A sequel to the first Fantastic Contraption, itself a conversion from a flash based online game, Fantastic Contraption is a bit of a mind bender for those who haven’t tried it before. It’s a physics based puzzler but one that offers a whole wealth of choice. It’s almost overwhelmingly so in fact.

The aim of each level is to create a machine to transport an object from the blue zone to the pink zone on the screen. To do this, well, it’s entirely up to you how you want to do it – within reason. You’re given an array of different objects to do this, you can add extra wheels, connecting rods and all manners of other bits and pieces. Press the Start button and the object takes off, hopefully following the plan you had in mind. Sometimes it’s pretty obvious what needs to be done and will only take seconds, other times though it feels extraordinarily convoluted and complex. That’s the beauty to Fantastic Contraption 2 though, it’s really quite cerebral in nature. You just have to persevere through the mind boggling part until it all begins to click in your head.

It’s refreshing to not have a ’set’ way of finishing a level. All 66 levels are unlocked from the start so if you’re truly stumped on one level, you can always switch to another. And believe me, you’re going to be stumped. I was scratching my head many a time while playing through it.

Besides those levels, there’s also a level editor facility which is rather satisfying to mess around with and there’s also online level play functionality which helps extend longevity.

Controls are slightly fiddly at times requiring accurate touches of the screen, but once you get around this, Fantastic Contraption 2 is quite a thought provoking puzzler – one that requires a lot of concentration and a bit of patience too.

[ Fantastic Contraption 2 Review is a post from 148Apps ]

If you need a little better acoustic recording from your iPhone or iPod, or if your portable device is simply fitting a little too easy into your pants pocket, Blue Microphones has your solution. Its Mikey microphone is finally shipping, after getting a debut nearly a year ago. The specs are still the same as we expected before, including CD-quality recording in stereo or mono with a swiveling base that lets it cover 230 degrees of your own little sound field. One thing that has changed, and quite nicely, is the cost: down to $80 from the previously expected $99 MSRP. Everybody likes that.

Blue’s Mikey microphone for iPhone and iPod finally shipping to picky recorders originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Nov 2010 09:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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So apparently the hidden island of Lilliput has cellular coverage, but who cares — it’s still gonna be another crap movie. Way to ruin Gulliver’s Travels with Jack Black.

Joe: “Finally, Angry Birds the way it was meant to be played.”
Darren: “That’s a big iPhone.”
Josh T.: “The monolith taught the monkeys to kill, also, how to make conference calls.”
Paul: “Time-traveling Jack Black plants hidden iPhone reference in Jonathan Swift novel.”
Thomas: “It’s holding you wrong.”
Tim: “Eighteen months ago, the first evidence of intelligent life off the Earth was discovered. It was buried forty feet below the lunar surface, near the crater Cupertino.”
Vlad: “It’s just a jumbo iPhone, I don’t see what all the fuss is about.”
Sam: “What does this mean? It’s so bright, so vivid.”
Sean H.: “And so did the tiny scholars toil for decades to unravel the mysteries of the blue block, and the significance of its question marks.”
Richard Lai: “Paul Miller makes a cameo appearance in this scene, tut-tuts at the low pixel density.”
Myriam: “I’m crushing your head! I’m crushing your head!”

Continue reading Caption contest: Gulliver’s iPhone makes it big in Hollywood

Caption contest: Gulliver’s iPhone makes it big in Hollywood originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Nov 2010 12:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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