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The Morning After: Thursday, March 16 2017
There's two more days left this week, but we're not stopping, and neither should you. Russia is going to the moon, while some of the country's agents have been blamed for the Yahoo hack from last year. We also talked to Frank Oz and rode an 8K 'VR' ride. That should perk you up.
Murder is just adorable in Assassin's Kittens Unity
We have so many questions about this video. How did YouTuber Mr.TVCow get those hoodies on the kittens? How many shots did it take to get the perfect scene of kittens falling onto a small pile of hay and running away? Where can we get one and/or all of these kittens (accessories included)? And, most importantly, how long will it take to create a mod that allows us to play Assassin's Creed: Unity as a kitten?
Cat Scratch Fever: The complete Friskies iOS cat app library
Kittens are on the minds of part of the TUAW crew this week; Editor-In-Chief Victor Agreda, Jr. is now the proud dad of Kit-Kat (yes, we know she has an Android OS name), while my wife and I decided to open our home to two adorable new kitties named Merry and Pippin. While looking around last night for something that might keep the two hyperactive felines entertained for a few milliseconds, I remembered that Friskies cat food had a free "advo-tainment" app or two a few years ago. A glance at the App Store showed that the company has now has a whole litter of free apps to try to keep your kitties mesmerized for at least a little while. Here's the whole kit and caboodle: Friskies JitterBug -- Most of these cat-only apps have a certain theme going on that focuses on how felines love to go after anything that moves. Jitterbug gives your kitties five fifteen-second rounds to try to swat as many bugs on an iPad or iPhone screen as possible. If your cat happens to be the Jackie Chan of kittehs and swats a big number, you'll be glad to know you can share his or her score on Facebook. Cat Fishing 2.1 -- You know how Mr. Grumbles likes to watch the fishbowl for hours? No need to be concerned about him accidentally going for a swim when you set the iPad in front of him and launch Cat Fishing 2.1. Here we have fish as the target for your cat's lightning-fast paw, with three rounds with one, two and three fish at a time. Cat bragging rights can not only be displayed on Facebook, but on the Friskies world-wide leaderboard. For a full review by Mike Wehner's cat Cinnamon, click here. Happy Wings -- Let's see, we had crawling bugs, swimming fish... what else can keep a cat excited? Oh, yeah -- things that fly! Happy Wings features three rounds, the first with fluttering moths, the second with dragonflies, and the third with rare tropical hummingbirds that will be wiped out by your cat's baser instincts. According to the app notes, if your cat happens to make it through a few levels, she'll be rewarded with a "You Won" screen and a cat-friendly Play Again button. At this point, my new kittens have the attention span that is measured in Yoctoseconds. Friskies Call-A-Cat -- It's not really a game, but more a way to see what sounds interest your kitties the most. Friskies Call-A-Cat includes several intriguing noises, like bird chirps and opening a can of cat food. The idea is that you can play the most attractive sound just before feeding time to get your cat into the habit of running to the bowl when you tap the sound on your iPhone or iPad. Friskies You vs. Cat -- Tired of letting your cat have all the fun? You vs. Cat is brilliant, since you basically fling playing pieces with a flick of the finger and your cat has to "catch" them. If the cat does stop the playing piece, he gets points; if it goes into the "goal," you get points. The first one who gets to 50 points wins. Note: don't gloat if you win, as your cat may leave a gift where you least expect it. Party Mix-Up -- Yes, in this game your cat gets to catch Friskies Party Mix cat treats. Does this sound basically like subliminal advertising targeted at cats? Tasty Treasures Hunt -- By this point, you'll need an iPhone or iPad with more storage just to hold all of the cat games. In Tasty Treasure Hunt, the gato will be chasing after little cartoon doodles of chickens, turkeys, cheese slices, and fish. Same idea, different graphics. That's about it for the cat apps from Friskies. They also have some games to keep humans occupied, including the search games Friskies Wonderland Quest and Wonderland Quest II for iPad. I have a sinking suspicion that the basic idea of these games is to find hidden items and to drum a certain pet care product line into your brain. And you can't forget Catify Yourself, which turns selfies into nightmarish cat-human hybrids (image below). Have any TUAW readers had success amusing your cats with the Friskies apps? Or did you end up calling "Confuse-A-Cat"? Let us know in the comments.
Cinder Kitten 25% off this week only
Good news, Battle Pet enthusiasts! If you somehow originally missed out on nabbing the cuddly, roly-poly Cinder Kitten, you can now pick up the ball of fluff and flames for 25% off in the Blizzard Pet Store this week. Originally introduced in late 2012, the Cinder Kitten is usually $10 to purchase. With the sale, it's all of $7.50. And while it's admittedly adorable beyond all reason, it's also a pretty fierce Battle Pet to add to your team, too! Check out the Blizzard Pet Store to pick up your very own cuddly flaming ball of fiery purring death, or nab a few for holiday gifts later this year. But if you want to take advantage of the sale price, better hurry - the sale price for the Cinder Kitten runs until September 3, at 11:59PM PDT, and applies to both US and EU players.
Caturday: The cute, it burns us, precioussss.....
Surgeon General's Warning: The picture above is too cute. Avert your eyes quickly, and move on to other TUAW posts before you get the urge to rub this kitten's cute little belly and pink feet, warm from snoozing on his owner's MacBook Pro. If you've got a Caturday nominee to share, let us know via our feedback page. For security reasons we can't accept inbound attachments, so you should host the photo (Dropbox, Flickr, iPhoto Journals, etc.) and send us the link. Thanks, dborup!
Blizzard's Cinder Kitten raises over $2.3 million in Sandy relief
Warcraft players around the world showed their generosity by purchasing the Cinder Kitten pet from the Blizzard store. Blizzard announced in November that every Cinder Kitten purchased by the end of December 21, 2012, would have the profits from the sale go straight to the victims of Superstorm Sandy. They managed to raise a cool $2.3 million dollars! Cinder Kitten Raises More Than $2.3 Million Thanks to the overwhelming generosity of World of Warcraft players around the world who purchased the Cinder Kitten pet, we've raised a total of more than $2.3 million USD to support the American Red Cross's ongoing Superstorm Sandy relief efforts. In December, we announced that for every Cinder Kitten purchased by December 31, 2012, 100% of the adoption fee would be going to assist victims of this disaster -- and the community embraced this fiery feline in droves, helping out a great cause in the process. Thanks again to everyone who helped make a difference. source What a great move by Blizzard to help out in disaster relief. It's not the first time they've done so either as players will remember back in 2011 when they donated 100% of the proceeds earned from the Cenarion Hatchling to Japan's Earthquake and Tsunami relief efforts!
Cinder kitten now on sale in Blizzard store
If you've been eagerly awaiting Blizzard's release of the fiery little furball pictured above, your wait is over. The Cinder Kitten is now available for purchase on the Blizzard Pet Store for $10. As mentioned last month, 100% of the proceeds from any Cinder Kitten purchased between now and December 31, 2012 will go towards the American Red Cross's Hurricane Sandy relief efforts. The kitten is available in both the US and European Pet Stores. Purchasing the kitten will give you a code that can be redeemed on any North American (or European, for kittens purchased through the Europe Pet Store) account. This code can either be redeemed for your account, or emailed to friends as a gift. After all, nothing says "Happy Holidays!" like a flaming ball of fiery purring death. If you're looking for a good present for that special someone, the Cinder Kitten is a cool in-game item, you can use it for pet battles, and the proceeds go to the Red Cross. What's not to love?
Cinder Kitten pet sales to benefit Hurricane Sandy relief charity
As with the Cenarion Hatchling of years past and the tsunami that devastated coastal Japan, 100% of proceeds from the sales of the oddly late Cinder Kitten will be given to the Red Cross' Superstorm Sandy relief efforts. Blizzard will be updating us with info on when the $10 gato en fuego will be available for sale in the weeks ahead. Classy move, Blizzard. On the other hand ... look, this might sound crazy, but have you noticed that whenever there's a big natural disaster, Blizzard just happens to be ready with a Pet Store pet to sell for charity? I'm sure intelligence will prove that Blizzard owns HAARP, the weather-controlling device array used by the Illuminati to maintain the New World Order. Clearly Blizzard stands to benefit from this by *incoherent mumbling* and *something about chemtrails*. Wake up, sheeple.
Flickr Find: Caturday edition
Next time you wonder where the kitten has gone, check the warm parts of your Mac's power cord. photo by MorrowLess - Alex Nelson
WRUP: Our favorite pets edition
I was just sitting down to write an intro for this week's WRUP, but then, oops, I seem to have been distracted by puppies. The puppies above are mine, because, well, I'm writing this post and it's my privilege to show off how gosh-darn adorable the little scamps are. (Of course, they're a couple of years older now -- less cute, and boy can they bark.) For this week's WRUP, we have the usual assortment of weekend plans as well as -- you guessed it -- puppies. Also kittens. And just for variety, a snake. %Gallery-91023%
Wizard101 raises over $100,000 for charity
The holidays are over -- everyone can breathe a collective sigh of relief now -- but there are some gifts that keep on giving. Charitable donations always go up during the holidays, and with the rise of microtransaction stores, games are better able to get in on the generosity. Wizard101 was one of the many offering an in-game carrot for donating to charity, the tiger-striped Meowmodon mount. Aside from having an adorable name, it inspired enough players to purchase it that raised $126,000 for charity. The total amount received will be split evenly between Child's Play and the Austin Children's Shelter, to suppport both the worldwide community and the area surrounding the KingsIsle headquarters. The company seems quite pleased with the results, and it's a testament to both the community and the game that a free-to-play game could raise such a substantial sum for two excellent causes. The offiicial announcement can be found on the official Wizard101 site, to no great surprise. Congratulations to the players who took part, and we can only hope this effort will be repeated in the coming months -- free-to-play item malls donating to charity have certainly made an impact this holiday season, certain hiccups notwithstanding.
One Shots: Beware the black cat
We've seen ninja kittens before, but never Assassin pets! But sure enough, we opened up our mailbox and found this screenshot of Age of Conan sent in to us by Rasos. Attached to the screenshot was the following note: Here's a shot of my assassin, Rasos, in Age of Conan, taking a break on the rooftops of Khemi with his best feline friend. We know it's a bit off the beaten path, but it's certainly very cute! Do you have a screenshot of your favorite pet? Or perhaps you just happen to have a pet that nobody would expect? Whatever your game, reason, or rationale, we want to see your screenshots! Send them to us here at oneshots AT massively DOT com along with a quick note on whatever you'd like to tell us about it. %Gallery-9798%
Wii Warm Up: Best kitten in a game?
We like kittens. This post from yesterday just got them on our brains and their cute, furry little selves won't get down from up there. So, we figured we'd ask you all about your favorite game kittens, or just plain old felines.So, out with it! Love the cat in Chu Chu Rocket? Are you a fan of Bubsy?Just kidding, Nobody likes Bubsy.
Sega Toys' Yume Neko Smile cat continues to be your waking nightmare
Finally your replicant Owl and Nexus-6 will have a new playmate over at the Bradbury -- namely, Sega Toys' newest iteration of its infamously creepy automaton, the Yume Neko Smile cat. When we last saw this little purr-machine, it was giving blank stares of disapproval while harmfully invading our dreams like a kind of down-coated demon. The new version appears to up the gross-factor to 11 by including even more lifelike movements, all new speech (with moving mouth), and a healthy dose of allergy-irritating dander. Okay, we made that last one up, but with such attention to detail -- including the common cat trait of perfect human speech -- it wouldn't surprise us to see this one causing all kinds of health issues. Watch the charming video after the break, you'll see what we mean.
WoW Moviewatch: Kittens and WoW
What is it with kittens and World of Warcraft? What's their strange draw to the monitor or keyboard? Because I'm telling you -- you can't browse World of Warcraft videos these days without being overwhelmed by an onslaught of adorable kittens, busily trying to melt faces or pwn n00bs. They've clearly got an unhealthy fascination with that cursor...Previously on Moviewatch...
Love Cat Life shows love for dogs, too
Specifically, Nintendogs. And more specifically, the cash generated by Nintendogs. Forgive us for being cynical, but Love Cat Life does look exceedingly familiar. But for our (hypothetical) pet simulator money, Love Cat Life wins over Nintendo's masterpiece, for mostly hilarious reasons: Simulated litterboxes Riding a little cat-sized truck over a ramp Meowing music game! We started off being sarcastic, but we just convinced ourselves. It was the music game that did it.
And I think to myself, what a wonderful preorder bonus
Fans anticipating the release of It's a Wonderful World won't have just a limited edition DS Lite bundle to look forward to; Square Enix announced today that preordering the Shibuya-district RPG in advance of its July 27th release will also net gamers a miniature kitten to hitch onto your handheld.The feline charm mimics Pochi, a stuffed cat that plays into Shiki Misaki's (IAWW's female lead) special attacks, and also doubles as a wipe to keep your DS screens free of dust and kitty litter. Pounce past the post break for some in-game screenshots of Pochi. See also: Just about the oddest/cutest/scariest thing you will ever see More from the DS cat
More from the DS cat
Remember the cute, yet scary DS kitty? That little Lite-playing furball has been turning up all over, and the site where the picture originated features several other examples of adorable kitty antics. Unfortunately, it looks like this is the only Nintendo-themed set, but we have high hopes that kitty will someday again be tempted by the DS ... or that the owner will decide to encourage more pictures.
Kittens like Front Row
really expensive cat toy was sent in by Brenden, and it is cute and scary all at the same time (I wouldn't like a kitten do that to my new MacBook Pro, but then again I'm a stick in the mud).Before anyone chimes in, I would like to point out two things: This video is really cute. I mean, a kitten and a MacBook Pro? Yes, it is a slow news day.
