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iPhone Dev 101: Creating Xcode projects, brief Xcode UI overview
In our last iPhone Dev 101, a continuing series on iPhone development, we talked about resources that you can use while you are coding with Cocoa. In this dev post, I'm going to walk you through Xcode and creating your first project.First we need to open Xcode, so once you have the SDK installed, you'll need to open /Developer/Applications/ and look for Xcode.app. This is Apple's IDE (Integrated Development Environment) that allows you to code, debug, test, and build all of your iPhone and Mac applications. When you open this application, nothing specially really happens, although you might see the welcome center -- if you see this, you can choose to disable it at startup by using the check box at the bottom. To create a new project, select File > New Project. In the resulting window select iPhone OS Application > View-based Application, and click "Choose." You will then need to specify a save name and location for the resulting files that will combine to create your application. In the resulting Xcode window, you should note that most of the work is already done for you!At this point you have a fully functional application. Try it out: click the "build and go" button at the top of the window and wait while the app is compiled and opens in the iPhone Simulator. The app definitely doesn't do much, but still, it's a running application you made without writing any code. Continue reading to learn more about Xcode, and get a brief UI overview.
Metallic Uniframe Super Hybrid Virtual Console Game
Musha Aleste came out in Japan back in April, and it was rated by the OFLC for PAL release (though that hasn't happened yet). Also, it's a shooter, which almost guarantees a game's worldwide availability on the Virtual Console. We knew that Compile's M.U.S.H.A. (as it was known in its American release on the Genesis) would be bound for the North American VC soon, and now there's one less roadblock on the way to its release: it's been rated by the ESRB.If you haven't played it, M.U.S.H.A. is a vertically scrolling shooter developed by Compile, creators of so many awesome shmups, including Zanac and Blazing Lazers. While it's hard to explain what makes one shmup better than others, we think this one's really keen.
Surprise! MSX game finally available on Japanese VC
Unable to resist the opportunity to release a game late even as they were releasing it on time, D4 Enterprise has finally released one of their two planned MSX games (which are now over a year late). Aleste has been added to today's lineup of Virtual Console games, for 800 Wii Points. The other announced MSX game, EGGY, has been postponed for an unspecified amount of time.Sliding a single release in under the wire is sort of an inauspicious debut for the MSX, but it's better than seeing those two games delayed over and over again, loitering at the bottom of Nintendo's Virtual Console lineup page.[Via Inside-Games]
Atlus signs 'family-friendly' Wii puzzler Octomania for North America
Atlus' long history of niche import localizations has extended to nearly every genre under the sun, from turn-based strategy and role-playing to games like Cubivore that simply defy convention altogether. Now, however, it appears that the publisher is looking to carve out its own slice of the growing casual games space, as Atlus USA has inked an agreement to distribute Idea Factory's multiplayer "family friendly" puzzle game Octomania for the Wii in North America. The cephalopod-centric game was developed under the watchful eye of Puyo Puyo mastermind Moo Niitani, and promises addictive color-matching gameplay not all that dissimilar from Compile's classic puzzler. Even better, the title boasts multiplayer gameplay, both locally and online, though given the game's March 11 release chances are the lion's share of Wii owners will be too busy playing a certain other game to give Octomania the time of day.
Puyo Puyo screenshots, no Bean Machines to be seen
Sega's Puyo Puyo franchise is heading to the Wii, to be released in Japan on July 26. It actually exists on the Wii right now in the form of Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine on the Virtual Console. So why would you want to buy a full-priced Puyo game when there's a perfectly serviceable entry available for cheap? We actually have an answer for this one (the best kind of question, we think): sumptuous four-player Puyo-ing. Check out some screens and decide for yourself if that and the wacky new play modes (co-op, a single-player dual-Wiimote mode) are worth the price of admission. Of course, there's another possible motivator for wanting this version over the Genesis version: fear of Dr. Robotnik and his foul machine.
Video of a MacBook Pro stomping a PowerMac G5 compiling Java
What's a big news day without a little bit of a hardware smack down? Call me crazy, but I just found this Gear Live site through diggdot.us, and these guys posted a video podcast in a variety of formats of a MacBook Pro with a (comparatively) measly 1 GB RAM making mince meat out of a Dual 2.0 GHz PowerMac G5 with 4 GB RAM in a Java compile test.While it isn't a comprehensive rundown of a variety of tasks and apps these two systems can run, it's still pretty impressive to see how well this next generation hardware can perform.
