What a week in apps. With so many new apps and updates available, I definitely haven’t payed enough attention to the apps that are being announced. I feel like I just went to a movie and showed up too late to see the previews. What a waste! To make up for this, I am going to create a Thursday roundup of everything (well maybe not everything) awesome that is coming soon to the app store.

First off is the greatest mystery in the history of the app store. I had a friend send me a link to this site the other day, and I wasn’t sure what to say. Is it GTA for the iPhone? Is it… not?

I did a bit of research (I scoured the Touch Arcade forums) and found a few different opinions. One clever person, dpmpolo, went to http://whois.domaintools.com/coming-on-iphone.com, and found that the site is registered to Gameloft. DaveMc99 claims that the game is called Gangstar, while another guy CDubby94 said, “It’s called The Cartel. I beta tested it. It’s almost ready for submission.” I love forums.

Admittedly lost, and a bit anxious, I was forced to contact the internet Oracle, who told me that the trailer is actually for Poker vs. Girls 2. Check out the original here, it’s amazing.

With that squared away, my attention turned to Doom Resurrection, an amazing app that we reviewed a day or two ago. After reading the review, I thought, “Wow, that looks awesome. I wonder where the original Doom is?”. Fortunately, the gaming gods heard my plea and told me to hop over to idsoftware.com to check out the “iPhone Doom Classic Progress Report“.

Basically, the article states that John Carmack, the inventor of the modern FPS and the technical director of id Software (he’s famous), wanted to hire contractors to double the original resolution of the game. After seeing the results, and I’m sure the amount of money that he would have to pay to get them, he scrapped the resolution project and decided to keep the artwork the same. It still looks much nicer than the original due to the increased graphics capabilities, (my iPhone today works faster than my $3000 computer that originally ran Doom) but all in all, the game is the same. Expect Classic Doom to come out sometime this summer.

In an interesting twist, while doing an interview with Macworld, (read the Macworld article here) Carmack said that, “from a hardware perspective, the iPhone is even more capable than Sony’s handheld system, the PlayStation Portable (PSP).” This makes me happy.

So while I was having dreams of playing Crysis on my iPhone, my attention was diverted to one of the most graphically intensive genres out there… pinball. Scoff all you want, you fickle fools, this pinball game, made by GameProm, the makers of the newly free Wild West Pinball, looks stunning. Check out the promo video, and be sure to watch it in HD.

Wild West Pinball is expected to be out very soon. Hopefully tomorrow, but I doubt it.

Last but not least in this roundup of roundups is the new Worms game that is coming to the iPhone. PocketGamer.co.uk got all sorts of exclusive playtime with the game (I want to play too guys… hello!), and it looks amazing. The game is going to be a direct port of the PS3 version of worms… just a bit scaled down in the graphics department, but not much. There is also going to be full on multiplayer, which wasn’t really a big deal to me until I got my grubby hands on Baseball Sluggers and learned how nice iPhone multiplayer could be.

In the interview, the Worms team says that, “Alongside ad hoc Bluetooth multiplayer, we’ll also be adding full on internet multiplayer although wi-fi and 3G,” explains lead programmer Matt Bishop. “So you’ll be able to play on the bus against friends and guys in America.”" Hopefully the multiplayer turns out well, because I look forward to destroying you guys,the readers with Team 148. I would certainly hop on over to pocketgamer.co.uk to read the rest of the article, it’s quite interesting.

Judging by the video, Team 148 is definitely going to beat up on Team PocketGamer when the game finally comes out (the gauntlet has been dropped). The app has already been submitted to Apple, which means that the expected release date should be sometime in mid-December. Yup, that sounds about right.

Well I hope you enjoyed it… the roundup that is. If there are any apps that I missed, let me know and I’ll think about doing another roundup tomorrow.

Firemint gotten their hands on an iPhone 3GS and decided to take it for a little test drive. With it’s increased processor speed, better graphics processor, and extra memory, it’s built for killer games. The best way they came up with to test drive the 3GS was to make a special version of their fantastic racing game, Real Racing to stress it. The normal version of Real Racing has 6 cars on the track at once. Their iPhone 3GS test version has not 12, not 20, but 40 cars on the track at the same time! Take a look at the demo video below for the amazing proof — the real fun starts around 30 seconds in.

Amazing, just amazing. Looks like they might have even been able to put even more cars on the track! If you haven’t picked up Real Racing yet, what are you waiting for? It’s the best arcade game we’ve seen yet for the iPhone.

Real Racing

Our Rating:   Read Review >>

Category: Games / Racing
Released: 2009-06-06
Price: $9.99

We’ve just heard from QuickOffice, the leading giant who provides office software for mobile phones, that soon iPhone and iPod Touch users should be able to edit their e-mail attachments on-the-go. This a feature that has been lacking on the iPhone natively since day 1.

Currently, Documents To Go can “talk” to mail and retrieve attachments for editing (only .doc and .docx supported at the minute - excel promised soon): however, only through Microsoft Exchange. Whilst this should accommodate many, QuickOffice hopes to accommodate all. For those who do use Microsoft Exchange for their mail, Documents To Go with Exchange Support is available for $9.99 (£5.99). For those who don’t, the best work-a-round at the minute is provided by QuickOffice themselves, who take on an Air Sharing-avec-Office role where a user can add files from their computer onto their iPhone for editing provided that they are on the same wireless network. I spoke to the QuickOffice team, and they said that “we understand the ability to open email attachments is an important feature many users want and [we] are excited to be adding this capability.”

This is rejoicing news for Blackberry users who have long had the ability to receive an attachment, edit it and send it back within a matter of minutes. Whilst the App Store’s “Business” section has been flourishing of late (as has 148Biz), it is surprising to see that it has taken this long for this feature to be available to the public.

We’ll keep you posted as we get more information - and we’ll have a review ready as soon as we can. QuickOffice is currently on the App Store for $19.99 (£11.99) and - of course - the new update will be free.

Note: current review is of an older version.

Yesterday we reported on a plan by ngmoco:) to remove Rolando from the iTunes App Store once Rolando 2 had been released. Today, I spoke today with Clive Downie, VP of Marketing from ngmoco:) and we’ve got some good news for Rolando fans.

After reading our article and others relating to the proposed plan to pull Rolando from the iTunes App Store and the response from consumers, ngmoco:) have decided to rescind the plan to remove Rolando. Rolondo will remain on the iTunes App Store and Topple, the original, will be coming back as well.

To understand why this all happened and why the plan was hatched in the first place, it’s important to understand the climate that publishers on the iTunes App Store are currently working in.

The App Store is a whole new environment in which to run a software business. Apple has full reigns over what’s allowed and how you can operate. That’s great for Apple, their app store, and their devices. But it’s non-standard in the software world and not so great for publishers. It’s particularly difficult considering that Apple does not publish full guidelines on what is and isn’t allowed and has even been known to change it’s mind without telling anyone.

Then there is the sheer volume of new apps launched every day in the app store. Currently the app store is averaging over 300 new apps in the store every single day. That’s more new titles per day than most platforms see in a year. Just a staggering number.

At this point, the app store is less than a year old and has had over 57,000 apps approved. Some of the standard practices of marketing software just don’t apply to a volatile and chaotic market such as this. Trying new things, finding what works amid the chaos is the key. That’s what ngmoco:) is doing.

For ngmoco:) the question was become how do they best launch a sequel in the iTunes App Store. There’s very little history on how to do that. One method they wanted to test was to remove the prequel to see what impact that would have on the launch of Rolando 2. What happens if you launch an episodic title into the app store without the predecessor there. It was learning they thought was worth doing.

That was the plan, until they started hearing from consumers. Consumers didn’t like the idea of it. It can be a big concern to a user who has purchased a copy protected digital file when they discover they may not be able to download it again if something happens to their copy. Since all that was really purchased was a bunch of bits, if it’s no longer available, it can seem to the consumer like you’ve lost your purchase.

What the consumers said was the they didn’t care about the test, they want their Rolando and Topple to remain safe. That’s what ngmoco:) have decided to do.

So due to the consumer feedback, Rolando will stay in the store and we will see Topple return soon as well. Since Apple provides no way for customers of the apps, people who have already paid for the app, to get it any other way than for the app to be live in the store, this is what’s required.

I think we can call that a lesson learned. But maybe not the lesson they were looking for.

Mr. Downie made it clear that ngmoco:) will continue to test the market, figure out ways to best navigate the turbulent seas of the app store. In addition, they will continue to innovate, as they remain laser focused on developing the best games for the iPhone OS platform.

As a closing thought, Mr. Downie wanted to remind us all that after the dust has settled over this Rolando issue to remember that Rolando 2 is coming out really soon and it looks fantastic. He’s right about that — we got a chance to see it recently in it’s nearly complete form. It’s looking very impressive.

When we asked if the release date was still July 1st, his response was “let’s hope so.”

Firemint has just released a 1.3 update for their extremely popular Flight Control game that adds the ability to play cooperatively with a friend over bluetooth. Flight Control has sold over 1,000,000 copies on its way to becoming an App Store classic.

Flight Control is a deceptively complicated game in which you must guide planes and helicopters to their proper landing places by drawing paths with your finger. The game starts out very simply with very few vehicles on screen at a time, but quickly ramps up in difficulty as more planes and helicopters of varying speeds appear on screen simultaneously. If anything collides, the game is over. When Christine reviewed the game, she gave it a perfect five stars.

In previous updates, Firemint has added new maps and online leader boards via the Cloudcell service. Now, in order to utilize the new 3.0 software for the iPhone and iPod Touch, Firemint has added bluetooth play so you can share air traffic controller duties with a friend. No wifi is required, as you simply need two devices with bluetooth capabilities (note: only the iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, and iPod Touch 2G can use bluetooth).

In this new mode, you and your friend share a cumulative score for a game. Each person has a complete map on screen (you can either use the same map or different maps), but can only land planes of a certain color. If a plane appears on screen that you cannot land, you have to direct it to the side of you screen, which will cause it to appear on your partner’s screen. This makes the game even more hectic, as you have to manage planes that both normally appear on your screen and those redirected by your partner all while trying to communicate with your partner.

Flight Control

Our Rating:   Read Review >>

Category: Games / Strategy
Released: 2009-04-29
Price: $0.99

When the release date of Rolando 2 was announced, ngmoco:) also indicated that Rolando, the original, was going to be pulled from the app store when the sequel goes live. It’s an odd move, very smart, and yet wrong at the same time.

I recently asked Neil Young, CEO of ngmoco:), why the original Topple was no longer in the App Store, his comment was “We pulled it, trying something.” Short response and at the time I didn’t think much of it. I assumed they were planning on trying some new marketing technique with it. Turns out they were testing a fundamental business idea in preparation for the Rolando 2 release. Something new, something that really may change the way we think of games in the app store. Apps aren’t forever anymore.

According to our App Store database, Rolando was released originally on December 8, 2008. That effectively puts the lifespan of the original Rolando at 7 months. Is that really all the life Rolando has left in it? I doubt it. One thing is for sure, it’s going to be pulled from the app store when Rolando 2 is released.

While Rolando is their product and they have the absolute right to do with it what they choose, pulling it just doesn’t feel right. Something about the spirit seems wrong. They aren’t doing anything odd with the price to rise up the charts and increase the price to ride the higher exposure as many high profile developers have been doing lately. But they are sacrificing a product and it’s customers for increased expose for the next episode. Maybe I’m just being too sentimental, but I want to see the game stick around.

Back to the original test that ngmoco:) did, removing Topple from the app store. I’m not sure that it relates directly, removing Topple, a free app, to see what it does to sales of Topple 2 at $0.99. But there is something obvious to it. By removing Topple, they see if that increases sales of Topple 2, the more recent game.

By removing Rolando when the sequel comes out, they don’t lose any sales to the original, cheaper version. When users search for Rolando, they will get just 1 result, and 1 price. That makes sense as a certain percentage people would probably choose the cheaper one, and it removes any confusion of their marketing message for the new game.

What doesn’t make sense is why remove one of the best games on the App Store? Rolando may not have been a runaway commercial success, but it is a great game, very well reviewed, and still has some life in it. You know, what about the long tail? What about all those articles that point to Rolando on the app store. They won’t point to Rolando 2 automatically — you’ll just get the error on the app store that the app is not available.

This decision is also bad for people who have purchased the original Rolando. The app store is a digital delivery system. The only way to get Rolando is to download it from iTunes either on the desktop or on the device. If you don’t have a backup, and you lose it, you’ll never get it back if it’s no longer in the store. In addition, there have been weekly updates for a while from Rolando, building up to the release of Rolando 2. If you haven’t updated in a while, and you wait until July 1, you’ll never see those updates.

And what about the people that try Rolando 2 and want more? They know it’s a sequel, why can’t they get the original. Perhaps the original Rolando levels will be available as in-app purchases in Rolando 2.

It seems as though ngmoco:) is willing to live with a little bit of bad customer experience to try to increase the sales of a new game. Not a great thing, but considering the constraints of the App Store and the very limited ways that developers can operate, it might be the best decision. If nothing else, you have to hand it to them for trying something different and thinking about how to best build a business in the maddening chaos known as the iTunes App Store. It will be interesting to see if other publishers follow suit and do the same. Let’s hope not.

I hope we’ll see Rolando and Topple back in the store, re-released as classic versions maybe, at some point in the future. For now, I think I’ll make sure I have the latest version, do a back-up, and play a little Classic Rolando while I wait for Rolando 2.

Related Apps

Rolando

Our Rating:   Read Review >>

Category: Games / Adventure
Released: 2008-12-17
Price: $5.99

Topple 2

Our Rating:   Read Review >>

Category: Games / Puzzle
Released: 2009-03-11
Price: $2.99 ON SALE: $0.99

Back at E3 I met up with Don Lim from Com2uS, who showed me a few of his upcoming games, one of which being Baseball Sluggers. At first glance, the game looked pretty fun, but certainly nothing groundbreaking. It looked like MLB Slugfest for the iPhone, except without an MLB license and limited only to the home run derby. Being the skeptical gamer that I am, I picked up the game with low expectations, thinking that the game would probably be average at best. But boy, was I wrong.

Instead of showing me all the different menu options and gameplay modes, Don had me just straight into the matchup mode, which is unlike anything else I had ever played on the iPhone. Within a minute of booting up the game, I was engaged in a matchup with one of the beta testers of the game in Korea. The game was easy enough to pick up instantly, but with a variety of pitches and speeds, had enough depth to satisfy my inner gamer. Surprisingly I ended up beating the beta tester, shocking Don… and myself. What can I say guys, I’m just good at sports games.

So a few nights ago, after seeing Will’s review of Baseball Sluggers, I decided to pick up the game. I played the arcade mode a few times just to get some practice before I jumped into the matchup mode. Just as I remembered, with three clicks, I was engaged in a game with some guy in Japan. It turns out that I’m not the prodigy that I though I was after my opponent destroyed me quite impressively. As bad as I got beat though, I kept wanting to play again. The gameplay is just so deceptively simple that I kept playing well into the night… getting beat time and time again.

Never in my life had I been beaten so soundly and wanted more. I thought about it for a bit and decided that Baseball Sluggers may be the ultimate casual game on the iPhone… at the very least, it should be in the discussion. Each game lasts under 5 minutes, there RPG (accessories increase stats) element, and there is always a real person to play against… no matter what time of day you are on.

I’ve been playing for a few days now, and am now on a 4 game winning streak! It’s quite exciting. If you end up getting Baseball Sluggers, look for chris148 in the matchup list. I’ll play anyone, but be warned… I may beat you so bad that you will cry.

So… being an iPhone addict and gamer, I will be continuing my search for the best casual game. It’ll be tough to beat Baseball Sluggers, but I hear that Flight Control just came out with a multiplayer mode. I’ll have to check that one out tomorrow, after I beat some more suckers in the home run derby.

I’m shocked that I’ve been posting these picks for five weeks already. For this week, my utility of the week is the IMDB app - Movie Genie.

Movie Genie is basically just an interface to IMDB (Internet Movie Database). It allows you to search movies and actors and provides you with a ton of details about them. Movie Genie is a well developed and fast app that interfaces with IMDB perfect. The developer promises a lot of features in the feature, but the app is great as-is. Check out the review here.

If you’d like to suggest a utility for my “utility of the week”, visit my thread on our forum here. And below is a list of previous Utility of the Week picks:

Week 1 - Groups
Week 2 - Put Things Off
Week 3 - Stick It
Week 4 - Air Mouse Pro

Movie Genie

Our Rating:   Read Review >>

Category: Reference
Released: 2009-06-03
Price: $1.99

I’ll say it now - I’m an iPhone addict.

Every week, I have to go to a 12 step program designed to wean me off my addiction.* But, you know what? It’s not working. You see, to be cured of an addiction you have to want to be cured. I love my iPhone. It’s a part of my life. It’s never far from my grasp, and I use it many, many times throughout my day. I don’t want to be cured.

Paul Pelosi (look at his hands) is also an iPhone addict.

When I first got my iPhone, I was amazed - due to the superb implementation of the web, that I could actually use it to buy my wife’s Christmas presents… from the sofa… while she sat next to me. I would ask her what she wanted, she’d have a little think, then tell me, then I’d buy it, without her even realising her wishes were coming true within seconds of her uttering the words. She might as well have been saying abracadabra. It was magical, and exciting in a way only another iPhone-phile can understand.

This is how my iPhone and I spend the day.

Wake Up Call
Even before I awake, my iPhone is there for me, dragging me from my slumber with the sound of Marimba. Clock has become my Alarm Clock. I’ve even taught it not to wake me at all at the weekend - at those times my iPhone allows me to dream on (although my daughter does not respect the covenant me and the iPhone have made).

With a swipe of my finger Marimba is quieted for another 24 hours.

Settings is my second iPhone destination, where I turn off the Airplane mode that has so expertly shielded my from all those late night messages and calls. When I go to sleep - oddly enough - I want to sleep.

After doing those most morning-ish of activities (curse, wash, dress, etc.), I unplug my now fully charged iPhone and trudge downstairs, where I flick the switch that pours lovely wireless Internet into my home.

A few seconds later, I fire up the next app of the day. It’s another iPhone native: Mail.

My Mail is synced up to my personal Gmail account (which is set-up to receive all the mail from any other e-mail addresses I might have acquired over the years). It’s incredibly convenient to receive my e-mail via my iPhone rather than on my Mac. It was not quite so easy to respond, however, but the situation was resolved when landscape mode was enabled for Mail in 3.0.

Destination: Next App is Facebook/Tweetdeck.

I put this down as a twofer because, generally, if I check Facebook I also check Tweetdeck. Facebook is good for on the move voyeurism into your friend’s lives, but lacks some of the features of its big browser brother. I’m able to update my status or post an impromptu photo, but little else. I think Facebook for iPhone is good for a small fix of vicarious living, but not enough to replace the full experience. TweetDeck, too, is not without its flaws, but, for me it was an easy download choice when it popped up in the App Store. With those two conduits to the world checked, I put my iPhone away for a while.

Contacts
I leave the house ready for some early morning, tired, monosyllabic, Neanderthal-esque interactions with my fellow humans (until I’m fully awake, at least) - many of whom are contacts on my iPhone. Contacts is an excellent address and number book. With the ability to add a Note to any contact, it could almost be renamed Dossier.

Throughout the day, Evernote is there, like an alert and faithful stenographer, to record my ideas, notes, musings or mad ramblings. Mostly mad ramblings. It automagically keeps my notes in sync with its desktop and web cousins. And it’s a bargain - free.

If it’s a weekend during the football (soccer) season, I tap the web link I have saved to my home screen which reads BBC Sport. Being British, it’s my go-to place for all sports news. I generally head for the Premier League section where I’ll furnished with live scores and updates throughout the afternoon. I have to refresh the browser every now and then, which seems a little 2.x-ish - making this type of App (sports updates and scores) an ideal candidate for Push notifications.

Sometimes, though, BBC Sport takes a back seat to BBC Radio Five Live, which I can listen to via Wunder Radio - an awesome radio streaming App. It really is a Wunder. A list of my favorite stations is available at the tap of a small strip of screen. Instead of refreshing Safari to find out the latest scores, I can listen to a live Premier League match. Thank you, Wunder Radio.

Later in the day I might be visiting relatives - which is an ideal opportunity to whip out the iPhone and indulge in a bout of ‘proud parent disease’. Photos and the iPod are my mainstays here. I have all of my photos on my phone. I’ll type that again in case you didn’t read that right: all of my photos. All of them. Who needs photo albums when you’re carrying around in your pocket, every snap you ever took? If I’m inclined - and my relatives aren’t already comatose - I can hook my iPhone up to a TV for a slide-show or two. Or, indeed, that video of my daughter’s first Christmas. My relatives cannot escape.

Call Home
Once back home, and a couple of hours have passed by on Scrabble or Real Racing, I check my fantasy football scores (have you noticed the sporting theme yet?). This is where Bookmarks takes a bow. Bookmarks hooks up with my online Delicious library, keeps it all in sync with my Firefox plug-in, and allows me to dispense with recreating my favorites on every device I own. Once opened, I navigate to the fantasy football link I’ve saved, to check out how far down the league I’ve slipped this week. Up until this week, this process was slightly annoying in that I had to log in to the site every time I wanted to check my faltering progress. But with Autofill finally brought to mobile Safari, this niggle is salved.

Dinner has been served, eaten and is well on its way through digestion, when I sit down to start writing another review, article, short story or shopping list. To help with this, into action springs SimpleMind (and, before you say it, no, that’s not a description of me). On it I find the mind map called The Europa Transmissions and use it to aid the writing process.

It’s now time to do my weekly groceries. So I open up Ultralist, where I’ve saved an evolving list of products I usually buy. I run through the list with my wife, crossing off all the items we already have in our home - whatever is left we go and buy. Ultralist is a good, basic list App (although it has some fancier features if you want to complicate matters).

Once back from shopping, it’s time for a bout of some serious casual gaming - life permitting -.

My DS has been relegated to the back of the drawer. Since I got my iPhone, the DS has become like an embarrassing drunk, crying out to be noticed, but, ultimately, ignored and avoided. The iPhone is where it’s at for me and portable gaming.

The list of games I like to play is long. Too long for this article in fact. If you want to hear about some games why not check out a reviews website? 148apps is good, I’ve heard.

But… a special mention must go out to a recent discovery of mine - Mecho Wars. If you’ve ever played and enjoyed Advance Wars on the DS, you’ll love this game. The game is maybe a little on the short side and maybe not quite up there with Advance Wars. But Mecho Wars does show us two things - firstly, how perfect for strategy games the iPhone is, and secondly, how amazing Advance Wars would be if it were ever brought to the iPhone.

The most important thing I want to impress upon you right now is this: the iPhone has some excellent games on it. Not casual or fleeting games, but in depth, involved, absorbing, brilliant games. And it’s only going to get better. Mark my words.

Ignore the naysayers, berate the boors, and banish the other type of bores: iPhone gaming is here to stay.

After gaming, I might find time for a spot of drawing. Brushes is a pleasure to use, not because I’m a particularly good artist, but because it’s a shining example of what can be done with the iPhone. I can actually paint on my iPhone. Anyone who saw the recent cover for New Yorker knows how awesome this app can be in the right hands.

Later in the evening I sometimes turn to Star Walk.

Star Walk is an astronomy App which dovetails perfectly with my nerdy desire to know exactly what star I’m looking at. Honestly, it’s always good to know where you are in relation to the Andromeda galaxy. Try it. Star Walk is brilliant as it is, but with the 3G S’s compass incorporated, Star Walk could become amazing. Hopefully that’s something that, Vito Technology Inc. - Star Walk’s producers - will introduce in an update.

Even later at night, I turn to another App: MLB.com At Bat 2009. I’m English, but I do have a place in my heart for baseball.

With At Bat 2009 that particular desire has been sated. The App is excellent - although its newest feature - LIVE STREAMING GAMES! - (this feature is amazing! -Chris) doesn’t currently work in the UK. I have my fingers crossed that this situation is resolved soon.

Call Waiting
Time for bed now. For a moment, before contemplating sleep, I sometimes think about what my iPhone is missing. One thing stands out: Spotify.

Spotify, please come to the US.

I’ll sleep easy tonight, however, because I’ve heard rumours Spotify is on its way.

If you Spot it, let me know.

End Call
One final note: after all this joy and smooth iPhone utility, I get to do what I’ve always wanted to do with my iPod/Games Console/Mobile Internet/Anything You Want device - make a phone call.

Occasionally I hear those voices of criticism - you know, the ones who just don’t get the thrill of owning and using an iPhone.

“It’s just a phone,” they say.

Is it?

_____________________________________

* Not true. But it could be.

There has been some question if Apple had been holding applications that use push notifications. Well, it looks like they have been, and they have started releasing them. Today we’ve seen updates to both AIM, and Beejive. Let’s take a little closer look at the update to Beejive.

Beejive today released an update to Beejive IM, our favorite IM application. The update includes the greatly anticipated push notification services.

Adding push notification services to an IM application allows you to stay logged into the IM servers even when you are not running the application. Created by Apple as a substitute for allowing third party applications to run in the background and reportedly much less of a battery drain, done properly it allows much of the same functionality.

I’ve been using the push notification services of Beejive for a few days now and it seems to work pretty well. There have been some outages, times when the notifications didn’t work, but we’re chalking that up to Apple.

When you first launch the updated application with push notifications, you will be prompted just once to allow Beejive to send you notifications. This dialog is very similar to the “Application X would like to use your location” dialog we are all very familiar with. If you ever want to turn off the notifications, that can be done in the settings app.

Overall, push notifications is a fantastic feature and one of the main reasons I’ve been looking forward to OS 3.0. I use IM a lot and being able to stay logged in during the (unfortunately few) hours per day I’m not at my computer is fantastic.

Once caveat — you can’t stay logged into forever, there is a 24 hour maximum. To stay logged in longer you just need to make sure that you launch Beejive once a day.

There are some limitations to push notifications though. For one, push notifications don’t stack up — so you’ll see only the latest notification from an single app. Other IM messages will only be in the app once you launch it. If your device is locked, you will see the notification, but can’t respond or launch Beejive automatically once unlocked. These are all limitations of the push notification service itself and iPhone OS 3. Beejive have done a really good job working within the limitations such as these.

Currently the push notification option for Beejive is free, and there’s no indication to think they they plan to charge separately for this feature. But I do expect some applications to use in-app purchasing to let users enable push notifications as there can be a significant cost to the publisher to support this option

The update to Beejive IM has been approved and is available now and will be free to previous owners, $9.99 for new users.

Note: There’s something odd going on in the store — the update is listed in iTunes as 2.2.0.24, but once installed it will show as version 3.0 in the app.

BeejiveIM 3.0 with Push

Our Rating:   Read Review >>

Category: Social Networking
Released: 2009-06-22
Price: $9.99

More screen shots after the jump.

I want to preface this by saying that I love the show ‘Dexter’. Its blend of drama, suspense, and comedy make it one of those gems that grip you and never lets go until the end of the season. It’s so good that I unraveled the whole mystery of the Ice Truck Killer (season 1) in a single marathon weekend.

Sadly, my love for TV shows, and movies for that matter, rarely translates into good video gaming. Off the top of my head, I can think of very few adaptations that have worked. It’s just hard to capture the essence of a show in a game. Between clunky controls, bad stories, and odd graphics, there is always something wrong with media adaptations. Knowing this, it seemed to me that Mark Ecko Entertainment and Icarus Studios had their work cut out for them.

Tucked away in a small corner of the convention center, I met with the Dexter team to see how the game was turning out. To my surprise and delight, the game looks really good. The game is your basic stealth game where you, as Dexter, sneak around finding clues to legitimize your serial killing ways. Feeding Dexter’s “dark passenger” is the main point of the game, but there is an overarching Ice Truck Killer story line, complete with the characters involved. To make things more realistic, Icarus Studios built all of the sets from plans from the show (the police station looks amazing!), and got actors from the show, including Michael C. Hall, to do the voices.

Video after the jump.

Dexter should be out this summer, and will be priced right along with the other “premium” games in the app store.

I often wonder about iPhone gaming in its infancy. I get the feeling that developers are creating games in a bunch of different genres, feeling out which genres work, and which don’t. It’s obvious to me that platformers work fine, along with tower defense, turn based strategy, and the occasional casual game… while 3D shooters struggle due to their lack of proper controls. RTS’s are on the fence in my opinion. Part of me wants to say that they can’t be done correctly due to the small screen size, but another part of me thinks that the touch screen options are too much to pass up. I’ve seen games like Warzone Inc. implement the RTS genre on the iPhone quite nicely, but I’m still waiting for that killer app.

Ready to take on this hurdle is Vogster entertainment with their game, Robocalypse. Robocalypse is an RTS in the Warcraft 2 mold, with a good balance between lighthearted graphics and action. Written by Micah Wright and Jay Lender (an ex-writer for Spongebob), Robocalypse offers a full, 17 mission single player campaign on top of 18 multiplayer maps that can be played with 2-4 players. From what we saw of the game, it looks like an extremely funny, well executed RTS… possibly capable of outshining Command and Conquer when it arrives in the app store.

Vogster is expecting Robocalypse to launch Q3 2009.

I know what it’s like. The anticipation of getting a shiny new gadget. You stand in line waiting patiently for the assistant to become available, or sit at home wondering what the UPS guys excuse for being late will be this week (my local UPS plant has had three power failures in the last month, apparently). And whilst you can’t MMS anyone, and the nearest to tethering you’ll achieve is if you get some sticky tape, attach your new phone to the computer screen and pretend, you know you’re holding a pretty awesome piece of kit.

Whilst this article isn’t really designed for people who’ve already experienced the wonderful world of apps (I’d recommend they explore our reviews or forum), for a new iPhone or iPod touch user the sheer variety of apps and games available can be intimidating and some gems might be hidden under the surface.

But fear not, new iPhone users, because I, an eccentric British man writing to a 4am deadline, am here to guide you through the perils of the App Store and give you some pointers as to what you might want to buy, what you really should avoid and how this whole apps business works.

Read on for dozens of great apps and more info.

Be Appnoxious

Being appnoxious is a term created to describe those people who are constantly showing everyone they know those really cool apps they have just found. Here are some of those apps that people keep showing off. Shazam [App Info] listens to a short sound bite from the microphone on the iPhone and tells you what song it hears. Band [App Info], a multi-instrument music app that lets you jam on your iPhone. Email ‘n Walk [App Info] an odd little app that lets you compose an email while looking through your iPhone. Finally, Bump [App Info], this app lets you trade contact details with another iPhone user by bumping your phones together.

Stay Social

Let’s start out with social networking. All of the major services are covered. Facebook [App Info] has released a fantastic native iPhone app . For Twitter you have a variety of excellent options from Tweetie [App Info], Twitterific [App Info], and Twitellator [App Info]. Oh yeah, and if you still log into MySpace for some odd reason, there’s an app for that too [App Info].

Get Down To Business

As many iPhone users move from Windows Mobile devices, you’ll probably immediately notice one feature is lacking amongst all the shiny Apple newness - Microsoft Office document editing. Don’t worry - it’s easy to find some great apps on the App Store to help you with this.

If you’re willing to wait a little for Excel support, the recently released Documents to Go [App Info], a stalwart of the Blackberry and Palm platforms, will edit your Word files with ease - it’s at an introductory rate of $4.99 and we’ll have a full review up soon. Alternatively, if Excel is a must, competitor QuickOffice [App Info] will suit your needs for $19.99 (you might want to buy Documents To Go now and just wait, if you want to save your $15 - pretty much all updates to iPhone apps are completely free, with exception to major new releases of games and in-app purchased add-ons).

If you spend a lot of time on IM and what to stay connected while not at your computer, the new feature in iPhone OS 3.0 makes this really easy. Beejive [App Info], our higest recommended IM app has announced support for push notification. This feature gives you the ability to get instant messages even when not running the program. The app is currently available, the update to add push notifications should be live any day now.

Getting Organized

Now you’re sorted for work, one area that the iPhone is still lacking is the included Notes application. It just lacks in terms of features. Useful for a shopping list (although keen shoppers may want to take a look at Groceries [App Info]) but very little else.

Hence, keen notetakers would be better suited with the incredible Evernote [App Info], which is completely free and syncs with the Evernote site and software for PC and Mac users alike. Shiny and recently updated for 3.0, the Evernote application can take text notes, snapshots and much more - you’re limited to 40MB of notes per month (about 400 snapshots) unless you get Evernote’s premium subscription for $5 a month, in which case you’ll see a huge increase - 12 times the amount of notes.

How about Tasks. It’s one of the common functions that the iPhone does not include a simple app for. Luckily other companies have filled in that game and have come up with some great todo / GTD apps. The easiest to get going with is Todo [App Info] from Appigo. It syncs with a special program from their site with iCal on the Mac. Next up are the heavy duty Getting Things Done style task managers. Things [App Info] from Cultured Code and OmniFocus [App Info] from OmniGroup are both excellent and sync with their counterpart applications on the Mac desktop.

Enough With Work, Let’s Have Some Fun

Once we’re done making notes, grocery shopping and editing the latest annual report (heck, you might have even tried making a phone call) - it’s time for a break from the tedious nature of working life. Thankfully, iPhone is one of the most impressive gaming devices out there - with games to rival any of the DS or PSPs latest titles, at impressively low prices - you’ll be hard pressed to find a game for more than $9.99.

Whilst Jeff, our head-honcho here and all around good guy, wanted me to alert you to the availability of classic gaming titles like Tetris [App Info], Bejeweled 2 [App Info], Pac-man [App Info] and the blue speedy hedgehog Sonic [App Info] - all of which you’ll find in the app store for a variety of prices, I have (ambitiously, as this is my first piece for the site), decided to usurp him and also detail some of the incredible independent titles you’ll find across the App Store.

Tapulous make an essential for every iPhone user - TapTap Revenge 2 [App Info], a completely free finger tapping Guitar Hero clone, with 150 free tracks to tap away to - they make money by selling premium editions of the game, so if you’re a fan of Lady Gaga [App Info], Dave Matthews Band [App Info], Coldplay [App Info], Nine Inch Nails [App Info] or Weezer [App Info], you’ll find an edition of Tap Tap Revenge designed for you (premium editions retail for $4.99).

Once your fingers need a break, accelerometer based racing games let you use your iPhone as a wheel - try Moto Chaser [App Info] from Freeverse for 99 cents, or splash out on Real Racing [App Info] or Need for Speed Undercover [App Info] both fantastic racing games. Games like Real Racing and NFS really do make you forget you’re using a phone.

You’ll find plenty of other EA titles on the iPhone, and many other major publishing houses are flocking to the iPhone platform - try The Sims 3 [App Info] if you feel like controlling peoples lives, or some of the incredible titles from iPhone only developer ngmoco:) - if you haven’t played Rolando [App Info] you’re missing out on a LocoRoco-like puzzling experience that’ll keep you scratching your brain for hours.

There are a lot of unique, iPhone only games available too. Some take advantage of the unique hardware of the iPhone, some are just from small indie iPhone only developers. Some of our favorites include the fantastically addictive Flight Control [App Info], Blue Attack [App Info] and Blue Defense [App Info] a pair of fantastic shooters, Labyrinth [App Info] the accelerometer based maze puzzle, Touch Grind [App Info] a fingertip skateboarding game, Fieldrunners [App Info] a fantastic tower defense game, and Motion-X Poker [App Info] realistic poker dice.

We could just keep going and going on games. You might want to keep an eye on our Top 148 Paid Games and Top 148 Free Games lists as well. They are updated daily with the top downloaded games.

Keen bargain hunters can find the latest price drops on a wide range of apps here on our website, in the Price Drops section and the newest apps available on our New Apps page. Both of those lists are also available on Twitter and as RSS feeds, see those pages for details.

The Best Camera

There an old saying, the best camera for the job is the one that you have with you. With the iPhone, you always have a camera with you. The camera in the iPhone and the iPhone 3G was a decent camera, but the 3.2 MP auto-focus camera in the iPhone 3GS looks fantastic. Developers have created some fantastic apps to take advantage of the camera. Here are a few favorites. PhotoGene [App Info] lets you do some great editing and filter effects on your images. Night Camera [App Info] uses the accelerometer in the camera to gauge when you are holding it still enough to take a low light shot. AutoStitch [App Info] creates amazing panoramas from your pictures, automatically. Darkslide [App Info] lets you view your Flickr collection and upload new photos.

It’s All About 148Apps

At 148Apps we review dozens of applications and games each week, alongside live coverage of important iPhone events and great editorials - over the last few weeks, we’ve visited E3, WWDC and even the Google IO event to keep an eye on the competition. 148Apps is completely free, and we’d love it if you participated in our forums and comments sections to tell us what you think of our content and the various apps and games that make up the store.

Oh, and speaking of stores - if you’re looking for any accessories we’ve got our very own iPhone Accessories Store - please grab an screen protector it’s for your own good, my iPod touch screen has scratches all over, and they wouldn’t be there if I had protected it from day one.

You will likely find your iPhone most intuitive and easy to use. If not, Apple has produced a pretty good page that tells you how to do everything on your iPhone. It’s a great reference for figuring out everything your new iPhone can do.

In closing, enjoy your new iPhone - it really is an incredible device - and we hope you’ll keep us in mind for the latest news, reviews and previews throughout your iPhone life.

In one of the lesser talked about new features of iPhone OS 3.0, you can now install more than 148 applications on your iPhone. With OS 3, the number of pages you can fill with applications has been raised from 9 to 11. This gives you a maximum number of applications you can display of 180.

So now the next question will obviously be, are you going to change the name of the site to 180Apps? No, we aren’t going to change. We’re happy with 148Apps and we’re sticking with it.

One of our slogans around here at 148Apps has been “148 Is Not Enough!” — there are even t-shirts available with that slogan. And now, are we supposed to change that?

Truth be told, with OS 3.0 there really is no limit to the number of apps you can install — other than available storage space. Even though your phone will get slower and slower with the more applications you install, you can keep adding them. The only limit is the number of applications that you can see on your phone application launcher. That maximum to display is 11 pages or a total of 180 icons including the 4 in the tray at the bottom. Beyond the 180 icons displayed, you can use Spotlight search to find and launch the applications. The only problem with this is that it will be nearly impossible to remember what applications you have installed beyond the 180 you can display.

It’s a very odd decision for Apple to make. Why add only 2 more pages? Why not just allow for an infinite number of pages? And even though there are only 11 pages, why allow users to install more than what you can display? These are answers that we will never know as Apple never discusses such minute details. We’ll just have to guess as to their motive. Personally, I think the whole reason was that they heard our call to add more — but didn’t want to make us too happy.

Accuterra maps include some interesting features you won’t find in Google Maps. For one, you can use them offline. That is huge if you are and enjoy going on hikes. Anyone who has ever gone to a National Park knows that the cell phone coverage is bad and you’re lucky if you can get data service at all. All levels of zoom of the topographic maps are available instantly.

There’s something very satisfying about zooming in and out, and scrolling around all without waiting for the images to load. It is completely instant. Fantastic.

Other great features include recording your tracks, creating walking tours (combinations of your tracks and photos), mark waypoints and points of interest, save and share your trails, and view a profile of a hike to gauge the elevation changes.

Here’s a quick introduction to the app from the developers.

OS 3.0 In-App Purchasing

Versions of the maps updated for OS 3.0 will also include some great in-app purchasing functionality. You’ll be able to buy small map regions for areas you are visiting for as little as $0.99. Think of a trip to Lake Tahoe and the ability to add the detailed map for that area with just a couple touches. Should be very powerful. The versions that take advantage of OS 3.0 should be hitting the app store soon.

Currently there are two free versions available in the app store. These include the Bay Area and Yosemite example applications.

SF Bay Area

Category: Navigation
Released: 2009-06-10
Price: FREE

Yosemite Lite

Category: Navigation
Released: 2009-06-10
Price: FREE

More screen shots after the jump.

E3 was definitely an exciting event, but there was nothing that promoted the uniqueness of the iPhone quite like Seek ‘n Spell. Due to the lack of meeting space at E3, we decided that it would be best to take the game out to its intended play area, the great outdoors (aka, outside the convention center).

The goal of Seek ‘n Spell is to spell out a word with letters that are virtually hidden all around you. After you have found a nice, open area, the game starts by scattering a bunch of letters across your iPhone map. Using GPS technology, you run around the field in an attempt to make as many words as possible. In our attempt at a game, Jeff and I faced off in a battle to the death. The rules were simple… the first one to spell a word wins. Due to time constraints and bizarre LA rain, we were forced to play a short match. My attempt at glory was quickly thwarted by Jeff, spelling something dumb like “WIN”. Apparently trying to spell “antidisestablishmentarianism” right off the bat wasn’t a smart move. Such is life.

Although I lost, I had a blast nimbly jumping over concrete barriers to quickly grab the 25+ tiles I needed for my word (I only got 3). Apparently I’m not the only one that has had fun with the game in the last few weeks… COAP 2009 (Come Out And Play) awarded Seek ‘n Spell with the “Best Use of Technology” award, which it definitely deserves.

Be sure to check out Seek ‘n Spell in the App Store, and if you like it, join up with the Retronym team in San Fran for one of their soon to be legendary Seek ‘n Spell meetups.

Seek ’n Spell

Category: Games / Word
Released: 2009-05-05
Price: $2.99 ON SALE: $0.99

For week four of my Utility of the Week picks I decided to pick an app that’s already been out for a while but happened to go on a huge sale this week - Air Mouse Pro.

Air Mouse Pro is an accelerometer-controller (or touchpad-like) mouse for your computer. After downloading the app and the computer software that goes along with it, Air Mouse Pro can become your mouse, your keyboard, or even an app similar to Remote (to control your media).

Air Mouse Pro is on sale for $1.99. It went on sale on June 12th and I’ve heard that it will only be on sale for a week, so get it by June 19th!

If you’d like to suggest a utility for my “utility of the week”, visit my thread on our forum, here. And below is a list of previous Utility of the Week picks:
Week 1 - Groups
Week 2 - Put Things Off
Week 3 - Stick It

Air Mouse Pro SALE

Our Rating:   Read Review >>

Category: Utilities
Released: 2009-07-03
Price: $1.99

I got a chance to sit down for a bit and talk games with Brian Robbins from Fuel Games. They are the development house that brought us Vans SK8: Pool Service. They were only showing off one game but had some exciting news for us about a game in development for release later this summer.

Not Just Another TD, THE TD

The exciting news they had for us was that they are porting the fantastic Desktop TD. Fuel Games is working directly with Paul Preece of Handdrawn Games to port the game. (try the flash version) to the iPhone. Desktop TD is considered by many to the be grandaddy and the best implementation of tower defense ever. While it’s rather simple graphics-wise, it does stress the strategy of the game more than most implementations in the iPhone. Look for this later in the summer.

Don’t Worry, Your Lifeboat is Coming Soon

But before Desktop TD hits the app store, we should be seeing another game from Fuel that looks interesting. It’s in the general genre of Flight Control, sort of a very casual time management game.

The synopsis is that you are controlling the passengers on a sinking ship by using the accelerometer and direct them to lifeboats that come in and out. The more passengers you save, the more points you get. The game seems fun, and challenging. This game should be in the app store soon.

More pictures are below.

Games released thus far by Fuel Games:

Vans SK8: Pool Service

Our Rating:   Read Review >>

Category: Games / Sports
Released: 2009-06-17
Price: $2.99

Vans SK8: Pool Service Lite

Category: Games / Sports
Released: 2009-06-17
Price: FREE

Spinner Deluxe

Category: Games / Puzzle
Released: 2009-04-16
Price: $1.99

Spinner Prologue

Category: Games / Puzzle
Released: 2009-04-16
Price: FREE

Red Rocket Games is new to the iPhone, and their first game, Little Runner is a fun, simple casual game where you level the path of you never-stopping little runner. You do this by raising and lowering pieces of the road before the runner gets there. There are slight changes to keep things interesting with each increasing level. Take a look at the trailer here:

The music is good, and it’s a good simple little game at $0.99.

Mevo - Simplified Rhythm Game

Little Runner

Category: Games / Arcade
Released: 2009-06-08
Price: $0.99

Red Rocket also announced a new music based rhythm game, Mevo. It’s a simplified rhythm game with just left and right on screen buttons, instead of the usual four, in time to the beat of the songs. The better you are with the rhythm, the better your little guy moves.

The app should be submitted to the app store soon and looks promising as a perhaps more casual rhythm game. Screen shots are below.

I think I’ve found my new favorite app.

DoGood from Mobil33t is a simple little app, well designed, and single purpose. DoGood presents you with a single task every day, a task that does a little bit of good for yourself or someone else.

Once you complete the task you can post a comment about what you did or the task itself. You can also read what other people have posted. Also available is an archive of previous task comments. Once you do the daily task you can post it to Twitter or Facebook via Safari Mobile.

See, I told you it was simple.

The app was developed by 3 Univerisity of Michigan students and is the first project of the company they started to develop iPhone apps, Mobil33t.

The app is free, so why not download it and do a little good?

DoGood

Category: Lifestyle
Released: 2009-06-07
Price: FREE

I was already expecting the message when I plugged in my iPod earlier today: A new firmware update is available. Click here for more information…

The firmware update, of course, was OS 3.0. Unfortunately, this wasn’t a routine update; iTunes wanted my money. $9.99, to be exact. I knew that I’d need it (more on that later), so I grudgingly paid.

But $9.99 is far more than most people will pay for an app, and while OS 3.0 adds a lot of features, for iPod Touch users, it will have to be treated as a product. And like any other product, things will ultimately come down to one decision: to buy, or not to buy?

Many users will balk at the thought of paying $9.99, especially those who are content to stick with basic iPod functionality and the endless stream of free apps. Hardcore enthusiasts will think otherwise, but a large chunk of users will probably put it off until something convinces them. Apple knows this, I’m sure. So what are they banking on to persuade iPod Touch owners to upgrade?

1. The features themselves—copy & paste, voice memos, note syncing, and so on. These will propel some folks to upgrade, sure, but the iPod was already a great device prior to OS 3.0. Copy and paste won’t woo everyone. Peer-to-peer gaming? Maybe. But again, more on that later.

2. Pushy demands for updates—god, I remember trying to avoid the upgrade to 2.2.1. It seemed so pointless, and I didn’t want to take the time to download it. But iTunes kept insisting that I upgrade, and I finally caved after a few weeks of pestering. I expect iTunes to do exactly the same this time around, and there’s even a block devoted to OS 3.0 in the App Store. Marketing tactics FTW—Apple will do everything in their power to convince you to upgrade. And why shouldn’t they? They’re a business.

3. Specific apps and games.

4. Peripherals.

Numbers 3 and 4 will make or break the OS 3.0 experience. We already know that many big-name apps are planning to use 3.0-exclusive features: the Sims 3 (in-app purchases), Touchgrind (play your own music), and the upcoming KillTest from ngmoco (formerly LiveFire; it will feature in-app purchases and local peer-to-peer play). But while many of those perks don’t exclude OS 2.x users from playing, some games will likely come out that will demand OS 3.0. It’s too early for that now, but as time goes on, it’ll become more and more common; think of games like Audiosurf that would have to rely on 3.0 APIs. And peripherals have the ability to greatly expand the iPod Touch’s ability as a gaming platform—imagine a Bluetooth joystick or a real D-pad, or even Guitar Hero-style add-ons—so if you want to utilize those, you’ll need to pay for the privilege of…paying for add-ons. Great.

So, the way I’m looking at it is: that $9.99 is really for access to these amazing games of the future. Most of them won’t appear for a few days, or a few weeks, or maybe even a few months. But like it or not, there will inevitably be some excellent, top-notch games coming out that will require 3.0—and I suspect that Apple knows it, and that they’re banking on third-party games and peripherals to sell 3.0 to you. Want to jump into a head-to-head game even without a WiFi network? Nope, sorry, no can do. What about that awesome expansion pack? Nope, you can’t have that either. What about this great game—everyone has it, but you can’t, just because you’re a cheapskate who wouldn’t upgrade your firmware.

I knew that eventually, I’d have the chance to review a game or an app with 3.0-exclusive functionality, so I downloaded 3.0 immediately. But even if I wasn’t a reviewer, I knew that there would be some game that would have me drooling over its 3.0-exclusive content, and that, eventually, I’d crack.

Do I like the fact that I had to pay for a firmware upgrade? Heck no. Why, for example, can’t I get a free incremental update? 3.0 has so many basic fixes, like eliminating the autocorrect that insisted you LOL in all-caps. But Apple can get away with it—and, because of that, it’s hard to stay too angry.

So how many iPod Touch owners will upgrade to OS 3.0? Apple is banking on them being a sizable chunk, and it looks like their strategy is going to pay off. Is OS 3.0 worth $9.99? That’s another question altogether, but a product is worth exactly as much as people are willing to pay for it. Have you downloaded the update already? Or are you waiting to hear others’ impressions?

Sirius/XM satellite radio first announced their iPhone application in the first quarter of this year during their earnings call. Since then we’ve gotten nothing but static. After multiple contacts with the Sirius/XM PR department all we could get from them was that yes, an app was under development, but no we can’t tell you more. Well, look what popped into the App Store tonight.

The Sirius XM Premium Online as the app is titled allows premium streaming subscribers (an extra $2.99/month for most subscribers) to listen to 120 different channels at up to a 128kbps.

The channel line up includes mainly music stations, but also includes some sports stations, comedy stations, and various news and talk stations. For a full list of channels, see the online channel lineup. There is tiny, light colored text, at the bottom of one of the pages that notes:

Some select programming, including MLB® Play-by-Play, NFL Play-by-Play, SIRIUS NASCAR® Radio, and Howard Stern, will not be available on the iPhone and iPod touch. Listeners will continue to be able to access that programming through the platforms they are currently offered on.

Why in the world they would offer that on the streaming on the desktop but not on the phone is beyond reason. Possibly contractual reasons, but still, silly.

Works over 3G

Interestingly, the Sirius XM app works over 3G. We’ve seen multiple instances of AT&T or Apple blocking apps the stream audio or video from doing so over the 3G network and restricting them to using Wifi only. This app was approved, perhaps because it’s a subscription model and is expected to have fewer users than other streaming apps. You can never tell what’s in the minds of the people that approve or reject apps.

Why Sirius/XM Over Free Apps

You might wonder why you would use this over Pandora (App Info) or Slacker (App Info)?. I have been a Sirius subscriber for a few years now, and I actually prefer radio stations with DJs. Even though I’m sure it’s all pre-recorded, it still makes it a little more interesting. I also like to think that maybe there are actual people picking the next song and it’s not just some computer picking the next song it thinks I might like. It’s a preference.

If you are a Sirius or XM subscriber, I’d say pick it up. Never know when you might want to listen on the go. If you aren’t a subscriber, you can always grab a free 7-day trial to see if you like it.

The Sirius XM Premium Online is available in the App Store now. [iTunes Link]

Hit the jump for more screen shots of the Sirius XM app.

One of the big features for iPhone OS 3.0 is in-app purchasing. The feature allows you to buy expansion packs for games and applications while in the application. It’s a way to extend the game a little while not requiring you to purchase a whole new application.

Now that 3.0 has gone live, we’ve got first looks at a couple games that have been upgraded to take advantage of these features.

Flick Fishing from Freeverse

Freeverse have launched an updated to Flick Fishing today that takes advantage of in app purchasing by allowing you to buy a new level called Private Island for $0.99. This island adds both a new location to fish in the game along with some new fish and a new game mode, Fish Jack.

One thing that is interesting is that the Flick Fishing app is currently $0.99 itself. Unfortunately developers can’t offer in-app purchasing for less than $0.99. It has to be the same price points as apps in the app store ($0.99 - $999.99, in increments of $1.00). Another requirement is that the apps that utilize in-app purchasing must be paid apps — free apps can not offer in-app purchasing.

Enigmo from Pangea Software

Pangea has updated Enigmo to allow you to purchase level packs directly in the game. The expands their previous offering that allowed you to download user-created level packs. Currently available are 2 different kids level packs that are specifically designed simple levels for kids. Each of the 2 packs contains 25 new levels and costs $0.99.

One special feature that Enigmo exposes right on the level purchase screen is the ability to restore previous purchases. This requirement from Apple is a fairly recent development. Apple has told developers that they need to provide a way for users to get back anything they have purchased in-app in case of data loss. In other words if you purchase something in the app and your phone needs to be restored, there needs to be a way for you to get back the items that you purchased. It will be interesting to see how different developers handle this requirement.

I think we’ll quickly see lots of games add options for in-app purchasing. While these two games have done it correctly, we’ll see lots of developers do it the wrong way — provide too little value for the money. While developers are trying to increase revenue in an app store with slowly dropping prices, consumers used to those lower prices are going to be hesitant to make in app purchases without a great incentive to buy.

Flick Fishing

Our Rating:   Read Review >>

Category: Games / Adventure
Released: 2008-11-06
Price: $0.99

Enigmo

Our Rating:   Read Review >>

Category: Games / Kids
Released: 2009-06-17
Price: $2.99

ngmoco:) announced yesterday it’s plus+ network — a community gaming platform similar in function to the XBox Live network or the Playstation Network, but for the iPhone.

The plus+ network lets you create an identity that you will eventually be able to use across all ngmoco:) games and games from other developers that integrate with the system. This identity lets you track your achievements, compare to friends, send and receive challenges, etc. Much like XBL or PSN, you are given a score across all games that is derived from achievements in those games.

The challenges system takes advantage of the push notification services of the new iPhone OS 3.0 which sends the notice of a new challenge directly to the phone.

Here’s a quick look at what it looks like in the just updated Star Defense, version 1.2 for iPhone OS 3.0.

When you first launch the new Star Defense, you’ll see a new logo in the upper right, the plus+ logo. Click the logo and you will be prompted to login or join the network. If you click join it will walk you through the usual steps to create an account — gamer tag, password, email, etc.

From there you can add friends, check your achievements in the games registered, read news on all of the games, etc.

More functionality will come once you add a few friends and start sending challenges back and forth.

So far, the plus+ network looks promising. I can’t wait to see more games added. Feel free to add me as a friend, let’s see how this thing works. I’m jeff148apps on the plus+ network.

Super Happy Fun Fun has been a mobile developer for 6 years. They have recently teamed up with TiltnTwist to start releasing games for the iPhone. We got a chance to meet with Mark Pierce from Super Happy Fun Fun at WWDC to see Snowboarding TnT, a recently released, promising looking mobile port. We also talked about some other games that they have in development for the iPhone.

Snowboarding TNT is a downhill snowboarding game where you perform stunts for points - similar to the various SSX games. There are no buttons, you use the accelerometer to control the action — both to control the board direction and do the in air tricks.

Here’s a description of the game from it’s press release:

Players can become a male or female ‘boarder, and can pick the language of their choice among English, Spanish, French, Italian, or German. They enjoy six downhill courses starting with Easy Street and Bunny Slope, and increasing in difficulty as they slide through Turtle Run, Quickdraw, The Chute, and Holy Moses.

The “fun factor” in Snowboarding TNT is immediate and unrelenting as gamers are required to do lots of things simultaneously – control downhill maneuvers and speed, avoid crashing into trees and smashing into huge rocks (Wipeout!), maneuver through narrow tunnels with hanging ice cycles, and slice through strategically placed course gates – while performing over 30 cool jumps and airborne tricks en route to the finish line and a mob of cheering fans.

Players gain points as they successfully complete jumps, tricks, and race against the clock. High scores can be posted on the scoreboard, encouraging friendly competitions with board buddies and family members.

Snowboarding TnT

Category: Games / Racing
Released: 2009-06-01
Price: $1.99

Big Buck Hunter Pro

Also coming soon, but we don’t know when, is the iPhone version of the hugely popular Big Buck Hunter Pro. This is the arcade game that you see in all the sports bars and sporting goods stores. The arcade game has a unique feature where you can sign up for an account and tie all of the games you play together, on any machine.

The iPhone version will allow you to play all of the fully 3D levels of the arcade game. You will also be able to tie the mobile game to your Big Buck Hunter account and track your progress on the global leader boards in both the arcade and mobile version, as well as helping you find locations nearby with the arcade game.

Big Buck Hunter Pro is expected in the third quarter this year.