Posts Tagged ‘Macworld 2008’
More Mac games at the Expo, Part 3
This is the final Mac games post of my 3-part series (read parts 1 and 2). There’s a whole bunch of companies makings games for the Mac who were demoing products at Macworld 08, and I wanted to mention just a few more.
Ambrosia is soon to release a really great-looking game called Aquaria that was described as an “ethereal action/adventure underwater fantasy game.” A guy not employed by Ambrosia had logged so many hours on their demo this week that they let him show me the game. It looked gorgeous. You play as a mermaid trying to reunite her people, who are scattered across what looks like a vast system of underwater caves. Can’t wait to play this game. Ambrosia is also putting out Multiwinia, a sequel to Darwinia, later this year.
What I Learned from Macworld 2008
As I’d hoped, the Macworld Expo provided me with a chance to dive headfirst into the Apple pool. Between the exhibits and the presentations and the random conversations that I had with people throughout the week, I was able to get a really good idea of why people like Macs and what things I might be interested in doing with the one that I’m about to get.
Here’s a round-up of the things that I learned from attending Macworld this year:
- Macs really are more reliable. Everyone that I talked to confirmed that they felt their Mac notebook was more reliable than a PC. My PC gave out on me halfway through the week with virus problems that took about two hours to fix. Because I use my notebook as my main computer, I need reliability. That’s the number one reason that I’m making the switch.
- I can go light but I probably don’t want the MacBook Air. I’m totally interested in the new notebook but I’m not convinced it’s the one that I want to spend my money on. I think if I was in a position to have a travel laptop and a second one for home, then I’d probably consider it. But because I’ve got only one computer doing everything for me, this new one isn’t the one for me. Still, I do think it points to a great direction that Apple is going in.
- The John Lennon Tour Bus is totally cool. I don’t know how I didn’t know about this thing since it’s been around for a decade but I didn’t. It’s a cool project that provides some great education and is definitely something that I’m interested in supporting.
- There are more accessories than gadgets that I’m interested in. I love gadgets. I’m probably going to get an iPod Touch this coming week (although I’ve heard some great arguments as to why I should just go ahead and get an iPhone instead so even though I thought I was settled on this, I’m not one hundred percent sure yet.) Nevertheless, I try to keep the number of gadgets that I buy down to a mininum because I try to be thrifty with my money. As a result, I’ve gotten in the habit of being able to overlook most toys. But apparently accessories still catch my eye because I was totally drawn to the booths offering different laptop bags and sleeves.
- Technology is making multi-taskers out of all of us. This was a theme of nearly every presentation that I went to throughout the conference. It’s not Apple-specific but it was something that was really interesting to think about. I’ve always been a multi-tasker myself but many of the people I know aren’t so it’s fascinating to see that younger folks are heading this direction.
- Macs are good for gaming. This was one thing that was really new news to me and I think is fairly new to a lot of people. Macs just don’t seem to have the association with gaming that PCs have. However, after hanging out at the MacGames Pavilion and attending the presentation on how to make my own games for Mac, I’m fully convinced that I could have a well-rounded gaming experience with only a Mac computer.
All of these things were important to learn but the most important thing that I really came to realize this week was that there is truly a community built around Macs. Mac users are passionate about their choice. They’re interested in new technologies that are being released and they’re interested in sharing that passion with others. Everyone that I spoke with this week was more than happy to provide me with information and opinions about technology in general and Apple products in particular. This sense of community is something that I think is good for the industry … and it’s something that I want to be a bigger part of. So, it’s official, my immersion in the world of Mac led to a conversion.
Green Tech at the Expo
Green Tech was by no means prominent at Macworld 08, but there was still a pretty good amount on display. Environmental sustainability has become a major concern when it comes to technology products. Computers and most other electronic devices consume lots of energy while they’re living and produce lots of waste when they die. Hazardous waste, in many cases. But nearly all of the major manufacturers have begun thinking through the lifecycle of their products and designing them to have as little an impact on the environment as possible – not only because of the demand for Green Tech in the marketplace, but also because it’s just plain old good business.
Technology as Necessity
At yesterday’s conference presentation on the Cybernetic Teen, Jason Cranford Teague used the word “necessity” when talking about technology for teens today. He provided an interesting comparison between a teen’s tech use in 1987 and a teen’s tech use today. He also provided a definition of the word “necessity” which made sense within the context of his presentation. And it got me thinking about whether or not I’d agree that certain technology is a necessity for teens today. Because it was on my mind, I talked it over with several people today and found that we all seem to be divided on the issue.
Teague said that a teenager in 1987 would have been unlikely to have a home computer, especially one with Internet and that a personal mobile phone for teens then was possible but highly unlikely. (He also noted that they’d be using a Walkman for music and playing a Nintendo Game System for fun.) Then he argued that today it’s a necessity for kids to have a computer with Internet access at home and that it’s almost a necessity for them to have a cell phone. (He also pointed out that they all have iPods and that they’ve got a choice between three different game systems, all of which are about as complex as their computer would have been in 1987).
His definition of necessity for making this argument was that more than 60-70% of their peer age group has one. He said that when a supermajority of your peers has a tool of communication, you become essentially incapable of proper communication with them in the way that communication is defined for your group. (Well, I paraphrased that a little, but that’s essentially what he was saying, I think.)
By this definition, it makes sense to me that he was saying these things are necessities. But in a general context, do I think that’s true? I do believe that a home computer with Internet access is a necessity for a majority of kids in a Western World today. (Teague did note that he was speaking about Western countries, but he didn’t differentiate between urban and rural teens and I believe that the argument could be made that teens in some rural areas don’t currently meet the minimum standard for the term “necessity” to be applicable. I don’t have the numbers on that handy, though, so I could be wrong.) Although I believe that his definition probably accurately describes the cell phone as necessity for teens, I’m not sure that I think it’s truly a necessity. I believe that teens today could appropriately communicate with their peers through IM and social networking sites without the use of their cell phones and not be “out of the communication loop”. But of course the underlying assumption for that is that I believe the home computer and high speed Internet to be “necessities”.
So I asked some other people what they thought about the issue and found that it’s something that people didn’t agree on. (In fact, there was something of a heated debate going around the lunch table today.) Everyone did seem to agree that Teague’s definition of “necessity” and the point that he was making seemed essentially to make sense. However, the whole topic took off on another tangent about whether this stuff is really necessary for teens. To me, it’s just a given that a teen in America today who is going to move forward in life is going to require Internet access at home. But I was surprised to find that even at a tech conference there are people who disagree with that. Based on the conversation, I’d even say there were some budding Luddites in the room today!
What do you think – is technology like in-home Internet a necessity for teens today?
Only a Few Hours Left
With only about four hours left to see all that there is to see here at MacWorld, everyone’s running around trying to make it to the things that they’ve missed out on so far. From what I’m hearing as I’ve spoken with people this morning, everyone’s seen all of the things that they were especially interested in seeing. However, they’ve also all heard about tons of stuff that wasn’t at the top of their priority list which they want to check out before the Expo closes up shop.
A few of the things that people have said they want to do today:
- Play games. Apparently not everyone has been over at the MacGames Paviliion wasting all of their time like I was. Several people I talked with this morning said they wanted to make it over there to test out some of the games that they’ve been hearing about all week.
- Get signed up with EFF. One person mentioned that she hadn’t become a member of the Electronic Frontier Foundation yet so she was going to stop by the booth in West Hall and get some more information. They’re giving away T-shirts if you donate a certain amount of money and they’ve also got free literature on things like blogger’s copyrights.
- Take a stroll along Mac Developer Blvd. Also over in West Hall is this area which one guy said he’d seen passing through but hadn’t spent any time in yet. He’s hoping to get over there today and get some new information on some mobile technology stuff that he had questions about.
It sounds like almost everyone spent a good chunk of time in South Hall this week and wants to get over to West Hall today to see the exhibits that they missed out on there. I’m on the opposite side of that spectrum. Having spent most of the week in West Hall, I’m going to check out South Hall to see what I’ve missed over there.
More Mac games at the Expo, Part 1
I promised more coverage of the game offerings here at Macworld 08, and I’m delivering. This is going to be a three-part series of blogs detailing the plans that various companies have for games on the Mac in 2008.
I’m going to start with Aspyr. You may remember from my last post on Mac games at the Expo that they specialize in porting games from the PC to the Mac. They’ve got a huge year coming up, as their new releases are all big gaming franchises being made available for the first time on the Mac.
Thursday’s Best of the Booths rundown
Chris and I happened by the never-ending table of MacBook Airs and I snapped a few photos of it for you to enjoy. Enjoy.
There’s a lot more pictures of Expo booths after the jump.
Make Your Own Mac Games
Macworld Senior Editor Peter Cohen gave a presentation at MacWorld Expo today providing resources for Mac users to learn how to make their own games. The sites that he suggested were mostly for the creation of simple games but provided some options for more advanced users as well.
Here are the five sites that Cohen suggested would be good for guys (or gals) interested in making their own Mac games:
Tech Tips for Teachers
There have been two presentations at MacWorld’s Users Conference which have focused on using today’s technology to be a better teacher. The one I went to yesterday was about Web 2.0 and its impact on e-Learning. The one I just came out of was on Teaching the Cybernetic Teen. Both of these presentations provided some great tips about how teachers can make use of the way that kids communicate through technology today to improve the way they educate those kids.
Here are some tech tips for teachers to take advantage of:
David Pogue at the O’Reilly Media booth
You never know what you’ll see as you cruise the show floor. I noticed a fairly large crowd around the Oreilly Media booth so I stopped by to take a look. All the commotion was over a speaker they had in their booth, none other than David Pogue – New York Times columnist, sometime reporter for NPR’s Morning Edition, and CBS news correspondent – sharing a few tips from the latest in his Missing Manual book series, Mac OS X Leopard Edition: The Missing Manual.
He’s a very personable speaker. He regaled the eager throng with one especially interesting anecdote about the time a retailer told him that if he packaged a CD of software with his Missing Manual books he could charge $5 more for them. Since, from what I gathered, all of the software he discusses in the book is either free or comes with Leopard (and hence you already have it if you’ve bought the book), he simply had a CD graphic printed on the back page, along with a URL for downloading the software, and a quick note letting his readers know they just saved $5.
Pogue said that writing the Leopard Missing Manual was “the ride of my life,” and spat out a few statistics to explain why. The stats that really caught my attention were that Mac market share has gone from 2.3% to 7.9% since his last Mac book, and that Macworld attendance has increased by 10,000 people since last year.
There was too large a crowd for me to be able to listen closely and record a few of his tips. Oh well, guess you have to buy the book.
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