snippets. A Mac without TextExpander feels broken. Hazel can do so many things I don't know where to start, but here's one set of recipes I use more than any other. All of these are actions taken on files added to my ~/Downloads/ folder: If there is a new archived file (.zip, .tar.gz, etc) then unarchive it and store the original file in ~/Downloads/Archives/ (in case I want to copy it to another Mac). If a new .app file is found, move it to /Applications/ and replace any older version If a new text file is found (.txt, .md, .mmd, etc) is found, move it to ~/Dropbox/txt/ If another kind of document (.pdf, .docx, etc) is found, move it to ~/Dropbox/Documents/ If an image is found, move it to ~/Dropbox/Photos/ (where another Hazel rule then sorts them by date) There are lots of other possibilities, those are just a few to get you started. Hazel is one of those tools that works in the background doing tedious things so you don't have to. It will even keep your Trash from getting taking up space with old files or oversized files. Read more at TUAW All Hazel articles All TextExpander articles Most Taken-For-Granted App I Couldn't Live Without Dropbox. Good lord, I don't even want to think about using a Mac without Dropbox. Unless you have been literally living in a cave, you must have heard about Dropbox by now, right? If so, here's a summary: it's a magic folder which syncs to all of your computers (Mac, Windows, even Linux) which you can access on your iOS devices, and even on their website (unlike iCloud documents). It is supported by tons of iOS devices which use it for document sharing and more. You get 2 GB for free, and up to 500 GB for $500/year. All accounts come with 30 days of versioning so you can go back to previous versions of documents. Other Dropbox articles to check out: Get an extra 1 GB of Dropbox storage by syncing it to Mailbox Keep Dropbox.app up-to-date when the magic fails Finding Dropbox 'conflicted copy' files automatically All Dropbox articles on TUAW This Is Getting Really Long, I'm Going to Have to Summarize a Few of These: Sorry for the bulleted list. These are great apps, but they are either better-known or more easily explained (I hope!). This was the year I switched to Alfred ($0 for most features, $28 for "Powerpack" extensions, or a little over $50 for lifetime updates) from LaunchBar ($35). LaunchBar is still a great app, I just wanted to be able to use some of the workflow features in Alfred. Alfred, LaunchBar, and Keyboard Maestro all have clipboard functionality built-in, but if you want an app just for saving multiple clipboards, get Flycut. Even has Dropbox sync. MailMate ($50) definitely deserves its own review, and I suspect I'll be using it even more in 2014, but 2013 saw me start to move away from Gmail, especially Gmail.com which was redesigned but did not get better. If you use email, you owe it to yourself to checkout MailMate. OmniDiskSweeper ($0) remains my go-to app for finding out what is using all of my hard drive space. I'm still using version 1 of Skitch ($0) whenever I need to quickly take a screenshot then annotate and/or share it. Skitch version 2 has gotten better since its initial atrocious release but "saving" a Skitch in version 2 goes to Evernote instead of just staying locally, and I have no desire, need, or interest in saving Skitch to Evernote. Soulver ($12) is the first 'calculator' that I have really enjoyed using. I've never been great at math, I can't do a lot of calculations in my head. Using a regular calculator always left me frustrated, and half the time I wasn't sure that I had done the calculations properly. With Soulver, I understand regular real-life math a lot better than I ever have. That isn't to say that it doesn't have a lot of powerful options which are useful to people who are good at math. It does. But if you've never struggled with math, you can't understand what it means to have something like this. The word "empowering" has been overused to the extreme, but here it fits, at least for me. I bought the separate iPad and iPhone versions without hesitation or complaint, but I am glad to see that Soulver for iOS is now a universal app (currently on sale for $2). Need to turn a bunch of CDs or audio files into an audiobook? Audiobook Builder ($5). It will not only 'chapterize' it for you, it will also let you easily add cover art using any image file. Want to make sure your Mac doesn't turn itself off for a certain amount of time? Try Caffeine. GIF Brewery ($5) easily takes a video clip and turns it into a GIF. Use your Mac's keyboard for any iOS device (or any other Bluetooth capable device, including another Mac) using Type2Phone ($5). Growl ($4) still does a few tricks that OS X's notifications don't. Use PCKeyboardHack and KeyRemap4MacBook to make a hyper key. If you want to edit, create, or learn about launchd, get LaunchControl ($10, free unlimited demo). Hugely useful. Need to cut up an audio file, maybe to make an iPhone ringtone, or maybe just to trim it for some other reason? Fission - Fast & Lossless Audio Editing. I still haven't learned git but thanks to GitHub for Mac I've been able to fake my way along. If you use a calendar, get Fantastical ($10) for quick "natural language" entry menu bar access, and get BusyCal ($50, 30-day trial) for a better Mac calendar. Print from iOS to your Mac with Printopia ($20). You can save the file as a PDFs (or JPG or PNG if that's what the file was originally), or send them to any printer connected to your Mac. Default Folder X ($35, 30-day trial) lets you quickly jump to favorite folders, or assign specific folders as the 'default' for certain apps. This is another one of those tools that: a) feels like it should be built-in to OS X, b) when I use a Mac without this installed, it feels broken. Trying to monitor your Mac's bandwidth usage and prevent apps from covertly connecting to the Internet? Little Snitch ($35) is the tattletale little brother than those apps wish had never been born. SlimBatteryMonitor is a better battery monitor that OS X's own; MagiCal lets you easily create a menu bar clock that shows the time and/or date exactly as you want it; FreeSpace Tab shows available hard drive space in the menu bar; and I've stopped using all three in favor of iStat Menus ($16, 14-day trial) which also knocked OS X's Activity Monitor off my Dock. Of course I use VLC for most of my video-watching, including Blu-Ray discs thanks to MakeMKV ($0 for some features, $50 for Blu-Ray features, although they are free during beta see here for more info which is also what I use for ripping Blu-Ray and DVDs, almost exclusively via Batch Rip Actions for Automator which are capital-A Awesome if you are ripping lots of DVD/Blu-Ray discs. When I'm done I clean everything up using Name Mangler to get the filenames right and then I can watch my collection in the Plex Media Server. Last but not least I use Mountain ($2) to mount and unmount drives from the menu bar, Flashmount (see previous coverage) to quickly mount DMGs. and DiskWarrior ($100) to check and repair my disks. (By the way, DiskWarrior might be the most expensive piece of software on this list, but it's worth every penny. Get it to help fix little problems before they become big problems.) Looking Ahead Wow. That's a lot of great software. Here are a few apps that I'm keeping an eye on because I suspect they will be on next year's list: Shortcat (currently $16 during beta, planned $24 after): "Keep your hands on the keyboard and boost your productivity! Shortcat is a keyboard tool for Mac OS X that lets you "click" buttons and control your apps with a few keystrokes. Think of it as Spotlight for the user interface." let.ter ($4): "The tiny Markdown powered app just for writing emails." I've been using a send-only email app for 2.5 years now, but I like what I see so far in Letter. Recently released and still lacking some essential features such as multiple account support (which is planned for the nearish future), but I bet this eventually replaces what I've been using. Vellum is the new app that I'm most excited about. Anyone who has tried to make ebooks knows that it's a pain because each device has its own... "quirks." Serenity Caldwell likens making ebooks today to making websites in the late '90s when web standards didn't really exist or weren't implemented by the companies that made web browsers. Vellum bills itself as the tool to help you overcome the madness by letting you import a .docx file and export properly formatted books for iBooks, Kindle, and Nook. This is the next app on my "to test" list and I can't wait.
The year in reviews: 2013's best and worst gadgets scored and scrutinized
Fun fact: Engadget reviewed 176 products in 2013, and that's not even counting the umpteen times we got hands-on with stuff at tradeshows and press events. In general, we try to review just the top-tier gadgets, but even then, some of it ends up being forgettable. (Can you name-check everything we tested from memory? We can't.) So, as the year draws to a close, we're taking a look back at the last 12 months of reviews, and this time, we're including only the products you'd have no trouble remembering. Across every category, we've noted the flagships everyone coveted -- along with the duds that could've been so much better. Oh, and you might notice that we included some numbered scores throughout. That's right; Engadget is bringing back numerical ratings, and they'll follow the same format as the critic score gdgt has already been using for years. Which is to say, each rating takes into account various criteria for a given product category -- things like battery life and portability. Wanna see how your favorite gadgets did? Meet us after the break for a walk down memory lane.
Here is Club Nintendo's favorite Wii U and 3DS games of 2013
Nintendo compiled a list of 20 games that Club Nintendo members noted as their favorites from 2013 recently. Nintendo featured ten games for each for 3DS and Wii U, with Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate as the lone game that landed on both lists. Among the Wii U games selected by Club Nintendo members are the obvious Nintendo-published choices in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD, Super Mario 3D World, The Wonderful 101 and Pikmin 3. The best-of list also includes Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag, Rayman Legends and Runner 2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien, the latter being the single eShop-only game of the Wii U group. The list of 3DS favorites are marked by both Pokemon X and Y, Fire Emblem: Awakening, The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds and Animal Crossing: New Leaf. Head past the break to see the full Club Nintendo-selected Wii U and 3DS list of favorites from the year.
Massively's Best of 2013 Awards
It's nearly the end of the year, a time for merriment, camaraderie, and cynical evaluation of all the MMO triumphs and tragedies that 2013 provided us. Today, Massively's staff honors the best of the best (and the worst of the worst) for the year 2013. Every writer was permitted a vote in each category with an anything-goes nomination process. No MMO, company, or headline was off the table, as long as it met the criteria. Can WildStar make it to three years in a row at the top of our "most anticipated" pile, or did its delay dampen our enthusiasm? Can SOE repeat its win for best studio? Which MMO is most likely to flop next year? And just what constituted the biggest MMO screw-up of the last 12 months? Enjoy our picks for the best MMOs, expansions, studios, stories, and innovations of 2013... and our most-anticipated for 2014 and beyond.
Hyperspace Beacon: The SWTOR awards
The Oscars were given out two nights ago. Celebrities, actors, and film crews dressed in their red-carpet best to be handed a 13.5-inch golden statue of a naked bald man. As I heard these writers and directors give thanks to various loved-ones and talent agencies, I thought about Star Wars: The Old Republic. (Sad. I know.) SWTOR contains some of the best writing and storytelling in all of MMOs. In my opinion, it's better than some of movies represented on that stage. Sure, it didn't impact the world like Zero Dark Thirty, but it did impact my world, and I'd like to recognize some of the best parts of this MMORPG.
TUAW Best of 2012 Personal Picks: Michael Rose
At the start of 2012, Apple customers and employees were emerging from the initial mourning period for founder and chairman Steve Jobs. Twelve months later, with the first full post-Jobs year in the books, Apple is (mostly) on track with some remarkable successes and only one or two noticeable calamities. Here's my highly idiosyncratic list of pleasant surprises from the year that was. You can browse my colleagues' lists here. Best Free Upgrade: Hulu Plus on Apple TV. There's nothing better than getting new tricks out of an old dog, and with July's unexpected addition of Hulu Plus to the Apple TV, I found new delight in my little black hockey puck. The other subscription, purchase and streaming services on the Apple TV are all worthwhile, but I was already a Hulu Plus subscriber. I'd jumped through several hoops to get VGA and audio from my MacBook into my TV for those instances when I wanted to screen a Hulu show in larger format; it was enough of a pain to discourage me from getting the most out of my subscription. Hulu's ad-supplemented service might not be a perfect all-you-can-eat TV option, but it certainly makes cord-cutting a more appealing possibility. Having it on the Apple TV gives Apple's "hobby" more credibility as a true living room reformer. Whether or not the hypothetical "Apple television" debuts in 2013, the current offering (including the March hardware upgrade to 1080p) has some legs. Honorable mention: We had to wander through the wilderness for a few months -- quite literally, in some cases -- before finding our way to a better navigation and mapping solution on iPhone. Not everyone rejected Apple's new Maps app. But for those who had issues, the problems were real and really annoying. Never mind the 3D views, Siri integration and free, fast turn-by-turn directions that we'd been waiting years to get; if point A to point B ends you at point nowhere, that's no good. Thanks to the introduction of Google's new app in December, we have something close to the best of both worlds. An improving, imperfect on-board solution that's still offering next-gen functionality as the underlying POI database catches up; plus another free, sleek and easy Google-powered app that's delivering more (TBT navigation! Voice!) than the old app ever did. Best Hardware Milestone: MacBook Pro with Retina display. Six months in, and some days I'm still not sure I made the right choice in going for the Retina 15" MBP over a fully souped-up MacBook Air. But then I spend a week away from my desktop, absorbed in the so-sharp-it-might-cut-you screen of the MBP and the remarkable performance of the all-solid-state architecture, and the extra weight in my backpack doesn't bother me so much. Apple's great leap forward in portable displays comes with a steep sticker price, and there are still a few rough edges with naïve screenshot tools and key un-Retinized apps that show up as blocky as refugees from MacPaint Mountain. (I'm looking at you, ScreenSteps 2.) But Apple's willingness to push the envelope on HiDPI display technology -- and customers' comfort level with buying in -- once again puts the company's portable computing offerings at the top of the heap. Honorable mention: No word yet from Thor's lawyers, but the mobile-to-Mac revamp of Apple's peripheral connectivity with Thunderbolt and Lightning has caused less pain than I expected and delivered more benefits than I hoped. The pace of Thunderbolt peripheral releases has sped up from a stall to a modest trot, and Mac support for the fast USB 3 standard has also helped ease the aggravation of dealing with dongles and adapters for legacy FireWire gear. On the iOS side, the Lightning connector delivers more mechanical reliability while maintaining solid compatibility with docks, clocks and chargers via the 30-pin adapter lineup. Of course, the Lightning adapter wouldn't have anything to connect to without the handsome iPhone 5, fourth-gen iPad and iPad mini. Worst Surprise: For anyone who was hoping to cash in on resale of an iPad 3rd generation, it's got to be the "early" introduction of the Lightning-equipped fourth gen iPad. You live and you learn. Best OS Overhauls: iOS 6 and Mountain Lion. Neither of Apple's big OS releases this year escaped criticism and controversy. iOS 6 faced the aforementioned Maps migraines, and Mountain Lion's Gatekeeper app security and Facebook integration. But the benefits of the new systems outweigh the drawbacks. Mountain Lion's on-board Dictation support, Notification Center and baked-in AirPlay mirroring helped make 2012 easier than 2011. iOS 6's panorama photos, improved Siri, Passbook, expanded Open In menu, the indispensable Guided Access and even Maps brought the mobile platform forward. Honorable mention: This was the year the Mac App Store came into its own as a valid, vibrant channel for Mac software. Many of my favorite Mac apps have found a home on the MAS; several more, unfortunately, have backed off the store as the sandboxing restrictions proved too challenging or detrimental to core functionality. Here's hoping that the 2013 MAS delivers some of the flexibility these apps need to thrive. Favorite Mac Apps: It took too long (really, way too long) for Cultured Code's Things to deliver cloud synchronization of tasks -- but now that it's here as part of Things 2, it's made my daily routine a lot easier. All my iOS devices and my Mac have the same to-do list instantaneously, with no fuss. (Yes, I could get some of the same mileage out of iCloud and Reminders, but I need more categorization and tagging options in my crazy register of things that are overdue.) Likewise, the newly streamlined BusyCal 2 delivers a solid and reliable calendar for anyone who needs more than Apple's Calendar or Microsoft's Outlook can supply. Honorable mention: The dead simple screenshare/remote meeting tool join.me, from the fine folks at LogMeIn, works great on the Mac and surprisingly well on the iPad. It's so much easier than most meeting tools, it's almost unfair. Bonus points for the feature that lets you hand off control and sharing to one of your attendees, then reclaim the mouse for your own; as a last-ditch, low-fi remote support tool (when Messages screensharing and Back to my Mac falls down) it's a delight. Favorite iOS Apps: I never imagined that a third-party "killer app" would revitalize an iOS baked-in feature, but I stand corrected. Loren Brichter's Letterpress is that app, and it's singlehandedly made Game Center cool again. I was also excited to see the official Khan Academy iPad app make its debut, for all your math video needs. Readdle's Calendars app is a must-have for anyone wrangling multiple Google calendars and reasonably priced at $6.99; I've dinged Readdle in the past for some questionable UI choices in its apps, but Calendars is clean and clever. Finally, for maintaining my inner serenity (to say nothing of my multiple time-zone sleep patterns), I depend on the library of Andrew Johnson relaxation apps. You can get a taste of Johnson's gravelly Scottish tones in the free Relaxing Holidays app, or browse his entire hypnotherapy catalog on the App Store and in the audiobooks section. (Bonus points for one of the best app names of all time, if you imagine it being shouted by an angry spouse as you head out to the pub.) Favorite Accessories: Speaking of behavior modification, the Fitbit activity tracker has given me insight into my sleep and fitness level in 2012 (spoiler alert: it's not so good), and the motivation to step it up in 2013. Fitbit's Ultra pedometer, my model, has been discontinued in favor of the One tracker; the new unit adds direct wireless sync to Bluetooth 4.0 iOS devices. Since I do quite a bit of flying, the automatic noise cancellation in the Fanny Wang 3000 Series headphones makes a big difference in podcast and music listening onboard. The FW 'phones are somewhat oversize for everyday use, but in noisy environments they're exactly what the ear doctor ordered. Also in the road warrior category, I spent a lot of 2012 looking for the perfect iPad keyboard/case combo. I may not have found the ideal fit, but until I do the Adonit writer keyboard and case has made my iPad a more effective writing tool. The keyboard is leagues better than the cheap Bluetooth options from some other vendors (ahem, Boxwave) and the easy-clip frame lets me quickly transition from convertible to standalone iPad use. Best Raging Against The Dying Of The Light: Macworld | iWorld. When Apple made its last official appearance at Macworld Expo in early 2009, the conventional wisdom was that the tradeshow and conference would not survive much longer without the imprimatur of the mother company. So much for the conventional wisdom, I suppose. While smaller and scrappier, the show continues to draw an audience of eager Mac and iOS fans, developers and creative pros. For last year's event, Paul Kent and his team at IDG rebranded the show as Macworld | iWorld, acknowledging the shifting platform emphasis toward mobile while making the show's name much harder to print correctly. The upcoming fourth post-Apple edition will be kicking off on January 31 and running through February 2. TUAW will be there, and after a one-year hiatus, so will I -- and I'm looking forward to seeing many of you there, too.
TUAW's Best of 2012 Personal Picks: Michael Grothaus, and the year that wasn't
In my opinion, 2012 was a lackluster year for the Apple ecosystem and the tech sector as a whole. Smartphones are now ubiquitous and this is the year the tablet hit mainstream adoption. While those are both good things, the whole touch computing world is now five years old and innovation and excitement seems to be taking a back seat to more of the same old-same old. 2012 brought us more Instagram clones, more Angry Birds knock-offs, and an endless array of people asking me to review their Kickstarter projects. I remember a world pre-2012 when developers and accessory makers would ask me to review real, finished products. Even the self-righteous outrage in the tech media about Twitter's third-party client TOS changes that brought about the (horribly named) App.net attracted only the geekiest of the tech world. After all, how is a Twitter knockoff that charges annual subscription fees going to gain mass adoption among users in the non-techie world? Before I depress people more about the state of tech in 2012, let's talk about a few bright spots. Yes, most of these were because I need to pick something that says "this was good" -- that's why my category choices are a bit generic. Hopefully 2013 will be a more exciting year for tech. Best iOS device: iPhone 5 This year we saw the iPad 3, the iPad 4, the iPad mini, and the new iPod touch in addition to the iPhone 5. That's a lot of new iOS devices in one year. And while the iPad mini deserves praise for its design and lightness, the best iOS device of the year is the iPhone 5. Its thin profile, look and feel, and that extra bit of screen space turned an aging design into something sleek and sexy again. I never thought adding just a half-inch (diagonally) of space to the screen would change the user experience that much, but it did. Matter of fact, that half-inch is just enough that I do most of my web browsing on my iPhone now instead of my iPad. Best Mac: MacBook Pro with Retina display Apple had two major Mac product launches this year: MacBook Pros with Retina displays and the new optical drive-less iMacs. While the new iMacs are sleek and beautiful, the best Mac award goes to the 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display. Why the 15-inch and not the 13-inch? Because the 15-inch is actually a little thinner than the 13-inch. Also, as my office is mobile, I prefer to carry the largest screen around with me that I can. For me, working in Word or Pages on a 15-inch screen is leaps and bounds better than working on a 13-inch screen. And, as with the iPhone and iPad before it, once you use a Retina display, it's hard to work on anything non-Retina. Best iOS game: The Walking Dead This is the one thing on my list that is truly a bright and shining example of a standout product in 2012. Yeah, there were tens of thousands of new iOS games this year, so why pick The Walking Dead? Because it brought back my faith that video games could be used to convey emotional, gripping stories. And that's where this game succeeds wildly. The entire team at Telltale Games deserves props for game play, art direction, and everything else that goes into making a game. However, it's the writers that deserve a standing ovation. The best video games on any platform (almost like a good book) are the ones that can get the reader emotionally attached to the characters. More than that, the best games (again, like the best books) are the ones that let us peek into the human condition and tell us something about the world around us -- and ourselves. And yes, the game is set in a world where zombies walk the earth, but that in no way implies that the story is not compelling or relevant. The world of iOS gaming is primarily dominated by "casual" games. They're games like Doodle Jump and Angry Birds (both fun games, mind you) that we play when we have five minutes to kill while on the train or waiting for an appointment. Games with complex, gripping stories are a rarity outside of the console world. That's why The Walking Dead is such an outstanding game. If you haven't played it, grab it this week while the first episode is free. The game is normally $4.99 for the first episode and $4.99 for each additional episode (or $14.99 if you buy the remaining episodes at once). There are five episodes in total and, once completed, they form a compelling story. Also keep in mind that The Walking Dead game is based on the comic book universe and not the TV series; however, players can enjoy the game without familiarity with either series. Best iOS app: Google Maps Enough has been said about Apple Maps this year. It was a huge mess that led to the firing of at least two senior executives at Apple and was a rare major failing on the company's part. Sure, Apple will keep building on its maps, and sometime in the future the company's back-end database may be adequate for most users. In the meantime, users are flocking to Google Maps via the new dedicated iOS app. In less than 48 hours there were over 10 million downloads of the app; while it wasn't out in time to be included in Apple's "Most downloaded apps" lists this year, something tells me that in its three short weeks of 2012 downloads, it may end up as the most downloaded app of the year. Besides being a wonderfully designed app with vector maps and turn-by-turn directions -- and an incredible POI database and search features -- I love the Google Maps app so much because it let me come back to the iPhone. I was finally able to buy that iPhone 5 I wanted so much, rather than bailing out to a Samsung phone. Best reader: The paperback I read a lot. My pace is about one book a week. This year I gave iBooks a real shot, having bought ten books through the iBookstore. And while the iPad's Retina display made ebooks much more pleasurable to read, the iPad is still too heavy and distracting to use as a dedicated e-reader. I also gave the new Kindle a shot. Again, nice, but for me it doesn't compare to a printed book. The only e-reader I found that I liked (primarily due to its size) was the Txtr Beagle, which I reviewed for The Guardian. However, that e-reader won't be out anywhere until next year, and in the US even later than in Europe, so I can't recommend it yet (not to mention I played with a prototype). 2012 saw e-readers move in the right direction, but for now the old-fashioned paperback book still rules. I wish picking the winners of tech in 2012 had been more work, with a larger pool of contenders to sort through. There just weren't. While I feel my choices (particularly The Walking Dead) are all bright spots, here's hoping 2013 brings much more than 2012 did.
TUAW's Best of 2012 Personal Picks: Mike Schramm
2012 was one heck of a year for me -- I released my first iPhone app, went to Europe for the first time, spoke at the 360iDev convention in Denver, and spent most of the latter half of the year traveling around the country talking to iOS developers about the App Store, the company that runs it, and where both are headed. I've played with hundreds (if not thousands) of apps this year, and covered almost one every day for our daily app feature. So I've used plenty of great Apple and Apple-related products this year, and here are my picks of the best. Puzzle Craft (Free for iPhone and iPad) I've played (and loved) a whole lot of games from the App Store this year, but Puzzle Craft stands above them all as my favorite of the bunch. It's extremely well-designed, beautifully polished, and it has both a very simple and accessible game mechanic (similar to, if not borrowed from, iOS' great Dungeon Raid) and a very complex and deeply addictive progression system behind it. The story is mostly nonexistent, and I am a little disappointed the developers haven't followed up the app's success with any more content just yet. But especially for what is now a free game, there isn't a title that I loved more or played as much of on the App Store this year. I don't beat iOS games often, just because there are so many of them to play, but I leveled up to the max in Puzzle Craft, and then kept on playing. Puzzlejuice ($1.99 for iPhone and iPad) All right, so I've got a type -- you can tell by the word "puzzle" in two of my favorite games this year. But it's true: There's nothing I love more than an endlessly intriguing puzzle game, and Puzzlejuice gets this nod because in a year of less-than-special word games, it's the only one that really brought me back to keep spelling, over and over again. I do love the game's bro-ish voice (you don't just quit a session, you "rage quit"), and seeing behind the scenes of development in the Puzzlejuice emails was fascinating for me. But this is just a great, wonderful game, from design to gameplay to the various powerups and everything in between. Among word games (a genre which I'm tiring of, at this point), it's the B-E-S-T. Fairway Solitaire ($.99 for iPhone, $2.99 for iPad) I didn't think that Fairway Solitaire rolled onto the App Store this year, but I'm told that it did, and 2012 was definitely the year in which I played the most of it. Developer Big Fish Games made its name by cranking out casual titles on PC, and this has been its first big hit on the App Store (which it's followed up with a solid set of updates and content releases since around May). Like the other games on my list, Fairway Solitaire takes a fairly mindless mechanic (card solitaire), and makes it much more interesting with various other power-ups and game tricks. And a huge amount of unlocked content (not to mention the hilariously absurd golf commentary jokes) has kept this one popping up on my iPad's screen again and again. Kingdom Rush (free for iPhone and iPad) Like word games, tower defense is a genre that's overdone on the App Store at this point -- there are a billion tower defense games out there, and there are only a few that do anything really interesting with the genre. The just-released Anomaly Korea is a great example of really switching tower defense up, but Kingdom Rush is the best traditional example that I've come across this year. The combination of colorful graphics and deep strategy (complete with a fully unlockable talent tree) hit the target perfectly, and elevate a much-traveled genre to reveal the reason why it's so popular in the first place. I'm not a big tower defense fan, but I love Kingdom Rush (especially on the iPad), and that right there is enough reason to recommend it. Runmeter 5k ($4.99 on the iPhone) It's hard to describe just how helpful this app has been for me -- I used it every day for about three months earlier this year, training up to my very first half marathon. Runmeter was already a great app, but the 5k variant (which included actual 5k, half marathon, and full marathon training plans in the app itself) served as the perfect coach for me, providing direction, feedback, and even some motivation as I worked my way through a running plan. The GPS is so well implemented, the app tracks so many things effortlessly, and little fun bits like changing the app's alert voice or tweeting from the app (and reading you back replies as you run) make it clear that if you exercise with an iPhone or iPod touch, you should really have this app with you. The amount of features Abvio has crammed into this app is really staggering when you start to explore them, and for my money, there's no better running app or fitness system out there. Slacker Radio (free with ads, extra charge for subscription) There are obviously a number of cloud music services out there at this point, but Slacker Radio has muscled its way past the others in my view, to the point where I listen to it almost more than any podcasts or even my own music collection. Especially with a subscription, Slacker can seem like magic all too often: Just type in a song or artist, hit play, and you get to listen to exactly what you want. The curated stations are well-designed by professional music pickers, and there are even non-music stations that talk sports, news, or comedy when you're in the mood for that. There are a few holes in the library (mostly obscure songs that I really want to hear but aren't available due to royalty issues), and of course you need to be connected to the Internet to listen (which made this a no-go during most of my trip to Europe, unfortunately). But in the car, out running, or just sitting at my desk, Slacker's been an almost constant companion this year, and I've been glad to have it. iCade Mobile gamepad ($80, available now) Steve Jobs famously told us that we didn't need more than one button on his iOS devices, but we gamers know that sometimes, buttons come in handy. The flat glass of the touchscreen just doesn't fly in terms of precision or responsiveness in some games. And while there are a lot of bad Bluetooth-based game controllers out there, my favorite this year was the iCade mobile, a huge contraption modeled after the Sony PSP, which you can clip your iPhone into and then button away to your heart's content. It's not stylish or tiny by any account, and it probably won't fit into your pocket along with your iPhone (the ThinkGeek 8-bitty is probably more your style, if that's what you're looking for, though get ready for muscle cramps after just a few minutes). But it is durable and dependable, and it feels more like a controller than anything else I tried this year. Yes, $80 is expensive, but if you're going to bypass Steve's wishes for your own gaming enjoyment, you'll have to pay the price. iPad (from $499) I bought my iPad back at the end of 2011, but 2012 was the year of the tablet for me for sure. Before I bought my iPad, I was one of those who believed I just didn't need it -- my iPhone 5 is awesome, and I have a MacBook for all of my portable computing needs. Why would I need another computer in between those two? But over the course of this year, my iPad has become more and more helpful, and not necessarily in the places I've expected it. In truth, it's not a portable computer for me. I can move it around, but it's been much more of a homebody than I ever expected: I still probably take my laptop out of the house more often than I take my iPad. But it has definitely become my device of choice for more than a few of my favorite pastimes, including browsing the Internet, gaming, and reading. I've never been more productive while in bed: Every night I read a few chapters of my book of choice (I've read so many books this year!), and every morning, I grab it off the nightstand to check email and preload the day's news. And it's a second screen for me while watching TV or movies on the couch for sure -- I look up game hints while playing Xbox, browse IMDb when I want to know who that actor is that I recognize from that movie, and play great games on it, brilliantly made for a bigger touchscreen. In short, my iPad has carved a way bigger place than I expected into both my workflow and my free time this past year. I don't know that I couldn't live without it (although I wouldn't want to go back to reading without it), so it's still a supplementary device, aside from the great iPad-only game experiences. But 2012 was definitely the year of the iPad for me, the turning point at which I realized just how important and useful the tablet form factor could be.
Hyperspace Beacon: A 2012 SWTOR reflection
To say that this year has been interesting for Star Wars: The Old Republic would be a major understatement. I think it's safe to say that in the course of this year this game has gone from being one of the most loved games to one of the most hated. Maybe I just like rooting for the underdog, but I still love the game. (There are other reasons, of course.) Love the game or hate it, 2012 has been a wild ride for the game and this column. As this is the last Hyperspace Beacon of the year year, I'd like to take a moment to reflect on some of the past opinions and predictions I held, then test them against my current stance or the truth behind what happened. Before I get into the meat of this column, I want to make mention of an event. The Imperials of The Ebon Hawk server are holding a gala in the name of Darth Nox, commemorating the one-year anniversary of her ascension to the Dark Council. Players are invited to come ready to roleplay and participate in in-character games. Nox will conduct a scavenger hunt, items will be up for raffle and auction, and every participant should walk away with something. If you were looking for an opportunity to get into roleplay or just have some fun, be sure to visit the market area of Dromund Kaas (instance 1, coordinates: 20, 200) at 6:00 p.m. EST on Saturday, January 5th, 2013.
Massively's Best of 2012 Awards
When game obituaries and studio layoffs start to pile up in the news, Massively can seem like a herald of doom, but the reality is that the MMO industry is stronger and richer than ever. We've got more features to try, more business models to play with, more studios (and indie Kickstarters) to vie for our favor, and more titles to play than most of us could possibly sample in our lifetimes. Today, Massively's staff honors the best of the best for the year 2012. We asked each writer and streamer to vote in each category with an anything-goes nomination process. No MMO, company, or headline was off the table. Enjoy our picks for the best MMOs, expansions, studios, stories, and innovations of 2012... and our most-anticipated for 2013.
Flameseeker Chronicles: The Guild Wars 2 end-of-the-year awards
The end of the year seems to be a good time for awards -- all the cool kids are doing it, and Massively is nothing if not cool. Guild Wars 2 has been around long enough for me to have made some favorites. I've talked about features and things I loathe and love before, but now it's time to call out specific NPCs and instances, rather than general features. Before we get any further with this: These awards are purely my own opinion. Disagree with me? Great; write your own end-of-the-year awards. The more, the merrier.
Apple announces the Mac App Store's Best of 2012
Just as they did for the iOS App Store, Apple has announced the best Mac apps of 2012 in the Mac App Store. The App of the Year award went to Day One (US$9.99), the popular simplified journaling app. The first-person role playing game, Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Ultimate Edition ($39.99) took home top honors for Game of the Year. The runner up Mac App of the Year went to CameraBag 2 ($14.99), the desktop photo editing app with numerous filters, tools and controls. The runner up Mac Game of the Year went to Splice : Tree of Life ($9.99), the artistic puzzler that finds users splicing different microbial strands to see how they react with one another. Apple also lists the next top 20 Mac apps and games of 2012. Keep an eye out for "Best of" lists of 2012 throughout December from TUAW writers.
Mobile World Congress 2012: best of show
Mobile World Congress 2012 was a massively exciting show and true to form brought us so much new kit to be excited about in early 2012. From Intel's Medfield launch, a 41-megapixel smartphone, a new generation of personal hotspots and even engineered metals using micro arc oxidation, there was never a dull moment. Highlighting what was best, most innovative, or interesting is a tough nut but we've done our best to point out the highlights using our impressions -- and the occasional arm-wrestling match -- to chose the finalists amongst the products and our Editor's more notable achievements. Fly through to the next page and have a look at our takeaways from this, the most intense mobile tech show of the year.
Macworld 2011 Best of Show winners announced
Now that Macworld Expo 2011 is complete, the official Best of Show winners have been selected and announced by the Macworld editors. We got to look at some of the choices. Here are a few highlights. BusyToDo is the latest solution from BusyMac, the folks behind BusyCal and BusySync. BusyToDo puts simple, synchronized to-do items on your iCal from your iPhone. They've pulled it off quite well, and you can watch our interview with John from BusyMac here, which includes a nice demo of BusyToDo. The Awind McTiVia is a set-top box for streaming video from your Mac to your TV. For those either without an Apple TV or looking to enhance their home media setup, it's a nice option. For US$199, the McTiVia connects to your TV via HDMI and wirelessly to your Mac. It's even got a USB port for connecting a mouse and keyboard, should your media Mac be hidden away. The OWC Mercury Aura Pro Express Solid State Drive that we looked at a few weeks ago also walked away with the honor. The OWC SSD kit beefs up your current-generation MacBook Air's storage, and it also adds a lot of speed. OWC claims peak data rates of 275 MB/s, making them up to 22 percent faster than what's currently available. There are seven other winners on the list, and we'll let you find out what they are. Remember, it's never too early to start writing your holiday wish list.
TUAW readers: Pick the best of 2010's apps and hardware
TUAW readers, last year was a huge one for Apple, application developers and anyone making peripherals for iOS devices or Mac computers. The days of "this doesn't work on a Mac" appear to be all but gone, the iPad was introduced and the number of apps in the store and downloaded to devices completely blew up. Now we want to know what are YOUR choices for the best of 2010? Remember that there was no Mac App Store last year. Way back in 2010 (less than three weeks ago) we had to download applications on our Macs the "old fashioned way," with installers and DMGs, oh my! Upscaled iPad apps were called "HD" before we saw the Retina Display, ushering in a whole new world of visually fantastic games and other apps. We also got a taste of some new hardware toys with the Apple TV and AirPlay (although AirPlay-enabled docks and speakers are just now rolling out). With AirPrint coming to a range of HP printers, we're hopeful the technology will make it even easier for everyone to send documents to those dead-tree printers when needed. Now it's time for you to choose your favorites using some nifty voting widgets from Voices Heard Media. Just pick the category you want (Mac app, iOS app or hardware for Macs or iOS devices) and enter the name of your choice in the panel. The system will bubble up the best, and we'll report the winners live during Macworld Expo, January 27-29. Nominate your picks for: Best iOS app of 2010 Best Mac app of 2010 Best Hardware (Mac or iOS) of 2010
