Google releases Google Maps App for iOS
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at December 13th, 2012
It’s no secret that ever since Apple removed the native Maps app powered by Google with the previous version of iOS, users went clamoring back for it. Apple’s Maps replacement for iOS 6 wasn’t so great — in fact it even led to people getting lost in the wilderness in Australia by providing bad directions.
Well, that nightmare is over now as Google has released an official Google Maps app for iOS 6. Thing is, it is only available in the US store as of late so if you have a PH account, the app won’t show up in the store.
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Baldur’s Gate Enhanced Edition is reborn into the iPad (and other platforms)
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at July 27th, 2012
This is the game that defined a huge chunk of my years in fourth year high school and the early parts of college. And now, this next generation of gamers can enjoy one of the best PC games ever made for the iPad, PC, Mac OS X and soon, on Android tablets. Baldur’s Gate Enhanced Edition is coming this September 18th.
This is a definite must buy!
USD $ 19.99 for the PC
USD $9.99 for the iPad via iTunes
Since its initial release in 1998, Baldur’s Gate has entertained millions of fans around the globe, and has received countless awards. This classic saga of mystery, intrigue, and adventure has set the standard for Dungeons & Dragons™ computer role-playing games ever since.
Running on an upgraded and improved version of the Infinity Engine developed specifically for tablets, Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition™ will include the entire Baldur’s Gate adventure, the Tales of the Sword Coast expansion pack, and never before seen content including a new adventure, and a new party member: Rasaad yn Bashir, a monk of the Order of the Sun Soul. A variety of enhancements will be available for in-app purchasing, including new portrait and voice sets.
Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition for iPad contains the following enhancements:
New Adventure: The Black Pits
New Character: Dorn Il-Khan as an in-app purchase
New Character: Neera the Wild Mage as an in-app purchase
New Character: Rasaad yn Bashir
New Player Voice sets as an in-app purchase
New Player Portraits as an in-app purchase
Gamecenter Support allows you to keep track of your friends and invite them to play with you
Streetfood Tycoon: Local iOS game allows you to control your own Jolly Jeep
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at March 22nd, 2012
[Download Streetfood Tycoon for iOS -- FREE]
I’ve known Erick Garayblas since my “way back” days in the old MaPalad.org and Pinoy Windows Mobile forum groups. Back then, he was already rocking the mobile gaming scene with hits like Traffic Jam and the highly addicting Tower Mogul that ran on both the Palm OS and Windows Mobile, the top two “advanced” mobile platforms at that time.
Just yesterday, Erick released another home-grown game for iOS under his new development house, Kuyi Mobile. Streetfood Tycoon is a strangely addicting “Jolly Jeep” simulator where you have to fulfill orders from walk-in customers by combining ingredients in the right order. Other than the time limit given to complete each order, you have to deal with restocking your ingredients, upgrading your facilities and buying better ingredients.
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Ticket to Ride (Pocket) is FREE today. Get it, quick!
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at February 9th, 2012
If you’re a big fan of board games and own an iOS device, I highly suggest you download Ticket to Ride Pocket (that’s the iPhone version) because it’s free. Ticket to Ride is one of the best selling board games in recent history and the port to the iOS is just plain amazing. You know it’s a good game when you consistently see 5-star ratings in the comments section.
If you’re not into board games, I still suggest you pick it up because it’s not at all pretentious and rather easy to pick up for the family.
Ticket to Ride [FREE DOWNLOAD]
Student makes 3D version of Arkham Horror. Help her beta test it!
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at January 25th, 2012Imagine that, to complete your Bachelor’s degree you design a 3D version of one of the best board games ever made: Arkham Horror.
I’ve been so wanting to get into it, but the sheer number of expansions, time to invest coupled with finding people to actually play with hinders me from this awesome experience. If you ever drop by Hobbes & Landes or Neutral Grounds, you’ll see rows and rows of Arkham Horror core sets and expansions. I really did want it but chickened out for reasons mentioned above and instead got Betrayal at House on a Hill which doesn’t live up to par, but at least doesn’t have a steep learning curve.
Well, anyway.
I emailed this amazing lady (her name is Andi) to ask if I can participate as a beta test and she sent me the game! in exchange for feedback. The game is about 80% polished (as the YouTube vid states) and I’m just so amazed at what she was able to do.
For those asking, this isn’t an official port of the game by Fantasy Flight Games (FFG). It’s by a student. She plans to present this project to them and get an official endorsement. If you’re wondering whether this holds as copyright infringement, well .. it doesn’t. Because this is a school project, it falls under Fair Use Policy in Europe. Wow. Just wow.
If you love Arkham Horror but hate the setup process, I suggest you send her an email. She’s accepting beta testers till the 5th of February 2012.
RIM BlackBerry Playbook Video Review (25 minutes)
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at July 19th, 2011UPDATE:
Official BlackBerry Playbook PH pricing:
16GB at P23,990
32GB at P28,990
64GB at P33,990
The Playbook will be available August 6 2011 via retail and telcos.
I host a weekly tech show called ‘The Geeks’ every Wednesday from 2-4PM, live over the Internet. We archive copies for future viewing. If you’re interested, catch us at this url: http://www.flippish.com/vjlive at that time.
In this segment I show my co-host Sheena Dian the BlackBerry Playbook. We spend a half hour talking about this outlier tablet. If you want to see more photos and commentary, I featured the Playbook back in its infancy at Mobile World Congress ’11 with Andi Manzano.
Pros
Best form factor among the 7 inch tablets
Comes with neoprene case
Amazing multitask functions
Imaginative touch sensitive frame
Cons
Very limited number of apps
Noticeable UI lag (which we have to bring up given the new standards of dual core Android tablets)
We have to wait for Android Marketplace support
Very hard to do PIM and email if you don’t own a BlackBerry
No 3G version (rely on a BlackBerry phone to tether unless you connect via mobile WiFi hotspot)
Although not available here yet, the rumored price is at PHP 30,xxx.xx
Verdict
The BlackBerry Playbook has always seemed like a work in progress to me. If you track the progress of this tablet for the past 12 months you will see how RIM has brought it to life by supporting Android apps. That’s the whole irony — the Playbook (will) support Android apps but PIM only works well if you own a BlackBerry smartphone.
I honestly cannot give a real verdict. We will have to wait for the time when the Playbook truly supports Android apps. If you already own a BlackBerry smartphone, the Playbook makes sense … but so does an iPad or Android tablet. There’s the rub.
One comment to note from my high school barkada who now lives in Canada:
Since RIM is a Canadian company, the Playbook has been all over the place here in Vancouver. And yet, it is not doing so well. At all.
I’ve gotten some serious hands on time with the thing and spoken with a few Blackberry reps, Blackberry App developers, as well as some local tech bloggers, and it looks like Blackberry keeps making promises it can’t keep. They told us that the Android support and the native email client would come in June. Well, June came and went and it’s not here.
App development for the thing is apparently pretty difficult, definitely not as easy as developing for the iPad and Android OS, so Apps have been very slow to the marketplace.
For the apps that are there, most of them work fine, but there are random performance issues that keep cropping up with the Playbook… apps will hang for no reason, crash for no reason, and even sometimes refuse to load. Even Blackberry’s own browser is one of the most unreliable when it comes to performance.
It’s sad because the hardware sure looks pretty and it does promise great things. But for now, promise is all it has, it seems. There are rumblings around the country that RIM is dying fast, and the Playbook is one of the big reasons for that.
