Family Learning Center

Posts Tagged ‘Player Gaming’

Outnumbered presents an interesting twist on iPhone multiplayer

Filed under: Gaming, Software, Developer, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch

Veiled Games sent word of their new game, Outnumbered [iTunes link], on the iPhone app store, and it seems intriguingly different. It’s basically a multiplayer arcade game, which pits two iPhones or iPod touches against each other via Bluetooth. One player takes over the role of the O.N.E., a singular robot armed with weapons and special attacks, and the other player controls M.A.N.Y., which is a top-down view where you can control waves of attacking units and robots. The two players duke it out, with the first controlling his robot around the arena, and the second overseeing the armies and buying new units with collected currency. When the single robot is dead, players switch sides, and whoever earns the most points while fighting (for attacking, moving, or a few other criteria) wins the game.

Interesting idea. Of course, you’ll need a friend with their own iPhone or iPod touch to do all of this, and you’ll have to be in the same room, as the connection only works (so far) over Bluetooth. If you’re still confused as to how it all works, there’s a nice tutorial video up (although that voice gets to be a bit much after a while) that explains how the game goes down. Most of the big iPhone titles we’ve seen this year mostly focus on single player gaming, so it’s cool to see an attempt like this to try something that more than one player can share. Outnumbered is available in the App Store [iTunes Link] right now for 99 cents, and a lite version (that will allow a second player to play along, although one of the two players must own the full version) is due out soon.

TUAWOutnumbered presents an interesting twist on iPhone multiplayer originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 15 Dec 2009 23:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Read the whole story…

Wi-Fi Direct to bring secure peer-to-peer networking in 2010

Filed under: Wireless, Odds and ends, Apple

If there’s one thing that I’ve wanted to be able to do for years, it’s to set up a direct Wi-Fi connection to another device without having to actually be near a Wi-Fi base station, or going to the trouble of getting an ad-hoc network set up on both devices. This type of peer-to-peer networking is nothing new; back in the Newton MessagePad days we could beam address cards and data between devices through an IrDA connection.

Now the Wi-Fi Alliance has announced that this will be possible next year through the use of Wi-Fi Direct. Wi-Fi Direct will come built into many new devices and can be implemented in existing devices through software updates. Wi-Fi Direct competes directly with Bluetooth, and will provide much faster data transfer speeds (using more power, unfortunately). According to the Wi-Fi Alliance,

“The specification, previously code-named ‘Wi-Fi peer-to-peer,’ can be implemented in any Wi-Fi device, from mobile phones, cameras, printers, and notebook computers, to human interface devices such as keyboards and headphones. Significantly, devices that have been certified to the new specification will also be able to create connections with hundreds of millions of Wi-Fi CERTIFIED legacy devices already in use. Devices will be able to make a one-to-one connection, or a group of several devices can connect simultaneously.”

I can imagine that at some point in 2010, we’ll be able to sync our iPhones using Wi-Fi Direct, directly send address book information to other iPhone-toting people, and enjoy high-speed multi-player gaming fun. Apple is a sponsor corporation for the Wi-Fi Alliance, so adoption of Wi-Fi Direct on Macs, iPhones, and future Apple equipment will hopefully be swift and widespread.

[via MacRumors]

TUAWWi-Fi Direct to bring secure peer-to-peer networking in 2010 originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 14 Oct 2009 23:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Read the whole story…