JordanH.net

Thinking Outside the Box

WordPress Themes have been around for a long while, but until very recently, many themes have been simple blog layouts and an extra page template here and there. However, there has been an increasing trend, arguably started by premium themes, where nifty uses of WP’s functions have allowed for unique features and more in themes.

Custom Loops

Custom Loops is probably the most significant of these changes. By letting the user put all their testimonials in one category, you could hide them from the main post display, then run a custom loop somewhere else on the page to display just the testimonials.

An easy way of doing this would be to run the query_posts function choosing only posts from one category, or even pulling a single, random post. Then run a loop like normal, and the post would be displayed.

Custom Fields

Custom Fields are also something which, until recently, seem to have been underused. It’s easy to get a custom field for a post inside your loop, just use the get_post_meta function and you’re good to go.

These have been used for image resizers, video embedding code and even changing the URLs for people reading your RSS feed.

Theme Options Page

Theme Options pages are becoming popular in free themes as well as premium ones now. Aimed towards users who don’t want to dive into their theme’s code, they can help setup a theme and more. These are more complicated pieces of code, but it proves they can be done.

It’s Not A Post!

The whole idea of a post being a couple of paragraphs of text has become less specific, with a post now being considered more of an abstract concept for a piece of content – videos, mini-updates and a lot more. The success of WordPress in part can be attributed to its extremely flexible themes system as that is what has pushed the boundaries of the software and let it become flexible.

This is ultimately the thinking outside of the box which many themes are heading to, and it will be interesting to see what new ideas and techniques are going to be used in the future.

The DLC Row – Part 2

I blogged a while back about EA’s rip-off DLC with Need for Speed: Undercover, and it looks like they’ve done it again. The Godfather II is going to be released soon (albeit delayed for “marketing reasons”) and I was looking forward to buying it. However, news emerged that less than two weeks after the game is released, 3 DLC packs will be released for the game, at a total of 800MSP if you buy all of them.

The DLC includes two new maps, a new character, and a pack of ‘Level 4′ weapons. These are the most powerful in the game and can only be obtained through this DLC. They will also be allowed for use online. This is another sell-out of their gamers by EA, as if they hadn’t already done it enough.

The first problem with this DLC is that it is being released so soon after the game launched. This is content which otherwise would have been included into the main game, and so holding it back and selling it on the game’s release is unfair on the gamer and begs the question whether or not this game should be bought in the first place. Also, is this content actually included on the disk, and just ‘unlocked’ with a small file when the DLC is bought?

The second problem is that these ‘Level 4′ weapons are making the game completely unfair online. Suppose I am someone who doesn’t want to buy the DLC, does that mean I should be at a disadvantage if I play the game I bought online? DLC should just enhance the gameplay and add new things – it should be optional to the gamer whether it is bought or not.

The game itself looks great, but I don’t think it’s right that the gamer is being exploited again. Who knows how much else EA are going to milk it for? If I buy this game, will I be forced to cough up every time they bring out a new level of weapons just so I can play on a level playing field online? What do you think?