Move, run, and jump. That’s basically the instruction manual for Super Mario Brothers. Those were the kind of games I enjoyed playing growing up. If it were a two player game, we both knew “move, run, jump” and the playing field was level. Games that removed the boundaries between the player and the game are the games that have been proven to succeed. If the gameplay can be picked up in five minutes, you can then concentrate on your wits, skill and experience to win the game or defeat your opponent.

So, where are we today? We’re at a time where the ability to play a game is extremely complicated for casual gamers, alienating all but the “gaming few”. Let me give you a couple of examples. My friend and I play NHL Hitz Pro for GameCube. Since that game came out, we’ve logged hundreds of hours. The other night we had 2 more friends over and we want to have the same amount of fun. The entire night was spent training them on the buttons. Not even basic strategy, but which button passes, shoots, checks, etc. It was stupid! We had fun, but only because it became a game of who can train their rookie first. Not hockey.

Take a fighting game as an extreme example, like Soul Calibur 3. I understand how to play. I know the buttons and how to block. I constantly lose. Is it because my friend is better with a sword or a shield? Because he can move his fingers across the buttons faster? No. It’s because he’s memorized more complex strings of moves, ie, button presses. Memory should not grant one victory.

So, why does Nintendo have it all figured out? They are “removing the boundary”. The joystick? Forget it, it’s a remote control now. You want to run left, or right, just swing it that way. Now, here’s a fighting game and it DOES come down to who holds the sword better. Anyone can now pick up the controller and steer a car, swing a bat, or fire a gun. If it works as well as it appears, Nintendo will once again reign supreme in the video game market. And who’s going to be in last? Sony, with their overpriced, over hyped PS3. The only system I have my wallet set on now is the Wii.

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So, here we are, on the eve of yet another major announcement from Apple at WWDC. Will it be a phone, a new ipod, or something completely different? I’m just hoping for a speed bump in the Mac Mini line, but that doesn’t seem too likely to happen tomorrow. Especially given the fact that a new Mac Mini announcement would soften the impact of the “confirmed to be announced” Mac Pro line.

Why is this titled 100% Mac? I formatted my PC tonight. And not just regular a format, no, that’s not my style. Full random pass zero out format. You just can’t be too sure when you ebay hard drives these days. So, I have no PC to fall back on now, no safety nets. The house is 100% Mac. No Intel Macs either, just PowerPC. No shortcuts to be had with Bootcamp or Parallels. I already bought my Parallels license when it was on sale recently. I just have to wait for that next Mini to come out of Cupertino.

To tide me over in the meantime I’ve doubled the RAM in my current 1.5 Ghz PPC Mini to 1GB and it has definitely helped out. It provides the breathing room OS X needs to multitask efficiently. Earlier tonight, I was watching a DVD movie from one optical drive while ripping a new CD with iTunes on the other. No stalling, no skipping.
Despite my happiness, there is still much to do in Mac land. I haven’t tried out Lightscribe yet, but I know what software I need. I want to set up a shared iPhoto database, but lament the cost of upgrading to iLife 06 at this time (the new mac will include it for free). I also haven’t set up an FTP client, but that will be quick and easy when I need it. I might want to also enable Entourage to Entourage calendar sync, but that’s a more challenging task.

So, what have I done and what am I happy with?

Adium X - Reliable, works great, doesn’t do file transfers! Come on guys, I appreciate that its free, but file transfers are kind of a big deal. I love the “merged contacts” feature too.
BitTorrent – I’m only using the generic BitTorrent client, but still, it works great and its stable. So much stuff out there too, wow…
Endicia - My stamps.com shipping software was originally on my list of PC-only software titles. Imagine my surprise when I discovered Endicia’s Mac equivalent. The interface is nice, and it does all that Stamps.com did. It even supports the Dymo label printer too… Sweet!
Flip4Mac - A little software package you won’t pay any attention to, but it’s so critical. This enables Mac playback for Divx, Xvid and a ton of other codecs I don’t care about. So far, I’ve not found a single video file that was unplayable. Did I mention this was free? They also offer a pro version if you’re so inclined.
Unison - I didn’t think downloading from newsgroups could get any easier or faster than it was on my PC. I was wrong. Once you associate Unison with NZB’s from Firefox, you’re on easy street. By default, it sorts your downloads into newsgroup named directories. And once the files are there, you move onto…
MacPAR Deluxe - Parity checking and unrarring in one seamless interface. Sometimes I wonder why we’re all not using Macs already. Freeware, fast and easy, thanks!
Skype - Haven’t used it much yet, but glad to see its here when I need it. I may want to add a headset or USB handset for better call quality.
Passwords Plus - eWallet was another software program on the must have list, but Passwords Plus is a fine alternative. It even supported a direct Import from eWallet export files. Syncing with the Treo was a necessity and its working fine because of…
Missing Sync - They’ve really cleaned up the software in the latest version and I’m feeling more comfortable syncing my Treo. Bluetooth sync is a little slow, but that’s not their fault.
MediaRage - MP3 renaming, tagging, album art and much more. These guys give you the whole package and it provided me with a suitable replacement for Tag&Rename on the PC.

There are a few things that haven’t worked quite as well, and they are:
Mac webcam support. This one I don’t understand. The “everything just works” on a Mac doesn’t seem to apply to webcams at all. There are VERY few Mac compatible webcams on the market (I can count them on one hand) and the one that Apple wants you to buy (iSight) is big, ugly and expensive. I don’t know what I’m going to do here yet, but need an answer soon.
MacTheRipper – This hasn’t worked for me once yet. Is there an alternative for copying DVD’s on Macs? This product doesn’t seem to be getting much support lately.
Toast - Toast works well most of the time, but when compared to Nero it’s not even close. The interface is a bit too friendly for my taste, and this masks some of its true capabilities. Combine this with the multiple DVD+R DL coasters it presented me with, and it makes me wish there were something better. Nero for mac anyone?
iTunes - Just a minor gripe here is that sometime I just want to play some new files without adding them to the library. Why must everything I click on add itself to my otherwise super organized and clean library? Then, when I do finally clean the files (add art, rename, etc) I have to clean up orphaned files from vacant locations.

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