So here's my first proper Vlog! This was due last week, but due to a combination of some interesting news and my dog being unwell, I decided to postpone it to this week. The first topic I wanted to cover was the interesting concepts behind the two smartphone apps I've reviewed recently. You can check out the video below, or if you don't fancy looking at my phugly face for 5 minutes, you can read the transcript below. I've also put on a few bloopers at the end of the video too! Don't forget to check my various other links, and let me know what you think of the video! Sorry the video is a little dark, it got a lot darker than I expected and I didn't notice!!!!!
Various Links:
Review Videos:
Space Hoppers: http://youtu.be/wOLphrCo44w
Solve-It-Blocks: http://youtu.be/aZmMeYhCCLk
Reviews:
http://hibblejaybob.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/space-hoppers-review-smartphone-game.html
http://hibblejaybob.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/solve-it-blocks-review-smartphone-app.html
Company Websites:
http://www.eotis.com/
http://www.solveitblocks.com/
App Store:
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/space-hoppers/id929582857
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/solve-it-blocks/id958941440?mt=8
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.solveitblocks.solveitblocksapp
My Links:
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/hibblejaybob
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Hibblejaybob
Blogger: http://hibblejaybob.blogspot.co.uk/
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/hibblejaybob
Transcript:
(Transcript is based on my notes for the video, and may not be exact or grammatically correct)
Hi Everyone and welcome to Hibblejayvlog, this is my first vlog with some actual content in it! Apologies that this video is a week late, my dog was ill last week, as well as some other news which I'll talk about near the end.
Today I want to talk about the concepts that have gone into 2 of the smartphone games I have reviewed recently. I reviewed a game called Space Hoppers back at the start of January, which has some interesting ideas behind it and this month, I reviewed another app called Solve-It-Blocks which the concept of an educational app has been done before, but the amount of research that has gone into it is amazing, and I'll talk more on that later. If you've not read my reviews or watched the review videos, I'll link them in the description for your viewing pleasure.
Starting with Space Hoppers, the primary concept behind it is Physical Group Gaming, or PGG. the EOTIS website describes it as "play in the virtual and real world together", and that's a perfect summary of what Physical Group Gaming is. The basic idea is that you use an iPad or Apple TV as a screen and you connect other iPads or smartphones up as controllers. Using the built in accelerometers, you become the controller, tilting the device and jumping about to make your character move around the screen, as you try to collect all the bubbles. Having played and reviewed the game, and looking into the concept further, two big things stand out me.
The first one is sociability, smartphone games and smartphones in general are seen to be quite antisocial nowadays, How often is it you hear "look at everyone standing around on their phones, not talking", etc. Well, Space Hoppers aims to change that by getting everyone playing the same game, together on their smartphones. And the key point there is the interaction: It's not everyone playing singleplayer, not talking together. It's a punch of people playing the same game, in the same room, bounding around the place having fun, and it seems absolutely perfect for kids parties,
student's parties, office Christmas parties.
And that brings me to my next point on the PGG concept. While I don't consider myself to be particularly in with the smartphone app scene: Space Hoppers, for the first time that I've seen, really elevates smartphones to the stage currently occupied by the Kinnect and the Wii and so on, providing the smae lever of fun and interactions, without the need for a console. If you were going away on a holiday, few people would take their consoles away with them but how many people would bring their smartphones and tablets with them? Probably most of them. So there's the argument of accessibility. Could this be the start of smartphones becoming the norm for group entertainment over consoles?
The final major concept behind space hoppers is the customisation. EOTIS, the developer of Space Hoppers will let you send in your photos, and they'll make a customised version of the game just for you, with the characters and scenes now things from the photos you send in. They will also let you distribute that customised version of the game, making it perfect for adding a personal touch to parties, or even marketing as part of a group or organisation. EOTIS are also keen to see the PGG concept continue, and will work with game developers to expand upon the content and mechanics of Space Hoppers, into a completely new game. All this information and more, can be found on the EOTSI website, which I'll link below.
The 2nd app I wanted to talk about today is Solve-It-Blocks, which is a developmental app primarily aimed at kids. Educational & developmental apps are not a particularly new concept, but this is the first app that I've seen that you can clearly see the progression from classical children's toys, into a modern environment. The app has been constructed in such a way that is also fun and engaging as a game for all ages in it's own right. The app is the smartphone application of the real world Solve-It-Blocks which have are already marketed for schools and nurseries. The thing that caught my eye here is the amount of research done in the development of this concept. I think it's great to see the application of research done at university level, into real products, and the quality of those products are great too. The developers have really done an amazing job of bringing the concept to life and you can find out more about Solve-It-Blocks and the research behind it in the links in the description.
A final word from me with some news, last week I was asked by EOTIS to help promote the Space Hoppers app for iOS. My original review and most of this script was written before the company got in contact with me, but obviously, I need to get that out there for the sake of being clear on impartiality. And of course, if you are interested in checking out either of the apps I've discussed today, you can check out my reviews for them in description, or you can head over to their app store pages and find out for yourself!
So that's all for today, hope you enjoyed my video. Don't forget to like, comment and subscribe, and I shall see you next week! Bye!
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