Limbo is a puzzle-platform game that was released for the Xbox 360 in July 2010. It has only recently made its way to the Mac. I have been excited to play Limbo since I first saw the concept art over two years ago. Once you see a screenshot of Limbo you will know why it is unlike any platform puzzle game you ever have played before. Limbo was created by Danish game developer Playdead. The name of their company is fitting for their creation. Limbo is presented primarily in monochromatic black-and-white tones, using lighting, film grain effects and minimal ambient sounds to create an eerie atmosphere often associated with the horror genre. Journalists praised the dark presentation, describing the work as comparable to film noir and German Expressionism. Based on its aesthetics, reviewers classified Limbo as an example of “video game as art”.

If you like challenging platform-puzzle games with a dark and lonesome atmosphere similar to Myst, Limbo might be for you. Just don’t be surprised that when you die, (and you will die often) your character will meet his end in the most violent and cruel ways imaginable.

Limbo follows the story of a nameless boy who awakens in the middle of a dark forest. While seeking his missing sister he encounters various puzzles and traps as he makes his way in between the menacing trees and into an industrial ruin.

As is typical of most two-dimensional platform games, the boy can run left or right, jump, climb onto short ledges or up and down ladders and ropes, and push or pull objects. He must manipulate his environment to stay alive, often pushing boxes, floating logs, flipping switches, and enacting perfect timing to avoid chasms, spikes, saw blades, and the weight of oncoming objects.

The game’s second half features mechanical puzzles and traps using machinery, electromagnets, and gravity. Many of these traps are not apparent until triggered, often with deadly consequences.

The boy is able to continue at the start of the current obstacle with an unlimited number of retries. As the player will likely encounter numerous deaths before they solve each puzzle and complete the game, the developers therefore call Limbo a “trial and death”; game.

Limbo is much more of a puzzle game than an action platformer. The few human characters the boy encounters either attack him, run away, or are dead. Other enemies include a giant spider, and white worms that latch onto the boy’s head and control his direction until removed.

When playing Limbo you get the feeling you are very much alone, and since you have no means of attack the best defense when you come across an enemy is to run away and rethink your strategy. It might surprise you that Limbo with all of its eerie atmosphere has very few sound effects and no musical score. Much of your time playing the game is spent in near silence. You might be tempted to turn on some music or listen to a podcast while playing, but you will miss out the on the emotional suspense and subtle clues the developers have infused into the gameplay.

The game’s story and its ending have been open to much interpretation; the ending was purposely left vague and unanswered by Playdead. It was compared to other open-ended books, films and video games, where the viewer is left to interpret what they have read or seen. Some reviews suggested that the game is a representation of the religious nature of Limbo or purgatory, as the boy character completes the journey only to end at the same place he started, repeating the same journey when the player starts a new game. Another interpretation suggested the game is the boy’s journey through Hell to reach Heaven, or to find closure for his sister's death.

Your interpretation of Limbo only comes from playing it. Limbo might appear predictable to the casual observer, but each challenge is different than the last. You can rarely depend on skills learned earlier in the game to complete your latest objective. It is because of Limbo’s dark dreamlike tableaus and intriguing challenges that I recommend this game both as a fun puzzle and a work of art. At $9.99 from the Mac App Store, Limbo is sure to keep you busy for at least three to six hours, while its silent film effects and unnerving mood will have you coming back for reruns.

Trine. is a side-scrolling platform adventure.nThe game follows the adventures of three heroes bound together by a mythical crystal force known as the Trine.nOnly one hero can be on screen at a time, and the player must switch between the three heroes often in order to complete the games various puzzles, obstacles, and enemies.

Gameplay is similar to Castlevania with elements taken from the Legend of Zelda and Diablo.nThe game is set in a fantasy world with a very Tolkien feel.

The characters are controlled using directional keys on the keyboard.nAiming is accomplished with the mouse.nThe left and right mouse buttons perform different attacks, spells, and actions depending on the character in play.nThe scroll wheel is used for switching between weapons.

The objective of Trine is to progress through the game’s levels while collecting experience points, discovering treasure, and defeating enemies along the way.nExperience points provide our heroes with new capabilities.nTreasure enhances a heroes existing capabilities.nHeavily armed, platform hopping skeletons block the our hero’s way with sword, arrow, and fiery breath.nDuring the course of the game it quickly becomes apparent that the environments, and not the enemies, are the true adversary in Trine.nThe levels in Trine are filled with spikes, pits of lava, fireballs, giant pendulums, and various other booby traps and puzzles that require the unique skills of one or more of our heroes to overcome.

Our first hero is Zoya the thief.nHer bow and arrow is the only ranged weapon in the game, and her grappling hook is indispensable at reaching out of the way areas.nZoya is my favorite character for her mix of combat and maneuverability.nShe is very versatile.nThrough the use of power ups her bow becomes a formidable weapon, even at close range, and her jumping ability and agility cannot be beat.

Our second hero is Pontius the knight.nHe is the teams primary warrior and uses a sword, shield, and sledgehammer for melee attacks.nI found myself using Pontius more during the beginning of the game.nHis powerful melee attacks are useful at dispatching hordes of skeletons, but his lack of maneuverability makes him a poor choice for Trine’s later obstacles.

Our third hero is Amadeus the wizard.nHis ability to use sorcery allows him to move objects remotely, as well as conjure new objects into existence by drawing their shapes on screen.nInitially Amadeus is only able to conjure a single cube-shaped object, but later in the game he can create multiple cubes, planks, and a floating pyramid the thief can latch onto using her grappling hook.nAmadeus has no traditional attacks, but he can hurl objects at oncoming enemies.nHe is a poor choice for close quarters combat, but his telekinesis and ability to change the game’s environment makes him invaluable for overcoming Trine’s most difficult obstacles.

Trine would be an average side-scrolling platform adventure games if it wasn’t for the lush 3D environments and realistic physics our heroes must explore in order to complete their quest. nThe worlds in Trine are beautiful.nAfter seeing them you will agree with me that 3D landscapes with realistic lighting aren’t just for first person shooters anymore.nPart of the excitement of completing a level in Trine is getting to experience the next area.nEach level is different from the last, filled with new obstacles and picturesque background scenery that never seems to repeat.nIf there is one constant in Trine it is the Nvidia’s PhysX physics engine which provides objects and characters with realistic physical interaction.

Everything in Trine interacts with everything else in a realistic way.nStacks of blocks will topple over with an indiscriminate push.nThe remains of vanquished enemies fall to the ground with the characteristics of a rag doll.nPendulums swing with added force when pushed.nLevers lift with the expected result of additional weight.nTrine’s realistic physics make each level seem new every time you play it.nOn one go around a solitary block might be waiting patiently for our heroes to use its height to reach and otherwise unobtainable platform.nOn the next play through that block might have moved in the course of battle and be precariously positioned over a pit of lava out of reach of all but the wizard’s telekinetic grasp.nIt is easy to see how the realistic shifting, sliding, pivoting, swinging, and stacking of objects makes the wizard’s skills of manipulation invaluable.nAnd his ability to create new objects means that the same obstacle can be overcome in several different ways.nTrine is never the same game twice.

Trine takes the standard side-scrolling platform adventure and turns it on its head with a choice of three heroes, upgradable abilities, and a realistic world where everything falls into place.nTrine plays like a rich storybook with talented voice acting and a unraveling tale being told to the player in between each level.nIf there is a downfall to Trine it is that the enemies are not as diverse as the world they inhabit, and the wizard’s ability to conjure stacks of cubes, planks, and pyramids makes some obstacles too easy to overcome.nI highly recommend Trine, which can be purchased from the Mac App Store for $0.99 for a limited time.

NetNewsWire Lite is an almost perfect app. It does one thing, and one thing well, deliver RSS. Released on March 3rd of this year, NetNewsWire Lite has become my favorite news reader not because of the features it includes but because of the features it leaves behind. Rewritten by its creator Brent Simmons from the ground up to be fast, NewNewsWire Lite is the lite version of NetNewsWire for Macintosh. It doesn’t have features like Google Reader sync, browser tabs, or the combined view found in its full featured big brother. Instead NetNewsWire Lite concentrates on reliable delivery, and pristine presentation. It is available for free in the Mac App Store.

System Requirements

One of the first facts I discovered about NetNewsWire Lite was its peculiar system requirements. NetNewsWire Lite requires a Mac with an Intel 64-bit processor. This is not because RSS delivery is a CPU intensive task, but because of Adobe Flash.

When Flash crashes on 32-bit machines, it takes down the app with it. When Flash crashes on a 64-bit machine, it's just Flash that crashes.

This behavior is not Adobe’s fault, but a benefit of the way Mac OS X Snow Leopard sandboxes 32-bit processes running inside a 64-bit application. Flash or not, NetNewsWire will not run on PowerPC Macs, or the earliest Core Duo Intel processors.

NetNewsWire Lite is lite by design, but it will surprise people what that really means. Instead of eliminating the power features that only Pro users want, Brent has removed many of the features unnecessary to feed reading that normal only think they need.

Syncing

The most controversial feature removed from NetNewsWire Lite is Google Reader syncing. Brent calls this the non-synced feed advantage. NetNewsWire Lite gets the news faster than a application that relies on Google Reader. This is because NetNewsWire Lite gets its news directly from the source while other feed readers must wait for Google Reader to get it beforehand. NetNewsWire Lite supports an automatic fast refresh rate of 10 minutes. A impossible feat for feed readers that rely on Google as the middleman. The “Non-Synced Advantage”‚ provides more than just speed. Because NetNewsWire Lite does not sync with Google Reader it can support features like authenticated feeds that Google Reader does not.

Removing syncing from my feed reading experience has given me more time to concentrate on RSS. Instead of recklessly plowing through my subscriptions at irregular intervals throughout the day, I take the time each morning to sit down and read the news that is important to me. RSS on mobile devices is a distraction that should only be endured if you are away from your desk for days at a time. Try reading your subscriptions at one place during a set time each day. You will soon see how much more enjoyable feed reading can be.

Stars

Stars are another feature removed from NetNewsWire Lite that I never miss. There are just too many ways to flag, star, heart, rate, like, +1, or approve items on the Net these days. Instead of starring my favorite articles in NetNewsWire Lite I send them to Instapaper where I read them later, and share them with friends. NetNewsWire Lite supports sending any article or link to Instapaper, my mail client, my browser, Twitter, or blogging software like MarsEdit. All you have to do is right-click.

Scripting

AppleScript is a feature pro users want, but normal people could care less about. If you are using NetNewsWire Lite in an automated workflow to do something other than reading your feeds you are not doing it right. Enjoy NetNewsWire Lite for what it is, a feed reader, and leave scripting to the other apps.

Search

These days information is everywhere and search is how we make sense of it all. The lack of search in NetNewsWire Lite took me by surprise. How will I find a particular article I read last week if I can not search for it in NetNewsWire Lite? It turns out losing search is not a big deal. If I am looking for something I read last week I can usually remember who wrote it and either manually skim their previous articles or search their website. NetNewsWire Lite does not archive your news feeds. It only remembers what is currently being published by the sites you visit. This makes search less important, and not a required feature for regular feed reading.

Subscriptions

Subscription management is a feature many feed readers leave out out that NetNewsWire has always done well. NetNewsWire Lite is no exception. It handles the import and export of OPML files flawlessly while allowing you to create static folders to manage your feeds. Because there is no search, NetNewsWire Lite does not include customizable smart folders to intelligently categorize your feeds. This could be a problem if I was using NetNewsWire Lite to archive my subscriptions, but I am not. I am only using NetNewsWire Lite to read the news, and the default “All Unread” and “Today” filters are the only smart folders I need.

Presentation

If there is one thing I have always loved about NetNewsWire it is design of the app, and the polish it gives my feeds. NetNewsWire Lite continues in this fine tradition while removing many of the buttons, options, and extras not required for feed reading. On your left you have a column listing the name of each subscription and its favicon. In the middle you have a column that contains the feeds for an individual subscription. The last column contains the news complete with multimedia and Flash videos. The presentation of articles is controlled by user selectable stylesheets. You can create your own using the examples in ~/Library/Application Support/NetNewsWire Lite/StyleSheets. You can easily navigate NetNewsWire Lite’s interface using the the arrows keys. Selecting an article with the right arrow or a double-click expands the last column into the second, and displays a browser view of the item. I have never found a feed reader that loads a page faster than NetNewsWire Lite. The left arrow, or command + W brings you back to the three column view. I have always appreciated NetNewsWire’s three column design for its simplicity. I you have ever used Apple’s Mail.app will you immediately feel at home in NetNewsWire Lite.

Future

On Jue 3rd, 2011 Black Pixel acquired NetNewsWire, and since then I have heard very little news about the fate of my favorite feed reader. I am sure NetNewsWire Lite is in good hands. Brent Simmons say so. I am just eager to see some progress.

NetNewsWire Lite is still on the same version 4.0 from when it was released seven months ago. Bugs like the scrollbar disappearing from the subscription list and commands in the browser going unanswered still exist. Requests for full screen mode in Lion go unanswered. NetNewsWire Lite may be the give-away version of the NetNewsWire product line, but any update to any of the NetNewsWire products would be encouraging. I am willing to wait. Despite a few nuances, and missing features NetNewsWire Lite is an almost perfect app that puts feed reading first.

Stacey is a framework for building simple websites.

The project is based around two core ideals:

• Separating textual content & assets from your HTML
• Keeping ugly PHP-style logic out of your templates

Stacey accomplishes this without a database, or installation files. Simply drag the application onto a web server with PHP installed and Stacey starts runing. “Content is managed by creating folders and editing text files.” Templates are generated by authoring HTML with a special set of tags. You have complete control over every piece of markup that is generated. All of the dynamic parts like breadcrumbs, navigation lists, and embedding images are handled for you automatically.

I start a new note in Stacey by copying the folder for the last note I have written. Each folder contains all of the note’s assets. Text can be written in plaintext, markdown, or HTML. Images can be .jpg, .jpeg, .gif, or .png. Stacey also supports videos, sounds and PDFs.

Each note’s folder receives a unique name and number. The number determines the note’s position in the blog. Older entries have a lower number. Newer entries have a higher number. The name determines the note’s URL (slug). Categories are notes separated into folders. The text in each note can be tagged with metadata including title and date. New tags can be created as needed.

I do all of my editing in VIM on the same server that hosts Egg Freckles. Some people sync what they write from a local computer using Dropbox or rsync. Because everything I write is in plaintext, I can edit from a Mac, Newton, or mobile phone.

Even though Stacey is old, and no longer being maintained, I still use it. I like that Stacey doesn’t use a database, and every edit I save is published instantly without pressing a button. I started Egg Freckles with the goal of writing a blog that looked like a Newton on a Newton. Stacey isn’t the only CMS I can use from my MessagePad, but it is the closest I have come replicating the Newton experince.