Killer Apps
About a week ago, I bought a new phone. A proper smartphone, even. A Samsung Galaxy Apollo/3, if anyone cares. (I bought it as an Apollo, but it's the 3 from that review)
Now, I wanted several things from a smartphone, if I sprung for that kind of gear. I wanted it to be able to play music and video for a decent length of time (and boy, does it) and I wanted to be able to read books on it (I like FBReader).
I also wanted to be able to play some decent games on it.
I have a Nintendo DS, which is showing some wear and tear from the many hours I spent playing Elite Beat Agents/Oendan and Guitar Hero on it. I want that on my phone. And, as it turns out, there is an app for that.
Meet Beats, a rhytm game that is originally based off Stepmania. The default gameplay uses Stepmania file formats and gameplay, and actually, that's very similar to the gameplay of the Guitar Hero games for the phone. So I'm already pretty happy.
But here's the kicker: The new beta of this game (I played dev versions, but the version on the Android Market now has it too), has an 'Oendan'* mode! It takes Stepmania files and turns them into something very similar to the Elite Beat Agents/Oendan gameplay.
Utterly, completely awesome.
You have to download your own music/step files, though, which has both its up- and downsides. On the one hand, you can use only the music you like. On the other, try finding phone-playable .sm files! Stepmania has a large community of people making stepfiles, but a large proportion of them are a)pretty fanatical and b)use a keyboard to play the game. Which is all fine and dandy, but not if you're looking for a relatively easy to play song that doesn't offend your ears.
Still, it's not all bad; good, fun songs are out there, and the developer for the game has quite a lot of files available on the game's forum and is looking to add more.
To me, right now, this is the killer app that *really* made me glad I bought the phone. If you have an android phone, and you like music games at all, you should check it out.
And in the meantime, I'm also open to other app suggestions. :-)
XWA
*It's called osu! mod in the game, after osu! an open-source Oendan-clone for the PC. The dev is also planning to support the osu! standard music files in the future, and I've also seen a standard chart generator on the to-do list. All of that will just make this game even more brilliant.
This entry was crossposted from DreamWidth. The DreamWidth entry has
comments. You may comment on Dreamwith or here.
Now, I wanted several things from a smartphone, if I sprung for that kind of gear. I wanted it to be able to play music and video for a decent length of time (and boy, does it) and I wanted to be able to read books on it (I like FBReader).
I also wanted to be able to play some decent games on it.
I have a Nintendo DS, which is showing some wear and tear from the many hours I spent playing Elite Beat Agents/Oendan and Guitar Hero on it. I want that on my phone. And, as it turns out, there is an app for that.
Meet Beats, a rhytm game that is originally based off Stepmania. The default gameplay uses Stepmania file formats and gameplay, and actually, that's very similar to the gameplay of the Guitar Hero games for the phone. So I'm already pretty happy.
But here's the kicker: The new beta of this game (I played dev versions, but the version on the Android Market now has it too), has an 'Oendan'* mode! It takes Stepmania files and turns them into something very similar to the Elite Beat Agents/Oendan gameplay.
Utterly, completely awesome.
You have to download your own music/step files, though, which has both its up- and downsides. On the one hand, you can use only the music you like. On the other, try finding phone-playable .sm files! Stepmania has a large community of people making stepfiles, but a large proportion of them are a)pretty fanatical and b)use a keyboard to play the game. Which is all fine and dandy, but not if you're looking for a relatively easy to play song that doesn't offend your ears.
Still, it's not all bad; good, fun songs are out there, and the developer for the game has quite a lot of files available on the game's forum and is looking to add more.
To me, right now, this is the killer app that *really* made me glad I bought the phone. If you have an android phone, and you like music games at all, you should check it out.
And in the meantime, I'm also open to other app suggestions. :-)
XWA
*It's called osu! mod in the game, after osu! an open-source Oendan-clone for the PC. The dev is also planning to support the osu! standard music files in the future, and I've also seen a standard chart generator on the to-do list. All of that will just make this game even more brilliant.
This entry was crossposted from DreamWidth. The DreamWidth entry has
comments. You may comment on Dreamwith or here.