Analysis / Opinion
Tap Tap Revolution to be sold by Tapulous, called Tap Tap Revenge
Nate True, iPhone developer extraordinaire and friend of Apple (but who isn’t, really), has sold off his Tap Tap Revolution game to a company called Tapulous, and they’re renaming it Tap Tap Revenge and are going to try selling it in the iPhone’s (and iPod touch’s) App Store. The game isn’t much tweaked from its jailbroken incarnation, but there is a chaotic two-player mode, seen above, that could be a lot of fun. I’ve never played the original version, so I have no idea what’s up with the shaking, but it looks like it incorporates some accelerometer fun as well.
If you’re a super TTR fan, Tapulous tells us that they’ve got a wallpaper to download on their site right now, and that more videos will be coming out over the weekend, so stay tuned. All these games are looking terrific, but of course the one thing we haven’t heard confirmed from any of them is when and if they’ll be showing up on the App Store. That, it seems, is up to Apple. It doesn’t matter how many games you’ve got ready to go — if Apple doesn’t have them set for download right away, both the devs and iPhone owners will miss a nice opportunity.
[tapulous]
Popularity: 4% [?]
(No Ratings Yet)
Loading ... 
Walt Mossberg on switching from Windows to Mac
“Some General Tips for Switch to Mac From Windows,” is Walt Mossberg’s new post in which he tells users, well, how to switch from Windows to a Mac with ease. He covers the menu bar, task bar, Start menu, control panel, keyboard shortcuts, quitting programs, minimizing windows, switching programs, right-clicking, and finally, dealing with the screen.
So, if you are a new Mac user, you might find these tips and tricks helpful. (Walt notes that you can also find tips similar to his on Apple’s Mac 101 website.) I’m personally grateful to Walt for writing this blog entry, which is part of a larger article in the Wall Street Journal. This shows that there are still true big media journalists who are open to other platforms besides Windows/PC.
Apple also invites you to check out our ever-growing Mac 101 section to find tips, tricks and more for getting around in Mac OS X. Thanks, Christine!
Popularity: 6% [?]
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...
Finding Jobs 2.0
Is it even possible? Forbes does a little bit of speculating on just who might take over when Jobs takes his leave from Apple, and candidates aren’t exactly jumping out of the woodwork. Jobs is about as visionary as they come — only a guy like Steve could lead Apple from the iMac to the iPod to the iPhone, breaking records and status quo the whole time. Phil Schiller and Scott Forstall are tossed out as two names currently within Apple’s ranks, but Jobs is almost as much of a company mascot as he is a CEO. As consultant Patrick Sweeney says in the article, anyone who steps into the turtleneck has to fit completely into the culture of the company, or it won’t work.
And forget the day-to-day and design decisions — who’s going to stand on stage and say “boom” at WWDC and Macworld? Here at TUAW, we’re pretty sure the rumors of Jobs’ ill health are exaggerated; he’s probably not going anywhere anytime fast. But at the same time, it’s hard to imagine an Apple without him at all.
[forbes]
Popularity: 6% [?]
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...
Transgaming makes deal with Ubisoft
First EA, and now gaming giant Ubisoft has inked a deal with Transgaming to wrap their titles in Cider and port them over to the Mac. Which seems like great news — Ubisoft has a huge number of quality titles, and bringing those to the Mac must be great for gamers who appreciate a better operating system. But not so fast.
First things first, Cider hasn’t exactly proven itself in terms of making great games, or even ports for that matter. And apparently Ubisoft is taking it slow — rather than bring us games like Prince of Persia, Assassin’s Creed or the great Rainbow Six Vegas series, we’re getting… wait for it… Catz and Dogz. Oh, and CSI: Hard Evidence, which was hardly a blockbuster on game shelves.
It’s definitely good news that Mac gamers are getting more to play, but if this is all we’re going to get, they can keep it. If they wanted to port us Far Cry 2 when it comes out, or maybe even the long-awaited Beyond Good and Evil 2 whenever it’s done, awesome. But if all we’re going to get is years-old bottom-of-the-barrel crapware, we’ll stick with original Mac game developers, thanks.
[via Big Download]
Popularity: 5% [?]
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...
Rolando: A different iPhone game
Here we go. You guys sounded really jaded on the comments for the kart racing game, so here’s an iPhone game that might actually break some new ground. It’s called Rolando — Simon Oliver is the developer, and he sent us a tip and the trailer above, and if you’re looking for some fun and innovation in iPhone gaming, here you go. It looks kind of like a cocktail of LocoRoco, Lemmings, Kirby’s Canvas and Katamari Damacy all mixed together with some iPhone originality for good measure. With a mix like that, you can’t go wrong.
Simon tells us it’s a “physics-based platform/puzzler.”. He says that there will be four different worlds in the game, with ten levels each, including boss levels and bonus stages, and while it’s not seen in the video, there might be a little accelerometer action as well. There are a few different versions of the little circular guys, called Rolandos (the King Rolando, with the crown in the video, has to be moved around by the others, for instance), as well as various implements throughout the levels that can be controlled directly. Simon’s aiming to get it in the App Store by August, and while pricing hasn’t been finalized, he’s thinking $9.99 sounds good.
Don’t like kart racing on the iPhone? As long as we can get a few good original games looking as good as this one does, you may not have to worry.
Popularity: 4% [?]
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...
