Gameloft is a gaming company that designed Earthworm Jim and Shrek Kart for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Now their latest game has more of a political theme. The new game is called Bailout Wars and it allows players to kill bankers by throwing them into the air or shooting them. Another option is to shake them to the point that their clothes fall off.

There is a free and paid version of the game. The paid version sells for $0.99. “Take revenge on bankers in this fast-paced castle defense game. Defend the White House and save the US taxpayers’ money before it gets stolen! It’s time for you to give them what they deserve!” states the game description. Above is a video clip. What do you think about the game?

iMo is a startup that launched out of the TechCrunch50 conference that aims to make the iPhone or iPod Touch act as a gaming controller for PC games. Most PC games use a mouse and keyboard to play but sometimes people prefer to play with a wireless controller. This is where iMo’s future application comes in. iMo’s application would make the Apple iPhone or Apple iPod Touch work as a wireless controller.

The application would communicate with the PC through a WiFi or Bluetooth connection. iMo will cost $0.99 on the Apple App Store and the application will be available on the Google Android Market in the future too. Below is a video demo of the presentation from TechCrunch50.

After the Rock and Roll event Apple hosted yesterday morning, The New York Times interviewed Steve Jobs to gain a sense about what Steve Jobs is feeling about different situations and products on the market today. Jobs took a swipe at Amazon.com and even discussed why the Apple iPod Touch does not have a video camera.

Yesterday morning, Apple announced that the new iPod Nano will have a video camera and an FM tuner.

When David Pogue of The New York Times asked Jobs why the iPod Touch did not end up having a video camera, here’s what the response was:

Originally, we weren’t exactly sure how to market the Touch. Was it an iPhone without the phone? Was it a pocket computer? What happened was, what customers told us was, they started to see it as a game machine. Because a lot of the games were free on the store. Customers started to tell us, “You don’t know what you’ve got here — it’s a great game machine, with the multi-touch screen, the accelerometer, and so on.

We started to market it that way, and it just took off. And now what we really see is it’s the lowest-cost way to the App Store, and that’s the big draw. So what we were focused on is just reducing the price to $199. We don’t need to add new stuff — we need to get the price down where everyone can afford it.

When talking about what he thinks about e-readers, Jobs pointed out that Amazon.com never mentions how many Kindles have been sold. Therefore Apple does not believe e-readers are a big market.

RealNetworks’ streaming music software Rhapsody-To-Go will be submitted to the Apple App Store for approval this week.  When the application gets approved, Rhapsody customers will be able to access on-demand streaming of over 8 million tracks within the company’s library through 3G and WiFi connections.

The application will work with the Apple iPhone and the Apple iPod Touch.  Currently a Rhapsody membership costs about $14.99 per month, but the application itself will be free. Next RealNetworks will be working on a Google Android version of their application.

Spotify, a Rhapsody competitor submitted an application back in July too.  Currently Spotify is not available for download in the U.S.  The announcement was made on the Rhapsody blog.

The Apple iPod is rumored to have a camera built in that is similar to an iPhone according to a report by Hardmac.  The camera would be added to the new iPod Touch and iPod Nano.

Adding a camera to the next iPod Nano and the iPod Touch would allow Apple users to download and use camera-related applications on the App Store.  Assuming the Nano gets a camera, I would expect the little iPod to get WiFi too.  After all why take all those pictures and not be able to share them?

The report on Hardmac also reports that “the future iPhone models will have exactly the same shape and size than the current iPhone 3G, despite fakes and rumors circulating.”

[via HardMac.com/Apple Insider]

The Princeton Review, Inc. (NASDAQ:REVU) has decided to get into the iPhone application market.  Earlier this week, the tutoring company released an application called the SAT Vocab Challenge.  The application tests users with the ability to comprehend 250 words, including The Princeton Review’s Hit Parade.   The Hit Parade is a list of 100 words that often times appear on the SAT exam.

“Vocabulary building is one of the easiest, most effective ways to improve an SAT score, but it requires time and discipline on the part of the student,” stated The Princeton Review VP/Publisher Robert Franek. “The revolutionary iPhone and iPod touch have enabled us to strip away the typical barriers to study so students can carry hundreds of need-to-know words with them everywhere they go, and challenge themselves with fast-paced drills for a meaningful study session, whether they have five free minutes or an entire weekend.”

The Princeton Review was able to put together the application with the help of Modality.  The SAT Vocab Challenge sells for $4.99 [iTunes link] and has features such as timed challenges to test users on a word’s connotations, synonyms, antonyms, and the definition.  The performance of the student is tracked by the application and there is audio pronunciation of each word.

[via PRNewsWire]

Dig Dug was a classic arcade game made in 1982 by Namco.  Atari published the maze-based game shortly after the game was made for arcades.  The objective of the game is to eliminate ground-dwelling monsters while digging through mazes.  Eliminating monsters requires the Dig Dug character to inflate them using his pump.

For those of you that want to relive their youth, but don’t have access to an Atari or the Dig Dug arcade, you can pick up a copy of the game for $5.99 through the iTunes App Store.  The $5.99 that you pay will allow you to play the classic version or the remixed, new version of the game that features new levels, new enemies, and new power ups.

Namco has done something similar with Galaga Remix.  Around February 2007, the Digg staff was looking for someone to help fix their Dig Dug machine.  The game also works for the iPod Touch.

Vroom Vroom!  EA Mobile has released Need For Speed Undercover for the Apple iPhone and the iPod Touch.  The premise of the game is to become connected to a gang of street racers and infiltrate their ranks.

The cars in the game don’t have an accelerator, it automatically just starts going forward.  Touching the screen hits the brakes and swiping a finger down the screen activates Speed Breaker.  Swiping a finger upwards on the screen hits the nitrous boost.  Cars that can be selected in the game include Pontiacs, Mazdas, Mercedes, BMWs, Porsches, etc.

The game costs $9.99 and there are circuit races, cop takeouts, and sprints.  Cop takeouts are when a player has to disable several cops before the timer beeps.  Winning races earn you cash so that you can soup up your ride more.

[via CNET]

Electronic Arts has released several screenshots of Sims 3 for the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch.  The game will feature over 10 hours of gameplay with 3D visuals.  The game will be supported by the touch feature and accelerometer.  Sim characters will be customizable just like the console and computer games.  Four mini games including fishing, gardening, cooking, and house repair will be included.  You will be allowed to develop relationships with other Sims as well.  No word on whether this game will be utilizing the new iPhone SDK or not.  Additional screenshots are below.

[via TouchArcade]

Every time I think of Prince, I cannot help but think of the Charlie Murphy skit from The Dave Chappelle Show. Prince seems himself as being a premium brand because the Party Like It’s 1999 singer is selling a premium iPod with his symbol on it. The Prince Opus iPod is selling as part of an rare kit which also includes a book of Prince pictures from Kraken Opus. The Prince Opus iPod Touch also comes preloaded wth 40 minutes of exclusive footage of the Indigo Nights soundtrack.

The Prince Opus iPod Touch is painted in purple and silver and costs $2,100. About 950 of these kits are available. At a price like that, using this iPod Touch must feel better than purifying yourself in the waters of Lake Minnetonka.

[via Engadget]

Yesterday Apple announced the availability of the iPhone OS 3.0.  Rather than jumping on the news in real-time, I decided to wait until it fully develops and then consolidate all of the news in one blog post.  Here is what the iPhone 3.0 operating system includes:

- An updated Software Development Kit (SDK) with over 1,000 new Application Programming Interfaces (APIs).  The new APIs include In-App Purchases, P2P connections, access to the iPod music library, and a new Maps API and Push Notifications.
- Cut, copy, and paste
- MMS
- Landscape view for Mail, text, notes, Bluetooth, and syncing Notes to the Mac
- Shake to shuffle music
- Advanced parental controls for TV shows, movies, and App Store applications

“The new iPhone OS 3.0 is a major software release packed with incredible new features and innovations for iPhone customers and developers alike. It will keep us years ahead of the competition,” stated Philip Schiller, Apple SVP of of Worldwide Product Marketing.

The iPhone 3.0 beta software also gives apps the ability to interact with hardware accessories.  Developers will be able to use the Google Maps API to integrate it within their own application.

The iTunes App Store currently has 25,000 applications across 15 countries.  About 800 million applications have been downloaded thus far.  About 30 million people own iPhone and iPod Touch devices around the world.

Developers will be able to download the new SDK from http://developer.apple.com, but other customers will only be able to download the 3.0 operating system later this summer.  For the iPhone, the upgrade is free but for iPod Touch customers, they have to pay $9.95 for the new OS.

[via Apple PR]

Pangea Software has been creating games for the Mac since 1987.  But they are giving this up to focus exclusively on the iPhone.  Why?  They are making a good amount of money producing games for the handheld mobile phone.  Brian Greenstone, founder of Pangea made this announcement at the SXSW conference in Austin earlier today.

Pangea made about $2 million in iPhone app sales since last summer even after Apple took a 30% cut.  Their Enigmo game itself made more than $1.5 million.  Pangea was invited to share the stage with Steve Jobs during the Worldwide Developers Conference last year.

Pangea had an advantage over many other iPhone developers since they already had built games for the Mac and just had to port the code over.

[via BI]

You know that game at the carnival where you use a hammer to hit a button and it tells you how strong you are.  If you hit the top, you win your girlfriend a prize.  That game has made its way to the iPhone.  In this case you have to be careful who you let play the game.  If it is a clumsy person, do not give your phone to them otherwise you’ll have a broken phone.

When swinging the iPhone, the ball goes soaring. The harder you swing, the higher the ball goes. Carnival Hammer will be unleashed on March 20 on iTunes. Price of the app is not yet known. The app also works with the iPod Touch.

[via Mobile Crunch]

Its been about one week since the Amazon.com Kindle 2 has been available for purchase.  But Amazon.com doesn’t want to leave Apple in the dark in terms of providing books on handheld devices.  Amazon is going to unveil a free application later today that will allow electronic books to be read on the iPhone and iPod Touch.  It will be available on the Apple App Store.

The application will have access to the same e-books, mags, and newspapers that are supported by the Kindle.  The application has a Whisper Sync feature that allows users to pick up where they left off when reading books.

The Amazon.com Kindle 2 currently retails for $359 and has a Text-to-Speech feature.  This feature was criticized by the Authors Guild.  As a settlement, Amazon.com made this feature optional for publishers.

[via CNET]

“Made me 50k in vegas.  Not kidding”
“Just got back from Vegas and won 8G’s and took my family on a great vacation.  3 bucks is worth a thousand.”

Those are some of the testimonials that iPhone application card counter received on iTunes.  The only problem is that this application is illegal in the state of Nevada.  The card counting program works on both the iPhone and iPod Touch and it helps players illegally beat the house in the game of blackjack.  Although card counting in your head is not illegal under Nevada’s gambling laws, it is a felony to have a device that helps count cards.  This has become such a problem that The Nevada Gaming Control Board sent a warning to casinos regarding the iPhone application.

The application uses algorithms to help the owner of the program adjust their bets based on whether they are likely to win or not.  Authorities in Nevada learned about the program from gambling regulators at an Indian casino in California.

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