The Incidentdeveloper Big Bucket has announced that its next game, Space Age, will be releasing this week on the App Store.
Space Age is described as a 'cosmic adventure' set in the futuristic world of 1976. Following a band of intergalactic explorers who land on Kepler-16, a seemingly uninhabited planet, it's soon discovered that something is very familiar and strange about this planet.
You''ll be able to welcome Space Age into your world pretty soon, with the game set to come out for iOS on November 6th.
UPDATE: Due to the review process taking longer than expected, Space Age is now set to launch on November 13th.
The iPad may have a big and beautiful screen, but sometimes, you want to play those games on an even bigger screen, like your TV. Thankfully, there are a selection of iOS games that allow you to hook up your iPad and/or iPhone/iPod touch to the TV using the VGA adapter, and sit back and enjoy games on your monitor or HDTV.
Rage HD: Consoles and PCs won't be getting the id Tech 5 engine and the full Rage game until the end of this year at least, but you can play the first fruits of the id Tech 5 engine on your monitor TV through Rage HD. Plug in your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad into your TV, and you can play id's latest game on your TV, making those console and PC owners all kinds of jealous. While the game's on-screen buttons can be a bit challenging to manage without looking at your device's screen at first, the TV still displays the location of those buttons, so you can get used to the location of the buttons using that visual guide.
Max Adventure: Imangi's dual-stick shooter supports TV out as well, allowing you to directly plug in and play on the iOS device of your choice. The game is easier to control in many respects than Rage HD is, due to the easy to use dual-stick controls that let you just use your left thumb to move, and right thumb to fire, with double-tapping on the right side of the screen used to activate your powerups. Easy to setup, easy to play, just as the game itself is.
The Incident: If you want to play this game on your TV, you'll need an iPad and an iPhone/iPod touch to control it with. Despite the cost of entry, The Incident looks fantastic on an external display in HD. As well, the game runs in anamorphic 16:9 widescreen, meaning if you set your HDTV or monitor to stretch, it will fill the whole screen. The game also features simple controls that only require you to tilt your iPhone or iPod touch and tap anywhere on it to jump. This one is almost worth playing just so you can appreciate the irony of using the latest and greatest in portable technology to play an 8-bit inspired game on your TV.
Chopper 2: One of the very first games to support TV output, and one of the best. While you have to have two iOS devices to play the game with, one hooked up to the TV and one to use the remote controls with, the experience and feature set is probably the best. There's anamorphic 16:9 widescreen, multiple control schemes to use for iPhone/iPod touch depending if you want to use tilt controls or not, and you can thankfully see your firing angle on screen, making the iPhone or iPod touch in your hands practically melt away and become a natural controller. The game thankfully also supports online save synchronization with OpenFeint, so you can easily take your game across whatever iOS device you want to use. You can even use your iOS version of the game to play the Mac App Store version of Chopper 2 remotely.
While the selection of TV-out enabled games is currently limited, the selection currently available is quite fine. As well, worthy of special mention is Red Nova, which supports remote controls but doesn't support TV-out yet. While some form of standardization of remote and display-out protocols would help get more games supporting these features, for now, there is a quality selection of games to enjoy on the larger display of your choice.
The Incident version 1.2 will be submitted to the Apple App Store for approval within the coming days, bringing with it an extensive list of updates and fixes at no extra cost, according to Matt Comi and Neven Mrgan, creators of the popular 8-bit game.
In The Incident you play as Frank Solway, "a regular guy who finds himself having to avoid the sudden, unstopping rain of everything in the world." In order to survive, you must avoid falling items whilst climbing higher in order to reach the "kitchen-sink shower" source of all this madness. It's as crazy is it sounds, with everything from Smart cars to the Easter Island statue falling towards you. The universal game, which is built for iPhone and iPad natively, has been featured by Apple and awarded 4.5 stars by 148Apps.
The upcoming update includes some notable extras, such as the provision of a Controller Mode that allows users to play the retro game on their iPad, using the iPhone as a controller. In addition, the release will provide an official Game Center Leaderboard on an all-new game mode, Endless Nightfall, allowing you to directly challenge your friends' top scores even when you aren't together. On top of all this, there are 53 new items ready to fall on you, as well as a number of new sounds and an improved in-game menu. A number of bug fixes are also included in the update.
If you haven’t yet played The Incident, you can pick it up for $1.99 by following the links below. For more information, see the official site here or watch the embedded video below.
Full list of new features: New game mode: Endless Nightfall; Game Center leaderboard: Endless Nightfall scores are sent to Game Center; remote control: control your iPad using an iPhone or iPod Touch; 53 new items (including 3 items drawn by guest artists); new power-up balloon in Endless Nightfall; access options without returning to the main menu; added music to the Twitter screen; Escape Bubble must be recharged between uses; new sound for pipe objects; various bug fixes.
Developer: BIG BUCKET SOFTWARE Price: $1.99
Version Reviewed: 1.0
Device Reviewed On: iPod Touch
Graphics / Sound Rating: Game Controls Rating: Gameplay Rating: Replay Value Rating:
[rating:overall]
In the Incident, you play an everyman with a problem: heavy things keep dropping in your general vicinity. Your only chance to make it end it is to climb up the pile of objects until you reach the source and put a stop to the shenanigans. That thankless task -- climbing higher and higher on a constant pile of falling detritus -- is the sole goal of The Incident. Luckily, it's also a whole lot of fun.
You control the hero by tilting the device left and right, and jump him by tapping. It's simple and controls well, which means that you can quickly get to the job of staying alive. Like another popular jumping game out there, Doodle Jump, the premise is so simple that if anything in the game were poorly executed, it could easily be called repetitive -- dodge, jump, jump, dodge, grab a coin, jump. But The Incident does such a good job of keeping you on your toes, watching all corners of the screen, and scrambling for precious power-ups, that its simple premise is practically addictive.
The first few levels ramp up nicely, so that by the time things get really hectic, you'll be well versed in the art of dodging and jumping. Along the way you're earning enough extra lives that you'll probably never run out, and hitting frequent checkpoints so that you can hold onto your progress. There are only eight total levels, beginning on the street and ending in space, but each level packs enough challenge to make it feel like plenty of game.
The Incident's 8-bit style helps in that it's clean and well-executed. There's a large variety of pixelated, brightly-colored objects being thrown at you, many of them eliciting a little smile the first time they appear -- everything from taxis and sofas to Egyptian sarcophagi, garden gnomes, and Easter Island statues. There are not so many that you'll never see a repeat, but there are enough to keep the pile interesting. And when you die, you're granted a little death trophy of the object that killed you; "Death by Midcentury-Modern Door at 575m" is quite a way to go.
Any complaints about the Incident are minor. The aforementioned small number of levels is a limitation on replayability, and the lack of any online leaderboards or other competitive components will disappoint some. And yes, if the core game play doesn't appeal to you, you'll get bored very quickly, as they're nothing else to the game but jump, jump, dodge, jump. But none of these are significant drawbacks.
There's something sweet about seeing a simple concept executed well. The Incident is a great game that offers up a fun time with well-crafted retro sensibilities, and it's sure to appeal to a lot of iOS gamers. Download it today.
Update 10/18/10: Big Bucket Software has released a major update for The Incident, turning this already top-notch game into a true 5-star app. All of the (admittedly minor) issues we had with the Incident have been addressed in this update: a new "Endless Mode" and Game Center integration with online leaderboards have really enhanced The Incident's playability, and the introduction of an awards and achievement section allows you to go back and relive your best moments (and best deaths).
In addition, Big Bucket added a sweet new feature to the game: the ability to use an iPhone or iPod Touch as a controller when playing on the iPad. This feature works very nicely, and even uses the iPhone screen to preview the next falling object. It's a clever and well-implemented feature, and it has quickly become my favorite way to play The Incident. If you have both devices, you owe it to yourself to give this a try.
Happy Friday the 13th, everyone! Make sure you keep your teenagers locked in tonight, and don't let them talk to anyone named Jason. With that warning out of the way, here's your weekly dose of what's new and interesting in the App Store.
The Incident - A severely polished and classy take on the sky is falling genre. Dodge wave after crazy wave of falling cars and major appliances, only to use those same items to climb ever upward to your destination, the stars.
Ninjump - Jump like a ninja (because that's what you are) up through the levels, between buildings and over laundry. Attack various creatures in match three stealthiness for stupidly awesome score and height boosts. Brag to all your friends.
Ghosts N Goblins Gold Knights II - Capcom brings the sequel to its hardest game ever from the 1980s direct to your iPhone. You think you have what it takes? Well, do ya?
Times for iPad - Takes your RSS feeds and turns them into a lovely newspaper-style layout. If you long for the simpler days of flimsy newsprint paper and fingers stained with ink, this may be the app for you.
Slate Magazine - In a world of iPad apps that continually ask you to pay more for their content (I'm looking at YOU, Wired), Slate asks you to read their magazine, for free, on your iPad. What more can you ask for from their asking of you? Wait, what?
Update: The Incident has been approved and will be available on the App Store later today.
Whether you own an iPhone or iPod Touch (163ppi), iPhone 4 (326ppi) or iPad (132ppi), The Incident will look as good as the screenshots suggest it will. The 8-bit game, developed by Matt Comi and with artwork by Neven Mrgan, brings back all the retro fun you might have experienced on the Atari 2600 or Intellivision.
You play Frank Solway, "a regular guy who finds himself having to avoid the sudden, unstopping rain of everything in the world." Survive by avoiding falling items, collecting power-ups like health and helmets and by climbing higher until you reach the source of the aptly named "kitchen-sink shower." Each level is vertical, with comical objects like Smart cars, Deloreans, propellers and even the Easter Island Statue falling on you from above.
The application was submitted to Apple for approval recently, so you can expect it to be live within a week or so. As a universal application, it will work on both the iPhone and iPad natively. The price of The Incident is not yet known. Matt has informed us that the price will be $1.99.
Check out the YouTube video below for the official preview, as well as a number of screenshots. And if you're really interested, you can watch the development videos produced by Matt Comi himself.
You're the best around, nothing's gonna ever keep you down!
On This Episode:
Carter and guest hosts Blake Grundman and Brett Nolan discuss the year 2010 for iOS gaming, and talk about some of their favorite games from the past 12 months.
