Here’s a sign of just how far BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion has fallen: Apple’s App Store is worth more than the entire Waterloo, Ont. company. Yes — just one Apple property could buy an entire company, lock, stock and smartphone.
Yesterday, we announced the results of our reader poll to pick the best games of 2011, but one title was mentioned by name again and again as one we had overlooked: Asphalt 6: Adrenaline by Gameloft, one of the best Forza-style racing games on the App Store.
It’s true, Asphalt 6 is an amazing game, and one of the best racing experiences on iOS, bar none. Sadly, though, it was first released in December 2010, missing our list of best 2011 games by just a month. But that’s not to say everyone shouldn’t play it, and now’s the best time yet to download Asphalt 6 and try it for yourself, because it’s now free on the App Store. Get downloading, you won’t regret it.
We’re all familiar with how costly data can be on our iOS devices if we’re using them to get on the internet abroad with no access to a Wi-Fi hotspot. To prevent nasty charges, most of us turn off data roaming and avoid using our devices for the internet.
However, there’s a nasty bug in Apple’s iOS operating system that could cost you a fortune while you’re on vacation by allowing you to download apps over a 3G data network even with the feature turned off.
2011 has been a huge year for gaming on iOS devices. It saw the introduction of Apple’s dual-core A5 processor in the iPad 2 and the iPhone 4S, which in turn pushed the boundaries of what’s possible on a mobile device and saw the release of console-quality games like Infinity Blade II, Modern Combat 3, and Real Racing 2.
To celebrate the year’s best games, we’re on a mission to find 2011’s best iOS game and we need your help. We’ve already asked you to vote for your favorite from more than 20 titles, and now we’ve roundup up the top 10 finalists. These are the most popular iOS games as voted for by you, but we’re not done yet.
Now it’s time to vote for your number one.
I’ve been so excited for the iOS port of Grand Theft Auto 3 that as soon as I opened my eyes this morning, I reached over to my iPhone and checked the App Store to see if it had arrived. (Sad, I know.) As promised, it was there, and having played it for a little while this morning, I can assure you it’s better than you ever imagined.
Remember Netflix’s plan to radically redesign their iPad app’s UI that we were so crazy about? Well, it’s here now, and it looks fantastic.
That’s not all that’s new for Apple fans, though.
If you’re anything like me, you often sit around and wonder what the people and animals you know look like with their skin and musculature pulled off to reveal the screaming skulls beneath. Unfortunately, pulling the faces off of actual living creatures to stare at their skeletons tends to be considered, as I understand it, somewhat declasse amongst the bourgeoise, so until society reconsiders its values, there’s this: the Skulls app by Simon Winchester.
Sega is set to release its latest Sonic the Hedgehog port for iOS today with the critically acclaimed Sonic CD — a title which first made its debut back in 1993 on the Sega CD. But just in case you weren’t already excited enough, the company has also released a teasing new launch trailer.
Microsoft seems more than willing to spend its time on developing software for Apple’s iOS platform, despite it being a direct competitor to its Windows Phone operating system. Why? We don’t know. But we like it.
Especially when the company throws up gems like Kinectimals. My kids love this game on the Xbox 360, which takes advantage of Microsoft’s Kinect accessory, and now it’s available for the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.
For the exhibitionist, the free I Made Love app allows you to “check in” to places you have boned, down to the GPS location and sexual position.
Alarmingly, there is a high concentration of activity in I Made Love at the Market Basket parking lot across the street from me. I always thought those guys were just practicing wrestling moves in the back seat of their cars.
[via Gizmodo]
If you’re an iPad user and sick of waiting for something like the Mac’s Dashboard to appear on your tablet, you’ll love to know about iDashboard, a new iPad offering that consolidates many individual apps into one screen.
Half a million. Most app stores would be happy to have half a million users, but that’s just the number of apps Apple has in the App Store. And while they are bragging about their big swinging stats, Cupertino’s got another one to announce: over 100 million apps have been downloaded from the Mac App Store since its debut in early November last year. Wow.
Rovio, the creators of Angry Birds, celebrated the game’s second birthday on December 11 with an update that’s guaranteed to please fans of the bird slinger. In addition to 15 brand new levels, version 2.0 of the original Angry Birds game unlocks every episode available.
Here at Cult of Mac, we’ve got our own axe to grind against freemium App Store games that try to get kids to max out their daddy’s credit cards with expensive in-app purchases, so it’s nice to see The Daily Show take freemium game makers to town in an absolutely hilarious, spot-on segment that shows how scummy these waters of the App Store can really be.
Warner Bros. issued an update to its terrific Scribblenauts Remix game for iOS yesterday, which introduces voice-controlled gameplay to the iPhone 4S with a feature called “Scibblespeak.” Much like Siri, the device’s built-in digital assistant, Scribblespeak allows you to create objects like a “zombified cheerleader” using nothing but your voice
Holy cow! They’d been teasing it forever, but all of sudden, now it’s here: Square-Enix has just released their beloved SNES era classic Chrono Trigger on the App Store for the iPhone and iPod touch!
2011 is quickly drawing to a close, and before we shut down our computers and get drunk for Christmas, we thought it would be a good idea to celebrate some of this year’s finest iOS games. We’ve compiled a list of our favorites and we’d like you to vote for the game the you think is this year’s greatest.
Following their annual holiday tradition, Apple has just published iTunes Rewind 2011, their list of their own personal best apps and games across twenty-one categories. And as usual, there’s some surprising choices.
Today, Twitter announced a new design for the popular micro-blogging site that will start rolling out over the next couple of weeks, which they hope will make it easier than ever to connect with other users and discover great new content.
If you go to Twitter.com, you won’t see the sexy new interface for a while yet, but as part of their push to update all officially supported Twitter platforms to the new paradigm, Twitter has pushed out a totally overhauled version of the Twitter for iPhone app.
When it comes to Apple’s iTunes Match, profit motive goes out the window — indeed it’s “immaterial.” Although Apple is most known for iTunes and the App Store, the Cupertino, Calif. company remains a hardware company — and very profitable one at that. The real value of the iTunes Match service is as the latest member of Apple’s vast iTunes ecosystem, acting as a honeytrap for hardware purchases.
During an interview at the Le Web expo in Paris this week, Google chairman Eric Schmidt took a stab at Apple and insisted his company’s Android operating system is way ahead of iOS in a number of ways, including affordability and choice. What’s more, Schmidt claims that in six months, Ice Cream Sandwich will offer better functionality.
We’re huge fans of OnLive’s terrific cloud gaming service here at Cult of Mac, and we’re even more excited to hear that it’s coming to iOS devices. The company has announced that an OnLive app is on its way to the App Store, which will allow users to play top-tier console-quality games on the go.
Microsoft has released its official iOS companion app for Xbox LIVE users. My Xbox LIVE is now available as a free download in the App Store for the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.
The new app allows users to interact with their Xbox LIVE accounts and talk to friends.
Flipboard released its official iPhone app last night. Many users were frustrated initially with error messages during installation and adding services.
The initial surge in traffic caused Flipboard’s servers to buckle under the strain, but the app came back online for most people this morning and it’s been working fine for me since. After playing with Flipboard on the iPhone, I love the way that it aggregates my news and social network feeds into a personalized magazine. The future of media consumption is here, and it’s all about curation.
I love Rocksteady’s series of Batman games for the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. They are loving, incredibly crafted tributes to the Dark Knight clearly made by fans who get Batman, who is equal parts acrobat, brawler, psychopath, hero, detective and muscle. That’s why I’m excited to check out Batman: Arkham City Lockdown when it is released later tonight.