March 6, 2009

The Past Few Months

It’s been a while since I’ve updated my blog, so I thought I’d provide a rundown of what I’ve been doing.

Startup

We really found our focus over the past couple months. We are committed to making tools for mobile developers. Our name is Localytics, and our first tool is an analytics service for mobile applications.

We launched an early version of our analytics engine last week at a DemocampBoston1. Democamp involves a quick succession of presentations by local startups. Check out my recap.

We captured a video of our presentation. The presentation was 5 minutes with a 5 minute Q&A at the end. Check it out:

Registration is closed right now, but we will be opening it up in a couple weeks. During that time, we will add more features, documentation, and hopefully some guides on how to get the most out of the service.

For now, you can check out our demo, which might not make a whole lot of sense, but at least it’s there and it works.

Gaming

I managed to get through a couple of the 2008 holiday season games. I have mixed feelings about most of them. The only ones I’d flat out recommend are Gears of War 2 and Left 4 Dead. Perhaps I’ll go into more detail in future posts.

I finally discovered the wonder that is Xbox Live Arcade. There are some awesome games on there, many of them with a retro feel. Braid, Castle Crashers, and Geometry Wars are all great. Each is an update of classic game styles with gorgeous HD visuals.

Braid is a side-scroller with time manipulation, Castle Crashers invokes memories of Teenage Muntant Ninja Turtles beat-em-up games, and Geometry Wars is Asteroids on crack. I especially like how Geometry Wars pulls in high scores from your friends, encouraging you to beat them.

October 21, 2008

What an insane fall lineup

The games coming out this fall season are an assault on the senses. This is a way better lineup than last year. Games I care about include:

  • Dead Space – released Oct 13 to great reviews
  • Fable 2 – Oct 21
  • Far Cry 2 – Oct 22
  • Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3 – Oct 28
  • Fallout 3 – Oct 28
  • Gears of War 2 – Nov 7
  • Call of Duty: World at War – Nov 11
  • Mirror’s Edge – Nov 11
  • World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King – Nov 13
  • Left 4 Dead – Nov 17
  • Prince of Persia – Dec 2

I’ve bolded the ones I’m definitely going to buy. Almost all of these are Xbox 360 titles. There are a couple good PS3 games (such as Little Big Planet), but I don’t have a PS3.

I’m cautious about Fallout 3. It has probably the biggest advertising campaign out of all of them, but I have a feeling it won’t meet expectations.

Lots of sequels in there. In fact, the only ones that aren’t a sequel or in some way part of an existing series are Dead Space, Mirror’s Edge, and Left 4 Dead.

July 10, 2008

We’re Getting Close to Photo-realism in Games

Check out this screenshot from Crysis Warhead, and this one, too. Now if only the colors could be a little less brown and gritty, and maybe go a little less on the bloom.

April 11, 2008

TED Talk – Johnny Lee: Wii Remote hacks

Here’s a short video of some of the coolest Wii Remote hacks I’ve seen to date:

October 26, 2007

2007 Holiday Season Video Game Guide

My picks are:

  1. Assassin’s Creed - PC, Xbox 360, PS3
    Release: November 16, Assassin’s Creed – Amazon
    My only must play game for this season, this is a definite buy.
  2. Halo 3 - Xbox 360
    Release: Available Now, Halo 3 – Amazon.com
    I already have this, and so does just about everyone else.
  3. Half Life Orange Box - PC, Xbox 360
    Release: Available Now, Orange Box – Amazon.com
    My interest lies in Episode 2, Portal, and maybe Team Fortress 2. I’ve heard great things about Portal in particular. I’ll most likely get the PC edition.
  4. Hellgate: London - PC
    Release: October 31, Hellgate: London – Amazon.com
    I’ve been looking forward to this game for a while now, especially since some of the developers come from Blizzard having worked on the Diablo series. I’m hoping for a game with some good ambiance and personality.
  5. Crysis - PC
    Release: November 16, Crysis – Amazon.com
    From Crytek, maker of one of my favorite games, Far Cry. Crysis is going to require an upgrade for my PC, so I’ll probably hold off on playing this until a year from now. I don’t mind being way behind on PC games, it means I save a ton of money on hardware. Update: The single player Crysis demo has been released.
  6. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare - PC, Xbox 360, PS3
    Release: November 6, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare – Amazon.com
    I’ve played the others in the series and enjoyed them, but I might delay on this one. I’m not sure if I want it for the 360 or PC. The single player PC demo is now available.
  7. Mass Effect - Xbox 360
    Release: November 20, Mass Effect – Amazon.com
    There’s a lot of talk about Mass Effect, but I haven’t put in the time to understand the hype. I’ll give this a mention, because I want to keep it on the radar and see how it gets reviewed upon release.
  8. Super Mario Galaxy - Wii
    Release: November 12, Super Mario Galaxy – Amazon.com
    If you’ve got a Wii and you miss the days of Super Mario 64, this is probably for you. Too bad I don’t have a Wii.
  9. The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass - DS
    Release: Available Now, The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass – Amazon.com
    I wish I had a DS so I could play this. The reviews are positive.
  10. Rock Band – Xbox 360, PS2, PS3, Wii
    Release: November 20, Rock Band – Amazon.com
    I probably won’t be purchasing this myself, but I have to give props to Harmonix for coming up with this. They’ve grown a whole new genre of games. I’ll need to find a full setup somewhere to try this.

Picks from other sites: