Asteroids Gunner was released by Atari today at the iTunes App Store, taking some queues from the company's arcade classic, Asteroids, and adding contemporary gaming mechanics that might make it a hit for iOS gamers.

When I think of the classic arcade games of old, the titles that pop into my head are games like Pac Man, Defender, Galaga, and Asteroids, among many others. You can still find many of these games using emulation software on desktops or purchase them in newer iOS collections like Atari's Greatest Hits. But today Atari released a sequel to Asteroids (first released in 1979) called Asteroid Gunner, and it has just the right mix of action and contemporary gameplay elements to make it a must-have for those who like old arcade hits.

Old-school gamers will recognize the layout here, but there's a lot more to Asteroids Gunner than meets the eye.

Asteroids Gunner (Free - Universal) follows the same basic gameplay of the original standup arcade game. At the beginning of the game, you find yourself in an asteroid field and your job is to maneuver your ship and break up asteroids until you've cleared the area. Also like the original, occasionally a UFO will m... [Read more]

Apple has released an update for its latest MacBook Pro systems that resolves an issue where systems running under wall power may unexpectedly shut down under heavy workload if the battery is at low levels. Apple does not specify exactly what revisions of the MacBook Pro this update is for, but it will only install on those for which it applies.

The update is a small 730KB download either from Software Update or from the Update's Web page, and requires OS X 10.6.8 or OS X 10.7.2 or later. The update will require you to restart your system, and when you do, be sure it is plugged into a reliable power source and that the battery is at least 25 percent charged to ensure it can also supply the system with ample power.

The updater will provide onscreen instructions for how to apply the update, so follow the supplied instructions carefully.

While it should not cause any problems, problems with firmware updates can result in a nonfunctional system so be sure to back up your computer fully before applying this update, preferably with a full-system backup solution like a system clone or Time Machine.

Questions? Comments? Have a fix? Post them below or e-mail us! Be sure to check us out on Twitter and the CNET Mac forums.

On Day 2 of the Streaming Media West Conference, I got a chance to check out the brand-new, full-featured online video-editing platform called WeVideo. In short, I was very impressed.

WeVideo is basically a Final Cut Pro clone in the cloud. You don't have to install or buy anything to use it (the basic free account), and it performs in real time, with very little waiting for rendering.

Obviously, WeVideo's use of the cloud is a huge convenience that helps free up your hard drive. But more importantly, it enables what is perhaps WeVideo's biggest selling point: collaboration. Like a marriage between Final Cut Pro and Google Docs, WeVideo makes it possible for teams to remotely hack away at projects and even track changes as they go. From what I've seen so far, it works well, and I think it has the potential to be something big.

According to CEO Jostein Svendsen, WeVideo was a spin-off of an educational tool initially developed for children in Europe. Thus, it's no surprise that the interface is as simple as it is. It lets you drag and drop media, and manipulate the canvas with your mouse. Yet at the same time, WeVideo's creators have managed to pack this simple interface with a lot of the features and power that even serious video editors are used to. And that is what separates WeVideo fr... [Read more]

A look at portable game software revenue over the years.

There was a time when Nintendo was synonymous with portable gaming. But now the company is being shoved aside.

According to research firm Flurry Analytics, by the end of 2011, 58 percent of total U.S. portable game software revenue will go to titles being played on Android and iOS. Nintendo's DS family of devices will only be able to grab 36 percent of total U.S. portable game software revenue this year, followed by Sony's PSP with 6 percent market share.

But that's just part of the story. As Flurry points out, in 2009, Nintendo's DS owned 70 percent of the space, while the PSP came in at 11 percent. Android and iOS, on the other hand, had just 19 percent market share. Last year, Nintendo's share of software revenue dropped to 57 percent, while Android and iOS grew to 34 percent. Sony's PSP was only able to nab 9 percent market share.

Such declines have proven extremely troublesome to Nintendo's bottom line. According to Flurry, $2.7 billion was spent on portable games in 2009, and that will likely jump to $3.3 billion by the end of this year. Given those figures, Nintendo gener... [Read more]

Hotspot Shield's iPhone app brings simple VPN and anonymisation to iOS.

Known for offering free anonymising protection to Windows and Mac users, the Wi-Fi protection program Hotspot Shield (download) launched today for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. It's the first mobile move for parent company AnchorFree.

Calling itself the world's most popular Virtual Private Network (VPN), with 9 million to 10 million unique monthly users, the iOS version of Hotspot Shield offers the same encrypted IP address anonymising and bandwidth compression that the program's Windows and Mac users get.

This means that all Web browsing would be conducted over the safer HTTPS. By rerouting Web traffic and providing you with a new IP address hosted by AnchorFree, the company says it is able to prevent your data from being snatched out of the open by man-in-the-middle attacks or wireless network spoofing.

Hotspot Shield representative Nick Spencer noted that although Hotspot Shield had previously been available on iOS as a VPN source, the procedure required to configure it was complicated. The new app, he said, will automatically configure your VPN settings with one tap.

He also noted that it won't turn off between browsing sessions, meaning that once the app is activated, you won't have t... [Read more]

Growl, a widely used open-source notification tool that lets Mac OS X applications tell users about events such as incoming instant messages, is no longer free.

And not everybody is happy about that.

Starting with version 1.3, Growl became a $1.99 purchase. Growl developer Chris Forsythe described the changes this way yesterday:

Growl as a paid application allows for good changes. We now have people working on Growl full time. Money earned through purchases in the App Store go directly to benefiting Growl...Without changing to this paid Growl model, Growl would have died off and would no longer be around to use at all. Growl is however still open source.

Carping ensued.

"Hey guys what happened? you embraced the AppStore's dark side? O.o #notGonnaUpdateAnyMore," complained Twitter user unlucio. And Jeremy Randall tweeted, "Hmm @GrowlMac is free, under BSD license, but costs $1.99 from the App Store. Why are you guys charging for open source?"

Any price increase will trigger a certain amount of discontentment, of course. But I'm not in the griping group in this case.

For st... [Read more]