No, I’m not being sarcastic. You see, this email came from an iPad/iPhone game called Pocket Frogs. In this game you breed and nurture tiny frogs. You can feed them and race with them with the goal to create new generations of offspring with new combinations of colors and designs. To encourage new users the developers have a messaging feature baked in. You can message your friends to let them know about the app in hopes they’ll download it.

So why do I love emails like this? Because they’re from my daughter. At the ripe old age of five, she’s discovered how to use the in-game messaging – she taps on the frog, then the “Share”, then “Email” and sends a message to my name, stored in her Grandmother’s iPad.

So while I’m staring at code, sitting in a meeting or editing video for 8 hours a day, my daughter sometimes thinks about sending her newest frog to her old man. I’ll never tell her she’s doing it wrong.

First, a prediction. This generation of hand-held consoles will be the last.¹

How can the multi-year spans between console releases compare to the yearly improvements of devices like the iPhone and iPad? Apple claims that the iPad 2 is 9x more powerful than it’s predecessor. In benchmark testing Anandtech confirms - yeah pretty much.

While it’s early in the life of both the iPhone and iPad, it’s hard to imagine that future incarnations would not continue this increase in graphical prowess.²

Year after year the iOS devices continue to improve while companies like Sony and Nintendo are in a cycle of releasing a device and then supporting it for a few years. The DS was released in 2004 and just this month is being replaced by its successor, the 3DS. The PSP has also been around a while with an original release in 2005. Its successor, the Next Generation Portable or NGP, is planned for a late 2011 release.³

According to this article from Business Insider the iPad 2 is “equal to NGP in terms of raw graphical horsepower”. Wait, that can’t be right. Sony’s much heralded next-generation portable that won’t be released until November is only equal to a device that is in consumer’s hands right now?

I’m not trying to over-emphasize graphics, there are many other factors when it comes to an enjoyable gaming experience. You can ding the iPad for lack of physical controls or the DS for not having many mature games. While smart intelligent readers such as yourself realize this, there are tons of consoles bought due to graphical fidelity over gameplay or library selection.

–

The genesis of this post came to me while laying in bed this evening. I was playing Real Racing 2 on my iPhone 3GS and was struck by a few things. 1) How well this game looked on a 2-year-old phone. 2) How smoothly it ran – no stuttering and load times were all but nonexistent. 3) How well the controls worked on a device without buttons.⁴

Next to me were a Nintendo DS and a Sony PSP, both loaded with a few top-notch games. Yet, here I was playing a racing game on my cell phone – a game that was about $25 cheaper than similar titles on its console brethren.

So the iPad 2 is as fast as the NGP, which won’t ship for another 9 months and the old cycle of developing a console and waiting a few years to improve is dead. Or dying. Develop, a website about game development noted that next-gen handheld console budgets have tripled. How much are the games going to cost? $50!?

I’ve been able to play the same games over the last 4 generations of iOS devices with out a hitch. In some cases the games are even improved on newer hardware. Meanwhile DS games are fuzzy on the new 3DS and all of my UMD games for the PSP will have to be re-purchased when the NGP is released. :-/

From one perspective, not only are the graphics a huge win, but also the financial and vitality aspects of this new breed of gaming devices.

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¹This is a bit toungue-in-cheek. I loathe predictions of the end of something. As though all previous incarnations will cease to exist in a puff of smoke.
²There was a marked increase between the 3G and 3GS in terms of horsepower waaay back in 08. Not to mention the setup up to the retina display of the iPhone 4.
³Maybe this is why Sony is not only releasing a successor to the PSP, but also the Ericsson Xperia Playstation branded smart phone. They’re no dummies and are hedging their bets that the concept of a game-only device is not the future.
⁴Maybe I suck at racing games in general, but I was surprised to find myself actually winning races this go round! Also, no controller to blame when you drive off the track do to your ineptitude.

Photo by sneeu – Licensed under Creative Commons

It’s about time that I belabor you with my musical likings from the last year.

Top 10 songs¹ added to my iTunes library for 2010.

1. Daylight – Matt & Kim – Grand
2. Intro – The xx – xx
3. Animus Vox – The Glitch Mob – Drink the Sea
4. Thinking ‘Bout Somethin’ – Hanson – Thinking ‘Bout Somethin’²
5. Good Ol’ Fashion Nightmare – Matt & Kim – Grand
6. Difficult – Uffie – Sex Dreams and Denim Jeans
7. Home – Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros - Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros
8. Colors – April Smith & The Great Picture Show – Songs For A Sinking Ship
9. I Hope I Become A Ghost – The Deadly Syndrome – The Ortolan³
10. Right As Rain – Adele – 19

Top 10 released in 2010

1. Animus Vox – The Glitch Mob – Drink the Sea
2. Thinking ‘Bout Somethin’ – Hanson – Thinking ‘Bout Somethin’
3. Difficult - Uffie - Sex Dreams and Denim Jeans
4. Colors – April Smith & The Great Picture Show – Songs For A Sinking Ship
5. Rill Rill – Sleigh Bells – Treats
6. Horchata – Vampire Weekend – Contra
7. Bombay – El Guincho – Pop Negro⁴
8. The Grid – Daft Punk – Tron: Legacy
9. The Game Has Changed - Daft Punk – Tron: Legacy
10. If You Think You Need Some Lovin – Pomplamoose – 3 New Songs Woot!

Here’s my lists from 2006, 2008 and 2009 if you’re interested. You can see what else I’m currently listening to on Last.fm.

So the guy who was the narrator and voice of the Hitchhiker’s Guide* in the film adaptation goes and makes his own futuristic book which is rather hitchhiker-ish. And then he narrates a commercial for it.

I’m hoping to find one more layer of recursiveness in which to make this totally sublime, but I’m content with what we have.

*And now every time I read the book it’s his voice as well.

Trailer for an upcoming film called Revolver. Song is by The Glitch Mob off their album Drink the Sea.

This is just one of many awesome videos found on Devour, which is the most awesome video website I have ever visited. They curate the best videos from YouTube, Vimeo and their ilk for your viewing pleasure.

See also Words, Starburst Zombie and Bad Romance by Brett Domino.

You should bookmark Devour – now.

The entire story is an allegory for faith instead if trying to figure it all out and make sense of all the mysteries. (as Jack did for a long time)

The point of how the relationships we have and people we meet are more important than how the smoke monster worked or how the island moves.

It’s a story about people who were lost in life. By the experiences they shared in the adventures on the island they came to find love, loss, hope and courage.

I’m not embarrassed to say that I cried my eyes out after watching the credits roll. I was sad and happy all in the same moment.

And it’s not because I’m going to miss one of my favorite TV shows, but because the story that has been told over the last 6 years through a little box in my living room has reached out to me and made me feel, for once in a very long time, content with my mortality and appreciative of the people I have in my life.

We all die someday and we should spend our precious time on Earth in the company of the ones we love.

Just let go and enjoy.

I’m totally digging the Hipstamatic app for the iPhone. It’s a recreation of a camera developed in the great wilderness of Wisconsin in the early 80s by two brothers. The whole story is being kept alive by the older brother of the two Hipstamatic creators.

The app is very slick and plays a great homage to the cheap all-plastic cameras of yore. With the tiny viewfinder, different films and lenses and the always different results it’s a blast to watch your photos ‘develop’.

The best thing about the app for me is the high-pitched whirring of the flash when you turn it on. Perfect.

1. White Winter Hymnal – Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes

2. Sun It Rises – Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes

3. Horchata – Vampire Weekend – Contra

4. Little Secrets – Passion Pit – Manners

5. Blue Ridge Mountians – Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes

6. Oliver James – Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes

7. Skinny Love – Bon Iver – Fore Emma, Forever Ago

8. Meadowlarks – Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes (Damn, this is a good album!)

9. The Beastie Boys Vs Matt And Kim – Good Ol’ Fashion Rump Shaker – The Hood Internet – The Mixtape Volume Four (download here)

10. Vultures – John Mayer – Continuum

Here’s the top 10 list of songs released in 2009.

1. Little Secrets – Passion Pit – Manners

2. The Beastie Boys Vs Matt And Kim – Good Ol’ Fashion Rump Shaker – The Hood Internet – The Mixtape Volume Four

3. Zero – Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It’s Blitz!

4. Brother Sport – Animal collective – Merriweather Post Pavillion

5. Hysteric – Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It’s Blitz!

6. Passion Pit vs. Juvenile – Back That Sleepyhead Up – The Hood Internet – The Mixtape Volume Four

7. 1901 – Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

8. Evident Utensl – Chairlift – Does You Inspire You (I dug the music video before the song)

9. Bead Prez vs. Grizzly Bear – Two Weeks of Hip Hop – The Hood Internet – The Mixtape Volume Four (orginal version of Two Weeks came in at #16)

10. Happy Up Here – Royksopp – Junior

Here’s a list from 2006 as well. Apparently I skipped 2007!

I’m not usually one to enjoy bizarre nonsensical comedy, but the Axe Cop series is freaking hilarious.

The story is written by the 5 year old brother of the 29 year-old artist, Ethan Nicolle. Their collaboration is pure win and is only rivaled the  series of reader submitted questions answered by Malachai in “Ask Axe Cop“!

Oh, and I totally want a shirt that says:

CHOP!
PUNT!
PSHEW!