Appletell review - The Sims Pool for iPod

Section: iPod + iTunes, iPod, iPod nano, Features, Review Genre: Sports/sim Format: iPod Game Developer: Electronic Arts, Inc. Minimum Requirements: 3G iPod nano, iPod classic or 5G iPod (video), iPod Software v1.2, 31.5MB disc space Price: $4.99 I suppose it was only a matter of time before the Sims invaded the iPod as well. They should just rename the franchise “Invasion of the Platform Snatchers.” Every time I visit another household where someone’s playing a Sims game, I go to the basement to search for pods. Obviously, The Sims itself is far too complex to play on an iPod, so Electronic Arts has taken a pool game and thrown the brand on top of it. Well, that’s unfair, perhaps, as they have given some Sims attributes to it, but they seem to be more about justifying the branding than about contributing to gameplay. You start off by creating your Sim, which entails selecting a face, a shirt, your hair color, etc. What does this have to do with the game? Very little, as you don’t actually see your Sim holding his pool cue when playing. But it’s the kind of thing Sims fans enjoy, so...enjoy, I guess. Also true to the Sims genre, your player has aspirations beyond the pool hall. There’s money to be made, and as money’s made, you can get better pool equipment (fancier cues) to help you win games. And, of course, the more you win, the happier your Sim will be as he achieves his life goals and works his way up to being a pool shark. You don’t have to go this route if this isn’t your thing. There’s a Play Pool option that takes you right to the table without having to bother with putting on a shirt. Nothing you do here will affect the storyline you’re creating in the full story mode. If you’re more about the pool than the plot line, this is where you’ll be spending your time. Regardless of how you get to the table, The Sims Pool really shines once you’re there. Literally. The graphics are fantastic, rivaling those you’d see on the Nintendo DS, or even the Macintosh itself for this type of game. They’re bright, they’re crisp, and they’re very colorful. The animation is quite smooth, but that shouldn’t be hard to achieve considering it involves little more than a bunch of balls rolling around. Using the iPod click wheel to play pool may seem a bit odd at first, but its quite well implemented and therefore pretty easy to get the hang of. You line up your shot by spinning your pool cue around the cue ball with the click wheel. You then click the center button of the iPod to confirm the angle, and this can lead to some trouble; if you don’t pull your thumb straight off the click wheel, your angle can easily change a bit. This can get frustrating, but not enough that it screws up the game. Just realign and try again. Lines appear on the screen to let you know the direction the ball you’re hitting will go, as well as the rebound of the cue ball (helping you avoid a scratch). If you like, you can shut this feature off. After the angle is set, you can use the click wheel to put some “english” on the ball. This, of course, determines the amount of spin the cue ball will have. I can’t comment either way on the physics of this, as I didn’t really utilize it to its full advantage. As with real pool, I’m not good enough to worry about things like english and power and such; it’s enough for me to worry about hitting the ball straight. Once you’ve determined the spin, a traditional sliding power meter appears so you can adjust how hard you hit the cue ball. Hit the center button again and hope for the best. The abilities of your AI opponent will probably seem wildly inconsistent. In my very first game, he missed some fairly easy shots, and even hit in one of my balls. After I had acquired quite a lead, he suddenly sank five balls in a row to catch up, then missed a couple other easy shots to watch me win. Was I going to get hustled until my opponent took pity on me? I don’t know. This is a Sims game, after all. The computer opponent’s probably more worried about stealing my girlfriend or cleaning his kitchen than he is about playing pool. There are two games you can play in The Sims Pool: eight ball and nine ball. There’s also a trick shot challenge that’ll help you test and improve your skills, and it’s kind of fun after you’ve gotten pretty good at the game. You’re not stuck playing the computer, however. You can play other humans on a single iPod by passing it around. Unfortunately, there’s no option for playing doubles should you have, you know, more real life friends than Sim friends. Perhaps that would be a hassle, anyway; passing around the iPod is one thing, but passing around headphones is quite another matter. Technically, you don’t need sound to play this game, but the sound is so great I highly recommend you keep the headphones on. You can listen to your own music if you like, but I actually suggest shutting it off so you can more easily hear the pool hall ambient noises, which do a great job of pulling you into the game. Better yet, they’re not so repetitive that you can hear the loop. Very well done, but that’s the kind of thing you come to expect from Electronic Arts. Remove “The Sims” from its name, and The Sims Pool is still a great pool sim. That it’s this good on the iPod is very impressive, but not really surprising; Electronic Arts has made it quite clear they understand the iPod as a gaming platform, and what that should entail. The Sims tie-in isn’t needed here, but I suppose it does add an interesting element for those who’d otherwise tire of just playing pool. And if pool is all you want, you can bypass the Sims elements. That makes this a great game for the iPod that would actually be a worthwhile purchase on any platform. And that’s a good thing, as it’ll help keep your mind off those alien Sims pods in your basement. Appletell Rating: Buy The Sims Pool See other iPod game reviews. This review was originally published at Applelinks. Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

iPod Game Review: Pole Position: Remix

Section: iPod + iTunes, iPod, iPod nano, Features, Review Genre: Sports Format: iPod Game (Download from iTunes Store) Developer: Namco Networks America Inc. Compatible iPods: iPod nano (3rd generation), iPod classic, and iPod (5th generation). They cannot be played on your computer, nor are they compatible with other iPod models including the iPhone and the iPod touch. Review iPod: iPod nano (3rd generation) and iPod (5th generation) Price: $5.99 ESRB Rating: N/A Availability: Now Demo: No After owning my iPod for a few months, I decided to purchase a few games to play while listening to some tunes and podcasts. Pole Position: Remix was one of them. After playing one race, I quickly felt the style of gameplay was much different. Your average racing game doesn’t force you to pause a few seconds then start racing again after you smash your car into a sign, wall or another opponent, it just dents your car. Your steering must be precise or you’ll end up going into a puddle or gas spill, crashing, then starting up again a few seconds later. While it can get annoying when you have the almost natural instinct to crash into other cars and knock them off the road, Pole Position: Remix does bring the classic 80s style of gameplay to your iPod. Racing in cockpit view the entire game, you must first quailify to race by achieving points based on the distance raced. The whole points system is also quite strange. In a typical racing game, you must pass the opponents and try to get first place. In Pole Position, try to go as fast as possible (without crashing) to gain points. At the end of the race, whoever has the most points wins. You’ll get extra points for passing other cars, but if you pass everyone at the start, more cars will appear ahead of you later in the race. The racing for points style of gameplay isn’t bad, it just takes some time to get used to. You’ll also be able to race the famous four tracks of the game: Namco, Speedway, Wonder, and Seaside. A fifth and new track—Misaki Point—comes in the iPod version. When racing in these five tracks you’ll notice that all the billboards are filled with album artwork from the content on your iPod. When you pass certain races, you’ll be able to unlock cockpit themes based on other classic Namco games from the 80’s; like PAC-MAN, Galaga and Dig-Dug. Racing in a bit of style defiently adds to change up the environment. This game keeps all of the elements of the classic game with added features for the iPod. The game is great if you’d like a fast game that’ll get your thumb spinning around the clickwheel while you listen to some tunes. Graphics aren’t the best compared to some other iPod games, but the original game’s weren’t that good, either. And while Pole Position: Remix is playable on the Nano, it’ll be a bit harder because of the small click wheel. Appletell Rating: Purchase Pole Position: Remix Full Story » | Written by Nicholas Montgomery for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Review: Spore Origins for iPod

Offering a distilled experience of the first part of the full Spore game, Spore Origins makes a surprisingly good debut in this version for third-generation iPod nanos, fifth-generation iPods, and the iPod classic.

World of Warcraft Preview: Up close with the Lich King

Blizzard has released its second full World of Warcraft expansion, Wrath of the Lich King. Chris Holt talks to Blizzard’s Alex Afrasiabi about the state of the World of Warcraft.

Macintosh/iPhone software update round-up - September 15, 2008

Section: Software + Apps, Miscellaneous, Third-Party, iPod + iTunes, iPod Accessories, Cases, iPhone + Communications, iPhone, iPhone SDK & Apps, Mac + Computers, SoftwareMacintosh and iPhone software updates and announcements for September 15, 2008: CardScan, a leading provider of contact management systems, today announced the availability of CardScan Executive for Mac, comprising a contact management software and business card scanner. CardScan for Mac software features automatic synchronization to Address Book, allowing users to keep data the same across devices and applications. The company also announced that all CardScan Executive Version 8 systems will include software for both Windows and Mac. The assignment is daunting. The “thinnest” and “funnest” iPods ever created. But the challenges are nothing new to the designers at Speck Product’s innovation lab in Palo Alto, California. Fast on the heels of last week’s new iPod announcement, the team is fiercely on task delivering fresh designs for the arrival of at least five new iPod cases between now and the upcoming holiday season. Just days after the official release of the new iPod touch and iPod nano, MacCover offers the matching protection covers on their site. The covers are made in 3mm thick, shock absorbing felt in 9 colours, and are made to fit the new models exactly. There is also a D-ring attached for keys or personal gadgets. 21 Pro: Blackjack is the ideal blackjack game for every player, novice and expert alike. With life-like high-resolution graphics and authentic game play, 21 Pro provides a genuine casino experience. If you have never played or have been intimidated by sitting at a blackjack table, this is the perfect game to learn how to play. If you are an experienced player, and want to take your game to the next level, the 21 Pro’s card counting will help you fine tune your skills. Marware has announced its latest leather holster case for the Apple iPod touch 2G, the C.E.O. Premiere. The classic design offers textured, perforated leather, an ultra-slim belt clip and elegant contrast stitching. Providing a sleek, upscale look, the C.E.O. Premiere is a stylish premium hip case that works with both the new iPod touch 2G and the original touch. They’ve also announced the new executive flip-top leather case, the C.E.O. Flip Vue for the new iPod touch 2G. Designed to provide the perfect balance between all-around protection and easy access, the C.E.O. Flip Vue is a sleek, elegant holster case. The C.E.O. Flip Vue allows for all iPod touch functionality while providing elegant leather protection. And because two announcements in one day just isn’t enough, they’ve also released the C.E.O. Sleeve for the Apple iPod touch 2G. The C.E.O. Sleeve is a slim, attractive Nappa leather sleeve that combines elegant protection and quick access to the new iPod touch. This case is uniquely designed to appeal to the more discriminating, style-conscious wearer. The C.E.O Sleeve is a premium holster sleeve that works with the new iPod touch 2G and the original touch. Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. announced today that World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King, the second expansion for its award-winning subscription-based massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), will arrive in stores on November 13 in North America, Europe, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, and Russia, and November 14 in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand. The expansion will be available in Korea and the regions of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau on November 18. Details regarding the launch of Wrath of the Lich King in mainland China will be announced at a later date. Plyxim, LLC. has announced the release of Exibia 1.3, their broadcast scheduling application for Mac OS X. Exibia allows clients in a multi-user, multi-platform environment to upload and schedule QuickTime-compatible videos to a centrally-located server. Media Atelier has released GrandTotal 1.0, its invoicing application for the Mac OS X Leopard platform. GrandTotal is ideal for freelancers, small- to mid-sized companies, and any organization that needs to generate personalized, invoices, estimates and account statements. GrandTotal sports an easy to use, sophisticated interface that will have you up and running in minutes. A wide range of word processing and layout tools makes creating handsome, customizable documents simple and quick. Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

OpenCL gets touted in Texas

Attendees at the SC08 high-performance computing conference in Austin got a progress report on OpenCL, the the Apple-spearheaded parallel computing API that figures to be a prominent new feature in the upcoming Snow Leopard update to OS X.