The App Store is known for its sales, and just like December and the holiday discount, February is no different, at least for London UK-based mobile development studio Origin8. Developer of “The Sentinel” series, Origin8 have announced “February Freebie Fever,” a sale which will see the company drop the price to FREE on one of it’s App Store hits. Every Friday in the month of February, Origin8 will make one of their App Store titles absolutely free for the busy weekend period.
The sale comes as Sentinel: Mars Defense is about to turn a year old on the 19th February. The sale has already started with Car Mania becoming free last Friday up until today. Details of future weekend deals will be announced via the company’s various social networking accounts on the day of the sale.
“The Sentinel: Mars Defense anniversary provides us with a great excuse to spread some love to our players, and it’s a logical point for us to take a look back over an exciting year. Our aim is to develop games that stand out for their high quality and we want to get them into as many hands as we can. The iPhone as a gaming platform has grown spectacularly over the past year – many current players won’t have owned an iDevice at the time of the original Sentinel release, so we’re giving them a chance to catch up with our back catalogue for nothing.” Continue reading Origin8 Launches App Store “February Freebie Fever” Sale »
App Entertainment is celebrating the new year by offering all of their apps for $0.99 between January 8-10. This includes their flagship app, FaceFighter, which lets you create virtual sparring partners using pictures of your friends. Good times! FaceFighter received a favorable review from us back in June, and is currently nominated for 2009 BestAppEver in the categories of Best Productivity Killer and Best Use of Bluetooth.
The other titles on sale are the light-hearted puzzle game Zombie Pizza, and Appy Newz – Scandal Maker!, which has also been for BestAppEver in the Best Photo Manipulation App category.
.. And the new year App Store sales just keep coming! Yesterday we got a tip from one of the more prominent iPhone development studios on the store, Glu Mobile, who told us that starting today, Friday, January 8th, they’ll be staging a new year app blowout sale. Running this coming weekend only, the sale will see the studios well-loved hit titles such as Family Guy: Uncensored, Glyder and Bonsai Blast (among others), drop in price to just $0.99 each!
The sale will end the evening of Monday January 11th. Check out the full list of the apps on sale below, along with a short, quick-fire description of each to help you on your way with the decision to buy ..
Released onto the App Store on Dec 4th, Shaun White Snowboarding Origins is a snow boarding simulation game which sees you .. well, snowboarding. Choosing from a selection of custom boards you take to the slopes attempting to learn and eventually perform up to 50 neat board tricks along the way, and with a truck load of downloadable content, you can really add to your virtual snowboarding experience.
Originally priced at $4.99, Advanced Mobile Applications dropped us a short note earlier this morning letting us know that in celebration of the new year, they’ve price slashed the title to just $0.99! No immediate information on how long the sale will last, but I’m guessing it won’t be too long.
The app also recently received an update in the shape of version 1.1, and according to the App Store description the change log includes:
- Bugs fixed
- New start and end sequences
- Name’s of your friend’s ghosts are displayed during a race
- More responsive jump controls
- Bonus score values modified
Checkout the official trailer video below for some in-game footage.
Shaun White Snowboarding : Origins
Category: Games / Sports Released: 2009-12-05 Price: $0.99
Lets face it, everyone likes a sale – and I imagine even more so when this said sale involves grabbing a bunch of pretty great iPhone apps for almost next to nothing! For the second year running, Minnesota based indie developers Howling Moon Software have rounded up some well loved developers to bring a snatching of seriously cool App Store titles at awesome discounts!
Starting December 31st 2009 and ending January 1st 2010, each of the included titles will be discounted from their normal price, allowing you to snap up the dev(s) hard work at a pittance, and with titles such as Retro Dreamer’s ghoulish Eyegore’s Blast, Chaotic Box’s bubble popping frenzy Pinch n’ Pop, Howling Moon’s physics-filled Crayon Ball and Exosyphen Studios’ roller coaster offering Rail Adventures, there’s something for everyone!
Here’s a full list of the applications set to go on sale:
Showcasing 25 iPhone applications of all description and size, this yearly “App Blowout” sale is described as being a unique way for independent developers targeting the App Store and Apple’s iPhone and iPod touch to promote their software to the masses, and of course offer a little something special moving into the new year.
So, Where is all this going down? I hear you ask. Well, simply slide on over to: newyearappblowout.com. There, starting December 31st all the prices changes listed above will come into effect, and we’re told by Andy of Howling Moon Software that the applications will be discounted for 48 hours – and so advice is to get in quick!
I know for sure that I’ll be keeping an eye on how this one plays out, and as I’m sure you’ll agree, there are some great title reductions up there this year!
Christmas is quickly approaching, and sadly, so is the end of many of these deals. But don’t despair yet, because the sales just keep rolling in. Namco just kicked off their “winter sale” yesterday, and EA is back in the game, too!
At least this is a nice surprise from EA! EAMobile just sent out two tweets saying, “The following titles will be up to 50% off for the rest of the holiday season! Happy Holidays everyone! Boggle, Madden 10, NBA Live, Rock Band, Surviving High School, Wolfenstein RPG, American Idol, and more!”
“And more?” Shockingly, that “and more” includes the likes of Scrabble, Tetris, and Need for Speed: Shift. Mysteriously, some titles that were supposed to stay at $0.99 ’til Christmas are now at higher prices (Auditorium is still on sale but now at $1.99), so don’t trust that these sales will last…especially on the games not named in that tweet. Grab ‘em while they’re here and all that.
Category: Games / Board Released: 2009-08-13 Price: $2.99
YAHTZEE™ Adventures
Category: Games / Board Released: 2008-11-14 Price: $2.99
Today’s Appvent Calender freebie, Sponge Dude, is a physics-based combination of puzzle and platformer. The main character is an elastic sponge, who is sadly missing his arms and legs—meaning that you need to help him reach the end of each level using different mechanics like bombs (open doors and propel the sponge) and balloons (for flying). It looks a bit crude, and certainly isn’t on the level of previous offerings like MiniSquadron, but might be worth a look.
SpongeDude
Category: Games / Puzzle Released: 2009-11-12 Price: $1.99
Phew…this article is getting pretty long. But one quick PSA: If you own an iPhone and have yet to experiment with a GPS app, you may want to give Copilot a try. Don’t worry—this one isn’t one of those $100+ apps; instead, it’s normally priced at $35 and is on sale for a mere $19.99! Here’s what founder Jeff Scott had to say whilst reviewing it in our September GPS round-up:
“CoPilot live is one of the newest contenders in the iPhone GPS arena. And I must admit that before the iPhone version I had never heard of them before. This could be why I was so pleasantly surprised by this GPS app. It’s fairly full featured, fast, and I think it’s my new favorite GPS app.”
It’s a newbie in the arena, sure, but given both its solid performance and its killer price, brand name doesn’t matter all that much!
Namco has joined the great Holiday sale craze and put many of their games on sale. Some of them at the lowest prices we’ve ever seen for them. Included in the sale are Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man for $2.99 each. The lowest prices we’ve seen for those games. Also, the recent release, excellent game Pac-Man Championship Edition is on sale for only $0.99! Another recent release, Garters and Ghouls is also only $0.99.
Category: Games / Adventure Released: 2009-10-29 Price: $4.99
PAC-MAN
Category: Games / Family Released: 2008-07-11 Price: $4.99
Ms. PAC-MAN
Category: Games / Family Released: 2008-07-11 Price: $4.99
Other great deals include Star Trigon, Pole Position, Burgertime Deluxe, Brain Exercise, Mr. Driller, and Worst Case Scenario for $0.99 each. The games are on sale for these prices until 12/27. Check out all the Namco sale apps at the App Store.
Chillingo, apparently not to be outdone by the likes of Gameloft and EA, is putting seven games on sale for the next three days.
1. Touch KO 4.99 -> 0.99
2. Defender Chronicles 4.99 -> 0.99
3. Jules Verne’s Secrets Of The Mysterious Island 6.99 -> 0.99
4. Jules Verne’s Return To Mysterious Island 4.99 -> 0.99
5. Cash Cow 2.99 -> 0.99
6. iDracula 2.99 -> 0.99
7. Toki Tori 4.99 -> 0.99
All of these games are quite good (I’ve been super addicted to Defender Chronicles lately), so be sure to catch this sale while you still can. Thanks Chillingo!
Never one to be outdone by the likes of EA and other game publishers, Gameloft has announced their own holiday promotion, which starts today. For the next 7 days leading up to Christmas, Gameloft has placed 7 of their titles on sale for $0.99. Here is the complete rundown:
Brain Challenge $4.99 > $0.99
Castle of Magic $1.99 > $0.99
Castle Frenzy $1.99 > $0.99
Shrek Kart $4.99 > $0.99
Terminator Salvation $2.99 > $0.99
Real Tennis 2009 $4.99 > $0.99
Real Soccer 2010 $4.99 > $0.99
IUGO Mobile Entertainment is one of the most well-respected independent studios on the app store. They have a variety of hits going back to the original Toy Bot Dairies, and have enjoyed recent success with Implode, which was recently in the top 5 paid apps in multiple countries. The last couple of months have been a particularly busy time for IUGO, with four big releases, all of which have just been discounted. There are in fact a whopping 12 games on sale for the holidays, a vast majority of the IUGO catalog, and here is the complete list:
A.D.D. $2.99 > $1.99
Cliffed $1.99 > $0.99
Freeballin’ $1.99 > $0.99
Implode! $1.99 > $0.99
Toy Bot Diaries $1.99 > $0.99
Toy Bot Diaries 2 $1.99 > $0.99
Toy Bot Diaries 3 $1.99 > $0.99
Toy Bot Diaries Compilation $3.99 > $2.99
Toy Bot Mini Missions $1.99 > $0.99
Spy Bot Chronicles $3.99 > $1.99
Star Hogs $4.99 > $2.99
Zombie Attack! 2 $3.99 > $2.99
Cliffed, Implode, and Zombie Attack! 2 also received free updates within the last week, which added special holiday costumes and/or levels to the games. If you’ve had your eye on any of these titles, now is definitely the time to take the plunge, as the sale ends January 2010.
Interesting tidbit: iugo in Latin means connect. When put together with the acronym for mobile entertainment, you get ‘connect me.’ Very clever…
Secret Exit recently lowered the price of both Zen Bound and Stair Dismount to celebrate being featured by Apple. Zen Bound has been in the app store since February, and is widely considered a showpiece app on the iPhone. It received our highest recommendation upon release, and is currently $1.99.
Stair Dismount was released in late November, and our only criticisms of the game were the lack of global leaderboards, the amount of levels, and no retention of created faces. An update was announced along with a $0.99 sale, and it looks to address all of these issues and more. Version 1.2.0 has already been submitted, and here is the official list of features:
Three new levels (with more crunch!)
Online leaderboards (OpenFeint)
In-game help
Many more Facebook taglines
iPod music library can now be accessed from the game
Minor control tweaks (better pinch)
Panoramic camera that shows off the levels in their full majesty! (main menu and level start)
Previously selected face is automatically in use every time the application is started
Quick Start button in the main menu, jumps straight to the previously selected level with the selected face
There’s been much mention of Blacksmith Games’ Appvent Calendar program, which offers a free app a day from December 1st to the 24th. EA Mobile has now followed suit, and although they won’t be offering any freebies of their own, they will be putting a game on sale every day until Christmas. According to their site, the sale prices will reach up to 80% off, and most games will be available for 99 cents.
The first title out of the gate for the 25 Games Til Xmas promotion is Trivial Pursuit. Normally available for $4.99, Trivial Pursuit’s sale price is $1.99. Chris reviewed it back in May, and gave it a very respectable 4 1/2 stars, calling it a faithful adaptation of the board game.
EA Mobile will be announcing each day’s discounted app on their Twitter and Facebook pages. Will any of the other big publishers follow suit? If Black Friday was any indication, then there’s bound to be a considerable amount of sales throughout the holidays, and we’ll be covering them all as they hit.
I don’t know if you are aware, but up in the site navigation bar is a “Gear Store” button. This “Gear Store” button links up to our very own “Gear Store”, where we sell all sorts of goodies… from iPhone cases to Bluetooth stereo headsets. Since today is Cyber Monday, we are running a 10% off accessories sale in the store. Just type in the coupon code “MONDAY148″ at check out and the sale price will be yours!
Just for the sake of entertainment, I’ll tell you what I’ll probably get. First off, I might get myself a good FM transmitter. I’d use AUX if I had it, but unfortunately all my money is spent on buying apps, so FM will just have to do. I’ve been holding off on buying one for awhile, but with 10% off, a good Belkin Tunecast Auto might be on the way today. While I’m at it, I may get myself a stereo bluetooth headset. I like the fact that I’d be able to listen to my music wirelessly, but even more amazing to me is that I can hear people in stereo. I’d get a midrange model, but the Motorola S7-HD Bluetooth Stereo Headset looks too cool to pass up. I think I’ll also pick up a Solio Hybrid 1000, a solar powered iPhone charger. It’s already discounted $30, and with an extra 10% off, it come to around $45. Solar powered iPhone chargers just seem amazing… maybe I’ll buy one for myself and one as a gift.
Regardless of what accessories suit your fancy, they are all in our gear store. Just remember to type in “MONDAY148″ in the promo code area and you’ll get your 10% discount. This sale is only going on today… so hurry up!
Updated :: 11/27, 1:09pm Pacific – Final (?) update. 284 total sale items, 34 of them free! Updated :: 11/27, 11:59am Pacific – Added 12 more. Updated :: 11/27, 10:51am Pacific – Added Gameloft NFL 2010, few more. Updated :: 11/27, 10:25am Pacific – Added another 10+ games. Updated :: 11/27, 9:42am Pacific – Added GPS apps, dozens more. Time to get buying. Updated :: 11/26, 10:08pm Pacific – Added Com2uS games, and 30 others. Too much pie. Must sleep. Updated :: 11/26, 10:55am Pacific – Added 20+ from the night before. Happy Thanksgiving! Updated :: 11/25, 11:38pm Pacific – added a bunch of games from Namco and more.
Every year on Black Friday, retailers put things on huge discount. It’s become a tradition to have “Door-Buster” sales to get people out and shop on this day that retailers traditionally first turn a profit for the year. Well, the app store is no different. App developers big and small are putting their apps on sale for the holiday weekend.
We’ll try to update this a few times over the holiday weekend, it’s a good way to escape the in-laws.
Don’t forget to come back on Friday as that’s when a bunch of the following go on sale.
A whole bunch of ifs, ands, or buts.
These apps are the sale items that we have been notified about or have found. Some of these items may not be on sale yet, but we’ve been told they are going to be on sale. The prices do change at any time and do change quickly – developers are tricky that way. Some are on sale for the weekend, others for only Black Friday. If the app you want isn’t showing up as on sale, I’d check back Friday.
Because prices change so quickly, we can’t always update things to show the correct prices below. We like to take a break and eat pumpkin pie too you know. Click through to the App Store to see the current up-to-the-second prices. And if you see something you like, at a price you like, grab it immediately as it may not stay on sale as long as you would hope.
It’s quite possible that we missed a few sale apps – I blame the tryptophan. So, head on over to our iPhone App Price Drops for the constantly updating full list of app price drops. Also, if you are just interested in apps that have gone free, check out our Twitter stream for @148Apps_nowfree – you don’t have to sign up to Twitter to see the newly free apps.
GPS Apps
All of the best GPS apps are on sale. CoPilot started it out by dropping to $20, Navigon followed by dropping to $70, then TomTom matched the price from Navigon. Magellan is now the highest priced at $80. What will they do? It’s a good time to be in the market for an iPhone GPS solution.
Gameloft, unlike EA, are putting some of their underperforming games on sale. But the good news is that they are nearly giving them away at only $0.99. Some really good bargains in there. I highly recommend Blades of Fury if you are at all into the Street Fighter genre. These go back to normal price on 11/29.
IUGO has put a bunch of their games on sale for Thanksgiving and to celebrate the release of their new Wario world like mini-game collection, A.D.D. Highly recommended titles below include Zombie Attack, Zombie Attack Second Wave, and Star Hogs.
For week four of my Utility of the Week picks I decided to pick an app that’s already been out for a while but happened to go on a huge sale this week – Air Mouse Pro.
Air Mouse Pro is an accelerometer-controller (or touchpad-like) mouse for your computer. After downloading the app and the computer software that goes along with it, Air Mouse Pro can become your mouse, your keyboard, or even an app similar to Remote (to control your media).
Air Mouse Pro is on sale for $1.99. It went on sale on June 12th and I’ve heard that it will only be on sale for a week, so get it by June 19th!
If you’d like to suggest a utility for my “utility of the week”, visit my thread on our forum, here. And below is a list of previous Utility of the Week picks:
Week 1 – Groups
Week 2 – Put Things Off
Week 3 – Stick It
Handmark / Astraware have put a few of their applications on sale for a limited time. They are the latest in a long line of developers trying to use limited time price drops to increase sales. It’s an interesting promotion. But one that some developers have strong argument against it working.
No matter the impact, it’s the easiest way for developers to get a little promotion for their apps. They appear all over the internet on the price drops pages, like our price drops list.
Highlights from the Handmark / Astraware sale include the recently release Westward, a real time strategy game, Astraware Sudoku, and also the recently released helicopter shooter, Hellfire.
Hellfire - Exciting Helicopter Combat
Category: Games / Simulation Released: 2009-01-22 Price: $4.99 ON SALE: $2.99
A group of independent iPhone app developers have gotten together to try another method for increasing their app sales. They are, as a group, putting their apps on sale and promoting them together. It’s the latest in a series of inventive ways that small application developers have tried in the increasingly packed iTunes App Store to get some attention for their apps.
Starting 12/31, some apps and games from some great indie developers will all go on sale for 48 hours. The promotion, titled New Year’s App Blowout will see apps discounted from 50% – 80%.
Some of the apps that will be on sale include:
* Pinch n’ Pop ($0.99 price drop from $3.99 – iTunes Link)
* BurnBall ($0.99 price drop from $1.99 – iTunes Link)
* ScribBall ($0.99 price drop from $3.99 – iTunes Link)
* Mouse House ($0.99 price drop from $4.99 – iTunes Link)
* DuckDuckDuck (FREE price drop from $0.99 – iTunes Link)
* Blackbeard’s Assault ($0.99 price drop from $1.99 – iTunes Link)
Currently there are 16 apps listed on the page, but more are expected to be added before the new year. I suggest you bookmark the site and return on 12/31 to see the updated list.
It’s great to see independent developers teaming up to try to solve one of the greatest downsides to the app store — getting some attention in a sea of 13,000 apps.
ngmoco has confirmed that Rolando will be released this Thursday of this week, on December 18th. To celebrate the week of the release of Rolando they have put all of their previously released games on sale. They have reduced the prices by $1 across the board.
It looks like app developers have decided to participate in Black Friday sales and have started early. There are a bunch of really great games and apps on sale in the iTunes App Store right now with more being added every time we check out our price drops page. We’ll keep the list of the top tier apps here and send out a message on our Twitter stream when we update this page.
The weekend is almost here. Just a few more hours. Looking for a new game to play this weekend? Bored with what you have? Xbox-360 red ring of death (like me)? Well we’ve gone through and picked out a few really good games. Many you may never have heard of and most we haven’t had time to publish reviews of yet. But we think you’ll be happy with all of them. Continue reading Looking For Something New to Play This Weekend? »
Some great Pangea games are on sale in the App Store:
Enigmo (we rated it 4.5 stars) is down to $4.99 ($1 off) [ App Store ]
Billy Frontier (we rated it 3.5 stars) is down to $3.99 ($2 off) [ App Store ]
Cro Mag Rally is down to $1.99 ($4 off) [ App Store ]
Grab the ones you want now, soon they will go back up.
Sale items seem to be happening more and more. We’re going to start sending out sale items only in our Twitter stream — follow us now to get the deals.
App Entertainment is celebrating the new year by offering all of their apps for $0.99 between January 8-10. This includes their flagship app, FaceFighter, which lets you create virtual sparring partners using pictures of your friends. Good times! FaceFighter received a 
:: GOOD TIMES :: 
:: I'M GOING FAST! :: 
Secret Exit recently lowered the price of both Zen Bound and Stair Dismount to celebrate being featured by Apple. Zen Bound has been in the app store since February, and is widely considered a showpiece app on the iPhone. It received our highest recommendation upon release, and is currently $1.99.
There’s been much mention of Blacksmith Games’ 
Just for the sake of entertainment, I’ll tell you what I’ll probably get. First off, I might get myself a good FM transmitter. I’d use AUX if I had it, but unfortunately all my money is spent on buying apps, so FM will just have to do. I’ve been holding off on buying one for awhile, but with 10% off, a good 
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