Expert Blogs
I almost always prefer a good indie game over franchise games from a big publisher. I like to see the little guy win (in and outside of games), so any news forwarding that agenda is worthy in my book.
Chunky Pig, a marketing company for mobile game development (started by games industry veteran Nick Malaperiman), kicked off a contest at GDC to give game developers a chance to get their iOS game ideas noticed by premier publishers in the business (and even win an iPad mini). Enter the contest at Chunky Pig, or read below for the full press info on the event.
Batter up, and it's about time! With the end of the cold comes the promise of freshly mown grass and the sweet ping of a bat cracking against a hardball! It's been a long, cold blizzard of a winter, and it’s time to shake it off and get back in the game with new and updated Major League Baseball apps for Opening Day. Read on for a list of the best apps to add to your iOS bullpen! Swing batter, ssssuwing!
The Belkin Thunderstorm Handheld Home Theater ($199.99) is a rechargeable case for the iPad 2 and 3rd Generation that packs enough sonic punch to knock you out of your seat. Admittedly pricey, this audio accessory from Belkin offers quality and intense portable sound through Audifi digital signal processing, making movies and games immersive fun. This product can also solve the dilemma of buying a separate case, stand, battery and speaker.
Some games draw you in with an engaging storyline or challenging strategy; others, with the adrenaline rush of combat, or simply as a cool way to kill time. In LIBERATION MAIDEN ($4.99), game designers Level-5 went for all of the above. The graphics and anime cut scenes are amazing. The game concept is well developed, and while the storyline may at first be obscure, part of the fun is discovering the history and story as you play. LIBERATION MAIDEN works well with its eye-watering, non-stop action and a screen sprinkled with detailed widgets in and between levels.
If 3D virtual blasting is your thing, you're bound to like two new highly detailed iOS games.
With spring approaching, it’s important to add fresh stimulus to your living space. While this can be as simple as buying a new wall hanging or rearranging the furniture, I decided to improve my home computing space to make it ergonomic, space efficient, and flexible. One way to edge closer to tech Feng Shui is to try Ergotech’s flexible mounting systems. I tried the VersaStand ($79) for iPad and the Freedom Arm ($159) monitor mount with an articulating arm you can attach to the side of your desk. Mounting my various screens moved them up and off my desk, giving me room to work, and the option to pull them close and move them as necessary.
Like many information technology professionals, I've had to become somewhat proficient in basic Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML) coding. As a blogger, that basic knowledge often pays off, particularly when one of my iPhone Life blog posts doesn't look right. I have gathered several great tools throughout the years that help me write and test HTML, the fundamental code that tells your web browser how to present content. If you’re looking for an iPad/iPhone app that can teach you the basics of HTML, check out L2Code HTML ($2.99). This intuitive tutorial app teaches you the fundamentals and also handily provides a color-coded text editor to make creating your own pages (or even formatting blog posts) as easy as pie!
If you’ve been playing Minecraft, and had the thought one day, "Wow, I suddenly wish I had a gun and some ammo and could also run around shooting pixelated Zombies,” thenBlock Warfare: Zombies ($1.99) is definitely your app of the week! You can build blocky worlds to trudge around in, but for the sole purpose of defending them from advancing hoards of, well, block zombies.
This year's Consumer Electronics Show had its share of wireless audio components, several of which I included in iPhone Life's coverage of the event. I found several new Wi-Fi AirPlay compatible speakers. Of the lot, I finally received a Wren V5AP ($399) review unit last week. Of all the Wi-Fi speakers I’ve had the chance to review in recent years, I must say this one truly gives the Sonos Play line a run for its money.
I have several games to report on this week, plus interesting news about the makers of Galaxy on Fire 2 releasing a mobile space shooter, MMORTS (Massive Multiplayer Online Real Time Strategy) game later this year. So let's get right to it!
First up is Trigger Fist (my favorite shooter of all time), which I finally got around to grabbing an expansion pack for. Second, I'll review an old emulation game called Gridlee, a game other blog sites say allows you to drop other game ROM files into and play, although I have not yet personally confirmed this. If true, the free Gridlee may have a short life in the app store as Apple frowns on emulators and may soon yank it. Third up is P.R.O.B.E., a free Sci-Fi board game I played, which has a synthed up computer voice. Last but not least is Versu, a just-released interactive story app, reminiscent of old-school adventure games.
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