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Daily iPad App: Grand Theft Auto 3
I'm not quite willing to call Grand Theft Auto 3 old school -- I spent so much time on the original top-down versions of the series that those are still more retro to me than the fully 3D graphics and living, open-world city that GTA3 made famous on the consoles (a tradition that continues right up into Saints Row: The Third, which I recently played on my Xbox, and next year's Grand Theft Auto 5). But it's been ten years since we first saw the streets of Liberty City from the ground up, and Rockstar Games has now brought this classic to iOS as a universal version. And especially on my iPad 2, I'm willing to call it the best console port I've ever seen. The graphics look and run terrific, and the virtual controls, while still a little creaky, actually work really great despite all of the various things you can do. Newcomers to this one used to modern console games will probably notice all of the polygons, but as a reproduction of the original game, it really does look and play very well. And though it's only been ten years, it's really awesome to drive around the streets of Liberty City once again, and listen in to Lazlo's Chatterbox and all of the other great radio stations, checking out all of the open world city conventions (from grabbing any car to escaping the cops) that originated right here. If you've never played this game, you might find it a little aged. The missions are a little unclear compared to today's more simplistic fare, and there's no line to follow on your minimap: All you get is a little dot to go after. But for those of us who really enjoyed the heck out of this one all those years ago, this is great to see, and it's clear that Rockstar has brought it over to this platform with great care. This is an excellent version of this great game, and playing it on my iPad 2 took my right back to those days in my parent's basement when my friends and I would just drive around trying to get four stars and try to escape the cops. One note of warning: The game says it's built for all current iOS devices, including the iPad 1, but a lot of the iTunes reviews say it doesn't run great on those older machines. If you have an iPad 2 or an iPhone 4S, however, it should run quite well. I had one audio glitch while playing, but it definitely wasn't gamebreaking. Grand Theft Auto 3's anniversary iOS edition is available for $4.99 right now.
Nicholaz editions for Second Life in "U" versions on all platforms
Nicholaz Beresford, Barney Boomslang and Balp, between them, have released a U version of the Nicholaz Bleeding Edge Second Life client for windows, mac and linux.All three of them add that this is an update that is very much optional, but seems to be quite stable. As with all other versions of the Bleeding Edge client the friends and IM windows are separated once again (pre-Chatterbox style). This particular version also adds the new search functionality. I have to say I have switched over, and having been initially a little cautious about it, I recently deleted my old versions of the client. I get stable, good performance, an UI I prefer and the new search all at once.For those curious about the T-edition: it wasn't stable, although it is available for windows and mac if you insist.
Joystiq Podcast 005 - brb, IM on the 360 edition (feat. Chatterbox)
For this week's installment of the Joystiq Podcast, we asked our good buddies, Alon and Ara, at Chatterbox Video Game Radio to join us and go over the week's news (astute listeners will quickly realize this was last week's news). We're also joined by Joystiq's own Jared Rea who walks us through (virtually mind you ... this is a podcast) the Capcom Gamer's Day event. Enough of the preface, have at you! Get the podcast: [iTunes] Subscribe to the Joystiq Podcast directly in iTunes (MP3) [RSS] Add the Joystiq Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically [Digg] Like the show? Digg it. [MP3] Download the MP3 directly Hosts: Christopher Grant and Ludwig Kietzmann Music: "Castlevania" by The Power Ups! Program: 0:00:50 - What we've been playing ("someone should combine Typing of the Dead with DDR") 0:15:20 - The Spring Dashboard update ("I have about 15 Xbox Live headsets just upstairs") 0:23:15 - Guitar Hero II DLC ("Is he really a Major?") 0:35:05 - Halo 3 Beta date & Vidoc ("the internets will not be available that day") 0:42:45 - Grand Theft Auto IV scoop ("it has cars, CONFIRMED!") 0:47:00 - Capcom Gamer's Day ("all it is is a light gun game!") 1:04:39 - R.I.P. 20GB PlayStation 3 ("it's all black, I like it better") 1:13:05 - FINALLY, IT'S OVER
insideapple.apple.com?
The promotional email for the .Mac webmail refresh that went out over the weekend might have been a bit more revealing than we originally thought. Reader Harry noticed the address Apple used to send it was a bit different than the standard 'noreply@apple.com' (and honestly, I'm signed up for so much promo stuff these days I don't pay attention to who it's from with stuff like this anymore). The email was sent from an inside.apple.com domain, and following it redirects you to an apple.com/chatterbox 'we'll be back soon!' maintenance page - not the typical 'Looking for something at Apple?' page.Some googling revealed that others have seen this /chatterbox/ link used before, especially with images that are linked in newsletters, so this might be nothing more than some internal system for site and/or email and newsletter management. The 'we'll be back soon' bit simply makes it a little more interesting, as that sounds like it could actually be something public. In all likelihood it's nothing, and you can simply move along.
Overheard at PAX: *crickets* (or: Gaming trivia contestants don't know jack) [update 1]
Apparently Ubisoft had caseloads of Nivea for Men Sensitive Balm aftershave (with chamomile & vitamins, natch) that they were eager to give away (don't ask us, we just work here), so Alon, host of Chatterbox Video Game Radio and emcee of this morning's game trivia event, did his best to unload the goods. Alon: "Who needs any Sensitive balm?"Funny audience dude: "Those guys need it cause they're getting burned."Oooh snap! But seriously, these chumps missed some seriously easy questions: the house of Pac-Man merged with the house of Gundam to form NamcoBandai; Geometry Wars originally appeared in Project Gotham Racing 2; and Final Fantasy was the game series with a non-continuous storyline but always has a character named Cid. This stuff ain't that hard.The realities of human anatomy and the sinewy strength of muscle tissue were the only things keeping the heavens-stretched arms of the audience from reaching themselves straight off their bodies. The "ooh oohs" and "I know, I knows" were cacophonous and it appeared that more answers were coming from the peanut gallery than the podium.Thing is, Alon tells us that he tried his darndest to find some worthy contestants. He handed out sixty quizzes to PAX attendees (fer'chris'sakes!) with five gaming trivia questions to choose his combatants; unfortunately, no one got them all right. If everyone knew he had fourteen DS Lites bundled with Starfox Command, we're sure people would have been banging down these doors.[Update: added image of final score after the break. Thanks for the pic GrlGmr!]
Joystiq on Chatterbox Radio
Chatterbox Video Game Radio's Alon has invited me on his program this evening to talk about E3, Joystiq, the big three, and blogging the event. Want to call in and talk gaming? The show starts at 8PM PST, 11PM EST. The dial-in numbers can be found on the Chatterbox website.(Update: If you didn't catch this last night, the audio has been posted on the Chatterbox website (.mp3). We talked about Sony and Nintendo's showings, the Konami situation, and even gave a T-shirt away to one lucky caller.)
