Posted by danielle | Posted in comment | Posted on 03-09-2010
It looks like summer is officially over but there is still fun to be had! As always, the app’ market is busy with designers and developers producing some fantastic app’s. Our favourites this week are:
Spider-Man:Total Mayhem (iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad – £3.99)
One of the best original superheroes is back and on our mobiles! Those clever people at Gameloft have done it again with a stunning game that has great graphics and game play. Players have to help Spider-Man use all of his powers to save New York from the worst breakout of Super Villains the city has ever seen. Great stuff for any Spider-Man fan!
GymTechNik Next Gen (BlackBerry – 30 day free trial)
The perfect gym buddy when you are trying to fight the flab! This app’ for BlackBerry has recently been updated to also include facebook and twitter integration – nothing like your friends knowing about your schedule to egg you on! The app’ allows you to set up workouts based on body parts such as arms, shoulders, abs, back and legs and you can put these workouts into your calendar to ensure you keep to your weekly routine. There is also a section for setting up cardio and custom workouts, tailored just for you.
Hyperspace (Android – currently £1)
Fast action original 3D tilt-control ball-and-platform racing game. The principle behind the game is simple yet it works really well, especially with the bright graphics. Users must try and beat each level in the quickest times possible, using the tilt based system found on Android phones. The game offers great design, varying levels of difficulty and the ability to view world scores.
Posted by danielle | Posted in comment | Posted on 26-08-2010
We are looking at games this week and are over excited in the office about Solipskier which is one of the most unique games we have seen in a while. It rightly takes top spot in our app’s of the week!
Solipskier (iPhone, iPod Touch & iPad – £1.79)
You can’t beat a simple, well designed game. It’s really good and yet still unique.
It’s interactive with the user having to draw the slopes on which the skier can race. Touching the screen starts the slope drawing, which continues until you lift your finger off. The skier picks up speed as you draw downward slopes, and slows as the user climbs up their own uphill slants. Adding a lift as you remove your finger gives the skier a jump point from which they can do crazy tricks to earn more points. A lot of fun and very clever.
Monster Dash (iPhone, iPod Touch & iPad – £0.79)
Following Fruit Ninja could have been tough but not with Monster Dash which is a great success! It’s a bit like Canabalt but better. The user has to guide their character (Barry Steakfries) across the playing field to see how far you can go without him dying. Various obstacles to overcome include gaps which you have to navigate over, dangerous spikes as well as, of course, monsters! But fear not as Barry has weapons including a pump-action shotgun. If that is not enough, as you make your way through a level, crates will be made available that contain a new weapon with a limited amount of amunition. A great game and even better than its predecessor.
The Incident ((iPhone, iPod Touch & iPad – £1.19)
This fun game takes the user back with its 8-bit retro design. The user has to do everything it can to dodge the falling items which include just about everything from ladders, to cars, bikes and telephone boxes. The user then has to position the pile of debris to form platforms which they can then use to climb up and reach the height they need before they can pass on to the next level. It’s simple, slick and very addictive!
We found this great article about Augmented Reality by Jason Fell on FOLIO. Fell looks at the differences between AR and 2D image recognition, as well as calls for industry standardisation. For the full article, please read here.
Ronald Azuma, a professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who has researched AR technologies
, defines AR as a “variation of virtual environments” that “allows the user to see the real world, with virtual objects superimposed upon or composited with the real world.” Azuma says AR systems have the following three characteristics:
1. It combines real and virtual
2. It is interactive in real time
3. It is registered in 3-D
Bruno Uzzan, co-founder and CEO of AR firm Total Immersion—the firm that worked with In Style on its holiday gift guide issue last year advises, “Augmented reality is the real-time merge between a video stream and a digital object. The three parallel processes that run in real time during an AR experience are recognition, tracking and rendering. Therefore, recognition off a barcode, marker or markerless image makes up a vital portion of AR, so it is less about the differences between the two and more about their working relationship.”
