

Slice HD: you will hurt your fingers on your iPad - ivank
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/reviews/2011/03/slice-hd-you-will-hurt-your-fingers-on-your-ipad.ars

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Tycho
I've _got_ to try this. I love it when people come up with really original
stuff for the iPad like this.

edit: bought it, great fun. the touch interaction works the way you need it to
(ie. more advanced than most touch apps) so you can come up with lots of
different techniques to beat the levels. when you get cut it does cause a
slight 'aaaahh!' reaction and withdrawal of fingers. you get kicked back a
level if you get cut, but hey, no pain no game.

~~~
barredo
I'm stuck at level 16 or so, I had to use my nose to touch the red button in
one level because I ran out of fingers. Amazing game.

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twodayslate
Use your nose?

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jf
The iPad has no way of knowing your nose isn't a finger!

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erikig
There are other appendages that could also be useful...just saying.

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spullara
Don't put that anywhere near this game if you don't want your life to flash
before your eyes.

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erikig
I was talking about toes :^)

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moblivu
A true tablet game! Not another try at porting a console or PC gameplay like a
First or Third person shooter on this form-factor. This is something that you
need a touchscreen device to experience at best. Simply amazing as is the
execution!

~~~
TillE
It's novel, but it's still fundamentally a toy. How long are you going to play
with it in total, an hour?

I'm all for innovation, but stuff like this is no substitute for real games.

~~~
ugh
What's a real game? What do you mean by that?

This is a video game like any other video game, saying that it's no "real"
game is nothing more than a veiled insult. You should explain the difference,
then you can start insulting.

~~~
amalcon
There's no denying that there's a difference between this and (something like)
Civilization. It won't hurt anyone to recognize that this is a completely
different sort of game, so long as we don't jump to the conclusion that that's
a bad thing.

There's certainly room for this sort of thing, just as there's room for horror
flicks in a world with Citizen Kane. There absolutely is: they are entirely
different products. I'm not going to play this when I want a thinking sort of
game, and I'm not going to play Civilization when I only have fifteen minutes.

~~~
moblivu
Compare with numbers:

A "real" game like you say costs around 40$. It is a very well known gameplay
(RTS,FPS,RPG,MMORPG,etc.) but in different clothing. You might play with it
for 2-3 months.

Slice HD is a unique gameply, a new experience. You will have a heck lot of
fun playing it because it is something fresh that you interact with. I may not
be an iPad fan, but the thing is that your 1 month with this whole new game
and experience only costs 3$.

For 40$ you can buy multiple amazing games with new dynamics while supporting
some indie developpers. It sure wont replace those "big game" but for the
price and the fun, it can't be matched!

~~~
officemonkey
Also, I can totally see you taking this out when you have friends over and
passing it around, making this more of a true "game" (where there is social
interaction) than something like "Civilization".

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some1else
Cool trick, but the blood spatter could be done a lot better. From what I can
see, blood just "grows out of" the point of contact, and a general splat
appears all over the screen. I hope knife velocity impacts the blood splat in
the next version.

~~~
calbear81
I think that would be more realistic but it might also lose some of that "pow"
effect when you get sliced if you saw a dribble of blood pool up then slowly
expand outward. Does the iPad have a vibrate function? If it does, I think it
would add to it if it vibrated when it hit your finger.

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robg
Simulation at its best! Great app!

Here's a popular story of the "hand" study:
<http://www.postgazette.com/healthscience/19980219bhand1.asp>

Here's the paper:
[http://www.pni.princeton.edu/ncc/publications/1998/Botvinick...](http://www.pni.princeton.edu/ncc/publications/1998/BotvinickCohen1998Nature.pdf)

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nickolai
Sounds cool. Makes my hands feel uneasy just reading it.

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markkanof
Agreed. The game definitely creates an engrossing environment. I was cringing
just watching the video and thinking about my fingers getting sliced.

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leoc
Seems Ramachandran <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vilayanur_S._Ramachandran>
-inspired, right?

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crocowhile
Thought the very same thing.

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6ren
One of the few apps that really makes use of _multi_ -touch.

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leftnode
It's like Twister but for your fingers and with knives. For $3, I love it.

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bigiain
I'm finding myself fascinated and curious about the review...

What a great spin "I was anxiously waiting my review cide, then realized it's
three freaking dollars, so I bought it myself". That's
marketing/PR/psychological manipulation gold! I'd love to hear aout the
process that lead to Ars publishing that for them. Was it just pure dumb luck
on the reviewers part? Was it a "primed" phrase from the developers? Or was it
part of a carefully planned and highly skilled marketing/PR campaign?

I _really_ like it!

I might even buy the game...

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jhuckestein
I just tried this and I endorse every aspect of the game. I reached lvl 15 and
I had to call my roommate in to help me on one level (yea yea cheating ... :()

I do think they should include more boobie traps though. Most levels I played
were easy to solve mechanically. I want to be scared to touch ANY part of the
screen.

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heffay
What a great concept. For $3, I'm all over it. Great use of the multi touch
features

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geophile
Killer app

~~~
arctangent
Sharp comments like this are the reason I read HN ;-)

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cambriar
Great job! Definitely creates an environment of fear for the player, just
watching the video gave me that 'oh my gosh I'm cutting a lime' feeling.

We HN readers know it takes more than an original idea to shock and awe, nice
work on the execution!

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risico
For apps like this it's worth to buy an iPad.

~~~
tomjen3
If that's the case, then this might be the first killer app for the ipad. And
the first killer app I have seen in a very long time.

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roadnottaken
Anybody figure out how to get past level 10?

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Tycho
You must 'walk' two fingers in the corners like a treadmill, to draw the
spikes back far enough (as long as at least one finger is down at all times it
won't spring back), and then time your finger press to the rhythm to avoid the
shunting guillotine and hit the exposed button.

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greattypo
Anyone else beat it? I'm still not sure what exactly happened in that last
level..

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edanm
Looks amazing.

No iPhone version :(

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prawn
Get all your fingers on the screen and it might be a little tough to see what
was left to do.

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erikig
The iPhone version is strictly for masochists.

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kmfrk
It's like a Mikado 2.0.

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zrgiu
wow.. just amazing. Cutting-edge, like someone on ars said

