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Our favorite iPhone games of 2009

Filed under: Gaming, Software, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch

The first full year of the App Store is coming to a close, and so let's take a look back at our favorite games of 2009. Note that these aren't best-selling, most important, or even the best games of the year -- we'll leave those lists to other sites. But these are our favorite games -- the games we played this year that we feel stand out as our favorite experiences on the App Store.

The list begins after the read more link below, and be sure to agree, disagree, or share your own favorite games as usual in the comments.

Ramp Champ [iTunes, $1.99]
This one's a no-brainer if you're a regular reader -- not only does Iconfactory's polished skee-ball simulator show up quite often in our posts, but it appears on the TUAW team's Twitter feeds and we've even had lots and lots of score bragging in the site's backchannels. And that's not surprising, when you consider that the excellent graphics, spot-on gameplay, and realistic soundtrack puts you right back in the old carnival arcades without having to deal with the carnies.

Words with Friends [iTunes, $1.99, or a free trial]
Say what you will about us TUAWers, but we do love words and writing them, and when it came down to it, this was definitely one of our favorite games. Featuring smooth and good looking Scrabble-style gameplay, complete with online options and iPhone-specific features like push notifications for ongoing games, there's no better way to lay out some letter tiles and challenge vocabularies with friends (and in the case of our staff, spouses).

Doodle Jump [iTunes, $.99]
An addictively simple platformer with a charming little protagionist and constant free updates? We'll buy that for a dollar.

Canabalt [iTunes, $2.99]
Canabalt is exactly what an iPhone game should be, in that it does a whole lot with as little as possible. It's a post-apocalyptic action game that has you running across rooftops, dodging still-dropping nuclear bombs, and jumping in and out of ruined skyscrapers, all with just one tap control. An amazing soundtrack and easy-to-share Twitter updates seal the deal on this one. Any iPhone developer that can squeeze this much polish and depth into a pick-up-and-play app like this has our money any day.

Sway [iTunes, $4.99]
There have been lots of platformers this year on the iPhone, but very few of them have innovated with the multitouch screen, and none of them have gone out on a limb as far as this one did. Sway has you moving along levels, collecting coins (stars) and saving friends, but it uses the iPhone's accelerometer and multitouch screen to make your character glide along: each side of the screen controls one of your character's hands, and so you have to tap back and forth to grab the surfaces as you go. It's an idea that's simple to learn but tough to master, and it puts a whole new tilt on platformer exploration that only the iPhone can provide.

Zen Bound [iTunes, $1.99, or a free trial]
Zen Bound wasn't a game created for the iPhone, but it found its home there -- the touchscreen is perfect for the slow, swiping gameplay that has you wrapping a rope around variously shaped objects. Like a few other titles on this list, this is a game that came up earlier this year, and it's only had one major update since. But we keep coming back to the slow burn allure of this one: it's a beautiful and sumptuous game that only reveals its genius with extended playtime.

TUAWOur favorite iPhone games of 2009 originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 31 Dec 2009 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple Refuses To Send Stolen iPhone Back To Rightful Owner After Repair [Crime]

When your stuff gets stolen, FILL OUT A POLICE REPORT. Consumerist reader Alisa is figuring this out the hard way after Apple received her stolen phone for repair. Even though it's clearly hers, they refuse to return it.

I got robbed on the subway in Brooklyn about 2 weeks ago, my iPhone (and some other crap)was taken. I called the police who were very helpful , they searched the area for a little bit, follow protocol and all that fun stuff.

Anyways, fast forward to yesterday when I get a email from Apple that someone had filed a request for a replacement phone due to a software malfunction from Apple CareService. I suspected that since I made an appointment with an Apple genius before, the Serial number on the phone was associated with my email. I called Apple to confirm this, after Apple and AT&T transferred me back and forth a few times I had the confirmation from the two companies the phone was mine , I had the address the service request was coming from (in the email) and a phone number (from an Apple rep).

I'm so excited that I can get my phone back! Until the cops arrive at my house, they tell me that since I didn't file a police report they can't do anything. I didn't file it because in order to file one, I would have had to go to a precinct downtown (like an hour away) look through books of pictures to try to ID the thief, whose face I only saw from the side for a millisecond. And really, what would a police report do for an iPhone that was stolen on a NYC subway a week before Christmas?(plus i had a final that night) The two officers also told me that even if I had a police report it would still be up to Apple and AT&T to decide how to proceed with the situation.

So I call AT&T... and over the course of 12 hours I speak to a bunch of people who are all very sorry that this is the situation I'm in, but their hands are tied — they have to honor the warranty and it does not matter that it's clear the phone is mine. They would need the authorities to tell them to do otherwise.

So I head to the police precinct where an officer calls the rep I spoke to last (aka the authorities speaking to Apple). The officer spends about an hour on the phone with Apple telling them that once the current holder of the phone ships the phone back to Apple, they should ship me the replacement. He gets the same answer I got—they will not do anything, they do not care that the person who has the phone currently is using a stolen phone and is not using it with AT&T (AT&T confirmed the phone # I got from the Apple rep is NOT an AT&T number).

It's not even about the phone anymore (I bought a blackberry—$600 is a TAD ridiculous for a new iPhone) its the principle of the situation, basically Apple is siding with someone who will most likely jailbreak the phone as opposed to helping a loyal customer (I've been using Apple products forever—iPods, Macs and iPhones (since the first gen)) who legally bought the phone from Apple and is using it with AT&T.

The whole situation is just illogical to me.

Yeah, illogical is a good word. Absurd is another. Does anyone out there know if this is purely about not filing a police report, or is there some other reason why Apple is being such a dick about this? [Consumerist]




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On Your Side: iPhone BAC Apps – WJLA


myfoxny.com

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Wireless N Support in Next Gen iPhone Implied by Apple Job Posting [Unconfirmed]

After the iPhone 3.0 firmware update, we wondered whether the the next gen iPhone would bring a new chip with support for 802.11n. Now a job posting on Apple's website is feeding that theory.

We've already seen that the newest iPod Touch has a Broadcom BCM4329 chip with support for 802.11n and FM transmission—something missing in our most recent iPhone generation—but we've also learned that the hardware is dormant, perhaps to be brought to life by later additions in software support.

A recent Apple job posting teases that such software support might come soon along with some kind of upgrade allowing for 802.11n capabilities in the next gen iPhone, because it's asking for a Wi-Fi software engineer to join the iPhone team and bring experience in:

• Implementation of 802.11 a/b/g/n & related specifications.
• 802.11i/802.1x Security protocols
• Good understanding of wireless RF technologies & co-existence issues of 802.11 PHYs with other Wireless interfaces like Bluetooth.

Ooh la la. Yes, it's just a job posting and pure speculation regarding what we'll see in the next generation of iPhones, but addition of Wireless N capabilities and support are a logical addition and seem rather likely.[AppleThanks, A!]




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iPhone credit card reader to be demoed at CES

Filed under: Hardware, iPhone, App Store

Coming this CES (which is actually next week): a complete credit card transaction accessory and service for your iPhone. If this thing works as expected, you might actually see it in more than a few places (think: street vendors that will take credit card payments). A company called Mophie is planning to show off an add-on that works with an app to deliver credit card payments through Square, a payment service recently started up by Jack Dorsey, a Twitter alumni. This is one of a couple such systems that will be vying to fulfill the function (and probably take a few cents from each transaction for their troubles), but so far all we've really got is demos, no actual releases planned.

But maybe we'll hear more at CES. There's all kinds of applications here -- a solid, working implementation of a service like this could end up being extremely popular for anybody that regularly needs to conduct transactions out in the field.

TUAWiPhone credit card reader to be demoed at CES originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 31 Dec 2009 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nokia files second lawsuit against Apple – San Jose Mercury News


Times Online

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Apple blocking Dalai Lama, Kadeer, iPhone apps: report – AFP


The Guardian

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Apple Orders 10 Million Tablets? Sound Fishy – PC World


Los Angeles Times

Apple Orders 10 Million Tablets? Sound Fishy
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I did some checking at Apple's site to see what sales figures were like for the iPhone in its first year. Here's the breakdown: Add up the quarterly numbers ...
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