Stick Skater – Insane, Addictive & Realistic iPhone Skateboarding Game

If you’ve been paying attention to the App Store’s top paid and free iPhone app rankings,  you’ll notice that a certain stick figure game has recently rocketed to the top of each chart. And for good reason – Stick Skater is an addictive skateboarding-themed side scroller containing a whopping 30 different levels … over 1,000 different trick combinations … and five world famous skate locations. At one point, the free Stick Skater Lite [iTunes Free] was the #1 overall free app, while the full version Stick Skater [iTunes $0.99] sat in the #2 spot for overall paid apps.

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The beauty of Stick Skater (aside from its ridiculously low price of 99 cents) is the fact that it’s easy to play … yet hard to master. This Ying and Yang nature of the game makes Stick Skater extremely challenging and addicting. We’ve spent an embarrassing amount of time playing Stick Man … and currently attempting to complete level 26, Wilshire.

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Similar to Canabalt, Stick Skater requires players to get past certain obstacles … but instead of just jumping over them (boring), users perform radical skateboard tricks. Don’t jump a trash can … clear it by sticking a gnarly Popshuvit. Stair rails become the perfect place to throw down a killer Frontside Boardslide.  You can Ollie, Nollie, Kick or 360 Flip … like we said, over 1,000 different trick combinations.

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There are five coins to collect at each level. The player’s score is based on coins collected, coupled with how well tricks are landed. For the agro competitive freaks, there is an online leaderboard located at the Stick Skater website.

Within Stick Skater, there are two different game modes based on difficulty level, each having a unique control. The basic mode features a general trick button that when pressed, performs a random trick. In the advanced mode, the player slides the trick button in one of eight directions to lay down a different trick. Both modes have a push button that increases your speed … essential for clearing obstacles and gaps. Game controls are very intuitive and easy to use … you’ll be landing all sorts of insane tricks in no time. 

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Stick Skater was developed and published by Traction Games (an Indie development house) who are skaters themselves. Their goal was to create a realistic skateboarding game which would appeal to both hardcore skaters and non-skaters alike … while paying tribute to top skateboarding spots such as Hollywood, Dogtown, Carlsbad, Wilshire and Love Park.

Anti-Krapps-Seal-v2GIF Even though Stick Skater appears to be a fairly basic stick-based platform game, there is a lot of attention to detail that the skate community appreciates. Skater forums are giving positive feedback regarding game physics, trick animation, replication of skate spots, etc.

Traction Games has definitely accomplished its goal … Stick Skater is a realistic skateboarding game that absolutely rocks. And judging by its high App Store ranking, has a broad appeal. Stick Skater [iTunes $0.99] is a total steal at 99 cents … and without a doubt, 100% anti-KRAPPS Certified!

 

May 18, 2010 | Filed Under anti-KRAPPS, Games | Leave a Comment 

Namco’s Pac-Man Stolen By German Company, Published As PiCK MAN!

While Apple is busy censoring the App Store, it seems they make no effort at all when it comes to copyright issues. We recently discussed the blatant Doodle Jump ripoffs … Doodle Jumper and Doodle Drop … and if that wasn’t enough to raise an eyebrow at Apple, now a German food company, Bahlsen, has ignored copyright laws and published PiCK MAN!

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Three weeks ago, our friends at The APPera reported this latest copyright infringement in the App Store, yet PiCK MAN! still remains available for download. It’s shocking how one of the most popular video games ever, Pac-Man, could be shamelessly bootlegged, fly through Apple’s approval process and be available for sale … like it’s no big deal.

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So lesson learned … when it comes to Apple approving overtly sexual apps, it ain’t gonna happen. However if a developer feels like profiting from an app by stealing someone else’s original work … Apple is just fine approving the ripoff application.

Oh and by the way … as an iPhone game, PiCK MAN! completely sucks. The controls are such crap that moving the character is virtually impossible … thus making the game unplayable. Look … if you want to play Pac-Man, just buy the real deal from Namco [iTunes $4.99 and FREE] … life is too short to play stolen video games.

May 14, 2010 | Filed Under Games, News | 2 Comments 

Linkin Park Wants YOU to Join the 8-Bit Rebellion!

(written by guest author Tim Giron. follow Tim on Twitter @timgiron)

Linkin-Park-iPhone-Title Somewhere in India, a phone rings …

Apple Dude: iPhone/iPad service hotline, how may I help you?
Fanboy: Yeah, um, both my iPhone and my iPad have a problem with the built-in speakers

Apple Dude: Can you describe the issue?
Fanboy: Yeah, so these advanced devices currently sound suspiciously like my old Nintendo

Apple Dude: Both of them, eh?  So, tell me, have you purchased any new games lately?Fanboy: Yeah, I was just playing "Linkin Park 8-Bit Rebellion!"… that’s when I noticed the sound thing.  See, I know every Linkin Park song by heart and…

Apple Dude: Every one?
Fanboy: That’s right, every one, and these just sound a little, like, different.

Apple Dude: Sir, what you are hearing is the carefully crafted sound of "retro" beautifully rendered through your wisely chosen next generation devices.  But, I have to question whether or not you truly know every Linkin Park song by heart.
Fanboy: Huh?

Apple Dude: See, once you complete the game, you’ll unlock a brand new, exclusive track.  So, until you’ve mastered the game, there will be one song that you won’t yet know.
Fanboy: Well, then I guess I better get back to it, thanks!

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Linkin Park 8-Bit Rebellion! for iPhone [iTunes $4.99] and Linkin Park 8-Bit Rebellion! iPad Edition [iTunes $4.99] were developed by Artificial Life, Inc. in collaboration with the band.  Featuring 8-bit versions of eight songs, including One Step Closer and my personal favorite: New Divide.  The 8-bit songs are fantastically re-imagined (there is a media player so you can listen to them at your leisure as well).

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It took me a little bit to figure out the game side of things.  One key observation:  it’s important to pay attention to the current mission objective since character interactions will be different depending on whether or not you’ve completed the current goal.

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I found the iPad edition to be easier to play overall, but that’s likely to be attributed to the fact linkin-park-rebellion-55 that my iPhone is a 3G so it’s a little sluggish with the bigger apps.

If you’re interested in the background of how the app came together, I encourage you to check out the blog of Linkin Park’s Mike Shinoda –> http://MikeShinoda.com … and if you want to sport one of these cool 8-bit avatars (mine’s got a lot of orange on it since I am a Phoenix Suns fan), head on over to http://www.8bityourself.com.

 

[heads-up … tomorrow we’ll be announcing a Linkin Park 8-Bit T-Shirt giveaway. It’s a very cool shirt and you will not want to miss it … stay tuned] 

May 8, 2010 | Filed Under anti-KRAPPS, Games, Guest Authors | Leave a Comment 

It’s A Bird, It’s A Plane … It’s Sperman iPhone Game!

Bet we know what you’re thinking … “how come Apple hasn’t approved a REAL superhero application for the iPhone?” Sure there’s the new Iron Man 2 game … Superman, Batman and Spiderman all have apps. When it comes to the category of superheroes, the App Store is severely lacking.

But wait … look, up in the sky! … it’s a bird … it’s plane … it’s Sperman!

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Yes, it’s Sperman! Strange visitor from another planet who came to earth with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men. Strong as a freight train … faster than a speeding bullet … Sperman fights the never-ending battle for truth, justice and the Apple way.

HA … wish it was that cool. Unfortunately the Sperman iPhone game is simply a bizarre tale of some sizzling hot party coupled with cool girls winking, flirting and getting some tonight. Not even a mention of half Spanish, half German chicks … argh! Now go on … read the drug-induced Sperman description …

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“Dance with me if you want to get some tonight” – LMAO, Sperman the manwhore, our hero!

To play Sperman, shake your iPhone to avoid sperm kissing your ovum. Failure to shake off the sperm will result in mad sperms digging in the ovum (seriously, who writes this shit?).

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Sperman can be had for only $2.99 … which is a pure bargain considering this app really does represent the Apple way here at KRAPPS.

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May 4, 2010 | Filed Under Games | Leave a Comment 

Sex Tip Found Hidden In Stickbound iPhone Game [Wording Fail]

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Stickbound is an original gaming experience … the only stick jumping game available on the iPhone. Touch Arcade calls Stickbound “a fun and compelling experience.” AppSpy is equally enthusiastic, “it’s amazingly addictive.” At 99 cents, Stickbound [iTunes] seems like a solid deal.

A solid deal … or is it even better?

Actually for some confused souls, Stickbound provides priceless information that will help turn their bedroom activities into a state of eternal bliss. Properly placed in the “Instructions” section of the game … sometimes the obvious must be stated, even if it’s a wording fail.

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(we extend a long hat tip to @Spudski for making us aware of this awkward situation)

May 3, 2010 | Filed Under Games, News | 8 Comments 

New iPhone App Lets You Safely Pee In A Bottle While Driving A Car

iPhone-Pee If you’ve been paying attention to the whacky applications Apple’s been approving, it should come as no surprise the number of urination apps available for sale. Yes, urination apps … apps that simulate male peeing (sorry, no female pee apps yet … all iPhone urination is penis driven at this point). We’ve covered a few ourselves … iPeePee and Drunk Sniper. Positioned as iPhone videogames, the objective of all these apps are pretty much the same … hold the iPhone in your crotch area (yes, like a penis) and aim the urine flow into the toilet by swaying your hips from side-to-side. Virtual peeing with your iPhone … life doesn’t get any better than this.

Rather than publishing yet another boring “piss in a toilet” app, the creative folks at GnaTech decided to think outside the box bathroom … and inside a car. Huh? What? … two words … “road”, “trip” … the iPeeInABottle app.

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Fitting the mentality of this app (cheap shot alert), iPeeInABottle takes place inside what appears to be a late 70s American muscle car … Camaro, Mustang or Trans Am (take your pick). Leveraging a point of view shot, iPeeInABottle presents the character behind the wheel of a moving vehicle, with their arm extended and holding a bottle. The character is pissing … his arm is moving … and it’s up to the player to aim the urine into the bottle and avoid pissing all over the car’s interior. Two levels of difficulty are available in iPeeInABottle … Sissy Man and Real Man (once again fitting the mentality of this app).

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The duration of each game is similar to that of a race horse pissing … about 2 minutes of non-stop free flow. If the player is able to fill the bottle with urine in the allotted time … they win. However if the bottle remains half empty due to a piss poor performance … they lose.

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One thing to note … peeing in a bottle while driving a car in real life sucks. While this may seem obvious, there are still plenty of dumbshits who participate in this practice. As such and similar to Oprah’s “No Phone Zone” campaign to stop texting and driving … KRAPPS is moving forward with the “Hold It” crusade to stop the deadly obsession of taking a leak while operating a moving vehicle. HA!

April 29, 2010 | Filed Under Games | 1 Comment 

Apple Approves App Glorifying Drug Use – Puff Puff Pass

Apparently Apple [allegedly] is too preoccupied in kicking down the door and searching  Gizmodo editor Jason Chen’s home or Steve Jobs is reverting back to his Oregon ways of using LSD and marijuana. These are the only two sound explanations we could fathom when we saw the new iPhone game … Puff Puff Pass by Hood Apps.

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As noted in the app’s description above, Puff Puff Pass is a smoking game. Users control the game’s characters to take a puff of a cigarette, cigar or tobacco pipe and then pass it on to the next participant in the smoke session. Puff Puff Pass is cleverly marketed as addictive … “almost addictive as smoking for real.”

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Now before we proceed, understand that Apple CENSORS material in the App Store. We are not here to comment on this censorship, rather pose the question … why would the largest technological corporation in the world align themselves and promote the major single cause of cancer mortality in the United States … cigarette smoking. Since tobacco use is responsible for nearly 1 in 5 deaths in the United States … not exactly sure how approving Puff Puff Pass enhances Apple’s brand image.

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But the Puff Puff Pass saga gets better. Anyone with half a clue in life should clearly realize that Puff Puff Pass is SCREAMING in drug use innuendo. Seems to us it would behoove Apple to think beyond Glee-watching, squeaky clean suburban Cupertino life. Phrases like “Iron Lung”, Smoke Session” and hell, even the app’s name itself, “Puff Puff Pass” are all terms glorifying drug use. 

Iron Lung – someone who is able to take massive hits (and we’re not talking UFC).
Smoke Session – a social gathering where participants smoke weed, meth, etc.    

And the best one yet … the freaking title itself! Definitions per Urban Dictionary …

Puff Puff Pass
1. The golden rule for pot smokers everywhere. It simply means to take two hits of the joint, bong, blunt, or bowl and then pass it to the next person.
2. A game in which everyone in a circle passes a spliff, bong or other smokeage. Everyone puts five on it. Each time you take a hit you say "puff puff pass." If you fail to say it, cough or pass out, you’re out of the rotation. The last person holding the smokeage keeps all the money.

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Or better yet … maybe Apple should check out the free IMDb app they approved and realize that Puff Puff Pass, the movie, is about two hapless stoners who have grown tired rehab.

But hey, it’s Apple’s world and we just pay for it. However if Jobs is cool with apps that promote and glorify drug use … we’re sure many will literally play puff puff pass on Apple.

 

April 27, 2010 | Filed Under Games, News | 10 Comments 

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