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Jun
16thReview: Angry Birds
My goodness, what an additively fun game on any mobile platform! Developed by Finnish software house Rovio, Angry Birds is somewhat of a phenomenon in the world of casual gaming, having easily captured the lion’s share of the mobile casual games market from 2010 onwards. It has become so ubiquitous that by now one is pretty hard pressed to find somebody who hasn’t heard of it before, a true testament to its popularity and uptake by all segments of the gaming market. The game itself is a simple enough concept. Some nasty green pigs have stolen a group of birds’ eggs, making them very angry indeed. And these wingless birds are not past throwing themselves into structures in order to cause the escaping pigs harm and thus track down their missing eggs. The gameplay is pretty straightforward. Each stage has a number of pigs strategically placed throughout, often protected by structures of various types of materials like wood, stone and ice. You are given a certain number of birds, of differing types, to hurl from a slingshot in order to either hit the pigs directly and make them explode, or cause the structures around them to fall down in such away that they strike the pigs. As for the different types of birds, each bird is a unique color and has a unique strength and ability. This is what makes the game so tactical and frustrating as a puzzler, as you need to plan your shots carefully in order to [...]
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Jun
15thMy Introduction to Android: Galaxy Ace S5830
What, who, how?! I didn’t believe the SMS I received the other day from Vodacom, alerting me to the fact that I could now upgrade. “That’s impossible,” I exclaimed, “there is no way that I’ve had my delightful Samsung Star for two years already!” But a quick check in my records revealed the truth – it had been two years already and I was indeed due for an upgrade, nice, and after seeing an advert on TV for the new Samsung Galaxy Ace on a Vodacom contract, I sprung into action and did some Internet research – all of which led to a very quick realization that this was indeed the phone I wanted, my first ever Android “smartphone”, and most importantly, probably the shortest ever phone search in the history of me owning a mobile phone! :) Anyway, I placed a quick phone call to the Vodacom shop in the mall (Somerset Mall in case you were wondering) just to make sure they had some Galaxies in stock (they had 5) and half an hour later, I found myself seated in the Vodacom Shop waiting for assistant Wendy to fill in all the necessary forms before I handed over my upgrade administration fee and left the store, now a proud owner of a shiny black Samsung (I’m such a fanboy) Android midrange smartphone. And boy am I pleased with my upgrade (as is Chantelle who is quite jealous and now full of respite that she didn’t do the necessary [...]
