So good to be back at my computer with a real keyboard and a copy of Photoshop with which to make stupid blog headers.

So, in my previous post, I mentioned a particular game called SeaGlass. It is, or at least attempts to be, a Tetris Attack type clone. It's obvious that there was no love or effort put into this game and, being my favorite game of all time, it makes me sad inside.

I simply cannot stand for this.

So, as I am already in a heated battle with my much maligned younger brother developing just such a game, I will scrap the XNA codebase I've spent some evenings working on and move over to the iOS platform for development. Using the Airplay SDK, I will create a game for the App Store that is a truly worthy entry to the game series it plays homage to.

That and I can charge 99 cents and make a tiny profit. Really, this is me testing the mobile development world with an application I am already quite familiar with. I've been wanting to break into the arena for some time and this is where it begins.

As I sit here, hogging my little brother's bed, typing out a blog post on my own personal PADD, I realize that I do not really know what it is that I want to say. So, I shall talk about the device itself and my opinions on it seeing as I've now owned the thing going on a week.

The Hardware

There is no doubting that the iPad hardware is top quality. It is sleek and has a good, solid feel to it. The screen is bright and crisp, though it does come withe usual glare problems you will get from having a glossy screen (not to mention the fingerprints... Oh, god the fingerprints!) My only real complaint about the hardware is it's lone, mono speaker. It doesn't sound bad, but it doesn't have e crispness you get from two discrete aud channels.

Software

iOS is much nicer and easier to use on a lager screen, but in the end it is still iOS. I will list off a few apps I've found that I feel warrant some attention (food or ill):

Flipboard: This is a feed reader of sorts (it will pull feeds from twitter, Facebook, google reader, etc.), but presents stories in a very newspaper-esque way. It is very clean and sexy to look at and for the price is free, probably the best iPad app I've gotten.

Crunchyroll: It's to anime what Netflix instant watch is to movies. The iPhone app is good, do nit get me wrong, but it works so much bett with the exta screen real estate. Watching stuff from the comfort of my bed on the large screen is quite joyous.

Seaglass: This is a rather sad attempt at a Tetris Attack clone. They've so many on the game physics messed up that it pisses me off. Yu can tell that only mild effort was put into this game and yet I paid a buck for it. Know this, Seaglass creators, you are now my enemy and my competitor. Enjoy your sit ion while you can!

So that's all I have. I am thoroughly enjoying this thing (especially on my home visit as I do not have to drag around the laptop) and it was totally worth the money.

My dear sweet mother has a blog entitled "Oh, Crap" where she documents all of life's little FFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUU moments. Well, perfect being that I am, I experienced a couple of these recently.

Firstly, when I was making a certain video, there is a shot that was taken from inside my refrigerator. Some items needed to be shuffled to make this happen and when I groggily stupored out of my room the next morning, I was greeted by a warm gallon of milk sitting out on my counter. Goddammmit!

Stupid moment number two came not twenty-four hours later. That night I stopped the washer so that I could take my shower. The next morning, knowing that I had washed laundry the night before, I was about to transfer the clothes in the washer to the dryer only to be greeted by a washer full of water. SHIT!

Some time ago I ran across a Spanish fandub of my Phoenix Awesome. Well, this time some of my own people have dubbed it in German and I must say, they have done an absolutely magnificent job. They added some extra polish that the original was lacking and I absolutely love it! So, here it is:

I had a few people ask me how I was going to spend my birthday this year, so I just decided to make a video of it. Enjoy!