iPad – Page 6 – ɔimoɈɒ

The iApp Pricing Dilemma

Around a hundred years ago in 1984, I owned a ZX Spectrum 16K (which my Dad had bought for Christmas in 1982). This tiny little computer cost £100 or so, hooked up to your TV and the games had to be loaded over a audio cable from a tape recorder. I remember my Christmas Day … Continue reading “The iApp Pricing Dilemma”

The games I bought were sold in two shops. Tandy on the Antrim Road in Lisburn and a video rental store. At the time the full price of a game was around £7.99. The rental store also rented the game for 99p for two nights. This was achievable to my 11 year old mind and I rented the game which caught my eye.

You see.

TRON had been released in 1982 and I was obsessed. (In hindsight I really should have stayed with the computers thing.) And a company called Personal Software Services in Coventry (England) has produced a game called Light Cycle.

Evidently Disney wasn’t paying attention to computer games in 1983. But anyway – this game which entranced me (before I knew what the gameplay looked like), was £7.99. (I know it says it was £5.95 retail on the web site but I tell you, it sold for £7.99 in pre-globalised, pre-internet Lisburn).

So, iApp prices.

I think everyone knows that 59p (99c) is too cheap for anything of value.

That said, the iPhone has proved quite the opposite (and it seems to be everlastingly sustainable) as we fill our home screens with games and utility apps that are, quite frankly, too cheap to be good, but so good you’d be stupid not to try them. I’ve got pages of apps and games which cost very little and yet I get hours and hours of use out of them.

We knew that iPad apps would cost more. Sure, you can run your existing iPhone apps on the iPad by stretching them up to fill the screen, but there’s a heap of new apps coming. Some of them are refreshes of existing iPhone apps with new content but some of them are new and exciting.

So iPad apps and games will cost more.

They’re not going to cost like PC games or console games – between thirty quid and fifty quid for a single game – but they’re also not going to trend towards 59p! As you can see below!

These images are from MacRumors:

Expect bigger prices from big names. We’re going to see some amazing content on this device. Just be prepared to pay for it.

What would Myth look like on a touch device?

I did a little cut and paste to see what UI elements would look like with a direct port should Bungie/Take2 decide to do something about Myth (and therefore render my efforts almost obsolete): So, have a look at the size of those targets – finger sized if you ask me? It’s unlikely to happen … Continue reading “What would Myth look like on a touch device?”

I did a little cut and paste to see what UI elements would look like with a direct port should Bungie/Take2 decide to do something about Myth (and therefore render my efforts almost obsolete):

So, have a look at the size of those targets – finger sized if you ask me?

It’s unlikely to happen so I’m going to keep working on this. Still seeking developers, artists and sound engineers who want to help build something?

Apple is not competing fairly…

For the last three years, the tech world has been agog with mobile, mobile, mobile. Apple with the release of the iPhone kicked a hole in the market and then occupied that hole. While many pundits point to Nokia shipping more smartphones and the upstart Android gaining market share, these pundits ignore the rampant fragmentation in both the Nokia- and pre-Nokia Symbian operating system market and the growing fragmentation in the Android market. Nokia needs to kill off the notion they are doing well in this market – there’s no great success in being the master of a dying market of consumers who don’t buy anything. Symbian was economically inactive in apps beforehand and it’s just floundering now. They need to set better standards – look to their N900 handheld as the future. And Google needs to focus on Android fragmentation as a priority – we’ve seen this on Linux before but the differences in hardware, software versions and carrier ‘additions’ is creating a mess of a single unified idea.

Sadly though for both of these companies, Apple is not competing fairly. While Nokia and Google among others scramble to regain mindshare in the smartphone market, Apple has surreptitiously started to hack out a niche for themselves in the portable gaming market. The console gaming market is wholly owned by Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo but until recently the portable market was solely occupied by Nintendo and Sony. While Microsoft will be releasing a compelling product linked to their Windows Phone products, Apple has already carved a niche in the portable gaming market – see this report from Flurry.

You can see that Apple now commands more portable gaming market share than Sony (and anecdotal evidence suggests that games with other handhelds are just carrying their iPhones for the quick portable gaming fix).

And in two weeks, iPad will cause another bloodbath.

Tablets have always sucked…

Tom’s Hardware gives five reasons why Tablets suck: Let’s admit it: tablets suck. They’ve been around for at least a decade and many are faster and offer more capabilities than Apple’s iPad. But why haven’t you bought one yet? Tablets Are Niche Devices Full OSes Were Always There, Yet Those Who Complained That The iPad … Continue reading “Tablets have always sucked…”

Tom’s Hardware gives five reasons why Tablets suck:

Let’s admit it: tablets suck. They’ve been around for at least a decade and many are faster and offer more capabilities than Apple’s iPad. But why haven’t you bought one yet?

Tablets Are Niche Devices

Full OSes Were Always There, Yet Those Who Complained That The iPad Doesn’t Have One Still Never Bought One

High-End Hardware Specs Sometimes Don’t Matter

Interface, Interface, Interface

Lack Of Tablet Apps

They are right. Thousands of people who didn’t give a fuck about Tablets are now telling us not only that the iPad sucks but that the next Tablet from whomever is going to kick ass.

It’s not going to matter which operating system they run but I have much more hope for Android based tablets rather than Windows 7 based tablets and this is because Android is at least designed for ‘touch’. Windows 7 on a low end Atom processor will not give anyone a satisfactory experience. From scroll bars to a lack of applications which are ‘touch-optimised’, a lot of people are going to be terribly disappointed with the experience of Windows 7 with a touch interface.

Folk think that Flash will make a difference. HP even reckons mentioning Flash will help their new Slate sell. You have to remember how many online Flash apps rely on ‘hover’ in the user interface – they need the mouse to be there, to hover over controls and they act on ‘click’. You don’t get this ‘hover’ with a touch interface and that means you can’t play them.

Seriously guys, read the Tom’s Hardware article and do what they suggest – spend a bit of time thinking what makes the iPhone so popular and how it’s going to make the iPad popular. It’s not about the OS itself, it’s about the apps. You can make the best tablet in the world but if your tablet apps are uniformly shit (because, for instance, they require a mouse, keyboard, stylus) then you’ll get the initial sales because “it’s not Apple, it’s not an iPad” but you’re breaking more trust with the consumer.

Tablets have always sucked. What makes these new models different?

So, about that game company…

It’s been an exciting week. On Tuesday morning I met with Leo Galway, John Girvin, Conor McCluskey, Darin Smyth and Christian McGilloway regarding the formation of a local ‘games development cluster’. Everyone seemed to think it was a good idea and so now we’re looking for a good brand to help identify the cluster. This … Continue reading “So, about that game company…”

It’s been an exciting week.

On Tuesday morning I met with Leo Galway, John Girvin, Conor McCluskey, Darin Smyth and Christian McGilloway regarding the formation of a local ‘games development cluster’. Everyone seemed to think it was a good idea and so now we’re looking for a good brand to help identify the cluster.

This coming week (Thursday 25th March) I’ve organised an event with Belfast Metropolitan College called “INGAGE” which stands for “Innovation in Gaming in Education”. We’ve got an engaging calendar planned out for the day.

During the academic year 2009-2010, Belfast Metropolitan College, supported by Digital Circle and the Department of Employment and Learning, introduced a new extracurricular games development ‘club’ for students taking the games design courses at the college.

This event will serve to highlight the work undertaken by the students in the ‘l33t Creations’ club as well as highlight some work being done by other creatives in the games industry in Northern Ireland.

AGENDA

10.00 am	Arrival / Registration
10.30 am	BMC Welcome Trevor Smyth
10.40 am	Welcome & Overview of Project
	Darin Smyth / Christian McGilloway
11.00 am	Guest Speaker Greg Maguire
	Q & A
12.00 pm	Demos
	Lunch
1.00 pm	Guest Speakers
	Straandlooper
	Mark Cullen
	Brendan McGoran
2.00 pm	Closing remarks – Reid Lynas

Attendance is free and refreshments will be provided. Local companies wishing to network are welcome. But you have to RSVP!

And lastly, but not least, I’ve been working on the UI for the game I mentioned the other day.

I’ve spent this evening documenting the Touch Events which will need to be plugged into Unity3D. It’s my job to document the UI, then to write the story and do the research.

I’m still trying to think of a name for the games company (though I have some ideas) and I’m putting together a team of people who can actually manage to pull this together. I provide the ideas – it’s others who will provide the implementation in many ways.

Anyone want to help?

So, I want to start a games company…

While my iPhone is filled with three pages of games for my kids (and me, obviously), my Mac has only two games installed. Halo Myth II Both of these games were created by Bungie which was acquired by Microsoft and recently went independent again. But while Halo remains the darling of the media, Myth languishes … Continue reading “So, I want to start a games company…”

While my iPhone is filled with three pages of games for my kids (and me, obviously), my Mac has only two games installed.

Halo
Myth II

Both of these games were created by Bungie which was acquired by Microsoft and recently went independent again. But while Halo remains the darling of the media, Myth languishes in relative obscurity.

The Myth games are categorized as real time tactics, representing a departure from established real time strategy titles such as Warcraft and Command & Conquer; resource retrieval and unit construction were entirely removed to focus on squad- and soldier-level tactics. Some have argued that this has given the game a far greater sense of realism than its contemporaries. Reviewers have cited the series’ (at the time) revolutionary use of 3D environments, its use of weather effects, and its realistic physics engines as reasons for this. To many, Myth set the standard for the type of strategy that the Total War series of games made popular.

Myth provided exactly the level of game that I was seeking. I was dissatisfied with typical Real Time Strategy games which necessitated the collection and hoarding of resources and the building of strategically important buildings and units. This meant that playing WarCraft or StarCraft involved an hour of clicking around a window and then a combat that usually lasted about five minutes. It meant exercising the mantra that if you thought you had enough units to attack, then you likely needed to double your forces and then attack. It meant gambling by taking hidden ground, navigating the environment and sending workers off into the darkness to harvest with the hope that they wouldn’t get slaughtered.

In contrast, Myth offered the possibility of quick games. The playing field could be small or large, the story just as complex but there was no interminable resource collection, just the need to complete missions, fight battles. The multiplayer games could often be finished in ten minutes or less. The sides were evenly matched, it was up to the player to take advantage of the unit strengths and the advantages of terrain to win the game. You developed a keen eye for ‘flammable’ terrain for your archers to send their single flaming arrow into the midst of an enemy. You could hide undead units unseen in the depths of rivers and lakes. Floating units were not blocked by most terrain and could flee across terrain impassable to other ground-based units. You would use fast units to snipe, heavy units to hide behind. It was a tactical dream. The single player game, in addition, was intensely story focussed with excellent narrative, evocative images and a fabulous musical score. This was typical of most of Bungie’s productions. They had some of the best talent in the industry and that talent went on to create groundbreaking games in terms of gameplay and story. I still have the Halo theme on my laptop because it’s so evocative (You can read about it here. You can download it here.)

So, I am decided. The type of game I want to create will bring back my memories of Myth II. It will have an intensely inviting touch-based interface. It will be evocative of Google Maps on iPhone mixed with Google Earth on Mac (pan, zoom, rotate). It will have rich graphics (it will look amazing on a 9.7″ iPad screen), richer sound (audio experiences on devices with small screens are much more important). It will have a great story, great voice actors, great art. It will be the game I want to play on the devices I want to use. It will have a compelling single-player story and it will have local- and internet-based multiplayer games.

So I know what it will be. I need to figure out how to work back from that and find the path forward to it.

The Third Generation of Personal Computers

Only a small percentage of people think of Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace when they think of computers. Babbage conceived of a mechanical computer and Lovelace became the first programmer. Both were extraordinarily gifted mathematicians and their work underlies the modern world of computing. (In their time, a computer was actually the “operator of the … Continue reading “The Third Generation of Personal Computers”

Of course, the first difference engine was composed of around 25,000 parts, weighed fifteen tons (13,600 kg), and stood 8 ft (2.4 m) high. (Reference: Wikipedia). The march of progress would quickly change computers from being massive mechanical machines into massive electronic machines; they’d still fill rooms and no-one would really want one for the home.

A few decades later and computers were still heavy, complex, static machines and no-one would really want one in their home. It took a serendipitous meeting in an equally serendipitous place to create the first personal computers. This generation had screens, keyboards and it would be possible (and even desirable) to have one at home.

But computers were still complex, still businessy and still a little stuffy. There were limits to what could be achieved with that generation and no-one seemed to be up to the challenge of making computers even better. We were stuck in the Bronze Age of computing. It took another set of serendipitous circumstances. A decade later and there was another breakthrough, another generation was born.

Now computers were ‘friendlier’, a new paradigm had been invented and everyone copied it. The only problem was that as everyone copied they neglected to innovate and computers didn’t change. We were stuck again as the variations seemed to be more about adding different varieties of eye candy. One thing became certain – the newer graphic user interfaces made computers easier to understand, made it easier for non-technical individuals to grasp computing concepts. However – we were stuck in this Silver Age for twenty five years. Whether you used a Mac, the derivative Windows or Linux (which modelled almost all of it’s user interface elements on Windows or the Mac), you were using an interface which was first released to the public in 1984.

So, I’m obviously angling that the iPad is the third generation of Personal Computer, that it ushers in a new Golden Age of computing. And I really believe this. Apple tried it back in the 90s with the Newton – and if you don’t think the Newton was insanely great then you obviously never used one.

It’s true the iPad removes most of the OS from the end user. But is this a bad thing?

If you’re like me you spend a lot of time with the operating system of a computer. I can always find something to fiddle with, something to pay attention to with just the basic OS. With the iPhone (and by extension, the iPad), I can’t do too much other than flick between screens. This is not a bad thing. It’s going to be all about the software.

While there’s a lot of attention on the iPhone towards apps like WeightBot – apps which do one simple thing really well – we’re going to see a whole plethora of new apps which do one complex thing really well on the iPad. We have seen Pages, Numbers, Keynote on iPad and it’s only a matter of time before we see apps like Soulver, Coda, OmniGraffle and even iMovie.

We’ll only see one thing at a time on the screen and again, that’s no bad thing. We can concentrate on the task at hand. (Yes, I believe Apple is going to give us the ability to run certain AppStore-authorised third-party background processes soon so we can run location apps, Spotify and other ‘essentials’) but it will be a task oriented computer. And if Apple released a version of Xcode for iPad, would there be the same debate?

I can’t wait.

(Inspired by Mike Cane’s post regarding Jef Raskin being the father of the iPad)

And even back then in 1979, Raskin saw very far ahead:

The third generation personal computers will be self-contained, complete, and essentially un-expandable.

eWeek needs to fill some column space so puts something resembling an article together and calls it “iPad”

Don Reisinger states that Apple needs to fix 10 things with the iPad before release. The iPad is now less than a month away from hitting store shelves, but there are still significant issues with it that Apple hasn’t addressed. Here are some of the issues Apple needs to think about before the iPad hits … Continue reading “eWeek needs to fill some column space so puts something resembling an article together and calls it “iPad””

Don Reisinger states that Apple needs to fix 10 things with the iPad before release.

The iPad is now less than a month away from hitting store shelves, but there are still significant issues with it that Apple hasn’t addressed. Here are some of the issues Apple needs to think about before the iPad hits store shelves in April.

Where’s the 3G iPad?

The 3G-pricing conundrum

We need Flash

Displaying iPhone apps

Accessory pricing

iPhone OS 4.0

The Kindle competition

Connectivity

AT&T’s network

No camera? Really?

Where’s the 3G iPad?

Journalists are having a field day. Apple claimed they’d ship the WiFi iPad in 60 days. It’s about a week overdue and everyone is crowing about it being late. Honestly. And this fuss about the 3G? More whining. There’s no news here.

The 3G-pricing conundrum

A conundrum is defined as
1. “a riddle, esp one whose answer makes a play on words”
2. “another word for a question used by journalists wanting to sound clever”
There’s no puzzle here. The pricing is one of the cheapest plans on the market in the US. How is this a tricky question?

We need Flash

No, we don’t need Flash. We have done fine over the last three years with the iPhone. Performance is bad on desktop processors, what will it be like on Mobile? (Trick question: it sucks. I have Flash on my N800. Flash sucks).

Displaying iPhone apps

Was this guy even listening – iPhone apps resize to fill the screen at the touch of a virtual button. So there’s 150 000 apps out there that ‘just work’ and there’s people scrabbling to make custom apps for the iPad.

Accessory pricing

Again, do some research. It works fine with a Bluetooth keyboard. It doesn’t need much in the way of accessories. To be honest, people have inflated ideas of what they need. My USB port on my Air got used for two things. The very occasional printer and USB memory sticks. What else would you really use? And it uses the iPod dock port so there’s a shitload of stuff that will, you guessed it, just work.

iPhone OS 4.0

iPhone and iPod touch OS updates will be available for free now that Apple has ditched that stupid accounting method. That’ll also count for the iPad. And this is a journalist not doing any research and commenting on an operating system release that isn’t scheduled or announced.

The Kindle competition

The Kindle is not competition. If people want to read novels. then yes, an eInk screen will likely be a better option. But this is a fraction of what the iPad does whereas working as a eReader is pretty much 100% of what the Kindle does. So, yes, in some micro-percentage, they’re competing but it’s the Kindle percentage which will take the loss. iPad will do well enough even without the Kindle.

Connectivity

If Don had his way, we’d all be using floppy disks to transfer shit everywhere. You’ll use your iPad cable to transfer files (there’s a shared folder) and if you don’t have it, you’ll use this thing called the ‘network’. Duh.

AT&T’s network

So, who’s network would you suggest Don? I’d suggest Apple use the company which recently won the performance study reported by PC World at the end of February. Do your research, Don. It was only reported everywhere in the world.

No camera? Really?

Think about the use case for this. You’re seriously going to use iPad to take snaps. It’s immense. How are you going to hold it with any sensible utility and push the button? I can understand the desire for a front facing camera for videoconferencing and that should have been the point Don was making. But taking pictures of flowers or of funny things at random is just the wrong use case. That’s why we have cameras in our phones.

And there we have it. The big bag of stupid.

Mike says: Get a trade, build iPad stands.

Mike Cane is perfectly lucid when he says: If you’re sitting around applying for jobs and waiting for Something To Happen, you’ll be on the street before long. If you have some manual skills, start thinking about making stands for the iPad. Especially if you have a woodworking shop. You can sell them on etsy … Continue reading “Mike says: Get a trade, build iPad stands.”

Mike Cane is perfectly lucid when he says:

If you’re sitting around applying for jobs and waiting for Something To Happen, you’ll be on the street before long.

If you have some manual skills, start thinking about making stands for the iPad. Especially if you have a woodworking shop.

You can sell them on etsy and even auction them off on eBay.

I think there’s a real opportunity for people who are good with their ‘hands’.

I’m bollocks with things like that. Well. I never studied ‘craft’ in school and I’ve more or less avoided being ‘handy’. It comes as no surprise that Arlene is delighted when I have a screwdriver or a drill in my hand – it’s infrequent enough to be a novelty.

But I’m interested in drawing something and it’s related to Mike’s recent lucidity (which has been a habit of late). I’m interested in drawing my ideal iPad case. And then maybe finding someone who can make it. It’s a new experience for me.

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Where’s the 3G iPad?

The 3G-pricing conundrum

We need Flash

Displaying iPhone apps

Accessory pricing

iPhone OS 4.0

The Kindle competition

Connectivity

AT&T’s network

No camera? Really?

Related posts:

Related posts: