Archive for the ‘Sales’ tag
A Bunch Of iOS Developers Take The Top 10 In New ‘Develop 100′ Listing
Develop, a super industry publication that focuses mainly on development topics and inside baseball, has just released , a listing that ranks the top 100 game developers of the year. Normally, we wouldn’t cover this kind of thing, but 2011’s list is remarkable in that it ranks several smartphone-focused studios at the tiptop of the gargantuan list brimming with behemoth houses with hundreds of staffers.
If you take a gander, you’ll see that 2D Boy, the creator of World of Goo [$2.99 / HD], is sitting at number two. Zepto Lab, the creator of Cut the Rope [$.99 / HD] sits at number three just below God of War developers SCE Santa Monica, while Media Vision, The Coding Monkeys, 1337 Game Design, and Rockstar Leeds round out the rest of the top ten. Respectively, these houses built Chaos Rings [$12.99 / HD], Carcassonne [$9.99], Dark Nebula [$.99], and Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars [$9.99 / HD].
Nintendo grabbed the number one position, if you’re wondering.
That’s a lot of surprises in just the top ten, so I did a little digging. notes that, for the first time, Develop is using Metacritic data “for the backbone” of the rankings, which means that numbers at the end of reviews and not sales are dictating the listings.
If that sounds weird to you, we’re on the same page. Smartphone press and popular enthusiast games press are two different beasts and their respective games are wildly different in terms of scale, depth, complexity, mechanics, and markets. Also, Metacritic used in this way isn't the best measure of quality, either — niche games tend to only be reviewed by niche reviewers.
But anyway, at the end of the day here, we’ve got a listing that is composed of 50 or so iPad and iPod Touch developers included with studios like Rockstar North. I think that’s neat, though I’m not sure the metrics used here is something I can get behind.
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Five Alarm Freebie Friday: ‘geoDefense’, ‘Gravity Hook HD’, and ‘Zentomino’
Did you find yourself salivating at the massive list of EA sales only to discover that the balance of your iTunes account is 32¢ short of actually being able to buy anything? Well, the weekend is saved thanks to three generous developers!
geoDefense, Free – I have absolutely nothing but good things to say about the geoDefense series of games. If you even are vaguely interested in tower defense games, you need to download this one right away. If you like it, make sure to also snag geoDefense Swarm [$1.99 / Lite]
Gravity Hook HD, Free – From the makers of Canabalt [$2.99], here's a game that asks you to climb high instead of run far. You can also play the online, but I'm not sure why you'd bother when this is also free!
Zentomino, Free – Little White Bear Studios is a puzzler with gameplay that's simple enough for kids, while still being capable of stumping adults. 200 levels in all are included, which should keep you busy for hours, days, or potentially even longer. If you like this one, give TanZen [99¢ / Lite a try as well. (Note: If this isn't showing up for free for you yet, give it a bit.)
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EA Mega Memorial Day Sale – Dead Space and More On Sale All Weekend
EA wields an incredible amount of power on the App Store. Their game catalog is incredibly vast, and consists of tons of well known IP that even non-gamers are familiar with. When they pulled a similar stunt this holiday season, EA absolutely dominated the top sales list which was great for gamers who scored absolutely insane deals, but bad for other developers who had their Christmas dreams decimated by EA controlling the majority of the App Store top 100.
We'll see what happens this time around with this similarly massive sale-
iPhone Games
- Battlefield: Bad Company™ 2, $0.99
- Dead Space™, $2.99
- FIFA 11, $0.99
- Fight Night Champion, $0.99
- Heroes Lore™, $0.99
- LITTLEST PET SHOP, $0.99
- Madden NFL 11, $0.99
- Mass Effect™, $0.99
- Mystery Mania, $0.99
- NBA Jam, $0.99
- Need for Speed™ Undercover, $0.99
- Need for Speed™ Shift, $0.99
- Need for Speed™ Hot Pursuit, $0.99
- R-Type™, $0.99
- SCRABBLE, $0.99
- Tetris®, $0.99
- The Sims™ 3, $0.99
- The Sims™3 Ambitions, $0.99
- The Sims™ 3 World Adventure, $0.99
- Tiger Woods PGA TOUR® 12, $0.99
- Zombies & Me, $0.99
iPad Games
- Coconut Dodge, $0.99
- Dead Space™, $4.99
- FIFA 11, $4.99
- Madden NFL 11, $0.99
- MONOPOLY, $4.99
- NBA JAM, $4.99
- Need for Speed™ Hot Pursuit, $4.99
- Reckless Racing, $0.99
- RISK, $2.99
- SCRABBLE, $4.99
- SimCity™, $0.99
- Snood, $0.99
- Tetris®, $0.99
- THE GAME OF LIFE, $0.99
- Tiger Woods PGA TOUR® 12, $2.99
- Ultimate Mortal Kombat™ 3, $0.99
- YAHTZEE, $0.99
This is definitely a great time to fill in your collection if you're missing any of these EA titles. It's hard to really provide any real recommendations here since so many of these games are so good. If you don't have Dead Space yet, I'd really download that. Same with NBA Jam. Also, it's hard to really say which is the best, but the Need For Speed games are all totally solid.
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‘Minecraft – Pocket Edition’ To Hit Xperia Play First
Minecraft for mobile phones is coming to Android first as an Xperia Play exclusive, the game’s developer Mojang confirmed to us in a brief e-mail exchange this morning.
This news comes on the heels of a rash of . Yesterday, Play creator Sony Ericcson blasted out a digital invitation to a June 7 mixer to several members of the enthusiast games press. The invite was adorned with Minecraft art and, as if that didn’t do the trick, also referenced a well-known explosive enemy in the game.
With the surprise blown, Mojang is now able to confirm the project, which is formally called Minecraft – Pocket Edition. As you’d assume, it will have controls fitted to the Play’s touch pads, buttons, and d-pad, and will feature changes specific to the hardware and the, perhaps, less attentive audience.
“When playing on smart phones you will have a different screen size compared to PC, different hardware, different attention spans and thus the game needs to be customized to fit the mobile specifications,” a representative told us.
If you know Minecraft, you know Mojang doesn’t kid around with updates. The PC hit is updated a lot with the occasional game-changing overhaul, as well as standard tweaks, enhancements, and bug fixes. Mojang suggests this will be the case with Pocket Edition, too.
“The development process will follow the one we have for PC, release early and update frequently,” the same representative told us.
Apparently, more will be revealed about Pocket Edition during E3. As of right now, we still don’t know its price, release window, or possible cross-platform functionalities. If you read between Mojang's lines about this version of the game, however, the latter seems highly unlikely.
One thing we’d love to know is if Pocket Edition is a PlayStation Suite joint. If it is, then it's possible that this version of the game will work on the NGP as well as other Android 2.3 , PlayStation-certified devices. , Sony plans to keep a hardware-neutral stance with the Suite platform, so cross-platform play is possible provided that Sony's device requirements are met.
We're not sure what this means for the iOS version of Minecraft in the short term. The studio still refers to this version as an actual project, but if this exclusive has a long-ish tail, you'll be waiting for awhile obviously. Will development slow or stop in the meanwhile? We'll ask.
The Xperia Play for $199 with a two year contract. I'm guessing that Mojang will be counting the days until this agreement is over if the desire for the Play's games is as poor in the US as it has been in the UK, Canada, Ireland, and Spain. from sales in these regions indicate that under or around 1,000 units of each of the five PSOne classic exclusives have been purchased. That's not… good, to say the least.
Then again, Minecraft is a big deal. Perhaps it can push the platform? We'll see.
In-game image from the latest PC build of Minecraft.
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A Roundup of Weekend App Store Sales
It's the weekend and that means sales. Here is a quick roundup of several stand-out offerings we think are worth a look.
• Aralon: Sword and Shadow HD — $9.99 → $4.99 [ review ]
Crescent Moon Games is, for a limited time, offering their superb iOS Universal RPG Aralon: Sword and Shadow HD at 50% its normal price. One of the most anticipated titles of 2010, the game gained the distinction of being TouchArcade Forum's Game of the Year.
The story of Aralon follows a tale of betrayal and a Kingdom on the brink of collapse. As fate would have it, you are the key element to solving these problems and restoring The Kingdom of Aralon to its previous state of peace and harmony.
The real fun begins when you are let loose into the world of Aralon to explore and complete quests. The expansiveness and detail of the lands is jaw-dropping. There are main quests that pertain to the storyline as well as a number of side quests to complete, all of which are neatly tracked through a helpful quest log. During your exploits you will run into countless enemies roaming the land. There is just so much more to Aralon that it isn't even funny, like joining guilds, combining and creating items, or becoming an outlaw
We gave the game five stars in our December review and consider it one of the most magnificent titles in the App Store and a must-have for any sort of RPG fan. Aralon: Sword and Shadow HD [App Store] puts a fully realized, living and breathing universe snugly in your pocket.
• Plants vs. Zombies — $2.99 → $0.99 [ review ]
PopCap Games has dropped the price on their excellent simplified tower defense title, Plants vs. Zombies.
This is a game that just oozes character. Rather than placing defenses along a winding path, Plants vs. Zombies is an exercise in seeding your lawn in order to grow various armed plants in order to fend of an encroaching hoard of zombies.
Plants vs. Zombies [App Store] is absolutely loaded with high quality animations, excellent cartoonish zombies, and silly dialog between your neighbor/shopkeeper Crazy Dave and even notes from the zombies themselves. Throughout the game you'll defend your front lawn during the day, at night, then defend your back yard which introduces water plants that can only be planted in your pool.
If you don't have this one yet, now's the time to get that taken care of.
• Baseball Superstars 2011 Pro — $4.99 → $0.99 [ review ]
In anticipation of the release of Baseball Superstars II, Gamevil has knocked 80% off of Baseball Superstars 2011 Pro [App Store].
If you've never heard of this game series, here's the gist: Gamevil has made the perfect baseball game for those of us who normally don't care at all about baseball games. Sports games typically don't do too much for me, and the closer they get to the "simulation" side of the spectrum, the less I'm interested in them. Gamevil takes things to the complete opposite end of that scale with Baseball Superstars via the integration of equally ridiculous super batters and pitchers, RPG elements, and tons of items to boost the aspects of your player's performance.
We love this one and now's the time to grab it if you haven't. Just be warned, once you get sucked in the game is almost impossible to put down. You'll find yourself playing "just one more game" for hours.
Baseball Superstars 2010 [App Store] is also on sale, from $2.99 down to $0.99.
• Gameloft iPad Game Sale
For a limited time Gameloft has reduced the price of several iPad titles:
- Real Soccer 2011 HD — $4.99 → $0.99 [ iPhone review ]
- Let's Golf! 2 HD — $4.99 → $0.99 [ iPhone review ]
- Splinter Cell Conviction HD — $4.99 → $0.99 [ iPhone review ]
- Eternal Legacy HD — $6.99 → $0.99 [ iPhone impressions ]
- James Cameron's Avatar for iPad – $4.99 → $0.99 [ iPhone review ]
- Let's Golf! HD — $4.99 → $0.99 [ iPhone review ]
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Easter Weekend Sales (Games Beat Eggs Every Time!)
It's Easter weekend, and that means App Store sales (among other things). Have a look at a list of stand out titles for the iPhone and iPad that are probably worth a look while the gettin's good.
- Battlefield: Bad Company 2 — iPhone: $2.99 → $0.99
- Command and Conquer: Red Alert – iPad: $4.99 → $0.99
- CLUE — iPhone: $1.99 → $0.99
- Dead Space – iPhone: $6.99 → $.99, iPad: $9.99 → $0.99
- FIFA 11 — iPhone: $2.99 → $0.99, iPad: $9.99 → $0.99
- Fight Night Champions — iPhone: $4.99 → $0.99
- Madden NFL 11 — iPhone: $2.99 → $0.99, iPad: $12.99 → $0.99
- Max and the Magic Marker – iPhone: $1.99 → $0.99, iPad: $4.99 → $0.99
- Monopoly – iPhone: $2.99 → $0.99
- NBA Jam – iPhone: $4.99 → $0.99
- NCAA Football – iPhone: $2.99 → $0.99
- Need for Speed Hot Pursuit — iPhone: $4.99 → $0.99
- Need for Speed Shift — iPhone: $2.99 → $0.99
- Pictureka! for iPad – iPad: $4.99 → $0.99
- Reckless Racing HD — iPad: $4.99 → $0.99
- RISK — iPhone: $2.99 → $0.99
- Rock Band Reloaded — iPhone: $4.99 → $2.99, iPad: $9.99 → $2.99
- Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12 — iPhone: $4.99 → $0.99
- Scrabble — iPhone: $2.99 → $0.99, iPad: $9.99 → $0.99
- Tetris – iPhone: $2.99 → $0.99
- The Game of Life Classic Edition — iPhone: $2.99 → $0.99
- The Sims 3 – iPhone: $6.99 → $0.99
- The Sims 3 Ambitions — iPhone: $4.99 → $0.99
Chillingo
- Etolis: Arena — Universal: $1.99 → $0.99
- Sneezies Easter Edition — iPhone: $1.99 → Free
- Zooloretto — iPhone: $4.99 → $0.99
SEGA
- Altered Beast — iPhone: $2.99 → $0.99
- Chu Chu Rocket! HD — iPad: $4.99 → $0.99
- Super Monkey Ball — iPhone: $2.99 → $0.99
- Super Monkey Ball 2 — iPhone: $2.99 → $0.99
Gamevil
- Illusia – iPhone: $1.99 → $0.99
- Zenonia — iPhone: $2.99 → $0.99
- Zenonia 2 — iPhone: $2.99 → $0.99
Digital Chocolate
- 3D Brick Breaker Revolution 2 – iPhone: $1.99 → $0.99
- 3D Mini Golf Challenge — iPhone: $1.99 → $0.99
- California Gold Rush 2 — iPhone: $1.99 → $0.99
- Icy Tower — iPhone: $2.99 → $1.99
- Tower Bloxx Deluxe 3D — iPhone: $1.99 → $0.99
99Games
- Create a Mall — iPhone: $3.99 → $1.99, iPad: $4.99 → $2.99
- Mystic Emporium – iPhone: $2.99 → $1.99, iPad: $3.99 → $2.99
- The Jim and Frank Mysteries – The Blood River Files HD — iPad: $2.99 → $1.99
- Winemaker Extraordinaire HD — iPad: $4.99 → $2.99
- WordsWorth HD — iPad: $2.99 → $1.99
Various:
- 1945 Air Strike from Gojoy Co. — iPhone: $0.99 → Free
- Across Age DX from FDG Entertainment — iPhone: $3.99 → $0.99
- Beyond Ynth from FDG Entertainment — iPhone: $1.99 → Free
- BattleZone 3D King of the Hill from Noumena — iPhone: $5.99 → Free
- Blokus from Gameloft — iPhone: $4.99 → $0.99
- Caligo Chaser from Com2uS — iPhone: $2.99 → Free
- Cro-Mag Rally from Pangea — Universal: $3.99 → $0.99
- Dogs Playing Poker from Candywriter — iPhone: $2.99 → $0.99
- Galaxy on Fire 2 from Fishlabs — Universal: $9.99 → $4.99
- Game Dev Story from Kairosoft — iPhone: $3.99 → $1.99
- Geared 2 from Bryan Mitchell — Universal: $0.99 → Free
- Great Little War Game HD from Rubicon — Universal: $2.99 → $0.99
- I Dig It from InMotion Software — iPhone: $0.99 → Free
- NewtonApples from Edenpod — iPhone: $1.99 → Free
- Pinball Ride Unlimited from Massive Finger — Universal: $4.99 → $2.99
- Race After 1977 from Xpect Games — iPhone: $2.99 → $.99
- Reverse Maze from Ironshod Limited — iPhone: $0.99 → Free
- Road Blaster from Revolutionary Concepts — iPhone: $1.99 → $.99, iPad: $3.99 → $.99
- Silverfish from Chaotic Box — iPhone: $1.99 → $.99
- Tehra Dark Warrior from StormBASIC Games — iPhone: $3.99 → Free
- Train Conductor from The Voxel Agents — Universal: $0.99 → Free
- ZombieSmash from Gamedoctors — iPhone: $1.99 → $0.99, iPad: $3.99 → $1.99
- Many graphical adventures from Anuman
Much of this list was pulled from in our forums, where these titles on discount are being discussed.
Enjoy your new games!
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Smartphone Platforms Continue to Grab Share of Portable Gaming Market
Last December, on survey results showing that users of portable games are increasingly defecting from dedicated devices such as the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP to smartphones such as the iPhone.
from analytics firm Flurry comparing overall video game market share in 2009 and 2010 reveals a similar trend, with iOS and Android combining to take 8% of the overall market and a full 34% of the portable gaming market as measure by revenue. In the overall market, console games continue to dominate, growing from 71% to 76% on only a slight increase in total video game revenue.
From 2009 to 2010, iOS and Android game sales increased from 5% to 8% market share within the U.S. video game market. Specifically, we estimate that iOS and Android game revenue increased from $500 million in 2009 to more $800 million in 2010. Of this, the significant majority of revenue was generated by iPhone games.
But setting aside the console market, the success of iOS and Android (primarily iOS according to Flurry's data) as gaming platforms is more obvious in the portable market, where the smartphone platforms have increased their share of revenue from 19% in 2009 to 34% in 2010 at the expense of Nintendo's and Sony's offerings.
From 2009 to 2010, iOS and Android game sales have spiked significantly, resulting in nearly a doubling of their market share. With both Nintendo DS and Sony PlayStation Portable shrinking in sales, while smart-device game sales simultaneously grew by more than 60%, iOS and Android games now represent more than one third of the portable game category.
It is also important to note that the surge in revenue share for smartphone platforms comes at a significantly lower average price point than for dedicated devices, meaning that even the strong growth from those platforms has eaten into the total portable gaming market, which dropped from $2.7 billion in 2009 to $2.4 billion in 2010. The "race to the bottom" has long been one of the main concerns for smartphone application developers, particularly traditional game developers who have been accustomed to the pricing model for dedicated gaming devices. But users are clearly shifting toward more casual gaming at lower price points on their smartphones, and developers that have embraced that market are in many cases seeing solid results.
Originally posted on our sister site !
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‘Game Dev Story’ Updated with Game Center Support
The iOS equivalent of video game crack, Game Dev Story [$3.99/Lite], unexpectedly took the App Store world by storm last fall when it released. This quirky simulation game let you build your very own video game company, releasing titles of your choosing for a wide selection of consoles along a timeline that is strikingly similar to the actual history of video games for the past few decades. Chances are you know all this already, as Game Dev Story has earned accolades from seemingly every corner of the internet, including our own glowing review from last October.
Today Game Dev Story received a new update that adds Game Center leaderboards and achievements to the game. There are now online leaderboards for total game sales, total console sales, total capital for the 20 year span of the normal game, and additional leaderboards that track game sales for every single console in the game. The leaderboards are already chock full of some absolutely insane scores, but it’s still pretty fun to see where you stack up in the various areas of the game.
There’s also 32 Game Center achievements to earn which are based on various milestones and special feats in the game. While Game Dev Story already did a stellar job of waving a carrot in front of your face leading you to the next in-game goal, it’s pretty cool to be able to earn some Game Center points and have a nice variety of special things to shoot for. If you’ve already got Game Dev Story, go mash away at your app update button and get in on the Game Center fun, and if you have yet to see what all the fuss is about there is a lite version for you to try.
Game Dev Story, $3.99
Game Dev Story Lite, Free
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‘Super Cosmic Word Snake’ for iPad Review – An Incredibly Clever Retro-Styled Two Player Word Game
While I'm not the our own Blake Patterson is, I've always thought it would be super cool to have a . Even though the iPad doesn't have the 30 years worth of pizza grease on it like your typical Pac-Man cocktail table would have, the iPad is a surprisingly good substitute when it comes to face to face single device multiplayer. Where am I going with all this? Well, Super Cosmic Word Snake [$2.99] combines so many things I like in an iPad game it's almost like built their game off some design document of mine that I haven't even created yet. It's dripping with retro charm, has simple (but incredibly fun) two player single device multiplayer, and even has Game Center.
To start playing, you need to situate the iPad between you and a friend and flip a coin (or somehow determine) who is going to play which side first. As the first player, you're responsible for growing the super cosmic word snake as much as possible. Adding body segments on to the end of said snake is as simple as hitting the 7 letter buttons at the bottom of the screen to make a word. The first letter of the word you form must start with the last letter of the worm itself. The snake then, well, snakes around the screen towards the opposite side.
Player 2 plays on the opposite side of the screen, and using a slider and a button you're able to fire at the word snake. Initially you'll need to shoot asteroids out of the way to get a clear shot, but after that you're home free to unload everything you've got on to the snake. Segments of the snake come in two types, and can be killed in one shot if those segments were added by a three (or less) letter word. Segments added from a four (or more) letter word take two shots to kill.
The game is over when the worm has either been destroyed, or it has made it all the way to the other side. After that, it starts over, and it's up to you whether or not you switch places. There's also a single player mode included as well, although it's substantially less fun than playing with another person. In fact, if you don't have someone to play with, I'd go as far as just suggesting sticking with more typical single player oriented word games.
I really like how retro-ized the whole game is, and how the graphics and interface are designed to look just like a cocktail table arcade machine. It's also neat how the two players play the game so differently, with one player playing what amounts to a retro-style shooter while the other plays a word game. It would be cool to have some additional game modes, or power-ups of sorts that could keep things a little more even if one player was particularly good at their goal, but overall Super Cosmic Word Snake is a surprisingly fun two player iPad game.
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