Apple showcases third-party apps on iPhone 5
Apple's iPhone 5 and iOS 6 weren't the only things on display at today's big event in San Francisco, as a few drool-worthy apps also made appearances.
By now, you know that today's Apple event gave us the iPhone 5, iOS 6, iTunes 11, and a couple of new iPods. But what you may have missed were the revamped apps that also made appearances at the show. Here's an overview of the impressive third-party titles that got some screen time at today's big Apple event.
Clumsy Ninja
Developed by gamemaker Natural Motion, Clumsy Ninja is a silly, Talking Tom Cat-style game with a bit of unique artificial intelligence under the hood. It features a silly-looking ninja standing front and center, where you can grab his appendages, move him around, and even tickle him. The main objective of the game is to build up your ninja's skills using punching bags, trampolines, and other apparatus. We got a glimpse of this game and its advanced AI technology running on the A5-powered iPod Touch.
Real Racing 3
Game publisher EA also hit the stage today to show off the latest installment of its popular racing series. On the iPhone 5, Real Racing 3 appears to have console-quality graphics and an impressively smooth frame rate. With dynamic reflections and working rear-view mirrors, there is also an added dimension of realism that I haven't seen on any other mobile racing titles. But the biggest feature we saw was the time-shifted multiplayer mode. This allows players to challenge friends through Apple's Game Center and play against them later.
OpenTable, CNN
Apple Senior Vice President Phil Schiller also gave us a look at updated apps for CNN and restaurant reservation service OpenTable. While we didn't see any mind-blowing new features here, we did see that both had been updated for the iPhone 5's 4-inch Retina Display. We also found out that those third-party apps that haven't yet been updated will show up centered, with black borders on the sides (or top and bottom).
Also worth mentioning is the new Google-made YouTube app. While it wasn't demonstrated at today's event, its release yesterday is still big news. Google undoubtedly pushed the app out in anticipation of the new iPhone 5 and iOS 6, as the latter will be the first of Apple's mobile operating systems to ship without an Apple-made YouTube interface preinstalled.