Well, the theme today appears to be 3D versions of existing favorites. StormBASIC has submitted a game for approval that some have superficially described as a fully 3D iDracula [App Store].

Seven days. Only Seven Days to the coming of the Apocalypse!. An unknown virus, called 'S-Virus', is killing and turning into zombies all the population. But there is a hope for the future, Dr. Cupper has found the possible source of infection. Your mission: Protect her while she develops & synthesize an antidote to contain the virus. Prepare yourself to the more intense 3D game for iPhone/iPod Touch!

7 Days of Apocalypse is a 3D survival shooter that offers a two-wheel control scheme allowing you to independently control movement and shooting. Features listed by the developer include:

• Intense 3D action
• Different Weapons: Guns, Plasma and Chainsaws.
• History mode.
• Survival mode.
• Different 3D game view: Back camera and Perspective.
• Autosave feature. You can leave the game and continue after at the same point

History mode offers 7 days (levels) with progressively difficult goals. The game itself allows you to switch between Bird's Eye and Back camera views.

The developers have also provided this gameplay video showing the action:

The game has been submitted and should appear shortly at a $1.99 introductory price.

Last night Polarbit released Iron Sight [App Store] a turn-based trajectory battle game akin to Worms or iShoot [App Store] but in three dimensions.

TouchArcade's Big Albie provides his first impressions from the game:

If you’ve ever wanted to play a good 3D version of iShoot, Iron Sight is it. I’ll be the first to say that it exceeded my expectations in terms of graphics, animation and just the layout of the game. The sound effects and edgy music complement the game pretty well. The storyline is that the human race has been taken over by the Corporation which is run by robots. As part of the Rebellion, you are the human race fighting for survival and battling the evil Corporation.

The game comes with single player and multi-player modes and offers three levels of difficulty: easy, medium and hard.

In single player, there are both campaign and single mission modes. Campaign has 8 levels that are unlocked as you play.

The game uses a virtual d-pad to move your vehicles with buttons to change weapons, change trajectory and fire your weapon. The longer you hold the fire button, the farther your weapon will launch. Terrain map, battlefield view mode and weapon power gauges help you target your shot.

Weapons include Basic, Cluster, Shrapnel, Hydra, and Homing. There is also Artillery Support which sprays a variety of weapons fire, and Teleport which allows you to deploy squad units.

Albie found the game to be particularly enjoyable:

The graphics and animation are great. From the damage and destruction shown in the vehicles (you can actually see damage and blown circuits) to the various landscapes, the game is very polished. The gameplay itself is turn-based, and I found that the Corporation is the stronger of the two, and you can experience that for yourself. Your opponent moves a lot so you'll be fiddling with your controls and maneuvering to protect yourself. The controls are very responsive and accurate based on my settings, and you also receive weapons drops in the form of crates throughout the level. Once you complete or lose a level, a statistics page shows such things as # of successful missile hits, remaining shields, and accuracy. The one shortcoming of Iron Sight is that it does not track high scores local or online as far as I can tell. Plus because the game is new, my guess is not too many people are online just yet.

More positive reactions in the discussion thread and the developer's gameplay video:

The game is on sale for $0.99 for the first 10 days of its release.

App Store Link: Iron Sight, $0.99

Pixel Mine Games contacted us the other day about their upcoming action RPG title Underworlds for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

The company describes it as a throw-back to classic dungeon crawling RPG adventure games. In Underworlds you play a guard who has been asked to help discover the source behind mysterious activities happening around the town.

The game is an action-RPG that features a classic Dungeons & Dragons level up system with feats and stat boosts. Your avatar can be controlled either by using the virtual D-Pad or by tapping in the game world to move and perform actions.

Retro gaming fans will be pleased to hear that, at long last (after five weeks in the approval queue), Madgarden's Choplifter-inspired rescue action shooter Saucelifter [link] is now available in the App Store.

A peaceful interstellar mission-gone-wrong has left your crewmates stranded, and in the hands of an aggressive Earth military! Now, your mastery of superior flying-saucer technology is their only hope for survival.

Will you rescue the helpless captives and beam them home to safety.. or will Earth's mechanized military madness result in your total destruction?

Gameplay involves flying your saucer to the Earth prison barracks, blasting open the doors, picking up your captive crewmates, and dropping them off at the transporter where they're beamed safely back to your alien world.  This is made challenging by evil Earth forces, including tanks, laser turrets, and flying attack drones.  As can be seen in the demo video, the action can get pretty intense.

Features as listed by the developer:

• Addictive, pick-up-and-play action (no annoying dialogs or interruptions)
• Silky-smooth, crisp vector graphics
• Dynamic stereo sound effects, and lots of 'em
• Accelerometer-controlled flying saucer! (what else do you really need?)
• Easy auto-calibration of tilt controls
• Superior alien 3-way touch-firing technology
• Easy-to-follow Tutorial Mode
• Multiple difficulty levels
• High scores
• Listen to your music while you play

Author Paul Pridham indicates that a version 1.1 update adds skyline variation (night / day), new enemy superguns, and various graphics and sound updates and will be submitted next week.  And he assures us that the updates won't end there.  (There's even talk of extra secret sauce...)

Granted, I'm a rather die hard retro gaming fan, but I've had the release build of Saucelifter on my iPhone for a month and a half and, right now, it's in my personal top-five.  It is a retro title, but its solid action should appeal to many action gamers outside of the retro camp.

See our gameplay video and decide for yourself.

[ Full HD version | Low Bandwidth version ]

Thinking the game was on the verge of going live, we posted a review of this release version back in March.  Have a look.

App Store Link: Saucelifter, $1.99

Two well known iPhone developers came out with new games yesterday.

Phil Hassey's Cosmic Nitro

Phil Hassey released his third iPhone game to the App Store yesterday: Cosmic Nitro [App Store]. Hassey is best known for his fast-paced strategy game Galcon [App Store] which won the IGF award for best mobile game design.

Hassey shared his thoughts about the game design:

I really wanted a cool feeling retro game that didn't require me to think hard .. Galcon is sort of a thinking arcade-strategy game, and I wanted to try something that was more just mindless eye candy. The big thing I was going for is - the instant reward of touching the screen and having stuff explode and have it feel good I find it fun to just blast stuff .. makes me feel happy.

The developer's gameplay video is provided:

Forum Thread: Discussion
App Store Link: Cosmic Nitro, $0.99

Nimblebit's Sky Burger

Nimblebit (formerly Ian Marsh) is perhaps best known for their simple accelerometer game Scoops [App Store] and their leisurely word game Textropolis [App Store].

Their latest release is a refinement on the Scoops formula which involves the use of an accelerometer to capture falling items (in this case, burger ingredients) but with specific goals. The game has already generated quite a following in our forums.

Gameplay video:

[ Full HD version | Low Bandwidth version ]

Forum Thread: Discussion
App Store Link: Sky Burger, $0.99

When Noel Llopis of SnappyTouch first emailed us a preview of his upcoming iPhone application Flower Garden [App Store], my response to him was "it doesn't quite look like a game."

What that was technically accurate, the app does fall into the same sim/virtual pet type experiences that have boosted "toy" apps such as Koi Pond and Pocket God to the heights of popularity in the App Store. We finally met Noel at GDC 2009 and thought his app was something special and so we decided to highlight it here.

Noel's Flower Garden app is just that -- a virtual flower garden in your iPhone. You can plant different types of seeds, water them and watch them bloom. Some flowers bloom immediately, while others may take some care over time. Once you have a collection of flowers, you can even cut them and send them to your friends in an electronic bouquet.

There's no real goal to Flower Garden, though there are various seeds you can unlock as you grow more flowers. The video shows the impressive level of detail offered in the app (though the music is not included):

Future updates include the possibility of cross-pollination to create your own flower hybrids.

App Store Link: Flower Garden, $2.99

Legendary programmer Steve Capps, well known for authoring the Macintosh Finder and his work on the Newton OS, has released AliceX [App Store] an iPhone version of the first Macintosh game, Alice or Through the Looking Glass.

In honor of the 25th anniversary of the Macintosh, Steve Capps wrote a new game inspired by Through the Looking Glass. Relive the early days of Mac and discover what happens when Alice falls onto a chessboard.

Capps, who was part of Apple's Lisa team after leaving Xerox, originally wrote Alice as a Lisa application.  Original Macintosh team member Andy Hertzfeld's Folklore.org describes the game and tells its backstory.

The screen turned black and then, after a few seconds delay, a three dimensional chess board in exaggerated perspective filled most of the screen. On the rear side of the board was a set of small, white chess pieces, in their standard positions. Suddenly, pieces started jumping into the air, in long, slow parabolic arcs, growing larger as they got closer.

Soon there was one specimen of each type of piece, all rather humanoid looking except for the tower-like rook, lined up on the front rank of the board, waiting for the player to click on one to start the game. The player would be able to move like the piece they chose, so it was prudent to click on the queen, at least at first.

The pieces jumped back to their natural positions on the far side of the board, and an image of a young girl in an old fashioned dress floated down to the front row, which represented Alice from Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking Glass" books, drawn in the style of the classic John Tenniel illustrations. The player controlled Alice and viewed the board from her perspective, facing away from the player so you only saw her from the rear.

Likely, few of our readers have spent time with Alice and we're glad to see new life breathed into this rare and unique game.  A free, "lite" Javacsript version can be played on the game's homepage.

App Store Link: AliceX, $1.99

[ via Macworld ]

MLB.com has released an official Major League Baseball World Series 2009 game into the App Store [link]. The $7.99 offers players an officially licensed product featuring 30 Major League Clubs and four MLB ballparks.

Game features include:

• Multi-Touch Pitching Mechanics - Choose between fastball, curve, change-up or slider and swipe correctly to execute the perfect pitch
• Accelerometer Targeting: Tilt the device to aim your pitch and line up your swing.
• World Series mode, Season mode, Exhibition mode
• Fielding modes - let the computer play defense or switch to manual for an added challenge

We've included a number of screenshots from the game (click thumbnails to enlarge):

[ Full HD version | Low Bandwidth version ]

The game itself allows you to play a season from the start or straight to the World Series. Games can be setup with different teams and substitutions can be made mid-game based on player stats or fatigue. The video shows off batting and pitching.

Batting is performed using the accelerometer to match the ball while pressing the "swing" button at the right moment. Pitching is performed using swipe gestures which influence power and accuracy of your pitches. Accelerometer controls also help target the location of your pitches.

Fielding can be performed automatically (the default), but if you're interested in more of a challenge, you can turn this to "manual" and then decide where to throw the ball after it's hit. The embedded video shows manual fielding.

An ongoing discussion thread has some first impressions. As noted by one forum user, individual player names are not included in this game, only team names.

App Store Link: MLB World Series 2009, $7.99

Ngmoco has launched two teaser sites for their upcoming games: Star Defense and Rolando 2.

The Rolando 2 site features an island/ship theme and will reveal new characters, new environments and new gameplay from their sequel to their popular game. The game is due in 'Summer 2009'. Matt from Ngmoco posted in our forums a few more details about the game:

Yes, there will be new enemies in the Rolando 2, as well as a host of new characters with unique personalities. The story in Rolando 2 is going to play a huge part in who those characters are -- we are going to release more info each week about the story as well as video, screenshots and info on the gameplay features we're working on.

And yes, the King is back and the Royal Family has grown a bit

BTW: most of this one doesn't take place in Rolandoland... it's set on the other side of the world. The graphics will also have a new look that may surprise you... more details on that coming soon.

In an effort to promote the game, Ngmoco has also revealed they will be submitting new levels and updates to the original Rolando and Rolando Lite titles each week until Rolando 2 launches.

The Star Defense teaser site has been up for a couple of weeks and offers a theatrical trailer for the game. We had a hands on game video from Star Defense back in March.

Firemint has today announced details of coming updates to its charming little airspace management game, Flight Control [App Store, $0.99].

The first update, which should appear in the App Store by April 24, will bring:

• Online highscores – by far the most requested feature, Flight Control will receive online leaderboards with a simple but clever design, to cater for many of the different ways people are playing. Firemint will use its cloudcell.com technology to go beyond a simple list of names and high scores and offer location based leaderboards and a skill based ranking system. Cloudcell.com has already been used in I-Play’s Fast & Furious game and will also be used in Firemint’s upcoming title Firemint Real Racing.
• Save game – if the app exits mid-game (for example, closing with the Home button or receiving a phone call) the player will be able to pick up exactly where they left off.

Firemint will follow with additional updates that add new airports and aircraft to the mix.

We took a look at Flight Control shortly after it's release and found it to be an incredibly fun game offering easy, pick-up gameplay that's hard to put down.  It remains one of our all time favorite iPhone games.

Flight Control is currently the #1 paid app in the iTunes App Store and Firemint CEO Robert Murray indicates the company has no intention of letting the game fade.

As long as people keep buying the game and loving it, we will keep supporting it. We’re putting in place a framework that will allow us to add new content more quickly in the future.

Flight Control is one not to be missed.

App Store Link: Flight Control, $0.99

When people ask me what I think about certain games, all too often my commentary includes “…and it would be really great if it had some kind of online multiplayer.”

Xpressed has knocked my socks off with UniWar [App Store]. The game is by no means perfect, but for the current promotional price of 99¢, it’s impossible to pass up if you’re even remotely interested in turn based strategy games.

UniWar tips its hat at both the StarCraft and Advance Wars series with three playable races that each have slightly different advantages and disadvantages while waging a turn based war on a hex grid.

(more...)

William 'Trip' Hawkins III was the Director of Strategy and Marketing at Apple when he left in 1982 to form software house Electronic Arts which, during his tenure, became the world's largest video game publisher (and today, remains one of the world's leading publishers).  He left EA in the early '90s to form 3DO which, thanks to Sony and the Playstation, was a venture of rather less sucess.

As mobile devices began seeing widespread use, Hawkins formed mobile game development company Digital Chocolate in 2003.  The now 350 person, San Mateo, CA-based company has developed games for a wide variety of mobile handsets and has received a number of accolades, including the Best Developer of the Year awards from both IGN and Mobile Entertainment.

And while four of the five iPhone games Digital Chocolate has released for the iPhone since December have hit No. 1 in the App Store -- no small feat -- Hawkins admits to VentureBeat that the company was late to the game with the iPhone.

The iPhone for us was a spectacularly pleasant surprise. We had no idea it was going to be as good for us as it turned out to be.

Hawkins indicates that the iPhone presents a rare opportunity for Digital Chocolate and that it is really incomparable as a game platform to the myriad of mobile handsets on the market.

It’s by far our most effective platform. We make as much money with these games on one device as we do putting a game on 100 different cell phone platforms. Between the iPod Touch and the iPhone, I think the platform is freaking out Sony and Nintendo. Apple has sold 30 million units so far and it has created tremendous awareness. It has taken ground all over the world. But it has only penetrated one half of one percent of its total market.
...
The platform can finally keep up with the things that you want to do. It reminds me of the Sega Genesis, when EA finally had a platform that could keep up with the games we wanted to make.

See VentureBeat's full interview to hear more of Trip Hawkins' thoughts on Apple's mobile games console.

EA has released an ad-supported version of Lemonade Tycoon for free in the App Store [link].

The game originated as a Shockwave-based game and has since been ported to many platforms. The goal of Lemonade Tycoon is to sell lemonade for profit:

Lemonade Tycoon is one of the most in-depth and intensely featured business simulation games available. By applying savvy business strategies and increasing your cash reserves, you can quickly move to the top of your game. Experiment with different tactics to discover the secret recipe for success and save up to six games at once. Manage your business from every aspect imaginable ─ customize location, supplies, and even the climate!

In a break from its existing games, EA has released this game as a free version with "tastefully integrated sponsor messages". Features include:

• Manage an entire business including pricing, inventory and supplies, marketing and advertising, and your own staff!
• Customize weather, supplies and your secret lemonade recipe in an imaginative location, all while maximizing visibility, allure and overall profits
• Multiple customer types with unique, interactive personalities
• Open-ended “Career Mode” and “30-Day Challenge”

App Store Link: Lemonade Tycoon, Free

We run through a large number of iPhone games over the course of a week. Here's a diverse collection of $0.99 games we thought might be of interest. Each individual game may not appeal to everyone, but they are worth taking a look.

Freefall'n

While Bunsentech kindly provided TouchArcade with an early exclusive look at this title, we weren't able to take advantage of it before its release. The game is an accelerometer controlled sky-diving game in which you collect stars during your descent and try to land on the target. This video shows the gameplay:

Forum thread: Discussion
App Store Link: Freefall'n, $0.99

iSprout

Epicore's iSprout is a very interesting game which is perhaps more successful in theory than in practice. The game involves a bee that is cross pollinating flowers. If the bee moves between two flowers of the same color, the flowers breed, but if the bee moves between two flowers of different color, the flower dies. Your only way to influence the action is touching/shaking specific flowers so the bee will avoid those. There's a lite version to try.

Forum Thread: Discussion
App Store Link: iSprout, $0.99

Squares

Squares is a puzzle game in which you try to clear the board of arrows. The video walks through the instructions to the game. Tapping on an arrow will flip the square it is pointing to. Your job is to flip all the arrows while avoiding flipping the same square 3 times. The video explains it best:

Forum Thread: Discuss
App Store Link: Squares, $0.99

Amoebas

Sauce Digital, the developer of Killer Pool [App Store] has gone a different direction with their latest game, Amoebas. The game is a matching game in the vein of Snood with some unique twists.

Forum Thread: Discussion
App Store Link: Amoebas, $0.99

Fishlabs' has updated Galaxy on Fire [App Store] to version 1.1.0 addressing many concerns from the 1.0 release.

The list of changes include:

• Graphics wobbling bug fixed
• Difficulty level adjustable
• Some meshes and texture enhancements
• Accelerometer controls improved
• Touch controls improved
• In-game loading times reduced
• Lead (aiming ahead) support
• Save/load games screen enhanced

The game is an impressive space commerce shooter that takes place in a massive galaxy with hundreds of planets and space stations. Galaxy on Fire is said to offer over 20 hours of gameplay.

The original version of the game generally received positive reviews with the exception that some users found the certain levels far too difficult ("impossible"). The developer has addressed this issue by providing an adjustable slider that can bring the difficulty from 0 to 100%. The 1.0 release was set an equivalent of 60% difficulty while the new version is set to 50% by default.

App Store Link: Galaxy on Fire, $5.99