mazes

Movie database and an updated classic game: iPhone apps of the week

Looking at my iPhone yesterday, I noticed that there was a crack about a centimeter long right up the middle of the back of the handset coming straight from the charging area. It's hardly noticeable and I'm sure my iPhone will continue to work, but it definitely serves as a reminder that when my two-year contract is up in June, I'm going to be ready for a new iPhone.

Fortunately, a story over at AppleInsider points to a rumor that the next generation of iPhones are set to come out right about that time. Eldar Murtazin, an … Read more

Challenging puzzle game

RatMaster is a fun and challenging puzzle game in which users reconfigure mazes to allow their rat to reach the cheese at the end, all while avoiding snakes and other potential dangers. The simple premise and sometimes difficult puzzles make this game easy to get hooked on.

The program's graphics and interface didn't totally blow us away, but they are definitely above average. The music and sound effects were appropriate and added to the game's experience, but they can be turned off if desired. Game play is intuitive, and a Help file explains the basic rules of … Read more

Video game maze

Maze-O-Rama isn't going to win any awards for its graphics; however, this simple game proves to be fun and easy thanks to a great story, simple design, and excellent tutorial.

With a very flat, two-dimensional design, the creatures, gems, players, and mazes in this game might remind some users of the simple graphics of an Atari video game system. Luckily, the program makes up for this antiquated design by having simple controls that are a lot of fun to learn, thanks to the silly tutorial, taught by a dragon through text boxes. Gameplay could not get much simpler, which … Read more

Amid recession, developer finds hope in App Store

Editor's note: This is part of a series of stories about the recession's effect on the tech industry.

Not long ago, during an evening of hanging out with friends, five of us sat in my living room, staring at and holding tight to our iPhones or iPod Touches.

This wasn't the anti-social behavior you might think, though. Actually, we were having a great time, banging our fingers furiously on the touch screens of the five devices, trying to kill each other (and not be killed ourselves) in the utterly addictive multiplayer shooting game Maze Wars Revisited.

The … Read more

MazeFinger

MazeFinger is a free, fun, fast-paced game in which you use your touch screen to quickly trace the path of maze before you run out of "energy" (i.e., time). The path of the maze becomes increasingly complex and more strewn with obstacles, which you have to time correctly to bypass. Drawing a path through a maze might sound rather sedate and less than stimulating, but MazeFinger amps up the action with frenetic visuals (evocative of psychedelic console games like Geometry Wars), energetic sound effects, and dance-y music--which, thankfully, you can turn off if you're somewhere that … Read more

WiiWare and Virtual Console releases for this week

This week brings us two balance-board-compatible titles along with a duo of Turbografx 16 games.

WiiWare Tetris Party (Tetris Online Inc., 1,200 Wii points): Tetris Party puts a new spin on everyone's favorite shape-shifting puzzle game. Not only does the title introduce various new modes of play, but you can now dust off that Wii Fit balance board and use it to control Tetris pieces! The Incredible Maze (Digital Leisure Inc., 500 Wii points): Use your Wii remote to balance your way through various mazes and puzzles. Or if you prefer, use your balance board to do your … Read more

Creating the world's largest corn maze

DIXON, Calif.--I am so vindicated.

Yesterday, I spent several hours deep in the middle of the world's-largest corn maze, a creation of brothers Matt and Mark Cooley in this little agricultural town about 70 miles northeast of San Francisco.

For much of my time inside the maze, I religiously followed the map that's provided, probably being a little too rigid about it, but deciding that I wanted to see if i could do the whole maze without getting lost.

I got to the middle of the maze using the map and spent some time on the bridge … Read more

Made it to the center of the corn maze

DIXON, Calif.--I made it to the center.

It's true. After about an hour, sticking religiously to the map they gave me at the beginning, I found myself at the bridge in the middle of the world's largest corn maze, looking out at 40 acres of corn. I'm pretty proud of myself.

It was hard. But, by using the map, keeping careful track of where I was going, and looking ahead and being sure where I wanted to go, I made it.

Of course, once I got to the outer ring of the center, it got hard, … Read more

Inside the world's largest corn maze

DIXON, Calif.--I'm sitting on a stairway in the middle of the world's-largest corn maze and blogging the experience. Literally.

I like to say I'm the first to do things, and of course, you never really know if it's true. But I have to say I think the odds that someone else has been blogging inside this maze, which comprises 40 acres of healthy cornfield in this small farming town near Sacramento, are pretty small. But you never know.

I'm doing it thanks to the Verizon EV-DO card I've been using, and the ability … Read more