Posts tagged with "games"

Angry Birds Maker: “Apple Will Be Number One For A Long Time”

Peter Vesterbacka, the “mighty eagle” at Rovio, thinks Apple is going to sit at the number one spot of mobile platforms for a long time. Angry Birds is, quite possibly, the most successful game that has ever landed in the App Store: more than 50 millions of copies sold, an equally popular iPad version that has been recently updated, a rumored sequel already in the works which will feature a “pig point of view”, Angry Birds cases at Apple Store. If that’s not enough, Rovio is launching its own pig-based mobile payment system.

Yes, true story. Read more

App Store’s Christmas Brings Millions of Downloads to Developers

All those new iPhone and iPod touch users tracked by the official Facebook app? Yeah, the spike in traffic and new users isn’t limited just to the Facebook app. According to numbers reported by The Next Web and Business Insider, Rovio’s blockbuster iOS game Angry Birds and Tapulous’ Tap Tap Revenge 4 generated over 1 million downloads and twice the level of traffic of last year, respectively. Put simply: this year’s App Store and iOS growth showed its results on December 25th by bringing tons of new customers and downloads to apps that already managed to gain a prominent position in the Store. Or was it because of all those people that got an iPhone, iPod touch or iPad under their Christmas trees?

A little bit of both, in my opinion. Surely lots of people got an iDevice for Christmas and rushed to the App Store to buy apps; we shouldn’t ignore the fact, though, that several developers discounted their apps before the iTunes Connect shutdown (which ends tomorrow, by the way) forcing many users like me to save money for Christmas (or iTunes gift cards) and buy apps altogether right before the family dinner. Either way, those are impressive numbers. Read more

Fruit Ninja Lite, N.O.V.A. 2 for iPad Now Available

Together with an update to Infinity Blade, two other popular games for iPhone and iPad were updated last night. First off, Gameloft finally released an iPad version of N.O.V.A. 2, which as you can guess is simply called N.O.V.A. 2 HD. The app isn’t universal, but at least it’s sold at the same price of the iPhone counterpart. The features are the same (improved graphics, new weapons, better AI, new multiplayer mode) and the game, like the first N.O.V.A., is “just” bigger on the iPad.

Your call if that’s a good thing or not – I personally can’t play first-person shooters on the iPad so well.

Also, Halfbrick Studios released Fruit Ninja Lite for iPhone and iPad (Fruit Ninja HD Lite), two free samples of the smashing mobile hits. The “lite” versions offer most of the game modes of the paid apps, but come with limitations (for example, only a few achievements) so you can try before you buy.

Check out Fruit Ninja Lite and other discounted Halfbrick Studios on the team’s App Store page.

Secret of Mana for iPhone Goes Live Internationally, Coming To The U.S. Tonight

Secret of Mana, also known to the Nintendo nerds among us as Seiken Densetsu 2, was an action RPG for the Super Nintendo release by Square in 1993. I remember playing this as a kid on my SNES, and I remember the pleasure of playing it again a decade later on a modded PSP through a SNES emulator. Secret of Mana is considered one of the best games ever released on Nintendo’s 16-bit consoles, or one of Square’s finest action RPGs, period.

The fact that Secret of Mana still holds up to most similar games 17 years after its original release says a lot about the current status of role-playing games and the excellence of Square’s team back in the golden days. Still, let’s focus on yet another comeback of SoM, this time on the iPhone. Which is the same Secret of Mana you know and love, only with a couple of virtual buttons on screen to move you character, attack and change weapon. Yes, the Ring Command menu system from the original game is still there. Nothing else seems to be different.

The game is now live in most international App Stores and will likely become available in the US in 3 hours.

Back to the Future: The Game Coming To The Mac This Week

Great news, Back to the Future fans and Mac owners: you’re getting a BTTF game for the Mac this week. Telltale Games announced the release date of “Back to the Future: The Game” last week, and it looks like the BTTF franchise will get a series of games for Mac and PC that will be made available as “episodes” from December through summer 2011. The first episode called “It’s about time” is coming out this week, on Wednesday. Just in time for Christmas.

First off, those who pre-ordered the game will get a free copy of Puzzle Agent and will also contribute a 1 dollar donation to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research. As for the game, it seems like it’ll be based 6 months after the ending of BTTF 3, and it will be an adventure where you’ll control Marty in his effort to go back in time and find Emmett Brown. Telltale says the game has been developed with the fans of the movie in mind, it will feature alternate timelines and will be the first game for Mac and PC where space and time continuum really matters.

Sounds exciting to you? I’m just worried about the episodic nature of this game series – I never liked games released in episodes. Still, this is Back to the Future we’re talking about and Telltale is well-known for creating sweet gems. Which means I’ll be waiting eagerly for the game to come out on Wednesday.

Backflip Games: 20 Million Monthly Active Users

Backflip Studios is a profitable game development team. In the past two years they pulled out hits like Paper Toss and NinJump, and they’re making half a million dollars per month through in-game advertising. That’s a remarkable result, especially considering that when the app’s free, most developers struggle to find a sustainable business model.

Clearly that’s not the case with Backflip which, according to a report from Mobile Ent, has now ninjumped to 20 million active users per month. Active users, not just people who open the App Store to download apps.

Mobile game developer Backflip Studios says it has now racked up more than 65 million downloads of its games across iOS and Android.

The company had more than 20 million monthly active users last month, and more than two million daily active users.

Backflip isn’t stopping anytime soon. The company has recently started porting its portfolio of iPhone games to Android devices, with NinJump already available in the Marketplace. Backflip released another game today, Backflip Slots, which is another take on the classic slot machine game with fancy graphics and the usual Backflip style.

Who’s going to buy Backflip Studios?

Invaders Corruption Mutates Invaders With Geometry Wars

I like to hunt down different indie games that fulfill the ever growing desire to feast my eyes on well made, yet simple titles that are available on a variety of platforms so that even our Windows readers can take part in all the fun. But mostly I’m just looking for some casual pixel love for my midnight Mac gaming cravings. Last week I came across Invader Corruption, where a unique name creates an individual gaming experience so that no two games are quite the same. What starts off as a boring and possibly mundane shooter ends up being compelling and totally addictive. Shoot past the break to learn more about this frantic free title.

Read more

Sony Announces Official PlayStation App Coming To The iPhone

Good news, PlayStation fans and Marcus aficionados: there’s an official PlayStation app coming soon to an iPhone near you. As Sony reveals on the official European PlayStation Blog, the app will be available soon for iPhones and iPod touches running iOS 4 and Android devices running 1.6 and above.

The app will let you check on the PSN for your trophies and friends’ status updates, read news about games and hardware for PS devices, get the latest updates from the official PlayStation Blog. It will also have Facebook and Twitter sharing built-in.

The first version of the app will be released in UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, and The Netherlands. The next version, already in the works, will support more countries and languages.

If you’re looking for something more than a simple app to check on the PlayStation Network, the PlayStation Phone is still real.

Firemint Releases Flight Control Free, Updates Real Racing With Game Center Support

December 16th has been a day to remember for the folks at Firemint. Not only did they release Real Racing 2 for iPhone (which is collecting rave reviews from all the major game blogs), they also updated the original Real Racing with Game Center support and released a free version of Flight Control.

Real Racing for iPhone, available here at $4.99, now comes with full Game Center integration: the app now comes with 4-player online multiplayer (instead of Real Racing 2 16-player mode), leaderboards, achievements, random matches and in-game results. Considering that Real Racing has been around for months, it’s great that Firemint is still giving its previous customers support and updates. Of course, if you want the real multiplayer you’ll have to go with Real Racing 2, which is available at $9.99 here.

Flight Control Free for iPhone is basically a version of the popular game with less maps, achievements – less everything. It’s cool if you’ve never tried Flight Control in your lifetime, but I’m usually not so excited about free versions with limitations. Still, it’s available here.