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Appvent Calendar is Back, with Free Games AND Apps!

Posted by Bonnie Eisenman on December 3rd, 2010

Longtime iPhone lovers will remember last year's Appvent Calendar, Blacksmith Games' initiative which offered one free game per day from December 1st 'til Christmas. Last year's Appvent Calendar was a huge success, with tons of awesome games, many of which subsequently rocketed up the charts after returning to their normal prices.

Yes, that's right: free. games. And this year, the Appvent Calendar back!

This year the goodies are even better: in addition to a free game every day, the Appvent Calendar will be offering a free app as well. Get ready to load up on a ton of free goodies, and be quick about it; most apps return to their normal prices after a day of being featured. Unlike other sites which have since sprouted up—such as, say, Free App a Day—most of the Appvent Calendar's offerings are "real" games that are normally paid apps, rather than lite versions or games that were free anyway.

The first two apps featured by the Appvent Calendar this year were Time Geeks, a geeky, retro find-them-all; and My Artists, a replacement for the main iPod app that augments your songs with extra info about the artists. For the second day, we get to nab Sailboat Championship Pro, but I'm personally more interested in Notesy—a note-taking app with Dropbox integration.

For the free games, check out the main page of the Appvent Calendar; apps are available at this link. Happy holidays!




Daily Double Lucky 13: iBlast Moki for Free, Snood for $0.99

Posted by Jeff Scott on December 13th, 2009

As we round the bend and head to lucky day 13 of our countdown to Christmas, we have updates on the deals today. The Appvent Calendar free game is a huge one, iBlast Moki. Will looked at it back in September and gave it 5/5!

iBlast Moki for FREE

iBlast Moki is a fantastic puzzle game where you use physics based devices to blast, lift, and squeeze the on screen characters to their goal. It's a load of fun made even better with Plus+ integration.

At little quote from our review of iBlast Moki:

iBlast Moki contains a nice clean 2D aesthetic that can best be described as more vibrant Rolando 1. The backgrounds are psychedelic, the Mokis cute, and the graphical style overall lends charm to the game. The music is ridiculously catchy albeit a tad repetitive, and the sound effects are good.

iBlast Moki is the best physics game for the iPhone, and at $1.99, it would be criminal to pass up one the best games of the year.

And it was a great deal at $1.99 -- now it's free. But just for one day, grab it quickly!

Snood for $0.99

Will also reviewed Snood from Electronic Arts. And unfortunately the review wasn't nearly as good:

Rather than "addictive, stylish, and fun," the normal words that pop into my head when thinking of Snood, the words I think of when considering EA's abysmal port of the classic game are "baffling, inexplicable, and aggravating." EA has simply made so many bad decisions in the making of this port that make you wonder if they ever even played their own game.

But for $0.99, if you like the original desktop game, it's an easy buy to make up your own mind on this one.

Tuesday Morning App HQ?

Posted by Chris Hall on December 8th, 2009
iPhone App - Designed for iPhone, compatible with iPad
Our rating: starstarstarstarblankstar :: SPARKS FLY :: Read Review »

BestAppEver
We did it last year, and we're doing it again... but bigger. 148apps, along with a long list of writers of other publications, have started the nomination process for BestAppEver 2009. The goal of the awards are to single out the best of the App Store, not the most popular. With the App Store as large as it is, there are so many apps that slip through the cracks, so hopefully we'll catch all the great apps that you (and I) haven't played yet. Be sure to head over to bestappever.com to nominate the apps that you think should win.

Big Sequels
Monkey Ball 2, Inotia 2, Labyrinth 2, Dragon's Lair (Space Ace sequel at heart)... I think I'd like to call December the month of the sequel. Being the holiday season and all, it seems that many of the bigger devs are banking in on peoples willingness to buy things, and what better way than to work off of a proven template. Hopefully before the end of the month we'll see Real Racing 2: Hybrids, Doom 2, Fieldrunners 2, Flight Control 2: Air Force, and the inevitable I Am T-Pain 2: T-Wayne. Life would certainly be good.

Ongoing Sales
If you haven't noticed, we've been keeping track of some of the great holiday sales going on right now in the app world. We have a daily article that Bonnie aptly calls, "Daily Double", because it tracks the daily sale from the Appvent Calendar and EA's 12 Days of Christmas. EA's fare has primarily been apps from over the summer, while the Appvent Calendar is all over the board with some quality apps that most people have never heard of. Be sure to check daily for the sales... you won't want to miss them.

Out Of Left Field
Out of nowhere last week came geoSpark, a game created by the brilliant minds at Critical Thought (geoDefense Swarm) and Imangi (Harbor Master). While the game hasn't quite grabbed me in the same way that either geoDefense Swarm of Harbor Master did alone, I keep coming back for more. I liken geoSpark to the McRib. It's not something that you think you really want at that moment, but you know deep down that it will be more satisfying than anything else on the menu. I have a feeling that by Christmas I'll be having nightmares of stars and swirls running into each other, and possibly of being afraid to leave my finger on the home screen for too long for fear that my app icons will gravitate towards one another. Go ahead and buy this one now... you won't regret it.

More Sales

While 148apps is certainly not a food news source, I feel that it is important to inform you all of the greatest food sale ever. I mean, what respectable Apper doesn't consume inordinate amounts of fast food every week? Whataburger, the home of the soon to be extinct A1 Thick'n Hearty Burger, has started their own 12 days of Christmas. Every other day until Christmas, Whataburger is sending out a coupon to those who have signed up (sign up here) for a free item of their choosing.

"We are thankful for our loyal customers and understand how hard they are working this year to make ends meet," Preston Atkinson, Whataburger Restaurants, LP President and COO, said. "This is our way of helping them make their money stretch a little further this holiday season."

Merry Christmas Whataburger!

This Weeks Sign of the Apocolypse
The App Store, home of all the apps that we love so very much, has this list of top selling apps that is totally out of Apple's hands. Usually the list is populated with apps that they advertise on their home page, but sometimes, for some reason, bad apps slip in. I guess this is the ultimate sign that the people buy what they truly want, unfortunately, in this case, the people truly wanted Pocket Girlfriend during the first week of December. Seriously guys... this is sad. It's so sad that I'm refusing to put a link to the app.

Note To Will Raskin
"Sunday's national game on Fox, mainly Cowboys-Giants, earned its highest preliminary rating on the network in three years." says SI. There's a bright side to everything right?