Just purchased Hidden Expedition:Everest, it's really stealing off a lot of my spare time! Better than the other previous attempt at this game genre, Stone of Destiny. Thoroughly recommended!

For Google Earth, I dont know about you guys, but I would turn off the autotilt function. It gets messy when you wanna navigate the globe and the thing tilting at the same time. Also try the "two finger rotate" and "two fingers swipe down". "Two finger rotate" rotates the globe on the Y-axis , while the "two finger swipe down" drops your altitude from the satellite view to a more landscape bird's eye view.

God I splurged!

Got myself Monopoly Here and Now, Rolando, Hero of Sparta, Ferrari GT Evolution, Sim City, and Real Soccer 09.

Also bought the season pass for Lost Season 5, so I'm ready on that front. After Family Guy and Heroes wrapped up their seasons (7 for FG, 3 for Heroes ), cant wait for Lost to start!

The best among those newly bought games? ROLANDO!

Another impulse buy, X-Plane Airliner. Wasn't really gonna put much expectation on it, but HOLY FREAKING HELL, it blew my brains out! From someone who drive these buses as a living, this is as close it gets, without going into the technicalities of flying and aviation jargons like TACAN, DVOR or RNAVs, to flying the super jet airliners. Get behind the 777 now!

Trust me, you won't regret it. Rolando is what Loco Roco should be. The premise, the background story and the fact that I don't give a damn what funny looks u get while playing this, twirling the iPhone around to move the Rolandos around the stage, means this is an instant HIT!

Worship the Finger! *you'll get what this phrase means when you play the game*

I doubt it, at this point in time, that they would drop the price. Rolando is slated for Christmas release, to take advantage of the season shopping. Also notice that Topple and other Ngmoco titles dropped price during release of Rolando, because Ngmoco KNOWS that Rolando can carry them through the winter/Christmas season sale, and that they can afford dropping price for other apps,*even giving them out for free in the case of Topple, because they are confident that Rolando will cover for those discounted price with its full retail pricetag. Also notice the trend of apps being discounted are those that hardly sell, forcing the developers of these apps to forgo their profit margin.

Trust me, Rolando is worth the current price. Believe it or not, this game is the first game that gives out that feeling that it is Made for iPhone/iPod Touch in mind, and not just a lazy port. Level design, game content and presentation is extremely polished.

This post has been edited by stringfellow: Dec 20 2008, 11:52 PM

Ferrari GT Evolution and Fastlane will change anyone's mind on the 3D capabilities of the iPod Touch/iPhone. As how developers came to grips with the earlier 3D coding on the old PSOne or the PSP, there is nothing but improvements from here on.

I am more concerned with how these game developers utilising the more unique aspect of iPod Touch/iPhone like accelerometer and touch interface to create something more compelling than just "more 3D racing" or "more 3D hack and slash". Rolando is a move on the right direction in terms of how future games on this platform should move on to.

Also, board games are a perfect fit for this platform as well. You cannot go wrong with them, I have so much more fun squeeze the CPU AI coffers in Monopoly than racing for first place on Ferrari. They are both two different genre of games, but maybe it is just me, I'd like some brain-picking in my games.

I'm past the "small plane" phase, and I dont like helicopters(I consider them the ******* child of aviation), so I'd have to say the Airliner version. Remember, these are simulators, not arcade games. If you're looking into flying them like an fighter jet ace pilot, you're in for disappointment.

Any price drop on SimCity would be because another better game is replacing it as the top game to get. This may happen when Sims 3 comes out on the iPhone. The same thing will happen to other racers as well when Need For Speed comes out.

For something of that portable nature, Sim City is nothing short of awesome. Try asking any other smartphone to do what it has done on the iPhone.

Get Rolando too, the game is MADE for iPhone in mind.

For what it's worth, the 3D aspect of the iPhone is not polished, or fully grasped by the devs. Time will tell....or not. The 3D aspect of it also is a pleasant side-effect, you dont come out with high hopes that it would match the PSP in temrs of brute force, but for a phone to even administer 3D-capable games is an achievement by itself.

*checks if he accidentally put on his invisibility cloak given by Sirisu Black to him for Christmas*

For those who have Rolando, dont be discouraged by the timer. It is not there to rush you through the levels, it is later on when you have mastered the movements of all the Rolandos that you may want to give the level a speedrun treatment. Speedrunning before the timer ends is also part of the achievement system embedded in the game. Dont forget the diamonds too!

Sigh, this is the second time I'm repeating this, so here goes:-

Before you format your computer, backup the iTunes folder. Bring it out, copy it out, back it up if you will. After the format, restore it back in. Do a "Add to Library" on iTunes, and the whole folder will be restored as it was before.

Apps are redownloadable, so if all you have in your iTunes are apps, then wipe it clean and redownload it back again. Otherwise, to save time of redownloading them again, do as I stated above. The apps are in the "Mobile Applications" folder.

Yes.

Why? Want to claim back from me if the apps are not redownloadable for free?

http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/articles/...new-hard-drive/

Thanks Nokia, yeah I need to be sure. A lot of things can be misintepreted these days. But nobody will side with me , it is okay though.

This post has been edited by stringfellow: Dec 22 2008, 11:26 PM

Get both. Sim City and Rolando are two different types of games, comparing them are like apples and oranges. I have my light-hearted fun moments in Rolando, and when I'm in the mood for some serious mind-bending management good-stress time, I load up Sim City. I cannot recommend one over the other.

Also, Monopoly Here and Now: World Edition is seriously racking up my available play time. My advise, dont play on the default difficulty, and add in all the available CPU AI. Watch the property negotiation fly!

This post has been edited by stringfellow: Dec 24 2008, 07:19 PM

MBA's doing fine, typing this on that MBA.

Daily App? I cant answer that, that depends on what you do and use on daily basis. I use Foreflight, Weatherbug, TV Forecast, Units, Remote, VelaClock, time:calc and lately, Amazon as well, seeing how I am heavily keeping tab on what's the latest new Blu-rays coming out this year end. But my needs may not be the same as yours, especially when it comes to apps like Foreflight, you wont need this unless you're in the same field as I am. The price reflects that too, since it is geared towards professional-level use. Ask the guys who rely on their medical-based apps, they pay for that level of sophistication for their iPhone apps as well.

I have MotionX GPS app. The apps does not use WLAN or WWAN connection, it works just like your standalone jungle-trekking GPS device. You can record your tracks, and then send it over to yourself via email to see your tracking on Google Earth. Also includes the other standard GPS functions like speed, lat/long, altitude, signal accuracy, signal strength, your standard compass rose moving in real-time with bearing, bearing distance, and ETA to waypoints, even a history of your track traced out on a blank map. You can also add POIs, there are some preloaded POIs in there, mostly famous landmarks.

Ultimately, it turns your iPhone into a standalaone GPS unit, ala Garmin GPS60CSx. The only thing it is missing is a background map. I've been recording my tracking on my frequent walks to the Nasi Kukus Ayam Dara stall near my place during my evening walk, so it is fun to see the trackings I did.

Technically, that is all it does. It gathers your lat/long information and track them over a period of time. If you go a few pages to the right in that app, you will come to a page where it traces your track, vector-style. You can then save this track, email it to yourself, and on your Mac, use that KML track info on Google Earth to review the tracks you've done today. This is NOT a GPS with map application, this a mapping application. If you have used the Garmin GPS60CSx, you would know what I'm talking about. Google that unit model.


I repeat, this is not a Garmin with map application. This is a mapping application, it tracks your tracks and saves it so that you can review it later. Think of it as a GPS unit used by jungle-trekkers, where they do not rely on the maps, they rely on positional data. I repeat, there are no topographical or geographical maps on this app, it only computes and compiles your positional lat/long data into information that you can use, like altitude, ETA to waypoints, and so on.

The general public around here seems to be stuck with the impression that all GPS applications MUST have an overlaying map. This is not always the case.

Just in time for my LA homeward bound stay next week!

.....But after reading the reviews, looks like it needs proper tweaking before hitting its strides. 2-2.5 stars only? And location pinpoints waaaaaayyy off the grid? I think I'll abstain for the time being.