( $1.99 )

A news app that covers nineteen different areas of the government

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I just love a good word game.  So much so that I will effortlessly bypass an adventure, puzzle, or board game app that has great graphics and scores of 5 star ratings in favor of a word game that I believe to be original and offers a good challenge.  And if that word game has an online multiplayer element, then so much the better.

John Daniel Bagwell’s first foray into the world of app creation, Killbo, was a word game that took some time for me to warm up to.  Its premise is straightforward: There are 9 tiles that appear in the center of the screen and each tile- generally- has a letter written on it.  Surrounding the center tiles are 9 outer tiles, also- generally- with letters written on them.  The objective of the game is to form words using available tiles.  Each time a letter from a center tile is chosen, the letter on the outer tile closest to the chosen tile moves into its place.  For every word formed, points are awarded.  Longer words translate into more points and it is the player’s task to rack up as high a score as possible.

Sounds simple, right?  But there are twists and turns to this.  For starters, the game is timed.  After every letter choice, some of the center tiles will randomly turn gray and cannot be chosen.  This means words you were attempting to build cannot be because the letters are no longer available.  You must then decide whether it’s possible to create a word based on the remaining available tiles or erase the word and start over again.  There also exists special point awards for forming predetermined words listed at the top of the screen or for using green or pink-colored tiles in your word formations.  There is the option to- when available- select a “wild” tile that can become any letter you wish.  And if you’re really struggling to come up with a word, you can shake your iPod or iPhone to get brand new letters.  Be careful, though, because doing so will deduct precious seconds from your remaining time.

Killbo will test your ability to think on your feet and adapt to constantly changing circumstances.  As I said earlier, it took some time for me to warm up to and get the hang of Killbo.  Now that I have, though, I can certainly appreciate its challenge.  If you crave word game apps and have a buck burning a hole in your pocket, Killbo is worth adding to your stockpile.

iTunes Link – Killbo

Version 1.2

Tested on an iPod Touch 3.1.3

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There are many reasons why I like Quickoffice Connect Mobile Suite and I’ll tell you about them in a moment. First, I have a confession to make.

I own a BlackBerry.  I have for a while now, long before anyone knew what an iPod Touch or iPhone was and probably long after as well.  Why?  Well, although I think my iPod Touch is great for lots of things, writing (something I engage in frequently) is still something I struggle to do on the dang thing.  I can type over 90 wpm (seriously) on a desktop or notebook keyboard, so speed and ease are critical factors.  Plus, I’m just a physical keyboard kinda guy.

Because I’ve owned various incarnations of BlackBerry smartphones (five different models in all), I’m fairly well acquainted with a few other mobile office suite products.  Some are good and some are not so good. Most are not so good at syncing without the umbilical cord (USB) or- in the case of the iPhone or iPod- require a wifi connection to a desktop application.  Many of the mobile computing packages out there are getting better, but many still have a ways to go.

Quickoffice Connect Mobile Suite is, of course, compatible with Microsoft Office.  More important to me, though, is the fact that this app enables me to access documents I have created and stored on multiple cloud services.  Not just Google Docs, but others such as Box.net, Dropbox, and MobileMe, most of which I have been using for some time now.  What this means is that I can finally let go of the umbilical since anything I’ve uploaded and stored with those services is easily accessible via Quickoffice.  And should I choose to make changes to a Word document or an Excel spreadsheet with my iPod Touch, those changes can quickly be updated.  If you are not yet a cloud services user, it is a snap to access and upload files via wifi transfer.

There are some perceived shortcomings to this app that are worth mentioning.  Quickoffice cannot yet create or edit PowerPoint presentations, though they can be viewed or emailed.  Also, several users have commented on the fact that they had to set up a Quickoffice Connect account before they could establish cloud service accounts with Google Docs or Box.net on their iDevice.  I don’t remember having to do that myself, but enough folks have mentioned it that I felt obligated to put that possibility out there.

Quickoffice Connect Mobile Suite is available in the AppStore for $9.99, a justifiable investment given what the app offers in return.  If you use your iDevice for writing and spreadsheets, viewing PDFs and documents in multiple formats or want the option to do so, Quickoffice Connect Mobile Suite is worth your consideration.

And while I may not be giving up my BlackBerry anytime soon, it is no longer the first and only device I reach for when I want to get some writing done, either.

iTunes Link – Quickoffice Connect Mobile Suite

Version 3.0.0

Tested on an iPod Touch 3.1.3

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I've always been a huge fan of the Resident Evil series, and having likely spent weeks of combined playtime in my life playing and re-playing the games of the Resident Evil universe. It's more than a little weird to me that Gameloft has somehow managed to make a better Resident Evil game than even Capcom, the original creators of the series, has on the iPhone.

If Gameloft's highly "inspired" games make your eyes roll, you should turn back now because when I first saw Zombie Infection today there was little I could do to stop myself from groaning at the first level we were shown– A nearly identical African cityscape to the one found in Resident Evil 5, with an equally similar premise to the game complete with a second character you come across named Shawna who serves as your female sidekick.

Zombie Infection comes loaded with 10 levels, some lifted directly out of Resident Evil games, and others in locations that could either be described as "ridiculous", "awesome", or possibly even "ridiculously awesome". One such locale we were shown was a zoo, filled with zombie zoo animals. After just barely making it out alive after fighting a zombified lion, my play session was brought to an end by some gigantic crocodile that sprung up from the water.

Like other similar Gameloft games, controls work exactly how you would expect. A virtual joystick handles all your movement, while context sensitive buttons appear that do things like open doors, shoot, holster your gun, unleash melee attacks, etc. Speaking of melee attacks, there's also a number of "finisher" moves that you can pull on nearby zombies. For instance, if a zombie is knocked to the ground you can run over to them and a button will activate allowing you to stomp their head. Also, like Resident Evil games, you cannot move and shoot at the same time.

I wasn't able to get a solid answer on the graphics engine powering Zombie Infection, but the polygon count of the character models, scenery, and all the texturing was extremely detailed. On top of that, it was running at an excellent framerate, making the whole package that much more impressive.

Aside from the standard campaign mode, there's also going to be a survival mode Gameloft is calling "Arena Mode" where players fight off endless swarms of zombies. Other details are scarce at the moment, and much like Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell we only had enough time with the game to blow through a few levels. Needless to say, I'll be giving Zombie Infection a thorough play through as soon as its released sometime later this month.

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Price: FREE (for 30 days)    Score: 8/10    By Steve Beaudry

Email is a wonderful thing. Just about all of your favorite web applications and social media sites can notify you of updates using email. Unfortunately, this often leads to a cluttered inbox (depending, of course, on how popular you are).

iPriortyMail by Ahlquist Software helps you out by not only notifying you of incoming email, but also filtering that email by sender and giving you options for a different type of notification per sender. What’s really great is that it comes with pre-set settings for popular social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. If you’ve been counting on email notifications to tell you when you’ve got something new, this is your app.

It’s important to note that this is not a fully functional email client. When it sends you the notification, you can read the email in the app, but when you press the reply button it takes you to the iPhone’s native email app. I haven’t decided whether this is a good thing or not. On the one hand, the iPhone’s Mail app is all one needs to compose an email and it works perfectly. On the other hand, it gives you one  more step, one more second of loading time. Before iPriorityMail, I used another app for notifications and it was able to show me the alert and, upon load, switch to the appropriate app. iPriorityMail’s system makes it faster to see the mail and decide to respond, but it also acts as an unnecessary middle-man. So, there are pros and cons to the system here and they seem to be about equal to me. If there’s something you prefer, I’m sure you can make that decision.

The big draw here, however, is its integration with social networking sites. If you have Facebook email you every time you get a new notification, or Twitter every time you get a new DM or Follower, iPriorityMail will automatically detect that email address and give you a whole new set of settings for those notifications.  There are dozens of different ringtones from which to choose including ones that simply have a female voice saying “Twitter” or “Facebook.” The ability to change the ringtone also extends beyond simple social networking sites to whatever contact you wish to differentiate from every other email. Choose whatever contact is in your address book and create a unique notification for him so you instantly know whether or not the email you’re getting is important just by the sound.

iPriorityMail is free to download and try out for a month, but after that you have to pay $0.99 for the privilege of push notifications. Use of Apple’s push servers isn’t free, so, like most developers without a major corporation behind them have decided, the cost gets pushed out to you. So, if it’s worth it to you, then it’s a pretty good deal. Personally, I’m a cheapskate and would rather stick with the native app with its little red number on the corner.

All in all, this is a solid app that does what it aims to quite well. You can tune out certain emails in favor of the most important ones and give those emails that you choose a specific alert that tells you exactly what’s coming in. Not a bad deal at all, I say.

iPriorityMail requires iPhone OS 3.0 or later and is compatible with iPhone and iPod Touch.

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THQ’s dedicated iPhone development studio is no more, but one of the company’s last efforts, De Blob Revolution ($2.99), has made its way to the App Store despite Universomo’s recent and unfortunate closing.

Following up on one of THQ’s early App Store hits, De Blob Revolution scales down the town-painting action of the original title for an altogether different kind of gameplay experience.

De Blob Revolution is a puzzle game in which players must plot a straight path through as many graydians as possible before reaching each level’s exit. Cross your own color path, and the level restarts. Don’t do this.

De Blob Revolution features three gameplay modes and five difficulty levels, giving players the choice between laid-back puzzles and frantic reaction-based challenges.

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After playing Street Fighter IV for 30 minutes, I got enough of the game to offer the following.  This is about the best old school fighting game that is currently available on the iPhone/Touch system.

At first, I wasn’t really sure about the lack of using a real joystick to move the characters around and properly time and control the sequence for my attacks.  I spent a little time in the DoJo initially to go over some practice moves before moving onto Tournament mode.

If you’ve ever played S…Read More

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Microtransactions are still considered an emerging business model in the West, but EA Mobile’s Oliver Miao argued that in a couple years, microtransactions could be a necessity for the most successful iPhone games.

“Make microtransactions core to your game,” Miao said at GDC this week. “Going forward, I think most games are going to need to have them.”

Miao is speaking from his own personal experience. Miao and Centerscore’s mobile game, Surviving High School was a hit in 2007, which led EA to acquire the studio in 2008 from Vivendi following the Vivendi/Activision merger. By January 2009, EA wanted to bring Surviving High School to the iPhone’s App Store.

But the process of bringing the game to the iPhone was fraught with difficulties. EA wanted Miao’s team to create the game as fast as possible in order to beat the oncoming rush of competition on the platform. At the time, the App Store dominated by 99 cent-games, with a few bigger brands coming up the ranks.

“There was this fear that as all these larger brands started coming in, it’d be harder for a smaller game like Surviving High School would succeed,” said Miao.

The game-changer for Miao was when in March 2009, Apple said it was bringing microtransactions to the App Store. Exactly how the team would incorporate the model – while appeasing EA Mobile execs – would prove to be a challenge.

For one, the App Store only allows for 99 cent microtransactions. If EA sold Surviving High School for 99 cents or $1.99 as originally planned, it’d be difficult to justify a “microtransaction” that costs as much or almost as much as the game itself.

Eventually, the development team thought of offering free episodes of Surviving High School, then charge for exclusive content. “We were rejected” by EA execs, said Miao. His bosses thought that the dev team wanted to give away too much content for free.

On the other hand, EA execs wanted to sell each episode for 99 cents each – they were completely at odds. “We thought by giving this content away, we could sell so many units of our game, it will more than make up for it.”

But after that rejection, Miao thought that the dev team found a compromise with a TV-like model. The studio would release free weekly episodes of Surviving High School, but each episode would only be free for one week. If people wanted to download past episodes, they’d have to pay.

“We thought, this should be a really good compromise solution,” he said. “But again, we were rejected. … This is my opinion – EA Mobile makes mistakes too,” Miao said, tongue-in-cheek.

By May 2009, EA execs were planning to make a trip to visit the team’s studio – never a good sign, said Miao. The execs were not happy with the game’s progress, and gave the studio a few days to come up with a new design. “So our studio was in a panic,” Miao said. “People think that big companies don’t care about quality, but obviously [these] execs did.”

The Surviving High School team re-pitched the game in 2009 with another tweak. This time, EA would release episodes for free initially, and call it a “promotion.” Meanwhile, the publisher would look at the game’s progress over the first two months – if the TV model worked, then they’d continue with it. If not, then they’d sell episodes under a traditional model.

EA execs accepted the new pitch. The game eventually launched in November 2009, but it debuted at the bottom of the charts, and stayed there on the first day. But it gradually did move upward, and made it as high as number 16 on the top-grossing apps rankings. Since then, it’s been seeing peaks and valleys, driven by new microtransaction content.

“It’s pretty rare to see games that have been out on the marketplace for a while to have these up and down movements,” Miao said. “But if you have microtransactions built in, you can control the place on the charts.”

And just this week, the company released a “megapack” that added new content to the game, most of which was developed in response to fan feedback and reviews. In a day, the game went from 68 to 30 on the top-grossing ranks.

A final bit of advice from Miao: “Don’t go head to head with EA.” Going up against the mega-corporation is extremely difficult. “Instead find your own green pastures” on the iPhone.

[This news item was written by Kris Graft and originally appeared at FingerGaming sister site Gamasutra.]

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Here at GDC 2010 we had the chance to meet with Benjamin Zuckerer of CipSoft and have a look at the upcoming iPhone version of their popular TibiaME mobile MMO.

TibiaME is an exclusively mobile, top-down 2D MMO that made its debut on Nokia platform devices six years ago and has been growing its community ever since. At present there are approximately 50,000 active players in the game world, which consists of 67 islands, with 16 levels each. The islands exhibit a variety of different terrain types, such as forest, dungeons, ice, and "undead."

TibiaME places the player in the game world as either a warrior or a wizard. The islands of the world are peopled by other online players and a host of enemy characters that range from squirrels to demons — 56 types in all. There are magic-using boss monsters to contend with, as well. During the demonstration we were given of the pre-release iPhone client, there was no lack of activity in the world, as can be seen in our demo video.

While the iPhone version of the game client ties into the same game world that has been running these six years, it is a complete, ground-up rewrite that has been under development for a year and a half. The 20×20-pixel character graphics of previous versions of the game have been redrawn at a rather more detailed 50×50 pixels for the iPhone version, a new user interface has been implemented, and fight sequence animations have been added to the mix, as well.

The iPhone release will make its debut mid-year and follow the "freemium" price model. The base release can be downloaded free of charge and offers two (of the total 67) islands to explore. Characters playing in this mode are limited to a maximum of level 20 experience. Those wanting to experience the full game world can buy play time in blocks of one (5 euros) or 4 months (12 euros). Any character that has been built up in the pay model will retain all stats in the event an unrenewed block of time, but will be unable to level higher without the purchase of additional play time. The developer estimates that the base, free play experience delivers about one month of engaging play for the typical user.

To keep the game fresh, the developer has been in the practice of releasing a series of updates over the course of a year: 12 small that alter various game details, and 2 large, bringing new features and notable enhancements.

The only stand-out negative we saw about the title is its complete lack of any in-game music or sound effects. The iPhone version will allow the user to play tracks from their iTunes song library, however. And, of course, the main stand-out positive is the six years the game has been live and the sizable community that has grown within it, a most iPhone MMO's can't point to.

See our gameplay video for a look at the action in the pre-release client.

TibiaME for the iPhone is expected to debut mid-2010. Additional screenshots of the game can be seen at CipSoft's TibiaME Facebook page.

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If Street Fighter IV’s loading time is any indication of how good it is, playing it should summon unicorns, pixies and rainbows to my living room and my wife should exhibit an uncontrollable urge to hand-feed me cocktail sausages while I “labor” through the game’s levels. It took 55 minutes to download the game. Will it live up to the hype?

CAPCOM boasts that Street Fighter 4 is the iPhone/iTouch’s first true fighting game, featuring the same beautiful graphics and visceral game play the series is infamous for. Long-time fans (at the time I downloaded it [a $9.99 game mind you], it already had 73 User Ratings Reviews) can jump right into the action, while casual players can focus on training, using 1 of several settings and tutorials to hone their fighting skills.

Among it’s feature-set, Street Fighter 4 advertises multi-player/head-to-head play via Bluetooth (not WiFi), eight Street Fighter characters in seven different environments, new move sets including Unique Attacks, Special Moves, Focus Attacks, Super Combos and Ultra Combos, a robust “Dojo” boot camp which transforms neophytes into Street Fighter masters in five in-depth lessons, customizable controls for your style of play (players can move the virtual buttons/joystick anywhere they want on the screen and set their level of transparency), the ability to unleash “super moves” with a tap of the “SP” button, or toggle it off from the “Options” menu if you want to enter the button combo manually and four levels of difficulty: Beginner, Normal, Hard and Grueling.

Street Fighter IV’s animations, graphics and art-style are simply beautiful. To ensure the game’s performance integrity, CAPCOM reduced the original game’s impressive 3D models to sprites, a transition which is practically impossible to differentiate on the iPhone’s screen. While a tad clunky at times, the animations are visually fluid and the game features the same art style, visual style and character move sets seen in the console and arcade versions. When starting the game, its cinematic intro is extraordinary, inter-weaving gorgeous hues of color and animation against a gorgeous, animated, black-and-white backdrop.

Street Fighter IV’s Title Screen offers Solo Play (Tournament, Free-Sparring, Dojo and Training Room), Versus (Head-to-Head Bluetooth play), Stats (Stats), Invite A Friend (via email), Get More (opens Capcom iPhone webpage in Safari) and Special (Special Movie Footage). There are also Settings and Help icons:

For those of you who have the memory of a gerbil, like me, you can access the (moves) Command List for instructions on how to do moves by pressing “pause” from anywhere within the game.

Game play is fluid, but the “virtual touch” control scheme can take some getting used to, proving tricky to pull off moves/strikes requiring complicated thumb-stick/button-combo motions (CAPCOM claims ten months alone went into the unique virtual control system). After practicing in “Dojo” mode, I was able to navigate the game’s virtual controls problem-free.

As stated earlier, the controls are customizable. Players can move the buttons anywhere they want on the screen and set/adjust their level of transparency, enabling them to adjust the controls in a manner which works best for him/her:

This was a very smart move/feature on CAPCOM’S part, because everyone responds to/uses touch controls differently, especially while engaged in a fast-paced duel to the death, so proper placement and comfort are key issues. While the touch controls may take some getting used to, I was able to navigate, i.e. pwn other fighters in no time, although I was playing on Beginner in the Dojo. Advanced controls will take some practice, especially during high/advanced levels of competition requiring precision. That said, my only concern regarding Street Fighter IV for the iPhone is a major one: its capability of offering the same game play depth as its console counterparts. Players able to master the game’s virtual controls will reap the fruits of their labor, while those unable to will be exposed to restricted game play. There is hope, however, in the form of the Dojo mode, which allows players to practice/train until they gain the skills needed for advanced game play.

Multiplayer support is currently restricted to “Head-to-Head” battle, via Bluetooth. Hopefully, multiplayer via WiFi is on CAPCOM’S future update agenda.

Speaking of “restrictions,” Street Fighter IV’s current line-up consists of only eight fighters: Abel, Blanka, Chun-Li, Ryu, M. Bison, Dhalsim, Guile and Ken, all of whom possess different fighting styles, “special” moves and abilities. Hopefully, future updates will introduce additional fighters, whether as “unlockables,” or in-app purchases (preferably the former).

All aside, I love this game. CAPCOM spent a lot of time developing it and it shows. Street Fighter IV for the iPhone/iTouch is a complete, quality port of its console counterpart that will appeal to both hardcore veterans and newcomers. It features a slew of extra/additional content and although the game currently features only eight fighters, as opposed to its console brethren, these fighters (with the exception of newcomer, Abel) are classic CAPCOM characters who have retained their classic moves/abilities.

Street Fighter IV’s $9.99 price tag is indicative of its superlative quality and, considering you’ll have Street Fighter IV at your disposal to play anytime, anywhere, it is money well spent. I highly recommend this game to any/all lovers of the Street Fighter franchise or anyone who enjoys a quality 2-D fighter.

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The first game that Gameloft showed us at GDC this year was the latest in a long line of Splinter Cell games, a series that also has several books associated with it along with a movie that may or may not still be in the works. In the games, you play as Sam Fisher who is an extremely experienced member of an elite team within the NSA called the "Third Echelon". Splinter Cell games are episodic in nature, and this is the sixth installment in Sam's adventure.

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Conviction for the iPhone closely follows the console game with the same title. In fact, they are so alike, they even share cut scenes and voice work. (And because of this the voice acting is much higher quality than typical Gameloft games.) There is also a surprising amount of chatter between the bad guys you come across, and Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Conviction is one of the few iPhone games that frequently drops the F bomb. It will be interesting to see how much of that remains in the final version of the game.

There are 10 included levels that Gameloft estimates will take players anywhere between 4 to 5 hours to burn through, and of the few levels we were able to see in the demonstration the locales vary wildly from night time stealth missions to missions in middle eastern cities complete with sand blowing everywhere. Overall the game looks amazing, and according to Gameloft is running on the next evolution of the NOVA engine.

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Conviction controls well, using a virtual joystick for movement, an array of context sensitive buttons that appear when needed as well as the same buttons that act like dials seen in many other Gameloft games that can be swiped to select different weapons and gadgets. There's a cover system, different instant kill melee attacks, and a "tag and execute" aiming mode that can potentially allow players to slay entire rooms full of bad guys.

For the few minutes I was able to play of the game, it's hard to form much of an opinion on it. Initial impressions are positive, but we'll need to put the game through its paces once it's finally released. Gameloft isn't discussing release dates with Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Conviction yet, but the console versions of the game are due to be released on April 13th, so it's unlikely that we will see the iPhone game before then.

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TapTime is on sale for free – normally $.99

The concept behind this game is nothing new and it’s not even all that interesting… tap on objects before they disappear from view, and don’t tap the one bad thing that will end your game instantly. The thing I love about this game, though, is the execution. The sound and graphics are both really well done and, overall, Andy Burke has put together a nice little time waster here.

TapTime is the kind of game that’s so basic a monkey could play it, but it’s also that very simplicity that will cause certain personality types to get hooked. The game also supports OpenFeint which is cool.

Grab this game while it’s free and give it a spin the next time you’re waiting at a bus stop, outside the principal’s office, or just completely bored out of your mind. It might surprise you.

iTunes Link – TapTime

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Warning: Skip the text part of the greeting card!

Luck O the Irish is on sale for free – normally $.99

If you’re Irish… or just looking for an excuse to get out and party… chances are you’ll be celebrating St. Patrick’s Day sometime within the next week, or at the very least you’ll be updating your Facebook status with a very clever “Happy St. Pat’s!” or something to that effect.

If your Irish-ness only goes as far as Facebook, Luck O the Irish will help you take it one step further by walking you through its Irish greeting card maker. The seven templates it includes look fairly slick and professional, and as long as you’re just sticking a picture in there you’ll be just fine. Photo handling is pretty bad (but repositioning is pretty easy), and forget about inputting any text because it’ll look ridiculous. Once you’re done putting photo in frame the image gets saved to your camera roll so you can post it to your profile via a Facebook-friendly app (which this one isn’t), or you can just email it.

For hardcore revelers, Sync Studios also included Irish-themed drink recipes and drinking games, plus there are links to info on a whole lotta St. Patrick’s Day parades worldwide.

Luck O the Irish has plenty of flaws that are mainly in the greeting card department, but it does enough things well that it’s worth picking up for free if you see shamrocks and green beer in your very near future.

iTunes Link – Luck O the Irish
Version 1.2

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Capcom has launched an iPhone and iPod Touch adaptation of its massively popular one-on-one fighting game Street Fighter IV ($9.99), promising App Store customers “the first true fighting game on the iPhone.”

The iPhone version of Street Fighter IV includes eight playable characters — Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li, Blanka, Guile, Dhalsim, Abel, and M. Bison. Each fighter retains his or her full move set from the console and arcade versions of Street Fighter IV, including specials, focus attacks, super combos, and ultra combos.

To ease the transition from an arcade joystick to a virtual controller, Capcom has included a Dojo mode to train newcomers in the arts of throwing fireballs and kicking people in the face. An optional “SP” button is also available, giving quick and easy access to each character’s otherwise difficult-to-perform super moves.

And, of course, there’s multiplayer. In addition to a single-player tournament mode, Street Fighter IV allows players to battle head-to-head over a Bluetooth connection. Good times!

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Namco held a press event last night where they announced the iPhone version of Pool Pro Online 3. This represents the 3rd in the franchise which originally began on mobile phones but is now extending to smartphones and even the desktop.

While the game may be of interest to those who enjoy pool, it also represents a few first of potentially a series of games using their UniteSDK which allows cross-platform online play. Jonathan Kromrey, general manager of apple games for Namco Networks, writes "This is only the beginning of where we are going as a company. Over the next several months, we will roll out a series of other features and games that are powered by UniteSDK, including tournaments for Pool Pro Online 3."

Pool Pro Online 3 will eventually be also available for PC, Mac, Android, Java, BREW, RIM and Windows Mobile, and will allow instant online play across all the platforms. UniteSDK also includes the usual friend lists, leaderboards and such that we've already seen in OpenFeint and Plus+. Namco is also opening up UniteSDK to 3rd party developers as well.

As for Pool Pro Online 3, it allows both single player and online play in 8-ball, 9-ball and Snooker. Players can also make in-game wagers against their opponents and use winnings to upgrade table felts, cue sticks and new pool halls. The 3d game allows you to rotate your view and pinch/zoom to line up your shot.

The iPhone version of the game will be released on Thursday for $4.99.

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