Quick Updates for 6/15/2010

I’m back again with two quick updates.

1. A demo  for NCAA Football 11 has been released into the wild. I’ve toyed with the Xbox 360 version and the new locomotion engine makes a massive difference. The game just felt extremely smooth to me. It looked fantastic as well and I saw zero framerate hiccups. That’s a good sign.
2. OnLive is set to launch tomorrow, but they’ve been hinting and a big reveal and some new surprises today. A good sign for those of us anxiously waiting for the go ahead to use the service will be happy to note that their site is currently down for maintenance, which signals that they’re finally moving to their new site format (revealed during the registration process for early applicants). I’m interested to hear their big news. Word got around overnight that the service would cost $4.95 a month, and there would be a sign-up bonus for the first month. Some say that the sign-up bonus would be a free year of OnLive. If so, that would be a huge gamble, as well as a huge show of confidence. We’ll see as the day goes on.

That’s all for now. Later, all.

EDIT: And just like that, the flashy new OnLive site is up.

App Review: HippoRemote Pro

Once upon a time I attempted an iDevice (iPhone/iPod Touch) app blog. It died a slow, sad death. In it’s memory, though, I may post a random note about some of my favorite apps here. Today, we start with HippoRemote Pro

HIPPOREMOTE PRO
Productivity
Robohippo LLC
See in App Store

I started using HippoRemote during the WWDC conference. For whatever reason, while following a live blog on Engadget, I came across HippoRemote during a lull. I liked the idea of controlling my mouse with my iPod Touch, so I picked up the free HippoRemote Lite. After using it for the duration of my time following the live blog, I decided that I liked it enough to go ahead and buy the full version.

Thus far I am very happy with my decision. I’ve not put the game controller feature (where it acts as the controls for different games) to the test yet, but for surfing the web, playing videos and basic operations while I am some distance from my keyboard and mouse it works great. The different App Profiles are very nice. They’ve got all the one’s I’d want, from Media Player Classic to Firefox and Chrome. 

One reason I opted for the Pro over the Basic model was for the circular scrolling option. I missed my scroll wheel badly so this fixed it. You click a button at the base of the screen to bring up a scrolling wheel that purportedly functions similar to an iPod’s scroll wheel. All in all this is one handy app. I’d recommend it to folks who want to step away from the mouse and keyboard for a while. Later, all.

Ready for OnLive

Speaking of being in the APB “Key to the City” deal last post, I remembered that I’d not mentioned getting my pre-registration accepted for OnLive. As part of the “Founding Members” group, I got to reserve my username (guess what it is?) and I’m supposed to get a free year of OnLive plus a free game. I’ll be reviewing that sometime after it comes out on June 17th.

I have high hopes for OnLive, as does Beta. Her main computer is an underpowered (for gaming, anyway) laptop so if this turns out to be a viable product, she can play more PC games while in Chicago. My biggest concern – aside from the internet still being pretty much an untamed beast, performance-wise – is the idea of paying for the service and then buying games at full price. I would like to see you be able to register your already-bought games for use on OnLive. We’ll see what’s what in about four days.

APB: Alpha’s On the Case

I’m in the All Points Bulletin (APB) “Key to the City” event right now, and from what I understand, the NDA is off, at least to a limited degree. I’ll be brief in any case.

One thing I like is the awesome character creation tool. It’s allowed me to recreate my frightening visage in-game. If anyone’s every wondered what I look like, this is a fairly close approximation.

I may make Beta’s head too, just for kicks. In any case, the game was fun. I’ve only really rolled through the tutorial zone, but the last mission I played involved PvP – which the game didn’t tell me up front. I was just suddenly told that the rival faction was on to me mid-mission, and then a criminal showed up (I was an enforcer). He and I crossed paths six times during the course of this mission. I killed him three times, died once, shook him in my car on one occasion and finally completed the mission as he was desperately trying to gun me down, which made us neutral to each other again. Ha. Alpha: 1, Criminal: 0.

It’s a fun game, and one that warrants a review once it’s released. Later, all.

Rob Bob from Sims 3 Ambitions

Hey everyone. Beta coerced my to make a short comic out of the misadventures of my current Sim in The Sims 3: Ambitions, so I did. Here’s what I came up with. It’s not long, but it’s simple fun.

I hope you enjoy it. Share it with your friends! Later,all.

Back Again

Since the update to e-AAGH.net added the new front page for news and updates, I’ve been struggling to figure out what to post here. I mean, if the front page has all the news and updates, what is this blog going to hold? I finally figured it out: a more casual and behind-the-scenes look into me, the site, and it’s development. Let’s start with what I did all of last night.

I’ll be the first to admit that e-AAGH.net is struggling. Our traffic isn’t very good, and most people who do hit up e-AAGH.net come and go in a matter of seconds. What can we do to change that? More exposure and better content. The latter is always under development, but the former was my task last night. I worked on getting e-AAGH.net’s name and brand out there last night, ponying up some money for advertising. So far, it’s worked; we’ve had more hits since the ads started then we had all last week. With more traffic, I’ve got a reason to keep the site moving forward.

On a more serious note I would like to – someday, but likely not soon – turn e-AAGH.net into a profitable site. That would mean either renting out ad space or adding a pay section. Neither of those options appeal to me at the moment. Inserting ad space can be done but I don’t feel e-AAGH.net provides enough content right now to warrant charging our visitors. Donations of course are always welcome, but I kept a PayPal donation button on the main page for a couple years and got nothing. In the new revision I took it down not because of the lack of donations but rather because it was an eyesore. It screamed ‘I’m cheap!’ to me, which isn’t really the case.

On another subject, I don’t know if I’ve ever shared this, but I’m a Cleveland area native (Akron, actually) and therefore have always been a Cleveland sports fan. With the Indians floundering yet again and the Cavs running the risk of losing only their best player ever, it’s not a good time here. I bring this up because my fandom occasionally seeps into my Twitter account and may reappear here. Later, all.

New e-AAGH.net now live

As I write this, the new, improved e-AAGH.net is going live. It still has a rough edge or two, but overall I’m happy with it. Let me know what you think of it and hopefully it can continue to improve.