iPhone/iTouch gaming

[Wrestlevania]

Brilliant! Will try that when I get home, cheers.

Bollocks! Forgot to try that when I got home, arse.

I will try it now.

[Wrestlevania]

I have tried it, and suggest others try it too.

I managed to eat enough fish and berries in time, but then I got lots of big stones and a badger in my car. Which made things... sub-optimal, and I crashed into a tree.

I almost made it back to my cave before the snow filled my car. Almost. Damn you, badger!

[Erkki]

Minigore is pretty cool: http://minigore.blogspot.com/

Very simplistic shooter with a distinct visual style.

[edit] I'm not sure what to think of the control scheme, though. It emulates two analog sticks. It kind of works but occasionally my thumbs (not idle) get in the way of seeing things. And I often end up blocking the speaker with my hand.

I guess some other iPhone games use a similar scheme too?

I also noticed this in Edge: if you use the default controls, it's hard to do some of the more advanced moves (wall hanging) so I switched to the emulated arrow keys for those sections. But I found the default controls (where you just swipe/drag in a direction) better most of the time.

Edited August 2, 2009 by Erkki

[UncleSpaggles]

I downloaded Space Invaders Infinity Gene before running out the door for a weekend away and failed to notice I needed to pay for the iTouch update to Version 3 to play it - a long angry train journey followed.

However, sorted it last night and had a blast with it on the commute into London this morning. First thing that's a little disappointing is the firing is continuous (though there is an option to toggle it on and off with a double tap), this puts a lot of pressure on the handling, as that kind of becomes the games focus, which thankfully is incredibly responsive. Having your finger on the screen occasionally obscures rear attacking enemies, but overall its pretty close to prefect and weaving through bullet patterns just feels right.

The presentation celebrates the retro routes of the original and reminded me some what of REZ, with each level evolving as you progress. The music is cool, but there is the option to play your own music too.

The game chucks loads of unlockables at you that can be activated from the menu so you can customise your weapons and lives to suit your style of play.

Here is a clip:

bBpiZwo8JzE

So, yeah, loving this right now, its a pretty sweet little old school fix.

[Doorselfin]

I just played a musically generated stage in Space Invaders: Infinity Gene with Across The Universe.

It was beautiful.

[UncleSpaggles]

Its a surprisingly good game, played through it on Easy to unlock the core evolutionary tree and now working my way through it switching between Normal and Hard modes. Some of the bullet hell is crazy.

[Erkki]

I've impulse purchased a lot of games now. Sway seems pretty sweet, but I haven't played much yet. In it, you swing a ragdoll monkey around. Hard to explain, but there's a lite version available so give it a try!

Also, the zen rope wrapping game is also sweet!

There's this Offworld post if you haven't seen it that mentions both of them as well as others: http://www.offworld.com/15iphonegames/

[NeedForSpeed]

This is SUPER lame, but I'm REALLY into Lemonade Tycoon =P

For those of you that don't know what it is, it's a game where all you do is run a lemonade stand. You mess with the recipe, advertising, number of supplies you use and buy, and the location you sell the lemonade, just to name a few. You then "start the day" and see how sales rack up. At the end of the day you get to see what profits you made. You get to see the margin of your business, customer satisfaction, supplies used and wasted, etc. After all that you end up toying with all the aforementioned factors and move on to the next day hoping to improve everything. It's hilarious but addictive!!

Sigh. I really should've gotten to know you all a little better before divulging this...

[toblix]

Okay, so I've bought:

• Zen Bound
  
• SyncInABlink (not a game, I know)
  
• Trism
  
• Tap Tap Revenge 2
  
• Edge
  
• Zenonia
  
• UniWar
  
• Cops&Robbers
  
• Fieldrunners
  
• The Creeps!
  
• iDracula
  
• Underworlds
  
• HeavyMach
  
• Rolando
  
• 7CitiesTD
  
• 7DA Zombies
  
• Peggle
  
• Textropolis
  
• Space Ace
  
• 1112
  
• Flight of the Amazon Queen
  
• Lemonade Tycoon
  

The only one I've played so far is Zen Bound, but I'm already convinced that buying an iPhone primarily as a game platform was very smart indeed.

I also used it as an iPod for a while, and it was very nice, although my ears do not hold on to earbuds very well, so I'll have to get some replacements that I can wear outside.

[Erkki]

The only one I've played so far is Zen Bound, but I'm already convinced that buying an iPhone primarily as a game platform was very smart indeed.

Whoa, you bought quite a lot of them. I really recommend Sway BTW:

Tyguj8d9fQA

I also used it as an iPod for a while, and it was very nice, although my ears do not hold on to earbuds very well, so I'll have to get some replacements that I can wear outside.

I'm not liking the iPod software compared to the click-wheel iPod. It seems you can't rewind/ffwd? I loved how you could just do that with a slider like in PC media players. Also, a few other features. Since I don't have album artwork for most stuff, the middle of the screen is completely wasted, and so song titles and buttons seem unnecessarily small.

[edit] oh, you can rewind/ffwd when holding down the prev/next buttons. still, I would also like to see playing time and artist/album/song title in larger font.

[toblix]

Yeah, I haven't used a proper iPod ever, so I wouldn't know the difference. I used it like this:

• Start playing a song
  
• Put the phone in my pants
  
• Use the headset remote to stop the music when I needed to hear sounds.
  

And that's it. I have one album on it. I don't expect I'll put a lot of music on it because I already have an MP3 collection, nicely ID3 tagged and sorted, and I assume that to get iTunes to work with it I have to import the files and all sorts of shit will happen.

edit: Oh, and:

I've played a couple of games, and holy fucking cunting shit this is awesome. The games load up super quickly, the graphics vary from game to game, of course, but it's obvious that making good-looking games is not very difficult.

[Nappi]

I guess I have to buy that Space Invaders thing then.

I'm not liking the iPod software compared to the click-wheel iPod. It seems you can't rewind/ffwd? I loved how you could just do that with a slider like in PC media players. Also, a few other features. Since I don't have album artwork for most stuff, the middle of the screen is completely wasted, and so song titles and buttons seem unnecessarily small.

Tap on that big empty area to get additional controls, including a song slider that can be used for rewind or fast-forward.

[Erkki]

Tap on that big empty area to get additional controls, including a song slider that can be used for rewind or fast-forward.

Wow, thanks!. I had actually tried this at least 5 times. But somewhy it didn't work, I used too long taps.

[Erkki]

Lemonade Tycoon is actually pretty fun.

[toblix]

Fieldrunners was pretty cool. I just finished 100 waves on easy. Just barely, too. Next time I'll build a better maze!

[Erkki]

Played enough lemonade tycoon to drain the battery (couple of hours I think, but it was maybe a bit more than half full earlier).

I saw a paid app in the store that shows you memory usage and other system stats. Is that useful at all? Do some apps remain in memory after closing them?

[n0wak]

Also double-click the Home button when the iPod is locked to get access to those controls, too.

You can do this at any time, even in App. This is particularly useful for the annoying apps that mute your music when you start them (not naming any names ) Though I have found that the last update made it a little more sensitive and I've canceled out to Home from a game when I just wanted to change the music.

Also, I know that it's probably the BORING answer since it's just chess, but it's really well done chess so I highly recommend "Deep Green."

[Scrobbs]

I also used it as an iPod for a while, and it was very nice, although my ears do not hold on to earbuds very well, so I'll have to get some replacements that I can wear outside.

You need to get a pair of these. The best headphones I have ever heard and used. No question. I think I have the 'Pro' version.

http://www.dolphinmusic.co.uk/product/1916-sennheiser-hd25-mk-ii-.html

If you think they're a bit expensive, save up and get them. They've been with me all over the world, in planes, buses, trains, trams, inside, outside... they take punishment and never stop delivering. I saw a pair in a closing down sale for 120 quid and snapped them up - they've been around 150 quid since they were first introduced about 10-12 years ago. They can get a bit irritating sometimes if you're just lugging them about as they're an awkward shape, but that irrritation vanishes as soon as you put them on. Plus you can buy spare parts for them.

Buy them. You won't regret it.

[toblix]

I already have big headphones. Thing is, I don't want to walk around with a huge device on my head.

[Scrobbs]

You get used to it.

[toblix]

Yes, but I don't want to.

[Wrestlevania]

For small, comfortable 'phones, have a look at Sennheiser's excellent - and cheap! - PX200s:

That little case they fold up into is about the size of a glasses case, which is extra handy.

[toblix]

Today I discovered a technique for getting the buds to stay in place: Instead of just putting it in the ear hole and letting the lead go straight down, I let the lead go behind and over my ear and the bud goes upside-down into my cavity. It's not a perfect fit, and the sound isn't awesome, but at least I can walk around and take the bus without looking like that kid from the Bomfunk MC video.

What's really annoying is that if Apple just released the awesome on-lead remote as a short dongle I could use some proper earbuds. I can't go back to not having the awesome remote.

[Patters]

have you tried anything like this its what I use when no using my cans. you can remover the ear 'hangers'.

[Erkki]

have you tried anything like this its what I use when no using my cans. you can remover the ear 'hangers'.

I use something like these when running/biking: http://www.hifiheadphones.co.uk/koss-p9-neckband-headphones-prodid-567.html (not those exact earphones, but similar shape)