Angry Sperms: For play and not an Angry Birds clone

There must be an Appstore 101 rule somewhere that says: Thou shall not name your apps to resemble a highly successful app, because it will be highly suspect. In the case of Angry Sperms, the tongue in cheek reference to Angry Birds is therefore quite unfortunate, because I actually think that the game play is rather innovative and cute, and the app quality is not bad. At $0.99 without a free lite version, most people would be hard-pressed to justify downloading this game, thinking that it would turn out to be a lemon. So let me tell you more about Angry Sperms.



Imagine if you are an Ovum (from the latin word for ‘egg’). Now imagine billions of sperm swimming towards you, trying to penetrate your outer shell in order to fertilise the ovum (aka You). Then imagine that you (as the Ovum) are able to dodge incoming sperm by tilting your iPhone or iPod Touch (and in turn moving the Ovum). If you happen to have any sperm latching onto you, you can get rid of them quickly by shaking your iPhone or iPod Touch. The game ends if you do not shake off the sperms in time!



Now that you know how the gameplay is like, can you think of a better app name for Angry Sperms? How about Dodgy Egg?

(Warning: you must be above 17 to download this app!)

The developer of Angry Sperms is based in Seoul, Korea. They seem to be a pretty new set-up, not having had many other apps in the market yet. Their facebook and twitter presence is also very new (Facebook page over here).

The only other game that Sidemaster has developed is Galaxy X, another very unoriginal sounding app name (think "Samsung Galaxy __" )

Gameloft announces surprise sale starting from Feb 24th: 30 apps for $0.99 each.

Gameloft has just blogged about their surprise app sales (grab them while you can!) starting yesterday (Feb 24th). Their blog post is over here.



Now, Gameloft has always produced high quality games and there’s a little rivalry going on between them and EA so this announcement is to be expected given that EA recently had a sale.

The list of Gameloft offers on sale for the iphone is pretty cool and I am sure there is something for everyone. Again, it is for ‘a limited period only’. There’s also quite a few apps for the Ipad that you might want to pick up. My top picks would be: Real Football 2011 (that’s soccer), Star Battalion, NOVA, NOVA 2 HD, Dungeon Hunter HD.

I’ll end this post here so that you can go over to the Itunes store now..:)

Field Testing of Apple Peel 520 with Ipod Touch 3G

Just posting here to inform that I managed to buy the Apple Peel accessory (from Yosion) at SLS and confirm it works with the Ipod Touch 3G. If you don't know what the Apple Peel is, well, basically it is a Ipod Touch case that has a simcard slot to convert the Ipod Touch into a phone with voice call/receive and sms call/receive capability.

(warning: modifying/jailbreaking the Ipod voids Apple warranty)

Summary of Events:
1. Brought Ipod Touch 3G with os 3.1.3 to shop
2. shop took 10 mins to jailbreak the Ipod
3. Handed over my Ipod (with Cydia installer) + Apple Peel
4. Went home, installed Appsync, mobile substrate, Yosion calling and sms apps.
5. Insert singtel post-paid card.
6. It works! Phone call and sms incoming/outgoing tested ok!

Pros:
1. Allows Ipod Touch 3G and below to make incoming/outgoing calls and sms like a normal phone
2. Casing is not too bulky (Thickness is like an external battery casing)
3. Meets requirements of Military bases and Companies that do not allow employees to bring in phone with camera. It is probably most advanced and attractive phone without camera (closest competitors are HTC Touch and Snap and other phones I won't even mention)
4. Apple Peel even has vibrator mode

Cons:
1. Voids warranty, requires software modification of Ipod Touch.
2. May be too much work for the non-technically inclined to install appsync + yosion apps(shop will not do this for you)
3. Casing may be too bulky for some people. It is about 30% heavier and bigger than Iphone 4. Iphone 4 or Iphone 3GS with contract may be better option.
4. Only supports phone and sms incoming/outgoing. Appstore access and data transfer is using wifi only. 3G/GPRS data transfer not supported by Apple Peel 1st Gen. GPRS rumoured to be activated for 2nd Gen Apple Peel.
5. Vibrator mode may be a little mild for some people.
6. Sms messages received will become gibberish if the sms exceeds 160 characters.

Update (Day 2 of testing):

Based on the pictures of fake vs real apple peel, it looks like the one I bought in SLS could be a very well made fake. even though the phone and SMS capabilities work, yosion tech has been warning of these 'high class' fakes that have flooded the china market. If you read mandarin, you can trawl the forums to check out the pics. Pirated goods are called 'Shan zai' in Chinese.

It is quite funny. The Yosion moderators have responded to the fake vs real apple peel by saying that there is no difference in capability (wtf???!!). However they reserve the right to deny the fakes of any future firmware updates or even brick the fakes.

性能上面暂时没区别，但是他们用的是衍生软件，衍生随时可以加密，该山寨果皮就不能使用升级版本，还有就是我们下代产品进行换购，山寨产品不在换购对象之列.

Apple Peel 2: Allows Ipod to make calls, text messages and 3G data transfers

You might have heard of the Apple Peel, or perhaps the ZTE Peel Ipod accessory offered by the US Telco, Sprint that allows the Ipod to make calls by tapping into their 3G network.


(Picture of Apple Peel accessory from the manufacturer's website)

In my opinion, the Apple Peel that was invented by a pair of Chinese brothers is a superior and comprehensive solution because it takes this one step further. Basically, it is an Ipod case with a simcard slot that allows the Ipod to makes calls and text messages. It requires the installation of an app for phone calls and a text-messaging app, onto a Jailbroken Ipod. (Note: Jailbreaking voids all Apple warranties!) If you read mandarin, their website is over here.


(screenshot taken from online store Peel520.net)

The 1st gen Apple Peel had some major drawbacks because it does not support data transfer over 3G nor does it fit well on the Ipod Touch 4G. However, according to their website, this capability and the latest 4G Ipod Touch models will be supported by their 2nd gen Peel that is due for a launch date of 20th January 2011.

There are various online stores such as this one that claim to be able to ship Apple Peels worldwide with a retail price of US$89. I haven’t tried any of them but they are useful at least for being able to explain in English (with pictures) how the Apple Peel works. If you happen to be in Shanghai and Hong Kong, I’m told that it is easily available at any of the major electronics bazaars.

Email Interview with JVL MOBI, developer of game app Balloonia

(This article was also posted at my blog post with iphonelife.com here)

My kids have tried this pipe strategy game Balloonia from Canadian game developer JVL MOBI and liked it. Pipe strategy games have a long pedigree in hand-helds and Balloonia is among the first to have ported it nicely to the Iphone/Ipod platform. I had never heard of JVL MOBI before, and recalling a similar pipe strategy game on the Palm V (which kept me company for several years in the 90s), I was spurred to write their spokesperson Brian Williams with a request for an email interview.

(Note: For those of you who are not familiar with pipe strategy games, it is a casual but addictive puzzle genre that usually involves re-arranging a series of unaligned pipes to form a complete connection in a race-against-the-clock format .)

INTERVIEW WITH BRIAN WILLIAMS, JVL MOBI

Tell us about JVL Mobi.
JVL Corporation was founded more than 25 years ago. What began as a small, coin-operated machine repair service quickly grew into a fully integrated engineering company – conceptualizing, developing, and manufacturing a wide range of multi-media consumer products (amusement, music, gaming, and most recently, mobile applications). We created JVL Mobi in 2008 in order to enter the game app market and have thus far achieved upwards of 3 million downloads on Apple’s iTunes store.

Where are you based?
JVL MOBI is based out Toronto, Canada.

How long has your team/company established itself and how did it happen?
JVL MOBI is now 3 years old. However, JVL Amusement has been developing and publishing games for years. With 150 titles and counting, we have among the largest inventory of casual games out there, many of which have been rendered in HD. So, it was a logical next step to begin converting our games for use on a portable device. We have released 11 games to date, and will continue to port our other titles to mobile platforms.

Can you tell my readers how your game/app was inspired? Given that there has been a long history of pipe strategy games going back all the way to the Palm OS, how did you set about to differentiate your app?
We’re all big fans of strategy games, here at JVL MOBI, and needless to say “pipe-type” strategy games. When discussions commenced about creating our version of such a game, our design team took creative license and envisioned a Salvador Dali-like world where a mad scientist ruled all; his environment ordained by imagination to no limit. It is in his whimsical production factory, that he plays conductor, orchestrating and controlling the manufacturing of each element of pipe. With a few key flicks of the organe de couleur, he guides the multi-colored tubes through their many twists and turns, creating perfectly linked pipelines to the hot air balloons of tranquility.

How long did it take to plan, develop and program the game/app?
We put in a lot of effort in the conceptualization and development of all of our games, and although our turn-around time is impressive – our designers will always make the necessary effort to incorporate unique, interesting nuances to make JVL games fun, and keep players engaged. We feel players want games that are enjoyable to play, will keep them interested over time, and are both nice to look at and listen to. We strive to provide that in each of our offerings. So, it is never a rushed process, and like fine wine, the more time invested in refinement, the better the wine in the glass.

What other apps and projects has your team/company undertaken recently? What are your plans for your next app? Are there any interesting news that we can watch out for in the next 6 months?
We will continue to adapt games that have seen success in countertop amusement play to a variety of hand-held gaming platforms. Our hugely popular “What’s The Difference?” app will soon grow to offer players the same, great game-play experience, but with additional versions, and new, exciting themes to be enjoyed alone, or among friends and family. Recently we have also launched a new social media marketing strategy and in-app advertising campaign with the intent of positioning JVL MOBI as a top game app producer and to help build a community of loyal gamers.