The Online Magazine Focused on App Design, Branding & Marketing

(Anden is six years old and growing up in a world where mobile apps are omnipresent. In this column, he and his mother explore apps that are up his alley.)

In our household, we’re looking forward to the Thanksgiving break and all that comes with it! We love turkey, mashed potatoes, home-made rolls and all the dessert fixings we can handle, but what we love the most about Thanksgiving is the opportunity to relax and entertain ourselves.

With multiple mobile devices in our home, Anden is excited to try out several games in the coming week. He’s looking forward to playing these three in particular during Thanksgiving break!

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(Anden is six years old and growing up in a world where mobile apps are omnipresent. In this column, we explore apps that are up his alley.)

Last time, we talked about three of the games from the PEEP and the Big Wide World Series. This week ,we’re giving our two cents on the additional three games in the package: House Hunt, Paint Splat and Apples.

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(Talksauce is a weekly editorial that represents the opinions of Tapsauce editor-in-chief Jacob Hall, not Rocksauce Studios. If he says something stupid, blame him and him alone.)

Here’s the honest truth about how people (myself included) use apps: once we’ve downloaded and opened a new app, it’s got about five minutes before we decide whether or not it’s staying on our smartphone. I’m especially vicious when it comes to choosing what gets to live on on my iPhone and what gets sent sailing into the deletion abyss. When the very nature of your job has you around apps every day, you get picky.

Unfortunately, this means that the occasional good app ends up as collateral damage.

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(Anden is six years old and growing up in a world where mobile apps are omnipresent. In this column, his mother explores apps that are up his alley.)

The App: A Story Before Bed

The Device: iPad or iPhone

Price: Free to Download, in App Purchase Plans

The Review: A Story Before Bed is an app that lets you record a children’s book online with audio and video turning bedtime stories into treasured memories. You will get the opportunity to read and record several books for free, but you can also purchase a subscription where you can choose from their growing library and share and watch the recordings from multiple devices (iPad, iPhone, Mac & PC).

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The App: IncrediBooth

The Device: iPhone 4

The Price: Free (for this week, at least)

The Basics: Already omnipresent at weddings and in malls, there really was only one more place for photo booths to go: your smartphone. IncrediBooth takes the experience of cramming you and a significant other into a tiny space for a series of goofy pictures and translates it to your iPhone (minus lingering BO and day-old gum getting stuck to your pants, of course). But is it worth downloading?

The Review: As far as novelty photography apps go, IncrediBooth is a solid addition to your smartphone

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The Game: Death Worm

The Device: Droid X

The Price: $0.99 for Android or iOS

The Basics: Tremors: The Game. That’s pretty much all Death Worm is, an arcade-style game that sees you sending a giant worm hurtling through the ground only to pop out and devour unsuspecting people in bloody fashion. This is the mobile version of the popular internet game and its visceral fun should be immediately obvious, but the lasting appeal of it is questionable.

The Review: YOU ARE THE DEATH WORM.

There’s an on-screen joystick that you use to maneuver the giant beast through the ground, trying to angle up and come flying out of the ground to take down the unwary humans, animals, cars and planes living on the surface. Each level you’re given an objective that’s simple stuff like “Get 30 Kills” or “Get 50 Kills in 60 seconds” or “Get 10 Kills without getting hurt” and- well actually, those are the only objectives you’ll ever have. Just keep killing, you graboid!
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The Game: Jetpack Joyride

The Device: iPad

The Price: Free for for iOS

The Basics: You steal a jetpack and go on a joyride. You’ll ride it for a while and then are killed, horribly.

That’s it.

The Review: Since I’ve been playing games on a borrowed iPad, I’ve been making my way through what’s considered the best of the bunch, and Jetpack Joyride might be the most addictive one yet. I simply can’t stop playing this game.

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The Game: Grand Theft Auto 3: Ten Year Anniversary Edition

The Device: iPad

The Price: $4.99 for iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad and Android.

The Basics: This is it, the one that started it all. There are very few games that can be legitimately called trendsetters, but Grand Theft Auto 3 is certainly one of them. A massive open sandbox world the likes of which had never been seen before, with all the guns, car chases and adult themes one could hope for. It’s sold well over 15 million copies, became this generation’s Doom to both overly concerned parents and senators looking for votes, and defined a genre that developers are still trying to emulate it to this day.

Despite all the controversy over the adult themes and the multitudes of easily murdered hookers (hey, they took your money!), people fell in love with Grand Theft Auto due to its irreverent sense of humor, fun missions and over-the-top characters, and now, ten years later, the full experience is available to be downloaded straight to your phone.

The only question is- should it be?

The Review: Sometimes memories are best left alone.

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(There are now over 500,000 apps available for download. Here’s a look at one of them. Welcome to App Spotlight.)

The App: This American Life

The Device: HTC Android Incredible

The Price: $2.99

What It Does: The official app for the long-running, acclaimed WBEZ radio show This American Life compiles all 400+ episodes into one package, allowing you to stream or download every episode of the show at your leisure (and to live stream new episodes as they air). The app also provides playlists divided up by various contributors, allowing you to seek out and listen to stories produced by your favorite voices without having to dig through the massive archive. In addition, there’s an entire section of extras, both audio and video, including behind-the-scenes looks at the production of the show, interviews with the writers and producers and early work from the crew. It’s definitely an ambitious package.

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