Tag: Announcement »

Gameloft has just unveiled Dungeon Hunter 5, a new addition to their mobile hack 'n' slash franchise. Playing as a 'common-guy' bounty hunter following on from the events of Dungeon Hunter 4, the game is set to feature improved graphics, new animations 'built from the ground up', and all new weapons and effects.

Players will also be the owners of their own dungeon 'hideouts' in the new multiplayer mode, where they'll aim to defend their loot whilst stealing from others. Each hideout is designed by the player, with the ultimate goal of an attacker being to defeat the owner of the hideout at the end and claim some of their loot as their own. This loot can then be used in the new weapon fusing system, which allows players to combine and level-up their weaponry.

Dungeon Hunter 5 is set to slash its way onto the App Store later this year. Players can pre-register for the game now, which gives them the opportunity to work toward exclusive launch day items including concept art and a minion to help protect their loot.

Not Doppler has announced that Earn to Die 2, a sequel to their successful game Earn to Die, will be making its way to the App Store later this year.

This new game will feature a Story Mode five times longer than the original and ten new, completely destructible vehicles. The game is also set in a new urban environment, with levels containing multiple tiers of highway overpasses, tunnels, and zombie-filled factories.

Earn to Die 2 is set to ram onto the App Store later this year.

tinyBuild and Enter Skies have announced that their gesture-based turn-based RPG Fearless Fantasy is set to come to iOS later this Summer.

Described by the developers as "probably the weirdest RPG you’ll play this year," you play as Leon, the world's most dangerous bounty hunter, on a mission to slay the world's weirdest creatures and save a girl from an awful marriage. As well as the use of gestures to get critical hits, the game also features voice-overs, animated cut-scenes and "mildly disturbing boss fights."

Fearless Fantasy is set to arrive on the App Store later this Summer.

All Things D reports that invitations have been sent out by Apple for their next big event that's expected to unveil the latest model of the iPad and iPad Mini. The event is scheduled for October 22nd at the Yerba Beuna Center for the Arts, and the invite reads "We still have a lot to cover."

I'm ready!

Developer Moon Active has official announced the upcoming release of their first title, Bitter Sam, a new physics-based action puzzle game. Born loser Sam has lived a rough life and has every reason to be bitter. Especially since he's now been kidnapped by a mad scientist and dropped down a bottomless pit hanging from a rope in search of crystals.

When released, the game will include 100 levels making up 5 different worlds of tilt controlled descents with tons of obstacles, power-ups, and unique graphics. As players tilt their device, they will guide Sam on his rope left and right to avoid dangers and collect crystals through each level.

Bitter Sam will take the plunge on March 15th when the game launches in the App Store. No word yet on how much this titles will cost, though. Still, players won't have long to wait to find out and they can be helping the embittered little hero soon.

Not so long ago, Tin Man Games announced a project with 2000 AD - an announcement that would cause nerd-muscles to spasm uncontrollably in comic book/gamebook/role playing geeks all over the internet. Judge Dredd is getting his own Gamebook Adventure.

Holy crap.

There are very few details available at this time, what with it being just announced and all, but it's going to be a Gamebook Adventure. Only set in the Judge Dredd universe and all that. So plenty of choices, equipment, branching paths, dice-oriented combat and so on. About the only specific things I do know is that it's set to release in "Q2 2012" for both the iPad and iPhone, and it'll cost $4.99. There might be some kind of sale at launch if the recent release of Temple of the Spider God is any indication, but that's pure speculation at this point.

Regardless, this is exciting news! I know I'm looking forward to a tabletop-styled quest through Mega City One. Anyone else?

The iPad 2 itself is a faster, stronger, thinner, and lighter version of the iPad. It improves on most of the features of the iPad while not radically changing any of the originals features, making this release pretty much what we hoped for and expected. These updates do a lot to elevate the iPad 2 above any of the announced "iPad Killer" Android tablets like the Xoom or Samsung 10.1. The iPad 2 will be available in 16, 32, and 64GB wifi and 3G versions that work on AT&T or Verizon (not both), the same configurations and price points as the current iPad.

The main changes are in the speed of the iPad 2. The iPad 2 improves on the processor by now including an A5 dual core processor. In addition, the graphics processor has been improved, offering 9x the graphics processing power of the original iPad. Next up, the size of the iPad 2 is now considerably thinner, while remaining the same length and width wise. It now has a flat back and weighs a little bit less while retaining the same 10 hour battery life.

The only real new hardware feature of the iPad 2 is the dual cameras. There is now a front facing and rear camera. These can be used to take pictures, videos, and can be used in Facetime. A welcome addition, but not one that really changes the landscape.

The iPad 2 will be available this Friday. So far we've heard that it can be ordered online from Apple.com (no pre-orders though) as well as (starting at 5pm) from Apple, AT&T, Verizon, and Best Buy stores. Other stores will likely announce launch plans this week.

By far the greatest part of last weeks announcements were the new Apple developed iPad apps, iMovie and Garageband. Both look absolutely amazing. We'll be sure to have full reviews of both as soon as possible. Garageband in particular looks absolutely amazing. Both are priced at $4.99. iMovie apparently only works on the iPad 2 while Garageband will work on the original iPad as well.

You can view the full Apple announcement at Apple.com.

So the question for you, our readers, is the iPad 2 enough for you? Does it have the features you wanted? If you have an iPad, will you upgrade to the iPad 2? We can't wait to see your answers.

Apple regularly schedules a September event to unveil new iPods and other odds and ends in time for the holiday buying season. I think we can assume this year will be more of the same. What will we see and what won't we see? I'm going to try to put some odds to the various rumors and possible announcements. Note that these are all just my opinion as a guy that watches what Apple does with a rather critical and overly obsessive eye.

New iPod Touch - odds: even money
It's almost guaranteed we'll see a new iPod Touch introduced. This, like the iPhone announcement in June, has become a regular event. The question is what are the features we'll see? I'm hoping we will, as in past years, see feature plurality with the current generation iPhone. So we'll hopefully see the Retina Display (odds: 2-1), front facing camera with Facetime capability (odds: 3-1), rear camera (odds: 5-1). I'm also wondering if we'll see the storage capacity increased beyond 64GB (odds: 4-1). And will we see other iPod lines retired like the iPod Classic, perhaps (odds: 8-1)?

iOS 4.1 Officially Announced - odds: even
This is also a given. iOS 4.1 has been in beta for 9+ weeks now and it's been over 3 weeks since the last beta release. Betas usually come out every 2 weeks. So I think we can guess that it's done and ready to release. We can expect the release either next week on 9/1 or very shortly after. What features will it have? A fix for the proximity sensor (odds: even) and a Game Center release (odds: 3-1) are the best bets. There's the possibility that the length of time since the last beta was due to Apple adding in a mystery feature or two (odds: 5-1), or maybe it has to do with....

iOS 4.1 on the iPad - odds: 8-1
While I can't wait to get iOS 4 on the iPad, it won't be for a couple more months. I'm hoping that we'll at least get some details on iOS 4 for the iPad (odds: 4-1), but I won't hold my breath for that. Features I'm hoping for include support for running iPhone 4 resolution apps (odds: 4-1) and dashboard / icon layout update that takes better advantage of the screen size (odds: 30-1).

Updated Apple TV / iTV - odds: 5-1
This is the big new announcement most are expecting and an update to the Apple TV has been a long time coming. But I think Apple still sees it as too small of a market. I could be way off base here, but I think it's too early for this rumored update. Apple has had so many leak problems that we tend to know just about every detail of a new device before it's launched. We haven't seen anything about a new Apple TV other than a few persistent rumors. While this would be the perfect time to launch it, just before the holidays, I just think it's too early. But, in case it will be announced, the rumored features are a $99 price tag (odds: 10-1), and iOS based system (odds: 3-2), and App Store support of some kind (odds: 3-2).

I really hope I'm wrong about the Apple TV update and it does launch with all of the above. I'm certainly looking forward to this when it does launch and my head is spinning with the possibilities for apps for the device.