One of the App Store’s true classics and our 2010 Game of the Year Space Miner: Space Ore Bust (Free) is finally getting a big, modern update very soon. We first heard of this new update, which developer Venan Entertainment is dubbing the “Platinum Edition" update, back in November, and this week we’ve learned that it’s finally in the hands of Apple waiting for review, possibly even coming as early as this week.
Space Miner was pretty good about updating to add new features over the first year it was available, gaining things like Game Center support, visual improvements and bug fixes, but it’s been sorely neglected since late 2011. Originally, Venan had planned on updating the game for the latest screen sizes and for iOS 8 and call it a day, but once they started digging in they went and decided to add a bunch of new content as well.
What was supposed to take a couple of weeks ended up taking almost three months, but it sounds like it will be well worth the wait. There’s an entirely new 16 sector scenario called “Skar’s Revenge" which takes place immediately after the events at the end of the game. They’ve also updated the ship models to be higher resolution, and there’s a brand new ship hull along with new high-end equipment, new levels and new enemies. There’s even a new asteroid type, and as Venan puts it, “players are going to LOVE (hate) those!" Here’s a screen comparing the old ship visuals (inset) with the new, followed by a look at the new ship hull and the new asteroid type. Click any image to enlarge.
Now, as you might know Space Miner is old-school enough that it was originally released as two separate apps, one for iPhone and one for iPad. The intention is to make the game Universal, but as we’ve seen before, this can be tricky with two versions. Venan will be taking a page out of Rockstar’s book and similar to what they did with GTA: Chinatown Wars last December they’ll be updating both the iPhone and iPad versions of Space Miner with the new content and Universal support. The iPhone version will be renamed Space Miner: Platinum Edition while the iPad version will be known as Space Miner: Space Ore Bust – iPad. Like Chinatown Wars, the original iPad-only version will eventually be removed from the App Store to avoid confusion, but the important thing is that all owners of either version will get the shiny new Space Miner update.
As mentioned, the update is currently in Apple’s hands, and could arrive at pretty much any time. As I write this just before bed, I’m hoping I’ll awake to the pleasant surprise of the new update waiting for me, but I’m sure that’s been a bit too optimistic. But at least we won’t have too long to wait until we can relive the adventures of Space Miner on our latest iOS devices, and what a glorious time that will be.
