Four Seasons Offers New App
In an effort to build on the momentum for its campaign to enter the digital era and establish an online presence, the Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts App for the iPhone has been released by the hospitality industry giant. The app has been designed in response to demand from guests who expressed a strong desire for both a convenient booking portal and gateway to side destinations while on vacations.
The app comes at a time when the Four Seasons has been building its brand by establishing a YouTube channel, an online magazine, and both corporate and individual Twitter feeds to keep the company’s image strong in the minds of consumers. All of these upgrades were created to meet the wishes of guests who had requested more online interactivity via comments on the company website and participation in surveys. Prior to this, Four Seasons’ website had enjoyed a fairly substantial amount of visitors who enjoyed videos of the hotels as well as an extensive photo library. The “virtual vacations” users sampled through that website are now greatly expanded by the app.
Using the app, customers will be able to find a room from one of the Four Seasons 80 resorts or hotels around the world, select a spa treatment and make reservations, or take a digital tour of the company’s travel offerings. The app is available for free download.
Battle Bears
When it comes to iPhone games, few are as unique in their approach as the recently released Battle Bears title from developer SkyVu Pictures. Players control a rampaging teddy bear and gun down opposing bears in this first person shooter. All of the violence in the game is cartoonish and over the top, but still the title is not geared towards children.
Players will take on the role of a teddy bear that has been caught behind enemy lines and must battle its way out by choosing from a large arsenal of weapons including an assault rifle that contains unlimited ammo and secondary weapons such as unicorn blood toxic to your opponents, a crossbow made from a unicorn’s horn, a profanity megaphone, a pot of gold used to devour their souls and a bearzooka to shoot the limbs of your fallen enemies. Sand bags and other defensive counter measures are also available to protect the player as the rounds progress and the action grows more intense. The controls were designed to be easily grasped after a brief tutorial so that players can get directly into the action within minutes.
SkyVu intended the game as a comical farce of fairy tale violence, but potential gamers will want to take note that the gore can be intense if the gore mode is turned on. The protagonist featured in the game does tend towards high levels of what many may consider to be inappropriate language so the game is clearly aimed at a more mature audience.
Battle Bears is available for download with a $1.00 price tag.
Touch Squash: World Championship 09
Game developer Rolocule Studios is releasing the first ever squash 3D sports game for Apple’s iPhone and iPod Touch. The game is titled Touch Squash: World Championship 09 and will attempt to capitalize upon the growing global popularity of this tennis-like sport. It will use the PARS scoring system adopted by the World Squash Federation and offer unique third person perspective as players square off against artificially intelligent opponents, each designed to provide a level of challenge for players that ranges from beginner up to expert levels of difficulty. Players will be able to participate in matches on courts in 24 countries and even compete in 4 unique tournaments around the world.
Touch Squash is the seminal title from Rolocule and the company’s hope is that the game will provide not only an outlet for those who enjoy this more obscure sport, but a means through which those interested in squash can learn more of what the sport is all about. Due to the speed at which the ball moves, squash is not suited for televised presentation and as of yet, is not an official Olympic sport.
The recently released v2.0 of Touch Squash also features worldwide multiplayer functionality via the AGON Online social platform for iPhone games. This service allows players to compete against those in other nations to win awards and publish their stories on Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites.
Touch Squash is available to those with the iPhone 2.2.1 or later update and costs $0.99 from Apple’s App Store.