Go to Source

Go to Source

Go to Source

Go to Source

Schwartz and Kiymaz decided to try and develop a full-featured iPhone game, including all of the art, animation, music, sound effects, and everything, all within a single day — 24 hours. And before the starting pistol fired, the duo opened up the design to the iPhone gaming community.

The design will be based around one word: 'Absurdity'
You're the designer. Go.

After amassing ideas from the community, the timer started and the code began to flow. The team live-blogged the entire process in a thread in our own forums (which they've since summarized on their own blog).

And did they succeed in their mission? Well, despite delivering the game one entire minute late (we'll cut the guys some slack…), we'd definitely call the effort an impressive success. With the help of the online Touch Arcade community for ideas (forum member Sailor Jensen provided the winning concept) and a few developers from the Boston indie community for assistance with art and music (Matt Board, Beth Beinke, Steve Trenkamp), Super Ramen BROTHers quickly sprang to life, and is now available as a free App Store download [link].

And what's this hastily wrought title all about? Well, you control both of the Ramen brothers as they flee down the cashier's conveyor belt in an effort to avoid that laser scanning thing and, ultimately, two cups of boiling, stovetop death. In their flight, down the three-lane conveyor belt, they must jump or dodge (tap or drag) other grocery items, as every collision jolts the Ramen packs back one notch closer to doom. Soy sauce packets picked up along the way help the Ramen brothers edge back forward towards freedom. AGON community integration provides leaderboard tracking — an impressive touch for a one-day app.

See the devs' video for a look at the gameplay.

Super Ramen BROTHers is certainly not the best iPhone game we've ever played. But then, that wasn't really the point. Hats off to all involved in showing that it doesn't necessarily take a year of your life to get an iPhone game to the App Store. Surely their efforts here will inspire a number of would-be iPhone developers to give it a shake. What's more, the game is actually pretty fun to play. Give it a try.

App Store Link: Super Ramen BROTHers, Free

Go to Source

One of the biggest features behind the technology is the sensors and advanced processing behind the device which allow it to practically fly itself. Unlike other remote helicoptors, the AR.Drone uses a combination of downward looking camera, gyroscopes and other sensors to perform stationary flight and also compensate for other flight conditions. The result is a very easy to fly device.

The device is currently controlled using an iPhone/iPod Touch app which communicates through Wi-Fi to the AR.Drone itself. Simply tap on Launch and the AR.Drone takes off and hovers over a stationary spot. On screen controls are easy and effective.

Left/right buttons allow you to rotate 360 degrees in one spot, while up/down buttons control altitude. Pressing on a special button activates tilt-control on the iPhone/iPod Touch itself. This allow you to fly the device by naturally tilting the iPhone itself. Meanwhile, the on screen controls are overlayed with live video coming from the front-facing camera of the Drone itself.

In picking it up for the first time, I found it very easy to maneuver. The main thing I had to get used to was using the drone's point of view to steer, rather than my own. Check out our video:

As if that wasn't enough, Parrot also offers an open API to develop augmented reality games. Using the front facing camera, you can duel with another AR.Drone or attack virtual enemies in space. Parrot has developed a couple of games as demos but expects 3rd party developers to take much more advantage of the technologies.

The current development model only offers about 15 minutes of flight on about an hour's charge. Pricing and availability of the AR.Drone will be announced later this year. More details are available on the developer site.

Go to Source

Go to Source

Go to Source

Go to Source

EA hopes to duplicate that success with the upcoming pseudo-sequel The Sims 3 World Adventures. In the game, you'll be able to travel to three locations: "Al Simhara" in Egypt, "Champs Les Sims" in France, and "Shang SimLa" in China. Along with new personas, careers, and quests you will also have 52 new goals to achieve as well as 4 new mini-games to play with your sim.

Of course World Adventures also comes loaded with new clothes, furniture, and face types for you to choose when customizing your sim, and if you've purchased DLC in The Sims 3, you will be able to transfer those purchases to this game. On top of that, you will be able to import and export your characters between both games on your iPhone.

Last, but certainly not least, The Sims 3 World Adventures will feature musical accompaniment of popular songs sang in "Simlish". LeAnn Rimes is the only artist that EA has specifically mentioned so far, and you can hear her song sung sim-style here.

EA isn't ready to discuss release dates yet, but we will post more information (and hopefully more "Simlish" songs) as we receive it.

Go to Source