mac.iLounge

The iPhone version came out all the way back in the beginning of 2009, making its way into early iPod gaming TV commercials. Now Illusion Labs has brought Touchgrind (Free) to the Mac through the Mac App Store. If you’re familiar with the original, then you know what this one is all about: use your fingers to control a skateboard and pull off awesome tricks around the park. Except… you’re no longer touching the screen.

Since your Mac’s display isn’t touch-sensitive, Illusion Labs had to come up with another control method, and it chose the most logical solution: Apple’s Magic Trackpad. Your fingers appear as white dots on the skateboard, allowing you to move it around and do all sorts of tricks. In addition to presenting you with a larger default overhead view of the skate park, complete with higher-resolution graphics than on Apple’s pocket devices, the Mac version of TouchGrind also lets you see the entire level in a zoomed-out mode; while you can’t skate in that view, at least you’ll have an idea of where you’re going.