Games

iPhone App Review: Ninja Bounce

Ninja Bounce [iTunes link] created by JellyOasis is a survival game and continues my trend of reviewing awesome Ninja-related iPhone games (e.g. Ninjump and Veggie Samurai). This is really a fun game that adds a couple new dimensions to the survival genre. Instead of slicing and dicing like most Ninja games, this game takes a different approach to the Ninja's skills, the jump (or as Indiana Jones would call it, The Leap of Faith!)

The concept is simple: you must correctly tap on either the two points on the screen that correlates to the specific point of the game. Your Ninja will be constantly moving, however; the length between jumps is directly related to correctly tapping on the right button... 

The Mac App Store Has Opened, Brings Popular iOS Games to the Mac

The Mac App Store has opened. If you go to Software Update on your Mac, you can download the latest version of OS X. This update includes a shiny new app on your dock called the "App Store." Don't get confused, this isn't the iOS App Store on your iPhone; all of these apps are Mac-specific apps.

While the Mac App Store does bring many great new apps for the Mac, many iOS apps that we all know are also available through the Mac App Store. Specifically, there are many popular games from the iOS App Store now available on the Mac. The new Mac releases of these games are basically fullscreen versions with some added features and content.

And yes, you can now play Angry Birds in full, HD resolution on your 27-inch iMac...

iPhone App Review: Saving Private Sheep

Saving Private Sheep [iTunes Link] was created by Bulky Pix and is a witty and fun physics puzzle game for the iPhone. Some of you may think of Saving Private Ryan (the movie), but that's where all the similarities end.

The concept is simple yet deceivingly complex. You must save Private S. Ryan (a sheep), while he sits atop or dangles perilously from structures that only the Devil could have conceived. To save him, you will need to destroy boxes, blocks of ice, or exploding packages by simply pressing on each thing with your finger... 

iPhone App Review: Moto X Mayhem

Moto X Mayhem [iTunes link] was developed by Occamy Games and is an exciting 2D Dirt Bike side-scrolling game that brings a fun concept through simplicity.

The concept of the game is really simple. You control a BMX Biker and must get through 4 treacherous campaigns in the quickest time possible. To control your Bike, you must accurately Throttle, Break, Leaning Forwards or Backwards to continue your trek forward.

The buttons for these controls will be on the left and right of the screen, or you can use the accelerometer for learning forward/backwards...

The 10 Best App Store Apps of 2010

The App Store has never been a very quiet place. 2010 was no exception; thousands upon thousands of new apps were submitted to the App Store. Most of them aren't worth mentioning, but there have been some exceptional apps that have risen to the forefront of what the App Store has had to offer throughout the year 2010.

We've covered a lot of App Store apps this year on iDB, with the goal of keeping our readers in the know.

Now, we’d like to take some time to reflect on our favorite App Store apps of 2010. Being included on this list doesn’t necessarily mean the app was released in 2010, it just means that it was amongst our most utilized of this year. Drumroll, please…

App Review – Lord of the Rings: Middle-Earth Defense

Lord of the Rings: Middle-Earth Defense [iTunes Link] was developed by Glu Mobile and was one of the apps that I picked up during the holiday Christmas sale. When I was young I read the book series maybe 3-4 times which made me an instant fan of the movie franchise, so this app was one of those must buys!

From this point I will save myself the trouble and refer it to as LOTR.

LOTR is a tower-defense game that brings the genre to a whole new level. Instead of setting towers along a set path, and watching your enemies run in your defenses, you will follow your heros on their quest to destroy the Ring.

During your quest you will come upon your favorite locations from the movie such as Helms Deep or the Mines of Moria. In addition, towers are replaced with your favorite heroes, which is really awesome for fanboys like me. Characters such as Legolas, Aragorn, Gimli and Gandalf are available as well as your small feeble Hobbits, and other minor characters. And how could I forget those adorable Orcs, Goblins, Nazgul and other huggable creatures... 

There Were Huge Spikes in App Store Downloads Over the Holidays

I'm sure it comes as no surprise that there were plenty of iOS devices under the tree this Christmas season. Most of you either gave, or saw a loved one receive a new iPod Touch, iPad or iPhone. Two very prominent applications in the App Store, Facebook and Tap Tap Revenge, have shared their download numbers from the holidays. The results are very impressive.

Both Facebook and Tap Tap Revenge 4 have sat comfortably near the top of the App Store charts for quite some time, and TTR4 has been the number one app for several days. Both of the apps had huge download spikes this past weekend, giving us a good idea of how many iOS devices were opened for Christmas...

StickWars 2 iPhone Game Review

StickWars 2 created by Pinger, is the sequel to the popular Stick Wars game. I was impressed by the first game so I thought I would check out the sequel. If you are unfamiliar with Stick Wars, it was a popular castle defense game in which you must protect your castle against a never-ending army of stickmen. For those who used to spend your days as kids drawing stick men or playing Hangman then this will especially touch your heart.

The concept is pretty straightforward. In this game you must protect your precious castle against hordes of angry stickmen bent on your destruction. The stickmen will be charging at you with different speeds from the right and you will be mainly using your finger as your main form of protection... 

How to Give An iPhone App This Holiday Season

It's that time of year. Christmas music, staff parties, plenty of egg nog, and gifts. As fellow iPhone users, what better gift is there to give each other than what we crave: more apps.

We could all probably name at least a few apps that we would like to have, but haven't bought yet. How nice would it be to wake up on Christmas day and have that new app you've been wanting?

Luckily, Apple allows you to "gift" an app to a friend. If you didn't know about gifting apps, I'm going to walk you through how to gift an app, along with some gift-giving tips...

Apple Is Denying In-App Donations To Developers

Apple has never been known as an easy company to get along with. While it has always made some of the greatest products on the market, it is also notorious for being overly censored and stubborn with its decisions.

We recently reported that an unofficial WikiLeaks app had been pulled from the App Store. It was thought that Apple could have justified the pull based on their charitable donation policy. As it turns out, that policy has been plaguing app developers for some time, and they're starting to get frustrated.

The Huffington Post recently published an article on Apple's denial of in-app donations for charity. Many developers run non-profit, or support non-profit, organizations and would like to allow their app's users to make philanthropic donations in the same way that other in-app purchases function. For some reason, Apple has been denying these requests from developers, and it's making Apple look like the bad guy...

Veggie Samurai iPhone App Review

Veggie Samurai created by QuantumSquid Interactive, is a slice and dice upgrade from the popular Fruit Ninja game. While the name is almost a blatant rip off (e.g. does iPed ring any bells?), that’s as far as it goes because it brings a lot of fun and uniqueness to the table.

This game is all about slicing vegetables and Veggie Samurai offers 6 chaotic modes Samurai, Hardcore, Harmony, Chaos, Sort, and Match modes.

The first game mode has 3 similar styles. Samurai mode will throw vegetables and poison vials in the air. You will have three uncut vegetable drops, 3 broken poison vials or a mixture of the two before it’s game over. Chaos mode is similar to Samurai except that the speed is twice or three times as fast. And Hardcore mode will give you no second chances before the game is over...

Ninja Steve: Steve Jobs Satire At Its Finest

Apparently, Steve Jobs really is a ninja. "Ninja Steve" isn't your typical iPhone game. In it, you are the man himself - Steve Jobs.

You aren't the calm, keynote-giving Jobs that we all know and love. You are Ninja Steve. As Ninja Steve, you must fight through waves of green robots (that bear a striking resemblance to the Google Android bot) by throwing your trusty shurikens.

I have no clue how this app got approved for the App Store, but I would think it definitely wins the "Most Assured App to Piss Steve Jobs Off" award...