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Mini Reviews: Ahmmm Oh Yeah Pro, Mega Man II, and Virtuoso Piano Free 2

2010-02-09T14:46:12-05:00

For less than a dollar, and some times for free, you can transform your iPhone from a futuristic hero that hails from an ironic past to a partial keyboard that you would probably leave untouched at a garage sale. Check out some reviews for some of the most recent and popular games and applications from the iTunes' App Store.

Mega Man II

It is pretty standard for gaming companies to try and maximize their creative work. They do this effectively by marketing older titles for hand held and alternative sources, often packaging them together in "retro" collections. This is a cheap ploy to continually sell old titles with a new veneer, but we still love them as the real classics remain timeless. Mega Man is one of the best gaming series in the history of home consoles, and Capcom Interactive has spared no time in bringing our blue helmeted friend to the touch screen. Mega Man II is now available on the iPhone, but this time around it has only marginal success. The same side scrolling fury is in place, but instead of utilizing the entire touch screen Mega Man II just takes up a small sub space. What Mega Man II does is put the image of a classic arcade machine with a joystick and dual A and B buttons. The landscape view is much better than this and puts the button on the sides, but it would have been nice if they had figured out a way to make the entire screen viewable. The graphics of Mega Man II are not updated at all on the iPhone, and the arcade visual is likely used just to justify the lack of updating by accentuating this "classic" novelty. The controls are a little awkward, but Mega Man II is still such a strong game that it actually can blast through many of these issues like a tightly balanced particle cannon. It is hard to even blame Mega Man II when it only holds a price tag of $0.99 and has a free iPhone game version as well, just so you can test it out. You should always try to take a look at the Lite game version before buying, but really you do not have much to lose with a buck. It is going to be hard to be let down by Mega Man.

Four out of five stars.

Virtuoso Piano Free 2

Trying to port musical instruments to your iPhone may sound stupid, and it just may be. There is little practical use for this, until you see someone performing live by strumming at their touch screens. Outside of hipster coffee shops this kind of novelty is likely not to fly, so don't start writing the new harp app just quite yet. Even though there are limitations, some of them can still be a lot of fun. Virtuoso Piano Free 2, which is a supposed sequel, brings a mini piano to your touch screen. You can now play the ivories fro C3 to C4, which is hardly enough to play a song. Since that is not likely the point you can have a brief amount of fun, with emphasis on brief. You have a limited amount of settings that is regulated to things like whether or not you get note labeling and overall volume. There is no clear reason why you would need a volume setting when the iPhone already has a volume option, but Virtuoso Piano Free 2 does not pride itself on logic. Really Virtuoso Piano Free 2 exists so that it can give you banner ads on the top of your touch screen, so if you want links to iPhone ringtones you are in for a real treat. Virtuoso Piano Free 2 is not a bad free iPhone application, but it does not bring much in the way of keyboard options.

Two and a half out of five stars.

Ahmmm Oh Yeah Pro

Farting seems to be the preferred pass time of many iPhone game and applications developers. Liang Sai's Ahmmm Oh Yeah Pro takes this concept to apocalyptic levels. Here it presents a fully graphical environment where you are a well manicured bald man standing at a bus stop next to an attractive woman. You have a fart bar at the bottom of the screen that you have to get rid of while it builds up. You have to fart to release this only when cars pass so that the sound will drown it out and you will not offend your possible companion. This is an incredibly elaborate set up for what is a one note joke, and can be fun in a very passing way. You do get multiple areas, but since you really do not do anything but fart discreetly this is not a very big selling point. Ahmmm Oh Yeah Pro is only $0.99, but compared to titles like Mega Man II it is really lacking. Ahmmm Oh Yeah Free is available, but it will give you so many intrusive advertisements for Ahmmm Oh Yeah Pro that it hardly makes it worth it. Just reading this you will likely already know if you will find Ahmmm Oh Yeah Pro to pay for, but if this is really what you want to spend your money on you might already have a few issues to deal with.

Two out of five stars.

Hangman, Eco Punk And More! Notable iPhone and iPod Touch Apps for February 9, 2010: "There's an app for that!"

2010-02-09T13:19:07-05:00

Play guessing games and improve your vocabulary or act a complete punk. Here is our pick of today's notable apps.

Eco Punk - $.99

Love breaking the rules? Think the world blows? Then you will love this game where you play a pissed off Eco-friednly punk bunny!

Hangman Free - Free

From all the hangman apps out there, this is one of our favorites. Hangman Free supports one player and two player gameplay.

Sky Siege - $2.99

You have to battle your enemies alone and your weapons of choice are an Ack-Ack gun, Rockets, and a limited supply of guided missiles. You'll need a 3GS phone as the game makes full use of the digital compass and the accelerometers.

MotionX GPS Drive - $.99

A next-generation car and pedestrian navigation solution which features “door-to-door” personal navigation tools, user interface innovations and even live search.

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Keep an eye on our App Discovery Site for a more dynamic version!

Do you want more app reviews? Well, you can get them right here!

Dev-Team Releases PwnageTool 3.1.5 for Mac OS X Which Jailbreaks and Unlocks OS 3.1.3

2010-02-09T11:52:13-05:00

While the rest of us were glued to our television sets witnessing all the Superbowl action, the miracle workers at the Dev-Team went ahead and released the PwnageTool 3.1.5 for Mac OS X which jailbreaks the iPhone OS 3.1.3! The updated utility not only creates a custom iphone restore file but also strips the OS 3.1.3 update file of its newer baseband modem so that it can be replaced with an older version that is compatible with ultrasn0w. Pure genius is what all we can say !

Users with the iPhone 2G, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS (baseband 04.26.08 and older bootrom models), and iPod Touch (1G and pre-jailbroken 2G) devices can try this baby out. Once you update the custom .ipsw , you can follow the steps in our previous guide (here) as the process is identical. Also head over to the official Dev-Team blog post which lists all download mirrors for PwnageTool 3.1.5.

Size Matters: Is A Bigger iPhone 4G In The Offing?

2010-02-09T10:51:27-05:00

From the "Take It With A Football-Sized Grain Of Salt" Department: iResQ, a Midwestern company whose job it is to fixed your busted-ass electronic devices, claim they JUST NOW got in replacement front panels for the next-generation iPhone. That's it on the right, next to a 3G and 3GS.

The main bragging point seem to be that the panel has "an interesting reflective, mirror-like surface directly above the speaker...likely a spot for the proximity sensor." That, and it's 1/4 inch longer than its 3G brethren. (Some of the older farts here at iSmashPhone.com who remember when you could advertise cigarettes on TV flashed back to Chesterfield 101's and their "silly millimeter longer" campaign.)

iResQ was also quick with the following disclaimer: "We are a repair company and it’s in our best interest to get samples of these new parts as they become available to us. Of course it is possible that these are not the final design or these are parts for another product completely, but that is not how they have been demonstrated to us. If these parts are not for the fourth generation iPhone, we will obviously not be using them for future repairs when the new iPhones do come out."

One can almost hear Uncle Steve muttering "Toto, I have a funny feeling our iPhone case is in Kansas..."