Developer: iBright Studios
Price: $0.99
Version Reviewed: 1.1
Graphics / Sound Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Game Controls Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Gameplay Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Re-use / Replay Value Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars
Overall Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
This might firmly place me in the strange category, but I liked TightWire more than just about anyone out there. Something about walking that huge balloon of a man across that tiny little wire, way high above the ground, made me really happy. The concept was really funny, the controls were surprisingly functional, and I was pretty darn good at it (always a good quality for a game to have).
iBright Studios, makers of the aforementioned app great, have now come out with a new app called Mazonaut. Like TightWire, the concept is a bit silly, but this time I’m not sure if it works. Mazonaut is a fairly simple maze game that has you controlling an astronaut looking guy in a maze in space. The controls are all accelerometer based, so maneuvering around the endless walls is fairly challenging, and to make things worse, pieces of the ground break off randomly, falling into the big black hole below. Don’t get too upset if you fall though, because there is no end to the maze… just a high score to be obtained after a tedious trip through the neon walled halls of space.
At the end of the day, Mazonaut is a forgettable experience that isn’t nearly as good or creative as TightWire. The accelerometer mechanics in maze finding are inexact at best, often seeming horribly tedious. For a dollar it’s hard to criticize a simple high score game too much, but with the multitude of amazing time wasters out there, there’s really no reason to run out to get Mazonaut unless you are a real maze superfan. Even still, I’d probably play something a bit more polished like Labrynth instead.
Unless you have been living in a bunker for the last decade, it would be impossible to not know of a rapscallion of a wizard by the name of Harry Potter. After first launching an invasion via the printed work, J.K. Rowling’s creation has managed to find its way to both the silver-screen and the small screen via a successful series of films and video games, respectively. But that wasn’t enough for the citizens of Hogwarts, as the brains over at Traveler’s Tales decided to give the brand one more successful reboot, taking the route of the other successful Lego branded games such as the popular LucasArts Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises.
The game landed on consoles at the end of June, but what does this have to do with iOS, you say? Today, a little birdy over at Warner Bros. let slip of an upcoming port of the game to all current iOS based devices. This lines up perfectly with next week’s launch of the first part of the “Deathly Hallows” conclusion to the Harry Potter story. Here is what you can look forward to in the iOS iterations:
“LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 will bring the world of LEGO Harry Potter to life on the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad, giving gamers the power to play with LEGO characters and models in a brand new way. Based on the first four Harry Potter books and movies, LEGO Harry Potter builds on the foundations of previous LEGO videogames by offering a mix of fun, accessible gameplay and light-hearted humour – which appeals to all ages. Players will explore and feel as though they are ‘at Hogwarts’”
We could not be more thrilled at this news. Seeing as how the game clocks in at a thirty dollar or more pricetag on consoles and PSP/Nintendo DS, this could very well be the last nail in the proverbial coffin of the aforementioned versions. So pull up a broom, because you are going to be in for one heck of a ride! According to our source, the price is still yet to be decided, and the release date is “soon.”
iPhone Integration Rating: 4.2 out of 5 stars
User Interface Rating: 4.3 out of 5 stars
Re-use / Replay Value Rating: 3.7 out of 5 stars
Overall Rating: 4.07 out of 5 stars
There aren’t many musical instruments out there that are stranger than the Reactable table instrument. The original Reactable table was concieved by a four man research team at Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona. The table is a round, translucent table that, in the dark, emanates this creepy blue glow. What happens (and this is from my own understanding) is that the table itself provides the platform for the user to make sounds with the provided “tangibles.” The tangibles are little blocks, all with different symbols, that all do different things. Some tangibles are oscilators, some are voltage filters, etc. Once the blocks are placed on the Reactable, the table itself displays animated symbols that let you modify what kind of sound that gets produced.
As far as I can tell, the actual Reactable tables are very limited in number and are only available in selected museum exhibits and Bjork concerts. You can get on the waiting list to get one, but they look to only be sold in small batches and cost 9,700 Euros a pop – not exactly the price of a guitar at a local music store. Fortunately for iOS users, there is an app for that.
The Reactable app, developed by the same people that made the table, is the iOS touch screen version of the same product. Because the iPhone has a touch screen, the Reactable works the same as it would in real life, only with everything a bit smaller.
In the app, you can choose from a wide selection of tangibles that produce sounds, including the aforementioned oscillator, loops (you can upload your own .rtp or .wav loops through the built in web server), and samples. Once your sound is down, you can modify it by using the various modifier tangibles, which include a modulator, a filter, a sequencer, a low frequency oscillator (LFO), and my favorite of all, the accelerometer control. With it, you can scramble any loop or sample just by shaking the iPhone.
To create a real song with the Reactable app, you would really have to get into the details of each tangible. For example, if you double tap a loop, you can change the loop, modify its equalizer settings, and choose what pattern the loop plays in. Once you add in filters and modulators, the beat that you produce really boils down to your ability to micromanage individual sounds. With so much action going on at once, using Reactable on an iPad should be much more satisfying than on an iPhone.
In the end, Reactable really just boils down to a fun but complicated toy that can make some impressive beats – if you know what you are doing. Learning all the symbols can be a challenge (I recommend looking at the online manual) and the general chaos will discourage some, but people that are really into iOS music making will find the app fascinating.
Well, ain’t this exciting! If you own an iPhone 4 or EVO 4G, it looks like the tyranny of the charging cable is soon to be a distant memory. That’s right: one of our moles at Best Buy has photographic evidence of new wireless charging systems, cases, and Powermats for both of the aforementioned handsets. Didn’t know we had moles, did you? We also analyze ‘chatter’ and sniff out KIRFs. In fact, we’re basically a full-blown Gadget Intelligence Agency — SMERSH woulda been proud of us.
If you’ve yet to play Angry Birds, I’m willing to bet you’ve at least glimpsed its icon floating on the App Store’s charts. For good reason, too; it’s an addictive game. The basic formula is a bunch of angry birds, a slingshot, and the egg-stealing pigs and their castles. The goal of this little physics game is to demolish each and every one of the aforementioned castles—but does Angry Birds actually follow the rules of physics?
Apparently one of Wired’s writers, Rhet Allain, just couldn’t stop thinking about the posibilities:
But what about the physics? Do the birds have a constant vertical acceleration? Do they have constant horizontal velocity? Let’s find out, shall we? Oh, why would I do this? Why can’t I just play the dumb game and move on. That is not how I roll. I will analyze this, and you can’t stop me.
Long story short: he took one of the developer’s walkthrough videos and decided to analyze it using a program called Tracker Video Analysis. He used the program to determine path of the bird’s flight, and then used that data to graph the bird’s horizontal and vertical movement separately. (In projectile motion, you typically separate horizontal and vertical components.)
His discovery? Angry Birds considers only the force of gravity on the bird—once you fire the bird from the slingshot; the app doesn’t calculate air resistance or anything like that. And assuming that gravity in Angry Birds is equal to Earth’s gravity, the slingshot is five feet tall and the red bird is a little over two feet. Jeez…talk about a large bird!
The physics that Mr. Allain used actually felt quite familiar—since I essentially had to do the same thing in a physics lab last week. Bounce a golf ball, take a video, then measure its path with a computer and use projectile motion equations — he only difference was that we were trying to determine gravity, whereas he assumed gravity was -9.8 meters per second and instead tried to determine the size of different Angry Birds elements. Of course, the other difference between Angry Birds and my physics lab was that, you know, Angry Birds is artificial, and thus the equations that Wired derived worked a lot better than our sad attempts.
So, if you were desperately wondering—the Angry Birds slingshot is more than twice your height and the birds themselves are giant and vicious. Now I’d like to see him calculate the height of those pig castles.
iBright Studios, makers of the aforementioned app great, have now come out with a new app called Mazonaut. Like TightWire, the concept is a bit silly, but this time I’m not sure if it works. Mazonaut is a fairly simple maze game that has you controlling an astronaut looking guy in a maze in space. The controls are all accelerometer based, so maneuvering around the endless walls is fairly challenging, and to make things worse, pieces of the ground break off randomly, falling into the big black hole below. Don’t get too upset if you fall though, because there is no end to the maze… just a high score to be obtained after a tedious trip through the neon walled halls of space.
As far as I can tell, the actual Reactable tables are very limited in number and are only available in selected museum exhibits and Bjork concerts. You can get on the waiting list to get one, but they look to only be sold in small batches and cost 9,700 Euros a pop – not exactly the price of a guitar at a local music store. Fortunately for iOS users, there is an app for that.
If you’ve yet to play Angry Birds, I’m willing to bet you’ve at least glimpsed its icon floating on the App Store’s charts. For good reason, too; it’s an addictive game. The basic formula is a bunch of angry birds, a slingshot, and the egg-stealing pigs and their castles. The goal of this little physics game is to demolish each and every one of the aforementioned castles—but does Angry Birds actually follow the rules of physics?
His discovery? Angry Birds considers only the force of gravity on the bird—once you fire the bird from the slingshot; the app doesn’t calculate air resistance or anything like that. And assuming that gravity in Angry Birds is equal to Earth’s gravity, the slingshot is five feet tall and the red bird is a little over two feet. Jeez…talk about a large bird!
:: GREAT
Comments