Day Sixteen: late evening of August 17th 2009

I was going to say that I that I wasn’t all that involved with video gaming today. Then I realized that the main task of the day required that I go out this afternoon with waiting as a major element of the task, and while waited I read an eBook on my netbook, and, I forgot about this, played some games on my iPhone.

A number of mobile phone offer the option of downloading and playing video games. If your interested, this is something that you can check out online by checking the type of contract that you have and the model of the phone you have. There are times when you are stuck in a waiting situation, and you want to pass the time. Reading a book, or a magazine, or a newspaper is an option while you wait. I used to carried a book with when I went to the doctor’s or dentist’s office, and considering that I usually arrive 15 to 20 minutes early, I needed it. Now I usually bring my Nintendo DS Lite with The New York Times crossword puzzle game inserted into it (The game grades your performance-20 minutes to solve one puzzle equals a B). That was until I purchased my netbook.

Well, back to the iPhone. I was checking for updates to the apps and I decided to see what was new, and I found a new whimsical game called Flight of the Hamster from the Cartoon Network and smashing content. You catapult a hamster into the air and see how long that you can keep the little varmint in the air, gaining altitude, if you can (I haven’t), and travel as far as you can. I could see someone getting lost in this one, but for me, 5 to 10 minutes maximum. There are other games to play, some might be more whimsical, and others considerable less so.

One of my favorite time killers is Bejeweled 2, I can go for twenty minutes or more on that one. Another game I enjoy is Yahtzee Adventure, this one allows you the flexibility of playing a single game or go on a career journey that requires more commitment (You are playing against the computer‘s A.I.). A number of the games are 99 cents, some are free, and others can cost more (Yahtzee Adventure costs $2.99). Because of the price, it's easy to create an arsenal of time killers, and if you get tired of one, well, your capital expenditure for it wasn’t that great (and you can come back to it, if you desire to remind yourself why you got bored with it).

One warning about the addictive games, watch your batteries, the drain can be significant (including the iPhone with the 3G setup shut off). The serious drain was one of the reasons I shifted to my netbook with the eight hour + battery.