Tag: Handmark »

Handmark, publishers and developers of a wide variety of apps for mobile devices, including a bunch for the App Store, have a pair of new games out to add to their massive library of apps under their name.

OXO Extreme: Best Tic Tac Toe is an adaptation of a pen and paper game, where you and another person draw Xs and Os on a piece of paper. That's what I call misdirection, as I'm not talking about tic-tac-toe, instead you're trying to create as many O-X-O combinations as you can on an 8 by 8 grid. You may think that O has the advantage here, as X-O-X means nothing, but O has to be careful not to place Os in positions where X can take advantage of Os laying around the board. The game kind of plays like Go in the turn-based nature, though you can't surround more than one X with Os. The game comes in both an ad-supported free version and a paid ad-free version for $0.99.

Their other new release, Subway Line, is developed by veteran iOS developer Fishing Cactus. The game is a take on path and time management games, where you have to switch around train tracks as subways cross the paths. If a train has to wait at a crossroads, then people get cranky and your general happiness bar drops, and when it drops all the way, then it's game over. The game comes in both an ad-supported Lite version and a $1.99 paid version. As well, the full version comes with Game Center support for leaderboards.

While both games are continuing the Lite/Paid split, it's unlikely that the model will disappear any time soon, still. Android users who are somehow reading this article on an iOS site (Android Rundown is that way, folks) and wishing they could play these games will find themselves in luck, as both are available on Android as well. That says something about the gaming market - it may not be such an iOS-focused market as publishers look for new revenue streams and for ways to exploit the additional users on non-iOS platforms.

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We got a few juicy screenshots in the mailbag today from Handmark. They show a new futuristic racing game currently under development by Pazzazz (developers of Hellfire and GTS World Racing, both published by Handmark). The as yet untitled game is a fast paced Wipeout like racer with a variety of vehicles, tracks, and weapons. This game is the first of quite a few iPhone original titles Handmark/Astraware are working on. Up until this point they have focused mainly on ports of their portfolio of mobile games.

I was lucky enough to get a little hands on time with the app at GDC and it's fast and smooth already. The release date is not yet known, but you can take a look at the shots below for a little preview.

We'll have more info on this racer for you as soon as we get 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.

Handmark/Astraware today released the claymation side-scrolling shooter Platypus along with the block-sliding tile matching puzzle game Exact to the iTunes App Store.

Read on for more details, video, and screen shots.

Astraware/Handmark today published a video showing some of the gameplay of their new iPhone game, Platypus. It looks to be a pretty good side-scrolling shooter -- something the iPhone has had very few of. (good side-scrolling shooters that is, there are plenty of crappy ones)

No word on the release date yet but would expect it soon. Hit the read more link for the video.