Own This World is a location based game for the iPhone by Big Nerds in Disguise a company in Calgary, Alberta. I discovered the program via yycapps and purchased it to try it and support a fellow Calgarian company. After a week of playing it solidly I wanted to share my opinions.

The game itself is an odd (but extremely neat) cross between Risk and real life (“a geo-dependant online game” - yycapps), pitting different users against each other in their own backyards by spending time accumulating troops in territories in order to accumulate more resources and hopefully rule the world (by actually travelling the world).

It’s a very intriguing and novel idea but suffers from some design flaws that takes the diminishes the fun of the game.

The Good

The application design is very straight forward, giving you a map of your current location overlaid with the territories used in game. The application performance is relatively decent, moving around on the map and it starts up in only 10 seconds on my iPhone 3G. The best part is that the opening 10 seconds or so counts down meaning the time waiting for the application to finish starting up counts towards gaining troops. It’s a little touch that makes the experience as a casual game much more pleasant.

The game itself is not a fast moving game, in many ways it feels like a day based turn based online game of old. OTW however makes it very interesting (read: addictive) once you get involved with other players, either through attacks or simply taking over a territory. The activity and frequency of “violence” means that the troop counts (at least in Calgary) haven’t become insurmountable leaving the game approachable by new users; especially in the more heavily populated (by users) regions of the city.

OTW promotes getting out and investigating the city, and even enjoying heavy traffic in order to spend more time in zones you normally only pass through - so you can rack up troops in hopes of being able eventually overthrow the leader. It also requires that the user be in the territory that they actually want to attack and have at least 1 troop giving attacks a new tangible cost - especially if wanting to strike back at someone who has several other territories. It drops the sniping and requires the player to be more active within the game.

OTW also offers (via in game purchase) the ability to create your own world so that you can play the game with just friends and ignore the rest of the public. It will carry over your current troops in different territories - it’d be a great way to turn some of the bits of the game I really dislike (see below) into advantages.

The Bad

The largest downsides to the game is that leaving the game on all the time chews through your battery like no tomorrow as it opens a new network connection every 30 seconds to talk to the server. Turning off the screen I found didn’t help as it would often mean that the application would not record your time accurately (instead of 1 troop every 30 seconds, it seemed to be 5 or 6 every 10 minutes or just stop once I let the screen turn off). The slow pace of the game and the requirement to actively go check your status in the game can be a bit tedious at times.

The UI of the game itself for the most part is straight forward and intuitive but several bits just don’t feel like they “fit” (subjective warning) with the iPhone. The sliding information bar below the map in the Conquest view just doesn’t feel right. Maybe it’s the ALL CAPS, or the font choice but it looks very out of place. Especially if you have a double width status bar (eg. Internet Tethering, on a call, etc.)

By far however the worst part of the UI design is the user selected colours; from the RGB selection sliders in the User Info (functional but not very friendly) right through to using the user’s selected colour everywhere their name appears in the game. Black on black does not easy reading make.

In terms of attacks, there is no defence against attacks. If your hours of work establishing troops is blown away by someone driving by who has several hundred territories or purchased resources your only recourse is to rebuild. After all it’s a game like Risk where territories are won and lost frequently. Don’t bet on making a stronghold aim for gaining lots and lots of territories if you want to last - and so if your job isn’t conducive to road trips outside the city, consider making time on the weekends.

The Ugly

The ugly bits are by far the largest reason I’m uninstalling the game from my iPhone. The first is the ease of being able to track a person in real life - by using the User search I can see where someone last checked in and if I really care enough it’s quite easy to know the areas of town where a person is likely to live and/or work. I find that the tracking information is too easily discernible and it leaves a bad taste in my mouth - however it’s not a fault of the game itself but a downside of the concept. My best recommendation is that unless you’re playing in your own world with friends, be aware of mixing your game identity and your personal identity. The odd part is that you can’t find out any other details about the users - how many territories they have or other details unless they are on the leaderboard.

The other bit that really rubs me the wrong way is the $0.99 micro transaction that allows users to buy 100 of each resource, and once I had been on the end of where a person was just throwing money at the problem to attack my territory if only because it’s insanely more economical for the player when dealing with more than a couple hundred troop difference. It doesn’t actually level the playing field in any respect, it means those who feel like pissing away a loonie or 4 away can take someone from 12000 troops (~100 hours of having the app running on your phone) to nothing (as seen in downtown Calgary). It’s infinitely faster than building up your resources and/or fighting within the city for territories. It harms the game balance that exists. I can understand the reasoning behind such an option - it’s something I find takes away from the game in it’s current form.

Conclusion

It was a lot more fun than I expected but honestly not worth the time investment and/or the sheer battery life drain. It was intriguing and reasonably well done but has too many flaws to give it more than the 3/5 stars I rated it on the App Store. I know I couldn’t have made an app that well, it’s definitely not an app I’d recommend buying but definitely worth looking at as an example of where gaming on a smartphone opens up new interesting challenges.

And like any craptastic method of making sure one has an easy time of making an article/blog post/etc. a set of pros and cons as to what I like and dislike about Chrome/Chromium)

Pros:

• Super fast, uses a newer version of WebKit than Safari. (If you like Safari but want the new versions of WebKit - use nightly.webkit.org - will never use Vanilla Safari again)
• Automatically updates itself silently (Chrome only, Chromium must be manually updated
• Updates often so new features and bug fixes in WebKit show up quite quickly.
• Bookmark Sync (this came online last week). Awesome.
• If one tab crashes the entire program doesn’t crash. Huge. Not as huge since Safari started sandboxing Flash but huge none the less.

Cons:

• Silently installs an auto updater that is hard to remove and impossible to control in a managed environment.
• Extension support not easily accessible
• Bookmark Management is near non-existent. It’s a completely broken feature at this time.
• No Click To Flash yet. Flash Blocker is a poor substitute.
• Tabs just become a set of mountains when too many are open.
• Top Sites look alike feature isn’t as customizable. Oddly I use Chrome’s Top Site feature but not Safari’s.

I like it a lot but I believe calling it a beta is disingenuous. A beta usually refers to something feature complete and in bug testing. My usage however says that it’s very solid but that new features are being added all the time. The reality is that Google Chrome is being treated like a web application - iterated fast and often and there is no real distinction between alpha, beta or a final “1.0” version number. Just a stable and unstable branch and the version number to correspond to where development is at.

It’s a bit more chaotic but represents a change in how developers can approach development, after all there are no instances of a user using a version 3 or 4 versions old when you make sure everyone is using the latest version all the time.

The Good

The mouse is accurate, responsive and the multitouch feels intuitive and that with software updates it could become even more. Additionally the weight has just enough heft to feel solid but much lighter than most other wireless mice Definitely the best Bluetooth mouse I’ve ever used.

Scrolling without a wheel (and momentum on Snow Leopard) brings the best of scrolling on an iPhone/iPod touch to the desktop and for the reason alone is worth it. Instead of a tiny wheel that just spins the entire surface of the mouse is now you touchpad for scrolling, perfect for reading long PDFs and being able to lean back and just use one finger without having to clutch a mouse.

Of note the two finger swipe to go back in Safari hasn’t been an issue and actually useful on occassion.

The Bad

The mouse is smallish and does not offer the ability for a “middle click” (3rd button). If you are used to the Mighty Mouse the muscle memory of squeezing may take a little while to get used to not being able to do. The loss of being able to trigger Exposé in any form is definitely a large loss and the primary reason I normally prefer 5 or 6 buttons on my mice. Being forced to use a less than optimum layout for Exposé on the Aluminum keyboard makes using Exposé more and more of an afterthought without resorting to Dock Exposé in Snow Leopard. Apple’s hardware definitely is not very Exposé friendly at times.

The Ugly

The new mouse is quite cramped and not all that comfortable compared to full size mice like Logitech’s MX Revolution, 1000 or the Performance. This is a huge misnomer because the Magic mouse is surprisingly comfortable even for long periods of time - it’s that the MX line fits my hand more completely and feels nicer to hold at odd angles. That said, I always have a hand on the keyboard and avoid mousing unncessarily as keyboard shortcuts are nearly always faster then hunting for them in the menus.

Conclusion

Suffice to say, it’s an excellent Bluetooth mouse, it’s minimalistic and has all the features I want. For users who don’t require a middle button, those who want a solid mouse it’s perfect. I’ll definitely be keeping it - at least until the wife steals it and I upgrade to an MX Performance.

I highly recommmend the mouse so long as you’re not looking for a large or gaming mouse.

Good

The Invisible Shield protects my iPhone quite well against scratches against keys and well near anything that doesn’t actually slice the material itself. While often the scratch will be visible, running your thumb over the scratch or just giving the material time will have the scratch disappear like it never existed. It’s remarkably resilient to scuffs as well as often wiping away the offending scuff will cause it to disappear, or if dirty a little bit of water will work as well.

It’s also exceptionally thin and clear leaving the screen of the iPhone easy to see underneath it’s protective layer. Additionally dirt, dust, and other cosmetic annoyances can be easily washes or wiped off the screen just like the glass screen on the iPhone.

I prefer the slightly more tactile feel of the material (and if applied to the back as well if applied) as it gives a better sense of tactile feedback on the touch screen. It feels like you’re moving your finger across the screen a certain amount - much akin to using a scroll wheel on a mouse with grooves versus one that was completely smooth. The additional traction also makes the iPhone easier to hold - especially with your finger tips.

Bad

The suckers are hard to apply - compared to just slipping your iPhone into a case the initial time investment is pretty steep. However if you spend the 5 minutes reading the instructions and/or watching the video instructions on their website and then take your time applying it on the iPhone you’ll avoid the major issues of dust, air bubbles and streaks.

Between all the Invisible Shield’s I’ve installed I’ve seen all 3 major issues and all were my fault and thankfully if you’re paying attention can be avoided by taking the screen off and restarting the procedure over before it has time to start to set (according to the instructions). Having air bubbles or dust under the screen is really distracting but I find the streaks the most annoying if only because they aren’t obvious until you’re looking intently at the screen by watching a movie, reading text or something similar. I’ve found they happen when you pull the shield too taunt and are different then the streaks you get after installation.

After installation you will notice there are streaks on the screen that take a couple days to go away. These are normal and I’ve found will go in the direction that you used the squeegee to push out the excess liquid. So for the first couple days they can be a bit annoying as the streaks will distort the colour of some pixels making it seem as if there are razor thin lines of green or red at certain points. Thankfully after a while for the iPhone and the shield to get used to each other it disappears. I’ve also noticed that until this happens as well the quality of the iPhone screen will appear slightly fuzzy - not bad but as if the anti-alias filter was set a notch or two off optimum.

I’ve found that over time the screen likes to grab and hold onto oil and dust requiring wiping. The slight fuzzy appearance of elements on the iPhone comes back as well because of the oil but after cleaning it’s back to where it should be.

The biggest downside I’ve found is that they are not realistically reusable. For example each time I’ve had my iPhone replaced I’ve had to take the old one off and it would stick to itself creating a nice ball of Invisible Shield destined for the garbage requiring me to shell out another $25-$30 CAD for a new one. Be prepared to buy a new one if you have to replace your device.

Conclusion

So of all the faults with the Invisible Shield (which I find are more caveats than faults) I heartily recommend it because it’s unobtrusive and works exceptionally well. After having purchased 4 of them and applying them on 4 different iPhones I’ve still come back to the Invisible Shield every time.

Three members of my family and I set up the Family Game (a simpler variant recommended for starting out) and I’m certainly happy that we did. The game from unboxing (pieces already separated earlier) to finish took a good 4 hours. The 4 hour number is artificially inflated due to reading the rules and figuring out the rules on top of interruptions. Once we had started the game itself only took a bit over the 90 minutes it says to expect. I highly suspect after several more plays it will become considerably faster than that.

The Good

The game plays like a well oiled machine - thought out, exceptionally balanced, and insanely competitive without forcing one into an all out war against someone. Without any dice rolling (the bane of my existence in Risk) the element of chance takes a back seat to good old fashioned strategy and ingenuity.

The game is serious but quite fun - I can’t comment on the “let’s play it again” factor as nearly any brand new game I wish to play it again now that I have learnt the rules and mechanics. [EDIT: After playing several more games since writing the first draft of this - the let’s play it again right away factor is not as high as one would expect. Games can get a bit long but that idea that you can play again the following day is high - or if someone asks to play I’ve yet to have anyone say no. But 2 or 3 games in a row? Not as much]

I look forward to introducing the minor improvements alongside the Occupations of the full game that will result in a much more diversifed game.

The Bad

Your best attack is to go first and take the action that your opponents want the most, and when there are multiple routes to victory and easy to change your strategy it becomes a game where you have to think for yourself and see how you can use the different advantages you have to improve your standing instead of sabotaging others. It’s also quite apparent how important it is to not always go last in the turn order - it makes life much more difficult for sure.

Another “bad” point is the rules. While praised for being concise and very informative and easy to consult they are best compared to a comprehensive reference book instead of a how to or introduction. I explain more later about the insane learning curve.

The colour / aesthetics feel bland - with the muted colours of the majority of the pieces the initial feeling is the only exceptions is the green of the farmyards. After more research there are available upgrades for the vegetables and animals to appear like animals instead of just wooden disks or cubes. The disks and cubes only accentuated the initial overwhelming complexity as pieces are not self obvious.

The Ugly

The initial learning curve if all you have is just the rules is massive. Absolutely positively aggravatingly massive. The game creators have included additional illustrations to make it easier to understand on the back of some of the game boards but if you are unaware that is their point or how they fit together (which isn’t revealed until a page or two into the rules) that simply add to the mass confusion of pieces. The good news is that if you’re patient and just read it all through and be patient while going through those first 7 pages, that items that are brought up that haven’t been discussed will be covered shortly it’s easy to get by.

The silver lining of this is that if you have someone who has played the game before or are able to watch a game in play before playing yourself the learning curve is quite trivial in comparison as the game, once aware of the purpose of the pieces is straight forward and well designed.

The Reality

If you can - find someway to play this game. It’s not the most inexpensive game (retails for ~$75-80 CAD) but the quality of the pieces is excellent and the design top notch. While it won’t be the most favourite game of everyone I can heartily recommend it as no matter what is happening in the game it’s possible to use the advantages you have in hand to do your best if not win.

Drinks

I ordered a Crown Float ($8), a Sleeman Honey Brown ($7), a double Jack and Coke ($11.51), and a glass of Robinson Wine Shiraz that was given to me. Of the four, my water ($0.00) which wasn’t even listed was the best tasting drink and I think had the most alcohol. The double Jack and Coke which cost $11.50 tasted like it had double coke to half a shot of Jack. The Crown Float tasted like warm Guiness and slightly cool Strongbow Dry Cider - making neither taste any good. The Sleeman Honey Brown tasted decidedly flat and was hard to stomach at best. Whereas the Robison Wine Shiraz (RSA) tasted like a wannabe fruit bomb - not terrible but decidedly not good. So the

Food

My fianceé ordered Mussels ($10) as an appetizer and the Rueben ($11) with French Onion Soup ($3 extra) as her main course. I ordered the Maple Salmon ($15). The prices weren’t absurd and relatively close to what I would have expected in Calgary - the quality however was decidedly “it doesn’t suck - it tastes like barely decent British Pub Food”.

The Mussels were thankfully plentiful (with a lot of empty shells) and were decent - not good, not bad. Just satisfactory. I’ve had better many times and worse a couple times as well. The Reuben was not Montreal Smoked Meat - it was just a swack of Pastrami with some partially melted Mozzarella on some bread with a decidedly soft pickle. Really disappointing but it was food and it didn’t suck (but that means it was far from good). The French Onion Soup ($3 extra) was bland, boring and utterly and totally forgetful - so much so I don’t remember my two spoonfuls whatsoever.

My Maple Salmon is best described as decent. With Basmati Rice and vegetables the best portion was the steamed pea pods accompanied by well steamed carrots. The rice was unseasoned, plain and completely forgettable. The Maple Salmon was seared (pro), but lacked much in terms of texture and taste beyond a very subtle maple taste as if the scorch marks on the salmon contained the maple sauce retrieved from the grill. Forgetful at best, unsatisfactory at worst.

Price

The worst portion of this whole debacle was the resulting price - after a 15% tip, tax the total came to just barely shy of $80 ($79.95 for those keeping count). Was the evening worth even close to $80? Or heck worth $40? (Barely the latter IMNSHO). The value was appalling especially when considering the drink total ($31.80 with tax and tip) was a complete and absolute regrettable wash. The food ($48.15 with tax and tip) also did not measure up in value. At half the price it might be acceptable in terms of value.

Atmosphere

Shockingly, the atmosphere can also be described as “it didn’t suck” - nowhere near good and not terrible. Just barely adequate. It was very loud, dimly lit and not conducive to talking to anyone more than half a metre away from you. It’s very similar to other pubs I’ve been to but somehow a step or two worse without being outstandingly crappy.

Service

To close up this review I end with the most positive aspect of the evening at the Rose and Crown: the service was prompt and just what would be normally expected. Nothing exceptionally or above what should normally be expected from a waitress at a pub. The exception was it took a couple minutes to track her down in order to pay the grossly overpriced bill.

It’s not only just barely adequate in terms of quality of food, a complete waste in terms of alcohol, and acceptable in terms of service - it’s absolutely terrible in terms of value for money.So in summary, for the love of God and all that is holy avoid the Rose and Crown in BANFF.

The Rose and Crown in Calgary is awesome and not affiliated with the Rose and Crown in Banff. Thank God.