iPad | Gumballs Plays Games

iPad: Final Fantasy Dimensions / The Walking Dead

Posted on February 7, 2013 by GumballsPlaysGames

I’ve used the first gen Kindle Fire and the 7″ Kindle Fire HD and enjoyed both, but I finally decided to become an iPad owner. I’d describe myself as quite the Apple fan. I love their story, I love their attitude and I love their products. I use a 13″ MacBook Pro (2012) and the iPhone 4 and love both. They’re both very solid, sleek and sexy products with great operating systems (I also run Windows 8 on my MacBook and enjoy it). I love the iTunes store and have a lot of iTunes content, and I could still access all of my Amazon content via the Kindle and Instant Video apps, so the iPad was a great investment in my eyes.

So now I’m the owner of a white 32gb iPad 4 as you can see in the blurry as crap picture above (sorry about that). So far it’s been a great experience. The retina display is absolutely amazing, text on websites looks incredibly crisp and HD movies look absolutely stunning. The amount of apps available is a HUGE improvement over the Kindle Fire HD (sorry Amazon) and I’m glad I made the purchase.

I’ve been enjoying Final Fantasy: Dimensions a lot so far. Dimensions is a modern Final Fantasy game created in the old 16 bit style and it’s a wonderful throwback. It looks and sounds great and so far it is a blast to play. It is an episodic title and the prologue is free, chapter 1 is $2.99 and the 3 remaining chapters are $6.99, or you can buy all of the chapters for $19.99. I think I’m going to buy the chapters as I get to them because the game is about 40 hours along and I’m sure it’ll take me at least several weeks to finish and I’ll probably get distracted.

I’ve also been playing The Walking Dead, which I’ve played on the 360 but since the first episode is free I figured I’d try it out. I’m going to play the opposite type of character on my iPad playthrough, so I’m pretty much going to be a ruthless son of a bitch throughout the game 🙂 Should be fun.

I’ve also checked out Infinity Blade II which looks amazing. If you have any other recommendations for must play games feel free to suggest them in the comments. Anyway, I’ve included a few more screenshots below. Enjoy!

Surface RT

Posted on January 30, 2013 by GumballsPlaysGames

I’m one of the few people who actually love the look, feel and function of Windows 8. I’m not sure why exactly, but I found it somewhat exciting to use and learn. Maybe because it was finally something new from Microsoft whose operating systems previously all looked and functioned quite similar.

Microsoft’s first tablet, the Surface RT, also looked quite exciting and fresh. It still looks quite appealing aesthetically. I love the simple design with the new Windows logo sitting down at the bottom beneath the screen. I love the Windows RT (not quite Windows 8) with its live tiles and ‘pretty’ colors.

A part of me really wants to try the Surface RT (the Surface Pro won’t be quite as affordable when it hits stores in a little over a week for $899) but I’m not going to. Why? Because there’s one tech personality whose opinion I value more than any other, and that’s Chris Pirillo. His LockerGnome YouTube channel is filled with tech news and opinions and I’ve followed Chris ever since he was a host on TechTV’s Call 4 Help many, many years ago.

His Surface RT unboxing and Surface RT review have persuaded me to pass the Surface by and consider an iPad as a full sized tablet (I own a 7″ Kindle Fire HD which is a pretty good affordable, smaller tablet).

Chris starts off his review (below) by quoting several reviews from other reputable sources, most of which caution against purchasing the Surface RT, one of which causes it “in most ways inferior” to the iPad. Chris notes that the sound quality of the Surface is quite bad and the 32gb Surface only has 16gb of usable space. He praises the ‘modern UI’ interface and live tiles, calling it one of the best tablet experiences, and yet the desktop mode is “sloppy” and not optimized for a touch screen device (who wants to see a desktop on a tablet anyway?).

So in the end, the Surface looks appealing, but looks can be quite deceiving. Maybe the next gen Surface will offer a better experience, but for now if I do decide to pick up a ‘full’ sized tablet, I’m going to have to go with the 4th gen iPad.

What was Pirillo’s final thoughts on the Surface RT? As you can see below, he returned it to the store.

Amazon pokes fun at iPad Mini

Posted on October 29, 2012 by GumballsPlaysGames

If you visit Amazon today you’ll see this on the front page:

I’ve had the 7″ Kindle Fire HD for a few weeks now and I’m in love with it, so I’ll have to agree with Amazon, the Fire HD is the better buy. Don’t believe me? Just check the specs Amazon points out. Sure for $130 more you’ll have a wider range of apps to choose from (the smaller selection of apps available for the Fire is its only downfall in my eyes), but just look at what you’ll be missing out on. The Fire HD’s screen is stunning. Don’t believe me? Just play with one in a store. Watch a movie, view pictures, read a magazine. It’s a downright amazing screen. The speakers on the Fire HD are even better. The sound quality is great, and it can actually get pretty loud which is a nice improvement over the original Fire.

Don’t think I’m just hating on Apple. I use (and love) a MacBook Pro and iPhone 4. I just think Amazon makes the best tablet for me.