Archive for the ‘SD’ tag
John Carmack Discusses ‘Rage’ and Announces ‘Rage’-Based ‘Mutant Bash TV’ Coming This November
Id Software's Rage is high up on my list of games I can't wait to play. It's going to be released on the PC and home consoles on September 3rd, 2011, and spinoff game for iOS devices is also in the works that is coming this November. posted a developer diary of sorts by John Carmack today which is filled with some great technical details and newly revealed information on their upcoming Rage-based iOS game, Mutant Bash TV.
Starting things out, John admits that mobile development at Id hasn't been on the top of the priority list, and it wasn't until the end of July that he even started writing the engine that would power the iPhone game. (We saw the results at QuakeCon.) In the post, Carmack also reveals that while with this engine it's technically possible to compile the full-blown PC/console version of Rage for the iPhone, he describes it as a "hopelessly bad idea," citing inappropriate performance tradeoffs and control differences.
He admits what they do have is fun, and unlike anything else available for the iOS. After seeing the success of Myst, which is a 700MB download, that became their target file size for the "standard definition" version of the game. The "high definition" version for the iPad and iPhone 4 will be twice that size. Carmack then goes on to explain that the full version of Rage weighs in at an incredible 20GB. Even more surprising, this game is going to launch at 99¢ for the standard version, and $1.99 for the HD. Carmack thinks "people will be very happy with the value."
But what is this game going to be all about? John explains in detail:
The little slice of RAGE that we decided to build the iPhone product around is “Mutant Bash TV”, a post apocalyptic combat game show in the RAGE wasteland. This is the perfect setup for a quintessential first person shooter game play experience — you pick your targets, aim your shots, time your reloads, dodge the bad guys, and try and make it through to the end of the level with a better score than last time. Beyond basic survival, there are pickups, head shots, and hit streak multipliers to add more options to the gameplay, and there is a broad range of skill levels available from keep-hitting-fire-and-you-should-make-it to almost-impossible.
A large goal of the project has been to make sure that the levels can be replayed many times. The key is making the gamplay itself the rewarding aspect, rather than story progression, character development, or any kind of surprises. Many of the elements that made Doom Resurrection good the first time you played it hurt the replayability, for instance. RAGE iOS is all action, all the time. I have played the game dozens of times, and testing it is still fun instead of a chore.
Carmack has built his life around making games that are not only technically impressive and beautiful, but also tons of fun to play. If gameplay is in fact the rewarding part of Mutant Bash TV, I can't wait to give it a try. This all is making the end of November seem even more far away.
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‘Galaxy on Fire 3D’ Goes Free in Preparation for ‘Galaxy on Fire 2′ Launch Tonight
This isn't the first time that Fish Labs has dropped the price of Galaxy on Fire 3D [Free] to free, so if you missed it last time, here is your chance again. Galaxy on Fire is a space shooter that was really impressive when it was first released, but hasn't exactly aged well compared to similar recent game releases such as Gameloft's Star Batallion [$6.99] or even Freeverse's Warpgate [$4.99 / Lite / HD]… But it's still pretty awesome. If you're looking for something to do while you wait for Galaxy on Fire 2 to show up on your country's App Store, get crackin' on playing the original.
If you're in New Zealand, or other areas of the world where it's currently Wednesday, Galaxy on Fire 2 is already available for the equivalent of $6.99 USD. We'll have a review ready tonight after the game hits the US App Store at 11:00 PM EST tonight, but in the meantime you can where anticipation has been growing all day.
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‘Boondock Saints’ Heading to the App Store Next Week
is a cult classic movie based around Connor and Murphy MacManus, a pair of Irish twins who believe God calls upon them to purge the fair city of Boston of gang evil. The movie bombed in box offices, but went on to make over $50m in home video and DVD sales. If you haven't seen it yet, and you like bullet-packed action movies, you should . Much like the Predator movies and Predators [99¢ / Free], it seems like the Boondock Saints movies has more than enough in it to make a fun iPhone game.
The cleverly titled The Boondock Saints Mobile Game is a dual stick shooter based on the Boondock Saints movies. It comes with an entirely new story exclusive to the game, and you can choose to play as either of the brothers while cleansing Boston of filth. Along the way you'll run in to many characters from the movies, and of course, tons of different weaponry.
The Boondock Saints Mobile Game will be appearing on the App Store next Thursday the 28th for $1.99. Once the game is released, we'll take a closer look.
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‘Chu Chu Rocket’ Gets a Release Date, Price, and Trailer
Last month we had our pizza-greased paws all over Sega's upcoming Chu Chu Rocket for the iPhone, and having loved the Dreamcast version, we can't wait. We explain the basic premise of the game in the preview:
ChuChu Rocket! is a colorful J-style puzzle game where you must get a group of mice safely into their rocket ships while avoiding cats. The mice will brainlessly move forward on their own, and make a right turn when running into walls or barriers. You can place various up, down, left, and right arrows around the playfield in order to direct the mice towards the safety of their rockets. Cats behave similarly in how they march around the board, and if you happen to misdirect your mice into any of the cats you'll fail the level. There are limited numbers of arrows per level to direct your mice with, meaning you'll have to think ahead to find the best placement of each one to assure you get your mice to safety.
The game will be available on the 28th for both the iPhone and iPad. The iPhone version will be $4.99, with the HD iPad version at $6.99. Chu Chu Rocket for the iPhone sounds pretty awesome, with over 140 puzzles and a four player multiplayer mode. If you can't wait until next week and desperately want some similar gameplay, give Mummy Panic a look.
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Chillingo Acquired by EA for $20 Million Dollars [Updated x2]
The Wall Street Journal's All Things Digital regarding a potential acquisition of Chillingo by the hand of gaming giant EA. Neither company needs any kind of introduction around here, and it's really amazing to see all these huge multi-million dollar deals flying around lately over iPhone games. Price estimates of the purchase range from $80 million to $200 million, and there apparently are a number of companies interested in Chillingo ranging from DeNA, Activision, Gameloft, and oddly enough, even Microsoft's gaming unit.
We're waiting for comment from both Chillingo and EA.
Update: is reporting the sale price to be $20 million, but the full details have yet to be made public.
Update 2: We just heard from Chris Byatte, General Manager (former President) of Chillingo and got a brief comment on the buyout. In his words, "The acquisition will allow us to marry our expertise in identifying and cultivating the ideas of independent developers with the publishing power and reach of EA mobile. It is going to be BIG!"
We expect to get more details soon, as both Chillingo and EA seem to be inundated with requests currently. An official press release explaining the acquisition can't be too far off.
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Releasing Tonight: ‘Reckless Racing’, ‘Angry Birds Halloween’, ‘Samurai II: Vengeance’, and Others
If you're lucky enough to live in New Zealand, these games are already all available. Otherwise, as the world turns and it slowly becomes Thursday in your neck of the woods, all of these games should appear for download on the App Store. For those of us who get our games from the US App Store, this means 11:00 PM EST tonight, or earlier if you're east of us.
Reckless Racing, $2.99 [] – We've had our hands all over Reckless Racing when it was previously known as Deliverace. The project got picked up by EA Mobile, and has seen several substantial improvements including multiple gameplay modes and even online multiplayer. Reckless Racing HD [$4.99] is also coming to the iPad, if you prefer your racin' on the big screen.
Angry Birds Halloween, 99¢ [] – Rovio Mobile is apparently abandoning Chillingo with this self-published Halloween themed version of Angry Birds. 45 levels are included along with a new story of the golden egg of terror, and there's plenty of pumpkins to smash. Much like the original Angry Birds an iPad version is available in a separate download as Angry Birds Halloween HD [$1.99].
Samurai II: Vengeance, $2.99 [] – This universal ultra-gory hack and slash is also being released tonight, and with how great the original looked, I really can't wait to see this game in action on the iPad. They're even promising 60 FPS frame rates at Retina Display resolutions on newer devices.
Other games being released tonight include Gameloft's Modern Combat 2: Black Pegasus HD [$9.99] and a sequel to Namco's Brain Exercise with Dr. Kawashima [$4.99 / Lite] cleverly titled More Brain Exercise with Dr. Kawashima [$4.99]. Keep an eye out for more coverage and reviews on these games later this evening.
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GameSalad License Changes Spurs Online Community to Transition Developers to Other Tools
recently announced some drastic changes to the way they license , a simplified game development tool that allows the creation of games without a single line of code. Previously, developers had different options on how to license the GameSalad SDK ranging from a $99 to $1,999 yearly subscription which then allowed developers to export binaries to then upload to Apple for approval to be sold (or given away) on the App Store under their own name. At GDC Online in Austin, Texas earlier this month, that they were doing away with this subscription model and instead would be positioning themselves as a publisher of sorts. Per a posted later, the SDK will be completely free to download and instead all games will be published under the GameSalad name (similar to how Chillingo and other publishers work) with a revenue sharing agreement.
When existing GameSalad subscriptions expire, several things are going to happen: First off, all developers will be forced to publish their projects under GameSalad. This means they lose a great bit of their identity, have no control over promo codes, and will need to work through GameSalad instead of with Apple for any App Store issues. Secondly, all existing GameSalad games won't be able to be updated since currently there's no way to move an existing App Store listing to a different publisher and the new free version of the GameSalad SDK won't export a binary that can be sent to Apple to update the existing game. As of this writing, no program has been announced to allow existing developers who have invested in GameSalad to be grandfathered in to a program that will allow them to continue independent GameSalad development.
Max Vector, a GameSalad-powered shooter.
Needless to say, this change of events has stirred up quite a bit of unrest in the GameSalad development community. A blog (and forum) called has sprung up detailing the GameSalad saga and offers some assistance for developers looking to migrate to similar tools without forced publishing. Quite a few developers seem to be jumping ship to , a similar tool that leverages the Lua scripting language. If you've dabbled in GameSalad in the past, or are looking to start, it might not be a bad idea to see how this all plays out before getting much more involved.
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‘Samurai II: Vengeance’ – Coming This Week
We are mere days away from the release of the sequel to Samurai: Way of the Warrior [$1.99] by . We thought the original was great in our review, and was one of the most gory games to be released on the App Store when it first hit. The sequel, Samurai II: Vengeance will be available on Thursday of this week (or, more accurately, late Wednesday night) and we can't wait.
We got the details on all the cool things this sequel will have back in August, and basically Samurai II will be bigger, better, and look even more awesome than the original. Check out the trailer that was released not too long ago:
The art style of the Samurai games is great, and looks fantastic in motion. I can't wait to see this game running on the Retina Display of my iPhone 4. We'll take a closer look as soon as it is released.
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EA Presentation at Tokyo Apple Store Reveals ‘Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit’, ‘Dead Space 2′, and Other Upcoming Titles
Tokyo's Apple Store was recently host to a "Game Nights at the Apple Store" event where EA presented a slideshow with a surprising amount of information regarding upcoming titles for both the iPhone and iPad. We've known some of these have been in the works for a while, but this is the first time for many that we've either seen any kind of screenshot or any solid release information. Japanese iPhone site was in attendance, and provides the following photos of the slideshow:
First off, Reckless Racing, formerly known as Deliverace is a game we were following quite a bit before it got picked up to be published by EA. Since then, we haven't heard much about the game aside from wondering when it was finally going to be released.
According to the above slide, it's slated for this month. EA almost always releases their games on Thursdays, so we're likely either looking at a release late at night next Wednesday, or the following week. Next up is NBA Elite 11, a 5 on 5 fully licensed basketball game that takes advantage of the Retina Display:
A client for EA's free flash game portal is also on its way. The slide mentions the game will be ad supported, with additional content available via a subscription. We'll have to see how this plays out on the device, and if the subscription they're referring to is or something that will be exclusive to the iOS app:
Much like Reckless Racing, I expect the above two games that EA has listed as October releases to pop up late next Wednesday or the following Wednesday. Moving on to November releases comes Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit. We've been increasingly impressed with the Need For Speed series on the App Store, and I'm thinking Hot Pursuit will continue the tradition:
Next up is Pictureka!, an iPad game that sounds like a fast paced version of Where's Waldo? [$2.99 / HD]. It comes with pass and play local multiplayer for 2-4 people, and promises an art style that's both truly engaging and wacky. I'm not one to pass up on anything wacky:
Monopoly is finally coming to the iPad, which is allowing me to cross off yet another board game from my list of games I want on the device. The iPad exclusive features sound really rad, such as the auto-rotating tabletop mode… And I can't wait to see what in the world the new "cheating" mode entails. A mini game where you steal money from the bank while the rest of the players are getting drinks or going to the bathroom? We'll have to wait until December to find out:
EA Sports Active has been popular on consoles, and now is coming to the iPhone and iPod Touch. The following slide isn't really clear how involved the app will be, but hopefully it includes some cool GPS or accelerometer integration for tracking your performance instead of being yet another calorie/workout logging app. The features list upcoming post-launch gyro support, so we'll have to see how that all works:
Last, but certainly not least by any means is Dead Space 2. This confusingly named third person shooter is apparently going to bridge the story between Dead Space and its sequel, making this something more along the lines of Dead Space 1.5 than Dead Space 2. (This confusing sequel numbering reminds me of the .)
I can see Dead Space being absolutely amazing on the iPad, and if they do it right, an iconic example of just how good and immersive an iPad game can be. It's not entirely clear from the slide if the game is going to be iPad exclusive, or for the iPhone as well since the header mentions the iPhone, but the bulleted list below mentions it being graphically enhanced for the iPad. Either way, Dead Space on the XBOX 360 was incredible, and I have a feeling it's going to be either just as awesome on iOS devices, or just as disappointing as Mass Effect Galaxy [$1.99]– I'm not sure there's much room in between.
Of course, we will post more as soon as we get any more information on any of these games.
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DeNA to Acquire Ngmoco for $400 Million
confirms rumors that started last week that iPhone game company ngmoco was on the verge of acquisition. Japanese company DeNA will indeed be acquiring iOS game developer ngmoco:
DeNA, the Japanese social gaming giant, said Tuesday that it would acquire Ngmoco, a Silicon Valley iPhone game developer, for $400 million — one of the largest deals ever involving an iPhone application developer and another sign that the iPhone is fast becoming the hottest gaming device on the market.
Ngmoco had previously received about $40 million in funding throughout its existence. The acquisition was approved by DeNA's board and is expected to officially close in the next couple of weeks.
DeNA founder Tomoko Namba cites "social gaming" as the big tide in gaming and is seeking to expand into the western market with the acquisition.
Ngmoco was founded in 2008 just as the App Store launched. We first reported on the company's founding back in July, 2008. Ngmoco was responsible for some of our favorite early iOS titles including Rolando, Dropship, and more. Recently, however, they've transitioned into freemium/social gaming with titles like , , and .
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