Tag Archives: Apple

App Review: 1 Little Boy

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1 Little Boy is not just good. It’s wonderful. The story is basic, but the twist that the entire trip has occured in a child’s imagination is a great way to encourage your kids to dream. The apps enhances the story with gorgeous artwork and a bare-bones approach to letting the story unfold. It’s one of the few apps that allows parents to record their own voice to narrate the story, which makes it more personal for young readers. The price is a little higher than we’d like, but it’s by no means excessive. This is a wonderful addition to your app collection if you have young children.

Read more at Common Sense Media


App Review: JumpStart Preschool Magic of Learning 1

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Knowledge Adventure has a strong reputation as a kid’s software creator for a reason. Through the JumpStart brand, the company has honed learning exercises into fun games – and the JumpStart Preschool Magic of Learning 1 proudly continues that tradition. The games are challenging, but not too difficult and are full of educational opportunities for young children. While geared toward younger users, a few of the games — especially Bug Catcher — might even appeal to slightly older children.

Read more at Common Sense Media


App Review: My Very First App

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My Very First App is good at what it does, but unfortunately, it doesn’t do an awful lot. The color identification games it offers are useful and have varying degrees of difficulty, making the app useful for a range of age groups. And Eric Carle’s distinctive artwork is, as always, wonderful to look at, but you’re paying a premium for it here. From a strictly educational standpoint, you can get a more complete set of learning tools for the same amount somewhere else. But if you’re a fan of Carle and willing to pay a bit extra for it, this app will easily satisfy you.

Read more at Common Sense Media


App review: Gangstar: Miami Vindication

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Gangstar: Miami Vindication desperately wants to be confused with Grand Theft Auto. The game apes many of the best known characteristics of the Rockstar Games title, but fails to get the most important right: Story. GTA typically comes with an engaging plotline, but there’s nothing memorable here. The main character is a compilation of bad-guy clichés, stealing cars, urinating out in the open, and talking tough. It’s far from the worst clone on the market, but if you want to play Grand Theft Auto, just buy the real thing.

Read more at Common Sense Media

App review: Library Of Congress – Virtual Tour

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Even if you’ve visited the Library Of Congress, this app is an exceptional tool to help you get a better sense of the history and magnificence of the world’s largest library. It’s an invaluable tool for students researching the facility and would even be useful for self-guided tours. Beyond information about the library itself, the app offers several related links for each subject (which go to the LOC web site). These are helpful, but it would have been nice to have this information included (and formatted) as part of the app, rather than an external link, which detracts slightly from the experience.

Read more at Common Sense Media

The Money Making Game #1: Nintendo’s $300 Handheld

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We certainly have no problem getting caught up in the fun of playing games, but the people who create them have their pocketbooks to worry about, too. In this column, finance expert and GameSpy contributor Chris Morris guides you through the tricky corridors the gaming industry’s financial side, touching on big-time business decisions and how they matter to the common gamer.

When Nintendo announced the price of the 3DS, jaws dropped. 25,000 Yen converts, as you undoubtedly know by now, to just under $300 — a figure the gaming world howled was too high. Many gamers initially assumed the system would carry the same price tag when it hit the states, and the outrage increased. Analysts and industry observers predicted (after currency conversion and other factors) that the U.S. launch price would likely be closer to $250, but this did little to mollify people.

What many people tend to ignore or forget, though, is that Nintendo made some enormous pricing mistakes with the Wii — leaving millions of dollars on the table. And with the 3DS, the company’s taking steps to ensure it doesn’t repeat those gaffes. $250 (or even $300, if the company decides to surprise everyone and roll the dice) is, admittedly, an extraordinarily high price for a handheld gaming device… particularly one that has a single function. And this pricing strategy could backfire and give Apple a window to increase its market share. But from a pure business standpoint, it’s a sure way for Nintendo to regain the confidence of its investors.

Read more at GameSpy

App review: tChess Pro

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Chess may be known as the sport of kings, but tChess Pro isn’t first in line for the crown. While the chess engine is a good one against which to practice your skills, a clumsy menu system detracts from the experience. That could drive away fans of the game. Beginners, meanwhile, will probably get frustrated fast, since (despite a tutorial mode) there’s not a lot of handholding. The app’s $4.99 price tag is also a bit high, given its lack of polish. With some interface updates, though, tChess Pro could shine.

Read more at Common Sense Media

App review: Grimm’s Rumpelstiltskin – 3D Interactive Pop-up Book

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Grimm’s Rumpelstiltskin – 3D Interactive Pop-up Book brings the digi-novel to children, not only telling the classic story, but adding interactive pop-up elements that children will love to play with. The art is very well-done and the presentation is well-paced. The current version of the app, though, lacks a few features — most notable, it does not read the story aloud. Children or parents will need to do so (and the dense language of the Grimm Brothers may slow some kids down). An update is being worked on, though, that developers say will add narration – and could boost the app’s educational elements.

Read more at Common Sense Media

App review: Dora the Explorer Coloring Adventures

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Dora the Explorer Coloring Adventures is a fun diversion for kids, but doesn’t have a lot of depth to it. Five scenes are available for children to paint, and there are a number of different stickers, but to restart a painting, you first have to erase all the work that was previously done, which could annoy some kids. (You can, however, save images in the iPad’s photo album.) The app won’t really give kids a true creative outlet, and may not hold their attention for long.

Read more at Common Sense Media

Analysis: Xbox Live – The Killer App For Windows Phone 7?

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[Following Microsoft’s new details on Windows Phone 7, Gamasutra editor-at-large Chris Morris talks to the company and analysts to examine how Xbox Live may help the smartphone OS thrive.]

Microsoft’s gamble with Windows Phone 7 is anything but a sure bet – but the inclusion of Xbox Live as a prominent part of the operating system could be the ace up the company’s sleeve.

Mobile gaming has been evolving rapidly over the past three years – and tying it to a service that has been so phenomenally successful for Microsoft could position the company to regain market share.

Read more at Gamasutra