If you’re one of those edge-of-your-seat types that enjoys following police, fire and EMS transmissions there are half a dozen apps that make it easy to listen to those calls on your iPhone.

Most of the scanner apps are still rookies with less than a month in the App Store. Only two of them — Police Scanner by Juicy Development LLC and Emergency Radio by EdgeRift, Inc — are seasoned veterans with experience and multiple updates under their belt. Both apps do a very good job of providing live streaming transmissions to your iDevice, but there are subtle differences between them. Read the rest of this entry »

(Editor’s Note: Sparkz is free today, October 20 for a one-day promotion!)
Sparkz is a puzzle game with a long history. The app is a reproduction of the vintage Mac game Qix, which was in turn based on an earlier arcade game. And while I never played Qix, I hear that Sparkz does an excellent job of porting the popular arcade puzzle to the iPhone platform.

The goal in Sparkz is to fence off the screen by traveling a perimeter of your own design to create closed shapes: square, rectangle, etc. Basically guiding your diamond-shaped controller — the Stix — around the screen to trap the Sqix in an ever-smaller area. At the start of each level, the playing field is a large, empty rectangle, with only your controller and the rotating arches of the Sqix in site. Read the rest of this entry »

Apollonia Kingdom is an action-adventure game where you must fight your way through a variety of monsters, zombie-like skeletons and goblins to find and retrieve the red jars, which will somehow save the entire Kingdom of Apollonia. (I’d love to know what’s in those jars!)

The backstory may be thin, but the game has more depth. There are five levels to wind your way through using a simple 4-way controller. The game map is pretty extensive, so it can take a good bit of time to locate and recover the jars. (Apollonia video after the jump) Read the rest of this entry »

Pig Rush — Way back in the dusty corners of my mind, I can almost recall the day my dad brought home this new game that could be played on T.V. It was Pong. But, like many in my generation, the games I really grew up with more colorful and advanced than Pong could ever hope to be. Games like Pac-Man, Kong and eventually Super Mario Bros. And today’s games are even more colorful and challenging than those.

Such is progress. Nevertheless (progress be damned!), sometimes I just want a unblemished, side-scrolling platform. Something that is fun to play, without all the bells, whistles or learning curve. Pig Rush is just that game.

Pig Rush has just one goal. Keeping going. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s tough to get ready for winter, especially when the other squirrels are bent on destroying you. Such is the moral of the story in Nut Chuckin’.

Nut Chuckin’ is a game where you must dodge the flying nuts of your tormentors and attempt to beat them at their own game. As Risoo the Squirrel, you’re parked on a branch front and center. The other squirrels — apparently suffering from a fit of rabies — are all against you. They come at you — alone or in packs  — and chuck nuts at your head, trying to knock you off the branch. Read the rest of this entry »