Conflict of interest disclosure: I own 20 shares of Fitbit stock, which I purchased halfway through writing this review, on the hope that apparently strong Ionic sales would give the stock a boost. So far, that hasn't been the case. At any rate, the value of the stock is less than the cost of the device itself, so I don't think it compromises my objectivity, but you have been warned.

Fitbit recently released their first true smartwatch, the Ionic. After going through a phase of slight obsession in the lead-up to its release, during which I spent many hours watching preview videos and reading comparisons between the Ionic, the Apple Watch Series 3, and the Garmin Vivoactive 3, I ultimately decided to buy the Ionic. I've now had it for about a month, so this seems like a good time to review the device and discuss what I think it does well, and not so well.

If you're looking for an in-depth review of the Fitbit Ionic with a particular emphasis on how it performs as a fitness tracker, I'd recommend reading DC Rainmaker's review. I'm not that serious an athlete, so I won't be going into depth about the GPS and heart rate accuracy, and really there's no need for me to do so, since DC Rainmaker has already covered those aspects of the device. This review is merely my own non-expert opinion of the device based on my own experience, with a bit more emphasis on the smartwatch features of the Ionic and how suitable the watch is for various types of users.

Fitness features

Even though I don't consider myself a serious athlete, I did buy the Fitbit Ionic primarily as a fitness tracker, so I'd be remiss to not mention how the device fares in that respect. Indeed, I think it's fair to say that the Ionic was designed primarily as a fitness tracker, with the smartwatch functionality being somewhat secondary. In my mind, this puts the Ionic in a slightly different category than the Apple Watch—plus, the Ionic supports Android and Windows devices, whereas the Apple Watch does not. Unfortunately for Fitbit, competition in this market is extremely fierce, even if you only consider all the Android and Windows users that the Apple Watch can't reach.

So, how does the Ionic perform as a fitness tracker? I think it's pretty good for the most part, but there are some noteworthy shortcomings that Fitbit absolutely needs to address in future software updates if they want to stay competitive. But let's start with the good parts. First of all, I've been impressed with the GPS. It connects quickly and consistently, and in my experience, the accuracy is pretty good for a wrist-mounted device. I have found that it tends to cut corners if you make sharp turns, which can result in runs appearing slightly shorter than they actually are, but the deviation is only about 50-100 meters over a 5km run. This is on par with the accuracy of other devices, and it won't be cause for concern for most people. Besides, in some cases that error will be averaged out by other noise.

Today I'm previewing three early access titles now available on Steam: Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex First Assault Online, Rust, and Hurtworld.

Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex First Assault Online

...Tactical Combat Video Game Entertainment Simulation System. Okay, I made that last part up, but somebody in Nexon America's marketing department really should have reigned in that title a little bit. It can't even be made into a convenient acronym. "Hey, want to play GITSSACFAO?" asked no one, ever.

Anyhow, I was drawn to this title because I love Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (as well as the Ghost in the Shell films). If you're not familiar with the series, it follows a special forces team led by Major Motoko Kusanagi in a sci-fi 2030s Japan where everyone who can afford it is a cyborg. (The overoptimistic timeline is worthy of Back to the Future!) The setting is leveraged to deliver some surprisingly sophisticated philosophical and social commentary—for an anime, anyway. But more to the point, there's also a lot of over-the-top action and a hint of gun-fetishism, which makes the series perfect for a first person shooter. It's surprising, then, that nobody has tried to make one until now.

Unfortunately, the results are mixed, at least at this early stage. I've seen some significant stuttering during some matches, which is a real problem in such a fast-paced shooter. The gunplay also is also ever-so-slightly off. It's got a satisfying, weighty feel to it, but I can't quite get used to the aiming and recoil. Adjusting your aim while looking down the sights is so incredibly slow compared to the pace of player movement that the best strategy seems to be to just never use iron sights at all except at extreme range. It feels like they're taking cues from Counter-Strike, but they haven't quite nailed the experience yet.

I trust that some of these issues will be fixed as the game is developed further, but what's more worrying is the character progression mechanic. Although early access to the game costs money, this is pretty clearly intended to be a free-to-play game, and as such there are already a plethora of unlockable weapon and ability upgrades. There are so many different things to customize that it's almost overwhelming at first. That would be a good thing if not for the fact that the pace of unlocks seems very slow (as if to encourage people to spend real money—imagine that!), and the unlockables don't seem very balanced. A fully upgraded character has clear advantages over a new character, which leads to a frustrating sense of unfairness.

I think this one is worth keeping an eye on, but I don't see it becoming my go-to shooter unless I end up being dead wrong about the free-to-play monetization scheme.

[I completed this review after playing Fallout 4 for a total of 25 hours. I completed the main quest line during my play through.]

Fallout 4 is the latest in Bethesda's revival of Black Isle Studios' beloved post-apocalyptic role playing series, and like its predecessors it has met with much praise and market success. But I find myself unable to quite grasp the popularity of the game, because also like its predecessors, Fallout 4's impressive scale and ambitious design are hamstrung by some major flaws in the execution.

I don't watch a whole lot of TV. In fact, I don't even have cable. The only shows I end up watching, therefore, are those I'm introduced to or I read about. Mr. Robot is the latest such show; I read David Auerbach's piece on it and was intrigued. In Auerbach's words:

Real misfits—disturbing, unappealing, unlovable misfits—make for poor Hollywood protagonists. It takes some faith to inject a genuinely alienating hero into a film or TV show. But ever since the broader world of tech has gained a whiff of cool over the past decade or so, Hollywood's portrayals of hackers, programmers, and other screen-strapped geeks have tended to sugarcoat the frequently unvarnished and even unappealing aspects of a culture that prides itself on not caring about the mainstream. I'm not bemoaning the lack of shy nerds with hearts of gold here, but of awkward and even abrasive characters who talk too loudly, can't follow conversational cues, transgress boundaries obliviously, and harbor conspiracy theories or other unappealing ideas—like a lot of actual hackers out there. We forget that people detest savant types for reasons beyond their smarts, and a lack of social graces is one of them.

Elliot, the protagonist of the new USA Network drama Mr. Robot, comes far closer to this type than an American television show has dared for a while. (Elliot isn't the titular Mr. Robot—that's Christian Slater.) As played by Rami Malek, Elliot doesn't have the charisma of Benedict Cumberbatch's Sherlock or the anti-charisma of Hugh Laurie's Dr. House. Unlike Tony Shalhoub's Adrian Monk, he's not a collection of quivering nerves and endearing eccentricities. These characters—all nerds of one sort or another—are fundamentally capable of functioning in society, and Elliot really isn't. He and the world just don't hook up in the right way. Taking copious drugs in order to function, he carries a vacant and flattened affect, neither making eye contact with anyone nor turning away when they look at him. With his emaciated face and sunken eyes, Malek gives an impression of emptiness, paranoia, and above all disconnection.

This is probably a polarizing description: some people will be immediately interested while others will probably question why anyone would want to watch it. It was very much the former for me, possibly because Auerbach's description of Elliot hits a bit close to home. I watched the first episode and was instantly hooked. The show immediately draws you into its world: a sort of dystopian present, a mirror image of our own reality, but viewed through the eyes of a brilliant, cynical, emotionally troubled young man who struggles not only with an unfeeling universe but also with drug addiction and mental illness.

Atypically for movies and TV, Elliot's mental illness is depicted respectfully and at least somewhat accurately, too. He's not an over-the-top Hollywood psycho, but merely a vulnerable person suffering from paranoia and delusions. And being a software developer, I also really appreciated that the show nails the technology. It's not completely realistic, but that's to be expected; the reality of programming and hacking is that they're slow, analytical processes, often consisting of long stretches of thought punctuated by short bursts of activity. In other words, they're boring to watch, and sometimes to undertake, too. Mr. Robot strips that away, but it keeps the interesting aspects intact without insulting the audience's intelligence with impossible technology, meaningless invented jargon, or awful 3D GUIs.

[I completed this review after playing Bloodborne for approximately 30 hours. I have finished the game, but I have not discovered 100% of the content. I played the entire game solo, not using any summons to help with boss fights. I have not yet participated in any PvP.]

Bloodborne is the spiritual successor to From Software's Demons Souls and Dark Souls series, and its pedigree is clear right out of the gate. Upon starting the game, you'll enter the character creation menu and be asked to choose from a number of classes with different stats, but will be given almost no explanation of what the stats mean or how they affect gameplay. If you're a Dark Souls veteran, you can make some educated guesses, but new players will be completely on their own. After a short introductory sequence, you're thrown into an open world replete with buildings of impossible scale, which stretches vast, seemingly endless distances in each direction. You're completely on your own to make your path through this world, and there's no obvious "correct" route; in fact, a friend and I found different bosses first, because we had taken different routes from the start.

If this experience sounds like it might be frustrating for new players, that's because it absolutely can be. Even for veterans of the series, the complete lack of guidance can feel punishing at times. And yet, I can't stress how much I absolutely love it. The freedom not only to explore, but to truly discover the workings of the world, and to make mistakes, is what made the Souls series what it was, and Bloodborne continues this legacy. The game pays homage to times past, when games didn't hold the player's hand throughout the entire experience, and it does so with such expertise and craftsmanship that none of its contemporaries can compare.

Like its predecessors, Bloodborne adeptly balances challenging and sometimes frustrating gameplay with frequent rewards and other powerful motivators: the prospect of discovering something new, of overcoming the next challenging boss, of finding the next area, or of glimpsing another thread of the world's deep backstory. These enticements work so well because of the depth and imagination with which the world is crafted. There's a constant sense of cataclysmic urgency, but you won't truly understand it until you take the time to piece together all of the subtle clues placed throughout the world. Bloodborne gives you very little to go on, but it trusts you to have the fortitude and curiosity to work things out for yourself.