Google is in the middle of its I/O developer conference keynote right now, and so far it’s been pretty boring. There’s been no mention of consumer products yet, just some talk about developer API access and some new software and services.
The search giant did, however, unveil a new game service. Flying under the Google Play flag, the service resembles Apple’s Game Center, hosting leader boards, achievements, and facilitating real-time multiplayer. Oh, and it’s coming to iOS… Read More
During its big executive shuffle last fall, Apple put expert designer Jony Ive in charge of all HI (Human Interface). And since then, there has been non-stop speculation regarding what kind of changes might be made to the ever-aging iOS.
And a lot of folks are wondering what the operating system would look like without all of the skeuomorphism — the leather, etc. textures. Well designer Adrian Maciburko might be on the right track with his “Crystal Interface” concept… Read More
Apple today received two interesting trademark grants seeking to protect the Game Center icon design and the Apple-coined Retina moniker. The former describes a rounded icon divided into four quadrants, each sporting a distinct combination of colors and shapes. It was originally filed in June 2012 under international classes that cover multiplayer games, scoring and tracking game performance and “providing an online portal for social networking through virtual communities”.
More important than the Game Center icon is the widely used Retina name, now a registered trademark of Apple, Inc. Read More
Recently, a pattern has begun taking shape that I fear signals something worryingly awful is afoot as excellence takes a back seat at Apple in favor of mediocre web services. It’s always been that way, critics might add. Indeed, here we are, at the end of 2012, and yet weekly outages of key iCloud services such as iMessage and FaceTime are still a norm rather than a rare exception.
While iCloud storm is raining on users, Apple seemingly struggles in figuring out how to sprinkle its magic dust on Internet software. With over half a billion iOS and Mac devices straining its data centers, something clearly had to give. The iPhone maker isn’t an isolated example: competitors experience outages, too. But Apple’s different in that its online woes are symptomatic of a much larger set of problems the company faces.
Cupertino’s infrastructure is lacking. For all the computational power its array of super data centers provide, Apple’s software underpinnings are outdated and increasingly incapable of handling high load. Software shortcomings are putting Apple at risk at a time when competitors like Google tap their massive scale and expertise to successfully marry hardware to Internet software in ways Apple cannot… Read More
It appears that OpenFeint, one of the first multiplayer gaming platforms for iOS, will be shutting down next month. The service was acquired by Japanese internet media company Gree in 2011 for $104 million. And last week, Gree announced that it would be shutting it down.
Even worse, the firm has only given developers a month’s notice to migrate away from OpenFeint. As of December 14th, the service will go offline, and any game or application still using it will either need to be updated, or will suffer from severely crippled online components… Read More
A few days ago, I highlighted my experience with OS X 10.8.2, which is like the perfect supplement for Mac users who’ve just upgraded their mobile devices to iOS 6.
Some of the biggest features included is phone number support for iMessage, which makes the entire iMessage experience lightyears better than before, and Facebook single sign on integration.
Don’t be misled by the “.2″, as OS X 10.8.2 is a huge upgrade over OS X 10.8.1. Take a look inside for the change log, and stay tuned for videos showing off the new digs. Read More
Amazon is keen on taking its Kindle Fire tablet beyond reading e-stuff, listening to music and watching movies and has today announced GameCircle, a brand new application programming interface (API) for developers, with social gaming features akin to Apple’s Game Center on iOS devices (and soon Mountain Lion Macs). It’s got the basics nailed, the stuff like leaderboards and achievements. Amazon is hoping developers will quickly pick it up and enrich their Kindle Fire games and who knows, it may come in handy if the company decides upon releasing a phone of its own… Read More
The search giant Google is reportedly looking to replicate Apple’s Game Center with a native Android app of its own.
Despite the ongoing patent war waged between Apple and a bunch of Android backers over the look and feel of iOS software, Google is reportedly looking to simply copy Game Center.
The search firm needs own social gaming service so Android gamers have a central place to connect with each other, check out leaderboards, scores and challenge friends.
And if their other products are anything to go by, Google’s thing is likely to feature deep integration with Google+, their another social thing… Read More
It looks like we may never be able to trust the legitimacy of an impressive Game Center account ever again, thanks to this new jailbreak tweak from Ingmar Stein.
Aptly named Overachiever, Stein’s new tweak allows users to earn Game Center achievements without actually playing the required games or levels… Read More
Doodle Jump has been one of the most popular iOS games ever since its launch, and it has received several updates throughout the year. The latest update brings one of the most highly awaited features: online multiplayer.
Similar to other multiplayer games available in the App Store, you can play against another friend via Game Center or randomly be matched up against another player…
Apple continues their “If You Don’t Have an iPhone” marketing campaign with the latest ad focusing on Apple’s iOS online multiplayer social gaming network, Game Center.
The 30 second commercial opens up by showcasing the huge library of games available in the App Store, such as Infinity Blade, and then shows the capabilities of Game Center, including friends requests, starting a multiplayer game through matchmaking, tracking achievements, and comparing high scores on a leader board.
There are a ton of great games to play on the iPhone. Most of them have multiple levels and achievements to unlock. You wouldn’t want to lose your game progress and achievements in the event that you have to restore your iPhone.
For jailbreakers, backing up data is essential. To upgrade to a new version of iOS, a jailbroken iPhone is completely wiped and updated to the default setup of the next iOS release. A new jailbreak has to then be applied, and all personal data (media, contacts, jailbreak apps, etc) has to be synced back onto the iPhone.
Through the magic of SSH, you can save your iOS game data on your computer in the event that you have to restore. Here’s how to do it…
Earlier today we saw an application that allows you to fake your email identity, and now we’ve learned about Hack Center, a new jailbreak app to be available on Cydia soon, which will let you send fake scores to Game Center.
As you can see on the demo video below, this tweak is pretty straightforward. At the end of a game, it will simply ask you what you want your score to be and will submit it to Game Center… Read More
The video game titan Capcom recently released an official iPhone app called “Capcom Arcade.” The arcade-styled app lets you play the original versions of some of Capcom’s classic games. Street Fighter, Ghouls ‘N Ghosts, 1942, and Commando are all available to be played in their entirety on iOS.
“Wow. That’s a lot of awesome gameplay in one app. I bet that’s expensive.” That’s what I thought too when I first heard that Capcom was releasing an app with bundled games. The interesting thing is that Capcom Arcade is not an expensive app at all, in fact, it’s free…
Apple has filed another interesting patent detailing some extremely interesting multi-player gaming possibilities. Patently Apple has referred to the patent as an “Interactive Laser Gaming Application and/or Framework.” Essentially, the new framework would allow iPhones to recreate what amounts to a game of laser tag.
Most people are familiar with laser tag, a game in which players wear light-sensitive vests that register a “hit” when shot by an infrared laser from another player’s gun. This new Apple patent describes a similar environment, in which the iPhone would act as the vest and gun…
I can’t say I’m a big fan of Sudoku, but Big Bad Sudoku Book has piqued my interest due to it being one of the first iPhone Apps in the App Store that touts full support for iOS 4.2. If that’s not proof that iOS 4.2 is mere hours or days away, then I don’t know what is.
Although iPhone users running iOS 4.1 already have access to Game Center, remember that our iPad toting friends currently do not, along with many other features like multitasking, and folders. If Big Bad Sudoku Book’s latest App Store approval is any indicator, I’d say that the wait is just about over.
I’m a little late to the Game Center party, because I was waiting to jailbreak 4.1. But now that I’ve arrived, it doesn’t feel like much of a party. Apple’s much touted Game Center app is supposed to be an “out of the box” focal point for all your iPhone (3GS/4), iPad, and iPod touch (2G-4G) games.
Compare your scores with friends, see how you rank worldwide, and try to achieve game goals to earn bragging rights (or to let people know how much free time you have to waste). You can also challenge friends to matches or play strangers in a multiplayer matchup.
Game Center does everything advertised above, so why am I not having any fun? Because this is what I was greeted with upon logging in:
With the release of iOS 4.1 came Game Center, Apple’s mobile and social gaming platform. Unfortunately for iPhone 3G owners, Apple decided not to include Game Center on the iPhone 3G. Why did they do that? Probably to prepare iPhone 3G users to the fact that they won’t get support from Apple anymore when the next iPhone comes out in 2011.
This being said, I was tipped about Game Center running on an iPhone 3G, and while the results are kinda mixed, it works for sure. Proof is this YouTube video made by Taimur showing Game Center running (a little slow) on a 3G. So how do you get Game Center on an iPhone 3G? Read More
As we reported last week Apple unveiled a special section in the App Store that features entries compatible with Game Center. This new iOS 4.1 feature is a social gaming network that allows you to compete against as many friends as you can convince to accept your requests. Apparently that isn’t the case if your friend tally goes beyond 500.
TiPb has a story about an employee running into issues once their friend counter gets to 500. Beyond that it appears that once you delete a friend and you’re at 499 another request is then allowed through which bumps your tally to the seemingly restricted 500… Read More
It’s always a busy time in the world of iPhone blogging when the iPhone iOS gets an upgrade. Reports are flying high and aiming low about every feature implemented in the newest version of the operating system.
As you know by now iOS 4.1 has brought us Game Center, the social network fix for Apple gamers. So now that the platform is there and you’ve convinced all your iOS toting friends to add your handle, you may be asking what you’re supposed to do without any games. Have no fear, the App Store is here… Read More
