This week at 148Apps.com, Kevin Stout examined the question more than a few of us are asking: Why won’t Nintendo release any games for iOS? Stout writes, “Nintendo recently reported its first annual loss, showing that perhaps 3DS isn’t enough of a success. Nintendo hasn’t even released its legacy games on mobile platforms where others like Sega have (Sonic the Hedgehog). While current CEO of Nintendo, Satoru Iwata, is in charge, it’s unlikely that Nintendo will acknowledge its mistake. When asked about releasing Nintendo games for smartphones, Iwata replied, “This is absolutely not under consideration. If we did this, Nintendo would cease to be Nintendo….”’

Read Stout’s full commentary and analysis at 148Apps.

$2.99

Sonic the Hedgehog

iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad

Our Rating: :: IT'S SONIC
Read Our Full Review >>

Released: 2009-05-21 :: Category: Games

Meanwhile, Amy Solomon at GiggleApps took a look at a new Marvel Avengers app for kids: Avengers Origins: Assemble! is a very enjoyable universal interactive storybook that tells the tale of how The Avengers became a cohesive group after meeting Captain America. I really enjoy how these characters are introduced, making this a great primer for children new to Marvel comics. Interactive moments are included throughout that children will also enjoy such as dragging the tools used by each Avenger to their rightful owner.”

Read Amy’s full review at GiggleApps.

$5.99

Avengers Origins: Assemble!

+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
Released: 2012-04-12 :: Category: Books

Last, but certainly not least, 148Apps.biz writer Carter Dotson reported on results from a recent MocoSpace study: “MocoSpace has announced the results of their new “Y U Play?” study that tries to answer the question of just why people play mobile games, anyway? The answer for the majority of people appears to be just pure entertainment. 34% of people like to play mobile games because “the games are fun,” and 32% do it because they are bored, or want to kill time.”

Read more about the fascinating study at 148Apps.biz.

That’s the week that was. Keep up with all of the latest news, reviews, trends and contests by following us on Twitter or liking us on Facebook. Have a great weekend – and we’ll see you in seven days!

The Japanese developer KEMCO has been developing iOS games for some time; most of them bring epic RPGs (some might call them JRPGs) in the classic 16-bit style. Alphadia, one of their more popular titles, is described by the developer as a classic Japanese style role playing game. It follows the adventures of the small town resident and young hero, Ash, after he and a friend rescue a mysterious girl from foreign soldiers and escape into the woods. It’s up to Ash and the friends he makes on his new quest to help this girl complete a secret mission that will bring peace to the land again.

The game employs a very traditional turn-based battle system and boasts a substantial plot with over 30 hours of gameplay. Along with the rest of the game, the high-res graphics are also very reminiscent of those old console RPG classics. Just one look at the game and gamers will feel transported back to the days of the great SNES and Sega RPG titles.

Kemco has also just announced a sale on Alphadia reducing the price from $6.99 to $0.99. So far there has been no mention of when that sale will end so players looking for a good chunk of game for cheap might want to check it out.

$0.99

$6.99

RPG Alphadia

iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Released: 2011-10-25 :: Category: Games

Nintendo recently reported its first annual loss, showing that perhaps 3DS isn’t enough of a success. Nintendo hasn’t even released its legacy games on mobile platforms where others like Sega have (Sonic the Hedgehog). While current CEO of Nintendo, Satoru Iwata, is in charge, it’s unlikely that Nintendo will acknowledge its mistake. When asked about releasing Nintendo games for smartphones, Iwata replied, “This is absolutely not under consideration. If we did this, Nintendo would cease to be Nintendo….”

But what about rereleasing classics on iOS? That doesn’t seem to conflict with Iwata’s unflinching desire to keep Nintendo from making easy money. Let’s take a look at some numbers to estimate those releases.

The following data about Nintendo platforms and games are from VGChartz.

• The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) sold 500.01 million units globally.
• Super Mario Bros. sold 40.24 million units.
• The original Game Boy sold 501.11 million units.
• Pokemon (including the Red, Green, Blue, and Yellow versions) sold 46.01 million units.

Now let’s look at some iOS comparisons.

• Apple has recently updated the lifetime sales number for iOS devices at 365 million units, 67 million of which are iPads.
• Recent success Draw Something was downloaded over 50 million times in the first 50 days of being released.

Downloads of some popular iOS games, like Angry Birds, Draw Something, and more, have overtaken lifetime sales of the most popular NES and Gameboy games despite less of the originating devices existing. iOS users are willing to pay for the games that they want.

8% of NES users owned Super Mario Bros. (40.24 million copies of the game out of 500.01 million users). If only 4% of iOS users purchases a Super Mario Bros. port to iOS, half of the NES sales units for the game, Nintendo could potentially make $14M in profits. That assumes the game is sold at $0.99. But who honestly wouldn’t pay up to $5 to play Super Mario Bros. (or Zelda titles) on the iPhone or iPad?

What about Game Boy games? Just a few months ago, Pokemon Yellow appeared on the App Store for a weekend. The app was not Pokemon Yellow. The game didn’t work. And despite over 1000 one-star reviews, people continued to download it. The game reached #3 in the Top Paid Apps on the App Store in an incredibly short time. The original Pokemon titles sold even more than Super Mario Bros.. It also may be more profitable considering it would be a great candidate for an in-app purchase scheme (in-game currency, collectable digital items and Pokemon, etc).

There are plenty of Zelda and Mario-like games on the App Store, but a game that truly mimics the experience and gameplay of Pokemon has yet to be accomplished. But one may be coming out soon. Stephen McVicker and Calisprojects are developing an ambitious, Pokemon-like game called ZENFORMS that’s slated to be released in June.

Even if Nintendo releases Pokemon after ZENFORMS is released, it isn’t going to cut into Nintendo’s sales. But it’s unusual that Nintendo is refusing fans old games that would cost Nintendo nearly nothing to release. There’s a demand out there for Nintendo-style classics and Nintendo is losing out.

Free games again? Man, I’m really starting to get tired of–who am I kidding? Games! For free! Isn’t that awesome?? This week we’re a little all over the place with genres and content. Something for almost everybody, and it’s all free.

The Sandbox – Come on now, this one shouldn’t come as a surprise. It’s a shockingly impressive sandbox (har-har) game that allows players to grow their own environments, and even simple machinery, or destroy it as they see fit. Lots of elements to unlock that play off of each other in interesting ways and a virtually limitless potential for creation make it a must-have even without accounting for the whole being free thing.

FREE!

The Sandbox

iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad

Our Rating: :: CREATE, DESTROY, REPEAT
Read Our Full Review >>

Released: 2012-05-15 :: Category: Games

Pawns Unleashed – I’m more than a little excited for Dragon’s Dogma, which is due out in less than a week (!!!). Of course I plan to use this location-based treasure hunter fill the (admittedly small) gap, but it can certainly keep people busy even after the console release.

FREE!

Pawns Unleashed

iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Released: 2012-05-14 :: Category: Games

Cuboid Free – I’ve always wanted to check out this game, but never got around to downloading it from PSN. Now that I can try it on my iPhone for free, I don’t really have an excuse to avoid this cube-turning puzzler anymore.

FREE!

Cuboid Free

+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
Released: 2012-05-16 :: Category: Games

Quest of Magic: An Adventure in Azoth – Dungeon crawlers? Yes. Free dungeon crawlers? Oh absolutely. A free dungeon crawler made in Mac Gamemaker? Well, it’s a bit questionable but I’m open to just about anything. Especially if it’s free!

FREE!

Quest of Magic: An Adventure in Azoth

iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Released: 2012-05-17 :: Category: Games

Rage of Bahamut – Gotta love a free-to-play iOS collectible card game. Especially one with gorgeous artwork and daily updates. Having a choice between single and multiplayer is just the icing on a very delicious-looking and affordable cake. Mmmmm… cake…

FREE!

Rage of Bahamut

+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
Released: 2012-05-14 :: Category: Games

Witch Wars – The App Store is no stranger to match-three games, but this is a match-three game about witches. Witches who fight each other. Although what interests me most is the promise of constant character unlocks, multiple modes, and individual (and upgradable) skills that help to set each witch apart.

FREE!

Witch Wars

iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Released: 2012-05-16 :: Category: Games

The iPhone looks pretty attractive the moment it’s purchased but sometimes it’s nice to add that personal touch. It’s easy enough to adjust the home screen image and general background, but how about a whole new personalized cover for the device? That’s what CaseApp provides.

The app enables users to import images from their camera roll and position them on a case from within the app. 20 different themes are available to create a great effect and it’s possible to tilt and resize images appropriately. Once happy with the design, tap order and the case can be shipped straight away.

CaseApp promises a delivery date of 3-5 business days with prices under $30 + shipping and handling.

The kind folks at CaseApp have given 148apps readers 30% off any order they make between now and May 23rd though so it’s the ideal time to purchase. Just use the promo code caseapppc30 to get the discount.

The CaseApp app is out now.

FREE!

CaseApp

iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Released: 2012-05-17 :: Category: Photography

It’s a varied selection for this week’s Five for Friday. We’re covering stuff like a convenient and quick-to-respond note-taking app, a fun music-making app for kids, and a Hidden Object game based on a classic piece of literature. Without further ado, let’s take a look at what’s on offer and get on with enjoying the weekend!

Inkflow
At first glance, Inkflow looks to be a pretty run-of-the-mill note-taking app. It very nearly is but its great benefit comes from its speed and precision. Writing or sketching with a finger is frequently a little sluggish, but with Inkflow, there’s hardly any lag at all. Extra functionality comes from the ability to create numerous pages of notes for later reference.

FREE!

Inkflow

+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
Released: 2012-05-14 :: Category: Productivity

Pride and Prejudice: Hidden Anthologies
A Hidden Object game based on Pride and Prejudice? Yup, that’s exactly what we have here. Keeping closely to the plotline of the book, the game offers a great new take on the classic novel. It’s quite delightful to look at and offers some fun, casual gaming.

$5.99

Pride and Prejudice: Hidden Anthologies

+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
Released: 2012-05-13 :: Category: Games

Morton Subotnick’s Pitch Painter
Finger painting has provided hours of fun for kids over the years. Morton Subotnick’s Pitch Painter brings that idea to the iPad along with the ability to play musical notes, all at the touch of the screen. It’s aimed at the younger end of the market and should provide a great introduction to the iPad.

$2.99

Morton Subotnick's Pitch Painter

iPad Only App - Designed for the iPad
Released: 2012-05-15 :: Category: Music

Hiragana Pixel Party
Learning the many characters of Japanese Hiragana and Katakana is tough for those more used to English. Hiragana Pixel Party is a fun way of making a game out of it all with players progressing through numerous different worlds and tapping in time to the entertaining soundtrack. After all, the best form of education is the kind that doesn’t feel like work.

FREE!

Hiragana Pixel Party

+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
Released: 2012-05-14 :: Category: Education

Storypanda
Kids love to read books but they also love to use their imagination to create their own story. Storypanda offers the best of both worlds with the ability to read new stories through the service and create their own along with fun animations and pictures. It should be an ideal tool for families to use together.

FREE!

Storypanda - Making Kids Books Collaborative

iPad Only App - Designed for the iPad
Released: 2012-05-09 :: Category: Books

We can all do with a better memory. Only a daily basis, we all need to remember various dates and events, sequences of numbers, and more. Memorize IDi is an app that helps users train themselves to expand their memory’s capacity by training with the app.

Memorize IDi is a mnemonic calculator that helps turn number sequences into simple images to help expand and extend the capacity of one’s memory. IDi Creative claims that the app will turn “any user into a number memorization prodigy.”

The app is based on a method created by French mathematician, Pierre Herigone, in 1644. His methods are still used in memory training techniques and by “memory prodigies” that compete in world championships. The developers claim that the method hasn’t become as widespread in the last few centuries because of its difficulty to carry out. iOS devices provide a perfect platform for this method and therefore, Memorize IDi will help spread these techniques with the training in its app.

The app is avaible in both iPhone ($2.99) and iPad ($3.99) versions.

$2.99

Memorize-iDi

iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Released: 2012-05-03 :: Category: Education

$3.99

Memorize IDi

iPad Only App - Designed for the iPad
Released: 2012-05-03 :: Category: Education

GameSalad Creator, the tool for creating games that doesn’t require prior programming knowledge to use, is about to make a huge jump. Starting today, Creator will be in closed beta testing for Windows. Once it is made publicly available, this means that the users of the largest desktop OS in the world will be able to make their own games.

GameSalad has already been a huge part of the App Store, as the company claims that over 15% of new games released last year for iOS were made with GameSalad Creator. This jump to Windows should help to expand the audience for their tools, especially for those interested in using GameSalad Creator to develop games for the web and Android, which became supported in the last year. Those looking to upload to the App Store will likely still need a Mac involved at some point to upload and edit their app. However, all development should be otherwise possible on the Windows version of GameSalad Creator. It is currently in a closed beta, and should be made publicly available later this year.

One of the biggest events in the international soccer calendar is starting in a matter of weeks: Euro 2012. Thanks to this, a plethora of apps are trickling their way through to the App Store for keen soccer fans to enthusiastically check out. While we’re going to be taking a closer look at the selection very soon, Total Euro 2012 deserves mentioning now.

The app contains a huge amount of information for Euro 2012 fans. There’s detailed head to head comparison of all the teams participating in the tournament, along with recent matches and past Euro/World Cup performance. Each player comes with detailed statistics along with their past performance of the previous two seasons.

Once the tournament begins, live updates will be provided with live commentary and up to date statistics with the promise of push notifications and post-game video highlights.

Total Euro 2012 is set to be a very comprehensive app that will be ideal for soccer fans to check in on regularly.

It’s out now, priced at $2.99.

$2.99

$4.99

Total Euro 2012

iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Released: 2012-05-09 :: Category: Sports

Not too long ago, Zombie Smash developer Game Doctors was acquired by Zynga. Their next game, merging of Zombie Smash with the Zynga casual game machine, the Zyngification if you will, has been announced, Zombie Swipeout.

The good news? It’s an interesting game. In our few minutes with it earlier this week, it seemed very enjoyable. It borrows heavily from Fruit Ninja yet makes a few interesting twists on the swipe-things-thrown-into-the-air genre. Then there’s the aforementioned Zyngification of the game. You earn coins while playing the game to buy upgrades and progress in the game, yet your progress is limited by your energy level. All of that can, of course, be bypassed by buying in-game goods with cold hard cash.

Wether the game suffers from this paywall method is yet to be seen. Game developers are good, how much and how often you can play are dynamic — so they can change it at any time. Their goal, of course, is to tune it to maximize revenue. To do that, they need to make sure they don’t annoy too many players.

Off my soap box for a bit, the game is actually very well done and I look forward to spending too much time playing it. Unfortunately it’s only out in Canada for another week or so for some final testing. But it will be hitting the rest of the world soon enough. Keep an eye out for it.

FDG Entertainment, developer of popular sniping stickman game, Clear Vision (17+), has just released the first screenshots for the update of its shooting game.

The 1.1 update to Clear Vision (17+) will continue the story with Tyler, the average guy gone assassin. FDG entertainment promises lots of blood and cutscenes in the new update (which will be free to owners of the full version of the app).

The screenshots depict some stickmen outside of somewhere called Club Lay-M, a sniper shot of someone being held at gunpoint, and an artsy shot of the shadow of a stickman holding a silenced pistol. While the screenshots don’t reveal much of what’s going to happen in the update, they’re still fun teasers to the extended story of Tyler coming soon (early June).

Clear Vision (17+) was based on a Flash game by DPFLASHES Studios. The follows Tyler through a violent, cartoony story with plenty of assassinations, blood, and cutscenes. The game is universal and is selling for only $0.99.

$0.99

Clear Vision (17+)

+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad

Our Rating: :: STEADY YER NERVES
Read Our Full Review >>

Released: 2012-02-21 :: Category: Games

The iPad is increasingly becoming a must-have tool for professional and amateur musicians alike. The sheer amount of accessories and tools that can be connected to the iPad for music is amazing. The Carbon 49 by Samson is another one of those musical iPad accessories.

The Carbon 49 is a USB MIDI controller designed with the iPad in mind. The MIDI controller has an iPad slot to hold the iPad and it works with almost any iPad synth or music app that supports MIDI. The Carbon 49 can even be powered by the iPad itself for those musicians that need increased mobility and less wiring to worry about. The controller has 49 velocity-sensitive keys, Transpose and Octave buttons, Pitch Bend and Modulation wheels, 14 adjustable performance-related parameters, and a 3-digit, 7-segment LCD screen that displays the controllers behavior.

Since it’s a ‘USB’ MIDI controller, iPad users will also need the iPad Camera Connection Kit to give the iPad a USB slot to hook the Carbon 49 into. The Carbon 49 is selling at various online retailers (like J&R) at $89.99.

What happens when a location-based service like Foursquare and a radio streaming services like Pandora are mashed together? We end up with something like WahWah.FM. WahWah.FM, a German-based start-up, is a music service that lets users create their own radio stations by picking music on their own iPhones and simultaneously listening and streaming those songs to anyone else who’d like to listen.

Unlike Pandora and other services that may use algorithms and recommendations to pick songs for stations, every user is their own DJ and can choose which songs they will listen to and broadcast to their listeners. Users can tune into to other users all over to world to check out what they’re listening to. Stations can be posted to Facebook to let friends know that music is being broadcasted. And there are even ways to interact with the listens to the stations each user has created.

WahWah.FM is a free service and is now available on the App Store. Check it out and start streaming.

FREE!

wahwah.fm

iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Released: 2012-03-09 :: Category: Music

It’s not an organization that many of us would automatically expect an official app from. Regardless, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO to you and me) has recently released its own news app.

It’s an iPad-only affair but it offers all the latest news from the organization. That kind of news covers everything from important visits to the NATO Headquarters to statements on major issues in Afghanistan.

Alongside text-based news comes a number of videos from NATOchannel.tv, the official video focused site for the crucial organization.

Combined, NATO News should be the ideal portal for those in need of greater insight on all the things NATO does at the moment and some of the background information about the organization. For news hounds such as myself, it should form a great resource in times of major world news as there’s a lot more detail to releases than major news networks would suggest.

NATO News is out now and it’s free.

FREE!

NATO News

iPad Only App - Designed for the iPad
Released: 2012-05-11 :: Category: News

The board game of Monopoly is an impressive 112 years old. That means plenty of time for multiple different varieties of the game. Vying away from the likes of Simpsons, Lord of The Rings and World Cup soccer editions, now there’s a new and technologically advanced variety in the form of Monopoly zAPPed.

Monopoly zAPPed relies upon special credit cards that can be scanned with an iOS device. Keeping up with the 21st century focus on using plastic rather than cash to spend, these devices automatically transfer funds between players’ accounts once swiped. A selection of mini games also stem from the app which can help players escape jail and jail fines.

It all makes for a fun twist on the traditional Monopoly experience and is bound to keep fans happy.

The app is available now and is free to download. Although, bear in mind that the Monopoly zAPPed board game is required to use it fully.

FREE!

MONOPOLY zAPPed edition

iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Released: 2012-05-07 :: Category: Games