Battle for Wesnoth seemed like another turn-based RPG game for the iPad. But as a port of a large, mature PC game there is much more depth than a typical iPad game. I wasted many hours this week moving through the initial story. But there are actually 15 campaigns, so I’ve got plenty more to go.
Ever need to call a company’s customer service number for help? Then you get faced with a long wait until you get to talk with someone? With the FastCustomer app, you can have those companies call you. Just select the company from the list and enter your phone number. Then the phone rings with a real live service representative from that company on the line. What a great idea!
If you plan on watching the Academy Awards this weekend you may want to invest a buck for the official iPhone and iPad app. It is hard to say now whether it will be worth it, but the idea is intriguing. You get to view live cameras from the event, instead of being stuck with the one that is currently on your TV screen. It will be interesting to see how well it works. If it is a success, this could be the start of a new way of watching events.
We’re really starting to get console-quality games now on the iPhone. With Dead Space, you’ve got excellent graphics, 3D, gameplay and it is just as creepy as the console version. Plus the story is something separate from the console ones, so you aren’t replaying the same thing. There is also a separate Dead Space for iPad version.
Making a restaurant reservation using your iPhone is one of those cool things you see in TV commercials that you actually might need to do in real life every once in a while. The free Open Table app makes it easy. And you can also find nearby restaurants as alternatives if your favorite is booked for the night and read reviews.
In case you missed it, The Daily launched this week. This is an iPad-only daily newspaper. It is significant in many ways. It is a new publication, not a new version of an old paper. It is iPad-only with content not even available on its web site. It also is the first app to use a subscription payment model. After the first two weeks it will cost $0.99 per week to subscribe. Too early to tell whether it will succeed in changing how we think of newspapers.
It is amazing that we can still find new ways to simulate golf in video games. With Flick Golf you can probably guess how you control the swing. But you can also control the flight of the ball. Plus the game plays a little more like an arcade game than a traditional golf game, with bullseye targets and timers.
Brush off those 1980s programming skills and write some BASIC code on your iPhone or iPad. The Basic! app lets you type out some code and run it just like you would on an early computer or terminal. Besides being nostalgic, this could actually come in handy if you need to write quick programs to perform calculations. They have even added some touch screen functions.
Yet another innovative puzzle game. In Burn the Rope you turn your iPhone to keep flames burning upward along the ropes. Bugs crawling along the rope and flame colors add depth to the puzzles.
If you are in to the whole check-in craze, then you might want to check out the free app Instagram. This app lets you take a quick picture and then check in using Foursquare, Facebook and other systems all at once. I like how you can use filters on the photos to help make them more interesting.
Here’s another free game from CleverMedia (MacMost’s parent). Just Mah Jongg Solitaire comes from a long history of Mah Jongg tile games starting with Nile Tiles in 1999. You must find matching tiles and try to clear the board. This iPhone version is free, and contains more than 100 layouts, 5 tile sets and several backgrounds.
The iPad seems to be the perfect device for college students. What it has been lacking, though, is the perfect note-taking app. But finally the best Mac application for taking notes has come to the iPad. With Circus Ponies NoteBook for iPad you can write, draw, record audio and organize notes. I wish they had this when I was in school. But I can still get some use out of it today taking notes in meetings and brainstorming on my own.
Here’s another one of our own free apps. With the Snowman Construction Kit you can build your own snowman combining various parts to make a picture. When you are done, you can save it to your camera roll and send to friends or upload to sites. It is based on the web version which we first created back in 1997 and have updated many times since.
THQ has been giving us a steady stream of Star Wars games for the iPhone. The latest, Falcon Gunner, is reminiscent of the old arcade title. It works well on the iPhone with the accelerometers. You put yourself in the seat of one of the Millennium Falcon’s guns and shoot down TIE fighters. A special mode uses your camera to put your reality in the background. Not only is this entertaining, but you get quite a workout wheeling around to destroy all the TIE fighters in your living room.
Back in the 90s one of the coolest and weirdest pieces of Mac software was Rebirth. It simulated classic synth and drum machines. Lots of fun to play with. Well, now Rebirth is reborn with Rebirth for iPad. And it is just as much fun. You can also find Rebirth for the iPhone though it is much better on the large screen of the iPad.
Apple decided to take one piece of MobileMe and make it free this week: the Find My iPhone functionality. It actually works with the iPod Touch and iPad too. You use your Apple ID and register your iPhone. Then you can go on to your Mac and see its location on a map. Or, you can use the free Find My iPhone app on another iOS device to locate it.
Fans of Google Voice have waited a long time for this app. The free Google Voice app allows you to check your voicemail, send and receive text messages, and you get notifications of incoming messages. I like it because it is now the best alternative to AT&T’s text messaging plans. If you already have a Google Voice account, then this is a must-have app. If you don’t, then why not get one?
Can’t decide whether to get an action game or a real-time strategy game? Why not both with Cartoon Wars 2: Heroes. Unlike other tower defense games, you don’t have to wait for the enemy to come to you. You can send out soldiers to attack. There is hours and hours of fun here.
I never got to check out Alice in Wonderland when it first arrived in the app store to promote the new movie. But now that it is $0.99, I thought I’d give it a try. Good old-fashioned adventure game fun.
