December 19th, 2008 — iPhone Hacks, Tips and Tricks
[Confession: I've been a little slow in getting the usual twice-weekly Forum Reviews up, and cjvitek and msbaylor, as if sensing my slacktivity level, put their production into turbo mode. So what's an editor to do? Come up with an angle, of course! So, from now until we catch up -- or I mess up again -- we'll be presenting lots more Forum Reviews. How many more? Well, we're calling it our Holidaily Double, so howzat for a clue? - Rene]
SimCity Forum Review by msbaylor. (Visit the thread for video and more pics. For more Forum Reviews see the TiPb iPhone App Store Forum!
My main concern before getting this application was – would it be able to handle all the animations on the screen, or would it just be an expensive crashing app? After a brief setup and I selected the tutorial, I got a white screen. I thought this was a glitch (First thought - “NO, Not the white-screen-of-death!”), but after about 15 or 20 seconds, the main Sim-screen came up and walked me through the controls and what everything meant. That alone was very nice to have - major kudos for the help explanations.
Read on for the review, after the jump!
Issues:
The first thing it caught me was – how to add roads. I immediately had problems with this, laying it exactly where it wanted me to. I felt that an offset feature would be nice, so that I could see exactly where I was laying the road instead of covering it up with my finger. I later realized I could zoom in to be more accurate, however, this might prove difficult if you want to lay down a long line of road – pave > pan > pave > pan, etc. Also if you are off when you place something, you have the ability to move it around before confirming its location (a type of “post-offset.”)
Another issue I noticed was under the help menu (not the in game help,) that the buttons are very short and a bit hard to hit if you have fat fingers.
Animations:
Other than that, the game seemed to run just fine. I like how it adjusted some of the imagery to keep from eating up too much RAM without taking away from the game play. For instance – as you zoom out, animations will stop on the structures and just become static images. If you zoom in, all the way – in, you can see you Sims in transit (vehicular movement), however the images become fuzzy and less-sharp in detail as you zoom it. This was a bit of a let down, but I guess it has to happen to keep your handy-dandy iPhone from crashing… After all if viewing one or two structures on the screen, the structures animate, i.e., smoke stack on the oil factory puffs smoke.)
Controls:
The controls are fairly intuitive, incorporating the pinch/zoom, double-tap to zoom, and other features that you would normally use in the Maps.app are implemented into the application when viewing the map.
Tutorial/Help:
If you have question regarding anything on screen, just tap the question mark in the bottom left-hand corner, then tap the area/item that you have a question about and you will be given an explanation. This app has very helpful feature if you are new to this type of game.
Display:
There is a news ticker at the bottom of the screen that alerts you to things that are going on in your Sim’s world. If it is green text, then it usually means something good or something that needs to be fixed soon. This leads me to Advisors – depending on the “news stories” that show up, you have different “advisors” That will advise you on what to do in order to make your city better.
Conclusion:
This game exceeded my expectations in how the game handles and the depth of play, however, I was a bit dismayed on how hard it has to simply lay road down and how the images deteriorated when you zoomed in (I expected more from EA on image quality). If you’re a fan of SimCity or other God-view Sim games, then you should love this game.
Pros:
- Intuitive & Familiar controls
- Numerous features
- In-depth game play
- Great help menu
- Numerous map views to help you during the game.
- Several difficulties of play.
Cons:
- Some of the menu buttons are hard to tap on.
- Laying road or other narrow landscaping accurately can be difficult & frustrating.
- Images aren’t as detailed (noticeably when zoomed into the region).
Forum Review Rating
[SimCity is available from the iTunes App Store, though some may need to search for the "international" version. iSigh.]
This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.
Holidaily Double Forum Reviews: SimCity for the iPhone
December 17th, 2008 — iPhone Hacks, Tips and Tricks
Chester, United Kingdom - Shiny Development Ltd. is proud to announce Charades 1.0 for the iPhone, a fun application for the holiday season that brings iPhone gaming into the living room for everyone to enjoy. Charades for iPhone is a digital assistant for the popular family game, instead of struggling to think of a film, play, book, song or musical to mime out - simply push the lever, a drumroll begins and the curtain is raised on a new Charades challenge.
A timeless game for all ages, the game generates new challenges from a pool of over 1000 individual charades so you will never run out of ideas. The setting for the game is a beautifully drawn theater which has been smoothly animated to bring it to life. Each charade comes with a link to its full Wikipedia article - perfect for resolving those arguments about who made it, starred in it or sang it first.
Cheaper and more convenient than taking a pack of charades cards, with Charades for iPhone you can be ready to mime at a moments notice. Bring out your inner Marcel Marceau this year and have fun with your family and friends.
Since its launch in 2007, The iPhone has proved to be a breakthrough device in terms of bringing mobile apps and gaming to a whole new group of people. Charades for iPhone continues this trend bringing the classic parlour game into the 21st century. With its easy to use interface it provides a real world mobile gaming experience accessible to all ages. Who would have thought Grandma or Grandpa would be playing an iPhone game this Holiday season!
Minimum Requirements:
* Any iPhone or iPod Touch running the v2.0 software update
Pricing and Availability:
Charades for iPhone is available now through the iTunes Application Store for only $1.99 (USD).
Shiny Development
Charades 1.0
Download and Purchase
Screenshot
Headquartered in Chester, United Kingdom, Shiny Development Ltd. is a privately funded company co-founded in 2006 by Dave Verwer and Andrew Thompson. Focused on the long term, Shiny Development’s aim is to develop smart software that makes a difference to the way people live, work and play. Copyright 2006-2008 Shiny Development Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, iPod and iPhone, are registered trademarks of Apple Computer in the U.S. and/or other countries.
December 17th, 2008 — iPhone Hacks, Tips and Tricks
The 2008 Best App Ever Awards is the first iPhone OS Application achievement awards to recognize the best iPhone apps and games released in the iTunes App Store during the past year. Our goal is to help publicize the very best apps available, not just the best-selling apps. There are multiple award categories covering both apps and games.
The process for the awards starts with the nomination phase. You are invited to nominate an app in any of the categories listed on the front page of this site. An app may be nominated in any category, but is subject to disqualification if that app does not match a requirement of the category (such as price, app vs. game, etc.). One nomination per app per category is allowed from an IP address. Nominations will be accepted until December 30th, 2008.
December 17th, 2008 — iPhone Hacks, Tips and Tricks
December 17th, 2008 — iPhone Hacks, Tips and Tricks
Amsterdam - AssistiveWare(R) and LaesieWorks today announced Head Designed(TM). LaesieWorks artist Giesbert Nijhuis, who is paralyzed from the neck down due to a spinal cord injury, has partnered with AssistiveWare to bring his unique head designed artwork to a collection of exclusive apparel. Using his Mac, the KeyStrokes on-screen keyboard, a HeadMouse Extreme and Photoshop, Nijhuis draws with his head: Movie posters, birth announcements, cd covers, and now apparel.
AssistiveWare was originally founded to develop the KeyStrokes on-screen keyboard specifically for Nijhuis. In response to popular request the first design available in the Head Designed apparel store is the original AssistiveWare tattooed salamander logo designed by Nijhuis. Several other animal-flavored designs are in production or in the process of being designed. More themes to come.
“We are extremely proud to partner with LaesieWorks on t-shirts and other apparel,” said David Niemeijer, AssistiveWare’s co-CEO. “Nijhuis is an extremely talented designer and not only designed our company logo, but also the icons of all our Mac software as well as our soon to be released first iPhone title.”
After several months of experimentation with a number of print-on-demand companies AssistiveWare and LaesieWorks have concluded that only true screen prints offer the required quality and durability meeting their high standards. So all apparel offered in the new Head Designed store uses high quality screen prints. Check out the store gallery.
“Designing for screen print is a lot more work than for print-on-demand, but quality makes me smile,” said Giesbert Nijhuis, founder of LaesieWorks. “It is a joy to work with AssistiveWare on this t-shirt project. Their software enables me and others to not only use the computer, but also collaborate through internet on projects like this one.”
Head-designed is also the title of a new video in AssistiveWare’s video podcast series “Exploring the Frontiers of Assistive Technology”. In episode 8 of this video podcast, Nijhuis can been seen in action working on his computer and controlling his environment with his head. This video can be viewed online and is also available in iTunes.
To see more of Nijhuis artwork and photography visit the LaesieWorks web site.
Head Designed
AssistiveWare
LaesieWorks
t-shirt logo
Head-designed video
Head-designed video podcast in iTunes
AssistiveWare is the worldwide leader in innovative assistive technology software for Mac OS X that gives people back their lives. This includes award-winning KeyStrokes(R) and TouchStrokes(R) virtual keyboards, SwitchXS(R) scanning on-screen keyboard, LayoutKitchen(R) panel editor, Proloquo(R) multi-purpose speech solution, and VisioVoice(R), the award-winning solution for vision impaired Mac users. The ConvenienceWare product line makes the advanced technologies developed by AssistiveWare available in cool and convenient applications that can make the life of Mac users easier. AssistiveWare and ConvenienceWare are trade names and trademarks or registered trademarks of Niemeijer Consult. AssistiveGaming, GhostReader, VisioVoice, SwitchXS, KeyStrokes, TouchStrokes, LayoutKitchen, and Proloquo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Niemeijer Consult. Infovox iVox is a trademark of Acapela Group. Head Designed is a trademark of Giesbert Nijhuis. All other trademarks are properties of their respective owners.
