22Cans speeds up the Curiosity cube

22Cans speeds up the Curiosity cube:

Peter Molyneux's 22Cans studio put out Curiosity on iOS last year, as a sort of a social game-slash-experiment. The idea was that hundreds of thousands of people would be able to download the app, and then use it chip away (by tapping) on a virtual cube, unearthing layer after layer of virtual cubes, with only one person getting the chance to eventually tap on the center. Originally, the project was scheduled to end sometime next year, but that's become too long for 22Cans: The company has decided to update the app down to the last 50 layers.

"I think six months is a long time for this to go on," Molyneux has told Wired. "We're on the cusp of it being forgotten about." That's certainly true -- the iOS market moves quickly, and Curiosity never really did catch players' attention the way 22Cans hoped it would. But Molyneux believes that even though the app may have fallen down many players' priority lists, the project is worth following through on. "It is life-changing in any measurable way," he says about the reward hidden at the center of the cube. "I'm telling you, you want this."

Interesting. Curiosity has also been playing with monetization, offering in-app purchases to both remove cubes from the game more quickly, and even offering to put them back on for a certain price. But for all of its experimenting, Molyneux says the game has only made "a few tens of thousands" of British pounds.

22Cans is also expected to announce another new title -- the company is currently working on a followup to Populous called Godus, which it ran a successful Kickstarter campaign for, and boosting Curiosity's interest will help them promote the next title after that. So if interest picks up again, it may not be long at all before we finally see these last 50 layers chipped away. And then, we'll all get to finally find out just "what's in the cube."

22Cans speeds up the Curiosity cube originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 01 May 2013 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Standout iOS apps from TechCrunch Disrupt

Standout iOS apps from TechCrunch Disrupt:

TechCrunch Disrupt is all about startups and one of the hottest areas of innovation is apps. Not surprisingly, there was an abundance of companies showcasing new and exciting titles on the conference floor. Thanks to the footwork of our own Mike Rose, we were able to hand-picked several standout iOS apps that were on display. Keep an eye on these companies below -- they may be small now, but they could be the next Instapaper.

Mapp2link

Mapp2link combines location awareness with messaging to help you connect with nearby LinkedIn contacts. The app uses push notifications so you'll always know when a contact is in your vicinity. Mapp2link is available for free in the iOS App Store.

Yopine

Yopine is a group-mind polling app that lets you ask for opinions and get input from friends before you make an important decision. You can check out the free Yopine app in the iOS App Store.

Quoter

Quoter is the Instagram for your platitudes. The app places your favorite quotes into striking templates and allows you to share them with your friends and family. Quoter is available for free in the iOS App Store.

Tweekaboo

Tweekaboo is a private social network that lets you create a digital family scrapbook and share those precious moments with your close family members. Tweekaboo is available for free from the iOS App Store.

SaveTheMom

Save The Mom takes all your family's communications and compiles them into one app so everyone can see your lists, appointments, photos and more. Save The Mom is available for free from the iOS App Store.

Purchext

Purchext is an expense reporting tool for a child's allowance. It helps parents track their children's spending by requiring them to submit a receipt and get approval for a purchase. Money for the purchase is pulled from funds placed on a securely borrowed credit card. You can learn more about the service on Purchext's website and from this TechCrunch Disrupt article.

Park Tag

Park Tag wants to make parking easier by connecting a person who is vacating a parking spot with someone who is in the same vicinity looking for a space to park their car. It's an ambitious use of social networking. The Park Tag app is available for free from the iOS App Store.

Standout iOS apps from TechCrunch Disrupt originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 01 May 2013 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tipping Point Adventure for iPad is clever and engaging

Tipping Point Adventure for iPad is clever and engaging:

My experience as an adventure game player goes way back to the text-only Colossal Cave game, which then morphed into the classic Zork text games from Infocom (which, by the way, you can play even now on iOS with the Lost Treasures of Infocom app).

Now, with speed and graphic power, games are a lot more immersive and fun to play. Tipping Point Adventure, is a recent iPad-only release that is rich in puzzles and high quality graphics. The game is currently on sale for U.S. $1.99 in the app store. You begin the game sitting in your virtual home watching TV, when a strange message sets you off on an epic adventure. At first, I was stabbing around the screen looking for things to interact with, but soon I saw a logic to the way the game was constructed. I liked a lot of the subtle things the author has done, like picking up the TV remote and selecting stations has old movies actually playing on the TV. The game has built-in hints available for in-app purchase, and you don't have to buy them, though I did have to pick up one or two. One hint told me I had to go to a particular TV channel for a message, and with hundreds of channels available, I don't think I would have figured that one out for myself.

Gallery: Tipping Point Adventure screen shots

There's a sizable story line, lots of puzzles and challenges to play with, an original music score, and quite a few surprises to find.

Tipping Point is a great, reasonably priced diversion that offers up a nice throwback experience to those old text-only adventure games of old. The game is a hefty 255 MB download, and requires iOS 4.3 or later.

Tipping Point Adventure for iPad is clever and engaging originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 01 May 2013 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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McDonald's releases McPlay app: 'Hey kids, this is advertising'

McDonald's releases McPlay app: 'Hey kids, this is advertising':

McDonald's has awkwardly tried to enter the App Store marketplace with an app it calls "McPlay," available for free on the App Store right now. I wouldn't recommend a download (personally, I've boycotted the golden arches for almost a decade now), but it is fascinating to see the fast-food giant not quite understand how to do iOS-style marketing. The app is just one game at the moment, asking players to throw a ball into a Happy Meal box. And McDonald's is obviously being as careful as it possibly can with this one. Not only is the app all about gathering nutritious food for kids, but there's a "for parents" nutrition section, and as you can see in the screenshot above, the app proudly proclaims, "Hey kids, this is advertising!" Funny.

I think there is room for McDonald's on the App Store -- big brands like Starbucks and Walmart have seen some interesting success by integrating iPhones into their marketing plans. But this is just plain goofy, and it shows that the biggest fast-food chain in the world wasn't quite sure what to do with its first iOS entry. Better luck next time, McD's.

[via App Advice]

McDonald's releases McPlay app: 'Hey kids, this is advertising' originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 01 May 2013 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Daily iPhone App: House of the Dead Overkill - The Lost Reels is gross but innovative

Daily iPhone App: House of the Dead Overkill - The Lost Reels is gross but innovative:

There are some really excellent apps arriving on the App Store tonight (including Firaxis' great Haunted Hollow), but before we tackle that new crop, I did want to mention this app, released last week by Sega. House of the Dead, if you're not aware, is an arcade shooting game, where you take on a whole haunted house full of zombies and demons with a light gun (and usually a friend, if you're playing in an arcade with quarters). House of the Dead: Overkill was a version of the game that came to Nintendo's Wii system a little while back, and this version, sub-subtitled The Lost Reels, is a revamp of that game, made specifically for iOS devices.

Now, this game is gross, and if you've not into gory zombies and bad guys (and girls), then you probably won't get much out of this -- like I said, stay tuned for Haunted Hollow and a few other big releases tonight. But the main reason I wanted to mention this one is that it has one of the best control schemes for a first-person shooter on the App Store I've ever seen.

Most FPS games don't end up quite making the jump over to a touchscreen interface without stumbling. There's two routes devs have gone so far: Either they just go all-in on clumsy and not-so-precise virtual controls, or they try something really nuts (Zynga's The Drowning and Industrial Toys' Morning Star are two upcoming FPSes with innovative control schemes). House of the Dead does have a pretty lame virtual control scheme, if you want to try things that way, but the game also has an accelerator-based control scheme, and that one's really fun. You tilt your iDevice around to guide your target, tap to fire, and the whole thing actually feels very intuitive. It's one of the best ways to play a game like this I've ever seen implemented on iOS.

Unfortunately, the rest of the game is kind of a mess. To stay under the download size limit, Sega has cut off a lot of the in-game dialogue and cutscenes that made the original Overkill as charming as it was, and while the game costs $4.99, you actually have to buy extra levels and content via in-app purchase -- why Sega chose to do these things the way they did, I have no idea. Honestly, I can't really recommend this one at full price, though it's worth a try for a buck or two.

All that said, however, that control scheme is very impressive. If someone can lift that scheme out of this game and put it in a game worth playing, I'd really appreciate that. House of the Dead: Overkill: The Lost Reels is available right now.

Daily iPhone App: House of the Dead Overkill - The Lost Reels is gross but innovative originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 01 May 2013 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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How the Hell Did This Helicopter Land on a Rail?

How the Hell Did This Helicopter Land on a Rail?:

Helicopters aren't supposed to do this. I know this because I've seen too many military movies (Black Hawk Down, Zero Dark Thirty) where the chopper nosedives into destruction. They're sensitive machines. You need a clear landing pad! You need an open target! You don't land a freaking helicopter on a freeway guard rail. Or do you?
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Tumblr, Swype, and More

Tumblr, Swype, and More:

Many long awaited favorites have finally made themselves available, and there's plenty for you to enjoy in this week's best Android and Windows Phone apps. More »