After playing two great games (Pet Society and Restaurant City) by Playfish, it is not hard to persuade me to try out another of their older games on Facebook - Geo Challenge.
Geo Challenge is bascially a test of social geographical knowledge, i.e. countries, maps, cities, famous spots. here's the starting screen of the game. Do note that you need to complete all the tests before a score is given. If you quit the test halfway, you will need to restart from the 1st test.
The first of the three tests is Suitcase Shuffle, a test of knowledge about the different flags of the country. As time pass, the 'wrong answers' would fade out, leaving you with a choice among three remaining flags. Normally the harder questions will give more points, but difficulty is subjective I suppose. I always get mix up when I get flags of three horizontal stripes.
After the test, the scores will be tabulated. Players will gain extra points if they get the correct answers fast. Answering many correct questions in one go will also entitle the player to extra time (about 5 seconds I think). The next test is Map Mayhem which is a test of the location of the famous spots.
The last test is the City Blitz, where players need to locate the city on the world map. The more accurate you pin the city, the more points you get. If the players select the USA or Europe options, they get other tests.
The different points at the end of the game will entitle the players to 'ranks' and also trophies. Overall the game is not too bad, since it helps to improve my geographical knowledge. In terms of complexity I will still stick of Pet Society or Restaurant City though. :)
There are plenty of discussions in the Internet about this coming big fight between the two IT giants - Google and Microsoft, over the Operating System space. Official news can be found on Google's blog, while there are plenty of other traditional news coverage, e.g. New York Times, and Channel Newsasia. Google's Chrome OS is targeting at netbooks with this new open source, light weight OS.
It is not surprising that Google is coming into this OS space. After Android, they would have had some experience in OS development. Moreover, Google started as an Internet based company more than the traditional desktop / work space based company, and thus its experience in Internet applications should naturally lead it to the main applications - Operating Systems.
What will be more interesting (other than the actual Chrome OS) is how Google plans to market this new OS. Google's Click Thru Rate based online advertising has completely changed the online adverts space. Their algo for their search, with a simple search site, has also changed search engine market, till the extent that the word 'google' has now morphed into a verb associated with the phrase 'online search'. Google's maps applications created mash-ups, not just for our terrestrial maps, but for the sky and the seas as well. Google's innovation for the Web has created deep ripples and shaped the Internet of today.
So how Google markets and 'sells' its OS will become a very important case study for those who plan to sell software linked to the Internet, and that is a huge market. Who will be its major partners? Which PC maker will be the first to adopt the OS shipped with its netbooks? Which government / major corporation will be the first to announce a complete changeover of its operating system to Chrome OS?
Of course, there is also the other angle of looking at this news; is Google turning into the next 'evil empire', whose applications and services reaches into every aspect of your life, and knows every single online activity you have done? Google Chrome running on Google Chrome OS, with Google Apps and such...scary?
I've never uploaded any video clips and thus did not have a YouTube account. Recently there was an opportunity to take some pretty interesting Science related video and thus tonight I tried creating my very first YouTube video!
The process is simple, and that explains why the huge popularity with self created videos. The process is made simpler if you already have a Google account.
The process of uploading video is also simple. My video upload took nearly 10 minutes for a mere 15 seconds clip because I didn't know how to compress it accordingly. I'm sure there are ways of compressing the raw clip taken from digital camera into more user friendly files.
And so viola, here's the completed product! If you want to look at the Tesla Coil demonstration at the Science Centre, just click on the picture below to bring you to the YouTube page.
Restaurant City is up! Initially I was puzzled why there is a maintenance and wondered if Playfish will add in new features for Restaurant City. Some of the online forums have plenty of speculations about what Playfish will add after the maintenance.
Well, they added a Photo Feed function! This is similar to what we have for Pet Society actually so it is not that big a deal. Nonetheless it is still fun to have photos taken of your restaurants (and others too). You can also take photos at the 'Dress Yourself' function screen.
What is more interesting is the Gourmet Street! Now, instead of random street where you could take a look at the decoration of other unknown players, there is this Gourmet Street where most restaurants are well decorated and furnished! It is great to be able to get inspiration about how to decorate your own restaurant using ideas from among the best restaurants in the game.
The news is out! There is now a website where you can key in your postal code and check the rough dates where the Next Gen National Broadband Network will reach your house.
With the latest network, you can surf from speed of 100Mbps. Currently the network is not ready yet but in the coming quarters we should be able to see commercial offerings.
Hmm I'm paying about $40 for my miserable 3Mbps due to contract. Hopefully by the time the new fibre network reaches my place, my contract will have expired and I can get better deals.
I was at Communic Asia 2009 today and took some pictures of the phones as well as the event itself. I didn't have enough time to really tour the place or ask more questions about the phones. The number of booths seems to be less and I didn't see any Sony Ericsson or SingTel booth. The CommunicAsia 2009, together with Broadcast Asia and Enterprise IT 2009, will be held from 16th to 19th June 2009 at the Singapore Expo.
Here's the pictures from the LG booth. I guessed I was impressed by the new LG GD900, the latest crystal slider phone with transparent keypad. It comes with a 8 megapixel camera!
Other than the booth girls, we also have the cute mascot! I think there was some lucky draw where lucky participants could walk away with free phones.
he new Viewty model (pic above) looks good. Of course, there were also display of the new phone models. Some were rather weird, e.g. these wrist phones. I think it is not the culture yet to have people speaking to their wrists. T
Of course, we also have the Samsung Mobile booth!
Omnia series continued to be the main highlight I believe.
Yupz, we have the Samsung Galaxy powered by the Google Android. More applications coming for wider range of phones.
Ok that is a very quick post about the CommunicAsia 2009 event and we will definitely see more blogs about it over the next few days. :) Other than phones, there were also a number of interesting announcements, including an extended Wireless@SG programme with higher speed of 1Mbps, that will last until March 2013. So yupz this will be an exciting week!
Afternote: Here's two more pictures, one of the Powerwave racing car, and the Yahoo! free drinks. Not sure why are there racing cars actually. Free drinks are great crowd pullers, but the two times I was there Yahoo! said their slurpee had not frozen enough yet. Hmm.
Pet Society is up after some maintenance and Playfish added in new gardens for everyone! I think everyone has one to two gardens depending on your pet's level. The garden is pretty empty and you can plant seeds to grow vegetables, flowers and trees! My tree has grown a little since last night (lower right).
Together with the gardens, Playfish has also introduced the garden shop that sells you seeds and pots, and potted plants. The seeds are quite expensive, ranging from 100 to 500 coins.
Here's the description of the different seeds that you can buy. I think they will add other new options in future. Planting the seeds is as easy as dragging the seeds from your inventory to the dirt spots in the gardens. It will be fun to grow a fly eater plant. Hmm.
Well, the new garden function makes Pet Society interesting to play again. Keep up the good work Playfish! Guess it's worth the wait during the maintenance.
Oh, after the plants are grown you can sell them for coins or eat them as food! See the pic below.
It is a curious phenomenon that people like the lawmakers who have no extensive knowledge of games, often want to impose their views and opinions on those who play games. Just a couple of days ago Germany news announced that 16 Interior Ministers have banded together to ask their Parliament to ban the production and distribution of violent video games.
What is violent video games? If 'violent' is the main concern, then should video movies be banned as well? What is violent is the first place? Isn't violence linked to a society's norms? If so, that is a changing norm which cannot be defined clearly enough to be put into law, right?
I wonder why would intelligent people like lawmakers want to define ever changing boundaries into hard set laws. Perhaps the industry would be in a better position to have self imposed rating systems, and encourage the parents to be more vigilant about the games their kids play. Afterall, scoping the social norms for children is part and parcel of the responsibilities of their parents isn't it?
MyBrute is coming on iPhone and iPod touch. This is announced on the game page itself. There will also be new features and skills. Wonder if the MyBrute apps will be free or will it come with a cost on iPhone.
Other than the announcement, there are also YouTube videos of MyBrute. I'm not sure about the authenticity of the video though, but it looks real enough.
Playfish has created yet another popular hit with Restaurant City in Facebook. Restaurant City is a simple and yet addictive game where you operate a restaurant with choice of your own friends as cook, waiters, and cleaners. Dishes are created from ingredients, and there are a few ways of getting them.
Starting Out: When you first started in the game, you would be prompted to select two of your friends to be employees of the restaurants. You could also choose yourself as an employee. Be careful who you choose as employees since sacking an employee requires a severance pay of $200.
After selecting the employees, you could assign them jobs as waiter or cook, and voila the restaurant starts operations! Once you have enough cash you could buy nicer clothes for the employees, e.g. chef's hat, sushi master' stop...etc. As the restaurant operates, you would also earn gourmet points. With sufficient points the level of the restaurant goes up. Leveling up the restaurant means you could hire more employees or get a bigger restaurant.
One thing to note is that gourmet points are earned only when the main restaurant is operating. If the player visit other restaurants, or go into the dish selection menu, or restaurant decoration menu, only coins will be earned and not gourmet points.
Coins are earned when your waiters cleared the empty plates left by customers. Each plate earns you 2 coins, regardless of the level of the dish. You could also shake the trees (similar to Pet Society) and 1 coin may drop out of the trees. Leveling up or earning awards will also entitle the player to coins / cash. There were some sites that advertise about cheat engines and such, but I think it is not much point cheating a game like Restaurant City since there isn't exactly a win / lose concept embed in the game.
Dishes & Ingredients: The restaurant serves 3 types of dishes each time, starter, main and dessert. You could earn new dishes, or level up the existing dishes via the use of ingredients. Higher level dishes give more gourment points per customer served by 0.2. Thus a level 6 dish will earn the player 2.0 points per customer while a level 1 dish earns only 1.0 gourmet point. Higher level dishes also comes with nicer sounding name, e.g. luxurious, delicious...etc. The plates design for higher level dishes are also nicer.
Getting Ingredients There are four ways of getting more ingredients. 1) Every day as you logged into the game, you would be rewarded with an ingredient. 2) There will also be a food quiz everyday, and answering correctly at the quiz earns you yet another ingredient. 3) First visit to new restaurants started by your friends will also earn you with a new ingredient. 4) Restuarnt City has just started a new function of 'Ingredient Market' where 3 different types of ingredients could be bought with coins each day.
More likely than not, there will be extra ingredients and players could trade among themselves for the correct ingredients for their dishes. If your friends didn't locked their ingredients, you could trade with them freely. If the ingredients are locked, a message will be sent to inform them that you requested to trade these ingredients.
Decorations & Layout: Restaurant City offers many different ways of decorating the restaurant. The external view could be changed quite easily with coins to create different themes. New windows, decorations, trees, signboards are available often.
Similarly the interior layout of the restaurant could be changed. Unlike the exterior decorations, the interior layout plays a more important role. Functional items like toilet are needed once you reach certain levels (8 if I am not wrong).
The layout of the tables and chairs also determine how customer walk around the restaurant. Some players have suggested to arrange the restaurant like a maze, so that customers take longer to walk to the chair. It is also useful to arrange the tables and chairs such that the waiter minimises the walking distance from the chef to the customer.
One thing to note is that the stove design does not change the speed of dish cooking. The different designs are purely aesthetic.
So it may be better to arrange the chairs and table such that waiters are confined with a smaller space. Leave the corners for toilets and such.
Each satisfied customer will add to the popularity index, which means new customers will come in faster. Each time the customer is disappointed, e.g. too long a waiting time, or dirty restaurant, points will be deducted.
Give Restaurant City a try! The game is fun, and the only drawback is the slightly longer waiting time to load the game. New functions are constantly added. There is now a rating system where other players could become critics and rate your restaurant as well.
Having played in the recent Closed Beta Testing, here is some of the screen shots, details and views about Dragonica.
Character Choice & Tutorial The game is pretty simple to learn with good graphics and background music. There are four characters (warrior, archer, magician, thief) to choose from at the beginning. As the character levels up say level 20, there are other 'split professions' to choose from. This reminded me of Maplestory somehow. The characters vary in skills and I think Warrior class is an easier class to start with. Magician is long range, while thief is fast and short ranged. More description could be found on Dragonica's site.
Dragonica is easy to learn because of the tutorial. Once a new player enters the game, there are on-screen instructions about the movement and other keys. Skills will be learned along the way, and can be assigned to keys (e.g. Q,W,E,A,S,D) for ease of activation. Oh, when one press direction arrows twice follow by the jump key, the character actually fly into the air to cover a long distance, quite cool.
There is also a floating pet that tags along with the character and give instructions and advice on what to do next. This pet is quite helpful in towns in the beginning, especially for those who are not familiar with how MMORPG works.
Towns, Shops & Mission Quests
Navigation in the town is not that difficult. There is the general map on the upper right corner, that indicates NPC with "!", i.e. quest givers. In any map, the player can press 'N' to bring out a mini map version of the area. I've only visited the first two towns in Dragonica, and I read somewhere that there are a lot more towns, and a few continents to explore.
In towns, other than quests givers, there are other NPCs, including shops, guild master...etc. Some quests can class specific, i.e. unique to Warrior, Magician...etc. Generally I think the items and equipments provided in mission quests will be better than those in towns.
Speaking of mission quests, other than those quests that ask for monsters to be killed in the general area maps, there are also 'mission quests' that teleport a group of players (up to 4 normally, but I heard as many as 25 for PvP) to instances.
There are a couple of maps in such mission quests, and other statistics like combos, attacks, damages ...etc will be tracked. Try to complete the quest faster in order to get higher rankings. The rankings will also be tracked at the end of the game, and different groups will be ranked accordingly.
There will be a boss monster at the end of the mission map, and that can be quite a pain to kill depending on your character's level. Of course, there are minor / normal monsters in the same map as well. Having potions and boosters will be useful.
At the end of the quest there will be rewards. Higher 'ranks' will earn the player more rewards if I am not wrong. The rewards given is random, and you could see the 'scrolling' of the rewards on the screen. Different mission maps will give different types of rewards, with higher level mission quests giving better rewards (of course).
Others Generally Dragonica is fun. Other than the normal hack and slash, there are other minor in game play e.g. cooking that is pretty amusing and yet provides boosters that is useful to the game. Their combo counts, as well as monsters killed counts, provided more incentives for players to 'kill' better in the game. High combos gives more experience per kill, while monster kill counts hitting bars like 100 monsters, will give an in game box with random items.
The GMs are quite responsive to gamers' request. For example, many gamers have asked for their character names to be retained even post-CBT, and GM agreed. There is also an on-going competition to develop game guides with attractive rewards.
I hope the Open Beta for Dragonica will be released soon. :) Looking forwad to the game. Want to see a YouTube of the PvP war: Emporia War for Dragonica? here's it.
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