I wondered when the App Store would produce a hit so huge that it would crossover into a cultural phenomenon. It seems that time is now, and the characters in the the limelight will be the fierce and feathered Angry Birds.
Variety reports that the developers at Rovio have been in talks with Hollywood executives about expanding the iPhone success of Angry Birds to the next level. The following is from the original article… Read More
It seems as if someone at Sony feels threatened by the iPhone and its ability as a gaming device. I’m not sure why since it’s quite obvious that the device isn’t the first toy you think of when you hear about “serious gaming”.
Nevertheless Sony has released a PSP commercial taking shots at what is obviously supposed to be an iPhone game. Kevin Butler (whose supposed iPhone has a game titled ‘Lame Castle’ on its screen) and young Marcus Rivers are featured in what is actually a pretty funny clip. Rivers tells Butler that his phone is for “texting your grandma and calling your girl” and that it can’t handle “big boy games”.
Engadget has the full video that informs us that the PSP has games as low as $9.99. It’s an amusing little clip but why Sony feels the need to compare its PSP to the iPhone games is a bit bewildering.
I don’t know about you but when I play a game on my iPhone, it is usually to just pass time here and there. Never have I considered it to be a gamer’s device of choice. Is this just friendly banter from Sony or a bit of desperation? Give us your opinion in the comments right after you text your grandma.
Feeling nostalgic about Space Invaders and other retro games? Apple thought about you and developed a special section in the App Store dedicated to Retro Games.
Check out the Retro Games section here.
I’m not a big gamer at all. Until a month ago, the only games I had on my iPhone were Flight Control and Wildcard Pro Surfing. However, I’ve been traveling a lot lately and spending hours in planes made me develop a gaming habit.
Today, I’d like to share the few games I’ve been playing for the last few weeks. These games are not new, and you may very well have heard of them or even own them. If not, you may want to give them a try.
I remember playing Street Fighter II when I was a kid. My cousin and I spend countless hours on arcade machines. I also remember doing not-so-nice things in order to finance our gaming, but that’s another story…
I was a little skeptical about this game before downloading it because I thought the controls wouldn’t work well on such a small screen. I was wrong. The controls are very good, and the game is fast. Favorite fighter: Ken!
At $9.99, Street Fighter IV is a no brainer for anyone who likes fighting games, or anyone who feels nostalgic about the good old days of Street Fighter II.
I had heard about Doodle Jump for a while but I had no idea what it was about. One day while I was bored in Vietnam, I decided to check out the game description in the App Store. It looked fun so I downloaded it.
Doodle Jump is by no means a technical game. It’s actually quite simple, both in term of concept and design. Your goal is to jump from platform to platform without falling. The higher you go, the more points you score. Don’t get fooled by this candid description. Doodle Jump is highly addictive.
At the time I’m writing this, my highest score is 70,967. And I spent more than 6 hours on it, jumping over 20,000 times (I got this information from the stats page of the game).
Priced at $0.99, Doodle Jump is a must-have for people who like killing time with simple, fun and addictive games.
I was told about this game by one of my Twitter friends who had warned me that Plants vs Zombies was another addictive game, and boy was he right.
The concept of the game is completely retarded: you must prevent zombies from entering your house (and eat your brains) by planting various types of plants, each of them having their own specific weapons. Yes I know, it sounds stupid, but you have to try it to see how fun it actually is.
The first time I played this game, I was sick in my hotel room in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Due to some strange and unusual allergy, I wasn’t able to go out. I started playing Plants vs Zombies. After a while, I realized that I had been playing the game for 4 hours straight. For a non-gamer, I felt kinda bad.
I told my fiancée about this game but she wasn’t really convinced it had potential to entertain her. The fact that I explained her that she had to grow sunflowers in order to get more sun to by more plants wasn’t obviously the best way to turn her on this game. Then she finally decided to give it a try. Like me, she got hooked in no time.
Plants vs Zombies is priced at $2.99 and is a whole lot of fun. Get it now!
Racing games are always fun! I was originally looking for a rally game but many of my Twitter buddies recommended I give NFSU a try, so I downloaded it and got in the spirit pretty quickly.
The game is fast and fairly easy to get your head around. At $4.99, it certainly ain’t cheap but it is a very fun game to play. Warning: have your iPhone charger close by because NFSU will kill your batteries in no time.
What are you playing these days? Please take a minute to leave a comment and let us know what your favorite games of the moment are.
I’m usually up this early for work so it was no sweat for me to get up at 3:00 a.m. and have breakfast with a group of Twitter enthusiasts to get the new Apple iPad. I was one of the few people in the group who was actually not sold on the iPad. I have an iPhone. Why do I need an iPad? I listened to Steve Jobs and watched Apple’s series of videos but nothing so far convinced me to buy one. I knew I had to have it in my hands to know if I really could use one. So, I tagged along.
Apple employees were willing to let me try the device even though I told them I had no intention of buying it.
Unfortunately the Wi-Fi at the Apple Store I was at in Hawaii was so flooded I couldn’t use apps on the iPad that needed the internet and I couldn’t browse Safari. But, there was still plenty to check out.
I immediately wanted to try a racing game and the iPad I was using had Real Racing HD [iTunes link]. I actually didn’t like Real Racing on the iPhone and preferred other racing apps like Asphalt 5. I found the learning curve to be tougher. But, on the iPad I quickly learned how to drive well. I didn’t even read the instructions so I didn’t even use the brakes. Plus, the more recent racing games are notorious for slow loading (especially on the iPhone 3G) but the iPad handled the game with ease.
Another highlight: Pianist Pro [iTunes link]. I know how to play a variety of instruments including the piano. And the iPhone has been almost worthless when it comes to simulating a real instrument. But, Pianist Pro comes pretty darn close to at least a workable toy keyboard. The touchscreen was sensitive enough to handle the chords and arpeggios I threw at it. A drum machine is built-in. There’s a dual keyboard mode for playing both the left hand and the right hand notes. The only real drawback to the app is that the white keys will only trigger when hit below the black keys making a chord like A-flat a little harder. Pianists and keyboardists will know what I’m talking about. If that can be fixed, it would be a near-perfect piano app for the iPad.
My favorite new native feature is the ability to use your photos as an animated picture frame when your iPad is locked. It’s called Picture Frame. Use it and love it.
I’m definitely a lot more intrigued by the iPad now that I had a chance to have one in my hands. If I do get one, I’m more inclined to use the iPad at home and use my iPhone when I’m out on the road. If I do get an iPad I would rather get the 3G version so when I go on trips I’ll always have the internet. Family that I visit in the continental U.S. doesn’t have Wi-Fi. I can just activate the unlimited 3G for that month since there is no contract required.
Leave a comment to let us know what you think about the iPad after trying it out.
Laminar Research (developers of the popular X-Plane series for iPhone) has released another realistic iPhone app: Space Shuttle. Space Shuttle is all about… you guessed it, the space shuttle. Read More
NimbleBit (formerly know as Ian Marsh) who brought us the beloved Scoops and the addicting word game Textropolis, now brings us yet another addicting fun, yet simple game, “Sky Burger“.
Sky Burger puts you to work stacking burgers to order! Catch the right ingredients as they fall from the sky, and don’t forget that top bun when you’re done!
Build over 50 unique burger orders that grow taller and taller the more orders you complete. Complete enough orders in a row and build an unlimited SkyBurger!
Earn cash for each burger and get promoted up the Sky Burger corporate ladder. Watch your business grow with each promotion! Look back at your career stats and compare them to the top Sky Burger employees.
Sound like fun huh? It is. You must catch the right ingredients. The more orders you stack correctly, the faster / wilder the game will get! Then in a random order you will get a Sky Burger order. Basically this is a “wild order”. You just stack as high as you can. To make things more fun the game also has online stats and scores. Read More
Try This Networks have been kind enough to give us two promo codes for Tap of The Dead [iTunes Link]. Here is a description of the game.
A virus has ransacked New York City. Everyone you know is dead…ish. Play as Connor Frost, a reluctant software engineer turned zombie destroyer. Tap patterns as fast as you can before your hand cramps up, and you become one of the walking dead. You need to get to safety! Pass through familiar New York City sites and you might even run into a few familiar faces.
The question isn’t if you can get off Manhattan, but can you do it in style?
FEATURES
*Simple fast paced gameplay – Easy to pickup, difficult to master.
*Auto saves when you quit so you can pick up and play again later exactly where you left off.
*Amazing graphics rarely seen on a phone!
*Over 45 unique levels based on real locations in New York City.
*Short load times. A true pick-up-and-play game for the casual gamer.
*Over 40 different zombies.
*Controls that don’t force your fingers to obscure the action!
COMING IN NEXT UPDATE
*Survival mode – Unlimited zombies and unlimited time. See how long you can survive against the horde.*Worldwide Leader Board – Utilizes Try This Network’s proprietary network so you not only compete against the rest of the world, but see where the top players are located.
Although we have not played it all other Try This games are great. So we don’t see why this could be the exception.
How to Win One Of The 2 Promo Codes:
Leave a comment below with a valid email address. Two random people will be chosen Monday the 20th.
TapArtist [iTunes Link] is a richly featured avatar/picture creator. You get a large library of premade items (hairs, noses, hats, etc) and you can mix and match them on stage. You can move, scale, and color individual components. You can check out what users are making with it (and have it submitted through the app itself) at www.tapartist.com/gallery. Users can download those shared pictures into TapArtist and then edit them. You can save the pictures for your contacts or email them to friends.
It’s a pretty fun app and worth a look for $1.99.
The developer gave us a few promo codes for our loyal readers. It’s gonna be first come first served, so hurry up! Being one of the first to learn about these promo codes giveaways is yet another reason to follow me on Twitter 
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