April is the month that employers (i.e. me) dread and employees love. It’s the month that Thailand basically shut down with so many holidays packed in including official Thai New Year (Songkran). I’m still waiting for NIA committee to deliberate on our iPhone game project. The meeting kept moving back past 8 weeks. I have a feeling that most of them are already on holiday mode. Since I have until May before I can give update on our iPhone game status, I might as well post something useful.

Since reading about the new MacBook Air-ish ‘netbook’ from HP, the HP Pavilion dv2, it’s been on my shortlist of next notebook to get. I checked out local dealer in Bangkok couple weeks ago and they weren’t even aware of it. So it was to my surprise when I spotted the new HP dv2 at nearby local IT mall while searching for a new USB drive.

I asked them if I can play with it and take some photos.

Here are my impression without running any official benchmark (they told me I can come back to run it if necessary).

There are two models available:

SPEC/Price:

dv2-1002AX.
Price: 24,900 baht (approximately $720 USD)
AMD Athlon Neo Processor MV-40 (1.6GHz, 512mb L2 Cache, 1600MHz FSB)
Window Vista Home Premium
250GB (Serial ATA)
2048MB DDR2 RAM
12.1″ WXGA Brightview
802.11 a/b/g Wireless LAN, Bluetooth
Integrated Webcam
1 year onsite warranty
ATI Mobility Radeon HD Premium Graphic 3410 with 512MB
HDMI

dv2-1003AX(approximately $840 USD)
AMD Athlon Neo Processor MV-40 (1.6GHz, 512mb L2 Cache, 1600MHz FSB)
Window Vista Home Premium
320GB (Serial ATA)
2048MB DDR2 RAM
12.1″ WXGA Brightview
802.11 a/b/g Wireless LAN, Bluetooth
Integrated Webcam
1 year onsite warranty
ATI Mobility Radeon HD Premium Graphic 3410 with 512MB
HDMI
External DVD

I’m quite please with the pricing. It stays in-line with HP’s estimate. The best thing about the price/spec for models in Thailand is that both models come with HDMI and dedicated ATI GPU option as standard.

Design

Shiny. That was my first impression. I have a feeling that the black color picks up fingerprints and smudges worst than the white color. The touchpad is shiny metallic, another fingerprint magnet. I personally would have preferred black or matted color. For that matter, I would have preferred that they do not use shiny material along the side. Besides being a smudge magnet, it also adds cheapness and ‘volume’ to the design.

All the nitpi kinb aside, the design is very nice. It’s arguably better looking than almost all the netbook out there today (with the exception of the Asus S101 and Sony P…if you count the latter it as a netbook).

The design is more Sony VAIO than Apple. What I mean is that the HP dv2 has that two-piece design ala Sony VAIO where you clearly see separation between display and body. Like the VAIO, HP dv2 body’s composed mainly of magnesium. I personally prefer magnesium as it is lighter (and supposedly stronger) material than that of aluminum. It certainly feel as sturdy as the best Sony VAIO.

On the other hand, Apple MacBook and Air has smooth one piece design. This is the reason why the Mac seems thinner, even the MacBook. In actuality, the HP dv2 is pretty thin (similarthickness as MacBook). I literally measured with a ruler and it was indeed less than 1″ thick as HP claimed. If you want to get very exact, you can certainly argue that the hinge area with small protusion may slightly exceed 1″ thickness.

My overall impression, design-wise, is that the HP dv2 has very nice design that follows HP notebook’s current motif. You can certainly feel proud carrying it around. It certainly looks more expensive than it’s price. Actually, it looks more expensive than most of the HP other notebooks (and majority of the netbook and notebook out there). Being thin AND light means that it’s easy on your shoulder and very portable.

Weight.

The current edition on the street (of Thailand) comes with 4 cell battery. This tip the weight at around 3.8 kg. My own unscientific test (hefting it around) is that it’s around the same weight as MacBook Air if not slightly lighter. While the official weight difference between the HP dv2 and the MacBook is around .7 pound, it seemed to me carrying it around that the difference is greater.

It definitely won’t weight you down and is extremely portable.

Display.

LED backlight. Very shiny. The body’s shininess gives the illusion that the screen is shinier than it might actually be. You can see from my photo the reflection.  As with this type of screen, the color looks very good, I would say on par with MacBook.

Keyboard:

Same keyboard used on the used on the class-leading Mini 1000 series which means same layout (no annoying misplaced right shift key like most netbooks…ahem ASUS) it feels very solid and touch-typist should be able to hit the ground running. However, with more real estate, I do wish that HP could’ve put in a full-size keyboard. Moreover, the matted material on the HP Mini 1000’s keyboard looks classier and seems like it could stand up the vigor of stain and oil from the fingers.

The version on the HP dv2, like everything else, is shiny. It looks like it’s oily out of the box. See photos for comparison.

Performance.

This is where my ‘review’ gets very unscientific since I did not run any benchmark software.  I did measure boot time and it started Window VISTA (which comes with the all models) at around 1:19 using my stopwatch. A bit slow for my liking.

However, once it’s booted, it seems to run applications without any lag. I tried running several applications at once and the HP dv2 handled them with aplomb.

DVD and video were pretty smooth. I think it’s huge that the version they sell here comes with the ATI Radeon 3410.  If the NVIDIA Geforce 9400M that comes with the Mac is faster, it would be by a hair.

Ports:

Pretty comprehensive overall with added bonus of HDMI. The only key port missing for me the eSATA (well…I do wish for a Firewire port also).

Heat and Noise:

Nice and quiet. Heat-wise, it certainly feels warm but not intolerable. I would say in the same range as that of the Air.

Battery Life:

4 cell battery is standard. The rep told me it should average around 3 hours as was HP’s official line. I do not have the chance to test this claim. I dug through and found out that you can get buy 6 cell battery separately for around $100 USD. When asked, the rep had no idea that HP even offer this option. They certainly do not have one in stock.

Conclusion:

Would I buy this notebook? If money’s no object, I would get a MacBook Air with Superdrive option. The decision is mor emotional than rational for sure.

However, I’m definitely on a budget so the choice really comes down to the new white MacBook (assuming the $200 USd debate is true…I checked Apple’s web site and no official news on it yet) versus HP dv2.

With MacBook I get a more powerful notebook, nice suite of productivity software (iLife), good stable OS, and best in class design (yes, even the white one).  Since most of my clients, subcontractors, and partners use Window, I need to get VM Ware and Window XP. Those two items add $300 USD to the overall price tag. That bring the price of the MacBook configuration to $1100 USD (again, assume that $200 debate is good).

With HP dv2, I get one of the best design (but a notch below the Mac), highly portable notebook, and the an emotional substitute for my inner desire MacBook Air.

Once I take price into account, even with Apple supposed upcoming $200 debate on the White MacBook  (that’s still almost $300 USD premium), logic dictates that I pick the HP dv2. The machine strikes a good balance between design, practicality, and price. If MacBook Air is on the extreme side of emotion while MacBook is on the extreme side of logic, the HP dv2 sits in the middle of the two.

I’m holding out for the white one though…

I consider music to be one of the most important components to my games (when the budget afford me to). Some of my favorite games of all time are rhythm games or games with great sound track.

My latest musical infatuation is Lady Gaga. By now, most of you are probably familiar with her first single “Just Dance” since it scorched up the charts all over the world.  The team of Lady Gaga, RedOne, Akon, and Colby Odonis form the perfect union for this incredibly infectious track.

One of my dreams is to get them on one of my games…hey…we all can dream can’t we?

On related iPhone news, we’re in discussion with NIA (National Innovation Agency), seemingly the only competent government agency in Thailand,  about Studio Nocturne’s very own iPhone and iPod game. Now, if it’s other government agency, I’ll take it as lip-service unless I want to give them ‘tea-money’ for their help. Not gonna happen…ever (the last part is for those corrupted public servants reading this so don’t even waste your time).

But with NIA, there’s something to really be excited about. NIA is the very same agency who gave us grant to finance creation of Housewife Superstar prototype, something I’ll forever be grateful for…considering we’re the first (and still the only) game company to get this privilege.It goeswithout saying that they have good credibility with me and I take their positive reaction to our initial meeting seriously.

Now I got to hunker down and finish up all the formal proposal. I hope to have good news in about 3-4 weeks time.

Yes, it’s official. We got our first iPhone/iPod game game porting project. Yippee! How did we do this since we do not have ‘official’ iPhone/iPod project under our belt? We asked the client (at the time potential) to send over hires screenshot of their game along with one paragraph functional description. Our team went and put together functional 4-level iPhone/iPod version (the graphic came from one hires screenshot…it was painful to be sure)…in 3 days. That convinced them.

Does this mean we’d gone over to the Darkside? I mean, Apple is the second coming of the evil empire (declining Microsoft…Window 7 may save them…but I just don’t see them back to their peak ever again…not with Apple and Google around) right?

Oh, who cares about my philosophical stance. We’re gonna do this iPhone/iPod thingy regardless. Truth be told, it’s much easier to develop for than NDS. We can create much better game on it, if iTune users can ever stomach paying above $1.99 for a content.  You can be sure I’m keeping close eye on EA’s $4.99 and up game catalog, baby.

Well, the show was better than I expected. Again, I basically do not expect anything at all so it’s rather hard to be less than zero.

Ran into Kevin from Majesco by accident and he seemed quite keen on our NDS title. Their success with Cooking Mama franchise certainly leads me to think that they would be one of those who gets our game and know what to do with it. We’ll see.

My speech also went pretty well.  The only bad thing is that it’s the first speech in the morning. So most potential audience are just getting up and getting over their jetlag. Nonetheless, it got me face-time with the folks from Koei.

TGS…go or not…hmm…

Let’s keep it simple: Tony Jaa Rocks!

Our first formal coverage of Housewife Superstar is up. Of course it’s no surprise to regular readers that the article is by Brandon Sheffield. Brandon disclosed that I will have him work on the project brushing up script, more of an editor since I would still conceptualize and write the story.

So why would Brandon write about it again? Was he, in his word, “…pimping my ride”? I doubt it. For those that knows Brandon also know that he has solid integrity (goodness forbid!). From what I’d heard, there are always occasional payolas offer but always firmly refused.

Heck, I can even vouch on this. We had Thai government invited him here last year as media guest and he refused because it was unseemly to accept free airfare/accommodation. That’s all you need to know about Brandon Sheffield and the issue of integrity to his profession.

I digressed but I think it was necessary. Brandon wrote about Housewife again because we actually had a live playable demo of it. So it’s no longer just a cool idea, but a cool idea with a (hopefully) cool game play behind it.

To add irony to this whole article, I will add screenshot from Housewife Superstar here…but not from my own hard disk. Rather, I copied it from Brandon’s site and uploaded it. The whole idea is deliciously absurd and completely tickled my fancy.

I accidentally ran into Rob Reger at Wondercon. I was buying the Dark Horse compilation and the school “crest.”

I normally am not one of those autograph hound nor am I easily starstruck. However, I thought Rob seemed cool enough and since I bought Emily’s merchandise, I thought I’d asked him to sign it. The guy asking Rob earlier wanted Rob to draw and write a personal message for his niece (which I think is nice of the guys…both of them, one for asking for his niece and one for Rob obliging).

Anyway, I don’t want to be a big bother and just asked Rob to sign the book. However, Rob was really genial, asking me for my name, where I’m from, etc. Without asking, he not only signed the book but also drew and gave me short but nice message.

Rob, if you’re reading (since you mentioned unsolicited that you’ll drop by, I will pose the VDO of our work here in about 2 weeks time). I think you will find it worth the 2 minutes (length of the clip).

Please come back and check it out.

PS Definitely feel free to email me when you’re in Thailand. Thank again for the autograph.

Met up with Ian. It’s amazing to me how people react to him. I sometimes forget that Ian is one of video game industry pioneers. Of course with recent shake-up at Eidos, Ian is also taking a more prominent role at the company once again.

I thought it was funny to observe one of Eido’s senior managers from local office coming up to his suite and making sure all Ian’s needs are met. Ah, the corporate politic, how I do not miss it (nor have I ever got into it…that probably explains the glass ceiling during my time under John Irwin at EarthLink, but that’s another long story).

Ran into Erik Bethke, our adviser and my “pot brother.” Before you go crazy, it’s not pot for smoking as recreational drug is not my thing. Again, some that know me would be shock if it were seeing how hard they tried in the past to take a puff (and failed miserably).

Out of Erik came a potentially awesome business opportunity for Housewife Superstar via his many connections. I can’t divulge yet until it’s fully formalized. Thanks bro.

I seriously think that fate and the man above have plan for my company. Just like last year, little things I don’t plan seem to happen (for the better). I feel really blessed sometimes how both my friendship and relationship came back unsolicited to help me when I seem to need a boost.

Oh, great dinner last night also courtesy of Bill and the Mastiff crew. It was really lovely…I got a big soft spot for Kobe beef and okra.

I’m happy. I’ll make this post short and sweet. We got strong interest for Bloody Bunny and 4p. As I’d hoped, a good number of Publishers really liked design for 4P and especially Bloody Bunny. We’ll definitely need to go back, get concept doc in place, and follow-up.

As for Housewife Superstar, we got three tentative offers on the table. I’ll try to stick to my commitment with other Publishers that I will make my final decision end of March (after I send them playable demo).

SWEET.