Founder and Editor in Chief with the 148Apps Network since July 16, 2008
Hi there, I'm the founder and publisher of this site, the best gosh-darn iPhone site this side of Mars. My team and I do our very best to bring you the best reviews and iPhone news every day. If you think there's something we've missed, let me know.
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While not a replacement for Instagram, Facebook Camera is a good first step in this month+ old union of the two companies. Released today, Facebook camera looks to streamline the viewing of photos and the uploading of them.
The app allows you to apply simple filters to images, tag people, upload multiple images at once, and post a note about the group of photos you are uploading to your timeline.
In quickly testing Facebook camera, it’s a very well made app. Much better and more reliable than the main Facebook app for uploading images. Perhaps that is their plan? The only feature I was left missing was the ability to specify an album to upload images into.
Worth checking out if you upload images to Facebook regularly.
The original Fieldrunners (and iPad version) was one of the first real “wow” games on the iPhone. A game that was everything the new gaming platform needed, fun, amazingly well done, and made you want to play just one more round. Since it’s release nearly four years ago, it has been a staple in best of lists yearly.
It was pretty surprising that after all this time we got word that Subatomic Studios was releasing a sequel. Fieldrunners 2 will be out this June on iPhone/iPod touch and follow on the iPad shortly after. And wow, does it look good. We don’t have much yet, but take a look at this shot.
What we do know is that it has more of everything. More creeps, more levels, more towers. Really looking forward to this one. Hope to get a hands on for you during E3. Stay tuned.
Hit the jump for a few more screenshots and full press release from this highly anticipated sequel.
FIELDRUNNERS 2 INVADES iPHONES THIS JUNE Subatomic Studios announces sequel to classic tower defense game
CAMBRIDGE, MA – MAY 22, 2012 – SUBATOMIC STUDIOS is pleased to announce Fieldrunners 2 for iOS! The massive sequel to the award winning tower defense game, Fieldrunners, will launch on the iPhone at the end of June, with an iPad version available shortly afterwards (pricing tbd). With more levels, more weapons, more enemies, and more ways to play, Fieldrunners 2 packs tons of gameplay into the ultimate tower defense experience.
Fieldrunners 2 features over 20 beautifully hand-painted levels spanning four distinct zones. From the grassy fields, to the scenic cities, and even the secret volcano base, Fieldrunners 2 has it all! Defending each unique map requires a new strategy, and the players are armed with more than 20 upgradeable towers and customizable loadouts to take on that challenge. The limbo-of-death Link tower, the sniper-like Railgun tower, and the we-probably-shouldn’t-be-giving-this-to-people Nuke tower join dozens of others for powerful all-new defensive capabilities. In addition to basic survival and newly revamped time trial maps, mind-bending puzzle maps and innovative sudden death maps have joined the fray. Adding devastating air strikes and precision-based power up attacks to the mix means the fieldrunners don’t stand a chance! Or do they?
In Fieldrunners 2, over 30 different types of enemies rush the field like never before! Moving like a swarm of locusts, each fieldrunner plans their own route through your deadly maze of towers. Change your strategy and the enemies immediately adapt their paths for the optimal attack. Wrapping around obstacles in massive waves, charging over bridges and under tunnels, inside trenches and over open fields, pummeling your defenses from as many routes as possible is all part of the fieldrunners’ plans.
Do you have what it takes to stop the fieldrunners? If you do, you just might discover their secret origins…
About Subatomic Studios
Subatomic Studios, based in Cambridge, MA, is an award-winning independent developer of video games for handheld and mobile devices. Fieldrunners, the studio’s flagship game, combines gorgeous artwork with fine-tuned tower defense gameplay, allowing Subatomic Studios to captivate mobile gamers everywhere with a truly unique entertainment experience. Fieldrunners was first released for the iPhone and iPod Touch, followed by versions for the iPad, the PSP, the Nintendo DSi, BlackBerry, Android, Chrome Web Store, Roku, Gametree TV, and more!
Sonos is easily our favorite app enabled audio solution. And today they announce a new device to make it even better. Adding to the Sonos Play:3 and Play:5, we now have the SONOSSUB. As you may have guessed, a subwoofer. This booming beast looks amazing. As you’d expect it syncs with your Sonos system allowing you to control it from the Sonos Controller app.
“Like all of our products, our new SUB is designed from the inside out by Sonos,” says John MacFarlane, CEO, Sonos, Inc. “SUB has all the hallmarks of a great Sonos product: Clear, deep, all-digital sound, an incredibly simple setup, and beautiful design you’ll be proud to show off in your home.”
The SONOSSUB will be available in mid-June with a glossy black finish for $699. A matte black finish model will be $100 less and be available later in the year.
A few more details below.
Features of the Sonos SUB include:
* Two force-cancelling speakers positioned face-to-face: All the sound and energy from the music comes through loud and clear, and none of it is lost in cabinet buzz or rattle.
* All digital sound: All filter settings, active equalization and time alignment are done digitally through state-of-the-art DSP (Digital Signal Processing) circuitry for zero-loss audio quality and energy.
* Dual acoustic ports: Tuned to maximize the acoustic volume of the SUB and enhance bass resonance.
Powering the SUB are two state of the art Class-D digital amplifiers that have been perfectly tuned to match the speakers and acoustic architecture. The cabinet is made from proprietary resin to create acoustically dead walls with maximum internal air volume. The SUB’s specific dimensions are 15.8 x 6.2 x 15in. (402 x 158 x 380mm) with a weight of 36.3 lbs (16kgs). Full SUB specifications, details and a video can be found at www.sonos.com/SUB.
Not too long ago, Zombie Smash developer Game Doctors was acquired by Zynga. Their next game, merging of Zombie Smash with the Zynga casual game machine, the Zyngification if you will, has been announced, Zombie Swipeout.
The good news? It’s an interesting game. In our few minutes with it earlier this week, it seemed very enjoyable. It borrows heavily from Fruit Ninja yet makes a few interesting twists on the swipe-things-thrown-into-the-air genre. Then there’s the aforementioned Zyngification of the game. You earn coins while playing the game to buy upgrades and progress in the game, yet your progress is limited by your energy level. All of that can, of course, be bypassed by buying in-game goods with cold hard cash.
Wether the game suffers from this paywall method is yet to be seen. Game developers are good, how much and how often you can play are dynamic — so they can change it at any time. Their goal, of course, is to tune it to maximize revenue. To do that, they need to make sure they don’t annoy too many players.
Off my soap box for a bit, the game is actually very well done and I look forward to spending too much time playing it. Unfortunately it’s only out in Canada for another week or so for some final testing. But it will be hitting the rest of the world soon enough. Keep an eye out for it.
Developer: Logitech
Price: $99.99
Hardware Tested On: iPad AKA new iPad AKA iPad 3
Usability Rating:
Protection Rating:
Re-use Value Rating:
Overall Rating:
In what seems like a never-ending streamofiPadkeyboardcases, I have yet to find the perfect one. Instead, I’ve stuck with the Apple Wireless Keyboard wrapped in an Incase Origami case. But that’s not ideal as it’s two pieces.
The Logitech Ultrathin Keyboard Cover isn’t a traditional case. It’s more of a super-Smart Cover replacement. Not only does it have a pretty decent keyboard, it also has the magnetic hinge we are used to from the Smart Cover to connect it to the iPad 2 or 3.
So let’s just get right to the meat of this review — how’s the keyboard? In a word, excellent. It’s probably the best small size keyboard (less than 100% size keys) I’ve used. It’s checks off all of the key features I look at for an iPad keyboard like inverted-T navigation keys, two large shift keys, and properly placed backspace and return keys. It also includes a full list of function keys to automate features like iPad home, media keys, etc.
They keyboard device itself resembles an upside-down iPad 2. It connects, as mentioned, via a magnetic hinge to the iPad 2 / new iPad. While the connection is good, it doesn’t feel quite as strong as the Smart Cover, though good enough to stay connected. When closed, it stays closed easily, also due to magnets. Those same magnets are used to wake the device when the case is opened.
And this case uses magnets like crazy. In addition to the above, similar features to the Smart Cover, this case uses magnets in a way we haven’t seen before. The iPad, when placed into a resting slot in landscape orientation, snaps in and is held secure with magnets. There’s a very good connection here and the keyboard can safely be used on the lap without concern of the iPad slipping out. Unfortunately, this only works in landscape mode.
The one issue is what to do with the keyboard half when not using the keyboard, if you just want to use the iPad itself, and not the keyboard. You can’t fold it behind the iPad itself — the hinge doesn’t work that way. Your only choices are to either use the iPad like an open book, or disconnect it and use the iPad alone. The issue with that is now you have two pieces to deal with. It would have been great it there were at least a way to snap the keyboard onto the back of the iPad (maybe with magnets?) to keep it secure. If you try to hold them together, they slip and it feels risky.
The issues with the Logitech Ultrathin keyboard are very minor, even the above problem of how to hold it when not using the keyboard. Overall, the Logitech Ultrathin Keyboard Cover is the best integrated keyboard iPad case we’ve tested. Looks amazing, and works really well.
The Logitech Ultrathin Keybaord Cover is available for $99.99 directly from Logitech and many other retailer and online (like Amazon).
Update 5/11: In an interview on Finnish YLE TV this morning, Rovio CEO Mikael Hed talked a bit about Rovio’s next game, based on Casey’s Contraptions IP. The game will be called Amazing Alex and will be released in July of this year. Casey has been renamed Alex yet remains a curious young boy who loves to build things.
We mentioned yesterday that we believed that Rovio had bought the rights to Casey’s Contraptions. While neither the original developer or Rovio could confirm it yesterday, today we have gotten official word from Rovio that this was indeed the case.
Rovio’s VP of Franchise Development, Ville Heijari commented on our story from yesterday “We can confirm that we have acquired all rights to Casey’s Contraptions IP from Snappy Touch and Mystery Coconut. We are currently reworking the title to enhance it, and getting ready to re-introduce it in a true “expect the unexpected” Rovio style launch to an even larger audience”.
Ville further commented on what makes Casey’s Contraptions a perfect fit for the Rovio brand. “Working with Noel and Miguel has been fantastic, and this is a game that we all fell in love with from the first play. The gameplay is a perfect fit in our arsenal with its approachable, fun and highly addictive take on the physics puzzler genre.”
We also asked Noel Llopis, the developer half of the games creators and the face behind Snappy Touch how this deal happened. He commented “We didn’t create Casey’s Contraptions with any thoughts of ever selling it. We just concentrated on making the best game we could and infuse it with as much personality as possible. The fact that Rovio came along and wanted to buy it was a happy accident that happened along the way. We’re really excited to see it get a second chance and to have it reach a much larger audience than we could have ever dreamed of.”
It will be interesting to see what changes Rovio makes to the excellent game. Will they keep the innovative sharing features (in Casey’s Contraptions, you could share your solutions, many times very unique, with other players)? Will the art style change? Will it be simplified or more complex? What about crossovers — will we see Angry Birds show up in the game? All questions we’ll have to wait to find out. As the game gets closer to release, we will undoubtedly find out more.
Expect Rovio to release the game for iOS and Android this summer, with other platforms to follow after that.
And now that Casey’s Contraptions in the capable hands of Rovio, what’s next for Snappy Touch? Again, Noel comments “I’m working on my games full time. I haven’t decided what my next game will be yet. I do know that it will be focused primarily on creativity and player expression, just like Casey’s Contraptions or Flower Garden. At the same time, it will be quite different from those games. That seems to be a theme with me so far: After doing one game, even if it’s successful, there’s a lot less creative challenge to make something very similar, so I rather move on and explore something different.”
For a look back at what was, here’s the excellent gameplay trailer from the original Casey’s Contraptions. Now that the game has been removed from the store, it will have to do to hold you over.
We’ll let you know as soon as we find out more about this, the next game from Rovio.
Update (5/10): Our story has been confirmed by Rovio and Snappy Touch — see our follow up, confirmation story for details.
We see a little teaser in the end of the video announcing that Angry Birds has shipped one billion copies. Take a look below:
That kid looks familiar – and what’s that in the background? Some sort of a Rube Goldburg contraption? Take a closer look:
And now a shot from Casey’s Contraptions:
We’ve seen that kid before. Notice the balloons are the same, the green hamster tubes are the same, looks really familiar. That looks like an iPad game we’ve played before. Checking in with the developer of Casey’s Contraptions, Noel Llopis tweets:
Before rumors start flying, Rovio is a perfect gentleman. Not a Zynga at all. Don’t worry, all is well
Now connecting the dots, we remember that Casey’s Contraptions is one of our favorite iPad games of the past year. Yet development seemed to stop at some point. Makes a little more sense as to why now.
While we have not gotten official confirmaiton from Noel nor from Rovio at the time of writing, I think we can assume that the next Rovio game will be a version of this game we loved so much.
Want to see what the next Rovio game is going to be like? Grab the old version now and give it a try. The game has now been removed from the store. For more information, see our follow up, confirmation story.
For over four years, the crew at TouchArcade have provided a great place to go for iOS game lovers. Earlier this year they unveiled their mobile site and they are now following that up with a wonderfully designed native iOS app. We have been taking it for a spin for the last couple weeks, here’s a quick look.
The Touch Arcade iOS app gives you great mobile access to the TA site content in a very well designed native iOS app. The reviews and news are there for quick access and reading on the go. Also included is a great reference for the past reviews, sortable by category, price, and rating. For the app-crazed, you can also turn on notifications to be notified every time a new post is published.
There’s also mobile access to the forums, the liveliest past of the TouchArcade site.
But by far the best feature is the Hot New Games section. Both in a sidebar of the main screen and in it’s own section, you see the games that people are talking about most on the Touch Arcade forums. A great way to get a quick look at games that may be new to you.
The Touch Arcade app is out now. If you are a mobile game lover, grab it!
Mini Motor Racing got a great four and a half stars in our review. And it’s just been updated to be even better with multiplayer support!
Take a killer top down racer with an extensive single player career mode and add in four player multiplayer and you end up with verison 1.5 of Mini Motor Racing. The great arcade racer from The Binary Mill. The multiplayer can be from 2 to 4 racers at a time and can include either your Gamce Center friends or random match-ups.
Not only has verison 1.5 added multiplayer, it’s also added a new circuit to the career mode with four new tracks and 12 new cars. That brings the total to 30 tracks and 18 different vehicles.
If you have the new iPad, the HD verison has been updated to support retina graphics in the game. A great top down racer is now even better. Grab it now if you haven’t tried it already.
Stitcher has always been a great app to go to for audio content. They have now implemented a new feature that allows then to create focus sections on a particular category. The first of these sections to launch will the a 2012 Presidential election that includes audio endorsed by the candidates themselves.
“The majority of Stitcher users listen to news and political content, so creating the Election Center was a natural step for us,” said Noah Shanok, CEO of Stitcher. “There’s an avalanche of coverage during election season and it can be tough to get the best information when you need it. We’re rolling out trending topics on demand, a first in the industry. We see this as part of our mission to further the evolution of radio by making it more relevant and accessible than ever.”
The new Election Center allows you to follow news about your candidate or candidates of choice. It also allows you to focus on particular sources or topics. Using transcription, Stitcher will allow you to search in the transcribed text of the audio features to find mentions of the topics you are interested in.
Election Center is just the first step. Expect to see Stitcher roll out the focus areas to other topics in the near future. But for now, the updated Stitcher with Election Center should be available now. Grab it at the link below.
It was a long wait but you can finally get your hands on it. Long after competitors Rdio, Mog, and Slacker released their iPad apps, nothing from Spotify. But it’s finally here, the Spotify iPad app, and it’s spectacular.
The iPad version of Spotify use the sliding panes interface that is becoming the defacto standard. If you have used Twitter for the iPad, you’ll be familiar with the style. The app is very well done providing easy access to all standard Spotify features. Looks like the wait was worth it.
If you are not familiar with Spotify, it’s an “All you can listen” music service. It gives you access to millions of tracks for a monthly fee of around $10. And much like any music player you can create playlists, repeat tracks, shuffle, etc. The one big feature that really sets Spotify apart from competitors is that you can integrate your music library with Spotify. So if there are tracks you have that they do not have the license to, you can still listen to them, all in the same place. It has, for me, pretty much taken the place of iTunes Music and iTunes Match.
Grab the new Spotify app at the link below. Do you use Spotify? What’s the feature that sets it apart from the others for you?
The first, and the most important thing to get out of the way is that N.O.V.A. 3 is NOT a freemium title. Gameloft have played the freemium waters, successfully at times, spectacular failures at other times. But let me repeat, N.O.V.A. 3 will not be a freemium title. There will be in-app purchases available for certain things, but they are not required to play or progress through the game. Whew. I know that takes a load off many core gamers minds.
N.O.V.A. 3 starts out with our hero, Kal Wardin, crash landing on Old Earth (in San Francisco no less), to find that the enemy Voltarites have invaded. In this first of 10 levels, you progress quickly, but as you’d expect building the game difficulty as you go. Starting out with just a pistol and gathering other weapons and equipment as you kill enemies and move through the level.
The story of what has happened builds as you move through the first level with very well done, fully voiced storyline played out in cutscenes. One difference noticed between this one and previous ones is that it just feels more natural. Even N.O.V.A. 2, as good as it was, felt way more contrived and scripted. N.O.V.A. 3 flows more naturally and just feels more professional. This installment is also has full retina support, even on the new iPad. That means it’s one gorgeous game.
To sum it up what you can expect in N.O.V.A. 3, it’s the great N.O.V.A. experience we expect, turned up to eleven. Better gameplay, better graphics, better script, and more of everything we have loved in the previous installments. Take a look at this teaser for a peak at what you can expect.
N.O.V.A. 3 also includes a 12 player multiplayer mode. The multiplayer is sure to be great with six different game modes. All of the weapons and vehicles are available in multiplayer.
While we weren’t able to test multiplayer in our preview time, it is a feature that I’m looking forward to as Gameloft has, in the past, done a good job with the multiplayer modes in their games.
N.O.V.A. 3 will be available in May. Check back and we’ll let you know as soon as it’s available.
Take a look at the following video for the first gameplay footage.
Hit the jump for a few more details on N.O.V.A. 3!
Update: We received a response from EA that will at least make it possible to get Tetris for iPad back if you paid for the original version. Check the bottom of the post for more details.
EA Mobile has just released a new version of Tetris for the iPad. It uses the updated control method that the new iPhone/iPod touch version uses. That’s well and good. The new control method is actually one of the better improvements on Tetris I’ve seen. But the problem is, you have to re-buy it. Even if you bought the old Tetris, you have to re-buy this one and you don’t have access to the old app anymore.
Let’s say someone who has purchased Tetris for the iPad moves to a new iPad, or even gets a replacement under warranty. If that user, like many, doesn’t back up to iTunes on the desktop, they will no longer have access to the Tetris app they previously paid for.
Developers that want to put out new versions of apps and charge for them are more than welcome to. We’ll let consumers vote with their downloads on wether that is a good idea. But to make unavailable to download a previously purchased item? That’s a pure anti-customer, and obvious revenue-based decision.
The lack of an ability to download previously paid for digital goods, in the case an app, is the real problem. In the world of digital distribution, one where we are moving to a cloud-based backend and a Post-PC world, the apps and other digital media you buy in the App Store, you expect to be available forever. But the sad truth is, they are not available if the developer chooses to pull them. There are hundreds of thousands, perhaps even millions of Tetris for iPad users that will find that out next time they upgrade devices and try to download the app.
And that is not the idea that Apple had when it introduced iTunes in the Cloud and subscribed to the Post-PC idea of the future.
This isn’t the first time EA has done this either. The original Bejeweled 2 has been pulled in favor of an IAP loaded version of the same just called Bejeweled. And of course, the same trick was played with Tetris for the iPhone/iPod touch.
And to make things even worse, the previous Tetris for the iPad was publicized and put on sale as recently as last week, in EA’s Easter app sale.
EA, please stop cheating your loyal and paying customers. There’s no reason they should be required to re-pay for new apps because the decision is made to update them. If they are happy with the old version, they should still have access to it.
Note that we have asked EA for comment on this, but due to multiple timing issues including deadlines, time zone differences, and our contact being out of the office, we have yet to hear back. We will update this post when we do get an official response.
Update: 4/13 We heard back from Alexis McDowel, PR Director for EA. The following is their response to our query on where Tetris for iPad the original version went.
As you know, the “old” version of Tetris was recently removed from the App Store in order to accommodate the new version of the game (which is also titled “Tetris” but has several new/different gameplay modes and features ), but consumers who have previously purchased Tetris should still have access to it via their “Purchased” account in the cloud—even if they’ve bought a new device and are trying to access the game from that newer device, it should be in there.
We just tried it on our end (i.e., trying to pull up the “old” purchased Tetris on a new device), and we were able to do it with by following these steps on our new device:
1) Click on App Store
2) Purchased
3) Not on this iPad
4) Scroll through to find your title and download.
We also checked with one of our on-site support members and were told that your previous Tetris purchase should not go away as long as your firmware is updated—no sync to a desktop necessary.
So there you have it. I have verified this on my iPad and see that Tetris for iPad is available to download even though it’s no longer available in the App Store. In light of that, calling this cheating customers is way out of bounds. But confusing and annoying it most certainly is. Since the app can not be searched for in previous purchases for unknown reasons, this will still lead to many users thinking they need to pay for the new version. Confusing and annoying, yes.
Seems like Blake raised a bit of a ruckus last week with his post about the Atari Pong Developer Challenge. On the surface the challenge looks like a good opportunity for developers, but iOS developer Brian Robbins points out a few issues potential entrants should note, particularly the ownership of the entered game ideas – even for non-winners.
Atari asserts full ownership over everything you submit to their contest. This means that whether you win or lose the contest, Atari has full rights to develop your idea, and more importantly, you will no longer have the ability to develop it yourself. This is true even if you don’t make it past the first round of the competition!
This becomes even troubling for the semi-finalists. Where in the first round entrants only need to submit an idea, semi-finalists must develop their idea into a playable version, devoting significant amounts of development time and resources into the project, yet they still have no guarantee on receiving any monetary compensation, and again, Atari will completely own anything they submit, whether or not they advance.
In the interest of fairness to Atari, it should be noted that this is a contest to create a Pong game. A game that Atari already owns the name, style, and gameplay of. Still, owning all entered ideas, even if they don’t win, seems overreaching.
On the subject of how a winning game producer would get paid, there are also issues with how much money can be earned, as Mr. Robbins points out.
Horrible Royalty Structure – Atari recently tweaked the royalty structure for the contest but sadly their attempt to address this does very little to improve the contest for developers. They have changed this from a royalty that only lasts for 1 year, and increased it to a royalty that lasts for 3 years. This still avoids the heart of the issue with trying to entice developers in with promises of a larger prize. The “winners” each get their share of 20% of the revenue of the final released app, however that 20% is shared amongst all finalists. This means, if Atari selects 10 finalists, as they plan to, each winner will only receive 2% royalties on final app sales, and that will only last for 3 years, or until the cap for their prize is hit. In order for the top winner to receive their full $50,000 payout, the game will need to receive revenue of $2.5 Million in the first 3 years. This is a huge revenue target that very few iOS games have been able to reach.
Further, Atari has left intact all of the deductions off of royalties, which include, among other things, marketing costs. This means that any money Atari spends promoting the app is deducted from the resulting revenues, before any of the “winners” get to earn their royalties.
Atari has positioned this contest as a great way for indie developers to make a name for themselves and win significant prizes along the way. However, their contest rules are anything but indie friendly. They assume ownership of everything that gets submitted, even if it isn’t a winning entry, they then hide half of the prize money in a royalty structure that will make it extremely difficult for the winners to ever realize the full value.
It’s not all bad news though. There may be a few young and eager developers that Mr. Robbins thinks could come out ahead on the contest.
There is a small group of people for whom this contest could be an okay deal, and that’s very young developers for whom the $5,000 payoff for becoming a finalist would be worth the 5-weeks of development time it will take to build the playable version and trailer will be a significant payoff. This means even the smallest professional or semi-professional developers are out, as the cost of spending 5 weeks on something easily outweighs the $5k payoff.
So as with any contest, read the fine print and know your options. While there is an opportunity here, the harsh conditions and risk of even entering will rule out the contest for most developers. But if this contest is right for you, and you understand the limits, Pong away.
The day after we learned that Zynga has purchased OMGPOP, the developers of Draw Something, we are reminded what a real franchise on the App Store is. Angry Birds with it’s 600+ million users is expanding.
Angry Birds Space is now available on just about everything with a screen. This of course includes iOS devices both large and small. Angry Birds Space is available now for $0.99 [App Store] and $2.99 for the iPad [App Store] version. Both versions includes 60 levels in the initial release. For a quick round-up of Angry Birds Space, see the post from Carter on the game from yesterday.
Talking yesterday with Peter Vesterbacka, CMO of Rovio, we can expect to see regular updates to Angry Birds Space over the coming months — much as we have seen with the other Angry Birds games.
We also learned from Peter today that we can expect four additional Angry Birds games this year. Rovio will also be launching a brand new franchise this year, separate from the Angry Birds brand. Something to look forward to!
We’ll be posting our review of Angry Birds Space in the morning. But we’re guessing if you are Angry Birds fans, you won’t wait for our word on the game.
Some 3D iPad games like Zen Bound 2 may be able to take advantage of the iPad retina display already. We talk details with Secret Exit, and show you what it will look like.
At GDC last week, I had a great conversation with Jani Kahrama from Secret Exit about the new retina display on the iPad. In particular we discussed Zen Bound 2 [App Store Link], one of my very favorite iOS games. It’s also a game that really shows off iOS devices with it’s fantastic 3D graphics. We were continuing the conversation that so many had started about what it would take to upgrade iPad apps to the new retina display. I don’t have much to add to that conversation other than it’s not easy and will add in many cases considerably to the app size.
The good news is that Zen Bound 2, as it exists now on the App Store will look pretty good on the new iPad and its retina display. It was originally created to display at the maximum resolution that the device supports. This was done to allow the app to be universal on the iPad and iPhone 4S and to future-proof the app. That means that it will run at full resolution on the new iPad, taking full advantage of the retina display.
There is one downside. Initially the user interface elements (buttons, etc) were not created for the higher resolution. So while the elements will be positioned properly, this will mean that initially those items will not be proportional and will be a bit small. An update will be coming in the weeks following the release of the new iPad to fix that issue and increase the resolution of the textures used in the game. This will just make the game look even better.
Let’s take a look at some comparison screens to see how amazing the new screen will really be. Please note that looking at these samples on a computer screen really won’t convey how good they will look on a retina screen. For that, you’ll need the new iPad.
In the sample below you can see the current iPad 2 screen size (768×1024) on the left, how Zen Bound 2 will look like on the new iPad (1536×2048) in the middle, and how Zen Bound 2 will look like once the user interface elements are adjusted (still 1536×2048) on the right. Click on the image for the full size — caution — really large.
For more samples, take a look at the gallery below. Zen Bound 2 will be a great app to show off what the new iPad retina screen can do. It will be one of the first apps I download tomorrow. This is one beautiful app.
Today, Apple unveiled a very expected update to the iPad, but also a very impressive one. In addition, we got a few things we weren’t expecting.
The iPad 3 looks to be a solid update to the iPad 2. Not only do we get an amazing retina display screen and updated internals for a faster device while maintaining the look of the iPad 2, but we also keep the great battery life and price points. Here’s a quick rundown of the new iPad. Which, by the way is called just “the new iPad.” Or perhaps it will end up being known as just iPad like the Macbook and iMac lines.
Retina Display
The new iPad includes an amazing retina display. That means that it has 4x the pixels of the iPad 2. For comparison, that’s even one million more pixels than a 1080p TV. The new iPad will have a resolution of 2048×1536 or 264ppi. That amazing display will really make reading text a dream and less strain on the eye. The new display also has 40% better color saturation than before. It should really pop.
Apple A5X Processor
The increased number of pixels requires more horsepower to push them around quickly. The new iPad will include the Apple A5X processor that has quad-core graphics in a dual core processor. Apple compared that to the current high end for Android devices, the Tegra 3 and noted that the A5X offers four times the performance of that chipset.
5MP Rear Camera
The camera on the iPad gets a boost to 5MP, similar camera to the iPhone 4 in specs. HD video recording, video stabilization, etc. A solid upgrade. But please, don’t be holding up your iPad to take pictures. You’ll look like a dork.
What doesn’t get an upgrade is the front camera. That remains at just VGA resolution. Sorry, no Facetime HD this update.
LTE, Up to 73 Mbps Speed
LTE, the next generation mobile data communication will be available for the new iPad. In the US that will be available on AT&T and Verizon. In Canada available on Telus, Rogers and Bell. The extra speed will really make the downloads fly when using the device away from Wifi.
In addition, the iPad can now be a personal hotspot if the carrier supports it. It will also support GSM 3G when traveling in areas that don’t support LTE.
“It’s the privilege of a lifetime for me to work with the most innovative people on Earth. Only Apple can deliver this kind of innovation in such a beautiful, integrated, and easy to use way. It’s what we love to do, it’s what we stand for.” – Tim Cook
How to get one!
Pre-orders for the new iPad start today and will be available March 16th in the US, Canada, UK, France, Germany, Switzerland, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Australia. The prices remain the same as the iPad 2:
iOS 5.1, a minor update to iOS 5 will be available today. It’s a good update with few new features but a lot of fixes. The only new feature highlighted was Siri for Japan.
iOS 5.1 should be available now, check for updates in Settings, General, Software Update.
Apple TV 1080p
Apple announced an update to the hockey puck shaped Apple TV. The new model will support 1080p content, which is now available in the iTunes store TV and Movies section. iCloud will be there to support movies now, in addition to TV shows which were added last year. In addition, the new Apple TV comes with a new streamlined interface that looks more and more like iOS with tiled icons. The Apple TV is actually running a version of iOS, with a different interface.
The updated Apple TV will be available March 16th and maintains the same price, $99.
The Apps!
Of course at 148Apps, we are, obviously, all about the apps. The apps demoed today were a great demonstration of what can be done with the new device. Here’s what we saw:
Sky Gamblers from Namco – This simplified Ace Combat game, sort of a more casual version, shows that the new iPad can and does beat the consoles in the graphics power. While the game itself isn’t as complex as console titles, it will look better.
Sketchbook Ink from Autodesk – Autodesk showed a version of their new app, a line art focused version of Sketchbook. This app can create and export images of up to 100 MP in size. Line art (think Adobe Illustrator) is resolution independent so you can zoom in as far as you like and maintain smooth lines. Sketchbook Ink be available in April.
Infinity Blade: Dungeons from Epic Games — The natural extension to the Infinity Blade franchise I guess. This game appears to be a Diablo like game set in the Infinity Blade world. You quest is to find the Infinity Blade. Created to really exploit the retina display. The new iPad has more memory and of course a higher resolution than the PS3 or Xbox 360 so it’s a dream for game developers. No release date given, it’s just coming soon. Check out the trailer below:
iWork Apps – A free update will be coming to support the new retina display. Still $9.99 per app for Pages, Numbers, and Keynote. Available today.
Garageband – now includes Smart Strings, a note editor. You can also push your creations back and forth with iCloud. In addition, 4 devices can “jam” in real time. Sounds interesting. Available today.
iMovie – iMovie also updated for retina and 1080p movie editing and exporting. It also includes some new outlining, storyboarding, planning and editing tools.
iPhoto for iPad – The star of the app show had to be iPhoto, a new app, and we’ll have more details soon. But this is, as you would expect, not iPhoto brought to the iPad. It is a reengineered and rethought app focused on touch interaction. From everything we’ve seen they have done an amazing job. It includes some features like photo browsing, editing, effects. Also includes beaming for sending photos between devices and a new feature Photo Journals.
Some of the more interesting and new things in the app include some new gesture types (like swipe in/out from the bezel), some great photo analysis tools like find similar photos, and an auto-correct photo that will not only fix exposure problems but even straighten tilted photos.
All of the editing in iPhoto is non-destructive — that means that you can always go back to the original photo. No need to worry about doing something creative and destroying your original.
Photo Journals are a way to group photos and annotate them with memories, quotes, etc. They can be laid out and then shared via iCloud to any browser.
iPhoto will be $4.99 and available today in the App Store. [App Store Link (will be live soon)]
What We Didn’t See
We didn’t see some thing many expected. Siri for the iPad or Apple TV for one. I’m not convinced that Apple thinks of Siri as the future of user interface that many do. I believe they see it more as a mobile assistant. As such, it really works on the iPhone and iPhone alone. This could change of course as the scope of functions that Siri handles expands in the future.
We didn’t see a preview of iOS 6 — as hoped. iOS 6 is expected to be as big of a change, if not even more of a change as iOS 5.
We didn’t see Facebook integration. Many expected Apple to finally include the same integration in iOS for Facebook as Twitter sees. Well I guess, not yet.
We didn’t see a new accessory. Many thought that Apple would introduce a new back cover to compliment the Smart Cover. Nothing announced — though it could show up in the store later.
Summary
Apple made some bold moves today. They introduced an iPad that we’ll not likely see duplicated in hardware design on Android devices before the next iPad is ready. In addition they made some interesting branding moves by dropping the revision number from the iPad line. The next iPad will just be called iPad. And I’m guessing we’ll see all future iPads called the same. Similar to the iMac / Macbook lines where they are all called the same. So we’ll have to denote this as the Winter 2012 iPad I guess.
What we now have is a device that’s more powerful as a game machine than the PS3 or XBox 360. It’s has access to more games and at much cheaper prices. Now we just need to start seeing more AAA titles.
The new iPad is a very solid device created to address many of the outstanding requests of users. A better screen, faster processor, and faster communications. Well done Apple.
It hasn’t been a good few weeks for EA Mobile. With the disastrous launch of Battlefield 3: Aftershock and the eventual permanent removal of the game. And now The Simpsons: Tapped Out has disappeared from the App Store.
We have reached out to EA Mobile press relations for a statement on why the game was pulled and when or if it will return, but have yet to hear back. The help page for the game mentions that it was removed due to server capacity issues.
To ensure current players have the best possible experience, we’ve temporarily removed The Simpsons: Tapped Out from the App Store to limit the game’s server capacity to its current players and address connectivity and lag time issues.
If you’ve downloaded the game, you can continue to play. Actually, your experience should only improve as we work on a solution. As soon as we have resolved these issues to handle greater player capacity, we will return The Simpsons: Tapped Out to the App Store…
EA launching a game with server capacity too low? A problem they traditionally have on console titles, but that’s a new one for mobile titles. But, honestly, I don’t think that server capacity is the only problem with the game. While not as bad as Battlefield 3: Aftershock, it does have more fundamental problems beyond just server capacity.
For one, The Simpsons relies on EA’s frustrating Origin game network to play the game. There’s nothing that a game developer can do to be less inviting to a new user than putting them through a frustrating 5 minute account creation procedure at the launch of the game. Origin is EA’s attempt to capture more of the “user graph” in the EA gaming universe. But for users it’s a painful process totally devoid of any reward. Origin engineers seem to be trying to make the process as difficult as possible. And if you do actually get logged in you are rewarded with a grand total of nothing useful. Game Center works, it’s easy, my gaming friends are there, not in Origin. In addition, Game Center doesn’t require the user to sign in to every game for it to work. Game Center just works.
The other problem, as Brad detailed in our review of The Simpsons: Tapped Out, the game relentlessly pushes you to spend money. Not because you want to have more fun, but because you are annoyed. A trait that is unfortunately common on a badly designed freemium game from a traditionally core gaming company. How many times have we seen this from other companies like Glu and Gameloft? They all seem to struggle to get the balance between fun and making money. And EA seems to be falling into the same traps. The key that they don’t seem to understand is to make people want to pay to make the game more fun, don’t annoy the user into paying.
I’m sure we’ll see The Simpsons: Tapped Out back in the App Store soon. They will fix the server capacity issues and get things going again. I doubt they will fix the fundamental flaws in the game though.
iOS growth has been staggering in China, and yet still has a long way to go. That’s why it’s not too surprising that the 25 billionth app downloaded from the App Store was announced to be a free game downloaded in China. It really sets the tone for the future.
Apple recently ran a promotion as a countdown to the 25 billionth download on an app on the App Store. That 25 billionth download happened over the weekend. It was announced today that Chunli Fu of Qingdao, China downloaded that 25 billionth download. The app downloaded was Where’s My Water? Free. To me, that’s very telling of the future of mobile gaming and iOS expansion.
Asia, and particularly China is a huge potential market for iOS in particular and Apple in general. With well over a billion people, the market is huge and growing with iPhones becoming a hot commodity. You may remember that Apple had to halt the sale of the iPhone 4S in China in January due to near riots. The pent up demand is that high there.
Not to mention that App Annie is reporting user growth in China has increased 298% and revenue 187% over the last year. This outstrips growth seen in all other countries and it’s not expected to slow down anytime soon.
The fact that the 25 billionth download was for a free game, is not much of a surprise. I’ve heard from many that users in China are not traditional used to paying for games. Simon Li, Deputy General Manager of Wireless Gaming Products for Tencent recently presented at the Mobile World Congress some information on the games market in China. While Tencent’s top mobile game in China makes the equivalent of $3 million per month, that game is free and relies on in app purchase for that income. He reports that freemium is required for that market as users are rarely willing to pay for a game.
If you are an app developer and you aren’t addressing the China market, now might be a good time to start.
At Macworld | iWorld this week, OmniGroup leader Ken Case showed off the end cap to the suite of iPad applications his company released right after the iPad was announced. OmniPlan, a popular desktop project management app, is now available for the iPad.
Featuring all of the main features you would need while pouring over project plans in meetings or while on the go, OmniPlan is the mobile cousin to the desktop app of the same name. While the version we saw isn’t finished, it already shows an impressive interface with the familiar gantt chart interface and support for multiple project plans. All of this data syncs back to the desktop version of OmniPlan.
No current release date or price is known, but the price will probably hit around $39.99 if past OmniGroup app pricing is an indication.
It was an amazing year. With over 1.5 million votes cast (over three times the number cast last year) and a record number of nominations, we now have the winners of the 2011 Best App Ever Awards. Thanks to all that voted, nominated, and made these fantastic apps!
Halfbrick made iOS the winner of the Best App Ever by beating the top Android vote getter by nearly 10:1. Here are a few more interesting stats:
1,565,833 total votes cast
1.1 million unique voters
36,431 number of votes the top vote getter, Jetpack Joyride, got across all categories
1,692 unique apps in the awards
53.9% of the votes were for iOS apps
46.1% of the votes for Android apps
1 Best App Ever winner, Jetpack Joyride from Halfbrick Studios!
Thanks again for voting, we’ll be back again next year for our 5th Annual Best App Ever Awards!
Read on for the full list of winners or check out the Best App Ever Awards site for full details on all categories.
The nominated applications for the 2011 Best App Ever Awards have just been announced. This year saw a huge increase in the number of nominations placed and the number of applications nominated. The big change this year was the introduction of Android applications to the awards, with each category (other than the Best App Ever category) having a winner from each platform.
The Best App Ever Awards are the most prestigious (if we do say so ourselves) and longest running mobile app awards. Last year saw nearly 500,000 votes cast in the awards, and this year the goal is over a million. Here are a few more stats on this year’s awards:
2011 Best App Ever Awards, By The Numbers:
287,643 nominations placed by users at the site
7,243 different applications submitted for nomination
1,692 different application are final nominees
1,336 different developers have apps nominated in the awards
109 app / game categories in the 2011 awards
76% of the nominations submitted were for iOS applications, 24% for Android applications
42 Gameloft app nominations, Gameloft leads the pack with the most of any publisher
20 nominations per category (10 for iOS, 10 for Android)
1 Best App Ever category winner (it’s iOS vs. Android)
The overall winner, the Best App Ever will be chosen in a no-holds-barred cage match between the 10 top iOS and 10 top Android nominees. Only one supreme app will reign supreme as the single best app on its mobile platform. Which will it be? The iOS nominees are listed below:
Voting is open now through January 25th with the final winners to be announced at the 2011 Macworld / iWorld Expo in San Francisco, CA. Shortly after, they will be posted to the Best App Ever site, and we’ll point you to them there as well. Make sure you get your votes in early, and take advantage of the social sharing option on the site to rally support for your favorite apps.
Hit the jump (or see the Best App Ever site for the full list of iOS apps nominated in the 2011 Best App Ever awards in the other 108 categories.
Smell that? Is it cinnamon? No, not quite, sweeter. Is it some form of Christmas cookie? Nope, sweeter still. Ah, I know what it is! It’s the huge annual iOS app sale! That’s right, it’s that time of year when thousands and thousands of iOS apps and games go on sale for the post-Christmas rush. It’s some of the best prices we’ll see on these apps all year. With all of those new devices unwrapped, app developers and publishers are vying for your gift card cash. To help grab as much of that as they can, they put there apps on sale so new and experienced users alike can take advantage of the great deals.
And as we usually do, we’ve waded through the thousands and thousands of great app deals and present you here with our very favorites. The best of the best deals on the apps that everyone should have. Want to look though the full list of thousands of iOS apps on sale? Check out our iOS Price Drops page and browse to your heart’s content!
Our usual warnings apply, but with a modifier this time. If you see something you like, grab it while it’s on sale. Prices can change at any time and you don’t want to miss these deals. The one modification to that is that it appears that Apple has locked down the app store, so price changes won’t update until next Wednesday. That said, it is possible it will open early, or a change or two could slip in. Err on the side of caution.
Now, to the apps!
We’ve split them into three sections for easier browsing.
iMAME has hit the App Store — but for how long? Rarely has an emulator been allowed in the App Store, only when it has been tightly controlled have we seen them. That’s why it’s most surprising that the most popular emulator of all time shows up in it’s i-device glory, iMAME.
MAME traditionally offers emulations for literally thousands of coin-op arcade games – mainly classic ones, but still pretty amazing. This build includes support for iCade. Put this thing on your iPad, with a few thousand roms, slip it into your iCade and reach classic gaming nirvana.
If classic gaming is your thing, I highly suggest you grab it right this very second, if not sooner. It can’t last long.
Update: For those of you looking to, ahem, get more out of iMAME, check the source link below at Touch Arcade for all you need to know. Woo hoo! Classic gaming Christmas!
The team behind the great Hipstamatic artistic photography app today revealed a new app that brings the disposable camera into the digital age. Releasing Thursday, the new Hipstamatic’s D-Series app allows a group of friends to share a 24 exposure digital roll of film across multiple devices.
D-Series has the same retro camera hardware feel and pixel perfect design that the original Hipstamatic app has. D-Series adds an interesting social slant by allowing a group of friends to share a virtual roll of film. One user starts off by selecting the camera to use and inviting friends. From there the invited photographers start shooting and each user sees a shared shot count. Once all shots have been taken, and only once all shots have been taken, all invited users get to see the shots taken.
I got a chance to try out the new app and can report that Hipstamatic D-Series does indeed bring back the nostalgic memories of sharing a disposable camera and swapping double prints into the digital age. It’s a great idea and well executed. There’s even the anxious need to burn the last shot by taking a picture of your foot, just to get the roll developed quicker. It’s indeed very fun.
And this app wouldn’t be a Hipstamatic app without the unique selection of cameras and films that it is so well known for. When you download the app there will be one unlimited use camera included. Link up your Facebook account and you’ll get a second infinite use camera. Beyond that you’ll have the opportunity to buy unique limited use cameras as well. The way this works in a group is that just one user needs the camera for all to be able to use it.
Synthetic Corp previously released the 2010 App of the Year, Hipstamatic, one of my favorite photography apps Incredibooth (an old style photo booth simulator), and Swankolab (think Instamatic for any photo).
Hipstamatic’s D-Series will be released tomorrow in the App Store. Check our Twitter stream for a link once it goes live. Check out this (unfortunately non-embeddable) video for more details and the photo gallery below THAT for a bunch of photos from the new app.
The 2011 Best App Ever Awards have launched. It’s time to nominate your favorite apps and games of 2011.
In it’s fourth year, the Best App Ever awards is a people’s choice awards for apps. Last year over 500,000 votes were cast in the quest to find the best apps, not just the best selling. This year it’s back bigger and better than ever.
In a big change this year, not just iOS but also Android applications and games are up for nomination in the awards competition. Users can nominate their favorite apps and games in any of the multiple categories by heading to the app nomination page and choosing a category.
Nominations are open through the end of the year. After that the nominations will be tallied and the top 10 iOS and Android apps in each category will fight it out for the awards. In addition, the 10 iOS and 10 Android apps that get the most nominations overall will fight it out for the title of Best App Ever.
What app do you think will win for Best App Ever in 2011?
The third AppNation conference will be held November 30-December 1 at the Concourse at the SF Design Center and we are a proud media sponsor. The agenda is shaping up to be yet another great one this time around. Some of the great speakers and panel members lined up include:
Doug Purdy, Director of Developer Relations, Facebook
Baudouin Corman, VP Publishing Americas, GAMELOFT
Gibu Thomas, SVP Mobile and Digital, Walmart
Ben Keighran, CEO, Chomp
Brandon Watson, Senior Director, Windows Phone, Microsoft
Dave Castelnuovo, Founder & CEO, Bolt Creative (PocketGod)
Want to attend AppNation III? 148Apps network readers can get a 30% discount on the registration fee by using code 148APPS on the registration page.
More About APPNATION
APPNATION is an ambitious and bold thought leadership conference and exposition focusing exclusively on the burgeoning consumer applications revolution and global app economy. The third annual APPNATION event will feature speakers and exhibitors from leading companies from across the app economy. DEVELOPERS: Submit your app and have a chance to pitch at the AppCircus@Appnation! Isobar is sponsoring an NFC Hackathon and check out the AppNation Bootcamp.
App sales are nothing new, but the biggest of the year is here, and we’ll be tracking the best of the sale apps right here. Expect lots of updates over the weekend. And a reminder, app prices change quickly. We’ll try to keep the list below updated, but if you see something you want, grab it when you see it, the price could change next time you see it.
We’ve got games, educational, navigation, and other apps on the list. Make sure you look through all of the pages for the full list.
Updates:
- 11/23, 11:45am – added a few EA titles and others of interest.
- 11/23, 10:00pm – A bunch of great new games and apps added. Some really great sales.
- 11/24, 2:00pm – lots more added, tons of games from Disney, Activision, and great apps as well.
- 11/25, 10:00am – as the Thanksgiving meal coma subsides, we found a couple dozen more great apps on sale.
- 11/28, 12:00pm – updated for Cyber Monday app sales
Black Friday: Game Apps on Sale
iBlast Moki 2 HD - price returned to $1.99, was on sale for $0.99
While many are arguing that the Kindle Fire is or isn’t an iPad “Killer,” I think that whole line of thought is way off. The idea of an iPad “Killer” is a device that can do everything the iPad can, but better and maybe cheaper. But it doesn’t just matter if the Kindle Fire is a true iPad Killer, it’s in the same category of devices and will take a large number of consumers away from the iPad. In the current market, consumers are very uninformed about what a tablet device is capable of or why they need one, they just know they want one. And because of that, the Kindle Fire, at around 40 percent the cost of the iPad, is a strong competitor for consumer purchases this holiday season.
Today, Amazon released their much talked about Android based tablet, the Kindle Fire. The reviewscameoutlastnight and they aren’t all together that great. While most say it’s a pretty good limited use device, Wired sums it up as little more than a “‘shopping portal.” David Pogue at the NY Times notes that you will “feel that $200 price tag with every swipe of your finger.”
There are a few fundamental things wrong with the Kindle Fire. For one, it was developed outside what Google calls the Open Handset Alliance. Those are the companies that pay into the Android ecosystem to help in the growth of the platform. These are the only companies that get access to the full set of Google Apps like GMail, Maps, and most importantly, the Android Market. This means that the Kindle Fire will only be able to access apps from the still rather small Amazon App Store. In addition, the Fire is based on a version of the Android OS that was never intended for tablet use. It’s just not designed or architected in a way that works really well on tablets.
On the flip side, there are quite a few things that the Amazon Kindle Fire does right: one-click access to the huge catalog of books, magazines, newspapers, music, and video that Amazon offers, for instance. Remember how everyone considered the iPad “simply” a media consumption device? Amazon gives Kindle Fire users plenty to consume, having also launched their own App Store earlier this year. However, by far the number one plus for the Kindle Fire is the price. $199 for an 8GB seven inch tablet is an amazing price point.
And that’s my key point: the price of this media-centric device is just $199. That makes it much more accessible to a broader audience than the $499 iPad 2. Even a number of consumers set on the purchase of an iPad 2 may be put off by the cost of the device when knowing they can get a Kindle Fire much cheaper.
So while the Kindle Fire is around 40 percent the cost of a base level iPad, it’s capabilities are even less. It just so happens that those capabilities match up well with what a typical consumer uses a tablet device for. Because of that, the Kindle Fire will be a strong competitive device to the iPad. When it comes down to it, it’s the cost that matters to a very large portion of the buying public, not the capabilities.
We got a chance to go hands on with a few new titles from Ubisoft. Let’s take a look at the most casual title, Monster Burner.
Monster Burner is a casual puzzle shooter where you send fireballs up the screen to burn the advancing monsters. Part Puzzle Bobble, part Space Invaders, Monster Burner has 40 levels, power-ups (spells), and enough interesting social features to keep you interested for a while.
In our short look at the app, due out next week on November 3rd, we were pretty impressed. The game offers an interesting take and we’re looking forward to the release.
This week at 148Apps, sales were hot, teaching reading became a bit more fun, and Swampy started showing up in stores. There's more behind the curtain...so read on.
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EA Mobile has just released a new version of Tetris for the iPad. It uses the updated control method that the new iPhone/iPod touch version uses. That’s well and good. The new control method is actually one of the better improvements on Tetris I’ve seen. But the problem is, you have to re-buy it. Even if you bought the old Tetris, you have to re-buy this one and you don’t have access to the old app anymore.
Seems like Blake raised a bit of a ruckus last week with his post about the 
iOS growth has been staggering in China, and yet still has a long way to go. That’s why it’s not too surprising that the 25 billionth app downloaded from the App Store was announced to be a free game downloaded in China. It really sets the tone for the future.
Winner: 
The nominated applications for the 2011 Best App Ever Awards have just been announced. This year saw a huge increase in the number of nominations placed and the number of applications nominated. The big change this year was the introduction of Android applications to the awards, with each category (other than the Best App Ever category) having a winner from each platform.
The third AppNation conference will be held November 30-December 1 at the Concourse at the SF Design Center and we are a proud media sponsor. The 
Today, Amazon released their much talked about Android based tablet, the Kindle Fire. The 
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