Appletell review: Wingnuts Moto Racer for iPhone

Section: iPod + iTunes, iPod touch, iPhone + Communications, iPhone, iPhone SDK & Apps, Features, Review Genre: Racing Developer: Freeverse File Size: 15.1MB Version Reviewed: 1.0 Requirements: iPhone 2.0 software Compatibility: iPhone and iPod touch Rating: 9+ (infrequent/mild cartoon or fantasy violence) Price $9.99 Was there ever a doubt Freeverse would be right there on the launch of Apple’s App Store? I imagine they had their iPhone games programmed and ready to go before the iPhone was even announced. The original iPhone. I picture a closet full of games in boxes marked, “Waiting for Accelerometer,” “Waiting for Mac OS Touch,” “Waiting for Post-Robot Apocalypse Transference Gaming.” For today’s technology, Freeverse had two games in the App Store on launch day: Big Bang Sudoku is based on the Sudoku game in their Big Bang Brain Games package for the Macintosh, but the subject of this review—Wingnuts Moto Racer—is built from the ground up for the iPhone, despite the Wingnuts name. In fact, that’s a bit confusing, as Wingnuts Moto Racer seemingly bears little resemblance with its namesake, either in gameplay or characters. In fact, the only connection I can find is that they’re both tremendously fun. Wingnuts Moto Racer is a racing game, of sorts. It’s actually more of a time trial game, as the point is to race through checkpoints in order to...save a cat? Let’s consider this again; a cat has been stolen, and it’s up to one of three motorcyclists to race through various locales around the world, avoiding traffic, biker thugs and nature in order to save the day. Why’s this cat so important? I guess it doesn’t matter, just as long as it gives you an excuse to race. The controls are easy to pick up and play, but quite hard to get comfortable with. I suppose there’ll come a point when we’ll all be masters of using the iPhone as a steering wheel, but right now it’s a study in overcompensation and frustration in just about every game that uses the accelerometer. I constantly found myself steering too hard to avoid an object, only to quickly find myself doing the same on the other side of the road. It doesn’t help that there’s no course map on the screen, nor that the road is often not presented until you’re right on top of it. In other words, hills behave like hills, and it’s only after numerous attempts that you’ll have memorized turns and be prepared to handle them. Perhaps it’s a good thing, then, that crashing into rocks and buildings barely even slows you down. It’s only after you get comfortable with the controls that you can appreciate the cinematic flair to the game. It’s a perfect choice for showing off your iPhone’s capabilities. Yes, the graphics are sweet, but it’s more important that Freeverse knows what do with them than how to program for them. So, we get pretty cool cut scenes of your biker’s hang time, slick shots of the bikers before the race (so dramatic are they in their poses that I have to assume they’re European; let’s say...Toulouse, just because it sounds sexy in that exotic, 1960s sort of way), and environments that are more about the “cool” factor than about logic. (Building roads through trees? Viva Toulouse!) Sadly, it’s not all action and fun, as the game does hit a couple of snags along the way. First off, as mentioned above, it’s terribly frustrating at first as you learn to master the accelerometer. I made it through the first level in one shot, but not even three hours of standing in line for an iPhone 3G for my wife was enough for me get past level two. Perhaps I was distracted by all the complaining. Regardless, be prepared to invest some time in the game, especially since you can’t pause the action. The only way out of it is to hit the Home Button, which ends the game completely. You can hop back into any course you’ve unlocked, but if you were having a particularly good run before you were interrupted, you’ll lose it. Second, the ability to punch other bikers is really cool, but it doesn’t work as it should. You accelerate by pressing the “Gas” button on the lower left of the screen, and you’re supposed to punch when the “Fist” icon appears in the upper left. I tried reaching this with my finger so I wouldn’t have to let up on the gas, but that didn’t seem to work. So, I pull my thumb off the gas to hit the fist, which causes me to slow down, which causes me to fall out of range with the guy I’m trying to hit. It seems to me the fist would’ve been better placed on the lower right of the screen. Or, maybe Freeverse really wanted this to be has hard as it is to punch someone while you’re actually driving a motorcycle. This isn’t a racing game, it’s a racing sim! And if there’s one thing Moto Racer made perfectly clear to me, it’s that iPhone case developers are going to have to start including headphone compartments. Moto Racer sounds great, especially the music, but you don’t get this from the tiny speakers in the iPhone. You really need to play the game with headphones to get the full effect, so be sure to have some handy. Wingnuts Moto Racer is a fantastic introduction to iPhone gaming. I imagine a plague of racing games will soon sweep across the iPhone, at which point Moto Racer may get lost amongst the masses. Right now, though, it’s exactly what an iPhone game should be; quick, fun, and great for showing off. Who knew that as early as iPhone 2.0 launch day we’d have games like this to make it quite clear iPhone gaming his here to stay? I mean, other than the gang at Freeverse, of course. Appletell Rating: Purchase Wingnuts Moto Racer Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

So Hot Right Now: Top 10 Appletell posts for the week of July 13, 2008

Section: Apple, Apple News, Software + Apps, iPod + iTunes, iPhone + Communications, Mac + ComputersHaven’t caught all of the Appletell news this week? Here’s your chance to catch up on this week’s top 10 articles! iPhone 3G cases and accessories from Griffin“ Griffin Technology, maker of all things iPod and iPhone, has announced the general availability of its protective cases and other accessories for the iPhone 3G. Griffin’s case offerings for iPhone 3G include Wave,…” MORE »Appletell Review - Super Monkey Ball for iPhone“ Genre: Action Developer: SEGA File Size: 35.2MB Version Reviewed: 1.0 Requirements: iPhone 2.0 software Compatibility: iPhone and iPod touch Rating: 4+ …” MORE »iPhone Dev Team shows off first jailbroken iPhone 3G“ I guess it was inevitable The iPhone Dev Team has a new video showing off their PwnageTool 2.0, which jailbreaks the new iPhone 3G. Though this provides no public date of release for the software, it does reopen doors. When the…” MORE »Apple sells over 1 million iPhone 3Gs, 10 million apps downloaded“Apple had themselves quite a nice weekend, even if many of its customers didn’t. The company reported today that over one million iPhone 3Gs were sold by Sunday.  “iPhone 3G had a stunning opening weekend,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s…” MORE »Walt Mossberg’s top ten iPhone apps“ Walt Mossberg of The Wall Street Journal recently wrote in his column about ten iPhone apps, in the new app store, that he feels are worth checking out. I think it’s a really great “getting started” guide…” MORE »Will the iPhone kill iPod Click Wheel gaming?“Yes, and it’s about time we put it out of its misery. Even before the iPhone, the iPod never stood a chance as a legitimate gaming device. This saddens me somewhat, too, because I really wanted it…” MORE »iPhone second day delays“Six and one-half hours in line at the Apple Store, added to the three hours spent waiting in line at at AT&T store, only to be told that they had run out. Is the white, 16 gig iPhone 3G…” MORE »Macintosh/iPhone software update round-up - July 12-13, 2008“Macintosh and iPhone software updates and announcements for July 12-13, 2008:  Open Door Networks, Inc. and Project A, Inc. announced they have collaborated to ship iEnvision through Apple’s just-opened App Store. One of the…” MORE »Macintosh/iPhone software update round-up - July 14, 2008“Macintosh and iPhone software updates and announcements for July 14, 2008:  Artlandia has released Artlandia LivePresets, a new Adobe Illustrator plug-in that lets the user interactively edit multiple art objects from a…” MORE »We knew it would happen; Apple sues Psystar“When Psystar started shipping their Open Computer in April, most in the tech industry thought it wasn’t a matter of if, but when, Apple would sue them. Apple has always been very protective of their license that only allows…” MORE » Full Story » | Written by NEWS for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Review: Comic Touch for iPhone

Lots of nice touches and a good dose of humor help make Comic Touch a fun addition to your iPhone collection. However, you’ll need patience to figure out of all of the photo editor’s tricks.

Buying an iPhone: Two store process?

Section: The Apple Store employee seemed very nervous as he approached me, yesterday. I’d been standing in line for nearly three hours, as had everyone else, and he was about to tell me I couldn’t upgrade my wife’s Nokia phone to an iPhone 3G. After he tried to give me the reason, I told him, “Are you sure? Because I went to an AT&T store on Sunday, and the guy said since her Nokia line is already on my Family Talk plan, I could switch her to the iPhone, but would have to pay extra for the data plan.” The employee said they’re not equipped to do that at the Apple store, to which I replied. “Well, that’s my fault for not confirming it, so I won’t freak out on you.” The employee was relieved. He glanced at the line behind me, and sighed, “Thank you.” I felt bad for the guy. Waiting three hours for a phone, half of which were spent standing in the mid-day sun on a 90° day, will set anyone to boiling. Tell that person after the wait that he can’t get the phone, and you’ve got an explosive situation on your hands. I get why Apple’s doing the whole in-store iPhone 3G activation thing, but I don’t get why they didn’t have more 1 to 3 people at a time activating phones. I also don’t get why the Apple employees, a week after the launch, still aren’t better trained on how to handle anything but the most basic activations. And considering that they aren’t, I don’t get why Apple isn’t sending more phones to AT&T...because that’s where I had to go to complete my iPhone set-up. This is what I needed to do: I have a 1st gen iPhone sharing minutes and text messaging with my wife’s Nokia on AT&T’s Family Talk plan. I’m the primary account holder, and wanted to keep my iPhone while upgrading my wife’s Nokia to the iPhone 3G. The AT&T dude said this wouldn’t be a problem. Apple said it was. Apparently, they had an AT&T rep in the back of the store, and he said my wife’s line couldn’t be upgraded. No reason was provided, the Apple employees were too busy to keep bugging him for one, and they wouldn’t let me talk to the guy. But, what I could do is upgrade my iPhone and give my wife the old one. Fine, except my wife really didn’t want the old one, and I did. 3G network aside, I prefer the look and feel of the old iPhone in every way. I’d been in line for three hours, though, and wasn’t about to leave empty handed. Fine. I upgraded my line, and figured I’d either end up using the new phone, or my wife and I would just swap numbers. On the way home, though, I passed the AT&T store I’d visited earlier that week. The same employee was there, so I explained the situation. “No problem,” he said. “Bring in all three phones.” I did, and here’s what happened. The AT&T rep took the SIM card from my wife’s Nokia and put it in the new iPhone. He did something on the computer to switch the account with HQ, and now my wife’s information was on the iPhone 3G. Because that phone had been activated at the Apple store, it was all set and working right there with her number. I’m not sure what he did online with my account, if anything, but said I’d have to reactivate my old iPhone with iTunes. The original SIM card could probably stay in place, but he gave me the new SIM out of the iPhone 3G just to be sure. Back home, I connected the iPhone to the computer, and it behaved as if it was brand new. Not good, since it wasn’t recognizing my account. So, I swapped out the SIM card with the new one I’d set up in the iPhone 3G at the Apple Store, and it knew my name and number. I used this to reactive the old phone through iTunes (much as when I originally bought it), told it I need the $20/month data plan, and received an e-mail 10 minutes later stating everything was set. So, despite Apple’s claims to the contrary, I was able to upgrade my wife to the iPhone 3G while retaining my account on my original iPhone...I just needed AT&T’s help to do it. If you don’t have an AT&T store near you, no worries. You can handle the SIM swapping on your own, then get on the phone with AT&T customer service. Now, not everyone will have the success I did, I’m sure. The iPhone 3G upgrade mess flows deep and wide, with variables the Apple employees aren’t trained to work around. It’s not safe to assume you can always do what Apple tells you and just fix it later, but you need not give up on getting the iPhone 3G, either. Call AT&T or visit a store before you go to Apple, and tell them what you want your set-up to be. If they say it’s possible (you may want to get that in writing, just to be safe) and Apple says it’s not, don’t panic. Get the phone, activate it, and head straight to AT&T to make it all work. Just be sure to plan on taking the whole day off, and don’t do it when it’s 90° outside. Oh, and try to be nice to the Apple Store employees. None of them wanted this, and trust me; they want you to get your iPhone more than you want it yourself. The sooner you’ve got it, the sooner you’re out of the store, and the sooner they can get back to selling iPods and Dora the Explorer games. Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Bugs & Fixes: Fixing iPhone 2.0 sync problems

Having iPhone problems after last week’s iPhone 2.0 and MobileMe releases? Te Landau tells you how to fix iPhone syncing problems by reinstalling iTunes and how to fix MobileMe-to-iPhone sync problems.

Filing details Apple’s complaint against Psystar

In a 35-page filing, Apple outlines its case against Mac clone maker Psystar, demanding that the company recall every computer running OS X that it’s sold.