Lutari Island

[lilyprodigious]

Oh exactly. If they want it to get so big and potentially make money, put it on more than TWO brands at least. What about verizon? Thats what I have, and I cant even get it if I DID want it.

Yeah I know. I am planning on getting a cell phone for college, and none of the brands that get service around here are offered on neopets. It seems like if the put the money into making it available on two... how much more can it cost to make the others available? they've already put together the software or whatever it is.

[ggagahc]

Can I safely say that Lutari Island is a bust? Wah Wah.

[varii]

Oh exactly. If they want it to get so big and potentially make money, put it on more than TWO brands at least. What about verizon? Thats what I have, and I cant even get it if I DID want it.

Yeah I know. I am planning on getting a cell phone for college, and none of the brands that get service around here are offered on neopets. It seems like if the put the money into making it available on two... how much more can it cost to make the others available? they've already put together the software or whatever it is.

I would think that it had more to do with contract. An example would be Neopets only selling their merchandise at Limited Too (I know there are more retailers now, but for the sake of example), by only offering those things at one store Neopets promises 100% of the business to Limited Too. It's a little different with the cell phones as most people (generalization again, I know not all people have cell phones) already have theirs and are likely unable (or willing) to change soley to take part in a neopets related feature. But I can see that having a neopets feature only available on certain phones may attract the younger demographic as an incentive to badger their parents to get them a certain brand/service provider/ect. By offering only two options as a means to have access to Lutari island, Neopets is offering 100% of the badgering cell phoneless younger population to the companies.

At least that's how I see it..I may of course be over thinking the entire thing. Which is likely.

I came across an old, non-updated page, that reiterates that there will never be any pop-ups on neo (despite the annoying and obvious Circuit City and others that used to pop up on me all the time until I took responsibility and control of my gaming experience and eliminated them.)

As I play throughout the day, my AVERAGE for BLOCKED pop ups from NEOPETS ONLY is approximately 100. Yes, 100 for 'average daily occasional playing' and more if I play more. ONE HUNDRED, folks.

Oh my goodness, this is happening to me too. Right now my pop up blocker is telling me that it has managed to block 1977 pop ups since Feb 18. I'm of course very proud of it for doing this, but it is shocking how much junk neo has on it these days. I'd say 80% of my time on this specific computer is spent on neopets and related forums, and the other 20 on sites that are unlikely to have any popups. But I agree, if pop up blockers and HOST were not an option, I would have quit so long ago.

[anjuna]

(Oops, I meant to edit that I meant blocked URLs, as in probably something similar to what AdBlock does in Firefox or a HOSTS file, but 100 is still the daily approximation.) Sheesh!

Still, the whole Lutari thing is the biggest tease. Letting us have pets, but only letting the "land" be open to cell phone users? I suspect it must be available to the rest of the site soon. But how long is soon with TNT? Look how long we have been waiting for the Lutari itself. I should hope the land would be released before Shenkuu. No offense Shenkuu. Heh.

[varii]

Excerpt from NNT week 91

When are the Neoschools going to be coming out?
*pokes Adam* Very soon!

To TNT, soon is just your imagination playing tricks on you.

[fifthmonkee]

I've always thought that Lutari Island was about marketing position more than anything else. For the last few years, a lot of analysts have been saying cell phone content is the next big market, especially for video games. Neopets talked about mobile content for a long time before they actually entered the market, and I suspect they are quite happy holding a small niche of the cell phone market, especially if there's a chance that market might someday be the main way to access the internet.

[AySz88]

(Oops, I meant to edit that I meant blocked URLs, as in probably something similar to what AdBlock does in Firefox or a HOSTS file, but 100 is still the daily approximation.) Sheesh!

Well, what exactly is this program then?

Back on topic:

I just got Lutari Island on my cell, but it's been a minor nightmare. I'm not totally sure whether TNT actually has a lot of control over the technical side of its mobile game - there's a big In-Fusio logo when you start it up. I get the distinct feeling that whoever-it-is doesn't care so much about the game anymore.

First, I just recently upgraded my phone from a many-years-old one, and I chose a phone that's a direct upgrade of one that I know Lutari Island works with (Nokia z100 vs Nokia z100i, IIRC). They supposedly only differ in Bluetooth capability, which shouldn't matter to Lutari Island. But whoever-it-is hasn't even bothered testing and enabling Lutari Island on the upgraded version, even though I really doubt there'd be any problems. I ended up trading phones with my mom since I don't usually use the advanced features of cell phones, just to try out Lutari Island (I was just too curious :p ).

I quickly discovered that the amount of data Lutari Island uses is huge, and it's tied me to my laptop (I'll explain in the next paragraph). The program uses a ridiculous amount of bandwidth, considering how costly cellular data is. Every time you log in, it uses about 10KB to synchronize to your account and another 10KB to download images (just the happy and sad images of your active pet, I think - but why doesn't it cache it in the phone?! ). It takes about 5-10KB to do things and log out. That's 30 cents worth of data, 20 just to log in!

Anyway, I avoid the data charges by connecting the cell phone to the Internet through my laptop's infrared port. It's actually surprisingly simple... But, for me, this means it's more an extension of my normal timed activities (healing springs, etc), and I play during the free time between classes. Lutari Island restocking ends up quite profitable, so it's ended up worth it for me, since I wouldn't be able to do anything useful with that tiny gap of time anyway...

Somewhat offtopic again, I might draw up a petpage on how to do the cell-phone-to-Internet-via-computer trick sometime (I only know it works for sure on Sony Ericsson phones), since I'm sure it'd save plenty of addicts like me plenty of money, and perhaps get some interest renewed in it.... :p Would anyone find something like that useful?

how much more can it cost to make the others available? they've already put together the software or whatever it is.

Well, it's written in Java, so one'd think it'd be universal like Java is supposed to be. But apparently not - I read recently that most mobile phones have woefully poor or inconsistent Java interpreters. I'm not surprised, really - Java for insert-unknown-cell-phone-operating-system-here isn't exactly glamorous or big-impact work, so they might not put many resources to it.

[anjuna]

(Oops, I meant to edit that I meant blocked URLs, as in probably something similar to what AdBlock does in Firefox or a HOSTS file, but 100 is still the daily approximation.) Sheesh!

Well, what exactly is this program then?

It's just Avant Browser. It comes with a native adblocking list. Plus I use a HOSTS file with extra 'Neopets-specific ads' after the redundant fastclick virus fiasco.

EDIT: And wow, that number averaging 100 actually IS "blocked pop up pages" and I don't regularly visit anything but Neopets. Holy schmoly.

[wandersong]

Well, what exactly is this program then?

It's just Avant Browser. It comes with a native adblocking list. Plus I use a HOSTS file with extra 'Neopets-specific ads' after the redundant fastclick virus fiasco.

EDIT: And wow, that number averaging 100 actually IS "blocked pop up pages" and I don't regularly visit anything but Neopets. Holy schmoly.

About that pop up blocker... I notice that my neopets toolbar pop-up blocker tends to try and block my pop up flash game windows the first time i click it each day, and inventory pop up too... mine currently has over 500 or so blocked, but i know most of the "blocked" items come from it trying to block my daily games....could yours be the same?

I hope I'm making sense...

[anjuna]

About that pop up blocker... I notice that my neopets toolbar pop-up blocker tends to try and block my pop up flash game windows the first time i click it each day, and inventory pop up too... mine currently has over 500 or so blocked, but i know most of the "blocked" items come from it trying to block my daily games....could yours be the same?

I hope I'm making sense...

That oddity sounds more like a bug than a feature of Neopets Toolbar. Avant has URL and pop up blockers integrated into it for most 'usual' ads encountered, and the HOSTS file is just an additional list plus I added ones that are specifically on Neopets. I have no idea why Neopets own toolbar would block the usual javascript needed to use parts of the site.

[Pink]

Can I safely say that Lutari Island is a bust? Wah Wah.

yes...you can safely say that...lol...from experience:

I had Neopets on my phone when I had Cingular for a little while (thus the reason I have a Lutari). It wasn't worth it. The subscription to the game is only 2.99, yes, but you also have to pay for internet time on your phone which can be very pricey. After everything was said and done, it was rounding out to be around $30 a month (for unlimited internet and neopets) and it was sucking WAY too much time out of my real life. So from personal experiece, I'd say, don't bother; even if they do eventually release it on more than one cell phone carrier.

[varii]

smart things

About that pop up blocker... I notice that my neopets toolbar pop-up blocker tends to try and block my pop up flash game windows the first time i click it each day, and inventory pop up too... mine currently has over 500 or so blocked, but i know most of the "blocked" items come from it trying to block my daily games....could yours be the same?

I hope I'm making sense...

Have you tried clicking 'Pop-Up Blocker: X' so site popups are allowed? The toolbar tried to block my flash games too til I turned it off.

[AySz88]

$30 a month (for unlimited internet and neopets) and it was sucking WAY too much time out of my real life...

I don't have any remedy for the time bit, but you don't have to pay for Internet data rates if you can connect through a computer. (I don't know which phone you have, but PM me if you need instructions for a Sony Ericsson.)

I have no idea why Neopets own toolbar would block the usual javascript needed to use parts of the site.

Because it's pretty difficult to tell whether a popup is generated from user interaction or not? I also don't think that popup blocker is actually from TNT; it's more probably from some other general-purpose popup blocker that they bought rights to use.

Also... You know Avant is just IE7 with a shell around it, right? :p

[anjuna]

Also... You know Avant is just IE7 with a shell around it, right? :p

A very safe, warm, cozy shell. Actually I prefer the Trident engine.

[Pink]

$30 a month (for unlimited internet and neopets) and it was sucking WAY too much time out of my real life...

I don't have any remedy for the time bit, but you don't have to pay for Internet data rates if you can connect through a computer. (I don't know which phone you have, but PM me if you need instructions for a Sony Ericsson.)

I have no idea why Neopets own toolbar would block the usual javascript needed to use parts of the site.

Because it's pretty difficult to tell whether a popup is generated from user interaction or not? I also don't think that popup blocker is actually from TNT; it's more probably from some other general-purpose popup blocker that they bought rights to use.

Also... You know Avant is just IE7 with a shell around it, right? :p

I didn't have a Sony Ericsson. And if I have to plug into my computer to use it, then what's the point of having it on a mobile phone? Just isn't worth it. Either way, I don't have Cingular anymore. Even if I did, I wouldn't sign up for it again.