KodaPop has cranked out it's first strip. Check it oot here!

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Apple's iPad has the geek world hot and bothered. Not since Steve announced the first-gen iPhone have I seen so many coworkers futilely attempting to listen to garbled audio and watch 1 fps video from congested web streams.

We all know the tick marks in the positive column for Apple's sexy new device, as they were sculpted, polished and broadcast for our consumption mere hours ago. The iPad, however, isn't without a few red flags:

NO INTEGRATED CHAT CAMERA

The iPad is ideal for face-to-face video chat. Imagine the people with their iPads propped on their knees as they chat with a far-away friend while sitting at Starbucks or on a park bench. It seemed like such an obvious inclusion that it's become a glaring omission. Check for this on the gen 2 model.  

NO FLASH SUPPORT

I may seem to have personal bias here being a Flash designer, but support should have been a slam-dunk at this point in Apple's tech genealogy. Aside from the obvious blocking of Flash-based websites and animations, lack of Flash support will effectively prevent viewing of all embedded video content in webpages, many audio players, and more subtle integrated Flash content you use every day without even realizing it's Flash. Apple is all about controlling the content on their tech, and they want you watching video in THEIR player or Youtube.

AT&T (SERIOUSLY?)

WHAT! AT&T is the most universally reviled phone and data provider in the USA. Exclusivity is the only thing keeping the hordes of iPhone owners from jumping ship.  Further shackling them to AT&T with this device is something of a middle finger to their fans. Sure, you can go with Wi-Fi-only, but half the fun of this tool will be whipping it out to check Google maps or read the news while on-the-go.

LOW STORAGE

The surprisingly itsy storage levels of 16, 32 and 64 gigs seems out of pace with the times, especially for such a media-rich device. Super-size it! The starting size should have been 32 with subsequent sizes of 64 and 128.

NO MULTITASK

This one seems like a decided step backward. Imagine watching a movie and having to shut down iTunes in order to open Safari and check the cast on IMDB?  Or not being able to listen to music while checking eMail? Forget it, deal breaker.

140,000 APPS... REALLY?

Really? I'm excited to see the potential of the iPad for gaming and the myriad creative uses developers and designers will come up with. I'm underwhelmed, however, at the notion of stretching pre-existing iPhone apps onto a screen more than double the size. It'll be blurrier than your aunt Peggy's Twitter avatar. 

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Apple is bringing the sexy with the iPad, there's no doubt about it. This is just a quick reality check to temper some of the iFever breaking out across the country.

All this being said, I'll most likely purchase an iPad... purely for research purposes of course.

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If you, like thousands of fans, have experienced the "Avatar Blues" (post-Pandora depression when faced with the stark reality of out own world), a cure is in the works.

James Cameron has confirmed that there will indeed be a sequel. From the official AVATAR blog:

"After muttering about how an AVATAR franchise would make sense and hinting that there could be a trilogy of AVATAR films, James Cameron has confirmed that there will be an AVATAR sequel, fueling speculation about how it might top the original.

Things we do know: There are two planned sequels but they won't be one continuous story, they'll be self-contained. They'll also follow Jake and Neytiri. It could take place around a different moon of Polyphemus this time, although producer Jon Landau has already hinted about exploring Pandora's interior. Some bloggers guess that James Cameron, famously obsessed with water, has an amazing underwater environment mapped out for Pandora. There are also different Na'vi tribes that call the planet their home and we never really got a sense of how intra-species politics work between the different tribes. Cameron confirmed he’s mapped out what will happen in the sequels, although he hasn’t written any scripts yet.

The good news? The sequels won't take four years to make. Cameron has said he can get them out faster than the first AVATAR. "

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The game boldly went where other games have either avoided completely or, more recently, gingerly dipped a toe.

Dragon Age Origins thrilled gay gamers everywhere with the decidedly un-nerfed gay romance options in the game. Check the video below if you haven't already seen the love scene between your male character and Zevran, the sexy elf assassin. 

 

While the progressive choices made by DA:O developers have made us very happy, it has also invigorated the already ubiquitous homophobia in gaming.  The universal critical acclaim the game received paired with the strong sales mean a sequel is in the works but what remains to be seen is whether Bioware quietly abandons this aspect of the game, leaves it static, or takes it further yet.

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When we think of pioneers in gay sci-fi and geekdom, a few names float to the top. Joss Whedon, Ian McKellen,  John Barrowman – we might even add Ron Moore to the list for his recent work in Battlestar Galactica.

While these entities may garner the lion’s share of attention, other pioneers in this realm are now receiving due accolades.  Mike Rose is currently featured in the hit web series The Guild’s third season, playing Valkyrie, a snitty gay member of rival guild Axis of Anarchy. You can also find him playing the Old Man in the totally hilarious (and totally NSFW) Legend of Neil.

Mike is in the rare and enviable position of being a part of the surging genre of online video fiction while also being gay: talk about a niche within a niche.  We at iGaymer are eager to pick his brain about his thoughts on gay roles in geekdom and being an LGBT actor working in this hot new genre.

Based in LA, Mike does improv, sketch and stand-up comedy when not working on his own creative ventures such as Planet Unicorn and Fagney&Gaycey.

Have a question for Mike? eMail me at steve@igaymer.com and I may ask it during next week's interview.

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I took the rare chance during today's BSG panel at the Big Apple Comic Con to address Battlestar Galatica's portrayal of gay characters.

Generations of gay sci-fi fans have grown up watching their favorite shows, wondering where they fit in to these universes. BSG was the first show to fold gay characters into the plot without spotlighting their gayness, politicizing a message, or caricaturization the LGBT characters in question.

Take a look!

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In tribute to Marvel's classic "What If" series:

 What if Colossus was a gay circuit homo?

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It's a common question - and is finally answered.

At first glace this looks like a gay fanboys dream photoshoot but on closer inspection one sees that there is some deft photoshop mastery as work. Whoever did this must have a good Wacom tablet! Only thing missing is Colossus (drool). 

 Check em all out here!

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Manhattan's Upper West Side is many things: a tourist-free haven, close to central park, quietly hip. One thing it is not, however, is a geek mecca. Good news on the geek front: A Gamestop super store has just opened it's doors, multiplying the size of the cramped store it replaces just a few doors down. 

The store features wide open layout, multiple demo kiosks, interactive game directory as well as a dedicated game trade center (usually shoppers and trade-ins are funneled into the same line, holding shoppers up as they wait for a trade-in to be processed). 

A welcome addition to the neighborhood, I plan on paying it forward and doing some shopping tomorrow. In my sights: the new Professor Layton and Arkham Asylum.

New Yorkers can get their geek on at the store's new location @ Broadway and West 85th Street.  

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