I love the Holidays. I love spending time with family, eating, watching professional football a couple times a week, and most of all, the sense of fun and anticipation in the air when my kids see Santa in the stores. Watching them, I can’t help but turn into a kid again myself.  I do get into the Holiday spirit as much as I can.  I also get a little on the giddy side when it comes to looking at the Holiday sales fliers and usually drool over all of the cool tech offers.

We’ve spent a little time looking at tech gifts for your loved ones this Holiday Season.  We’ve looked at both Computer Hardware and Computer Software.  Now its time to take a quick look at Cool Gadgets and Electronics! There are a lot of cool things available this year – smartphones, tablets, and computing accessories that can add to and round out your Holiday computing experience. Let’s take a look at some of the stuff out there right now.

Ho-ho-ho!

In Part 3 of my 2010 Holiday Buyer’s Guide, I cover some really cool gadgets and accessories.  You can check it out on iTechGear.org!

Get ready to change your passwords – because Gawker Media’s servers were compromised.  Gawker Media takes care of the commenting accounts for Lifehacker, Gizmodo, Gawker, Jezebel, io9, Jalopnik, Kotaku, Deadspin, and Fleshbot.  For full details, check out the FAQ posted on Lifehacker.  I just became aware of this breach when Battle.Net sent me a password has been reset message.  At first I was thinking – ?!?!?! but I’m really glad that I also have the Blizzard authenticator which requires that a certain time sensitive key be entered in addition to my password.  Hope you guys over at Gawker Media get everything sorted out soon.

S. L. Wright is celebrating the release of her latest urban fantasy novel, Demon Underground, over at Bitten By Books.  This is the second book in her series, and here is the blurb from Amazon:

Half-human and half-demon, Allay has finally warmed up to her new life feeding off the customers at her downtown bar whens he finds herself brokering a truce between New York City’s most powerful demons. But when she senses assassins around every corner, Allay hides out of sight and underground-until combatants in the growing war tempt her back above the surface…

Plus, BBB has a review of the first book in the series, Confessions of a Demon. 

Go over and join the party, and have a chance to win a Kindle 3G of your very own.

Not long ago, the folks at Epic Games unveiled their Unreal gaming engine, and its promise of true three dimensional gameplay.  As proof of their concept, they unleashed the amazing looking Epic Citadel on the iOS world.  This is a medieval town…or ghost town more likely.  You can take a complete walking tour of the town, viewing the various structures from complete 360 degrees.  The problem was that was all you could do.  The citadel looked great, but it did not actually do anything more than leave you panting for more as it displayed a literal world of potential.

Earlier this weekend, at long last, Epic released their first game relying on the Unreal gaming engine.  Like the Citadel, Infinity Blade drops you into the middle of a gritty, three dimensional world, which you do not just pass through, but truly experience as you explore the grounds and structures of this world.  Unlike the Citadel, this game is populated…and much of this population is going to try to decapitate you violently (yet surprisingly bloodlessly).

The thing that impressed me the most about this game was how smooth the graphics and animation were.  I have played many games like this on iOS devices.  Often, they are extremely herky-jerky, with constant lags, jerks, and generally just rough animation.  This was not the case with Infinity Blade, which was so smooth, my boys asked repeatedly whether we were watching a video instead of playing a game.  This is, by far, the best graphics and animation I have ever seen on a mobile device.

OK.  So, what is Infinity Blade?  In short, it is an action game, in which you must battle your way through the horrific minions of the God-King as you pursue your birthright of defeating the God-King himself.  Now, I have to admit that I figured out this backstory pretty much from reading the description in iTunes.  It is a pretty flimsy backstory and is not well told at all in the game.  Hopefully, as the developers continue to add to this game, they will develop the story more, in order to give the game more purpose, beyond just defeating the baddies.

As you progress through the game, you will gain experience by mastering different weapons and equipment.  There was a really unique approach in this one, where each piece of equipment you were using in the battle earns experience until it is fully mastered.  After that, while you can continue using the weapon or equipment, you will not earn experience points from it.  This adds an extra level of planning to the game, as you must pay attention to which weapons will serve best in a particular situation, and save your more powerful weapons for later in the game.  Also, along the way, you will find treasure and other bonuses.  Collect this treasure in order to shop at the store, which you can visit at any time.

Which brings us to the failing of the game.  The world of Infinity Blade is actually infinitely small.  There is only one path along which to travel, and no real exploration to be done.  Essentially, those amazing graphics serve only to guide you from one battle to the next.  This game would be significantly better if there was truly a completely developed world or maze for you to explore, like the Citadel offered. 

Additionally, without spoiling any surprises, this is a game which takes place over the course of numerous generations.  If you fail to defeat the God-King, your powers and equipment will be transferred to your heirs, becoming their birthright (it is never quite explained how this actually happens).  The game then sends you back to the beginning of the same castle, roughly 20 years later.  Your heirs now stand in your place, prepared to storm the Dark Castle and the same legions of the God-King.  This all gave the game a Groundhog Day type feel as you stormed the same castle time and again (fortunately, the enemies do grow along with you, becoming more powerful and slightly more difficult to defeat).

With that out of the way, let’s get back to talking about what you do get for your money, and that is some truly incredible battles.  I absolutely loved the controls in these battles, which take full advantage of the iPad’s touchscreen and flexible multi-touch capabilities.  You will use a combination of taps and swipes in order to defend yourself against your enemies and even go on the offensive. 

I also loved the variety of weapons and equipment, with well over a dozen different swords, as well as armor, helmets, shields, and even magic rings to master.  Many of these items will also give you magic powers, such as draining extra energy, lightning strikes, or even healing.  I was also happy to see that Epic has already promised that more weapons and equipment will be coming in the next update (along with a whole new level to explore). 

I wanted to love this game.  I really did.  The graphics, animation, and controls are simply unmatched by any other game I have played on any mobile device.  I am just as excited by the potential of Epic’s Unreal gaming engine today as I was after exploring the world of Citadel.  Unfortunately, the limited storyline, and lack of any ability to really explore, along with the Groundhog Day repetition made this game feel like every bit a demonstration as the Citadel.   Whereas Citadel was a demonstration of the worlds they could create, Infinity Blade felt too much like a demonstration of the battles which could be conducted and controls which could be used with the Unreal gaming engine.  As such, I really did not feel Epic had quite reached a game which warranted the $5.99 price tag.  Still, Epic is really onto something with the Unreal gaming engine, and hopefully soon they will find a way to conduct the unlimited exploration of new worlds available in the Citadel with the battle sequences and controls of Infinity Blade.  Until then, I am perfectly happy to simply say that Epic has clearly developed a unique gaming experience with an incredible amount of potential, and I am really looking forward to seeing what they will be able to do with that potential as they continue to develop this engine in the future.   

Icelandic Studio Gogogic released their unique puzzle game for iPhone iPod Touch and iPad (HD), Symbol6 Redux.  http://itunes.apple.com/app/symbol6-redux/id397969134?mt=8

It’s a great little casual game which has been specifically designed to be appealing to everybody, regardless of age or gaming experience.

To celebrate the launch of Symbol6 Redux, Gogogic are also giving away copies of the game on their website www.gogogic.com via a treasure hunt competition.  Get it for $0.99 for the iTouch/iPhone version or $2.99 for the iPad version.