TouchArcade.ru

While some traditional publishers are resisting the trends towards lower-cost software in the handheld gaming space, others are actively working to figure out how to make these sorts of experiences work on their existing platforms. While not a shining beacon of success, the PSP Minis campaign does demonstrate a good faith effort on the part of Sony to cater to the direction that portable gaming seems to be heading. A few growing pains are part and parcel of adapting to a changing market, and there have been a few notable early wins scattered through the program.

One of the largest of these successes has been Frima Games’ A Space Shooter for Two Bucks, which recently reported a healthy figure of 150,000 downloads over PSN. Given the type of game they made, and its popularity on PSP, it’s no surprise that the developers worked to port the title over to the iPhone. Making its debut on iOS as A Space Shooter For Free [Free/HD], this game retains all the good elements from its PSP origin and joins a catalog of solid shmups available on the platform.

A Space Shooter For Free is the story of P. Jefferson, an optimistic and nerdy kid who is relentlessly tortured by bullies at school. Much like our own Brad Nicholson, Jefferson turns to obsessive weightlifting and unjustified xenophobia as a means of dealing with his repressed rage issues. Equal parts bravado and libido, he’s essentially a mash-up of Zap Brannigan and Duke Nukem.

However, unlike the Duke, this universe does not celebrate his misogyny or misbehaviors, making the character much more tolerable. The story and dialogue are snappily done in comic-book panel style, and Jefferson’s pathetic attempts to “court” the older woman who runs the upgrade store were just cheesy enough to keep me coming back to see if the idiot could pull it off.

Let me start off the gameplay discussion by stating that this game is no Cave title; if you’re looking to have your socks blown off by god-tier bullet hell action, this is not the one for you. That being said, Frima blends a cornucopia of strong elements into ASSFF that give the game tons of depth and replay value.

In standard vertical-scrolling space shooter fashion, enemies of varying types will converge on your ship from all directions. Memorizing their attack patterns and behaviors will be the key to your success, as will scooping up the power-ups that destroyed baddies leave on the screen. The usual suspects are all here: shields, missiles, and main gun bumps give your ship a temporary boost in fighting power. Some missions will be against standard waves of aliens, and some will feature boss characters to defeat. Clearing a boss stage will provide your ship with one of five special weapons that is persistent throughout the rest of the game.

Speaking of persistent, along with your temporary power-ups, you’ll be collecting scrap/currency that you can use in-between missions to purchase permanent upgrades to your ship. There’s a great deal of variety here, and the desire to grind out enough scratch to get the next upgrade kept me motivated to pew-pew bravely on. Adding spread to your main cannon, magnets to pull scrap in for you, devices to increase the power or reduce the energy cost of special weapons, and items that maximize the efficiency of temporary power-ups are all options.

Difficulty between stages can vary wildly, and so if you play solely in the campaign mode you’ll find yourself needing to grind in order to upgrade enough to tackle later sectors. This is the perfect time to take a break and check out the survival mode. It’s your standard wave-after-wave affair, but the high-score push is a draw, and Frima smartly allows any currency you earn in survival mode to carry back over into the campaign.

ASSFF falls into the same control traps that many iPhone shmups do. The touch controls feels right and auto-fire helps the cause, but especially when the difficulty begins to mount you’ll be covering vital parts of the action with your finger. The position of special weapons also make them difficult to activate without leaving your ship unprotected in a sea of murderous plasma bolts while you trigger them.

The game (as you’d rightly expect by the title) is free to download, and there’s more than enough content before the pay wall to help you make up your mind. If you find yourself sucked in like I did, a reasonable $.99 IAP will unlock the rest of the campaign content. Additional IAPs are available for those who want all the ship upgrades from the get-go. A Space Shooter For Free does a lot of different things, and juggles them very well. For the quality and quantity of shooter on display here, the value proposition is dynamite. For an initial price of free, I'd definitely encourage downloading and checking out this title.

[source]

Let's talk about big money (no big prizes) for a second. Financial news site Bloomberg is reporting that Angry Birds creator Rovio Mobile is ‘considering’ taking a strategic investment from an 'entertainment company' to expand their wares to China and fund the upcoming movie. If it goes through, unnamed sources indicate that this investment would give Rovio the value of about 1.2 billion. I love it!

These mysterious sources aren’t indicating what parties are interested in investing. We agree with analyst superstar Michael Pachter when he suggests that EA, Zynga, or even Disney are the likeliest possible investors. All of these companies have a huge stake in the mobile space, and obviously wouldn’t mind getting a piece of the Angry Birds action. Disney definitely needs the most cred out of all of these publishers.

Fake, but you get the idea.

If you needed an indication of how popular Angry Birds is outside the world of the App Store or Android, look no further than your local Wal-Mart. Kiosks with Angry Birds plush toys are starting to appear. Also, several stores are carrying shirts with the iconic catapult games’ various winged mascots.

Love it or hate it, you already knew Rovio’s bird game is a powerhouse. I wonder how much longer this can last, though.

[Via Bloomberg, Joystiq - Image 1 via A Kid's Pencil, Image 2 via Gadget Sin]

[source]

My gut says the chances aren’t great, but Braid developer Jonathan Blow’s next game, The Witness, might end up on the iPad or iPhone. Blow just wrapped up a few press demonstrations for the estimated 2 million dollar downloadable and gave the media some things to chew on about the platforms of its forthcoming 2012 launch.

Right now, the game is slated for release on PC and “one console,” Blow said to Gamasutra. He added, “others later.” The fact that he hasn’t nailed down another platform is telling; I’m guessing he’s looking for a Microsoft or Sony to give him an exclusive, but Blow also also isn’t betting the farm on this.

Before speaking to the platforms, Blow told Gamasutra that there wasn’t a need to sign a contract with any publisher. "If the goal is to make that $2 million, not only is that kind of a safe target, but because the game's 3D and whatnot, I'm pretty sure we could make that back just off Steam and the iPad safely. Like, it's not even a gamble to say that," he said in the interview.

From what little I’ve seen and heard of The Witness so far, it doesn’t seem like a touch-based version would do the title any sort of injustice. It’s a 3D puzzle game with, from what I understand, no action or otherwise trying elements. Different people are walking away with different takes on the game, but almost everyone is in agreement that The Witness is an inspired take on games like Myst or Riven. It boasts a similar open-world and some degree of non-linearity. The Blow twist is its clear logic, progression, and puzzles.

But the question if it will indeed come to the iPad or other iOS devices is going to remain open for some time. I’m guessing that someone will swoop in, grab an exclusive, and that’ll be all she wrote for a year or so. We’ll see… in 2013.

[Via Gamasutra, Giant Bomb, and Joystiq]

[source]

Firaxis Games’ spiritual successor to Civilization II’s Space Race conclusion, Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri, might see new life in this generation. The all-seeing eyes over at NeoGAF have spotted two unique and new EA trademarks for the game (simply Alpha Centauri) across the US and Europe, which begs the question of what exactly the publisher plans to do with the sci-fi inspired, turn-based strategy property.

Trademarks are a slippery slope in the gaming arena. It’s just as possible that we’ll never see Alpha Centauri in a new form as it’s possible that we could. EA isn’t talking and I seriously doubt it will until it has a marketing campaign good and ready. Also, to be crystal clear, the trademarks are for “computer game software” and “online computer games.”

One place we’d love to see the game again would be, naturally, on the iPad. Turn-based games function pretty well on the platform in general, and provided any possible new form of the game keeps to the original’s roots, we see ourselves having a blast with it. Heck, we’d even take a straight-up port of the 1999 game. Fingers crossed.

[Via Rock, Paper, Shotgun]

[source]

It’s a big week on the App Store for Square Enix. Following the release of what looks to be a fairly hobbled port of Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lion [$15.99], the publisher has cut the cost of a tremendous amount of its existing library on the digital storefront. For a limited time, you can grab some pretty hot games for up to 50 percent off from its fairly “up there” price points.

• Chaos Rings – $12.99 → $6.99
• Chaos Rings for iPad – $15.99 → $7.99
• Chaos Rings Omega – $11.99 → $8.99
• Chaos Rings Omega for iPad – $14.99 → $10.99
• Crystal Defenders – $7.99 → $3.99
• Crystal Defenders for iPad – $7.99 → $3.99
• Final Fantasy I – $8.99 → $4.99
• Final Fantasy II – $8.99 → $4.99
• Secret of Mana – $8.99 → $6.99

Sadly, my personal favorite Square Enix App Store title, Final Fantasy III, isn’t one of games targeted in this deal. If I had to pick a runner-up that was included in this listing, I’d grab the original Fantasy Fantasy at its lowered price point, though only because of the nostalgia factor. It’s a great game and all, but it’s also pretty long in the tooth.

Anyway, happy shopping and I hope you’re able to afford any of this after giving away your first born and shoveling over close to twenty bones for Tactics.

[Via Slide To Play]

[source]

It's hard to believe that Zepto Lab's classic, Cut the Rope [$0.99/Lite/HD/HD Lite], is less than a year old. In that time it's inspired a legion of physics-puzzle copycats. It's also hard to believe that we only learned about Cut the Rope: Experiments [$0.99/HD] two days ago, and now it's available on the App Store. But hey, it's a pretty amazing world.

If you've somehow managed to go this long without trying Cut the Rope, here's what you need to know: it's a physics puzzle game, it's awesome, and you should buy it. It stars an adorable monster named Om Nom, who's trapped in a series of boxes and needs to be fed candy. You spend your time working your way through the insane contraptions designed to hold the candy back. Our original review has all the details, give or take a few major updates.

Those details are relevant here, because Cut the Rope: Experiments is very much an expansion of the original game. It introduces no new elements beyond a couple new gadgets. The art is the same, the interface is virtually identical, and the controls haven't changed. Om Nom didn't need any work, and he's still lovable as ever. If it weren't for the difficulty curve, I wouldn't have been surprised to see these levels pop up as new boxes in the original game.

The difficulty curve is decidedly strange this time around. There are 75 levels split up into three sections. The first 25 levels reintroduce players to nearly all the mechanics of the original game. For experienced players, this will be a breeze. But having everything thrown at you over the course of just 25 levels might be alienating to new players.

In the other two sections you're given two new gadgets to play with, and they're both quite cool. One is a button that shoots a rope at the candy. The rope can snag it in midair, leading to some impressive carnival stunts. The other is a rope on a suction cup that can be attached and detached with a touch. It still obeys the laws of physics, so you need to be quick to reattach it while it's dropping. Both of the new gadgets give you a bit more freedom to move the candy around the levels, and they're great fun to play with.

But the fun is over much too soon. The new levels won't pose a serious challenge to players who have already mastered all 8 boxes in the previous games, and there are fewer of them than were included in the original when it launched. Our forum users largely agree that it feels a bit too easy, and a bit too small. I don't want to complain — after all, Zepto Lab has been incredibly generous with post-release support in the past, and I'm sure Experiments will be no different. I'm just a bit bummed out that there isn't something newer, shinier or bigger to tell you about here.

If you loved Cut the Rope and still want more, you should definitely get Experiments. Along with 75 new levels, you'll get Game Center achievements and leaderboards (no Crystal support this time around, since Chillingo wasn't the publisher), unlockable pictures, and a game with lots of room to grow. It's nice to see Om Nom finally freed from the boxes, and the professor has the potential to add a bit more storyline to the series. But if you're looking for something that changes up the formula, significantly expands on the original or otherwise feels brand new, you won't find it here.

[source]

It’s a good day whenever we can write about id Software twice. In addition to letting loose a cool little update to DOOM Classic, the developer’s mobile branch also dropped a great update to its much more recent first-person shooter, RAGE HD [$1.99]. Version 1.21 has been “optimized” for the iPad 2 (we lack specifics on what that entails) and allows for HDMI TV output. Even better, the update packs in a melee mechanic that triggers whenever you push your handheld forward, a new analog stick control option, and addresses some obscure Game Center crash bugs.

If you don't have RAGE but wouldn't mind grabbing it and its update for the price $0, publisher Bethesda has just the solution for you: an online petition (of sorts). When the franchise's Facebook page hits 100,000 "Likes," all variants of the game will go free for an entire week. You can shoot over there right now to sign up and hope that the rest of the Internet responds.

What's next, I wonder. Will we eventually see any of those other RAGE spin-offs that John Carmack teased before? I hope so. QuakeCon is happening pretty soon, so who knows what goodies will get?

[source]

Can you smell that? The early morning air is thick with the stench of App Store price-slashery. Telltale Games has just lowered the prices of both the original Puzzle Agent [$.99 / HD] and its follow-up, the technically challenged Puzzle Agent 2 [$2.99 / HD], for a limited time. Until August 11, you’ll be able to nab the former on the iPhone and iPad for $.99 and the latter for $2.99. We recommend both (flaws and all), so this deal is definitely a good one.

Also, it bears mentioning that the publisher has done another technical pass on Puzzle Agent 2. According to a new blog post over at Telltale, the voice skipping woes, the weird out-of-focus cut-scenes visuals, and puzzle controls and usability have been ‘improved’ in a free update available… well, right now. Go, go, go!

In addition to that stuff, the game also supports 3G devices and can, overall, boast better performance. Performance and lack of older-device support were pretty big sticking points in our review. We’re stoked to see them addressed, as Puzzle Agent 2 is a good adventure game that had silly platform-specific issues holding it back from hardcore acclaim.

With this behind us, we can just say nice things. Yay!

[source]

Just yesterday, we learned that developer Zeptolab had a sequel in the works for their astoundingly popular physics puzzler Cut the Rope [99¢/Lite/HD]. Given the huge success of that game, a sequel doesn’t come as a surprise at all, but the teaser images did pique our interest as to what changes the developers would be adding to their winning formula. Unfortunately, there really wasn’t any solid information to go along with the screens.

Now, TechCrunch has learned straight from Zeptolab themselves some new details on the title, which will be called Cut the Rope: Experiments. The premise this time around is that main character Om Nom arrives on the doorstep of a mad scientist, and like everybody who has played the original game, he wonders just what the heck Om Nom is. So, in order to get to the bottom of things, he begins performing various experiments on Om Nom, which we would presume act as the levels themselves.

TechCrunch has the first trailer for Cut the Rope: Experiments, which is a total teaser and doesn’t show any gameplay, but does reveal that the game is already launching on August 4th, which is basically later tonight here in the US. And indeed, the game is now live in the NZ App Store and early impressions are rolling into our forums. Interestingly, Cut the Rope: Experiments isn't being published by Chillingo as the first game was, and rather it's self-published by ZeptoLab themselves. If you remember, another popular Chillingo published title, Angry Birds, did the same thing with their two follow-up titles. I guess when you become practically a household name, it doesn't make sense to fork over part of your earnings to a publisher.

But more importantly, I'm curious to get my hands on Cut the Rope: Experiments tonight to see how it stacks up to the original, and you can bet we'll be back to let you know what we think of the title.

[Via TechCrunch]

[source]

My most anticipated title of the year for the iPad, 11-Bit Studio's reverse tower defense game Anomaly: Warzone Earth, will hit the US App Store within the next one-to-two weeks, a rep from publisher Chillingo revealed to us via e-mail.

The wait has been crazy long. Anomaly first appeared on Steam and the Mac App Store in April this year to huge and well-deserved acclaim. We’ve gone hands-on with the touch-focused iOS iteration of the same game a couple of times since and have always come away impressed with how the port was being handled from a technical perspective. It looks great and it plays great, too, if those alpha or beta builds can be taken as a solid indication of the final product.

I’ve been begging for a pre-release build for months now, so hopefully we’ll be able to bring you some much more fleshed out opinions of the final game leading up to its release. At any rate, you’ll definitely be able to get your hands on it soon. Yay! Finally! I'm peeing at little but thats cool because I'm excited I think!

[source]