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Windows Phone 7 review: Flight Control
Ahh, the fun of having one of the most stressful jobs in the world. Flight Control puts you in the shoes of a flight controller, having to manage landing planes and helicopters on a variety of landing strips while avoiding (you guessed it) crashes. It's a simple concept that needs no explanation, as evidenced by the total lack of an in-game tutorial. It's easy to grasp, but difficult to master. I didn't even make it to ten landings on my first attempt at the game! There are many reasons behind Flight Control's rapid proliferation across platforms-- iOS, Android, PlayStation Move, and more. The simple drag-and-drop interface works perfectly with these devices, and the premise is immediately understandable. However, developer Firemint's classy design is what helped it succeed in the crowded App Store. The visuals are easy to read, the style is charming, and the music is oh-so-perfect. This is a game that will make you smile, even if you do accidentally kill hundreds of people in a horrific plane crash. There are a number of levels, each with a distinct look and tarmac layout. However, they all play out essentially the same. Once again, this is a game meant for players that want to chase high scores. Other than a few Achievements (like one which requires you to crash three planes at once), rarely does the game offer you something new or different to do. But perhaps Flight Control doesn't need to offer anything new. It's certainly addictive enough to make the hours pass on by. See also: Windows Phone 7 launch games reviews hub This review is based on a retail Samsung Focus provided by Microsoft and AT&T.
Final Fantasy I and II on sale, ESPN app free, Real Racing on sale this weekend
Here's some good news about a few popular apps on the App Store: Square Enix has dropped the price on retro titles Final Fantasy I and II. The games were originally released at US$8.99, but to celebrate more widespread localization, the apps have dropped down to $3.99. Great games, nice price. ESPN's Scorecenter XL app for the iPad has gone completely free. The app provides news and scores from around the sporting world -- it was $4.99, but the network has apparently decided to go free for good. And Firemint is putting its Real Racing title on sale for the iPhone next week -- as of September 30, the app will be available for just $2.99. That's a rare occurrence for them. It's the first time this game has ever gone on sale, probably because the title has been so popular. It offers a quality racing experience, with full Game Center integration. These are all great deals on really popular apps. If you've been waiting to pick one of these up for cheaper than usual, now's your chance.
Flight Control coming to PS3 on September 15
There have been a lot of console adaptations brought to the iPhone, but sending games the other way hasn't been as common. Firemint is changing that, however -- they've announced that they'll be bringing iPhone superhit Flight Control to the PlayStation 3 as a downloadable title, and the game will even support the new Move controller, so you'll be able to draw flight paths in the air with a motion control wand (or you can use a regular dual stick controller if you'd rather do that). The game will also bring 1080p support, as well as a four-player drop-in/out mode and an exclusive map named "Metropolis." Flight Control HD will be available on the PSN on September 15th. I'd be interested to see some other iPhone-specific titles make the jump to major consoles as well -- with the onset of Kinect and Move, translating the iPhone's touch controls to the television should get a little easier. We'll likely see a few more big iPhone titles (Angry Birds? Doodle Jump?) head across from Apple's platforms to more traditional gaming outlets in the future.
Flight Control HD lands on PSN Sept. 15 with Move support
Having already soared onto millions of iPhones, iPods and iPads (and maybe like a couple dozen DSis), Australian developer Firemint's casual "plane landing game," Flight Control HD, is officially set for arrival on PS3 as a downloadable title on September 15. We first learned of the port last month, when it was revealed as an upcoming title by Sony Computer Entertainment Korea. The PS3 version of the game will run at 1080p resolution and feature support for two heavily hyped technologies: PlayStation Move and stereoscopic 3D. Though it supports Sony's motion controller for guiding aircraft to a safe landing via "line drawing" gameplay that spawned an entire genre on iOS devices, Flight Control HD will also support old-fashioned DualShock 3 control and will bring to PS3 a four-player, drop in / drop out co-op mode, as well as an exclusive "Metropolis" map with changing day/night cycle. Flight Control HD for PS3 will also arrive in the UK, Europe, Asia and Australia on September 15, followed up by an October 21 release in Japan. This post may also be used as a flotation device in the event of a water landing.
Sony Korea outs Move-compatible Flight Control and new PS3 racer
In announcing a September 15 launch for PlayStation Move in its territory, Sony Computer Entertainment Korea (intentionally?) slipped out the identity of two new PS3 titles, both with Move support. The first will be familiar to anyone who's browsed the iTunes App Store in, well, ever. It's a downloadable version of the popular "line drawing" casual strategy game Flight Control from Firemint, which has lifted off from iDevices and DSi to land on the PSN store ... at some point. (No date was listed.) Also new and included in the "supports Move" category, Ignition is a Blu-ray Disc based racer from Hungarian developer Nemesys. The game was actually unveiled this time last year, was supposed to arrive in fall 2009 and doesn't have a publisher to speak of -- but hey, who needs that when you have looks? Check out screens of the game below and see for yourself. (While we try and find out who's actually releasing it.)%Gallery-98031%
Your first five iPad games
You weren't going to be that guy. Your friends could fall in line all they wanted, but you were going to be strong. You didn't need an iPad, after all, you had your iPhone! Besides, the thing can't even make calls, what's the point? But then, your friends started coming around, magically flipping through USA Today with a swipe of their fingers like news genies, and you cracked, guiltily sliding your last $500 bill across the Genius Bar and walking out of the Apple Store defeated, but one iPad richer. It's OK, could have happened to the best of us. But now that you have the thing, what do you play on it? We've tried dozens of apps specifically made for the device and have culled a list of the top five you should buy without hesitation. Don't have an iPad yet? No problem. Just bookmark this page and come back later, we'll be updating with the new hotness whenever it sweeps us off our feet.
Apple spotlights apps ready for iOS 4.0
We already spotlighted a few big apps that have made the jump to iOS 4 (and I'm sure we'll have more coming up soon), but Apple has gone ahead and put a few of its favorites on a page in iTunes for you to browse through as well. There are some excellent games on the list (PopCap didn't waste any time, and Ngmoco has a few, along with both Firemint titles). Art app Brushes and TUAW favorite Dropbox are there too, along with a bevy of other popular titles. This list definitely isn't definitive (iBooks is obviously ready for iOS 4, though it's not on there), but if you want to see what the Retina Display is like or check out multitasking on an app like Pandora, you can do so. One interesting note on what's not on there: Apple hasn't yet updated its official Remote app, and Texas Hold 'Em hasn't been updated since it first came out back on September 1st, 2008. So even Apple isn't worrying about compatibility with all of its apps -- if you have a favorite app that's not updated often, you might be waiting a while to get full functionality with the new OS. [via DF]
WWDC 2010: Firemint's app success
We've met up with the folks from Firemint before -- back at GDC, they were kind enough to show us Real Racing on the iPhone and share their plans for the iPad. Just a few months later we've found them at WWDC with the extremely popular Flight Control HD and an Apple Design award for Real Racing HD. When we talked with Firemint's community manager Alexandra Peters this week, she was quiet on their future plans. What they don't want to do, she told us, is put pressure on themselves. In addition to all of their success on the App Store, both of Firemint's apps are also playing on iPads in Apple Stores, and all of that exposure for their first iOS titles means whatever they do next has some big shoes to fill. Firemint is flattered by the Design Award, Peters told us, but she admits it "may have added even more pressure."
Flight Control rated for Wii
Firemint's air traffic control game Flight Control, currently available for handhelds like the iPhone and DSi, appears to be moving to the big screen -- and no, we don't mean the iPad. (That already happened.) We mean the even bigger screen: your TV. Australia's OFLC media review board has rated a Wii version of Flight Control, which would most likely point to a WiiWare release. This would be the first home console version of the game, and also the first not to use a touchscreen interface. Thanks to these altered controls, Flight Control for Wii could be either novel or annoying to fans of previous versions. [Via Gamerbytes]
TUAW Review: Real Racing HD rocks the iPad
Update: Want to see a spiffy video of Real Racing HD? Here you go. I fell in love with racing games thanks to Ridge Racer for the original Sony Playstation. I played the whole franchise, beat every track and learned the intricacies of every car. Even today I'll pull out the Playstation Portable for a run around Ridge City. Could another racer grab me the way RR had? Thanks to Firemint, the answer is yes. Real Racing HD (RRHD) looks great, sounds great, features well-conceived depth of play, effective use of the accelerometer, customization and more. In fact, it's one of the apps I use to show off the iPad. When the game is first launched, you're presented with a cinematic* and then the welcome screen. Before you go tapping around, take a moment to enjoy it. The camera gently sways back and forth. Your current car can be seen in a bay (more on that later). Light plays across the car in the foreground. All right, enough of that. Let's get behind the wheel. %Gallery-91921%
Apple played favorites with iPad access
Boing Boing's Rob Beschizza has an insightful look at something that no one's really noticed yet: Apple definitely played favorites when it came to sharing the iPad. Here's the list of outlets and writers that got access to the iPad for an early review. You'll note that Boing Boing is on there, as is PC Magazine. Engadget and Gizmodo (along with TUAW, though we got one anyway) are not. Time is on there, Newsweek is not. Clearly, Apple's being careful about who's given access, and there's no one reason why an outlet might be on the list or not. And it might be even more confusing than that -- Fake Steve Jobs (a.k.a. writer Dan Lyons) tells a story about how Apple sent word out that they were unhappy about Newsweek officially hiring him after the FSJ reveal. Apple isn't just controlling access -- they're doing their best to control the entire media perception of the company. One thing that Beschizza doesn't mention (he goes on to gloat a little about Boing Boing's history with Apple) is that, in those first few days of iPad app reveals, it was pretty clear which developers had gotten an iPad early. Firemint, PopCap, MLB, EA -- there are hundreds of thousands of developers on the App Store, and Apple came to only a few to offer them a development iPad to play with early. Unfortunately, again, we'll never know the criteria for selection there other than Apple's whims (and I presume the whole thing is wrapped so tightly in an NDA that we won't even know when and how the offers were made), so we don't have a full picture of what access was offered and how. But there's no question that Apple made specific choices about how and where to send the iPad -- some people and companies got in, lots didn't.
Flight Control HD live on the iPad
If there's a breakout game for the iPad already, it's probably Flight Control HD -- the game was announced a while ago (we talked about it with Firemint back at GDC), but the title has stayed in the top 10 pretty consistently since the iPad's App Store went live yesterday. Firemint has finally dropped the embargo on the title this morning, and you can see the game above -- it's basically the same game as the iPhone version, except bigger, clearer, and with a little more space for the plane-landing chaos. That allows for a few new gameplay variations, including co-op multiplayer on the same iPad, a split-screen versus mode, new bigger airfields (and a Snow airfield with variable wind direction), and one more interesting little feature: 3D. Yes, Flight Control HD has an anaglyphic image effect going on with one of the airfields. You'll have to procure your own red/cyan 3D glasses, but when you choose that map with glasses on, you'll be able to see planes flying around in full depth illusion. We haven't been able to play the mode yet, but Firemint did sent out some groovy glasses, so we can be ready when the iPad shows up. Flight Control HD is live in the App Store right now, and on everyone's iPad this weekend. As launch hits go, Apple's doing pretty well with Firemint's iPhone classic.
iPad apps: defining experiences from the first wave
There are now over 1,348 approved apps for the iPad. That's on top of the 150,000 iPad-compatible iPhone programs already available in the App Store. When Apple's tablet PC launches, just hours from now, it will have a software library greater than that of any handheld in history -- not counting the occasional UMPC. That said, the vast majority of even those 1,348 iPad apps are not original. They were designed for the iPhone, a device with a comparatively pokey processor and a tiny screen, and most have just been tweaked slightly, upped in price and given an "HD" suffix -- as if that somehow justified the increased cost. Besides, we've seen the amazing potential programs have on iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Windows Mobile and webOS when given access to a touchscreen, always-on data connection, GPS, cloud storage and WiFi -- but where are the apps that truly define iPad? What will take advantage of its extra headroom, new UI paradigms and multitouch real estate? Caught between netbook and smartphone, what does the iPad do that the iPhone cannot? After spending hours digging through the web and new iPad section of the App Store, we believe we have a number of reasonably compelling answers. Update: Now includes Wormhole Remote, TweetDeck, SkyGrid, Touchgrind HD, GoToMeeting, SplitBrowser, iDisplay, Geometry Wars and Drawing Pad.
GDC 2010: Real Racing and Flight Control on the iPad with Firemint
We got to sit down with Australian developer Firemint here at the Game Developers Conference 2010 in San Francisco -- it's a mobile game developer who hit it big last year with the very popular iPhone game Flight Control, and while it used to make mobile games for just a handful of larger game publishers like EA, the company is now trying to cement a reputation for making a smaller stable of high quality App Store games. "We like to joke that we went from ten customers to ten million," community manager Alexandra Peters told us. She also showed us their second game, Real Racing, which has been winning all kinds of awards even in the crowded accelerometer racing game genre, and talked with us both about Flight Control HD (their upcoming "soon after launch" title for the iPad) as well as what's next for the company.
Flight Control DSiWare cleared for landing on Feb. 19 and Feb. 22
Firemint's DSiWare version of its iPhone hit Flight Control is preparing to descend to the DSi Shop. It'll be out in Europe this Friday, February 19, arriving in North America the following Monday, Feb. 22, for 500 Points. And even if you've landed thousands of planes in the iPhone version of this air traffic control game, this version includes new maps! The trailer after the break demonstrates the simple gameplay. Using the stylus, you direct the flight paths of swarms of tiny airplanes so that they all land safely. And then you declare "I am an air traffic controller!" Oh, no, that's a different game.
Flight Control to be 're-imagined' for iPad
Developer Firemint is one of the first iPhone devs (though not the first!) to announce an upgraded version of an iPhone game for Apple's new iPad tablet thingy -- specifically, its two-million-selling action/strategy/air traffic control game, Flight Control. The developer announced that it will release an "optimised and re-imagined version of Flight Control" for the iPad. A DSiWare version is also expected to release at some unspecified time, though this announcement didn't mention it. Though no concrete information about what the re-imaginings would be for iPad -- beyond imagining it on a bigger screen -- it sounds like Firemint anticipated porting the game up. "We are already building our next generation of games for higher definition, more powerful devices than are available today," Firemint said in its press release. "We like to imagine what the devices of tomorrow will be capable of, and invest in bringing our games to the next generation of hardware." [Via Mobile-Ent]
Volkswagen launches free version of Real Racing to promote 2010 GTI
Volkswagen knows something other car manufacturers don't: they needn't spend millions of dollars on commercials, billboards, and product placement to launch a new car. They just need to make an iPhone application, like Volkswagen has for their latest model, the 2010 GTI, and the money will follow. OK, so the commercials and stuff will probably come later, but for now, the VW GTI is taking off through a free version of Real Racing, called Real Racing GTI [App Store link], available as of today. Real Racing GTI is a pared-down version of Firemint's Real Racing that Firemint itself has altered: the GTI version of the game has only GTIs to drive and fewer available tracks, but the game mechanics remain the same. There is a heavy social media aspect to the game with the integration of Cloudcell profiles (the same ones used for other regular versions of Firemint games) that allow you to trumpet your GTI-racing abilities on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter. All I've been able to glean from the game so far is that GTIs are fast, but will cause you to run into walls a lot, and other GTI drivers are jerks who will ram into you if you try to pass them. No, I'm not just a bad driver. OK, maybe I am, a little. Along with the launch of the app, Volkswagen is giving away 6 "ultra-special edition" 2010 GTIs, which have special embroidery and carbon fiber accents on the doors and interior, every week for the next 6 weeks. Winning the giveaway has nothing to do with being good at Real Racing (phew!). You can enter via the "Winner's Circle" section on the app, or on Volkswagen's website here. Happy driving!
Think you're good at Flight Control?
Here I was, thinking our fine TUAW readership was pretty great at playing Flight Control. Yesterday, as part of a post about the new game Trains, I asked for everyone's high scores, and I thought we were doing well. Commenter DJ won our informal competition (no prizes, sorry, beyond the satisfaction of a job well done) with a score of 1036. Dan came in second with 575. Rounding out the top three was Matthew with a high of 275. Now, however, with the latest update, your high scores can be uploaded to cloudcell.com, home of high scores for not only Flight Control, but Real Racing and Fast & Furious. There, it's clear that TUAW readers have much better things to do than play Flight Control all day. Just a few hours ago, a user named TommyRoissy landed 14,439 aircraft before two of them collided. Ridonkulous. Our own Mike Rose speculates that some are playing the game inside the iPhone SDK's simulator mode to gain higher scores. I agree -- pair simulator mode with a graphics tablet, and you've got yourself quite the landing machine. Update: Thanks to our commenters for correcting this; it's not technically possible to run purchased iPhone apps in the Xcode simulator, as it cannot emulate the iPhone's ARM processor. Even so, that's a lot of time spent playing Flight Control. I mean, it's a good game, but let's say the average landing time is five seconds. 14,439 landings is over 72,000 seconds -- or 20 hours -- of playing time. I'm certain there's some pauses in there, but that's still a lot of landing.
