99Games Online Private Limited has released a word finding game called WordsWorth [iTunes Link]. This is a fun Scrabble-like game in which you need to find words with the letters given. You connect the letters and create a “chain” of letters to form a word.

The game has well done artwork. You can shake your device if you are stuck and need help, but of course this comes with a penalty. There are also “time tiles” which can blow up your library.  The current version of WordsWorth features:

• 4×4, 5×5, 6×6, and 7×7 grids
• Scramble count per level
• Set minimum word length
• TWL, SOWPODS and ENABLE word lists
• Wall of WoW to display high scores
• Green, Gold and Wild Card reward tiles
• Buzzwords for bonus
• 20 levels with different rankings
• Customize the timer speed for a game

The game is available in the App Store for $1.99. This game is great for just $2. Anyone who enjoys word games and Scrabble should take a look at this. And for those of you who are still not convinced, there is a free lite version of WordsWorth available.

Now, I keep trying to put this review off until after Need For Speed is released, but as much as this game keeps getting pushed back, it seems I’ve got a better chance of seeing a black man become president than I do of getting to speed past NFS cops on my iPhone anytime soon.  And now that I’ve made that comment, I want you set your facial expressions to ‘awesome’, and get ready for this super fast, super awesome, super ultimate, iPhone 3D racing review. Join me, long time iPhone modder/blogger, as I weave in and out of traffic and human skulls on my quest to find the ultimate 3D racer. After all, everyone has to have at least one good racer on their iPhone, right?

Now I must make a few things clear before we get started. I decided on the four games chosen for this review based on popularity at the App Store, realistic 3D style and graphics, multiple racing modes, and then probably just personal preference. I am aware that there are more racing games for the iPhone, and feel free to chime in on the comments section about your personal favorites, but for all intents and purposes of this article, these are the games I chose.

RAGING THUNDER

We have a quick game on our hands. So quick that you can launch the game and be racing within 9 seconds (I timed it!) It seems like Polarbit had the best intentions of this game, but a lot of aspects seemed to fall short. Let me tell you the things I like about it before I tell you the things I don’t.

I like that it has a multiplayer mode, but it seems like I’m never close enough to someone else with an iPhone and this game, wanting to play multiplayer, to try it out. I also like that it lets you save player profiles. The quickness is also very important to me. I can’t stand when, say, your waiting at the dentist office to be called. You wanna kill some time with a little iPhone gaming. You launch a game, and after 3 splash screens, a demo video, and a handful of settings, you might get to race around the first corner before you hear your name called out. This is definately not the case here, as the quick play mode picks your car and track, and starts almost instantly.

Now for the things I didn’t quite enjoy. The auto accelerator (so you don’t have to do anything to make the car go) is a neat idea, and really gives the game an arcade feel, and adds to the overall “pick-up-and-play-ability” of this game, but I’m just not a fan. I like that its an option, as I’m definitely more of a speed up, slow down type of person, especially around corners. And finally, the steering seemed a bit too sensitive, which made for a very jerky driving experience when mixed in with the auto accelerator. It seemed as though a small tilt in either direction resulted in immediate detours off the track. The graphics, I can’t say yay or nay about. Of course they’re stunning for a cell phone game, but didn’t seem as sharp as the other racers in the review. Raging Thunder [iTunes Link] is overall a descent game, and could be a great game with some fine tuning. If you can get a handle on the racing controls, it is definitely worth your $2.99.

ShowDown Rank – 4th

Gameplay: 2
Visuals: 2
User interface: 3
Price: $2.99

FASTLANE STREET RACING

The first thing you’ll notice is that it loads in seconds. No cool 3D rendered videos, no clicking through several developer splash screens, just straight to the game and the main menu. The user interface in FastLane [iTunes Link] is extremely simple and easy to use.

Menu hopping has never been such a breeze as you switch from either easy or hard, pick what type of race you’d like to run, and then pick your car. You can choose from arcade, challenge, and time trial races. The absence of multiplayer and career modes are noticeable, but not devestating, as you’ll be plenty busy racing and completing challenges, trying to unlock more beautiful tracks and cars. Which brings us to the next element of the game, the graphics. Everything from the landscapes, to the shine of the cars you catch during replays, look great, and will easily impress your friends who are now embarrased of their 2D versions of Bejewled on their Blackberrys.

Finally, and most importantly, the gameplay. You can make a game look good, but if playing it makes you want to throw your iPhone in the Potomac, theres probably something wrong. Controls in FastLane, are handled by a gas pedal by your right thumb, and a brake by your left (landscape style), and of course the accelerometer deals with the twist in turns. This method actually works very well, as the pedals are large enough where I never miss them, and the accelerometer is sensitive enough where small tilts in either direction are enough to turn your vehicle. With no big name licenses for the cars and the absence of a full career mode, don’t expect this to rival Forza. But for those of you looking for an easy to use 3D racer that you can pick up and play anywhere, this might just be your cup of tea.

ShowDown Rank – 3rd

Gameplay: 3
Visuals: 3
User interface: 4
Price: $3.99

FERRARI GT: EVOLUTION

If you’ve played Asphalt 4: Elite Racing, then you’ve play Ferrari GT Evolution [iTunes Link], well sort of. Since both are made by Gameloft, both are very much alike. Ferrari GT Evolution is kind of like a Ferrari edition of Asphalt 4, and includes a lot of features and fixes that gameloft missed with Elite Racing.

You’ll notice a gorgeous 3D rendered video again at startup. You’ll see similar load times and then a very similar main menu. You still have career, mulitplayer, and quick race options. You also have an ‘options’ option which contains way more options than it’s twin brother Asphalt. Auto accelerator can be turned off and steering sensitivity can be adjusted which makes for a much more realistic and pleasant driving experience. You are limited to Ferrari brand only cars, but there is a whopping 32 of them and they are all gorgeous. I haven’t yet seen the ability to upgrade car parts, or customize any further than the color, but I may be missing something.

For me, it’s mostly about the game play anyway, that kinda stuff gets tedious after a while. Game play is great! With the welcome edition of sensitivity control and auto accelerator off, the steering wheel by the left thumb and gas and brake by the right thumb work surprisingly well. Mix that in with a color coded path your car should follow that is green when your on track and turns red when you’ve veered to far away from it make for a very realistic racing experience. The graphics are just as gorgeous as our #1 pick and at times might look even better. The menu system seems to have been tightened up since Asphalt, as things do seem quicker and smoother, but it may be because there are not as many features in this game.

With longer load times, and tons of options to tweak, if you are looking for a quick pick up game, this may not be the one for you. But if you are going for ultimate mobile racing experience, this one, also, will not dissapoint. At $5.99, you may have a hard time deciding which Gameloft game to go with, and even though Asphalt is taking home the trophy, I might recommend you try this one if your torn, it just seems a little more refined.

ShowDown Rank – 2nd

Gameplay: 4
Visuals: 4
User interface: 4
Price: $5.99

ASPHALT 4: ELITE RACING

If girls were impressed by how sweet games looked on your iPhone, you’d probably want to show them Asphalt 4: Elite Racing [iTunes Link]. This thing screams adrenaline, as launching the application opens a gorgeously rendered 3D video of a Buggatti Veyron, a Ferrari Enzo, and several other cars racing through New York, and you realize this ain’t no ordinary racing game (bad grammar intended for effect).

After a bit of loading time (that’s right, loading time), a menu fit for a console game opens up. You can scroll through an insane amount of high end, brand name cars (licensed!) including Ferrari, Buggatti, Nissan, BMW, etc, even motorcycles! Next, check out which city you want to race in, New York, Paris, L.A., the world is your playground. Tweak your car if you’ve earned some money racing, by switching up wheels, changing paint jobs, upgrading engine parts, almost everything on the car is customizable. Play in or host a mulitplayer game, or start a career on the racing circuit, and see if you can earn enough money to buy an Aston Martin or a Ferrari Enzo.

Sounds like a lot to take in, hopefully its got a good, easy to use interface. Well, the menus are great looking but at times feel sluggish and disorganized, definately needs a good lesson from the FastLane folks. The in-game graphics look great, and animations are nice and smooth (loading times weren’t for nothin’). You have 3 choices when it comes to gameplay. You can use the accelerometer to tilt left and right, you can use a small steering wheel, operated by your thumb, or you can touch left or right of the car when you want it to turn. The accelerometer choice would be nice, but I found myself tilting it so far over it’d go into portrait mode out of landscape mode, and that was rather frustrating. I’ll be honest, I didn’t give the touch steering method much of a chance, it just felt wrong. The steering wheel was cool, but was very sensitive, and I could not find an option to tweak that.

Overall, I wasn’t fond of their controls, but like all racing games, it takes a while to get used to, and before long I was constantly coming in top 3. This game is definitely the mammoth of the 4 and almost the winner by default. It just offers too much content, even at $5.99, it’s a steal. If you are looking for the ultimate racer, I’d have to say this will not disappoint.

ShowDown Rank – 1st

Gameplay: 5
Visuals: 5
User iface: 4
Price: $5.99

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Hope I didn’t blow your minds too much with that crazy review. Let me know about your ifs, ands, and buts in the comments.

Well I have been wanting for a game like this for a while. MobiGame has released their award-winning app EDGE [iTunes Link] for the iPhone and iPod Touch. I was one of the people that though this would not end up well on the iPhone when they saw the trailer.

But boy was I wrong! This game feels natural to the iDevices and you will get used to the controls almost immediately. Be warned; although the game offers a optional accelerometer control; this is not recommended. Touch controls work perfectly and are precise. The game features 26 levels. The game has a moving environment (as seen in the video) which makes the game experience richer. This is a puzzle game; but not the usual kind of game where you just guide the block to the goal. This game has a variety of game plays in which you must ride on moving blocks; hang on to them (called edge time) and more. And if that is not enough; this picture of you riding a robot made of blocks should win you over:

The dev told me that the next update (version 1.1) is coming, it will add :

- new levels
- virtual keypad (optional)
- accelerometer calibration
- new tunes
- global ranking

This app is currently $5.99 [iTunes Link] and definetly worth it. Highly recommended.

Ian Marsh brought us the loved app Scoops [iTunes Link] and now he brings us yet another great application: Textropolis [iTunes Link].

The app is a word game in which you travel around the world though different cities making up words from the letters given (in this case the city’s name). The more words you find; the bigger your population gets and the more cities you unlock.

This app has become one of my favorite apps very quickly. It has a high replay value and never gets old. Whether you like word games like Scrabble or not, this game will win you over. The app contains 30 cities; which you need to fully complete to get 5 stars. Each star is 10% of the total words in THAT city. You can get a hint by shaking your iDevice; but be warned: each hint costs you 1,000 people from your population (score)!

This app is very addictive. It is on sale for $0.99 until January 20th. The developer has submitted an update to Apple pending approval which will contain:

- Improved word definitions
- Softened jackhammer sound
- Holding backspace now clears word
- Slowed hint plane

I think at a dollar this is a steal and definitely worth buying. Can’t wait for version 1.0.!

I admit it – I’m an iPhone photo-holic.  I’m addicted to taking photos with my iPhone.   And the site I use to upload to from my iPhone is Flickr.  However, Flickr does not have a full-featured iPhone app and many apps that can upload to Flickr are very basic.

That’s where Fuzzyshot Photo Blog [iTunes link] comes in.  Although users of Fuzzyshot will definitely benefit, new users can easily create an account right on your iPhone.  And the app can do just about anything the web version does.  You simply snap your photo, set your post title and comment, select public or private and whether you want your photo geotagged or not.  You can also easily e-mail your photo straight from the app.

Browsing other people’s Fuzzyshot pictures is also easy in the app.  The most recent pictures are featured in your feed (so if you don’t want your family’s pictures spread across the internet, you should select private) and you can also check out the most viewed and most discussed pictures in the last 24 hours.  You also get a unique web address as well as an RSS feed for your photos.

I had never heard of Fuzzyshot before reviewing this app, but it appears that it has a well-established photo blogging community.  If you want EASY photo uploading take a look at Fuzzyshot.  It’s free to download and free to sign up.

Many of us remember back to the days of Yore. When first person shooter games like Wolf 3D and Doom were taking the PC market by storm. These games completely changed the video game market and have been reproduced on nearly every gaming platform there is. It’s funny to think how Doom in particular was so revolutionary for its time, and continues to be that way to this day as it makes its way onto the iPhone via always groundbreaking Cydia. Now, groundbreaking usually means stability issues, which those who have read previous articles of mine know how much I despise, but I decided to give it a run.

After a quick splash screen, I’m thrust in the middle of a dark, alien crowded room. Simple, but different on screen controls, make for easy maneuvering. At first it seems as though the game has you in continuous forward motion, then you’ll notice if you tilt your phone towards you, it uses the iPhone’s accelerometer to stop or move backwards. After trying to laugh off an awkwardly dumb moment, I decided it was time to kick some monster butt. Negative. It took several minutes to locate my first monster. The motion sensing seems off, and that tends to make for a frustrating time (maybe it’s something you have to get used to). Combine that with an already boring and hard-to-distinguish-objects, 2D graphics, and it makes for an overall negative experience. Now ZodTTD did get a few things right. The game was actually extremely stable for an iPhone port, didn’t crash on me once. And the control system is one of the better ones I’ve seen, with large left and right arrows placed perfectly for your thumbs.

Maybe it would be better if there was a different way you could move forwards and backwards. Maybe the actual playing screen needs to be larger with smoother graphics. Maybe old school ports like this just aren’t my cup of tea. I’m sure many of our readers love this game. ZodTTD is definitely one of the most respected guys in the community, and I’m sure that Doom will continue to evolve. Is this game going to be deleted from my springboard due to low level of playability? Yes. Does that mean it’s doomed? No. I will continue to watch for future updates and hopefully some things will have been revamped.

Update: I always try and make sure to cover all the bases when posting opinions on software people work really hard on. Upon submitting this article, I stumbled across a ‘mouse sensitivity’ setting in the ‘Options’ category of my Doom menu, I know, who woulda thunk it. This did improve some of my movement issues, however be cautious when tweaking your settings, as this caused my once crash-free app to well, crash. Bottom line, it still did not change my opinion of the game, but as I stated before these old school ports really aren’t my bag.

Is the concert to your favorite musical artist sold out?  Or maybe you HAVE to go to this week’s NFL game but all of the tickets are gone.  Well, a new app called Tiggits [iTunes link] allows to purchase those tickets right on your iPhone.

Just so that there is no misunderstanding, Tiggits is a ticket RESELLER.  That means you are probably not going to get the face value of the ticket.  This service is for those who are willing to pay the extra money for tickets and were either unwilling or unable to stand in line when the tickets initially went on sale.

The best way to find tickets in your area is to do a search.  You can search for a city, venue or performer.  I just typed in Honolulu and chose whether I wanted to see a concert, sporting event, theater event or “other.”  The screenshot posted is the Gloria Estefan concert at the Neal Blaisdell Center next January.  The one thing I immediately noticed is that there are almost no single tickets sold.  They usually come in pairs or larger.  You can also browse the Top 25 events in each category and there is a “Featured” section.

The way you pay for your tickets is with a credit card.  Here’s a screenshot of the billing page:

Look toward the bottom of the page and you will see “Secure Page: SSL-encrypted.”  This is important ANY time you make a credit card purchase over the internet to make sure no one other than the merchant sees your credit card number.  I, personally, cannot vouch for the security of this service as I have not used it.  This review is not an endorsement of the service, but rather an overview of the app.

Tiggits also gives you a coupon code to save 5% on your ticket purchases, which is good incentive to download this app.

Before using this app, make sure you carefully read all the terms and policies.  All sales are final and there is no refunds, exchanges or cancellations.  However, if the event is postponed tickets will be honored for the rescheduled date.

Ever since the iPhone came out in June 2007, one of the main criticisms of its hardware is the less-than-impressive specs of its camera. These days, a 2 megapixel camera with no auto-focus or flash doesn’t cut it for a smartphone. Pictures taken at night or in low-light especially suffers from blurs, despite my best efforts to hold it still, like in this photo:

The app Night Camera [iTunes link] helps with this specific problem.  The program uses the accelerometer to figure out if you’re holding your iPhone steady enough to take a picture.  When it knows the iPhone is steady, it automatically takes a picture.  Check out the result:

For only $.99, night pictures and pictures in low-light are greatly improved.  I also think this is one of the most useful and innovative ways to use the iPhone’s accelerometer.  Just keep in mind that this program does not fix the iPhone’s deficiencies which could be rectified with flash or auto-focus.  Still, for a buck’s upgrade and as an avid iPhone photographer, this app is well worth it.

This review of the OrbLive [iTunes link] iPhone app is at least two weeks in the making.  As soon as I saw OrbLive in the App Store, I knew it had to have it.  OrbLive streams pictures, video, music and documents over your cellular or Wifi network.  But, the REAL gem of the app is its ability to stream LIVE television!  But, I had a couple of hurdles to overcome:

1. I did not have a cable television connection available for my computer.
2. I did not have an MPEG-2 encoder that was compatible.

So, first I had to get a cable connection into my bedroom where my computer is.  I went to Radio Shack and spent $50 for a really good 4-way splitter (yes, we have a bunch of TVs in the house) and a really long cable.  That was the easy part.

Next, I went shopping for a new TV tuner card/MPEG-2 encoder.  I decided to play it safe and get hardware I knew for sure is compatible with Orb, the PC desktop software that streams media to your iPhone.  There was none in stock at the local stores, so I bought the WinTV-PVR USB2 off of eBay for $46.  It’s an external MPEG-2 encoder that can run more than $100.

After installing everything, I have to say that live streaming television iPhone through OrbLive is AWESOME!  The picture doesn’t looks as good as a digital copy of a movie on your iPod, but it’s quite good for streaming TV over 3G and Wi-Fi.

Here’s pictures I captured of live TV on my iPhone on 3G and Wi-Fi.  Can you guess which is 3G and Wi-Fi?:

For the record, the top is Wi-Fi and the bottom is 3G.  I have heard on message boards that the Wi-Fi picture used to look better but I cannot confirm that.  Using EDGE for live television is not good at all.

To use OrbLive on the go, just make sure that your desktop PC running Orb is on.  If you have an external encoder/tuner you need to make sure that is on as well.  As far as I know, Orb does not make software for the Mac.

So, the money I spent on a cable connection, MPEG-2 encoder and a $9.99 app came out to a little more than $100.  Was it worth it?  I’d have to say that it’s a resounding YES!  But, like the MasterCard commercials, being able to watch your favorite live program on your iPhone when you’re away from home is indeed PRICELESS.

Pros: The Motorola Pure H15 bluetooth headset for iPhone has a stunning design, a unique flip boom mic, and a comfortable fit. As for audio quality, it does cancel out background noise, though see below for what we didn’t like.

Cons: The voice quality on the Motorola Pure H15 sounds robotic and unnatural, and you’re sometimes plagued with crackly static.

Overall: The Motorola Pure H15 is an attractive and comfortable headset, but the audio quality could be improved.