There’s nothing overtly new about this seasons variety of the amazing MLB At Bat apps, but with baseball season just around the corner, it’s now prime time to pick up the app. As an extra treat for those who download early, the MLB will be streaming around 150 spring training games this season as part of the free MLB.tv mobile preview. In addition, each game will receive the same on-air radio treatment and batter-by-batter action that each game gives you during the regular season. Check out the full list of Spring Training goodies:

Customize At Bat’s home screen to feature your designated favorite team

Watch Live streaming of about 150 Spring Training games with a special mobile free preview of MLB.TV

Listen to available radio broadcasts of Spring Training games

Follow batter-by-batter action for every Spring Training game

Enhanced video library archive, searchable by player or team

Breaking news, schedules and interactive rosters and players stats for every team

For the first time ever I’ll get to see my Astros play spring training ball in the Grapefruit League. I’m more than just a little excited.

For those who had never used MLB At Bat in the past, it is the most amazing baseball game day app that you will ever touch. With the app you can follow any game in the country for free (well, after the app cost), and even listen to the games (you can choose between the home and away broadcast team) over internet radio. Best of all, if you purchase MLB.tv, you can watch each game via live streaming to any iOS device. The additional price ($99+) may seem a bit steep at first, but with well over 100 games going on this regular season, it’s a hard deal to pass up for real baseball fans.

[Source: MLB.com]

FREE!

MLB.com At Bat 11

iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Released: 2011-02-24 :: Category: Sports

FREE!

MLB.com At Bat 11 for iPad

iPad Only App - Designed for the iPad
Released: 2011-02-24 :: Category: Sports

In an attempt to cash in on the “check in” craze created by Foursquare and its ilk, the NBA has announced Turnstile, a new app which will allow fans to alert their friends when they’re attending a game in person or watching on television. Those who consistently check in may be eligible to receive discounts or loyalty rewards at local venues.

“We see location based services as just the tip of the iceberg,” says Bryan Perez, senior vice president and general manager of NBA Digital. “The more we can integrate people’s location information at games, the more opportunities there are for things like sponsorships,” he says, adding there are no sponsorships for Turnstile in place currently.

The move places the NBA in line with MLB, the NHL and some NFL teams who are all using some sort of social media check in platform to increase fan engagement and interaction. While most of these other leagues are utilizing Foursquare for their social media, Turnstile is being built from the ground-up exclusively for the NBA.

The app is planned to launch in concert with the start of the NBA regular season later this month and will be available for free on the iPhone, Blackberry and Android. Just keep in mind that if your Cleveland friends see you checking into a Miami Heat game you may well find your house vandalized or on fire when you return home.

[via The Wall Street Journal]

9 Innings: Pro Baseball has long been one of the best baseball simulators in the app store. It doesn’t quite take the game to a point of lifelike realism, but it does allow you to play a real season of baseball using actual baseball strategy. It is fairly easy to pick up and not so easy to put down… the perfect combination for good baseball fun.

Just in time for this years all star break, Com2uS is releasing 9 Innings: Pro Baseball 2011. The difference this year is that the game has a the MLB players license, meaning that every player in the game is actually a player in the MLB. The game uses actual players stats and data to derive the player ratings, giving the teams as close to a lifelike balance as possible.

If you’re looking for a baseball sim that retains some cartoony flair, pick up 9 Innings: Pro Baseball 2011 when it launches tomorrow.

On the second night of it’s 2009 World Wide Developer Conference, Apple announced the winners of the this years Apple Design Awards. The winners are split amongst the Mac and iPhone applications submitted by their developers for the competition. Winning applications are considered to be the pinnacle of design and user experience and recognize technical excellence, innovation, and outstanding achievement. This year’s iPhone application winners along with their award descriptions are:

iPhone Developer Showcase

MLB.com At Bat 2009 version 1.0.1 from MLB.com (app info)

MLB At Bat 2009 is an innovative, highly connected app that sets a great standard for all other iPhone sports apps to follow.

At Bat 2009 is the fastest, most detailed way to follow baseball on an iPhone or iPod touch. Users can listen live to every regular and postseason game with no blackout restrictions, see real-time scores, play highlights, and stream audio of all games At Bat 2009 uses MediaPlayer for in-game video highlights, AudioToolbox for streaming audio, QuartzCore, CoreGraphics, UIKit, and Core Animation to optimize the user experience, SQLite for data caching and tracking video view history, and SystemConfiguration for reach-ability.

Postage version 1.0.1 from Rogue Sheep (app info)

Postage sets a new standard for attractiveness and ease of use in an iPhone app.

With Postage you create and send beautiful, personalized digital postcards using the built-in camera and Photo Library. Core Animation provides smooth transitions and eye-catching effects while Quartz provides high quality graphics, effects, and text display. With 3G/Edge/Wi-Fi networking, you have connectivity virtually everywhere. And you can easily select recipients of your Postage postcards with Address Book integration.

Topple 2 version 1.1 from ngmoco:) (app info)

Topple 2 is an ideal model for excellent iPhone game and game sequel design, technology adoption, performance, connectedness, and localization.

Topple 2 combines the features of multitouch and the accelerometer to create a game about stacking blocks and keeping them from toppling over. Local WiFi multiplayer mode enables game play between two players, and a challenge mode where recorded sessions can be sent to others players via email, twitter or facebook. Localized for English, French, German, Japanese, and Spanish, Topple 2 uses multiple iPhone SDK technologies including UIKit, OpenGL ES, Bonjour, CFNetwork, Multi-Touch, Accelerometer, Email, and Twitter and Facebook integration.
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