It’s Friday! Hurray! Of course, for me it’s summer vacation and Fridays aren’t quite as exciting. But, we’ve still got our traditional sampling of delightful new releases from the past week, so that’s something. Big names like ngmoco and Illusion Labs make an appearance this week, as well as a few more mainstream companies like ESPN. Enjoy!

Godfinger
Godfinger from ngmoco allows you to build up a little world of cartoony followers and exert your godly powers on them. In Godfinger, you can be a kind, caring deity—performing Wonders and helping your civilization prosper—or a wicked demagogue, leaving a path of destruction in your wake. You can control sun, rain, lightning, floods, and fire. As you play Godfinger, your actions shape the terrain and your populace’s opinion. It’s almost ngmoco’s answer to Pocket God. Go on, give it a try and test out your godly abilities…Godfinger, like many of ngmoco’s newer games, is free.

FREE!

GodFinger

+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
Released: 2010-06-17 :: Category: Games :: Action

Geometry Wars: Touch
Geometry Wars was already a classic Xbox game, but it made its iPad debut back in March. Now, it’s a universal app, meaning that iPhone and iPod owners can get in on the action! Geometry Wars is a simplistic arcade shooter with basic, geometric graphics and a strong retro theme. It also was one of the first major games to make good use of the dual-stick shooter system that’s so popular on the App Store today. The iPhone/iPad version also includes a brand-new mode, Titan, in which you gradually break giant foes apart into swarms of smaller pieces.

$0.99

Geometry Wars™: Touch

+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
Released: 2010-04-01 :: Category: Games

ESPN Pinball
In honor of the World Cup, ESPN has a released a pinball app with some football-themed tables (ahem, soccer for us Americans). There’s also a Basketball table. The new pinball app is full of flashy graphics and boasts pass-and-play multiplayer, global and local leaderboards, and voice-overs from ESPN Sports Center host Jay Harris. It’s a marriage of a TV network, sports, and pinball…if that sounds a little strange, well, it is, but the game looks like some solid pinball fun nevertheless.

$1.99

ESPN Pinball

iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Released: 2010-06-14 :: Category: Sports

Onion News Network
Where would we be without the Onion? In case you haven’t heard of this magnificent publication, the Onion is a completely satirical news network with both an online and a print publication. (Yes, that’s right: you can get a real Onion newspaper.) Their stories are funny, witty, snide, and clever; you’d be crazy not to enjoy browsing them. The Onion’s new app gives you mobile access to the entire Onion archives, including both textual stories and videos. There’s not much more to say: it’s a typical newspaper app. The only difference is that the Onion is anything but a serious, esteemed publication. It’s here to make you grin, and, perhaps, think.

FREE!

Onion News Network

iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Released: 2010-06-11 :: Category: News

Foosball HD
Illusion Labs has long expressed an interest in touchscreen gaming on larger screens (think back to their tabletop demo of Touchgrind) and now they’ve released an impressive iPad-only title: Foosbal HD. Foosball HD takes full advantage of the iPad’s large screen, transforming it into a top-down view of a foosball table designed perfectly for “local multiplayer”: both you and your friend just play foosball! You can also play against the computer, of course, but multiplayer is the real draw. Foosball seems like a natural fit for the iPad, and it’s great to see Illusion Labs putting the iPad to good use. Sorry, iPhone users; this one isn’t for us.

$2.99

Foosball HD

iPad Only App - Designed for the iPad
Released: 2010-06-11 :: Category: Games

We’re expecting to get more details on the game next week, but for now, EA have released a few screen shots from their upcoming NCAA Football game for the iPhone. Looks a lot like Madden for the iPhone, so we hope it’s as good. We’ll let you know when we get more info on release date and features.

It’s been 4 long years since Italy gloriously hoisted the FIFA World Cup and proclaimed themselves the kings of soccer (football, futbol, calcio, etc.). There’s a deep field of 32 teams who will be vying for the 2010 crown and, while you can never count out old stalwarts like Brazil, Italy, and Germany, many countries have a legitimate shot at the trophy and their place in soccer immortality.

What’s different this time around? Well, this is the first World Cup to take place in the continent of Africa. Many of the players and coaches have changed throughout the years. But, as far as my fellow iPhone enthusiasts are concerned, the biggest difference is that this is the first World Cup to take place since Apple’s miracle device was born. There are several cool apps for just about everything these days, and the World Cup is no exception. Here are 4+ apps that every soccer fan should have on their iPhones over the next month of soccer nirvana…

FIFA World Cup
If you want a game that has all the pomp and circumstance of the tournament, EA’s FIFA World Cup does a good job of incorporating all those elements. As the only officially licensed game, FIFA World Cup lets you choose from 105 different countries on the quest to qualify for the competition and capture the trophy. There’s also a Captain Your Country Mode, where you become a virtual pro on your favorite team and try to guide them to victory. FIFA World Cup may not be the greatest game of soccer that you’ll play, but it has all of the official stadiums and requisite fanfare of the world’s greatest sporting event, including some amusingly blocky-looking fans. Soccer enthusiasts may also want to try X2 Soccer 2010 for perhaps a better simulation of the game, and Soccer Superstars for a more arcade-like approach. Neither have the spectacle of the World Cup license, but they are amongst the best soccer games in the app store at this time. Keep an eye out for Pro Evolution Soccer as well, as the legendary series will soon be making its debut on the iPhone.

FREE!

FIFA World Cup™

iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Released: 2010-04-30 :: Category: Games :: Action

ESPN 2010 FIFA World Cup
ESPN is the official home of the World Cup in the United States, and is offering an iPhone app that can be used to follow all of the latest happenings. Included in the free app is News, Live Scores, Schedules, Video, Stats, History, etc. For a robust $7.99 more, ESPN is promising Live Radio Streams of all the matches, timely in-game video highlights, expert analysis, premium alerts/notifications, and live play-by-play commentary. It remains to be seen if the upgrade is worth a purchase, but it is nice to have all this information included in a handy & attractive app. As an alternative, the Associated Press is offering a World Cup specific app for all of the latest soccer news, and Univision, the official Spanish language provider of the World Cup in the United States, is offering a comprehensive app of their own. It wasn’t that long ago when Univision was the only place to watch much of the best soccer, including the World Cup. Now where can I get a sweet Andres Cantor “GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLL!” ring tone?

FREE!

ESPN 2010 FIFA World Cup

iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Released: 2009-12-03 :: Category: Sports

World Cup Trivia Challenge
Want to show off your stunning, yet normally useless amount of World Cup knowledge? World Cup Trivia Challenge lets you do just that in a surprisingly good game. Choose your side and play through a trivial facsimile of the World Cup including qualification, group stage, and the knock-out stage. Better yet, take on your friend at the bar in a head-to-head match of true fandom. Get 3 multiple choice questions right and you score a goal, but every wrong answer counts towards your opponent’s tally. Go back and forth in a timed match to see who scores the most goals, with a tie game going to a true/false penalty shootout. World Cup Trivia Challenge is a modest game, but it has some clever ideas and is just fun. It’s a great time-waster between matches, and an excellent way to score some hard-earned bragging rights.

$1.99

World Championship Trivia Challenge

iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Released: 2009-08-31 :: Category: Games

Vuvuzela 2010
The most important app for this World Cup, however, is hands-down Vuvuzela 2010. If you don’t know about vuvuzelas before this World Cup, you will very shortly. A vuvuzela is a type of horn used by soccer fans, and it is especially prominent in South Africa. The crowds in South Africa will be blaring these horns during every second of every match. It may very well end up being one of the most distinguishing and memorable characteristics of the tournament. The deep, droning sounds of hundreds of vuvuzelas is reminiscent of a swarm of bees, just louder and more obnoxious. There were calls to ban the horns for the World Cup, but they’ll be there and they’ll be ever-present. If you don’t get to pick one up for yourselves, Vuvuzela 2010 does a great job of replicating the experience. Just pick the color of your horn to match your favorite team, turn up the volume as high as it can go, and shake or tap your phone. The effect is pretty genuine, and quite amusing. You might not be able to be at the World Cup in person, but Vuvuzela 2010 brings you that much closer. I suggest blaring it when people least suspect it, for maximum effect.

FREE!

Vuvuzela™ 2012

+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
Released: 2009-08-18 :: Category: Entertainment

So, now that you and your iPhone will be prepared for the 2010 World Cup, who’s going to win? European champions Spain may be the prohibitive favorites, but I’ll go out on a limb and say England takes out Argentina in the finals. Okay, I put like zero thought into that, but it would be an interesting final (remember the Falklands?). Besides, England has an Italian coach, so that can’t be bad. Who do you think will go all the way? Post a comment if you have an opinion, or if you’ve found some other useful apps that all World Cup lovers shouldn’t be without…

Oh, and Go USA! Forza Italia! Viva Oranje!

The big game publishers such as Electronic Arts and Gameloft have a reputation, deserved or not, of rarely updating their titles. EA’s Madden NFL 10 definitely doesn’t fall into this category, as it just received its fourth update since being released in September. As far as updates go, this is a good one, and it has a particularly timely addition. You’ll see what I mean…

First off, a Hard mode been added for those who’ve mastered the game. The difficulty can be toggled between Normal or Hard via the Options screen.

Another addition is the ability to save a multi-player game. If you’re bluetooth session with a friend gets interrupted, you can save and resume at a later point.

The final addition is the ability to download a special Playoff Mode, FREE of charge. This mode features the 12 teams that are currently battling it out in the 2009 NFL playoffs, and can be installed via the in-game Madden Store. You can select one of the 12 teams, and then play your way through the playoffs from the official Wild Card match-ups to the Super-Bowl.

Playoff Mode also conveniently gives you the ability to simulate up to a selected week of the playoffs. We decided to put Madden 10 to the test, Jimmy the Greek style, by simulating this weekend’s games. The screenshot below shows the predicted winners…

So, what do you think? Will Philip Rivers get out-dueled by the inexperienced Mark Sanchez? Will the Ravens defense come up short against the well-rested Colts? Will Brett Favre deny the Cowboys their first road playoff win since 1993? And will Kurt Warner stave off retirement for one more week? Or is Madden 10 just full of you-know-what…

FREE!

MADDEN NFL 10 by EA SPORTS

+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
Released: 2009-09-09 :: Category: Games :: Sports