iPhone Hill

As usual, Steve Jobs began his Apple music event keynote today by giving a breakdown of iOS devices sold to date — 120,000,000. It took them from June 2007 to June 2010 to reach 100,000,000 and only 3 months to add another 20,000,000 on top of that. Jobs also said they’re activating new devices at a rate of 230,000 a day.

While older, 2007 devices are no longer compatible with iOS 4, iPad apps won’t run on iPhone, and camera apps won’t run on iPad or older iPod touches, that’s still a huge number of broadly compatible devices for developers to target. Case in point…

App Store downloads have hit 6.5 billion, which is an astonishing number. And yes, whoosh, that’s increasing at a rate of 200 a second. There are 250,000 apps in the App Store now, 25,000 of which are iPad apps. Speaking of stores…

In terms of Apple Retail Stores, they now have 300 in 10 countries with one in Spain set to increase both counts soon. On some days they get more than 1 million visitors. They teach 80,000 one-to-one classes a week. Over 50% of Mac buyers are new to the platform.

120,000,000 iOS devices sold, 250,000 apps, 6.5 billion downloads – by the numbers is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb – The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

One of the highlights of today’s Apple special music event was Epic who showed off their first iOS game. The game, an action-packed, sword-fighting, RPG adventure looked beyond gorgeous (it’s from the people who made Gears of War, what do you expect?) and it’s coming later this year.

But you can snag a copy of the demo in the iTunes App Store now.

From the circus bazaar on the outskirts of the castle grounds to the mysterious cathedral at the center of town, Epic Citadel will dazzle you with a visual parade of special effects that recreates a stunning and realistic world only imagined by Epic Games, and powered by the critically acclaimed and award winning Unreal Engine 3.

Are you ready to explore the realm of the Epic Citadel and all the beautiful secrets it holds?

Epic Citadel was created using the same tools and technology used to develop high-end consoles games, now delivered for iOS devices!

Drool.

[iTunes link, via @chartier]

Epic Citadel for iPhone, iPad demo now in App Store is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb – The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

Do you like old-school shooters? If so, Dodonpachi Resurrection is the game for you! Cave has brought out another awesome shooter on the iPhone (the first being Espgaluda II).

There are two game modes in DoDonPachi. The first is iPhone mode which is a great way to jump in and play. It uses a hit variable to determine the strength of your weapons (the slider is indicated in the top right) and has an interactive hypermode to unleash the ultimate destruction on your enemies. The other mode is Arcade. This mode has you pick the fighter style you want and requires a bit more strategy while playing since you don’t have the freedom you have in iPhone mode. You can also configure how much screen is displayed while playing (I am partial to large so I see as much of the screen as I can) as well as button placement for attacking enemy ships.

You start the game as you do in any shooter of this type as a lonesome ship against an onslaught enemy armada bent on destruction. Fortunately, you have technology on your side and you are packing enough firepower to send the enemy back where they came from. One of the things I like about iPhone mode is that when you die, you automatically drop a bomb and become invincible for a short while. Little details like this make the game more accessible to the casual shooter fan. However, Arcade mode is where it’s at if you need a true challenge. Of course the OpenFeint integration keeps it old school allowing you to compete with friends and strangers for the highest score possible.

I was looking forward to this game’s release and especially having the sharp graphics that are in on the iPhone 4’s retina display. Sadly, this is not the case. So as awesome as this game is, it ends up being a tad fuzzy on the iPhone 4 but looks great on the latest generation of iPod Touch devices and iPhone 3GS. Make no mistake that the graphics are great and there is no slowdown. All of the ships and terrain have tons of detail and move effortlessly around the screen.

I can’t recommend this game enough for shooter fans. It is hands down the best offering in the App Store. I am hopeful that Cave will create iPad specific versions of their games for the masses to take advantage of the full screen real estate that device has to offer. For now, you can’t go wrong with this title. I am still giddy about it.

[$8.99- iTunes Link]

Pros

• More bullets than you can shake a stick at!
• OpenFient leaderboards and achievements
• Works great on iPad. Looks awesome!
• Fun and frantic
• No noticeable slow-down

Cons

• No retina support
• Only works well on current-gen devices
• Larger file size (around 500MB)

Dodonpachi Resurrection for iPhone – app review is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb – The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog