Yeah the press was mostly bored due to a lot of reasons. Number 1 theres been leaks of the announcements weeks before the event and although that did generate a lot of buzz before Tuesday, during the actual event the press was pretty much like "okay we know that one already.. NEXT!" And the problem was even if there were announcements that were surprising, they weren't spectacular at all, at least in terms of what were used to seeing with Apple. You also have to take into consideration that in Apple's previous Stevenote they made some mind-blowing announcements (e.g. iPhone 3G) so people were also expecting a lot from this event. Apple really is in a unique situation right now, they're enjoying the iPhone's success however the iPhone also cuts into the revenues of their mp3 players. Thats why they had this event to put a little more interest on their line of mp3 players. And you do raise a very interesting question because with the release of these do-it-all phones / PCs in your pocket theres little to no reason to buy an mp3 that almost costs as much anyway. And one more thing, we never heard "oh, and one more thing" from Steve again with also dissappointed a lot of folks, rumor has it though that macbook updates are coming this October 14th.

Having played it for quite some time I can safely say that the cell stage isnt boring at all, not because its so innovative or a lot of fun but because it lasts just long enough for you to enjoy and understand that part of the game. Come to think of it, pretty much every phase except the last one is the same way. On my first planet reached the final phase in about 5 or 6 hrs. And I guess thats where most of the criticism comes from, a lot of people say that the game is too short and too shallow at certain points and to some extent thats true however in my opinion theres tons of replay value since you can always start a new creature and play the game differently. This is definitely still an innovative game but it almost bit off more than it can chew gameplay-wise.