Infinity Blade II, the sequel to Chair’s wildly popular iOS game, released yesterday on the iOS App store. By all accounts the game is very good, but you may find it significantly less good if you’ve been playing it on an iPad 1 or on iPod Touch devices.

Users have been reporting significant performance issues with Infinity Blade II on the original iPad and various iPod Touch devices, including an unbearably bad framerate when playing and even crashes upon starting the game.

Fortunately, Epic is aware of the problems and is working on getting a fix out ASAP. Mark Rein, VP of Epic Games, explained the problem in a forum post, attributing it Infinity Blade II running out of memory due to the way iOS caches icons.

“If you have a large number of apps installed iOS must cache all those icons to give you smooth performance when you hit the home button,” Rein explained in the post. “Unfortunately the machines we tested on didn’t have massive numbers of apps installed on them so we think this how we think we missed this particular condition.”

Rein promises that the team is working on a quick fix for the issues, and the company will submit an update to the iOS Store as soon as possible.

Source: Epic

Infinity Blade II patch for iPad, iPod Touch issues on the way is a post from: The Inquisitr

A new hack called ‘SiriOus’ lets jailbroken iPhone 4′s, iPhone 3GS’s, and even fourth-gen iPod Touch’s to offer Siri’s voice dictation feature. There’s nothing new about Siri working on hardware older than the iPhone 4S. Before the 4S was announced, Siri was available as a standalone application in the App Store. Apple removed the app to integrate Siri exclusively to the 4S.

There’s also a rival version of Siri for Applephobic Android owners with Siri envy. ‘Cluzee’ apparently offers Siri-beating features, and is available on the Android Market now for Android-based devices. This ”intelligent personal assistant” was developed by a company called Tronton, and it does look pretty damn impressive in this (cheesy-as-hell) video:

Tronton claims Cluzee offers additional capabilities like personalized recommendations of restaurants based on the user’s previous choices, a health planner, a travel planner, notes management, personal radio and more.

All very impressive, but there are clearly still boundaries to be tested with Siri. Developer Brandon Fiquett, for example, has programmed voice-activated software that allows Siri to turn a car engine on or off, so long as the car has the Viper SmartStart system. With the right set-up, Siri can also lock car doors, turn on a car alarm, and open the trunk.

And you know what that means, people: it means ALL OF OUR DREAMS ARE NOW REALITY.

Siri Gets Rival On Android, Hacked To Work With Your Car is a post from: The Inquisitr

iPhone and iPod Touch users can now download Apple’s newest mobile version of their popular GarageBand software.

The program is available in the App Store for $4.99 and iPad users who have already made the purchase can also now access the program for free via their iPhone or iPod Touch devices.

According to Apple the new offering is compatible with iPhone 3GS, 4, 4S and fourth-generation iPod Touch models along with the iPad and iPad 2.

According to Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing:

“GarageBand on iPad has been a big hit and we think customers will love using it on their iPhone or iPod touch,” and “The innovative Multi-Touch interface combined with Smart Instruments makes it easy to create great sounding music, even if you’ve never studied music or played an instrument before.”

Using the program is as simple as touching the display to “play” drums, keyboard, guitars, bass and more, the program also allows users to choose from a library of custom chords to play and strum to their favorite songs.

For more advanced users you can also plug your electric guitar into an iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch and play music as you record using classic amps and stompbox effects. Singers can also record their voice via the microphone while mixing up to eight tracks which can then be shared with friends or sent to the users computer for further mixing.

Do you plan on spending $4.99 to have this useful mobile recording study at your disposal?

iPod Touch and iPhones Get New Release Of GarageBand is a post from: The Inquisitr

PSP 2 is coming … soon, but according to at least one analyst, it may as well not bother showing up. Speaking on his show Pach-Attack!, Wedbush Morgan’s Michael Pachter has predicted the console will be “dead on arrival”. He also claimed the gaming handheld market is “in trouble” and “reaching saturation point.”

The reason, predictably, is Apple.

As the iPhone and iPod Touch continue to birth hundreds of cheap (and occasionally very good quality) games, fewer people are shelling out $25 for a PSP or Nintendo DS cartridge, preferring to spend 99 cents on an iPhone or or iPod Touch app. Indeed, Sony seems to have foreseen this problem, and has reacted with the PlayStation Phone. As Pachter points out:

“We’re starting to see DS hardware sales crack, I think the big woody of the iPod Touch is cutting into the handheld market, I think the PSP is dead on arrival and I think the PSP2 is going to be dead on arrival.

“It looks to me like young kids are just as happy playing with an iPod Touch or a Nano. The Touch is cool, it plays games, plays music, they’re going to put a camera in it and you’re going to get all kinds of cool stuff.”

If, like me, you work in an office full of people obsessed with Flight Control and Angry Birds, it’s difficult to disagree.

[GameTrailers, via VG247]

Analyst: PSP 2 will be ‘dead on arrival’, game handhelds in trouble is a post from: The Inquisitr

Can you just imagine what out shiny toys would look like if they didn’t have to have over half their size taken up by the battery?

When the iPad first came out and the tear-downs began the first thing that became apparent was just how much of the whole gadget was the battery. Well that trend has continued with the next generation iPod Touch according to the guys at iFixit who are in the process of one of their famous gadget tear-downs of the new toy from Apple.

Here is the image of the new iPod Touch and its honkin’ big battery.

Some of the other little technical points that we now know thanks to iFixit

• 640 x 960 LCD
• 11-gram EMI shield
• 3.44 Whr Li-Pol cell
• Front facing camera – same quality as in the iPhone
• rear-facing camera – .7 megapixela
• Same A4 processor as found in the iPad

via Engadget

The new iPod Touch … it’s mostly battery is a post from: The Inquisitr

Apple CEO Steve Jobs has called the iPhone and iPod touch platforms “the number one portable game players” on the market, boasting that “the iPod touch outsells Nintendo and Sony’s portable game players combined.”

Whether you believe this particular claim from the polonecked one is another matter entirely. At today’s Apple conference, Jobs revealed there has been 1.5 billion downloads of games and entertainment titles for the iPod touch, before arguing this proved the device has “50%+ the marketshare for portable game players in the U.S. and worldwide.”

However, with many iPod/iPhone games costing just a buck or two each (and most DS and PSP games costing $30 new), I find this claim questionable to say the least. It’s very convenient for Apple to judge this on the amount of software it has sold, because its software costs so little.

Furthermore, Apple has sold “only” 120 million iOS devices (according to its presentation today), while the DS alone (according to Nintendo) has sold more than 132 million Nintendo DS handhelds. Sony, meanwhile, claims the PSP has sold more than 60 million.

Apple may well overtake both of its rivals eventually, but right now? Not in my book.

[Via Kotaku]

Dubious: Apple thinks iPod touch is “#1 portable game player” is a post from: The Inquisitr

In slightly-bizarre-but-still-sort-of-cool news, IGN’s latest Madden NFL 11 videos reveal that President Obama himself will be appearing in EA’s football game.

The video below shows the cut-scene (complete with treacly commentary from Gus Johnson) you get for clinching the Super Bowl. Obama isn’t seen until late in the clip, but he’s there alright, congratulating the winning team on the White House lawn. It’s not a bad likeness!

Oh, and the last serving US President to appear in a videogame? I’m pretty sure it was Bill Clinton, who showed up as a playable character in NBA Jam TE (alongside Hillary, natch).

[Via IGN]

[VIDEO] Obama to appear in Madden NFL 11 is a post from: The Inquisitr

A downloadable demo for Madden NFL 11 will be made available to Xbox 360 and PlayStation owners on July 27, according to publisher EA. As previously revealed, the demo will pit the Indianapolis Colts against the New York Jets at the Jets Stadium.

There’ll be a few sparse difficulty options to meddle with (Rookie, Pro, All-Pro, All-Madden), and five-minute quarters, which is far more generous than what’s offered in EA’s FIFA demos. Only the Jets or Colts playbook will be available in the demo.

The full version of Madden NFL 11 will be released on August 10, a month before the real thing kicks off on September 9.

See also: First Madden NFL 11 trailer is right here

[Via press release]

Hut hut! Madden NFL 11 demo coming July 27 is a post from: The Inquisitr

Madden NFL 11‘s graphics aren’t going to be a massive leap over last year’s title, if these screens are anything to go by. Yet while it’s visually similar, there’ll be something of an audio overhaul.

First up, EA has acquired Gus Johnson for the in-game commentary. If you’re unfamiliar with Mr. Johnson’s respective body of work, he seems the excitable sort. He’ll replace Tom Hammond as your play-by-play announcer for this year, and will have pundit Cris Collinsworth jabbering by his side.

You’ll also be able to hear team-specific chants, and licensed music that’s frequently played at real NFL games, such as Ozzy Osbourne’s “Crazy Train” and the Sport Chant Remix of Zombie Nation’s “Kernkraft 400.”

Anyway, screens!

See also: [VIDEO] First Madden NFL 11 trailer is right here

[Via press release]

Madden NFL 11 gets new screens, signs up Gus Johnson is a post from: The Inquisitr

… And you only have yourself to blame if you follow neither team.

Over at the official Madden NFL 11 site, fans have been voting for the 2009 Super Bowl playoff game they wanted to see in the demo for the next Madden. Hence, the demo for Madden NFL 11 will feature the Indianapolis Colts against the New York Jets.

The game proper will march into stores on August 10th for Xbox 360, PS2, PS3, Wii, PSP, iPod, iPhone, and other feature phones, though the demo is coming in July.

As was revealed the other day, Saints’ Drew Brees will be this year’s cover star. Expect him to suffer a horrific injury or severe drop in form in three … two …

See also: First Madden NFL 11 trailer

[Via VG247]

Madden NFL 11 demo to feature Colts vs. Jets is a post from: The Inquisitr

“SIMPLER. QUICKER. DEEPER.”

That’s the message being pushed in this Madden NFL 11 debut trailer, as voiced by Very! Dramatic! Trailer! Man!.

In its bid to address the ever-shrinking attention span of human beings everywhere, publisher EA is promising that Madden NFL 11 will cut games from 60 to 30 minutes, and ensure players spend “more time on the field, and less in the playbook.” If you actually quite enjoy being in the playbook, then tough titties, I suppose.

It also promises to make all other American Football games “obsolete”. Pretty sure Maddens 10, 9, 8, and a few others promised that but HEY HO. Here’s the trailer:

See also: Drew Brees is Madden 11 cover star

[Via GameTrailers]

[VIDEO] First Madden NFL 11 trailer is right here is a post from: The Inquisitr

New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees has been unveiled as the cover guy for the next Madden game.

So if you’re a Saints fan, this is the point at which you should start celebrating worrying. The Madden series has a long and ominous history – explained in greater depth here – of putting players on the cover of each annual gridiron game, only for the featured player to endure a miserable season. The “Madden Curse” usually brings about injury, massive underperforming, or a combination of both.

The irony in this? It was probably Saints fans who got Brees the Madden 11 gig, after voting in an online poll for him.

Madden 11 is set to appear in stores on August 10th for (*takes deep breath*) Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, Wii, PSP, iPhone, and iPod Touch. G’luck, Drew!

[Via press release]

Drew Brees is Madden 11 cover star, a.k.a. next Madden Curse victim is a post from: The Inquisitr

Ah the iPad love. Can’t you just smell it in the air?

That sweet aroma of money flowing into the coffers of Apple. It’s enough to make one all warm and mushy not to mention; if you are John Gruber, writing a tome about the incredible world changing device.

I’ve got to admit though that from all the loving words being thrown around the Web this sure does seem to be a pretty sweet blown up iPod Touch err iPhone on steroids err all-in-one laptop computer .. oh hell sweet something.

One of the most highly sung praises of the iPad has been the fact that this sucker will keep running on battery power for 10 hours. Wow. That is great especially considering most laptops are lucky to keep going for more than a couple of hours.

But then if your laptop had two great big honking batteries slapped on it it would probably run for 10 hours as well. Just look at the size of those things

Thanks to the various hardware sites that love nothing better than tearing apart stuff we find that maybe that suggestion that the iPad really is nothing more than a blown up iPod Touch might be closer to the truth than Apple might want to admit.

You’d last 10 hours to if you had a pair of honking huge batteries strapped to you is a post from: The Inquisitr

Someone finally figured out a way to get a decent discount on an Apple product!

[Hacked IRL]

Finders keepers is a post from: The Inquisitr

In December 2009 we reported that Mophie was releasing a credit card attachment for iPhone and iPod Touch systems, now that system has a partnering technology “FeliCa” and an official release…in Japan.

The Japan release is a collaboration between Mophie and Flight System Consulting and Focal Point Computer, using Sony’s FeliCa Technology.

Given the technologies release proximity to the official announcement in December we’re assuming this is the same gadget announced by Mophie in December, however no official pictures or information outside of technologies being used have been released at this time.

According to SlashGear:

The reader uses contactless IC card technology for processing payments on a mobile terminal. Considering the card reader we saw in December had a slot for swiping cards and this one has FeliCa technology built-in it may be a new animal altogether.

If it’s a new technology, Mophie sure is keeping it under tight wraps, even after a release announcement.

Mophie Introduces FeliCa Credit Card Payment System In Japan is a post from: The Inquisitr

When first glancing at the Airstash device, you may think it’s a thumb drive, but closer research will reveal that it’s actually a pocket-sized media server that works with the iPhone and iPod Touch devices.

Files are stored on an SD card which is then placed inside the device, allowing users to expand their memory capacity as needed. Simple plug the unit into your system and you’re ready to go or so we’ve been told.

Gizmodo believes the unit will ultimately be available for more than just Apple devices, however we can’t be for certain until later this week at CES when the unit officially debuts.

Airstash: A Pocket Sized Media Server For iPhone and iPod Touch Devices is a post from: The Inquisitr

When I first heard that the iPod Nano was getting a camera and the iPod Touch wasn’t, I was, to put it nicely, very disappointed, after all, why should the “weaker” gadget get the higher end feature added to its build. Then rumors began to swirl that the iPod Touch wouldn’t be too far behind. Now Gizmodo has received information that a camera is headed the way of the Touch by Spring 2010.

According to their inside the camera will offer the same abilities found on the Nano version, which albeit it isn’t all that great, but it’s better than nothing.

Then again with an entire Winter season ahead of us, there’s always the chance that Apple engineers will up the ante on the camera option and provide a more suitable hardware upgrade. In any case, it’s a decent reason to pick up a new iPod Touch.

iPod Touch Camera Rumors Are Pointing To Spring 2010 Release is a post from: The Inquisitr

And it’s free, if you shell out for a $500 Viper SmartStart system.

Another day, another groundbreaking iPhone app. This time, Directed Electronics has made a modern convenience even more convenient with a new twist on remote start. Formerly located on a car’s key fob, remote start is something you really wish you had if you don’t- and those who do are generally untenably smug about it on the coldest winter days, when you’re already freezing, ice-crusted and your car door froze shut.

If you were planning on finally biting the bullet and buying a remote start system this year, the whole deal just got a lot more feature-rich. Before, remote start was located on your key fob and required being within a certain distance of your vehicle. (I can imagine if you work in a large building or have to park far from your location, this can be a bit of a pain.) With the new iPhone app, you can start your engine, warm it up or cool it down on hot days, activate the alarm and open the trunk with your iPhone or iPod Touch.

A new system will set you back $499, but if you already have a Viper alarm system, upgrading is a mere $299. The first year of service is included in that price, and after that, it’s $29.99 a year to keep it going.

[CNet]

Viper iPhone app unlocks, starts cars is a post from: The Inquisitr

With the Apple event today we expecting to see a great deal of price cuts coming from the software/hardware company, what we weren’t expecting was for those price cuts on the iPod Touch, Nano and Classic units to come before the event even officially kicked off.

The iPod Touch series has cut the 8GB model from $229 down to $189, while the 16GB model falls from $299 to $249 and the 32GB models takes the biggest jump from $399 down to an impressive $279.

On the classic front the price took a smaller dive from $249 to $229 while the Nano 8GB goes from $149 to $239 or for 16GB buyers a $50 price cut brings the unit to a respectable $199.

With the rather large price cuts it makes us  think a bigger announcement is coming at some point today during the Apple event, we’ll keep you posted.

iPods Get Huge Price Cuts As Apple Kicks Off “It’s Only Rock And Roll” Event is a post from: The Inquisitr

Over the last few months, I’ve become a fan and supporter of NPR, a not-for-profit organization in America dedicated to the production and distribution of “noncommercial news, talk and entertainment programming”, distributed nationally via public radio member stations.  This came about because typical news sources in America are increasingly focused in advertising dollars rather than informing their audience, and cater more to sensationalism and faux-news than unfiltered, unbiased news – I have no interest in supporting the “infotainment”-ization of CNN.

The problem with NPR, I discovered, is that they have wonderful daily programming that spans a range of interests and topics (read: NPR is not talk radio, but actually closer to a real-time History Channel on the radio) and that the programs can be up to two hours in length.  This becomes a problem when:

1. you’re a busy person
2. you don’t have a portable radio
3. you don’t spend a significant and consistent amount of time in the car

But imagine my surprise this week when I discovered that NPR offers podcasts of almost all of their shows, free of charge, that are easily integrated with iTunes – self-updating news and entertainment programs that automatically transfer to your iPod according to rules you create.

This discovery was wonderful – now I could listen to what I wanted on a regular basis without being dependent on the car’s radio!  NPR’s Talk of the Nation and Marketplace (via American Public Media), along with assorted programs from the BBC’s World Service suite and PBS’ NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, have now become a daily staple for my travels.  Sadly, though, All Things Considered does not have a subscription process, and a query to NPR has been submitted.

Although the podcast process is a great modern innovation for on-demand quality programming, and the television industry would do well to take note, there remains a problem:  if a podcast is started on an iPod, but not finished, the only way to continue later is to either not listen to anything else or memorize its time position.

So, Apple, here’s a two-fold feature request:

1. have a default option to remember the listening position of podcasts, and allow it to be restarted where the user left off – similar to a DVD player’s “resume stop” feature, except with persistent memory during other content.
2. have “intelligent listening transference” from an iPod to a computer’s installation of iTunes, allowing a user to start the podcast on their iPod and finish listening in iTunes.

These two small, but important, new features would make the iTunes method of podcast delivery quite possibly the default distribution method for future “radio” shows and other audio-based programming.  But for a media revolution to be successful, the tools in use must first attain a level of usability, in combination with appropriate market/social timing:  FM radio and cable television saw this in previous decades, and the “blogging revolution” is currently experiencing this as tools mature and newspapers fail.

NPR, I love you, but Apple could take our relationship to the next level – why don’t you give them a ring?

— — —

Update (8/27/2009 11:50am PST): Word is coming in that most iPods already do this.  Mine doesn’t, but possibly because it’s too old.  So if this was a new idea to you, try it out – it probably already works for you!

Kyle Brady is a contributing columnist for the Inquisitr, an entrepreneur, and has a future in science fiction.  He can be found at his blog, via email, or on Twitter.

iPod Feature Request: Intelligent Listening Transference is a post from: The Inquisitr