YosemiteSam
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I came across two stories that I thought would have interest here, so I've combined them into a single thread.
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First Story:
The official Google Voice app for iOS
The official Google Voice app for iOS is finally on iTunes.
The techcrunch story has a lot of the details on the history of the app, but, briefly, it has been a long time in coming. Apple approved, then removed a third-party app called GV Mobile, which was essentially a Google Voice front-end, saying that the app violated Apple’s terms of use for apps in that it replicated functionality of the built-in phone application.
Recently, Apple revised its app guidlines, and GV Mobile (now GV Mobile+), as well as some others have been re-admitted. The official Google Voice app has been in the review queue for a while and just today has been approved.
But only in the US.
This makes sense, seeing as how Google Voice is officially only available in the US, and it is fairly easy to get around the geoblocking on this app as well. You’ll just need a US iTunes account (see here), and then follow my instructions here. I just tested it out and have the app on my Canadian iPhone.
The app does not work with “gmail voice” as you do need a full Google Voice account in order to log in to the app.
The app doesn’t seem to work with the iPod Touch (even the 4th gen which has a speaker and mic, and the ability to use the mic-enabled headphones), so this seems like an oversight. Let’s see if Google fixes this and allows iPod Touch users to use the app as well. No word yet on if it works with the iPad.
Full Story
=================================================
Second Story:
Failed MMO APB To Be Resurrected As Free-To-Play Game
After a meteoric rise and a spectacular fall, it appears that APB has finally found a way to rise from the ashes.
Here's what has happened so far, in case you haven't read the article. Dave Jones founded Realtime Worlds in 2002 and raised a lot of capital for his game concept of an MMO in the vein of GTA. The company released Crackdown to lots of fanfare, and Jones was able to raise even more money. Realtime Worlds grew fat and spent a lot of money making APB: All Points Bulletin, before it launched on June 29th, 2010. Six weeks later, the company was bankrupt and the APB servers shut down in September, with the company selling off its equipment in auction. Rumors persisted that some company, such as Epic, would buy Realtime Worlds and resurrect APB. In what is possibly the best-case-scenario for the defunct MMO, Reloaded Productions, a wholly owned subsidiary of GamersFirst, announced that it has acquired all the rights and assets of APB and that it plans to relaunch it in early 2011 as a free to play game supported by premium accounts and microtransations.
"We have acquired all of the IP rights [of APB]," said Bjorn Book-Larsson, the Chief Technology and Operating Office of GamersFirst and head of all of its game development, when I talked to him about it yesterday. "Our plan is to relaunch the game as a free to play game as opposed to a retail game." The new title of the game will be APB: Reloaded.
"From our point of view, there was some really cool stuff that was built into APB, some really unique features like the customization functions for characters, guns and vehicles, sound customization," Book-Larsson said. "We think of this as a really great starting platform for evolution of the game into a free to play, community-driven game."
It may not seem like a lot of work to take a functioning MMO and adapt it to free to play, but GamersFirst is taking this seriously. "There's obviously a lot of stuff to do," he said. "We're thinking that [the relaunch] will happen in the first half of 2011."
Complete Story
===========================================
First Story:
The official Google Voice app for iOS
The official Google Voice app for iOS is finally on iTunes.
The techcrunch story has a lot of the details on the history of the app, but, briefly, it has been a long time in coming. Apple approved, then removed a third-party app called GV Mobile, which was essentially a Google Voice front-end, saying that the app violated Apple’s terms of use for apps in that it replicated functionality of the built-in phone application.
Recently, Apple revised its app guidlines, and GV Mobile (now GV Mobile+), as well as some others have been re-admitted. The official Google Voice app has been in the review queue for a while and just today has been approved.
But only in the US.
This makes sense, seeing as how Google Voice is officially only available in the US, and it is fairly easy to get around the geoblocking on this app as well. You’ll just need a US iTunes account (see here), and then follow my instructions here. I just tested it out and have the app on my Canadian iPhone.
The app does not work with “gmail voice” as you do need a full Google Voice account in order to log in to the app.
The app doesn’t seem to work with the iPod Touch (even the 4th gen which has a speaker and mic, and the ability to use the mic-enabled headphones), so this seems like an oversight. Let’s see if Google fixes this and allows iPod Touch users to use the app as well. No word yet on if it works with the iPad.
Full Story
=================================================
Second Story:
Failed MMO APB To Be Resurrected As Free-To-Play Game
After a meteoric rise and a spectacular fall, it appears that APB has finally found a way to rise from the ashes.
Here's what has happened so far, in case you haven't read the article. Dave Jones founded Realtime Worlds in 2002 and raised a lot of capital for his game concept of an MMO in the vein of GTA. The company released Crackdown to lots of fanfare, and Jones was able to raise even more money. Realtime Worlds grew fat and spent a lot of money making APB: All Points Bulletin, before it launched on June 29th, 2010. Six weeks later, the company was bankrupt and the APB servers shut down in September, with the company selling off its equipment in auction. Rumors persisted that some company, such as Epic, would buy Realtime Worlds and resurrect APB. In what is possibly the best-case-scenario for the defunct MMO, Reloaded Productions, a wholly owned subsidiary of GamersFirst, announced that it has acquired all the rights and assets of APB and that it plans to relaunch it in early 2011 as a free to play game supported by premium accounts and microtransations.
"We have acquired all of the IP rights [of APB]," said Bjorn Book-Larsson, the Chief Technology and Operating Office of GamersFirst and head of all of its game development, when I talked to him about it yesterday. "Our plan is to relaunch the game as a free to play game as opposed to a retail game." The new title of the game will be APB: Reloaded.
"From our point of view, there was some really cool stuff that was built into APB, some really unique features like the customization functions for characters, guns and vehicles, sound customization," Book-Larsson said. "We think of this as a really great starting platform for evolution of the game into a free to play, community-driven game."
It may not seem like a lot of work to take a functioning MMO and adapt it to free to play, but GamersFirst is taking this seriously. "There's obviously a lot of stuff to do," he said. "We're thinking that [the relaunch] will happen in the first half of 2011."
Complete Story