Phase

[Spanky McGee]

It's unusual to see Apple note that one of the major reasons for an iTunes update is to add features to support a game, but MTV Networks/Viacom's Phase ($5) was singled out for such attention in iTunes 7.5. Developed by Harmonix, makers of popular rhythm games for full-fledged game consoles, the 67.5MB title carries the tagline "your music is the game," and creates levels based on the songs you add to a special iTunes playlist called Phase Music. Once you've selected a song, a 3-D road appears on the screen, with discs and dots floating towards you. Your goal is to tap the Click Wheel's left, center, and right buttons to match the current positions of discs that are moving towards the bottom of the screen, and slide your finger on the Click Wheel to catch "flowing sweeps" of dots that appear inbetween the discs. The more discs and dots you catch, the better you do, and the better your chance of making it through each of the checkpoints in a given song/level. Make it through all of the checkpoints and you win the level. The screenshots here show the game frozen in time, as well as how it looks in motion.

Strange to be creating a thread for an iPod game, but here it is. Phase was just released for the iPod. From what I've played of it, it's pretty badass for what it is. I want to say the timing feels a bit off with the button presses, but I can get max combos some of the time. I'll put the blame on the iPod button layout for that one.

Phase come with seven songs built in to the game, and yes, one of them is a Freezepop song. Although that shouldn't matter, you should have it in your iTunes already. The playlist that you can create holds 1,000 songs and it does take a little bit of time to convert them over to play in Phase. Don't go putting 1,000 songs in right away.

Anyone going to pick this up if they have an iPod?

[Korly]

Looks cool. Impressions pls.

[Geen]

If I had an iPod I would be all over this. Shiina Ringo, Tokyo Jihen and Cibo Matto music finally in a music based game ftw.

[Spanky McGee]

Looks cool. Impressions pls.

I'll put some more time into it tonight. For 5 bucks though, it's better than some of that stuff on XBLA. I kind of wish it was on there though. The iPod really isn't a gaming platform.

[Chux]

Which Freezepop song (It doesn't matter, I have their discography)

[Spanky McGee]

Which Freezepop song (It doesn't matter, I have their discography)

Here are the tracks that are on there.

Freezepop - Pop Music is Not a Crime
Bang Camaro - Nightlife Commando
Dealership - Dots and Dashes
Inter:sect - Midnight Gamma
Kodomo - Spira Mirabilis
Speck - The Theme of the Awesome
Universal Hall Pass - Dragonfly Remix

[Chux]

Shit, Inter:sect and Kodomo are from Freq/Amp.

Also Ninja of Love > Pop Music is Not A Crime.