Longtime iPhone lovers will remember last year’s Appvent Calendar, Blacksmith Games’ initiative which offered one free game per day from December 1st ’til Christmas. Last year’s Appvent Calendar was a huge success, with tons of awesome games, many of which subsequently rocketed up the charts after returning to their normal prices.
Yes, that’s right: free. games. And this year, the Appvent Calendar back!
This year the goodies are even better: in addition to a free game every day, the Appvent Calendar will be offering a free app as well. Get ready to load up on a ton of free goodies, and be quick about it; most apps return to their normal prices after a day of being featured. Unlike other sites which have since sprouted up—such as, say, Free App a Day—most of the Appvent Calendar’s offerings are “real” games that are normally paid apps, rather than lite versions or games that were free anyway.
The first two apps featured by the Appvent Calendar this year were Time Geeks, a geeky, retro find-them-all; and My Artists, a replacement for the main iPod app that augments your songs with extra info about the artists. For the second day, we get to nab Sailboat Championship Pro, but I’m personally more interested in Notesy—a note-taking app with Dropbox integration.
Developer: KNIVESWOOD STUDIOS
Price: $5.99
Version Reviewed: 1.0
Device Reviewed On: iPad
iPad Integration Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
User Interface Rating: 3.75 out of 5 stars
Re-use Value Rating: 4.25 out of 5 stars Overall Rating: 3.83 out of 5 stars
As a device designed for media consumption, the iPad is deft at handling a variety of traditionally print media forms. Books, magazines and comics have all made a successful transition to the iPad, but Japanese Manga has not been well, if at all, represented. MangaBlade hopes to change that with an app that incorporates an e-reader, a web browser, and a content downloader all in one.
When you first open MangaBlade, you may think you’ve mistakenly opened iBooks. The wooden shelves used to display your digital collection are remarkably similar. MangaBlade, unlike iBooks, doesn’t require that you purchase your content. Instead, you can use the built-in web browser to navigate to any site that allows downloadable manga (as long as it’s in CBR, CBZ or ZIP format). MangaBlade even offers its own iOS-friendly website, complete with scanlations of works not available for purchase in the USA. Just click the download link, and the file downloads to your bookshelf. At least in theory.
I had a few hiccups along the way, mostly as a result of the app’s handling (mishandling?) of iOS 4.2’s multitasking and autolock functions. Downloading an issue takes a bit of time, so I sent the app to the background to look at other apps on my iPad. Big mistake. When I returned to MangaBlade, I was told that the download failed. The same thing happened when my screen autolocked. So, you have to stay in-app and unlocked in order to complete downloads. Even then, however, I got error messages after just about every download I tried. Interestingly, these downloads were completed successfully and added to my library; there is a glitch in the app that sends a false “Oops!” message at the end of downloads.
My only other criticism is that the built-in browser does not allow bookmarking. Given the fact that manga scanlations are all over the internet, having favorite sites bookmarked is essential. With any luck, the developers will address both of these issues in coming updates.
MangaBlade is $5.99, which would be a reasonable amount if it worked exactly as advertised. As this is clearly a product with some issues, a lower price might have been a better choice. Still, if you enjoy manga and want a solid reader for it, MangaBlade is a good choice.
While Earworms might sound like some horrible parasite you’d contract while venturing through a jungle, it’s actually a new app meant to annoy friends (and enemies) with annoyingly catchy pop songs. You know that one track that’s absolutely awful but you just can’t get out of your head? Well Earworms is a whole collection of clips from those songs which you can share with contacts. Why would you try and get intentionally bad songs stuck in the heads of others? Because you’re a supervillain, that’s why.
Some of the songs included in Earworms are Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face,” “Hey Ya” by Outkast, and even Billy Ray Cyrus’ “Achy Breaky Heart.” That’s right, the man that screwed the world twice by releasing the song in the first place and then contributing to the conception and birth of Miley Cyrus rears his head again, refusing to let us all live in peace. What’s worse, is that by even mentioning the song in this post I’ve most assuredly gotten the chorus stuck in your head on repeat, and for that I apologize.
Earworms is the ideal app for those with blacker hearts than I, those who relish the very thought of tormenting the minds of others with terrible country music songs. The app should serve practical joke enthusiasts well, and will work as great retribution against those who insist on forwarding endlessly stupid emails. Tired of your mom’s chain letters that claim President Obama is a secret Muslim born on the moon? Send her a clip of “My Humps” and see how long it takes another message from her to pop up in your inbox. Earworms is basically the online equivalent of Mutually Assured Destruction, but sometimes you need the nuclear option.
Yes, we always try and report about the Playstation Phone whenever we can, and we just discovered this video.
Apparently, this Playstation phone is also known as the Sony Ericsson Z1, ans it is powered by the 2.3 Gingerbread. Now, if you are looking to see people playing the PSP, you will have to watch another video. At least you can see the 4-inch touchscreen and multitasking in action.
One of the last time we reported on this phone, we said that it might be coming December 9th. Is it really that soon?
Developer: inXile Entertainment
Price: $2.99
Version Reviewed: 1.1
Device Reviewed On: iPhone 4
Graphics / Sound Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Game Controls Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Gameplay Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Replay Value Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Overall Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
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.
Longtime iPhone lovers will remember last year’s Appvent Calendar, Blacksmith Games’ initiative which offered one free game per day from December 1st ’til Christmas. Last year’s Appvent Calendar was a huge success, with tons of awesome games, many of which subsequently rocketed up the charts after returning to their normal prices.
:: IPOD CHALLENGER
As a device designed for media consumption, the iPad is deft at handling a variety of traditionally print media forms. Books, magazines and comics have all made a successful transition to the iPad, but Japanese Manga has not been well, if at all, represented. MangaBlade hopes to change that with an app that incorporates an e-reader, a web browser, and a content downloader all in one. 
I had a few hiccups along the way, mostly as a result of the app’s handling (mishandling?) of iOS 4.2’s multitasking and autolock functions. Downloading an issue takes a bit of time, so I sent the app to the background to look at other apps on my iPad. Big mistake. When I returned to MangaBlade, I was told that the download failed. The same thing happened when my screen autolocked. So, you have to stay in-app and unlocked in order to complete downloads. Even then, however, I got error messages after just about every download I tried. Interestingly, these downloads were completed successfully and added to my library; there is a glitch in the app that sends a false “Oops!” message at the end of downloads. 
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.
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