Do you like sword wielding anime characters?  What about gratuitous slice and dice action of zombie-like creatures?  If you answered yes to both, you are very likely to enjoy the Role Playing Game (RPG) Third Blade for iOS.  Getting this game during its free promotional period during July 7, 2011, this game had me stuck on my iPad for hours on end and made my trip from Houston to Dallas feel like a ride to the local Costco.  The opening sequence shows a long haired dude who has what appears to be his female friend getting abducted by evil forces.  You have three blades to choose from – each with its own unique method of fighting along with its own special abilities.   Read on past to jump to find out more about this addicting and amazingly fun game!

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There are some games that are just well made, but they go into the black morass.  Such is it with MonsterGila’s NovaRift: Arena.  Given away for free a number of months ago on FreeAppAlert, this little gem had me lost in the depth of space defending the galaxy from 5 different kinds of drone enemies in single player and human enemies in online multiplayer.  After many hours of play, suddenly the online game servers no longer worked.  The game seemed to fizzle out of MonsterGila existance, and the little software company in New Mexico could not be reached for comment as to what was happening.  You can still read the manual at http://www.novarift.com/manual.html or view the old teaser trailer still on YouTube.

So why bring up a dead game that seems to have been sucked into a blackhole? How about because of the countless hours spent playing which earns it one of the most addicting games that I’ve touched?  Yes, dear readers, this game was beautifully made.  (On a side note, do you backup your iPad?  If not, then it certainly is something that should be considered as this is the only way I can load NovaRift: Arena onto my devices now as it is no longer sold.  Stay tuned on an upcoming article on backing up your iOS device and having the ability to version your software.)

One of the best parts about this game was the ability to play multiplayer.  Even with the multiplayer component being disabled due to the missing NovaRift server, the offline arcade mode is loads of fun.  How many drones can you kill?  The game provides you with the choice of 4 different ships – each with its own style of play with different speeds, maneuverability, and weapons.  Your weapons include not just plasma guns, but also spreadfire cannons and proximity missiles.  The ships all have different weaknesses and realistic damage will be taken into consideration – you can fly a ship with damaged wings which affect your movement or even your weapons!

After choosing your ship, you’ll head into battle.  Your two main resources will be shield energy and gun energy.  Shields protect your ship – if they ever become depleted, try not to get hit for a duration of about 5 seconds (those sure seem like long seconds) and you’ll get an immediate 20% recharge of your shields.  Time your shots and make sure to keep moving – else you’ll be bantha fodder!  In the single player arcade mode, you’ll be faced with continuous waves of enemies which become stronger.  It becomes quite the challenge to dodge asteroids while taking out the baddies.  After blowing up the bad guys, there is a chance in getting some powerups.  6 powerups exist that range from refilling shield or gun energy, giving rapid fire, repairing your ship, getting an extra life, or getting invulnerability for a short while!

And hence, we’ve dug up a gem that seems to be gone.  I certainly hope that MonsterGila will bring back this wonderful game.  Until then, know that such a gem exists – and if you’ve downloaded but haven’t given this game a try and it’s sitting in your iTunes library – go ahead and install it…you’ll find this to be one of the best space shoot-em ups of all time which could have been developed into something like SubSpace (now Continuum), an equally exciting Windows 3rd person space shooter.  Until next time, game on!

Want an easier way to create and edit documents on the iPhone?  How about handwriting recognition?  Now, you’ll be able to use inline gestures and shorthand features coupled with context analyzers to quickly get your thoughts onto digital paper.  WritePad will “learn” how you write and enable to you to synchronize your work with Dropbox, Evernote, iTunes, and even Google Docs!  If you wish, you can also email, tweet, sms, print, or post FaceBook updates using WritePad 5.  Check out the new WritePad 5 for the iPhone – only $9.99.  You can also add additional language support for $3.99 each.

Check out PhatWare’s website for an in depth look at the new features as well as to check out a video demo.

Gone are the days of true privacy.  If you don’t want to be tracked, stay off the internet as well as cell phones.  That’s the way it’s going to be people.  I admit, I’m very skeptical.  When it comes company’s privacy policies, it’s just a matter of their word.  Even if a company as a whole means well, all it takes is one individual that goes against policy to blow it.  In short, just think of privacy as a best effort approach.  Apple released a Q/A about location tracking with its iPhones.  Reading through it, Apple is essentially saying that it maintains your privacy and the information is used only for better cell phone service.  Apple is also saying that people need to be educated and that the media has blown stuff out of proportion.  I find it odd sometimes that it takes the media to blow something out of proportion before there “happens” to be a discovery of a bug where an iOS update is needed to “fix” the bug where the cache is not deleted when location services are turned off.  Coincidence?  Maybe, but one thing’s for sure.  This is sure to shape privacy issues that we will continue to play out with the continuance of technology.

What do you think?

Tawkon, an application – the only one for now – monitors real-time radiation levels (caused by iPhones) to give users simple prompts to lower their exposure got rejected from the Apple App Store.   The makers of tawkon even got praises from Apple senior executives about functionality and graphical appeal.  Despite praises from some in Apple, we all know who carries the big stick in that company.

Steve Jobs personally emailed tawkon co-founder & CEO Gil Friedlander with a curt two-word response stating: “No Interest”, tawkon was left with no alternative but to climb through the Cydia window to let iPhone users see and lower their exposure to cell phone radiation.

Ow.  That’s harsh.  More than harsh I find it offensive.  To work so hard and not see your product go to market.  Good thing there is Cydia.

To find out more about how tawkon measures radiation or for directions on how to get your copy of Tawkon via Cydia, check out the Twakon.com Website.