Ascension - Come Play with me on Apple's Gamecenter!

Ascension: Chronicles of the Godslayer is now free on all iOS systems. I downloaded it to my iPad on Thursday.

I don't know how long it will stay free, but you should jump on it while you have the chance. And then friend me on Apple's Gamecenter (username: histerin) and play it with me.

Why? Because I said so!

Oh, and because it is a seriously awesome game. It's a deck-building fantasy game where you are playing for the most "honor."

The game is for up to four players, but you can play against AI opponents.

The rules of the game are actually quite simple. Each player starts out with ten cards. Dealt across the center are six cards dealt from a separate deck, a combination of heroes and constructs that you can buy (with "runes" that the cards in your hand produce) or monsters to kill to gain honor (with "strength" that the cards in your hand have). As you buy cards, your deck will grow and you are able to do more. Heroes can give you more runes to use to buy more stuff, or strength to kill more monsters. They may also give you the ability to draw extra cards that turn, or things like that.

(Click images to see a bigger version)

Here's one of the heroes you can buy. At the top right corner is the rune cost to buy the hero. From the description, you see that he gives you four strength.

Here's the starting board configuration, with the center row laid out and your beginning hand.

Every time you buy something, it goes into your discard pile. You also discard all five cards (or more if you've been able to draw more) at the end of each turn. As you can see, you go through your deck fairly fast, but it continues to grow. The only cards that stay on the board are "constructs" that can help you each turn by giving you runes or strength.

You start out with fairly weak cards, eight "apprentice" and two "militia" cards, but will quickly build that up over time.

Once all of the available honor chits are gone (there's a limited number, based on how many people are playing), each player gets one more turn and then the game ends. Total honor is added up (most cards have an honor value at the bottom left which will tell you how much they give at the end of the game) and the one with the most honor wins!

I played this game at V-Con this year, and had a lot of fun. When I heard it was also on the iOS systems, I knew I had to have it. It's normally $5.00, but right now it's free! So you should pick it up even if you're not sure if you'd like it. What's the worst that can happen? You take it off your phone/iPad. You're not out anything.

The iOS presentation is beautiful on the iPad (I assume it's similar on the iPhone, though maybe not truly gorgeous except on the iPhone 5).

It also has a wonderful tutorial that walks you through the opening of the game. Even better, though, once it has taught you what you need to know, it will let you finish that game on your own.

You can play against the AI or you can play "hand the iPad to the next person" multiplayer, but you can also play online multiplayer through Gamecenter. I haven't had the opportunity yet, but I'm chomping at the bit to do so.

So what do you say? Download the free game (did I mention it's free?) and get in the game today! Then hit me up on Gamecenter.

As I said, I don't know when the game will go back up in price, so you should download it today, even if you don't have time to play right now. You may never get this chance again.

You Don't Know Jack is on the iPhone/iPad!

I know that many of my readers have iPhones or iPads, and they love to play games on them. Who wouldn't?

For those trivia buffs out there, one of the best console/PC video trivia games has just come out for both devices. You Don't Know Jack has arrived!

The format of the game is that of a fictional game show, hosted by the ever-irreverent Cookie Masterson (voiced by Tom Gottlieb), and you are playing for lots of money. The faster you answer each question, the more money you get (or lose, if you get it wrong). There are also question variations, such as "Dis or Dat", where you're given seven names and you have to choose if the name is one category or another (as pictured above). Each game consists of three rounds, two 5-question rounds and then a "Jack Attack," where you can win big money. The object is...wait for it...to win the most money!

I reviewed the console version of the game on my Video Game Revue blog (check it out if you like video games!). This is a bit stripped down compared to the consoles, but surprisingly not as much as you would think.

First, there is no multiplayer, which is the mainstay of the console games. I guess it might be difficult to do over a 3G network, though. I don't know. I hope they're able to implement it at some point.

Secondly, there is no "Wrong Answer of the Game." In the console version, each episode is sponsored by some wacky product (banana toaster, anyone?). One wrong answer in the episode goes along with that product in some way. If you choose it, then instead of losing money, you gain big bucks! That's not in the Apple OS version.

Each episode is self-contained, meaning you will never see those questions again unless you play the same episode. No repeats! That's been a major problem in video trivia games for many years.

With twenty brand new episodes, completely different from the console/PC version, how can you go wrong? Especially when the questions are so timely? A Rebecca Black question? A question about Elizabeth Taylor's death? Am I asking too many questions? This is a game full of questions, so how can I be?

More episodes are promised as well.

At $2.99 ($4.99 for the iPad version), this game is a steal!

And it's hilariously fun to play.

We now return you to our regular, non-video game blog.

Uncensored Playboy coming to the iPad?

Yes, according to Mashable, anyway.

"The entire back catalog as well as new issues of Playboy magazine will become available on the iPad in March 2011, Playboy founder Hugh Hefner revealed via Twitter.

Furthermore, Hefner confirmed on Twitter that Playboy will be coming to iPad in its uncensored form, which makes sense, as we doubt many would be ready to pay for a watered-down version of the magazine."

Which is certainly true. But Steve Jobs has been very emphatic that porn and sexually explicit material will never be allowed on iTunes. Full frontal nudity, as in Playboy? That would seem to go against Jobs' policy. The Playboy app that's now available does not have any nudity in it.

Yet Hefner seemed pretty certain. He didn't say "We are working on getting Playboy available..." He said it "will" be available.

So which is it? Will Apple lower its standards? While Playboy's a big company, they seem to be losing some of their clout (I could be wrong, but that's the impression I get). Are they convincing Apple to make allowances for them, with the proper safeguards to prevent minors from getting access? I'm honestly not sure exactly how they would do that.

As Mashable points out later in the article, what does this mean for the future of adult material on the Apple platform? Is this the thin end of the wedge that will ultimately allow other age-restricted material onto iTunes?

And is this a good thing?

Personally, I don't think it's a bad thing as long as they don't allow it to be a slippery slope. If something's available down at the local gas station, I don't mind it being on the iPad (as long as they have effective ways to restrict it, which as I said, I'm having trouble imagining how they would do that). I do think they should keep sexually explicit apps out of the store, though.

That's a bit different.

Anyway, it will be interesting to see whether this really does come out in March.

Will you buy it? Just for the articles, I mean?

Comic Books and Technology - Bringing Back my Childhood

This post is a personal journey culminating in a wish for the future.

I was a comic book collector for a very long time. I think I started collecting comics when I was in Junior High or High School (can't quite remember). I wasn't particular as far as companies went, other than the fact that they were all superhero comics (though I guess I did read the occasional Archie comic as well).

I collected all through college and through my years in Chicago. I figure it was around 10-15 years of comic book collecting. Sometimes more titles than others, but always a fair number.

And I devoured them.

I did keep them in plastic bags like a collector, but I always read them at least once before putting them away. I would file them away, in alphabetical order, in boxes that were designed to hold comics.

(The long ones, not the short ones)

I read as much as I could. Spider-Man was a favourite (there were four series with him at the time), Daredevil, Avengers, Fantastic Four (among others) from Marvel. Teen Titans, Justice League, Batman, Wonder Woman, etc from DC. As I got older, I read some of the more mature ones like Hellblazer and the pure beauty of Neil Gaiman's Sandman comic.

All read, then lovingly stored away in their boxes. Occasionally to be brought out again, but not that often (didn't want to destroy them in case I ever wanted to sell them!).

When I moved out to Seattle, and then to Vancouver, they couldn't come with me. I didn't have anywhere to put them. So my parents graciously allowed me to store them in their basement. But I kept collecting. I started new boxes in my new home. Which ones I collected changed often, but I was still collecting quite a bit.

Until finally I just looked at everything, the space they were taking up, the space they were taking up at my parents' house, and said "maybe I should get rid of these?" I was still enjoying them, but that enjoyment was slowly being superseded by the part of me that realized that I was running out of space, and the problem would only continue to grow.

So I got rid of them. 3000-4000 comics, sold. I don't remember for how much. The money wasn't important (though it was nice); it was the space and the effort of collecting that had become just too much for me. While they were enjoyable to read, they weren't enjoyable to collect anymore. So I stopped.

And never looked back.

In fact, I didn't really miss them that much.

Until both Marvel and DC came up with their iPhone and iPad apps that would let you read comics on the device, as well as Marvel's "Digital Subscription Service" that allows you to read over 8000 of the comics that they've digitized, all for a monthly subscription fee.

What an idea!! Electronic copies of comics that you have access to at anytime, and no storage!

And I'd be on that faster than a fly on...well, you can probably guess.

Except for two things, one limitation of the app/subscription and one much broader:

1) Where are the new titles?

So far, most of the comics available seem to be old comics and old stories. While that's kind of cool, what I'm interested in is paying a subscription for *new* comics that come out every month. Say print comics right now are $4.95 (I'm not sure what they actually are, but this is just an example). For $2.00/month, you could subscribe to each new issue of a comic (say, Detective Comics if DC was doing this). And it would be $2.00/month for each book, so if you wanted Action Comics as well, it would be $4.00/month. Maybe even a bulk rate if you subscribe to 5 or more titles.

That doesn't appear to be an option right now, though I would welcome being shown differently.

Instead, I see stories from 2005, 2001, 1995, and even reprints of the originals from back in the 60s. Which is definitely cool! Just not what I want.

2) The state of the comics industry

From everything I've heard, the superhero genre has gotten *really* strange, with massive reboots even more massive than the massive ones that were happening when I was collecting. Do any of the stories that I remember even still "exist?" (and by that, I mean in the current continuity, as I know the stories themselves still exist...don't be pedantic). Are they even well-written anymore? I don't know. I guess I could certainly dip my toe in...if they started offering the subscription option I mention above.

But Marvel's "Civil War" saga? From everything I heard about it, it was seriously stupid, though I guess some people might disagree. I certainly can't give an informed opinion about it.

Anybody knowledgeable in the current comics field have any recommendations? Something I can keep an eye out for if it's ever available electronically? Even smaller press, though obviously those are less likely to ever be available electronically.

This is a perfect technological way to bring back my childhood (and earlier adult years), one that would solve all of my storage problems and still allow me to enjoy something I love.

If I loved it anymore. I guess they do say you can never go back.

But it might be worth a try?

iPad Thoughts

Our iPad arrived last week, and after a week of using it off and on, I have to say that it's a pretty impressive beast. I really like it, at least enough to enjoy the one we have. I certainly don't need one of my own, but it's a nice gadget to use once in a while.

Since I haven't used it THAT much, I can't really give a review of it, but I do have some thoughts about it that I would like to share.

1) Battery Life

Comparing the battery life of the iPad to the iPhone is like comparing a steak from The Keg to a steak you found while dumpster-diving (I will wait for all of you to get that image out of your head before continuing).

My iPhone is lucky to get 24 hours of moderate use out of it before it desperately needs a recharge. The iPad, on the other hand, made it through a night of game-playing and live-tweeting without missing a beat. Yes, it could use a recharge, but it didn't *need* it. That's the most important difference.

2) Keypad

The iPad is big enough that key-tapping is a breeze, especially so if you turn it and put it in landscape mode. You can almost touch-type on it in that mode, though that can be pretty uncomfortable when you're sitting on a couch or something. Still, typing is so easy on it that you're more likely to do things that require it than you would be on your iPhone.

A couple of days ago, I posted about live-tweeting events and TV shows (like a hockey game). I used to do it on my phone, but didn't do it *that* much because typing on it for long stretches can be a pain. Not on the iPad. I was tweeting away during Game 4 of the Kings-Canucks playoff series because it was just so easy. Much to some of my followers' chagrin.

3) Thin, light, and yet big screen

The iPad is very thin, very much like a tablet (which I guess is why they call it a "tablet"...you don't often get something by me!). The screen is large enough, however, that almost everything looks quite good on it, whether it's a movie, video, or just a game. Games and other apps look good too, though it does depend on whether the app/game has been optimized for the iPad.

Tweetie 2, for example, hasn't been (at least not to my knowledge). It defaults to a small view, pretty much the size of an iPhone. You can double the size which brings it to full screen, but it looks really fuzzy. Still usable, and I use it that way. But fuzzy.

On the other hand, Marvel Comics (they have their own app) look awesome on it. Unlike the iPhone app, which has one comic frame at a time and often shifts the viewpoint from one side of the panel to another, you get the full page on the iPad. And it is marvelous. Too bad you can't get your new comics in that format, but maybe someday.

4) Web browsing

You can browse the web using Safari on the iPhone, but it's small and you have to move the screen around a lot. It's doable and it's fine, but it's not "fun." On the iPad, it all looks great. And with the keyboard the way it is, typing URLs and stuff is really good too.

There are a couple things wrong, though it's an Apple thing (in other words, it's the same problem as the iPhone).

1) No Flash!

For some strange reason, the people at Apple just *hate* Flash and Adobe. They refuse to allow Flash on their products (I assume it's ok on a Mac, but their other devices don't allow it). So much of the video on the web is in Flash, which means you can't access it on your iThingamajig! It's really frustrating.

2) No camera

Unlike the iPhone, there is no camera on the iPad. That's too bad, because it would be really cool to video chat with somebody on MSN or Skype or whatever. I guess it would look weird to have people holding their iPads in front of them to take a picture (it's weird enough how people do it with their phones!), but it's still something that's missing.

Overall, the iPad is definitely a cool gadget to have, though it's certainly not *mandatory*. Is it a Kindle-Killer? I don't know. We have one book installed and it looks really cool, but I haven't tried to read it yet, so I don't know how easy it is to read on it. And I have no experience with the Kindle, either, so I can't provide you with that answer.