Quick, what’s your most favorite from your schooling days? Tetris, Pac-Man, Space Invaders? We just love these old-school games as they bring back sweet childhood memories that stick for life. Back then, to play these games, we’d have to lug a bag of coins to the arcade and wait for our turn to take a shot at setting a new record. Some of us get to play in the comforts of home via home video consoles that preceded today’s PS3 and Xbox 360 versions.

(Image Source: ThinkGeek)

Nowadays, we play games on our smartphones when we’re bored or when waiting in line for our coffee or at the train station for the next train. Others may play to bond with old friends and meet new ones. And getting that game is as easy as visiting a virtual app store and clicking ‘Download’. If you want to bring back the memories, here is a list of 20 remakes of old-school games for the iPhone.

Time for a flashback. Destination: your childhood!

Like That iPad Arcade? Read: 34 Awesome Products Geeks Will Love

Pacific Wings

Back in the day, this game was called ’1941′, where you play a fighter pilot who manoeuvre your plane around enemy fire and shoot their planes down. Nothing has changed in this one; its gameplay and game design look pretty much the same.

You control the plane by moving your finger around the screen collecting powerups that make you shoot more bullets or increase your rate of fire. [Free]

Breakout: Boost

The gameplay is based off Atari’s original ‘Breakout’, released in the mid-70s. The iPhone version has improved graphics and colors, and more walls to break. You control the ‘paddle’ by moving your finger left and right.

This would be a little more interesting than the original game Pong as you have an objective of breaking the bricks, as well as different levels to complete. [Free]

Frogger Free

Someone looking for a challenge, you’re sure to remember playing Frogger; a game where you need a lot of patience, a fast reaction time to dodge cars and perfect timing to reach the other side safely. You control the frog by swiping up, down, left, right on the screen. Some rounds can be easier than others, but rest assured, patience and skill will get you across safely. [Free]

Missile Command – Atari’s Greatest Hits

Missile Command is familiar to many people. To get this game you have to download ‘Atari’s Greatest Hits’ and you’ll be able to play Missile Command for free. Although there are many other classic arcade games to play, they require in app purchase. You use a joystick to control the on-screen cursor with one thumb, and have 3 buttons to shoot down incoming missiles. [Free]

Bubble Shooter – Totally Addictive

Another simple game that will bring back memories. Let’s pop some bubbles! On the iPhone version, you swipe left and right to aim the arrow and swipe up to shoot. Shoot the colored bubbles in clumps of three or more to clear them off the screen. Any bubbles below the point of contact will fall and you win by clearing all the bubbles. The game is over if a bubble reaches the bottom of your screen. [Free]

Tanks! Free

The gameplay and graphics of this game is based on Atari’s ‘Battlezone’ released in 1980, with an added twist. Instead of 3 tank lives, you get a health bar. You control the tank with two joysticks which control the tank’s tracks. It is an interesting and fun way to control the tank. You can also pick up power-ups and health points. [Free]

iCopter Free

A simple game where you pilot a helicopter. Place your finger down on the screen to make the helicopter fly up; releasing your finger makes the helicopter descend towards the floor. The idea is to dodge oncoming obstacles and not fly too high or too low as hitting the roof or floor means the game is over. A tip is to not hold your finger down for too long but rather tap the screen to steady the helicopter. [Free]

Snake ’97

The iconic game of Nokia phones everywhere. Now available on the iPhone too! best of all, ‘Snake’ on the iPhone comes complete with the looks of the old phone minus the touch of the rubber keypads. This game is simple and fast paced, and it’ll give you a rush of adrenalin or leave you frustrated. Either way, you’re bound to keep playing to make the longest snake. [Free]

Ping Pong

This game takes you all the way back to the 70′s. Swipe your fingers up and down to control the paddle, and do not let the ball cross past your the edge of your side of the screen. Some use the walls as bouncing the ball off the walls makes it hard to return it. However, you’re playing against an A.I., so bouncing the ball off the wall might work for your enemy rather than against. [Free]

Chrono Trigger

An RPG made by the same developers of Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger charts your time-travel adventures as you try to save your planet. You navigate the map with a joystick and like most RPG it uses a turn-based battle system. However, you have to use the on-screen joystick to control the cursor during battle as you cannot just tap on enemies, which can be a little challenging. [$9.99]

Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3

The Mortal Kombat series was popular in its time. Like most fighting games on the iPhone, this has a joystick on the left and action buttons on the right. You’re able to play all the characters from the original game and although the controls need some getting used to, it is still awesome to execute and watch the finishing moves. [$0.99]

Mega Man X

Similar to the original, Mega Man X has directional controls and two action buttons; one to shoot, another to jump. You can hold down the shoot button to charge your shot, releasing powerful ammo when fully charged. There are many different weapon types and an array of levels with different robot enemies and bosses at each ending. [$4.99]

Doom Classic

Doom was one of the pioneering games in multiplayer shooters of the 3D realm. For the iPhone version of the game, you don’t do as much aiming as the original; which is good as aiming on the iPhone is not easy. You do however control your character as you run about the map picking up bullets, health and armour; and of course, killing enemies who cross your path. [$4.99]

Super Tank Battle

A survival game where you control a tank in a maze where some walls can be destroyed. You move the tank with the onscreen directional pad and have another button to shoot. You’ll have to destroy a set number of tanks each round, as you collect points or power-ups from each destroyed tank. Definitely a classic game familiar to many. [$0.99]

8 Bit Rally

The gameplay has graphics like the old racing games but you now tilt your phone to steer your way through the race course. Holding down on screen buttons accelerates or brakes the car. Win races to earn money, and upgrade your car. To top up the experience the game comes with 8-bit sound effects to complete that classic arcade game feel. [$0.99]

Bomberman Touch – The Legend of Mystic Bomb

Place bombs in strategic areas to blast through destructible walls and kill enemies who are out there to get you. The game goes on as long as you don’t get yourself trapped in a corner, for only doom awaits you there.

Each round only takes a minute or two to complete but that doesn’t mean it can’t give you hours of fun. [$4.99]

Metal Slug 3

Metal Slug 3 is a slide-scrolling shooter game that many would have enjoyed playing. Survive waves of monsters by killing them with your gun. As you go through each level, you’ll be able to get power-ups, powerful weaponry, and points when you save people, pretty much just like the original that hit the stands 10 years ago. [$3.99]

Prince of Persia Classic

Smartphones have the limitation of not having physical buttons which controllers do, which is why the controls on this game is not the greatest. You control your character with a slider to move left or right and 3 other buttons to climb, jump and pick up objects. You’ll have to navigate your way out as you run into obstacles (and guards) to win the game. [$1.99]

Space Invaders

Space Invaders is another classic games, where players move their spaceship left and right to shoot at the invaders, while dodging their bullets. No use hiding behind those barriers as they will quickly disappear as the enemy descends closer to you, one row at a time. You might not be playing it on an arcade machine, but the 8-bit look and sound offers a brief flashback to a time when you were. [$4.99]

Asteroids – Classic Arcade Game

I’m sure this game needs no intro. Those never ending ‘Pew Pew Pew’ sound effects of Asteroids are a real pleasure to the ears. Gliding around in space, shooting or dodging asteroids flying towards you is what this game is about. It’s not the easiest of games, especially with your fingers covering up 30% of the screen. But that doesn’t matter, we’re just in it for the fun. [$0.99]

What are your favorite childhood arcade games? Share your favorite game remakes of your childhood games.

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Editor’s note: This is a contributed post by Natasha Tasha is a writer and blogger, plus tech lover, currently writing for Ninefold. She is interested in various technology and Internet topics, Cloud computing, Web development, Web & Graphic design.

With so much of the traditional, desktop-based productivity software we know and love moving to the Cloud, it’s no surprise that Cloud-based IDEs are quickly gaining ground with developers.

Nowadays, the browser is essentially a thin client that allows users to access a variety of Cloud-based applications and services. However, many are still hesitant to put their full faith in a remote Cloud IDE for development purposes. Tools like Github and Pastebin helped to ease the transition to Cloud-based development, and full-fledged Cloud IDEs are now commonly used by many developers.

Here are 13 of the best Cloud IDEs you can get your hands on and a quick summation of each.

Cloud9

After a few minutes using the appropriately named Cloud9, you’ll feel like you’ve died and gone to coder heaven. The front end is all Javascript, while the back end relies on the popular NodeJS framework. Though it’s favored by UI designers and developers, it has syntax highlighting for C#, C++, Python, Perl, Ruby, Scala and a few others as well.

The built-in Vim mode is a nice touch, as is the support for popular revision control systems like Git, Mercurial and SVN. Thanks to the inclusion of CSSLint and JSBeautify, it’s also one of the prettier environments found online.

Codeanywhere

Another software development tool that frequently tops the various "best of" lists floating around the Web is Codeanywhere, the friendly Cloud IDE for all seasons. It features code highlighting and support for HTML, CSS, Javascript, PHP, MySQL and more. Thanks to the available slew of handy apps for iOS, Android and BlackBerry, this tool enables anyone to code literally anywhere.

In addition, it boasts Dropbox and SFTP support, which allow coders to easily backup project files and share them with collaborators. Though it’s not the most full-featured Cloud IDE, it does what it does quite well.

Cloud IDE

While they obviously didn’t spend a lot of time coming up with a catchy name, the folks behind Cloud IDE put some serious effort into crafting a platform that just works. Otherwise known as eXo Cloud IDE, it’s a solid Cloud contender that supports the usual languages like Javascript, Ruby, Groovy, Java and HTML to name just a few.

In particular, eXo Cloud is well suited to coders who specialize in Java programming. It supports Java servlets and Java Server Pages, as well as Maven. Deployment is handled by Heroku, CloudBees, Red Hat OpenShift and Cloud Foundry.

Sourcekit

Google Chrome is coming on strong as of late, surpassing Mozilla’s Firefox and taking a shot at Internet Explorer for the title of browser supremacy. Sourcekit is a Textmate-like IDE that relies on Dropbox for storage and provides a responsive environment for web developers.

With the superb functionality of Mozilla’s SkyWriter a.k.a. "Bespin" baked into the cake, it’s a lightweight, browser-based alternative to bloated desktop development suites. Supported languages include all the majors you’d expect, such as C/C++/C#, PHP, Python, Javascript, MySQL, Java and Ruby. As far as lean browser IDEs are concerned, Sourcekit is an extremely attractive option.

Kodingen

One of the first Cloud editors to really do web-based IDEs the right way, Kodingen has carved out quite the competitive niche for itself in the past few years. It allows developers to code in PHP, Python, Perl and Javascript while working with popular frameworks like Django, Ruby on Rails and Node.js.

Kodingen is bolstered by the rich and diverse community of users that patronize the service, which makes collaboration and sharing in the Cloud fairly convenient. Free to use and experiment with, there’s no reason not to sign up for an account and give Kodingen a shot.

Coderun Studio

If you’ve tried dozens of other browser-based IDEs without success and are looking for something that’s straightforward and capable, Coderun Studio is worth a look. It offers users a cross-platform tool for writing ASP.NET, Javascript, C#, HTML and CSS. Its default Visual Studio compatibility is a nice touch and should have Microsoft-focused coders feeling right at home. It comes equipped with the usual bells and whistles like code completion and syntax highlighting.

Furthermore, the native compilation and debugging features are unparalleled. Lastly, Coderun Studio allows users to quickly share their code with their peers via unique URLs.

ShiftEdit

Next up, we have the under-appreciated ShiftEdit. Though it may not have the name recognition of Cloud9 or Coderun, it’s nevertheless a versatile piece of Cloud-based software that’s worth looking into.

Whether you’re a trendy Python fan, a PHP holdout or a Perl dinosaur, ShiftEdit has you covered. Users can backup files to Dropbox via SFTP and keep track of changes with various revision control tools all from within the browser. Its SSH authentication, code completion and code snippet features allow for seamless and uninterrupted work flow, which enables developers to be as productive as possible from any location.

Akshell

With so much competition in the Cloud IDE sphere, it’s becoming more and more difficult to stand apart from the crowd. Akshell is a server-side development environment that gives coders a lightweight tool for whipping up Javascript web apps. It relies on the PostgreSQL database for back-end storage, which should be quite easy to work with for those familiar with MySQL.

Thanks to the integrated Git console, deploying any projects that you create is a hassle-free experience. If you’re a strict Javascript coder looking for a capable Cloud IDE that’s fast and stable, Akshell’s the one for you.

Erbix

All of the Javascript naysayers of the past decade are surely eating their words now that Javascript has experienced a renaissance and attained a newfound level of respect among coders. Erbix revolves around the web’s favorite scripting language and provides tools for crafting Javascript apps for online business productivity.

Though it’s not free, the pricing and plans offered by Erbix are fairly reasonable if you plan on making regular use of this innovative platform. It supports RingoJS and CommonJS modules, features a dedicated MySQL console and provides access to boatloads of apps from other developers through the Erbix AppStore.

Neutron IDE

Building a versatile Cloud IDE from scratch is no small matter, which is why many choose to base their projects on pre-existing open source code. Neutron IDE stands on the shoulders of giants by using the powerful Ace code editor as its starting point. It merges the best features of SFTP clients and browser editors into one complete package, allowing coders to edit files on their development servers on the fly from anywhere.

Featuring support for configurable Vi and Emacs key bindings as well as TextMate themes, it’s one of the most customizable Cloud IDEs around.

Collide

Even when Google decides to give up on a project, the general coding public at large always seems to benefit anyway. Collide began its life as a Google Code project with a lot of promise. Though it’s now defunct, the source code is freely available to anybody that wants to fork it.

In a nutshell, it’s a Cloud IDE running on the Java 7 JRE that relies on a host of solid software tools like Guava, JUnit, JKit and EasyMock to provide spartan but powerful collaboration functionality to teams of programmers who value real-time interactivity.

Orion

The famed Eclipse Java IDE has been a mainstay in the desktop development world for years, thanks to its comprehensive feature set and rugged reliability. Orion is the next logical step, bringing Eclipse’s considerable experience to the Cloud IDE field. Its primary use at the moment is for front-end web development, so it’s limited to HTML and Javascript for the most part.

However, it’s a work in progress and we can expect to see features added incrementally as development continues over the next year. Aside from Firebug integration, its biggest selling point is its Eclipse-style UI and intuitive layout.

Python Fiddle

There are plenty of reasons why Python is gaining ground in the web development industry lately. It’s relatively fast, incredibly flexible and easy to learn. As such, it’s no surprise that Python-centric Cloud IDEs have evolved to assist developers in belting out code as quickly as possible.

Much like JSFiddle, Python Fiddle is a code editor and code execution environment that allows programmers to run snippets and debug scripts on the go. It supports a plethora of third-party packages, boasts superb documentation, comes with a wide array of built-in hot keys and is also open source to boot.

Conclusion

The use of web development programs that largely reside on remote servers still makes quite a few coders nervous. Adapting to the new paradigm will take some effort for the more conservative "old school" programmers. However, there’s little reason to be afraid of the Cloud anymore. With the adoption of several simple security precautions and an open mindset, any web developer can reap the rewards of Cloud software suites without any real danger.

With so many options to choose from, there’s definitely a near-perfect program out there for every coder, irregardless of their own style and preferences.

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Apple might have created Siri as a personal assistant, but there are certain limitations to what Siri can do. Besides the iOS users who have Siri, those who do not, can try this app that gives you instant notification alerts based on your interests.

HeroButton is a free iPhone app that acts as a personal assistant to alert you based on keywords determined by you. It can retrieve information of music artists’ song releases, dates of movie releases, and even the prices of stocks, hotels or property. HeroButton also features user voice recognition and speech playback.

Now, let’s take a look at the main features that make HeroButton a unique app.

Get HeroButton

HeroButton is available for free on the Apple App Store via this link. Download and install the app on your iPhone.

After installation, you will be greeted with an option to login with Facebook, or you can opt to sign up for a new account with your e-mail address.

HeroButton Alerts

You can then begin creating alerts by choosing one of the many categories. Do note that HeroButton uses your location information for the categories of ‘Deals’, ‘Vehicles’, ‘Hotels’, ‘Apartments & Houses’, ‘Jobs‘, ‘Articles for Sale’ and ‘Events’.

Once you have picked a category, the alert creator comes up on screen where you can customize it with keywords and/or other numerical information.

A list of alerts with results will then be shown on the Alert Results page.

These alerts include:

• Products - Grab product discounts or when they are in certain price ranges.
• Stocks - Monitor stock prices across all major stock exchanges.
• Deals - Keep track of deals based on location with user-set keywords.
• Groceries - Know when your favourite grocery items are on sale.
• iTunes - Get informed with your favourite artists’ album is available on iTunes.
• Hotels - Know when 1- 5 star rating hotels at your location are below a certain price.
• Vehicles - Find vehicles by make and model for sale in your area.
• Personals - Search for that perfect someone.
• Jobs - Look for jobs around your location based on keywords.
• Houses - Find houses for sale that you can afford.
• Shipping & Tracking – Get updates on the status of your shipment with tracking numbers from FedEx, USPS, UPS, and DHL/Airborne.
• Movies - Be notified when your favourite movie star or director announces a new movie.
• Articles for Sale - Know when articles in your area are published based on keywords and price.
• Apartments - Find apartments for rent in your area that fits your budget.
• Events - Know when your favourite music artist or festival is coming to your area.
• Mortgages - Receive alerts on mortgages rates.
• Sports Betting - Live odds update for your favourite sports team.
• Airfare - Be notified when air tickets for your favorite destinations are on sale.

With many useful categories to pick from, HeroButton could help better your everyday productivity.

Creating Alerts in HeroButton

One way to create an alert in HeroButton is to use its voice recognition and speech features. Tap the yellow H button to make the app start listening to what you say. Tap on the purple box to insert keywords for your search.

The example below shows three types of alerts under the “Movies” category. You can get alerts for when "Chris Pine" has a new movie "released" (top left), when a movie he directs is "announced" (bottom left) or when a movie "starring Chris Pine is announced AND released".

Using HeroButton

When using the voice recognition feature, pressing the yellow H button once will make turn the button into a round yellow circle; at this point is speak into it to create an alert. Turning the Facebook or Twitter button on will share its results on your Facebook wall or Twitter feed.

Under the Products category, there is a Scan Barcode button where you can scan a barcode or QR code with the iPhone’s camera.

The alerts menu shows a list of alert results which you have created (shown below). If you use the stocks category a lot, there is the option to Reset Alert so that it will update you with the latest stock prices or changes.

Conclusion

HeroButton is a very new app and you can see that they are constantly working on improving it through their blog. It also uses a nice comic book superhero theme. But if you’re interested only in its alerts, give it a shot. It might surprise you with the latest and greatest news and updates.

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