The Official Ipod/iOS Apps Thread

[Nectar]

Lots of posts to restore for this thread. This isn't even a fraction of them.

I may have mentioned this before, but I have always longed for a Elite Beat Agents rip off on the ipod touch and iPhone.

I think it would work out pretty well. Someone should get on that, make a ton of money.

Look up Saturday Night Fever, it's already been done .

Great point. I will vouch for SplashID though as I had used it for awhile on my old Sony Clie PDA. It was one of my father's favorite apps at the time as well and he bought it for his Touch too.

If you're into audiobooks, I'd highly recommend you do the Audible deal I mentioned a few posts back!

There are a ton of cool Doctor Who ones I'd love to check out on Audible but I don't think I could stomach the prices. :/

There are a ton of cool Doctor Who ones I'd love to check out on Audible but I don't think I could stomach the prices. :/

Actually the deal I mentioned at www.audible.com/twit2 was a 2 week free trial and you get 2 credits (good in most cases for 2 whole books). You get to keep them even if you cancel the trial before the 2 weeks is up! So sign up, grab your two free books, then cancel before your two weeks is up, that's the key.

There is now a free trial version of David Crane's Arcade Bowling. Check it out, it's a really fun arcade skeeball game.

Its actually been out for awhile it seems, one of the first apps I grabbed. Its not bad but I don't know if I'd pay $2 for it.

Thanks for the Audible deal!

Its actually been out for awhile it seems, one of the first apps I grabbed. Its not bad but I don't know if I'd pay $2 for it.

Thanks for the Audible deal!

Yeah no problem, just don't forget to cancel before 2 weeks is up.

I've had fun with Arcade Bowling, the Classic mode is just okay, but I like Progressive.

iDracula is out and it's .99 cents. May want to check it out, kinda fun for a buck. It's a run and gun type of game in the vein of Robotron.

I've been playing with the new MLB.com At Bat Lite. I have the sinking feeling I'll be paying for the full version April 2nd for no other reason than these two words: Gameday. Audio.

And here are a few recommendations for apps:

Pandora
Night Camera
What's On? (a TV guide type app)
Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch (sort of like those Seafood Watch cards you get when you go the aquarium)
Obama 09 (Barack Obama's Inaugural Speech along with a number of other famous speeches)
NetNewsWire
iTalk (mobile recording, iPhone & 2nd gen iPod Touch ONLY)

BJ

Since the 2nd gen Touch doesn't have a microphone how is that possible? :huh:

Oh I guess if you wanted a 3rd party accessory sure...

Considering that $12 Sansa player I just got can record it is kinda lame that the $289 Touch can't.

Pandora rocks...I'd recommend AOL Radio as well, shocking I know. It does country wide radio station streaming. Both these apps work great in conjunction with a speaker dock.

iDracula is out and it's .99 cents. May want to check it out, kinda fun for a buck. It's a run and gun type of game in the vein of Robotron.

Yes but you are forgetting, ALL games are like Robotron. Remember. :P

Actually, yeah you have to buy a 3rd-party accessory like the iPhone 3G headset (which is $29, pretty reasonable IMHO, AND it works with the 2nd Generation iPod touch. BONUS!).

BJ

Actually, yeah you have to buy a 3rd-party accessory like the iPhone 3G headset (which is $29, pretty reasonable IMHO, AND it works with the 2nd Generation iPod touch. BONUS!).

BJ

I could buy three Sansa's with recording already built in though for that price. :P

Apple is a real riot with these accessories. They make the back of these things scratch like a baby's bottom so they can get kickbacks from the billion dollar a year casing market as it is. Batards.

I read that Walmart is clearing out 8GB sansa clips for $50. I might hafta get one.

[Nectar]

My wife wanted me to set up her I-touch with some new podcasts and switch her up with some new music. I plug the thing in and Itunes notifies me that there's a firmware revision available. Mind you, I spent $10 a year ago to upgrade the firmware on this thing. Another $10 if I want to be able to use the "app store". What a racket, man. I have to pay them $10 to have to opportunity to spend more money in iTunes' app store. Geez, that blows.

I'll take a look at it and decide, but you'd think after spending the $300 I spent a little over a year ago, they'd at least offer me free firmware revisions... At $10 every 6 months, they figure they'll have return business for years to come...

Rogue Touch released!

http://toucharcade.com/2009/02/20/a-...r-rogue-touch/

Looks great, I'll have to consider it's $2.99 price.

Re: Javier - That's BS man, I thought it was $10 as a one off?

Just to be a dick

http://www.itworld.com/mobile-amp-wi...re-seldom-used

IPhone users have short attention spans.

At least that's the conclusion from data collected by Pinch Media, a company that helps developers track the use of their iPhone applications.

Pinch found that of the users who download free applications from the App Store, only 20 percent use the app the next day, and far fewer do as the days pass. For paid applications, the return rate is only slightly better: 30 percent of people use the application the day after they buy it. The drop-off rate for paid applications is about as steep as for free applications after the first day.

Generally, 1 percent of users who download an application turn into long-term users of it, Pinch found. Pinch has noticed some differences based on the kind of application. For example, sports applications get more use than others in the short term, while entertainment applications tend to keep users for longer than others.

Pinch has discovered, or at least confirmed, some other interesting usage trends as well. Developers have a far greater success rate once they rise to the top of the store, which Apple ranks based on popularity. Once applications hit the top 100, the number of daily new users increases by 2.3 times, Pinch said.

Also, free applications tend to get more use than those that cost. Users run free applications, on average, 6.6 times as often as paid applications, Pinch said.

The findings might surprise and disappoint developers, many of whom regard the iPhone's application ecosystem as the first real opportunity to build a business around wireless applications. Prior to the launch of the easy-to-use App Store, few phone users ever downloaded new applications to their phones. That meant that the best way for developers to offer their applications was to convince operators to preload the applications on phones -- an expensive, time-consuming and challenging proposition.

Pinch Media collected data from "a few hundred" applications in the App Store that use its hosted analytics product. Applications that use the analytics offering include those that have been the number-one paid and free applications available in the store, Pinch said. The store currently has more than 15,000 applications, and users have downloaded applications more than 500 million times.

The data from Pinch might be valuable for developers who are also considering building applications for other stores that have been planned following the success of the App Store. Stores for Android, Windows Mobile, BlackBerry and Palm Pre applications have either been announced or are already open.

Well, I'm afraid the word "fad" is exclusively reserved for Nintendo products...

Nintendo Wii products

I'll be honest with you, you aren't being a dick.

In many cases I think this is true which is why I have been really picky about my apps (Even if they are a mere K in size on my 14.4 GB formatted Touch) and only choosing ones that I'd actually find use for, such as that movie one that has the added ability of updating my Netflix queue on the fly. Outside a couple of OK games which are good cell phone type of distractions I am only finding a few MUST HAVE apps so far and luckily for me they've been free for the most part.

Pandora and AOL Radio are brilliant as I can plug this thing in my old Logitech speaker dock and get streaming free radio/music in my apartment without the PC. I actually spent a buck on this memory tool app that helps shutdown unused processes and frees up memory, I use that about twice a day. Stanza is a pretty sweet little eBook reader with a ton of free classics that turns the iPhone/Touch into a Kindle Lite more or less. And finally I have the fantastic SuperPages which is actually much better on my Blackberry in overall usage but I figured WTF I'll throw it on here too.

Outside that I have a bunch of web clips for the browser. Although I was considering a program much like that keycode holder you showed in that other thread I am paranoid about the whole calling home aspect.

There really is a bunch of BS apps on this thing that you simply don't need but the fact they cost the price of a small fries at McDonalds make them easy to swallow whether you use em or not. Luckily I'm too cheap to fall into that. heh.

When my dad was showing me his Touch he was going crazy over all these silly little things that just weren't impressing me, but would make the average Joe probably amazed for 2 seconds. The model of distribution is the big thing going on here and while there ARE some genuinely awesome little apps to find if you dig deep enough, most are simply half assed useless little things that some startup programmer made over a weekend to cook up an extra buck on the side.

As a side note...

I've owned this thing for a week now and have only had to boot up iTunes twice (Out of the box is mandatory, especially for updates and the second time to load it up with a few weeks worth of Stern).

It's divine in that respect.

My kids both have Ipod touches... Itunes is set up through my account however so i see what they download... they have each downloaded like 35 apps in the last 6-9 months. Most are free, but a chunk of them are like $3.25 with tax...

Pisses me off to no end as i never see them playing it...i think the fun is in spending $$ or D/L an app once to play it - gee wiz, then never use again.

I think they have ONE or TWO games they play alot, one is a marble in a maze game and the other is "line warrior?" some game you can play on the PC for free...

And you know, having them in the house gives me NO desire whatsoever to use them or buy one for myself... I love my 1st gen Nano... does what i want it do do plz...

That marble maze game is actually pretty damn cool and really fits the device well....I dare say it is the killer app that Apple tried to make Monkey Ball into and failed miserably at since it's a piece of shat. There is a 10 level 'Lite' free version but I may pony up and pay for the full version, it's really nicely done, simple to play and great to show off the tech with (Which most developers are seemingly ignoring).

My mother in law who treats technology as if its Ebola in physical form was sucked into it and Skeeball yesterday when she asked what "That" (The iPod Touch) was laying on my living room end table. My wife looked at me with a huge "WTF?" expression as this 62 year old bingo player was having a hoot of a time rolling the ball around the maze just by tilting the Touch. After I showed her the slot machine games available she asked "How much are these?...Nevermind...Get it away from me..." laughing. It was quite a sight.

This happened in the same day that my father in law (Who hasn't touched a video game since Atari would pose half naked women in go-go boots against a full cab in their flyers) asked me if I ever heard of "Left For Dead or whatever?".

His boss who is in his mid 60's said he saw it at his son's house, was offered a try and admitted that he didn't leave till 4 am.

I think I need a moon phase app for the Touch to figure this out. Very odd day.

That other game is Line Rider and much like N+ is starting to move it's way over all the consoles after being a big hit via a free Flash game on the web for awhile.

My Nano works fine but my wife mainly uses it nowadays even if it's battery has seen better...It's a 1st gen afterall. In any case I like the Touch for the web browser and built in Podcast leeching. It replaces my need for a netbook while filling in the void my Blackberry missteps on - Media player and fantastic portable web browsing experience.

For those of you here with tots, there are some fantastic educational apps that my daughter adores.

First Words: Animals: A "drag and drop" app that teaches both letter recognition and spelling. Fantastic and perfect for kids who are trying to identify letters.

First Words: Vehicles: Same as above except with vehicles.

Henry and Hailey's Preschool Pals: A cast of cute, albeit stereotypical characters divided into 3 levels. Match their head, body, and feet up.

Animal Memory Match: Excellent memory game. Very polished, great for building cognitive skills, and they seem to add a new animal via free update like every week.

Dress Chica: A free dress-up app featuring the Sprout character.

My wife and I are long overdue to get a new cell phone contract and upgrade our phones. We're currently AT&T customers but have also been looking at Verizon. So as we've been going to alot of cell stores (and having to concentrate on all the choices, what a mess the cell phone business has become since last we kept track), it's been great to hand the Touch over to the little one and let her play so we can have time to figure things out.

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[Nectar]

My little guy loves that Bubbles app. I showed it to him and demonstrated how you drag a finger around to create bubbles as well as pop them; He finds it hysterical and claps. It is so bad now that while play DS or PSP he does the same thing with his finger trying to get something to 'happen' by touching the screens on them as well. hahahah.

Unfortunately at 19 months old I don't trust him enough to hold and play with this thing on his own, he can have some pissy moments which include throwing objects at my wife, but I will look into those apps you listed and check them out. Thanks for the heads up.

Last night he was laying bed holding the PSP watching Cars, my wife and I were in hysterics. I'll put a pic up later.

$10 for a firmware upgrade? Why?

Because Apple sucks ass? There is absolutely no reason for that. The 2nd Generation models already have these updates built in obviously.

Taito releases Space Invaders to the App store! ($5? ROFL, are they CRRAAZZY!?)

http://toucharcade.com/2009/02/22/ta...to-the-iphone/

Damn this is awesome, especially since it's one of the best games on the app store as well..

http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/r/iPhon...ws.asp?c=11573

[QUOTE='Chris']

Oh gawd, I saw that too. I got your recommendation Space Out, it was .99 and does well for me. These big name companies always go for 4.99 and up.

So my wife sees me watching video podcasts and movies on my new Zune and asked me to hook up hers up. No problem, I say. I was actually glad she asked since I'd only played with it briefly when I initially set it up for her and hadn't really explored it's functionality. I'd updated the firmware (at a cost of $9.95) which added the browser and mail reader to the touch (I have a 16gb 1st gen touch). You can imagine I was surprised to find that I was now asked to spend another $9.95 to upgrade the firmware. What do I get for my $9.95? I get the opportunity to access the "app store".

I thought about it overnight, and decided to do the upgrade, on impulse. I'm even embarrassed admitting it. So once I installed the new firmware I went to the app store. Sure there's hundreds of available apps, but I just couldn't figure out what I wanted to "try". First thing I noticed was the lack of demos. That kind of sucks since the majority of the apps listed, I've never heard of before. So as a coincidence the I-Phone commercial came on TV, and I noticed a neat racing game that let's you steer the car by tilting the i-touch. At $2.99 I figured it was worth the try.

Days of Thunder. Talk about quick and dirty. I played 2 games on it and lost interest. The game plays at what seems to be 10 fps. The gas and brakes are applied by touching the screen in the lower right and left hand corners. I found that sometimes the buttons did not respond. The graphics look pretty if you can remember what it was like playing open GL games without a proper 3D card, that was pretty much the way it felt. Well, that was enough for me.

Comparing the DS to the i-touch is almost comical from this experience. The i-touch is a very nice media player. The fact that it allows you to add basic applications is a bonus. But once you get past the flashy touch screen, there really isn't much left there. The PSP's browser is much better than than the i-touch's, IMO. Guess I haven't been drinking that i-touch cool-aid.

What bothers me is that Apple will charge users for upgrades on a regular basis. Imagine if Nintendo, Sony or Microsoft charged for firmware upgrades where the only benefit was allowing the user to buy WiiWare, XBLA or PSN games. That's ridiculous and you guys would be up in arms.

I read somewhere that that 'Cold-Play' song that apple licensed has subliminal messages that gets normal people to buy the i-touch and i-phones. You guys should stop listening to cold play.

Yeah, just imagine if Microsoft released a product that doesn't have a key component that the previous version had, like the wireless adapter. Or if Sony released a product that doesn't have a key component that the previous version had, like backwards compatibility. Or if Nintendo released a product whose main features is the old product with the ability to buy, I don't know, DSi games.

That would f***ing piss me off!

Also, many apps. do have demos. It is often called the "Lite" version. I.E. iShoot (good game) costs $1.99, but iShoot Lite is free.

I sense a little sarcasm in your post.

The 360 never included a wireless adapter, I'll never defend sony's business descisions this generation, and I'm not sure I understand your Nintendo comparison.

I would imagine that generating business for their app store would be something Apple would allow for their customers. It's not like there's some other functionality there. They charged me $10 for an app store app. Easily a rip off imo. I don't think I'm being unreasonable, am I? It's not like I'm saying the I-touch is garbage. I think it's great for what it is, a media player with some minor extras.

iShoot is nothing more than a knock off of a tried and true gaming formula ... certainly nothing to get all excited about. You might as well get excited about a Pong game.

This guy just rode the coat-tails of brilliant developers before him.

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[Nectar]

The thing I like about the Touch's browser over the PSP's is the speed and display options, it also helps that the Touch has more memory to play with as well as even these forums would give me frequent memory load errors on the PSP.

Hopefully Triphamer will read Javier's comments about the app store. I've already tried explaining to him that the games can't even come laughably close to competing with the DS library but he doesn't seem to want to handle the truth - a wasteland of weekend coded genre clones that are for the most part absolutely horrendous.

Chris especially but anyone else looking for a nice polished little 5 min time killer should check out Alphabetic. There is a free version demo available too, very fun title that would fit right at home on Touchmaster for the DS.

Ahem Chris, I actually suggested that to you .

I got the free demo and then just ponied up for the full game. It is fun and I like the stat tracking/challenges.

Clubhouse Games is a 100% no brainer must own title for the DS.

Shane, while iShoot may be a rip off, it is still fun. I never said it was original or ground breaking, I just believe it is a fun way to kill 15 minutes, especially with a friend.

Javier, I will try to be a little less sarcastic in this post and try to explain from a fairly neutral position. There is actually a reasonable explanation to why Apple has to charge for an ipod touch update, maybe not 10 dollars though. It has to do with the Enron Scandal and the results. I don't know every detail, but it breaks down like this.

When you sell a product, and make a profit, you can account for the profit in a couple different ways. One Apple is using for the iPhone is subscription based model. For instance, if Apple makes a 100 bucks off one iPhone, they might report 10 dollars a month for 10 months. Due to some weird laws passed after the Enron snafu, Apple can offer free updates to subscription based products.

However, when Apple makes a 100 dollars off an ipod touch, they report all of that money at once. Strange laws prevent Apple from offering free updates to products managed like this, so they have to charge something for the update. I believe the laws were made to more easily track profits. Whether they work or not, I have no idea.

There are two reasonable alternatives to this: A) Go ipod touch subscription based. However, this might harder to do and might take some serious accounting work, which I am guess Apple doesn't want to pay for right now. B) Offer the updates for something less than 10 dollars.

You missing avatar was bugging me, Chewie ... fixed.

Ok, read them. A $10 to get in fee.....sounds like apple to me (I've never bought an Apple product...ever. Never cared about them till now.). Games suck....ok. DS games better......ok, I own a DS so no problem there.

Next stop iPod Touch......at the very least I'll have something to complain about and you'll be able to say "See I told you so!"

It'll be great for everybody.

I agree about the quality of the content in the app store. Most of this stuff is being done by bedroom programmers which means in most cases poor Q/A, poor graphics, and well, pretty much poor everything. But to be honest, most of this stuff is just 0.59p a throw.

This will change when the big boys get in on the act. EA's Need For Speed looks pretty slick.

But Trip, it's a duct-taped iPhone,, man!

LOL--couldn't resist man hehe, carry on!

I'm not sure I see the Enron tie in, but ok I guess that's an answer. I didn't know that firmware upgrades required accounting tie-ins. Funny thing is, MS had a massive upgrade that gave users tons of extra functionality at zero cost to the consumer. MS's Zune does the same thing. No matter if you own a 1st gen or current gen Zune. Everyone is using the same firmware. This comes at zero cost to the consumer. Same for PSP, same for PS3, same for Wii...

Wouldn't the Enron scandal have affected those companies as well? Or does Apple have some stake in the energy sector that makes them have to charge consumers for firmware upgrades?

Either way, the i-touch is a great music/video device with limited storage capacity. Big bonus that you can do some casual web browsing and play some simplistic games. It sucks that they nickle and dime you for every firmware upgrade, but if that's a non-issue, it's no big deal I guess...

I just think your previous mentality of how it will basically replace the need for a DS or even a PSP is totally out to the pasture dude. Seriously. There are a few cute .99 quick fix purchases but nothing worth buying a Touch for.

I already own a DS and a PSP.

However, it does have a lot of potential and a small innovative handheld with downloadable content is the future. And if the iPod doesn't make that happen....perhaps the next one out will....Maybe even Android....who knows.

Right now it seems that the iPod is the most likely to make it happen. And it is popular already. And the DSi....unimpressive.

I look at it this way: I think we all agree the DSLite is a great machine and worth the $129 price point, right? Okay.

So what if Nintendo where to offer a GBAslot cartridge that added a faster web browser, an SD slot, and some onboard memory capable of supporting a DSShop of downloadable apps and games. Would $40 be out of line? The price of a premium game cartridge like a Final Fantasy game? Probably not. Now, the DSi not only offers that, but larger screens, some cameras to support some new types of games, and new features such as being able to control brightness from within games, etc.

Does it make sense for someone who already has a DSLite that they are happy with? Probably not. That doesn't mean there's not a market for it. The $40 extra doesn't make it any less "impressive" than the DSLite to someone in the market for buying a new DS and will (despite protests from some) inject some excitement and "newness" to a machine that's already been on the market for a while. And yes, some folks who already own a DSLite will buy a DSi anyway. Sue us hehe.

I guess it's entirely understandable for someone to take the position "I'll pass, I'm happy with my DSLite", but the criticism here has been over the top IMO, I just don't understand all the Nintendo hate (overall, not you specifically), although I do understand that it's trendy to diss the guy on top.

I dunno, I bought an expensive Braun (360 Complete) electric shaver last year and a few months later they came out with one that costs $60 more simply because it vibrates (sonic power or something like that they call it hehe). I, of course, chose not to upgrade, considering the whole vibration thing not worthwhile, at least not enough to buy another $200+ electric shaver. At no time did I feel an urge to rant about it like a scorned school girl. I just went on with my life. And it doesn't bother me that some people actually bought the thing, it's really not a big deal to me.

This is why I don't get the overzealous "DSi is a piece of sh*t" attitude about the latest DS.

Well, let us let the thing at least LAUNCH first over here and see what happens. The issues I am seeing are that love it or hate it Apple kicked ass with its implementation of the app store built into the iPhone/Touch and Nintendo has their work cut out for them if they are looking to compete with it.

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[Nectar]

If I didn't already have a DS, I might be interested. But I'm not buying the same thing all over again with some duct-tape on it. That's all.

Does it make sense for someone who already has a DSLite that they are happy with? Probably not. That doesn't mean there's not a market for it. The $40 extra doesn't make it any less "impressive" than the DSLite to someone in the market for buying a new DS and will (despite protests from some) inject some excitement and "newness" to a machine that's already been on the market for a while. And yes, some folks who already own a DSLite will buy a DSi anyway. Sue us hehe.

and PT Barnum said "There's a sucker born every minute." So I have no doubt that plenty of people will buy it.

I guess it's entirely understandable for someone to take the position "I'll pass, I'm happy with my DSLite", but the criticism here has been over the top IMO, I just don't understand all the Nintendo hate (overall, not you specifically), although I do understand that it's trendy to diss the guy on top.

No because he's on top but because he keeps selling up the same crap and calling it something new.

If we didn't rant about it like a bunch of schoolgirls then we wouldn't be here. It's what we do for entertainment.....read my sig.

Thought I'd recommend a site, mippin.com to anyone who uses a mobile device to surf the web. Mippin.com provides a search window that give you mobile versions of pretty much any website that uses an RSS feed, stripping out all the unnecessary stuff that clutters a mobile screen. Works on any type of phone or device with a browser, although it looks like it's designed for iPhone/iTouch. Does a nice job with Kindle also!

That looks awesome Alex, thanks for the tip.



BTW, you were giving me heat (From a man with *six* DS's no less LOL) about the Touch saying how I'd basically never use it again after a month or so. You have understand that the Touch is more or less my compromise to say a Netbook PC in terms of having something of a portable browser. Believe it or not my chances of even getting on my big ass Dell laptop at home are less and less these days and most of my posts here are done at work and using the Blackberry to do it wasn't working out given the crappy browser. Enter the iPod Touch which will not only allow me to get on the web at any time (Within WiFi but especially at home) but cater to my needs to do so. Many times I can be stuck with a sleeping baby on my arms and wanting to get on MonroeWorld for instance, now I can.

As for it doubling as a media/mp3 player - I'm selling my Zune and Shane has already made me an offer on a price I thought was reasonable. Being able to download podcasts straight through the thing (Which include PSR and sometimes WMR... ) is a great feature since I can't get on the laptop many times to update etc. My needs of having my music library with me at all times has come to an end, a few albums I enjoy on a regular basis, some audio books and of course these podcasts along with Stern will suffice these days.

Having an in pocket web browser, especially as brilliant as this mini Safari, just won me over.

Also check out http://cantoni.mobi for portable based websites

Yeah, I mean I was real busy one day and after stopping at California Tortilla to get a quick bite, I realized that I hadn't downloaded Retrogaming Roundup yet. I pulled it out, put it in the download que, and it was on my device in no time so I could start listening on my way to class.

This is what sold me in a nutshell. Totally awesome.

RetroGamingRoundUp: Selling iPods everywhere.

You know it works on PSP too right?

Forgive the slightly off-topic nature, but how does the Touch/iPhone work as a retro-gaming platform? Are there many old classics ported to the platform? Are there any emulators that work?

I am being pushed by my boss to get a Blackberry, but I think an iPhone would serve me better all around. It is a tough decision.

Trust me, get a Blackberry.

You won't be using either one for emulation of classics anyway. The Touch is fun to play around with but at the end of the day it's the Blackberry's robustness that you'll get more out of. And as a phone it makes the iPhone it's bitch.

I hear you. The Blackberry Bold looks pretty good (that is the one they want me to get).

Bringing it back on topic, has anyone tried Vector Tanks on the Touch? It looks pretty good.

That Vector Tanks has gotten some solid reviews and is supposedly very well done but I'm not looking to drop a lot of cash on games for this Touch because they don't offer much depth. At $2.99 a pop too it seems a bit pricey for me.

The Bold looks awesome. I'm actually hoping I can upgrade my Curve (Which is great) to the Javelin 8900 next year. For day to day usage you won't go wrong with the Blackberry man, right off the bat the advanced multitasking and cut & paste features alone are worth it over the primitive feature set of the iPhone.

Now if you want a fun media player? Grab a Touch. heh.

Hehe, no heat intended man. Guess I'm just playing devil's advocate. I understand it's a popular device do they must be doing something right. I even considered getting one myself, but I don't have a similar situation to yours and would probably make more use of it if it were an iPhone for times where I'm out of hotspot range. For that though, I'll personally stick with Blackberry since the cost and commitment of ownership of an iPhone is a little excessive IMO.

Well, as a phone the Blackberry slaughters the iPhone just in terms of sheer robustness. The two weaknesses of the Blackberry are the media playing abilities and the web browsing (It's hit or miss with Blackberry) which is why the Touch will serve me for those purposes. Normally the Zune would have but now with the Touch I can do both of those supplanting the need for a netbook and web browsing.

I've been using both devices all week so far and it's been great...

Well, I am actually going through the blackberry vs. iPhone debate right now.

Here are a couple things that will influence my final decision.
1: My contract with Verizon ends in mid-June. This is the same rumored time as the next iPhone. If it has some worthwhile improvements, I will be leaning towards Apple.
2: I have used a friend's Blackberry Pearl. I still think the UI could be improved. Does anyone know how often RIM updates the OS?
3: Money. iPhone might drop its price again, but the service plan still seems excessive. I don't care about paying 200 bucks for a phone, but paying more than the phone costs in a year seems ridiculous.

The Pearl is last gem and IMO the worst Blackberry on the market. The memory leaks on it are horrible. Check out the new Bold and 8900 Javelin at a local AT&T. Rumor has it that verizon will be getting the 8900 later this year. Don't let the GUI fool you, it's robust and filled with tons of options, the lack of multitasking on an iPhone would make me mental.

Speaking of lack of multitasking on the iPhone, does this mean if you have an iTouch and let's say are reading an ebook on it, you can't also play music while reading?

I have an old Palm pda where I do this all the time, but it is starting to have issues. Yet another reason to look at a Bold or iTouch .

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[Nectar]

$3 is pricey? It's not like we're 12 and don't have any money. We're 30 and 40 somethings with a paycheck.......Heck Shane spends $2 something a day on a diet coke with lime in it. And a cup of coffee costs a couple of bucks.

So $3 pricey??? Even if your strapped for cash it's not pricey....heck you have plenty of money (or credit) for other much more expensive games and systems so let's put things into perspective here.

I'm sure you can get more than your money's worth from this game....or other games this price.

You may want to read this book to help put things into perspective:

http://www.amazon.com/Predictably-Ir...5710086&sr=8-1

It's a good read.

$3 here, $2 there, $5 here, $.99 there...Trust me, it adds up. $3 for a clone of Battlezone (No matter it's quality) isn't really where I want to put my money right now - A game that has some added value and will keep my interest... For the app store $3 is middle range price.

I got my $13 Apple receipt last week. I'm pretty much done buying apps on this thing because guess what? I am not playing or using them. If anything many of the free ones are good enough because you'll be shutting them off within 5-10 min anyway. It's like buying junk food.

I have a paycheck, I get a $20 allowance from it which has to last me 2 weeks until my next paycheck. You mention we are 30-40 somethings with a paycheck as if that is an excuse, if anything it's worse because being that age brings even MORE expenses than when we were younger. 15-20 years ago I was able to spend money left and right without a second thought but things change and these added responsibilities in life make me more of a penny pincher to keep a roof over my head. Heck dude when I was 12 I actually had more pocket money for BS like this, how do you think I was able to sit at a Gauntlet cab for 4 hours a day? Since I don't drink, smoke or do drugs I allow myself a game or whatever every once in a while because you still have to 'live' so to speak. heh.

I don't drink coffee...I spend a $1.45 for a 20 oz coke and pretzel for lunch (Which I brown bag).

The last games I physically bought at a store were at the end of December: Fallout 3 and Left 4 Dead because I had a gift card.

These are tough times my friend. :-/

That's why it is best to just get a $15 Itunes card and hold that as an "allowance" for a month or more and don't go over. It's a good way to self-impose limits.

Well, I did that 'mentally' by noting my purchases and limiting myself via my credit card. Luckily I'm not finding much to actually spend on since so far I'm not sold on this thing as a games machine whatsoever; Too many of them feel like simple cell phone distractions. Admittedly games aren't why I wanted it in the first place anyway.

Now if the DSi could replicate this and give me some cool Nintendo themed Picross title on DSWare that cost like $5? SOLD.


BTW, as an aside...Can I mention once again how much iTunes totally sucks donkey ass? I spent 30 min shoving *6* podcasts on it that I had to download from a site archive. Getting root canal is more entertaining. At the end I went back to my tried and true method: Drag and drop inside iTunes. Just sucks because since I didn't properly 'sync' them (Which is a concept that needs to die in flames) they don't appear as 'Podcasts' under the seperate heading and are thrown into my music. All the while it was freezing and lagging and having draw in issues with it's graphics.

I have no clue how people can use this piece of sh*t software on a daily basis.

iTunes is the #1 reason why I resist and thwart any any attempts by friends and family to get any "iX" product. If the iPod was fully open structured and iTunes was "available" for the dummies but not "required" for the drag and drop folks - I might be able to get behind it a little more.

But, it seems that you just can't get away from it at SOME POINT as an "i" owner.

I also heard it's like AOL to get off your computer .. uninstalled or not, it's still there... somehow ... somewhere ...

Just fyi, I just installed the BB Bold simulator to see how I like the interface, interactions, etc. Too bad Apple charges $99 for the SDK w/iPhone emulator, plus AFAIK, you need a Mac to use it.

Actually, allow me to correct the misinformation. If you want to be on the App Store, you're paying $99.

If you just want to play with the iPhone SDK/simulator (for whatever reason), then it's free to download.

And as far as the Mac-only thing goes, that's because the iPhone (and the iPod touch by extension) runs Mac OS X. Apple made the SDK Mac only so that experienced OS X developers like Ambrosia Software and Pangea Software can get up and running quickly on the iPhone.

And one benefit as far as Apple is concerned: Since interest in developing for the iPhone is sky-high, people will buy Macs by extension to try their hand at developing for this platform if they don't own Macs already.

Also, did anyone hear what Google did to THEIR developers for the Android platform? Apparently they LOCKED paid applications for their developer phones. Oops.

And Shane, I'd like to see some old Dark Unicorn apps like Vs. Ball for the iPhone/iPod Touch platform. Just sayin'.

BJ

It adds up....of course it does. But $3 by itself isn't pricey. That's my only real point. Everyone has a budget. And I'm obviously aware that you have the added expense of a baby....and they cost plenty.

I got my $13 Apple receipt last week. I'm pretty much done buying apps on this thing because guess what? I am not playing or using them. If anything many of the free ones are good enough because you'll be shutting them off within 5-10 min anyway. It's like buying junk food.

Done until something catches your eye that is.

I have a paycheck, I get a $20 allowance from it which has to last me 2 weeks until my next paycheck. You mention we are 30-40 somethings with a paycheck as if that is an excuse, if anything it's worse because being that age brings even MORE expenses than when we were younger. 15-20 years ago I was able to spend money left and right without a second thought but things change and these added responsibilities in life make me more of a penny pincher to keep a roof over my head. Heck dude when I was 12 I actually had more pocket money for BS like this, how do you think I was able to sit at a Gauntlet cab for 4 hours a day? Since I don't drink, smoke or do drugs I allow myself a game or whatever every once in a while because you still have to 'live' so to speak. heh.

of course.
Filtered water is cheaper and better for you.....you can save a few extra bucks by filling a bottle of water each day instead of soda.

(yeah, I know, you gotta have at least some small pleasures)

The last games I physically bought at a store were at the end of December: Fallout 3 and Left 4 Dead because I had a gift card.

Nice!

These are tough times my friend. :-/

Only if you lost your job. Otherwise, it's the same. We could start a new thread on that subject.

I get the feeling that a lot of companies will also lay people off just to clean house, so to speak. Not because they need to in order to survive. But like a said, we could start a new thread on this subject.

Womp Chris, I know what you're going to say when I say this, but......that new game "Zen Bound"....call it a "game", call it a "toy", whatever.....but it is a compelling 3d engine and very enjoyable experience!

Thanks for that correction. I wish I had the spare $$ to get a Mac, but not anytime soon.

__________________________

[Nectar]

I can pretty solidly say that you won't see any of MY games on the iTouch/Phone.

If anywhere, you'll see it on DSi

It seems this Zen Bound game is getting big time kudos so I may just have to check it out. It is being said to be a 'killer app' in terms of showing the type of gaming that is possible on the Touch while simply being a fantastic puzzler in it's own right regardless and with 51 levels it seems to have a lot of depth and value for it's $4.99 price as well.

IGN posted a review although the guy seemed to enjoy Rolando so I'll take it with a grain of salt since I thought Rolando was pretty damned stupid.

Unless your willing to drop $600 plus on a Mac mini and learn Objective C (or QT I hear).....then whatever you have to pay to put your games on the store.

Then I guess not.

I bought Zen Bound. I'm not sure whether to call this a "game" or a "toy" but one thing I do know is that it's definitely a great "zone out" kind of game. What makes this "work" really is the fact that the 3D engine is darn near perfect. You have to maneuver that rope through some intricate corners of the shapes and luckily the piece is fully able to be manipulated. You can even use two fingers and the object will respond in whatever way you move your two fingers.

Wherever the rope hits, it "paints" the object. You get a rating of 1, 2, or 3 flowers depending on what percentage of the object you can cover in paint before either running out of rope or hitting the "nail".

I will say again, this would be a TOTALLY mediocre experience if it weren't for the fact that they absolutely nailed the gameplay and 3d engine. It all works very nicely and I have to say that the hype is justified.

I just had that Chocolate Shop Frenzy game demo swallow my soul. Good lord that was addicting.

Man, the Touch's battery sucks for games.

I have done some great portable gaming on my iTouch in the last couple days.

The first game I am loving is Tap, Tap Revenge 2. The first Tap, Tap was fun for a while, but didn't hold my interest. This one seems much more well designed and has better songs.

The second game that I was convinced to buy was iDracula. I still need to have more time with it, but it is fun if you like twin "stick" shooters. I think it would be better if the iPhone had actual joysticks, but still works OK.

This Week's Top Downloads On The iPhone App Store

For those who love satire.

Featuring:
The National Library Of Congress Is Seriously Shiny
Paypal Just Held Your Funds Alerter
School/Workplace Shooting Spree Planner
and many, many more.

Oh, and here are some more free iPhone apps, probably also fake but it's really hard to distinguish them from the real stuff that's out there. Remember I Am Rich?

So I have a few minutes here and I've been meaning to give feedback towards the gaming aspects of this iPod Touch I've owned for the past few weeks. You REALLY have to dig deep on the app store to find the primo quality titles sometimes that are worth the cash and I figured I'd pluck three that have been taking up my (And more recently my WIFE's :::groan::: ) time. Time that is actually factoring in with my overall portable gaming these days, so yes I will admit it...This thing does have a FEW titles that can trump the pick up and play fun of the Nintendo DS. I do find it a bit laughable (Respectfully of course) that Retro Gamer this month went as far as saying that the Touch/iPhone could cater to the retro gamer crowd because so far games such as Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man are some of the most horrific abomination, representations of the titles I've ever played.

Now a lot of people will tell you that to be cool you have to purchase Zen Bound. Quite frankly while I did pick it up I've played it maybe 10 minutes. It's an interesting uh....game?...That really does take advantage of the Touch's technology but there are better picker upper games to get on this thing that may be more to most folks liking. It takes a specific mindset to appreciate it, needless to say - It's very overhyped. Then again when apps exist in the top 25 that do nothing but produce fart noises I guess people take what they can get. Luckily once again as I've mentioned if you DO look deep enough you can find some gold.

The three games I have found to be must purchases on this thing so far at least in terms of genre favorites...

1. Smiles



I can't stop playing this thing. It's basically three different game types in one game , one of which of course being a match three Bejeweled clone. Sharp polished graphics, lovely presentation, slick gameplay, keeps stats, has achievements and tracks hi scores. Another cool little touch (Tee HEE!) is that the game can be played in both horizontal or vertical positions depending on how you have your Touch/iPhone flipped, something I think other games should do in the future as well. $4.99 and also has a demo edition available as well.

Buy this instead of the aborted fetus that is the iTouch Puzzle Quest port.

2. iDracula



Stupid name, fun game. It's like Robotron or Geometry Wars had sex with Simon Belmont and produced this seed. As you can see in the screen shot each thumb is placed over a graphical 'wheel' (Which can be switched off in the options) analog stick for directional movement and firing simutaneously - Shockingly enough it works for the most part. It's also brain dead fun. Nice graphics, diverse weaponry...Can get a little long in the tooth but the upcoming planned update seems to be adding some new variety to spice things up. I snagged it because it was a BUCK, as in a mere $.99. That is less than a bottle of Coke and the game hasn't given me the craps like the Coke has so I salute it and recommend grabbing it before the price increase. No demo available but once again it costs ONE DOLLAR.

3. Chocolate Shop Frenzy



I snagged this one on a whim and I have no clue why. As you can see it is a Diner Dash clone which is a genre that doesn't really infatuate me much because I usually hate being put under pressure in games such as this. But it had a demo and I have to say the graphics charmed the heck out of me (They look even more sharp and detailed on the screen than that shot) and it was then that I discovered that the gameplay was very smooth and it had more depth than what Diner Dash had to offer. When my wife saw it and beat the demo she was sad and I got my iPod Touch back into my possession, then the full game had a sale so I was the nice guy and purchased it. Needless to say 48 hours later and she is 80% through the game. What's fun is that every 5 levels or so the game mixes things up by throwing in a match three game that is similar to what Jewel Quest or the DS import game Monster Puzzle has to offer. In any case it's a fun title and at the moment worth snagging for $5 if these types of games cater to you at all. It's 48 levels seem to grant a lot of value even if my voracious wife seems to prove otherwise. Very, very well done. Oh and some minor trivia...This game is done by Trip Hawkins' cell phone gaming company. Since Trip is awesome that knowledge made my purchase more beaming for me.

I was thinking about all the possible ways of (really) indie developers getting their games out to the public. I am sure there are more, but so far I have
1. Just release it as a PC download. (For free or not)
2. Become an iPhone/ iPod Touch developer.
3. Develop for WiiWare or DSiWare (I don't know how hard it is to get in)
4. Develop for XBLA Community Games.

Speaking of Community Games, I remember Microsoft criticizing that Apple was letting in too much crap into the App. store, and that Microsoft wasn't going to do that with Community Games. Looking at it, there is a ton of crap in community games.

By the way Womp, thanks for the Puzzle Quest heads up. And I was just about to buy it too...

Do you already own Puzzle Quest? If not grab the DS or PSP version at least. The way PQ plays on the Touch/iPhone at the moment is just deplorable in comparison even with the recent fixes and updates. You can try out the Lite free version and see what you think but I thought it was very shoddy in quality not to mention it eats the hell out of your battery to boot on top of that.

Some people seem to have excused it but I have too much love and respect for the title to skirt the issue, especially given the past seedy business practices that surrounded it as well.

The game could have been perfect and instead they really half-assed it.

I do own the DS version of PQ. Well, I am downloading the iTouch lite version right now and see what I think.

BTW, what is your highscore for iDracula? I can't tell if I am doing well or not due to lack of leader boards.

___________________________

[Womp]

So Chewbacca, thoughts on PQ for iPhone?

[Chewbacca]

Well, here I go.

I got the lite version of Puzzle Quest, so if there are any differences with the normal version, I could not tell you what they are. After playing with it for a couple days, I have decided that it isn't right for me. It doesn't seem polished and well thought out.

I would have to say I am sticking to playing PQ on my DS and iDracula and Tap Tap 2 on my iTouch.

[Dragon57]

Well, I just ordered my Blackberry Bold. I'll use this for work stuff. I am saving up for an iPod Touch. The new 3.0 iPhone/touch OS upgrade sounds pretty good. Hopefully by the time it is released, I'll have my nickels saved up .