Favorite free iPhone app of the moment: Frotz

While the iPhone can play some pretty sophisticated games, and makes better use of it’s touch screen than the Nintendo DS, one of the best free apps is a very old school genre: interactive fiction.

I’m a huge role-playing nerd and used to love the old “Choose Your Own Adventure” books, but somehow never played interactive fiction, the original “sandbox” games that let you decide how you proceeded through a text-based adventure. I knew of its legacy on RPGs, but wasn’t aware that new Interactive Fiction was still being created.

Well, with Frotz, available for free in Apple’s iPhone apps store, a whole world of Interactive Fiction is opened up to a new generation. It comes with over 20 titles, covering a wide variety of story genres and levels of interaction. You give simple commands, like “talk to x about y,” examine,” “open door” and so on, to navigate your way through the stories, with each one having its own game-specific details.

For example, “An Act of Murder” places you as a detective, with a mansion to explore and witnesses to question. You have a time limit based on commands given, and depending on what evidence from asking the right questions of the right people, you might be able to determine who the culprit is and put them away.

Frotz also contains a link to the IFDB, Interactive Fiction Database, to find classics such as “Zork” as well as brand new titles, though not all are free. According to Frotz’s info, it can play most stories written in the Z-Machine format.

Frotz is great to play while waiting in lines or in a reception area, if you don’t mind looking like an obsessive texter, and has almost endless play value. Of all the free apps the iPhone has, Frotz is the game that has by far been getting the most use.

-Aaron Burkhart

CES 2008 day one: focus on interactivity

Despite months of preparation, there’s no good way to tackle 1.7 million net square feet of floor space spread between two convention centers and two hotels. It’s a bit overwhelming, but here’s today’s standouts:

There wasn’t a full press kit available for it, but Art.lebedev Studios was showing off an OLED keyboard, meaning every key was a display and could change icons, colors, display photos in each key and more. This is where a web connected camera is needed, as the press room computers I have to use don’t have a memory card slot to get at all the pictures and video I took today; but go to http://www.artlebedev.com/everything/optimus/demo/ for the official demo until I can upload the media I took. UPDATE: Here it is in person.

Several new interface devices were shown such as 3DV System’s ZCam. Similar to an advanced version of the PlayStation EyeToy, the ZCam has functions beyond gaming, as its gesture recognition software can control a wide variety of applications (similar to the interface Tom Cruise uses in Minority Report).

Sandio’s 3D mouse has two gaming-style analog sticks on the sides of the mouse’ combined with the standard movements, full X, Y and Z axis control over tilt, rotation and zoom are easily achieved. It’s fairly intuitive to use, and I was rotating a floating cube like a pro in no time. Besides better gaming control over movement, it has 16 programmable buttons and on-the-fly DPI switching for similar or less cost than Microsoft and Logitech’s gaming mice. Plus, the 3D control translates to all sorts of 3D applications, like animation, CAD or whatever. Just having so many mappable buttons would even simplify using common functions in programs like Word.

TN Game’s force-feedback gaming vest (which has been out for a while) and helmet provide another level of interactivity, using air compression to simulate hits to certain parts of the body when playing compatible games. It has a pretty small list of compatible games so far, and, unless it really catches on, support for the vest and helmet will remain low, which will keep them as only novelties for the hardest of hardcore gamers.

Electric Spin’s new Golf Launchpad model is a wireless golf sensor compatible with EA Sports’ Tiger Woods PGA Tour golf games, on all platforms, as well as Hot Shots Golf and it’s own swing analysing program. Unlike playing the game with a controller or keyboard, since you play using real clubs on the Golf Launchpad, you can actually go from newbie to golf pro without ever stepping on an actual course (and without embarrassing yourself in front of others as my poor swinging did). It also makes it easier to play golf in places where outdoor conditions aren’t always ideal (such as Alaska).

While I tried to look at consumer-ready products, 3M’s mobile projector technology caught my eye. Barely bigger than a adult male’s thumb, the projector can be put into any mobile device (like a camera phone, presentation pen or iPod add-on) allowing it to project its media onto any surface or screen. The prototype demo model could project a clear image even in normal lighting conditions and I was told that in a dark room the projection size could be 60″ or more. Although 3M reps couldn’t release any details, they said that there is a lot of interest in the technology and a device incorporating the mobile projector may even be released this spring.

A quick rundown of what else I saw:

Zagg’s Invisible Shied, a whole-device protective skin that’s virtually unscrachable and bubble free during application, without affecting touch sensitivity for touch sensitive devices;

A 48 GB Compact Flash memory card, the same physical size as any other CF card.

Ambient Devices’ 7-Day Forecaster that looks like a simple LCD clock – but instead of just time, can show weather, sports scores, stocks or whatever; a zero-click solution to information that’s always relevant without having to look it up on a computer each time.

V-Dimension’s solar-powered backpack and laptop case; well, the bag charges the device inside, so it’s not technically solar-powered itself, but you get the idea.

Standing lamps for the home that are also wireless speakers, again, with the info in the pictures. (this will all be updated once I get that info, so check back later).

Lauren Nelson, Miss America 2007, was also at the display area for children’s products and learning tools, teaching kids about Internet safety.

Other celebrities were supposed to be at various places during the show, but I was too busy to go looking for them.