Category: Apple

Remember a couple of months ago, when I was invited up to the iPhone 4 launch in Jozi by MTN ? Well last week the genius behind the campaign Iain Thomas was interviewed about the launch and it’s success, by a show called Media Matters, which is aired on a Saturday eve at 18h30 on SABC3.

Here is the clip of the interview.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtAL8tC2JsA?

(An Apple specialist ?? :P)

The first post & review from local Phone fan Simon Boulle takes a look at the awesome locally developed iPhone game by the guys from Funonyourcell down in Cape Town

Of all the iPhone games I have ever played, I have played very few sidescrolling games, the genre of game that Bloodrunner belongs to, and found it to be quite fun.

Bloodrunner gives you the control of a little vampire, a funny looking character who looks like a bat crossed with a shark, who needs to drink blood to stay alive. By tilting your iPhone (or iPod touch) left or right, tapping to jump and tapping again to double jump you move the Bloodrunner around various levels made up of castles and dungeons (there are 50 in the game) to collect drops of blood and make your way to his coffin to survive another day. The catch is that the blood slowly drains away, so you need to make it to the coffin before running out of blood.

If this sounds quite gruesome, and not at all child-friendly, fear not. The graphics (with support for the iPhone 4’s retina display) are very charming (as seen below) and have a very cartoonish style.

The in-game music is incredible, and almost worth the price of the game alone. If you prefer, you can listen to your own music while playing the game.

There are 50 levels in the game, and they can be played separately. For example, I got stuck on level 5 and was able to move onto level 6 and if I wanted to, even level 10. The difficulty increases nicely over the first 20 or so levels. The first few levels introduce you to the basic concepts and the various obstacles that the game puts in your way (holy water, wooden stakes etc.).

The controls are easy to use, though it did take me a few goes until I became comfortable with them. Although the “guide” says the Bloodrunner is a human and not a bat, I did find the jumping to be more like flying, as it is possible to jump numerous times in the air, and reach higher platforms in a level. Each level is quite straightforward, however some obstacles can be a little tricky and cause you to die a couple of times before you pass the level. I would have preferred a three life concept, where after dying once you come back to the place you died, instead of starting the level. After you have died three times, then you would be sent back to the beginning of the level. It is a minor preference of mine though, and doesn’t detract from the game that much.

There is a high score for each level, and you can replay each level to try and improve that score. OpenFeint integration is included for social connectivity and seeing how your high scores rank amongst all the other players of Bloodrunner. As usual, it is purely optional.

Overall, I really enjoyed Bloodrunner. The graphics and music are great, and at a price of $0.99, it’s a no-brainer purchase. Bloodrunner is available on the US iTunes Store.

My thanks to FunOnYourCell for providing me with the opportunity to play the game, and to Marc for giving me the opportunity to review it.

One of the best kept secrets of the iPhone4, is the fact that it has a FULL HD video camera build into the camera app. I have used it a couple of times, and even did a post about some of the cool video editing apps for the iPhone recently.

You may have seen the video called Apple of my Eye, which was one of the first ever short movies to shot & edited on the iPhone4. The movie shows off some of the great features of the iPhone 4, as well as the ability to place the phone in some obsure and previously hidden places, like on a model railway train.

The guys that produced this awesome short file are a production house called Majek pictures. They have also recently released a new Mobi series, called Goldilocks. The whole series has been shot on an iPhone4 as well, as well as edited mostly on the iPhone4. Only the heavy post-processing has been done on a mac. Here is the first episode of the series.

The guys from Majek also recently released a free iPhone app (iTunes Link), which allows you to view the Goldilocks series, as it is released in FULL HD, as well as behind the scenes videos & pictures. So far the series is on episode 3, and I have to admit, I am really enjoying it. If you don’t have an iPhone, fear not, you can still watch the series on the Goldilocks Vimeo channel.