901am

New Media News Every Morning

Final Fantasy Games Arrive on the Apps Store!

By


Final Fantasy fanboys, where are you?  If you’re currently waiting for the release of Final Fantasy XIII for the Playstation 3 you might want to go nostalgic first and play FF1 and FF2 on your iPhone or iPod Touch  to while away time. Yes, two of these two classic Final Fantasy games have just made it to the Apps Store and if you’re a die-hard FF fan and you’ve got $18  to spare, you can enjoy playing them again anytime, anywhere on your iPhone or iPod Touch.

Each game will cost your $8.99 each and considering the current price of a Playstation game right now, I think the that price is a good deal. Well, if you’re a Final Fantasy fan. You have to be a true-blue FF fan to appreciate this game since you won’t get the same cool animation and graphics features of other iPhone or iPod Touch games from FF1 and FF2.

In case you’re not aware, the Final Fantasy franchise is one of the most popular role-playing games of all time.  It’s a turn-based strategy type of game that involves character building, finding items, completing quests and certainly more other fun and addicting game plays.

And the good news is, the FF1 and FF2 for the iPhone and iPod Touch have all those elements that we love from their console versions.

What’s exciting about this is the fact that this might just be the beginning. Hopefully, Square Ennix will bring in more FF games into the iPhone or iPod Touch. But to make them do that, let us support FF1 and FF2 first by getting the games from the Apps store. I’ve included the download link here. FF1 iTunes Link and  FF2 iTunes Link. Have fun!

Via Mashable

Originally posted on February 25, 2010 @ 6:16 pm

Apple iTunes Scores 10 Billionth Song Download

By

Apple iTunes has just achieved a remarkable feat a moment ago, thanks to a user who just got the 10 billionth song ever downloaded from the music store. The countdown to the 10 billionth song was started earlier this month, and it was Apple’s way of celebrating such a remarkable experience. Meanwhile, whoever got to download the 10 billionth song from iTunes will win a $10,000 iTunes Gift Card.

So while we await for the announcement of the winner, why don’t we all take a look at some numbers after the iTunes was opened in 2003.  Almost seven years, Apple has suceeded in making the iTunes as a premiere online music store despite its exlusivity to Apple music and mobile devices. It only goes to show that while Apple is making the iTunes popular and so were its products. And for that,  we all should commend the company, no matter how much you may like or dislike iTunes.

Last quarter, iTunes generated some $520 million in revenues. In terms of profitability, total revenues generated so far by iTunes barely surpassed the break-even point. But that’s just beside the point since we all know that Apple created the iTunes to support its main business – selling hardwares. And it did while at the same time achieving a commendable feat in selling digital music.

Anyway, in case you’re interested to know the most downloaded song from iTunes happens to be Black Eyed Peas’ I Gotta Feeling. Now this is another an interesting achievement for the band but that’s another story.

Originally posted on February 24, 2010 @ 6:26 pm

Web-Based Media Player Muziic Lets You Play and Organize YouTube and Vevo Music

By

Screen shot 2009-12-29 at 7.55.15 AM

Say goodbye to pesky and obtrusive ads whenever you want to listen to free songs featured on music videos on YouTube. Likewise, say goodbye to those annoying country-specific restrictions that renders most songs practically un-streamable if you live in Timbuktu. Thanks to new site Muziic you can now enjoy those two benefits brought by the free Internet.

First started as a Windows application, Muziic then lets you organize and manage music collections from songs featured on YouTube videos. Think of it as the Windows iTunes for YouTube, that also lets you rip mp3s to YouTube.

To make its service more relevant, Muziic recently launched a web-based media player. And while they were at it, they brought along music video start-up Vevo which went public recently.

So, what do this bring us, free music loving Internet citizens?  Free songs, as in millions of them with accompanying videos to boot.

And then what else? Muziic also lets you register on the site so that you can create your music playlist. It has a very efficient search engine which offers direct song access similar to iTunes does. For those who couldn’t live without sharing things with their friends to social networks, Muziic also just recently rolled out a Facebook app. How about an iPhone app? Not yet but it’s coming pretty soon, I hope.

An online service as good as this is not without a glitch of course. For one thing, Muziic removes country-restriction to video contents from Vevo. While this may seem ok for now, Vevo is said to be looking at it right now. Hopefully, they won’t do something to spoil Muziic’s party.

Via Wired

Originally posted on December 28, 2009 @ 8:00 pm

Apple approves 100,000th app, and then some

By

The road to application approval hasn’t always been smooth, with apps approved and then pulled, or outright banned on rather shaky grounds, but that hasn’t stopped Apple powering to 100,000 approved apps in the iTunes App Store.

The web site Appshopper.com has counted 102,485 approved applications and 93,659 available.

That’s a mind-boggling number, and unfortunately says nothing about the quality of those applications. Bear in mind that there are many variations on the same theme, and some (a lot) of them are complete and utter rubbish. [Read more…]

Originally posted on October 30, 2009 @ 11:01 am