iPhone

Chillingo in collaboration with Traplight Games has sent over some info on their new side-scrolling adventure title, The Hero. While we didn't get any details about the storyline, we know the game surrounds the life of an unknown patient at a mental institution that has some cool superhero powers (If you don't believe me, read his Psychological Evaluation Report). It is a casual playing game with a killer soundtrack and lots of action! Check out the video below for a sneak peak at what gameplay will be like.

As soon as the iPad was announced, many people began to voice complaints/disappointments about the lack of features, and just like the first iPhone release, the usual suspects began prophesying that it will be a failure. However, Apple may have deliberately held back on announcing some new features because they will ultimately be major selling points for iPhone OS 4.0 this summer.

Features such as multitasking and advanced voice-over integration may still be in the works! Yesterdays announcement was mostly to show off new applications for the iPad, the new powerful hardware and provide developers with the fundamentals to build and start porting their applications to the iPad. When the iPad ships however, Apple is expected to announce iPhone OS 4.0 and provide developers with an advanced beta preview.

During Phil Schiller's demo of iWork for the iPad today, he explains that with the iPad you can create and save documents and easily sync/access them back up from your Mac. This is big. We have confirmed that Apple will indeed be allowing developers to include new file sharing capabilities within their apps. The first benefit is that they will be able to make files saved in their app accessible from inside other apps. Secondly, when the iPad is connected to your Mac, a "shared drive" will pop up in Finder in which users will be able to manually add and remove files. Files that are added to the folder will automatically be recognized from within the app when it is launched.

EA has returned with a second and even more exciting iteration of their Spore Franchise for the iPhone called Spore Creatures. While Spore Origins was just a water based game, Spore Creatures has twenty levels spanning four zones with different climates. Here are the details:

One of my biggest gripes with MobileMe was that there was no way to easily access my gallery from the iPhone. Today, Apple released a new app that does just that - introducing MobileMe Gallery. My favorite feature so far is that the app saves photos you look at for offline access at a later date. Here are the full details:

EA has just announced a new version of their popular Sims franchise for the iPhone - The Sims 3 World Adventures. The new game promises more excitement and fun and will allow you to take your Sims and explore three exotic destinations. EA has taken the time to carefully integrate both versions and you will be able to transfer your current characters and even some in-app purchased items to the new one.

It's been a long time coming... a really long time, but today, Facebook's iPhone app finally gets push notification. The latest update, version 3.1 brings the long awaited push notification and contact syncing. While you cannot specify the kind of notification you would like to receive, you can turn on/off notifications for a variety of different actions such as: Messages, Wall Posts, Friend Requests, Friend Confirmations, Photo Tags, Events and Comments. You now also get the ability to  sync contacts with your address book. And for all those contacts without a picture,  you can also easily import one from their profile - very nice. [iTunes Link]

N.O.V.A., or the Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance protects the remnants of the human race. When a new threat emerges from deep space, retired marine Kal Wardin must step up to the plate. Fight through 13 levels of fully rendered 3D environments with six different weapons and a choice of three control schemes. Dominate in the frantic multiplayer mode with one to four players on five different maps. Prepare for the experience that is N.O.V.A.The game is scheduled to hit the App Store later this week. Also, check out the game's website for screenshots and much more.

A new version of the Google Mobile App is available on the App Store. This version sports a redesigned search results page that allows you to see more results at once and also opens web pages from the results within the app.