EpicWin!
This is new. I don’t mean that in a “it just came out” sort of way…though it basically did. I mean, I have tried a lot of productivity, task management, to do list and GTD1 applications in my time and this is the first time I’ve tried one that actually hides within the disguise of an RPG.2
EpicWin! is an iPhone app that allows you to assign yourself tasks, schedule repeating chores and set priorities like any other task management app, but it does so by rewarding task completion with XP3 and “loot.” Your tasks are categorized as feats of strength, stamina, intellect, social or spirit and you can set the priority by the amount of “Epicness” the task is worth upon completion.
You start EpicWin by creating your character: choose its race, its name and then you send it out on quests…like “Do the laundry”…”Mow the lawn”…or “Pick up the dry cleaning” As you complete those tasks your character levels up and acquires treasures which your friends on Twitter and Facebook can receive announcements about if you wish.
It’s a really imaginative idea and I hope the folks at SuperMono develop it further. I’d like to see them offer an online database for you to store your tasks and your progress like Remember The Milk and the ability to compete and share progress with other EpicWinners. Maybe they could allow multiple players to share a task together as an EpicWin epic quest!
The app sells for $2.99 US for the iPhone. What do you use to get things done?
No Flash? No problem—click here!»- Getting Things Done
[↩]
- Role Playing Game …get to know your acronyms!! [↩]
- Experience Points [↩]
Star Wars Cantina HD… Diner Dash with blue milk
Have you ever wanted to run your own wretched hive of scum and villainy? Have you ever wanted to utter the words, “Hey! Your droids—we don’t serve their kind here.”? If you’re an iPhone or especially an iPad user, your dream has come true with Star Wars: Cantina HD.
Star Wars Cantina HD by THQ Wireless is a Star Wars themed Diner-Dash-style game where you play the beehive hairdo’d Nia Adea and do your best to keep the never ending rush of customers (jawas, moisture farmers… the occasional Hutt) happy. It’s all about speed, accuracy and meeting the daily quota.
As you progress through career mode, you’ll be given the opportunity to make upgrades to the cantina, bringing in more tables and customer-attracting decor.
As I write this, it occurs to me that the game is not particularly Star-Wars-like. Yes, it takes place in the Star Wars Universe and, if you like these kinds of games, it’s fun enough. But when I was running around in my backyard with my friends, beating each other up with brightly painted cardboard tubes from the cores of my Mom’s Christmas wrapping paper rolls, I was Darth Vader or Han Solo, maybe Luke Skywalker. None of us was calling dibs on getting to pretend to be the bartender. This is the kind of stuff that made Luke all whiny and long to join the rebellion.
I must admit, there is a struggle between the forces of good and of evil in the cutscenes of career mode where each day brings a new challenge. It’s just that it’s not the epic struggle that is the Star Wars trademark. I’m not hearing John Williams’ score playing as I imagine Nia Adea gazing whistfully at the twin suns of Tatooine. It’s just not there.
Fun, nice to look at, but not a blockbuster for me.
Still, at $4.99, it’s better than Phantom Menace.
Which Star Wars character did you always pretend to be? Were you the bartender? Leave me a comment below.
Freeverse shows off video of upcoming Days of Thunder iPhone game
I had the pleasure of meeting with the the guys at the Freeverse booth at Macworld last month and one of the games they showed me was Days of Thunder, a joint venture with them and Paramount Digital Entertainment, that will be coming out very soon.
I’m not much of a gamer but I found the iPhone accelerometer-based steering of this game to be very natural–so much so that I think I probably tuned out everything the Freeverse folks were telling my while I immersed myself in the game.
Here’s a video to give you an idea of what is to come.
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iPhone puzzle game for people not annoyed by the sound of mewing kittens
Shivering Kittens is a USD$2.99 puzzle game where you liberate kittens that are trapped in blocks of ice…because that happens. For each kitten you save you hear the crunch of ice and the meows as a reward for your efforts.
If Tetris-style gameplay and cat noises turn your crank, Shivering Kittens
might be the game for you.
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Frenzic, one of the most addictive games ever, as it was meant to be played…on the iPhone
Frenzic by the Iconfactory & ARTIS Software has always been a cool game: you race against the clock to strategically position pie wedges in available spots gaining points and power ups as you go. It’s been available on the Mac since March of 2007 but I had a better chance of resisting its addictive pull because the mouse and keyboard just aren’t the best method of input for a game like this. Frenzic is a “put that THERE!” kind of game…a game that begs to be instructed with the point of a demanding finger.
…and now Frenzic has come to the platform that can do it right–the iPhone and iPod touch.
A little while ago I was asked to test out Frenzic for iPhone
while it was still in beta and I teased my Flickr friends with the picture shown here. This is what a typical iPod touch will look like shortly after installing Frenzic…the tell tail seven spot fingerprint pattern is unmistakable. It’s the sign of an addict.
Frenzic is now available from the Apple App Store for USD$4.99, but be warned it pays back more than that in fun while making your free time vanish.
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Additional temptation to feed my World of Warcraft addiction arrives November 13th
About the only game that became so addictive for me that it started to negatively affect the other aspects of my life has been World of Warcraft. I came to the realization that I was spending too much time leveling up in my artificial, digital life and not nearly enough time achieving and contributing with my real life and I finally gave it up. I still miss it. Even though the quests were repetitive and meaningless, the learning of new and imaginative abilities, the interactions with other players, and the friendships I developed made the game very enjoyable.
On Novemeber 13th, Blizzard Entertainment will release Wrath of the Lich King the next expansion pack for World of Warcraft. It will add a new Hero Class called the “Death Knight” and bump the highest possible character level to 80. There will be the new skill of “Inscription” that will allow characters to augment spells. The map will also expand allowing you to explore the new continent of Northrend. You can engage in epic siege warfare, deploying siege engines and actually bust up some structures as there will now be destructible buildings! But, best of all, your character can now be further customized with new hairstyles and dances–just what I was waiting for!!
I don’t know if I can resist the temptation to roll a new character and go a’questing.
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Run Spore Creature Creator Demo on Mac OS X 10.4.11 Tiger
Evidently, the only thing keeping some users of Mac OS X 10.4.11 Tiger from using the Spore Creature Creator Demo is that the application is coded to look for and only accept Mac OS X 10.5.3.
An anonymous user over at Mac OS X Hints has posted instructions on how to easily alter a plist in the game’s package contents to have it check for a slightly older operating system. Voila! Now, as the editor at Mac OS X Hints notes:
System requirements are typically based on features in a given level of the OS, so there may be unknown issues if you use this hint to run the demo on an earlier version of the OS. Maybe this will work for the full version too…
[ Via Mac OS X Hints ]
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EA Spore Creature Creator spreads across the internet
It was kind of fun to monitor Twitter today with all the buzz about the Spore Creature Creator Trial but not as much fun as it is playing! The Spore Creature Creator is a preview of the full Spore game that is expected to release on September 7. With the Creature Creator, you to create Spore creatures that you will later be able to use in the game. You can create multiple creatures or sample those created by the Spore design team. You can ever share your creatures and create little videos of them doing their thing.
The Spore Creature Creator has some stiff requirements: it requires Leopard and an Intel Mac, minimum ATI X1600 or NVidia 7300 GT with 128 MB of Video RAM, or Intel Integrated GMA X3100.
[ Via TUAW ]
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Monopoly on the iPod. (dibs on the race car)
This morning the classic board game of all classic board games was released for the iPod–Monopoly. As a dyed in the wool, “no money for landing on Free Parking,” Monopoly purist, I have yet to find a computerized interpretation of this real estate conquest game that comes anywhere close to the sense of nostalgia that comes with the ritual of rolling the dice, buying up properties and hoarding wads of cash in neat stacks under your edge of the board. It’s a difficult thing to capture but this attempt by Electronic Arts aims to try by replacing “wheeling and dealing” with “click wheeling and dealing” and by allowing multiplayer play by requiring the iPod to be passed to the next player.
It may not be the ideal board game playing experience, but for USD$4.99, you’ll be hard pressed to find a better alternative for those long family road vacations this summer.
[ Via Macworld ]
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Freeverse releases Neon Tango, a retro-style arcade shooter
Freeverse has announced a new game called Neon Tango. It’s a psychedelic arcade-style shooter with lots of action, seizure-inducing visuals, and a bit of that retro mojo that’s been going around lately.
In the game, you take your ship into battle against the forces of chaos across 50 stages of bitmapped treachery, overflowing with glowing enemies and pulsating bosses. Each wave offers a brand new way to play. It looks like a lot of fun.
Neon Tango is available for USD$24.95. A free demo is also available.
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