George A. Romero’s App of the Dead Debuts on Apply iPhone and iPod Touch

Start Zombifying Your Friends and Family!

Los Angeles, California– June 3, 2010 – George A. Romero, the undisputed master of horror cinema (“Night of the Living Dead”, “Dawn of the Dead”, “Creepshow”, “Monkey Shines”, “Diary of the Dead”), today announced with partner, Peter Grunwald, and Artfire Films’ Art Spigel and Ara Katz, that APP of the DEAD, developed with Ohio-based Additive Interactive, is available now for Apple iPhone and iPod Touch for $1.99.

Download the launch trailer and screens of the app in action here.

“Given the amount of zombies I’ve brought to life, I figured everyone should be able to do the same,” said George A. Romero.

Developed in coordination with Romero’s latest feature, George A. Romero’s Survival of the Dead, which hits theaters nationwide May 28th, APP of the DEAD casts iPhone and iPod Touch owners as the director, allowing you to turn your friends and family into horrific zombies with over 20 zombie features, including galleries of open wounds, deformed eyes and mouths. Take pictures or import photos from existing galleries and bring them to undead glory with grisly scars and bloody injuries!

Don’t forget to aim for the head when you use APP of the DEAD’s custom-built engine to cap your newly created zombies, first-person shooter style. Save the photos, email them to friends, make them part of your own undead slideshow or upload to Facebook and other social networking sites.

APP of the DEAD is available now for Apple iPhone and iPod Touch and can be found here. To learn more about APP of the DEAD, please visit www.appsofthedead.com.

Also, check out our Facebook and Twitter pages!

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/App-of-the-Dead/119297851433641?ref=ts

Twitter:  http://twitter.com/appofthedead

About George A. Romero’s Survival of the Dead

The master filmmaker continues to reinvent the modern horror genre in a film that draws new battle lines between the living and the dead. A war-weary band of soldiers is lured to a remote island that promises to be the last paradise on earth, only to discover that even here, miles away from civilization, there is no escape from the appetites of the living and the dead. Told with Romero’s iconic sense of humor and keen eye for the fault-lines in contemporary culture, “SURVIVAL OF THE DEAD” expands and intensifies the zombie universe for which he is celebrated. George A. Romero’s “Survival of the Dead” hits theaters across the nation on May 28, 2010 after debuting on VOD, Amazon and Xbox LIVE on April 30. For more details, visit http://www.facebook.com/pages/Survival-of-the-Dead/210457192019

About Additive Interactive:

Ohio-based Additive Interactive is a visual & interactive design company focused on speaking to consumers through unique visually compelling interactive entertainment experiences. The Additive team combines decades of experience creating stunning commercials, music videos, flash games, corporate and consumer-targeted videos, game assets, web design, animated graphics & logos, and graphic design. For more information about Additive, please visit http://www.weareadditive.com/

Doesn’t everyone love the Apple image?  Did you know your iPod was built by a child in a forced labor camp?  Still love the image?  I found this article today Apple admits using child labour – Telegraph and I’ve got to say that I find it sickening.

Apple's child labor policy in action.

This isn’t the evil Google, Microsoft, or Intel.  This is everyone’s beloved Apple.  This is the most politically correct company to ever grace the face of the earth, or so they’d like us to believe.  And here they are engaged in the cruelest business practice one can think of.  No, i guess I can think of worse.  What’s next, knee-capping people who fall behind on their App Store payments?

So think of the little 10 year old boy who built your iPhone the next time you use it.  How much cruelty are you perpetuating when you buy Apple’s products?  Not only is this incongruous with their oh-so-carefully managed image, but it shows you what they’re capable of.

Before you jump to Apple’s defense, let me point out a few other things.  Last year one of their employees committed suicide after leaving their Chinese plant.  A few weeks ago workers in another one of their Chinese factories were exposed to n-hexane, a dangerous chemical that can cause you to go blind.  And let’s not forget that Apple was also nailed last year for illegally disposing of electronics instead of taking care of the environment like they should.

So, what’s it going to be?    Do you care about Apple’s human rights abuses?  Or did they spray n-hexane in your eyes also so now you’re blind to their employment practices?

One of the unfortunate consequences of the revolution in publishing brought on by the web is that journalism has changed dramatically. As barriers to entry for starting a media outlet went down from high cost stuff like paper, shipping, real art, etc and eyeballs redirected onto the web, the value of the printed word has deteriorated.

It’s great that we can go online and find whatever we want. Sure, blogging and sharing opinions, user generated content, all that stuff is great to read.

The thing is that it has all become about eyeballs. Page views. It isn’t about quality content. Sites need keyword rich content on timely topics so they pop up in search engines and news feeds. A monkey can spit out something apple iphone, microsoft, cisco, new product keyword rich.

But where’s the expert analysis? There’s no way to get expert and helpful to the top spot on Google.

Now that page views are all that matter the quality of the content has become close to irrelevant. I’m sorry to say it. I wish I didn’t have to say it. Why can’t we do something smarter like measure how long someone reads a story? How far through something do they get?

I’m all for leveling the playing field, but I know a hell of a lot of people who are out of work now because the written word has decreased in value. Editors, writers, lab techs, even sales and marketing types. don’t forget the creative art people. Copy edit has been decimated.

So it occurred to me today, where do all those smart unemployed people go? How can we harness that energy? There must be a way we can band together to preserve the value of expert opinion, well written, well edited, well produced and on target content. I still believe content is king, but the king is being devalued at a dangerous pace.

SUPER MONKEY BALL RETURNS TO THE APP STORE!

SEGA Announces the Sequel to an iPhone and iPod Touch Favourite

SAN FRANCISCO & LONDON (December 1, 2009) – SEGA® of America, Inc. and SEGA Europe Ltd today announced that the Super Monkey Ball 2 App is now available on the App Store. Built from the ground up, this sequel for iPhone and iPod touch takes full advantage of the breakthrough technology in the devices, including the innovative Multi-Touch user interface and accelerometer, to offer fans an irresistible on-the-go gaming experience. The original, highly-addictive Super Monkey Ball set a benchmark with its unique control mechanism, exceptional graphics and phenomenal sales success.

“Super Monkey Ball was a huge success for us in the App Store,” said Mike Hayes, CEO of SEGA of America and SEGA of Europe. “When presented with the opportunity to do a second one, we knew we had to jump on it and strive to make it bigger and better than the first one. Addressing fan requests and making sure iPhone and iPod touch gamers had the ultimate Super Monkey Ball experience they were looking for was the driving force behind this latest iteration of the beloved franchise and we know we have delivered.”

Developed by Other Ocean, Super Monkey Ball 2 allows players to more easily pick-up-and-play stunning 3D stages in both single and multiplayer thanks to the refined control system. Playing as some of their favorite characters, including AIAI players can take advantage of the accelerometer to steer their monkey towards delicious bananas and a satisfying finish. Adding to the fun, the Super Monkey Ball 2 App also makes all 115 stages of the game available to be played in multiplayer mode using the local Wi-Fi with up to four players.

The Super Monkey Ball 2 App is now available for $9.99 (USD) from the App Store on iPhone and iPod touch or at www.itunes.com/appstore/.

About SEGA® of America, Inc.
SEGA® of America, Inc. is the American Publishing arm of Tokyo, Japan-based SEGA® Corporation, a worldwide leader in interactive entertainment both inside and outside the home. The company develops, publishes and distributes interactive entertainment software products for a variety of hardware platforms including PC, wireless devices, and those manufactured by Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. SEGA’s global website site is located at www.sega.com.

About SEGA® Europe Ltd.
SEGA® Europe Ltd. is the European Publishing arm of Tokyo, Japan-based SEGA® Corporation, and a worldwide leader in interactive entertainment both inside and outside the home. The company develops, publishes and distributes interactive entertainment software products for a variety of hardware platforms including PC, wireless devices, and those manufactured by Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. SEGA’s global website site is located at www.sega.com.

By Sarah Pike

Like you, I’ve spent the past few years knowing, “There’s an app for that.” And every time I hear it, it bugs me. I didn’t really think about why, though, until recently.

Mac users have hugely embraced the iPhone App Store, not just as a convenient roundup of programs to buy for their smartphones, but as the towering, unassailable evidence of its superiority over other smartphones. Some non-Mac users have, even. My ex-boss parrots the line regularly. And why? I’d like to think it’s because Mac users aren’t used to having sufficient apps. Sadly, I have to conclude it’s because the average person can’t see past the clever Mac ad lines.

PC users have had apps coming out of their ears for, like, ever. Palm and Windows Mobile users have always had apps, many of them free. The most popular of which had nothing to do with flatulence.

But oh, the smug voice in the ads is telling you, “There’s an app for that.” Clearly, those things before the iPhone? Weren’t apps. Please. Give me an app to make iPhone users put their phones away while we’re having dinner, or an app that reminds iPhone users that their latest app helped Palm OS users for years before iPhone was a glimmer in Steve Jobs’ eye, maybe an app that flashes the message “iBaa.”

[Photo credit: flickr|William Hook]