Touchgrind is a finger skateboard game, which requires more dexterity than I currently possesses, but is fun nonetheless. The Mac app is free in the Mac App store, though you do need to adjust to ads which tell you about the mobile versions of the game.

After spending some time playing the game, controls are responsive, and the larger display certainly beats trying to play this on a small screen. I still can’t quite understand how to control my finger skateboard, but that’s indicative of my shredding skills.

Here’s a look at Touchgrind in action on the Mac:

To play Touchgrind on the Mac, place your fingers on the mousepad so that they are on the skateboard. When you hit the right configuration, the skateboard will begin moving. As you approach stunt areas, lift off you front finger then the rear to get some air. If you time it right, you can grind or pull off a trick.

Illusion Labs is right when they say, “Touchgrind is a game of skill that takes 10 minutes to understand but weeks of lectures, boring meetings and family dinners to master.”

Touchgrind Mac uses your multitouch trackpad for controls.

It’s pretty cool to see fun games coming to the Mac App Store for free, especially when Touchgrind HD is $7.99 for the iPad.

To use Touchgrind on the Mac, you will need OS X Snow Leopard or higher with the Mac App Store installed. You also need a MacBook (MacBook Late 2009 or MacBook Pro 2008 and newer) or a Magic Trackpad.

Touchgrind Brings MultiTouch Gaming to the Mac is a post by Josh Smith from Notebooks.com.

Upon opening this little game you will see the menu which displays all the levels. There are seventy levels. From here you can also learn how to play the game through the instructions. It is actually easy enough that you could just jump right into the first level. It kind of hand holds you through the first few levels to get you used to the game.

When you go into the first level it begins playing some annoying music. Don’t worry because there is a mute button. As we said, it shows you exactly how to cut the grass. You move the little mower with your hand over the square lawn portions until each one has been cut. The pattern is important. You cannot lift your fiinger until later in the game when there will be two insertion points.

After the first fifteen levels the patters get a little more challenging. But it never is really brain busting. That’s the beauty of the app. It is simple. You have to think a little, but not too much, at least until late in the game.

The challenge is to cut the lawn in as little time as possible. There are two timers. The left one show the lowest time scored and the one on the right shows the current time. If you mess up, just hit the Reset button to the right. After each level is cleared a screen pops up showing your time and offering to either try again or go to the menu to quit.

The game is just $.99 in the app store. The creator is Demasol. Below is our video review:

Pros:

• Fun
• Simple enough for short periods of time
• Doesn’t tax brain

Cons:

• Annoying music
• Early rounds are too simple

Cut the Grass: a Fun iPad App of the Week is a post by Kevin Purcell from Notebooks.com.

The OnLive service has been available on computers for some time, but the MicroConsole is a relatively new addition that brings the streaming gaming experience to your living room with a traditional gaming controller for $99, including a free game. The service comes with free access to the OnLive gaming service and you purchase or rent games.

Games are available for purchase a little cheaper than the AAA games on consoles and can also be rented for 3 or 5 day periods for $3 to $8. You can also purchase the PlayPack which gives you access to 39 games for a month. Almost all of the games have a free trial of some kind that allows you to see if you like the game.

Here’s a OnLive MicroConsole UnBoxing and First Impression from Kevin Purcell at GottaBeMobile:

So far we’ve had a few hours of time to play and have been duly impressed with the selection and quality of gaming. We need to test it out more to make a final determination on the quality, but during our evening gaming session the quality was more than sufficient to get into the gaming with no noticeable lag in the game play. Stay tuned for our full review of OnLive.

OnLive MicroConsole First Impressions: Streaming Games Arrive (Video) is a post by Josh Smith from Notebooks.com.

1. Words with Friends Free – Words with Friends is a fun multiplayer scrabble game. It’s recently gone cross-platform to Android so you can play with even more friends than ever before. The best part is that it’s turn based, so you don’t need to be constantly playing. Just make your move, close the app, and you’ll be notified when your opponent moves. Games commonly occur over a few days, so it’s perfect for playing when you’ve got a few idle minutes to make a move, without having to pay constant attention to your phone. There’s also a pass-and-play option if you just want to play with a friend in the same room.

2. Cube Runner – This ancient game pre-dates the App Store itself but is still a joy to play. Cube Runner was originally a game for hacked devices only, back before Apple even created the App Store. Since then it’s been made officially available through the App Store but still maintains it’s ease of use. You are a simple triangular ship in a world of cubes. Tilt left and right to dodge cubes and rack up points for as long as you can stay alive. Better yet, find a friend with an iPhone and compete for high scores. Cube Runner also has two surprisingly great tracks if you enjoy yourself some techno.

3. Papi Jump – A classic Papi game where you try to set the high score by jumping higher and higher.

Platforms become more sparse as you ascend, making it more difficult to continue onward.

Don’t forget that you can teleport from one side to the other, Pac Man style, to reach a platform. Also has online leaderboards to rank you with the best of the best. Easy to pick up, surprisingly hard to put down.

4. Space Deadbeef – The name will never make sense to us, but the gameplay is great. This is a sidescroller where you’re flying a ship that can fire 10x it’s own mass in missiles.

Targeting is intuitive: just slide your finger over targets to fire chains of missiles. This game came out ages ago and has been begging for more content ever since.

Unfortunately we haven’t seen any additional content, but what’s there is absolutely fun to play. Levels get harder as you repeat them.

5. Paper Toss – Another ultra simple but super fun game. Paper Toss emulates a classic boring work environment in which you’ve got nothing to do but toss a ball of paper into the trash can.

Depending upon how you swipe the screen, the ball of paper will curve to one side or the other. A fan is introduced to change the wind speed and how hard you need to fling it to either side. Score is kept by how many continuous shots you can make. This is another game where you can pick up and play for just 5 minutes, but you’ll have plenty of fun in that short amount of time.

6. Shotgun Free – Surprisingly more of a game than you’d think. Shotgun Free tasks you with moving your iPhone or iPod as if you are cocking a pump-action shotgun, then quickly pulling it back like a recoiling gun. Satisfying cocking and firing sounds ensue, but it’s there’s actually more to it. If you want to unlock different sounding weapons you’ve got to accomplish some sort of task. Perhaps that’s 100 fires, or 10 in-game achievements, such as a particularly fast firing time, or firing 10 shots in a short period of time. It’s actually rather addicting to try to get the motion just right for a split-second shot!

7. Jelly Car – This great game looks like it was drawn with crayons and has completely human made sound effects that will make you smile even if you don’t want to.

Drive your Jelly car around the jelly world and try to complete stages in as little time as possible. Need to cross a big gap? Tab your car to grow to several times it’s normal size, but be quick, this ability only lasts for a short time!

Jelly Car is a favorite for iPhone owners of all ages.

8. MazeFinger – This is one of those games that feels like it was meant to be played on an iPhone or iPod Touch. The goal is to simply guide your finger through the maze as quickly as possible, but it gets harder.

You’ll have to avoid skulls that will take one of your lives, and have to time the blockers just right to get through. You get rated at the end of each level and each set of levels. You have a set amount of time to complete a level set, so if you do poorly on the first level of the set, you’re going to pay for it in the subsequent levels!This is a fast paced game with great feedback.

9. rRootage Online – If you’re a fan of the “shmup” or “bullet hell” genre of top down arcade game, you’ll love rRootage. It might not have the fancy art of some of the established titles, but it’s free and has four game modes which all play somewhat differently.

Definitely read the help menu to understand the different modes if you’re a newbie, or jump right in to the wireframe gameplay and play through 160 stages of increasing difficulty.

Good luck, you’ll need it!

10. Lightsaber Unleashed – And I have to leave you with this one for number ten. Who hasn’t wanted a Lightsaber at some point in their life? Well, this is about as close as your going to get. If you’re not too embarrassed to wave your iPhone around like you’re crazy, or have a suitably private place to pretend that you’re a Jedi, then you’ll love this app. Better yet, find a friend and duel them, it’ll bring you’re childhood back in a rush of lightsabery glory. Be an ultra-nerd and customize your own lightsaber by choosing the color and hilt.

I hope you’ve enjoyed these ten free iphone gaming gems. If you’re looking to drop a bucks on some premium content, check out Kevin’s guide to 12 great paid iphone games.

10 Excellent Free Games for the iPhone and iPod Touch is a post by Ben from Notebooks.com.

Fable III Game Description from Microsoft:

Five decades have passed since the events of Fable II, and Albion has matured through an industrial revolution, but the fate of the kingdom is at peril. In Fable III, you will be called upon to rally and fight alongside your people, ascend to the seat of power, and experience the true meaning of love and loss. The choices and sacrifices you make while fanning the flames of revolution, and then as you rule as King or Queen or Albion, will lead to an ever-evolving world with consequences that will be felt across your entire land. This sets the stage for unparalleled action and adventure that offers even more ways to fight and engage than ever before.

Fable III is compatible with Xbox Live, allowing gamers to join forces or battle their friends online. Xbox Live is paid service which can be purchased for $59.99 a year.

Fable III is available for $39.99 until November 29th as is Halo Reach.

Cyber Monday: Fable III for $20 Off at Microsoft Store is a post by Josh Smith from Notebooks.com.

Madden has been around on the PC and game consoles for a long time. The PC version has been discontinued, but now that the iPad is out EA Sports has ported their popular football game over, giving iPad owners a chance to get in on the fun with Madden NFL 11 for the iPad.

The game takes advantage of the iPad’s touch screen and music player, but has a few weaknesses. For seasoned Madden players getting used to using the on-screen controls may be frustrating. But for novices, this version is actually one of the most enjoyable sports games on the iPad.

The graphics on the iPad are not state of the art so the game cannot compare to the console versions for Xbox and PS3. I have a Wii, however, and it is actually comparable to the lower res graphics of Nintendo’s system. And it looks much better than the PSP version.

The game play is at times frustrating since I am used to playing with a game controller on the PC, but it is better than the Wii’s nunchuck controller. The on-screen controls do take some getting used to. After just two weeks I am still not there yet, but for those not already used to playing, the iPad version actually takes advantage of the touch screen interface nicely. Throwing the ball can be done by tapping on a player. If the user wants to change control from one player to another he or she will just tap that player on the screen. Picking plays is much quicker since the player doesn’t have to scroll through the plays with the controller. Just tap and the play is selected.

One thing that takes getting used to is the button that slows down the action. Notice below on the bottom right there is a stop watch icon. This slows the action so that the player can choose one of the five player controls. This allows for sprinting, diving, jumping, spinning, stiff arming, etc. At first I hated this, longing for a separate button that was always present, but the more I play the more I am getting used to the slow motion mode.

Unfortunately there are some glaring weaknesses. First, the AI of the commentary by John Madden is horrible. I actually liked having the commentary on in the PC version, but in the iPad version Madden is more clueless than the worst commentator you have ever heard on TV or radio. The comment chosen by the game for a given situation will sometimes actually contradict the on-screen actions. If your patience wears thin you can mute Madden in the game’s options. Also, while it is nice to be able to select my own music to play in the background, going into the music player sometimes crashes the game.

I recommend Madden NFL 11 for the iPad for players who love Madden and won’t mind taking the time to get used to the on-screen controls. If a player thinks he or she would get frustrated by that, then don’t bother. And at $12.99 a buyer would really have to be a fan of playing football as a video game. Even that price is a steal compared to the $40 to $60 a console version of Madden 11 would cost.

Pros:

• Good graphics
• Fun to play
• Easy to select plays
• Game flow selects plays for people who don’t understand football
• Easy to kick
• Preserves the heart of the Madden game
• Perfect for iPad screen size
• Interfaces with iTunes Music Player
• Once you get used to controls they work well
• Passing controls work well

Cons:

• Hard to adjust to controls for experienced Madden players
• Crashes sometimes when selecting your own music from iTunes
• Madden’s color commentary is awful

Madden NFL 11: iPad App of the Week is a post by Kevin Purcell from Notebooks.com.

In Lux DLX 2 you have all the basic Risk game play without the dice or the time consuming set up/clean up. The iPad handles the rolls of the dice for you and you provide the strategy. At the beginning of the game it takes care of the most boring part of the game, the set up. You start the game and choose how many Human and computer players there will be in your game. Select one of the many maps that you can play. There are a few in the downloaded version but you can download dozens of fun maps from within the app which are created by users. They are all free to download and usually have something to do with a war in history, like the Civil War, the War in Iraq, etc..

Once you have chosen your map the app randomly places armies on the board in an even number distributing all the countries among the players. Each space on the board represents a country and they are grouped into continents (some of the custom maps don’t have continents but regions). At first your goal is to control a continent in order to get bonus armies to place at the beginning of each turn. Each player takes a turn. The player will place armies based on how many countries owned one army per three owned countries and based on bonuses. After placing armies you select one country to attack from and then another adjacent country owned by another player to attack. You do this by tapping the countries. If you roll higher numbers  you win the battle and eventually take control of the country. You don’t see the dice, only the result of the roll. Armies are taken off the board when one player’s invisible roll is higher than the other. Eventually, if you are smart enough and lucky enough, you will take over the entire world. You win the game when you control every single country in the world.

Below is my video demonstration of the game.

Lux DLX 2 is a fun version of the game of Risk. If you are a Risk fan, I think you will enjoy it because it is similar enough to the original game. It is different enough that it makes it a nice update and adds variety. The additional maps that you can download add a unique touch to the classic game. Some of them don’t fit on the screen, so make sure you look at who controls what countries by swiping to pan left/right or up/down. Also, when you set the computer players to Easy AI they are a little too easy.

Those are the only weaknesses. The strengths are the extra maps, the nice interface, and the customizable game play. You can pick how hard or easy your opponents will be in the options. You can also change how the bonus armies work. I really like this game and think you will too.

Lux DLX 2 is available in the app store for both iPad and iPhone/iPod Touch for $4.99. It is a universal app, so you can pay once and put it on all your iOS devices. It is also available to play on the Mac or PC for up to $24.95, although it is half price right now.

Pros:

• Faithful to the game of Risk
• Attractive interface
• Free extra maps to download and make the game more interesting
• Allows you to play alone or against up to five other players
• Can play with others by passing the iPad around
• Multiple difficulty levels
• Customizable
• Universal app for all iOS devices

Cons:

• Can’t see roll of the dice
• Some of the extra maps don’t fit on the screen
• Easy AI is too easy

Lux DLX 2: iPad App of the Week is a post by Kevin Purcell from Notebooks.com.

To play Pacman today, just visit Google.com and click Insert Coin.

For many kids growing up in the 1980s, arcade games like Pacman were their only form of gaming entertainment. While kids today can play XBOX games or download the latest video game to their iPod Touches whenever they want, the children of the 80′s had to beg their parents for a pocket full of quarters and a ride to the arcade if they wanted to play games. There was no such thing as a first-person shooter, 3D graphics or realistic audio. Kids today have no idea how good they have it.

Here’s a picture of what the smallest multi-player game looked like when I was a kid.

Play Pacman on Google to Celebrate Arcade Game’s 30th Birthday is a post by Xavier Lanier from Notebooks.com.

Left 4 Dead 2, the anticipated sequel to the co-op oriented Left 4 Dead zombie FPS, was just released yesterday (November 17th) and can already be purchased at a discount. If you are a PC gamer and don’t mind waiting for the box to get shipped to you — $39 will get you a brand spankin’ new Left 4 Dead 2 game delivered right to your door (free shipping!) Xaiver demoed the original Left 4 Dead on the Alienware M17x.

Click here to a look at his video.

Grab a Copy of Left 4 Dead 2 for $39 is a post by Ben from Notebooks.com.

In order to get in on this promotion, click on this link or the below picture and add all three items listed to your cart. Even though the total will initially show up as $339.98, when you continue to check out, the total drops to $289.98! If you consider the free $50 gift certificate to be an additional discount, you’re getting a Wii console and a Wii Fit Plus with Balance Board for $239.98!

If you’re unfamiliar with the Nintendo Wii, you should know that it’s a next generation console which provides a revolutionary gaming experience. The Wii’s games encourage active motion and allow a higher level of interaction than most other video game consoles. The Wii Fit Plus with Balance Board is an accessory for the Wii  console which lets you make exercising exciting by allowing you to build a virtual work out regime. The Balance Board can also be used in certain games to add to the experience.

The promotion runs until November 22nd and, as always, is only available while supplies last. When ordering, make sure every time is being sold directly from Amazon.com, otherwise, the discount won’t show up when you check out. Place your order as soon as possible or risk missing out on this one!

Early BF Deal: Wii Console and Wii Fit Plus for $239.98 is a post by Bogdan Semida from Notebooks.com.