Watch us as we descend into the dark side.

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Music:

“Beatnes7 (Theme to The Portable Podcast)” by The Eternal – Download on iTunes here:

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Apps Mentioned in this Episode:

$1.99

Jet Car Stunts

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

Our Rating: :: ACCELERATED FUN
Read Our Full Review >>

Released: 2009-11-13 :: Category: Games

The App Hall of Fame (the original App Hall of Fame, not the Apple knock off) is an independent initiative launched by 148Apps that includes selection committee members from over 40 web and print publications.

Our goal is to archive the very best mobile apps by honoring only 12 applications per month. To be eligible, applications must be available for download from the App Store for at least 6 months. Applications are nominated and voted on monthly by the selection committee with the applications that get the most votes being inducted into the hall of fame.

We want you to join in on the celebration. We’ll be giving away copies of the newly inducted applications to subscribers of our mailing list later this week. Subscribe now for a chance to win.

We are very proud to announce the December inductees into the App Hall of Fame:

      

Skype from Skype Software S.a.r.l
Words With Friends Newtoy Inc.
Canabalt from Semi Secret Software
Netflix Netflix, Inc.

      

Drop 7 from Area/Code
Zen Bound 2 from Secret Exit Ltd.
Space Invaders Infinity Gene from TAITO Corporation
N.O.V.A. from Gameloft

      

Jet Car Stunts from True Axis
Boxcar from appremix
Peggle from PopCap Games, Inc.
iBlast Moki from Godzilab

The Jet Car Stunts level library is about to get a bit of a boost once the new DLC level pack is approved by Apple. Added to the game are 26 platforming levels, all available through in-app purchase for $1.99. Also available by DLC, but for free this time, are the levels from the lite version of the game, just to add some extra goodies.

The app is also getting an update that will optimize it for iOS4. It’ll get the customary retina display upgrade as well as full screen anti-aliasing on the 3G and 3GS. Don’t worry if you didn’t upgrade though, the game will fully support OS 3.x.

Check out the video below of some of the new DLC levels if you want to know what you are getting yourself into… they look insane.

$1.99

Jet Car Stunts

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

Our Rating: :: ACCELERATED FUN
Read Our Full Review >>

Released: 2009-11-13 :: Category: Games

Random musings of the App Store

Alchemize App Store Pricing Protest

This weekend, in a protest against supposedly 3400 emails complaining about the $2.99 price of their app Alchemize, Schiau Studios raised the price to $39.99 for the weekend. Yes, it’s a hilarious protest against whiners who complain about spending a few bucks, but Schiau is not entirely in the right. Alchemize was originally priced at $9.99 and then quickly lowered until it was only $.99 for a short time. I can’t blame people for waiting for another sale. If Schiau truly wanted to protest App Store pricing, they would have come up with a fair price, stuck to it, and never changed it amid protests. By acknowledging the whiners, Schiau has granted them some legitimacy.

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Alchemize™

iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Released: 2009-08-22 :: Category: Games

PSP Minis

Sometimes it’s good to take a look at our beloved App Store’s rival, the PSP Mini store. The store has launched and two of its biggest name games have already made an appearance on the iPhone (and for cheaper): Hero of Sparta and Fieldrunners. In addition, Chillingo and Mountain Sheep’s Minigore is on the way. What do all of these games have in common? In my estimation, they’re three of the most overrated games on the App Store. Hero of Sparta had good visuals for its time, but the dull one-button hack and slash affair has so many pre-rendered cinematic animations it’s like watching a movie. Fieldrunners has a great art style and was admittedly one of the first open-path TD’s on the App Store, but there’s only a few enemy types and tower types, and it lacks the depth of the genre luminaries such as Sentinel 2 and Defender Chronicles. Minigore has nice aesthetics as well, but it’s an average two-stick survival shooter with little depth, easily outclassed by games such as Alive 4 Ever. Sony, wake me up when you manage to get some good games.

Nimblebit’s Freebie Friday

This Friday, Nimblebit lowered all their apps to free in celebration of their newly launched site App Classics! Even if you missed the deal, the apps are still worth buying; Nimblebit is the best in the business at creating fun, short, and addictive games such as Scoops and Textropolis. This move was interesting from a marketing standpoint, and certainly created buzz. In fact, Ian Marsh reported via Twitter that Saturday’s sales were double normal and more than made up for Friday’s losses.

This week’s upcoming app that looks frickin’ awesome!

This is the inaugural issue of this feature where I’ll be showing off some upcoming games that look awesome (though I’ve been doing it unofficially for quite some time). This week, we have Jet Car Stunts, an awesome-looking racing game in the vein of Track Mania. The game is due to be submitted within the next week. Enjoy!

A few weeks ago, Chris used this space to talk about how happy he was that Glu’s awful Family Guy cash-in was doing poorly in the App Store. Well, times have changed, and apparently Stewie is enough to make a poor game reach #9 on Top Grossing Apps.

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Family Guy: Uncensored

iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Released: 2009-09-23 :: Category: Games

Soosiz

Soosiz is without question the best platformer yet on the App Store. The game uses gravity-centered gameplay, like that of Gomi, but much more fast-paced, to turn a good platform adventure into something extraordinary. The level design is excellent, and the difficulty curve is just right. Controls are great as well. There’s only a left arrow, a right arrow, and a jump button, but they are all perfectly responsive and work brilliantly in unison, making you almost forget you’re playing on a touch screen.. The graphics are cartoony and playful, and the only big flaw of the game is the sometimes overly-childish music. Other than that though, Soosiz is a magnificent achievement is App Store platforming, and it’s one of the most fun games I’ve played in a while, coming highly recommended.

$1.99

Soosiz

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

Our Rating: :: AMAZING
Read Our Full Review >>

Released: 2009-10-09 :: Category: Games