Games for the Weekend is a weekly feature aimed at helping you avoid doing something constructive with your downtime. Each Friday we’ll be recommending a game for Mac, iPhone or iPad that we think is awesome enough to keep you busy until Monday, at least.

I’m starting to think there’s a union rule: In every shooter, the helicopter, plane, train, or automobile you use to arrive will be destroyed. Modern Combat 3: Fallen Nation ($6.99, Universal) for iOS is no exception. Combined forces of Very Bad People doing Very Bad Things have taken over some cities in America. Even though the American Armed Forces number over a million soldiers, apparently it’s up to just you to solve this problem.

Well, not just you alone. As in most of the Modern Combat series, there are various NPCs that accompany you through the 13-mission campaign that spans Los Angeles to Pakistan. I’d say they help you, but most of their support so far seems to involve yelling encouraging things and laying down random covering fire.

Games like Modern Combat 3 are starting to make me question my decision to pass on the iPad 2. Not so much for the increased graphics performance — when I did a test restore of a friend’s iPad 2 a while back to check it out, I didn’t notice a huge difference in games — but for the AirPlay Mirroring. I’m rapidly coming around to the idea of sitting on my couch playing a shooter on my iPad and TV. MC3‘s graphics are quite good. I’m starting to get as much value from a $7 iPad app as I am from $60 Xbox games.

The only problem I had with this game was with controls. When I wrote about Shadowgun, I raved about how customizable the controls were. In MC3, I didn’t have that flexibility. As a result, I’d end up shooting when I wanted to look around. With Shadowgun, I could move individual controls around; in MC3 I could only choose between three presets I was never fully happy with.

Even so, with 13 single player missions and 6 multiplayer maps for the low cost of seven bucks, Modern Combat 3 is this week’s Game for the Weekend.

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I’m a simple man, and at times I like simple games. At its core, Monster Hunter Dynamic Hunting ($0.99 until Oct. 24) is a simple game. The object is to defeat various monsters in an arena setting. This isn’t a game where you run through corridors seeking treasure and fame.

Every duel has a timer you need to beat. Each monster has different attacks and defenses; a gorilla may be vulnerable to head attacks but his stomach is heavily armored. So, you need to plan your attacks instead of just standing there hitting the thing with your sword. Although, take it from experience, sometimes that works in a pinch. At the end of each match you get a letter grade based on how long it took you to win your fight, your ending health, etc. It’s a good way of getting you to want to improve your performance, as well as a somewhat humbling experience. What do you mean I got a D? I won the fight, didn’t I? Apparently this is a game where style points matter.

The graphics are good. Not great, but good. While they don’t fall into the category of something like Infinity Blade, they don’t make my eyes bleed, either. Getting used to the controls took a little bit of time, too. I’ve got large fingers and an old brain and I had a hard time remembering whether dodging was a swipe or two-finger tap. Also, since this an iPhone-only game (it will run in 2x mode on an iPad, but it’s not optimized for it) I found my fingers blocking some of the action on the screen.

Monster Hunter is on sale this weekend for $0.99 to celebrate their new update that adds four new monsters and some gameplay improvements.

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Setting up iCloud backups

Go to the iCloud settings and choose Storage and Backup. Make sure iCloud backup is set to “On.”

According to Apple, this is what’s backed up: Purchased music, TV shows, apps, and books; photos and video in the Camera Roll; device settings; app data; home screen and app organization; messages (iMessage, SMS, and MMS); and ringtones. Apple’s mantra is anything that can be re-downloaded isn’t backed up, so your apps and any apps that have downloadable content aren’t stored in the cloud. If you have large amounts of app data, like PDFs in GoodReader, you may find yourself going over your free 5 GB limit. Naturally, if you do want all that data backed up, you can buy more storage: 15 GB is $20 per year; 25 GB is $40 per year; and 55 GB is $100 per year.

To specify which app data is or is not backed up, while still in the Storage and Backup section of the iCloud settings, click on Manage Storage and then your iOS device. Here, you can specify which apps iCloud backs up, and which it doesn’t.

iCloud backups happen whenever the device is plugged in, on a Wi-Fi network, and locked (meaning it’s at the Swipe to Unlock screen). If you want to check when the last backup was, or force a backup, at the bottom of the Storage and Backups screen there is a Back Up Now button.

Restoring from backup

Right now, backups and restores are done on the assumption you’ve either replaced your device, or your whole install is so messed up you had to nuke from orbit. The only way you can restore data is from the setup screen on a fresh install of iOS; you can’t just restore the specific data from a single app you accidentally deleted. This will be less of a problem once apps are updated to store their own backups in iCloud.

To reset your device, under General, choose Reset, and then Erase All Content and Settings. Your device will be restored to factory conditions and you will be prompted with this screen.

Restoration is a two-step process: first the device settings are restored, then all apps are re-downloaded from Apple’s servers. The restoration happens in order: the first app on your first screen is the first app to be re-downloaded. If you want to prioritize an app, tap on its icon. According to Apple, the restore will attempt to download the same version of the app that you had installed previously. If that version is no longer available, the latest version of the app will be restored instead.

The Aftermath

After doing several restores this weekend to try this out, I found the process relatively smooth with few surprises. I did have to re-enter a few email addresses. These all seemed to be Gmail addresses I had set up as Exchange accounts. However, it didn’t tell me which Exchange server it needed the passwords to. I also had to re-enter my iTunes password and my Game Center password. All fairly minor inconveniences. It did lose that I was syncing wirelessly to my MacBook, so I had to set that up again. I also recommend letting the Wi-Fi re-download from Apple’s servers completely (and not switch to iTunes syncing for apps) to ensure everything comes down clean. If you’re in a restore state, it’s best to limit the variables.

What’s nice is if you suffer a critical failure on the road you can get yourself up and running easily. This is great if your iOS device dies; you can swap it out at the Apple store and restore from backup while you’re there.

It’s important to make sure when you do this you have the time to check out that everything restored properly. It would be embarrassing to need to restore your device before a big presentation and find out the hard way Keynote or your specific presentation didn’t restore properly.

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This week we bring you the first game I’ve seen that takes full advantage of what iOS 5 and iCloud can mean for gaming: Scribblenauts Remix ($4.99). In addition to being a fun puzzle game, Scribblenauts  also takes full advantage of iCloud by syncing saved games across iOS devices.

The goal of Scribblenauts Remix is to help Maxwell get Starites on each level. You help him by creating objects he can use to interact with his environment. Creating objects is achieved by writing them out.

For instance, to get the Starite on the first level I wrote “hammer,” providing the main character with one he could use to attack the tree the Starite was stuck in and shake it loose. For some levels you need to get to the Startite that’s visible on-screen, while on others you need to create a number of necessary objects to unlock the Starite; in one I needed to create eight items a person in school might need. There is some level of intelligence to the notepad you use to create items; if you type in something it doesn’t recognize, it will suggest alternatives.

The laid-back nature of  the nature of the game is great for mobile gaming. You won’t find yourself in an awkward situation where you’re almost at your stop on the train, but aren’t in a position to quit the game quite yet. The graphics are fun and cartoony. Warner Bros. claims there are unlimited solutions and outcomes but I haven’t had much of a chance to test out that claim. There are definitely multiple ways to solve a level, though the goals never change. While you can create different objects each time you play the schoolhouse level, for instance, in the end you still need to create eight objects it’s happy with.

What’s really great is since it’s a Universal app and uses iCloud to sync saves, you can switch between devices at will. I didn’t have to do anything special to get fame syncing to work, but I assume you need to have Documents and Data under iCloud’s Settings ticked. What I did notice is it will sync the levels you’ve unlocked and your score, but not your progress through an individual level. How they use iCloud is exactly how I hope all game developers use it. Not being able to sync my save game state is a major pain. Since iCloud also keeps the data after you’ve deleted the game from your device, you can pick up where you left off when you reinstall. Fantastic stuff!

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When I wrote about Documents in the Cloud, one of my chief complaints was that the only way to upload and download files on my Mac was through the iCloud web interface. I made a casual mention in that post that while there is a setting in the iCloud System Preferences to sync Documents and Data, I admitted I didn’t know where they went to. A helpful reader posted that “on a Mac your iCloud data files are accessible at ~/Library/Mobile Documents.”

I wondered if I could access the files directly on my Mac using that folder, and create files there, then have them sync to iCloud. The answer, blessedly, is yes. Here’s how.

1. Make sure Documents and Data is checked in iCloud System Preferences.
   
2. Make your Library folder unhidden. There are two ways to do this. The easiest is in the Finder go to the Go Menu and choose “Go to Folder” and type in “username”/Library, where “username” is the name of your user folder. That will bring you to the Library folder. The other way, the one I recommend, is to go to the Terminal app and type in chflags nohidden ~/Library/ to unhide the Library folder. I’ve found this makes it easy to find the Library folder backups in Time Machine.
3. Go to the Library folder and find the Mobile Documents folder. Drag it to your Sidebar to make it easier to access.
4. From here, you can navigate to any of the three subfolders for each iWork app. In each, you must then did one level down to find the “Documents” folder. If you create a document in this folder in iWork it will show up on your iOS device. You can also create subfolders within this directory to modify the folder structure in your iWork apps for iOS. Any subfolders you create on the desktop must contain at least one document to show up in mobile iWork, however.

Note that the original file on the desktop, after being transferred to and opened on your iOS device, will prompt you to save it elsewhere on the desktop or delete it if it remains open on your Mac. Working backward from iOS to Mac doesn’t work, since iCloud changes the document format, but at least it lets you start on the desktop.

Also note that you can use this method to create and edit documents in Microsoft Office (or other document editors) on your Mac, and make them available to the iWork suite on your iOS device. I strongly encourage you maintain your own backups of this directory in case of accidental file deletion, or in case Apple for some reason closes this loop. For now, however, this makes working with Documents in the Cloud much easier and more rewarding.

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Documents in the Cloud is a way to sync documents and data across your devices. While it may seem like it takes the place of iDisk, it doesn’t replace it. There is no Finder-like access to a file structure. Each app has its data sandboxed, so it’s app-specific. If you open the same file in Pages and GoodReader, and tell each to upload that file to iCloud, you will have two copies of the file up there.

Setting up Documents in the Cloud

The initial setup of Documents in the Cloud is very easy. On your iOS device go into Settings, then iCloud, and make sure Documents and Data is set to “On.” You can also tell it to not sync when only on cellular networks.

To use the iWork apps with Documents in the Cloud, you’ll need to be running the latest versions of Pages, Keynote, and Numbers. The first time you launch each of these apps, you’ll be asked if you want to use iCloud. If you choose to use iCloud, any local iWork documents you have will be uploaded to iCloud, so don’t worry about losing them. However, once you enable iCloud, you will no longer be able to use iTunes to add a document to an iWork app. Using “Open With” from an e-mail still works just fine.

Syncing between iOS devices

Right now, syncing between iOS devices is Documents in the Cloud’s strong suit. Changes made to a Pages document on my iPad show up within seconds on my iPhone. As a control, I performed a worst-case scenario for syncing: I deleted Pages from all my iOS devices and reinstalled it on my iPad. All my files were still there.

This service isn’t limited to just iWork, as games like Scribblenauts Remix will let you use iCloud to sync your saved games between devices. GoodReader for iPad also supports iCloud. The GoodReader for iPhone update is still in Apple’s review queue as of this writing.

Syncing between Windows and OS X

This is where Documents in the Cloud starts to fall down. While there is a Documents and Data checkbox in the iCloud Preference Pane in Lion, I can’t tell where the data is saved to. I also doubt it’s user-accessible.

The only way to get data from my Mac to iCloud right now is via the iCloud.com website. Unfortunately, the only apps that show up on the website are the three iWork apps. The good news is, you can upload and download either iWork or Microsoft Office files from here. The bad news is, if you have PDFs on your Mac you want to get into GoodReader and iCloud, there isn’t an easy option outside of iTunes syncing (that still works for GoodReader).

There are APIs available for developers to use on Windows and OS X that hook into iCloud. My bet is in the long run developers that want to make it easy for users to put data into their apps. Omni Group has said the next version of OmniGraffle for iPad will support storing documents in iCloud, but I don’t see any mention of OmniGraffle for OS X and iCloud. Omni Group tends to be on the leading edge of development, so I’m curious how they will handle this.

Final thoughts

Buyer Beware

I had little faith in iCloud retaining my data during yesterday’s craziness. My tests on seeing if a changed document was properly updated on the web and iOS were successful. However, at least three times when I went back to look at something on the web interface, my documents were gone. I would either have a web page empty of documents or one prompting me to get iWork for iOS. The first time this happened was during the afternoon and I was having trouble updating the apps. I thought maybe one of the apps got rolled back and threw iCloud off. The second time I had noticed my iPhone wanted to download the update again (I think I had deleted it) and I thought maybe something had gotten wonky again. The third time I didn’t do anything. I went to the web page, saw no documents and opened up Pages for iPad and watched three documents delete themselves.

Problems are ongoing. When I create a new document in Pages on iOS, it prompts me to either create a document, or import one even though iCloud is specified in Pages’ settings. This is how Pages worked pre-iCloud, and turning iCloud on and off doesn’t fix the problem.. When this happens, both the iPhone and the iPad can’t see iCloud. At which point I thought to myself: Yep, these are the guys that brought me MobileMe. It’s possible it’s related to all the iCloud launch issues, but I’m very scared to trust it with my data.

These issues aside, until there’s an easy way to always update documents on a Mac or a PC, Documents in the Cloud is of limited use to me. I’m not optimistic this is going to happen any time soon. All of Apple’s promo videos that show iWork on iOS being used with iCloud never show a Mac as part of the chain (the Mac does feature prominently when they demonstrate photo stream). I also don’t like that third-party iCloud-enabled iOS apps can’t register themselves on the website so you can drag files to them.

I was really hoping I would be able to round-trip files from OS X to iOS without doing the download/upload two-step. It didn’t seem like a fantasy to work on a document on OS X Pages, close it, and head to diner and have it magically appear on my iPad. Until Apple and other developers use those OS X and Windows APIs, that fantasy won’t come true.

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Now, with iCloud and Photo Stream, that hassle has been eliminated. Once I take a photo with my iPhone, as long as all my devices are connected to a Wi-Fi network, my photo will appear on all of them. My photos also appear on my Mac (in either Aperture or iPhoto, so long as they’re installed), or in the My Pictures folder on Windows. It’s one part of iCloud I can say worked exactly as advertised, but even so, it has both strengths and flaws.

Setting up Photo Stream

On a Mac: Go to the iCloud System Preferences pane and make sure Photo Stream is checked.

iPhoto: To enable Photo Stream in iPhoto, just go into the Preferences and make sure Photo Stream is checked.

Once you’ve done that, click on Photo Stream in the sidebar and you’ll see your photos.

Aperture: To enable Photo Stream in Aperture, just go into Preferences and make sure Photo Stream is checked. In this case, I’ve intentionally left Upload unchecked since I don’t want photos imported from my DSLR to go into the Photo Stream; just those I sync.

Once that’s done, click on Photo Stream in the sidebar to see your synced photos.

On a PC: First, download and install the iCloud Control Panel. Once you launch it — you guessed it — make sure Photo Stream is checked. You will also need to click on Options next to it to specify the Upload and Downloads directory.

The gotcha: You can’t delete from Photo Stream

Photo Stream’s directive is simple: keep either the last 1,000 photos you’ve taken or the last 30 days worth, whichever comes first. Update: It’s only the last 1,000 photos you’ve taken on an iOS device, not on iCloud.com. But right now, it seems to require a chicken, two goats, and a shaman to get a photo deleted. None of my devices can delete directly from Photo Stream, and deleting the source image on the device where it originally appeared doesn’t delete it from Photo Stream.

I’m perfectly fine with Photo Stream uploading my Camera Roll on a moment’s notice. What I’m not thrilled with is not being able to delete from Photo Stream. Part of my job description is taking iOS screenshots and during a heavy review week (like this week), I’ll take a ton of screenshots. I don’t need them or want them after they’ve been put in the article. Now, I’m kinda stuck with them. There’s been a lot of attention paid to this Photo Stream failing, so I expect Apple to issue a fix soon.

Update: Apple points out that you can delete photos, but only by completely resetting your Photo Stream data, and removing all images stored there:

• You can reset your Photo Stream at icloud.com. This removes your photos from iCloud but keeps photos already on the device. For more information, see Photo Stream Help.
• Photo Stream photos can be removed from your device by turning Photo Stream off in iOS settings or in OS X Lion System Preferences. You can also delete any photos imported into your iPhoto or Aperture library on a Mac, or in the folder they’re imported to on a PC.

Until then, be careful what you take pictures of if you plan to make Photo Stream a part of your digital life.

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Taking photos

You’ll encounter the biggest change when you go to take a photo. You can now use your volume up button to take a photo, making it a more natural and steady experience. You can also put an overlay grid on the screen to make sure your photo is straight (yes, I know, my sample isn’t straight).

With iOS 5, you can now access the camera app directly from the lock screen. This is a fantastic time-saver. Previously, in the couple of seconds it took to unlock the iPhone and launch the Camera app, the moment had often passed. Now, I’ve dramatically increased the number of photos of my cat that actually come out well.

Editing photos

All edits take place in the Photos app. To edit a photo, choose it from the Camera Roll, and press Edit in the upper right-hand corner. The rudimentary editing tools (rotate, auto enhance, red-eye, and crop) will appear on the bottom.

Rotating photos is a little weird. The tool on the far left will rotate the photo in 90-degree increments. However, if you want to rotate the image any other degree, you need to go into the Crop tool and rotate it using a two-finger twist. To me, it seems like all the rotate tools should be in one area.

Most of the pictures you’re likely to take with your iPhone are in sub-optimal conditions. A bar, outside in direct sunlight, outside at night, etc. Auto enhance is iOS’s best guess as to what the photo should look like if the conditions were better. In my limited tests, it works well enough, though it’s not nearly as good as using a tool like Aperture, but for something you want to quickly enhance before you post it on Twitter, it’s fine.

Left is before auto enhance; right is after

Final thoughts

I’m happy with the Camera and Photos enhancements. While I don’t tend to post many photos on Facebook or Twitter, now that Twitter is integrated into OS, I might start using it more. Giving a photo a quick edit or auto enhance before I post will be nice. The ability to access the camera from the lock screen and using the volume button to capture images are the most significant changes, and should please any mobile photog.

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Setting up Reminders

Reminders is automatically installed when you upgrade to iOS 5. To set up iCloud syncing, simply go to iCloud Settings and make sure Reminders is set to ON. The syncing happens transparently; you don’t need to do a thing to get your reminders to sync between all your iOS and OS X devices.

Using Reminders

The first time you launch Reminders, you only have one list: Reminders. On the iPad, you can see both your lists and reminders in one window. On the iPhone, you will need to tap the  icon to view them. To add a new list, tap Edit, then Create New List.

To create a new reminder, select the list you want to add the reminder to, and press the + icon. Type in the name of the reminder, and tap return. If you tap the > icon to the right of the name, you can set due date and location.

Using location-aware Reminders

One of the neat features in Reminders is the ability to set a reminder based on where you are. You can tell it to remind you when you either get there or leave. So, you can have it remind you to “get gas” when you leave  home, or “meet with the Bobs” when you arrive at work. Unfortunately, I can’t see a way to set it to remind you to do something at a specific time at a specific location (i.e. remind me to reboot a server at 9 p.m. when I’m at work). In testing, the time-based reminder took precedence over the location. This is likely asking too much of the app. You will need to be specific on your locations, too. If I want to be reminded to grab milk when I go to Stop and Shop, I need to feed it that Stop and Shop’s address.

Overall, I’m happy with Reminders. I don’t deal with a lot of project-level data. My reminder needs are very basic: article deadlines I’m committed to, forms that need to be filled out by a date, and calls I need to make. Do you see yourself using Reminders very often?

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Setting up iMessage

To clear up one point of confusion I’ve been frequently asked: While the service is called iMessage, the actual app where you use it on iOS is called Messages. To setup iMessage, go to Settings and then Messages. Make sure you are signed in with your Apple ID email address. Tap Receive At and make sure your phone number (on the iPhone only) and relevant email addresses (on iPad and iPod touch) are correct.

You can set up multiple email addresses at which to receive the same iMessages. When you add a new email address, a verification email will be sent to that address. When you click on “Verify Now” in the email, you will be sent to an Apple site where you enter your Apple ID and password to verify the new address. I have both my me.com and gmail.com addresses registered in iMessage.

Using iMessage

To take full advantage of iMessage, all participants need to be running iOS 5. To send a message, in Messages press the New Message icon in the upper-right-hand corner of the app.

Start typing your recipient’s info, and the field will auto-fill with possible choices in a manner similar to the Mail app. If you’re sending the message from your iPhone, the Send button will turn green if it will be sent as an SMS, or blue for iMessage. On the iPad, if the address you’re trying to send to isn’t registered with iMessage, you’ll get an error message, like the one below.

Limitations of iMessage

To ensure your Message is received on all your connected devices, you must have them sent to your Apple ID email address. In limited testing, if someone sent me a test message to just my phone number, I only got the text on my iPhone. However, if they sent the message to my me.com address (which is my Apple ID address), I got it on all devices. This is because Apple can’t associate your phone number (assigned by your carrier) with devices other than your iPhone. Also, if you’ve added multiple email addresses to the “Receive At” setting on one iOS device, you’ll need to make sure you add them manually to any other iOS devices you own, too, if you want to receive messages at that address on all devices.

While AT&T has changed their SMS plans, most likely in preparation for people lowering their text message plans, for me, my SMS usage won’t change. Most of the people I text with don’t have an iPhone. Still, since it operates automatically behind the scenes, detecting who can and can’t receive iMessages, there’s definitely no harm in having it enabled, regardless of who you message with.

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I tested these three games using my 2011 15-inch MacBook Pro under OS X: Lord of the Rings Online, EverQuest 2, and Age of Conan. Of the three, Lord of the Rings Online ran the best, Age of Conan ran the worst, and EverQuest 2 ran “just ok.” Parallels 7 still does just Direct X 9, so games like Lord of the Rings that take advantage of Direct X 11 won’t run perfectly.

For benchmarks, I used my current Windows-on-a-Mac gaming setup, which involves both Apple’s own Boot Camp utility (which lets you run Windows natively) and CrossOver (which lets you run Windows apps in OS X without actually installing the Windows OS itself).

The good

The last time I looked at Windows gaming on the Mac, Parallels’s performance noticeably lagged behind the frame rates I got in CrossOver. With Parallels 7, frame rates in both were much closer, getting around 50 FPS in LotRO and 35-40 in EverQuest 2. And since you’re running games in basically a native environment, unlike in CrossOver, you can get games up and running with a minimum of fuss. CrossOver often requires extra configuration and patience to get games running. Also, if you’re close to filling up your Parallels drive, it’s easy to resize it.

I didn’t notice any obvious performance differences between Parallels accessing a Boot Camp partition or Parallels running off its own .pvm file (Parallels’ own native Windows installation container). Both seemed to give me the same frame rates and load times. Even when I put Parallels into a position for it not to succeed, like playing a game while using Handbrake to convert a video file, my MacBook didn’t come to a girding halt. While it was slower, I could still play the game.

The bad

I noticed one consistent issue in playing all the games: right-clicking with the trackpad to look around was uncontrollable. If I plugged in an external mouse, its right button worked just fine. I could get around this problem by adjusting my keybindings in-game to something funky like pressing alt-contol-arrow button, but that’s really a pain to get used to.

Also, you’re going to take a performance hit running in a virtual environment. Running the games in anything other than Full Screen mode (you can still alt-tab or Mission Control back to your OS X apps) in Parallels seemed to cause problems. I had numerous issues loading games past their login screen in Coherence mode; the same problems didn’t crop up nearly as often in Full Screen.

If you play any game or in any situation where reflexes or timing really matter, like a multiplayer shooter or during a raid in an MMO, I can’t recommend a virtualized solution at all. In those cases, you’ll need to be running the game in Boot Camp (or, OS X if you’re lucky and that’s an option).

The ugly

The bane of my computing existence is Windows’ activation process. Given the nature of my freelance work, I’m often blowing my activation limit and need to call Microsoft to get it reset. If you use Boot Camp and create a Parallels virtual from that, you’ll use up two activations.

Also, of all the games I looked at, Age of Conan ran horribly on Parallels, averaging out to about 8 FPS. I was getting 25 in Boot Camp, so it’s not like it’s a stellar performer anyway. I also noticed the avatars in Conan weren’t smooth, as I could see the polygons that made up their shapes under the skinning when running the game in Parallels.

Final thoughts

I’m pretty happy with Parallels 7 for gaming. Having current hardware has a lot to do with it, but Parallels seems to at least come close to the performance I’m used to from CrossOver, without the hassles. After a week or so of testing, I’m going to delete my CrossOver game installs and instead use Parallels for Windows gaming, and Boot Camp when I need to get really serious.

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I’d hate to live in the fictional condo depicted in Monsters Ate My Condo ($0.99). It’s a vertical matching game where the goal is to sacrifice floors of your condo to monsters to ensure the tower doesn’t collapse. On each side of the tower are two monsters whose colors match the colors of the floors. You can sacrifice a floor by swiping it toward one of the monsters. If the colors match, the monster is happy. Feed it enough off-color floors, though, and it will become decidedly unhappy.

When you line up three or more floors of the same color, you score points, and the tower stabilizes. Three similarly colored floors will create a bronze floor; three bronze floors form a silver, three silvers form a gold; and finally, three golds make up a diamond floor. Each of these are worth a ton of points. If the combo formed is the same color as a monster on the screen, you earn even more points. Occasionally, a bomb or concrete floor will appear. You can’t swipe these away, and instead need to form combos around it to make it go away. Have enough mis-matched floors, and the tower collapses into a gigantic pile of sad.

This is a high-scoring game. There’s an achievement to score a million points I earned in my first game. Scores of a billion are not uncommon. It’s a little over the top, but also surprisingly satisfying. There are two modes of play: Endless and Timed. Each use the same basic game mechanics, but timed mode has a two-minute countdown. Monsters Ate My Condo has intentionally cheesy graphics and sounds; it’s part of its charm. It’s a Universal game, so it works on both iPhone and iPad, but your status and score aren’t saved across devices.

These days, I find myself drawn to games that offer brief, rewarding sessions but hook me into playing them again and again. This certainly fits the bill, and for a buck, it’s a no-brainer purchase making it this week’s Games for the Weekend.

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Camera. The best part of the new Camera app is you can access it right from the lock screen. A close second is the ability to use the top volume button as a shutter. These should help you take quicker and better pictures. Not having to unlock your phone and tap the Camera could be the difference to taking a funny picture of your kid, or taking a picture of where your kid used to be. Using the volume button should reduce camera shake from haphazardly stabbing the on-screen button to capture an image.

You can also show a grid while taking your photo to help you take a straight image, and lock in the exposure and focus. I’m really looking forward to the exposure lock to take photos like this on my iPhone. My iPhone isn’t my best camera, but it’s the camera I always have with me, and I’m looking forward to these improvements.

Cards. I found Cards to be a curious lead-off for the iOS portion, as well as a head-scratcher for its inclusion at all. Cards is a free download, has 21 different designs for letterpress cards, and it will cost you $2.99 to have them mailed in the U.S. or $4.99 anywhere else. While I’m cynical about this service’s chances at success, I think it’s a great way to easily send travel postcards with a custom note right from your iPhone, especially when paired with the new Camera app.

Find my Friends. My first reaction to Find My Friends was a sarcastic, “So, now you can tell if your husband really is where he says he is.” The reality is, I could have used this feature a couple of weeks ago. A contractor was having trouble finding my house and I couldn’t help him based on his description of his surroundings. If we both had iPhones and Find My Friends, it would have really helped out. Apple has given Disneyland as place where it could come in handy, and that’s a good example. Apple also seems to have kept privacy in mind by allowing you to go off the grid and decide whom you will share your location with using simple touch-based controls.

All three of these apps will be available Oct. 12 when iOS 5 and iCloud launch.

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At $7.99, ShadowGun is one of the pricier titles I’ve recommended. But it’s well worth the price of admission for graphics alone. Games like ShadowGun and Infinity Blade really show off the iPad’s capabilities as a mobile gaming platform. Strike that. Once iOS 5 is released and you can mirror your iPad 2 through an Apple TV, ShadowGun and games like it will be cutting edge, sit-comfortably-on-the-couch gaming.

In the game, you take on the role of John Slade, a bounty hunter set to punch the nefarious Dr. Simon’s ticket — I wonder if that’s a Firefly reference? While the graphics are great, the story isn’t. I didn’t care. It’s a game in which you run around and blow things up, and it does that well.

It’s very similar to Gears of War, since it’s an over-the-shoulder shooter, and cover is important. This isn’t a game where you stand there, machine guns a-blazing as hot, spent cartridges bounce off the floor. You’ll be doing a lot of taking cover behind obstacles clearly placed there for that purpose while shooting in small bursts.

You’re on rails, too. It’s pretty much impossible to get lost, but I’m surprisingly okay with that. The cover system is enjoyable enough that I don’t miss having free rein.

As with cover locations, there are many checkpoints to save your game. This keeps you from going through locations a second time to a minimum. The game seems to save your current spot when you quit the app. I did have a few crashes when I launched the game, but rebooting my iPad solved that.

I did find that I needed to adjust the controls slightly. My right thumb kept hitting the shoot button, but it’s easy to move it via the settings. The settings icon is a large plus sign and at first I thought it was a way to apply a health pack.

While ShadowGun is a universal app, I found it hard to play on the small screen of my iPhone. Also, your saved games don’t carry across the two apps. I’m really hoping developers are able to use iCloud to sync saved games in a future update.

Eight bucks is a curious price point. It’s expensive compared to most apps, and the similar (at least visually) Infinity Blade is two dollars less. I feel like I got my money’s worth, though. My last Wendy’s meal cost me nine bucks, and ShadowGun provided a lot more enjoyment. I also think the game needs multiplayer, and that addition might have made it an easier sell for the price.

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My recent experiences during a major power outage showed to me the one big downside to going 100-percent digital on books: When your battery dies, you can’t read a book, even in the daylight. Plus, the iPad was a little too large to just toss in my pocket when I left the house. Some people can’t leave the house without a pack of smokes; I can’t leave without a book.

I started becoming more interested in Kindle hardware in light of those problems. However, the prices just weren’t at a point I was happy with for a supplemental device. Today’s announcements have changed that.

Kindle Fire

While the Kindle Fire is likely to be a fine tablet, for me, it underscores some problems I have with the iPad: The IPS screen is going to be  nightmare to read outside, and at eight hours of battery life, it doesn’t have the month (or two) of long-lasting power that the e-ink Kindles do. My mobile gaming needs are met quite well with the iPad. As a technology commentator, though, I expect I’ll get one. The $199 price tag for an n0n-iPad tablet is a much easier pill to swallow than the $499 and up for other Android tablets. I do find it interesting that Amazon merged two distinct approaches: taking advantage of an open operating system (Android), yet creating a curated experience like Apple’s.

Were I not a tech commentator, and instead the average iPad user, I could see myself getting a Fire in these scenarios: Either I use Amazon steaming a lot, or I want a second tablet that travels better owing to its small size. In this economy, unless you can pretend you need one for “work,” I have a hard time seeing anyone needing a second tablet, no matter the price. But for those who can justify the expense, the Kindle Fire fills in some gaps, especially for users already heavily invested in the Android ecosystem.

The new Kindles

Now we’re taking. Books are my primary media consumption. The iPad isn’t good for reading in any situation where light is being cast on the screen. Ten hours of battery life is nice, but I’d like to not have to worry about that at all, which is what the e-ink Kindles offer. The size of the new e-readers is also right for “throw it in my jacket pocket” situations.

A Kindle reader under a hundred bucks perfectly fits my price point for buying a second reading device in addition to the iPad. I’ve ordered a Kindle for $79. Sure, it’s ad-supported, but from what I’ve been hearing the ads aren’t intrusive to my reading experience anyway.

A tale of apps

The big difference between Amazon and Apple is that Apple wants to sell you hardware, and Amazon just wants to sell you content. I believe Apple releasing iBooks for Android would be a sign of failure for its strategy. Amazon, on the other hand, doesn’t give a hoot what you read your book on, just that you the book from them.

Up until today, my e-reading plan was to buy the book on Amazon, and read it on my iPad. Now, I’m going to be mostly using the Kindle to read my books. Whispersync will do its job and I can read on my iPad, too, without losing my place. The lack of a keyboard or touch interface on the new entry-level Kindle doesn’t bother me. Almost all of my Kindle books are purchased via the web on my Mac.

Amazon has done something very smart with its table and e-reader strategy: priced its devices at a point where owning them in addition to other devices makes sense. The new Kindles don’t have to beat the iPad, especially when Amazon’s app strategy means that they can all play nice together.

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Games for the Weekend is a weekly feature aimed at helping you avoid doing something constructive with your downtime. Each Friday we’ll be recommending a game for Mac, iPhone or iPad that we think is awesome enough to keep you busy until Monday, at least.

For some reason, when I first heard about Ace Striker ($1.99) I had it my head it was more of a combat simulator. So, I was a tad disappointed it was a top-down shooter similar to Space Invaders and Galaga. That disappointment lasted about a minute before I realized how fun this game is. The premise is neat: You’re a fighter pilot fighting over historic battlefields like the Battle of El Alamein, the Normandy Landing, the Walcheren Battle, and the Rhineland Battle. You start at El Alamein, and unlock the rest as you play the game.

One of the things I love about this game is that you’re not limited to the bottom of the screen, like you are with some top-down shooters. Instead, you can move your aircraft around the entire screen. Instead of having three lives, your plane has a health bar; when it hits zero, the game is over. The graphics get the job done. They aren’t anything to crow about, but they also don’t make my eyes hurt.

While I generally prefer free games with unlockable paid content, I like that your two bucks invested in Ace Striker gets you the whole game. You can buy additional planes with better health or speed for $0.99 to $1.99. Your value for your dollar may vary, but I’d personally prefer that a plane cost as much as the game itself. That said, it’s not like two bucks for a virtual airplane is going to make me miss a mortgage payment, and as mentioned, the upgrade is completely optional, and doesn’t take away from the overall experience.

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