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Ninja Theory is an excellent game developer based in the UK that's produced Enslaved: Odyssey to the West and the recent Devil May Cry reboot. Now, Ninja Theory is releasing its first iOS title, Fightback, which EA studio Chillingo will publish. Fightback, as you can see above, looks like a fairly gritty arcade-style beat-em-up, and it boasts some AAA grade production values, as well as some interesting touch-based combat. Fightback is set for previews at E3, so we'll see more of the game in action then. It's set to launch on iOS later this summer. Chillingo is a very high-quality studio that's been doing plenty of good work lately, and with its ties to EA, it's no surprise that Ninja Theory gave it the go-ahead on publishing duties. Ninja Theory is a great studio, and we'll look forward to seeing how this one turns out. Show full PR text Chillingo Partners with Ninja Theory Ltd. to Publish Fightback on Mobile and Tablet Ninja Theory's Mobile Debut Playable at E3 MACCLESFIELD, U.K., May 24, 2013 - Chillingo, leading independent mobile games publisher and division of Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: EA), today announced that they are partnering with prominent Cambridge, UK-based independent video game developer Ninja Theory Ltd. to publish the studio's first mobile game, Fightback for the App Store and Google Play[TM]. From the award-winning studio behind Enslaved: Odyssey to the West and DmC: Devil May Cry, Ninja Theory's Fightback is a thrilling free-to-play action game with a striking 80s action movie vibe and a revolutionary touch-based combat system. "Chillingo is very excited to collaborate with such a talented, critically-acclaimed studio to help shape their first title for the mobile market," states Ed Rumley, COO, Chillingo. "Our team is working closely with Ninja Theory to ensure Fightback delivers a phenomenal experience for mobile and tablet devices." "Mobile and tablet gaming is a phenomenon that we just couldn't ignore as a studio and we're very proud to be working with one of the industry's heavy-weights on bringing Fightback to market. Ninja Theory has always strived for the highest production values and that absolutely remains the case in this exciting new space," said Dominic Matthews, Product Manager, Ninja Theory Ltd. Fightback is slated to launch this summer. Hands-on previews will be shared with press at the E3 Expo in Los Angeles. Additional details and information will be available at www.chillingo.com in the coming months. Ninja Theory partners with Chillingo to publish Fightback originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 24 May 2013 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Apple has further reduced the prices of refurbished iPad minis and 4th generation iPads. The mini is now sporting a 15% discount, while the 4th generation iPad has a 16% discount. You can find the new prices below for each respective model. iPad mini 16 GB Wi-Fi: $279 refurbished $329 brand-new 32 GB Wi-Fi: $359 refurbished $429 brand-new 64 GB Wi-Fi: $439 refurbished $529 brand-new 16 GB Wi-Fi + Cellular: $389 refurbished $459 brand-new 32 GB Wi-Fi + Cellular: $469 refurbished $559 brand-new 64 GB Wi-Fi + Cellular: $549 refurbished $659 brand-new 4th generation iPad 16 GB Wi-Fi: $419 refurbished $499 brand-new 32 GB Wi-Fi: $499 refurbished $599 brand-new 64 GB Wi-Fi: $579 refurbished $699 brand-new 16 GB Wi-Fi + Cellular: $529 refurbished $629 brand-new 32 GB Wi-Fi + Cellular: $609 refurbished $729 brand-new 64 GB Wi-Fi + Cellular: $689 refurbished $829 brand-new Apple cuts prices on refurbished iPad mini, iPad 4 originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 24 May 2013 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

The US branch of Best Buy is planning to launch a $50 discount on iPhones starting on Sunday, says AllThingsD. The sale should last for four weeks, and cover the iPhone 4, 4S, and 5. All phones must, however, be tied to a new two-year contract with AT&T, Verizon, or Sprint, ruling out carriers like T-Mobile....

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PC makers have been copying the Mac for years, but every now and then you just have to shake your head yet again. HP has unveiled two laptops that blatantly rip off Apple’s designs. It’s so painfully obvious that it makes you wonder if HP wants customers to be fooled into thinking they’re buying from Apple. Give me a break. The Pavilion TouchSmart 11 and Envy 14 TouchSmart Ultrabook appear “to be trying to ape the MacBook Pro with Retina Display,” notes The Verge. That’s a tactful way of saying that HP is trying to ride the Apple train all the way to the bank. It’s surprising that HP hasn’t committed any patent infringement to get the look so close to the MacBook. Apple did something original and innovative when it released the first unibody MacBook Pro, and it’s a shame to see other manufacturers trying to capture lightning in a bottle twice all these years later. HP CEO Meg Whitman truly wanted a “unified design language across HP’s entire portfolio of consumer machines,” according to The Verge. That design language just happens to be Apple’s. More images are available to prove the point at The Verge. Source: The Verge The post HP Wants You To Believe That Its New Laptops Were Designed By Apple appeared first on Cult of Mac.Related StoriesDid WWDC Really Sell Out In 2 Minutes, Or Is Apple Covering Up?AT&T Adds iPhone, 4G LTE And Visual Voicemail Support To GoPhoneForget The iWatch, Here Are 11 Apple Watches You Can Buy Right Now [Gallery]Fifth Avenue Apple Store Roof Springs A Leak, Again [Video]The FDA Is Worried About You Using The iPhone For Urinalysis

Type2Phone ($4.99) is one of the most practical tools in my development toolbox. It emulates a Bluetooth keyboard from your Mac. With it, you type to your iOS device using your normal desktop keyboard. While this may not sound like a big thing for many iOS users -- after all, the onboard keyboards and new dictation features streamline text entry -- it is a huge deal for devs and IT coordinators who have to keep typing similar things into apps and settings, over and over again. For example, take Game Center development. You usually work with many different accounts, testing to see how access works for new users, for those with a good history of application use, or for those who have unlocked certain achievements. In a normal debug session, you may sign out and sign in with various credentials dozens of times. Type2Phone makes that a practical exercise in testing instead of torment. Or, take today. I was trying to set up a SOCKS proxy system and had to keep typing addresses for various configurations. Once again Type2Phone came to the rescue. It's so much more practical to type or paste longwinded URLs like http://10.0.0.1:8888/Public/socks.pac from my home desktop than to laboriously tip-tip-tap it on the phone or iPad. Type2Phone was designed smart, with re-use in mind. I long ago synced it to my primary dev units. Now, I just select each unit from the in-app pop-up list, and I'm ready to type right away. To be fair, there are a few unhappy reviews over at the Mac App Store, but they describe situations (primarily beachballs) that I have not encountered, and I'm a pretty heavy user of the product. For me, Type2Phone is an essential software component. My development life would be way harder without it. And that's why I consider it my Friday favorite for this week.Friday Favorite: Type2Phone originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 24 May 2013 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

The FDA has gone after Biosense, a health startup that makes uCheck, an automated urine analyzer sold directly to end customers. You pee on a strip then use the uChek iPhone app to take a picture and analyze the contents of your urine for health info like glucose. Biosense claims that it can help detect up to 25 diseases, like diabetes, pre-clampsia, and urinary tract infection. A letter has been sent to Biosense from FDA about its home kit + iPhone app product asking why Biosense hasn’t gotten uCheck officially sanctioned by the government. Bloomberg reports: UChek works with test strips made by Siemens AG and Bayer AG, which are only approved for visual reading and require new clearance for automated analysis, the FDA said in the letter. The agency has said it wants stricter rules for apps that directly diagnose or treat conditions, proposing in 2011 to apply similar quality standards as for heart stents, ultrasound machines and other medical devices. “We intend to finalize the guidance this year,” Synim Rivers, an agency spokeswoman, said yesterday in an e-mail. “The FDA has proposed a regulatory approach that limits its immediate oversight to a specific, small subset of mobile medical applications that are medical devices and present the greatest risk to patient safety if they don’t work as intended.” This is obviously a sensitive area as companies like Biosense are disrupting an incredibly expensive and profitable healthcare industry that’s rooted in regulation. The FDA doesn’t want uCheck upsetting all of the other companies that are making high-end equipment that does the same thing. Just another example of how smartphones are disrupting the world around us. The uCheck iPhone app is available for free in the App Store, and the accompanying kit costs $40. Source: Bloomberg The post The FDA Is Worried About You Using The iPhone For Urinalysis appeared first on Cult of Mac.Related StoriesDid WWDC Really Sell Out In 2 Minutes, Or Is Apple Covering Up?AT&T Adds iPhone, 4G LTE And Visual Voicemail Support To GoPhoneForget The iWatch, Here Are 11 Apple Watches You Can Buy Right Now [Gallery]Fifth Avenue Apple Store Roof Springs A Leak, Again [Video]HP Wants You To Believe That Its New Laptops Were Designed By Apple

Splasm Software updated both the Standard and Pro versions of its personal finance management software, CheckBook. New to this latest release is support for syncing and merging data with users on other Macs. Anyone who purchases the software from the Mac App Store will be able to synchronize data directly to iCloud, while all other users can sync data across a local network. Also new to this release is full support for Retina displays, improved performance, and compatibility with Apple's sandboxing requirements....

In less than two weeks, Apple will head to trial over allegations that it colluded with five publishing houses in an effort to inflate the price of e-books. Indeed, the Justice Department last week released internal Apple emails which it claims supports the allegation that Apple was a "ringleader" in a price-fixing conspiracy. In one such email, Apple executive Eddy Cue explained to Steve Jobs that he was able to secure a deal with Random House by threatening to block an app of theirs from getting into the App Store. With a trial on the matter scheduled to kick off on June 3, Bloomberg reports that US District Judge Denise Cote -- who happens to be overseeing the trial -- expressed confidence that the government will be able to prove its case against Apple. I believe that the government will be able to show at trial direct evidence that Apple knowingly participated in and facilitated a conspiracy to raise prices of e-books, and that the circumstantial evidence in this case, including the terms of the agreements, will confirm that. The judge's comments seem a bit curious because, as Bloomberg notes, this will not be a jury trial. Judge Cote alone will be deciding the case on its merits. Consequently, one wonders why Cote is comfortable expressing such a strong view before hearing any testimony and the full breadth of arguments from both parties. To that end, Judge Cote did qualify that her opinion at this point is tentative. In an emailed statement to Bloomberg, Apple lawyer Orin Snyder remarked: We strongly disagree with the court's preliminary statements about the case. The court made clear that this was not a final ruling and that the evidence at trial will determine the verdict. This is what a trial is for. Apple has previously stated that it was not operating with the intent to artificially increase the price of e-books, but rather wanted to foster innovation in the e-book marketplace and break "Amazon's monopolistic grip on the publishing industry." Judge reportedly leaning towards DoJ in Apple e-book case originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 24 May 2013 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

The US branch of Best Buy is planning to launch a $50 discount on iPhones starting on Sunday, says AllThingsD. The sale should last for four weeks, and cover the iPhone 4, 4S, and 5. All phones must, however, be tied to a new two-year contract with AT&T, Verizon, or Sprint, ruling out carriers like T-Mobile....