Puzzle #1 (16 pieces) — Slide the pieces into the open spaces until the image is reassembled.

Puzzle #2 (64 pieces) — Slide the piece to its appropriate location. However, each piece might be rotated. Double-tap an image to turn it counter-clockwise.

Puzzle #3 (192 pieces) — Touch a tile to make it disappear. However, this will change the state of adjacent tiles. Adjacent tiles that are invisible will reappear, while visible tiles will disappear. How many can you clear out?

In puzzle #3, remove the blocks to reveal the full image. But be careful where you touch, or adjacent blocks will return.

The lowest I could get on Puzzle #3 was two pieces left. I’m not sure if it can go any lower. I think that’s what makes the puzzle more challenging. Do you think you can do better? Puzzling is available on the iTunes App Store.

• http://itunes.apple.com/app/puzzling/id389424736?mt=8

I searched the iTunes App store, but there wasn’t a download for Game Center. I remember seeing Game Center in the iPhone Simulator. So, I fired it up and then I hit the icon. Doh, I quickly noticed that the app was running in sandbox mode. How could I make it real? I realized that an update to my iPod Touch was in order. I launched iTunes and I upgraded iOS to 4.1. Boom — that’s all I needed to do. During synchronization, Game Center was automatically downloaded to my iPod Touch.

I was ready to register my account. After filling out some forms, and reading through seven pages of legalize, my account was created. Apple wants to know your real name, email address, country and birthday. I didn’t like entering my birthday, but I realized that this is age sensitive material.

Apple does know how to make a player feel special. I like those big letters.

Almost immediately, I got a bad feeling. This is basically another social network to waste time with. I avoided registering for Facebook and Twitter, realizing that it could consume a lot of time. Game Center could be 10 times worse. It’s about video games. It’s a realm for people like me.  It’s very exciting, but I have to stay focused. I’m here to make games, not waste hours and hours going after achievements.

I also activated push-notification. A trumpet sound plays when you get a new friend request. Oh yeah, this is going to be time consuming. It also seems like a lot of fun. It’s similar to XBOX Live or the PlayStation Network, except this is for iOS devices.

• iPod Touch (Generations 2,3 & 4)
• iPhone (3GS and 4)

Since iOS 4.1 is required, there’s no iPad support. I suspect that will change this fall. This looks like the start of something highly entertaining.

The basic objective is to find the right key to unlock a castle door. Along the way, the Tigerfish can collect treasures and power-ups. I’m not sure why a fish needs keys, gold or diamonds, so clearly this is a fantasy game. The motivation of the Tigerfish isn’t explained either. What is the purpose of the quest? It’s basically eat, shoot and don’t get eaten. If you’re looking for a spiritually uplifting parable, that’s not really what this game is about. It’s more of a humorous and cute adventure.

Tigerfish is more for casual players, as it is on the easy side. Too often, the controls put up more of a challenge than the hostile fish. Each time the Tigerfish touches something dangerous, health is lost. Lose all of the hearts and the game is over. This happens rather abruptly, as there is no death animation. Instead, the game goes into loading mode. In general, the game could use more animation. The Tigerfish doesn’t flap its fins when it moves. It should have swimming motion.

Hostile enemies, like the crab, are in the way of the Tigerfish.

Optimizing GameSalad games is a concern. I couldn’t even play the game at first. Apple’s iTunes wouldn’t allow me to put it on my iPod Touch. After I tried the 1.0.2 update, the game worked great. For a GameSalad game, the loading times are well managed.

The graphics are really crisp too. Tigerfish is filled with bright and vivid artwork. The music is great. There’s rockin’ music at title screen and playful music while the game is in play. The audio and the visuals add to the enjoyment of Tigerfish. I especially enjoyed the Parallax scrolling effects. It reminds me of the days of 16-bit gaming consoles. Although, there is a slight issue. When the Tigerfish approaches the edges of the scene, the background images keep moving. The scrolling should be relative to the camera position and not the Tigerfish.

This is the game over screen for Tigerfish.

It’s hard to be too critical of a 99¢ game. Just listening to the theme song alone could justify the expense. While Tigerfish might not appeal to everyone, I think it can be quite entertaining to those that like it. Well duh, that’s true for just about everything. So, who might like Tigerfish? Young (and possibly rowdy) kids that are in desperate need of something fun, might enjoy the aggressive (but cute) nature of Tigerfish.

Full Disclosure: A promo code was received for the review of this game. I am the author of The Unofficial GameSalad Textbook.

The story and the concept is straightforward. You have to collect the keys to release your friends. However, the keys are color sensitive. A yellow bump needs to touch the yellow key in order to unlock a yellow lock. You position your “Bumps”  on the playing area and then you can drop them. If your aim and logic is sound, you can free the prisoners and clear the level. The controls are easy to grasp, making this game suitable for young players. There’s no blood, no guts, no sexual situations or ultra violence.

Although, there is a mini-game where you can shoot at the aliens. When they’re hit, they spin out of view. That’s about as extreme as the game gets. There are four types of mini-games, adding extra value to the app. There’s also some accelerometer action between levels. Yet, it’s the music and the artwork that makes this app special. It’s vivid and lively.

Bumps has a map. This shows your game progress. As you clear levels, you can unlock mini-games and new areas.

There are some issues with Bumps. That’s not surprising for version 1.0. Once, a green key didn’t reappear when the level was reset. Also, the Bumps blink. It’s a cute feature, but it doesn’t always work. Sometimes their eyes and eyebrows disappear. These are minor issues that didn’t terribly hinder my enjoyment of the game. Although, I was surprised that the game didn’t take advantage of autorotation support. Bumps doesn’t support flipped modes, such as landscape with the home button on the left or the right side. I didn’t really notice this issue until I unlocked the pinball game. If I’m playing a game while my iPod Touch is charging, it’s more comfortable if the cable hangs down and not sticking up.

This game was made with GameSalad. That’s probably where the biggest flaw comes from — loading times. Utopian Games does a nice job of minimizing the loading times, but it’s still pretty bad. I clocked the initial start up at roughly 20+ seconds. Staring at the “made with GameSalad” screen might be a serious deterrent to impatient players. Yet, as soon as the cute story panels hit the screen, you might soon forget about the start up times. When the game is finally started, the rest of the loading times are not too horrible.

With the graphics, there is a minor issue with zoom. The background becomes a little blurry when you zoom in. Again, this is probably related to GameSalad. Large images can dramatically slow down GameSalad games. Yet, the zoom feature is well handled. That’s an advanced trick to accomplish with GameSalad. It shows the game development skills of Darren Spencer. By zooming in, you can be more precise with the positioning of the Bumps.

The game starts off so friendly and soft. The early levels are more like an extended tutorial than a challenge. The game is on the easy side. Sometimes if you just wait, the Bumps will roll and bounce into the right locations. At first, I thought that the game was too easy. I changed my mind when I hit the later levels. Level 43 and Level 52 were the hardest for me. Some spots can be tricky. But in general, you could blast through the game in about 2 hours. For a 99¢ game, that’s an exceptional value. A movie in NYC could set me back about $10.

If you complete a level in 1-3 tries, you can get a gold star. If you mess up, simply exit the level and try again.

Gaming certainly has changed. I remember the days of the arcades, where four quarters would last like 10 minutes. It’s just not that way with Bumps. This game can be yours to keep. But even though I can leave Bumps on my iPod Touch permanently, I don’t think I’ll play it that much. The replay value is a little weak. Although, it seems that new “winter wonderland” area may be included in the future.

Overall, I rate this game at 4.5 out of 5 stars. It’s a highly economical and entertaining iPhone / iPod Touch game. The flaws I found were minor when compared to the quality of the game. I suspect that many of the issues I found could be resolved with future updates.

Full Disclosure: I received a promo code to review this game. I am the author of The Unofficial GameSalad Textbook.

But clearly, the community was concerned about this issue. I decided to check the server logs to see why people were visiting this website. Here are the top 20 search terms…

1. guild wars outage
2. guildwars.us
3. guild wars planned outage
4. guild wars outtage
5. list of nicholas the traveler items
6. arena.net jobs
7. arenanet down server
8. arenanet war in kryta
9. arenanet writer
10. best loot drops guild wars
11. fastest way to fill hall of monuments
12. getting survivor in drunk boxing gw
13. guild wars almost survivor
14. guild wars beat the game
15. guild wars down august 2010
16. guild wars live data outage
17. guild wars not down august 2010
18. guild wars people look weird
19. guild wars servers moved
20. guild wars shut down 2010

Without a doubt, the outage brought more traffic to this website. It wasn’t a lot, but it was noticeable. I suspect that things won’t pick up around here until Guild Wars 2 nears release. It makes me wonder how things would be different if Guild Wars was more like a traditional MMORPG. Also, I experienced life without Guild Wars. It was nice to log back in again. Guild Wars should not fall.

However, I still feel that the lore is not for me. There’s a certain detachment with the original and it seems it will be even worse with the sequel. While it would be bad if Tyria ceased to exist, life in that world is far from pleasant. I watched the latest video from ArenaNet. I don’t feel that it’s my story. It still feels like ArenaNet’s story.

• http://guildwars2.com/en/media/videos/

When I saw the Charr walking behind the human, I became concerned. I thought the human was about to be killed, but then I remembered that this is Guild Wars 2. We’re supposed to be friendly with Charr. How’s that my story?

In ArenaNet’s quest to eliminate grinding, eliminate downtime, are they removing the elements that build strong gaming communities and give players a reason to keep playing? In ArenaNet’s “Walking the Walk” blog post, by Mike O’Brien, it still feels like more talking. The original was supposed to have interactive environments and there wasn’t supposed to be tedious game elements. Instead, we got things like a tiny avalanche on the Borlis Pass mission and we got Zaishen keys. If I used one key every day, for the next 50 years, I still wouldn’t complete the related title.

I’m skeptical. That’s too bad, because I liked being a big advocate for Guild Wars. Although, I started playing the game before the Charr and before the mythological gods were introduced into the game. Almost seven years ago, I learned about Guild Wars. It feels as if not much has changed — but I have changed. Running and killing just isn’t entertaining to me anymore. Will the fun ever return, or did I see the best the franchise has to offer with the conquering of Cavalon? I’m still watching the progress though. There is a little bit of hope. Historically, ArenaNet has listened to feedback from the community.

Now that the servers are back online (operating from NCsoft’s Austin, Texas base) the next big move happens in Germany. ArenaNet will be showing off Guild Wars 2 at the gamescom convention.

Patricia is the Academic Director/Clinical Associate Professor of New York University’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies. At NYU-SCPS, they have a Masters program for Digital Imaging and Design. She brings her 15 years of 3D animation experience to the Center for Advanced Digital Applications. CADA is part of SCPS, where students create impressive 3D animated videos.

• See the CADA Gallery

I asked Patricia what it was like to work for top companies – such as CBS Sports, Ford, HBO and US Network. I also inquired about life as a 3D Animator. Only a small portion of the interview was used for the book. However, the entire interview is available here.

1) Why did you pick a career in digital imaging? Why not a career as a rock star, a doctor, a mortgage broker or an astronaut?

Corny story of an 8 year old, at the newly released Star Wars film with my father in NYC. I was truly transformed into a world of total make-believe. I did not know what it was called or how it was done, but I did know that I would be making make-believe. I was always very interested in art, hated computers and really had no plans or ideas for what I would do as a job for the rest of my life. This make-believe thing was just a passionate hobby as I got older. I thought drawing, painting and building things out of other things was the perfect mix of art and logic, which is were my head was. I had a guidance counselor in high school that insisted I take an internship in order to graduate since I kept cutting gym. I searched out my internship and fell upon gold. At 18 the universe lead me to a new broadcast graphics company called Telezign that used paintbox graphics and 3D using Alias Wavefront. Coupled with the best designers and post–production facility in NY my ticket was written. I realized I could actually make a career out of my passion. I had no idea what I was in for when my art met technology. The world of make-believe opened up wide and I have not looked back since.

2) How do you get past the challenge of a blank page? In other words, what are your sources for creative inspiration?

Getting past a blank page is always a challenge for any artist in any media. Watching children put things together from a simple uncomplicated perspective has been my base. As we get older we clutter things and forget the simply perfect ways of our younger selves. The logical part of me breaks down my goal into simple visual parts, almost like a written outline. I use lots of reference to make up the pieces until I can see the connections in my minds eye. Once I can get past the logic, the creative is free to flow. This is why this medium works so well for me. The production process really matches my thought process. My sources for creative inspiration are the use of all my visual senses. I look at nature and the life around me. Seeing and touching patterns, colors, depth, investigating how things are naturally made and how they are effected by other things has had a huge impact on what I create and how I think. I will walk around to feel and see life, get back to simple thoughts and the connections begin to spark. It is fascinating!

3) What do you think is the hardest part of your job and how do you overcome it?

The hardest part of a creative field of any kind is visualizing the final outcome and then executing it without losing the essence along the way. The hardest part of my job is to stay true to this process when the design and concept is coming from someone else. It is extremely difficult to “see” what someone else sees in their concept. Since that someone is usually a client or a creative director, I must see exactly what they are visualizing even if they are not able to communicate it. Sometimes it is not clear even to them what the final look will be. Supporting someone’s vision I believe takes trusting yourself creatively and not allowing ego to take over. Letting go of what I would do in a vision and trusting the unknown path of someone is tricky and very hard for logic types like me. The great part is that you never leave your own creativity at the door when working with another artist or client. The dance is hard at first, but then you travel places you never would have gone alone and are able to fill your knowledge while getting to know yourself a bit more. I believe the hardest part of this work is what makes you stronger and clearer in what you want to create next.

Here’s the official message…

Planned Outage – August 10, 2010

On Tuesday, August 10^th, we will be moving the Guild Wars live database to a new data center. This will require a temporary interruption in service beginning at 12:01 AM Pacific time on that date. Service may be suspended for up to 24 hours, although we will do everything we can to expedite the process. Thank you in advance for your patience and understanding during this rare interruption!

Unlike other MMORPGs, Guild Wars doesn’t have routine outages. The community could be quite different if it did. With Guild Wars, there’s no reason to go offline. There’s little reason to visit fansites. You can go to the Wiki, get your strategy information and get back into the game. For PvE, you don’t even need friends. It’s you, your heroes and your henchmen against the world. And actually, with your robot army, that’s plenty of firepower.

This seems to be just a normal server move. Yet, I started to wonder if the game has gone on too long. What else is there to do besides run and kill? Without a significant upgrade in about three years, what is there to get excited about?

Then I wondered, what would make Guild Wars exciting? Not the sequel, what would make the original franchise more exciting? One, there should be some more social and fun things to do in the original game. It’s just so dark. Two, I think it should go mobile. The game can basically be played with just the mouse. With touch gestures, I think it could be an exciting game for the iPad.

The outage suggests that ArenaNet might be making major moves. This might be related to the sequel. Perhaps ArenaNet is preparing their servers for a massive surge of new players. Gamestop still has an 11/2/2010 release date for the sequel. Is the long wait for the sequel about to end?

Meanwhile, I’m still grumpy towards Guild Wars. I’m not looking forward to the sequel. I keep a close watch on the ArenaNet Blog, but I still find the lore unappealing. When I first started playing Guild Wars, there were no Charr and no false gods. It was just a technological masterpiece. The alpha was amazing. But now that I know what Guild Wars is about, I don’t feel like the story is for me. As ArenaNet gets closer to launching the sequel, I’m doubtful that I will enjoy the game.

With the outage, I can more clearly imagine a world without Guild Wars. It’s a strange feeling, a mix of sadness yet relief. How do you win a game that does not end or improve a world that does not change?

Features

• CHALLENGING GAME PLAY
• RUNS ON OLDER HARDWARE (like the iPod Touch 8GB)
• HIGH RES GRAPHICS (For iPhone 4 retina display)
• HIGH SCORES ARE SAVED
• FIVE GAMES IN ONE

Title Screen  – Numbered balls bounce around the screen. Touch the number of the game you want to play. That numbered ball will move to the center of the screen and the high score for that game will be displayed. If you want to play that game, press that numbered ball again. If not, you can select a different numbered ball.  GAME #5 IS LOCKED, CAN YOU UNLOCK IT?!

Game #1 – Harness the power of a small star and use it to burn away the space debris. The space paddle will follow your touch. Don’t let the fiery orb fall past your paddle. Collect sparking orbs for score bonuses.

Game #2 – While traveling through space, an asteroid field jeopardizes your mission. As leader of the convoy you must destroy any asteroids in your path. If you miss, or if you are hit yourself, the mission is over. Touch the screen to shoot and to move. The spacecraft travels in a circular path. Shoot the targets before they leave your view.

Game #3 - Your city is under attack. Fiery balls from the sky threaten the sanctity of your city. Can you stop them with your launcher? Touch the upper part of the screen to fire your weapon. A direct hit is not needs, as the blast wave should stop any projectiles in the area.

Game #4 – You are in a testing facility, for a new type of tank. Destroy the target and collect bonus points. Touch the screen to move. Hold the touch to fire. With practice and skill, you can move and shoot at the same time.

Game #5 – This is locked! Are your skills good enough to unlock it?

Visit the iTunes Store to order your copy of Arcade Action!

• http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/arcade-action/id383627882?mt=8

Here’s the official message about the weekend event…

Wintersday in July

This weekend, Wintersday Priests will open access to the Snowball Arena from Lion’s Arch, Droknar’s Forge, Ascalon City, Kamadan, and the Great Temple of Balthazar. For those who choose to stay out adventuring instead, there will also be special Wintersday-themed item drops from monsters acroos the land. Wintersday in July will begin at Noon Pacific (-7 GMT) this Friday and last until 11:59 PM Pacific on Sunday, July 18.

So OK, I was all psyched up, ready to port into a frosty city. I imagined that Ascalon City would be covered in snow and fun. When I got to the other side, there was nothing but scored earth. Where is the snow?! There would be no reprieve from the burning temperatures.

Eh, I suppose I could run to the Shiverpeaks. There’s plenty of snow over there. Unfortunately, I’m a little too busy for that right now. However, I have been watching the latest announcements ArenaNet. Ah, so the Ranger is a Guild Wars 2 profession. That looks pretty cool.

http://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/professions/ranger/

I like some of the recent announcements. While I think 5-man teams are too small, getting rid of Monks is an awesome idea. That should make combat a lot more fun. Ranger was my first profession in Guild Wars. It is also my favorite. I’m planning to level up TANK in the original Guild Wars. (I’m trying for the Survivor title again.) It might take a while, but it seems that the sequel is still far away.

Will I be playing the sequel? I don’t know. My two conditions have not been met.

• I don’t want to group with Charr, or they should be worthy of forgiveness. (If they’re going to keep calling me “mouse” or “meat”, are they really my allies?)
• I don’t like Guild Wars mythology, so I don’t want my characters following any Guild Wars gods.

Some people think I’m making too big of an issue about this, but if you’ve seen “Groundhog’s Day” you might understand. Bill Murray’s character was originally supposed to be under a voodoo spell. Yet, that scene was cut and it made the movie stronger. The writers and the directors didn’t need to explain the unexplainable. And in not trying, all of the world’s religions could suddenly relate to the movie. Can you relate to Guild Wars?

I’m still waiting to see “What’s your story” is supposed to mean exactly.