Section: iPhone / iPod touch / iPad , iPhone , iPod touch , iDevice Apps , Reviews Category: Action RPG Seller: Gamevil Requirements: iPhone OS 2.1 or later Compatibility: iPhone and iPod touch File Size: 12.1MB Version Reviewed: 1.4 Price: $2.99 ( free version available ) Age Rating: 9+ for infrequent/mild cartoon or fantasy violence I’m not playing this game because I had tremendous interest in it. I mean, that’s the norm for an app reviewer, where our iPhone gaming schedule is pretty much dictated by the review requests we get. Therefore, we glossed over Zenonia at the time of its release, and that was a mistake. Zenonia’s nearly a year old, you see, having been released in the U.S. in May of 2009. So, why play through it now? Because Zenonia 2 is due out this month, and if that game is half as cool as it looks , you owe it to yourself to work through its predecessor before it’s released. In Zenonia, you play Regret. I kid you not, the main character is named Regret, which servers as proof to emo kids everywhere that their parents could be worse. Regret comes form unknown origins, of course.

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Appletell reviews Zenonia for iPhone, iPod touch

Section: iPhone / iPod touch / iPad , iPhone , iPod touch , iDevice Apps , Mac Software Macintosh and iPhone/iPod/iPad product updates and announcements for March 12, 2010: Macintosh iPod Macintosh Alesis has announced that the MultiMix 6 USB six-channel USB mixer, is now shipping to retailers. The MultiMix 6 USB is a six-channel desktop mixer designed for easy integration into a computer-based recording environment. This compact mixer is perfect for use in recording setups, video editing and production studios as it outputs not only line-level analog audio, but also stereo 16-bit, 44.1 kHz digital audio over USB for low-noise, simple computer connection. MacinMind Software has released Radiologik DJ 1.7 , optimizing loading and playback for this radio automation and DJ tool. This release includes several optimizations to help ensure the Radiologik system is as reliable and robust as possible for 24/7 radio stations both streaming and terrestrial. Radiologik DJ is the DJ music and playout system for radio or most DJ needs, offering beautiful real radio transitions by employing Track Prep through the accompanying scheduler program. Mode de Vie Limited has announced MyThoughts 1.1 , an update to their popular Mind Mapping software for Mac OS X. Intuitive, flexible and powerful, MyThoughts for Mac provides an ideal solution for those wanting to improve their brainstorming, learning and recall abilities through the use of Mind Maps. MyThoughts for Mac features an intuitive interface that lets the user focus on expressing and developing ideas with fluid, organic, Mind Maps. Bohemian Coding has released Fontcase 1.5 , a free update to the Apple Design Award-winning font manager that is like an iPhoto for your fonts. A few feature-highlights include versatile metadata support, the ability to share fonts on your local network and fantastic ways to preview all your fonts. Version 1.5 adds much-requested auto-activation, duplicates detection, speed increase and stability among other things

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Mac, iPhone, iPod and iPad product news – March 12, 2010

A cool shooter with an even cooler soundtrack, Bullet Candy Perfect resembles the renowned top-down shooter Geometry Wars, only with better graphics. Since you play to the rhythm of the beat, the techno music really sucks you in, and that synchronicity can be helpful when going for a perfect run. You pilot your tiny ship around the space levels, zapping laser-firing enemy ships, clumps of gold rings, and some menacing green orb-like things that follow you around. In some stages, you’ll become so surrounded by the green orbs that you only have two choices: Let them kill you, or commit suicide. As a strategic option, committing suicide results in the loss of two lives, but you get to keep all your perks and power-ups. So if you find yourself trapped but have lots of lives left, it’s in your best interest to right-click to be reborn to fight another day. Everybody dance now! While shooting other ships, of course.   You gain perks by picking up spinning objects that look dangerous, but they’re actually power-ups. Rounder objects resembling planets boost your laser, while others allow you to become invincible for one round, fire triple-shot ammo, pick up an extra life, and rack up bonus points. The fluid controls have you using the normal WASD keys to move your ship around and the mouse to aim and fire. We like the game’s progress bar, which tracks your achievements, high scores, average score, highest level you’ve reached, the amount of games played, play time, and your rank. You can also look at high scores online and compare them to others around the world. Even better, though, is the Radiohead-style “pay what you like” price: Developer Charlie’s Games is selling Bullet Candy Perfect for whatever you think is fair, starting at a minimum of $1.

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Bullet Candy Perfect

If you weren’t by your Mac (or PC) on Thursday evening, you might have missed it: Apple released Safari 4.0.5, the latest version of their WebKit-based browser, which now promises even more performance, stability and security. While you’re pondering that iPad preorder, why not take a visit to Apple’s Software Update and download the new Safari 4.0.5 update which Cupertino made available on Thursday night? Weighing in at 30.52MB for Snow Leopard users, 38.59MB for Leopard users, 26.78MB for Tiger users or 30.18 for Windows 7, Vista or XP, the update “addresses a number of issues related to the browser, WebKit, ColorSync, ImageIO and more,” according to AppleInsider . The complete list of changes for Safari 4.0.5 include: Performance improvements for Top Sites Stability improvements for 3rd-party plug-ins Stability improvements for websites with online forms and Scalable Vector Graphics Fixes an issue that prevented Safari from changing settings on some Linksys routers According to AppleInsider , the update also brings improved HTML5 video playback, faster JavaScript performance, better performance loading YouTube and an overall memory footprint, which would all be welcome. The release also includes “a much improved plugin manager aimed at reducing the number of crashes caused by plugins, including Adobe Flash.” That’s something we can all get excited about. If you don’t want to run Software Update, the Safari 4.0.5 release is also available directly from Apple’s website .

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Safari 4.0.5 Released, Promises Even More Performance and Stability Than Ever Before

Section: Mac Software , Games , Reviews Category: Real-time strategy Developer: Firaxis System Requirements: Mac OS X v10.5.8, Intel Core 2 Duo, 1.83GHz, 1GB RAM, 1GB hard drive space, 128MB video card Review Computer: 2.2GHz 13” Macbook Pro, 2GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 9400M with 256MB of DDR3 SDRAM Network Feature: Yes Processor Compatibility: Intel Price: $39.99 Rated: E for Everyone (10+) Availability: Out now I might like Civilization IV: Colonization better if it were just called “Colonization,” rather than associating it with probably the best game series of all time . Then again, maybe not; its restrictive gameplay and limited amount of power in a “god game” make it something of a throwback to the early days of graphic gameplay. You are, as you might expect, a colonist who lands in the New World (either North America or the islands of the Carribean). You establish towns, exploit the land and the natives, and sell your goods back to the motherland, where you recruit more settlers to further expand your hold in the west. Your ultimate goals are self-sufficiency and, finally, rebellion. Stir up enough independent feelings, then you can break away from your homeland and, if you can survive the military reprisal, win the game. Colonization is very much a micro-management game, your population is measured by individual colonists who can be assigned specific tasks such as harvesting food or other raw materials (cotton, sugar, silver, etc.) from the land surrounding your town, or converting those raw materials into finished goods. You can assign any colonist to any task, but specialists will do it better. You can recruit colonists and specialists from Europe (or they may offer to come in search of religious freedom), or you can send missionaries to native villages in hopes of gaining converts to live in your towns.  If you buddy up to the natives, you can send your colonists to their villages to get specialist training. Managing your population and keeping them on task will eat up half your time, with the other half being devoted to trade, carting your goods around to the other colonists or shipping them back to Europe. Producing finished goods (which are more valuable) is a multi-step process; you have to have a citizen harvesting, say, tobacco, as well as another citizen working to convert the tobacco into cigars. You add more people to a particular job, or improve the buildings to make them more productive. And that’s the game, really, to try to build up trade while also building up the desire for independence (that’s a job, too; you add workers to your Town Hall). There’s very little exploration and practially no technology research (beyond building new structures that give you access to new units). Raising armies is a matter of assigning colonists to defend a city (or hiring professional troops).

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Appletell reviews Civilization IV: Colonization for Mac OS X

PopCap’s games aren’t ones that require eight-figure budgets and massive media campaigns, but we defy you to find anyone who plays games on any sort of basis who hasn’t poured hours into Peggle, Plants vs. Zombies, or one of the studio’s other addictive hits. While the company initially made its mark on Mac and PC, the last couple of years have seen expansion to other platforms, notably the iPhone, which has hosted pitch-perfect iterations of those aforementioned favorites. Now, with the iPad release looming on the horizon, the big question is this: What’s PopCap planning for Apple’s tablet, and how soon will we be able to play it? Andrew Stein, director of mobile platforms at PopCap, wasn’t able to share many specifics in a recent phone interview, but did offer some insight into how the company approaches new platforms, as well as what opportunities they see in iPad development. Plants vs. Zombies on the iPhone "The iPad offers a new experience for both developers and customers, given that it has higher performance," says Stein. "Having the additional horsepower under the hood and the bigger screen, the higher-resolution graphics give a tableau for developers to get more creative with games. We can do things with the iPad that we can’t do on a smaller iPhone screen." In particular, Stein believes the large 9.7-inch screen will initially surprise iPad users, and likens the upgrade from an iPhone to that of bumping up to a new video game console. "I think that the size of screen is going to make the experience much more immersive, and it’s going to be more than what people expect

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PopCap Discusses iPad Gaming Opportunities

Square-Enix recently brought its popular Final Fantasy series to the iPhone, and now another heavy-hitter, Capcom, is bringing yet another marquee title to the platform. That title is Street Fighter — and Street Fighter IV, a port of the latest installment in the series, is now available for purchase in the App Store for $9.99. But wait, that’s a fighting game. On the iPhone. Which has no physical controls. Sure, there’s been a few to date, with mixed results, but there must be a reason the genre hasn’t caught on with developers with the ferocity of, say, accelerometer-based driving games, no? That’s definitely what I thought, but I purchased and downloaded the game anyway, against my better instincts, because I love the series, notably Street Fighter IV for the PS3. And because when I was considering a purchase, it had only received five-star reviews, which is rare even in the early going for any iPhone game. Luckily, I was not disappointed

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Street Fighter IV Arrives on the iPhone

June 17, 2010 will see the availability of the first cloud gaming service in the U.S., courtesy of OnLive, Inc., a pioneer in on-demand, instant-play video gaming. Announced Wednesday on the company’s website , The OnLive Game Service is billed as a revolutionary, on-demand video game platform capable of delivering the latest and most advanced games instantly via a broadband connection. Best of all, the service will be available on almost any Mac or PC, courtesy of a small browser plug-in, or even on an HDTV via OnLive’s MicroConsole TV adapter. "This marks a huge milestone for both OnLive and the interactive entertainment landscape as a whole, changing the way that video games are developed, marketed, accessed and played," said Steve Perlman, Founder and CEO of OnLive. "We are opening the door to incredible experiences for gamers and enormous opportunities for developers and publishers." The OnLive Game Service will offer instant access to purchase or rent new release games, with early registrants in the 48 contiguous United States getting first crack at the service when it launches on June 17, perfectly timed during the annual E3 show this year. A $14.95 monthly service fee will provide access to an expanding library of high-end, new release, instant-play game content — with no expensive console system necessary. A short list of anticipated titles includes Mass Effect 2, Dragon Age Origins, Assassin’s Creed II, Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands, Borderlands and Metro 2033. Better yet, the first 25,000 qualified registrants will have the $14.95 monthly service fee waived for the first three months of service.

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OnLive Launching Mac-Friendly Consumer Game Service in June

Section: iPhone / iPod touch / iPad , iPad , iPhone , iPod touch , iDevice Apps , iDevice Accessories , Mac Software Macintosh and iPhone/iPod/iPad product updates and announcements for March 9, 2010: Macintosh iPod Macintosh FileMaker, Inc. has announced the immediate availability of FileMaker Pro 11 . Packed with new and innovative features led by charting, “on the fly” reporting, a new Quick Find capability, and a host of productivity tools for easier database creation, FileMaker Pro 11 makes using databases easier and quicker than ever. For advanced FileMaker users and developers, FileMaker Pro 11 delivers many new features for creating professional solutions in record time. Also available today with new features is the entire FileMaker 11 product line, which includes FileMaker Pro 11 Advanced, FileMaker Server 11 and FileMaker Server 11. Araelium Group has released Querious 1.0 , its all-new database management application for Mac OS X. Querious includes the ability to view, edit, and search data, manage table schema, indexes, queries, and users for MSQL 5. Direct, SSH, and SSL connections are all supported. Querious has been built from the ground up for Mac OS X, featuring a well-crafted user experience that is both comfortable and manages to stay out of the way of experienced developers and database administrators. Mapdiva has announced Ortelius 1.0.7, the latest update of their map design software for Mac OS X. Ortelius is a vector-based cartography application that helps you create high-quality custom map graphics, plans, and scaled drawings

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Mac, iPhone, iPod and iPad product news – March 9, 2010

Section: iPhone / iPod touch / iPad , iPhone , iPod touch , iDevice Apps , Reviews Arachnadoodle Genre: Arcade Game Developer: Connect2Media File Size: 9.8 MB Version Reviewed: 0.3.5 Requirements: iPhone 2.2 Software Compatibility: iPhone or iPod touch Age Rating: 4+ Retail Price: $0.99 Arachnadoodle is a charming throwback to the arcade games of my youth, but with better graphics. It takes a simple premise—a spider building a web to catch flies—and makes it goofy and fun with bright colors, surprisingly difficult gameplay, and heartless rules. If this game had come out in the ‘80s, we’d have seen Arachnadoodle lunchboxes, Trapper Keepers, and a Saturday morning cartoon that hipsters would look back on with ironic fondness. Boris the spider, in all his googly-eyed glory, must be launched by the player to connect strands of webbing to the pins scattered randomly about a room. You primary goal is to hit all the pins—fail to do that and the game ends—but your secondary goal is to attach strands to as many pins, multiple times, as possible. This makes your web stronger, and you’ll catch more flies during the bonus round that follows each level. The game starts simply enough, then gets harder as more pins are added, along with later obstacles such as pins that change your trajectory and bombs that explode when touched, destroying the webwork. Connecting all the pins is hard enough (you only have a limited number of jumps), and at later levels figuring out how to get a web strong enough to catch the most flies will leave you puzzling over levels. It’s an odd mix of outright crazy, physics, and colorful cartoon characters. Appletell Rating: Buy Arachnadoodle Star*Burst Genre: Arcade Developer: Super Happy Fun Fun File Size: 21.5 MB Version Reviewed: 1.0.5 Requirements: iPhone 2.2.1 Software Compatibility: iPhone or iPod touch Age Rating: 4+ Retail Price: $1.99 (Free Lite version available) Speaking of arcade throwbacks, Star*Burst was developed by the creator of KLAX, and it shows.

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Appletell reviews Arachnadoodle and Star*Burst for iPhone, iPod touch