It feels like it’s been ages since I first set eyes upon Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of the War of the Worlds Minigame Adventure. Back then it consisted of a mere two games. Now the last of them have been added, bringing the total up to the initially promised twelve.
It makes for an extensive collection of mini-genres, from the “find the item” graphical adventure style of the Prequel through the old-school puzzle gameplay of The Red Weed (Part 1) and ultimately drawing to a close with the arcade-like viral infection of Dead London. It’s a collection that I’d easily recommend to fans of H.G. Wells’ classic tale for the typical going rate of $5. However, in celebration of Minigame Adventure‘s completion the price is getting a temporary 60% price cut for the weekend (2/3 – 2/5).
It should go without saying that being able to grab a collection of a dozen well-made, War of the Worlds-themed mini-games for $2 is significant. Even if it should, I feel the need to reiterate it. Both for dramatic purposes and because it would be foolish for fans of the novel/movies to pass this up. So here I go: Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of the War of the Worlds Minigame Adventure, a title which offers twelve mini-games, is currently on sale for $2. It’s a ridiculously good deal, and one that I’d recommend jumping on before it’s over.
Who doesn’t love a good shooter set in the days of a World War III tainted apocalypse? The wild west has risen again, and the multiplayer shooter Warm Gun will help figure out how it truly was won.
A little birdie from the game’s developer over at Emotional Robots decided to chirp in our ear about a brand spankin’ new update that just moseyed its way into the App Store. Among the most prominent changes, players will immediately begin seeing a 40% increase in performance, no matter what iOS device they are using. Also, lets not lose sight of a newly introduced interface and an entirely new map: Coldshot.
Probably the best part of the entire announcement is the fact that until the end of February Warm Gun will be marked down to a mere $1.99. So now looks to be as good a time as any to holster up and take a step into the past… or is it the future? Where is Marty McFly when you need him?
The top gift on most holiday lists this year is undoubtedly a new iPad, iPhone or iPod touch. To celebrate, Disney Mobile’s very popular rhythm music game Tap Tap Revenge is running its biggest holiday deal yet. Leading up to New Year’s Eve, Tap Tap Revenge is giving away a song a day, including a few holiday favorites, Grammy nominations, and hit singles from the world’s biggest music acts, including Cold Play, who’s hit new song “Hurts Like Heaven” is Sunday’s free track. Lady Gaga’s “Marry The Night” was Thursday’s free track.
As for holiday cheer, they’re also giving away Bootsy Collins & Snoop Dogg’s “Happy Holidaze 2012” on December 26. Other hit songs being given away for free in the holiday promotion include, “Feel So Close” from Calvin Harris, “Body Work” from Morgan Page (ft. Tegan & Sara) and The Band Perry’s smash hit “If I Die Young.” Other bands include Alkaline Trio, She Wants Revenge, Coleman & Chris, Ivy, Chancellor Warhol and The Outfield.
The concept behind the Hello Music website is a simple but brilliant one: provide members with information regarding all manner of deals and sales, on all kinds of musical goodies. The Hello Music app does pretty much the same thing, only on iOS. In other words, with an account on the website and the app on a phone, anyone looking for great deals is covered.
The site, and by extension the application, will per-negotiate discounts on a set (and limited) quantity of various items. These range from tangible objects such as amps, pedals and such, to less tangible things like studio time. Since quantities are limited the deals don’t last long (usually around 48 hours), but with a handy-dandy iOS app to monitor these deals on the go it becomes much less of an issue.
Setting up an account on the website is free. The app is free. Suffice it to say, any musicians with even a little interest in savings (and an iPhone, of course) need to take a look at this.
Ash was one of the first RPGs I downloaded when I was a new initiate to the wonders of iOS gaming. I recall being thoroughly impressed by the quality. Well, that quality just got a boost. The original game was released with graphics licensed from RPG Maker, but SRRN Games has replaced all of it with totally original artwork. The new style shares a few basic similarities with the older one, but overall it’s a huge visual change. Especially the character portraits.
Another less obvious but still notable change has to do with the random encounters. One of the game’s initial shortcomings was that there were just so freaking many of them it kind of made getting from point A to point B a pain. This has been rebalanced, so now random encounters are a bit less frequent. They’ll still happen, and they’re still essential to not being caught in a boss battle with one’s pants down, but the decrease will go a long way to making the game more accessible and overall more fun.
Last and most important, Ash is getting an 80% prince drop for the holidays. What was once a great RPG that could be had for $4.99 is now a great RPG made slightly greater and available for a buck. One dollar. $0.99. I’d gladly recommend this game to any RPG fans at $5, but $1? That’s, like, “don’t even think about it just buy it” pricing. So yeah; don’t even think about it, just buy it.
It’s amazing how certain iOS games can just explode into our culture, isn’t it? It happened with Angry Birds, which spawned more than a few spin-offs, merchandise and even a cartoon. The sadistic little app from Bolt Creative about the lovably doomed island of pygmies has also been bitten by the success bug. Since its release, Pocket God has seen a ton of content updates, a follow-up with its own metric ton of additions, and a digital comic. Each of these three things have been incredibly popular, but it’s the success of the comic we’re talking about now.
On the heels of a major milestone achievement (500 thousand plus downloads) and a new update (issue #11) comes even better news. Pocket God Comics, in collaboration with Free App A Day (FAAD), is on sale for absolutely free for the next two days. Well technically FAAD is responsible for Thursday’s sale, while MonsterFreeApps is handling Friday. Anyway, from the 8th through the 9th, the now 11 issue strong digital comic app will be available for zilch. Nothing. Nada. Zip.
Great games, great reads, great regular prices and an even greater sale. Honestly, aside from a general discomfort derived from the violent demises of cartoon islanders, I can’t think of a legitimate reason for anyone to miss this sale. It’s looking to be one fantastic weekend.
Thanksgiving is nearly upon us which means one very important thing. No, not the delicious turkey, I’m talking about Thanskgiving sales on the App Store!
Namco Bandai are first to dish out the bargains, having reduced the prices on 25 of their titles including Pac-Man CE, Time Crisis Strike, Galaga Remix and my personal favorite: Puzzle Quest 2.
Buying online has always been something of a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it’s convenient. On the other, there’s lots of potential for thievery. Of course, nowadays there are all manner of anti-theft measures in place and purchases have been made even simpler with payment info storage and the like. But what about those spontaneous instances of shopping need where there’s no computer present? Well that’s what TapBuy Deals is for of course.
TapBuy Deals is something of a dream come true for super-saving shopaholics. The app stores billing and shipping information using “bank-grade encryption,” so once the desired item is found it only takes a tap or two and the order is completed within seconds. For added security, it requires a PIN for each purchase so if the iPhone is lost or stolen no one else will be able to run up unwanted charges. But this ease of use coupled with security is only a part of the draw.
In addition to all that, TapBuy Deals will group purchases (from the same vendor, of course) together to reduce shipping costs. Sometimes this even leads to zero cost. On top of all that it also automatically finds coupons and applies them as needed, saving users the most money it can. Of course, they can also add their own if they’d like.
TapBuy Deals is sitting in the App Store right now for free. And my apologies for the phrase “lickety-split.” It’s just that the opportunity to use it comes along so infrequently I couldn’t resist.
One of the greatest perils of writing over Halloween is figuring out a fantastic and humorous way of introducing another seasonal sale. I’ll admit it, I’ve failed this time round. Readers may have enjoyed the spooky tales of Sega’s ‘Screamtastic’ Sale and the trick or treatastic explanation of Gameloft’s sale, but I’m all out of cheesy jokes or puns. When it comes to the Namco Bandai sale, readers are just going to have to be hooked by the fantastic discounts on many titles!
There’s a cerebral theme going on with many of the discounts. I guess it’s because zombies love brains (ah ha, there’s the Halloween joke!). Brain Exercise with Dr. Kawashima has benefited from a price drop of 50% making it a mere $0.99. Isaac Newton’s Gravity is also only $0.99 on the iPhone with the iPad version offering a 50% discount on in-app purchases. More in-app purchases reductions are available with puzzling delight House of Glass
Strategy gamers will love that Buccaneer Blitz is a mere $0.99 for the Universal app, and it’s a fine title indeed scoring an impressive 4.5 stars from us last year. While, Hidden Object gaming fans get the fun of Mishap for only $1.99 instead of $4.99.
Rounding off the sale is enjoyable physics game The Mooniacs and relaxing Pterodactyl flying game Fossil Feast, both reduced to $0.99, down from $1.99.
Happy Halloween and enjoy feasting upon these great discounts.
Posted October 13th, 2011 by Michael Halloran Our Rating: :: Fontastic!
Fontography is a photography app for the iPad that allows users to make custom "fontographs." With the ability to create custom letters and numbers, Fontography really lets the creative mind take hold to make unique word art.
So there’s this game about flying supines and home-wrecking avians that’s pretty fun. The reason I’m bringing it up again almost 3 months later should be fairly obvious. But for the sake of argument and thoroughness, I’ll elaborate.
For a limited time, Pigs in Trees is going to be absolutely free. It’s got something to do with the game being released on another platform. Something about robots I think. Obvious skirting of the issue aside, now there’s no better time to take to the skies and shoot down those pesky peckers. Not only is it one heck of a fun experience that can be had for zero cost, it’s also recently received a pretty decent update, with 15 more levels, the addition of the Ninja Pecker and a couple new power-ups.
So it’s free, it’s entertaining, it’s been recently beefed porked up. Why not go ahead and clear off 20 megs worth of space, hop on the App Store and give it a try? If nothing else, it should give my previous ramblings on the subject of pig-on-bird violence a bit more context.
We were pretty impressed by Camera Plus Pro when it was reviewed last summer. Clearly developers, Global Delight, didn’t want to rest on their impressive laurels as version 4.0 of Camera Plus Pro, released today, promises to the bring the best out of the iPhone camera in terms of photography and performance. Some of these changes are simple such as the fact that the app is now 30x faster, others are much more complex such as the UI makeover, new capture engine and a plethora of different filters. The main thing to take from all this is that Camera Plus Pro is all the more essential a purchase for anyone keen to use the camera functionality regularly.
18 new Live Photo Filters have been added allowing users to preview photos in full screen while adding new filters and looks to the imagery. Camera effects like grid lines, touch exposure and a white balanced lock enhances this all the more. Live photo editing means that users can see just how much their photos are improved by adjusting brightness, contrast, saturation, hue, sharpness, tint and temperature quickly and easily. Distortion effects provide plenty of benefits as well.
9 Live Video Filters have been added for those creating videos with the app. The new Smooth Video Zoom functionality boosts video recording too thanks to its jerk-free promise.
With the capture engine being so much faster than before, instant saving is possible with the ability to capture 40 back-to-back photos at full resolution. Re-adjusting images, rotating or cropping photos is just as simple with one single motion doing everything.
It’s impressive stuff for an already excellent photography app. Camera Plus Pro is regularly priced at $2.99 but to celebrate the latest release, it’s priced at a mere $0.99 for the next week. An ideal time to check it out then.
Tower defense fans rejoice! Origin8, makers of the rather popular and critically acclaimedSentinel 3: Homeworld have seen fit to drop the price for a limited time. Okay, it wasn’t entirely their doing but rather Openfeint’s FireSale promotion. Although technically it was the thousand Openfeint gamers who voted for the price drop, I suppose.
Regardless, Sentinel 3: Homeworld is temporarily marked down to a dollar. That’s right, for an indeterminate about of time it’s possible to get a hold of one of the App Store’s most celebrated tower defense titles for next to nothing. Even better, as special “Thank You” for all the love, Origin8 has also temporarily dropped the price of the Campaign 2 DLC. So that’s another dollar. Just in case anyone was wondering, that’s $5 worth of some of the most highly regarded TD goodness for a mere $2.
I’m sure there are a fair number of people reading this who already own the game, but I also imagine a fair number of them have yet to get the DLC. No time like the present, right? And everyone else who loves tower defense games but still doesn’t own it, wave those lame excuses bye-bye.
It’s always nice when a developer releases a Lite version of their game so that the unsure can drop the “un,” or when an app goes on sale. It’s also pretty cool when a fairly well-established game gets a significant content update. It jumps beyond merely “nice” or “cool” and into pure “awesome” territory when a developer does all of those things at the same time.
In this particular case, I’m talking about Chillingo. This week, they’ve seen fit to bombard the App Store with all manner of sweetness, starting with a major content update to Feed Me Oil. The new and improved 1.2 version includes a new gravity-flipping mechanic and 15 levels to make use of it in. I seem to recall being rather fond of the game’s initial release, and that was well before any of this Newtonian debauchery was added. Now? It’s practically like getting a second game for the price of nothing. Or getting two games for a dollar if the user in question hasn’t actually bought the game yet.
Next, we have 3 all-new Lite versions for the color-centric steampunk shooter Color Bandits, the surreal arcade puzzler Ranger Rocket and the family-friendly physics puzzle game Hungry Chicks. There’s pretty much something for everyone in that lineup, provided they don’t have some kind of psychological need to spend money. Well, except maybe RPG and platformer fans, but the latter will almost certainly enjoy seeing that the newly released NyxQuest is on sale.
iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Released: 2011-09-20 :: Category: Games
Indeed, for an indeterminate amount of time the gorgeous (and apparently quite good) indie platformer NyxQuest will be on sale for a mere dollar. People such as myself who missed out on the initial launch sale have a second chance to fix their mistake and grab this gem on the cheap. Now, at the time of this writing it’s still showing the price as $3.99 for some reason, but I’ve double-checked the App Store and it’s most definitely $0.99. “For a Limited Time,” of course.
This week at 148Apps, writer Gianna LaPin continued the 500,000 Apps Interview Series by chatting with Colin Lynch of Freeverse. Lynch says, “There are plenty of skill-sets that are helpful in creating great apps and great games. An eye for design, an ability to analyze the market and spot opportunities, speed of thought and action to take advantage of those opportunities, great coding skills, flexibility to work around problems or change directions when events warrant.”
Over at our kid-centric sister site GiggleApps, reviewer Amy Solomon took a thorough look at Practice Book, a new iPad app that uses a familiar connect-the-dot approach to helping children learn letters and words. Solomon writes, “Because my son is new to creating letters, this is an app we work on together. I may demonstrate the correct way to connect the dots in terms of the up or down motions commonly used to make letters or give him simple instructions that he can follow by himself. Sometimes I hold his hand and together we trace over template in the hope that his muscle memory for writing these letters will develop. We often use a stylus as well to get used to holding a pencil to write.”
iPad Only App - Designed for the iPad
Released: 2011-07-28 :: Category: Education
And at Android Rundown, Carter Dotson comments on the new that iOS superhit Instagram is coming to the Android platform…sort of…maybe…one day. He writes, “Instagram’s CEO Kevin Systrom has announced that an Android version of their photo sharing service is “on the horizon” for Android. The app is very close to being real, as they don’t even have a team assembled to develop the app for Android. That is also sarcastic.”
iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Released: 2010-10-06 :: Category: Photography
Finally, here in the states, it’s the Labor Day weekend. That means scads of sales on tons of apps. Keep up to date with the latest and greatest changes by visiting our Huge Labor Day Weekend Price Drop Round-Up. There are great deals to be had, and some amazing games to play in between bites of char-broiled goodness.
That’s it for this week. Want to know the latest and greatest news about everything happening in the iOS world, including giveaways and contests? Join us on our Twitter and Facebook streams. You’ll be glad you did. See you next week!
Gameloft has just announced an end of the summer/back to school sale on 8 of their most popular iOS titles. That means they’re all available for only $0.99 each.
Here’s the scoop on exactly what’s on offer:
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Shadow Vanguard: My pick of the bunch having loved it on the iPhone earlier this year. Priced at $6.99, it was a fantastic game. At only $0.99 each for the iPhone and iPad versions, this is guaranteed to be an ideal purchase for any strategy shooter fans.
iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Released: 2009-11-23 :: Category: Games
There are also discounts for the Gameloft Action Pack and Sports Pack, each providing three games in all for only $0.99!
The Gameloft Action Pack comes with Hero of Sparta, Blades of Fury and Brothers in Arms, while the Sports Pack comes with Let’s Golf, Real Tennis and Pro Baseball.
iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Released: 2010-03-15 :: Category: Games
Also dropped in price is James Cameron’s Avatar but we reckon it’s more for avid fans of the film rather than being a must have title in its own right.
It’s been a while since I first took a look at Adrenaline Monki‘s Mooniz, but I remember spending what could be considered way too much time with it. As I’ve said previously, it’s a battery eater. Since then there have been some updates including better compatibility with older devices, making it accessible to an even larger audience. Well now it’s about as accessible as it’s going to get, because Mooniz is completely free for a limited time.
That’s right, for the low low cost of absolutely nothing, anyone can use their iOS device to save the world from an invasion of super-cute and cuddly lunar critters. As before, there are still in-app purchases for coins that can be used to buy power-ups, but none of that is really necessary in order to have a good time with it. Keep in mind, this “limited time” deal doesn’t have any discernible end date, so I’d suggest getting a move on if poking colored moon monsters in the name of population control sounds like a thing worth doing.
The poor, defenseless little Po’Trubians are under attack by an army of evil robo-beings known as “Sleevils.” It falls to one lone hero (of course) to defend the obnoxiously helpless little buggers and save their world from total annihilation. Enter Stan (STatic Alien Neutralizer), the rather junky old robot/veteran hero-type.
The plot serves little purpose except to bookend the campaign levels, but the blasting is really what it’s all about anyway. Stan is rooted to the spot, which is odd seeing as he’s in space, so players have to direct his blasts by tapping (and holding) on the screen to get him to blow away the alien aggressors. Par for the course, there are various upgrades that will unlock as the levels progress which can be carried over to the Survival Mode. Which is good because it’s near impossible to last longer than a few seconds in Survival with the default gear.
Anyone who wants to get their mits on a fun little distraction for absolutely should check out this ad-free version of Last Stand Stan before the sale ends. It’s a simple arcade shooter but the myriad of destructive unlockables keep the motivation to play longer high. Plus it makes time pass, which is always nice when stuck at an airport or something.
MochiBits‘ SwipeTapTap is a surprisingly engrossing game despite its utter simplicity. Following on-screen prompts involving (what else?) swipes, taps and various combinations as quickly and accurately as possible is one of those things I’d never have expected to keep me entertained for very long, but it does just that. Not only that, it keeps things from getting stale by including a total of four game modes. And it’s free at the moment, did I forget to mention that? Nah, I’m pretty sure I did.
Each of the four modes uses the same basic mechanics in different ways. Classic is all about inputting the correct gestures as they scroll across the screen in a timely manner. Take too long or screw up too often and they’ll fill the screen and it’s Game Over. Memory is more like a classic game of Simon, only with a touch screen interface. Speed is a race against time, requiring almost super-human-like reflexes at the higher difficulties. Finally, Endurance is one big continuous level with no end in sight and steadily increasing speed. Losing isn’t so much a question of “if” but of “when.”
And yes, for a limited time (in conjunction with “OpenFeint’s Free Game of the Day”) this finger-flexing homage to Simon is completely and totally free. All of the games modes. No money down. Zero dollars. There’s absolutely no legitimate reason not to check it out.
In their first game for the App Store, Trionit Inc. has released Amberground, a universal game app that treads some new ground for the App Store, though savvy gamers may notice some similarities to the indie hit on Facebook, Little Cave Story.
Amberground sets players with the task to help Amber, the titular heroine of the story, find her way through maze-like caves, digging up soft ground to obtain gems and other treasures and avoiding obstacles such as hard ground, bombs, and monsters. There are 100 unique levels set in five different locations, and gamers can use their puzzle solving wits to solve them all. Bonus points are achieved by picking gems of the same color in 20 combo runs. In addition, they can use bombs and boulders to kill monsters and destroy specially marked walls.
Other features mentioned:
-use magic to grab gems, push stones and bombs or dig soil to open passages
-farm gems by enclosing up to 39 mushrooms before they turn into a pile of stones
-kill monsters to get their treasure
-get 1-3 stars for your mining performance (1 star required to advance level)
-choose between left and right handed controller layout
-Invite your friends to compete for the top rank in leaderboard and see who unlocks more achievements.
If the visual style and whimsical level design in the screenshots below don’t inspire, there’s always the gameplay video, showing the first five levels of the game, as well as a 50% off sale for the first week.
This weekend we celebrate Independence day here in the US. And as app developers tend to do, they have put a whole bunch of games and apps on sale this holiday weekend. We’ll update this post regularly with the latest, so please check back.
Included below are just about every game that EA makes, a few great ones from Gameloft, a bunch more great ones from Chillingo, Com2US, Nickelodeon and many many more.
Update 2 – 7/4 1:30pm: Lots of great stuff including lots of free games. And a huge sale from Firemint.
Update 1 – 7/2 11:00am: Lots of stuff from Konami and a bunch of great free games added. Grab them before the prices go back up!
iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Posted July 1st, 2011 by Carter Dotson Our Rating: :: STATIC SHOCK
Street Fighter IV Volt is a new version of Capcom's latest entry in the legendary Street Fighter IV franchise, featuring 3 new characters and online play.
If there is one thing that everyone loves about Father’s Day it is spending a little quality time with their parents, right? Okay, so maybe some of us may not be as eager to spend quality time bonding with our parental units, so why not give your Dad a game or two instead? The good folks over at Namco are making this an even more cost effective solution by announcing a special Father’s Day Sale.
In case you couldn’t tell, that is a massive chunk of the Namco’s iOS line-up, all marked down by at least half in most cases. There are many solid titles in that list, so give it a look and see what strikes you, or your father’s fancy.
Spring is in the air, and Namco Bandai is celebrating with a sale. From Friday, May 6 through Monday, May 9, take advantage of markdowns on some of the company’s biggest iOS games. Below is a full list of games that will be on sale but please note that some or all games may only be on sale within the US iTunes store.
The iPad 2 is here! And in celebration, some apps have been updated for the iPad 2 with it’s increased processing power. And a whole bunch of apps and games have gone on sale.
First up, the newly optimized games. Infinity Blade has long been one of those games to turn to when you want to show off the power of the iPad. With it’s latest release, Chair Entertainment has updated the app with even higher resolution graphics to fully utilize the power of the iPad 2.
In addition, we got word late last night that Real Racing 2 HD had been released. We were surprised with the launch after no mention of it’s pending release was made at GDC last week. But here it is, in all it’s glory, released with extra enhancements for the iPad 2 like full screen anti-aliasing.
Let’s not forget the sales! EA have put their entire line of iPad titles on sale for up to 70% off for the weekend. Though most of the best games are about 30% off. Some highlights below:
Looking for more sale apps? Check out our iPad Price Drops page — specifically made to show just the iPad price drops. We even have a specific page if you just want to see the newly free iPad apps and games.
Want even more? Looking for more great iPad apps to fill up the iPad 2? Check out our highest rated iPad apps and games page in our reviews section for the iPad apps and games that we think are the best of the best.
Luckily for us, developers use any excuse to put their apps on sale if they think there will be a higher than average number of people looking at the App Store. Such is the case now with the impending release of the iPhone 4 on Verizon and also with Valentine’s Day rapidly approaching.
So we have a bunch of developers putting their apps and games on sale, and we get to benefit from that! Take a look below at the cream of the sale crop. There’s no real defined end point for this sale, so grab them now as they could go up anytime.
Update: 2/12 10:00am, Update: 2/11 4:00pm – A few more interesting ones picked up. Update: 2/10 1:00pm – Imangi, Snappy Touch, and DK Publications get in the giving mood and make some their apps free for a while. Grab them all, they are all great. Update: 2/10 12:00pm – Navigon gets generous with their great GPS apps. Reducing the price by 50% for North America! Update: 2/10 10:00am – Namco, Sega, and Disney go $0.99 crazy with a load of their games. It must be catching. Update: 2/9, 2:00pm – Capcom jumps in as well with a whole slew of their games going for $0.99 including the just released Devil May Cry 4 Refrain. Update: 2/8, 10:00am – And Gameloft joins in the party as well. Putting 14 of their games on sale for $0.99 until February 14th! Update: 2/7, 2:30pm – EA is at it again. They have put the majority of their iPhone/iPod touch and a few of their iPad games on sale. We’ve added the best of them below. The descriptions say they are on sale for 48 hours only, I think it might be a bit longer than that, but grab them now if you missed the sale last time. Update: 2/5, 3:00pm – Added a dozen or so more. Many football related apps on sale for the big game on Sunday (no, not Liverpool v. Chelsea).
Chillingo has updated two apps from their catalogue of titles. Ice Age Deluxe: Dawn of the Dinosaurs is seeing the much improved and sought after Retina display upgrade. But Guerrilla Bob? Well, this announcement comes with a lot more than just improved visuals.
Guerrilla Bob now packs in wi-fi co-op action so that players can team up across several platforms. You’ll be able to pull each other up by the boot straps on your iPhone, iPod, Mac or PC. This kind of cross-platform play is mind blowing. We’re giddy with geek anticipation.
Beyond just co-op, this update also includes Retina support, two new characters, faster app switching, Game Center support and improved controls and balancing. All of that makes this jump to version 1.3 well worth the wait.
There are, however, some hanger-ons suggesting that this title still lacks a definitive, true version of online multiplayer. By that, we think they mean one that doesn’t require a wi-fi connection. We’re not magicians engineers, but we assume that the wi-fi necessity comes from the fact that the folks from Chillingo don’t want to see their product lagging out due to network issues. Who wants to be in the middle of some highly humorous combat only to see it falter because of some less than perfect data reception? No one.
But, to those folks that are still somehow disappointed, Chillingo has offered up a sacrifice. Guerrilla Bob is currently on sale for just $0.99. If you’re unfamiliar with Guerrilla Bob, well, just know that it’s positively ridiculous. And we mean that in the most wonderfully complimentary ways. See for yourself with a trailer tailored specifically for this update below.
Last month our Thanksgiving meals were stuffed with lots of deeply discounted apps, and it seems that publishers are getting into the Christmas spirit in much the same way. We’ve got a whole slew of apps available at rock bottom prices just in time for your holiday celebrations, many at their lowest prices ever. Make sure and act fast though, as many of these apps are available for an extremely limited time.
Also, be sure and keep checking this post regularly, as we’ll be updating all the new deals as they are announced. Much like Santa, we don’t stop working until Christmas, and we’re paid in milk and cookies. Speaking of, if you could leave out some chocolate chip oatmeal cookies that would be delightful.
Update 12/23, 1:45pm: Just a minor update. Nearly tripled the number of great sales apps!! Lots of great things here, many at the lowest prices we’ve ever seen. Seems like you can buy a lot of entertainment for $0.99 these days. The list has gotten so long that we’ve had to split it into multiple pages — sorry about that, but if we don’t it will kill many people’s browsers.
Update 12/24, 10:30am: Added a bunch of great title from EA now that we know they won’t be raising the prices over the holiday weekend. Also a few dozen more great apps and games.
Update 12/24, 6:15pm: Added even more great apps bringing our astonsishing total up to 355 great apps on sale. Let’s hope Santa brings us lots of iTunes gift cards for Christmas.
We’ve got over 180250 355 top quality apps on our list. Hit the jump for the full list!
Tis the season to both give and receive. iOS developer Smule seems to understand that better than anyone else, and accordingly, are ready to announce a special holiday giveaway. Starting at 1pm on Tuesday December 7th, their critically acclaimed program Ocarina will be absolutely free. The only catch is that it is only for a limited time.
Looking back in time through the magic 148Apps.com crystal ball, we can see that not only has the app been well received by numerous junkets, but our very own Jeff Scott gave the then fledgling software a perfect five star rating. Trust us on this, we were not the only place that told you it was the best around, either. Word of mouth spread so quickly that it went on to garner over 2.8 million downloads since the original release in November of 2008.
Now boasting an impressive online community of digital ocarina composers, this is where the true appeal of the app lies. This is so much the case that the online library of composed pieces has reached an astounding sixty million playbacks. Here is what our own review had to say about it, way back in the day:
“Overall Ocarina, while not the most exciting musical instrument on the iPhone, does use the network connection on the iPhone to it’s fullest to create a fantastic social application. It’s a lot of fun.” — Jeff Scott
The fact that Smule is willing to give one of their marque titles away, even if it is only for a limited time, is commendable and another reminder that sometimes it is better to give than to receive. In this case though, we will happily take part in the receiving as well! Be sure to head to the App Store and pick it up before the promotion ends on December 10th at 1PM. When an app manages to gain our five star approval, it would be a crime to let this opportunity slip by.
There’s something to be said for altruistic developers who decrease the prices of their application for no real reason. Although Monday marks official Cinnamon Roll Day and World Animal Day, somehow I don’t think that’s why prices have been lowered. Similarly, I thought that it might be Back to School sales, but with most of the applications games and entertainment related, that doesn’t quite add up either. Turns out that Apple itself initiated this Big Games, Great Prices sale in the App Store, but we’re still not sure what the reason is. We’re gonna go with “Cinnamon Roll Day” for now.
Firemint’s Real Racing, awarded 5 stars in our review and our Editor’s Choice badge, is down to $2.99 from the usual $4.99 – a real steal for an application that provides hours of fun and releases your true competitive spirit. EA leads the pack with a Need for Speed Shift reduced from $6.99 to just $0.99, along with Civilization Revolution featuring an equally competitive drop. Prices have also been reduced on FIFA 10, down to $4.99, and NFL 2011, down to $2.99.
The list, found originally by Touch Arcade, contains even more price reductions on what appears to be an iPhone / iPod Touch specific sale with nary an iPad game in sight. No matter Apple’s reasoning for having a sale right at this moment, this is good news for the consumers looking for a cheap game for entertainment’s sake. It’s not often that sales of this magnitude come along with no real major holiday nearby, so make the most of it while you can. You can find all the reviews you’ll need linked above.
This week at 148Apps, Tweetbot was on a roll, a new storybook app joined the fold, and - oops - apps broke the Super Bowl. There's more to read, so get to it!
It feels like it’s been ages since I first set eyes upon Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of the War of the Worlds Minigame Adventure. Back then it consisted of a mere two games. Now the last of them have been added, bringing the total up to the initially promised twelve.
:: LOTS OF POTENTIAL
Who doesn’t love a good shooter set in the days of a World War III tainted apocalypse? The wild west has risen again, and the multiplayer shooter 
The top gift on most holiday lists this year is undoubtedly a new iPad, iPhone or iPod touch. To celebrate, Disney Mobile’s very popular rhythm music game Tap Tap Revenge is running its biggest holiday deal yet. Leading up to New Year’s Eve, Tap Tap Revenge is giving away a song a day, including a few holiday favorites, Grammy nominations, and hit singles from the world’s biggest music acts, including Cold Play, who’s hit new song “Hurts Like Heaven” is Sunday’s free track. Lady Gaga’s “Marry The Night” was Thursday’s free track.
The concept behind the 
Ash was one of the first RPGs I downloaded when I was a new initiate to the wonders of iOS gaming. I recall being thoroughly impressed by the quality. Well, that quality just got a boost. The original game was released with graphics licensed from RPG Maker, but 
It’s amazing how certain iOS games can just explode into our culture, isn’t it? It happened with 
Thanksgiving is nearly upon us which means one very important thing. No, not the delicious turkey, I’m talking about Thanskgiving sales on the App Store!
Buying online has always been something of a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it’s convenient. On the other, there’s lots of potential for thievery. Of course, nowadays there are all manner of anti-theft measures in place and purchases have been made even simpler with payment info storage and the like. But what about those spontaneous instances of shopping need where there’s no computer present? Well that’s what 
:: GALCON REDUX
So there’s this game about flying supines and home-wrecking avians that’s 
18 new Live Photo Filters have been added allowing users to preview photos in full screen while adding new filters and looks to the imagery. Camera effects like grid lines, touch exposure and a white balanced lock enhances this all the more. Live photo editing means that users can see just how much their photos are improved by adjusting brightness, contrast, saturation, hue, sharpness, tint and temperature quickly and easily. Distortion effects provide plenty of benefits as well. 
Tower defense fans rejoice! 
It’s always nice when a developer releases a Lite version of their game so that the unsure can drop the “un,” or when an app goes on sale. It’s also pretty cool when a fairly well-established game gets a significant content update. It jumps beyond merely “nice” or “cool” and into pure “awesome” territory when a developer does all of those things at the same time.
Gameloft has just announced an end of the summer/back to school sale on 8 of their most popular iOS titles. That means they’re all available for only $0.99 each.
It’s been a while since I first took a look at 
The plot serves little purpose except to bookend the campaign levels, but the blasting is really what it’s all about anyway. Stan is rooted to the spot, which is odd seeing as he’s in space, so players have to direct his blasts by tapping (and holding) on the screen to get him to blow away the alien aggressors. Par for the course, there are various upgrades that will unlock as the levels progress which can be carried over to the Survival Mode. Which is good because it’s near impossible to last longer than a few seconds in Survival with the default gear.
Each of the four modes uses the same basic mechanics in different ways. Classic is all about inputting the correct gestures as they scroll across the screen in a timely manner. Take too long or screw up too often and they’ll fill the screen and it’s Game Over. Memory is more like a classic game of Simon, only with a touch screen interface. Speed is a race against time, requiring almost super-human-like reflexes at the higher difficulties. Finally, Endurance is one big continuous level with no end in sight and steadily increasing speed. Losing isn’t so much a question of “if” but of “when.”
If there is one thing that everyone loves about Father’s Day it is spending a little quality time with their parents, right? Okay, so maybe some of us may not be as eager to spend quality time bonding with our parental units, so why not give your Dad a game or two instead? The good folks over at Namco are making this an even more cost effective solution by announcing a special Father’s Day Sale.
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