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Review: Spirit by Marco Mazzoli

Posted onMarch 4th, 2010

Not Geometry Wars

The Xbox’s twin-stick shooter, ‘Geometry Wars’, started something (besides making plagiarising Eugene Jarvis’s seminal Robotron acceptable). It showed that retro could be pretty, beguiling – nay, even sexy.

Spirit, by Marco Mazzoli continues this trend. At first glance you’d be forgiven for thinking this was Geometry Wars.

  1. Black background? Check.
  2. Deforming gridded play-area? Check.
  3. Neon palette? Check.
  4. Vector-styled graphics? Check.
  5. Randomised waves of enemies? Check.
  6. Gutteral, particle-filled death animation? Check.

So far, so very, very familiar.

But that’s where it ends, for in Spirit your primary activity is drawing, not shooting.

Review: Cogs by Lazy 8 Studio, Published by Chillingo

Posted onFebruary 21st, 2010

We’re all so inured to the mouthy, screaming cacophony of mismatched ideas, images and sounds that has come to represent the gaming industry that the merest hint of clarity of purpose – of elegance – makes us weep.

I’m crying right now. Big, manly tears, but tears nonetheless.

I’m playing Cogs and it is genuinely elegant. It’s possibly the first steam-punk puzzle game, and this core creative decision has an impact on every part of the game.

Review: CleanMyMac (Coupon Inside)

Posted onJanuary 20th, 2010

Probably one of the most advertised Mac applications in the market, CleanMyMac has quickly become the standard application for keeping your Mac clean and healthy. CleanMyMac is an application that helps you to remove all of those files that can limit your computers performance and take up valuable disk space. Unlike any other application, we can only say good words about this amazing application. TheMacFeed’s updated review of CleanMyMac follows. 

Review: Flaboo

Posted onJanuary 12th, 2010

The iPhone has revolutionized the gaming and phone industry with its touch capabilities and its revolutionary App Store in which a user can browse over 150,000 apps. Today, we review Flaboo, an app created by Dene Carter, which is a strategic jumping game where the sky is the limit. In Flamboo, you play as Fat Chick (yes, you play as a fat baby chick) and your goal is to get as high as you can before the time runs out. In addition to just hopping, you can pick up keys that unlock power-up-like bonuses that allow you to bounce higher, fly faster, and jump twice as high. As in just about all games, there is a villain. In Flaboo, evil clouds are meant to slow you down enough so that you can not hit the next checkpoint.

Review: Camtasia For Mac

Posted onJanuary 5th, 2010

Today, if you were to go onto Youtube, you would find thousands of videos with tutorials on a wide array of topics, from Photoshop tutorials to glitches on your favorite game. In fact, there are entire websites devoted to these tutorials. And with the high demand for screen recording applications to record those tutorials, many screen recording applications have presented themselves out there in the Mac world. Now, we would like to introduce you to Camtasia, the single application that has exceeded our expectations in every single way, and to this day we have yet to find any other application that brings the power and functionality of iMovie to a screen recording application.

When you first open Camtasia, you are greeted with a small box with your recording controls that has options on recording the following: you on camera, computer audio, and mic audio. Strangely, the recording area cannot be chosen until after recording, which actually is good because you can get in the cropped area just right after you know what you need to see (versus before when you have to guess what area you will need). This first pre-recording box is nothing compared to the post production window which gives you the customization features that many screen recording applications fail to include.

Review: Ecoute

Posted onDecember 23rd, 2009

iTunes is probably one of the most used applications on my Mac, but the size of the player is sometimes a problem. Sometimes I end up having to have continuously switch spaces so I can get on iTunes and change a song which serves as a tedious task. Wouldn’t it be better to have a smaller player on the same space as Safari? Introducing Ecoute – my knight in shining armor – a standalone player that allows you to “browse your entire library. Play your Music, Podcasts, Movies or TV Shows without having to launch iTunes.” The best part is that it brings one of the most beautiful user interfaces that I have ever seen.

While using Ecoute, I have found that it works beautifully, smoothly, and overall… it Rocks. Puns aside, the UI is something worth bragging about. With its smooth lines, dark colors, and round edges there is nothing you can hate about this application. The preference popup is extremely simplistic having only 5 panes (that have options for the app) and an additional pane for your registration. In the preferences you can choose from: general, shortcuts, themes, remote, social, and registration.

Review: Thinking Home

Posted onDecember 11th, 2009

Having the power to control lights, appliances, and electronics from a single computer is an ingenious idea. Meet Bruce, the brilliant man who created Thinking Home, software that allows you to set schedules for turning on and off different electronics throughout your house, workplace, or yard.With Thinking Home, your house turns into an energy-friendly home, the best way to control your house.