'FarmVille,' 'Guitar Hero' highlight new App Store arrivals

While the announcement of Apple's forthcoming iPhone 4 dominated buzz at the computing giant's annual Worldwide Developers Conference, the WWDC stage also made room for Apple partners including social gaming phenom Zynga and movie rental service provider Netflix, both of which announced plans to release new iPhone applications in the weeks ahead. According to Zynga CEO Mark Pincus, the firm's FarmVille--a wildly popular real-time social farm simulator played by 70 million gamers per month, about 67 million of them on the Facebook platform--will arrive for iPhone in late June. Pincus promised the iPhone version will include all the hallmarks of the FarmVille experience, enabling players to make in-app purchases to acquire seeds, animals, buildings, decorations and vehicles.

Pincus' WWDC appearance followed Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, who announced his company will introduce a free iPhone application later this summer. Hastings said that Netflix's streaming video application for Apple's iPad, introduced in early April, is the entertainment app most downloaded by owners of the tablet device. iPad service is included free as part of existing Netflix memberships, promising unlimited viewing as well as catalog browsing and queue management--in addition, viewers can resume watching a title on their iPad wherever they left off on their TV or computer.

Also confirming its iPhone plans: Activision Publishing, which announced its best-selling Guitar Hero franchise is finally available on Apple smartphones and iPod touch devices. Guitar Hero enables gamers to strum, tap and slide their way through songs like the Rolling Stones' "Paint It Black," the White Stripes' "Seven Nation Army" and Weezer's "Say It Ain't So"--the $2.99 App Store download also features avatar customization, built-in social integration and premium downloads via an in-game music store.

For more on the new App Store titles:
- read this PCWorld article

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