The visually stunning Shadowgun makes impressive use of colored lighting.

When it comes to third-person shooters for iOS, EA's Dead Space is the gold standard. Or it was, until now. Madfinger's Shadowgun has claimed the crown by offering some of the best visuals this side of an Xbox 360, and gameplay that's highly reminiscent of Gears of War. It is, in short, a glorious game, if not exactly original.

Actually, Shadowgun is original in that it was built for iOS, unlike, say, Dead Space, which has console origins. But the plot, setting, and gameplay don't exactly break any new ground.

As a mercenary for hire, guided over a com-link by an AI named S.A.R.A., it's your job to hunt down a mad scientist inside a massive research facility. Along the way, you'll face waves of gun-wielding mutants, the unfortunate test subjects of the aforementioned Dr. Cuckoo-bananas (nickname: mine).

It's all pretty standard run-and-gun fare, but with a heavy focus on duck-and-cover tactics. Your grunt can press himself up against walls, crouch behind barricades, and so on, peeking out just long enough to engage the enemy. Sound famil... [Read more]

Better site-rendering speeds and an option to ditch ads called Elite have landed in the public Wi-Fi protector Hotspot Shield today. Published by the Mountain View-based AnchorFree, Inc., Hotspot Shield (download for Windows or Mac) claims to be the world's largest Virtual Private Network (VPN) with more than 10 million users. The Elite version gives upgraders multiple ad-free payment methods and plans, and offers site-load times that are "up to 100 percent faster" than the standard flavor of Hotspot Shield.

Hotspot Shield Elite home page.

A version of Hotspot Shield that uses servers based in the United Kingdom, called Expat Shield (download), remains ad-supported only.

David Gorodyansky, Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of AnchorFree, told CNET earlier this month that the two programs attract 9 to 10 million unique monthly users, who create 40 million user sessions per month, and generate more than 2 billion pageviews per month. "Essentially we're an Akamai, we're a content delivery network," David Gorodyansky, Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of AnchorFree, told CNET earlier this month. "It makes sense t... [Read more]

Unity Technologies today will show off Unity 3.5, a new version of its game development software designed to match higher-end tools, spread its games' reach to Adobe Systems' Flash Player, and defend the honor of cross-platform programming.

The company--profitable and now grown to 150 employees--aims to make it easier for programmers to write games that, once written, work on multiple devices. Applications today can run on foundations such as Windows, Mac OS X, Android, iOS, and Web browsers via the company's plug-in.

Version 3.5, the centerpiece of the Unite 11 developer conference and due to ship later this year, will expand the number of destinations further. That's because Unity 3.5 lets programmers build their programs also for the newest version of Flash, version 11, which is about to arrive on the market with a hardware-accelerated interface code-named Molehill and officially called Stage 3D. Flash, though under competitive attack by Web standards that can reproduce some of its abilities, remains widely installed on desktop browsers.

Flash will be useful in the case of casual gamers not likely to install Unity's own plugin, said Chief Executive David Helgason. "It makes all the sense in the world to use the Flash export," he said. "It's one more place for people who use Unity to put their games."

But cross-platform programming tools ar... [Read more]

iOS 5 may be coming Tuesday, October 4. Is your iPhone ready?

With next week's iPhone event just around the corner, it's a good bet we'll soon be getting iOS 5, the next major version of the software that powers Apple's iPods, iPhones, and iPads. By now, you're probably ready for the handy new features, tweaked UI, new Twitter integration, and everything else (read what we've learned so far of iOS 5), but is your iOS device ready?

To make sure your iPhone is set up for the launch of the latest iOS, we've put together a step-by-step guide for making sure it is primed for the update.

Editors' note: Apple's updates are set up to let you update no matter what iOS version you're on or what apps and music you have on your device--as long as your hardware is eligible. Eligible devices include the iPod Touch third or fourth generation; iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4; and both the iPad and iPad 2. While not required, this how-to is more of a spring cleaning to get ready for iOS 5.

Cleaning out the crap Do you really need that simulated beer glass app anymore? Are you really still listening to "Never Gonna Give You Up" on a regular basis? Over time, you have probably downloaded all sorts of things--some useful, and others that are just plain trash.

With a new OS update c... [Read more]