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- Auto-Tune Birthday Spreads the Auto-Tune Madness Even Further
- Rainbow Six: Shadow Vanguard Review
- Even Easier Contact Updating With Plaxo Personal Assistant
- Kami Retro Review
- Galaxy Express Review
- The Atavist Brings Long-Form Nonfiction to iOS
| Auto-Tune Birthday Spreads the Auto-Tune Madness Even Further Posted: 17 Mar 2011 09:30 AM PDT
Auto-Tune Birthday is an iPhone app that lets you sing and record yourself singing Happy Birthday, and then auto-tune the resulting song. From there, you can post the recording to Facebook or send it via email. When posting a song to Facebook, the app allows you to add photos, graphics, and a personal message as well as the recording. The app includes ten “versions” of the Happy Birthday song, including Hip-Hop, Rock, Samba, Synth Pop, and more. Auto-Tune Birthday also ties into Facebook so that it can send you birthday reminders. Check out the results in the video below. Auto-Tune Birthday from StarMaker on Vimeo.
The app’s developers have experience with harnessing Auto-Tune to hilarious effect: their Auto-Tune Christmas app produced funny versions of Silent Night. Auto-Birthday is available in the App Store for $0.99. [ Auto-Tune Birthday Spreads the Auto-Tune Madness Even Further is a post from 148Apps ]  |
| Rainbow Six: Shadow Vanguard Review Posted: 17 Mar 2011 09:01 AM PDT  Rainbow Six: Shadow Vanguard ReviewBy Jennifer Allen on March 17th, 2011Our Rating:   :: FANTASTICiPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad Rainbow Six: Shadow Vanguard has some hefty expectations placed upon it as the first Rainbow Six game for the iPhone. Does it deliver?
Developer: Gameloft Price: $6.99 Version Reviewed: 1.0.0 Device Reviewed On: iPhone 4 Graphics / Sound Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars Overall Rating: 4.25 out of 5 stars It’s very easy to forget just what power is within the iPhone. I know I do so far too frequently. I’m content with a huge wealth of the App store but I don’t expect it to push my expectations hugely. I stay hidden in my bubble of useful apps and casual games. I’m not even hugely fussed if it doesn’t as I’ve got my trusty PSP and DS anyway. When a game that’s better than the latest SOCOM for the PSP comes along for the iPhone and it’s only $7 though, I start wondering if I should reassess my opinions. I realise that’s all very short sighted of me and I’m sorry. Rainbow Six: Shadow Vanguard has shown me the light and I’ll be using it as an example to many, many cynical friends.
An extensive tutorial gradually eases you into the control system and it’s a great help. The controls are a little fiddly to get to grips with at first, mostly because there’s so much going on and only so much screen space to use up. If you stick with conventional controls, a virtual d-pad presents itself to the left while the fire button, weapon change buttons and other vital bits and pieces reside to the right. Moving the screen around with your right finger affects aim while your left finger is in charge of the d-pad. The problem lies in that I found myself frequently accidentally hitting the fire button. Switching to gyroscope controls help hugely here as it eradicates the problem entirely. It might take a few minutes for you to get the sensitivity just right but it’s well worth the effort. That brief negative aside (and something I’ve no doubt isn’t an issue with an iPad), the quality of the missions will keep you unfazed by any mild technical issues. There are 11 single player missions all increasingly complex and more tactical, each based on the original Rainbow Six game which is a lovely touch. In the first mission on Recruit – the easiest difficulty level – you might be able to get by with run and gun tactics, but by the end of the stage you’re going to have to think things through a lot more carefully thanks to a precarious hostage situation. It’s just what you could want from Rainbow Six. You can control your teammates by sending them on ahead, banging and clearing doorways with flashbangs, and using the snake cam to plan a route ahead. It’s all typical Rainbow Six and it’s all great to see. The only thing that’s lacking here is that you can’t send your team through one door while you target another door, you have to be near enough to tap the offending door yourself. It’s a relatively minor niggle though.
Besides the comprehensive single player campaign, there’s the multiplayer functionality too which puts some console games to shame. There’s 4 player co-op. I adore co-op games. Playing any title with friends is instantly more fun and it’s very much the case with Shadow Vanguard. Being able to play either over local wi-fi, online or bluetooth is a great collection of options. It’s a similar tale with online deathmatch offering the same choices without a hint of lag. There’s five maps to choose from with Deathmatch and up to 10 players can compete together, forming a frantic yet sometimes tactical affair. In the matches I played, it clearly depends on who you play against as to whether people played a stealthy game or just went all out run and gun. It was still fun regardless though. Rainbow Six: Shadow Vanguard is just all round great if you hadn’t already guessed. If you’re only in it for multiplayer, you might feel a little restricted with only 5 maps and 5 guns to choose from, but the single player campaign more than makes up for this. I was truly impressed by the quality that’s gone into it. My only request is for GameCenter achievements, otherwise it’s a pretty ideal tactical shooting experience.
[ Rainbow Six: Shadow Vanguard Review is a post from 148Apps ]  Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six®: Shadow VanguardiPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad Buy Now: $6.99 Our Rating: Released: 2011-03-17 :: Category: Games / Strategy :: FANTASTICRead Our Full Review >> Apps mentioned in this post: Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six®: Shadow Vanguard |
| Even Easier Contact Updating With Plaxo Personal Assistant Posted: 17 Mar 2011 08:30 AM PDT
The company today announced Plaxo Personal Assistant, a service that intelligently keeps your address book or contact list up to date with the most relevant information. The service is available for iPhone and iPad via an app on the iTunes App Store, although it can also be accessed through the Web and on other devices. Plaxo is designed for the user who has several different address books spread across different e-mail accounts, social networks and devices. Once you have an account with Plaxo, it will sync all of these accounts with the same contact information so that no matter what platform you’re using, you’ll have access to the most current, up-to-date version of your contact list. To make this possible, Plaxo has formed relationships with several public profile databases, such as ZoomInfo. The Plaxo Personal Assistant crawls these networks, looking for the most relevant and recent changes to contact information for the people in your address book. In the beginning, each time the software finds new information for one of your contacts, it will alert you for approval before updating your own address book. But over time, if the service has been successful in its task of finding new and accurate information, it will eventually automatically make updates to your address book. Of course, if you’d prefer you always have to approve changes, you can turn this feature off. But the goal is for the service to learn as it goes, eventually becoming as seamless and unobtrusive as possible. One major concern when it comes to a service like Plaxo, which contains around 600 million people’s contact information in its cloud, is security. The company told TechCrunch that keeping this information secure is a top priority. As a result of this, Plaxo has had to reject working with several database companies who did not meet the company’s strict security standards. Plaxo Personal Assistant is now available and costs $79.99 a year, which breaks down to $6.67 a month. A basic version is available for free as well, which “unifies all your contact info in a single, smart address book” according to the company. But if you want the on-going maintenance offered by Plaxo Personal Assistant, you’ll have to pay.  [ Even Easier Contact Updating With Plaxo Personal Assistant is a post from 148Apps ] Apps mentioned in this post: Plaxo |
| Posted: 17 Mar 2011 08:04 AM PDT  Kami Retro ReviewBy Carter Dotson on March 17th, 2011Our Rating:  :: COME ON!iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad Kami Retro is a puzzle platformer that has you controlling retro-themed characters through platforming environments that you can alter by moving elements around throughout the levels.
Developer: Gamevil Price: $1.99 Version Reviewed: 1.0 Device Reviewed On: iPod touch 4G Graphics / Sound Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars Overall Rating: 3.88 out of 5 stars
The fact that you have 4 different men to try to get to the goal may seem baffling at first, but it actually is a brilliant element as levels get more challenging. You see, it works both as a challenge to get you to perfect your method of beating levels and getting high scores, but it also serves to smooth out the difficulty curve. While you can easily restart a level (with your object positioning saved on resets), it makes the game just that much more forgiving knowing you get 4 consecutive opportunities. The bonus Star Run levels are fun, just letting you run around rooms utilizing the swiping controls and arranging platform segments to collect all the stars. I feel like a bigger game could have been made around just these levels alone.
Kami Retro isn’t very retro, considering that its graphics are actually 3D models, and the gameplay is very different and original. If you like games like the Mario vs. Donkey Kong games on Nintendo’s handheld systems, you’ll enjoy Kami Retro. While it’s got some room for improvement, it has a lot of good things going for it, has plenty of value and challenge in its 65 levels for $1.99 and is a concept that I hope gets explored even more in future updates and future games. [ Kami Retro Review is a post from 148Apps ]  KAMI RETROiPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad Buy Now: $1.99 Our Rating: Released: 2011-03-10 :: Category: Games / Puzzle :: COME ON!Read Our Full Review >> Apps mentioned in this post: KAMI RETRO |
| Posted: 17 Mar 2011 07:04 AM PDT  Galaxy Express ReviewBy Jennifer Allen on March 17th, 2011Our Rating: :: CHALLENGING FUNiPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad Galaxy Express is an idea that you’ve seen before on the App Store but when you get 30 levels for free with 75 more available if you choose to pay for them, it’s worth a look.
Developer: Arctic Empire Price: FREE (with in app purchases available) Version Reviewed: 1.0 Device Reviewed On: iPhone 4 Graphics / Sound Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars Overall Rating: 3.63 out of 5 stars I’m a big fan of the puzzle game. It stems from a happy childhood of completing puzzle books on various journeys and holidays. These days I don’t have to wander around with a book or magazine though, thanks to the ever trusty iPhone I can load my device up with a whole plethora of puzzlers to tackle while I’m travelling. Galaxy Express is just the kind of thing that provoke many moments of head scratching. It’s good fun though.
While the first few levels are pretty easy to figure out, it’s not long before things get harder. Fortunately, more than one level is unlocked at any one time so you can always go back at a later date. It also makes for a great social game as you can collaborate with friends or work colleagues and figure out the solution. Indeed, Galaxy Express encourages this by allowing you to tweet, email or use Facebook to request help from friends if they don’t happen to be nearby at the time. Galaxy Express makes for a pleasant change in a genre that’s often infatuated by the urge to beat other people’s high scores. Instead it’s all about the journey rather than the destination. The promise of a level creator in the future is a great idea too so I hope this is implemented soon. [ Galaxy Express Review is a post from 148Apps ]  Galaxy ExpressUniversal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad Buy Now: FREE Our Rating: Released: 2011-03-12 :: Category: Games / Arcade :: CHALLENGING FUNRead Our Full Review >> Apps mentioned in this post: Galaxy Express |
| The Atavist Brings Long-Form Nonfiction to iOS Posted: 17 Mar 2011 06:04 AM PDT
Each Atavist story includes an audio recording of the author reading their work aloud; multimedia elements such as an accompanying soundtrack, videos, and maps; and “smart timelines” that orient the reader without giving away plot twists. Additionally, half of each purchase goes towards the author. And yes, you do have to purchase each individual story, though the app is free. Each story costs $2.99. Unfortunately, at the moment The Atavist’s library is limited to a mere two stories: Lifted and Piano Demon. That’s hardly a broad enough foundation to stoke a reading revolution in the App Store. Compounded by the cost per story, which is a tough sell in the App Store’s often ruthless market, and it’s easy to see why The Atavist has yet to take off. Until the app gains more content, it’ll be hard to shake the “demo” feel. And then the Kindle app and its rivals have done a good job of keeping reading alive in the App Store. Regardless, if you’re curious about what forms literary journalism could potentially take on the iPhone and iPad, The Atavist is very interesting. Download the free app (and, if you wish, free previews) from the App Store at the link below.  The AtavistUniversal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad Buy Now: FREE Released: 2011-01-28 :: Category: Books [ The Atavist Brings Long-Form Nonfiction to iOS is a post from 148Apps ] Apps mentioned in this post: The Atavist |
StarMaker Interactive, the developer behind Auto-Tune Birthday, writes that “Jay-Z may have pronounced Auto-Tune dead”…but hey, Auto-Tune The News has 240 million views, so clearly plenty of people find Auto-Tune’s distinct sound hilarious. That’s the idea, anyway, and it’s the reason why we have this…monstrosity?…on our hands. In this app, Auto-Tune meets perhaps the most unremarkable, aged song in popular culture: “Happy Birthday.” I think that the app’s description sums it up best: “You singing “Happy Birthday” + Auto-Tune + Facebook = The best birthday wall post your friend will get!”
The graphical finesse is what’s going to get you first of all. It made me desperately wish I had an iPad so I could see just how tremendous Shadow Vanguard would look. On a small screen though, it still looks fantastic. The sound quality is similarly great with production values feeling very high. 
On the harshest of difficulty levels, Rainbow Six: Shadow Vanguard really demonstrates just how tactical it is, feeling like the most complete tactical shooter I’ve ever played on a handheld device. 
You have to help a space delivery boy navigate his ship carefully to the goal of each level. That’s pretty much it. There’s no time limit or score to aim for, it’s all quite relaxed yet quickly challenging. You have to place arrows that direct the little spaceship in the right direction of the goal. Further awkwardness prevails when you only have a limited number of arrows to position. This means that you have to rely on other obstacles such as asteroids to direct your ship in the right direction, accounting for the fact it can only move in a very specific way.
One side effect of the App Store is that we tend to take our entertainment from “small” sources, like a few minutes of Angry Birds or skimming a Twitter feed. But the folks behind The Atavist hope they can persuade us to take the time for a more in-depth experience. The Atavist is a new app, for both iPhone and iPad, that aims to present readers with unique, engaging long-form nonfiction.
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