Category Archives: iOS (all)

Amazon AutoRip for Vinyl Records gives customers free MP3 copies

Vinyl record fans don’t have to rip their own digital recordings any more. Amazon today announced AutoRip for Vinyl Records, which gives customers who have purchased vinyl records from the company since 1998 a free MP3 version of those albums. This expands on the AutoRip CD program announced in January, 2013.

At this point, Amazon notes that “thousands of records, including titles from every major record label” are available for AutoRip and more are being added all the time. To determine if a record is available in MP3 format, customers just need to look for the AutoRip logo — those little blue and green arrows seen above — when buying CDs or vinyl.

Net Applications: Safari still the top mobile browser

According to the latest data from Net Applications, Apple’s Safari still dominates mobile browser web traffic. As reported by John Paczkowski at AllThingsD, Safari for iOS grabbed 61.79 percent of all mobile browser web traffic in March of 2013, up from 55.41 percent in February.

Net Applications bases its numbers on 160 million visits to more than 40,000 websites each month. The numbers show that despite being installed on many more devices than Safari, Google’s Android browser on captures 21.86 percent of mobile web traffic, followed by Opera Mini at 8.4 percent.

Third Eye Crime combines a stealth game with a psychic twist

I saw quite a few really terrific indie games at GDC last week, but Third Eye Crime was one of my favorites on iOS. It’s being put together by a studio called Moonshot Games, made up of game industry veterans working on mobile games together after having some bad experiences with console publishing. Third Eye Crime is a stealth game, where you need to sneak around a series of levels while trying to avoid armed guards. But the twist here is that you’ve got some psychic ability, so not only can you see where the guards are looking (always important in games like this), but you can see where they’re planning to look next, and lay out your escape route accordingly.

It’s very interesting just how much this changes the game. In Third Eye Crime, guards never really give up, so once you’ve attracted their attention, it’s a game of diving in and out of various hidey-holes, constantly trying to dodge your pursuers. And you literally have to stay one step ahead of them, keeping an eye on where they are and where they’re going, so you can duck out safely. Fortunately, you get access to a few other tools, like a “patsy” spell that will create a fake clone of you, or other various abilities. But your enemies have some extra moves as well: I saw sniper enemies that can take you out with one shot right away.

Witching Hour adds multiplayer into Ravenmark Mercenaries

Last year, Witching Hour Studios (a team that’s grown to about eight people now) released Ravenmark: Scourge of Estellion, a turn-based strategy title that felt way bigger than the little iPhone’s screen it played on. The gameplay is complex (there are lots of units to control and every unit counters and is countered by another), but it’s also very impressive, featuring big-scale battles and a story to match.

Ever since Ravenmark arrived, fans have been clamoring for multiplayer, and last week at GDC I met up with Witching Hour to see Ravenmark: Mercenaries, a new entry in the series that adds the ability to play against other humans, along with lots of other very impressive features.

Everplay Interactive plans a solid lineup this year

Developer Kris Jones started out his iOS game design career at a company called Thunder Game Works, which made a popular early App Store game called Trenches before the company connected up with EA as a publisher. These days, Jones runs his own studio of twelve people called Everplay Interactive, and they’ve created some really great games for iOS, including Spell Sword (one of my favorites), Free 2 Die, and the simple but devious 1001 Attempts.

Jones met up with me at GDC last week to chat about what he’s working on now, and he and Everplay have a full plate of different titles incoming. Ace of Blades is probably the highest profile release he’s working on: It’s a Spell Sword followup that turns the original arena-based survival game into a full action adventure title. Ace of Blades has you exploring a 2D platforming world, fighting new enemies and facing down puzzles, as you collect a number (probably four, says Jones, but that may change) of blades with different magical abilities.

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