Hijinks Inc.

Category: Fred Smith

  • 1UP Yours on: iPhone Gaming

    Last week I said I might post the transcript to the discussion I started on 1UP Yours concerning iPhone gaming. Eight days later, here it is.

    The Cast

    Andrew Pfister: Podcast Producer at 1UP.com
    Garnett Lee: Senior Editor of Previews at 1UP and EGM
    Shane Bettenhausen: Executive Editor of Video Games at 1UP.com
    John Davison: Former Editorial Director of 1UP, co-founder and executive editor of WhatTheyPlay.com
    Mark MacDonald: Former Executive Editor at EGM, former director at Gamevideos.com, currently traveling the world.

    Andrew Pfister:     Free At Last asks, “Why do I keep hearing the iPhone mentioned in the same sentence with the DS and PSP? Do people know something I don’t? It’s a great conversation piece, and yes, people can do some pretty cool things with multi-touch and the accelerometer (i.e. Aurora Feint), but its still just a novelty item, not a true gaming platform. You can’t have a handheld gaming device without buttons.” (more…)

  • Lexitron is back, and redder then ever.

    Length: One round lasts two minutes.
    Replayability value: Endless.
    Who should buy it: Anyone who likes clever word games.
    Price: $2.99
    Is it worth it? Yes!

    My favorite app back on Installer was a word game called Lexitron. The game was a modified version of Boggle, in which you were given six letters and asked to form as many words as possible within a time limit. The simple concept and great execution made it a fantastic game. When I upgraded to the 2.0 firmware, I was disappointed to see that Lexitron was no where to be found in the new App store.

    Thankfully, Digicide finally got their copy of the SDK in the metaphorical mail and Lexitron is now available. This new version has upgraded (downgraded?) the previous silver accented GUI to what can only be described as a blaring shade of red. I live in Nebraska, the land of the Huskers, and even I can’t take that much red. In the old version of the game you could switch between vertical and landscape mode just by flipping the iPhone/iPod one way or the other. Not so in this latest iteration, but that doesn’t come across as a negative thing. The UI is obviously designed to be played in landscape mode, and the improved usability almost makes up for the color scheme.

    At 2.99 Lexitron is a must buy. Don’t let the aesthetics bother you. the core gameplay would be fun even if the GUI consisted of neon green and taupe. We’re happy Digicide brought this to the App store, and hopefully we can look forward to more great games from them.

  • Journalism vs Web Development

    Did you know that the median wage of a reporter/correspondent for the average newspaper is $16.68/hour, and that the demand for new talent isn’t supposed to change in the next ten years?

    Did you know that the median wage of a web developer is around $34.38/hour, and the demand for new talent is forecast to rise 14-20% in the next ten years?

    I didn’t. Now I do. Career search ended!

  • Aurora Feint Updated! 1.0.1.0

    This news is a couple days old, but for the sake of history I’ll review it.

    Aurora Feint’s long awaited (like, four days awaited) update arrived, bringing with it a few noticable changes.

    – The last fire mastery puzzle, Molton Lava, has been retuned to become 100% less impossible. I did it on my first try.
    – It’s now a lot harder to rack up obscene amounts of resouces and money by just spinning the iPod/iPhone during the mining game, but not impossible. Out of the ten or so sessions I played I managed to get the big multiplyers (20x-25x) once just by flipping the system rapidly.
    – If you had any trouble with the smithing game before, you are completely screwed now. The resource requirements on several of the recipes have doubled or tripled with this latest update, making it a LOT harder to manufacture upgrades. My guess is that this is the devs way of telling us to learn to play their game.

  • Tweet of the day

    Today’s tweet comes from Kevin Rose, founder of Digg.com.

    I think it’s lame that Apple emails you a receipt for ‘free’ iphone applications… why?

    Six minutes later…

    oops, take that back, nothing apple does is wrong… forgot I was a fanboy for a second.. sorry

    Its alright Kevin, we forgive you.