For those of you who don’t know, the sequel to one of the biggest Real Time Strategy (RTS) games of all time, Starcraft, has been 12 years in the making. The game is made up of three races: Terran (humans), Protos and Zerg.

The three races are three versions of popular science fiction race types: humans in cool space suits, Zerg (like the aliens in the Alien movie series) who are a hive like breed of species, and the Protoss, who are kind of like the Predator with an intelligent, elderly statesmen kind of feel.

The first game has a single player version with just the Terran storyline and then the multiplayer with all three races. The Zerg and Protoss single player versions will be released as expansion packs.

Now firstly, you’ll need a PC that can play the game. This requires something in the region of a Dual Core 2.4 GhZ Processor, 2 GB of Ram and GeForce 8800 GTX of Radeon HD 3870 graphics card.

If you’re wondering what’s the attraction of the game, well firstly the videos cut scenes in the game and the actual characters in the between missions segments are so life like, you could almost be watching a movie.

Check out this video clip below to see some of the people and aliens they have created.

Video Source: StarCraft II: E3 2010 Commercial on Do Gaming

Then the single player Terran campaign is so easy that anyone can really pick it up. Obviously you can scale up the difficulty and this can be done at the start of any mission, but the point is, this game is very accessible. And if you’ve never played an RTS game, then there are tutorials to help out.

In the game you’ll start off with easy missions to get used to controlling units and then move onto building bases and using the various upgrades in game, acquiring cash and using it to purchase more upgrades in between each mission.

The game is well paced as well so you still get a RTS feel of building up a base and different units with different upgrade options, but you won’t have to spend too long getting things ready either before you take on the enemy.

The storyline diversifies nicely giving you various options to pursue making it feel less linear. You build up from marines and firebats to tanks and ships and ultimately nuclear weapons.

The real ground breaking part of this game is the multiplayer aspect. Firstly, despite South Africa being miles away from most other gaming nations, you can now finally play gamers from overseas without the game lagging.

Furthermore, Starcraft II connects to Blizzard’s BattleNet servers which will rank you and pair you off with appropriately skilled opposition. While this has been tried before, Blizzard looks like they are finally getting it right too.

This will extend the game’s life into literally hundreds of hours of gameplay. And while gaming is bigger than movies and music globally, its games like Starcraft II that are going to take gaming to the masses.

So don’t think you need to be some brilliant 23 year old who can click faster than you can think – now gamers of all ages and experience levels will be able to slot in and play with other gamers at the appropriate experience levels.

Below you’ll find a look at what it looks like to play the first couple of missions.

Video Source: Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty – Solo Campaign Trailer

You’ll also be able to add other gamers to your friends list and interact with them. It’s like rolling Facebook, watching a DVD and gaming all into one. And all for under R500.

If you’ve never gamed before, spend the couple of thousand rand to buy or upgrade your PC, buy the game and start playing it. It will open up a whole new world to you.

Some useful links:

StarCraft II: BattleNet Page

Starcraft II Game Page on Do Gaming

Tech Leader

Thought Leader: This one is a bit old. I will be posting stuff on it soon.

Amatomu

Afrigator

My Scoop

With the new Android software version 2.1 running on local HTC phones, there is no doubt that the iPhone has a true competitor in the market.

I am running a HTC Hero with 2.1 software on it and I’ve never owned an iPhone, so doing a comprehensive review is a little difficult.

Having played with an iPhone quite a bit I can do some comparisons though.

The iPhone is the faster operating system (OS) and it is very slick. The OS just seems to work so well and the synchronising with iTunes is really good. The phone has a large number of applications available for download and it has smooth integration with Facebook, Twitter etc. Has much as I am not an Apple fan, it’s a really good phone.

On the downside, it is really pricey, was only available on Vodacom (that’s about to change with the iPhone 4, which will be on MTN as well) and it had little glitches in the software that could get up power users’ noses. Furthermore, the phone’s OS is locked down, so customisation is not possible. That problem is solvable with a crack though, which seems to give a lot more flexibility.

Android’s 2.1 OS, puts my HTC right up there with the iPhone. The OS is almost as fast, later versions should see it out strip the iPhone though. However, what it lacks in speed its gains in customisation. The phone has seven home screens which can all be customised with shortcuts and widgets in whatever layout you want. Widgets include Facebook and Twitter feed, weather, address books widgets, calendar widgets and so on. A push of the home button on the phone brings up a bird’s eye view of all seven screens or you can flick your finger to move through them.

While the Android Market has fewer applications than the iPhone store, they have more free apps by far and with a much better developer policy, the market will more than likely outstrip the Apple store.

Lastly and here is the killer point for me, Google’s synchronisation is just way better. Not only do you put in your Gmail address when you start (and all your subsequent Android phones simply set themselves up by connecting to the address), but Google Docs just gives Android such an advantage over Apple.

At the end of the day, Google has an open mindset and Apple has a closed one. Apple will always have its fan boys, but I think Android has the edge right now and will ultimately be the better, more affordable phone into the future.

Had a conversation with someone the other day who said MWeb uncapped was competitive with Telkom because it was R219 vs R199 for Telkom’s 1GB on the Do Broadband 1 package. However the price he is quoting does not include line rental.

So the equivalent price is R349 for uncapped vs. R199. For more on that’s story read this post: Swindled by Uncapped.

The problem is that the Internet is marketed that way and just as people take the time to understand the difference between mobile phones they are looking to buy, cars, insurance quotes etc, similarly they need to understand the basics of how Internet access I charged for.

Another two scenarios sprung up this week. One of a company who was having a website hosted for several hundred rand a month when they could have been paying a fraction of that. And all that was needed was a comparison with any number of host companies for a comparative price.

Then I came across another company charging consumers to rent routers (which are locked to the user) have a static IP address, with expensive rate on bandwidth.

A company like Telkom gives the router to users free on contract packages apart from their entry level package and the user has complete control of the router allowing them to do things like connect wirelessly with a  laptop, hook up a console, surf from their mobile phones (if they have wireless).

But in scenario quoted, consumers using the service don’t own their router, can’t access the router, unnecessarily pay for static IP addresses and only get 3GB of bandwidth a month?! They can’t do anything of the above and they’re paying over R1000 for the service? It’s ridiculous.

Consumers need to take the time to come to grips with what the Internet is and what it costs, otherwise they risk being taken for a ride.

“Right so this whole “uncapped” and “Free the Web” stuff has me a little vexed. Basically I think it is all a bit disingenuous, even bordering on manipulative.”

Justin Spratt says that while he has heard some really smart people retort, saying this uncapped movement is a watershed moment for the Internet in SA. If we measure technological progress by marketing prowess, then I agree.

“And I agree that more people surfing the Internet is a great thing for SA.

But I vehemently dispute that this uncapped movement was the watershed moment for Internet “freedom” in this country,” he says.

While I agree on Spratt’s points about the last mile from Telkom, I have to point out that this comes from their monopolistic past as mandated by governement. The freeing up the last mile is something that governement has to mandate and I think it would actualy do Telkom the world of good if it happened because they would not have to manage and ADSL network on behalf of other companies.

And bandwidth is not that expensive anymore. The average houshold will probably use between three GB and five GB a month. That’s around R150, which is a take-out meal for the family.

Spratt’s article is a little technical, but read it… its worth while.

Now the part about it being not worth paying does not apply so much to businesses or hardcore gamers who download 150 GB of data or more a month. Let’s look at the rest of us.

The truth is that ISPs looked at a simple model. And let’s put it in cooking terms to make it more accessible. If you walk into a restaurant and there is a big sign that says, “R200 buffet (no sharing)” you’d kind of go, what’s the point?

But that’s exactly what the ISPs did. To prove it lets look at some numbers.

On a 4MB line, the fastest available to most people on ADSL, Telkom charges R554 (Telkom Do Broadband 3), which includes your line rental (please take note of that), 5GB of bandwidth and 30 GB of local bandwidth once you have reached cap. If you don’t understand the last part, focus in on R554 all in, ok? (Even the modem which is free on contract. MWeb charges R599.)

So far everyone with me? Right. Now let’s look at MWeb as an average (the other providers are generally similar in price). For the line rental on a 4MB line and uncapped bandwidth, MWeb charges R899. (Don’t only look at the R539 price – that is only bandwidth).

So if we take R899 all in and we minus R554, we get R345. So how much bandwidth would you have to purchase to spend R345 before uncapped becomes worth spending the money?

Well let say you use Afrihost – they are the cheapest sellers of bandwidth in the country. So the scenario – you use the Telkom 5GB until you hit cap. And then at the push of a button your switch to Afrihost. If you buy 1GB a month and then top up, they sell bandwidth at R29 per GB.

So R345/R29=11.9 GB. So if you have the Telkom package which gives you 5GB and you use that all up and then purchase and additional 12GB (rounded off), only then will uncapped start being worth it. That’s almost 18GB of bandwidth a month before uncapped becomes worth it! Oh wait. And if Afrihost are running their buy-one-get-one-free option, which they have run every month for the last six months or so, after the first GB at R29, every R29 thereafter gets you 2GB. So in this scenario you’d get 27.8GB of bandwidth before uncapped became worth it.

To give you some perspective, I use between six and nine GB of bandwidth a month and that’s pretty heavy for a normal user.

But you don’t need a 4MB line you say? Ok let’s run it on the lowest 384k line speed. Telkom option, R199 for their Telkom Do Broadband 1) MWeb price is R349. The difference between the two is R150. If you divide that by R29 you get 5.2GB of bandwidth. So if you add the 1GB you get with Telkom and the 5.2 GB you’d top up with, then you would have to use 6.2GB of bandwidth before uncapped became viable on a 384 uncapped package from MWeb.

And this is before we even get into the fact that Seacom has been down on numerous occasions. It has currently been down for several days and they are hoping to restore it on 22 July, seven days from now. In the mean time, uncapped providers are making contingency plans which offer a poor and sometimes unavailable service to their users while they limp along.

I think I have made my point.

Anyway, here are some things you should think about when starting a blog.

1)    Posting to social media

While posting to Facebook is a good idea, not everyone has 500 friends. So even if you post four times a day. You could be four posts on their page.

While you can’t take responsibility for other people’s pages, it is something to thinking about. Rather push out stuff on Twitter and a few on Facebook.

2)    Word Press is not that easy

As someone who works in websites, Word Press is still not that easy. If you’re just starting out, use a FTP program like Filezilla to copy the word press files onto your domain.

Some things to think about once you are in Word Press. Make sure you set up your Akismet and Google analytics plugins as you’ll get bombarded by Spam and you won’t know what kind of traffic you’re getting. Choose whether you want to moderate comments or not oh and install a theme to give a bit of a look and feel.

Best thing would be to pay someone to do it for you or walk you through it. I can recommend some people if you’re interested.

3)    Install the mobile plugin

Installing the mobile plugin really helps as when people come to your site from their mobile phones it is easy to read.

For example, if you now go to http://blog .intrinsicmedia.co.za from your mobile phone, it will give you a mobile view of the site.

4)    Tagging and sections

Get your tagging and sections sorted on the backend so that when you post content it goes into the different sections, is easily searchable and gets your tag cloud moving

5)    Give attention

Blogging is going to take time. Time to build up a body of content, time to move up the Google rankings and time to build up a readership base. Keep posting content to achieve this. With two posts in two days, I’m trying to swallow my own medicine.

I thought I would start with Facebook as I think it’s still pretty topical. And as an avid Facebook user these things really get on my nerves. I think the points should become part of acceptable Internet behaviour on social networking platforms. Listed in no particular order.

1)    Avoid attention seeking posts

I’m really not a fan of posts which are obviously designed to draw attention to people’s sorrowful state. Posts like, “Oh no not again. Why do I have to go through this…” are designed to get people to comment.

But its cry wolf syndrome and sooner or later people stop commenting. Social networks are to spread information, friends and family are for support. The two should not be mixed.

2)    Watch excessive concurrent posting.

This is particularly a problem with Fan Pages but applies to individuals as well. People with Fan pages often post a whole amount of information at once.

This results in their fans getting a whole bunch of posts in a row and if you’re viewing Facebook on your mobile phone, it is particularly annoying because you have to click see more stories just to see the next post.

Rather space it out. Media houses like Time Magazine etc do it that way, which is much better.

3)    Don’t link Twitter through Facebook

Avid tweeters who link their Facebook and Twitter account are going to annoy their Facebook friends.

There are a multiple ways around this though. For example, Tweetdeck allows you to integrate with Facebook and specify when the post goes onto Facebook.

There are other apps that will pull a tweet into Facebook if you end it with #FB etc.

4)    Keep private posts private

Some people should be using their Facebook inbox or even email for some comments which they instead just post on people’s walls. Husbands and wives sending “lovey-dovey” posts can get really annoying as can parents and children talking about when they are going to chat on Skype.

5)    Use lists

You can categorise your friends into list and then when you post you can specify who sees the post by clicking on the share button.

This if important for people with large groups of friends as some people aren’t interested in some of the things you write. Unfortunately specifying who sees the post is not available on mobile yet.

For example I love rugby and used to post my comments on a game while watching. But some friends hated it because they don’t like rugby and because I could not specify from my handset, I stopped doing it.

The same should be true of any keen interest you may have. As a Christian, I see a lot of Christians post things very specific to their beliefs on Facebook. Many of the people on my Facebook friends list would not even understand such posts are saying as they are not Christians.

In the end you’re either going to get unfriended or removed from people’s newsfeeds.

Feel free to comment below…

So I went down to their wine isle (with some glee) and had my eye on Alto Rouge which was on special on a separate display when I noticed a Checkers logo sticking out of the top of the Platter Wine guides which were also on the stand.

Flabbergasted I opened up the book to find a bookmark with a wine guide in it with Checkers marketing all over it. So I opened the other books on the stand to find that each and every book had the bookmark.

So I took one with me to the till and asked for a supervisor. When she arrived I showed her the bookmark and asked her whether she knew it was in her store. Her words: “No it’s not possible”.

I politely corrected her and informed her that the impossible had already happened and pointed her in the direction of the stand. “This can’t be,” she said. “I’ll have to do something about this immediately. I’ll be right back.”

I informed her that she did not have to come back to tell me she had removed the branding – it did not affect me in any way. I did mention that maybe she would want to inform the Pick n Pay marketing department about the incident as she scurried off to address something the shops marketers should have learnt in marketing 101.

Retailers step up to the mark?

Still shaking my head on the way home, I was struck by how stores like Pick n Pay just does not speak the language of technology enthusiasts like myself.

Apart from the print advertising which looks like something out of the eighties and their horrible online store which routinely does not have at least a quarter of the things we order online in stock, fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) stores like Pick n Pay are missing the opportunity to reach clients like me in new ways.

Given that when I put my credit card details into online shopping, it can give me a list of everything I have ever bought at Pick n Pay, I’d like to think that someone within the organisation would have had the foresight to do some work into communicating around what I like and what Pick n Pay can offer me in line with my interests.

If Pick n Pay was using effective mobile marketing and I had received a MMS showing me the wine which was on special, I would have been able to not only go and buy some but forward it on to my friends who like wine as well, which would have not only made me delighted that a retailer would be so on the front foot to reach out to a customer like me, but would have made them more money when other of my friends also went to buy wine.

Surely Pick n Pay could do this kind of market intelligence across all their lines of stock to make the consumers life easier? Alas instead they’re only just getting on top of ambush marketing in their own stores by none other than one of their biggest competitors.