Tag: Pixar »

Cars: Fast as Lightning is a cute and fun app that combines racing and town-building with the charisma and marketability of Disney Pixar's Cars franchise. It's a friendly game, but that doesn't mean you can't use a few tips to help you make Radiator Springs shine again.

---

Starting Out

• Complete quests to earn rewards - Quests queue up on the left side of the screen when you're not racing. Quests offer rewards like experience and coins, and they're a good way to get back on track if you've been meandering from task to task.
• Pay attention to the difficulty meter before you race - Each car you engage in a race has a difficulty measuring from one to four. Make sure to race within your rank if you don't want to waste gas on a loss.
• Place attractions on the track to earn more experience with races - Don't neglect putting attractions on race tracks. They earn you a bit of extra experience with every race, plus they make the joint look classy.

Disney has released Disney Movies Anywhere app that gives access to any Disney, Pixar, or Marvel digital movie purchased via Disney or iTunes, all in one place. This app introduces something we haven't yet seen, deep ties and content license sharing with iTunes. Here's how it works.

Two logins are needed, a Disney ID and an iTunes ID. Once signed into the Disney ID, the app will prompt the user to tie a Disney ID to an iTunes account by launching iTunes on the iOS device and asking for permission. See the screenshots below.

Once the two accounts are linked, the magic happens. Any Disney, Pixar, or Marvel movie purchased in iTunes now shows up in the app. In addition, any Disney digital movie purchased (usually as part of a DVD & digital copy bundle) that is associated with the Disney account now appears as purchased in the iTunes account. That's something we haven't seen before. A deep integration and cross license system between iTunes purchases and a content owner's own system.

And beyond that, there is every single Disney, Pixar, and Marvel movie ever made available for purchase in the app. That's pretty magical. All of my childhood favorites are here, even the non-animated ones like Old Yeller and The Love Bug. The prices are high, as is common for Disney, but they are all there.

In addition, the app also includes special features, shorts, etc. all of the content associated with each release is included with a purchase. As a special offer, anyone who downloads the app and sets up the connection between Disney and iTunes will be gifted a free copy of Pixar's The Incredibles.

Jamie Voris, Chief Technology Officer, The Walt Disney Studios comments on the release.

“Disney Movies Anywhere is an adaptable digital ecosystem designed to help consumers consolidate their Disney movie collections and enjoy them for years to come. The beauty of this technology is that it enables us to work with iTunes and future provider partners to ensure movie lovers have streamlined access to all of their favorite Disney titles no matter which device they are on. The intuitive layout of the website and app creates an easy and enjoyable browsing environment for the whole family.”

I hope we see a lot more of this type of integration in the future with content rights holders integrating with iOS and iTunes. It's a loosening of digital rights, just a tiny bit. And does so in a way that's refreshingly logical and customer friendlier than most services launched these days.

I have a suspicion that this is an example of what we may see once the Apple TV strategy is finally revealed.

Here's a short intro for the service.

Disney Infinity is the most ambitious video gaming project undertaken by Disney in it's history. This multi-platform open world gaming environment that crosses all Disney and Pixar properties has now come to the iPad. While we can't play the story mode of the console versions (yet), the Toy Box mode lets users play with worlds created in the game and use characters and items gathered while playing the story mode.

This week at 148Apps.com, we took a closer look at what may be the future of Disney Interactive Entertainment: Disney Infinity. Site founder Jeff Scott writes, "Disney Infinity will be a multi-property, multi-platform exploration game which will let you can combine various Disney characters and worlds to use your imagination to the fullest. It will be a combination of real world toys and video games, similar to Skylanders, but taken to the extreme. For example, in Disney Infinity you can answer the question: who would win a race between Lightning McQueen from Cars and Dash from The Incredibles?

This is both good and bad news for iOS users. While the mobile part of Disney Infinity will be initially limited to so-called support apps, it will evolve over 2013 to a full Disney Infinity platform, though we are still trying to get details on that."

Want to know more? Read Jeff's full rundown at 148Apps.

Over at GiggleApps.com, Amy Solomon reviewed My Beastly ABCs, saying, "I really appreciate not only the colorful look of this app, complete with wonderful illustrations and mild animated moments containing both a vintage sense of style as well as a modern look and feel, but also the pitch-perfect use of suspenseful, jazzy music and perfectly realized narration by celebrated voice-over artist Jim Dale as well."

Read the full review at GiggleApps.

And what week would be complete without a new KickStarter spotlight from AndroidRundown.com? Joseph Bertolini writes, "I just wrote an app review about an app that really helps me keep my life organized called Catch Notes. In that post I talk about the struggles I – like millions of other people – have with remembering events and to-do items. Apps in this space are generally very similar and are just slightly different iterations of the same thing; the idea stays consistent and there is very little motivation to pay attention to them. This is most apparent when trying to work on bad habits or trying to start new good ones. This is not going to be a cheesy New Year’s post, but the best way to change for the better is to work on the small things instead of trying to make large drastic changes. Since the biggest problem with existing apps is that there is a lack of motivation to continue checking them, and the medium that has most mastered this addictive motivation are video games, it was only a matter of time before there was a hybrid love-child of the two. This chimera is one of the more creative KickStarter projects we have done here, and it is called HabitRPG."

Intrigued? Read the rest at AndroidRundown.

And that just about wraps up the week. But have no fear; yet another week is near. Check us out on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest for the latest in new app reviews and more. See you next week!

This week at 148Apps.com, we got into the game with our look at CoachNote. Writer Jennifer Allen says, "CoachNote offers a way of creating sports drills, strategies and tactics, all from an iOS device and it’ll be a real hit for coaches as well as fans. The app makes it easy to create complex plays and strategies with tools for drawing lines in multiple colors to explain what’s going on."

Read more at 148App.com.

Meanwhile, GiggleApps.com took a closer look at Brave: Storybook Deluxe. Reviewer Amy Solomon writes, "As one would expect from this Disney Pixar film, the illustrations, music and narration are quite striking and beautifully crafted – especially the brilliant use of bright and bold colors which was the main detail that caught my eye the first time I saw a trailer for this film."

Read Amy's full review at GiggleApps.

148Apps.biz presented a guest editorial from Matthew Palmer, founder and CEO of Marketing Your App. Palmer says, "After all the hard work of creating a mobile app, there is one decision that can sink even promising apps more than any other: choosing a price. Knowing what to charge for any product is tough, but the peculiar world of the App Store makes it a top question for even savvy developers.

The rewards are great: Apple has already paid out $4 billion to app creators who have combined a smart app with good marketing. But, too often, sticker shock leads customers to ignore otherwise helpful apps. When developers choose the wrong price, more often than not it seems, they aim too high."

Read the rest of 'Why You're Charging Too Much for Your App' at 148Apps.biz.

And that, my friends, is the week that was. Don't miss out on anything in the coming days and weeks. Stay on top of our contests, promos, reviews and news items by following us on Twitter and liking us on Facebook. You'll be glad you did. Until next week, keep wall crawlin'.

Ape Entertainment, purveyor of fine digital and print comic books, is at it again. This time, they're bringing runaway success of endless runner game Temple Run to the comic book format. It will be released both as a print book, available in comic book shops, and a digital download as its own separate app.

“Temple Run is by far one of my favorite adventure games on the App Store,” said David Hedgecock, CEO of Ape Entertainment. “The thrilling gameplay plays into our plans very nicely for an extraordinary storyline that we know fans will enjoy.”

Ape Entertainment may be better known as the publisher of the highly successful Pocket God comics as well as a Cut the Rope comic. They announced a licensing agreement with Imangi Studios, the developers of hit game Temple Run, which spawned an endless supply of clones with similar swipe and tilt mechanics.

“The Temple Run game left a lot to the imagination, with more questions than answers," said Keith Shepherd, CEO of Imangi Studios and a heck of a nice guy. "We look forward to exploring the world of Temple Run and the adventures of Guy Dangerous in more detail with Ape Entertainment and the comic series."

Source: Ape Entertainment
Via: Touch Arcade

Fans of Temple Run from Imangi will recognize the mobile game tie-in for the upcoming Pixar movie, Brave. It's an enhanced version of Temple Run set in the Scottish lands represented in the movie. Instead of playing an Indiana Jones type character, you now play as Merida, the red-haired and firey tempered teenage heorine of the movie.

In addition to the character changes in Temple Run: Brave, you will also find a new gaming mechanic added. Archery has been added to increase the gameplay complexity and provide another way to earn bonuses. In testing it last week, the addition of archery does add complexity to the gameplay yet doesn't distract from the fun of the original.

While Temple Run is free, Temple Run: Brave will be $0.99. To offset the cost, players of Temple Run: Brave will get 2,500 coins, the in game currency, for power ups and character extras.

Pixar's Brave hits theaters on June 21st. But you only have to wait a few more days for Temple Run: Brave. It hits the App Store on June 14th.