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Tap Tap Revolution to be sold by Tapulous, called Tap Tap Revenge
Nate True, iPhone developer extraordinaire and friend of TUAW (but who isn't, really), has sold off his Tap Tap Revolution game to a company called Tapulous, and they're renaming it Tap Tap Revenge and are going to try selling it in the iPhone's (and iPod touch's) App Store. The game isn't much tweaked from its jailbroken incarnation, but there is a chaotic two-player mode, seen above, that could be a lot of fun. I've never played the original version, so I have no idea what's up with the shaking, but it looks like it incorporates some accelerometer fun as well.If you're a super TTR fan, Tapulous tells us that they've got a wallpaper to download on their site right now, and that more videos will be coming out over the weekend, so stay tuned. All these games are looking terrific, but of course the one thing we haven't heard confirmed from any of them is when and if they'll be showing up on the App Store. That, it seems, is up to Apple. It doesn't matter how many games you've got ready to go -- if Apple doesn't have them set for download right away, both the devs and iPhone owners will miss a nice opportunity.
iPhone's 1.1.3 update gets ready for native applications
The well known and respected iPhone hacker Nate True has discovered some very, very interesting information concerning Apple's latest update, 1.1.3. According to Mr. True, the boys and girls in Cupertino have all but prepped the device's OS for native applications, altering the functionality of SpringBoard to display additional apps, changing the ownership of applications to a unified "mobile" user, and moving the location of preferences to the accompanying non-root directory. Additionally, SpringBoard now boasts widget support via a class called SBWidgetApplication. All of these technical and seemingly minor details will apparently make it easier for developers to create new applications for the phone, though Nate says they'll also break existing native apps in the process. All we ask is that developers get those NES and SNES emulators ported quickly and safely to the new system.
The secret life of firmware 1.1.3
Cre.ations.net's Nate True wrote a blog post describing what he found inside the iPhone firmware 1.1.3 update. Whilst digging around in the iPhone's firmware innards, he found that Apple has made some startling changes to the iPhone's OS, including: The SpringBoard doesn't have to be modified to show custom Applications installed on the iPhone Applications no longer run as root, instead they run as 'mobile' Preferences are no longer stored in /var/root True states additionally that he has also found what appears to be widget support in the SpringBoard.app. 'SBWidgetApplication' manages package locations and icons. So, what does this all mean? It might mean that the stars are aligning so properly that this might be the release: the one that makes it possible for 3rd party developers.
iPhone firmware 1.1.3 icon rearrangement on video?
Just yesterday we saw some pics of what was being touted as an iPhone running the as-yet-unannounced 1.1.3 firmware version, and now we've got word of some video proof from a pretty reliable source. Nate True, all-around modder and creator of the Walluminate light-up wallet, has a short vid up on his cre.ations.net site that claims to depict that handy home page icon rearrangement feature -- you know, the one that suggests an SDK to make use of all the new slots. Go on, check out the short clip after the break.[Thanks, Marcus S.]
Make My Day: Choose-Your-Adventure for iPhone
What is Make My Day? It's a free interactive video choose-your-adventure for iPhone. If that sounds like an awfully complex way to describe a game, well, it's hard to describe it any other way. Make My Day offers a story where you make decisions at critical points. The program works by contacting a central media server and playing segments of your story. Your choices drive which video segments you watch. You start off the game by waking up. Soon, the program prompts you whether to answer a phone or to open a door. From there the branch points just get more and more bizarre. It's a delightful game put together by a cadre of college buddies and offers far more entertainment than a free program ought. Your choices range from hilariously unforeseen to seriously amusing. Case in point: the bits about being struck by lightning and the "dance off" with your mugger. Download your copy via Installer.app. The iPhone adaptation was put together by Nate True, the same guy who brought you the fabulous "Tap Tap Revolution" and who engineered the special effects for the project. He was responsible for the "lightsaber" bit. When you see it, you'll know what I mean. Make My Day is actually the first iPhone app I know of to employ live streaming video. If you find yourself replaying parts over and over and want to own a copy, you can buy a DVD version from the Make My Day website for $16.
Dock gets a spiffy new update
Things go fast in the iPhone world. Yesterday, I posted about Nate True's scrolling dock application. Today brings an entirely new generation of Dock. Dock 2.0 introduces a sunshine-bright hot spot on your iPhone's lower right corner. Drag out from there and the iPhone presents you with a curved selection arc. Move your finger along the arc to choose an application to open. The currently selected application echos just below the arc so you know which item you're selecting. It's a lot easier to use than it sounds and feels a lot like picking a name in the address book using the A-Z slide control. And now the downside. The iPhone has little tolerance for running more than one non-Springboard application at a time. (For whatever reason, it refers to these applications as UnknownPurpleApps.) When more than one purple app attempt to launch, they conflict and the new app will not run. So what does this mean? When using Dock 2.0, you cannot use my screen shot utility or many other command-line apps. You can easily enable and disable Dock 2.0 by using my launchctl GUI. Select com.natetrue.dock and choose unload -w to toggle it off or load -w to switch it back on.
Found Footage: Scrolling iPhone dock smashes through 16-icon home screen limit
The iPhone home screen doesn't scroll. This 16-application limit is just a reality most users have come to accept. Third party developers have turned to launcher apps that search for additional applications and let you choose one from a list. Today, Nate True introduced an iPhone mod that smashes these launchers into yesterday's news. True's Dock package loads your entire application collection into a single usable list that appears directly on your homescreen. Just use a finger to scroll the bottom row of icons left or right and tap the application you want to launch. This is still a relatively early release--so there are a few bugs here or there--but I've tested it out and it works fabulously. To install, download a copy of iBrickr (Windows) or Breezy (Macintosh Universal Binary) and use them to load the Dock package to your iPhone.
