Macgasm

The Diablo series is probably responsible for nearly as many RSI problems as word processing and Excel spreadsheets. The furious point and click action game debuted back in 1997, with Diablo II following in 2000. The series went radio silent for over a decade, while Blizzard addicted most of the gaming population to WoW. Now the series returns with Diablo III, which came out on May 15th. Thankfully, Blizzard continues to support Mac gamers, giving us a native version on day one.

Here’s a little aside on gaming gear for a minute. If you have gone all in on Apple’s trackpad, or on the Magic Mouse, you’re going to want to dig out a standard two button mouse. It’s going to make your life easier with this game. You can get wired mice fairly cheap. You’re also going to need a Mac with a discrete graphics card, so be sure to check the system requirements before plunking down your sixty bucks. Also no Steam or Mac App Store purchases; you can buy this boxed or right from Blizzard’s online site. You’ll also need to be online all the time, a controversial fact for some people. And don’t be surprised if you run into some high profile outages during the games’ launch.

Many people have wondered if the long wait for the latest Diablo game was worth it, and the game’s opening cut scenes are so beautifully rendered that the answer is an enthusiastic “yes.” After choosing a class you begin the adventure in Tristam, where the original game took place. This is a nice touch, giving you a twinge of nostalgia right at the outset. Deckard Cain is still trying to fight the good fight, despite his age. When a falling star strands him in the old Cathedral, your first mission is to save him. You’ll find yourself clicking furiously on hordes of undead zombies, and you’ll know that Diablo has returned in fine form.

There is a good mixture of story and action here. Just following the main quest will only get you so far, be sure to explore all of the maps as you go. There are plenty of detours and side stories you will find that flesh out the world. You can go through the achievement list to find that there are tons of locations in each of the game’s acts. Not to mention a bevy of audio clips to find that expand the world even further. You need to replay the game, as some of the events do not appear in every game. The random generation only gives you certain events when you’re playing.
Then there’s the loot. It can’t be Diablo without the loot — well, that and the furious clicking, which begets more loot. There are a lot of diverse items that you find. They have added some depth for crafting addicts, as you can salvage items you find to craft into unique items. It’s a skill tree of its own. You have to invest gold to unlock new items to craft. That leads to the auction house. You can trade your items with other players for in game currency, or in a more controversial move, for real money. It’s a nod to replay ability, one likely to lure fans of MMOs to stay with Diablo III longer than they normally would. It has brought with it a similar seedy element, as there have been some reports of accounts being hacked and looted.

What’s an RPG without classes? Diablo III has five: Witch Doctor, Barbarian, Wizard, Monk, and Demon Hunter. If you’ve ever played a fantasy game, the Wizard and Barbarian classes should be self-explanatory. The Witch Doctor is a summoner, attacking with hordes of monsters. The Demon Hunter is a ranged attacker, using crossbows and bombs. The Monk is essentially a cross between a paladin and a martial artist. Each of the characters has their own unique take on the game’s story, as well as unique interactions with the game’s NPCs. Among those NPCs are three followers that allow you to have a party even if you aren’t playing co-op.

You can set your game to public to allow anyone to join your game, or you can keep it invite only. However, the invite is only by actually adding someone as your friend. Once they’re on your list, they can join your games at any time. The co-op is a nice feature because you can really stretch out and explore concurrently. You can go back to town and sell off some loot, while your partner can continue with the quest. At some point a competitive multiplayer patch is supposed to be released, and once released it will be free for all players.

This game is going to be on almost every critic’s top ten list at the end of the year. For Mac gamers this might be the biggest game all year. The game deserves every one of these accolades. It delivers on almost every level. There’s a deep story, extended and meaningful replay value, and it’s terribly addictive. If you like video games, you should own this game.

While I love iOS games, something about playing a game on my Mac brings back a nostalgic feeling that I cannot fully explain. While there’re a ton of games available on the Mac App Store, some of them are less than stellar. In this article, I will be going over my top three iOS games gone Mac. To me, these games have been transfered from the touchscreen to keyboard and mouse (or trackpad) perfectly.

[...]

N.O.V.A. 3 is Gameloft’s next entry in their iOS first person shooter series. The series is tonally somewhere between Halo and Metroid Prime, but doesn’t really have the writing to match either.The single player mode is not bad. It’s a fairly well thought out campaign with a ton of action. Continuing the saga of Kal Warden, N.O.V.A. 3 picks up right where the last game left off. It cribs heavily from Halo again, though it isn’t as compelling. The Xenos are not nearly as menacing or as well defined as the Covenant, and their attempts to add intrigue on the human side of the conflict don’t fare much better. Most of the cut scenes are drawn out, and the dialog isn’t very engaging. I don’t want to beat it up too badly, because the game plays well. The aim assist handicaps the limits of FPS play on a touchscreen. Though it plays well, the campaign doesn’t have a lot of replay. These stages are small and linear, and there’s not much reward in exploring. [...]

After Apple cleaned up and redesigned the MacBook Air in October of 2010, Apple fans everywhere were dying to get their hands on the thin mobile powerhouse. Because of this, mobile accessory manufacturers decided to embrace the MacBook Air by releasing a ton of new and cool docks, cases and other accessories for the Air. Below, I have crafted a list of my top four MacBook Air accessories. While this article is geared towards the 11-inch MacBook Air, most of these accessories are available for the 13-inch model as well. [...]

Before G.I. Joe and Transformers were big Hollywood franchises, they were poorly animated cartoons. I have a lot of nostalgia for that period, as bad as the animation was at the time. Saturday Morning RPG seeks to channel that nostalgia into an iOS RPG with a heavy dose of self-awareness and snark.

Fans of Earthbound and Contact will find something familiar about the game. The game has two available episodes both centered on Marty, who gets possession of a magic notebook after falling asleep watching some cartoons. The notebook bears a striking resemblance to a Trapper Keeper, and is covered in stickers that adjust and enhance his stats. Marty uses the powers of the notebook to fight Commander Hood and rescue Samantha. Though he was dreaming, he wakes up with the notebook.

[...]

I love listening to music across a wide variety of devices such as my iPad, iPhone and Macs. The only problem with listening to so much music is the price. Since iTunes charges up to $1.29 per song, buying music can end up being a pretty pricey habit. This is where subscription music services come in. These services give you the benefit of listening to unlimited music for a monthly fee. While you don’t actually own the music, most services allow you to save your collection to your mobile device for offline listening.

While there are a ton of music subscription services on the net, I’ve chosen three to compare in the article below: Rdio, MOG and, the most popular, Spotify. These services are all unique in their own way by providing different plans, music selection and mobile apps.

[...]

There’s no arguing that the new iPad features the best screen in the tablet market. This is because of its insane high screen resolution of 2048 x 1536 with a pixel density of 264 pixels per inch. So now that you have all 3.1 million pixels in your hands, how are you going to use them? With apps of course! Below, I have created a list of my top four Retina enabled iPad apps.

[...]

Rockstar has been putting their considerable weight behind iOS as a gaming platform. At one time, Max Payne was nearly as well regarded as their blockbuster Grand Theft Auto franchise. Ahead of its newest installment, they’ve released the original game onto iOS. I think it’s odd to see nostalgia titles from the PS2 era, but then I guess you have to remember that these games are ten years old.

Like GTA III, I don’t think the graphics even come close to measuring up to what either the iPhone or iPad are capable of. Max Payne actually has done a bit worse in the graphics department, as the game had some pretty weird looking graphics even for its day. The game has a tendency to move the camera for a tight slo-mo sequence when you get a head shot, and you can see the terrible face mapping in all the hi-res detail the new iPad has to offer. It’s not pretty.

[...]