Tag: Lines »

Announced at the company's special media event held last month, the iPad Air will go on-sale today at Apple retail stores, the Apple Online Store, and select wireless carriers in the U.S, Canada, Europe, and select parts of mainland China. Apple began taking orders for the redesigned tablet device - which arrives at a thickness of just 7.5 millimeters, and weighs in at a super-light one pound - around Midnight (Pacific Time); with the company focusing heavily on conveying the added convenience that the tablet's new weightlessness will bring to customers looking to carry the device on them or simply hold the device for long periods of time in one hand.

However, weight isn't the only factor new with the iPad Air. Still boasting Apple's 'Retina' display, the Air also features the A7 system-on-a-chip processor. Built for both speed and performance, the new chip offers 64-bit architecture; making the iPad Air the first tablet of its kind to do so. This, Apple says, will ensure the new tablet is able to deliver “killer performance,” whilst at the same time retaining that all-important battery life.

The iPad Air going on-sale in Australia has already sent the internet abuzz with photos and unboxing videos detailing what's new, as Apple has once again seemingly managed to convince people to line up at its many retail stores to grab a taste of the action.

Available in both Space Gray + Black and Silver + White, the iPad Air will run anyone looking to take advantage of its new features the same $499, $599, $699, and $799 for the Wi-Fi Only models (16GB, 32GB, 64GB, 128GB respectively), then jumping to the more premium entry price of $629 if you wish to add cellular connectivity. The line maxes out at $929 for the 128GB cellular version.

Everyone has probably been fascinated by neon at some point in his or her life. There’s just something about the seemingly impossibly vibrant colors twisting and turning through a series of tubes to form all manner of images that’s quite pleasing to the eye. While I imagine creating real neon signage isn’t all that glamorous, creating fake neon signage in a virtual environment through Neon Blitz is quite glamorous indeed.

Neon Blitz is fundamentally a line-tracing game. Each component of a given neon puzzle has a distinct beginning, indicated by a star. It’s up to the player to drag that star across its assigned track and complete a specific piece of neon, then do the same to the others as quickly and accurately as possible. Consecutive successes without any screw-ups build combos and make the neon glow brighter, while dragging too far off track or failing to complete a given piece restarts the combo counter. I’d say it’s best to take it slow and steady but each puzzle jumps right into the next as soon as it’s finished, and there’s a session timer that’s always counting down to Game Over. Temporary boosts can be activated before starting a game using stars earned through play, but they’re no substitute for actual skill.

While Neon Blitz is obviously a fairly straightforward and simple game, that simplicity is what makes it hard to put down. Each session is randomized so it’s rare to encounter the same puzzle all that often, and there’s always the allure of trying to best the previous run. And of course it all looks wonderful in a Technicolor Dream sort of way. Especially when a big combo is in progress.

The only real downside to all the glamour of Neon Blitz is that it never really leads anywhere. All the daily challenges and special bonus game rules are great and everything, but completing them merely earns more stars that are simply used to purchase temporary power-ups. Nothing is really unlocked and there’s no real progression aside from high scores, and a multitude of unlockables is something many iOS gamers have started to grow accustomed to.

It’s a great simple game to kill time, but it’s not the kind of thing I could picture most iOS users draining their batteries over. Although it is fun, and sometimes people just want to have fun without a bunch of thinking or rules to hinder their enjoyment. In which case they should look to Neon Blitz.

Fish are always cool. Know what's cooler than fish? Robot fish. So it stands to reason that Robot Fish from Liger Games gets automatic cool points. They also deserve some cool points for making a game that involves drawing lines that doesn't quite adhere to the norms of most line-drawing games.

Rather than tracing a path to an exit or preventing collisions, players will seemingly have to plan their route through each level in one go. The kicker is that they can use all manner of fruit to acquire special abilities (i.e. bashing through hazards, duplication, etc...). It's hard to fully picture it with screen shots, but the videos on the developer's blog should help. Looks pretty nifty, huh? I can only imagine how much planning and practice it takes to blow through levels that fast, and most of the time they're barely earning "C" ranks!

Robot Fish should be hitting the App Store soon. Within the next couple of weeks, assuming it makes it through Apple's approval process in a timely manner. No word yet on a price, though.