ninjas

Fruit Ninja was one of the early hits at the iTunes App Store, and continues to endure as a perennial top-10 favorite in the paid apps category for its simple, but satisfying game mechanic.

Today Halfbrick--the makers of Fruit Ninja and hit game Jetpack Joyride--released another version of Fruit Ninja, but this time with a movie tie-in. Fruit Ninja: Puss in Boots offers the same fruit-slicing action, but adds a new game type that fans of the game will definitely want to check out.

Though Fruit Ninja: Puss in Boots is an obvious promotion for the upcoming Dreamworks Animations … Read more

Now that Apple's opened up facial recognition as a public developer API for iOS 5, one of the first apps to result is a photo-sharing app that overlays pirate hats and ninja masks on pics.

Pirate Ninja uses an algorithm to recognize your eyes and the way your head is tilting in the photo, so the pirate hat and ninja mask can be properly placed. A pirate hat's got to sit just right, you know.

I gave the 99-cent app a shot, snapping a photo with a friend while I was on a plane and uploading the photo to Pirate Ninja. As expected, the app gave us pirate hats, but the app isn't perfect. In some cases, it didn't recognize my friend's face or placed an extra pirate hat on his chest. In all cases, it measured my face just fine.

When I shared the picture privately via e-mail, the automatically generated subject line read: "ARRR!" Cute, but probably not something I'd post all over Facebook or Twitter.… Read more

It's easy to get lost in all the new Android and Windows Phone handsets coming out soon, but CNET's Kent German, Bonnie Cha, and Nicole Lee have us covered. Today Verizon and Motorola announced their latest Droid Razr, a modern incarnation of the original Razr design with a non-bulletproof Kevlar backing and an ultraslim profile.

We also have a leaked shot of the Google Nexus Prime, a first take of the HTC Titan, and a Microsoft patent that encourages you to access touch screens through your pants. Too easy! This and more irreverent stories on today's episode of The 404 Podcast.… Read more

NinJump is yet another Android game that casts you in the role of a stealthy ninja on the run. As you quickly climb up the walls of what appears to be an infinitely tall building, you must hop back and forth to avoid colliding with obstacles. Enemy ninjas with throwing stars stand in your way, as do jutting balconies. Meanwhile, there are shields you can pick up and birds to attack along your way. Hit three birds in a row, and you get a bonus jump, which essentially boosts your speed for a short time. And, of course, your ultimate … Read more

Yoo Ninja puts you in the swift-moving shoes of a ninja on the run. As the levels automatically scroll to the right, you must tap the screen to hop from floor to ceiling and back, avoiding obstacles along the way, and moving fast enough to evade the throwing stars hot on your heels. Slow down too much and they will end your game in one fell slice. Tap the screen at the wrong time, and you could end up flying above or below a platform into the abyss. In Story Mode, you travel through 34 levels and across four different … Read more

In Moon Chaser, you are a stealthy ninja, controlling gravity, sliding along hills and valleys, and launching yourself high into the sky. Your challenge is to travel as far as you can, through different mountain stages, before the moon is completely eclipsed. Luckily, between each mountain stage, your moonlight is replenished, giving you just a bit more time to do your thing. Very similar to Dragon, Fly! and the extremely popular Tiny Wings, Moon Chaser is another addition to an already classic genre of mobile game.

By tapping the screen on declines, you can increase the pull of gravity and … Read more

Fruit Ninja is a simple, but well-made game that challenges you to slice and dice fruit with a ninja sword as it flies onto your Android screen. The controls are extremely simple, requiring you to swipe your finger through a flying fruit as you would slice with a ninja sword. There are three game modes: Classic, Zen, and Arcade. In Classic you're challenged to slice fruit as it flies on screen while avoiding occasional bombs that will end the game immediately or allowing three fruits to drop below the bottom of the screen. In Zen mode you won't … Read more

It's no secret that Microsoft went all in with Kinect in regards to the future of Xbox 360 last week at E3. While the first part of the company's E3 press conference showed off just a few Xbox 360 games, nearly everything afterward was focused on Kinect's role in the remaining lifespan of the console.

We were mostly underwhelmed with the upcoming Kinect lineup and frankly disappointed in how some games like Star Wars Kinect actually played. Microsoft also appears to be tacking Kinect functionality onto games that arguably don't really need another dimension of control (see Mass Effect 3 and Ghost Recon Future Soldier).… Read more

Blending isn't a delicate operation: the idea is basically to pulverize the heck out of something. Be that as it may, how blenders actually get the job done can vary. They differ in style, power consumption, or how well they distribute the ingredients to be pulverized. One way to increase the efficiency is to make sure that every little bit gets a chance to interact with a blade. And how might a blender accomplish this? By adding an extra blade set. Or two.

Given the chance to play with the new Ninja Professional Blender, I got to see if … Read more