Episodic online games with movie tie could snag casual gamers

The movie industry may be on to something with their efforts to tie the theater experience with online episodic mobile gaming.  This article describes a new game being prepared to tie in to the new Angelina Jolie spy thriller "Salt" and it intrigued me when "Day X Exists" is explained as a "a genre that blends online and offline clues and relies on players collaborating to solve puzzles."

[Promotional Image courtesy of Sony Pictures]

It mentions that a similar game was released for "District 9".  Although I really liked that film I somehow missed any reference to an online game.  I wonder what venue the movie studios are using to announce such product tie-ins?

Since the article mentions social networking too, I guess the collaboration part of the game is expected to take place between Facebook friends or something.  I guess I should pay more attention to Facebook but I really don't have time between my writing, photography, book reviews and household adventures.  At least I have my Flickr account and blogs connected to Facebook so links to my writing and photography make it there without me having to double or triple post.

I think the movie studios are on the right track although I was a bit offended by the following paragraph:

"On the way now, as evidenced by Day X Exists, are games that feature complex narratives and depth, but do not require a master’s degree to figure out. Women in particular are a focus. " - Using Online Games to Get Movie Audiences Involved by Brooks Barnes, New York Times.

It's as if the NYT writer is inferring that women are not as intelligent as the average male gamer.  They are correct about developing games as entertainment, though, rather than something expected to take hours before any psychological reward is offered. I think introducing the social aspect to gaming will be interesting to observe as well since females have been conditioned to be more socially aware in our society.

 I also think their efforts to utilize mobile GPS for location-specific gaming strategies is commendable as well.  I guess I'm going to have to explore this Day X Exists a little further although to be honest, I would have been more interested in the game for "District 9" or maybe "Robin Hood"!  I have to confess that I fell asleep trying to watch "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider" and was equally bored with "Mr. and Mrs. Smith".  So I haven't yet been won over to the camp that view Jolie as an action hero.  It's not that she isn't a talented actress, as I found her performance in "The Changeling" quite riveting.  It's just that so many of these so-called spy thrillers have such a thin or overly cliched plot.

I wonder if they'll create a game for "Prince of Persia"?  Can you imagine that?  A game developed for a movie based on a game.  It sounds like one of those dreaded infinite loops!

Canon Powershot S5 vs. Panasonic DMC-FZ8

I've been in a bit of a quandary ever since I went ahead and ordered the Panasonic DMC-FZ8 in time for my first New York trip even though I heard that Canon was coming out with a new Powershot High-Zoom camera soon after I would return. Today, I finally got around to reading Digital Photography's review of the new Canon Powershot S5 paying particular attention to the comparisons of ISO-Sensitivity and noise levels since my most demanding work is produced in museums without the benefit of flash or tripod. DPReview didn't provide a side-by-side comparison of Canon vs. Panasonic so I had to improvise:


My eyes are getting older these days but it looks to me like the Panasonic suffers from less noise than the S5 although there is a slight loss of detail. Actually, to be honest, the Sony DSC-H9 & Sony DSC-H5 seemed to have roughly the equivalent level of noise of the Panasonic with a little more detail than the Panasonic. All three appear to me to outperform the Canon S5 in this category.

As a former financial officer I also can't help but think about bang for the buck. The Panasonic cost me $269 compared to the Sony's $369 and the Canon's $469. The Panasonic is the only one of the three that can output in Raw format, has about twice as many scene modes, and weighs a mere 310 g compared to the Sony's 407 g and the Canon's 450 g. For someone like me with a problem with familial tremor, 100 -150 g can make a big difference especially if you couple that with one of the industry's leading image stabilization systems.

So, I guess I made the right choice for me based on my needs. I just wish Panasonic would be able to approach the High ISO quality output of the Fuji F-30. I have governed the Panasonic down to ISO-800 in my settings because the noise level is just totally unacceptable at the Panasonic's ISO settings higher than that. So, I keep my Fuji F30 with me too for those really dark exhibits.