tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23983852300991345302024-03-12T21:44:25.823-07:00Steve Paris' Paraphernalic PostulationsSteve Parishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14145787455201419082noreply@blogger.comBlogger114125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2398385230099134530.post-54168969795614645532014-08-13T07:54:00.000-07:002014-08-14T00:59:41.641-07:00Godus - Time is precious<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: 12px;">One of the best computer games I've ever played in the late 80s/early 90s was Populous by Peter Molyneux, a genre breaking app which spawned a whole industry of "god" games, so it was with great excitement that i saw <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/godus/id815181808?mt=8&uo=4&at=1l3uZRt">Godus by 22Cans on the App Store</a>, designed by Peter himself, and widely regarded as the spiritual successor to Populous.</span></div>
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The price tag rang warning bells in my head though: it was free (with in-app purchases). "<i>But it's Populous for iOS</i>," I thought. I had to give it a try.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 12px;">And it started great. The opening tutorial is fun and clear, and when your two followers reach the promised lands, they start laying the foundations for a whole civilisation (ie, they build a tent and breed like rabbits).</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #666666;">The potential of so much promise...</span></i></td></tr>
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As their god, you get to make life easier for them by levelling the land so they can build more, bigger, better homes. It’s immensely satisfying to alter the geography with your finger, which gives you a greater sense of omnipotence than when using a keyboard and mouse, or even a joystick, so in that regard, Godus is a winner.</div>
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Repairing beacons let you explore further, and expand your empire. There are also hidden treasures you'll find buried all over the place; these grant you either gems or stickers.</div>
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Stickers are used to activate new god powers while gems speed up some actions.</div>
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There's also a boat you can find to initiate a different kind of game where you need to solve puzzles to reach abandoned temples, and earn new stickers and god powers as a result of a successful expedition.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #666666;">A beautiful world to explore...</span></i></td></tr>
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The more followers you have the more belief you acquire, enabling you to perform longer or more powerful acts of divinity. There's even a power which speeds up the construction times of houses by a factor of ten.</div>
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Over time you may even find a rival tribe.</div>
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All this sounds good but this is where the fun ends. Once your followers discover wheat (which is ironically through a God Power), everything slows down to a crawl, because they will now refuse to work if they aren't fed. Speeding house construction by a factor of ten is useless if you need to wait six hours to produce enough wheat to build a single dwelling.</div>
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But the killing blow is that this is an internet-based game: you must be online at all times while playing, so not only do you have to wait for hours in order to play for a few minutes, if you're out of network coverage, you'll be left with having to choose another game to while away the time.</div>
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But that's not even the worse of it: your game is saved in the cloud, somewhere on 22Cans' servers and if something goes wrong... well, you're out of luck.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #666666;">But what happens when glitches ruin everything?</span></i></td></tr>
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This happened to me and days of work (it became increasingly harder to justify time spent on Godus as "play") were wasted as I somehow lost nearly all my followers' homes through a glitch, all the land reverted back to it's original configuration, and the handful of survivors were beyond the first beacon which had also been deactivated, meaning I couldn't access them. And once you’re in this predicament, how do you restart from scratch? The only apparent solution is to delete the app and reinstall it. Hardly user-friendly.</div>
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Populous wasn't about waiting for things to happen. It was about being god, controlling your people and laying waste to their enemies. In Godus, god has been turned into a time keeper.</div>
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You can of course speed everything up through the lavish use of in-app purchases, but how much more frustrating would it have been had I spent real money, only to have my progress wiped out by a bug on the developers' servers?</div>
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It's disappointing to say, despite all the promise and fond memories, but stay clear of Godus. It's not so much playing god as it is Waiting for Godus.</div>
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Version Reviewed: 1.2</div>
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Price: free (with in-app purchases)</div>
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Size: 91.5MB</div>
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Rated Rated 4+</div>
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Compatibility: Requires iOS 7.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. This app is optimized for iPhone 5.</div>
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Tested on: iPhone 4S and 3rd generation iPad, both running iOS 7.1.2</div>
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<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/godus/id815181808?mt=8&uo=4&at=1l3uZRt">Direct Link</a></div>
Steve Parishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14145787455201419082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2398385230099134530.post-16460306752797405912014-06-19T05:44:00.005-07:002014-06-19T05:54:53.455-07:00Battleheart Legacy Review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5OT-lKSH2p0/U6LYbvW6w4I/AAAAAAAABE0/HniSUbbGxDA/s1600/Battleheart+Legacy.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5OT-lKSH2p0/U6LYbvW6w4I/AAAAAAAABE0/HniSUbbGxDA/s1600/Battleheart+Legacy.png" height="200" width="200" /></a></div>
When the mostly text-based Wizardry was released in September 1981 for the Apple II, it sparked a revolution in computer role-playing games (RPG), not because it was the first to cover this genre but because its complexity coupled with ease of use, and highly versatile adventure, sparked the imagination of hundreds of thousands of players.<br />
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Fast forward to January 2011 and a host of imitators and innovators later, Mika Mobile released their own interpretation of an RPG for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch, Battleheart. Again, they weren't the first to market, not by a long shot, but their lovely cartoon-like environment, original animation, and easy to master yet engrossing combat, made that game a highly enjoyable experience, well geared for mobile gaming.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #666666;">Start your adventure with a short<br />but handy training session.</span></i></td></tr>
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So what do you do for an encore? Reinvent your creation and come up with <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/battleheart-legacy/id666508823?mt=8&uo=4&at=1l3uZRt">Battleheart Legacy</a> three and a half years later. The first obvious difference is the graphics: gone are the two-dimensional drawings, replaced by incredibly beautiful 3D cartoon-style graphics that manage to heighten of the charm of the original. And despite the fact that the background score in many parts of the game is the same as the one in their original adventure, and the sound and visual effects, though updated, are, again, similar, this is not a sequel to Battleheart, but a fully fledge original RPG.<br />
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For one thing, you no longer control a group of up to four adventurers; Battleheart Legacy is all about a solitary hero, just like the highly popular desktop franchise from Blizzard Entertainment, Diablo. But that comparison doesn't actually do Battleheart Legacy justice: Diablo, like nearly all RPGs that have inspired themselves from the venerable Dungeons & Dragons, relies on the player choosing a character class from which their unique abilities are derived. These classes are set for each character - you can't create a Mage who happens to be a handy pickpocket and dabbles in martial arts... Until now. This is exactly what Battleheart Legacy offers: the ability to utterly customise your character, picking the best traits from numerous professions, combining them together with devastating effect, and modify your selection anytime you're not in a dungeon.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #666666;">Learning new skills is the secret<br />to your character's power.</span></i></td></tr>
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The permutations are huge and the ability to create unique characters is absolutely impressive. It also encourages you to play the game multiple times to see how each combination would work differently in similar situations.<br />
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Sadly for a game that offers such amazing character customisation, including a vast array of equipment which are then reflected in your character's outward appearance, the initial look you set when you create a new one is disappointingly limited to four male and four female faces and hair styles. More would've been welcome, especially since you can save a large number of games and this limited set can make choosing the right session confusing.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #666666;">Many dungeons have progressively more difficult<br />levels to explore.</span></i></td></tr>
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It's possible to save one game to iCloud, and this has to be done manually for whichever one you wish to transfer to another device. You can also duplicate a game, saving a copy before heading into a troublesome dungeon, should you like to be cautious.<br />
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The story is fairly simple: you are a villager who's decided to explore the kingdom. After some basic training, you set off, full of dreams and expectation... But this is a dangerous place: the map allows you to travel between various locations with each one bearing a level requirement, advising you if you aren't powerful enough to venture there. Nothing will stop you going in, but you'll find it much safer to wait until you've reached or exceeded that minimum threshold, if you wish to survive in one piece, that is.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Te_HXogZElU/U6LZO_4FLqI/AAAAAAAABFU/0DScBxJq0ss/s1600/BHL+04+Grab+the+treasure+or+fend+off+the+giant+spiders%3f+Decisions,+decisions...jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Te_HXogZElU/U6LZO_4FLqI/AAAAAAAABFU/0DScBxJq0ss/s1600/BHL+04+Grab+the+treasure+or+fend+off+the+giant+spiders%3f+Decisions,+decisions...jpg" height="269" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #666666;">Grab the treasure or fend off the giant spiders?<br />Decisions, decisions...</span></i></td></tr>
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Dying is but a temporary inconvenience in Battleheart Legacy, and a good thing too: after spending hours honing your skills and your character, seeing them die unexpectedly would be most infuriating (as was the case for the original Wizardry). Thankfully, all you'll lose is some gold as you wake up outside the dungeon that claimed your life. The more gold you own, the more will have disappeared, so it pays to be careful - literally.<br />
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Through talking with local villagers, you'll quickly discover the main objective of the game: to bring back three mythical lost solar shards to the king, but you'll need to train up a lot if you hope to even grab the first one.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #666666;">Get access to new quests by chatting with anyone -<br />it's good to talk.</span></i></td></tr>
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And that's another great aspect of Battleheart Legacy: the five trainers on offer aren't all that are available. Darker, more powerful teachers can be found by completing quests and talking with residents. The discussions are text based and multiple choice, in a matter that's very similar to <a href="http://www.steveparis.net/2013/05/star-command-for-ios-review.html">Star Command</a>, but unlike this sci-fi adventure, where whichever answer you chose would nearly always lead to the same combat situation, conversations in Battleheart Legacy have a tendency to affect the rest of the game: don't save the right person and they'll never teach you their secret moves, complete a quest the wrong way, and you'll never meet a promising tutor, feel a sense of honour in your veins and the path to dark magic will be forever closed to you - makes sense really: power corrupts!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #666666;"><i>You might need a little help fighting ice giants.</i></span></td></tr>
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The locations on the maps aren't your only source of combat: you may encounter aggressive creatures on the road. When you're but a weak neophyte, such unfortunate meetings can be devastating, but you can thankfully walk away from your aggressors if you're quick - most of the time.<br />
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It can be a little tricky to remember all the information you're given: there's no kind of quest log to remind you who you talked to and what they revealed, and since you can take on multiple adventures at the same time, it would've been nice to be offered some kind of to do list to help you keep track of everything.<br />
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Battleheart Legacy is an incredibly large game and successfully completing some locations reveals more advanced challenges in that same place, which will keep you busy for a while. Those challenges are varied when it comes to the types of monsters you encounter, but the outcome is almost always the same: fight.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #666666;"><i>From snow capped mountains to arid deserts -<br />everywhere is fraught with danger.</i></span></td></tr>
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The combat system is remarkably well implemented: tap on a part of the screen and your character will move to it; tap on an opponent and they will attack until one of you perishes. What gives you an edge are all those skills you've learned. You can have access to up to eight active skills (you select which one to activate at any time during combat) and up to six passive ones (which are always active but work in the background). The former need some time to recharge so you always have to decide when and how to use them during your clashes since battles occur in real time. And the higher up the levels you go, the more frenetic those battles can become.<br />
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Once you feel powerful enough, seek out The Arena, where you can engage a constant stream of foes until you perish. There's no penalty for dying in that part of the game and the more you manage to defeat in one session, the higher the prize you'll receive.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qjuZ__QQ8Qc/U6LZ_T2UmCI/AAAAAAAABF0/zhoxAtw_PTw/s1600/BHL+08+Hmm...+maybe+additional+experience+is+required....jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qjuZ__QQ8Qc/U6LZ_T2UmCI/AAAAAAAABF0/zhoxAtw_PTw/s1600/BHL+08+Hmm...+maybe+additional+experience+is+required....jpg" height="269" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #666666;"><i>Hmm... maybe additional experience is required...</i></span></td></tr>
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Battleheart Legacy is a fantastic addition to the RPG genre. It's beautiful to look at, funny in places, perfectly adapted to touch controls, and each location can be completed in a single seating, making it ideal for mobile gameplay, yet the depth and richness of the story is worthy of a more desktop experience.<br />
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On top of which, the developers aren't lying idle: they're working hard to squash any bugs that the players find - with so many possible permutations, it's hardly surprising that some slipped through, but these get fixed as they're identified.<br />
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If you're into fantasy adventures, go grab yourself a copy. It's as simple as that. You won't regret it.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zcZeYIFGF3U/U6LaJAMPsJI/AAAAAAAABF8/Taorx8zdYiQ/s1600/BHL+09+Battleheart+Legacy+is+not+without+a+sense+of+humour.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zcZeYIFGF3U/U6LaJAMPsJI/AAAAAAAABF8/Taorx8zdYiQ/s1600/BHL+09+Battleheart+Legacy+is+not+without+a+sense+of+humour.jpg" height="269" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #666666;"><i>Battleheart Legacy is not without a sense of humour.</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/yFZYCumpvCA?rel=0" width="480"></iframe><br /></div>
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-----<br />
<br />
Version Reviewed: 1.1.3<br />
<br />
Price: £2.99 ($4.99)<br />
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Size: 434MB<br />
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Rated Rated 12+ for the following: Infrequent/Mild Profanity or Crude Humor, Infrequent/Mild Cartoon or Fantasy Violence, Infrequent/Mild Mature/Suggestive Themes, Infrequent/Mild Alcohol, Tobacco, or Drug Use or References<br />
<br />
Compatibility: Requires iOS 5.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. This app is optimised for iPhone 5.<br />
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Tested on: iPhone 4S and 3rd generation iPad, both running iOS 7.1.1<br />
<br />
<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/battleheart-legacy/id666508823?mt=8&uo=4&at=1l3uZRt">Direct Link</a>Steve Parishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14145787455201419082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2398385230099134530.post-84946707515985779742014-06-10T03:43:00.000-07:002014-06-10T12:02:51.179-07:00Puppet Pals - Interview with Polished Play<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XMnkZeN-4vk/U5bcAUSNffI/AAAAAAAABCk/qVSRFtaUwrI/s1600/Puppet+Pals+2-+All+Access.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XMnkZeN-4vk/U5bcAUSNffI/AAAAAAAABCk/qVSRFtaUwrI/s1600/Puppet+Pals+2-+All+Access.png" height="200" width="200" /></a></div>
Stop motion animation can be a lot of fun; there’s always something magical about seeing inanimate objects move seemingly by themselves. But there’s one major inherent problem with this creative endeavour: it’s a painfully slow process - assuming you work in PAL, you must move your objects and characters a little bit at a time, recording the process twenty-five time just to produce one second of video. The results are often worth it, of course, but it’s definitely an exercise in patience. This is where Lance Harris and Heber Sheffield, the founders of Polished Play come in; they created a set of apps for iPad to turn this process upside down and enable anyone to create animated scenes in minutes, rather than days.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iqY77g0n0ro/U5bcCnMtXvI/AAAAAAAABCs/I1JazFxOrrg/s1600/intro.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iqY77g0n0ro/U5bcCnMtXvI/AAAAAAAABCs/I1JazFxOrrg/s1600/intro.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #666666;">Meet Lance and Heber...</span></i></td></tr>
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Such an idea wasn't dreamt up overnight though: "Heber and I have been friends since High School,” explains Lance Harris, the apps' designer. "In school, we would often team up and try to do unique video book reports, historical reports, etc. We would make stop frame claymation films and such. This was in the late 90’s and the tools we had to use we pretty rudimentary and clunky (there were no digital cameras yet). Imagine pressing record and stop quickly on a video recorder and hoping that the tape advanced a somewhat uniform distance, then moving the clay actors slightly and then repeating that process for hours on end. After video capture, we would get a tangle of wires into a VCR with a microphone and try and dub in the audio while transferring the tape over."<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BrBXoVLtIr8/U5bbVmO38CI/AAAAAAAABB8/hICoyegV2X4/s1600/1.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BrBXoVLtIr8/U5bbVmO38CI/AAAAAAAABB8/hICoyegV2X4/s1600/1.png" height="336" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #666666;">Puppet Pals 1 - Animated Cardboard Cutouts</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
"That is a long time ago to think about the origins of our apps,” he continues, "but really this is what started the cogs turning. I would end up going into film and graphics and Heber would go on to computer programming. Fast forward to the iPhone release and the unveiling of the App Store, and we would eventually meet up with the idea to create the tools that we always wanted during our school years: real-time animation. Simple, intuitive and fast.”<br />
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If you’ve ever played with cardboard cutouts, you’ll feel totally at home with Puppet Pals. You get to choose up to eight characters from a vast array of different genres, and up to five sets (most are available as separate in-app purchases, unless you opt for the <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/puppet-pals-hd-directors-pass/id462134755?mt=8&uo=4&at=1l3uZRt">Puppet Palls HD Director’s Pass</a> version, where everything is included in the price of admission).<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eUP2MbvGL6A/U5bbWh2YMaI/AAAAAAAABCA/W7JzhxOOhLU/s1600/3.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eUP2MbvGL6A/U5bbWh2YMaI/AAAAAAAABCA/W7JzhxOOhLU/s1600/3.png" height="336" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #666666;">Set the scene and have your other characters ready to come on...</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Swapping locations it just a matter of pulling on a chord, top right of the screen, and the new scenery drops down in front of the current one.<br />
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The scene takes up most of the screen, leaving enough space on either side for "wings", just like in a theatre, where the characters wait, unseen by the audience, until it's their cue to come on.<br />
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With the app being fully multi-touch aware, you can move numerous puppets at the same time, and you may find it convenient to have a few friends handy to handle some for you, since you may not have enough digits to do the app justice. Make sure you disable multi-touch gestures in the iPad's Settings, as having more than four fingers on the screen will most likely trigger iOS's app switcher function, ruining your show in the process.<br />
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The whole interface has a vaudeville, Punch and Judy, or commedia dell'arte feel to it. And in fact, recording the action is very much like doing a live performance. You can pause the recording, but that's the only control you have. As they say in the industry, if a mistake happens during the performance, the show must go on.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BUfdBPilGlo/U5bb3-BFyYI/AAAAAAAABCc/jaHNoVuMB-U/s1600/4.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BUfdBPilGlo/U5bb3-BFyYI/AAAAAAAABCc/jaHNoVuMB-U/s1600/4.png" height="336" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #666666;">Puppet Pals 2: migrating from cutouts to marionettes...</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The idea behind <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/puppet-pals-2-all-access/id557616416?mt=8&uo=4&at=1l3uZRt">Puppet Pals 2: All Access</a> is essentially the same, except that the execution is remarkably different and vastly superior. Gone are the cardboard cutouts, replaced by fully controllable marionettes: you can move their limbs individually, they walk as you drag them along, and you can even make them ride an animal or drive a vehicle. When not being controlled by you, the puppets even breathe, blink and move slightly to reinforce the illusion that they're alive. They also get smaller or bigger depending on whether they're heading deeper into the background or not. Those backdrops aren't fixed either but are full 360-degrees panoramic images which you can travel along by dragging the character left or right, making it easy to encounter new puppets in different places along the same backdrop, if you plan it all before hitting the record button.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-32F79biOptM/U5bb1E7JeBI/AAAAAAAABCM/oWaoP8ASQo0/s1600/5.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-32F79biOptM/U5bb1E7JeBI/AAAAAAAABCM/oWaoP8ASQo0/s1600/5.png" height="336" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #666666;">Puppet Pals 2 lets you choose from over 40 marionettes</span></i></td></tr>
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What's even more exciting is the ability to make your puppets talk. You could already record voices in Puppet Pals 1 by making use of your iPad's built-in microphone, or even better, by connecting a third-party mic to it to get a much higher quality recording with minimal ambient sound capture, but with Puppet Pals 2, hold a character, start talking, and, just like a ventriloquist's dummy, their mouth will open and close to match the cadence of your speech. It's a lot of fun to play with.<br />
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Each backdrop comes with its own specific musical score. You can also override the default selection and choose between twenty seven different ones, which will be overlaid on top of your project once you've finished recording it. There's also the option not to include any music at all.<br />
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This being a newer app, there aren't as many characters (forty three at last count) or backdrops (nine) compared to the original Puppet Pals, and you can't add custom backgrounds - you're limited to what the app has to offer, although this is something Lance admits may come very soon, along with around twenty additional puppets to play with.<br />
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But you don't need to wait for more characters if the ones you wish to use aren't yet available: just insert your own, in either version. As Puppet Pals works with cardboard cutouts, should you wish to use a photo of yourself - or anyone else for that matter - you'll have to work with a full length image. You will then be able to cut out the background by tracing your finger around the outline, and presto, one new unique character to add to your project.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Tnbv8Q-McPs/U5bb1vYysPI/AAAAAAAABCQ/QFjaSzTNW2o/s1600/6.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Tnbv8Q-McPs/U5bb1vYysPI/AAAAAAAABCQ/QFjaSzTNW2o/s1600/6.png" height="336" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #666666;">Mark Twain in a tutu, on a giraffe... in space!</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/puppet-pals-2-all-access/id557616416?mt=8&uo=4&at=1l3uZRt">Puppet Pals 2: All Access</a> takes a different approach: all you need is a head, which you can add onto any of the costumes already available in the app; this also means that you can mix and match the existing characters to create new, potentially quirky ones. As Lance says: "the good thing about having a wide variety of characters is that even if you use your own custom head, you have a large selection of body / clothing styles. The first time that we could joust in low gravity space, with ballerina Mark Twain on a giraffe vs a Knight on a zebra, I just knew we had created something special. That had us in stitches of juvenile delight."<br />
<br />
Unfortunately, there's no way to resize the custom cutouts or heads, and they can often look bigger than they should compared to the other characters. Being able to alter those custom puppets' dimensions is something that's being looked into and could be part of a possible future update.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DagXmjDfTu8/U5bcMdulwsI/AAAAAAAABC0/RJQjLCWkU3A/s1600/7.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DagXmjDfTu8/U5bcMdulwsI/AAAAAAAABC0/RJQjLCWkU3A/s1600/7.png" height="336" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #666666;">Use your head: create your own puppets</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
But despite all these much improved features, recording a project is again done live in Puppet Pals 2, with no option to edit, trim or otherwise manipulate the footage in any way. "We wanted to focus on a great live recording user experience so we don’t have any serious editing capabilities included," admits Lance. "We defer to more dedicated editing apps like iMovie for now. If a user wants to make a long production, we suggest making small scenes and saving them as clips. Export these clips to video and in iMovie you can do some intensive editing, with cuts, music, voiceover, text, titles etc.. That being said, we do want to eventually provide some basic clip cutting, combining, etc.. to make things easier to do all within the app."<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ioYsaa8LNmw/U5bcOZ21ttI/AAAAAAAABC8/9t1pQa3w-pg/s1600/8.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ioYsaa8LNmw/U5bcOZ21ttI/AAAAAAAABC8/9t1pQa3w-pg/s1600/8.png" height="336" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #666666;">Hanging out in Egypt with Albert and my clone...</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Each app is different enough to cater to different needs. Puppet Pals 2 offers amazing fully controllable marionettes, vehicles and a handful of panoramic backdrops, but as a result could end up being more fiddly to use, whereas Puppet Pals 1 has a wealth of characters and backdrops, but suffers from being just about moveable cardboard cutouts over static images.<br />
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Unsurprisingly, both apps are doing well in education environments, and Puppet Pals 2 even has a handy teacher's guide to help educators get the most out of the app and their pupils.<br />
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Each apps has a free companion version with a limited number of characters and backdrops so you can check for yourself which one works best for you, but if you're in the market for a little puppet recording studio you can take with you anywhere, one of those is sure to suit your needs. They're fun and easy to use, just don't expect an editing studio to come along for the ride - at least not yet.<br />
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And this isn't the end of the road for these developers either: "We do have some exciting new features planned that we think will make Puppet Pals more interactive, powerful and fun," reveals Lance. "I don’t want to over promise anything as it often takes longer than anticipated to develop certain features. That said, we do continue to see a bright future of updates and exciting new possibilities! Stay tuned for more to come!"<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RppcSgoBYhg/U5bgCThbcLI/AAAAAAAABDI/uvN04lVFdY0/s1600/Puppet+Pals+-+Direcctor's+Pass.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RppcSgoBYhg/U5bgCThbcLI/AAAAAAAABDI/uvN04lVFdY0/s1600/Puppet+Pals+-+Direcctor's+Pass.png" height="200" width="200" /></a></div>
<b><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/puppet-pals-hd-directors-pass/id462134755?mt=8&uo=4&at=1l3uZRt">Puppet Pals HD Director's Pass</a></b><br />
<br />
<b>Version Reviewed:</b> 1.8.9<br />
<br />
<b>Price:</b> £2.49 ($3.99)<br />
<br />
<b>Size:</b> 86.1MB<br />
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<b>Rated:</b> 4+<br />
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<b>Compatibility:</b> Requires iOS 6.1 or later. Compatible with iPad.<br />
<br />
<b>Tested on:</b> 3rd generation iPad running iOS 7.1.1<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mXJYWJZEMfw/U5bgPDxQ0MI/AAAAAAAABDQ/hEJbQJLHFiA/s1600/Puppet+Pals+2-+All+Access.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mXJYWJZEMfw/U5bgPDxQ0MI/AAAAAAAABDQ/hEJbQJLHFiA/s1600/Puppet+Pals+2-+All+Access.png" height="200" width="200" /></a></div>
<b><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/puppet-pals-2-all-access/id557616416?mt=8&uo=4&at=1l3uZRt">Puppet Pals 2: All Access</a></b><br />
<br />
<b>Version Reviewed:</b> 1.3.3<br />
<br />
<b>Price:</b> £2.99 ($4.99)<br />
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<b>Size:</b> 231MB<br />
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<b>Rated:</b> 4+<br />
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<b>Compatibility:</b> Requires iOS 6.1 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. This app is optimized for iPhone 5.<br />
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<b>Tested on:</b> 3rd generation iPad running iOS 7.1.1<br />
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Steve Parishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14145787455201419082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2398385230099134530.post-89692588826296028592014-05-31T00:02:00.000-07:002014-06-06T08:08:37.198-07:00Leo's Fortune - Interview with 1337 & Senri<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yaNfY04T2r0/U4l7AUJKT_I/AAAAAAAABBI/i9tzwNiLUFw/s1600/Icon.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yaNfY04T2r0/U4l7AUJKT_I/AAAAAAAABBI/i9tzwNiLUFw/s1600/Icon.png" height="200" width="200" /></a></div>
Leo's gold has gone missing. The thief has left a trail of coins like breadcrumbs to tease him into finding his hoard again, and thus begins the premise of this <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/leos-fortune/id830544402?mt=8&uo=4&at=1l3uZRt">original game from 1337 & Senri</a>.<br />
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Leo himself is a beautifully rendered ball of blue/green fur - with a large moustache and an Eastern European accent. You make him move to the left and right by dragging your finger on the left side of the screen, while the right side controls his up and down movement. Like a puffer fish, Leo can make himself bigger, which enables him to float and avoid obstacles, or slow down his fall. All of this is extremely well demonstrated in the tutorial.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jnLRPwuDLPk/U4l75kKXnJI/AAAAAAAABBo/zazh2GHRyCY/s1600/The+Team.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jnLRPwuDLPk/U4l75kKXnJI/AAAAAAAABBo/zazh2GHRyCY/s1600/The+Team.png" height="142" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #666666;">Meet the team: Karin Bruer (Artist), Anders Hejdenberg<br />
(Lead Designer), Shahrouz Zolfaghari (Programmer),<br />
Johan Knutzen (Programmer)</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<i>"We started out with a physics world and a circle that could jump and move left and right,"</i> explains Johan Knutzen, one of the game's two programmer. <i>"We prototyped different abilities and ways to control the character and finally settled on what Leo’s Fortune is today. We always wanted the character to have the ability to expand and use that ability as a way to jump from a surface. This was one of the core concepts during the design phase of the character. We added the floating ability as an experimental feature that we decided to keep during prototyping. The floating ability was inspired by Kirby’s Dream Land for Game Boy that I played as a kid."</i><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-E-KLU_rtTd8/U4l6nO3gzOI/AAAAAAAABA8/5_cjTjQP0mg/s1600/1.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-E-KLU_rtTd8/U4l6nO3gzOI/AAAAAAAABA8/5_cjTjQP0mg/s1600/1.png" height="269" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #666666;">Make use of objects around you...</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Leo navigates a two dimensional world filled with puzzles and traps, and it doesn't take long before they start getting pretty challenging. Each of the twenty main levels set you the same three objectives: you must collect all the coins you can find, finish within a certain time limit, and not die, not even once - each successfully completed goal earns you one star. This would be daunting for anyone but none of these goals are compulsory - they're just there to give yourself a challenge; in fact you can successfully finish a level without completing any of them.<br />
<br />
The easiest one to achieve is collecting gold coins. Getting the other two, especially together takes some skill and practice. But what's great about Leo's Fortune is that it doesn't penalise you for failing: you won't be forced to go back to the start of the level should you die, which can be so frustrating with other platformers. Instead, Leo reappears just a few paces from where he met his untimely end. There's also no limit to how many times he can perish, so you can instantly try and overcome that particularly tricky part of the puzzle without delay.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-p0IES02QYg0/U4l6ls2-N7I/AAAAAAAABA0/S4Ey-alUzyg/s1600/2.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-p0IES02QYg0/U4l6ls2-N7I/AAAAAAAABA0/S4Ey-alUzyg/s1600/2.png" height="269" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #666666;">Mind those thorns!</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The locations Leo explores are absolutely gorgeous, not only in their detail, but also how Leo interacts with his environment; for instance you can push some objects around, avoid others, and if a circular saw gets a little too close to him, his fur will be ruffled. You could spend a long time admiring the artwork (and you really should), but you've got coins to collect and a fortune to find!<br />
<br />
To help you on your way, the music and sound effects are top notch and complement the action perfectly. A few black and white cut scenes give you some background information about what's going on, but if you want to get to the action, you can just skip those, although I'd recommend you watch each at least once to fully understand what's going on.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vlG-xWZ1CI8/U4l6mkPAttI/AAAAAAAABA4/6TPIRkR1S3E/s1600/3.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vlG-xWZ1CI8/U4l6mkPAttI/AAAAAAAABA4/6TPIRkR1S3E/s1600/3.png" height="269" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #666666;">Is that structure looking at Leo?</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The controls can be a little difficult. I personally found them more frustrating on an iPhone's smaller screen than on the larger iPad, especially when you have to master a particular combination of moving, jumping, floating and changing direction in mid air. Getting it wrong too many times because you get your fingers in a twist can be a little frustrating - such are the disadvantages of touch controls. Thankfully those combos are few and far between.<br />
<br />
<i>"The controls in Leo’s Fortune have a lot of black magic hidden within the code,"</i> reveals Johan. <i>"We wanted the controls to be very precise and reactive to input but at the same time we wanted Leo to have inertia. Just making the character move left and right on a flat surface has special cases and carefully massaged code in order for the controls to feel right. There is very little science to it, and it is an iterative process of trial and error. The physics system also puts constraints on the character because technically you cannot expand anything in a rigid body physics world. In the end we had to add special zones to the levels that change how the controls work in order to get that last piece of polish."</i><br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qZn2_qYxSEQ/U4l7AGDGtJI/AAAAAAAABBc/2KJ2ZJLT9OQ/s1600/4.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qZn2_qYxSEQ/U4l7AGDGtJI/AAAAAAAABBc/2KJ2ZJLT9OQ/s1600/4.png" height="269" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #666666;">Coins... more coins...</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
If you're lucky enough to own more than one iOS device, your progress is automatically saved to iCloud, which is great since you don't need to have to go through any level or act you successfully competed on another device, unless you want to, of course.<br />
<br />
Leo is doing well in the charts, and as Johan says himself, <i>"It’s refreshing to see that a premium game without in-app purchases can make it on the App Store."</i> It could well be that Leo's success is because, just like with <a href="http://www.steveparis.net/2014/04/monument-valley-interview-with-ustwo.html">Monument Valley</a>, even a casual gamer can finish the story in a few hours, and having a completable yet challenging game is not something you experience every day. <i>"Watching my dad swipe all five fingers across the screen while laughing hysterically was a blast,"</i> Johan continues. <i>"He has never played any games before but he had tons of fun trying to make it past obstacles. It was an assurance to me that the game had visual appeal and that the character was likeable."</i><br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-slTo_Zvfg7c/U4l66nuF0eI/AAAAAAAABBE/4f7-NyccJx8/s1600/5.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-slTo_Zvfg7c/U4l66nuF0eI/AAAAAAAABBE/4f7-NyccJx8/s1600/5.png" height="269" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #666666;">Mind the circular saws...</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
And likeable he is. Even the various little grunts he utters when he falls to his death or lands on a thorn (thorns are deadly to ball-shaped creatures - didn't you know?), informs you that this isn't the end, just a minor setback.<br />
<br />
There are also a handful of optional bonus levels as you'd expect, which get unlocked after you've collected enough stars from a particular act. Don't expect to rely solely on just collecting coins to reveal them all - you'll also need to beat the clock or not die on at least one of an act's four levels; there has to be some challenge to this game!<br />
<br />
And speaking of challenges, you may notice some golden cogs in difficult to get to parts of some levels. Each one unlocks its own achievement in Game Center. Can you find them all?<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qNFDovaeg6w/U4l6_zYqgNI/AAAAAAAABBY/LeX8PDHCTXk/s1600/6.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qNFDovaeg6w/U4l6_zYqgNI/AAAAAAAABBY/LeX8PDHCTXk/s1600/6.png" height="269" width="320" /></a></div>
Also, finishing the story unlocks "hardcore mode", were dying is no longer an option. Activate it and see how far you can take Leo on his journey.<br />
<br />
Leo's Fortune is a great and enjoyable story with challenges for those keen to push themselves to the limit, as well as for the more casual players who would like to know how the story ends. It's all wrapped in a beautiful, enticing world that sounds just as good as it looks.<br />
<br />
What more could you ask for in a game?<br />
<br />
-----<br />
<br />
Version Reviewed: 1.0.3<br />
<br />
Price: £2.99 ($4.99)<br />
<br />
Size: 97.6MB<br />
<br />
Rated 9+ Infrequent/Mild Cartoon or Fantasy Violence<br />
<br />
Compatibility: Requires iOS 7.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. This app is optimized for iPhone 5.<br />
<br />
Tested on: iPhone 4S, 3rd generation iPad, both on iOS 7.1.1<br />
<br />
<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/leos-fortune/id830544402?mt=8&uo=4&at=1l3uZRt">Direct Link to the App Store</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/uXX98NbdhR0?rel=0" width="560"></iframe><br /></div>
<br />Steve Parishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14145787455201419082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2398385230099134530.post-26810936625586482842014-05-20T10:00:00.001-07:002014-05-20T10:52:48.597-07:00Hints & Tips #1 - Emoji on iOS<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pA5icbzHwE4/U3uJecf4YKI/AAAAAAAABAU/G9NOe22C6qk/s1600/photo+2.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pA5icbzHwE4/U3uJecf4YKI/AAAAAAAABAU/G9NOe22C6qk/s1600/photo+2.PNG" height="320" width="212" /></a></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">
I've been asked about this a few times so I thought it best to set it in stone, or at least in the ever flowing posts of my site.</div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">
Emoji are a series of pictograms, similar to smileys but much broader in scope, which originated in Japan, and thanks to mobile computing, their use is spreading fast.</div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;">
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<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">
Most modern operating systems allow you to see them in the messages, tweets, and Facebook posts you receive (if not, all you'll see are white squares where those images should be), but how do you get to use them yourself?</div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;">
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<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">
Here's how you can activate them on your iOS device, be an iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad, running iOS 7:</div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LWebvLRU9sE/U3uJeIw4BAI/AAAAAAAABAY/hWNcJjgukXo/s1600/photo+1.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LWebvLRU9sE/U3uJeIw4BAI/AAAAAAAABAY/hWNcJjgukXo/s1600/photo+1.PNG" height="320" width="213" /></a>1. Tap on Settings</div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">
2. Go to General > Keyboard > Keyboards</div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">
3. Tap on "Add New Keyboard"</div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">
4. Scroll down until you find "Emoji" and select it</div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">
And you're done.</div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">
Now open up an app that you can type into. You'll notice that there's a new "globe" key to the left of the spacebar.</div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">
Keep tapping on it to cycle through your keyboards or tap and hold to reveal a menu to choose from.</div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">
Whichever method you use, this is how you can access all the Emoji your iOS device can read.</div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="font-size: 12px;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;">Enjoy</span><span style="font-family: Apple Color Emoji;">.</span></div>
Steve Parishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14145787455201419082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2398385230099134530.post-83272618173596027652014-05-14T16:00:00.000-07:002014-05-14T23:07:30.171-07:00Axl and Tuna - Interview with Game Collage<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zzENtGsQUlM/U3PJsa851sI/AAAAAAAAA_k/C9qUreqQR7Y/s1600/AxlAndTuna+Icon.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zzENtGsQUlM/U3PJsa851sI/AAAAAAAAA_k/C9qUreqQR7Y/s1600/AxlAndTuna+Icon.png" height="200" width="200" /></a></div>
It's been two and a half years since <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/bobo-explores-light/id463809859?mt=8&uo=4&at=1l3uZRt">Bobo</a> leapt onto the scene and delighted numerous iPad owners and their children with its wonderful educational adventures and charmingly quirky personality, effortlessly teaching kids all about the mysteries of light.<br />
<br />
But Game Collage haven't been idle since: they've been working on a game which they're releasing today called <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/axl-tuna/id840278885?ls=1&mt=8&uo=4&at=1l3uZRt">Axl and Tuna</a> and I spoke to Juraj Hlaváč, developer of the two-man team that created this latest endless runner.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<br />
But why, after such a successful education title, did they decide to work on a game? "We're always tinkering with several ideas at the same time," explains Juraj, "and games are very much part of that mix. Before we ventured with Bobo into education, Game Collage had already produced eight games and Axl and Tuna is a continuation of that original trajectory."<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--96NRZAGilw/U3PJXu2w_-I/AAAAAAAAA_M/QTUk-8Fl8cY/s1600/TeamPhoto.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--96NRZAGilw/U3PJXu2w_-I/AAAAAAAAA_M/QTUk-8Fl8cY/s1600/TeamPhoto.jpg" height="267" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #666666;">Meet the team: Juraj Hlaváč, Dean MacAdam,<br />
and their latest creation</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
"Over the years, we've gotten pretty good at creating dynamic characters and we became curious about how two such characters could play off of each other," he continues. "We found our inspiration in the classic Laurel and Hardy skits and attempted to translate their banter into an entertaining app. We tried a number of approaches and even scrapped several prototypes along the way until we found one that worked. It turned out to be a game."<br />
<br />
You control Axl, a robot whose job it is to collect little red fuzzbots that have escaped and are now roaming free along a two-dimensional roller-coaster-type track, populated by quirky robots and other obstacles. At first glance, this looks very much like a run of the mill endless runner, similar to Jetpack Joyride: collect coins, avoid obstacles, nothing new here, but Game Collage have worked hard to inject this genre with something original.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SbO7Y_jxk2g/U3PJTn0LATI/AAAAAAAAA_A/1xkiywCpBj0/s1600/X-1.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SbO7Y_jxk2g/U3PJTn0LATI/AAAAAAAAA_A/1xkiywCpBj0/s1600/X-1.png" height="167" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #666666;">Ride along, catch that fuzzbot and avoid that other robot</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
"The most striking difference is the characters themselves," confirms Juraj. "We spent a significant amount of time developing both Axl and Tuna, the lead cast of the game, focusing on everything from visual and sound design to sophisticated physics rigs and autonomous behavior systems. All of these little pieces, each polished individually, add up to a duo of characters with bold and loveable personalities."<br />
<br />
The protagonists are indeed incredibly charming and their animation is complex and fluid, but all the other robots you encounter along the way are equally well designed. Axl is a little small on an iPhone, and Tuna's pass-bys feels disproportionately large, but to be fair, you don't look at Axl much as you play since your focus is on which obstacle to overcome next. As long as you don't fall off the track, Axl has two lives; crash once, and he'll be able to carry on, albeit leaving a trail of smoke behind him.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UvQQF8dLnKQ/U3PJZ3dL0iI/AAAAAAAAA_Q/tyNizIIYqtE/s1600/X-2.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UvQQF8dLnKQ/U3PJZ3dL0iI/AAAAAAAAA_Q/tyNizIIYqtE/s1600/X-2.png" height="167" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #666666;">There can be so much going on,<br />
Axl might bump into things</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Tuna, is a disgruntled robot bird with attitude (I wonder where they got that idea from). He pops up in a corner of the screen or flies around. Tapping on him releases a power-up which Axl must catch, these include going faster, getting an extra life, doubling up on coins, and turning the lights out; good luck when that happens!<br />
<br />
But more interesting is Style. Rather than run down a track continuously, which often ends up being repetitive and boring over time, a problem all endless runners suffer from, you can boost your score by performing optional acrobatic moves: forward and backward flips, bouncing off robots and achieving combos all contribute to your end result. To help you perfect those moves, each day brings a new randomly generated track for you to practise on. You get to learn the layout over time and where obstacles are located, helping you to try and squeeze in a few acrobatics along the way to up your score, before a new day comes and a new track with different challenges and robots is laid before you.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DCAyUiZqSWg/U3PJxaYh83I/AAAAAAAAA_8/-1ueo1YLXS8/s1600/X-lights.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DCAyUiZqSWg/U3PJxaYh83I/AAAAAAAAA_8/-1ueo1YLXS8/s1600/X-lights.png" height="167" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #666666;">Hey! Who turned off the lights?</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
"The difficulty varies daily within certain limits," explains Juraj. "The structure of the track, which includes its complexity, is different. That's very much on purpose so that you, the player, can expect a new challenge each day you pick the game up."<br />
<br />
"The tracks are the same world-wide," he continues. "In other words, the track you play on today is the same track that I play on today, on any iOS device. Having everyone on the same track means that daily scores on global leaderboards correlate to each other. And there is no need to use iCloud or web services. Each device just uses the same random seed each day."<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-abpd2m7Ldk4/U3PJfKWq1oI/AAAAAAAAA_Y/mHs48-Qnsrw/s1600/X-3.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-abpd2m7Ldk4/U3PJfKWq1oI/AAAAAAAAA_Y/mHs48-Qnsrw/s1600/X-3.png" height="167" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #666666;">Mind the gap!</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The coins Axl collects on his journey don't do much at present; you can use them to keep on playing once Axl crashes fatally, but that's it. However, the developers have further plans for this robotic duo: "the idea is to add a store in the future, featuring costumes, power-ups and such," reveals Juraj, "but it all depends on the players and what they'd like to see going forward. We value our users' feedback and want to make sure we cater to their needs."<br />
<br />
This will obviously depend on the success of the game, of course. With an App Store dominated by freemium games which entice you with a free app and a promise of many features - bound inside lucrative in-app purchases, lucrative for the developers, that is - paying for a game outright with no ads or obscene requests for payment to keep on playing is starting to feel out of place. The beautiful endless jumper <a href="http://www.steveparis.net/2013/11/ooga-jump-review.html">Ooga Jump</a> suffered from this and was forced to adopt an ad-supported alternative when potential players balked at the exorbitant £0.69 price tag. "We believe there is still a place for polished, well-executed $0.99 casual games," Juraj asserts. "I, for one, am very tired of seeing ads being constantly pushed in my face. I would much rather spend a dollar for an immersive experience that allows me to escape advertising and delivers value. We designed Axl and Tuna to be such an experience."<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Z3deqhxWmsk/U3PJo-bDszI/AAAAAAAAA_g/Lu-h8g_ktwE/s1600/X-4.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Z3deqhxWmsk/U3PJo-bDszI/AAAAAAAAA_g/Lu-h8g_ktwE/s1600/X-4.png" height="167" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #666666;">Tesla coils are deadly, yet extremely fragile</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
And this game does achieve what the developers set out to do. It's fun, beautiful and polished, and the fact that the track is set for a whole day does help with the desire to perfect your run in an attempt to beat your score in terms of the number of fuzzbots you catch, distance you achieve and how much style and panache you display along the way.<br />
<br />
The only downside is the virtual audience reaction: each time Axl achieves something, he's rewarded by applause and cheers, but I found those too loud compared to the other sound effects. You have no control over its volume level as it's lumped with the other, more discreet sound effects, but hopefully a dial to tone it down - or off - separately from the other sounds will appear in a future update.<br />
<br />
I wish it every success, although I was intrigued by the team's apparent obsession with cute animated robots; first Bobo, now Axl and Tuna. " I think robots are inherently cool and they tend to be easier to animate than more organic forms," confides Juraj. "But perhaps you hit on a question which I should ask my psychologist :)"<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YL1zDgrFSyM/U3PJwLnAKcI/AAAAAAAABAA/W_6rGwkrovo/s1600/X-6.png" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YL1zDgrFSyM/U3PJwLnAKcI/AAAAAAAABAA/W_6rGwkrovo/s1600/X-6.png" height="167" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/GS1m1vnzipA?rel=0" width="560"></iframe><br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
--<br />
<br />
Version Reviewed: 1.1.1<br />
<br />
Price: £0.69 ($0.99)<br />
<br />
Size: 57.3MB<br />
<br />
Rated 4+<br />
<br />
Compatibility: Requires iOS 6.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. This app is optimized for iPhone 5.<br />
<br />
Tested on: iPhone 4S, 3rd generation iPad, both on iOS 7.1.1<br />
<br />
Direct Link:<br />
<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/axl-tuna/id840278885?ls=1&mt=8&uo=4&at=1l3uZRt">App Store</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://gamecollage.com/apps/axl-and-tuna/">Webpage</a><br />
<div>
<br /></div>
Steve Parishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14145787455201419082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2398385230099134530.post-41199677465392220522014-04-08T04:55:00.001-07:002014-04-09T01:17:48.589-07:00Monument Valley - Interview with Ustwo<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QIoxCgrEtUk/U0PeGPIHtzI/AAAAAAAAA9g/pexQusvJJpU/s1600/Monument+Valley.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br />
<img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QIoxCgrEtUk/U0PeGPIHtzI/AAAAAAAAA9g/pexQusvJJpU/s1600/Monument+Valley.png" height="200" width="200" /></a></div>
We keep hearing bleak news when it comes to the App Store; what was once a thriving and exciting revolution is giving way to "me too" apps, poor clones of successful games and a cataclysmic avalanche of "freemium" games based on grabbing as much money out of you or your children as possible through the highly deceptive use of in-app purchases.<br />
<br />
But every now and again, something surprises and delights you, and reminds you that games are meant to give players pleasure, not frustration. <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/monument-valley/id728293409?mt=8&uo=4&at=1l3uZRt">Monument Valley</a> does exactly that.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9oixF5Dqphw/U0Pej3uyHnI/AAAAAAAAA9o/bGb4bDnX6Gs/s1600/1.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9oixF5Dqphw/U0Pej3uyHnI/AAAAAAAAA9o/bGb4bDnX6Gs/s1600/1.png" height="320" width="144" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #666666;">The first chapter<br />
sets the scene.</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
You control Ida, a lost princess, who has to make her way through ten levels of weird and impossible architecture, to unlock the mysteries of her past and her potential future. What makes this game stand out is its design. The game is not only beautiful to look at, despite its apparent graphical simplicity, but the sound effects complement it perfectly. It's a great immersive experience, whether you're enjoying it on an iPad or iPhone.<br />
<br />
The seamless integration with iCloud means that if you own more than one iOS device, you'll be able to pick up where you left off on any of them, without you having to do anything to set this up.<br />
<br />
Whichever device you own though, the game is only played in the portrait orientation. You tap where you want the princess to go, getting her to step on blocks to activate specific structural changes, or you move parts of the building around to enable her to complete her task. But that's where it gets interesting: the architecture is the most fascinating part of this game as you can only solve your problems by creating Escher-esque impossible 3D designs. Ustwo, the team behind Monument Valley, aren't the first to come up with such an idea: echochrome was there before it for instance, but Monument Valley's perfect use of iOS' touchscreen capabilities and amazing design aesthetics sets it apart from the competition. Ken Wong, the artist and designer of Mountain Valley adds, "Some people seem to want to reduce games to clones of each other if they share a mechanic. Yes, we were aware of echochrome, but only a few of the team members have played it. Sword & Sworcery, Portal and Windosill were far more influential on the design of Monument Valley."<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-N6YhvOAcjnQ/U0PfuyQADnI/AAAAAAAAA-s/7ROKdDJ29WU/s1600/_games_team_OFFICIAL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-N6YhvOAcjnQ/U0PfuyQADnI/AAAAAAAAA-s/7ROKdDJ29WU/s1600/_games_team_OFFICIAL.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #666666;">Meet the team behind Monument Valley.<br />
Ken Wong is front and centre.</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
"We like Escher," he continued. "But we also absorbed many other sources of inspiration, from Indian palaces to typography posters to Brian Eno. The idea for Monument Valley came out of brainstorming sessions a year ago. I've always wanted to make a game about architecture, and during these sessions I came across Ascending and Descending. That's what gave me the idea for guiding a character from the bottom of a building to the top. By keeping the camera far out, using an isometric perspective, we could make the architecture the main feature of the game."<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RqDwduPoDfY/U0PelewBN7I/AAAAAAAAA90/o9dUuBIXk04/s1600/2.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RqDwduPoDfY/U0PelewBN7I/AAAAAAAAA90/o9dUuBIXk04/s1600/2.png" height="320" width="144" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #666666;">Each chapter is unique<br />
and offers different challenges.</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The apparent simplicity in which the player can manipulate the structure and move the princess around belie how complex coding the game actually was, and Ken pretty much confirmed this: "creating systems so that characters could walk on impossible geometry was hard. Working with a very minimal style of visuals was hard. Creating a game that people who don't play games could not only complete but enjoy was hard."<br />
<br />
This last part may be causing some frustration with hardcore gamers, as Monument Valley, though challenging, can be completed in under two hours. But there's actually a reason for that, and it underlines the whole philosophy behind the creation of this game. "We felt that there was more value in doing a short, very focused experience with puzzles that wouldn't overly frustrate people, and having a definite end of the game," said Ken. "The sense of closure you get when finishing a game is not something most people get to experience. We also wanted to make the game feel very inviting and approachable, in everywhere from the art to the sound to the puzzle design. Challenge can play an important part in game design, but we've found there are many people out there that play more for the interactive and aesthetic experience, over the challenge."<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SdoHHBNNTrY/U0PenehrhbI/AAAAAAAAA98/tzRz3A6bRDE/s1600/3.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SdoHHBNNTrY/U0PenehrhbI/AAAAAAAAA98/tzRz3A6bRDE/s1600/3.png" height="320" width="144" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #666666;">Walk on<br />
impossible geometry.</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
And that's exactly what I found myself. Monument Valley is gorgeous, it draws you in, but the challenges are far from too complex. In fact, it doesn't take long before a solution presents itself; you just have to learn to not think in the usual three-dimensional way, and often, turning or rotating an object just so will bring two faraway sections close together, allowing Ida to carry on with her quest.<br />
<br />
Sadly though, it feels that just as you get used to the more complex levels, the story finishes much too soon. But this may not actually be the end of the road for Ida and the mysterious Crow People, as Ken revealed to me: "during production we wanted to remain very focused on creating the best standalone experience, not holding anything back for the future. We decided we'd wait and see what people thought. The response has been overwhelmingly positive and players definitely want more levels, so we're going to make some. It’s a bit early to say when, but we're going to stick by our principles of making every chapter a special, unique experience."<br />
<br />
So if you loved the idea of wondering through mind bending architecture but somehow were put off by the shortness of the adventure, hold on to your eternal staircase or impossible three-dimensional triangle, as there may be more to come.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-68igBNmTKfU/U0Pet_YaHoI/AAAAAAAAA-U/8TKBn2HzcJo/s1600/7.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-68igBNmTKfU/U0Pet_YaHoI/AAAAAAAAA-U/8TKBn2HzcJo/s1600/7.png" height="320" width="144" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #666666;">You'll encounter this<br />
mysterious ghost more<br />
than once on your journey.</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In the meantime, £2.49 is a small price to pay for a game designed to be enjoyed and give you a smile as you solve an interesting puzzle. It's a lot cheaper than supposedly free games that force you to wait for ever for a particular task to finish unless you pay real money to complete it quicker. What joy is there in such games? You'll get joy in spades with Monument Valley.<br />
<br />
--<br />
<br />
<b>Version Reviewed:</b> 1.0.3<br />
<br />
<b>Price:</b> £2.49 ($3.99)<br />
<br />
<b>Size:</b> 147MB<br />
<br />
<b>Rated:</b> 4+<br />
<br />
<b>Compatibility:</b> Requires iOS 6.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPhone 5c, iPhone 5s, iPad, and iPod touch. This app is optimized for iPhone 5.<br />
<br />
<b>Tested on:</b> iPhone 4S, 3rd generation iPad, 1st generation iPad mini, all on iOS 7.1.<br />
<br />
<b><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/monument-valley/id728293409?mt=8&uo=4&at=1l3uZRt">Direct Link to App Store</a></b><br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hbIjRvy6T9I/U0PetMfxORI/AAAAAAAAA-Q/NXI9vxfAJZc/s1600/5.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hbIjRvy6T9I/U0PetMfxORI/AAAAAAAAA-Q/NXI9vxfAJZc/s1600/5.png" height="320" width="144" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #666666;">It's like being inside a<br />
musical box. Oh, wait!</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NE7CNsxcghc/U0PepQwiUmI/AAAAAAAAA-E/slggj4Ne074/s1600/4.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NE7CNsxcghc/U0PepQwiUmI/AAAAAAAAA-E/slggj4Ne074/s1600/4.png" height="320" width="144" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #666666;">Each chapter ends with<br />
Ida offering a gift.</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9fz-oJvCB0w/U0PezarbQYI/AAAAAAAAA-k/1Iw7AmKosC4/s1600/6.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9fz-oJvCB0w/U0PezarbQYI/AAAAAAAAA-k/1Iw7AmKosC4/s1600/6.png" height="320" width="144" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #666666;">Where to now?</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/K2P-YKsHpNs?rel=0" width="640"></iframe><br />
<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/wC1jHHF_Wjo?rel=0" width="640"></iframe><br /></div>
Steve Parishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14145787455201419082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2398385230099134530.post-25269779996134487512014-04-05T04:27:00.000-07:002014-04-08T04:27:42.880-07:00ANM News Flash: White Pride Standoff<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jHKINKtD5a8/U0Pc63lzXCI/AAAAAAAAA9U/7ZT3NJ514LY/s1600/WhitePride.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jHKINKtD5a8/U0Pc63lzXCI/AAAAAAAAA9U/7ZT3NJ514LY/s1600/WhitePride.jpg" /></a></div>
A demonstration in support of White Pride turned into a fiasco in Swansea on Saturday when it became clear that none of the parties present were singing from the same hymn sheet.<br />
<br />
The confusion began this week after Councillor David Phillips had stated his objection to the far right demo taking place in the city and seeking police co-operation to relegate it to a less central location.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<br />
This determined position of the Council led people to believe the demo was off and late in the week the activist group Unite Against Fascism published a statement which said:<br />
<br />
"the police have responded by saying that as they refused the offered sites any attempt by the NF to gather elsewhere will be met by dispersal and arrests if necessary"<br />
<br />
The UAF then encouraged its members to attend the anti-Bedroom Tax demo in Cardiff instead. Nevertheless counter-demonstrators still substantially outnumbered the White Priders although both sides accused the other of importing their crowd from outside Swansea.<br />
<br />
And perhaps inevitably there were two arrests as demonstrators broke through the police cordon.<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/f6s5oT86PFA" width="640"></iframe><br /></div>
Steve Parishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14145787455201419082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2398385230099134530.post-44760071555692856322014-03-02T04:24:00.000-08:002014-04-08T04:25:02.230-07:00Paving Paradise: Bag Up the Bay<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-umIzA-Pe7I8/U0PcKunDkXI/AAAAAAAAA9M/i6jo8IpVjmE/s1600/BagUp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-umIzA-Pe7I8/U0PcKunDkXI/AAAAAAAAA9M/i6jo8IpVjmE/s1600/BagUp.jpg" /></a></div>
As you'd expect Swansea city council regularly cleans its beaches, but the recent storms have washed up more waste than usual and a special volunteer's day was organised to give the main beach a good once over.<br />
<br />
Over 100 people took part and collected an impressive 1,020kg of rubbish.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/ZK4NHDqIvOg" width="640"></iframe><br /></div>
Steve Parishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14145787455201419082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2398385230099134530.post-81685588521125196092014-02-19T05:36:00.000-08:002014-04-08T04:21:28.580-07:00ANM News Flash - ATOS Demo, Swansea<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TkNdqp5Houk/U0PQ9hWzscI/AAAAAAAAA8I/7seF5U3gW_k/s1600/1-ATOS+Demo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TkNdqp5Houk/U0PQ9hWzscI/AAAAAAAAA8I/7seF5U3gW_k/s1600/1-ATOS+Demo.jpg" /></a></div>
Citizens met outside Atos Offices in Grove Place in Swansea on Wednesday, as they did in cities and towns all over the UK to protest at the manner in which Atos, a French multinational contracted by the Coalition Government to oversea disability assessments and cuts has conducted itself.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
David Cameron reassured Britain recently that no expense would be spared to help those with flooded homes, a stark contrast to the experiences of those sick, disabled, and often dying people deemed fit to work.<br />
<br />
On the same day, David Cameron said that cutting benefits is part of a "moral mission" and that the welfare reforms are about giving "new purpose, new opportunity, new hope" -- but there wasn't much evidence of that among the protesters in Swansea today.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/DKX3U72wqFI" width="640"></iframe><br />
<br /></div>
Steve Parishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14145787455201419082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2398385230099134530.post-79866145138024128772014-02-19T04:19:00.000-08:002014-04-08T04:20:20.175-07:00MacWorld Article: iMovie Tutorial: How to use the Precision Editor in iMovie for the iPad<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-g3hnQYRG7XI/U0PaT-LMXlI/AAAAAAAAA9A/cESeLLFMVKU/s1600/5-macworld.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-g3hnQYRG7XI/U0PaT-LMXlI/AAAAAAAAA9A/cESeLLFMVKU/s1600/5-macworld.jpg" /></a></div>
Despite the fact that iMovie for iOS is a single program, capable of running on any compatible device, be it an iPhone, iPod touch or iPad, some features can only be accessed on the latter. One of these is known as the Precision Editor. We've looked before at how it works on a Mac, so let's see what you can do with it on an iPad. [<a href="http://www.macworld.co.uk/how-to/iosapps/use-precision-editor-in-imovie-3502657/">Read the read at MacWorld UK</a>]Steve Parishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14145787455201419082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2398385230099134530.post-34705758326165581542014-02-17T03:51:00.000-08:002014-04-08T03:53:02.394-07:00MacWorld Article: Nine of the best science-based education apps for the iPad/iPhone<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Es1btzCgq9g/U0PUqJnhybI/AAAAAAAAA8w/U0OiaoWY_SM/s1600/4-macworld.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Es1btzCgq9g/U0PUqJnhybI/AAAAAAAAA8w/U0OiaoWY_SM/s1600/4-macworld.jpg" /></a></div>
<div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: AktivGrotesk-Regular, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0.9375em; margin-top: 0.3125em; outline: none;">
The iPad is ushering a revolution in the world of education. Now, not only can you read about information, you can interact with it as well, even if you’re nowhere near lab or can’t perform hands-on experiments. It also allows you to gain access to a museum’s exhibits without ever having to leave your desk (or bed, or bench, but possibly not your bath).</div>
<div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: AktivGrotesk-Regular, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0.9375em; margin-top: 0.3125em; outline: none;">
We’ve collected nine of the best science-based education apps out there, from old classics to brand new additions. Together, they will show you what you can achieve with today’s technology and perhaps open your mind to what will be possible in the future. [<a href="http://www.macworld.co.uk/feature/iosapps/nine-of-best-science-apps-for-ipad-iphone-3502231/">Read the rest at MacWorld UK</a>]</div>
Steve Parishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14145787455201419082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2398385230099134530.post-61030413248462330592014-02-14T03:49:00.000-08:002014-04-08T03:49:55.845-07:00MacWorld Article: How to create titles in iMovie for Mac<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CnZZGE3nSOQ/U0PUI7nZ91I/AAAAAAAAA8o/TKjSPVQ9oNk/s1600/3-macworld.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CnZZGE3nSOQ/U0PUI7nZ91I/AAAAAAAAA8o/TKjSPVQ9oNk/s1600/3-macworld.jpg" /></a></div>
Titles are an essential part of your home movies. Obviously, any movie needs a title, but you can also use them to introduce a new person, as we often see in documentaries or news reports, or new locations, for instance. iMovie 10’s title options are a bit of a mixed bag: you have at your disposal 48 different ones to choose from, but although most contain dynamic and animated effects, too many can’t be edited - you can’t even change the letters’ colour in some of them. Veteran iMovie users will be disappointed by this, and it’s possible that this may be a bug in the software. But as we wait for Apple to fix this, let’s have a look at how titles work in iMovie 10. [<a href="http://www.macworld.co.uk/how-to/mac-software/create-titles-in-imovie-3502066/">Read the rest at MacWorld UK</a>]Steve Parishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14145787455201419082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2398385230099134530.post-52646360615771391012014-01-22T03:43:00.000-08:002014-04-08T03:44:09.733-07:00MacWorld Article: Create a movie trailer using iMovie on the iPad or iPhone<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ryhr3ymV3vI/U0PS2lpAnOI/AAAAAAAAA8c/Zy6ADbpxBko/s1600/2-macworld.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ryhr3ymV3vI/U0PS2lpAnOI/AAAAAAAAA8c/Zy6ADbpxBko/s1600/2-macworld.jpg" /></a></div>
Making a movie can be a lot of fun, especially on a small portable device, since you can shoot your project and have it finished and ready to share by the time you get back home. Depending on your data plan, you might even be able to upload it to YouTube before you reach your doorstep.<br />
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But if you want to do a good job of it, you’ll quickly find out that editing takes time, so how do you balance a fine edit with a quick short film to share with your friends and family? By making a trailer. [<a href="http://www.macworld.co.uk/how-to/iosapps/create-movie-trailer-using-imovie-3498223/">Read the rest at MacWorld UK</a>]Steve Parishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14145787455201419082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2398385230099134530.post-7924692854573889592014-01-22T03:41:00.000-08:002014-04-08T03:42:04.279-07:00MacWorld Article: Fine tune a movie using iMovie for Mac Precision Editor<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_xybiOhCt1M/U0PSUKd8zcI/AAAAAAAAA8U/YvA8NLz8ixM/s1600/1-macworld.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_xybiOhCt1M/U0PSUKd8zcI/AAAAAAAAA8U/YvA8NLz8ixM/s1600/1-macworld.jpg" /></a></div>
The latest version of iMovie has seen many changes, with numerous features having been removed for the sake of keeping video editing as simple as possible. The idea seems to be that if you wish to have more advanced tools, an inexpensive and professional-grade application is available under the name of Final Cut Pro X. But this doesn’t mean that iMovie has been reduced to an absolutely bare-bones program. There are many features available to you to help you fine tune your edit with great precision, just like the appropriately named ‘Precision Editor’ which we’ll be exploring in detail. [<a href="http://www.macworld.co.uk/how-to/mac-software/fine-tune-your-edit-using-precision-editor-in-imovie-3498224/">Read the rest at MacWorld UK</a>]Steve Parishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14145787455201419082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2398385230099134530.post-87762877566451800492014-01-18T12:31:00.001-08:002014-01-21T05:13:42.696-08:00Breathing Water<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
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<span style="font-size: 12px;">Anyone who's done a bit of scuba diving would relish the idea of breathing underwater without having to bother with any cumbersome equipment. Bite down on a small device's mouth piece and breathe normally, while it extracts the oxygen you need from the surrounding water, as you need it. This is of course the stuff of science fiction.</span></div>
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Which is why a recent article in the <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2540610/The-gadget-turns-FISH-Mask-extracts-oxygen-ocean-breath-continuously-underwater.html">Daily Mail</a> sounded intriguing. It's about Jeabyun Yeon, a South Korean designer, who claims to be working on such a device. It's not even a proof of concept yet, just an idea, but the hopes is that with Triton, people will be able to breathe underwater.<br />
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The pictures look great and remind me of a <a href="http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/A99_aquata_breather">similar device</a> used by Obi Wan and Qui-Gon in The Phantom Menace, although it's of course much bigger (Star Wars is sci-fi after all, and has access to better imaginary technology than our own universe can manage).</div>
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But is it actually possible? Would we ever be able to grab enough oxygen from water to satisfy our body's needs with each breath we take? I have my doubts.</div>
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We can't breathe water for many reasons: it's much denser and more viscous than air, but this wouldn't stop us from surviving in it, as there can be <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquid_breathing">liquids we could breathe</a>.</div>
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What makes water useless as an oxygen provider for us humans, is how little of it there is in there in the first place.</div>
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The amount of dissolved oxygen depends <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxygen">on many factors</a>, like how well aerated the water is, the ambient temperature, the atmospheric pressure and the water's salinity. But to give you an idea, at 25 degrees Celsius, freshwater contains about 6ml of oxygen per litre, while saltwater has about 5ml. The colder the water gets, the more oxygen can dissolve in it, up to 14.6ml/l at zero degrees.</div>
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But unbearable temperatures aside, even that wouldn't cut it for us as we're used to much higher concentrations since our atmosphere is composed of 20.8% oxygen.</div>
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It doesn't mean we use all of this oxygen of course: the air we breathe out has around 16% oxygen, which means our lungs capture about a quarter of it (or 5% of the total air we breathe). Still, 5% is much higher than even 14.6ml per litre.</div>
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How can fish survive in this? Two reasons: they're cold blooded, so they need much less oxygen than we do, and their gills are extremely efficient: <a href="http://www.tfhmagazine.com/aquarium-basics/columns/aeration-and-oxygenation.htm">they capture around 80% of the dissolved oxygen</a>.</div>
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So could a device like Triton, the one proposed by this South Korean designer, allow us to breathe underwater?</div>
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At rest, <a href="http://www.breathing.com/articles/how-much-air.htm">we breathe in about half a litre of air</a> on average. This can be a very misleading number as many factors can affect this, including our size and weight, and the slightest movement on our part will increase our oxygen requirement, but let's start with half a litre per breath.</div>
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This means that we breathe in 100ml of oxygen and take in 25ml of it (20% of 500ml is 100ml, and one quarter of 100ml is 25ml).</div>
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Being in the water, our intake would increase as we'd be swimming, and expending energy to keep warm, so I'm going to assume we'd need four times as much (in high peak activities, we can use up 6 litres of air per breath so two litres is actually a pretty conservative estimate).</div>
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This means that we'd be consuming 100ml of oxygen per breath. Let's say the dissolved oxygen level in water is 10ml/litre (a temperature somewhere between zero and 25 degrees), so we'd need to filter out 10 litres of water per breath just to grab those 100ml of oxygen we need to consume. And that's assuming Triton would be 100% efficient, and how many devices do we know that are?</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #666666;">Exploring the seas, the more traditional way.</span></i></td></tr>
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This just isn't practical for such a small device. We'd need a bigger machine to collect the oxygen for us into tanks, and there goes the advantage over bulky traditional scuba diving equipment, although such a device would enable us to stay under for longer periods of time...</div>
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But then, we'd encounter another problem: we'd be breathing in 100% oxygen. Our lungs just aren't designed to cope with so much highly oxidising air, and <a href="http://science.howstuffworks.com/question4931.htm">the consequences aren't good</a> if we breathe that for any length of time.</div>
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When we do, fluid accumulates in our lungs, their alveoli's efficiency is reduced which means we must breathe in more to get enough oxygen, we can develop chest pains, and those alveoli can even collapse. Put simply, breathing 100% oxygen at a normal pressure isn't good for us. </div>
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Reduce the pressure and the problems are alleviated, but being submerged increases that pressure, so the results could be even worse underwater: we could experience nausea, dizziness, blurred vision, seizures and convulsions... Still fancy the idea?</div>
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So sadly, such devices aren't feasible and will remain the stuff of science fiction. Sure, our technology will improve, but we can't extract more oxygen from water than is there, and our bodies are designed to need more oxygen than water can provide. No matter how advanced our technology gets, we're still limited by the confines of our own biochemistry.</div>
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We're land-dwelling mammals, and if we want to survive underwater, it looks like we'll always need to take the air we breathe with us.<br />
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Steve Parishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14145787455201419082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2398385230099134530.post-66491796097364997842014-01-12T01:53:00.001-08:002014-01-13T02:17:14.737-08:00Bountiful and Safe Energy - The Lure of Helium-3<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mkzkiHOXabQ/UtJkNkg9lFI/AAAAAAAAA6M/5WVxh8U61AU/s1600/1-Moon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mkzkiHOXabQ/UtJkNkg9lFI/AAAAAAAAA6M/5WVxh8U61AU/s1600/1-Moon.jpg" height="200" width="320" /></a></div>
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We’re facing a lot of problems as a species: one of them is our ever-increasing need for energy, which is putting a huge amount of pressure on our environment. There’s no denying that we’re responsible for Climate Change, no matter what the politicians say - well, there is, as long as you choose to ignore the <a href="http://www.salon.com/2014/01/09/9135_out_of_9136_scientists_believe_climate_change_is_happening">9,135 scientists</a> who are convinced our pollution is affecting the planet’s atmosphere, and listen to the solitary academic who says it’s nothing to do with us.</div>
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In our quest to find alternatives, we have those who still like to burn stuff, with shale gas being the latest exciting energy du jour among big companies and politicians, but definitely not among the general population. It’s ironic, for instance, that France has banned fracking in its territory, so French company <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-25695813">Total is investing in the UK’</a>s own fracking efforts.</div>
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But what are we to do? We’re constantly told that solar and wind technology aren't there yet (but frankly, if every roof had some panels and every garden had a wind turbine, I’m sure it would greatly alleviate our need to burn or frack anything, don’t you?), and nuclear power although highly effective (France derives <a href="http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/Country-Profiles/Countries-A-F/France/">over 75% of its electricity</a> from it), is also fatally dangerous when things go wrong (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fukushima_Daiichi_nuclear_disaster">Fukushima, anyone</a>?)</div>
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In all the discussion, another form of non-polluting energy has popped up in recent years, Helium-3. What is it and could we ever use it to supply our gargantuan appetite for power?<br />
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<b>What is Helium-3?</b></div>
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To say Helium-3 is uncommon would be an understatement. The nearest and biggest constantly running fusion generator that we know of, the sun, produces Helium by combining - or fusing - two Hydrogen atoms together. But the process isn’t perfect and one in every 10,000 comes out as Helium-3, a regular Helium atom which is missing a neutron. Despite this, it’s an extremely stable compound and if it has a half-life, it’s so long as to be irrelevant.</div>
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Closer to home, Helium-3 is as rare as it gets. It was originally seen as a <a href="http://news.discovery.com/earth/the-outfall-of-a-helium-3-crisis.htm">waste-product</a> from the creation of hydrogen bombs. These days, <a href="http://www.sciences360.com/index.php/the-chemical-properties-of-helium-3-he3-and-its-potential-usefulness-24992/">15kg a year</a> are recovered from decaying nuclear weapons. This is obviously not a sustainable means of production. It’s possible to create Helium-3 in other ways, but it’s not an easy process which is reflected in its price; although you used to be able to get a litre of Helium-3 for around US$150, <a href="http://news.discovery.com/earth/the-outfall-of-a-helium-3-crisis.htm">current prices</a> are closer to US$2,000-5,000. </div>
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So it’s not something you’re going to find in any corner drug store.</div>
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Helium-3 is currently used for numerous diagnostic and security purposes, like greatly enhancing lung MRI imagery or as part of military equipment designed to check for nuclear cargo. http://news.discovery.com/earth/the-outfall-of-a-helium-3-crisis.htm</div>
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<b>Extraterrestrial Activity</b></div>
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Our ozone layer filters out most radiation coming from the sun, and it is also believed to be responsible for deflecting any Helium-3 produced by our friendly neighbouring star away from us… but it does bombard our moon constantly. This discovery was made by analysing the rocks brought back from the Apollo missions (and some of you thought these missions were faked, tsk, tsk). In fact it’s estimated that there might be one million tonnes of Helium-3 on the moon. This may sound like a lot, but it’s still a pretty rare compound there as well: although Helium-4, the more traditional form of helium, can be found in 28 parts per million on the moon’s upper layer, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helium-3">Helium-3</a> is only there between 1 and 50 parts per <i>billion</i>, so it won't be as easy as picking up some lunar dust and bringing it back home.</div>
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On the contrary, it would be a huge undertaking, necessitating a base of operations and a factory of some sorts on the moon to make it feasible - which is why it’s very exciting that we've finally gone back to our natural satellite with the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25356603">successful landing</a> of the Chinese robotic rover Yutu (Jade Rabbit) as it could be a first step to this becoming a reality.</div>
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<b>Fission, Meet Fusion</b></div>
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But why would we want to go to the extraordinary expense of starting any industry on another world? Because the potentials benefits are huge.</div>
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It’s estimated that 25 tons - a single payload for the now defunct Nasa space shuttle - <a href="http://www.asi.org/adb/02/09/he3-intro.html">could power the entire USA for a year</a>. The entire lunar reserves could potentially power our planet for the next 5-10,000 years. Nothing to be sniffed at.</div>
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But how could we make use of Helium-3? Through nuclear fusion.</div>
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Currently, our nuclear reactors are fission-based, which means they take a large atom, like Uranium, and break it, releasing huge amounts of energy, but also lots of lethal radiation and hazardous waste which needs to be stored somewhere.</div>
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Our current experimental fusion reactors work by fusing two smaller elements, like Tritium and Deuterium, to create Helium, lots of energy, no waste, but also Neutron radiation, which is far from good.</div>
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The idea behind Helium-3 is that when fused with Deuterium, the only by-product is again Helium, no waste, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helium-3">but this time</a>, just one loose high-energy Proton (harnessing this proton will produce the electricity we crave) </div>
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Sadly, even though protons are the most abundant type of particle in deep space, it’s been <a href="http://phys.org/news11024.html">recently found</a> to be much more damaging than expected to DNA, the building blocks of life, so there’s really no such thing as a free and safe lunch.</div>
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Is this the key to bountiful energy in the future?</div>
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Well, I’m not entirely convinced. The initial expense will be tremendous, and once the compound is processed, returned to Earth and placed in a fusion reactor, we’re looking at a pretty big bill to pay back for all that original investment, so don’t expect cheaper prices for us consumers any time soon, but it will alleviate our obsession to pump carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, so that’s a big plus and failing a more homegrown solution, could be a good reason to check it out.</div>
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<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/tv-season/space-1999-series-1/id275493861?uo=4&at=1l3uZRt">Moon Base Alpha</a>, here we come. Maybe.</div>
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Steve Parishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14145787455201419082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2398385230099134530.post-33604353256749594522014-01-09T07:20:00.001-08:002014-01-10T00:43:46.054-08:00God is Love: Wholesome Christian Values<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">
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<span style="font-size: 12px;">I had an interesting conversation with my father the other day. He's currently attending a series of lectures which attempt to analyse when and why man invented god.</span></div>
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During our talk, he told me that his own belief is there's nothing after death. We die, and that's it. This was interesting because it made me wonder why he chose to indoctrinate my brother and I into the Christian religion, and I took this opportunity to ask him.</div>
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His response was that it was important to be taught the beliefs of one's culture and that it offered us roots and values. In fact, values was the most important thing to get out of the Fibble.</div>
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I was doing a little research on the Fibble recently about <a href="http://www.steveparis.net/2013/12/little-baby-jesus.html">the events surrounding Jesus' birth</a>, and I'd amassed a lot of other notes about what this particular god was supposed to have taught us. I could see that when it comes to values, it was really far from clear how this belief system offered us a good guide to how any society should behave, at least one that claims to be loving and supporting. Since I have three daughters, I have a particular interest in how women are treated, but I've also touched on other aspects to hopefully offer a clearer picture of the kind of society Jehovah wants us to have.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-p3ds9zk-R-I/Us6wEutQvcI/AAAAAAAAA5I/PjekYWjmZ1g/s1600/stoning.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-p3ds9zk-R-I/Us6wEutQvcI/AAAAAAAAA5I/PjekYWjmZ1g/s1600/stoning.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #666666;">There ain't nothing like a good stoning...</span></i></td></tr>
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<b>You’re No Son Of Mine</b></div>
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Let's start with kids. It's clear that "spare the rod, spoil the child" is a saying that's pretty close to Jehovah's heart. Well, it would have to be wouldn't it, since it's part of the Fibble (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs+13%3A24&version=KJV">Proverbs 13:24</a>).</div>
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If your son is stubborn or rebellious, and doesn't listen to you, you can stone the little blighter to death (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy+21%3A18-21&version=KJV">Deuteronomy 21:18-21</a>). Should he dare to curse, you might as well start procreating again, because the sentence is, again, death. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus+21%3A17&version=KJV">Exodus 21:17</a>).</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #666666;">The bear necessities?</span></i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12px;">It goes without saying that such extreme punishment can be quite traumatic on a family, so it's good to know that god will be happy to step in and help out. He can send ravens to pluck out your son's eyes if he dares to mock you (</span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs%2030:17&version=KJV" style="font-size: 12px;">Proverbs 30:17</a><span style="font-size: 12px;">). And keep an eye out (if you've got any left) for bears if you plan on teasing a stranger for being bald, for if you do, god will send two of his furry friends to finish you and your friends off. (</span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Kings%202:23-24&version=KJV" style="font-size: 12px;">2 Kings 2:23-24</a><span style="font-size: 12px;">)</span></div>
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Being a kid can't have been much fun in those days, but have you noticed that these references to children are actually to sons? Does that mean that daughters behaved better and didn't need to be punished? Well, not quite...</div>
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<b>Your Lot in Life</b></div>
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To understand how women are treated in the Fibble, let's take a look at Lot.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #666666;">"Mos Eisley. You will never find a more wretched<br />
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Lot lived in Sodom, a depraved city. From what I heard, it was even worse than Tatooine's Mos Eisley. Lot and his children were spared its destruction thanks to the help of two angels, so the way he behaved must've been viewed by god to be decent and honourable. After all, you don't call someone Righteous for nothing. And indeed, he was brave and courageous: according to <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2019:4-5&version=KJV">Genesis 19:4-5</a>, the men of Sodom heard that Lot was sheltering two strangers and went to his house demanding he brought them out so they could rape them. Lot refused and protected his guests. Pretty cool, eh? I'd feel safe if I were his guest... But not if I were his daughter. You see, the story continues and <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2019:6-8&version=KJV">Genesis 19:6-8</a> tells us Lot offered his own virgin daughters as an alternative. Don't rape my guests but rape my daughters? Those two strangers - who were in fact angels - didn't let that happen, but Lot had no way of knowing that when he made the offer.</div>
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In fact, a very similar event took place in the village of Gibeah, when a Levite and his wife were enjoying the hospitality of an old man. <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Judges%2019:22-28&version=KJV">Judges 19:22-28</a> tells us some men demanded the Levite be brought out so they could rape him (sound familiar? Looks like Sodom was far from unique). Just like Lot, the old man refused, protected his guest, and offered his own daughter and the Levite's wife instead. I guess there were no angels to save the day this time though: the Levite himself sent his wife to the mob, she was raped to death, and he left the next day. This is just a taste of how the Fibble treats women. How do you think of it so far?</div>
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Let's go back to Lot, because his adventures weren't over. He may have survived the destruction of Sodom with his two daughters, but he lost his wife in the process. How on earth would he be able to have sons and further his line? Why, by incest, of course! It's not like incest is unheard of in the Fibble, after all once Adam and Eve were cast out of Paradise, they had to populate the Earth, so all their grandchildren had to come from somewhere... And the same with Noah's family. How are you expected to repopulate the planet if you've only got your own family to draw from? So according to <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2019:30-38&version=KJV">Genesis 19:30-38</a>, Lot's daughters got him drunk, had their evil way with him and each produced him a son.</div>
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If you think that was a rather racy passage for the Fibble, you'd better look away because here comes <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ezekiel%2023:11-21&version=KJV">Ezekiel 23:11-21</a>, were we find a description of sex involving multiple partners, a graphic representation of their manhood, and how much semen these butch lovers were able to produce. It's there for all to see. If such passages were read more often, I probably would've attended church regularly as a teenager!</div>
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<b>Shut Up, Just Shut Up, Shut Up</b></div>
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Lot's story shows us that being a woman is clearly a serious disadvantage in this world, and the rest of the Fibble doesn't really get better for them.</div>
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The Fibble talks about rape a lot and provides means of dealing with it. For instance, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy%2022:28-29&version=KJV">Deuteronomy 22:28-29</a> states that if a man sleeps with a woman and they are discovered, then he has to pay her father 50 shekels and marry her. Mary your rapist, how loving is that? Of course if he's not discovered, we have to assume that he's free to carry on raping. <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus%2022:16-17&version=KJV">Exodus 22:16-17</a> says pretty much the same thing, although the size of the monetary recompense is left open, possibly allowing for fluctuations in the market.</div>
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Stoning is a popular punishment in the Fibble and it pops up in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy%2022:13-21&version=KJV">Deuteronomy 22:13-21</a> where we learn that a woman should be killed if it's discovered she'd lost her virginity prior to getting married.</div>
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Further, if a woman is married and were to be assaulted in a city, both her and the man who raped her are to be, you guessed it, stoned to death according to <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy%2022:23-24&version=KJV">Deuteronomy 22:23-24</a>, he for defiling another man's wife and she for not speaking out.</div>
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We can probably conclude that if you're a woman, it may be safer for you not to interact with any men you don't know so you can live a nice productive life. Well... not quite. For one thing, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Corinthians%2014:34%20&version=KJV">1 Corinthians 14:34 </a>states that you must keep quiet in churches - you are not permitted to speak there.</div>
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But that's only in churches. The rest of the time, everything's ok, right? Not accordingly to <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Timothy%202:12&version=KJV">1 Timothy 2:12</a>; women should be silent at all times, they should not challenge the authority of men, nor are they allowed to teach. Don't you just love patriarchy?<br />
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A woman can’t even run to the aid of her husband: if he’s in a fight with another man and his wife happens to touch the opponent’s genitals as she prises that thug off her husband, he’ll have her hand chopped off (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=deuteronomy%2025:11-12&version=KJV">Deuteronomy 25:11-12</a>).</div>
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Essentially, women are the property of men, they should shut up, show no initiative, and do as they're told. If they're ever raped, they'll most likely get punished for it. It makes me wonder why any woman would willingly want to be a Christian. It might also explain our society's apparent casual attitude towards rape.</div>
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So, we've established that women are pretty much slaves, but how are actual women slaves treated in the Fibble? According to <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Leviticus%2019:20-22&version=KJV">Leviticus 19:20-22</a>, unlike raping a city or country girl, raping another man's slave doesn't sound too bad. The woman must be punished of course (and by punished, I mean killed), but that same passage explains how the man can atone for his action, and it doesn't sound like such a big deal. After all, how hard can it be to offer a priest an unblemished ram from his flock as a guilt offering?</div>
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But hold on a second. Slavery? In the Bible? I mean the Fibble? I'm afraid so. Not only is slavery mentioned, it's condoned. <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Leviticus%2025:44-46&version=KJV">Leviticus 25:44-46</a> tells you the kind of slaves you can have and that your children can even inherit them, since they're property. <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus%2021:1-11&version=KJV">Exodus 21:1-11</a>, goes into greater detail, like what to do if you free a slave but his wife and children are still your property (hint: he must either leave them behind or remain with them and be your slave until his death). Even worse, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Leviticus%2027:3-7&version=KJV">Leviticus 27:3-7</a> makes it clear how much you're expected to pay for the different types of slaves; males, females, children, and elderly. What was that again about the god of love?</div>
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<b>All The Lovely People</b></div>
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Well, god and love don't seem to mix too well. Heck, he doesn't like most of his creation. <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Leviticus%2021:16-24&version=KJV">Leviticus 21:16-24</a> states that anyone with so much as a blemish will not be offered "the bread of God". And let's face it, who hasn't got a blemish? Of course, the blind and the lame are excluded too. Flat noses aren't in favour, nor are hunchbacks or little people. And if you’re disabled, well, you get the picture. So much for being made in his own image. The mirror was obviously warped, and something went terribly wrong in the replication process.</div>
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<b>Don't be Selfish with the Shellfish</b></div>
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It doesn’t stop there. Jehovah is ever so picky when telling his favourite creation how to behave. Of course, we all know that being a homosexual is a big no-no. <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Leviticus%2018:22&version=KJV">Leviticus 18:22</a> and <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Leviticus%2020:13&version=KJV">20:13</a> amongst others make that perfectly clear.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #666666;">Read the Fibble fully before getting a tattoo...</span></i></td></tr>
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But the Fibble reaches deep down and tries to control every facet of your life (whatever happened to free will?). You shouldn't, for instance, wear gold jewellery (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Peter%203:3&version=KJV">1 Peter 3:3</a>) - I wonder how the makers of all those gold crucifix necklaces think about that, let alone the people who wear them!</div>
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And that's not all. <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Leviticus%2010:6&version=KJV">Leviticus 10:6</a> states that your clothes must be in good nick and that your hair must not be unkempt. Also, don't trim your beard (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Leviticus%2019:27&version=KJV">Leviticus 19:27</a>), get tattoos (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Leviticus%2019:28&version=KJV">Leviticus 19:28</a>) or wear clothes made of mixed fabrics (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Leviticus%2019:19&version=KJV">Leviticus 19:19</a>).</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #666666;">So sinfully delicious...</span></i></td></tr>
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Wait, there's more! The Fibble controls your diet too. Don't even think of eating anything from the sea that hasn't got fins or scales (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy%2014:9-10&version=KJV">Deuteronomy 14:9-10</a>), so you better put that prawn cocktail down. Fat and blood? Sorry, no (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Leviticus%203:17&version=KJV">Leviticus 3:17</a>). Camels, rabbits, hare and pork are also off the menu (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Leviticus%2011:4-7&version=KJV">Leviticus 11:4-7</a>), but I didn't see any mention of horse, so that Findus lasagna should still be ok.</div>
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All of these edicts mean that most people who call themselves Christians are actually going against their god's wishes every day of their lives. But many of these certainly do know that homosexuality is a sin in the eyes of their god, and clamour about it to any who won't listen. As far as I understand, you can't pick and choose which verses to follow and which ones to ignore; it's a whole or nothing kind of deal (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy%2012:32&version=KJV">Deuteronomy 12:32</a> and <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%2022:18-19&version=KJV">Revelation 22:18-19</a> among others). What was that saying about letting the one who is without sin cast the first stone? (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%208:7&version=KJV">John 8:7</a>)</div>
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Of course one of the most famous quotes of the Fibble can be found in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%206:31&version=KJV">Luke 6:31</a> and <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%207:12&version=KJV">Matthew 7:12</a>: "Do to others as you would have them do to you." It's a great sentiment, and words to live by for sure, but putting them in context next to the rest of the Fibble, and looking at all the above examples, you may start to wonder how good and wise those words actually are.</div>
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We don't really think it's ok to kill a child because he's rude to his parents, or to rape a woman and treat her as an object without a mind of her own who should do as her owner desires, nor do we think slavery and incest are acceptable, so why do we think a series of books which condones all of the above and more besides, written centuries ago by an incredibly brutal and primitive society, is seen as a shining example of wholesome values that should still be applicable today? Isn't it time we let go of the past and look to the future, or at least teach our kids what the Fibble truly says rather than what we think it says?</div>
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Let's grab that single line from <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%206:31&version=KJV">Luke 6:31</a> and discard the rest. It's the best thing that came out of a belief system that mentions unicorns (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah%2034:7&version=KJV">Isaiah 34:7</a>), dragons (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%2012%20&version=KJV">Revelation 12</a>), and follows the exploits of a deity who couldn't even defeat a neighbouring tribe because its chariots were made of iron (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Judges%201:19&version=KJV">Judges 1:19</a>). </div>
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Considering all this, my dad should never have looked to the Fibble if he wanted to teach his sons good, decent values. In fact, teaching us the roots of our society would’ve been better achieved by singing to us that "<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/movie/monty-pythons-meaning-life/id281790562?uo=4&at=1l3uZRt">Every Sperm is Sacred</a>"...</div>
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Thanks to @VirgoJohnny, the best ordained Spock on Twitter, for all his help, to @ATHE1STPOWER, @BromynameisJack, @g1rad, @thom_roland, and @Eschertology for pointing the way, and apologies and a huge thank you to anyone I might've forgotten.</div>
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<b>Further reading</b></div>
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<b><br />
</b> <a href="http://www.steveparis.net/2013/12/little-baby-jesus.html">Little Baby Jesus</a> (13 December 2013)<br />
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<a href="http://www.steveparis.net/2013/11/going-round-in-circles.html">Going Round in Circles: God Versus Evolution</a> (23 November 2013)<br />
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<a href="http://www.steveparis.net/2012/10/in-god-we-trust.html">In God We Trust ?</a> (22 October 2012)<br />
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-----===oOo===-----</div>
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Steve Parishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14145787455201419082noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2398385230099134530.post-67666915442217351232013-12-23T03:03:00.002-08:002014-01-09T06:59:38.472-08:00Steve Paris' iOS Games Christmas Extravaganza<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Ac-mRBSsJFU/UrgVpSehIHI/AAAAAAAAA0g/HX3kgxsH-lI/s1600/Icons.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Ac-mRBSsJFU/UrgVpSehIHI/AAAAAAAAA0g/HX3kgxsH-lI/s1600/Icons.png" height="261" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12px;">When Apple released iPhone in 2007, it wasn't designed with third party apps in mind. In fact, Steve Jobs spent a long time telling developers that web apps - programs that make use of technologies available through a browser - were the way to go if they wanted a presence on Apple's new revolutionary device.</span></div>
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But developers would have none of it, and because iPhone was touted as running OS X (albeit a stripped down version of it), they knew how to program for it and demanded the opportunity to do so. After all, it was no secret web apps couldn't match the responsiveness and data access speeds of native programs.</div>
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Apple relented, the App Store was introduced, and the rest is history.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rMcULcyCBxg/UrgVsGW4rVI/AAAAAAAAA0w/tobxeV4GNf8/s1600/Introduction-iPhone.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rMcULcyCBxg/UrgVsGW4rVI/AAAAAAAAA0w/tobxeV4GNf8/s1600/Introduction-iPhone.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #666666;">Steve Jobs introduces iPhone</span></i></td></tr>
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The biggest success turned out to be games. We've got thousands of them to choose from, created by either large established companies or small independents. Both have a chance and opportunity to sell their games to the massive and ever growing iOS community.</div>
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But with Christmas nearly upon us, which ones should you invest in for your own or your loved ones' entertainment?</div>
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Well, I've compiled a list of my favourites. I'm more keen on extensive in-depth gameplay than casual minute-breaks like Angry Birds and its numerous clones, so it won't be a surprise that my list reflects this.</div>
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I do have some rules though: the game should be able to run on any iOS device natively (ie, you shouldn't have to buy an iPad version and an iPhone version of the exact same game, which would rule out Angry Birds right there!), and freemium, i.e., games that are apparently free but which you have to end up paying a small fortune through endless in-app purchases in order to keep playing, is a big no-no.</div>
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So without further ado, and in no particular order, here's my list of the best iOS games out there:</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-meoQpb9OTXY/UrgVkjd_glI/AAAAAAAAA0Q/eiNMQsCQtsw/s1600/Bastion+Icon.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-meoQpb9OTXY/UrgVkjd_glI/AAAAAAAAA0Q/eiNMQsCQtsw/s1600/Bastion+Icon.png" height="200" width="200" /></a></div>
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<b><a href="http://www.steveparis.net/2012/09/bastion-mini-review.html">Bastion</a></b></div>
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Since Bastion was originally created for the game console market, a lot was expected of it graphically, and it certainly delivers. But it's not just the appealing cartoon style, nor the adventure that makes it compelling to play, but the imagination around it, including a narration that fits the action you perform as The Kid, the apparent sole survivor of a planetary catastrophe. It's something you have to hear to truly appreciate.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oVm4AhlT2UM/UrgWGSpwVhI/AAAAAAAAA1U/WJ6t9d4PYcg/s1600/Bastion+screen.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oVm4AhlT2UM/UrgWGSpwVhI/AAAAAAAAA1U/WJ6t9d4PYcg/s1600/Bastion+screen.png" height="269" width="320" /></a></div>
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The world builds or collapses around your character, as he tries to piece together what happened and if anything can be done to restore the world to its former glory. Once you've started on your quest, it'll be hard to put down.</div>
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<b>Price: </b>£0.69 ($0.99)</div>
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<b>Compatibility: </b>Requires iOS 5.1 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. This app is optimized for iPhone 5.</div>
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<b><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/bastion/id537773100?mt=8&uo=4&at=1l3uZRt">Buy now</a></b></div>
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<b><a href="http://www.steveparis.net/2012/09/bastion-mini-review.html">Read more</a></b></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5oASxMl9YSA/UrgVmKdGTrI/AAAAAAAAA0Y/jMgdCp9ixWA/s1600/GOF2+Icon.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5oASxMl9YSA/UrgVmKdGTrI/AAAAAAAAA0Y/jMgdCp9ixWA/s1600/GOF2+Icon.png" height="200" width="200" /></a></div>
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<b><a href="http://www.steveparis.net/2012/10/galaxy-on-fire-2-supernova-review.html">Galaxy on Fire 2 HD</a></b></div>
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If you're a fan of trade, space exploration and dog fights, then you won't be able to ignore Galaxy on Fire 2. Two versions exist, with the HD one offering the best quality graphics, but as a consequence will only work on more modern iOS devices, like the iPhone 4S and iPad 2 and above.</div>
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You play Keith Maxwell, an adventurer whose spaceship, through a technical mishap is thrown 35 years into the future and reappears in a distant part of the galaxy. Your aim is to find a way to survive, upgrade your ship, and even buy new more powerful ones, as you try to uncover the mysteries that await you in this brave new world you find yourself in. Two in-app purchases are available which are by no means compulsory but further your adventures with new storylines and of course new solar systems to explore, and new ships and equipment to play with. You can also choose to voyage through the various solar systems on your own without following the story, it's all up to you, but those three chapters are exciting enough and provide enough challenges to keep making you go back for more.</div>
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<b>Price: </b>Free</div>
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<b>Compatibility (SD):</b> Requires iOS 4.3 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. This app is optimized for iPhone 5.</div>
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<b>Compatibility (HD): </b>Requires iOS 5.1.1 or later. Compatible with iPhone 4S, iPad 2, and iPod touch 5G. This app is optimized for iPhone 5.</div>
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<b>Buy now:</b></div>
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<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/galaxy-on-fire-2/id397127539?mt=8&uo=4&at=1l3uZRt">SD version</a></div>
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<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/galaxy-on-fire-2-hd/id465072566?mt=8&uo=4&at=1l3uZRt">HD version</a></div>
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<a href="http://www.steveparis.net/2012/10/galaxy-on-fire-2-supernova-review.html"><b>Read more</b></a></div>
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<b><a href="http://www.steveparis.net/2013/11/joe-devers-lone-wolf-interview.html">Joe Dever’s Lone Wolf</a></b></div>
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This is a game with a difference. The emphasis is on storytelling, and most of it takes the shape of a written novel. You'll find yourself reading a lot and choosing what your character must do next from a handful of options. Your decision will affect how the story will unfold. But this is more than just a book with a few choices to perform; the adventure comes to life with great combat sequences, along with other types of mini games like lock-picking, for instance. The music is fantastic and the writing is very immersive. If you were a fan of "books in which you are the hero" from the 80s and 90s, it'll be hard for you not to love this brand new and original adventure.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ssnOpJqVZGs/UrgWbi7RBqI/AAAAAAAAA2I/68B4GtJQAzI/s1600/Lone+Wolf+Screen.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ssnOpJqVZGs/UrgWbi7RBqI/AAAAAAAAA2I/68B4GtJQAzI/s1600/Lone+Wolf+Screen.png" height="269" width="320" /></a></div>
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You play Lone Wolf, the last of the Kai Lords, sworn to protect your country from the Dark Lords. This game actually furthers the adventures of this protagonist who features in a series of popular ongoing adventures in one of those famous aforementioned book series, but you don't need to know any of that in order to enjoy the game. Of course, if you're familiar with the former Lone Wolf adventures, this story will obviously be more exciting.</div>
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<b>Price:</b> £2.99 ($4.99)</div>
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<b>Compatibility: </b>Requires iOS 4.3 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. This app is optimized for iPhone 5.</div>
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<b><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/joe-devers-lone-wolf/id670180785?mt=8&uo=4&at=1l3uZRt">Buy now</a></b></div>
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<b><a href="http://www.steveparis.net/2013/11/joe-devers-lone-wolf-interview.html">Read more</a></b></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-p1HF9kAmPOc/UrgWfqO5txI/AAAAAAAAA2Q/0RJWbQIAcVU/s1600/XCOM+Icon.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-p1HF9kAmPOc/UrgWfqO5txI/AAAAAAAAA2Q/0RJWbQIAcVU/s1600/XCOM+Icon.png" height="200" width="200" /></a></div>
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<b><a href="http://www.steveparis.net/2013/07/xcom-enemy-unknown-review.html">XCOM: Enemy Unknown</a></b></div>
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This is another game ported from consoles and PCs, and it's huge. It's a strategy role-playing game in which you look after the workings of a secret base whose objective is to uncover the mysteries behind sudden and hostile extra-terrestrial activity. You select your team and send them on missions, where you have to eradicate the invaders from either rural or urban areas. When your team isn't out on manoeuvres, you must research the objects you've salvaged and develop technologies to improve your equipment and find a reason why this alien invasion is happening.</div>
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The graphics are great, the story involving, the touch control flawless, and you have to work carefully to not lose your team on away missions. This is not a game you'll finish in a handful of hours; this is a full-featured console game on a portable device.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-702eIIUiGKk/UrgWyQh6HMI/AAAAAAAAA2g/9BVquhigBpY/s1600/XCOM+Screen.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-702eIIUiGKk/UrgWyQh6HMI/AAAAAAAAA2g/9BVquhigBpY/s1600/XCOM+Screen.png" height="269" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>Price:</b></div>
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£6.99 ($9.99)</div>
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<b>Compatibility: </b>Requires iOS 5.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPhone 5c, iPhone 5s, iPad 2 Wi-Fi, iPad 2 Wi-Fi + 3G, iPad Wi-Fi (3rd generation), iPad Wi-Fi + Cellular (3rd generation), iPad Wi-Fi (4th generation), iPad Wi-Fi + Cellular (4th generation), iPad mini Wi-Fi, iPad mini Wi-Fi + Cellular, iPad Air, iPad Air Wi-Fi + Cellular, iPad mini with Retina display, iPad mini with Retina display Wi-Fi + Cellular, iPod touch (4th generation), and iPod touch (5th generation). This app is optimized for iPhone 5.</div>
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<b><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/xcom-enemy-unknown/id639544885?mt=8&uo=4&at=1l3uZRt">Buy now</a></b></div>
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<b><a href="http://www.steveparis.net/2013/07/xcom-enemy-unknown-review.html">Read more</a></b></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-76WjOpcFylg/UrgWcIOvRgI/AAAAAAAAA2A/cJTNlsHu7f0/s1600/Star+Command+Icon.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-76WjOpcFylg/UrgWcIOvRgI/AAAAAAAAA2A/cJTNlsHu7f0/s1600/Star+Command+Icon.png" height="200" width="200" /></a></div>
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<b><a href="http://www.steveparis.net/2013/05/star-command-for-ios-review.html">Star Command</a></b></div>
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If you remember the early computer games and their blocky 8-bit graphics, you'll feel right at home in Star Command. The game aims to be a Star Trek equivalent, letting you explore space and upgrade your ship and crew over time but it's mostly an excuse to blow things up. The storyline is fun although extremely linear and the animations are very enjoyable. The controls are quite simple: you tap on a crew member, then tap where you want them to go. Once there, they'll automatically do what they need to do (heal others, shoot at aliens or repair the ship). Ship to ship combat takes the shape of time-based mini games when quick reflexes is the order of the day.</div>
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For the price, it's a lot of fun and definitely worth giving it a shot.</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jMED5O4RvUE/UrgWhMWMvjI/AAAAAAAAA2Y/WetEpfa6z8c/s1600/Star+Command+Screen.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jMED5O4RvUE/UrgWhMWMvjI/AAAAAAAAA2Y/WetEpfa6z8c/s1600/Star+Command+Screen.png" height="167" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>Price: </b>£1.99 ($2.99)</div>
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<b>Compatibility: </b>Requires iOS 4.3 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. This app is optimized for iPhone 5.</div>
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<b><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/star-command/id632079234?mt=8&uo=4&at=1l3uZRt">Buy now</a></b></div>
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<b><a href="http://www.steveparis.net/2013/05/star-command-for-ios-review.html">Read more</a></b></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VKS8NVbE_U4/UrgV4PQ16bI/AAAAAAAAA1I/eCc9rgGQ-lM/s1600/Oceanhorn+Icon.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VKS8NVbE_U4/UrgV4PQ16bI/AAAAAAAAA1I/eCc9rgGQ-lM/s1600/Oceanhorn+Icon.png" height="200" width="200" /></a></div>
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<b><a href="http://www.steveparis.net/2013/12/oceanhorn-interview-with-cornfox-bros.html">Oceanhorn</a></b></div>
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You'll most likely never get to play Zelda on your phone, but why would you want to when Oceanhorn offers the same type of adventure yet is perfectly suited to handheld, touch-enabled devices? This game offers over 11 hours of exploration and gameplay. You must learn what happened to your father and why your destiny seems inexorably linked to the sea monster that's been plaguing your world for over a thousand years. You'll travel to numerous islands over the course of your exploration, as you unveil secrets, and gain experience and new skills which will help you defeat Oceanhorn.</div>
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The graphics are amazing and so is the music. The touch controls work very well most of the time, and the story is designed in such a way that it's easy to pick up and stop at any time. This is high adventure in the palm of your hand.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TYvTrn6L6hU/UrgWIcm3YSI/AAAAAAAAA1Y/coRWNP6e7U8/s1600/Ocenhorn+Screen.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TYvTrn6L6hU/UrgWIcm3YSI/AAAAAAAAA1Y/coRWNP6e7U8/s1600/Ocenhorn+Screen.png" height="167" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>Price:</b> £5.99 ($8.99)</div>
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<b>Compatibility:</b> Requires iOS 5.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. This app is optimized for iPhone 5.</div>
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<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/oceanhorn/id708196645?mt=8&uo=4&at=1l3uZRt"><b>Buy now</b></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.steveparis.net/2013/12/oceanhorn-interview-with-cornfox-bros.html"><b>Read more</b></a></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ikSGfq_H-JA/UrgWK1TQpYI/AAAAAAAAA1g/j9Pk_Q7M_z4/s1600/Pocket+God+Icon.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ikSGfq_H-JA/UrgWK1TQpYI/AAAAAAAAA1g/j9Pk_Q7M_z4/s1600/Pocket+God+Icon.png" height="200" width="200" /></a></div>
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<b>Pocket God</b></div>
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In every list there has a to be one that breaks all the rules and Pocket God is it. It's not designed for the iPad so the graphics look a little blocky on that device, and don't even ask if it was ever updated for the higher resolution retina displays. It's also filled with in-app purchases, although to be fair, you don't need to buy any of them.</div>
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So what's so special about this game and why would you want to spend nearly £0.70 (almost a dollar) on it?</div>
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Because it's fun and highly imaginative. You control six cute little pygmies which you can torture at will: you can throw them into a volcano, feed them to various dangerous creatures like sharks, piranhas, a giant octopus, a T-Rex, a giant spider or gorilla, turn one into a vampire or freeze them to death. They never die for long and you can redirect them at any time by tapping the big "+" button. You can also be nice to your pygmies and help them fish, start a fire, cook a bird, open a coconut, or make them dance.</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TCsWcIMEPvI/UrgWSUyerlI/AAAAAAAAA1o/Nz5jPR4ShbY/s1600/Pocket+God+Screen+1.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TCsWcIMEPvI/UrgWSUyerlI/AAAAAAAAA1o/Nz5jPR4ShbY/s1600/Pocket+God+Screen+1.png" height="167" width="320" /></a></div>
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There's also a huge number of mini games which you can access from various locations, like an endless runner, an endless jumper (which got recently expanded to a new self-contained game called <a href="http://www.steveparis.net/2013/11/ooga-jump-review.html">Ooga Jump</a>), a donkey kong-style game, a challenging battle arena, and a mysterious apocalypse puzzle, among so many others.</div>
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The in-app purchases allow you to alter the look of your islands and the creatures that inhabit them, but the best ones are the dance packs. Tapping on the screen makes the pigmies dance - and sing - based on the style you selected.</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uR3b_AwSbsE/UrgWagbgpFI/AAAAAAAAA14/08GAxKcHmQ8/s1600/Pocket+God+Screen+3.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uR3b_AwSbsE/UrgWagbgpFI/AAAAAAAAA14/08GAxKcHmQ8/s1600/Pocket+God+Screen+3.png" height="167" width="320" /></a></div>
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There's no goal in this game except to have a little fun and try to discover all the things you can do with and to your pygmies. It's an original way to keep yourself distracted and offers more fun and versatility than most other game worth five times as much.</div>
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<b>Price:</b> £0.69 ($0.99)</div>
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<b>Compatibility: </b>Requires iOS 5.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. This app is optimized for iPhone 5.</div>
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<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/pocket-god/id301387274?mt=8&uo=4&at=1l3uZRt"><b>Buy now</b></a></div>
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Steve Parishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14145787455201419082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2398385230099134530.post-42053164168458956322013-12-20T08:14:00.000-08:002014-01-09T06:57:47.796-08:00Oceanhorn - Interview with Cornfox & Bros<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-G5Ngynt9H44/UrRTjn9R_7I/AAAAAAAAAx4/U1CfvJHyRwQ/s1600/01-Oceanhorn+Icon.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-G5Ngynt9H44/UrRTjn9R_7I/AAAAAAAAAx4/U1CfvJHyRwQ/s1600/01-Oceanhorn+Icon.png" height="200" width="200" /></a></div>
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Creating a game is no easy task; Forge Reply for instance, had a team of fifteen working on the excellent Joe Dever's <a href="http://www.steveparis.net/2013/11/joe-devers-lone-wolf-interview.html">Lone Wolf</a>, so it's pretty remarkable that three people set about creating and designing a vast, ambitious game of adventure and exploration for iOS called "<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/oceanhorn/id708196645?mt=8&uo=4&at=1l3uZRt">Oceanhorn: Monster of Uncharted Seas</a>".</div>
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I spoke to Heikki Repo, Creative Director at Cornfox & Bros, the man responsible for Oceanhorn's design, story and graphics, and I asked him how long it took to create. <i>"I wrote the first game design of Oceanhorn in the beginning of 2010, right after our company was established."</i> He told me. <i>"We soon got the chance to be the developer party for Death Rally for iOS devices and froze Oceanhorn for a year and a half</i> [<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/death-rally/id422020153?mt=8&uo=4&at=1l3uZRt">Death Rally</a> is a top view car racing game with a difference: you can equip your vehicle with weapons and armour, and blow your opponents out of the race]. <i>We started full production of Oceanhorn in the end of 2011, around the same time when we announced the game in our blog.</i>"</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fAau2IHKdAY/UrRTjJ6Pb3I/AAAAAAAAAx8/tsb45VWEaAg/s1600/02-The+Team+Heikki-Jukka-Anti.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fAau2IHKdAY/UrRTjJ6Pb3I/AAAAAAAAAx8/tsb45VWEaAg/s1600/02-The+Team+Heikki-Jukka-Anti.jpeg" height="231" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #666666;">Meet the team (from left to right):<br />Heikki Repo & Jukka and Antti Viljamaa.</span></i></td></tr>
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<i>"It gathered much more audience than what we could have ever estimated! In one single day, 100,000 people visited our blog for more information, and we only had one concept screenshot on display."</i></div>
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<i>"Production saw another halt in the spring 2012, when we focused on making a Steam version of Death Rally. From August 2012 until the release now in November 2013, we worked really hard to create the game everyone was expecting it to be."</i></div>
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<i>"Our core team is three people. I'm responsible for all the design and art. Antti and Jukka Viljamaa are brothers and programmers of our team. We use freelancer audio designer from Kaamos Sound company, Tapio Liukkonen, and the majority of the soundtrack is composed by Kalle Ylitalo."</i></div>
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The game's objective is to explore the numerous islands around you, solve puzzles, hope to find out what happened to your father, and rid the world of the monster that has plagued your world for a thousand years, Oceanhorn.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uGU9IOn-CBo/UrRp5LqeeMI/AAAAAAAAAyg/bswRHYxrDxc/s1600/03-Ocenhorn+is+a+beautiful+world+to+explore.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uGU9IOn-CBo/UrRp5LqeeMI/AAAAAAAAAyg/bswRHYxrDxc/s1600/03-Ocenhorn+is+a+beautiful+world+to+explore.png" height="167" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #666666;">Oceanhorn is a beautiful world to explore.</span></i></td></tr>
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The design of the game is absolutely beautiful and incredibly inviting. The artwork is superb and the controls are kept to a minimum: in order to move, hold your finger on the screen and drag it slightly in the direction you'd like your character to go - which can sometimes feel a little clumsy when you need to tread carefully or go in a very precise direction. There's also a big red button to perform an action, like lifting or pushing an object, opening a safe, unlocking a door or, of course, fighting. That button is obviously context sensitive depending on where your character is at the time it's activated, and it works well - most of the time; there are some occasions, if you're too close to another item during combat, that you'll start reading an inscription instead of delivering a killing blow, but thankfully, those instances are uncommon.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CaHTyxb-WkA/UrRp47QS_6I/AAAAAAAAAyY/PQOUlIhhH8M/s1600/04-You+joined+the+navy%252C+to+see+the+sea....png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CaHTyxb-WkA/UrRp47QS_6I/AAAAAAAAAyY/PQOUlIhhH8M/s1600/04-You+joined+the+navy%252C+to+see+the+sea....png" height="167" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #666666;">You joined the navy, to see the sea...</span></i></td></tr>
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There's a role-playing element to this game as well, and the more you explore and fight, the more experience points you'll earn, enabling you to gain levels of expertise which in turn augment your skills: you can swim for longer, hold more items, or even gain new equipment. Money, health and mana potions can be found anywhere: inside jars or hidden in overgrowth or bushes, for instance. This game encourages you to break pottery and mess up the countryside in order to keep yourself rich, healthy, and powerful. I wonder if there’s a subliminal message in there somewhere...</div>
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Through the course of your travels, you'll learn how to cast spells, and discover powerful weapons, everything you need to achieve your quest, and gather the various objects that will enable you to defeat Oceanhorn. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cQsy5iSEKtE/UrRp34hAFmI/AAAAAAAAAyc/mhSI6yXfANY/s1600/05-Chests+contain+valuables+-+make+sure+you+open+them+all.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cQsy5iSEKtE/UrRp34hAFmI/AAAAAAAAAyc/mhSI6yXfANY/s1600/05-Chests+contain+valuables+-+make+sure+you+open+them+all.png" height="167" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #666666;">Chests contain valuables - make sure you open them all.</span></i></td></tr>
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Exploration is a huge part of the game, but so is puzzle solving. The developers had to strike a good balance between complexity and the limited time most of us have at our disposal when playing a mobile game, and it certainly looks as if they've succeeded, but there are some moments when you're at a loss at where to go next. The more you explore, the bigger the world becomes and sometimes, your options are so open ended that you're stumped as to what your next course of action should be.</div>
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It's extremely important to talk to anyone you meet and read every sign you find as many hold clues you need to complete your journey. In fact, new islands won't be discovered unless you do just that, and it's often a good idea to talk to the same person more than once as they may have something else to divulge.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1k_Lz3icpF8/UrRqDP1539I/AAAAAAAAAy0/VmSn_ob-Mns/s1600/06-Explore+every+area+of+all+islands+to+uncover+concealed+treasures.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1k_Lz3icpF8/UrRqDP1539I/AAAAAAAAAy0/VmSn_ob-Mns/s1600/06-Explore+every+area+of+all+islands+to+uncover+concealed+treasures.png" height="167" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #666666;">Explore every area on each island<br />to uncover concealed treasures.</span></i></td></tr>
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The boss battles can be quite challenging and are a far cry from the more thoughtful aspects of puzzle solving. Each boss has specific strengths and weaknesses which you need to discover in order to win the battle more easily, but don't distress if you die in battle - or elsewhere. Death is merely a temporary inconvenience which only leads to the loss of some experience as you respawn close to where you fell. This is a great feature as it means that you can easily pick the game up at any time and start again without having to work for ages before getting back to that tricky part of the game.</div>
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As you can probably imagine, this is a pretty big world. The developers claim Oceanhorn offers 11 hours of gameplay and this is borne out by my exploration of the game. Highly impressive for something created by just three people.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-geoxxl1u71Q/UrRp_xFb7mI/AAAAAAAAAyo/nz13OWaJ4fo/s1600/07-Explore%252C+gain+experience+and+level+up.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-geoxxl1u71Q/UrRp_xFb7mI/AAAAAAAAAyo/nz13OWaJ4fo/s1600/07-Explore%252C+gain+experience+and+level+up.png" height="167" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #666666;">Explore, gain experience and level up.</span></i></td></tr>
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If you're a fan of this type of game, it's almost inevitable that you would've noticed more than a passive resemblance to a famous Nintendo franchise, Zelda. In fact, many who've played this game haven't been shy about calling Oceanhorn a blatant ripoff, while kinder souls have instead referred to it as a love letter. I asked Heikki what his views on this were.</div>
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<i>"This is the vacuum we saw in the App Store"</i>, he explained, <i>"there are no good japanese action RPG there, especially not one with an emphasis on environmental puzzles and exploration. For a game to succeed, it needs to be recognized as a representative of the genre, yet there are way too few games coming to the Zelda-genre, and production of Oceanhorn taught us that there was a reason for it: it's a very difficult genre!"</i></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SelUaPzq4RM/UrRqD6SszPI/AAAAAAAAAy4/A-gLY-_asY8/s1600/08-If+you+can%2527t+reach+a+lever%252C+use+magic+to+move+it+for+you.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SelUaPzq4RM/UrRqD6SszPI/AAAAAAAAAy4/A-gLY-_asY8/s1600/08-If+you+can%2527t+reach+a+lever%252C+use+magic+to+move+it+for+you.png" height="167" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #666666;">If you can't reach a lever, use magic to move it for you.</span></i></td></tr>
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The similarities are also reinforced by the music, which was partially written by Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu and Mana and Saga series composer, Kenji Ito. How did they get involved? <i>"It was all thanks to our publisher, FDG!"</i> Heikki reveals. <i>"When they joined the production, they said they will try to get them onboard, and they did! The message we got from FDG was that they liked what they saw in this game and decided to join the music production! Their work fits seamlessly in the world of Oceanhorn and into Kalle Ylitalos' music."</i></div>
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<i>"We started with Ylitalos before we knew of the possibility to have Uematsu and Ito. He did the majority of the songs on our soundtrack but when Uematsu and Ito came aboard, we gave some of the most central songs for them to compose. Uematsu did the main theme and the sailing theme for instance, while Ito worked on Father's theme which plays in the beginning, and the Mesmeroth boss battle music, amongst others."</i></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GQXRDdKuRQQ/UrRqJIulh7I/AAAAAAAAAzA/AJ3nbyOc8QE/s1600/09-Find+elusive+heart+pieces+to+permanently+increase+your+health+beyond+your+original+amount.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GQXRDdKuRQQ/UrRqJIulh7I/AAAAAAAAAzA/AJ3nbyOc8QE/s1600/09-Find+elusive+heart+pieces+to+permanently+increase+your+health+beyond+your+original+amount.png" height="167" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #666666;">Find elusive heart pieces to permanently increase<br />your health beyond your original allotment.</span></i></td></tr>
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Working on a mobile game has additional challenges which a console version doesn't have to content with. For one thing, it needs to be playable at any time, for long or short durations, so it must launch fast, and the puzzles need to be challenging but not too difficult. As Heikki points out,<i> "story sequences can't be long and the game has to flow forward on each play session. We also have some nice modern additions to the genre - we have vast amounts of achievements and we also have a leaderboard, where players can compare their score against friends. As a result, I feel, Oceanhorn is great representative of this genre on mobile!"</i></div>
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One aspect that isn't supported is iCloud saves, which means you can't start a game on your iPhone and carry on with your iPad or iPod touch, but this is something Cornfox & Bros are working on, and will hopefully implement it in a future update. Currently, you can save but two games on your local device.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KChqXZZ6wQA/UrRqOvGEYOI/AAAAAAAAAzI/2aEcfyPSU6g/s1600/10-Keep+your+eye+on+the+prize+and+avoid+those+spikes.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KChqXZZ6wQA/UrRqOvGEYOI/AAAAAAAAAzI/2aEcfyPSU6g/s1600/10-Keep+your+eye+on+the+prize+and+avoid+those+spikes.png" height="167" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #666666;">Keep your eye on the prize and avoid those spikes.</span></i></td></tr>
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But this hasn't stopped Oceanhorn from having a very successful release. <i>"Our game's launch was amazing"</i>, Heikki confirms. <i>"We were able to shoot to the top of the charts around the world even before App Stores Editor's Choice featuring went on. At the time I'm writing this, we have almost half a million players in Game Center. Of course not everyone has purchased Oceanhorn, there are people who play the same game copy on their own profiles, but it gives an idea of the amount of players there is."</i></div>
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In fact, so successful has this game been that not only do they plan on offering continued support for the foreseeable future, but Cornfox & Bros will start working on a sequel in 2014.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xCvIss1cWNw/UrRqROchM_I/AAAAAAAAAzU/cFGkdQ7TGMA/s1600/11-Make+sure+you+talk+to+everyone.+Buying+some+supplies+could+also+be+a+good+idea.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xCvIss1cWNw/UrRqROchM_I/AAAAAAAAAzU/cFGkdQ7TGMA/s1600/11-Make+sure+you+talk+to+everyone.+Buying+some+supplies+could+also+be+a+good+idea.png" height="167" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #666666;">Make sure you talk to everyone.<br />Buying some supplies can also be a good idea.</span></i></td></tr>
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Whether Oceanhorn is a Zelda clone or not is actually immaterial: you can't play Zelda on iOS, and Cornfox & Bros have worked hard to make their game fit and excel within the constraints of a mobile gaming experience.</div>
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If you're looking for adventure on iOS this Christmas, Oceanhorn is where it's at.</div>
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<b>Version Reviewed: </b>1.3</div>
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<b>Price:</b> £5.99 ($8.99)</div>
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<b>Size:</b> 170MB</div>
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<b>Rated 9+</b> for the following: Infrequent/Mild Horror/Fear Themes and Infrequent/Mild Cartoon or Fantasy Violence</div>
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<b>Compatibility:</b> Requires iOS 5.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. This app is optimized for iPhone 5.</div>
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<b>Tested on:</b> iPhone 4S and iPad mini, both on iOS 7.0.4.</div>
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<b>Direct Links:</b></div>
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<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/oceanhorn/id708196645?mt=8&uo=4&at=1l3uZRt">App Store</a></div>
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<a href="http://oceanhorn.blogspot.co.uk/">Oceanhorn Blog</a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-oQ4RXfbDa8Y/UrRqRx3gZUI/AAAAAAAAAzY/njwK9RNBzI8/s1600/12-You+have+goals+to+achieve%252C+experience+to+accumulate%252C+emblems+to+find...+Oceanhorn+can+keep+you+busy.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-oQ4RXfbDa8Y/UrRqRx3gZUI/AAAAAAAAAzY/njwK9RNBzI8/s1600/12-You+have+goals+to+achieve%252C+experience+to+accumulate%252C+emblems+to+find...+Oceanhorn+can+keep+you+busy.png" height="167" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #666666;">You have goals to achieve, experience to accumulate, emblems to find...<br />Oceanhorn can keep you busy.</span></i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2LOEuflrY5s/UrRqXxrECEI/AAAAAAAAAzg/s0rgAn-dPoM/s1600/13-Most+puzzles+involve+blocks+to+move+in+the+right+position.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2LOEuflrY5s/UrRqXxrECEI/AAAAAAAAAzg/s0rgAn-dPoM/s1600/13-Most+puzzles+involve+blocks+to+move+in+the+right+position.png" height="167" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #666666;">Most puzzles involve blocks to move in the right position.</span></i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Od7sYWefq1w/UrRqan_x7fI/AAAAAAAAAzo/yMoWlSFi35I/s1600/14-New+boots+and+not+a+puss+in+sight.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Od7sYWefq1w/UrRqan_x7fI/AAAAAAAAAzo/yMoWlSFi35I/s1600/14-New+boots+and+not+a+puss+in+sight.png" height="167" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #666666;">New boots and not a puss in sight.</span></i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-uSf-YLdj9Js/UrRqcJj_3pI/AAAAAAAAAzw/OadTpJVJFeE/s1600/15-The+boss+battles+can+be+epic.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-uSf-YLdj9Js/UrRqcJj_3pI/AAAAAAAAAzw/OadTpJVJFeE/s1600/15-The+boss+battles+can+be+epic.png" height="167" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #666666;">The boss battles can be epic.</span></i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0GUZgrQQVeM/UrRqfWCRO4I/AAAAAAAAAz4/qf43OkmirMM/s1600/16-Much+better+than+the+stick+you+started+off+with%2521.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0GUZgrQQVeM/UrRqfWCRO4I/AAAAAAAAAz4/qf43OkmirMM/s1600/16-Much+better+than+the+stick+you+started+off+with%2521.png" height="167" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #666666;">Much better than the stick you started off with!</span></i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7TnkhyCCT8c/UrRqgVarv9I/AAAAAAAAA0A/f-CpJsgAUug/s1600/17-You%2527ll+believe+a+boat+can+fly.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7TnkhyCCT8c/UrRqgVarv9I/AAAAAAAAA0A/f-CpJsgAUug/s1600/17-You%2527ll+believe+a+boat+can+fly.png" height="167" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #666666;">You'll believe a boat can fly.</span></i></td></tr>
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Steve Parishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14145787455201419082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2398385230099134530.post-87403701842906222013-12-19T00:00:00.000-08:002014-01-09T06:56:17.430-08:00MacLife Review - Journeys of Invention<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nq_B1GyaPIQ/UrP4-qDdFyI/AAAAAAAAAxk/NRJOxxKe8As/s1600/icon-journeysofinvention.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nq_B1GyaPIQ/UrP4-qDdFyI/AAAAAAAAAxk/NRJOxxKe8As/s1600/icon-journeysofinvention.png" height="200" width="200" /></a></div>
Ever wanted to visit the amazing Science Museum in London but either didn't have the time or lived in the wrong part of the planet? Well now you can explore and manipulate 81 objects that are either on display there or in its repository, thanks to Journeys of Invention, a new iPad app from TouchPress. Read more about it by reading my review in <a href="http://www.maclife.com/article/reference_and_education/journeys_invention_review">MacLife</a>.Steve Parishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14145787455201419082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2398385230099134530.post-68972377292936702572013-12-13T04:38:00.000-08:002014-01-09T06:55:57.348-08:00Little Baby Jesus<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AAMKaHeRklA/UqrwcW70UyI/AAAAAAAAAxY/-m7kqovAq6o/s1600/0-Daughter+Nativity.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AAMKaHeRklA/UqrwcW70UyI/AAAAAAAAAxY/-m7kqovAq6o/s320/0-Daughter+Nativity.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #666666;"><i>A different interpretation...</i></span></td></tr>
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Christmas is coming, the decorations are going up, tinsel and lights adorn the high street in an attempt to make up for the darkness that just comes way too soon this time of year (unless you're in the Southern Hemisphere of course, in which case it's time to grab your togs and jandals, slip, slap, slop, and head down to the beach!)</div>
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As you walk down the streets of any Western country, it's highly likely that you'll bump into a church or even a shop, which will have a nativity scene on display in some form or other, with little baby Jesus in a manger, overlooked by his loving mother Mary, Joseph, a few animals, some shepherds, an angel or two for good measure, and of course, the three wise men.</div>
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It's such a part of the festivities in predominantly Christian countries that we most likely take it for granted, and in fact, my 9-year old daughter was asked to create a two-page project on the birth of Jesus for a school report.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hfONJ-6V0Rw/UqrwS8WmGsI/AAAAAAAAAw8/aiQnzQJmL6U/s1600/1-The+Fibble.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hfONJ-6V0Rw/UqrwS8WmGsI/AAAAAAAAAw8/aiQnzQJmL6U/s200/1-The+Fibble.jpg" height="197" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #666666;"><i>The Bible... or The Fibble?</i></span><br />
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My kid's pretty sharp: she's the one who came up with the term "The Fibble" in reference to the Bible, so she was very keen to write her report based on actual historical events wherever possible, not the myths that so many of us have been raised with. Her idea was to draw across those two pages a classic nativity scene (as shown above), but have the body of the text reflect what we had researched, not just the story we've all heard countless times.</div>
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There's nothing wrong with the story of the birth of Christ in and of itself, but how does the historical and archaeological data, and even the Fibble itself match that nativity scene?</div>
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Our research focused on three main points:</div>
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1. what was Herod's census all about;</div>
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2. when and where was Jesus born;</div>
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3. and what's the deal with those mysterious three wise men?</div>
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<b>Romans, Herod and the Census </b></div>
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The Fibble gives a clear historical context to the events we're looking into. As <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+2%3A1-12&version=NIV">Matthew 2:1</a> says,</div>
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<i>"After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod"</i></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QLrPDBvDRIg/UqrwM9SskrI/AAAAAAAAAwQ/9jcKlmcYkFI/s1600/2-The+Old+Testament.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QLrPDBvDRIg/UqrwM9SskrI/AAAAAAAAAwQ/9jcKlmcYkFI/s320/2-The+Old+Testament.jpg" height="212" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
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In addition to this, Hebrew Scriptures prophesised that a Messiah, the son of god would be born in Bethlehem, Judea</div>
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<i>"For to us a child is born,</i></div>
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<i> to us a son is given,</i></div>
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<i> and the government will be on his shoulders.</i></div>
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<i>And he will be called</i></div>
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<i> Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,</i></div>
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<i> Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."</i></div>
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<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah+9%3A6&version=NIV">Isaiah 9:6</a></div>
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<i>“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,</i></div>
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<i> though you are small among the clans of Judah,</i></div>
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<i>out of you will come for me</i></div>
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<i> one who will be ruler over Israel,</i></div>
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<i>whose origins are from of old,</i></div>
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<i> from ancient times.”</i></div>
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<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=micah+5:2">Micah 5:2</a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cKvni4T9Oi4/UqrwN5o051I/AAAAAAAAAwY/PDI2tyAxXCw/s1600/3-Quirinius.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cKvni4T9Oi4/UqrwN5o051I/AAAAAAAAAwY/PDI2tyAxXCw/s200/3-Quirinius.jpg" height="200" width="158" /></a></td></tr>
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So in order for Jesus to be that Messiah, he would have to be born in that geographical region, and since Mary and Joseph lived in Galilee, there had to be a reason for Joseph to move his family to Judea in time for the birth.</div>
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Thankfully, such a reason occurred. According to <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%202:1-4">Luke 2:1-4</a>:</div>
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<i>"1 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world.</i></div>
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<i>2 (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.)"</i></div>
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Except that historically, this doesn't fit with what Matthew just told us.</div>
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Syria wasn’t controlled by the Romans during Herod’s reign. The Romans let Herod administer it himself in return for a nice share of the taxes. Romans did like to take censuses, but not of provinces they didn’t have direct control over. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herod_the_Great">Once Herod died in late March or early April 4BC</a> his son succeeded him to the throne, but he proved to be quite useless, so the Romans took direct control of the province shortly afterwards, and Quirinius did order a census, but that was in 6AD, well after Jesus’ birth.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_ZzWM8lnnnI/UqrwOglVDcI/AAAAAAAAAwg/CEmjMRPTOwg/s1600/4-Herod+the+Great.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_ZzWM8lnnnI/UqrwOglVDcI/AAAAAAAAAwg/CEmjMRPTOwg/s200/4-Herod+the+Great.jpg" height="200" width="162" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #666666;"><i>Herod the Great</i></span></td></tr>
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Even if Herod had ordered a census of his own (which there is no historical record of), censuses are meant to gather information about the current population - there is no need for anyone to move to anywhere else other than where they are currently living. To require people to move to the place of their birth just for a census would’ve been a headache of gargantuan proportions for any society and totally impractical for a mostly agrarian and illiterate one.</div>
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<b>Judea or Galilee?</b></div>
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Census or no census, was Jesus born on the 25th of December 1AD? No, he wasn't. The Fibble states that he had to be born during Herod's reign so that means he must have been born at the latest in the spring of 4BC.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-38Tz9e6ZeMI/UqrwRX9a9nI/AAAAAAAAAww/msmDIhvcpdo/s1600/6-John+the+Baptist.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-38Tz9e6ZeMI/UqrwRX9a9nI/AAAAAAAAAww/msmDIhvcpdo/s200/6-John+the+Baptist.jpg" height="200" width="153" /></a></td></tr>
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Why not the 25th of December 5BC then? Well interestingly enough, the answer's in the Fibble itself. <a href="http://www.cgg.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/Library.sr/CT/ARTB/k/568">According to detailed analysis</a>, Jesus was born six months after John the Baptist. And since, based to this research, John came into this world in the Spring of 4BC, probably between the 18th and 31st of March, that puts Jesus' birthday somewhere between the 16th and 29th of September, missing Herod by half a year, and making him a Virgoan or Libran - if you believe in that sort of thing.</div>
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But even without Herod or a census, could Joseph have taken his heavily pregnant wife on a lovely late Summer/early Autumn jaunt to Bethlehem and hence fulfil the prophecy? Well, he could’ve, except that Bethlehem didn’t exist as a functioning town at that time. </div>
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As <a href="http://archive.archaeology.org/0511/abstracts/jesus.html">Aviram Oshri</a>, senior archaeologist with the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) says, <i>"the vast database of the IAA, describes Bethlehem as an "ancient site" with Iron Age material and the fourth-century Church of the Nativity and associated Byzantine and medieval buildings. But there is a complete absence of information for antiquities from the Herodian period--that is, from the time around the birth of Jesus."</i></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-n01RJUwdyVE/UqrwWYzbhqI/AAAAAAAAAxQ/_wYh-w_pyeY/s1600/7-Map.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-n01RJUwdyVE/UqrwWYzbhqI/AAAAAAAAAxQ/_wYh-w_pyeY/s400/7-Map.png" height="297" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #666666;">A - Nazareth<br />
B - Bethlehem (157km away)<br />
C - Bethlehem of Galilee (14km away)</span></i></td></tr>
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So it's unlikely there would've been overfilled inns, let alone a barn to house them, had Joseph and Mary travelled over 157km to get there.</div>
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There are clues in the Fibble and geographically as to were Jesus might've been born: he is often referred to as "Jesus of Nazareth", and it so happens that there is a town just 14km away from Nazareth called Bethlehem of Galillee. So Jesus could’ve been born there - same name, much closer location - but this would’ve caused problems with that pesky Hebrew prophecy. In fact, this niggling issue is even mentioned in the Fibble: <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+7%3A41-43&version=NIV">John 7:41- 43</a> sates:</div>
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<i>"41 Others said, “He is the Messiah.” Still others asked, “How can the Messiah come from Galilee?</i></div>
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<i>42 Does not Scripture say that the Messiah will come from David’s descendants and from Bethlehem, the town where David lived?”</i></div>
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<i>43 Thus the people were divided because of Jesus.”</i></div>
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So in all probability, assuming that he existed at all and isn't actually an amalgam of various people, or just completely made up, Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Galilee around late Summer/early Autumn of 4BC, not on the 25th of December AD1 in Bethlehem of Judea.</div>
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<b>Wise But Not on Time</b></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-e2YiiMzFE5s/UqrwUNT_PKI/AAAAAAAAAxA/ye_L51__LGw/s1600/8-Three+Wise+Men.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-e2YiiMzFE5s/UqrwUNT_PKI/AAAAAAAAAxA/ye_L51__LGw/s200/8-Three+Wise+Men.jpg" height="154" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #666666;"><i>Three wise men...</i></span></td></tr>
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But what about those three wise men, also known as the Magi? They are the hardest part of the story to prove historically, so it's a good thing we can once again turn to the Fibble to provide us with some answers, but surprisingly enough, it doesn't mention their visit at Jesus' birth. At all. No men, wise or otherwise, came to see Jesus when he was supposedly resting in a manger. According to <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+2%3A11">Matthew 2:11</a>:</div>
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<i>"11 On coming to the house, [the Magi] saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.”</i></div>
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So here they were, visiting Jesus as a child, in a house, not a baby in a barn. There's also no mention of how many Magi came. Only the three gifts are described, so there could've been any number of wise men, from two to a hundred for all we know. Why assume three gifts meant three Magi?</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-n4YO-oWV_40/UqrwVI1aLJI/AAAAAAAAAxI/HOEkbld0a8E/s1600/9-The+Life+of+Brian.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-n4YO-oWV_40/UqrwVI1aLJI/AAAAAAAAAxI/HOEkbld0a8E/s200/9-The+Life+of+Brian.jpeg" height="200" width="141" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #666666;">Ideal Christmas<br />entertainment?</span></i></td></tr>
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But this verse creates no end of problems because adjoining passages mention that the Magi had to avoid talking to Herod again so as not to reveal to him the Messiah’s location. But the Fibble was also used to accurately show that Herod died about six months before Jesus’ birth, so how does that work?</div>
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So, no census, no Herod, no Quirinius, no Bethlehem, no late December birth and no wise men present at that birth.</div>
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The nativity, as we celebrate it, is merely a myth, a story which doesn’t even match what is recorded in the Bible, itself a collection of remembered events written decades after they took place, which, as we've seen, contradict one another.</div>
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We might as well celebrate Christmas by watching The Life of Brian. It's probably just as accurate, but it'll certainly be much more fun than what the Fibble has come up with. After all, what have the Romans ever done for us?<br />
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<b>Further reading</b></div>
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<a href="http://www.steveparis.net/2013/11/going-round-in-circles.html">Going Round in Circles: God Versus Evolution</a> (23 November 2013)<br />
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<a href="http://www.steveparis.net/2012/10/in-god-we-trust.html">In God We Trust ?</a> (22 October 2012)<br />
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-----===oOo===-----</div>
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Steve Parishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14145787455201419082noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2398385230099134530.post-18131053011368191322013-12-12T06:52:00.000-08:002014-01-09T06:54:18.813-08:00MacWorld - Get Started in iMovie for Mac<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_cmfqyzGdL8/Us63o2GMSlI/AAAAAAAAA58/ph9UXIOiIrE/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-01-09+at+2.50.19+pm.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_cmfqyzGdL8/Us63o2GMSlI/AAAAAAAAA58/ph9UXIOiIrE/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-01-09+at+2.50.19+pm.png" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
iMovie isn't solely available on iOS; it's been on the Mac for a lot longer and here is the first of an ongoing series of tutorials I'm writing for MacWorld UK. <a href="http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/mac-software/get-started-imovie-mac-3493553/">Check it out</a>...Steve Parishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14145787455201419082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2398385230099134530.post-34551329049829679212013-12-11T06:49:00.000-08:002014-01-09T06:50:56.987-08:00MacWorld - How to use Video in iMovie for iOS<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bGM9Z_GnRuI/Us621ucp1fI/AAAAAAAAA50/L9XEYHzLbaM/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-01-09+at+2.48.25+pm.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bGM9Z_GnRuI/Us621ucp1fI/AAAAAAAAA50/L9XEYHzLbaM/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-01-09+at+2.48.25+pm.png" height="179" width="320" /></a></div>
Here's my first tutorial for MacWorld UK covering iMovie for iOS. Part of a new ongoing series. <a href="http://www.macworld.co.uk/how-to/ipad/how-use-video-imovie-ipadiphone-3493278/">Enjoy</a>...Steve Parishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14145787455201419082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2398385230099134530.post-37638157764992811282013-12-03T06:05:00.000-08:002014-01-09T06:46:06.048-08:00Gravity Makes Me Sick<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: 12px;">I've always had a problem watching those early 3D movies, those that necessitated wearing special glasses fitted with a separate red and blue filter. Something about them didn't feel right at all. I got nauseous and disorientated watching them, but Angel and I were keen to see Gravity, and in my neck of the woods, you couldn't get to watch it in 2D unless you were open to missing work or the school run, or both.</span></div>
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Besides, these modern movies have "new and improved” RealD 3D technology, so maybe those effects wouldn't be as bad. So off we went to the cinema, put on those special glasses, and hoped to enjoy the show.</span><br />
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I was initially worried because a 3D trailer of Walking with Dinosaurs made me feel really sick, and not just because the story looked riddled with clichés and something we've seen dozens of times before. No, the 3D made me sick. I hoped it was due to the fast editing required in all trailers, so I took my glasses off and waited for the real show to start.</div>
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Gravity explores how an ordinary person placed in unfamiliar surroundings deals with extraordinary events. The plot and story are razor thin, you hardly know anything about the characters or what's happened, it's just how they react to what's going on around them. The acting is excellent though. You can tell George Clooney was really enjoying his part, and Sandra Bullock is brilliant. There's a scene in the Soyuz capsule which is particularly effective.</div>
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But the real stars of the show are the special effects, the cinematography and the editing. There's none of those frenzied shots where the camera moves more than the action does and some effects like how the camera pans towards an astronaut then moves into the visor, and turns around so you can see all the head-up display information that astronaut sees, is amazing.</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tu6eU4e783Y/Up3ggYfRsvI/AAAAAAAAAtk/x2uIFCGRLUg/s1600/6-Gravity+3.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tu6eU4e783Y/Up3ggYfRsvI/AAAAAAAAAtk/x2uIFCGRLUg/s400/6-Gravity+3.png" height="168" width="400" /></a></div>
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The weightless effects are extremely well done too, although some of it felt a bit wrong somehow, but never having experienced weightlessness myself I can't really comment on this. However, if you really want to see what happens when you cry in space, check out the ever excellent Commander Chris Hadfield.<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12px;">But at the end of the day, there isn't much content here, and it's really like eating popcorn. It feels nice but leaves you unsatisfied if what you're looking for is depth.</span></div>
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If you love special effects, you'll love this film, but if you're after a space disaster movie with more meat, <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/movie/apollo-13/id299468139?uo=4&at=1l3uZRt">Apollo 13</a> would be better suited to your tastes, and at least this one has the added benefit of depicting actual mind blowing events and remarkable human ingenuity in the face of impossible odds (just ignore the last monologue as it really is dire).</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-R7X2LmZEc8Y/Up3gjq2xtQI/AAAAAAAAAuA/BA3UsKtMI7g/s1600/7-Gravity+4.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-R7X2LmZEc8Y/Up3gjq2xtQI/AAAAAAAAAuA/BA3UsKtMI7g/s400/7-Gravity+4.png" height="168" width="400" /></a></div>
Interestingly enough, the 3D effect of Gravity didn't make me feel nearly as sick as that dinosaur trailer, so my suspicion of the fast editing coupled with the 3D causing motion sickness was somewhat confirmed, but it didn't stop me feeling nauseous for well over an hour after the movie had ended. Driving home was an interesting experience!</div>
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So what was going on?</div>
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I pointed my browser towards Google and found an answer pretty fast. According to <a href="http://www.livescience.com/9916-3-movies-people-hurl.html">this article</a>, <span style="font-size: 12px;">it's all to do with your inner ear. As I'm sure you already know, this is where your body uses fluid to sense balance and motion. Your own built-in gyroscope. When there's a conflict between your eyes and your ears, like when you're reading a book in a car - your eyes think you're still but your ears know you're moving - you can end up feeling nauseous.</span></div>
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3D movies act in reverse: you eyes see the motion and depth, but your ears keep telling your brain you're perfectly still, and the result is the same: nausea.</div>
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It turns out that colour plays a factor too, and we can tolerate moving black and white images far better and for longer periods, than coloured ones, which perfectly explains my reaction to the vibrant dinosaur trailer and the darker, pretty much black and white feature that came after it.</div>
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<a href="http://www.livescience.com/9916-3-movies-people-hurl.html">The same article</a> even explained why we have such a reaction when our senses contradict one another. Apparently, this is similar to the effect some types of poison have when they're introduced into our system, and the first thing your body will want to do if it thinks it's been poisoned it to throw up all that popcorn onto the person seating in front of you!</div>
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Not a nice experience for such a premium priced cinema ticket, and the weird thing is, we all feel this to a greater or lesser extent, except for the small minority of us who have a different inner ear and cannot experience any kind of motion sickness, but I doubt these 3D movies are made solely with those people in mind.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4q4Y3oQYLNQ/Up4VFVCG61I/AAAAAAAAAuk/QYT44BgYxzY/s1600/10-2D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4q4Y3oQYLNQ/Up4VFVCG61I/AAAAAAAAAuk/QYT44BgYxzY/s320/10-2D.jpg" height="169" width="320" /></a></div>
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So what do you do if all your mates want to go see a 3D movie and you're one of the unlucky hyper sensitive ones to this kind of motion sickness? A little bit of online digging might bring up <a href="http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/e9b4/">Think Geek's amazing 2D-glasses</a> which claim to transform the information from 3D images back into a nice flat 2D film. Sounds too good to be true, right? Well it started as an April Fools joke at first, but unbeknownst to Think Geek, an enterprising developer was working on an actual product at the time the hoax was made.<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12px;">Forbes </span><a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/alexknapp/2011/05/03/q-and-a-with-hank-green-inventor-of-2d-glasses/" style="font-size: 12px;">interviewed the inventor</a><span style="font-size: 12px;"> back in 2011 and you can buy them through the <a href="http://www.2d-glasses.com/">developer's website</a> and </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Hank-Greens-2D-Glasses-Turns-movies/dp/B004X4L1UC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1386108786&sr=8-1&keywords=Hank+Green%27s+2D-Glasses%3A+Turns+3D+movies+back+to+2D" style="font-size: 12px;">Amazon</a>. <span style="font-size: 12px;">In an ironic twist, Think Geek ended up creating their own version of the product. So it certainly looks as though you'll be able to join your friends to those 3D movies without bringing along a bucket and mop with you!</span><br />
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Steve Parishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14145787455201419082noreply@blogger.com1