Mikey Campbell
Alongside Apple's picks for the best iOS apps of 2012, the company on Thursday crowned the best apps for OS X, with cross-platform journaling software Day One taking the top spot while first-person shooter/role-playing game Deus Ex: Human Revolution was declared the Mac's best game.
App of the Year
Bloom Built's Day One is a full-featured journal that enables users to jot down quick notes about their day-to-day lives or go long form with integrated Markdown syntax support. With iCloud or Dropbox syncing to its complementary iPhone and iPad apps, which were previous Apps of the Week in January, Day One allows for journaling whenever the mood strikes.
In addition to the text editor, strong management features are included like a calendar view, Notifications alerts and support for location metadata generated by the iOS versions of the app.
Day One's Feature List:
- • iCloud or Dropbox sync to iPhone and iPad app
- Photos
- Quick Entry via the Menu Bar
- Password Protection
- Calendar View
- Reminders System
- Export
- Inspirational Messages to encourage writing
- Lion Full-screen
- Search
- System Hot-key Shortcut
- Starred Entries List
- Command Line Interface
Day One is a 9.2 MB download and can be purchased in the Mac App Store for $9.99.
Game of the Year
Apple awarded Mac Game of the Year to first-person shooter https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/deus-ex-human-revolution-ultimate/id489813114?mt=12">Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Ultimate Edition
Ported to the Mac by Feral Interactive, the Ultimate Edition includes all downloadable content released for the action-RPG/FPS.
As in all past Deus Ex titles, the plot revolves around the cybernetic augmentation, or the use of biomechanics to enhance a human's attributes. While addressing the moral issues surrounding augmentation, the storyline lets players choose their own path by selecting what to optimize depending on play style. For example, brain and eyes can be augmented for "sneaking" or covert operations, or limbs and lungs can be upgraded to suit a "run-and-gun" style of play.
The game's mechanics are similar to the past two Deus Ex titles, but vastly more refined with deeper upgrades and open-ended gameplay.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/deus-ex-human-revolution-ultimate/id489813114?mt=12">Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Ultimate Edition
Runners-Up
CameraBag 2
The updated version of the CameraBag photo editing app offers one of the easiest to use interfaces in the Mac App Store, offering users over 100 styles and filters and more than 25 manual tools to tweak their images.
Key features include batch saving, RAW format support, 32-bit color, adjustable filters and the "Remix slider," which transitions through a huge number of small film-like variations.
CameraBag 2 is a $14.99 purchase and weighs in at 26 MB.
Splice: Tree of Life
Named Apple's Game of the Year runner-up, Splice: Tree of Life is a puzzle game set in the world of microbes, with the player having to reach a target structure in a certain number of moves.
Gamers need to take into account how a "splice" will affect the microbial structure as cells react to each other in different ways and the only way to find out how is through experimentation. Prediction is key, and according to the app's description, a player will exercise their "ability to visualize sequential series of shapes over time."
Splice: Tree of Life is a 284 MB download priced at $9.99.
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
AppleInsider Staff
Chip Loder
Malcolm Owen
23 Comments
What?! Not Google Maps?!.... Bwahahahahaha
[yes... I realized later it was for OSX... oh well]
I guess I don't buy enough apps because I never hear about any of these winners or runners up until they are announced.
I guess I don't buy enough apps because I never hear about any of these winners or runners up until they are announced.
Same here.
Heard about Splice, though. I adore how it looks, and I'd love to see a different type of game done with its art style. Never been big on that kind of puzzle game, though.
That's all good and well, but there's little doubt that the REAL 'app of the year' will prove to be [B]Google Maps[/B]. ... and it's only been out ([I]saving users from the justly lambasted Apple Maps[/I]) for a day! Anyway... Been using the [B]Day One[/B] (iPad version) for some time and it is excellent. Update: Just installed [B]Splice: Tree of Life[/B] and WOW - Very, very nice!
Day One: does it also sync with any of the online journaling community sites? If not, why would any of their members want this app if it means maintaining separate journals?