Clear is an awesome and incredibly simple task/to-do list manager for iOS. Instead of using on-screen buttons, users of the Clear service pinch and swipe their way through a minimalist task list to manage the to-dos of the day. To-Do list managers quickly get a bit dull, however, which leads to reduced usage by all but the dedicated organizer. Clear gets it, and with an update today has added 7 new unlockable themes to the application. This brings the total number of unlockable themes up to 10 (that we know of), each of which bringing a unique color scheme to Clear. So how do you get your hands on the themes, you ask? [Warning: Spoilers abound] Personally, I haven’t found a To-Do list application that I can really stick to, so it’s nice to see companies like Clear attempting to engage users of its application in a meaningful way. Most of us Read More

Back when Supermono released EpicWin [$2.99], its to-do list RPG, we spent some time contemplating whether adding game mechanics to productivity apps would really help people be more productive. That's the question that rests at the heart of all discussions about "gamification"—do carefully tuned game mechanics drive us to perform tasks we might otherwise ignore? Has Farmville claimed so many man-hours because it's fun, or because it's designed to feed on impulses that could be better used for good? Don't count it as a blow against gamification, but, personally, EpicWin never quite clicked. I found the experience bars and loot rewards intriguing, but the work I had to put into maintaining my tasks outweighed the benefits. More recently I've found myself back in the world of gamified productivity with the help of a to-do app that doesn't look game-like on the surface at all: Realmac Software's [$1.99]. Beneath all its lovely Read More

We've been keeping close tabs on [$2.99] developer Simogo's upcoming rhythm-based stealth puzzler Beat Sneak Bandit since they originally teased it last October. We've even had some extensive hands-on time with a limited preview version of the game, and that's just served to make us even more excited for the final release. And today, Simogo has revealed that Beat Sneak Bandit will be hitting the App Store February 16th. Hey that's just a week away! To celebrate, they've released a slick new trailer for the game: You can bet we'll be all over Beat Sneak Bandit like fingerprints on touch screens when it surfaces next week, and until then there's a discussion thread you can check out in our forums.   #1   Today, 06:38 AM Senior Member iPhone 4, iOS 5.x Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Dreamland, [NZ] Posts: 1,928 @ColeDaddy. Sorry you have experienced a crash with the game. Read More

This week on The TouchArcade Show, we push through even more Skyrim discussion and other delightfully off-topic shenanigans to bring you the latest and greatest iOS talk. Because this week has been woefully light on interesting news, we instead decided to run clean-up. At the top, we discuss the 2011 games we liked the best but didn't quite make it into our GOTY show. Also, we dive into Eli's experience with OnLive on the iPad and, of course, answer your user questions. 2011 was a radical year for the site and especially this podcast. Thanks so much for tuning in over and over again and rating us so highly on iTunes. You guys are the best. Seriously. The best. You can give this week's episode a listen via those download links listed just below. Additionally, you can download and subscribe to us over iTunes or the Zune Marketplace. The coolest people Read More

Simogo's Bumpy Road [$2.99] is radical because it totally embraces the touch screen. On top of being a simple and gorgeous game, the play is stupendously clever. Touch the physics-enabled bit of road and it lifts, taking the playful car with it. This purity of design might become something of a hallmark for the Swedish company. I've just spent some time with its upcoming title, . It's as artful and as delightfully cutesy as Bumpy Road, and it boasts another kind of one-touch control that feels just as satisfying. Color me impressed. Beat Sneak is a little abstract conceptually. I've started to think about it like this: it is what would happen if Kojima decided to marry 2D Metal Gear Solid to Grove Coaster [$.99], and knock out all of the former series' fat in the process. In Beat Sneak, you control a bandit (duh) on a 2D plane in tightly Read More

...Bumpy Road is a joy too http://t.co/o56sWv92... Read More

Bumpy Road [$2.99] developer Simogo is peeling a corner of the curtain off its next big thing. In a new teaser trailer released this morning, viewers are shown the briefest of glimpses at an array of whimsical characters, clocks, and other items clad in crimson and plastered against a black background. In the text of the video, Simogo teases that this unnamed project will have rhythm, puzzle, and stealth elements. On our interview podcast, Simogo's Simon Flesser mentioned this game, but he was careful with the few details he shared. Regardless, we came away from the whole of the conversation believing that the studio was primed for another App Store success. Simogo gets what makes an iPad and iPhone unique in the video games space, it understands simplicity, and it obviously has a ton of talent to spare. We're pretty stoked for this -- whatever it turns out to be. My Read More

In this week’s bonus edition of The TouchArcade Show, Eli and I speak with Simogo’s Simon Flesser. You already know Simogo -- it’s the studio behind one of the more artfully designed touch-exclusive games, Bumpy Road [$2.99]. At the top, we drill Flesser about how Simogo operates, what informs its work, and how it got rolling. We also, somehow, end up talking about Dallas, the A-Team, and critical user reviews of Bumpy Road. As usual, this was a super fun recording. You’ll notice quite a bit more banter than normal for our interview-y type shows, but I think you’ll like the overall product. Speaking of that, actually, you can download this latest podcast via the links below. Additionally, you can subscribe to us on iTunes and Zune Marketplace in order to get all of our content the second they’re uploaded onto the Internet! We’ll be back at you with another episode Read More

Oft nachgefragt: ein Beitrags-Update über meine ‘Homescreens‘. Seit März 2011, als die letzte Aktualisierung dieser Artikel-Serie erfolgte, hat sich die eine oder andere App verschoben, geändert und aussortiert. Der derzeit aktuellen Stand ist an dieser Stelle festgehalten. Vielleicht finden an diesem Montag ja speziell frische 4S-Käufer, die einen ersten Grundbedarf an Software benötigen, die eine oder andere Anregung. Ich persönlich ziehe jede individuelle Empfehlungen allen generischen ‘Hitlisten’ vor. Genau deshalb soll mein privater Einblick auch nicht alleine bleiben: Wer Screenshots oder Tipps von seinen verwendeten Apps in den Kommentaren kundtun möchte, ist dazu herzlich eingeladen. Zwei Anmerkungen noch: Die zwei benutzten Hintergrundbilder gibt es hier und hier. Auf meinem Standby-Screen befinden sich dieses und dieses Bild. Außerdem führe ich zwei Ordner mit ‘Review’-Software, die ich mir für dieses Blog noch genauer anschauen möchte. Da diese Programme (noch) keine Empfehlungen sind, verbleiben sie für diesen Artikel ohne Erwähnung. Außerdem verstecken sich in Read More

Hace unos meses Esfera nos habló de un juego en desarrollo llamado Bumpy Road con muy buena pinta. La verdad es que al encontrarme con él en la Store, he recobrado la ilusión por jugar en el iPhone. Y es que hacía tiempo que no veía un juego que uniera tantas cosas buenas: diseño, jugabilidad, entretenimiento y buena física. La mecánica del juego es muy simple: tendremos que ir modificando el escenario del juego con tan sólo tocar la pantalla. De esa forma, los personajes de la historia conseguirán avanzar sin problemas. Además hoy estamos de suerte porque acaban de actualizarlo incluyendo más de 100 nuevos niveles que hacen que el juego sea aún más completo. La única pega que podríamos encontrar es su precio, y es que estamos “malacostumbrados” a encontrar la mayoría de los juegos en la App Store gratis o a 0,79€ Bumpy Road tiene un precio de Read More

Bumpy Road [$2.99] is a great game for a lot of reasons. Its art, sound, and controls fit snuggly together, establishing it as one of the most complete, whole, and well-refined games that we've taken a look at recently. And while there’s a bunch to do in the game, there’s even more as of now. A free update to the innovative physics-based platform game has been pushed out, adding 100 new level segments, the “gruesome and sneaky Break Gizmo,” and two new tracks for the “Classic Sunday Trip.” Complimenting this, of course, are five new Game Center achievements, and some new leaderboards, which round out the experience nicely. On the technical side -- what’s an update without a band-aid -- developer Simogo has tweaked the title so its start-up loading is faster. On the game’s blog, Simog reckons that it’s now “three times faster.” Good. I don’t like waiting. Definitely give Read More

Bumpy Road is a cute title for iOS and Mac. It's sort of a reverse platformer, where you control the platforms that a cute little couple in a car are running along and not the actual car itself. There are two modes to play. One is basically a Canabalt-style running game, with the goal being to get as far along the road as you can, grabbing some items for fuel along the way. The other is called "Sunday Trip" and has you traveling a fixed-length road in the fastest time, with items that can help your score at the end. Both are fun, allowing you place bumps and jumps in the road to push the car along. Another collecting meta-game, in which you grab pictures out on the road, helps build out a fun backstory to complement the great graphics and music. Game Center integration provides scoreboards and achievements, and the Read More

Posted 06/02/2011 at 1:00pm | by Nic Vargus Want to feel good about yourself? Like really truly, good about yourself? Just play one of this week's games. Nothing like guiding a Candy Train to safety or throwing a stapler at a coworker to validate one's self-worth. Big Fat SimulationsFree iPhone or iPod touch Have you ever just wanted to throw a pencil at your coworker? (Don't answer that, coworkers.) Well, with Office Jerk you can finally toss that pencil, as well as erasers, paper balls, cupcakes, fans, and pies at a coworker. It's strangely relaxing, like a mean-spirited meditation. It might all be in good fun, but it's also apparent that after a few tosses, the geek with the taped glasses isn't the office jerk -- you are. It's a little hard to keep enjoying the game with such reckless abandon after you realize you're just a bully throwing a stapler Read More

When it comes to playing games on my mobile devices, I tend to go for the more hardcore games like Rage, Infinity Blade, and Final Fantasy III than casual titles like Angry Birds and Tiny Wings. I do enjoy casual games from time to time, but I tend to enjoy a more deep and enriching experience out of my games rather than playing a game that only offers instant gratification. But from time to time, there’s a casual game that makes such an impression on me that I can’t help but play it over and over again. This time, the game that has me completely hooked is Bumpy Road. Bumpy Road is a high-scoring game that has a married couple taking a drive. The further along their drive they go, the more points they’ll earn. Along their drive, they’ll come across some hazards as well as some platforms they’ll need some Read More

Aus der schwedischen Videospielschmiede Simogo, die uns bereits Kosmo Spin bescherte, folgt jetzt ‘Bumpy Road‘. Die simple Einfinger-Steuerung schlägt damit in die Kerbe von , oder , gestaltet sich jedoch wesentlich entspannter. Die Strasse als Klaviertastatur, auf der sich ein kleines Auto mit älterem Ehepaar in Richtung Sonnenuntergang bewegt, reagiert auf Wellenbewegungen eurer Griffel. Tippt man den holprigen Weg oder die Plattformen unter den vier Rädern an, vollführt der Oldtimer kleine Hopser. Das Wasserfarben-Ambiente wechselt nicht häufig. Um sich daran sattzusehen, müssen jedoch noch ein paar Tage verstreichen. ‘Bumpy Road’ liefert einen ‘Time-Trail’- wie auch ‘Endless’-Mode. Erzielte Erfolge lassen sich auf Apples Game Center zur Schau stellen. Sehr charmant schummelt sich diese simple, kurzweilige aber doch clevere Spielidee aufs iPhone und iPad. * Alle selbstproduzierten Videos gibt es neben der oben eingebundenen HD-Version auch ‘iPhone-kompatibel’ in unserem Podcast-Feed, den ihr beispielsweise über iTunes oder einem anderen Multimedia-Verwaltungsprogramm eurer Wahl abonnieren könnt. Read More