Ars Technica’s Ben Kuchera is reporting from the E3 conference this year and noticed a definite buzz about iPhone gaming at the entertainment conference.
At Kotaku’s party on Sunday night, I asked many people what games they were playing or what they were excited about. To my shock, many people answered with the name of their favorite iPhone game or application.
He describes industry professionals taking the time to show off their favorite iPhone games.
In fact, when talking to Game Developer Conference executive producer Jamil Moledina about what games he found personally exciting, he pulled out his iPhone to show off Dizzy Bee. As Kuchera puts it, “the man behind the Game Developers Conference wanted to make sure I knew about an iPhone game that sells for under $5."
It seems that iPhone gaming has arrived.
I agree, this game is done really well and is a perfect fit for the iPhone. Looking forward to Entry 2! ;)
@oliver: I didn't want to post any spoilers in the video. you should probably start a forum thread for tips. I'm stuck somewhere in level 3. :)
4 levels for 3.99? unless these levels are an hour long each or more, that doesn't sound like a particularly good deal to me.
@ryan the levels can take some time to get through, depending on how well you can navigate the obstacles. There are numerous obstacles in each level. perhaps "stages" is a better word.
i dunno, watched that video briefly and it seems like it was awfully hard to control...or at least it was for that person, lol
I guess I should caveat all our videos with... it's hard to play most games sitting behind a video camera while watching the gameplay on the video screen.
I bought this one because it's indirect competition with our upcoming puzzle/discovery game and I'm glad I did. I really love this game. As a fan of the old Bionic Commando mechanic, I enjoy this physics-based take. Plus, the puzzles feel pretty fresh thanks to those unusual controls.
Seems like the price is just about right. This is a good quality game and the difficulty level ramped up quickly (for me, at least!) So, I was spending a lot of time spinning the gears in my head, which is the fun part! (horrible pun intended, sorry.)
I like it, it take me aprox 20 min for the first level.
Each diary ll cost 3.99 or it ll be free update?
There are four levels. But there are more levels in each level. I think the total level count is about 10.
Does the iPhone's dock connector have a video out, such as for use with the universal dock? One better way of getting videos might be to do something like use a dock extension cable to plug your iPhone into a universal dock (or even just hold the iPhone while in one) and then hook the universal dock's video output to your capture device (and meanwhile also have a camera pointed at your hands so you can do a little inset showing what you're doing with them or something).
You wouldn't be able to convey tilt so well but at least you'd be able to play the game more reasonably while providing better video quality.
Oh, actually, you don't have to do anything even that complex - Apple's current video out solution is just a dock connector cable, with both component and composite versions available.
Actually, showing the tilt controls is very important so give an idea of how easy/difficult it is to play. Ditto with showing touch controls... the Star Wars game images looked great, but watching someone play it showed how repetitive it is, and other than portrait/landscape, tilt and rotation weren't implemented at all, which wouldn't be evident from a direct video feed...
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clarified the level thing in the review. called them stages and indicated multiple sections to each stage.
@fluffy: I bought the video-out cable hoping I could use it to capture video of my own game, but AFAICS it's only for iPod usage (playing music, or videos). I don't you can capture the interface or other applications with it, though it may be hackable, who knows..
I purchased tears game this morning and enjoyed the wonderful and immersive gameplay. The only problem I see with this game is that it is relativle short. You end up paying about $1.00 per level each taking about 10-15 minutes to play once you get used to the controls. I am however looking forward to the next episodes.
Amazing!!!!! Buying that!!! Sold. It looks so polished and it's not $9.99 which is always cool with me. I hope this game does well and I'm cool with it being short. I mean it's only about $3.99 which is fine for a short game.
Looks great and I love the genre but the price seems a bit much for the replayability. I'll wait until the price drops or they bundle up "episode" 1 and 2.
But what about episode 3? You don't want that one? ;)
Yeh, i bought this...lasted about 40 minutes of gameplay and now it's complete.. not worth the money in my opinion. Don't get me wrong it a fantastic idea and the controls are excellent, but WAY to short.
Dude, ^^ You unlocked all the memories? I can't get the last one, I'm missing one of those chips. :(
WOW adam!
very impressive. Most have stated an hour+.5 for playtime. We were aiming for an average of one hour for E1. E2 will see an increase in the average playtime, additional features and puzzles, and of course, the continuing story of our lil hero.
I find it funny that some people are finding it too easy, and yet pocketgamer rated it an 8 because they found it difficult. That said, some people will just 'get it'; some people wont. What we had to do was find that balance of not too short/easy or too long/hard.
cheers again.
Shylo
The standard naming convention (per Mario) is "Worlds" divided into "Levels."
I was sold on it, until I read that it's only four levels. I just dunno if I can bring myself to pay $3.99 for that...
It's 4 Chapters and 9 levels actually.
Not quite Umihara Kawase, but looks interesting.
not a gamer and I'm totally immersed in this game, can't put it down - but am stuck at the pop gun, I assume I'm supposed to load it with the yellow and black striped cap but I can't grab it - what am I missing?
To "tgf":
you have to load the pop gun with YOU. You are the bullet so get in the gun after you cock it (and before it fires). Takes about 3-4 hits to eliminate boss.
Some of you are some cheap ass people. I mean i've given more to homeless people, ive definitely tipped more than that, and in ireland we dont have a gratuity fee down the bottom of our bills, I haven't played the game, though im looking forward to it in a minute. i mean think about how much you'd pay for 4 worlds (I do believe this is the correct terminology) of mario if nintendo was 3rd party. Dont get me wrong though, mario games own everything, well except the franchise ones, like mario golf and there was that supermario brothers 2 mixup... but thats not my point. YOUR CHEAP!
so wait with the next episodes we are gonna have to pay another 3.99 why not give a discount to those who already paid for the first one
Unfortunately adam, the Apps store is not set up to handle that sort of business structure...yet.
We would be unable to provide any discount through the apps store to previous purchasers.
Releasing an "update" that adds levels/functionality could be free. The app store currently supports this feature. Let's not hide behind "the app store won't allow updates to be free" excuse-especially if not true.
@Mark the game was released as a $3.99 episode. no more, no less. I don't see why people are asking for free sequels when it's clear what the business model is.
@arn I'm not saying the sequels should be free; in fact I bought the first one and would be more than happy to pay for three more episodes @ 3.99 each being that the game is so good. The comment about the app store not supporting discounted future updates (btw, free is a type of discount in my book) is not entirely accurate, that's all.
Hi Mark,
The original question was not if we would provide updates for free or at a discount; but if we were going to provide the next episode at a discount for those that bought the first episode.
The second episode is not an update on the first, it is a completely new game in the sense of download off the apps store.
So in the current system of the apps store, we can not know (in a secure fashion) if you downloaded the first episode to allow for a discounted price on the second.
That being said, there is no way to currently allow for a discount to previous purchasers via apps store.
@Shylo I think your game is great, and I understand what you are saying. Keep up the good work.
I find people don't think about prices a lot.
It's $3.99 for an 1-2 hours of fun, and you think that's over priced.
Yet you pay that much or more for an star bucks coffee in the morning and drink it in 10-15 minutes.
Or you pay more then that for parking in some cases.
It's all relative, complaining about something under $10 is just there to complain I think, I'm sure you can manage $4 in pocket change :)
love the game stuck on the end boss at the moment. Then I'll go back and do it agai. To get all the chips.
I'm happy with the $3.99 per episode deal, fine by me. Keep it up!
I only ask that the difficulty keeps ramping, eg I don't want the strart of entry 2 to be easy, it should follow on.
wow. It's amazing on how many of you all have iPhone/iTouchs' but aren't willing to pay only $3.99 for a fantastic game.
Honestly, if your going to pay a couple 100 of dollars for the phone, why not use it to the fullest