Bird Strike has Gerard, Monster Jump has that cute little orange monster (if he’s red, well, my apologies, I’m apparently colour blind) and what’s the latest in “distance games” on the iPhone, Pig Shot, has to offer? Well, a rolling pig launched from slings located in each level. Normally this would be enough to illicit some laughs (I did, you would too once this game is released to the general public in the App Store), but the developers threw in several extras to ensure that the game doesn’t turn into a one trick pony, I mean pig.

In order to move the pig around to eat stars sprinkled on the level, or even obstacles players will need to tilt the iPhone left or right. The challenge here is to ensure that the pig keeps rolling from one sling to another and if the pig rolls to a stop or hits an obstacle, it’s game over.There are several power-ups available, namely one that temporarily boosts the pig’s speed and another that allows the pig to release gas, useful in order to keep the pig from rolling to a stop.

Powered by Unity Engine, the game is pretty much “there” for a preview copy, the only problem I have is that sometimes the distance from one sling to another is just too far, and since levels are randomly generated, this frustration is an on-off thing. Well I hope the developers can get to work on the maximum distance slings can be located from each other.

Stay tuned to Nine Over Ten 9/10 for more news on Pig Shot.

There’s something familiar about the gameplay on Lambda Mu’s Shady Puzzle: Super Awesome Compilation Edition! for the iPhone. I can’t put my finger on it, but while I’ve definitely seen this gameplay before, Shady Puzzle’s art style, like  pages torn-out of a grid-based exercise book for the background with magic marker shadings, and sub-gameplay modes make things interesting.

In each level, players are presented with a bunch of rows and columns, forming boxes that need to be shaded based on the given values both horizontally and vertically. Now that I’m writing this, Picross comes to mind. Anyone who’s familiar with Picross should take to Shady Puzzle like ducks to water.

To add spice to the proceedings, there are different types of levels in the game. While the gist is still shading and solving puzzles, some levels have a time limit, while others will end at the very first wrong move. It’s in the latter that Shady Puzzle adds a new innovation with the “guess” mode in which you get to simulate solutions without being penalised.

Each puzzle shouldn’t take long to solve, making the game perfect for short bursts of gaming. With iOS 4 support, I can even resume my game where I left it. The puzzle selection screen is pretty cool, tap any of the blocks to start a  level.

Like Picross, sometimes you have to take a leap of faith when it comes to playing some of the levels in Shady Puzzle, and that’s what I really like about the game. The current edition of the Shady Puzzle features an all new holiday pack, with 36 new puzzles. The game is tied up with the new Game Center and this should be even more fun once I can get a to a free WiFi hotspot around here in Jakarta (I’m overseas for a week long business trip).

Shady Puzzle is now available on the App Store for USD 0.99, which is a damn good bargain. Check it out over here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/shady-puzzle-super-awesome/id381032015?mt=8. Highly recommended.

I received an e-mail from DiGi earlier this morning regarding their iPhone 4 launch because I signed up on their Register Interest form not too long ago. It looks like DiGi will be launching the iPhone 4 in Malaysia next week and with the tag line: “The most affordable iPhone 4 in Malaysia is arriving next week”.

The teaser site has been updated as well, but nothing has given away the plans and packages involved or whether current DiGi iPhone 3GS subscribers can upgrade to the new phone (http://www.digi.com.my/iphone/getone_iphone4.html). In any case, stay tuned.

Rumour Mill #1: I heard a rumour that DiGi will be offering existing DiGi iPhone subscribers to buy an iPhone 4 outright (without plans) at a very interesting price.

This….is more fun than Guitar Hero. I’m talking about Linkin Park Revenge, the latest in the Tap Tap Revenge series of games whereby the gameplay is pretty much like Guitar Hero except that instead of a guitar peripheral, you tap on the screen according to the on-screen cues, which technically should be a cinch for GH players.

The game comes with 2 songs installed, Faint and One Step Closer, with the other tracks can be downloaded to the phone from the app itself, making it a total of 10 songs, including 4 from the new album A Thousand Suns. This makes for a pretty good promo for the album and a treat to fans.

However, going up 2 difficulty levels proofed a little too much for me; the crazy tapping was just…crazy. One of these days I should be checking out how some pro-players play the game. At  USD 4.99, it’s probably cheaper than a best-of CD full of Linkin Park tracks, and with 10 tracks and multiple difficulty levels to test yourself against, the game is value personified.

Check it out over here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/linkin-park-revenge/id391059339?mt=8#

Gameloft’s The Oregon Trail is a remake of an old Apple II game of the same name and it’s pretty cool. Basically it’s a road trip kind of game as you guide your caravan through the Oregon Trail. Along the way players will bump into NPCs, some of them famous people in history (fancy racing Abraham Lincoln?), engage in mini games for tasks like hunting for food (shooting bison, fishing, collecting berries) or fixing the wagon (hitting nails) or even earning some money shifting gold.

There will be decisions to be made along the way, such as how to cross rivers, whether to pick up hitchhikers for a fee, or which route to take when a fork is encountered. You’ll have to keep an eye on how fast your wagon is travelling (as it incurs wear and tear) and also the health of your fellow wagon mates. Resting restores health but also means that you spend more days on the road. It’s possible to even have your wagon mates fall sick (and even die…a particular favourite is death from dysentery) and I had a kid taken by a big, bald eagle and never since her since.

The Oregon Trail is pretty fun, I like the graphics and the decision making involved and over time, I think I show more concern over my wagon mates as compared to when I just started. The game is also chokeful of historical facts on the early American pioneers in which the game is based on, making it really appealing to history buffs like me. Last but not least, the 2D graphics style is rich and a sight to behold.

The Oregon Trail is currently available for just 99 cents, offering a lot of bang for buck. Check it out over here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/the-oregon-trail/id307519882?mt=8#. Highly Recommended.

I didn’t realise this at first, but Pong, or at least Pong ’72 on the iPhone, it’s all about cutting corners. If you hit the ball with the side of the paddle, or even with one of the corners, the ball actually goes way faster than when you bounce it off the top of the paddle. I apologize if you know of this, but hey, this is pretty fun. Up for a challenge, I set the difficulty to be hard and had to face down a really snappy computer opponent with a paddle 1/3 of the original size found in the easiest difficulty level.

Needless to say, I got creamed (look at the screenshot) 10 to 1. But if you tire of facing computer opponents, this remake of Pong for the iPhone has a 2 player mode whereby each player takes up the opposing sides of the iPhone to control their paddles. I’m sure that’s pretty fun as well, but I’ve got a grudge match with the computer. Probably changing the screen colour in the options screen would help, we’ll see.

In any case, there’s hardly anything to fault Pong ’72 with. It does its job (which is to be a Pong remake on the iPhone) with aplomb and I’m happy to recommend this game. In conjunction with OpenFeint Free Game of the Day promo  (yup, this ain’t your Daddy’s Pong, this has OpenFeint for online leaderboards and achievements, stuff like that), Pong ’72 is now available free of charge on the App Store for a limited time. Check it out over here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pong-72/id378423771?mt=8

Here’s an excellent piece of good news for those who enjoy Dr Seuss‘ literal works on the iPhone and iPad. Inconjunction with the 50th anniversary of Green Eggs and Ham, the #4 best-selling children’s book of all time, Oceanhouse Media is slashing the prices of most Dr Seuss apps at 50% off! Nothing is priced over USD 1.99. Now you get to enjoy The Cat in the Hat, Yertle the Turtle, The Lorax and many more at discounted prices.

Check out the apps on offer over here: http://ax.search.itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZSearch.woa/wa/search?entity=software&media=all&page=1&restrict=true&startIndex=0&term=oceanhouse+media+dr+seuss

I spent the entire morning dropping shit on people. No, I’m not talking about my day job (furthermore it’s a Sunday), I’ve been playing I-play’s latest game for the iPhone, Pigeon Squadron. The game puts the player in control of a pigeon, flying around dropping poop on unsuspecting city dwellers. I was laughing  like a maniac when I first started playing the game and since my girlfriend was nearby, I was like “look at this crazy game, I just pooped on a duck!”.

Flight controls are done by tilting the iPhone; tilting it left and right will make the pigeon bank left or right. Tilting the iPhone forward will make it go faster.Subscribing to the newsletter via an in-game menu unlocks a barrel-roll move, done by swiping the finger left or right on the screen, which is good for avoiding objects thrown by those unfortunate city folk with poop on their heads. Yup, you’ll get stuff like golf balls, tennis balls, hats, shoes, etc thrown at you for your trouble.

To drop poop on people (cars, cats, dogs, ducks, etc for that matter), you’ll just need to fly above them and it’s bombs away.  Just as long as the target is squarely beneath you, it’s bombs away. Each level has objectives to be fulfilled, like bombing  a certain number of buses, or hitting specific people and your performance is measured by medals. The bare minimum would be to obtain a bronze medal in order to move on to the next level. Otherwise you’ll be repeating the same shit (haha…pun totally intended) again.

And if there’s one thing that is done really well on the iPhone is 2D graphics. Why bother about 3D graphics, just take a look at Pigeon Squadron, it’s one really good looker, unless if you have pigeon poop in your eye. Furthermore the bright cheery graphics are well animated. But don’t forget the objectives in hand when you are admiring the sights and sounds of a particular level. There’s poop to be dropped!

I highly recommend Pigeon Squadron for the iPhone, just try not to exclaim loudly stuff like “haha..poor kitty..HERE’S POOP IN YOUR EYE”. It’s now available at USD 0.99 on the Apple App Store. You can check it out over here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pigeon-squadron/id376361689?mt=8

What a nice day for a run. Out of curiousity I bought the Nike+ GPS app for the iPhone for USD 1.99  and decided to put it through its paces. I ran laps around a lake until I was dizzy, and then ran nearly 2 kilometers on open road under the bright morning sun. Have done that (and fiddled with the app to a certain degree), I came to realise that hey, I’ve been using these features all these while in an app called….Adidas miCoach. Dum da dum….cue silence.

Anyways, these two apps are remarkably similar but since there can only be one (if you side certain brands, or are on a budget), lets do a comparison. Here are the features that, well, are pretty much similar between the two apps:

• Track runs/workouts (pace, distance, route using GPS, calories burned)
• Playlists
• Workout histories (showing maps and workout details)

That’s pretty much complete for just about anyone who wants to track his/her workout. The Adidas miCoach app is work0ut-based and has the ability to sync your workout calendar (which is front and center) set in the miCoach website. If you don’t have any workouts scheduled, you can always opt for a Free Workout on the app. One benefit from scheduled workouts on the miCoach, you can actually get coaching feedback on your performance and on-the-run voice coaching. You get encouraging messages at the end of a workout on the Nike+ GPS app, but that’s about it.

Looking more in depth into tracking, the miCoach app will track workout history and overall achievements. The workout history is another interesting point, you get to view details such as pace, elevation and splits timing over time in the form of charts. These are missing from the Nike+ GPS app, which only records the highest/slowest pace in a particular workout. With the miCoach app, I get plenty of information (in addition to the summarized run details) at my fingertips without having to go to the website all the time.

One thing that the Nike app does different (although it sounds trivial) is the inclusion of a “Power Song”. Basically, hitting the “Power Song” button during your workout will trigger a pre-selected song to play to give you an extra boost. Trivialness aside, in terms of usability, the miCoach app locks the screen during your workout, and you’ll need to slide a bar before getting access to the pause and finish buttons. This is a cool thing, as it prevents the accidental triggering of either of the two buttons. The Nike+ GPS has a huge pause button on screen with no screen lock.

Presentation wise, the miCoach app makes it easier for runners to view the tracking information on the run (with large, black fonts and light coloured background), and while the Nike+ GPS app is all decked out in red (and black ,if I’m not mistaken), it doesn’t make it easy for runners to see their run details. Both apps come with voice notification that can be preset under their respective app settings among other things (weight, height, measurement system, etc).

The miCoach app has an additional security layer when it comes to accessing the app, you’ll need to key in a 4-digit pin. This prevents other people from accessing the app.

On the web front, the Nike+ website, is more goal-based. For example, there’s a preset goal for running in a half marathon. Selecting that will produce a calendar with the workouts highlighted on certain days. This schedule however does not get downloaded to the iPhone, unlike the miCoach site. The Nike site has an over emphasis on Flash and while it certainly looks flashy (no pun intended), it’s more like to cover up some inadequacies. I’ve set up my Half Marathon plan on the Adidas site and my workout calendar is promptly updated. All I have to do now is to sync up my miCoach app with the site and I’m ready to go.

One advantage that the Nike+ website has is that it can automatically share your workout activities on Twitter and Facebook, whereas for Adidas, it’s limited to Facebook. But it is not a problem to take the link to a publicly shared workout and put it up on Twitter manually.

Having gone through both apps and their websites, I must say that the Adidas miCoach app does what the Nike+ GPS app does and better, and it does so for free. You’ll need to cough out USD 1.99 for the Nike app and I don’t see why one would spend money on it other than one being an adamant Nike supporter. To me a running app without an emphasis on workout plans doesn’t bring any value for the amount of money it is asking for since its closest competitor does it for free and with a professional slant.

This turned out to be a pretty long post, but hey, give the Adidas miCoach app a try and it’s free: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/micoach/id383809424?mt=8

For the sake of fairness, check out the Nike+ GPS app as well: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/nike-gps/id387771637?mt=8

Don’t judge a book by it’s cover, or perhaps don’t judge a game by its choice of title. I thought that Whack’N Roll was just a typical whack-a-mole game on the iPhone, but after spending some time with the game, I came to realise that the game had some depth.Basically it was more than meets the eye. Cue Transformers theme song…

The Adventure mode played host to an impressive amount of levels, and rather than just offer straight-up whack-a-mole style gameplay, different levels actually feature one of SIX different gameplay modes. There’s the normal whack-a-mole, in this case, whack-a-bird before it attacks you. Some levels will require you to whacking in sequence or slide birds together or even engage in a rhythm game that reminded me of Ouendan on the Nintendo DS.

I still prefer the straightforward whacking gameplay as it is really frantic and fast paced. The number of levels in Whack’N Roll ensures that you get enough play time in this mode and if that’s not enough, there are other modes other than that of the Adventure mode to try out. Not only that, you get to set the difficulty level as well. The amazing number of gameplay options is supported by pretty graphics and decent sound effects. Take a look at the screenshots to get an idea how the game looks like.

The birds that you’ll be whacking remind me of the Chocobos from the Final Fantasy series..and I don’t make it a secret that I do not like Chocobos. I think this is an extra bonus when it comes to performing in this game. OpenFeint support provides both achievements and online leaderboards for this game.

For sheer gameplay options alone, I have to say that Whack’N Roll is a must have. It’s currently going for USD 0.99 on the App Store, check it out over here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/whackn-roll-an-awesome-funny/id381037050?mt=8