Mobile GMaps threatened by Google
We’ve talked about Mobile GMaps before: the best free mobile maps application, with an amazing set of features and a sustained development.
Mobile GMaps allows you to access online maps from your mobile phone, using a large set of providers: Yahoo, Microsoft, Ask, Open Street and, until yesterday, Google. (See the official press release here - Google Enforcement Team just sent a Cease and Desist letter to the author, Cristian Streng, demanding removal of Google Maps access from the program).
But all is not lost, you Mobile GMaps fans out there - according to this article from Hack the Day, MGMaps users can use a neat trick to continue using the Google maps from their. The trick? Use custom maps and two secret urls, that unlock the access to both Google standard maps and Google Satellite maps.
Read the article in question to learn how.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - the mobile game
Maybe I’m a nostalgic, but I’m sure a lot of good games - especially those developed for mobile phones - didn’t get their time under the spotlight because of random reasons. The mobile game for Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is one of them - I didn’t hear about this game until recently when it “landed” on my phone by hazard :P.
We can’t talk about about this game without mentioning it is based on the uber-famous Douglas Adams book. If you don’t know who Douglas Adams is or what book I’m talking about, if the words Babel fish, Don’t Panic or 42 don’t ring any bell, then… man are you a Sci-Fi noob. Run out to Amazon and buy yourself The Ultimate Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
Let’s get back to the game, finally : “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: Adventure Game” was developed in 2005 by TKO Software and published by Starware Mobile, follows closely the script of the Hollywood flick made after the book(a movie which neither has the satire nor the magic of the book, only lots of special effects). Unlike the film, though, the mobile game got an award - IGN’s Editor’s Choice Award, back in May 2005.
I am a SF fan and I greatly enjoyed the novel. As I mentioned, the game follows pretty closely the plot: the destruction of Earth, the Vogon ship, improbability drive, and so on. Being an adventure game, it brings the the feeling of the good old PC quest games, with lots of actions, puzzles, dialogues. The implementation is very well adapted for the mobile, you can do a lot of actions using only very few keys.
You have score points which you can use to get hints if you get stuck, so the chance of frustration is diminished, although not entirely - and I speak here from my experience, the game is pretty challenging - not necessarily a bad thing if you think of other games in the genre. Not to despair - you’ll end up using trial and error, and you’ll get to finish the game eventually.
At last, the most important thing to say about the game is that it simply gave me the feeling of “living” there, taking a part in the story, getting the feeling that anything is possible in this strange universe, just like the novel did. I was captivated and felt a quite sorry once reaching the end. I confess, I miss it.
You might expect a rating, but I won’t give you one - this game is about quests and a small surprise for any fan of the novel and even non-fans, as long as they like SF…
[tags]review, game, Hitchhiker Guide, Douglas Adams[/tags]
Crazy Campus
It’s summer, finally. This means holidays, parties, or simply lazy sunbathing with a drink in your hand. Well.. you have a lot of options. Gameloft, though, thinks otherwise and sends us back to school with Crazy Campus. Don’t cry, please. It’s not a game about studying, but quite the opposite, for the little punk in you.
You only need a couple of minutes to get the right idea about this game. After all, one of the first lines you hear in the game are something like “It’s too late for you to study now.” That says it all: in the style of classic adventure games, you have to get different people help you with your grades. It’s a twisted world out there, much like your average college or high-school, actually: you interfere with various brotherhoods, gangs or unnamed geek groups. These errands will be funny at least - getting a girl as head of the geeks for example -, characters with weird names, all adding up to the atmosphere of a weird virtual college, offering you a good couple of hours of fun. 
Did I mention adventure? Actually this is more like a simulation game in the line of EA Sims or New York Nights, but what i like is that you don’t waste time in boring conversations to make friends, as this happens naturally and pretty fast. Also, the jokes are often good - ok, that depends on your taste -, such as the loading screen saying the high school has 45% females, 50% males, and 5% other :P. Here’s actually the disclaimer - if you don’t find this a bit funny then don’t buy the game, as all the jokes are in the same range.. 
Basically, if you like social sims with personality then this is a game for you. I really liked it, although I didn’t manage to finish it, maybe you will.
My grade? 8.5 - 9.
Shrek 3 - Gameloft Mobile Game
New! Free download of Shrek 3 - Gameloft Mobile Game: http://rapidshare.com/files/108233775/Gameloft_Shrek3.jar.html
Man, I’ve been dying to tell you about this game for months now(but couldn’t because of privacy policies and stuff). Luckily, the film was released and Gameloft finally launched the game. So here I am.
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Desperate Housewives - the mobile game
I don’t like soap operas mainly because the lack of time. Still, movie-based games always appealed to me, especially when they come from my favorite developer - Gameloft.
Still, I am really curious about how many of the fans of the series get to play this game. After all, they kind of target different demographics, don’t they?
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Underground Street Soccer
After the initial code name of Ultimate Street Football, Gameloft eventually got out this game under the name of Underground Street Soccer(probably more marketable brand for the US). It’s the same game, actually, which follows the popular trend of being marketed by popular sportsmen; in this case, Samuel Eto’o. But this game is more than that, obviously. Otherwise I wouldn’t have spent so many hours playing it. It’s what in my modesty I’d call a good game.
Rayman Kart - Gameloft
Sure you heard of Rayman; No, silly; not Rain Man, the flick with Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman; no; Rayman, the uber famous Gameloft/Ubisoft game character. If you didn’t you’ll be excused, as you seem to have spent the last ten years in prison or on a tropical island with no technology :). For you noobs out there, here’s the news: Rayman is the creation of Ubisoft and the hero of a lot of games who are now classics.
Naturally it went mobile: Rayman Raving Rabbids and Rayman Kart, the game I’m writing about rite now are two good examples. A classic? I don’t know. But I do know you shouldn’t miss it, especially if you like good old arcades.
Tiny Twitter - best free mobile app of the day
After a looong Easter holiday, here we are, back with a tiny tiny review.
This time, it’s about a free mobile application, called TinyTwitter, a mobile J2ME client for Twitter.
America’s Army Gameloft
Some of you must have heard at least of the of the game’s PC version. For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, I’ll sum it up by sayinf the PC version of America’s Army is a free multiplayer shooter ordered by the US Army, as one of their marketing strategies of increasing the draft rates and patriotic feelings among the youngsters (yes, I thought it was a joke at first but it’s true).
I must admit I haven’t played the PC version, mostly because I lack the time and don’t like Counter Strike (or Starcraft, as a matter of fact :P). So let’s forget about the PC version and talk about the mobile one: Gameloft does a great job with this game and the only fault one could find is that the game is too short. It isn’t, really: you just won’t realize how fast the hours of play have passed, as this game really gives the term “action packed” a new meaning.
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