TouchArcade.ru

Back in late October we posted an update on Elite Systems‘ coming Elite Collection (iPhone) and Elite Collection HD (iPad) apps, which will offer a bundled collection of classic Commodore 8-bit home computer games, as well as an in-app game store for purchasing additional singles and bundled arrangements of games. At that time, Elite indicated that these applications would be delayed due to a trademark complication. We’re now happy to report the studio has informed us that the titles will land in the App Store on Friday, December 16th, and at a one-week promotional launch price of $0.99 each.

As we detailed earlier in October, the Elite Collection apps will come bundled with the following titles:

• Elite Collection Vol. #1:
  • featuring ALTERNATE REALITY: THE CITY and also including
  • Black Magic
  • Alternate Reality: The Dungeon
• Elite Collection Vol. #2:
  • featuring URIDIUM and also including
  • Buggy Boy (a.k.a. Speed Buggy)
  • First Samurai
• Elite Collection Vol. #3:
  • featuring BUNDESLIGA MANAGER and also including
  • Denaris
  • Enforcer: Fullmetal Megablaster
• Additional 8-bit “Singles”:
  • Battleships (a.k.a. Battleship)
  • Frank Bruno’s Boxing
  • Batty

In addition, at launch, there will be 16 more titles available for purchase through the in-app game store. We will provide full details of everything that’s available, as well as a closer look at the collection itself, when the apps land this weekend.

But, for now, know that some of the particular stand-outs include:

• Datasoft’s Bruce Lee
• Palace’s Cauldron
• Gremlin’s Monty on the Run
• Alternative Software’s Skool Daze
• Thalamus’ visually stunning Creatures 2: Torture Trouble

Elite mentions, in their release, that they are committed to improving and furthering the apps in the months ahead, as well as adding to the titles available in the in-app game store. A few of the titles they name as planned / hopeful additions are Archon II: Adept, Stunt Car Racer, Mercenary: Escape from Targ, and M.U.L.E. At the time of the October delay announcement, The Bards Tale (I, II & III), Wasteland, Dragon Wars, and Neuromancer were also named as titles likely to become available through the Elite Collection.

Many of the titles in the coming Elite Collection apps are also being released as stand-alone games. Their most recent round of releases consisted of Denaris, Paradroid, and Alternate Reality: The Dungeon. All of the Elite Collection games feature the studio’s customizable “iDaptive” control system, and iCade support is said to be on the way.

Elite Systems also offers the ZX Spectrum: Elite Collection for the iPhone as well as the iPad, which are collections of ZX Spectrum games along with an associated in-app game store.

[source]

It's been about a year since decades-old studio Elite Systems brought their ZX Spectrum: Elite Collection [iPhone, iPad] and the first wave of its retro titles to the App Store. Since then 150 titles have become available through their Spectrum emulator, giving retro fans much old school gaming goodness to play with.

Since then, Elite has been hard at work engineering a completely new system through which to bring an even broader range of retro classic to iOS gamers. I recently had a conversation with Elite co-founder Steve Wilcox who filled me in on some of the titles that are on the way in the coming Elite Collection of 8-bit home computer games, as well as details surrounding their newly completed proprietary technology that went into it. The new system is a facilitator, of sorts, that was designed in such a way as to not incorporate, reference, or in any way rely upon third-party property and that is able to deliver to iOS games that originated on platforms other than just the ZX Spectrum in near-100% original form.

Elite has been busy licensing classics from a wide range of developers and it sounds like iOS gamers are in for a trove of titles to be delivered through the studio's new system. The first stage in the deployment consists of nine games developed across North America, the UK, and Germany.

The launch games of North American origin are:

• Black Magic (the action-adventure, published by Datasoft in 1987)
• M.U.L.E (the seminal multiplayer game from Ozark Softscape, published in 1983)
• Alternate Reality: The City (the first in the cult RPG series, published by Datasoft in 1987)

The launch games from the UK are:

• First Samurai (the platform game, published by Image Works in 1992)
• Uridium (the sci-fi side-scrolling shoot 'em up from Hewson, published in 1986)
• Paradroid (Andrew Breybrook’s puzzle-shooter, published by Hewson in 1985)

The launch games from Germany are:

• Enforcer (the shooter from revered German programmer Manfred Trenz, published by CP Verlag in 1992)
• Bundesliga Manager (the football (soccer) management simulation, developed by Werner Krahe and Jens Onnen, published by Software 2000 in 1989)
• Denaris (the modified Katakis, an R-Type clone, again from Manfred Trenz, published by Rainbow Arts in 1989)

These games will be released as individual iOS applications, three at a time. The first three titles from the list of nine set to arrive in the App Store are Black Magic, First Samurai and Enforcer, which should land by month's end. A great many more titles will follow, and Wilcox tells me that, down the road, game bundles configured as collections will be offered, as well.

On a touchscreen device, controls are, of course, a particular challenge when bringing over games that were written with joysticks and keyboards in mind. And, while in such cases a touchscreen is never a match for physical controls, Elite has done an impressive job with the highly customizable "iDaptive" controls used in their iOS Spectrum offerings (demonstrated in this video). Steve informs me that in the upcoming Elite Collection, the iDaptive controls are brought to the fore and will allow players to heavily customize the control experience.

As a huge fan of the solid, basic gameplay of the classics of old, I've been impressed with Elite's efforts so far with its ZX Spectrum: Elite Collection. This latest news from the quarter-century old studio shows a true commitment to bringing these classics to a new generation of gamers and is an effort I whole-heartedly applaud.

We should have the first wave of games in our hands in just a few days and will share our reactions shortly. Stay tuned.

[source]

Kairosoft’s Grand Prix Story [$2.99] feels more like Game Dev Story [$3.99 / HD] than any of the other studio’s subsequent releases following the launch of the overly-cutesy and absorbing simulation game about making games. In both games, there’s a lot of overhead before you can see any practical applications or meaningful progress. There are also a ton of hidden systems and mechanics to find and discover as the game moves you along with its forty foot stick with a dangling carrot on the end. Also, in both games your race to be the best is often determined by the time you put in being the worst. You have to click with and then master both games’ mechanics in order to see profit and, yeah, that can a tall order for mobile.

Grand Prix Story specifically is a painfully slow-burning simulation with a familiar set of problems that plague almost every Kairosoft release — lack of feedback, too many hidden or unexplained systems or mechanics, a bad tutorial, and a steep difficulty curve — but it’s also a fun title that hits all the notes that it needs to. Its systems are deep and defined enough, the racing is oddly entertaining even though its just a conglomeration of dice rolls, it’s burst-y, and the overall atmosphere, action, and theme play well off each other.

In the game, you’ll play the manager of several racing teams. You’ll never strap into a car, but you’ll make them and research them, tune parts and find new ones, set up and cancel a conga line of lucrative sponsorships, and subtly guide your guys to victory by putting all the materials and constituent parts of the simulation into your cars. It’s a bit heady, but once you put in a couple of hours, you’ll quickly grasp all the concepts. I realize that we all can’t spend our lives indebted to Kairosoft though, so if time is an issue, this isn’t the game for you at all.

At first, you’ll be given a single car and a few races to compete in. You’ll need to hire mechanics to fix your car, contract a driver, add new parts, and discover research points while racing this vehicle. There are tons of cars to build and even more parts to apply to your car, most of which have standard “you get this, but you lose a bit of this” stat-lines. Interestingly, Grand Prix Story sets itself up for you to compete against the simulation; by increasing the parameters of your driver, mechanics, and your parts, you’ll receive way better performance results from a car and in races.

There are no actual racing mechanics — when you enter into a race, you simply watch how your driver and car perform… over and over and over and over again. It’s really quite mind-numbing to watch hundreds of of races over the haul of the experience, yet there’s something oddly compelling about each outing. Hilariously, I’m personally connecting with my team and my cars and I want to see races through regardless of the outcome. I know that’s cheesy, but when you spend hours and hours of time beefing up team members, vehicles, and individual parts, there’s a certain thrill in seeing the fruits of your labor in motion.

It's important to note that you’ll randomly earn research points as you race. And as you place higher and higher, you’ll earn more points with sponsorships. After enough of the latter, you’ll receive new parts and new sponsorships, as well as a little side-dough to spend on better drivers and better team members.

“Team” is the most interesting concept introduced in Grand Prix Story. You’ll eventually get to control several and you’ll have to babysit all of them. Eventually, you’ll be able to race a handful of cars at once, ratcheting up your potential to earn research and extra cash in a single race. Once a year in the simulation, you’ll participate in the Grand Prix, which is a series of races. When you conquer it, you’ll get a chance to upgrade your garage and give yourself even more to do.

Aside from the frustration of having to wait and watch for most of the game’s finer points of its simulation — and that might be more a result of the reviewing process than anything else — I’ve been having a positive and good time with Grand Prix Story. Sadly, for those of you who really like fancy outros with big and impactful things to bear, Grand Prix Story has been entertaining me for the exact same reasons that Game Dev Story did. It’s a sharp simulation with a ton of systems to look at, use, and then abuse wrapped up in a playful and cutesy little package. It’s great on the go, fun to play regardless, and a neat little break from the studio’s more recent games. I recommend it.

[source]

If you have an older iPhone or iPod Touch, or hey, just a little cramped on space because you have an entire folder crammed with fart apps, you probably don’t want to update Chaos Rings [$12.99 / HD] or its kinda-sequel, Chaos Rings Omega [$11.99 / HD]. For whatever reason, Square Enix has added Japanese voices to both games, and in the process have (at least) doubled the file sizes of both.

The newly updated version of Chaos Rings has gone from 273MB to 698MB, while the follow-up skyrocketed to 778MB from 379MB on the iPhone. The iPad versions see similar file increases. Refreshingly, this information is freely available in the respective applications’ descriptions. It’s nice when a company is up front about moves like this, but also kind of sad since we didn't expect to hear stuff like this from them in the first place.

If you’re worried about space or whatever, there are a couple of things you can do. First, you could just not download the updates since they don’t add anything of significant value to the game part of either. Or, if you want to give these a spin but want to revert later, you could save the old .IPA files of the originals for safe-keeping. Your choice, but we thought you’d like to know before clicking “update.”

[source]

Retro gamers out there, especially those on the other side of the pond, have had a great resource available to them for reliving the 8-bit classics, in the form of Elite's ZX Spectrum: Elite Collection emulator series, which landed last October. While it had basically zero presence here in the states, the Sinclair ZX Spectrum was probably the leading home computer gaming platform in the UK and various other parts of Europe during the early '80s.

Back in May, Jonathan Needle brought an iOS port of his popular Windows-based ZX Spectrum emulator, Spectaculator [link], to the App Store, bolstering the amount of retro gaming goodness that can be had on the platform. Spectaculator's arrival managed to slip by us at the time, but with Needle's recent release of a free version (as in beer, and of ads), featuring a different set of bundled games, we're pleased to bring both of these Universal applications to our readers' attention.

The original, paid release features the following bundle of classic games:

• 3D Starstrike by Realtime Games Software
• Tau Ceti by Pete Cooke/CRL
• Dynamite Dan by Rod Bowkett/Mirrorsoft
• On The Run by Design Design
• Albatrossity by Jonathan Cauldwell
• The Fantastic Mister Fruity by Jonathan Cauldwell
• Battery's Not Precluded by Jonathan Cauldwell
• Jekyll & Hyde by Zenobi Software

The free version features a list of games written in more recent years:

• Alter Ego by Denis Grachev/Retrosouls (released 2011)
• Catch the Cash by Tom Dalby (released 2011)
• Crimbo by Little Shop of Pixels (released 2010)
• Flynn's Adventure in Bombland by Tom Dalby (released 2011)
• Gloop Troops by Little Shop of Pixels (released 2010)
• Kyd Cadet by Paul Jenkinson (released 2010)
• Kyd Cadet II by Paul Jenkinson (released 2010)

I suppose the thinking is that the free version gets recent, fan-written titles, which is a collection of perhaps less value than the classics of old. However, as a retro fan who did not grow up with the Spectrum and who owes the majority of his Speccy gaming knowledge to a certain magazine, I might be enjoying the new, free release more than the paid.

If there's a Speccy in your past, both of Needle's releases should be an instant download. If you're just a retro fan in general, at least grab the freebie and see what you think. As a member of the latter camp, I've had fun with both.

Readers are carrying on an active discussion regarding Spectaculator in our forums.

[source]

One of our very favorite not-a-game-itself-but-is-still-gaming-related apps in the App Store is Zell Application’s Joypad Game Controller [Free]. We reviewed the Joypad this past February, and in short it turns your iOS device into a customizable virtual control pad for playing games on your computer. You just run the app on your device and then it very easily connects to a desktop client on your computer over Bluetooth or a local WiFi network. You’re then free to map the virtual buttons of the Joypad to the keyboard controls of whatever game you’re playing, or choose from the many preset configurations, and just like that you’ve got yourself a competent little game controller.

Naturally, it’s not quite the same as having a physical controller, but if you like to travel light or find yourself needing to get your game on in a pinch it more than does the trick. Heck, I use the Joypad exclusively to play old emulators on my laptop simply because it works really well and I’m too lazy to bust out my USB controller. Ah, technology, always facilitating my laziness.

Anyway, back at WWDC this year I sat down with Zell Applications who explained how they had just released a Joypad SDK, which anyone can use to add native Joypad support in games on both desktop computers and iOS devices. We first saw this officially in action with the platformer Lars [$1.99/Lite], and recently the Mac App Store version of Mos Speedrun [$2.99] was updated with Joypad support, too. No need to pair the Joypad app with desktop software with these, rather just fire up either game along with the Joypad app on your device and everything just works, and it rocks.

During that WWDC meeting, Zell also revealed that the Joypad would be getting some retro skins packs in the near future, and that update has just hit the App Store. As you may know, Joypad was originally a paid app when it launched in March of last year, but in order to entice more people to use it the developers launched a separate free version back in January. As a way to support their efforts and put food in their bellies, the new retro skins are being sold for 99¢ each, or you can grab all 8 of them in a pack for $5.99 and save a couple of bucks.

Both versions of Joypad are functionally identical, but if you already owned the original paid version, which is now called Joypad Elite, then you’ll get the entire 8 pack of retro skins included for free with the update. The skins are beautiful and feature 8 of the most classic console controllers ever, and are perfect for getting the full effect when playing with emulators. Also, inside of the in-app shop there is now a list of Joypad compatible games. So far there is built in support for Lars, Super Mega Worm [99¢/Lite], Emerald Mine [Free], and Mos Speedrun for Mac. Upcoming supported games will include Meganoid [$1.99], Arcade Jumper, 8-bit Rally [99¢], and Marathon [Free].

Finally, inside the store there is a link to order the Fling Mini, another cool control peripheral that we took a look at during WWDC and works really well in conjunction with the Joypad app. As a bonus, if you use the in-app link to order the Fling Mini then you’ll get 10% off the regular price. Not a bad little deal at all.

In case you couldn’t tell, I get pretty stoked talking about the Joypad. I just can’t help it. It’s clever, it works surprisingly well, and it's completely free to use. I actually game way more on my laptop since discovering the Joypad than I ever did before. It’s just really convenient. If you haven’t yet tried out Joypad for yourself, give it a download, you’ve got nothing to lose except your dependence on a dedicated physical gamepad.

[source]

Whether or not you realized it, chances are you're already familiar with COPPA, or the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998. If you've entered your birthday to access something, or have ever checked a checkbox to verify you're over 13, you've seen COPPA in action. In a nutshell, it's a fairly outdated set of guidelines that need to be abided by online when dealing with children. When it was first drafted in the late 90's, the Internet was a vastly different place, and the existing laws have been more or less shoehorned into dealing with all the new technology and types of Internet-enabled applications that no one even dreamed of in 1998.

Broken Thumbs Apps' parent company W3 Innovations recently found themselves under the legal hammer and (so far) is the first company to be investigated for mobile apps. Their "games" include Zombie Duck Hunt [Free], Emily's Dress Up & Shop [Free], Pocket Home [Free] and more. In the complaint, the FTC alleges that W3 Innovations "collected, maintained, and/or disclosed personal information" via these kid-targetted apps. Specifically, W3 Innovations is said to have kept a list of over 30,000 email addresses as well as personal information gathered from both Emily's games.

Aside from being obvious freemium timesink-ware, Broken Thumbs Apps series of games don't really do anything out of the ordinary for many similar games. The source of these complaints seems to be the games asking for kids to enter their name, as well as being given the option to leave comments on a blog related to the games, which of course is all saved online.

W3 immediately agreed to settle with the FTC, ponying up the $50,000 fine as well as deleting all associated data. As much as it sucks to be made an example, iOS developers should take note that the FTC now seems to actively be policing COPPA violations in iPhone apps. It's likely better to be safe than sorry in these kind of cases, so if you're responsible for something that could even vaguely be construed as kid-centric and you're not using appropriate age gates before collecting data, it might be time to think about an update rectifying that sooner rather than later.

[via Ars Technica]

[source]

There are a lot of fart, business, video game, cooking, and miscellaneous apps on the App Store, but who rules the roost on the Top (paid) Downloads charts? In a not-so-surprising finding by mobile application analytics company Distimo, it’s video games. In its latest report, Distimo reveals that 72 percent of downloads of the top 300 most popular premium applications are video games, leaving a mere 28 percent to stuff like business, writing, education, and other applications. And here’s a surprising thing: even though the selling price of mobile games continues to plummet (down 28 percent from last year in the US), revenue from top free-to-play titles has increased “tenfold” over the App Store in the US.

This latter finding jives with the findings in our last Flurry Analytics column, which covered free-to-play pretty extensively. According to Flurry, the average consumer spends around $14 per transaction on iOS and Android, which is a lot more dough than they would have parted with if a title was a premium, $1 download.

Flurry also pointed out that 30 percent of top tier $20 transactions are over $50, which is, uh, a lot of cash to spend on games like Tiny Tower [Free], but hey, it’s always the consumer’s choice.

Back to Distimo for a few moments: the analytics company also found that ten un-named publishers “account for more than half of all downloads” among the 300 most popular paid games on the App Store. Also, revenue in general on the App Store has increased 79 percent year-on-year, mostly because of the free-to-play explosion, one has to assume after gazing through the rest of the bulleted points regarding the dominance of the model.

If you dig numbers, you can download Distimo’s latest report. It has more charts and more words than we've shared with you today, and it’s a pretty cool (and digestible) read if you’re into App Store analytics. Also, I should note that free-to-play, whether you love it or hate it, is definitely the model of the moment on the App Store. I wonder what kinds of numbers we’ll see in six months.

[source]

We did our best to stay rational amidst the rampant speculation that Nintendo was getting into the App Store with the release of Pokémon Say Tap in Japan this summer. For one, it isn’t a move that makes sense. Nintendo puts its own titles on consoles and handhelds that it owns and sells exclusively. Also, Nintendo is keen on ragging on the App Store and saying Apple has it all wrong, so why would it bother with an app?

The word that we trusted was that this was a The Pokémon Company release, not a Nintendo one. The Pokémon Company is an affiliate of Nintendo and are the marketing managers of a brand that expands well beyond the confines of video games and into the realm of TV, toys, and other forms of media like a trading card game.

Turns out that this information was accurate. Nintendo of America, in a recent chat with Giant Bomb, flatly denied any Nintendo involvement with the project and said Nintendo content will continue to stay on Nintendo platforms. Pokémon Say Tap is a The Pokémon Company marketing tool. That’s it. Period.

"On July 1, the Pokémon Company announced that it was launching a free Android and iOS application in Japan called [Pokémon Say Tap]. The Pokémon Company routinely launches applications for cell phones and PCs as a way to promote its non-video game products, such as a music CD and Pokémon TCG cards in this instance,” Nintendo of America said in a statement given to Giant Bomb.

“Since they are intended purely as promotional tools, not as unique video games, Nintendo is not involved in any way,” it said. “… Nintendo has no intention or plans of publishing its IP on non-Nintendo platforms. This is an example of a promotion by a key Nintendo partner and has no bearing on Nintendo's overall strategy.”

Keep dreaming those Nintendo dreams for Nintendo-published and created releases on the App Store. Mario and the rest of the bunch aren’t coming in the foreseeable future, as was made clear in this statement. You'll have to keep buying the latest Nintendo handhelds if you want in on some Nintendo action.

[Via GiantBomb]

[source]

Earlier the other week, we brought you news that Activision was kicking off a new stat-tracking service for Call of Duty called “Call of Duty: Elite.” In addition to giving fans a web portal, the mega publisher plans to release native applications for the iPad and iPod Touch that do much the same thing. Bungie has since fired first so-to-speak by offering a stat-tracking application of its own for Halo: Reach (and possibly more games to come).

You can download “Bungie Mobile” [Free] for free. And while it gives you all that you need to know about your K/D ratio, it also lets you view your Spartan’s armor, the challenges of the week, the commendations that you’ve earned, and last but not least, connect with the rich Halo community still residing at Bungie.Net, the one-stop-web portal for all things Halo including stats.

The latter is an important point: part of the reason why this was released was to give fans free stuff. As of now, you can unlock a Bungie Nameplate and special Blue Flames over the app for Halo: Reach. Bungie is giving users without an app a shot at other fun stuff, including never-released artwork and commemorative t-shirts.

You can learn more about that via Bungie’s Web site.

If you’re wondering what the hubbub is all about, know this: 343 Industries is now the studio behind the IP. Its first title will be Halo 4,  a new chapter in a three-part continuation of the original Halo series.

Official applications like this are more rare than you’d think. Publishers and studios don’t blow a portion their 25 million dollar-and-up budgets on small social-focused apps that connect to console experiences, despite the power of the “always thinking about the game” mentality that their on-the-go nature inspires. It’s nice to see a high-profile studio like Bungie give it a shot in earnest.

If you’d like to don a tin-foil hat with me for a second, I think this also means that Bungie won’t be afraid to pump out a similar support application for its forthcoming MMO.

Speaking of crystal balls, Bungie revealed in a post earlier today explaining the sudden appearance of Bungie Mobile that it will “tell you, in explicit detail, exactly what Bungie Aerospace is all about.” I’ve been thinking that it has a connection to said MMO. I’m not sure that’s the case now. We’ll see soon enough — July 7 is the cut-off date.

[source]