Behold! The sequel to one of the best games I played last year:
All I needed to know is that it was more Boom Blox. With pirates.
Tag Archives: Off-Topic
Explaining RSS to People in Normal Human Words
This is about the best way I’ve seen to describe how RSS works. I post this for those of you who might not know that you can do this sort of thing with Web sites you visit; it’s actually not all that common. Now that you know, won’t you kindly click on the little orange graphic to the right and subscribe?
Kindle iPhone/Kindle 2: Usability
There’s been a small flurry of Kindle 2 and Kindle iPhone activity today:
Publishers Weekly says Kindle iPhone is a good app with flaws:
First, the good: the iPhone app gives you access to all of the books you’ve purchased at the Kindle store. It also syncs to the furthest page read in an e-book, so, in theory, firing up the iPhone app will take you to the exact spot where you left off reading in your Kindle. When it works, it’s pretty slick. But it doesn’t always, and the annoyed user then has to manually thumb through pages to find where they left off. Also, strangely, there’s no search functionality.
Their final words are also notable:
Amazon’s promotion of the iPhone app as a complement to the Kindle is spot on. It isn’t the most feature-packed reader and has irritating limitations, but it loads quickly and displays text as sharply as you’re going to find on a small LCD screen. Its kinship with the Kindle will make it the go-to ereader app for Kindle users, while its extensive catalog of e-books—nearly a quarter million—is the largest available and will certainly attract users.
I think that’s about the best appraisal of the Kindle iPhone app’s usefulness I’ve seen. The application certainly has flaws. I’ve been trying it out and playing with how it works, and I also have been comparing it to the Stanza reader, which I believe is the current front-runner for iPhone applications. Kindle iPhone is either rushed to market or intentionally gimped out of the gate, because it’s missing several key features that would have made it the de facto eBook reader on every iPhone.
Arcade Rats from the 90's Totally Dig This
Street Fighter is back. I very clearly remember my first experiences learning Street Fighter II in arcades and in video game rooms in hotels while traveling with my parents. I ponied up the $70 for a copy of Street Fighter II when it came out for the Super Nintendo, and a version of the Street Fighter series has been part of most console lifecycles for me.
After about a week of playing with Street Figher IV, the newest iteration in the series, it’s like coming home. It’s both familiar and excitingly new at the same, time. It creates a great look with 3D effects (including some of the “brush stroke” things you can see in the intro video), while still maintaining solid 2d fighting fundamentals and impressing with technical merit.
Like its predecessors, it is alarmingly deep and rewards careful and dedicated play with layers of sophistication and rewards. It’s not for everybody, but I will say that I’m having much more fun with it than I probably should.
I Have a New Home on the Internet
In a remarkable effort to synchronize my Twitter username and my personal blog address, you can now follow my musings any time you like by visiting my new home here at http://ryanmarkel.com. (It should also be easier to memorize that way.)
I’m still in the process of getting everything set up and configured, and moving the posts from the old blog has taken some time, but I like it better here and I hope you’ll join me in having some decent conversation about—well—whatever.
Ryan Markel 