
A selection of 20 apps for you today:
I, Partridge: We Need to Talk About Alan
Steve Coogan's Alan Partridge autobiography is proving to be a big hit as a physical book and audiobook. Now it has an app from HarperCollins, although it's designed to complement the book rather than replace it. That means Alan's virtual study, notes and audiobook extracts, and samples of the songs from the soundtrack compiled for the book.
iPhone
Jimi Hendrix: The Complete Experience
Sony Music, Experience Hendrix and Universal Mind have teamed up for an iOS Jimi Hendrix app. The free download offers text, photos and videos, as well as an interactive map showing key places in his life. And music? If you own songs already, they can be played in full. Otherwise it's iTunes samples and buy links.
iPhone / iPad
Tiny Tower
NimbleBit's Tiny Tower social game has been a huge hit on iOS, but Android users can now join in the tower-building fun. As before, the game revolves around adding new floors to the tower, building businesses and attracting VIP virtual visitors to earn cash.
Android (spotted by Pocket Gamer)
AC/DC Pinball Rocks HD
AC/DC won't let Apple sell their albums on the iTunes Store, but they're happy to get appy with a new pinball game for iOS. Released by label Sony Music Entertainment, it includes a soundtrack of the band's music, additional vocal encouragement from singer Brian Johnson, and a table based on several of the band's key song themes. Yes, the balls look pretty big.
iPhone / iPad
A Charlie Brown Christmas
Book-app publisher Loud Crow's latest title is a festive Peanuts story, narrated by Peter Robbins, who voiced Charlie Brown in the cartoons. Interactivity and animation abound, and the app is iOS and Android from day one.
iPhone / Android / iPad
Blood & Glory
Another social game that spans iOS and Android is Blood & Glory from Glu Mobile, which takes its cues from Infinity Blade with gladiatorial battles, with weapon and armour customisation and a freemium pricing model.
iPhone / Android
Viz Magazine
Dennis Publishing has launched an all-new app for its Viz magazine, offering single issues and a £22.99 annual subscription. The app is the result of a partnership with Pixelmags.
iPhone / iPad
Evernote Widget
Popular cloud service Evernote has launched a new Android app: a standalone widget that puts key features on the Android homescreen. It requires the main Evernote app to also be installed, and allows people to create new text, snapshot and audio notes, while also seeing snippets of recently viewed notes.
Android
Girl With a Heart of
Developer Bent Spoon Games has made an intriguing debut with Girl With a Heart of, which is described as "an interactive narrative that explores issues of human rationality and recursive self-improvement. Besides iOS and Android, it's also available for PC and Mac computers, and sees players controlling an 11 year-old character called Raven.
iPhone / Android / iPad
Antique ABCs
US developer FusionLab has released Antique ABCs – an app that aims to teach children the alphabet using hand-engraved prints by 19th century German lithographer Joseph Martin Kronheim. Animation, music and a beautiful look and feel make this stand out from the herd of alphabetical apps.
iPhone / iPad
Immortals
Gameloft's latest Android game is Immortals, a side-scrolling action game with a classical theme, complete with mythological monsters.
Android (spotted by Droid Gamers)
NFL Flick Quarterback
The developer behind Flick Golf and Flick Soccer – Full Fat – has bagged an official NFL licence to make an American football game. It sees you playing quarterback, dodging defenders and firing off passes to your receivers, with simple flicks and swipes.
iPhone / iPad
Mafia Farm
This was surely inevitable: there are umpteen farming and mafia social games, but now developer Mindstorm Studios is trying to clamber above the herd (no pun intended) by combining the two genres. Mafia Farm involves farming, fighting and (possibly) finding lost horses for friends. Well, parts of lost horses...
iPhone / Android
Brian Blessed Alarm Clock
GORDON'S ALIVE! Well, he's awake at least. Yes, this iPhone app does what you'd expect from the name: wakes you up with Brian Blessed in animated and audio form. 10% of the proceeds are going to charity Walking with the Wounded.
iPhone
Survivalcraft
Minecraft is available on iOS and Android, but how can Windows Phone users get their block-building fix? In the absence of an official version, Survivalcraft may fit the bill, offering a very similar mix of exploration, mining and crafting.
Windows Phone (spotted by WPCentral)
Team Umizoomi Math: Zoom into Numbers HD
Nickelodeon has launched a new iOS edutainment app based on Team Umizoomi. As the name implies, maths is the focus, with five mini-games aimed at helping preschool children get to grips with counting, addition and subtraction.
iPhone / iPad
My Last Words
This iPhone app is slightly macabre, but possibly useful too. It lets people record video messages for family and friends, to be watched if they die suddenly. "What would you say? Do you carry something you would like others to know? What would you like your children and loved ones to know and remember?" Each message can be protected with a PIN.
iPhone
Manny Pacquiao: Pound for Pound
Boxer Manny Pacquiao has his own iOS game, although it's not a straight boxing title. Instead, Manny has been turned into a martial-arts action hero, battling enemies and upgrading his attributes along the way.
iPhone / iPad
JabMe
JabMe claims to be the first app that lets users of Apple's Game Center community message their friends, while also working with Facebook.
iPhone
The Sims 3
RIM is still saying sorry for its infamous BlackBerry service outage, with EA's The Sims 3 the latest game to be offered to BlackBerry users as a free download. SimCity Deluxe is also free for the same reason, for a limited time.
BlackBerry
