Category: App Store Insiders »

The App Store hit a major milestone today, in less than three years since the launch in July, 2008, Apple has seen over 500,000 applications approved in the US App Store alone. Over half a million applications!

It's amazing to see the growth of the iOS App Store. Very few devices will ever see 500,000 applications created for it. But to see this many created in less than three years is astonishing.

Before we go to far, please note that while 500,000 have been approved, the App Store is just shy of 400,000 live apps in the US. There are a lot of reasons for this. We've seen quite a few apps removed that were never updated to work with the latest OS, or abandoned by their developers. Still others removed due to violations of Apples terms. We're not sure if 20% abandoned/removed applications is high or low for a platform. My gut feeling is that it's about average.

Let's get geeky and take a look at some numbers. From that nearly three years of data we know that you'd need a 7.5 terabyte iPhone to hold all of the apps available at once on your device. I guess we have a new high end target for the storage limit of the iPhone 5. Oh, and it would cost you $891,982.24 to buy all of the apps.

37% of all live applications are free while 15% are games. It's interesting that in recent months Books has been the largest category. But just this last month we saw Games overtake Books once again.

Here's a small segment of the infographic. Click the image for the full thing in its full glory.

To celebrate this major milestone, we've teamed up with Chomp and Chillingo. Over the next few months we'll have a bunch of contests / giveaways, and look back at the life of the App Store and some of the developers that make it the fastest growing platform ever. You can keep track of all of that over at a special 500,000 Apps Facebook page we've set up and of course right here.

This week, May 16-20, significant updates were released by major titles, including Angry Birds, Need for Speed and Infinity Blade. Rovio’s Angry Birds Rio is receiving a new expansion pack called “Beach Volley” - which adds thirty new stages to the game that is already sixty level strong. Its sister game, Angry Birds Seasons, is due to be updated mid June. EA’s Need for Speed Hot Pursuit update is now available, and adds a new feature called ‘Autolog’ - where you’ll “be able to track your career progress, personal best times and how they compare against your friends” and more. Finally, Infinity Blade now has an ‘Arena’ that allows multiplayer game challenges with friends through Game Center.

148Apps Editor Rob LeFebvre continued his monthly series on iOS editorials by publishing “Why, Freemium, Why?!” in response to the App Store’s love/hate relationship with the controversial pricing model, whereby consumers get the core part of a game or application for free, and then have to pay for extra levels or features. “As an avid gamer across all platforms, I’ve seen my share of games. And, to be honest, Freemium as a business model doesn’t inspire me to play a game” writes Rob LeFebvre. “Many of these games seem to be about the mechanics alone ... we need something new, if the freemium model isn’t to crush itself under its own weight and continued copy-cat-ism that reigns in space.” Read the full editorial here.

The Editor’s Choice badge was awarded to Japanese this week, an English-Japanese and Japanese-English language converter with an extensive dictionary database, as well as tools like flashcards and handwriting recognition. Bonnie Eisenman reports. “I’m going to be studying Japanese in Japan this summer, and I knew that I’d need a dictionary ... Japanese is a comprehensive dictionary app with all the features that I could ever ask for, save perhaps for voice recognition.” The language application features approximately 160 000 words, as well as 12 000 kanji entries, the modern Japanese method of writing. “It’s impressively comprehensive, including everything from a giant database of words and example sentences to flashcards and handwriting recognition for kanji. The only thing it lacks is audio.” Japanese is available to download for $9.99.

Bungie, the creator of the Halo and Marathon franchises, is believed to be coming to the App Store sometime in the near future. Through an official brand name filing description, the company wrote: “Computer game software for use on mobile and cellular phones” - and we all know that means the iPhone. Read all about it here.

That’s all for this week! Remember that you can follow us via Twitter, Facebook, FriendFeed and through a myriad of RSS feeds that will keep you in the loop about all the latest, most exciting applications and games. Click here and choose the options which suit you best.

Earlier today it was announced that EA intends to acquire the superstar Melbourne iOS development house Firemint. At the time I first read this, I was outraged. I have never seen an acquisition work well, other than monetarily, for the acquired company. With rarely an example in the other direction, the members are eventually reassigned in the company and the founders exit within 2-3 years. Let's hope EA won't put out the fire in Firemint.

For once, I holstered my temper and restrained myself from posting a passionate knee-jerk reactionary rant, though I wrote three of them this morning. What held me back is that I am a huge admirer of Firemint the studio, the people involved, and their games. And I don't want to see the creative and original games go away. I feel that while this may be good for Firemint and the founders in the short run, only EA will profit from it in the long run. And we, as gamers, will most certainly lose. Let me explain.

This acquisition will likely mark the beginning of the end of one of the most interesting indie studios developing games for the iOS platform. Why do I say that? When was the last time you saw an acquired company thrive when purchased by a huge company like EA? It may work out in the short run as Firemint will get an influx of cash to keep doing what they are doing. But in the long run, meeting the schedule and bottom line of EA and the shareholders will be the undoing of the way Firemint works and what makes their games special.

For example, at the Game Developers Conference earlier this year, Firemint introduced their latest game, Agent Squeak. This combo route / maze game has been in development for well over a year. I'm guessing that during the acquisition talks EA praised Firemint for their dedication to getting the game out when it was right, not out quickly. But once it's EA's bottom line begins getting impacted by a 20 month development cycle for a casual game, the dedication to a quality over speed may not be as strong.

There's no doubt as to why EA wants to acquire Firemint. EA has failed to show any real creativity in mobile games. They half-heartedly tried with 8 Lb. Gorilla, an internal studio for quick, casual games. That group was to produce a game per month. They disappeared after just 1 game.

During decades in the video games business, EA has built a huge portfolio of franchise IP -- John Madden, Need for Speed, Tiger Woods. That has lead to a plethora of franchise games and console companion apps, but we have seen a real lack of creativity when it comes to mobile focused games from EA.

On the other hand, Firemint has produced 3 amazing games - all well thought out and designed from the ground up for mobile platforms, not franchise IP squeezed onto a 3.7" screen. I can't remember a single EA game that has given me 1% of the awe at the originality and creativity that Flight Control gave me on first play. I mean, come on, Coconut Dodge? Looks and plays like a feature phone game reject. In all fairness, EA is just publishing that game, but still, really?

So what will happen? In the best case nothing will change, Firemint will be left to do their thing and EA will publish the games. In the worst case, Firemint will be absorbed into EAMobile and we'll see Flight Control 2 and 3 rushed to market with guest appearances by a silly coconut catching crab. The real answer is probably somewhere in between. But anything past the first scenario and we, as iOS gamers, will lose.

Perhaps some of the vitriol I have comes from being part of a company acquired by the hapless Yahoo!. A group that was then wasted, split up, and then forced out. Even so, stories of acquisitions going well for those acquired are few and far between in the valley. For their sake, and they are truly nice people, I hope it goes well for Firemint and everything I said above is completely wrong.

Acquisition news comes at strange times. Today is no different. Late in the day just before a long holiday weekend it was announced that OpenFeint had been acquired by Japanese company GREE for $104 million.

[Updated 7:00pm, PST] Reportedly the acquisition shouldn't change either company drastically. Users shouldn't expect any immediate chances to the OpenFeint system, and both parties are positioning this acquisition as a one plus one equal three kind of thing, the sum is greater than the parts.

We are all very familiar with the little green leaf of OpenFeint with it's social gaming network already integrated with over 5,000 iOS and Android games. GREE, is a Japanese social games company much like DeNA, the company that acquired ngmoco last year. They develop massively social games for the Japanese market.

For OpenFeint, the investors get over a hundred million dollars, and validation of the network that they have built, the largest mobile social gaming network. For GREE, they get quick access to the US, and the iOS and Android platforms. GREE will also seed some more money to help OpenFeint accelerate and grow. A good sign that they are interested in building the company and not just absorbing them.

In an open letter to developers who use the OpenFeint platform, Jason Citron, CEO & Founder of OpenFeint tried to assure developers that this change will be good for the platform as it will increase the speed of updates and new features. OpenFeint have also posted a FAQ with answers to some common questions on the deal.

In my opinion, most acquisitions seem have a negative side to them. One company gets the short end of the stick. But thus far, this acquisition seems to be a win for both parties and will allow OpenFeint to continue to do the great work that they do while letting GREE better benefit from that. Time will tell.

A big congratulations to all at OpenFeint!

Read the full press release and note from Jason Citron below, after the jump.

The AppNation conference will be held April 27 & 28 at the Moscone Convention center in San Francisco and 148Apps is a proud media sponsor. The agenda is shaping up to be a great one and this year, I'll be moderating a panel called the App Rock Stars. For this panel, we'll be talking with some of the people with the most app downloads out there. In total, the participants have over 100 million app downloads, and we're going to find out how they did it. The panel line-up is scheduled to include:

Dave Castelnuovo, Co-Founder, Bolt Creative (PocketGod)
Thomas Chung, CEO, The Playforge (Zombie Farm)
Andrej Nogeskoj, CEO, Outfit7 (Talking Tom)
Berkeley Malagon, Founder, Distinct Dev (Moron Test)

It should be a very informative panel. Want to attend AppNation? 148Apps network readers can get a 30% discount on the registration fee by using code APP148 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 second annual APPNATION event will be held April 27 - 28 at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco and will feature speakers and exhibitors from leading companies from across the app economy including Digital Chocolate, Marvel Entertainment, Jumptap, Nielsen Mobile, Sequoia Capital, WIP, Fox Broadcasting, Greystripe, Norwest Venture Partners, Wall Street Journal and dozens of others. DEVELOPERS: Submit your app and have a chance to pitch at the AppCircus@Appnation on April 27th! AppCircus is powered by dotopen, and is a unique global traveling showcase of the most creative and innovative apps presented by their creators during some of the most influential international events in mobile/web. AppCircus is open to developers, startups and any other organization and offers each participant a chance to get a nomination to the annual Mobile Premier Awards at Mobile World Congress. Visit AppCircus for full details, rules and submission information. Deadline for entry is April 17th. 

148Apps Network readers receive 30% off full conference registration by using code APP148!

Developers NOTION Music, Inc. released Progression Free earlier this week, a guitar tab editing application built to “write, edit and playback guitar tablature using real audio samples.” The free application includes an interactive fretboard, whereby users can tap on the board to input data. “Progression gives even the inexperienced guitarist an abundance of guitar functions, including but not limited to: vibrato, slides, string bending, hammer-ons, pull-offs, trills, whammy-bar methods and more,” reads the official release.

This is a tool that a number of more popular applications, such as Guitar Pro and TabToolkit, lack the ability to do. Although the interface behind Progression Free isn’t perfect, it certainly makes it easier to tab on-the-go. Files are saved in a unique .notion extension, with the ability to email a PDF version for non-iPad users, or those seeking to print the tablature. No word yet on what future updates will hold – I’m hoping the ability to export as .gp and .ptb and .txt will be in there – but it’s certainly a step in the right direction, and sure beats using Notes.

There are over eight thousand applications in the Productivity section of the App Store, totalling almost 2.5% of all applications available to download. Why then – and how – has 6 Wunderkinder’s Wunderlist come from nowhere to almost eight million task creations, being labelled as iPhone App of the Week by Apple in both the US and German App Stores? Through a beautiful design and integrated interface, all with no price tag attached, its one million users have everything to be happy about.

The sleek get-things-done application aims to simplify life’s tasks with one interface and minimal fuss. “Wunderlist makes it dead simple to organize your daily life. Just add some lists and start filling them with the things that need to be done” reads the official release, noting the capability to add tasks by e-mail. The application is free to download on both the iPhone / iPod Touch and iPad, with no strings (or adverts) attached.

There doesn’t appear to be any compromise between price and security either. The free application sports SSL encryption, meaning every login and sync happens securely with no interception from third parties. All data is stored on secure servers run by Media Temple, a 103-employee strong company that operates twenty four hours a day to ensure that secured data remains secure.

Earlier this week, I got in touch with Robert Kock, Co-Founder of the company behind the application. Here's what we talked about:

What was the inspiration behind Wunderlist?
Robert: Before we started working on Wunderkit, we discussed how we could gain awareness for our brand and our work even before the initial launch. How could we get thousands of people being interested in us? We wanted to make it big, so we decided to built a software and give it away for free. Thinking about an application that literally everyone would need, we came up with a concept of a task manager called Wunderlist. To improve the user experience to a maximum, we combined several aspects of popular software. So now we have an easy-to-use task manager for nearly every device that provides cloud sync and sharing functionality for free.

Why and how is the service free?
Robert: Wunderlist is free because it is a give away. We want users to get used to our philosophy of simplicity and good usability and we wanted them to get to know the 6Wunderkinder brand. We managed to built a substantial fan base literally within several weeks.

What are your future plans?
Robert: Because the development and the maintenance of the Wunderlist service requires more and more of our resources, we thought about monetize Wunderlist later on. But we won't consider any actions before we asked our community which way they'd like us to go. Besides all that, we are working on Wunderkit and hope that all of our users will love it as much as we do.

Available to download now.

Image courtesy of 6Wunderkinder.

When Apple launched the iPhone in June 2007, there was one application that seemingly everyone wanted to get rid of: Stocks. To those who used it, it was invaluable. To those who didn’t, it was worthless. Perhaps this is why, when Apple launched the iPad in April 2010, Stocks wasn’t to be found anywhere – even as an optional download. Financiers and stock enthusiasts still rely on third party solutions to make up for the lost Stocks application, from the Financial Times to Bloomberg to CNBC Real Time. And now there’s a new Finance application on the block, namely MarketDash by Yahoo! Inc.

Aesthetics aside, MarketDash is Stocks (not least because Stocks acquired its data from Yahoo! Finance) with a few subtle differences, such as external related news and additional ratios like earnings per share (EPS). Charts now enjoy a 5Y and max timeframe, as well as the usual 1D / 5D / 1M / 3M / 6M / 1Y / 2Y. Most notably, MarketDash provides real-time tracking of stocks during the trading day for selected markets – there’s no 15 or 20 minute delay to be found. Mathematical algorithms automatically calculate adjusted market cap, price and % change every minute.

The home screen includes a personalized “watch list” along with an option to import your personalized finance portfolios from Yahoo! Finance. Quotes can be retrieved from a long list of exchanges, the full extent of which can be found here

When you blow up the charts to full screen, a beautiful and financially relevant feature is to be found: comparisons. The correlating graph of another stock or exchange can be added to the graph you are currently looking at, illustrating the full extent of the success of the stock or exchange in relation to another section of the market. What’s more, you can add more than one comparison. This is something I’ve yet to see in any other finance application.

Like Stocks for iPhone, MarketDash for iPad is free to download. There are no in-app purchases, no unlockable features: it's a truly free application and available now.

From the developers of the Musée du Louvre application, one of the most downloaded educational applications in the App Store's history, comes a new project: HDvision. The iPad-only magazine, second of its kind only to Virgin's Project, immediately shot to the number one downloaded News application (and number seven overall) in its premiere in the French App Store. Now it's available in the US and a number of different App Stores across the world.

HDvision is devoted to high definition media and technology. "Get the best of Cinema, Blu-ray, TV Shows, Video Games, VOD, Multichannel Sound and Technology on your iPad with the HDvision magazine" reads the official blurb, all through an interactive app that includes embedded HD video trailers, HD picture galleries and interactive slideshows. The first issue of HDvision is free to download. This month's magazine weighs in at 619MB, heavy even for magazine standards but to be expected given HDvision's focus on high definition content.

I spoke to David Fakrikian of HDvision earlier this week, asking him about the inspiration and development of the popular magazine. "The [printed] project was refused by every publishing company around for both costs reasons, and political reasons ... until the iPad came about, and Mastery Pictures International offered to team up with us" he writes. "The idea was irresistible: iPad offered the possibility to blend both contents of the original magazine (features articles + video) into one package, and make an international (english) edition, offering us for the first time the possibility to be read worlwide, as well as by most directors and actors we interview." The pricing strategy behind the magazine application is yet to be determined, given its early stages.

The magazine's inception stems from DVDvision, a print magazine that Fakrikian created and edited between 1999 and 2003. You can download the first edition of its new counterpart, HDvision, for free. Just check out the link below the YouTube teaser.

Chillingo, a division of Electronic Arts most recognized for its creation of Angry Birds, which sits almost always as the #1 paid application in App Stores across the world, announced today that Cut the Rope will receive a special update for Valentine's Day, February 14.

"The new Cut the Rope 1.2 update marks the annual celebration of love and affection with adorable Om Nom as cupid in a special Valentine’s Box filled with 25 gorgeous levels. A romantic and fun, “split-candy” gameplay is also introduced to challenge players as they strive to slice the right ropes to feed the insatiable green creature. Brand new artwork and a distinctive Valentine’s icon make Cut the Rope the perfect gift for your special someone" reads the official release.

"This 1.2 update is our gift to you this Valentine’s Day for being the greatest fans out there; we hope players love the new box, levels and features just as much as we enjoyed creating it,” states Efim Voinov, CTO of Zeptolab. “Thank you for the continued support, we are already working closely with Chillingo to enhance the game and think fans will be extremely delighted!”

Such holiday updates are becoming more and more popular, even within Cut the Rope's own development. In December of last year, 148Apps reviewer Brad Hilderbrand announced the Christmas update of the popular application, which to date has now sold more than six million copies. Conservatively, that means Cut the Rope has generated over $4 million in revenue (after Apple's 30% commission), not taking into account the price difference between the iPad and iPhone version of the immensely popular game. It stood as the sixth most popular paid-for iPhone game in 2010.

When 148Apps reviewed the game last year, writer Carter Dotson awarded it 4 stars. "Cut the Rope is ingenious, following a similar formula to Angry Birds – charming graphics, simple gameplay that gets complexity steadily layered on top of it in a way that feels natural, almost without even feeling like it’s getting more difficult" he writes. "That is just brilliant game design, and with more levels promised, Cut the Rope has an exciting future, but is still great with even just the core game content."

Available for $0.99 on iPhone and $1.99 for iPad, a free lite version is also available to download, allowing you to try-before-you-buy. A sneak peak video of the update is available below:

iPad users will notice something a little different when they open the App Store on their device and open up search. The App Store application, which itself does not require updating, has been refreshed and includes new (and frankly, necessary) features that make it much easier to discover apps that you’re looking for, as well as pinpointing applications that you’ve downloaded before but no longer have installed – perhaps due a fresh iOS install.

The refined search now allows you to show results from a specific category and subcategory (eg. Games or Action Games or Utilities); apps released within the past 7 / 14 / 31 days; free or paid (no specific price brackets); iPad, iPhone or universally built; and apps that have received a certain overall consumer rating (eg. 2+, 3+, 4+ or 5 stars). These filters are inter-compatible, meaning you can search for an app and then limit results by, for example: games only, iPad only, 4+ stars. With over 330,000 applications currently available to download, such filters are a welcome addition.

And that's not all. Conveniently, applications that have been bought but are not currently installed on your device will now show up in the App Store as "Install" rather than "Free" or "Buy Now" - meaning you can be sure that what you're downloading is what you've bought. Beforehand, consumers had to manually check their iTunes receipts to confirm that the application had been bought, and then hit "Buy Now" despite having already bought it. Only after the iTunes password was entered - which meant your account could then be charged if you didn't own the app - did a notification arise stating that you've already bought the application and that you'd be able to download it without charge. The update, that will already be installed on all iPads, fixes all of that. In addition, any apps that require updating will read "Update" in the App Store rather than "Free" or "Install". Presently, the update is iPad only, meaning iPhone users are still relegated to the old search.

On a related note, 148Apps has updated its search engine - making it easier than ever to find the apps or blog posts you're looking for. Go ahead and try it out!

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The year is 1983, and Midway Games, developer and publisher of Ms. Pac-Man, Spy Hunter and Tron are preparing to launch what is later to become a world classic: Tapper. The objective is simple, the gameplay challenging: serve fresh beer whilst collecting old mugs (and hopefully a few tips too) successfully. Its originality proves that games don't need to have the best graphics to make it into the history charts.

Fast forward 28 years to 2011 and history seems to be repeating itself, albeit with a more modern touch. Yep – you guessed it - Tapper is coming to the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch in the Spring of 2011, courtesy of Warner Bros Digital Distribution.

Working with animator Don Bluth, alongside developer Square One, Tapper World Tour for iPad will feature all-new bars from all across the world, with new graphics, advanced gameplay and a taste of originality. The developers plan to include multiple game modes, difficulty settings and a ton of locations to meet your customers' need for thirst quenching beverages.

You’ll be faced with at least three counter tops and an exponentially increasing number of customers, each of which will want their own drink of choice. As things get busier, customers arrive more frequently, drink faster and gradually all will get closer to the bar. You’re going to want to be on top serving form, as all customers must be satisfied before you can move on to the next level. So there’s no slacking in iPad games either.

There’s no word on pricing yet, but this is one game you’re not going to want to miss. Check below for some actual in-game screenshots for both iPhone and iPad. It looks the game will be optimized for iPhone 4 too. If it's anything like the original, then there's much to look forward to.

We’ll continue to post details as we know them, but until them, check out the official Facebook page here.

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Real Racing 2, possibly the most ambitious app to hit the App Store launched today. It's a new version of one of the best racing games ever seen on a mobile device, and better than many seen on consoles. Firemint, based in Australia, has a lot riding on this game with a reported 2 million dollars spent on it's development. We fired off a few questions to the fine folks down under to get some of their thoughts on the iOS platform and development of Real Racing 2.
 

Q: Real Racing 2 integrates Game Center for multiplayer, leaderboards, and achievements. How have you seen the performance of the Game Center multiplayer system?  You've been able to do something others haven't by bringing 16 player multiplayer to iOS.
 
Game Center has been great for us and we are big supporters of it. Beyond just leaderboards and achievements, we can use your Game Center ID to locate your save games and link to other services like Youtube uploads etc. The awesome thing about Game Center is that it provides an easy way to create peer to peer multiplayer connections with up to four players at once. We have supported this in Flight Control, Real Racing, Flight Control HD and Real Racing HD.
 
For Real Racing 2 we have implemented a hosted solution because we wanted to support our 16 car single player grid in multiplayer games as well. We also wanted to make it really simple to find and play multiplayer games, on every device. This is something we have been working on for a long time. It is more difficult for us to do things that way, but it means we are able to support all devices.  
 
Q: A few months ago you released a story about how you had tuned the AI in your bots to such an extent that they were cheating.  Are you sure they aren't still cheating?  Some of the AI race drivers seem awful good! Tell us more about the AI in the game for the computer drivers.
 
Well the Real Racing 1 AI weren't cheating as such, it was more that they were finding exploits in the physics engine, the same exploits that human players could find. An example of that was that the AI found if they hit a certain corner at exactly the right angle, they would explode down the track faster than any car could drive. Needless to say, we fixed that bug before release!
 

In Real Racing 2, we have gone to great lengths to make sure the AI are competitive without cheating. Some games allow their AI to have faster or more responsive cars, or add catchup code so that they are competitive. On release, our game has none of this, the opponents never drive a car that out performs the ones the player can drive in the game. However, they may take you to the cleaners if you enter a hard career race under-spec’d. So choose a car with as high a performance rating as possible and ideally well suited to the particular track, for example top speed is pretty critical on an oval but it’s not so helpful on a winding track. If the AI is driving a car that you know has a higher top speed than yours, then you can be pretty sure that they won’t be so good on the corners.
 
The AI have been written to use the same inputs that the player has, accelerate, brake and steer. The down side of this as developers, we have to make our AI really smart to keep up with a human player.
 
One advantage that the AI do have is that they are precision drivers, the best AI can hit a precise racing line every time, so while it may seem like they are cheating, they actually take great lines through the corners and may come out of them faster than you if you make a small mistake. So just like when you are down at the track, winning at the high levels in Real Racing takes precise driving.
 
Even with all our effort into improving the AI, we would still rather take on the fastest AI we have than try to compete with a top ranked Real Racing player!

Q: What can we expect in the future for Real Racing 2?  Any planned updates? An iPad version perhaps?  Voice chat like we've seen you recently add with Flight Control?
 
You can be pretty certain that we will do an iPad version and we want to do something special, but definitely not until next year. We also have the online save game system now so that we can share your progress across versions of the game including from iPhone to iPad.
 
We do have all sorts of ideas and plans for Real Racing 2, however they are just ideas at this stage. Announcing things is easy, but delivering is hard, so we are cautious about announcing too much at this stage. Hopefully then, when we do deliver something, we will have over-delivered :)
 
Q: You've developed your own 3D engine for Real Racing 2, Mint 3D. Can you tell us a little more about it and what are the advantages of a custom engine over a pre-built one?
 
Mint3D is a powerful and highly optimized rendering engine designed to get great performance out of the current iOS platforms, particularly iPhone 4 and iPod Touch 4. It supports standout visual effects like shadow mapping, depth of field, motion blur, detail textures, reflections, level of detail, specular highlights, glints, flares, particle effects, animation and even some improved real time shadows, whilst being able to push large quantities of polygons and models through the hardware each frame. The cool thing is, we have a very optimized legacy engine within Mint3D that was developed along with Real Racing, which is how we are able to continue to support earlier devices, albeit without the same high level of effects possible on the newer hardware.  
 

We have to render a 3 mile track being traversed at high speed, from any angle with 16 cars, sometimes all on the screen at once, all with unique textures, see through windows, reflections, shadows, damage etc. It all has to look great regardless of what the player is doing with their car or with the camera or where they are driving. Everything moves by very quickly so dealing with a large object count is very important to a racer, and when you have 16 cars with physics and AI on top of that, there is a lot of variety to deal with. Mint3D is designed to handle this and to do a large variety of things well and at consistent framerates.
 
The choice of going with a custom engine over something pre-built is something that should be made for each game and each developer individually. It is not just an economic choice, sometimes a pre-built engine is the right choice for creative reasons. In our case, we design the game first and the engine has to keep up with that. By using our own engine we have the freedom to do whatever it takes to make it deliver for our particular needs. It feels like that is the best way for us to build signature titles and make them stand apart.

Q: How about some racing tips? Do you have any tips our readers for getting the best times on the Real Racing 2 tracks?
 
Generally, the fastest race times can be achieved by turning and braking as minimally as possible: a good race line with the goal of taking straight lines through corners, sufficient but minimal braking (losing traction washes off a lot of speed) and trying to maintain a high, constant speed throughout the race will hold you in good stead.
 
Every car handles differently, and braking and acceleration in and out of corners can count for a lot. Learn to exploit the varying performance attributes of each car and practice the techniques listed above. Driving with assists can be a very helpful way to learn to get your braking and racing line right.
 
Thanks to the folks at Firemint for answering our questions. Real Racing 2 is out now, and I strongly suggest you grab it if you enjoy a good race. Feel free to add me in Game Center, I'm jeff148apps -- I'll see you on the track.
 

A string of major free updates have landed this week in the App Store, just in time for the beginning of the holiday season that always witnesses fierce competition and price reductions for consumers. This week, Sleep Cycle, Twitter and Boxcar all rolled out significant additions to their already impressive applications, enhancing functionality dramatically.

Developers Maciek Drejak Labs rolled out version 3.0 of Sleep Cycle alarm clock, rated 5 stars by 148Apps and holding the position of #1 top paid application in numerous countries. The $0.99 application tracks your sleeping pattern in an effort to wake you up during your lightest sleeping phase. The free update now allows you to wake up to your own music from the iPod application, or choose not to have an alarm at all but still track your sleeping pattern. In addition, the application now offers full support for iPod Touch and is "up to 5x more sensitive to your movement". A new intelligent snooze feature has also been integrated, along with a plethora of general improvements that make this application a thorough 'buy' recommendation.

In social networking news, a much-anticipated and long overdue update to the official Twitter application for iPhone and iPad brings push notifications for @replies and direct messages, a feature that third party applications such as Boxcar (see below for a twist) offered to satisfy users who were forced to make use of an unofficial alternative.

However, Boxcar, an application that satisfied push notifications for Twitter before the update, have gone one step further still and now offer push notifications from anyone on your timeline, regardless of whether or not the message is a standard tweet, @reply or direct message. This is big news, particularly for twitter feeds dedicated to posting breaking news, where speed is everything. Version 4.1 also provides Foursquare, Gowalla and Reddit push integration.

With the holiday season fast approaching, expect more and more developers to provide added incentives, release significant updates and reduce prices in a bid to ensure that their application remains top of the charts. The best things in the tech life really are free - updates!

VITO Technology's award-winning astronomy application for iPad and iPhone turned two years old yesterday, and to mark its birthday there's a major update revision on the line as well as a promotional code giveaway right here.

Star Walk, which holds the title of official Apple Design Award (iPad Developer Showcase) 2010 Winner, remains the top-paid application in the Education section of the App Store, based on its ability to show the true workings of the Heavens above through the iPhone and iPad's in-built GPS in an easy to use interface. View constellations, stars and planets in new ways by holding your device up to the sky. It's a very impressive application - awarded 4.5 stars by 148Apps - and was marked by Apple in the Best of 2009 Applications.

Version 5 of the application, available soon, offers four new major features and a plethora of updates, including compass calibration and a new "general catalogue" that adds even more deep sky objects, galaxies and nebulae. Augmented Reality becomes a reality in version 5 of Star Walk for the new iPod Touch, as does a new "big screen" feature which allows you to connect your iPad to a second display through VGA, just in case the iPad's 9.5" screen wasn't big enough. In addition, over 150 satellites including the International Space Station can be tracked in live time. Finally, a new feature called Telrad can "help you measure angular distance between nearby stars" in order to gauge the true extent of deceivingly small distances in the universe.

There's more birthday celebrations, too. Prices for VITO Technology's entire "Walk" series (Solar Walk, Star Walk and Geo Walk) have been dropped for 24 hours, and some lucky commenters today will receive free promotional codes that allow you to redeem these applications for free. In order to be in for a chance, just make a comment below. We have six codes available - 2 for Star Walk on iPad, 2 for Star Walk on iPhone and 2 for Star Walk (universal, iPhone and iPad compatable natively).

So happy birthday Star Walk!