The Muteki Corporation, creators of Topple 2 [99¢ / Free] and The Battle of Pirate Bay [99¢ / Free] had a new game hit the App Store recently, Super Jetpack Dragon IV: Village Burntopia [iPhone: Free / iPad: $1.99]. Similar to Adult Swim's free online flash game, Robot Unicorn Attack, Super Jetpack Dragon IV: Village Burntopia is a high-scoring endurance games where players play as a dragon running across the countryside capable of jumping, briefly gliding, and smashing through walls depending on which side of the screen you touch. Scoring high involves picking up meat, burning every town you come across, and most importantly, not dying. As you get farther and farther your dragon runs even faster, creating a slow but steady difficulty curve. There are also a bundle of Plus+ achievements to unlock, and the entire game is set to some awesome rock music. The iPhone version is completely free, Read More

iPhone-Spieleschmiede Ngmoco erhält die dritte Runde an Risikokapital in Höhe von 25 Millionen US-Dollar und kauft den App Store Games-Publisher Freeverse. Der ehemalige Electronic Arts-Angestellte und Ngmoco-Mitbegründer Neil Young äußert sich zur Akquisition gegenüber Toucharcade in einem Interview. Freeverse soll nach seinen Aussagen unabhängig unter eigenem Firmenlogo weiterarbeiten; das Vergütungssystem ihrer iPhone-Anwendungen verändert sich. Ähnlich den neueren Ngmoco-Titeln (iTunes-Link) Touch Pets Dogs (kostenlos; App Store-Link) oder Eliminate Pro (kostenlos; App Store-Link) soll eine Basisversion kostenfrei zum Download bereitstehen; Zusatzlevel, neue Gegenstände oder Funktionen werden per ‘In-App-Verkauf’ kostenpflichtig nachgerüstet. Im Internet-Jargon bezeichnet die Wortschöpfung ‘Freemium’ (free + premium) diese Art von Geschäftsmodell, wie sie beispielsweise von Skype oder Flickr verfolgt wird. Freeverse gründete sich als Entwicklerstudio für Macintosh-Software (Comic Life Deluxe, Big Bang Board Games, etc.) im Jahr 1994. App Store-Spiele wie Flick Fishing (0.79 €; App Store-Link), Days of Thunder (2.39 €; App Store-Link), Parachute Ninja (0.79 €; App Store-Link) oder Read More

With a week gone by since the AppAwards it has given me time to reflect on the winners of all the game categories. Games truly make the App Store since they’re the most populous category, and the area we spend most of our money. Over the past year thousands of developers have flocked to the amazingly unique platform that is the iPhone. It was only obvious that a game is the App of the Year, it was just a question of which one. Rolando 2: Quest for the Golden Orchid is the best game I’ve played on the iPhone. When voting for it, it was like voting for the Rolando series which is the golden standard in iPhone gaming. Rolando 2 is the only game to have amazing graphics and sounds, engaging gameplay, great online connectivity, and to spend a considerable amount of time. Rolando exemplifies iPhone gaming, and sets it Read More

By Jeff Scott on June 28th, 2009 When we think of the app store, and it's very short life, the idea that a game had a certain lifespan and would eventually be removed from the store never really seemed very likely. The app store is forever, right? Nope. When the release date of Rolando 2 was announced, ngmoco:) also indicated that Rolando, the original, was going to be pulled from the app store when the sequel goes live. It’s an odd move, very smart, and yet wrong at the same time. I recently asked Neil Young, CEO of ngmoco:), why the original Topple was no longer in the App Store, his comment was “We pulled it, trying something.” Short response and at the time I didn’t think much of it. I assumed they were planning on trying some new marketing technique with it. Turns out they were testing a fundamental business Read More

The summer App Store sales just keep on coming, and ngmoco has decided to get in on action by placing their extremely popular 2009 Apple Design Award winning game, Topple 2, on sale for a limited time. If you enjoyed the original Topple, you will absolutely adore Topple 2.  The game features the same basic concept and fantastic controls, but it adds all kinds of new elements. The basic idea of the game is to stack your tower as high as you can without it “toppling,”  which is easier said than done because some pieces just don’t quite fit together.  Topple 2, like the original Topple, utilizes the iPhone’s accelerometer, so you can tilt your device from side to side to try and keep your tower from tipping too far. Topple 2 features 30 levels spread across six worlds, new game mechanics, versus mode using Wi-Fi or email, and the ability Read More

ngmoco's recent winner of a 2009 Apple Design Award, Topple 2 [App Store] is currently on sale for 99¢. Topple 2 takes the original (no longer available on the App Store) Topple formula and adds additional gameplay modes as well as WiFi multiplayer an email challenges. The premise of the Topple series is simple, you stack blocks of various shapes and sizes to reach a set altitude goal within the provided time limit. Blocks can be rotated to fit better in to the existing stack and the game makes excellent use of the accelerometer. If your tower of multicolored blocks isn’t as sturdy as you would like it to be, tilting the phone left or right causes your stack to lean, potentially giving you the extra bit of stability you need in order to not send everything crashing down. Mostly due to WiFi challenges, both Topple 2 and WordFu [App Store] Read More

Hopefully, you've been able to get the new 3.0 firmware installed and activated on your iPhones or iPod Touches. If you are looking for do something with the new functionality, here are a few new 3.0-updates that were announced today. Besides push notification support, peer-to-peer play, and iPod music support, we're already seeing in-app purchasing add ons. The actual updates are free for those who own the apps, but a couple introduce in-app purchasing which may require additional money to gain new content. ■ Flee from the Farmer, at all costs. Your days of peacefully living in the chicken coop are gone. It’s that dreadful time of the year, and Farmer Brown is looking for the next unfortunate chicken to fit in his freezer. Miraculously, the pig next door lets you out of the coop just in time! Now it’s up to you and your little hot wings to make the Read More

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Apple announced the winners of the 2009 Apple Design Awards last night at a special ceremony hosted by John Geleynse, director of Software Technology Evangelism, and Shann Pruden, senior director for Developer Relations. These awards are an annual affair to recognize “technical excellence, innovation, and outstanding achievement in iPhone and Mac software development.” The depth and breadth of submissions has been accelerating, as interest in the Mac and iPhone has picked up over the last few years. As a point of comparison, the iPhone awards last year were handed out to early pre-release apps because the App Store had not even launched yet. There were about 1,700 web apps in Apple’s online directory, and this year there are over 4,000 web apps and more than 50,000 native apps available in the iTunes App Store. Rather than being split out into categories for best game, best user experience, best application, and so Read More

The Apple Design Awards 2009 took place yesterday evening during the WWDC.  The awards were designed to recognize some of the best iPhone and Mac software developers from all over the world.  As can be expected, the competition was fierce, but someone has to win. The Apple Design Awards 2009 winners are: Best iPhone Student App:Wooden Labyrinth 3D from Elias Pietil Best iPhone OS 3.0 Beta App: AccuTerra Beta from AccuTerra The applications were evaluated using these six criteria: platform innovation, technology integration and adoption, connectedness, localization, design and quality, and finally performance tuning and optimization. The winners received some fantastic prizes for their hard work: Student category winners receive one 15-inch MacBook Pro, one 30-inch Apple Cinema Display, one 16GB iPod touch, one 8GB iPhone 3G, one ADC 2009 Student Membership, and reimbursement of their WWDC 2009 E-ticket. Commercial winners receive two 15-inch MacBook Pros (best configuration), two 30-inch Apple Cinema Displays, Read More

In San Francisco wird gefeiert. Die Apple Design Awards 2009 für Macintosh- und iPhone-Software gehen mit BoinxTV und Things auch an zwei deutsche Entwickler-Teams. Als Mitglieder der BoinxTV-Produktion sind meine Podcast-Kollegen, die Coding Monkeys, ausgezeichnet worden. Herzlichen Glückwunsch! Aus der iPhone-Fraktion schafften es dieses Jahr MLB.com, Postage, Topple 2, Tweetie (iPhone Developer Showcase), Wooden Labyrinth 3D (Best iPhone Student App) und als 3.0-Beta-Anwendung das noch nicht veröffentlichte AccuTerra. ‘Blimp – The Flying Adventures’ ist erst am gestrigen Dienstag in den App Store eingeschwebt und zum Einführungspreis von 0.79 € (App Store-Link) erhältlich. Der knuddelige Zeppelin sieht nach einer echten Geschicklichkeits-Empfehlung aus. Bereits im Februar tauchte die matt-schwarze Gehäuse-Rückseite – iPhone-passgenau – in der MacRumors-Spekulationsschmiede auf und war seitdem eines der am heißesten gehandelten Gerüchte für die neue Apple-Mobilfunkgeneration. Nach der gestrigen FCC-Veröffentlichung der iPhone 3G S-Spezifikationen stellt sich heraus, dass die damals eingravierte Modellnummer (579C-A1303A) exakt der Prüfstellen Zulassungs-ID (BCGA1303A) entspricht. Read More

Topple is back. The top selling game from ngmoco is back as a sequel. But how much has changed? Now there is the ability to play a game via wifi with a friend and there has been an addition of new gameplay mechanics. The new game with have players stacking with reverse gravity, rescuing an egg in the sky, balancing two towers together, and building a power line. All these new features really show the versatility of ngmoco as many developers would struggle to create a quality sequel for such a small game. The game features the usual great soundtrack and excellent sound effects. The controls work wonderfully and the graphics have been updated a bit and look awesome. Fans of the first Topple game will love this new addition to their collection. It offers enough new content to justify the price but stays true to what made it such a Read More