Apple Adds App Approval Status Tracker

Apple now allows app developers the peace of mind of at least knowing what stage of the approval process their app is in. A new feature added by Apple gives the status of apps as they go through the approval process.

You and I might not think much of it but this translates to a bit more clarity for the developers. They have always complained about how tough it is to communicate to the iPhone app reviewers. So instead of leaving them in the dark, this tracking feature tells them how tantalizingly close they are to approval. Hopefully, Apple is feeling the pressure to streamline and organize the process now that the app count has reached 100,000. As more developers race to get a piece of the action, Apple will be forced to make the process easier on them to and that means having to handle less complaints and queries and clarifications. [read]

Punch Him In The Face With Your iPhone

We all have that annoying friend who we would love to haul over and roundly beat up. But you obviously cannot do that in real life without falling out with your friend and/or getting thoroughly beaten up yourself in the process. The answer is in a new stress/anger/frustration management iPhone app called FaceFighter.

The app lets you kick, punch and block your opponent, all the while seeing bruises and bandages appear on his face. You can also knock out his teeth. To get started, you have to take a picture or choose one from your camera roll. Then you follow the app’s instructions to line up the face with the cut out, zoom in, zoom out and all that. Then you are ready to knock the living day lights out of that guy, virtually of course.

This is not much of a game although it is not as simplistic as that app that lets you shoot things that your camera is seeing. Still, if you do not want to spend $0.99 for the paid version, you can download Face Fighter Lite, which is free. [read]

Universal Studios Can Has iPhone App Too

Universal Studios Home Entertainment is the latest big name to have released its own iPhone app. This is not a stand-alone app that lets you borrow their titles online but it will enhance your Blu-ray movie viewing experience.

The latest group of Blu-ray releases from the company – American Pie Presents, 9, Inglorious Basterds, etc. are going to come with two BLU apps. These BLU apps can be used by iPhone and iPod touch users in conjunction with certain Blu-ray players.

The pocket BLU app allows you to remotely interact with your Blu-ray player through a sleek iPhone interface. It features advanced remote control features, a pop-up keyboard and more. Social BLU allows you interact with Facebook and Twitter if your Blu-ray player is connected to the Internet.

Premiere League On iPhone Via Sky TV

You can now watch the Premier League and more on your iPhone through the newly launched Sky TV app for the iPhone. For £6 per month, users will be able to access live TV channels that are part of the Sky Sports bundle including Sky News, Sky Sports channels and ESPN channels.

The app currently works only over WiFi and not 3G and that is because O2 forbids its customers from using any such app in its T&C. That’s because the carrier has their own similar services to protect. Existing Sky subscribers will have to pay separately for this service and new customers will have to apply for a Sky customer ID. [read]

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In other news, did you know that the iPhone is closing in on Blackberry’s market share? Read all about it and more (Droid, HTC, Google) in Otaku Gadget’s phone news round-up for this week.

Comixology are the people who made the brilliant free comic reader on the iPhone. Now they have gone ahead and added 71 Marvel Comics titles to the in-app purchase catalogue. The titles include names such as The Astonishing X-Men, Captain America, X-Men Age Of Apocalypse and X-23. The comics are priced at $2 each. One bad news – it is US only.

The title are also available on iVerse and Panelfly. iVerse users get the same deal and Panelfly users actually get them for $0.99 each [read]

Do you like time-lapse videos? You know, the ones where a very long event is shot in video and then compressed into a short footage? Like the growing of a sapling or the setting up of a stage? (that rhymes!) Now you can easily make videos like that with your iPhone, thanks to an app called the Timelapser. Clearly, the developers have spent all their efforts on making the app, not naming it (or making an good UI for it). And for one buck, you have no excuse for trying it out. [read]

Do you meet Spanish-speaking people frequently but can’t speak the language to save your life? Worry not, the Jibbigo iPhone app has you covered. It is a nifty little app that converts your speech (English) to Spanish right as you speak. The converted text is then turned to speech and played over the microphone. It also works in reverse, saving you from uni-directional conversation. And the best part is that the entire thing is done offline, so you don’t have to worry about it not working in places where you can’t get a signal to go online. At $25, it is much cheaper than hiring your own translator to roam around with you wherever you go. Besides, some conversations should always stay private ;) . [read]

Sometimes, we all feel like blowing off a bit of steam, using heavy artillery and generally blowing things up with a heavy machine gun. Of course, we can’t always do what we want. So what do we do when we feel like a tightly packed box of gun powder just waiting for a spark? We get a new iPhone App called Firepower and blow the head off the annoying co-worker end every other annoying thing. I mean virtually of course. You can’t expect to get the real thing for $1, that too on your iPhone. You can also point it at you PC when the thing goes BSoD on you! [read]

This is about Settlers of Catan. Do I see you jumping up and down going yes yes  yes yes yes? Well then, you would be happy to know that this popular board game is now available as an iPhone app. The the premise of the game is that you and (up to) three other players are on a tropical island and you have to beat the others by gathering 10 victory points. You get points for capturing settlements, building roads, etc.

You can play against other humans or against the AI. There is no multiplayer mode on this and so you have to physically pass the phone around in order to play the game with your friends. For $5, this is a nice game to help you spend those snowed-in days with your friends and family. [read]

Want to watch live NBA games on the go? Now you can do that for $40/year on your iPhone and other mobile devices. The NBA is offering full live games on mobile devices, up from only the highlights that it used to do. For the fee, you get to watch up to 40 live games per week (wow) and also access to up to two days of archived game. You can even pause and rewind up to 30 seconds during a live feed. Currently available on AT&T and T-mobile USA. Way to get more dedicated viewers NBA! [read]

-

Before I sign off, I have to show you people this. It is the next big update on the iPhone. It is so good, it is actually delicious. In fact, I am wishing I could get one custom-made for myself right now!

Also, how could I not post this video in this iPhone post! It pokes fun at the iDon’t Verizon Motorola Droid ad campaign.

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If you want to know what Apple’s been up to last week, you can read my weekly Apple round up and the Monday news round up at Otaku Gadgets.

Verizon Said To Be Testing iPhone 4G

A relatively unknown source has been spotted saying something quite intriguing. Verizon has apparently been testing out a new CDMA version of the iPhone on its 4G LTE network.

Other than the part about an iPhone that will have data speeds that are about ten times that of current ones available to it, the Verizon part makes it even more interesting. That is because Verizon has kicked off a campaign today that basically mocks the iPhone and tries to push the new Motorola Droid as the phone that does what iPhone Doesn’t. So far, it is one of the silliest ad campaigns I have ever seen. Being an Apple user, I can only manage to laugh at it. I don’t know much about the Droid personally, so I will refrain from commenting on that. [read]

Rock Band Arrives For iPhone

What else do you want to know? Just grab the app and start tapping like crazy on your iPhone 3GS while rocking out to favorite classic rock numbers. The 20 songs that come with the game include the likes of Blink-182, Jethro Tull, Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Smashing Pumpkins, Steve Millers band, Beastie Boys and more. You can download more from the in-game store.

As you see from the bands named above, all sorts of the rock sound have been included in the game. From contemporary punk to classic glam, it is all there for you to enjoy. The strategy is of course to draw out all the rock fans out there, no matter what their age or preference. If any of you are already tapping, I mean rocking out with this, drop us a comment and let us know how you like it. [read]

Layar 2.0 Now Available On iPhone 3GS

The hot and much loved augmented reality app, Layar [2.0], has finally been ported to the iPhone 3GS from Android. Layar is a brilliant augmented reality app that adds an extra layer of information on what you are looking at.

For example, if you are standing facing the Eiffel Tower, on screen you will see the Eiffel Tower with a short description of the structure and links to more data on it. It uses the built in GPS and magnetometer to determine your location and direction.

It is even more useful when you are in an unknown location and want to get information on local resources like restaurant reviews, maps and directions. Actually, paraphrasing Morpheus, you have to see for yourself what the Layar augmented reality browser is all about. [read]

Apple Finally Allows In-App Purchases For Free iPhone Apps

In a very intelligent move, Apple has finally allowed free apps to have in-app purchases within them. This means quite a few good things for both app developers and Apple.

For app developers, this is a much-needed and asked for way to monetize their apps. This also means that excellent free apps with paid content inside will be further developed and won’t be abandoned due to lack of revenue. For Apple, this is yet another way to generate more revenues from mammoth collection of Apps for the iPhone. I love it when things change for the better for everybody, don’t you? :)

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Before we get into this you should know the hardware requirements of this game. For it you will need: a minimum equivalent 3DFX Voodoo2 8MB. No ATI Rage cards. You will also need a minimum of a PII 233MHz processor, with at least 96MB of RAM. If you meet those requirements, prepare to install and blow away your opponents.

Installation

Installation of OpenArena is actually quite simple. You will be shocked to know the steps are as follows:

1. Open up your Add/Remove Software tool.
2. Search for “openarena” (no quotes).
3. Select OpenArena for installation.
4. Click Apply.
5. Sit back and watch the progress bar.

I will warn you, the files to be downloaded are quite large, so the sitting back portion of the installation will take quite some time.

Once installed, you will find OpenArena in your Games sub-menu of the Applications menu in GNOME.

Tricks for running the game

Figure 1

It’s not really necessary to get into the mechanics and play of the game. Most people know how to play a first person shooter. There are some things you will want to know when playing this game in Linux.

If you’re like me, you don’t generally play games in full-screen mode. By default OpenArena runs in full screen. To get OpenArena in windowed mode (see Figure 1) you need to hit the the <Alt>Enter key combination once the game has loaded. After you have switched to windowed mode, you will have to manually switch back to full screen, otherwise the game will always run in windowed mode.

Figure 2

When you are running in windowed mode you will notice you can’t get your cursor out of the game window. The only way to manage this is to get the OpenArena console window to drop down. To get this hit the Shift<Esc> combination which will lower the console onto your screen (see Figure 2).

Connect to server

If you want to play some multi-player action all you have to do is, from the main window, click the Multiplayer option and then click the Specify button. From this new window you will enter the address of the server you want to join. For a list of servers take a look at the server listing on the OpenArena site.

Final thoughts

It’s not WoW but at least you can get your first person shooter thrills without having to run a game through Wine or a virtual machine. OpenArena is a fun game that, for many, will be nothing more than nostalgia. No matter the reason, you should give this game a go.

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The new PS3 Slim is said to run more quietly than existing PS3 systems, will support Sony BRAVIA TVs by offering BRAVIA Sync which makes it possible to control the PS3 slim with the BRAVIA TV remote. It will also ship with the latest 3.0 firmware.

All other specs and features are identical to previous Playstation 3 models that have been sold by Sony. The old PS3 systems with 80 Gigabyte hard drive will be sold for the same price effective immediately.

The main question here is if the PS3 Slim will be able to curb Playstation 3 sales. A $100 (€100) price reduction is certainly a good start and it is very likely that first game and PS3 Slim bundles will appear around Christmas to further increase sales.

Now that the price of the Playstation 3 has reached the level of the other gaming systems: Will you buy one? Do you already have one and want to share your opinion? Let us know in the comments.

Update:

Engadget published a first noise comparison test

While our tests were far from thorough, the initial results from our quick-and-dirty decibel ratings show some promise. With a baseline of 49 decibels, the Slim averaged 53 to 56 db when in use / playing a game / installing data (in this case, Metal Gear Solid 4), compared to the 55 to 58 db of the original. Blu-ray movie playback is where it becomes noticeable, as the slim peaked for us at 60 db when the original was doing 70 db running the same disc.

Update 2:

Rumors of a Sony PS3 Slim 250 Gigabyte model appeared:

This means that some time in the future (for probably a premium, maybe $349 or so), a new PS3 Slim may come out featuring a 250GB HDD. There is not much of a difference, but expect it to be bundled with a game or so, right in time for Christmas!

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In recent months Sony has been experiencing declining sales in their PS3 systems and this brings into question what exactly is Sony doing that is killing their system? Now let me make something clear, I’m not saying that the PS3 is not selling, but compared to the Xbox 360 and even its older brother the PS2 it isn’t doing so well.

It is a known fact that a game franchise can make or break a gaming console; just ask Microsoft and their original Xbox and the Halo franchise. While the first generation Xbox had superior graphics to the PS2, one of the main reasons why it succeeded was both Halo and Halo 2. One of the PS2’s major successes was the GTA (Grand Theft Auto) franchise. Sadly (for Sony that is), GTA 4 ported to the Xbox 360 last year and thanks to Xbox Live carried a more powerful punch then the PS3 version. I could also use Final Fantasy as another example. For years Square Enix has made its bread and butter from the PlayStation and Nintendo systems (as well as PC). It sent shockwaves through the game world when they announced that the next installment of the game, Final Fantasy XIII, would not only be available on the PS3 but, for the first time in history, ported to the Xbox 360.

Even more shocking was the news by Hideo Kojima that the next installment of Metal Gear Solid would also be ported to the Xbox 360. By now you’re probably catching my drift; Sony is bleeding franchises. Who would have thought that the day would come when Snake (well he’s retired now but his franchise lives on), as well as the gang from Final Fantasy would live on Xbox. I’m not saying Sony doesn’t have some good franchises left in its hands, but if this continues they soon will be sitting on Resistance, Kill Zone and Socom as their main exclusives.

Another strike against Sony is online gaming. Microsoft and Sony have taken two very different approaches to online gaming. Sony has long stated that they believe a free option is the best way to satisfy their customers. Microsoft, from day one, has gone with the paid option. Although there is some debate as to the reason why PlayStation Network lags behind Xbox Live, one thing has been undisputed; Microsoft has proven that people will pay once the quality is there. One of the major reasons why developers flock Xbox Live is they are able to extract a few extra dollars from gamers after they have spent a few Jefferson’s on the disc. There is no real incentive for game developers to develop for PSN, and that is one of the major reasons why Xbox Live manages to offer superior content and user experience.

I’m sure many of you were expecting me to mention price as an issue why the PS3 is not living up to Sony’s expectations, but I will go as far to say that its not mainly price but marketing and timing. When the PS3 first came out, the average price of a Blu-ray player was 10 Franklins. The PS3 retailed between $500 and $600. Many consumers could have been swayed to buy the system based on the fact that it would be cheaper to buy a PS3 then to buy an Xbox 360 and a Blu-ray player. Unfortunately that has all changed, as it is now cheaper now to buy and Xbox 360 and a separate Blu-ray player then to buy a PS3.

The other issue involves maturity. When the Xbox 360 was released in 2005, it had a full year to gain its footing in the market. Microsoft has hinted more then once that it could have kept its second generation system in the works for a 2006 release and match the power of the PS3, but figured that it would be a better idea to release it early. They were right. By the time the PS3 came to the market, a year later, the 360 had all but took the wind out of its sales and due to the craze of the Wii things didn’t turn out as well as Sony planned.

Plainly speaking, Sony expected its loyal subjects to buy a $500 system because it was more powerful. That might be true if you’re a Mac, but in a world where a video game can make or break a console, that isn’t always true.

I’m not saying the PS3 has failed. I’m just saying it doesn’t seem that 2009 will be the year of the PS3 as we’re already half way through and Sony is reporting declining sales of said system. We’ll just have to wait and see if Sony’s new motion sensing controllers will do anything to help the troubled platform. In the meantime you’ll find me in the corner playing GTA 4 and cleaning out a space beside my HD screen for Project Natal.

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Lately I had been jonesin’ to play that game so I was about to plop down some cash for an old SNES and the Zombies Ate My Neighbors cartridge when I came across Zsnes. Zsnes is an emulator for the Super Nintendo game system that runs on Linux, Windows, FreeBSD, and DOS. If you long for the old SNES games, this emulator will do the trick.

Getting and installing

Installing Zsnes is simple because it will most likely be found in your distributions’ repositories. Because of that you can either search for “zsnes” (no quotes) in your Add/Remove Software utility, mark the results for installation, and click Apply to install. Or you can install the nearly-old-fashion way and issue a command like:

sudo apt-get install zsnes

Once installed you will find the entry for the emulator in the Games sub menu of your Applications or Main menu. If not you can always run Zsnes from the command line by issuing:

zsnes

Running Zsnes

Figure 1

When you start up Zsnes you will see the main window (see Figure 1). From this window you can configure Zsnes, load a ROM file, add Cheat Codes, and set up key combinations and configure sound.

The GUI may look a bit old school but remember the games you are playing are 8 and 16 bit games, so what should you expect?

Loading a ROM

One of the first things you are going to want to know is where to get ROM files. There are plenty of sites that have ROM files for SNES games. I found Zombies Ate My Neighbors on ROMNation.

When you download a ROM file it will be in .zip format. You will need to unzip that file once it is downloaded. The contents of the zip package will vary, depending upon who created the file. But the import piece of the puzzle is the file with the smc extension. This is the ROM you need to load.I have also found that some of the ROMs can be loaded directly from the zip file. This, again, will depend upon how the creator packaged the file.

To load your ROM click on the GAME menu and select ROM which will open up a Zsnes-native file manager. Once you have loaded your ROM an old familar “face” will appear – that face is the game you remembered from your undergraduate years (I am showing my age here).

Playtime

Figure 2

Figure 2 shows the start screen for “Zombies”. The game plays within a window by default. If you want to play in full screen hit the Alt-A combination.  Naturally how well the game plays will depend upon your machine and which game you downloaded. On my machine Zombies Ate My Neighbors played exactly as it did on the original SNES. The controls took a few moments to figure out (arrow keys to move, A button to shoot). Once I figured that out it was time to see if I could get any further than I did back then (level 52 out of 99).

Final thoughts

I can’t tell you how much fun I am having reliving my youth as I destroy those “muhah’ing” zombies. If you miss the days of SNES, I suggest you grab a copy of Zsnes and find your favorite ROM asap!

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Now this game isn’t your standard, free, GPL fare. This game allows you to download a demo but to get the full blown fun you need to purchase the full version. The good news is that the full version will only set you back $19.95 for the download version. You can also purchase the CD version for $39.95. Believe me, this game is worth the price of the download version. Let’s take a look and see why.

Features

• Tile-built, turn based game where nearly every move is determined by roll (automatically done for you).
• Plenty of items and creatures to make the world interesting. Many items are randomly generated making replay value high.
• Unlimited character development.
• Non-linear story.
• Epic adventure for single player.

The feel of this game will take you back to the good old days of Ultima or Might and Magic. If you hearken for the days where game play and story were more important than 3D graphics, this is your game.

Getting and installing

Figure 1

Playing Eschalon in Linux is simple. Download the demo file (or the full version if you have purchased) which will be a compressed tar file.  If you are using the demo you will have to execute the following commnads (we’ll assume you are executing the command from within the directory the demo was downloaded to):

• tar xvzf eschalon_book_1_demo.tar.gz
• cd eschalon_book_1_demo
• ./eschalon_book_1_demo

The final command will open up the Launch Menu where you can select your Graphic Renderer, Color Depth, and Screen Preferences (see Figure 1).

I prefer to run the game in Windowed mode but you might prefer a full screen option. Once you have chosen your options click the Start button to begin your game.

Gameplay

Before you actually begin playing Eschalon you will have to create your character. In one version of the demo I downloaded there was a random character generator button. In another version of the demo there was not. It’s not a big deal because character creation is part of the fun.

Once you have created your character you will be, like most good RPGs, tossed into your world waking up to see your world is not how you last left it.

Figure 2

The gameplay of Eschalon will take zero time to get used to for anyone who has spent any time at the helm of an RPG. As you can see, in Figure 2, the interface is clean and easy to use. You have the usual arsenal of spells, weapons, items, and more at your fingertips.

At the bottom of the screen is your story window. There is no voice acting to cause the game to seem hokey, so you will have to read to see where the story is going. The story window automatically updates for you so you will want to keep watch out for what is going on.

So far Basilisk Games has III books planned for the Eschalon series. I would encourage any Linux user longing for more games to purchase all three books to make sure Basilisk Games continues to develop for the Linux platform.

Final thoughts

I have yet to complete the demo of this game. I am thoroughly enjoying my experience with the game and plan on purchasing the full version once I have completed the demo. And based on my experience with Book I, I will be purchasing Books II and III for Linux as soon as they hit the interwebs! Keep up the good work Basilisk Games!

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In a rare occasion, Ballmer apologized to the masses of gamers who were let down after the excitement of the news of an upcoming next generation console. After reports of gamers talking about the “new console” arose, Aaron Greenburg of Microsoft stated, “We’re not going to be launching a new console any time soon.” This devastated many excited gamers who are looking forward to any hints of next generation consoles to come in the distant future.

“I confused the issue with my poorly chosen words,” Ballmer told IGN. “There is no news in my comments.” Microsoft hasn’t officially confirmed a date for the release of the add-on peripheral for the Xbox 360, but Ballmer’s comments have led many to believe the “controller-free gaming and entertainment experience” will arrive sometime in 2010. Although, the confusion over the “new console” disappointed gamers, many are still excited about the upcoming feature for Xbox 360 which is likely to release in late 2010.

Project Natal, which was announced on June 1, 2009 featured many demos including a game called “Ricochet” where the player can use his or her body to bounce balls at blocks. Natal also allow players to log in to their console faced on facial recognition and try on clothes in 3D. Other demos shown at E3 were “Paint Party” where players can “throw” paint on walls using body motion and “Burnout Natal” where players can race in cars using their body motion to steel the wheel of the car instead of a controller that current gaming technology requires. Because of the new technology behind the project, the announcement has caused the Xbox 360 to gain more ground in the market.

The name Natal comes from Microsoft’s tradition of code naming products from cities. The name Natal, a city in Brazil, was chosen by Microsoft’s director, Alex Kipman, as a tribute to his home country. The word natal also means “relating to birth” where Microsoft shares its view that the addon is the “birth of the next-generation of home entertainment.”

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One of those games  really stole my .25 and my attention more than any other. That game? Tempest. If you’ve never played the original Tempest you don’t know what you’re missing. It’s a wireframe pseudo 3D game that would have today’s game players yawning with boredom. So you can’t imagine my joy when I found an updated variation on the Tempest game installed on my Elive distribution. That game? Torus Trooper. This game is a fast-paced, scrolling 3D shooter that takes place in, you guessed it, a Torus.

A Torus is a surface of revolution generated by revolving a circle in three dimensional space. Otherwise known as a 3D ring or, better yet, a donut. Now in this game you are inside this donut shooting at oncoming ships and dodging oncoming barriers. It is fast, it is timed, and it is addictive.

Getting Torus Trooper

If you open up Synaptic or gpk-application (or which ever GUI tool you use for installation software) do a search for “torus” (no quotes). You might wind up with three different results:

• ttrooper
• torus-trooper
• torus-trooper-data

Install the latter two and you will be ready for some action packed fun. If you don’t find Torus Trooper in your repositories, never fear. Download the tt tar file from the Torus Trooper Sourceforge download page. Once you have this file downloaded unpack it with the command:

tar xvzf tt-XXX.tar.gz

Where XXX is the release number. Change into the resulting tt-XXX (Again where XXX is the release number) directory. To run the game issue the command:

./ttrooper

which will start up Torus Trooper. You can copy this file (ttrooper) into /usr/local/bin so the game can be run from any directory, the run dialog, or even a menu entry you create.

To start the game installed from your Add/Remove Software utility just go to your Games directory and click on the Torus Trooper entry.

Gameplay

Playing Torus Trooper is fairly straight forward. You use the left-right arrow keys to move side to side while using the “z” key to shoot.

Figure 1

When the game starts up you will be on the welcome screen (see Figure 1) where you will choose your difficulty and begin. You choose from Normal, Hard, or Extreme difficulty. Once you have chosen your difficulty click the “z” key to begin.

The game is simple – just blow away everything and don’t get hit by various objects. Oh, and remember this is a timed game. You can control your speed by pressing the up arrow (to go faster) or the down arrow (to go slower).

Figure 2

Figure 1 shows standard gameplay for Torus Tooper. If you look closely you can see where your torus is leading you. You can also see the small red-ish circle coming to the left of the shooter – that is a trap the enemy drops which you have to avoid. At times the screen can get full of them. You can’t just shoot them, you have to get out of their way. This makes game play even more of a challenge.

Final thoughts

When you first start playing Torus Trooper make sure you play on Normal mode. Extreme mode is, shall I say, rather extreme. The last time I attempted Extreme mode I think I lasted less than 10 seconds.

Torus Trooper is a lot of fun. Give it a go and you’ll find yourself quickly becoming addicted to this simple game.

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EA use a product called Cider to power many of their Mac games. Cider basically adds a wrapper around the original PC game, and translates it on-the-fly to Mac. The recent release of ‘The Sims 3′, for example, works on OS X and Windows due to Cider.

Cider is likely to become more wide-spread. It saves game developers from having to develop ports, allows Mac and PC games to be released at the same time and ultimately little extra work must be put in to reach a larger market.

But Cider also allows certain Windows cracks to be implemented on Macs.

On OS X, Applications are actually just packages. If you have The Sims 3, for example, and go to the App and right click on ‘Show Package Contents’, and then choose ‘transgaming’, you will see a Windows folder structure. In there, all the files you’d expect to see are there. Basically, there’s a ‘The Sims 3.app>Contents>Resources>transgaming>c_drive>program files>Electronic Arts>The Sims 3′ folder.

The benefit of there being a hidden Windows folder structure in these apps are simple. If there’s a No-CD crack where you just have to replace a .exe, you find that .exe inside the Package and replace it. And then it works just like it does under Windows.

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So now and then I am going to add to ghacks an article about a fun Linux game that you can install and enjoy quickly. I will try to cover all types of genres of games. And remember – these games won’t stand up to the graphics of many of the games you will find on retail shelves as these games will be open source games that are created by users just like you.

20,000 Light-Years Into Space

This first game I discovered while scrolling through Synaptic on my Debian-based system. 20,000 is a steam-punk themed strategy game where you have to manage a steam system to power a city. During this game you will build steam plants that power your city via steam pipes. As the game progresses you will have to over come natural disasters and aliens that do everything they can to take down your pipes and plants.

The game is played in 2d from the top down and offers very simplistic game play in either full screen or windowed mode.

Getting and installing

If you use Ubuntu you are in luck: Just open up Synaptic, do a search for “lightyears”, select the results, and click apply. You can also issue the command sudo apt-get install lightyears to install. If you use Fedora you can follow these directions:

• Install python and pygame with the command yum install python pygame (as the root user)
• Download Lightyear tar ball
• Untar the package with targ xvzf lightyear-XXX.tar.gz Where XXX is the release number.
• Change into the newly created lightyears-XXX directory
• Issue the command ./lightyears to start the game.

If you install on Ubuntu you will find the game in your Games directory or you can issue the command lightyears from the command line.

Basic play

Figure 1

The main window is where all of the game play takes place. As you can see (in Figure 1) you are on the surface of another planet and your task is to supply your city with steam. Around the surface of the planet are steam pockets that you have to build nodes on in order to pump steam into the city. So you build nodes and then pipes to get the steam to the city.

If only it were that easy. The game depends heavily on the efficiency of the nodes’ and pipes’ ability to get enough steam to the city. So you have to upgrade nodes and pipes, place nodes strategically so longer pipe runs, when destroyed by aliens or earthquakes, will not completely deplete your city steam pressure.

Games tend to be fairly short lived. My max game so far has been around twenty minutes. This is mostly due to the nature of the game – having to make sure you are as effient as you can be in creating enough steam to get to the city.

Final thoughts

Although Lightyears seems very simplistic it will challenge you and keep you interesed in the way many of the tower wars games have done.

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Microsoft demoed the technique at the E3 which means that the technique is already existing and working. Information on the techniques itself are scarce. From what could be gathered a hardware device is needed that will send the body’s motion and sounds to the Xbox gaming system. The system is able to follow the moves of every person in the room. It can easily identify and distinguish people. Natal cannot only identify people but also objects in the room.

This leads to some interesting new applications. Think of a quiz where the moderator addresses the gamers by name and repeats their answers.

Take a look at the videos below to get a good first impression on what Project Natal is about:

The official Youtube channel offers tons of videos showcasing Project Natal.

There are two factors that can influence the success of the new hardware device. First the price of the device. If it is expensive than it might become a niche product instead of the new default way of gaming. The second is game support by game developers. Game developers need to produce games for Natal or make their games compatible with the product.

What are your thoughts on Project Natal?

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It is likely that additional games are shown in the coming days. This could mean that we are going to create a follow up article with even more trailers and game previews. If you think that we missed a game or think that we have added a game that should not be in this list let us know in the comments.

New Super Mario Bros (Nintendo Wii)

Has the looks and feels of the real classic Super Mario games. 2D environment and Co-Op play!

Modern Warfare 2 (PC, Xbox 360, PS3)

A first person shooter with incredible graphics.

Star Wars The Old Republic (PC)

A Star Wars MMORPG by Bioware, the makers of Kotor 1 and 2.

The Secret of Monkey Island Special Edition (PC, Xbox Live Arcade)

A remake of the classic Lucas Arts adventure

Alan Wake (PC, Xbox 360)

From the makers of Max Payne 1 and 2, following these footsteps.

Dragon Age: Origins (PC, PS3, Xbox 360)

Another Bioware RPG, this with a fantasy scenario and aiming for a mature audience.

Brutal Legend (Xbox 360, PS3)

By Monkey Island and Day of the Tentacle genius Tim Schafer. Funny game with Jack Black and legends of heavy metal.

No More Heroes 2 (Wii)

Probably the most stylish game for the Nintendo Wii.

Mafia II (PC, Xbox 360, PS3)

Mafia was one of the most popular PC games of its time and the second part is destined to surpass that.

Tags: e3, game trailer, Games, pc, pc games, ps3, ps3 games, xbox 360 games, xbox-360

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]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2009/06/03/best-games-of-e3/feed/ 4 http://www.ghacks.net/2009/04/28/cartoon-shootout-with-battlefield-heroes/ http://www.ghacks.net/2009/04/28/cartoon-shootout-with-battlefield-heroes/#comments Tue, 28 Apr 2009 06:40:09 +0000 Daniel Pataki http://www.ghacks.net/2009/04/28/cartoon-shootout-with-battlefield-heroes/ A new chapter in the Battlefield series is coming out soon, and there are free beta keys being handed out, so go over there this instant and get one for yourself!

The new game brings a huge change, instead of going for realism, they went for a cartoon look, which looks pretty stunning I think. Many will be deterred by this, I suspect especially hardcore gamers, but if I want realism I’ll jump down to a war zone and take a look myself. I think it’s quite unique and it makes the game more accessible to other ages and our friends of the female persuasion (I might be able to get my girlfriend to play a round with me!).

I haven’t played a lot with this series, I spent an hour or two with a newer one, and from what I can tell, the experience is much the same, but obviously very different due to the environment. I’m actually still waiting for my beta key, but to me the screenshots radiate much more of a fun factor than I’ve seen in games for a while.

Let us know if you’ve tried the game, I’ll add a comment as an update as soon as I give it a go, I can’t wait to shoot every one’s cartoon bum out of the sky, woohoo!

Tags: battlefield, battlefield heroes, ea, gaming

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]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2009/04/28/cartoon-shootout-with-battlefield-heroes/feed/ 10 http://www.ghacks.net/2009/04/21/switch-off-apps-for-gaming-mode-with-gamebooster/ http://www.ghacks.net/2009/04/21/switch-off-apps-for-gaming-mode-with-gamebooster/#comments Tue, 21 Apr 2009 07:03:24 +0000 Daniel Pataki http://www.ghacks.net/2009/04/21/switch-off-apps-for-gaming-mode-with-gamebooster/ Recently I have gotten back into gaming, which means a huge 2 hours a week about, but nevertheless, it is a good way to blow off some steam. If you want to run some very modern games though you might need to squeeze every last bit of memory and CPU power out of your laptop or desktop PC, and Gamebooster is a big help in that.

Essentially it does what you could do manually, it finds the services and apps running that you don’t really need, and switches them all off with the push of a button. It switched off Launchy for me, the Aero theme for Vista, which apparently eats away at the CPU, some tablet services I didn’t even know I had running, etc., so it does quite a good job.

I actually didn’t notice a huge increase in performance, but the difference is there. I tested on GTA 4 which runs away on my system, but not very well. On minimum spec I can play pretty well, with only a few effects added. In very intense areas I noticed some performace issues were less prominent, like less lag and jittery camera, so it definitely did help. The best thing about this app is that it is so easy to use, no need to go through 20 services and shut them down, but even better, they can be restarted with the same one click action. This is also great for trips to prolong battery life!

Tags: gamebooster, gaming, performance

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]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2009/04/21/switch-off-apps-for-gaming-mode-with-gamebooster/feed/ 10 http://www.ghacks.net/2009/03/07/run-an-airline-train-road-and-shipping-firm-with-openttd/ http://www.ghacks.net/2009/03/07/run-an-airline-train-road-and-shipping-firm-with-openttd/#comments Sat, 07 Mar 2009 18:27:48 +0000 Joe http://www.ghacks.net/?p=10980 OpenTTD is an open-source, cross-platform clone of the 1995 classic ‘Transport Tycoon Deluxe’. The game allows the player to run a transport company, where they will be expected to become a transport tycoon and operate a network of trains, lorries, ships and aeroplanes.

You have to move people between cities and move goods like oil and coal between the relevant industry. This probably sounds easy, but it is strangely fun!

The game requires the user to have a copy of Transport Tycoon Deluxe, as it relies on that game’s data for graphic files. If you have lost your copy, a bit of googling should return a few copies.

The game is highly extensible and users can modify vehicles, add and make maps (some available ones are real-life, such as one of the Boston metropolitan area or of the UK) and add new types of vehicles. These modifications and maps are on the OpenTTD Forum.

The default vehicles are planes, helicopters, hovercraft, ships, trucks, buses, railways, electric railways, monorail and MagLev train. The vehicles available, and the models of them, vary as the game progresses – you obviously can’t have a supersonic jet in 1950!

OpenTTD can also be played multiplayer over a LAN or Internet. This is a nice thing to play with a friend whilst bored.

The game isn’t very challenging; you can easily go from a balance of -€200,000 to hundreds of millions in green figures in about 50 in-game years. Yet, it remains fun. Online gaming is much more challenging.

It can be played on all major operating systems and developmental ports exist for portable devices like PocketPCs and Nintendo DSs!

Tags: free-games, Games, gaming, Open Source, openttd, transport tycoon, transport tycoon deluxe, tycoon games

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]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2009/03/07/run-an-airline-train-road-and-shipping-firm-with-openttd/feed/ 3 http://www.ghacks.net/2009/01/30/gears-of-war-pc-hits-expiration-date/ http://www.ghacks.net/2009/01/30/gears-of-war-pc-hits-expiration-date/#comments Fri, 30 Jan 2009 17:12:03 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/?p=10227 If you need another reason why DRM does not make sense whatsoever read on. The PC version of Gears of WAR apparently has a expiration system build in that ran out on January 28, 2009. That’s right. If you legally bought the game you cannot play it anymore because the digital certificate expired. Does it make sense to specify an expiration date? Not really unless you would not sell but make the games available for rent.

Probably as disturbing is the fact that it is possible to overcome the problem by changing the date of the system to one prior to January 28. If this was supposed to be some kind of protection it was more than useless considering that the system data is checked for the data and not some server on the Internet.

It does look more like a blunder of someone forgetting to renew the certificate for the game. That again leaves the question unanswered why the game needs a certificate in first place.

No word yet on the piracy front but bets are 10:1 that the pirated copies of Gears of War are working just fine. If you bought the game you can either change your system date or wait for an official patch which is said to be out soon. Epic Fail so to speak..

Tags: digital rights management, drm, epic, epic fail, game drm, Games, games drm, gears of war, pc drm

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]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2009/01/30/gears-of-war-pc-hits-expiration-date/feed/ 5 http://www.ghacks.net/2009/01/24/wow-addons-updater/ http://www.ghacks.net/2009/01/24/wow-addons-updater/#comments Sat, 24 Jan 2009 09:31:04 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/?p=10101 World of Warcraft is an online roleplaying game by Blizzard. It is without doubt one of the most popular roleplaying games with 12 million subscribers. A great feature of the World of Warcraft game is its extensibility. Users can install so called WOW addons which work very similar to other addon based programs like Firefox or Thunderbird.

WOW Addons extend the functionality of the game by displaying new information, functions or visuals. One problem that World of Warcraft players run into regularly is that addons will stop working after game updates.

The options for non working WOW addons are to disable them for the time being or to search for an update on the Internet. This has become a lot easier with the World of Warcraft Updating System.

The WOW Addons updater will automatically scan the World of Warcraft installation. The software will then query a database and check the version of each installed addon with the version on the server. It will furthermore download and install all newer addons automatically.

The software can also be used to backup and restore WOW addons easily.

Tags: Games, windows software, world of warcraft addons, world-of-warcraft, wow addons, wow addons updater

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