iPhone App Blog

Here’s some exciting news for those of us who love games and want as many as possible for our iPhones. PopCap Games, the leading online company for casual gameplay, has released a version of its premier game for the iPhone. Bejeweled, the popular jewel-pattern game has been called PopCap’s flagship game and now there’s a version for the iPhone.

This version of Bejeweled has been specially designed to work with the iPhone’s screen size and input controls. Working with Polish developer Arkadiusz Mlynarczyk, who developed a Bejeweled clone called Diamenty for the iPhone, PopCap has transformed the familiar game with specialty controls to take advantage of iPhone’s unique touch screen capabilities.

Bejeweled was a clear choice for the iPhone due to the game’s vertical orientation. The game takes advantage of iPhone’s landscape capabilities as well. If you turn the iPhone, the game will zoom in on the active part of the screen; making selecting individual gems a little bit easier.

Not only is Bejeweled super fun (personally, I’ve  played it far too much), but PopCap’s new version is absolutely free. Bejeweled and Zuma (another popular PopCap game) have both been available on video iPods for a year and have both been great successes. It’s easy to speculate, then, that this will not be the last game that PopCap develops for the awesome-game-lacking iPhone.

For more information on this game app as well as info about PopCap Games check out PopCap’s Bejeweled Press Release.

Well, if you’re in school it’s probably going to start in about a month. Yeah, I know, I just realized it, too. Don’t panic, it’s all going to be alright. With the realization that I and many, many others will be joining the legion of students all too soon I thought I’d do a little spotlight on some iPhone apps that are a little more academically minded.

One of the first steps in getting ready for school time, school time, break the golden rule time is buying books. Buying textbooks from Amazon can usually save you some money, and now you can browse Amazon’s listings from your iPhone. TeleMoose is a specially designed Amazon page for the iPhone so you can save money on books while your shopping for folders and binders and booze and whatever else students need.

There are several reference apps that have been developed for the iPhone. One unique and rather neat reference app is TechDictionary. Whether or not you are technologically minded TechDictionary can be a really useful application to have. Simply type in any tech term that you need a definition for and get your learn on. This TechDictionary app also has useful tech and virus news as well as fun emoticons and IM abbreviations.

If you’re a history buff you’ll definitely want to bookmark This Day in History for iPhone. Powered by the publishers of World Book, This Day in History features the important and interesting events that happened every day in history. This is a special version created just for the iPhone so you can be full of historic trivia every day. Your history prof will love you.

Now if you have a question that your friends, family, and professors can’t or won’t answer direct your iPhone to this Fluther app. Fluther is a neat site where you “tap the collective” to get your questions answered. From the frivolous to the profound, users ask questions and other users answer. Whether you have many unanswered questions or just like to be a know-it-all Fluther’s iPhone app is a must visit.

Now if you’re a quote lover you’ll want to check out BrainyQuote for the iPhone. BrainyQuote’s iPhone app has a quote of the day as well as a way to search for quotes by author and subject. You can even search for quotes by the profession of those that penned them. Useful if you need an introductory quote for that paper that’s due or if you just love quotes.

So it’s been nearly three weeks since the release of the iPhone and third-party apps are popping up all over the place. While many of these apps help with organization or add more functionality there are many that fill a large void in the iPhone’s design; namely Sweet Awesome Games.

With a big, full color screen, wi-fi, and a touch interface similar to the popular Nintendo DS the iPhone seems pretty much made for games. Unfortunately, Apple has provided no downloadable games for the device. Despite rumors that the likes of EA and Nintendo were looking into developing games for the iPhone, Apple has given no hints that this is at all true.

However, there are options for game-loving iPhone owners. Already there are scores of websites offering iPhone game apps. Without Flash and Java on the iPhone’s Safari browser the options are few for really sweet awesome games, but there are many fun and simple touch and play game apps all o’er the internet.

If there’s a flagship game for the iPhone it would probably be Tilt. Created during the iPhone development camp by the folks at XEODesign, Tilt is the first motion controlled game for the iPhone. To play you tilt your iPhone to feed a little guy named Flip who likes to eat falling leaves and butterflies.

One of the many sites that offers iPhone games is Kudit. “Kudits” are described on the website as being “simple, easy to use applications that are specifically designed to run elegantly on the iPhone.” Whatever, all I want to know is how much it costs and what apps it offers.

Well, Kudits don’t cost much. Many of them are free and you can get a 3 month membership for either $1.99 or $4.99. Not too bad. There aren’t too terribly many apps available right now but that’s sure to change. Right now Kudits offers some games, useful apps, and a lot of time wasters.

Many other sites like iGiki and MacMost have web-based iPhone games available either for free or for a small fee. As time goes on, though, there are sure to be more iPhone games available online and maybe even some that are available for download.