GAME.minder 2 spotlight - Expansion

Yesterday we told you about what's new in the free version of GAME.minder but for those of you who demand a bit more from your .minder, we're offering 3 expansion packs with version 2.

AdAway

AdAway is an intravenous chemical solution that bonds with adiation particles before they have a chance to be displayed effectively removing all banner advertising. In the free version of GAME.minder, it's the ads that help keep the doors open. But let's face facts: Ads can get in the way and  some people prefer to not have to look at them. For you guys and gals, we offer a lifetime dose of AdAway -APPLY DIRECTLY TO THE AD BANNER!

Charted

Gamers are nothing if not meticulous. Boy oh boy, do we love our statistics. Interested in how many games are coming for 360 vs PS3? Which platforms are the most popular?  Which dates are the most popular for game releases? Charted brings all this and more; in full living color.

You can also see a breakdown of how many gamers are following any game and on what systems and even share any of these charts with friends via email (but more on that tomorrow). Ah yes, the visualization of data - it's what separates us from beasts. Or is that symbolic language? Or using tools? Or love?

Search and RE.stroy

It's easy to find a game if you know it's name, just search for the title. But what if you want to see other shooters? RPGs? Other games from your favorite developer? Or maybe you just want to to see what everyone else is following? That's where the Search and RE.stroy expansion pack comes in.

Genre, Developer, Publisher, Franchise, and popularity. Use all this additional metadata to search, group, filter or sort the games listing to your heart's content. It sounds simple but when you start to use it, it's like a whole new .minder, we promise!

GAME.minder ULTIMATE is just that - the one and only GAME.minder expansion pack you ever need to buy. Including all GAME.minder expansion packs, current and future, it gives you the ULTIMATE GAME.minder experience. If you like to pick and choose, you're free to do so but if you'd rather just get the best in one shot, this one's for you.

And it gets even better! GAME.minder ULTIMATE will be on sale for 50% off for the month of March for only $2.99. And if you download GAME.minder 1.2 right now, ULTIMATE is still at the current price of $1.99! All 3 expansions for the price of one? What're we nuts? Must be!

So thats what you can expect on the expansion horizon in GAME.minder 2. Tune in tomorrow when we talk social.

GAME.minder 2 spotlight - What's new?

GAME.minder 2 is polished and ready for it's big coming out party on Friday.  For the next 3 days of breathless anticipation, we'll highlight what's coming so you can be completely informed when it's time to download.Today, we'll focus on what's new for everyone. Tomorrow we'll talk about your expansion pack options and Wednesday, we'll talk social.  On thursday, you can all take a nap (you'll need it to get through PAX still breathing right?)

So what's new?

It's all just a game

The biggest news about GAME.minder 2 is the fly in the ointment, the proof in the pudding, the "I" in team - The GAME in the minder.  We're gamers right?  We like to play games.  So why wouldn't tracking games be a game in and of itself (can you say meta)?

In GAME.minder 2, you can earn points for doing all the stuff you were gonna do anyway: setting RE.minders and sharing games with friends.  Bonus points are awarded for being quick on the uptake or being lucky enough to hit certain numbers.  But don't just follow anything or risk the dreaded "boosting penalty".  As you start to build your score, you can see how you're doing against your friends now that GAME.minder supports Game Center.

And as long as we're talking about Game Center, don't forget to build that achievement score by reaching milestones in GAME.minder.  Some are pretty straightforward like scoring a certain amount of points or following a bunch of games but what would be the fun in just that?  There's all sort of hidden achievements for you to find as well!

Easy Peasy

Aside from the game, there are several other improvements in GAME.minder you may want to be aware of.  After using it for a while, we discovered we were bordering on gaming addicts.  Some of us were following upwards of 30 games which made for a slightly unwieldily RE.minder list;  especially since changing release dates could make a game jump all over the list.  So we added some simple sort options for the RE.minder list that allow you to sort your RE.minders by date or alphabetically.

We also got lots of feedback that the filters were useful, but only SO useful.  So instead of a separate filters screen, we've broken the search screen up to give you faster access to common groupings like "by release date" or "by system".  But don't worry, you can still filter out things you plain don't care about in your settings from the info tab.

Baby got Back(end)

Some of the most exciting updates are ones that will hopefully only be noticed by their absence.  The GAME.minder backend has been re-engineered in a lot of ways to allow, among other things, faster updates, more consistent error handling and better support for multiple release dates for a single game.  One of the coolest new features of the backend is two-way RE.minder syncing which mainly means: if you delete GAME.minder, downloading and re-installing will return your RE.minder list to you, good as new.

These updates also put in place a lot of the systems we will need to make international release date support a reality.  Sure, some games have separate release dates in different regions, but many of the games we're tracking come out simultaneously worldwide.  So we figured, why wait?  We'll let you citizens of the world get in on the party while we work on getting our more comprehensive region support in place.

That's enough for today.  Tune in tomorrow to find out all about the new expansion packs in GAME.minder 2.

GAME.minder on twitter and facebook

What's this?  Super Mario was just added?  With a link and everything?What on earth is going on?

If you've a keen eye, you may have noticed something popping up on the GAME.minder facebook wall (facebook.com/GAME.minder) or in the GAME.minder tweet stream (@GAMEminder) today.

We've had a lot of requests to give some sort of notice regarding when games get added to the system.  Sending a push to EVERY device for EVERY game would be doable but probably a bit obnoxious.  So rather than an opt-out, push-based solution, we've decided to give you an opt-in, follow-based solution.  Just "like" GAME.minder on facebook or follow @GAMEminder on twitter and you'll be able to see every new game, as soon as it's added to our system.

But wait a tick - what are these mndr.co links all about?

Put simply, they are your fast-track for setting new RE.minders.  We used the custom URL feature of iOS to allow us to give you 2-tap RE.minder setting, right from facebook or twitter!  When you see a game you want to remember pop up on the wall or in the stream, just:

1. Tap the link
2. Tap the platform you want to set
3. There is no step 3

GAME.minder 2 will open up and set the RE.minder for you.

There's only one thing to remember: this super-cool and infinitely nifty feature requires GAME.minder 2 which is coming out next Friday, March 11th, aka -"GAME.minder day", aka "The first day of PAX East", aka "iPad 2 day" (grumble, grumble, Apple trying to steal our spotlight).

So get your downloadin' finger ready and we'll see you next Friday!

RE.minder 1.2.1 now available on the App Store

What's been fixed/updated:

• Even more speed improvements, especially when using repeating RE.minders.
• 5 more quick pickers: Tickets, Haircut, Laundry, Computer and Movie
• Fixed a bug where a deleted repeating RE.minder could still fire
• Fixed a bug where selecting "none" for the RE.minder sound could revert back to the default sound

And last but not least, a (non)shiny new icon!

As always, RE.minder is free download from the App Store.

iOS platform now live in GAME.minder

The astute among you may have noticed that there's a new platform on the block in GAME.minder today.  Late last night, we flipped the switch on iOS as a new platform in our system.  Call it a teaser of things to come in GAME.minder 2.One thing to be aware of, as with the 3DS platform launch, the support graphics for iOS won't show up until you download GAME.minder 2 on March 11th so don't panic, nothing's broken, just... incomplete.

For those who don't yet know, GAME.minder 2 (barring any app store funkiness) will be launching on the first day of PAX East, March 11th.  If you'd like to know a bit more about GAME.minder 2, head over to our PAX headquarters at handelabra.com/pax.  There will be 4 of us milling about the conference and tweeting our whereabouts so please, if you're a GAME.minder user, say hi!

There's only two weeks left everyone!  Can you feel the excitement in the air?

Handelabra is going to PAX

If you're dying to meet the guys behind the minders, now's your chance.  Handelabra Studio will be milling around PAX the weekend of March 11th-13th.  We'll be doing our best through the course of the weekend to tweet where we'll be and if you happen to see us (we'll be the guys in the white shirts with the Handelabras on the back), please say hi!  We'd love to meet those of you who are using GAME.minder and we'd especially love to show off the newest version, slated to launch on the first day of the conference!And if you're wondering if pax has started yet, just head on over to isitpax.com and check!

...and how do you know you've won?

What is a game and how do you know?

We've been asking ourselves this question a lot as we develop GAME.minder 2.0.  My trip to the dictionary tells me that a game is "a form of play or sport, esp. a competitive one played according to rules and decided by skill, strength, or luck."

• Some games are defined by victory conditions (you finished building the spaceship first!)
• Some games are defined by defeat conditions (the blocks got stacked all the way to the top of the screen).
• Some games pit the player against other players
• Some against the computer
• Some against the clock
• Some against themselves.

But can a game be a success without a true "victory" or "defeat"?  Can it be fun even without any real opponent?  And can it be fun while also being a useful tool? For better or for worse, we'll try to find the answers to these questions with GAME.minder 2.0.  So mark your calendars ladies and gents - barring any App Store snafu's, GAME.minder 2.0 is scheduled to drop on Friday, March 11th, 2011.

Or maybe just pop open GAME.minder and set a RE.minder.