Gamer: Hardcore to Casual

Speaking as a husband and a father, it's hard to classify myself as a hardcore gamer anymore. There used to be a time when I would sit down with a new title and complete it in one night. I had a room specifically set up for gaming and gaming alone. I used to have an extensive collection of titles to choose from, and across several different systems. But as I got older and my life got fuller, I found myself spending less and less time gaming.

The first thing to go was my handhelds. While I can't say that my family obligations are directly responsible for this (Apple and the iPhone had a big part in this decision too) I found that I simply didn't need to carry them along as much as I used to. And even when I did bring them, I barely had time to play. I became more involved in the planning and navigating when going on long trips, so I didn't have that leisure time to fill anymore. I ended up giving away my handhelds and the library of games to kids that I thought would get more use out of them. Now, if there is a free moment, I usually reach for my iPhone and pick from the assortment of titles I have collected over the past few years...Street Fighter IV, Gun Bros., Words with Friends, Rolando, Tetris, Monopoly, just to name a few of my favorites. N.O.V.A. with the gyro controls was an instant hit with me as well. If you ever see a guy out somewhere spinning around in a swivel chair looking at his iPhone, chances are it's probably me!!!






Console gaming, however, is a different story. I don't think I'll ever be able to just get rid of my consoles, but I am finding it increasingly difficult to spend as much time with them as I have in the past. Case in point, I have had Halo: Reach since launch day, but it has taken me until just recently to complete the storyline, and I can count on one hand how many times I've been online in matchmaking! In fact, that is what spawned this article. Halo is, in my opinion, the best fps out there...it's the sole reason I bought an Xbox, switching from the PS2, and later upgrading to the Xbox 360. There is no way it should have taken me months to do anything...other than (maybe) earn all of the achievements. As it stands now, I have yet to purchase the DLC map packs!!

It's really not easy to say who's at fault, because I have a very supportive wife. No matter what hobby I decided to get into, she has always supported what I was interested in...matter of fact, one of our favorite past times was playing the New Super Mario Bros. on our DS. Their was a head-to-head mode where we would battle each other for stars...first person to reach a pre-determined amount of stars would win. But watch out, because you could make your opponent cough up a star if you bounced on their head or shot them with a fireball...it was intense!!!

(I REALLY MISS THAT TIME)

And my daughter is rarely fussy. She's a generally happy baby...only crying when she's hungry, sleepy, or needs changing. She is just as content playing in her crib as she is in our arms, and that is a very rare trait to have in a one year old. Truth be told, I could sit her in the baby swing and have her watch me play...video games look just like cartoons...I'd probably be able to get in several uninterrupted hours a day!

Well...is it me? Have I changed? I'd like to still consider myself a hardcore gamer, but my gaming habits don't warrant the title. Sure, there will always be those couple of games to come out every year that pull me back into gaming. The few that I'm most excited about right now are Modern Warfare 2, the remake of the first Halo (of course), and the latest installment of Ratchet and Clank, All for One. However, I do think that my priorities may have shifted or that I may have matured a bit. Evidence of this is fairly clear when I go online and hear the conversations of the next generation of gamers.






I have nothing in common with them at all!!! Is this normal...is it the gaming circle of life?


Rod

My Beautiful Baby Girl

I have reached the end of a very special and eventful day. Exactly 1 year ago today my daughter was born. It has been a great ride, good times and hard times, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. This is the reason I work so hard...Happy Birthday Khloe.




- Posted from my iPad

iOS Compatibility Issues

Tech is nice when it works. But when it doesn't it can be a headache! Here recently I purchased an iPad 2 and I've been very happy with it. It has done just about everything I've asked it to...well, until now. I had a very simple task to perform (or so I thought) and I reached for my iPad to help me through it.

If you don't know, I'm an art teacher and I got the bright idea to record some instructional videos to show in the classroom as well as post online. Seems simple so far, right? I have a Sony Webbie HD that I used to record some video. I transferred it to my school-board-issued laptop and began showing them in class without incident. However, getting that same video on the iPad in order to edit, and upload it to YouTube has been an uphill battle, and once I think I have it figured out, another problem presented itself.

So how do I get the video off the Webbie? After searching and asking everyone I thought could help, I found out about a Camera Kit that Apple put out.





Basically it's two separate adaptors that plugs into the 30-pin dock at the bottom of the iPad. One adaptor has a USB plug at the other end, allowing you to plug in a camera via the USB cable that (presumably) came with the camera. The other, more or less, is a SD card reader. It has a slot at the other end to pop in your secured digital memory card...assuming that your camera uses SD cards. After working with these two add-ons for a while, I was able to successfully transfer the video files into my iPad. Problem solved right? Well, that one was...I now had a whole new problem. For some reason, iMovie didn't recognize any of the videos I shot with the Webbie!!! Photos work just fine, but even though the videos showed up in my 'imported' album, I was still unable to get them to show up in the iMovie app.





So how do I edit a video clip and publish it to YouTube from my iPad if the video file is not compatible? I haven't a clue. My videos are still locked away. I need another option. Someone told me I can just use my iPhone 4 to shoot the video, then use the Camera Kit to transfer the video file to the iPad for editing/uploading. That could work--using the USB adaptor and the USB/charging cable that came with the phone, the iPad recognized the iPhone as just another camera and I was able to get editable videos on my iPad. But then how would I get that same video from the phone to my laptop to show during class? Going through iTunes is much too indirect, when compared to the ease of dragging-and-dropping that my Webbie offers.

As I see it, I have two options...1) Find an easier way to transfer videos from my iPhone to my laptop or 2) Find another pocket camcorder that offers both, the convenience of drag-and-drop for school, and a compatible file format for editing/uploading on my iPad 2.

Any suggestions?

Update: Apple seems to have solved this problem with an update for iMovie. Now it would seem they have added support for video recorded from other devices. So, thanks...that was the perfect solution.