Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 3D is one of the handful of major studio games now available for the iPhone (or iPod Touch) through the newly released App Store. It's a decent time waster, sure, which is what you'd expect from a cell phone game, but given the power of the iPhone and the hefty $9.99 price tag, this game is a waste of time and opportunity. I would wait a bit longer for more impressive, and better controlling games to come around.

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A pocket review for a pocket game:

Nitro Kart 3D is a rather quick port of "Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart" for the Xbox, PS2, GameCube, and N-Gage. Like the other kart game on the iPhone (Cro-Mag Rally), controlls are stripped down to the bare essentials. Acceleration is automatic, or rather, perpetual, and all the player must do is steer by tilting the phone side to side.

The control can be frustrating and take quite a while to get used to. Not being in control of acceleration feels a bit strange as well, like being the passenger in a car and leaning over to take over the wheel. I don't think developers have gotten a handle on the iPhone's accelerometer yet, and so using it will feel a bit flimsy until the programmers have it hammered down.

Controlling the karts always felt sloppy to me, but it can be managed by adjusting the sensitivity. Game modes available include standard "Cup" mode, a pretty simple Story mode, and Time Trials. There is no multiplayer.

This is one of the very first 3D games for the iPhone, so it's hard to gauge the graphics, but from what I've seen of other games they're already a tad sub-par. Textures in the distance appear to manifest before your eyes, and there is a very annoying attempt at a lens flare effect that has watered down to nothing but an indistinct series of blobs that do nothing but block your view.

Again, for the money, you should expect more. This may be one of the best 3D iPhone games, but that's not saying much. Treat this game like a launch title and keep your distance until the real games show up.

The App Store will be available beginning today via iTunes 7.7 and part of the free iPhone 2.0 software update for all iPhone customers on July 11. iPhone 2.0 is also available for iPod touch users for $9.95. Apple also announced today that more than 500 native applications will be available on the iPhone's App Store when Apple's iPhone 3G goes on sale tomorrow.  

"iPhone enables The Associated Press to deliver news in a way that simply wasn't possible before," said Benjamin Mosse, director of Mobile Products, The Associated Press. "Taking advantage of iPhone's revolutionary location-based services, our Mobile News network can capture and store local news stories that can be read by users even when they're offline and our award winning photography and AP video are displayed in stunning clarity on its high resolution screen."  

Yes, we know this is a “gaming blog” but many of our fans use or are interested in the iPhone. Heck, we even may be covering user-created games for the device in the future!

What five minutes of One Piece will do to you.

One Piece: Unlimited Adventure is a Nintendo Wii exclusive action-adventure game following the exploits of the Straw Hat Pirates of the popular manga and anime series, One Piece. The overall gameplay of this lengthy journey might not be solid enough to hold its own, but fans of the manga and anime will mine a decent amount of enjoyment out of the title. Though some errant attributes keep it from being generally recommended, it plays surprisingly well for a licensed game, but that's not saying much.

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After some misdeeds on the high seas, the Straw Hat Pirates' captain and One Piece's main character, Luffy, is forced to fish aboard their ship as penance for wasting food. He hooks a mysterious orb instead of catching a meal, and this orb causes an island to emerge from under the ship. When the crew comes to, they decide to do what any pirate gang would do and see what treasure the island has to plunder. The absurdity of the plot may only resonate with series fans, but luckily the characters themselves offer some much needed levity in the form of personality, though their at times over-animated nature might put off a few people.

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