Fishlabs Entertainment is a German-based gaming studio that scored a hit with the Galaxy on Fire series for iOS. The latest, most popular iteration is Galaxy on Fire 2, which Fishlabs has kept fresh with updates and extra content since launch. Players fight pirates, loot, mine asteroids and perform several other Elite-style tasks. The latest update is called Valkyrie, which debuted as I chatted with Fishlabs at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco last week. The HD update makes the game look stunning. Even iPhone owners will benefit, as those with the standard version get Valkyrie's HD graphics for free. Valkyrie meets fan requests like larger ships and a new storyline, which Fishlabs says will run as long as the game content is available. Galaxy on Fire is a gorgeous game, and Fishlabs says it's ready for the new iPad. As soon as they get hands on the new hardware, they'll "optimize the assets" and be ready to go. They are excited about the new quad core processors, but for Galaxy on Fire itself, Fishlabs probably won't add any extra features. Instead, they'll just make the game look better. "We'd rather use the hardware to improve the visual quality," I was told. Fans can expect another DLC pack coming soon. Supernova, which will have its own unique storyline and graphical updates. By the year's end, Fishlabs expects to release another new game they're not ready to discuss. "A free-to-play title set in the Galaxy on Fire universe" is all I was told. Fishlabs is doing quite well. Space-trading simulators have a limited audience. While Galaxy on Fire is an excellent game, it might not appeal to casual gamers. But Fishlabs continues to prove that as long as you have a dedicated and interested audience, you can assemble a successful franchise on Apple's platform.Fishlabs sets the Galaxy on Fire with Valkyrie update originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 12 Mar 2012 08:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments read more..
Tuesday, 13 March 2012
Game Developers Conference-Fishlabs Entertainment-Galaxy On Fire-Game Content
Friday, 2 March 2012
Reading List-Readability-App Store
Readability is now in the iOS App Store, ready to change how you read the web. We were able to get a preview copy and have been playing with app for a few days. It's a universal app that lets you browse articles without the clutter of ads, superfluous links and redundant images. For those who use Readability in a third-party client like Tweetbot, you'll immediately feel at home when you first open the app. The idea behind Readability is similar to Instapaper and Read It Later, you browse the web on your desktop or mobile browser and send articles to Readability to read. When you launch the app, you'll need to enter your Readability login credentials or sign up for a new account. You'll need this account so you can access your reading list, which is shared across devices. Using Readability to read is a pleasant experience for those who like to get to the meat of an article - the words. The app does an excellent job of taking the core parts of a post and presenting it in a pleasing way. If you don't like the way Readbility displays the text, you can change it by adjusting the font size and column width. There's even a toggle to change the color theme for night and day reading. It's easy to add items to Readability and then read them on your iOS device. You can add articles using a desktop browser, from desktop apps like Reeder, and from mobile apps like Tweetlogix and Pulse. If you're using mobile Safari you can easily copy the URL of a web page and Readability will ask you to add it to your reading list when you open the app. Overall, I enjoyed using Readability. I love the clean interface and how it formats an article so you can jump right in and start reading. The ability to sync articles between devices is also a major benefit. I spend a lot of time on my computer during the day and read on the iPad at night. Readability works perfectly for my reading habits. Though I like Readability, the biggest question is whether I will keep using it. There are so many options for consuming media on the iPad and other well-established systems like Read It Later, why would you switch to Readability? We were able to talk to Rich Ziade, founding partner of the New York-based design and technology firm Arc90 and one the many talented people behind Readability. We asked him that exact question. Read on to find out what he has to say about the new iOS app and the company's plan for the future. Question: Most people think of readability and remember last year when your app was rejected by Apple and you wrote Apple an open letter. What happened between then and now to bring you back? Answer: In a word - a lot! We'd always wanted to get onto the iPhone and iPad with native apps. It's something we'd been working towards for a while. What complicated things was that we were evolving as a service rapidly over that time. It was pretty tricky to get the apps done and lined up with where the service was going. In any case, we're finally here and we're really excited to finally release them. Question: Why would people chose to use Readability over a competitor like Instapaper or Read It Now, which are similar services? Answer: We're pretty convinced that the notion of providing comfort and flexibility has barely been touched today. While we're incredibly proud of the app, we're most proud of the development community and apps built atop the platform (they're listed here). The idea of building a community around a platform is what drives us. From a reader perspective, this allows us to embed your reading list in a lot of different places, devices and platforms. As far as the app itself, our goal was to keep it dead simple and elegant. We're pretty convinced the great majority of people don't know about this way to read the web. We want to make it as simple as possible for them. Question: Can you comment on how users access your service? Is it mostly web-based, mobile, or through a third-party app? Answer: Today most peopl read more..