Zynga has gained a reputation as the evil empire lately, and to a certain extent that's true -- a lot of the company's Facebook "games" aren't much more than pyramid scams. But Texas Hold'Em poker is a game that will always have players, and for all of Zynga's drama, their Poker app has been pretty fascinating to me lately. I've been playing on Facebook mostly, but for those times when I'm away from home, the iOS app has served pretty well. It's unfortunately very barebones -- the official Apple Texas Hold'em app is much better in terms of presentation, despite not being updated in quite a few years. But Zynga Poker's big selling point is not only that it shares a bankroll with your Facebook account, but that it's basically instant access, even on a 3G connection, to other online poker players, whenever you want it. The money doesn't really mean Read More

A new Apple patent describes several interesting ideas for playing games with others in an augmented reality space. The patent, called "Interactive Gaming with Co-Located, Networked Direction and Location Aware Devices," describes an iPhone app that would network up a series of devices in the same real-world space and use the phone's hardware to track and show other players as the game is being played. For example, players could use their devices as a "gun," and the GPS, gyroscope, and accelerometer in the iPhone would all work together to figure out if shots "fired" from one device would actually hit another. Consider a wireless, high-tech form of laser tag on a large scale. The patent also describes using accessories to play the game (such as a gun grip handle to place your iPhone in as you play), or even using the accelerometer to do other things like steering a virtual vehicle Read More

We posted about another poker app back at WWDC, and the developer of Pokerbot got in touch with us to show off his app as well. Pokerbot is a little bit different than your standard hold'em poker game. It's a straight up one-on-one battle, so the game is really built for learning how to play poker well; it doesn't drag out games or rely on graphical flair. The game started out as a poker training program, and the developer of the game's AI is a real poker player who has played more than a few good hands. That said, this probably isn't the app you want to get if you just want to enjoy playing at a full table; Pokerbot is meant for poker buffs or people who want to try to get to that level. There are little game touches that might turn hardcore players off (you can cheat with Read More

We already spotlighted a few big apps that have made the jump to iOS 4 (and I'm sure we'll have more coming up soon), but Apple has gone ahead and put a few of its favorites on a page in iTunes for you to browse through as well. There are some excellent games on the list (PopCap didn't waste any time, and Ngmoco has a few, along with both Firemint titles). Art app Brushes and TUAW favorite Dropbox are there too, along with a bevy of other popular titles. This list definitely isn't definitive (iBooks is obviously ready for iOS 4, though it's not on there), but if you want to see what the Retina Display is like or check out multitasking on an app like Pandora, you can do so. One interesting note on what's not on there: Apple hasn't yet updated its official Remote app, and Texas Hold 'Em Read More

Here's some more interesting stats about app pricing. We've heard pricing average stats before, including that the average app price seems to be hovering right around three dollars. But a firm in the Netherlands has done some more research into current iPad and iPhone app prices, and discovered that while iPhone apps average out at $3.87 (slightly higher than most estimates, but still in that $3 range), iPad apps are actually hitting an average of $4.67, almost a dollar more than iPhone versions. That's both good and bad news for developers -- while it does mean that iPad apps are releasing and selling at higher prices (something most developers believe should be the case, given the amount of work and design that goes into iPad apps versus their smaller-screen cousins), those prices aren't that much higher. Apple specifically priced their iPad apps at $9.99 after selling their iPhone game at $4.99, Read More

Apple’s posted job listings seem to provoke no end of exciting speculation, and one of its latest open calls for applications is certainly no exception. New job postings call for a software engineer for the iPhone Gaming Group, and a video game artist. Last month’s call for a game/media software engineer was somewhat open to interpretation, but this time around, there’s no ambiguity involved. Not that Apple hasn’t made games in the past, as The iPhone Blog points out. Texas Hold’Em is a game, after all, if not a particularly ambitious one. But that casual game was a one-off, and was probably designed more to get the ball rolling for third-party developers than as a meaningful entry point into the gaming industry for Apple itself. The new job postings, however, seem to indicate that Apple wants to start taking gaming much more seriously. The skill sets asked for definitely go beyond Read More

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...today #iphone #app Texas Hold'em $4.99. Buy now! http://bit.ly/785PdD #Games #appdiscover... Read More

While some say Apple never wanted the iPhone to be a gaming device, the company knows which way the wind is blowing and wants to get involved. Apple is looking to hire a game and media software engineer for its iPhone and iPod touch team, which could mean it wants to make games of its own. The job description doesn't say "games" specifically, focusing instead on "interactive multimedia experiences." However, the ad is looking for someone with "3-4 years of video game development experience," someone who has "shipped at least one AAA title," and someone who is a "passionate gamer." id Software co-founder John Carmack says higher-ups in Apple aren't overjoyed with the growing status of the iPhone and iPod touch as gaming devices. But there's big money in games. Research firm DFC Intelligence sees profits for dedicated game-device makers like Sony and Nintendo shrinking 27% over the next five years, Read More

By Rene Ritchie, Saturday, Nov 14, 2009 | Apple is looking to hire an experienced multimedia engineer for the iPhone and iPod touch, who’s a passionate gamer and has shipped at least one “AAA” game in the last few years. While first-party titles are a mainstay, and main point of attraction for dedicated gaming platforms like Nintendo (Mario), Microsoft (Halo), and Sony (Little Big Planet), so far all Apple has offered its “funnest iPod ever” is Texas Hold’em [$4.99 - iTunes link] back in 2007. Just what could Apple be brewing now? Anyone imagine what a first-party Apple gaming franchise could be? Read More

We broke the news a few weeks back that Namco Networks had created a dedicated Apple Games group, separate from the rest of its mobile division, to allow a particularly strong focus on the iPhone as a games platform.  We recently had the chance to interview Jonathan Kromrey, head of the new Apple Games group, regarding the formation of the division and what it means to iPhone gaming. Kromrey, who spent time as a producer at I-Play Mobile Gaming, has most recently been part of Apple's own, internal iPhone apps division and was involved with the phenomenally successful Apple iPhone game release of Texas Hold'em [App Store].  He came to Namco Networks, bringing with him a team of developers from both Apple and EA, with the goal of "bringing freshness and newness to iPhone gaming."  He indicates that his group has plans to not only bring a number of popular Japanese Read More