iPhone Blogging

I’m typing this from my iPhone using the new WordPress app. So far, for quick updates like this and maybe some long form posts, the application seems able to handle it. There’s still no copy/paste and I don’t feel like writing links by hand either. Instead, like the iPhone, it’s capable of just staying in communication with the net and not much else. The best use is probably writing a quick blurb for a blog post and saving it as a draft to flesh out on a proper pc.

Then again, I am writing this from my goddamn cellphone.

Why MobileMe Will Struggle

Yesterday I was speaking with Eric about my impressions of MobileMe.  If you follow my Twitter feed, you’ll know I wasn’t impressed by it and already cancelled my trial account.  The reason is because Apple has yet to perfect the platform, while they’ve mastered the art of the Brand<tm>.

MobileMe is in direct competition with Google Apps…MobileMe Mail and GMail, MobileMe Calendar and GCalendar, these are analogous concepts.  It’s for this reason we can compare how Google and Apple have each attacked the concept of cloud computing.

The key to Google Apps is the fact that Google built applications around standards already out there.  GMail is just a web-based IMAP client. GCalendar is an implementation of Apple’s iCal, widely considered the easiest and approachable calendaring app, and they bought Writely to allow document editing right on the webclient.  The difference is Google did it all by building a platform first as opposed to a brand.

From the outside, someone using Gmail only knows it through your email address unless you’re using a custom domain.  If you are using a custom domain, then the user sees nothing that shows them where your information is stored.  This external transparency, built on web standards, and created in the most accessible format (free also helps) makes it a popular place for those who know what they want.

Apple’s MobileMe service is pure branding.  Even the cloud in the logo, evoking the idea of cloud computing, was designed explicitly to give the most fluffy appearance.  But like the cloud in its logo, it’s mostly empty.  Built on the foundation of .Mac, which I don’t think I’ve ever heard a glowing review from a long-time user, MobileMe struggled with a late launch and unpredictable reliability that I don’t want to hold against Apple simply because this is one hell of a focus change.  However, their lack of real push data, the most touted feature, is a huge failure of technology not living up to marketing.

This has been Apple’s fundamental issue for a long time in software space: their marketing outshines their programming.  After just a few days of multiple sync issues with Outlook (my only option on Windows), lack of agreement on my inbox between the iPhone and the web client, and no sign of push email at any setting, I had to call it quits.

Apple needs to drop the branding for MobileMe and focus on the platform.  I’m sure many people are waiting for September and hoping Google puts out a Google Apps collection for the iPhone.  Ideally, these would sync Calendar with GCal, sync bookmarks with MobileSafari with Google Bookmarks, and create a push mail channel for Gmail.

But this isn’t a surprise…after all, Apple is a hardware company and Google is a software company.  And that’s precisely the point.  Service As A Software is a about software.  It will be the software giants that will show people how to create popular and successful SAAS products.

I’ve been a fan of Microsoft’s Xbox and Xbox 360, but I’ve only purchased the 360.  Their software platform, built on hardware created by outside companies (honestly, the first Xbox is just a PC), has absolutely trounced Sony’s Playstation 3 by delivering robust feature after robust feature.  Again, when you tout yourself to be a provider of a service, it’s about the software.  Microsoft will lead in this respect until Sony realizes they need to get serious about software development.

If Apple really wants MobileMe to be the cross-platform hit they are marketing it as, they need to drop the marketing and hire more engineers to focus on the service, not the buzz.

Analog Game Design

Today I got an email from my little brother, a dedicated Metal Gear Solid fan, about this sequence from MGS4.  He explained to me how powerful the scene was due to the split nature of the cinematic on top and how you had control of Snake below.  He said it amplified his emotional attachment and completely sucked him into the game.

Sadly, it didn’t have the same effect on me.  Now, I easily recognize that I don’t have the emotional investment of all that came before the scene, but even then this is not a revealing scene to me.  After all, the only thing the player is in control of is whether Snake lives or dies.  In the end, how is that revolutionary game design if it’s the same control we’ve had since Pac Man?

We are constantly told we live in a digital world where everything is controlled by 1s and 0s, but truth is we have analog control.  We don’t control just whether or not we go to work, but what time we arrive.  There’s a world of difference between a minute early and a minute late even though it’s just a couple minutes apart.  I’m hopeful that the next generation of games take this analog control into account.

Bethesda has announced that Fallout 3 will have over 500 endings.  This is the sort of analog control we should be striving for.  Granted, it may mean that going left instead of right means you have a red house instead of blue, but it’s the consequence of the decision I made.  There’s none of that in the clip my brother raved over.

If I decide Snake should take a breather, does Meryl die?  Does the ship sink?  If I hurry through it as fast as possible could I save Raiden’s arms?  There’s no way for me to tune the experience I have to my own playstyle and inflict my decisions in the world.  Instead, I’m just pressing up on the analog stick and watching a barely interactive cutscene.  While it may be great storytelling and a wonderful way to build up tension and expectation, it’s not the stuff of great game design.  After all, all I ever did was press up on the joystick to get away from the ghosts trying to kill Pac Man.

My 24 Year Old Brother’s Birthday Cake

Brother’s GF with anime cosplayers

Javier

Dominic enjoys a nice bubble toy

How I spent my afternoon

Future Megacon visitor

Checking out a game of B5 Call to Arms

What you don’t see are the massive Shadow and Vorlon armies coming
right at them.

Hanging out at Chili’s

He seems happy to see us.