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Recommended Reading: Speaking Simlish
Recommended Reading highlights the week's best long-form writing on technology and more.
Developer to pull Tris from App Store tomorrow
Tris Developer Noah Witherspoon has conceded to removing his app from the App Store after pressure from the owner of the copyright for Tetris. Tetris offers its own app for $9.99, while Tris is free. Macworld reviewed both games, and found the official version, developed by EA, lacking. It takes about 30 seconds to load, and you can't listen to your own music while playing. Tris [app store link] isn't perfect either, rotating pieces the wrong way, and doesn't offer "ghosting": seeing where pieces will land before they drop (which always seemed like cheating to me). The Tetris Company is well known for aggressively enforcing its copyright on the game. Tetris clone Quinn, for example, goes to great lengths to distance itself from Tetris: it doesn't even mention the word except for a small disclaimer at the bottom of the screen. Witherspoon understands that The Tetris Company is entitled to enforce its copyrights, but said on his blog "the approach they're taking seems to me little more than bullying." Witherspoon is a student, and admits he lacks the means to pursue the case through the courts. Witherspoon will pull Tris from the App Store on Wednesday. He wants to offer the app at some point in the future, but is evaluating his options. [Via MacNN.]
Quinn is not Tetris, is Universal
I love this quote from the Quinn author Simon Härtel: "Quinn is an implementation of a popular falling-blocks game which, according to the Tetris Company, must not be named here." We've mentioned this game before as "...one of the most beautiful applications on the Mac." Version 3.5 continues to look great and finally brings Quinn into the Universal Binary age. One of the coolest things about Quinn is its support for network play, allowing you go head-to-head against other players. This version also opens up some new customization options, so if you're missing your old-school (not) Tetris experience, you should give Quinn a lookQuinn is a free download from Simon Härtel.Thanks Zon!
Mac gaming on the cheap: Our favorite low-cost Mac games
With the release of Myst Online for the Mac* (and our own nagging, monthly World of Warcraft bills), we TUAW bloggers got together to discuss our favorite low-cost Mac games. Sure, those MMORPGs are fun, but $14.99/month (Warcraft) and $6.95/month (Myst) isn't. So, in the name of gaming cheapskates everywhere, here's our list of great, inexpensive Mac games (in no particular order).SketchFighter 4000 Alpha by Ambrosia Software. Cost: $19US. Requirements: Mac OS 10.2 or later.By Ambrosia Software, this shoot-em-up game features upgradeable spaceships, mean bosses, challenging levels and even a level editor. But most of all, we love the dead-on, retro, "hand-sketched" graphics. SketchFighter was designed to look like the very images that young geeks like me spent all of Jr. high school scribbling on notebook paper, and the developers at Ambrosia really nailed it. As an 11 year old, I could only imagine my creations coming to life. Ambrosia made it actually happen, and as a result SketchFighter is wicked fun to play.More after the jump.
