Category: Mac

The day after the WWDC keynote is always an interesting one. The dust has settled, the excitement and hype are over and you’re left with the realization that your life is pretty much the same as it was a few days ago.

There were plenty of amazing announcements to be sure. It’s a great time to be an Apple fan so don’t read this as an overly negative question.

That being said, no reality can ever live up to the overactive Apple rumor mill so there are always bound to be a few disappointments.

Today we want to hear about the biggest WWDC let down from your perspective. Were you hoping for a new iMac? Or perhaps you were ready to see an awesome new Apple TV SDK. Cast your vote in the poll and leave your rant below!

Somewhere in the course of Internet history, along with the decline of Del.icio.us, bookmarking lost it’s popularity. Nevertheless, bookmarks should be considered indispensable for any modern computer user.

Believe it or not, the Mac is actually home to several outstanding apps which should help you organize your bookmarks past the basic capabilities afforded by your browser. Some, like Pukka and Thumbtack aim to be as unobtrusive as possible, while others like Delibar have no problem showing off their interfaces; there’s something for just about everyone. So if you think it’s about time to get your bookmarks in order, this is one roundup you won’t want to skip!

Wrap Up

With our 21st century information overload, managing your bookmarks can be an important step towards keeping your computer in order. As with most things in life, there isn’t a one size fits all bookmarking solution for your Mac.

While I personally love the simplicity of Thumbtack, others will no doubt opt for more feature rich solutions such as Delibar or even Pins. If you aren’t ready to jump into the next level of bookmarking just yet, almost any modern web browser such as Safari or Google Chrome includes some useful bookmarking tools to help you get started. So what are you waiting for? Get bookmarking!

If there’s something I missed, don’t hesitate to leave a comment below with the apps or solutions that you use.

Billing on an hourly basis isn’t always a joy. Many times I find myself estimating my time, often not billing for the actual amount of time I spent working for a client. This is why there are countless time tracking apps available for your Mac.

One in particular that I think is good enough to highlight is Eon. I’ve been testing Eon 2, the latest version of the app that I use as my main time tracking utility, for the past few weeks. Let’s dive into detail about this tool and see what makes it stand out from the others around it.

The Basics

Like most time tracking apps available on the market, the primary concern is the clock and how easy it is to start and stop it; getting out of your way as quickly as possible. Eon enables a menu bar clock when launched. This clock displays the current time that you have been working and lights up red when actively counting. Starting and stopping couldn’t be easier, just press the play button.

Eon's main timer window

Built into the app is the ability to organize by projects and calculate the total time you’ve spent on one in particular.

Select a project to count towards

If you’d like to get down into the details of when you personally clocked in and out of the app, you can easily access the log. A neat animation and sound follows the drop down of a receipt like pane with a print out of the times when you enabled and disabled the counting.

Eon's log

Once you have logged the time, you can pull up Eon and get access to the Actions menu (all of this functionality is available in the menu bar as well). This gives you the option to start and stop the timer and reset the clock, as well as the ability to post times, which we’ll discuss in a second.

Eon's menubar applet provides quick access to all aspects of the app

External Services

One of the biggest features of this application is the ability to connect the application with external time tracking services. These web apps allow one to collaborate on time tracking and project management with a team. The services include well known apps, everything from Basecamp (Classic) to Freckle, and Toggl to Harvest.

Each service is available as a Mac App Store In-App Purchase for $4.99, or every service in their book for $14.99. This is the first time that I’ve seen a Mac app from the Mac App Store support in-app purchasing. The process of buying a time tracking service within the app is very similar to the way you would buy an in app upgrade or extra in the iOS world.

After clicking the buy button, the app presents you with a dialog from the App Store app and confirms your purchase, followed by the iTunes/Mac App Store login screen. After your credentials are entered the app unlocks the extra service.

Buy additional web services through the app's in-app purchase preference pane

Should you need to delete or reinstall the application, you can access the Restore In-App Purchases option from the Eon menu to recover previous in-app purchases, just like in iOS.

Eon does a good job of making a clear difference between offline and online projects, where online projects are connected with a web service as well as a project within that web service.

Small Touches

The ability to set up rounding rules for the recorded time is great. You can set it up to round to the nearest, lowest or highest interval of time, be that a quarter of an hour, full hour, or even minute. There is even the ability to set up automatic rounding rules before posting times to web services. These settings are all available via Eon’s preferences.

Also in the preferences is the ability to disable the in-app sounds, set a global hotkey for toggling on the timer or presenting the project switcher search menu. (I did have to perform a reboot before the global hotkeys took effect.) The project switcher worked well for all projects that were linked to web services, but the timers that were associated with local projects did not appear in the search.

Eon's main preference window

Missing Features

The app hails itself as a simple time tracking utility, so as you’d expect there is no built in function for invoicing. There is an option for exporting the log of when you enabled and disabled the timing. Finally, there is a lack of simultaneous timers. You are limited to just one active timer at a time. While this might seem silly to some, it’s a dealbreaker for others.

Wrap Up

Eon has a beautiful interface that makes logging time effortless, and it features desktop level integration with a number of great web services. If you’re using one of these services for your freelance work, or to track time as a team, then I’d really encourage you to give Eon 2 a try.

If you’re looking for a more fully featured timer plus invoicing application, I’d look towards Billings, OnTheJob or Harvest’s new Mac app.

What are your thoughts on Eon 2? Is it an app that you’d want use on a daily basis to track time or do you use something else? Leave a comment and let us know!

During today’s WWDC keynote in San Francisco, Apple announced some more new features that will be arriving with Mountain Lion. Even though the four developer previews that have been tested for a while have most of the major additions, there will be several more key features that are going to mean a lot to many users out there.

Keep reading for a deep look at all the major new things that will be coming in OS X Mountain Lion.

Dictation

Apple has added a Dictation function in OS X 10.8 that will allow you to input whole paragraphs of text into your Mac without the need to type anything. This might come in handy if you want to take a break from the keyboard or are just sitting back one day. You can talk anywhere you would usually type — just find that text field.

To bring up Dictation, all you have to do is tap the “fn” key twice. Once you hear the sound, just start speaking. You can also use any of the commands you usually would on an iPhone with Siri. It supports four languages and three different accents for the English language. Lastly, it accesses your address book so it will be able to translate a certain names correctly.

Facebook

Apple’s latest desktop OS will include support for Facebook sharing using the share sheets that are all over the place in this release. In Safari, for instance, you can click the little share button in the top left corner and then click “Facebook” to share a link. Also included in this integration is a one-time sign-in that allows you to have Facebook in Notification Center. This way, you can keep up on everything that’s going on in your digital social life right from your desktop.

Sadly, Facebook integration won’t be coming to your Mac until this fall, according to Apple’s “What’s New” page for Mountain Lion.

Power Nap

You know those times when you want to leave your computer for a few minutes to get some other stuff done, but you’re scared things won’t stay backed up or anything? Apple has a solution for that and it’s called Power Nap. Instead of you having to worry that your Mac won’t keep up to date or backed up to Time Machine while sleeping, Power Nap makes sure that it’s automatically backed up and updated during sleep, consuming little power in the process. It’s silent with no lights or even slight signs of operation.

Even though it’d be great if this was on every Mac, it’s only available on those that have built-in flash storage, so make sure to remember that when thinking of the great feature.

Tab View in Safari

With the presence of iCloud tab sync in Safari 6, Apple has introduced a very nice way to view those tabs that are currently synced with iCloud. As you can see in the screenshot above, this new “Tab View” is truly beautiful, letting you swipe between open tabs. It can be accessed by pinching a webpage — or, zooming out as you might like to call it.

July Release and Pricing

OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion will be available next month for $19.99, which is $10 lower than last year’s Lion release. There’s no set date on exactly when Apple will be selling the new OS on the Mac App Store, but it’d be best to expect it near the middle of the month since Lion released on July 20th of last year.

And More

There are over 200 features in Apple’s 9th revision of OS X and I’ve not even begun to discuss them all here. However, you likely know about them all from our previous in-depth coverage of the OS when the developer preview was first released back in February. If you want to know everything about the new OS, you can take a look at all the new features in OS X Mountain Lion on Apple’s page that’s dedicated to the subject. Have fun learning about what your Mac will likely be running next!

The wait is over and the rumors have been debunked. Apple have announced a whole load of new products at their annual WWDC 2012 conference, including updates to the MacBook Air and Pro range, a whole new MacBook Pro, more information on the upcoming release of Mountain Lion and iOS 6.

Apple’s voice-dictation system Siri opened the keynote (with a casual stab at Android and Samsung) and after the usual figures by Tim Cook as well as an insight on how iOS apps are changing people’s lives, Phil Schiller took to the stage for the unveiling.

The world was watching and so were we. Here’s what they announced.

Updated MacBook Airs

The new range of MacBook Airs feature Intel’s new set of Ivy Bridge Processors (Intel Core i5 and i7) as standard, along with a beefed up RAM offering (up to 8 GB is supported), 60% faster graphics and up to 512 GB of flash storage.

The new MacBook Airs, with Ivy Bridge processors and a bigger RAM offering.

The new MacBook Airs also come with USB 3 support (a much requested feature) and the FaceTime camera has also been updated to take 720p HD video. The display remains the same at 1,388 x 768 pixels and comes with 4 GB of RAM in the standard offering. The new models are available for purchase straight away and start at $999 for the 11-inch model (13-inch starts at $1,199).

Updated MacBook Pros

Just like the MacBook Air range, the MacBook Pros are also receiving the Ivy Bridge treatment, with the new 2.3 GHz and 2.6 GHz quad-core i7 processors coming as standard, with a Turbo Boost of up to 3.7 GHz. There is also a new graphics processor, the GEForce GT 650M by Nvidia, providing up to 1 GB of video memory and USB 3 is also standard on these models as well.

The updated MacBook Pro range on Apple's website.

There has been no major design changes and the standard MacBook Pro range doesn’t feature that retina display we’ve all been hankering after. Apple have also dropped the 17-inch model as well, presumably due to its bulkiness and price.

And speaking of retina displays…

Next Generation MacBook Pro with Retina Display

Shrouded in black, the new, next-generation MacBook Pro made its introduction and yes, it’s got that retina display we’ve been wanting for so long! Apple is calling it “a new generation of consumer notebook” with a “killer new display” – and it certainly looks like it. The new display measures 15.4 inches across and has a resolution of 2,880 by 1,800 pixels, or 220 pixels per inch – the highest resolution display on a laptop at the moment.

The entirely new MacBook Pro, with a 220 ppi retina display and thinner form factor.

The glare and reflection has been reduced by 75% on the new display and both Lion as well as the entire fleet of Apple apps have all been updated to take advantage of the new display. Any app that isn’t ready for the new display will be pixel-doubled, meaning that they will look a lot sharper.

And it doesn’t just stop with the display either (which, according to Jony Ive, is a solid piece of glass like on the iPad). The new Pros feature Ivy Bridge processors (i7) up to 2.7 GHz and a whopping 16 GB of RAM. There is also an SD card slot, HDMI support (finally!), USB 3, two Thunderbolt ports and a thinner MagSafe slot, and the casing has been trimmed down to a sleek 0.71 inches, like the MacBook Air.

The new MacBook Pro starts at an eye-watering $2,199 (with a 2.3 GHz quad-core i7 processor, 8 GB of RAM, the new GEForce GT 650M graphics processor and a 256 GB SSD) and is available straight away.

More details about Mountain Lion revealed

Although Mountain Lion was revealed back at the start of this year, Apple has shed some more information about the new upcoming release of OS X, Mountain Lion. We already know that this release is bringing in plenty of features already seen on iOS, such as Messages, Reminders, Notes and a whole new Notification Center (bye, Growl!) but Mountain Lion will feature deeper iCloud integration than Lion, which was a bit patchy at best.

OS X Mountain Lion will be released in July via the App Store.

All the default Apple apps will have iCloud support built into them as standard (for example Pages, so when you edit a document the changes are pushed across all your Apple devices) and Mountain Lion will also feature dictation in any kind of typing app (including Microsoft Word) – which was spotted in a Developer Preview a couple of weeks back. Safari has also been updated with faster Javascript, iCloud tab sync across all your iOS devices and a unified search bar, just like in Chrome.

There is also an interesting new feature called Power Nap, which essentially backs up and syncs your Mac when its asleep, although this feature is only supported on the second-generation MacBook Air and the new MacBook Pro.

For a more detailed look at Mountain Lion, our stellar writer Jacob Penderworth will be publishing a more in-depth analysis of the new OS X shortly and it will ship in July via the App Store, priced at $19.99 (U.S. pricing only).

iOS 6

We all pretty much had an inkling that Apple would debut its new mobile operating system (especially when images of the iOS 6 banners from inside the Moscone Center were leaked a couple of days ago!) and we were all right. iOS 6 will feature over 200 new features (Apple seem to like that number, don’t they?) and the highlights of this release are deeper Siri integration (including the ability to launch apps, new language support), Facebook integration, an all-new Apple mapping system (with turn-by-turn navigation) and Siri support for the new iPad.

A sneak peak at some of the 200 new features coming up in iOS 6, which will debut this autumn.

iOS 6 will ship “this fall” and will be compatible with the iPhone 3GS and later, the 2nd and 3rd generation iPad and the 4th generation iPod touch.

So….

So readers, you know exactly the question I’m going to ask – what do you think? I’m certainly drooling over that new MacBook Pro (has anyone got a spare $2,199 they want to lend me?) and the new, exciting features in both Mountain Lion and iOS 6 show that Apple really are working miracles in the technology world.

Share all your thoughts and opinions in the comments section below – especially what you think of the new MacBook Air and Pro range and Mountain Lion. Did Apple succumb to your expectations? Or were you left slightly disappointed at the prospect of no retina-display Macs. Get commenting – we’d love to hear all your opinions.

Our featured sponsor this week is Onde Audio Recorder For Mac, an easy way to record audio from any application on your Mac.

Have you ever wanted to grab and record audio from specific applications? Say you’re listening to a recording in a web browser or would like to have a record of a Skype conversation, Onde Audio Recorder is the perfect solution.

The interface is straightforward and super easy to use. Simply select the application that you’d like to use as an audio source and hit the record button, that’s it! On top of selecting specific applications, Onde Audio Recorder also allows you to target any input device that’s connected to your device.

After you’ve recorded your audio, you can trim it in seconds flat with the built-in audio editing tools. This app is a fully loaded toolbox of great utilities for capturing and editing audio and I’m confident that it’s perfect for your audio recording needs.

Go Get It!

If you’re convinced that Onde Audio Recorder For Mac is the app you’ve been waiting for, grab your copy from the developer’s website today. In addition to the option to purchase, you can also test drive the app completely free to see if it’s a good fit for your workflow.

Of all the GUI features on the Mac operating system, perhaps the most iconic is the Dock. It offers users a quick place to launch commonly used apps, as well as switch between those which are currently open. However, with the explosion of available apps for the Mac, the utility of the Dock has come into question among a growing number of users. For anyone who commonly opens dozens of different apps on a daily basis, it just isn’t feasible to look around looking for what you need.

Fortunately, a number of options have emerged to help us launch apps without ever needing to look at the Dock. OS X Lion introduced Launchpad, which quickly displays all of your applications. Power-users have long found options like Quicksilver to be faster and more powerful. Bevy, from Berg Design, was designed to be fast like Quicksilver while still having a more tangible interface like Launchpad. Let’s check it out.

The Basics

Keeping all of your applications in the Dock can defeat the purpose of having it at all if it takes a long time to find what you are looking for. Additionally, every extra app placed on the Dock makes the other icons shrink, so you could potentially make icons frustratingly miniscule. All of this means that most of us only place a few of the most common apps on the dock. Bevy helps you find your un-docked apps quickly, as well as drop files into them.

Launching Apps

Bevy came out long before Lion brought us Launchpad, but in many ways, it would seem Apple was copying this app’s concept. You can activate Bevy either from the menubar icon or the dock, (and you can hide either one in the preferences pane if you choose). Additionally, you can set up a custom keyboard shortcut to launch it.

Bevy crams all your apps into a single window.

Once Bevy is opened, you’ll see all the apps you have installed on your system. If you have any subfolders within your Applications folder, those will be shown in separate columns automatically. I never bothered to organize my apps in any particular way, so when I first launched Bevy I only saw one additional column, which was the Utilities folder.

Organizing Apps

From the main window, you can simply click on an icon to launch that app. While Lion’s Launchpad does allow you some basic control over organizing your apps, it can be very tedious (just like on your iOS device). You also might have to scroll through multiple pages, since there is a set number of apps that can fit on a single screen. Launchpad doesn’t let you hide anything, as clicking the X that appears after holding down on an app will delete it rather than remove it from Launchpad.

You can easily sort exclude apps or add them to your favorites.

Bevy is sure to squeeze all of your apps into its single window. I have about 200 apps and I use a 15 inch MacBook Pro, and I never had trouble seeing everything. But if you are using an 11 inch Air and have a few hundred apps, this might mean your icons are indecipherably small.

Bevy does a fantastic job of letting you control what it shows. If you want to organize apps into folders, Bevy will display them as separate columns. You probably have a more than a few apps that you never use and would prefer Bevy didn’t even bother displaying. You can either manually hide these apps by right-clicking on them, or you can automate this process. This feature tells Bevy to look for certain keywords like “update” and “remove” and automatically hides these apps. This is particularly useful for apps that install those annoying extra “updater” files, (I’m looking at you, Adobe).

You can automatically hide apps that contain certain words. Bevy comes with a default list that you can edit.

You can also create a list of favorite apps and show them when you activate Bevy. This is an interesting feature, but somewhat redundant when you consider that a list of favorite apps is the entire purpose of your Dock.

Extra Features

While organizing your apps goes a long way towards making Bevy a quick and intuitive launcher, you still may want refine the process of finding what you are looking for. Rather than scanning the potentially cluttered window, Bevy allows you to use both your trackpad and keyboard to filter the window.

With a two finger scrolling motion, Bevy will highlight apps by letter. For instance, if you were looking for Garage Band, you would scroll down until the app showed you “G”, at which point apps that begin with that letter are highlighted. Alternatively, you could simply type “G”.

A two finger scroll lets you filter the window by name.

The Dock gives you a small light underneath icons of apps that are currently running. It’s a nice way to keep track of what you have open. Launchpad, (as well as the iPad, for that matter), lacks this feature. Fortunately, Bevy will highlight all the apps you have running.

My favorite feature is the ability to drag a file onto an app in Bevy to open it. For example, you could drag a picture on your desktop into Bevy, whose window can be moved around on your screen, and then drop it onto your mail client to send the file as an attachment. Once you select a file, Bevy will highlight apps that can accept it.

Conclusion

I have very mixed feelings about Bevy. When looking at Bevy on its own, it is a fantastic app launcher. I’ve never liked Launchpad for a number of reasons, and Bevy addresses just about all of them with flying colors. You can organize apps, see all of them in one window, hide unnecessary ones, drop files onto them, and keep the window open while viewing other windows (rather than have Launchpad take over fullscreen). All of these are great features.

However, Launchpad was never a great solution to launching apps for anyone with even slightest proficiency with a Mac. You could always just use Spotlight to quickly find an application (or file). Simplistic app launchers like Alfred also have a ton of other functions that they can do, all of which don’t require you to bother organizing your apps to begin with.

This leads me to wonder if Bevy, which was designed before Lion, is relevant anymore. I think that if you use Launchpad, you may have come across the same complaints that I’ve expressed. Or maybe you use Launchpad and just never noticed these flaws. Either way, if you use Launchpad as your preferred method of opening apps, I highly recommend you try Bevy. It’s a much better solution, but at 10 dollars, you may need to ask yourself just how much better. On the other hand, if you feel comfortable using even the most basic of keyboard shortcuts, I recommend you move to the big kid table and try out a real app launcher that is exponentially faster.

With WWDC coming up tomorrow, I’m sure I can speak for every reader here that we’ll all excited to hear what Apple is going to announce! Kevin over at iPhone AppStorm will be live blogging the main announcement on their Twitter account and we here at Mac AppStorm will bring you full news coverage and some more in-depth analysis afterwards.

In other Apple news this week…

Leaked MacBook Pro 13.3″ specs suggest no retina display

A leaked photo of the MacBook Pro 13.3″ label posted to the Chinese forum Weiphone claims to reveal the upcoming specs on the new line of MacBook Pros – and it’s nothing worth shouting about. According to the photo (which looks pretty authentic), the only boost is the addition of Intel’s new range of Ivy Bridge processors (2.5 GHz) along with a new Intel HD Graphics 4000 GPU, Bluetooth 4.0 and USB 3.0. The display remains the same as the previous range – 1,280 x 800 pixels.

Although nothing has been confirmed at the moment, it does put a spanner in the works for those who were hoping that Apple were going to equip their entire MacBook Pro range with retina displays as standard. The image, according to the poster on the forum, came from “a friend inside Apple”, and may suggest that Apple may be either equipping the 15 inch MacBook Pro model with a retina display or it comes as an optional extra on the 13-inch model (where the end customer will pay more).

Of course, we’ll know nothing definite until tomorrow, but it definitely suggests that at least a partial refresh of the MacBook Pro line is in the works.

First retina-graphics app hits the Mac App Store

As if to disprove the possible non-existence of retina-display Macs mentioned above, yesterday the updated version of FolderWatch was approved which, among other things, boasted “retina graphics”, hinting at what might be coming up tomorrow.

Although this seemed like the definite sign that retina-display Macs are going to be announced tomorrow, the developer, Brothers Roloff, calmed down the hype slightly. He posted on Twitter:

By “retina graphics”, we’re simply referring to HiDPI (a.k.a. @2x graphics). We don’t know what Apple will show at WWDC.

HiDPI, or high dots-per-inch, has been around since OS X Lion however Apple has never made the feature accessible for users. The recent high quality icons seen in Lion and the various Developer Previews of Mountain Lion are also designed for HiDPI screens, so it may be that Apple decides to market these kind of screens as “retina-displays” instead.

We’ll of course get the final answer tomorrow, though!

Growl 1.4 goes live with new tabbed design

Although Growl might be cast into the pages of the history books come tomorrow with the release of Mountain Lion and its new notifications system, this didn’t stop the developers pushing out the 1.4 update, which brought an overhaul to the Applications tab as well as a few other improvements.

The new version of Growl, version 1.4, with a redesigned application tab.

Setting up new notifications and tweaking apps slightly is now a lot easier in the new version and the preferences menu has been shuffled around slightly as well. The update is available via the Mac App Store and a changelog is available on Growl’s blog.

Adobe Flash update now brings silent updates in preparation for Mountain Lion

Adobe has released a major update to its Flash Player on Mac, version 11.3, which (among other things) patches a number of critical weaknesses (such as “memory corruption”, “integer and stack overflows” and “security bypass bugs”) and brings silent updates to OS X in preparation for Mountain Lion, something which I very much welcome seeing as every time I install a Flash update, I have to shut down my browser – quite an annoying task.

The new Flash Player for OS X, with silent updates in preperation for Mountain Lion

The silent update feature has been around on the Windows version since the end of March and there were signs that it was coming to the Mac version in an early beta release back last month. There are currently no signs that Flash will make its way into the Mac App Store (and it’s no surprise why) and with the upcoming Gatekeeper feature in Mountain Lion, users may not even have a chance to download the plugin at all on the highest setting, seeing as it blocks all non-App Store programs from being installed on the user’s Mac.

The update is available either via manual download from Adobe’s website or via the Flash Player pane in your System Preferences.

Macs making more of a presence in the office environment

And finally, it seems like Macs are becoming more of a common feature in the office environment outside design studios and software development companies, mainly driven by the increase in usage of iPads in the business world. Although the enterprise market is still almost entirely dominated by Windows (around 95% versus OS X’s 5%), more business are tending towards the alternative solution.

Macs are slowly but surely becoming a more popular sight in the office environment

Macs have traditionally not been seen as an ideal business computer in the past, mostly owing to their price and incompability with Windows-based systems but given the massive rise in cross-platform apps and easier networking and integration with Windows-based systems, the future does look a lot rosier.

Heard Anything Else?

If you’ve heard anything else exciting that’s happened this week then go ahead and post a link to it in the Comments section below for the benefit of our other readers!

Although you may not realize it (and the transition is extremely subtle), Apple is becoming more and more game-orientated and it’s pretty clear to see why. In 2010 (the latest year for which I could find accurate figures for), revenues in the games industry totalled a massive $60 billion, with a market capitalization of around $100 to $105 billion. This is a pretty big market – and Apple certainly wants a slice of it.

On the App Store, there are currently around 116,000 apps in the “Games” category (as of mid June 2012) and on average, around 90 new games are submitted each day. The average game costs around $1.05 (with Apple taking 40% commission of course) and the App Store can turn relatively unkown game makers into worldwide superstars (just look at the success of Angry Birds or Doodle Jump, to name but two examples).

Apple’s Gaming Transformation

In April 2010, Apple announced the Game Center, which allowed social gaming between users of iOS devices. It will also feature in the upcoming version of OS X – Mountain Lion – and hit 67 million users last October. I’m not really a user of it (especially with my mates) but there’s something satisfactory about being able to record your individual achievements on games or see where you stand in the global ranking.

Apple's foray into the gaming market has so far been a good one – Game Center boasted 67 million users in October 2010.

There has been a bit of recent chatter about Apple releasing a gaming console to try and compete with the big three: Sony’s Playstation 3, Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Nintendo’s Wii. But when you think about it, they already have some existing weaponary in their arsenal, namely the iPod Touch and the Apple TV. Allow me to elaborate.

The Weapons

The iPod touch is pretty much marketed as a gaming device. Head over to the relevant section on Apple’s website and you’ll see an entire page dedicated to gaming on the iPod Touch. It’s pretty cheap (starting from $199) and, judging by the marketing strategy, is designed to compete with handheld consoles such as the Nintendo 3DS and the PS Vita. What’s more, you’ve got a far greater choice of apps on the iPod touch than the other two consoles and notice that most of the “top iPod touch apps” tend to be in the gaming category.

The iPod Touch on Apple's website, with gaming as "what the iPod Touch was made for".

And then there’s the Apple TV. Word on the grapevine is that Apple is developing an actual TV, not a set top box, touted by some as the “iTV”. I’ll put money on it that there’ll be some sort of gaming aspect there, along with the ability to use your iOS device as a controller. Apple hasn’t yet opened the floodgates to developers allowing them to write apps specifically for the Apple TV but I’m sure this will be coming up soon.

So, What’s Nintendo Got To Be Afraid Of?

Unfortunately, the success of one technology company often leads to the demise of another, and the victim here (in my opinion anyway) is Nintendo. I’ll probably get a lot of stick for this in the comments section, but Nintendo’s primary console, the Wii, is marketed more towards the casual gaming market.

It’s great to wind away a lazy afternoon playing a virtual game of tennis or riding a cow while trying to combat scarecrows but it does leave the more serious gaming community a bit disappointed. The graphical capabilities certainly can’t match those of the PS3 or Xbox 360 and the control system, although novel, doesn’t beat a controller when it comes to games like Grand Theft Auto or Gran Turismo.

The Wii is, in my opinion, more marketed towards the casual rather than the serious gamer.

But, who am I to speak? Maybe this was, after all, Nintendo’s original intentions (they did say they wanted to target a broader demographic than the competition). All I’m trying to say is that Nintendo really do need to step up the game a bit if they want to compete with Apple, otherwise they are going to feel the full force of Tim Cook and his crew. Given the progression in technology (and the regularly yearly update cycle of most Apple devices), mobile gaming is becoming even better and far closer to the quality you’d expect from your favourite games console. The pricing is far more consumer-friendly as well – in Germany (where I currently live), the average chart console game will set you back around €70 ($85), far more than an iOS game.

Nintendo shouldn’t back out of the market either. The Wii is one of the best-selling consoles of all time (and has sold more than the PS3 and Xbox worldwide) and has broken the all-time monthly sales record in the United States in December 2009, a full three years after it went on sale. All I’m trying to give them is a bit of a friendly warning – either change your marketing strategy to suit not just the casual gamer, but instead the whole market, especially when the Wii U is scheduled to be launched at the end of this year. Otherwise, they are likely to be relegated to the book of gaming flops, like the Nintendo 64DD, the original N-Gage, or the North American game crash of 1983.

The Nintendo 64DD (an add-on disk drive for the N64) was a commercial failure and only sold 15,000 units.

And a world without Nintendo would be, especially given the sheer range that they have developed, quite a sad one indeed.

What Do You Think?

I’m sure this piece will raise a few comments (both good and bad) and of course, I’d love to hear all of them. Do you think that Apple is slowly snaking its way into the gaming market and do you think that Nintendo’s marketing strategy for the Wii is the right one? What will happen to the gaming sections of both companies in the near future? Get debating in the section below.

One of the most admirable goals of many independent developers is to grant gamers with particularly different experiences that most games don’t offer. This gives indie games an edge in terms of story-telling and originality. Because of that, these commodities can often be joyful and relaxing experiences.

From the creators of Machinarium, Botanicula delivers that spark of creativity that many gamers love in an indie title. From the way it looks to the way it makes you think and explore, this games is sure to keep you busy for a while. Although the game has its flaws, gamers should have a decent time as they uncover silly bits and pieces in this point-and-click adventure puzzle game.

Presentation

As one may imagine, this game’s presentation is impeccable; the menu-screen is simple and easy to follow. The in-game menu is just as simple. However, sometimes the menus tend to pop-up when you don’t need them. If you mistakenly hover over the lower or upper portion of the game’s screen you’ll find yourself clicking something you don’t want to. It is something small, but pressing escape instead of having menus clutter your otherwise immersive look at the world would have given the game a finer look.

Menus aside, Botanicula manages to capture your heart with its incredibly adorable sound effects and great score. For someone that needs some laughs, the sounds of this game alone can make you chuckle quite a bit. Listening to your characters react to your actions in the world or listening to someone “talk” to you, is remarkably cute. There is something about those sound affects that make you want to click everything you can just so you can hear what silly little sound they may make.

As far as the plot is concerned, you follow the adventure of five silly creatures as they try their very best to save the last seed of their home tree. On the way, you will find many creatures that will help you, puzzles that you will need to solve, and items you will need to gather. In a small game like this, the plot serves its purpose to give you reason to go out there and explore.

Graphics

Like Machinarium before it, this title offers a cute and rather abstract graphic sense that makes you want to explore the world and discover all its captivating little inhabitants. Some creatures will be outright outlandish as if they come out straight from your dreams or nightmares, and some will be cute and cuddly. The graphics are artistic as opposed to trying to be realistic, which for a game like this makes a lot of sense.

Gameplay

Here is where Botanicula suffers from multiple personality disorder. While the game is all about exploration, discovery, gathering items, and puzzles, you will be presented with a few ‘mini games’. Some have you playing tennis while others have you bouncing balls in order to eject them from small openings. This is great for all the family, young or old, but for any diehard gamer, this won’t cut it. That is exactly where this game will have a great divide. Gamers who play games like Skyrim, Diablo, Mass Effect or Call of Duty will certainly not be interested in this game. For gamers who love an out-of-the-norm experience, this one is a winner.

Although you are limited to only being able to click the screen and see what happens next, the puzzle solving and item collecting is good, but could be polished. At times, the game can be cryptic and not tell you exactly where to go or what to do. This could get you stuck if you aren’t aware of what you’re doing. That notion of not knowing what you need to do is a double edge sword, you can get really frustrated. However, if you find a way out of your situation, you’ll have a rewarding feeling of accomplishment.

Conclusion

Botanicula weighs in at $9.99, which means that it suits a gamer that enjoys creative and cute titles like this one if they aren’t worried about the price. Having said that, more hardcore gamers who are not into clicking and clicking will not see this as a game at all. As harsh as that may be, Botanicula’s demographic isn’t targeted for the modern war-fighters out there.

As a matter of fact, for ten dollars, there are many other downloadable titles out there that will keep a hardcore gamer satisfied. For the casual gamer however, this title offers a great amount of silly fun. Although at times it can be frustrating, there is no denying that the game does a superb job at making you want to keep playing and keep clicking on everything you see.

As much as I love using Mac OS X, there have been numerous times since I started using a Mac back in 2006 when that I’ve wanted to run a Windows application. While the option of using Boot Camp or another program such as Parallels Desktop has always been there, they both required me to have a licensed copy of Windows (as do many of the other options out there). Being a student, buying a copy of Windows was out of the question and I had to make do without.

WinOnX however, is a nice little program that allows certain Windows applications to be run on OS X (only 10.6 and 10.7 however) without the need to purchase and run a copy of the Windows operating system. In this article I’ll be taking a look at WinOnX, read on for my thoughts.

First Thoughts

WinOnX can be downloaded from the Mac App Store here and as with all downloads from the Mac App Store the installation process is automatic and pain free.

On opening the application, my first thought was that the user interface was pretty plain and boring and while this may not be particularly important for some users I’m the kind of guy who likes software to be pleasing to the eye.

The UI of WinOnX leaves something to be desired.

However, as this software is more of a work around for those of us who won’t or can’t use another option that requires a licensed copy of Windows, perhaps the no frills interface that WinOnX offers will simply have to be accepted.

What’s Good?

I think it’s important to note before continuing with the review that because WinOnX is based on the open source Wine project, it is not a complete solution for all types of software. For example some games and other full screen programs aren’t fully supported.

Where WinOnX really shines is the speed at which you can be running Windows programs. Within 2 minutes of downloading I was already surfing the net with a Windows version of Firefox (It just so happened to be the first program I thought of downloading to test out WinOnX).

Simple software like Firefox works fine with WinOnX

The ease with which you can load up your programs is also pretty impressive. You simply drag and drop your .exe file into WinOnX and the software will take care of the rest.

The next time you want to run a particular program it will be there waiting within WinOnX for you to select so you don’t have to keep opening the .exe files each time you want to open a that piece of software.

WinOnX also has the advantage of being pretty cheap (it is currently available for $4.99) and so, despite its limitations, it offers those unable to run a full version of Windows the opportunity to run certain programs that otherwise wouldn’t be possible.

What’s Bad?

As mentioned above, the user interface could definitely benefit from an update. I feel as though I would much prefer using WinOnX if it was more slick in its appearance. The introduction of multiple skins for the user to choose would certainly be an easy solution to implement.

The actual stability of WinOnX also failed to impress me. On many occasions it simply crashed without warning closing both WinOnX itself and the Windows software that I was using at the time. After numerous crashes, this began to really irritate me and I was close to giving up and concluding that the only proper way to run Windows software on a Mac is through Boot Camp or Parallels.

Despite not running Internet Explorer WinOnX managed Virtual DJ fine.

The lack of full support for a number of types of software is also a large downside to WinOnX. When I tried to run Internet Explorer (just for testing might I add) I was greeted firstly with an error message telling me that WinOnX had crashed and when I finally managed to keep WinOnX open long enough to load IE, I was told that it only worked on Windows Vista and 7.

It really seems to be hit and miss whether or not your desired program will run in WinOnX and the only way to find out is to try it and see. This might not be a problem for most people but I found it extremely annoying and inconsistent especially when I managed to run a Windows version of Virtual DJ but not the latest version of Internet Explorer.

Conclusion

While WinOnX is a great piece of software in theory, I feel that the execution of the idea is some way off the mark. The frequent crashes are so irritating that eventually you’ll want to bite the bullet, buy a copy of Windows and start using Boot Camp.

The hit and miss approach when you try loading a program is also a huge issue and may leave some purchasers feeling short changed, especially if they downloaded WinOnX to run a specific program that they then find to be incompatible. While there is a compatibility checker here on the developer’s website, it is by no means complete.

WinOnX does redeem itself however in doing exactly what it says on the tin (when it doesn’t crash) and in many cases Windows software will run adequately on your Mac computer. After all, it isn’t a final solution but more of a work around if you desperately need to run a piece of Windows only software and can’t use a Windows machine.

I think that with a few tweaks to the interface, wider range of compatible programs and improved stability, WinOnX will be a program that most Mac users won’t want to be without. Let me know what you think about WinOnX in the comments below.

If you’re looking to snag a great bargain, then now’s the time to do it. Currently there are 3 (that’s right, 3) great Mac app bundles on sale with plenty of high-quality, useful apps for OS X at one low price.

Read on after the break for more information about these bundles and where you can get them from!

Productive Macs

If you’re on the hunt for a great productivity bundle, then Productive Macs have got you sorted. For the tiny price of $39.99, you get the following great apps:

• RapidWeaver (RRP: $80) – one of the easiest to use and most powerful web design software for your Mac.
• DEVONThink (RRP: $50) – an easy way to keep all your documents (for example Office documents, PDF files and bookmarks) all organised.
• Printopia (RRP: $20) – AirPrint from your iPad, iPhone or iPod touch to any printer.
• MailTags (RRP: $30) – an extension to Apple Mail allowing you to attach metadata, tags and keywords to messages.
• HoudahSpot (RRP: $30) – a powerful search tool based on Spotlight.
• Trickster (RRP: $10) – easy access to your files, folders and applications from your menu bar.
• MacJournal (RRP: $40) – the most popular Mac personal journaling software with integration to Blogger, WordPress and LiveJournal.
• Voila (RRP: $30) – a tool for capturing, editing and sharing your screen.

The Productive Macs bundle promotion ends on Tuesday, June 19th.

MacUpdate June 2012

The MacUpdate bundle is another great value bundle on sale now, and features the following software:

• Parallels Desktop 7 (RRP: $79.99) – run Windows, Linux and other operating systems virtually without having to restart your Mac.
• BusyCal (RRP: $49.99) – an advanced desktop calendar app with full iCloud, Google Calendar and iOS device support (for the first 15,000 buyers of the bundle)
• ScreenFlow 3 (RRP: $99.99) – a great and easy way for capturing and editing screencasts.
• Civilisation V (RRP: $39.99) – Sid Mayer’s popular game where you create and run your own civilisation.
• Jaksta (RRP: $49.95) – download web-based media from sites such as Pandora, Grooveshark and Spotify right onto your Mac.
• Espionage 3 (RRP: $19.99) – encrypt and back up your data using AES 256-bit encryption.
• Speed Download 5 (RRP: $25) – a full download manager which optimises your Internet connection to its full potential.
• Attachment Tamer 3 (RRP: $14.99) – gives you complete control over your Apple Mail attachments.
• KeyCue 6 (RRP: $28) – a tool to help you memorise all the keyboard shortcuts in your favourite program.
• A Better Finder Rename (RRP: $19.95) – the easiest way to bulk rename files on your Mac.
• My Living Desktop 5 (RRP: $29.95) – transform your desktop into a beautiful, moving environment.

The MacUpdate bundle is priced at $49.99 and goes on until Wednesday, June 20th.

BundleHunt

BundleHunt is yet another Mac productivity bundle with a few added extras in for designers as well:

• iStopMotion 2 Home (RRP: $49) – a really easy way to make stop-motion movies.
• LittleSnapper (RRP: $40) – a screenshot manager with plenty of extra features.
• TotalFinder (RRP: $18) – add tabs, hotkeys and other tweaks to Finder on OS X 10.6 and 10.7.
• Typinator (RRP: $31) – allows you to set up custom abbreviations for your most commonly used sentences and graphics and features full spelling correction for English (US and British), French and German.
• Default Folder X (RRP: $35) – an extension to the default Open and Save function on OS X.
• Keyboard Maestro (RRP: $36) – record your own custom macros and activate them at any time.
• PhoneView (RRP: $19.95) – view your iPhone or iPad app data, voicemail, SMS and iMessages, call log and more directly on your Mac.
• Smashing E-Book Bundle (RRP: $24) – 6 professionally written books on CSS, Javascript, jQuery and WordPress.
• Glyph Ocean Icons (RRP: $63) – 1,500 royalty-free vector icons in 3 different sizes (24 x 24, 32 x 32 and 48 x 48) and 7 file formats (PNG, PDF, EPS, AI, JPG, CSH and CDR)
• ThemeFuse (RRP: $196) – four premium WordPress themes of your choice (choose between 21).
• Picons Ultimate + (RRP: $74) – 600 royalty-free vector icons from the Basic 1, 2 and 3 icon sets.

The BundleHunt bundle is priced at $49.99 (saving a total of $536, or 91%) and is available until Friday, June 22nd.

Share Your Thoughts!

With three great Mac bundles running simultaneously, it seems like us Mac users are always on the cutting edge when it comes to great app bargains! What you do think of the bundles? Are you going to purchase any one of them (or all three?). Let us know in the comments section below!

We all love our Macs, otherwise we would have opted for a different hardware/OS combo. But that doesn’t mean that there aren’t great alternatives to some of Apple’s apps which are worth considering. The Finder, for example, is great for beginners, but for advanced or power users, it lacks.

Since we are fortunate enough to live in a world filled with creative and imaginative developers, there is an alternative, of course. Many, actually, but one of the best is Path Finder, now available in version 6 and it takes the Finder concept to a whole new level. Read on to find out how.

The Look of Path Finder 6

I have to confess something up front: I won’t be convering all the features Path Finder 6 has to offer. There are simply too many; the app is so powerful it would force me to write a small book. But I’ll introduce you to the features I think will intrigue you most, compared to Apple’s own Finder.

Let’s start with the most obvious difference, the look. Upon launching Path Finder 6, you’ll see familiar elements but also some stuff that’s different.

Welcome to Path Finder 6, the powerful Finder alternative.

Many of the icons on the top are in the normal Finder as well, so you’ll have no difficulties with them. The left pane offers quick access to your hard drives and other places. Most notable is the Favorites category here. In Finder, you can drag files and folders into the Places category to have them quickly accessible; in Path Finder, you can fav them and they’ll appear in their own category. The benefit? It keeps your Places uncluttered.

Another great feature is the split screen option: when activated, it allows you to open two different places at once, say your Dropbox folder and your desktop. It’s never been this easy to move documents around within just one window.

Use the split window feature to quickly compare and move files.

In the upper area of the app window you’ll notice the biggest difference compared to Finder. There are three Module buttons, there’s an additional quick access bar that holds your standard folders (documents, music, movies etc), a cryptic circular icon and then you have tabs. Let’s take a closer look at all of these.

Diving Deeper Into Path Finder 6

Path Finder 6 has three modules which extend to the left, bottom and right if selected through their separate buttons. They allow you to display additional information without cluttering the main window.

Modules display a wealth of additional information.

You can change which information is displayed by hitting the tiny arrow symbol and then choose from a dropdown. It’s very handy to have these information at hand quickly instead of having to call them up with right-clicks on the file or having to open a file in a separate application to obtain the info.

If you’d rather stick to the normal sized window there’s an option to show those details there as well (icon in the top part of the window) and it’s the same here: select the type of information to be displayed from the tiny arrows.

For now, let’s assume you want to work with just one pane, but quickly move all those screenshots from your Desktop to a folder. That’s where the Drop Stack comes in handy, the circular icon on top of the left pane. Simply drag all files you want to move somewhere onto the symbol and then navigate to the folder you want to put them in and drag them there from the Drop Stack. You can do that with files from within Path Finder 6 but also with any file that resides anywhere on your computer. It’s a great way of collecting stuff that needs to go into one place without having to jump between folders and apps all the time.

Use the DropZone to gather files from different locations that need to be moved to the same folder

Next up: the quick access bar of your standard folders. Now, it’s different from the left pane, because there you just open a folder. From the bar in the upper window area you can access a dropdown that allows you to quickly drill down any folder structure. The detail I like most about this feature is the separation of folders (which are sorted in the upper part of the pop-up window) and files (in the lower part).

Use the drill down feature to quickly access any folder from a pop over window.

Last, but not least, let’s take a closer look at tabs. They behave just like tabs in your favorite browser. The main advantage I see in this feature is organization: instead of having multiple Finder windows open – may that be to compare or copy content, you can have all of it within just one single window. And it doesn’t even stop there: Path Finder lets you save tab configurations as Sets. So when you perform the same tasks often, simply call up the associated tab set and go to work.

Tabs allow you to keep everything tidy and still have everything you need at your fingertips.

The Huge Variety of Additional Features

What we covered so far are only the basic additional features which Path Finder offers over Finder. I’ve found some additional things that you might find interesting. Let’s run through a selection of them quickly.

Path Finder allows you to launch apps. When given the command, a translucent window appears that displays all your apps. You can either scroll or use the search field to find a specific one. Be patient the first time you try it; if you have a lot of apps, Path Finder needs a moment to index them.

Quickly launch apps with Path Finder 6.

Create files directly from within Path Finder 6. Yep, you can do that. If you need a new text file quickly, do it right from within the app. Or tag your files, if you’re into that. You can even create tag groups to assign at once. Developers especially will like the ability to create disk images and you can do basic image editing from within Path Finder 6.

There's also basic image editing build into Path Finder 6

My favorite, though, is the batch renaming feature. It’s something I need all the time and if you ever had to rename a large number of files, you’ll appreciate any help you can get. Path Finder allows for intelligent renaming with the help of different functions that can be combined – and, best of all – saved.

Batch renaming becomes a breeze with this feature set

Verdict

We are at the end of the review, but I have barely scratched the surface of Path Finder 6. When I started to test the app, I took the time to go through all the support videos which are available from Cocoatech because it’s a much easier way to discover what you can do with app than reading a documentation. I’m sure that there are many other features which will surprise and help you with your daily work.

The worst I can say about Path Finder 6 is that it’s incredibly powerful and takes a while to find out all the neat things you can do with it. But, on the other hand, it will save you so much time and and so many clicks down the road so the time invested in learning it will really pay off.

Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference rapidly approaches, taking place just next week from the 11th to the 15th. As usual, there will be a keynote on opening day of this conference at 10 AM PT. There are many, many expectations of what will be announced at this keynote, from rumors of a new iPhone and iOS 6 to new MacBooks and an OS X Mountain Lion release.

Join me after the break for a look at the most important rumors pertaining to this year’s WWDC.

15-inch MacBook Pros Might Get More Airy

A mockup of what a hybrid MacBook Air/Pro could look like.

It has long been speculated that Apple will soon be giving their MacBook Pro line a refresh with better specs and a thinner body — the latter will likely only come to the 15-inch model, according to 9to5Mac. Most reports claim that the larger notebook will start looking more like the Air, a significantly thinner alternative with less usability for gamers, video editors, or other folks who tend to need that extra two cores and 1 GHz of clock speed. The Air isn’t a bad machine, it’s just limited and there are still many highly-productive people out there who need to use a portable version of an iMac.

In addition to getting a trim, this newer revision of the MacBook Pro will also include a “jaw-dropping” Retina display (or not) and USB 3.0, which is notably faster than its predecessor. If the notebook does get a Retina display though, it’s going to need a better graphics chip as well to so hopefully we’ll see something from nVidia or ATI on board.

Almost All Macs Get Refreshed

The current line of Mac computers.

Another report recently published by 9to5Mac claims that Apple will be refreshing “at least four out of five” of their existing Mac lineup at the WWDC keynote next Monday. The MacBook Airs could get Retina displays, the Pros Ivy Bridge processors, possibly a higher-resolution iMac, and some unknown specification upgrades on either the Mac mini or Mac Pro — the specifics have yet to be announced.

Even though I only mentioned Ivy Bridge processors on the MacBook Pro, it’s very likely that all the Macs will get this upgrade since it’s the latest technology in processing. However, what seem to be the specs for a refreshed 13.3-inch MacBook Pro have been leaked this morning and in them is a reference to the new Ivy Bridge microarchitecture. In other words, it’s almost definite that we’ll see Intel’s newest CPUs in whatever Macs are refreshed.

iOS 6

This one’s a given since Apple always introduces a new version of their mobile operating system, iOS, in June at WWDC. Last year’s release was pretty big, bringing Notification Center, iMessage, Newsstand, Twitter, Reminders, Photo Stream, iCloud, Game Center, setup without the need for a computer, and more. Interestingly enough, Apple is bringing many of these features to the desktop with Mountain Lion to unify things.

With iOS 6, it’s expected that Apple will introduce their own maps system, change up some of the user interface elements with some fresh new design, bring Siri to the iPad, integrate Facebook for sharing throughout the OS, “greatly enhanced” Photos and Camera apps, and more.

The “iTV OS”

The user interface in Apple's current TV box.

The Boy Genius Report has sources who claim that Apple will be demoing a new type of operating system — one for a fruity and futuristic TV set. Instead of showing off some actual hardware, BGR’s sources asserted that Apple is just going to give a sneak preview of what will soon be coming in the software portion of their “iTV”. It’s supposedly “much more feature-complete” than that of what’s running on their little HD TV box. In addition, apps are expected to be on this upcoming device, so Apple could start showing developers what to start experimenting with at the event, but this isn’t a sure thing.

No New iPhone

A fancy iPhone 5 mockup by designedbyITEM.

It’s highly unlikely that you’ll see Apple’s latest and greatest iPhone announced at the WWDC in a week because all reports are against it. However, if you want to wait until October to get a Siri-enabled phone, then you’re probably going to be in luck. Apparently Apple is busy working out the kinks in their next smartphone right now so they’re not quite ready to release it to the general public just yet.

And Now We Wait

The WWDC is next week, so get yourself ready. There will be lots of liveblogs of the event that’ll tell you everything you need to know about what’s happening, so be sure to check out top publications like The Verge and Engadget.

We’ll be doing some in-depth coverage of the event as well, so check back here if you can’t make it or want to read a roundup of all the important stuff that took place. See you on the 11th!

This post is part of a series that revisits some of our readers’ favorite articles from the past that still contain awesome and relevant information that you might find useful. This post was originally published on June 15th, 2011.

Puzzle style adventure games have never exactly been my “thing”. I’m not a hardcore gamer, but when I do play, I usually stay away from these types of games. After deciding to expand my horizons, I looked around in this genre and spotted Machinarium. The screenshots of the game immediately drew my attention. The visuals were absolutely stunning and enough to get me to venture off into the realm of puzzle/adventure gaming.

Machinarium is a point and click game that takes place in a magical industrial environment full of amazing sights and sounds. You must solve puzzles of varying complexity within the environment in order to move forward in the game. Does the gameplay measure up to the graphics? Read on to find out.

Design

Machinarium is a point and click adventure puzzle solving style game and the world in which this game takes place is completely amazing. I found myself just looking around the beautifully designed levels. The detail on the illustrations and animations is definitely something to pay attention to. I can see how this could hinder the gameplay, but overall I think there is a nice balance. We’ll talk more about the actual gameplay here in a bit, but first up let’s talk about the world that is Machinarium.

Environment

The world is interesting enough to keep you fully immersed, which certainly adds to the game. This isn’t a non-stop action game so you do have some time to “smell the roses” (or maybe oil in this case) so to speak. The hand-drawn, dark, industrial landscapes are beautiful to look at and fit with the concept of the game. The ambient, electronic soundtrack has an oddly peaceful yet industrial feel to it and adds a whole other level of immersion.

Opening landscape

Subtle animations pop up everywhere in this beautiful environment. Some are simply background animations and just flat out look cool while others are actually part of the game. Whether moving a crane, pulling a crank or pushing a dumpster, it is all done very well and fits seamlessly with the rest of this little world. I was wowed by what I saw on more than one occasion.

Another beautiful landscape

Something else that is a bit interesting about the environment Machinarium takes place in is that there is no spoken or written language anywhere. The storyline is conveyed through dreams and thoughts that you’ll see in comic style idea bubbles. It is an interesting way to let the story unfold, it adds some mysteriousness and even a bit of humor to the environment.

Really, the game is worth checking out just because of its beautiful landscapes. Each new screen feels like it could be a painting hanging on my wall. It is just flat out visually stunning.

Characters

The characters in this game are robots of all varying types and sizes. You’ll encounter many different types of robots on your quest that all do different things and have their own personalities. Though the game does have a somewhat dark feel about it, there is absolutely some underlying humor. The characters are quite funny not only in how they look but how they act.

In fact as I’m writing this I’m just watching a couple characters wait for me to return to the game play. They are making all sorts of entertaining movements and the main character has even been dreaming (line drawing style dreaming of course). The game designers did a wonderful job giving these characters personality and have used no words at all. You’re able to get a sense for what our main character is all about just by his mannerisms and thoughts. This makes you take a bit more ownership in the story.

The main character and the wine making robot

It’s worth mentioning the animation of the characters in Machinarium here as well. Like everything else you’ll see throughout the environment, the character animations fit well and are quite entertaining. Like I mentioned, the game does have a bit of a dark feel, but the personality and the humor really comes out with how the characters interact with the space around them and with each other. Honestly it’s a little difficult to explain a lot of the exact interactions, but let’s just say you will be cracking smiles frequently. Even the way the robots walk around is amusing. It’s just done really well, and adds a ton of personality to the game.

The main character dreaming about something

Gameplay

I think the easiest way to go about this is to just walk you through some typical gameplay and discuss what exactly is going on. The story begins in a mucky looking junk pile where the pieces of your robot are tossed about. You put yourself together and begin your journey. Right from the start, what exactly you’ll be doing on your journey isn’t apparent. The story will continue to unfold through your character’s thoughts and dreams. From the beginning you’ll get the feeling that your character has always been the peweny robot in the junkyard and has always gotten pushed around. It’s that classic “little guy can do it” sort of story. It’s easy to get on board with the plight of this little guy.

It is a point and click type of game so you’ll be doing doing a lot that as you work your way through. You click to where you want the little guy to walk and off he goes to that spot. You’ll be able to interact with various items as you move along. Hovering your mouse over the item will indicate if it is something you can interact with. Picking up items is also possible and is actually crucial part of the game. These items are needed to perform certain tasks and to solve certain puzzles. To add a level of complexity items may be combined and then used. So things get tricky pretty quickly. There is a lot to interact with.

Moving about in this world is pretty progressive, meaning you’ll mainly be moving forward from one screen to the next while sometimes jumping back a screen or two in an effort to solve a puzzle. You’ll spend the game attempting to move forward. There is always something blocking your way and you need to figure out what you can do to move past it.

The game is essentially one puzzle after another. There are even some smaller interwoven puzzles that you’ll need to solve along the way. For example, you may need to lower a crane and the controls to do so aren’t exactly straight forward. You need to figure out which buttons need to be lit up. That’s a pretty basic example, but you get the idea. They aren’t incredibly tough, but there were plenty tricky enough to hang my non-puzzle-tuned mind up pretty good.

In game mini-puzzle

Overall, solving the puzzles was challenging, but not impossible. I definitely got hung up and there were even some times of frustration. If you are struggling, you are able to use a couple hints in each space. Checking a hint will pop up an idea bubble for your robot illustrating a part of what needs to be done next.

You’re only able to view a certain amount of these in each area so you need to use them sparingly. Most of the time these are enough to give you that little kick forward but sometimes you may need a bit more. In those situations you can play a mini arcade game to unlock a book that will show you some sketches of the process to solve puzzle. The arcade games aren’t difficult, but it is a pain to go through that process every time you want to look at the cheat sheet.

The cheat book

I was a little skeptical that a game like this would grab my attention but Machinarium’s gameplay really did. The environment, combined with the animation and the way you interact with everything, is really very engaging. And there’s nothing like a good brain teaser to get a person mildly obsessed.

Conclusion

I’m not a huge gamer, and this is not the typical type of game that I go for when I’m looking for one. When I saw Machinarium by chance browsing the App Store the imagery caught my eye immediately. Admittedly that is what brought me in, but the actual world that has been created by the developers and the gameplay within it is what kept my attention.

I’ve always thought of the purpose of a video game as being something that can temporarily transport to you another world and take your thoughts and troubles out of your mind for a bit. I wasn’t expecting this quite as much from this type of game, but I was very wrong.

The ambient sounds and the overall feel of the environment does an absolutely amazing job of transporting you into that world. That combined with working through the puzzles is more than enough to keep your mind occupied and give you a bit of a break from the rigors of real life. It serves as a wonderful mind escape and also a sleep depriver as you may find yourself saying things like “I just want to get past this one thing before I go to bed” over and over.

Machinarium is in that wonderful space of being a beautifully designed game while also being very entertaining and engaging. You will lose yourself in the beautiful landscapes, be challenged by the puzzles, get a laugh from the characters and animation and have a great time each step of the way.