Here is the availability for the iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus, iPhone 15 Pro, and iPhone 15 Pro Max for the afternoon of Monday, November 6th, 2023. The biggest changes are from T-Mobile with a mix of changes for the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max.
If you look back at the history of video games, there are a few iconic characters that would easily come to mind. It would likely include PacMan, Master Chief, B.J. Blackowicz, Gordon Freeman, Link, and of course the most iconic, Mario. Over the entire lifetime of the character of Mario, which spans more than 40 years now, he has changed. The character of Mario was one of the first games that we owned. I vividly remember getting a Nintendo for Christmas complete with the Super Mario Bros. and Duck Hunt cartridge.
While he may have started as JumpMan, he quickly evolved into his own character, first in Donkey Kong, but in 1986 Mario came to the United States with ‘Super Mario Bros’. This game, along with the Donkey Kong game, is a two-dimensional side-scrolling game. While the early games may have been limited due to hardware, but time has moved on and many Mario games have been 3D games, including Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Galaxy.
The latest Mario game has been highly anticipated, not just because it is a Mario game, but also because it is the first new game starring Mario game on the Nintendo Switch since 2017’s Super Mario Odyssey. That game is Super Mario Wonder.
Super Mario Wonder harkens back to the original 2D side-scrollers, but it is designed for the Nintendo Switch. Super Mario Wonder takes the best of the side-scrolling Mario games and brings
Story
Prince Florian of the Flower Kingdom wants to show Mario, Luigi, Toad, Peach, and Princess Daisy the Wonder Flower, but they are interrupted by Bowser and he steals the Wonder Flower and takes over the Castle. Mario volunteers to defeat Bowser and free the Flower Kingdom from Bowser.
This is a brief recap, it does, of course, go into much more depth, but I do not want to provide any spoilers, if I can help it.
Bowser after he has taken over
GamePlay
As with previous Mario games you start off with easy levels and they can progressively get more difficult. The idea for each level is to gather Wonder Seeds. Once you have gathered enough Wonder Seeds you will be able to get a Royal Seed. Each Royal Seed will remove one of the snakes protecting the Castle that Bowser took over. Once removed all of the snakes, you can enter into the last castle and defeat Bowser.
Each level has many of the things that you com to expect from a Mario game, including pipes, boxes, vines, and a variety of enemies.
Through each of the levels you can get flower coins, which will provide you with 10 flower coins. Flower coins are used to purchase items from shops throughout the different worlds.
Gameplay of a level in Super Mario Bros. Wonder
Let us look at some of the various aspects of the game, starting with Power Ups.
Power Ups
As with other Mario games, you can get some power ups while playing. These can include:
Mushroom
Flower
Bubble
Drill
Elephant
Each of these power ups provides a different ability. The first two power ups, Mushroom and Flower will make Mario bigger. The Flower will give you fireballs, so you can more easily eliminate enemies. The Bubble power up will give you bubbles, which you can use to eliminate enemies. The Drill power up allows you to move underground so you can bypass enemies and you can also use the drill to eliminate enemies as well. The Elephant power up will let you become an elephant that can use its trunk to eliminate enemies. You can also hold water in the trunk of the elephant, which can be useful in some levels.
Screenshot of Mario in a level with a Drill hat power up
Badges
Mario does not travel alone through the Flower Kingdom, instead he travels with Prince Florian. Prince Florian has the capability of wearing a Badge. As you progress through the game you will have the opportunity to get badges that each provide their own ability. A few examples are Parachute Glide, Coin Magnet, and Sensor, just to name a few of them.
When you apply a badge, it will apply through the level. You can use badges strategically to help you accomplish levels. If you manage to lose a life, you can change the badge that is used before you continue with the level.
Features
There are a few items that I would like to highlight about the game in general. The first is that each level has its own difficulty rating. These are depicted with solid-colored seeds. This can go from a single seed, for the easiest levels, to five seeds, for the most difficult.
Screenshot of a world with multiple levels that show their difficulty
The second item is the timer. In the earliest Mario games, including Super Mario Deluxe, there is a time that you are required to finish the level in. There are no timers in Super Mario Wonder, for which I was glad. Some of the levels can be quite difficult and not having a timer adds a bit less stress for completing the level.
The third item is related to Power Ups. With previous side-scrolling Mario games if you already had a power up and you grabbed another one, you would no longer have access to the Power Up that you just had. That is not true in this game. Instead, you have your current power up, as well as a second. If you have a power up (other than a Mushroom), your current Power Up will be moved to the extra spot. You can swap between them at any point, but be careful, you can still get hit by enemies.
Complaint
There is one small complaint that I have, specifically about the Invisible badge. This badge makes playing as a character almost impossible. Yes, you can use it to hide from enemies, but you really do need to be an expert at the game in order to use it. I would have liked to have a slight outline of the character when using the badge. Due to the difficulty of using the badge, I did not end up using it that often, due to the difficulty of using it.
Closing Thoughts
Mario is one of those characters that will forever be burned into my psyche. The two dimensional nature of the original Super Mario Bros is one of the games that started me on my journey of playing video games. Therefore, Mario will always have a special place for me.
If you, like myself, are a fan of Mario and have enjoyed playing previous Mario games, in particular the side-scrolling games, then you will likely enjoy playing Super Mario Wonder. The game can be somewhat frustrating at times. The power ups and badges can help you get through every single level. If you do find a level to be a bit too difficult, you can use a Yoshi or Nabbit to make things a bit easier. However, these characters will not transform if they get any power ups.
I finished Super Mario Wonder in just over a week. I did not 100% the game, but I did finish the main story and it is a good one. While some levels were difficult, more so than their difficulty level indicated, it is a solid Mario game that is good for players of all skill levels because you can use any of the assistance items to help complete the game.
Here is the availability for the iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus, iPhone 15 Pro, and iPhone 15 Pro Max for the afternoon of Sunday, November 5th, 2023. There are no significant changes since the last posting.
Here is the availability for the iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus, iPhone 15 Pro, and iPhone 15 Pro Max for the Morning of Saturday, November 4th, 2023. The biggest changes are improvements for the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max where the Blue and White Titanium models have improved by a few days.
Here is the availability for the iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus, iPhone 15 Pro, and iPhone 15 Pro Max for the Morning of Friday, November 3rd, 2023. The changes for Apple are strictly a shipping changes to cover a weekend. Many models can be delivered on Monday. The carrier changes are mixed.
Here is the availability for the iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus, iPhone 15 Pro, and iPhone 15 Pro Max for the afternoon of Thursday, November 2nd, 2023.
Some models from AT&T are now into early December, so it would be prudent to order now in time for delivery for the holidays. Verizon has a few more models "In Stock" and ready to ship.
Halloween is now over, and Thanksgiving in the United States is quickly approaching. That means that it is now time for my reading list for October. I did not listen to that many books last month. However, out of the ten books I did listen to, two of them were new. I want to highlight one of those, Armor of Light by Ken Follett.
The Spinning Jenny was invented in 1770, and with that, a new era of manufacturing and industry changed lives everywhere within a generation. A world filled with unrest wrestles for control over this new world order: A mother’s husband is killed in a work accident due to negligence; a young woman fights to fund her school for impoverished children; a well-intentioned young man unexpectedly inherits a failing business; one man ruthlessly protects his wealth no matter the cost, all the while war cries are heard from France, as Napoleon sets forth a violent master plan to become emperor of the world. As institutions are challenged and toppled in unprecedented fashion, ripples of change ricochet through our characters’ lives as they are left to reckon with the future and a world they must rebuild from the ashes of war.
Over thirty years ago, Ken Follett published his most popular novel, The Pillars of the Earth. Now, with this electrifying addition to the Kingsbridge series we are plunged into the battlefield between compassion and greed, love and hate, progress and tradition. It is through each character that we are given a new perspective to the seismic shifts that shook the world in nineteenth-century Europe.
I will admit that this book starts off a bit slow, but it does pick up and become a bit more fast-paced as it goes on.
Note:
the links below contain affiliate codes where I get a small commission if you purchase something.
Here is the availability for the iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus, iPhone 15 Pro, and iPhone 15 Pro Max for the afternoon of Tuesday, October 31st, 2023.
Delivery dates remain mostly stable. The biggest changes are for Verizon where a number of iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max models are now "In Stock".
Today Apple held their "Scary Fast" event. The event was a short one at 30 minutes and it focused on just one family of items, the Mac. Specifically, there were two products that Apple focused on, the MacBook Pro and the iMac.
M3 Family
Representation of the M3 Family of chips
Before introducing the hardware products, Apple unveiled their new family of chips, the M3. They did not introduce just one chip, instead they introduced three, the M3, the M3 Pro, and the M3 Max. These chips utilize the latest 3-nanometer technology, which can hold up to 2 billion transistors in the width of a single human hair. All of these transistors means that the chips are up to 2.5x faster, when compared to the equivalent M1 product.
The M3 family has a few new features called Dynamic Caching, Ray Tracing, and Mesh Shading. Dynamic Caching is a technique that allows the hardware to allocate the proper amount of memory for each task. This can mean that more of the graphics processing unit will be utilized. Hardware accelerated Ray Tracing allows for more realistic shadows and lighting in any app, but it is particularly useful with games, like Myst.
According to Apple, the M3 is up to 50% faster than M1, and significantly faster if you are coming from an Intel-based Mac. The Neural Engine is up to 60% faster than than M1, and up to 15% faster than the M2.
MacBook Pro
Space Black MacBook Pros
Today Apple unveiled new M3-powered 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros. The 14-inch MacBook Pro comes with an M3, M3 Pro, or M3 Max. There is a new color option for the MacBook Pro, Space Black. The Space Black model is reserved for the M3 Pro and M3 Max 14-inch model, and all 16-inch models, which only come with the M3 Pro and M3 Max.
For the 14-inch M3 Mac, it comes with an 8-Core CPU and 10-Core GPU. The base model comes with 512GB of storage, and can be configured up to 24GB of memory and 2TB of storage. Because of the M3, the entry level price for the 14-inch MacBook Pro is now $1599.
The M3 Pro comes in two flavors.. There is an 11-core CPU and 14-Core GPU model that has 18GB of unified memory and 512GB of storage. This model starts at $1999.. The second is a 12-Core CPU and 18-Core GPU model with 18GB of unified memory and comes with 1TB of storage. This model starts $2399.
The 14-inch M3 Max MacBook Pro has a 14-core CPU and 30-Core GPU. It comes with 36GB of unified memory and includes a 1TB SSD. This can be configured a 16-core GPU, 40-Core GPU, and up to 128GB of memory and 8TB of storage. The starting price for this model is $3199.
The 16-inch MacBook Pro only comes in M3 Pro and M3 Max models. The M3 Pro can be a 12-core GPU, 18-Core GPU, and either 18GB of memory or 36GB of memory. The 16-inch MacBook Pro comes with 512GB of storage. The prices for each of these is $2499 and $2899. Either model can be configured with a 14-core CPU and 30-Core GPU SOC, or a 16-Core CPU and 40-Core GPU SOC. The amount of storage depends on the SOC, but possibly up to 128GB of unified memory and 8TB of storage. The New M3 Max can support up to 128GB of memory, this is an increase from the previous 96GB of memory.
You can order any of the MacBook Pro configurations today. The M3 and M3 Pro machines will arrive next week, but the M3 Max MacBook Pros will ship later in November. The last thing to note about the MacBook Pro is that the 13-inch MacBook Pro with TouchBar is no longer available.
iMac
Color options of the M3 iMac
Along with the MacBook Pros, Apple updated the 24-inch iMac. It still comes in the same 7 color options, with Orange, Pink, and Purple being reserved for the higher-end configurations. There are two configuration models, the 8-Core CPU, 8-Core GPU model and the 8-Core CPU and 10-Core GPU model.
The pricing remains the same, starting at $1299. You can configure a 24-inch iMac with up to 24GB of unified memory and 2TB of storage. This is higher than the 16GB unified memory limit with the M1 iMac. The M3 iMac does include Wi-Fi 6E and BlueTooth 5.3.
My Thoughts
As mentioned above, the event video was short, 30 minutes. But that is not a problem. Apple leaned heavily into the Halloween theme. If you watch the video you will see a number of things, like skeletons, bats, fog, and even some candy corn.
The new MacBook Pros are good updates if you have an M1 MacBook Pro, and are great if you have an Intel-based machine. The M1 iMac update is a solid update to the iMac. Not much has changed, beyond the processor on the iMac. You can order any of the models today with delivery starting next week for the M3 and M3 Pro, and later in November for the M3 Max MacBook Pros.
