The gamer phone: Sony Ericsson Xperia Play

Notch Persson with a alpha version of Minecraft on the Xperia Play

Not since the N-Gage has a phone actually been marketed as a "gamer phone" in the states. Sure, a lot of phones have the ability to play games (and really good looking ones at that), but seldom do these phones have dedicated or enhanced controls for gaming. The Sony Ericsson Xperia Play, the SEX Play (if you will), is a phone dedicated to gamers dedicated to their games and to their controls. It's PlayStation certified, a seemingly made up certification just for this product, so it has real PlayStation controls (e.g. X, O, Triangle, and Square). My favorite part about this phone is a combination of two things... stock gingerbread (i.e Android 2.3) and those hardware game controls. Read more about the device and see some videos of it in action after the break!

Notion Ink Adam: The honeymoon period is over

A lot of blogs and sites have posted reviews about their initial impressions with the Notion Ink Adam. I wanted to catch the rush and tell the world about my Adam too the moment I got it. But rather than hastily rush out something that resembles a review, I decided to wait (over a month) and get used to my Adam and all it's quirks and give you a deep down honest review on the Notion Ink Adam. Past the break you'll get the full review including an archive of HD videos I shot as well as screenshots.

Hot Springs Story: They've done it again!

Kairosoft, the Japanese developer of the hit Game Dev Story, has a new game out called Hot Springs Story. Drawing inspiration from the "tycoon" game series (e.g. roller coaster, hospital, etc.), this game is less about stats and numbers, and more about construction and optimization. The premise of the game is quite simple, you run a Japanese Hot Springs resort and your goal is to make your resort more popular. Unlike Game Dev Story, there's not really a definite goal (or none that I noticed), it's more like the Sims, you just keep on going and it's still really fun. There's a lot to talk about (and a video) past the break!

Kindle App - Notepad - Review

One of my favorite things is the keyboard on my Knidle 3, however I couldn't get over the fact that you never really get to write with it except for the occassional note or annotation in a book. I thought that there had to be something that would let me write (the kindle does do apps after all). I searched for a bit and the first result (and highest rated with 4 stars) was the NotePad app for Kindle.

Just as a note, I wrote this entire review on the notepad app, I thought that this would be the most appropriate way to review the app.

OnLive Service and Micro Console

First what is OnLive?

A free service that allows you to buy, demo or rent games and play over the cloud.

There are a few things that I want to make a point of which the other gaming services don't have; Demo, Renting, Cloud and Subscribing.

Bulletstorm: Kill with Skill

I charge up my flailgun and look down my sights. I line up my shot on two creeps... exhale and pull the trigger. A red hot bola launches from my weapon as it passes through the two of them, decapitating them and awarding me a "French-Revolution" Skillshot! This is one example of one of the many skillshots available in Bulletstorm. This game takes those fun "what if" moments in shooters and actually awards points for how well you kill your enemies. For another example, if you slide towards an enemy with your shotgun, take a shot, and blow his torso off his body over a cliff you will score the "Torpedo", "Topless", and "Vertigo" skillshots. These combinations of attacks is what really makes the game shine, it gives you many options to approach otherwise very linear levels. However, let me get this out of the way, this a fun adult game. It's rated M for a reason. Lot's of obscene remarks, curses, etc. At one point in the game the female character Trish threatens "I will kill your dick!" To which the protagonist responds "What!? Kill my dick? What does that even mean?" There are also skillshots for shooting enemies in the balls and butt. If you're okay with that, then keep reading!

Through the Looking Glass: Transparent / Mirror Live Wallpaper

In the future, everyone's phones will be a sleek looking pane of glass, completely transparent and sometimes reflective. Having a completely glass phone is far fetched right now... but we can get close! Developer Banana just released a pair of sleek live wallpapers for Android Phones running OS 2.2+. Since every android phone has a camera, this live wallpaper uses the image from our phone's camera as the live wallpaper, creating the illusion of you "looking through" your phone! It's really interesting and if you have a Samsung Galaxy S phone then you could also pick up another live wallpaper (Mirror Live Wallpaper) that uses the front facing camera. The benefit of this alternate app is rather than looking "through" your phone, the wallpaper acts like a looking glass (i.e. a mirror). Unfortunately since I don't have a Galaxy S phone... I can't show you how it looks. Jump past the break for the rest of the review and to see a video of the wallpaper in action!