Final Fantasy Tactics: First look

The much anticipated Final Fantasy Tactics has finally hit the App Store. Retailing at a somewhat steep US$15.99, Square Enix brings The War of the Lions to the iPhone. An iPad version is due for release this Fall. I haven't had as much time to spend playing this as I might like, so this write-up represents only first impressions.

Compared to App Store norms, Tactics may seem pricey. But when you look at some of the prices Final Fantasy cartridges go for on Amazon and eBay, $16 isn't entirely out of the ballpark. We've been buying FF on Gameboy Advance, and the demand remains high for these games.

The game is a huge download -- nearly half a gigabyte -- and like other members of the Final Fantasy family, Tactics is primarily a port rather than a re-envisioning. There's no Retina Display support, although visuals have been "adapted for optimal performance on iPhone/iPod touch screens."

For the most part, you're buying into nostalgia. It's a way to return to one of your favorite games, bringing it to a more convenient platform. If you're already familiar with the gameplay, well, you're already familiar with the app. If you're not, expect extensive how-to tutorials and hours and hours of playtime once you've mastered the basics. And, as my daughter points out, it totally beats the graphics on the GBA.

The menu system was a bit disappointing. I found that once you leave the tutorial session, it lost track of which items were complete. That's a pain since you can't tell at a glance which tutorials were finished and which were not.

I also found glitches in menu interaction, where my daughter occasionally could not select items at all. I found some of the menu interaction confusing, as if menus were designed for button-based systems rather than touch. This was despite the supposedly "intuitive" touch screen controls, but I'm probably being overly fussy here.

Early reviews on the App Store complain about a few other flaws, although the overall response to the new app is far more favorable than negative. Expect some updates soon from Square Enix to iron out the rough edges. But all in all, it seems to be a hit.

Unlike the other Final Fantasy titles on App Store, Tactics is a more strategy-based game than a simple RPG. Compared to those, I found the overall GUI easier to use than the FF I and II offerings. The overwhelming number of tutorials (23 by my daughter's count) can be a bit daunting for new players, but they won't be an issue for those familiar with game play.

Although it's just been released and I haven't finished playing through it yet, I feel comfortable giving it a modest thumbs up. If you loved the old game, this will be like coming home. If you haven't played before, it's a very well-loved tactical battle game.

Final Fantasy Tactics: First look originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 04 Aug 2011 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.tuaw.com/2011/08/04/final-fantasy-tactics-first-look/

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Raid on Russian Firm May Have Taken Down MacDefender Malware

MacDefender was the most significant malware attack on the Mac in years, if ever. The threat started in May, infecting many less-savvy Mac users, and had become widespread enough that Apple was forced to release a special anti-malware security fix. The software would be downloaded when users visited certain websites and, once installed, looked to be legitimate anti-virus software. Unsuspecting users would get warnings of viruses infecting their system. By entering their credit card number, users could pay to "remove" the viruses.

Except it was all fake. There were no viruses, just a piece of software trying to trick users into handing over their credit card numbers.


The hidden developer behind MacDefender continued to release new variants of the malware into the wild, resulting in a cat-and-mouse game as Apple continued to ban new variants of the software.

Then, one day, MacDefender simply disappeared. Richard Gaywood, at TUAW, pointed out that Apple hadn't updated its malware definitions -- the code designed to kill MacDefender -- since June 18.

Brian Krebs might have the answer:

On June 23, Russian police arrested Pavel Vrublevsky, the co-founder of Russian online payment giant ChronoPay and a major player in the fake AV market.

[...]

In May, I wrote about evidence showing that ChronoPay employees were involved in pushing MacDefender ? fake AV software targeting Mac users. ChronoPay later issued a statement denying it had any involvement in the MacDefender scourge.

But last week, Russian cops who raided ChronoPay?s offices in Moscow found otherwise. According to a source who was involved in the raid, police found mountains of evidence that ChronoPay employees were running technical and customer support for a variety of fake AV programs, including MacDefender.

The last release of MacDefender occurred on June 18. ChronoPay's offices are raided June 23. A coincidence perhaps, or Russian law enforcement saving Mac users from fake antivirus software.


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Source: http://www.macrumors.com/2011/08/04/raid-on-russian-firm-may-have-taken-down-macdefender-malware/

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AT&T begins forced tethering plans for iPhone jailbreakers

AT&T is starting to force capped iPhone tethering plans on people with unlimited data plans who have been tethering their devices via jailbreak, accounts suggest. The carrier has held a forced switch policy for some time, but is now allegedly giving people fixed deadlines, possibly with a hard cutoff of August 11th. Under AT&T's official data plans, tethering requires paying $45 a month, and limits total data usage to 4GB before overage rates apply....

Source: http://feeds.macnn.com/click.phdo?i=62bd24c106ba90624d40d74caec03b6a

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Omnivision Announces 20% Thinner 8-MegaPixel Camera Sensor for Use in Smartphones


Apple's longtime camera sensor supplier for iOS devices, Omnivision Technologies, has announced a new 8-megapixel sensor which claims to be 20 percent slimmer than any other 8-megapixel module in commercial use today.
"With our new OmniBSI-2 architecture, we have further miniaturized our pixels while delivering a 20 percent improvement in peak quantum efficiency in all color channels, a 35 percent improvement in low-light sensitivity and a 45 percent increase in full-well capacity in an extremely compact and power efficient package," said Per Rosdahl, senior product manager at OmniVision. "This 1.1-micron OmniBSI-2 pixel enables the next generation of miniaturization in mobile cameras, and is key to the high-resolution smartphone camera roadmap."
The new camera module should pave the way to thinner smartphone designs which has always been a priority for Apple. Apple has used Omnivision's technology in the past and presently uses it in the iPhone 4. Omnivision has also been heavily rumored to be one of two suppliers for an 8-megapixel camera sensor in the iPhone 5.

Based on the press release, however, this particular sensor may not be ready in time for the iPhone 5's release which is expected in October. Sampling of this new part begins in August with mass production expected in the first quarter of 2012.

For reference this new part has a build height of 4.7mm. The current iPhone 4 5MP back-side camera has been measured to be 6.5mm.

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Source: http://www.macrumors.com/2011/08/04/omnivision-announces-20-thinner-8-megapixel-camera-sensor-for-use-in-smartphones/

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