I was able to stop by Gameloft's San Francisco offices while at the conference, and chatted with them about some of their recent releases as well as some of the backlash they've received over them. First was the issue of how they put advertisements into Hero of Sparta II [$4.99], and after an overwhelming amount of negative feedback they decided to take them out. I think it's good when a company goes out on a limb to try something, and then can admit they were wrong about it and make things righ...
Don't take this as a shocker, but it sounds like Mortal Kombat developer NetherRealm is open to the idea of branching out beyond its resuscitated IP as well as exploring other platforms like iPad and iPhone. In an interview with GameSpot, head honcho Ed Boon talked about the future of NetherRealm and where it might go, noting that it, of course, isn't done with Mortal Kombat, yet is down with creating new experiences across multiple platforms.
Here's the relevant stuff for us from the wide-reach...
At last year's Macworld, XMG Studio was showing off Cows vs Aliens [99¢], a game I thoroughly enjoyed when it came out and is still amongst my favorite games. This year, their big upcoming title will be a brand new licensed Ghostbusters game. It's not really past the concept stage just yet, but the mock artwork and test animation videos I saw are looking pretty sweet.
Ghostbusters will have a heavy social component, as well as some augmented reality gameplay ideas. So, for example, you might w...
After releasing their first iOS game back in mid-December, I got together with Resolve Digital at Macworld to discuss what they have planned for the future of the game. It's called Fathead [99¢], and it's a 2D side-scrolling motorcycle game. This is kind of a tough sell in the App Store, as there are already dozens upon dozens of similar games, but Fathead's distinctive feature is that it's entirely controlled with just one touch. This means it's extremely important to keep tabs on your acceler...
In April of 2009, the world was treated to Ow My Balls! [Free], the “Citizen Kane of iPhone gaming” according to our own Eli Hodapp. Ow My Balls! is a simple but powerful arcade game where you kick a hapless gentleman off of a rooftop and try to rack his, ahem, family jewels let’s say, against as many painful objects as possible before hitting the ground. Aiding you in this noble quest is the use of flatulence to keep you afloat and carry you towards some hard to reach objects in the envir...
Also at Macworld this year was ZigZaGame Inc, the developers who are bringing Adventure Bar Story to the App Store. We've already gone pretty in depth with Adventure Bar Story in our hands-on preview, but another title that they were showing off is their Pokemon-style game Dragon Island.
Dragon Island has you exploring a huge world, battling and collecting over 200 different species of monsters. Each one can be evolved several times, and you can even collect recipes which will allow you to combi...
Star Command looks like a real winner, so we've been following it like the hawks that we are since its initial unveil. The especially cool part about this approach is that we're watching it grow month-by-month, and our users, who are understandably excited, are a something of a cog in its development now. Case in point: the Star Command dudes are asking for feedback on the ship-versus-ship battle system to decide if it should be real time like the rest of the game's action or turn based as initi...
An official, totally real spin-off of a PC Steam release that goes by the name of Tobe's Vertical Adventure will be available on the App Store this month. As we write this, the folks over at Secret Base are hard at work on Tobe & Friends Hookshot Escape, a vertical and endless platformer that stars everyone's favorite super weapon, the hookshot.
We're told that Tobe & Friends will stroke arcade desires, as well as provide a ton of differentiated play in its space. A total of four uniq...
