TUAW’s Daily App: Super Mega Worm

Sometimes you roll along, having a pretty good day... and sometimes, you just want a giant worm to rise up out of the ground and destroy everything. Super Mega Worm is for that second type of day. (You'll have to find something else for the first -- Doodle Jump, perhaps?) It's a game where you control a gigantic worm on a 2D field. You use a slider (or the accelerometer) to direct it through the soil and up onto the surface of the Earth, where puny little humans await their inevitable destruction. The game is funny in a morbid way; you end up cheering for the little worm as it grows (and learns new abilities) over time, and eventually, you'll find yourself reveling in the destruction of the human race.

Quality pixelated graphics and excellent sounds help immersion a lot, and the control scheme is surprisingly fitting for the kind of movement that the worm does. There's even a little mini-game in jumping off of various vehicles into the atmosphere and exploring the game field in both directions. Super Mega Worm isn't really a title for the faint of heart; even though the graphics are pretty retro, things get gory fast. But if you've ever found yourself laughing at or cheering for the monster in a horror movie, Super Mega Worm will probably dig its way into your free time. The game is US$2.99 on the App Store right now.

TUAW's Daily App: Super Mega Worm originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 02 Sep 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

TUAW's Daily App: Super Mega Worm originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 02 Sep 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Booyah releases InCrowd for iPhone and iPod touch

Booyah has released an iPhone and iPod touch version of its Facebook game, InCrowd, and it's now available on the App Store. The app, like the very popular MyTown, uses location check-ins to create a game around social networking. But unlike MyTown, this app was originally released as a Facebook game. Booyah originally started InCrowd as its first Facebook venture, but it's now bringing the game back to the iPhone, where it's presumably more comfortable at development. But the Facebook and iPhone versions work together (in fact, you need a Facebook account to play it), so check-ins on either platform can be seen in the app.

As for the game itself, it's exactly the kind of thing that's very popular among the huge tween audience for Facebook games -- there's a cartoonish avatar that can interact with friends socially, and checking-in to certain places earns the avatars popularity and status. There's a microtransaction element as well -- interacting uses energy, and if you don't want to wait for a refresh, you can spend 99 cents to get more. Standard social gaming stuff, although Booyah is pretty good at putting it together by now.

Booyah remains a company to watch in the social gaming space -- it doesn't seem to have had quite the success it wanted on Facebook, but the company is flexible enough to switch a game like this over to Apple's platform without skipping a beat. We'll have to wait and see whether or not the free app gains MyTown's level of adoption, however.

Booyah releases InCrowd for iPhone and iPod touch originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 01 Sep 2010 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Booyah releases InCrowd for iPhone and iPod touch originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 01 Sep 2010 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iPod touch outselling PSP and DS in games, not systems

During this morning's event, Steve Jobs tossed out the factoid that the iPod touch was trouncing traditional handheld gaming, claiming that the system had sold more than Nintendo and Sony's portables combined. If, like us, you thought that meant Apple had sold more devices than traditional game makers, then Steve was wrong -- he mentioned in the same event that Apple has shipped 120 million iOS devices, and while that's very impressive, it's not quite as big as the 125 million Nintendo DS systems the Japanese company had sold around the world as of January. That doesn't even count the 62 million PSP units Sony has sold worldwide. In terms of gaming devices sold, Apple has a long ways to go.

But Steve can't have been that wrong -- he said that the iPod touch had sold more than Nintendo or Sony combined. He can't be off by over 60 million, right? It's more likely that he meant software sales. There have been about 718 million DS games sold in the system's history, and about 252 million games sold on the PSP. And there have been 6.5 billion downloads of iOS apps so far (with 1.5 billion of those being game and entertainment apps). When you compare the numbers that way, yes, Apple is far outselling Nintendo and Sony in terms of game sales. But of course, iOS apps tend to be much cheaper than Sony and Nintendo's software (if not free), and gamers could probably argue all day about the difference in average quality of the two platforms.

Either way, Steve was stretching the truth a little bit on that stat. Apple has done a terrific job making inroads on portable gaming (some of it even without planning to do so), but the Cupertino company has a little way to go yet before it starts really competing with the established console manufacturers.

Update: A few commenters suggest that Apple has sold more iPod touches than both other systems combined recently, as in the last quarter or so. But the other two devices are a few years older than the oldest iPod touch, so that doesn't seem like a great comparison either. Again, Apple has made really incredible strides into handheld gaming, but the company isn't quite overwhelming its competitors in this market yet.

iPod touch outselling PSP and DS in games, not systems originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 01 Sep 2010 16:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

iPod touch outselling PSP and DS in games, not systems originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 01 Sep 2010 16:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Game Center coming in iOS 4.1, Epic Games working on Project Sword

Steve Jobs just showed off some screenshots and functionality for Game Center, which will be officially releasing with iOS 4.1 next week. The official app will provide social networking features for App Store games, including friends lists, achievements, "auto matching" (the rest of the world calls that matchmaking), challenges and a host of other cross-platform features for gamers on Apple's mobile platform.

Jobs also invited a few gentlemen from Epic Games onstage to show off "Project Sword," a gorgeous title running in the Unreal Engine inside iOS. It's an action RPG title that's coming soon with full Game Center integration, and the demo featured practically instant multiplayer fighting from a third-person perspective, as well as first-person world exploration. Seriously, this thing looked great, but you don't have to take my word for it -- Epic has already uploaded the very same environment shown in the demo as a free app, so go download and check it out now. It does require an iPhone 3GS or better, but man that's a good looking game.

Game Center is finally coming out with iOS 4.1, which Jobs said would be available next week. Looking forward to it!

Game Center coming in iOS 4.1, Epic Games working on Project Sword originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 01 Sep 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Game Center coming in iOS 4.1, Epic Games working on Project Sword originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 01 Sep 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Rumor: New iPhone 4 handset at the end of September

Honestly, I don't even believe this one, but it's our responsibility as an Apple news site to keep you updated on the latest rumors, so here you go: A Mexican tech site is reporting that a Telcel executive says there will be a new version of the iPhone 4's handset released as soon as the end of September.

Marco Quatorze, Telcel's Director of Value Added Services, says that the iPhone 4 will soon go on sale in Mexico with the same hardware as everywhere else, but that as of September 30th (which is purportedly when the free case deal ends), Apple will be releasing brand new hardware for the phone that will fix the seam in the outer band that causes reception issues.

Anyone who's been paying attention to the issue knows that story's full of holes -- not only does Apple already consider the whole "Antennagate" issue solved, but it's extremely improbable that they'll update the hardware so soon and for that reason. It's much more likely that the company would just extend the free case program rather than update the hardware before the planned cycle. Plus, as we heard from Apple specificially, "Apple has not made an announcement regarding iPhone 4 pricing or availability in Mexico." Let's get the phone on sale before we start talking about updates.*

It's possible that this is just an error in translation. If you want to get a little paranoid, we might even guess that Mr. Quatorze is trying to keep Mexican customers from buying another cellphone, hinting that there are better phones coming just around the corner. Either way, we're only posting this rumor here for due diligence -- it's extremely unlikely we'll see a new iPhone 4 in just over a month.

*As noted in the comments here, on the iPhone 4 Mexico post and on Apple's own site, the iPhone 4 is available in Mexico, but Apple has yet to provide us with an actual statement to that effect.

[via MacRumors]

Rumor: New iPhone 4 handset at the end of September originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 31 Aug 2010 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Rumor: New iPhone 4 handset at the end of September originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 31 Aug 2010 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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TUAW’s Daily App: Plex

Plex's big tease last week turned out to not be an Apple acquisition, but instead a big release, of both a rewritten Mac client to keep all of your media together in one place, and also a brand new iOS app, available now on the App Store for $4.99. Sure, the app's a little pricey, but if you use the new Plex as your media center, it's actually a must buy -- not only does it work as a remote control, but you can actually stream media from your Plex library directly to your iPhone or iPad from wherever you are.

And with a little more tweaking (you need to have the server running and know how to set up port forwarding on your router), you can even stream Plex content out over 3G, so no matter where you are with your iOS device, you can watch anything stored on your Plex install. Now that's pretty cool.

The latest version of Plex is available as a free download from the website, and the app itself is available in iTunes for US $4.99. We Mac users have always been spoiled with terrific media management software, and Plex is another great solution.

TUAW's Daily App: Plex originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 31 Aug 2010 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

TUAW's Daily App: Plex originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 31 Aug 2010 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Researchers create pixels eight times smaller than the Retina Display

You might be pretty proud of your iPhone 4's Retina Display, and those teensy pixels 4x smaller than the already good-looking usual Apple displays. Or maybe you're looking forward to seeing the Retina installed in some of Apple's other products at the event later this week. But like most consumer electronics these days, that display isn't quite state-of-the-art. Researchers at the University of Michigan have created a display with nanometer-thin sheets of metal (called nanoresonators) that use slits to create pixels eight times smaller than the pixels currently on the iPhone 4. To show off their work, the University of Michigan researchers created their school's logo on a display only 9 microns tall (a strand of human hair is about 100 microns wide, so the display itself could fit inside the period at the end of this sentence).

Crazy. You have to wonder what an iPhone-sized display would look like with a resolution like that (or if we'd even tell the difference, given that our eyes have a limit on the amount of detail they can discern). Obviously, this is strictly a research project at this point -- creating all of the "nanoresonators" required to make a fullsize display would probably cost a lot more than the iPhone 4 actually does. Maybe it's something to look forward to for the iPhone 5, 6 or 7.

Researchers create pixels eight times smaller than the Retina Display originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 30 Aug 2010 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Researchers create pixels eight times smaller than the Retina Display originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 30 Aug 2010 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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TUAW’s Daily App: No, Human

No, Human is an intriguing little morsel of gameplay for both the iPhone and the iPad. The clever premise is that humans are planning to go out and explore the Universe, and the Universe, in turn, has decided that's not a good idea. So, you're actually playing against humans (who are lobbing fiery meteors out into space) and human-created objects like space stations and rockets.

The gameplay is simple but fun, and the graphics are minimalistic but quite stylish. There are 50 levels to go through, and while they're pretty quick plays, there is a high score board element. The developer also promises that there are more levels on the way. (Knowing humans as I do, I'm guessing that they won't get the lesson.) All in all, No, Human is an inventive title that's worth the US$1.99 on the App Store. It's not really innovative in any specific way, but as a whole package, it's a pleasure to play through and figure out.

TUAW's Daily App: No, Human originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 30 Aug 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

TUAW's Daily App: No, Human originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 30 Aug 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Watch a Max Adventure level get created in three minutes

The good folks at Imangi Studios (husband-and-wife team Natalia and Keith) are hard at work on their latest iPhone game Max Adventure, and they've been sharing updates from the trials and tribulations of making a big iPhone game via their twitter accounts. Among those updates today was this little gem above -- Keith Shepherd hammering out a Max Adventure level over a time-lapse video.

It's pretty cool to see, not only for how he builds the level block-by-block, but to see what changes as he goes along versus what apparently was the original plan. The whole time lapse plays out from a four hour period of real time, and considering how big the game will eventually be, this is probably a drop in the bucket.

Shepherd also says the level editor is one that Imangi actually built for themselves, alongside Max Adventure (though presumably they'd be able to use it for other apps as well). Fun little behind-the-scenes of an iPhone game on this Saturday afternoon.

Watch a Max Adventure level get created in three minutes originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 28 Aug 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Watch a Max Adventure level get created in three minutes originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 28 Aug 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sega puts titles on sale for back-to-school, releases Phantasy Star II on iOS

Just in time for the days of, well, skipping out on video games and getting back to the books, Sega has decided to try and tempt you away from that schoolwork by dropping prices across the board on its iOS games. Golden Axe, Shining Force, Streets of Rage and Ecco the Dolphin are all on sale for just US$0.99, and the Super Monkey Ball and Sonic the Hedgehog games are on sale for just a few bucks as well.

Phantasy Star II is worth mentioning on its own. Sega just released the game on iOS today, and for my money (only $2.99 during this sale!), there's no better Genesis-era RPG. Seriously, if you are a fan of the console RPG genre at all, this one's a must buy. The story's fun, the gameplay is excellent, and having the title on the App Store is a real treat. Shining Force is a great game, and Streets of Rage is a fun title to have around for just a buck, but if you buy one game during this sale (which lasts through September 1st -- thanks, Sega!), I'd recommend Phantasy Star II.

Sega puts titles on sale for back-to-school, releases Phantasy Star II on iOS originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 27 Aug 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Sega puts titles on sale for back-to-school, releases Phantasy Star II on iOS originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 27 Aug 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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TUAW’s Daily App: Zentomino HD

TUAW's Daily App: Zentomino HD originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 27 Aug 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

TUAW's Daily App: Zentomino HD originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 27 Aug 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mophie and Intuit release Complete Card Solution payment system for iPhone

Mophie and Intuit release Complete Card Solution payment system for iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 26 Aug 2010 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Mophie and Intuit release Complete Card Solution payment system for iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 26 Aug 2010 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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(i)Pawn is an iPhone game with screen-reactive pieces

This is one of the cooler things I've seen done with the iPhone's capacitive touchscreen. (i)Pawn is a game of sorts that works with a series of little figures on tokens that actually interact with the touchscreen itself. Most of the time, you need actual flesh to interact with the iPhone's screen, but these figures are also capacitive, so the app running on the device not only knows when and where you've placed these figures down but also which figures are touching, and so on.

Unfortunately, it's all in French, so I'm not completely sure what the "game" is. It appears to be a relationship game that has something to do with various personalities passing messages and interacting. And it could just be a demo of some kind, with a video running underneath those figures rather than actually interacting with the pieces themselves.

But it's not hard to think of other applications of a system like this (D&D on a touchscreen, anyone?), and a bigger screen like the iPad would come in handy, too. (i)Pawn is scheduled to be for sale in November of this year, so we'll keep an eye out for it and try to find out more about what it is and exactly how it works. Meanwhile, you can watch the videos of the figures in action and dream of all the various ways to use accessories like this.

[via TDW]

(i)Pawn is an iPhone game with screen-reactive pieces originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 26 Aug 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

(i)Pawn is an iPhone game with screen-reactive pieces originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 26 Aug 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iControlPad going into production (again), 3000 units in first run

After a few fits and false starts, the image above shows the iControlPad in what's purported to be its final production form, according to inventor Craig Rothwell's Twitter account. Pricing hasn't been announced yet, and sales are supposed to start sometime in September, but Rothwell says the unit above is the first off the line, and there will be a production run of just 3000 to start. The unit has two sidebar pieces that wrap around the iPhone or iPod touch, and in addition to the extra control buttons on the bottom, the 'pad also has a battery that "doubles the iPhone battery life for gaming." There are shoulder buttons on the back as well.

Rothwell says he doesn't ever expect to get Apple's support on the project, but by just switching out the two side pieces, the pad could be adapted for any number of phones, so if the concept takes off, you can probably expect to see an Android version as well. We'll keep an eye out for pricing and other information. It's been a long (long) time coming, but for iPhone gamers who could use a few more buttons in their games, looks like the wait might almost be over.

[via Engadget]

iControlPad going into production (again), 3000 units in first run originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 25 Aug 2010 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

iControlPad going into production (again), 3000 units in first run originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 25 Aug 2010 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ngmoco’s iPhone titles nominated for a few GDC Online awards

Nominations have been announced for the Game Developers Choice Online Awards (to be announced at the upcoming GDC Online conference in Austin), and iPhone developer Ngmoco has secured a few spots in among the rest of the big PC game developers. We Rule picked up nominations for Best Online Game Design, Best Online Audio, and Best New Online Game, and Godfinger was recognized in the Best Online Visual Arts category. iPhone developers Booyah and Digital Chocolate also got nominated, but both of those companies were chosen for their Facebook titles, not their iPhone creations.

So congrats to Ngmoco -- the company has certainly made a splash on the App Store with its freemium model, but these nominations show that former EA exec Neil Young's company is competing on quality with much larger PC titles like League of Legends, Aion and Dungeon Fighter Online. The awards will be given out at GDC Online, taking place October 5-8 in Austin, Texas.

Ngmoco's iPhone titles nominated for a few GDC Online awards originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 25 Aug 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Ngmoco's iPhone titles nominated for a few GDC Online awards originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 25 Aug 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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TUAW’s Daily App: Project Sanctuary

Project Sanctuary is one of the best dual-stick shooters I've seen on the App Store yet. It's quick and responsive, and it's got a surprisingly solid back-end, which includes four different characters to choose from, multiple game modes and settings, and even an in-game talent tree where you can specialize your characters and weapons as necessary in order to bring the best fight that you can. The game has a serviceable storyline, but the action here is all about shooting, moving, and using power-ups and weapons to take down as many enemies as possible.

If the game has an issue, it's that the view isn't quite as big as it could be. That kind of helps the intensity (as enemies can jump up on you quickly), but it'd be nice to see a little bit more of the field as you run around. It doesn't hurt the core gameplay, though; if you're a dual-stick shooter fan, you'll find some terrific hardcore action here for sure. Achievements and the ability to replay maps will help you keep playing, too. I wasn't able to try co-op, but the game reportedly has four player co-op available, which seems like it would make for a good time. At US$2.99, this is probably one for the genre veterans. If you've never played a dual-stick shooter before, I'd go with something a little more polished (Minigore is a good, traditional place to start). But if you're a dual-stick veteran seeking a little more depth, check out Project Sanctuary on the App Store now.

TUAW's Daily App: Project Sanctuary originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 25 Aug 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

TUAW's Daily App: Project Sanctuary originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 25 Aug 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Pinball Magic turns your iPhone or iPod touch into a tiny pinball machine

I still haven't seen an actual iPad arcade cabinet for sale (all the ones we've seen so far have been made by hobbyists for themselves), but here's a pretty cool case/accessory for your iPhone or iPod touch. Pinball Magic is a little device that you can slide your handheld into, and with the help of a free app, you can play a full pinball game live on a little miniature table. There's a real ball plunger, flipper buttons, a full LED backlit display, and even a Tilt detector, so you can hit all the usual lights and gadgets (albeit in an extremely small form factor) without throwing quarters in at the local arcade. Assuming they still have those local arcades -- I haven't seen one around in a while now.

Unlike the cardboard iPad arcade units, this one's on sale and ready to go -- you can pick it up from Best Buy for US $39.99. Sure, that's a little steep (especially since it only works with the one app), but it's a small price to pay to take yourself back to those heady days of reaching for high scores while pushing a little silver ball up and down ramps. If you happen to pick one up and try it out, let us know how it works for you.

[via TouchArcade]

Pinball Magic turns your iPhone or iPod touch into a tiny pinball machine originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 24 Aug 2010 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Pinball Magic turns your iPhone or iPod touch into a tiny pinball machine originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 24 Aug 2010 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tapulous integrated into Disney Mobile, releases Katy Perry Revenge

Disney buying Tapulous was one of the most high-profile App Store acquisitions so far, and here are the first fruits of that partnership. First up, Disney reports that Tapulous has been integrated into the rest of the company -- the studio is now fully part of the "Disney Mobile" division, so all future releases will come from the Disney Mobile name rather than the Tapulous brand. That contradicts with the actual App Store listing at the moment -- there's no mention of Disney in any of Tapulous' app listings. But that information can take a while to change, so we'll have to see if Disney updates those listings.

Second, the studio's first game under the Disney banner is out now -- Katy Perry Revenge is a Tap Tap Revenge-style title built specifically for Katy Perry songs. There are ten songs from the pop singer in the app, from "I Kissed a Girl" to "Teenage Dream," and there's lots of other fan-specific material, as well as a Facebook connection to share scores and updates. It's available for US $4.99, the same price as Tapulous' other artist-targeted Revenge titles.

So it sounds like things are both different and the same for Tapulous -- they've been brought into the company as a whole, but they're either cleaning out the queue of old projects (this new game easily seems as if it could have been done without Disney's help), or continuing to work on the same type of app as before. We'll have to see what Tapulous releases in the future now that they're brought into the Disney Mobile division.

Tapulous integrated into Disney Mobile, releases Katy Perry Revenge originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 24 Aug 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Tapulous integrated into Disney Mobile, releases Katy Perry Revenge originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 24 Aug 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iPhone-controlled 3D display, via ping pong balls and air pumps

Continue reading iPhone-controlled 3D display, via ping pong balls and air pumps

iPhone-controlled 3D display, via ping pong balls and air pumps originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 24 Aug 2010 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

iPhone-controlled 3D display, via ping pong balls and air pumps originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 24 Aug 2010 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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TUAW’s Daily App: Piczle Lines

Piczle Lines is pretty much the perfect iPhone game. It's a quick, pick-up and play puzzle affair, with a Japanese puzzle style that is easy to learn but gets twistier and tougher as it goes along. It's well-polished, with a cute story mode and extra puzzle packs to play and buy as you go along. And oh yeah, it's free to download and start playing.

You should probably be headed over to the App Store by now, but just in case you want to know more, Piczle Lines has you assembling (very low resolution) "photos" by drawing out various colored lines. The start and end of each line are marked by numbers saying how many line segments the lines take up, so your job is to connect the lines in just the right way, recreating whatever pictures you come up with.

Gameplay is simple and easy -- the app tracks your movements very well, and undoing a line is as simple as tracing it back the way it came. The game starts out very easily, with obvious solutions to the puzzles offered, but it gets tough quickly, as vast line segments must be drawn exactly the right way to match up the numbers on either side. Piczle Lines is a lot of fun, very well made, and the fact that it's a free download (with extra puzzle packs to buy if you happen to complete the main set of 20 puzzles) is just icing on the cake.

TUAW's Daily App: Piczle Lines originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 24 Aug 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

TUAW's Daily App: Piczle Lines originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 24 Aug 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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