Tis the season to both give and receive.  iOS developer Smule seems to understand that better than anyone else, and accordingly, are ready to announce a special holiday giveaway.  Starting at 1pm on Tuesday December 7th, their critically acclaimed program Ocarina will be absolutely free.  The only catch is that it is only for a limited time.

Looking back in time through the magic 148Apps.com crystal ball, we can see that not only has the app been well received by numerous junkets, but our very own Jeff Scott gave the then fledgling software a perfect five star rating.  Trust us on this, we were not the only place that told you it was the best around, either.  Word of mouth spread so quickly that it went on to garner over 2.8 million downloads since the original release in November of 2008.

Now boasting an impressive online community of digital ocarina composers, this is where the true appeal of the app lies.  This is so much the case that the online library of composed pieces has reached an astounding sixty million playbacks.  Here is what our own review had to say about it, way back in the day:

“Overall Ocarina, while not the most exciting musical instrument on the iPhone, does use the network connection on the iPhone to it’s fullest to create a fantastic social application. It’s a lot of fun.” — Jeff Scott 

$0.99

Ocarina

iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad

Our Rating: :: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Read Our Full Review >>

Released: 2008-11-06 :: Category: Music

Smule, the Sonic Media company and guys behind the likes of Ocarina, Leaf Trombone: World Stage and the widely popular I Am T-Pain for iPhone, have today announced that they have received new funding from an outside investor. Shasta Ventures are a group of venture capitalists who say they’re hell bent on providing great customer service, as well and helping ‘exceptional’ entrepreneurs create next-gen companies. Well, they’ve certainly lent their helping hand to Smule, pumping in a staggering $8 million dollars into the firm.

“Smule has emerged as the innovative brand in the consumer mobile market. Moreover, we were impressed with the financial performance of the company in ’09, in addition to the company’s vision for the future. The dynamics of this new market are unique, and Smule is extremely well positioned to be a dominant player in this market.”

- Jason Pressman, Managing Director at Shasta Ventures

Smule says the investment wasn’t planned, however after seeing the potential Shasta could bring to the firm, they were more than happy to partner with them. Jeff Smith, CEO and co-founder of Smule had this to say:

“Candidly we were not planning on raising capital at this stage of our business plan, yet as we got to know the partnership at Shasta, we found they had a similar perspective on the importance of innovation, and a robust understanding of the new consumer market realities. We are therefore excited to have them join us on our mission to redefine the mobile social experience.”

Smule’s Leaf Trombone: World Stage and I Am T-Pain iPhone applications were recently recognized by Apple as two of the top applications for 2009 in their ‘Rewind’ promotion, with T-Pain ranking 4th and Leaf Trombone ranking 9th overall – and according to Smule, to date I Am T-Pain users have created over twelve million recordings using the application. Ocarina on the other hand was released over thirteen months ago now and still remains a top seller.

Random musings of the app store

GTA: Chinatown Wars coming to the iPhone

Last week, as most of you know, Rockstar Games announced that it was porting its critically acclaimed GTA: Chinatown Wars to the iPhone. Not only is this great news for fans of the game, though we do already have the superb Gangstar, but it also shows how seriously the iPhone is taken as a gaming platform. Rockstar is not a company to make gratuitous ports for every platform available (I don’t think the Wii will be getting GTA anytime soon), so this upcoming port shows that Rockstar believes in the power of the iPhone. If Rockstar will port GTA for the iPhone, what other big-name developers will follow? The days of the iPhone being a phone that you could play some gimmicky accelerometer games on are over. Sony, I would be afraid.

New ngmoco FPS trailer, now called Eliminate, reveals the use of micro-transactions

Ngmoco has released a new trailer for their upcoming Eliminate, and while the game is looking awesome, most people are fixating on another detail: you will only be able to play so many matches online for credits in one day, and if you want to play for credits again without waiting a day, you have to buy an “energy pack” using real money. So what’s the big deal? Well if you ask me, as long as ngmoco doesn’t abuse this, nothing. Here’s the kicker: if you run out of energy, you can still play online, you just won’t win credits. So the only people who will buy extra energy are the perfectionists who have to show how good they are. For people like me, who just want to play a game to have fun (isn’t that what a game is for), you can play however much you want and still have fun. So really, this is a great idea as long as two things hold true: the game is not originally priced above $6.99 and the amount of energy you get per day is reasonable. What do you guys think? Sound off in our comments below.

C64 Emulator finally approved by Apple

After months of back room deals, Apple rejections, and Apple non-communication, Manomio has finally gotten their superb C64 emulator has been approved! Obviously this won’t appeal to everyone, but if you’re one for nostalgia, at $4.99, it’s worth picking up because of the high level of polish and solid controls. The emulator comes with five fully licensed games, but no BASIC emulator as was originally included, though it’s apparently suspiciously easy to enable the BASIC if you’re SSH savvy. Future games will be available via DLC at prices to be determined by the original IP holders. Next up, Manomio, a legal Atari emulator (I wish)!

$4.99

Commodore 64

iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad

Our Rating: :: LIMITED APPEAL
Read Our Full Review >>

Released: 2009-09-05 :: Category: Games

This week’s sign of the apocalypse

Smule’s “I Am T-Pain” is the number one paid app in the entire app store. Enough said.

$0.99

I Am T-Pain 2.0

iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Released: 2009-09-04 :: Category: Music

Apps of the Week

Modern Combat: Sandstorm

Modern Combat is the most visually impressive title on the iPhone to date, bar none. Models are good, textures are sharp, and everything is fully and accurately 3D. Not only this, but Gameloft actually nailed the controls, a first for an FPS on the iPhone. The gameplay, specifically the AI and level structure leave something to be desired, but Sandstorm remains a great accomplishment nonetheless, and it comes with a solid recommendation at the low price of $6.99.

$4.99

Modern Combat: Sandstorm

iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad

Our Rating: :: TECHNICAL BEAUTY
Read Our Full Review >>

Released: 2009-09-02 :: Category: Games

Samurai: Way of the Warrior

Samurai is one of the coolest games I’ve played on the iPhone. It’s a hack-and-slasher with great graphics, perfect controls, and gratuitous blood! Controls involve different combinations of swipes, and the gameplay is actually somewhat strategic – you have to balance small attacks with huge combos, because if you miss a huge combo, you leave yourself very prone to an attack. Execute moves correctly, and you might be lucky enough to see the body of the opponent samurai stop, then fall on the ground in two pieces, with blood squirting across the screen. Samurai comes with both a story mode and an endless or “dojo” mode. My only complaints about this game are that once you figure out the controls, it’s too easy – there’s an uneven difficulty curve, and that it does get repetitive at times. Still, I found myself playing this $2.99 gem much more than Sandstorm. Expect a full review soon, but until then, you really have to see a video to appreciate the awesomeness of this game.

$0.99

Samurai: Way of the Warrior

iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Released: 2009-09-01 :: Category: Games

That’s it for this week, tune back in next week for the winner of the contest and some more MMAHQ. Have a great week!