A look at iPhone Apps making use of LotRO's XML data
by William Dobson 
May 15th 2009 at 8:00PM
Filed under: Fantasy, Lord of the Rings Online
Tony from the Lord of the Rings Online-focused blog MMeOw recently had a look at a couple of iPhone Apps that are taking advantage of the XML data that Turbine has made available. Both apps were developed by BAMsoft (which is just one guy, as is often the case with iPhone apps), and one has already been approved by Apple -- LOTROStatus will check the status of the US servers for you, and is available for free right now. If enough Europeans ask to have their servers included, another version of the app might be released especially for them.BAMsoft's other LotRO iPhone App is called LOTROChar. With this program, you'll be able to view your in-game characters on your iPhone, check out lorebook links, and probably annoy co-workers by showing them the sweet loot you found the other night. This one hasn't been approved by Apple just yet, but it's sure to pop up in the iTunes store some time soon. It looks pretty nifty in the preview screenshots; keep up the good work BAMsoft!
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Jack said on 12:16AM 5-16-2009
I still think the iPhone sucks and so do the apps! I take a PSP/Nintendo DSi over a iPhone any day!
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Dark Gryphon said on 8:13AM 5-16-2009
Umm...you obviously miss the point of the iPhone. The iPhone is a phone on which you can install thousands of third-party apps, some of which are quite neat. Most of these did not take several months and a few thousand quid creating.
On the other hand a Nintendo DSi is a portable games console - i.e. a miniature version of a Wii/PS3/Xbox. Nintendo DSi games generally do not help you find a taxi, allow you to use Facebook on-the-go, etc. What's more, the developers of these games take several months, and cost a few thousand quid to create.
DSi != iPhone. Some people own both, and use whatever they feel is best for the task at hand.
Myria said on 11:21AM 5-16-2009
Actually the DS homebrew scene was alive and well last I looked, I would be surprised if there aren't aps (or, for that matter, the Ninty Opera cart) that could help you find a cab or use Facebook on-the-go (though why you'd want to use it at all remains a mystery). A DS/DSi with an R4 (or equiv) opens up a lot more options then you seem to think.
That aside, a PSP can do most of what iPhone does -- including make phone calls (Skype) -- right out of the box. You need a Wifi connect to do much of that, of course, which limits the utility of the phone part, but I dare say the games are WAY better then the iPhone. Beyond that, if you have anything but a 3000 (and with the recent release of the tiff exploit and ChickHEN even that's mattering less these days) there's a world of homebrew to explore. As is the norm with such things, some of it is amazingly good (better browsers, for starters) and some of it... Less so.
URALLNERDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11!!!!!1 said on 8:26AM 5-16-2009
I really don't get the point of these apps at all why the hell would I want to know if my server is up when Im out and about. And apart from me no one I know in RW is going to be interested in what phat loots I picked up.
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Tony said on 9:40AM 5-16-2009
Says the guy who purposely adds 1s to his exclamations.
URALLNERDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11!!!!!1 said on 1:13PM 5-16-2009
Yeah that is in fact not the name I use it seems massively has had a major fail and is ignoring the fact I keep telling them that there data is screwed up.
BadPanda (not URALLNERDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11!!!!!1)
Jack said on 10:52AM 5-16-2009
Thats the thing I use my cellphone when I need a taxi and never have need to use sites like Facebook and can will keep far away from any Apple product!
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