Universal Music Group has launched Six-String ($4.99), an interactive guitar application that allows users to match chords and strum along with a selection of licensed music tracks.
Promising “the most realistic guitar experience yet,” Six-String scores players based on accuracy and timing. The game includes Plus+ Network functionality, and features leaderboards sorted by region and song.
The following six tracks are included in the core application:
Bon Jovi – “You Give Love A Bad Name”
Tom Petty – “Runnin’ Down A Dream”
Peter Frampton – “Show Me The Way”
Fall Out Boy – “Thnks Fr Th Mmrs”
Scorpions – “Raised on Rock”
Orianthi – “According To You”
Universal also offers a selection of 99-cent downloadable tracks featuring artists such as Angels & Airwaves, Beck, Dashboard Confessional, Kaiser Chiefs, Maroon 5, No Doubt, Papa Roach, Peter Frampton, Rise Against, Robert Palmer, and Sum 41.
Studio Radiolaris has released Radio Flare Redux ($2.99), a successor title to its music-based, horizontally scrolling shoot-’em-up Radio Flare.
Radio Flare Redux retains many of the gameplay concepts introduced in Radio Flare. Players use one thumb or finger to dodge incoming bullets, while another finger targets enemy craft. Chains of enemies can be locked on and destroyed with a single swipe.
Radio Flare Redux’s gameplay pulses to the beat of each level’s background music track. Redux features a selection of licensed techno, club, and house music from artists including Kevin Gorman, Fischerspooner, Grace Jones, Tommie Sunshine, and DJ Hell.
Redux includes 33 levels, a selection of mission-based achievements, and global online leaderboards. A gameplay trailer is below.
In this weekly feature, FingerGaming rounds up the top-grossing iPhone and iPod Touch applications, as current that day on the iTunes App Store. This week’s top titles are:
PopCap’s undead-themed tower defense game Plants vs. Zombies takes top honors in its first week of release, outselling all competing App Store titles. Activision’s Call of Duty: World at War Zombies also sees a successful week, with sales boosted by a recent content-expanding update.
EA’s Rock Band falls to third place after leading the charts for the last two weeks. PopCap’s Bejeweled 2 follows at fourth, as Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars climbs to fifth place after a weekend-long price drop.
Tapulous’s Riddim Ribbon is nowhere to be seen among this week’s top titles, despite a promising start at fourth place last week. EA’s The Sims 3 and Lima Sky’s Doodle Jump remain strong sellers, meanwhile, as Newtoy’s online word puzzler Words With Friends overtakes Triniti’s app compilation All-in-1 Gamebox for eighth place.
FaceFighter and Zombie Pizza developer Appy Entertainment branches out into the rhythm genre with its latest App Store release. Tune Runner is a free-to-play action title that automatically generates levels based on the rhythms and melodies of music tracks in your iTunes library.
In each level, an animated boombox runs through an obstacle course consisting of letters, numbers, and geometric shapes. To safely pass through an obstacle, players must draw the approaching object by dragging a finger on the screen. Succeed, and a combo is started. Fail, and a bit of health is lost.
Though Tune Runner includes one default song — an exclusive remix of Angels & Airwaves’ single “Hallucinations” — Appy Entertainment notes that it will not be releasing additional paid content. Appy assures that Tune Runner will remain a free download, and players will always have the option of creating additional levels by importing new music tracks into their iTunes library.
In this weekly feature, FingerGaming rounds up the top-grossing iPhone and iPod Touch applications, as current that day on the iTunes App Store. This week’s top titles are:
Electronic Arts’ Rock Band takes the top chart spot for the second week in a row, as Activision’s Call of Duty: World at War Zombies moves up past PopCap’s puzzler Bejeweled 2 to place second.
Tap Tap Revenge developer Tapulous has a chart hit this week with its recently debuted rhythm-action title Riddim Ribbon, which finishes ahead of Lima Sky’s popular Doodle Jump in today’s rankings.
Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars has seen a sharp drop in popularity, meanwhile, ending up at seventh place after taking third in last week’s charts.
Finishing up this week’s results, Ubisoft’s stealth platformer Assassin’s Creed II: Discovery makes its chart debut at eighth, as Triniti Interactive’s app compilation All-in-1 Gamebox pushes past Newtoy’s Words With Friends to take ninth place.
Every Monday, FingerGaming rounds up the most popular paid iPhone and iPod Touch applications, as current that day on the iTunes App Store. This week’s top titles are:
Doodle Jump faces new competition this week from Triniti Interactive’s compilation app All-in-1 Gamebox, which returns to the charts to finish at second place.
Shopping Cart Hero falls to third place, meanwhile, as Bejeweled 2 rises up past Skee-Ball to take fourth.
Moto X Mayhem and Words With Friends were in danger of dropping out of the top ten last week, but both titles have since recovered to finish at sixth and seventh place. RunStickRun! places eighth following the recent release of a free Lite version, as Rock Band and iZombieland settle for ninth and tenth.
Tap Tap Revenge series creator Tapulous has launched Riddim Ribbon ($2.99), a rhythm-infused action title featuring licensed music from The Black Eyed Peas.
Riddim Ribbon challenges players to navigate a twisting, obstacle-filled ribbon by tilting the iPhone’s accelerometer. All hazards, items, and ramps are synced to the beat of a background music track, making for an immersive audio-visual experience in the vein of titles like Vib Ribbon and Audiosurf.
The core version of Riddim Ribbon includes three songs by The Black Eyed Peas, and boasts a total of eight remixed tracks in all. Three additional levels featuring songs by Tiësto and Benny Benassi are available for 99 cents each.
Every Thursday, FingerGaming rounds up the most popular free iPhone and iPod Touch applications, as current that day on the iTunes App Store. This week’s top titles are:
After making its chart debut at fifth place last week, Motion 9’s executive toy simulator Kinetic Balls tops the charts as this week’s most popular free game in the App Store.
Cobra Mobile’s arcade-styled bombing game iBomber follows at second, as last week’s chart champion Rock Band falls to third place.
Activision’s Call of Duty: World at War Zombies Lite also sees a drop in popularity after a strong showing last week, as newcomers RunStickRun! Lite and Titanic Rescue move in at fourth and fifth place. A free version of Gameloft’s Driver makes its chart debut at seventh, while FallDown! drops to ninth place after previously debuting at fourth.
You like Music?
You like Platforms?
You like pink bird-like things?
You like the Jungle?
It’s hard to argue with any of those things! If, like me, you also enjoy all of the above, then Bulkypix suggests that you’ll love its upcoming rhythm-based platformer Maestro! Jump in Music – Green Groove Edition.
Created by French indie developer Pasta Games, Maestro! Jump in Music stars a pink bird-like thing out for a leisurely stroll across a series of floating platforms. Players must “strum” the platforms to the rhythm of a background music track to make the bird jump to collect items and avoid bottomless pits.
Later levels add new rhythmic challenges, including enemies that must be tapped to the beat and platforms that can be rubbed rapidly to play sustained bonus notes.
Maestro! Jump in Music originally debuted for the Nintendo DS in Europe last year, but has yet to see a U.S. release. The iPhone version will launch worldwide at the end of this month for 99 cents. A preview video is below.
Rhythm genre pioneer Konami has launched the latest title in its expansive music games catalog. RhymePlayer ($1.99) challenges players to tap song lyrics in time to the beat of a background music track.
RhymePlayer’s gameplay closely resembles Konami’s iPhone dance game Dance Dance Revolution S. Scrolling lyrics appear at the bottom of the screen and approach a timing line at the top.
Once the appropriate lyric reaches the timing line, players must tap the screen to sync the words to the song.
RhymePlayer includes a selection of five officially licensed music tracks:
Bell Biv DeVoe – Poison
The Cover Girls – Show Me
Jackson 5 – ABC
Lady Gaga – Just Dance
Lifehouse – First Time
Konami has a neat concept here, but with only five songs and two difficulty levels, there isn’t much variety or replay incentive. An in-app store offering new songs would be a great addition — here’s hoping that Konami adds one in a future update.
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