New Apps & Games

Top Bot review: this multiplayer racing game challenges gravity

Jim Gresham ∙ Updated January 22, 2018

Slowly, I am becoming more of an iOS multiplayer fan. Original hesitancy spawned from my unwillingness to invest large quantities of time hovered over my iOS device learning the ropes on a new app. As I have said time again, there is no personal interest in long complicated games for my portable Apple products.

Because of my predilection for quick pick up and play games, multiplayer was typically out of the question. However, with the advent of time shifted multiplayer, made famous but not created by Real Racing 3, I now dabble in other similarly crafted apps. For example, one of my new favorite games, that I never knew existed, is Top Bot, a multiplayer robot racing challenge for best speed...

Prince of Persia: The Shadow and The Flame coming to iOS this summer

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated November 21, 2017

French games makers are responsible for some of the juiciest titles on Apple's platform. Gameloft, for example, is a household name on the App Store and Ubisoft is no exception.

Headquartered in Montreuil, France, Ubisoft is behind some of the world's top entertainment franchises, among them one of my favorites, Prince of Persia.

Created by Jordan Mechner and originally developed for and released on the Apple II in 1989, the Prince of Persia series has undergone several reboots, but they all share similar story elements, settings and characters. Their latest addition to the series, Prince of Persia: The Shadow and The Flame, is scheduled to hit iPhone, iPod touch and iPad devices this summer.

Developed by Ubisoft Pune, the studio focused on mobile and console gaming, Prince of Persia: The Shadow and The Flame is being billed as a pick up and play adaptation of the classic Prince of Persia franchise, "easy to handle but challenging to master." You, of course, play as the Prince who must save his Princess and kingdom "on a journey that will pave the path to his origins."

To me, that's good enough an excuse to run, climb, swing, vault and jump from rooftop to rooftop, all over again. I've included more highlights, screenshots and a trailer right past the fold...

New Twitter Music app launching this weekend

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated November 19, 2018

Twitter Thursday announced on, well, Twitter that it snapped up We Are Hunted, a music startup which tracks what songs people share the most across social networks.

But that's so yesterday. Just 24 hours later, Twitter on Friday announced its music service is crawling out of obscurity, having changed from "invite only" to "coming soon." Not much is known about the service as of yet except for a tidbit here and there.

According to some well-informed people, the micro-blogging service will be launching an app for iOS devices as well, timed to the start of the Coachella music festival this weekend. Matter of fact, if you're Ryan Seacrest, a filmstar, an influencer or some such celebrity, you could start using Twitter Music today...

Cut the Rope: Time Travel teased, is ‘almost here’

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 27, 2019

UK-based developer ZeptoLab really hit the bull's eye with the main premise behind its adorable iOS puzzler dubbed Cut the Rope. In case you've been living under a rock, your objective is to feed candy to a little green monster named Om Nom while collecting stars.

Since making its debut in October 2010, Cut the Rope, a BAFTA winner, has been downloaded more than a hundred million times across various platforms.

Taking the franchise to the next level, ZeptoLab has just posted a teaser video announcing a sequel titled Cut the Rope: Time Travel...

Gameloft’s free to play Dungeon Hunter 4 hits iOS

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated May 16, 2018

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxAw-0lxH28

French publisher Gameloft, one of the most prolific iOS games publishers, has joined Electronic Arts in offering latest triple-A titles for free, a major shift in strategy in recognition of the free-to-play concept. Today, Gameloft's Dungeon Hunter 4, a major new release, has hit the App Store as a free download.

The Diablo-like title is classes as a role-playing game set in the land of Valenthia and you're tasked with saving the mortal realms from darkness. It includes the usual assortment of potions, daggers, swords, monsters and character classes such as Sentinels, Imps (compared in savagery to a wolverine) and what not...

Mittens by Disney pounces onto iPhone and iPad [review]

Jim Gresham ∙ Updated February 18, 2018

Disney made quite the name for themselves in the iOS app world with hit titles like Where's My Water?, Where's My Perry?, and more recently Monsters, Inc. Run. Christian previously mentioned Disney's new physics puzzler Mittens would be a good one to keep your eye on. After spending a bit of my weekend with my new favorite feline friend, alley cat Mittens, I am happy to report that Disney has done it again.

The physics based puzzler is everything I have come to expect from my preferred iOS games. I'm not one to sit on the couch and plow through games on my iPad mini, but I do really like the pick up and play nature of this particular genre. It seems Disney may be perfecting this style game as it continues to develop quick, fun, and pleasing games anyone can immediately play with a small learning curve...

Mr. Runner 2: The Masks confirmed for April 24

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 10, 2013

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnfyM6xs7sg

Mr. Runner, in case you aren't aware of it, is Zing Games' endless runner with an interesting side-scrolling twist and nice retro-like graphics. People downloaded it over five million times so it has some respectable following out there. Two and a half years later, Zing is set to release a sequel, titled Mr. Runner 2: The Masks.

Exploiting the side-scrolling mechanics further, Mr. Runner 2 adds a bunch of colorful backgrounds that should shine on Retina screens (art direction indeed looks stunning), 32 level across four dream-like worlds worlds with different themes and challenges, plus the new cartoony characters.

I'll be on the lookout for this one when it hits the App Store on April 24, that's for sure. By the way, there's more to this trailer than meets the eye. Read on for the full disclosure...

LookAway Player brings Galaxy S4-like Smart Pause eye-tracking to iPhone

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated November 19, 2018

Samsung has been promoting its eye-tracking technology, which debuted on the Galaxy S3, for some time now. As an S3 owner, I must say I wasn't impressed with the handset's ability to automatically shut down the display when looking away: it's taxing on the battery and not very reliable. With the Galaxy S4, which is scheduled to go on sale by end of April, Samsung is doubling down on eye-tracking with a few related new features like Smart Scroll and Smart Pause.

And now, a new iPhone app has been released which brings the Smart Pause-like functionality to the iPhone...

Famed Mac dev Panic teases mysterious iPad app, coming tomorrow

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

Panic is one of my favorite Mac developers, was even more so in the pre-iPhone days when top-notch Mac apps were somewhat few and far between.

Now, Panic has successfully transitioned itself to the world of concurrent Mac/iOS development, having released a very nice iOS SSH app aptly named Prompt.

And if you're a web developer, an iPad version of Coda is a must-have. The firm has kept mum on its future iOS releases, but they've been obviously working behind the scenes on a major new app. Both a tweet and the Panic web site now tease the upcoming software, with a ticker on panic.com reading "current status: this Wednesday, a brand new iPad app from Panic."

UPDATE: we think we know what the app is about and you're going to love it! Go past the fold for the full disclosure...

Rdio launches new Vdio streaming video service

Cody Lee ∙ Updated January 22, 2018

Last week we heard a rumor that music subscription service Spotify was looking to get into the streaming video space. But it looks like their rival has beat them to it. Today, Rdio has launched its own streaming video service called Vdio.

But unlike what we heard about Spotify's plans, Vdio doesn't really look like a Netflix competitor. It's actually a lot more like iTunes, in that it will let you rent and purchase videos from the service and then stream them to your devices...

Duke Nukem II smashes its way onto your iPhone and iPad

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 6, 2018

As promised, Interceptor Entertainment and 3D Realms today launched Duke Nukem II for the iPhone and iPad on the App Store. The legendary game has made it to Apple's mobile platform as part of its 20th anniversary. Generation Y readers will remember that the original Duke Nukem II had been released way back in 1993 for Microsoft’s DOS.

It was then followed by Duke Nukem 3D in 1996, a Nintendo Game Boy Color port in 1999 and Duke Nukem Forever in 2011. The iOS version is an enhanced port of the original, which means souped up VGA graphics, a new soundtrack, online leaderboards and more. If you've enjoyed the original release, you'll be delighted to know that all of the 32 original levels have made it to the iOS version...

Rovio bringing its Facebook hit ‘Angry Birds Friends’ to iOS

Cody Lee ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

With more than 6 different games from the Angry Birds franchise bouncing around in the App Store, we probably didn't need another one. But we're getting one. Rovio announced today that its bringing its Facebook hit 'Angry Birds Friends' to iOS.

'Angry Birds Friends' combines classic Angry Birds gameplay with Facebook integration and other social features. Players can challenge their Facebook friends in weekly tournaments, collect daily awards and send and receive gifts of power-ups...