ZenBound2
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Humble Bundle brings Canabalt and more to Android
January saw the release of the first ever Humble Bundle for Android, and now the organization is back with a first of another sort for the platform -- five of them, in fact. The second mobile-focused Humble Bundle sees five games making their Android debut, including iPhone favorite Canabalt (now with a two-player mode and Android-exclusive 3D option), plus Zen Bound 2, Cogs, Swords and Soldiers and Avadon: The Black Fortress HD (the latter specific to Android tablets). Along with those comes a beta version of Humble Bundle's own app (up from an alpha release before), which makes it a bit easier to download the games and check for updates since all of this is handled outside of Google Play. As with all Humble Bundles, you can set your own price for the bundle, with an amount of your choosing going to the Child's Play charity and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and you'll also get desktop versions of all five games for Windows, Mac and Linux. A Steam key is included with all purchases over $1 as well (although it doesn't yet include Canabalt), and they've even thrown in soundtracks for three of the games for good measure.
Zen Bound 2 arrives on the Mac via Steam
Zen Bound 2, the second in the series of terrific iPhone and iPad games, is now out on the Mac platform as well, courtesy of Valve's great Steam platform. If you've ever played this one (and you definitely should), you'll know how it works -- wrap a virtual rope around a series of weird shapes trying to cover a certain percentage of the surface with paint. The gameplay's super intuitive and the whole experience is very zen, with solid colors and graphics backing up a great soundtrack and some intriguing realistic physics. The iOS version is universal at $2.99, and the Mac version comes in at just a little bit higher than that at $4.99. But the visuals have been upgraded a bit, and the desktop version will even make use of trackpad controls on the MacBooks and the Magic Trackpad if you want to play that way. Plus, the title has been released under the SteamPlay banner, which means that buying it once will get you access to both the Mac and Windows versions if you want to install and run it on a few different computers. Great game, and of course, it's always nice to support Steam's choice to step on over with us on the Mac, too.
From iPhone to iPad: Revisiting Zen Bound 2
How do old favorites hold up on the iPad? In our "From iPhone to iPad" series, TUAW revisits iPhone applications that have transitioned to the iPad. We look at their latest incarnation and see how the new measures up to the old. Today, TUAW looks at Zen Bound 2. It was just about a year ago when I first played the original Zen Bound game on the iPhone. Having been recommended to me by Dave Caolo after it was originally reviewed on TUAW by Mike Schramm, I loved the game's beautiful graphics and sound design. Starting its life as a physics emulation game called Zen Bondage, Zen Bound became be a huge breakout hit on the iPhone. You play the game by wrapping rope around objects until you've covered a certain percentage of the object in question, avoiding running out of rope in the process. You progress by ascending a "game tree," unlocking new puzzles as you succeed in wrapping each object. The iPad version of Zen Bound 2 brings the same high quality design and interaction as its predecessors, all nicely updated to the new screen size. I found it a great deal of fun to play, although the puzzles are much harder this time around -- much as you might expect with a sequel. The big question is this: does the bigger screen improve the playing experience? I'm going to say no. That's not a slam at the application. It's a great game family, regardless of whether you play on the iPhone or iPad, and that's where the "no" comes from. There's nothing particularly innovative in the iPad release beyond the revised levels and a new "paint bomb" mode, which I never actually got to test. But that's okay. Zen Bound 2 is still basically the same excellent game; the iPad version has been competently upsized and the results are good. Zen Bound 2 is a worthy successor to Zen Bound. If you loved the original, you're sure to enjoy this update. Zen Bound 2 for iPad costs US$7.99 at the App Store. It's a beautiful, fun-to-play application. If you're playing with kids, you may want to start with the $2.99 iPhone original version, which offers easier puzzles before moving on to the iPad version, which my children found far more challenging. TUAW is commonly provided with not-for-resale licenses or promo codes to permit product evaluations and reviews. For more details, see our policy page. Promo code requests are not guarantees of review.
Zen Bound 2 coming soon with beefed-up graphics, smoother interface
The fine gents at Touch Arcade have the first confirmation and screenshot of the sequel to one of our favorite games of 2009, Zen Bound 2. As you can see above, the new version (on the right) is a little more subdued with a cleaner UI, although Secret Exit stresses that this is still a work in progress (and obviously they'll have new objects to wrap up in rope to score points). But the new engine will be upgraded to use the most current version of OpenGL available in the iPhone, and you can see that on the rope above -- there are cleaner textures, and supposedly it'll move more smoothly as you play. Looks awesome to us. There still isn't an official announcement yet (this is actually a teaser picture), but that's expected soon, with a release still a few months out. So if you haven't tried out the first Zen Bound [iTunes link] yet, you've got plenty of time to pick it up and get good before the sequel.
