iGame Radio

GarageGames mentioned in their newsletter a new contest called the Indie Game Challenge, a development contest sponsored by GameStop, the SMU/Guildhall, and the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences, offering as much as $100,000, as well as a chance to meet publishers like Sony, Nintendo, Electronic Arts, Capcom, Microsoft, NAMCO/Bandai, THQ and Ubisoft. From twelve finalist teams, one professional and one non-professional Grand Prize Winner will be selected and awarded $100,000. Three of the twelve finalists will also be awarded $2500 each for Technical, Art, and Gameplay skill.

All finalists will have a chance to go to the D.I.C.E. Summit in Las Vegas to pitch their games to professional publishers, and also may be considered for a $50,000 scholarship to attend Guildhall at Southern Methodist University for professional game development. For more details or to enter, read the Torque blog or go to the Indie Game Challenge website.

UPDATE: I read over the blog post, and a couple of things caught my eye. First, as of November 1st, 2009, past versions of Torque (TGEA, TGE) will no longer be available for purchase. Secondly, as much as GarageGames tried to achieve Mac parity for Torque 3D (and they were all aglow about it when I last talked to them), they weren’t able to achieve 100% parity upon release. Advanced Lighting just won’t run well enough on OSX to ship with this release.

The other very interesting thing I read was that GarageGames is considering dropping PhysX because it doesn’t support Mac OSX. Well, this was news to me, because I thought it did. I am apparently not the only one to think this, and not the only one wondering why Nvidia doesn’t provide any answers. But I do know that Torque 3D is used by more than just Mac developers, and Nvidia will lose a valuable customer if they don’t get off their collective butts and make some kind of response.

GarageGames announced the release of Torque 3D version 1.0 on Monday. Available for Windows and Mac, Torque 3D spent 6 months in intensive beta before its release. The engine features “best of breed rendering, live asset updating, lighting-fast iteration, a fully integrated toolset for scene construction and the ability to publish games to the web.”

From the press release:

Built to cater to artists, Torque 3D’s COLLADA import pipeline loads content from any major modeling application in seconds. Models, materials and animations are perfectly preserved without a fuss. And for programmers, full source code access means the engine can be torn apart, put back together, and extended in unlimited ways. With hundreds of resources and add-ons available, from pureLIGHT for world class light mapping support to FMOD’s award-winning audio system, Torque 3D is as flexible as it is powerful.

For more information, or to download the demo, go to GarageGames.

Freeverse has released a new iPhone game, but be warned…the fairies are watching. Fairy Trails takes advantage of the iPhone OS 3.1 features to provide an augmented reality game for young and old alike. Your job? To locate the fairies and other magical creatures all around you. Find them, tap on them, and store them in jars. Using iPhone Edge, 3G and iPod Touch, access the accelerometer-based vertical movement and camera support features. If you are lucky enough to have a 3GS, the game takes advantage of the compass by providing full AR and range of motion. For iPod Touch users with no built-in camera, a forest setting is rendered within the game.

Fairy Trails is available on the iTunes App store for only $0.99.

Ah, just when I thought I would run out of games to review. ;-) Machinarium, that quirky Indie game that follows a little robot as he helps his love escape her evil robot overlord (isn’t it great that there’s a game developed just so I can say that?!) will be ready for you to play on October 16. Amanita Design, the developer, has released some additional concept art and a trailer. You can also check out my interview with Jakub Dvorsky of Amanita Design from PAX.

Trailer:

Yeah, I tweeted this yesterday, babbled about it on my podcast, but forgot to post about it. Silly me. So, those shirts Feral wore at Macworld back in January came true. Feral Interactive announced yesterday that they are bringing Bioshock to the Mac. We’ll get the game October 7. Believe it or not, I never really looked at the game before this (how many games do I play and review on a regular basis??). So, it’s like it’s all fresh for me. :D

Get a load of the system requirements, though:

Ouch! To play it the way it’s recommended, you *have* to have Snow Leopard installed. And 3 GB of RAM? The Windows version only needed 2 GB for the recommended play. What’s up with that?

BioShock will go for $50. You can pre-order it from Feral’s online store now.

TransGaming announced that Intel has dropped some cash onto a new digital distribution games service, GameTree.tv, due to launch sometime in the first half of next year. The service will provide players with the ability to instantly play a wide variety of games through set-top boxes straight through their television.

TransGaming is working with leading game developers and publishers, including EA and Ubisoft, to create new content and adopt content already available, from PC-based, to Linux and even Flash games. Consumers will be able to purchase, rent, or subscribe to games, based on the model available.

I’m waiting to hear back on whether “PC-based” includes Mac. I’ll update this when I do.

 

What’s inside this episode:

• An interview with Michael Agustin, CEO of Gendai Games about the iPhone Early Access Program for GameSalad, a series of iPhone development tools for using GameSalad to publish your games for the iPhone.
• Also, a review of Sprouts, a lite Sim game by Reflexive Entertainment. Or is it a fast-paced time management game? You decide.
• And a review of Rainbow Web II for the iPhone. Sugar Games’ sequel for the Mac hits the iPhone, courtesy of Big Fish Games.

The volunteer manager for EVE Online reported today a compromise last weekend to the Interstellar Services Department, EVE Online’s volunteer program, leading to the theft of some volunteer program data and specific info about some volunteers. EVE stressed that the theft in no way affected their online operations or any player or customer data.

From the EVE Online Dev Blog:

All players, particularly those who are or have been in the EVE Online volunteer program, should be aware that any e-mails sent from the @eve-crc.net domain are bogus and have been sent from someone pretending to be an official representative of CCP.

We are taking this issue extremely seriously and have launched a full investigation. In the meantime, to be on the safe side, we have shut down all ISD servers and services to protect our volunteers and the integrity of the program and are now working diligently toward strengthening and improving our practices and policies pertaining to the volunteer program to ensure its ongoing success and valuable contribution to the EVE Online experience.

Aspyr Media announced today that it will be releasing Sid Meier’s Civilization IV: Colonization for the Mac in December. The fifth installment of the Civ IV series, the game will not require the original Civilization IV to play.

Developed by Firaxis Games, creators of the award-winning Civilization franchise, Colonization adds an entirely new scenario to the ever-evolving world of Civilization. In Colonization, players lead one of four European nations on a quest to colonize and thrive in the New World. Players are challenged to guide their people from the oppressive motherland; discover the New World; and negotiate, trade and fight as they acquire power and battle for their freedom and independence. Usher forth a new generation of Sid Meier’s Colonization with gameplay built on the award-winning Civilization IV engine, providing the beautiful visuals, famously addictive gameplay and endless fun that are synonymous with Sid Meier strategy games.

Got that? It’s the “oppressive motherland” now. BTW, if you don’t want people to believe that games are addictive, calling it “famously addictive gameplay” will probably not do that. Ahem.

The game features improved diplomacy, a new game interface, mutliplayer that includes internet and LAN modes, and detailed tutorial guides. Civilization IV: Colonization is rated E10+ by the ESRB.

Back in March, Gendai Games launched GameSalad, a game creation tool for non-coders who have a mind for design. Now, Gendai has taken a step further with the iPhone Early Access Program, putting that power towards the development of iPhone games.

The iPhone Early Access Program includes a two-tiered membership system, Indie and Pro. Both give creators unlimited access to the system that exports their games for publishing to the App Store, but Pro gives access to advanced game development features and customized branding. However, access to the iPhone development tools are not available in the Basic (and free) GameSalad membership…Indie starts at $499/yr, and Pro is $1999/yr.

Gendai Games also released two iPhone games using the Game Salad iPhone Engine, to show some of the abilities of the engine:

In Spark of Life, players take control of the Spark that protects and guides newborn planets, helping them build life and civilization as they traverse the hazards of space. Spark of Life utilizes GameSalad’s support of the iPhone’s built-in accelerometer to control the gameplay in a fun and challenging way. In Rock, Paper, Scissors: The Movie: The Game, players take the role as the mysterious Nameless Master who must do what he vowed never to do again: wield the three ancient weapons of battle and seek vengeance against the Deadly Dragon Clan. This game features stylized hand-drawn art that demonstrate GameSalad’s support for rich graphical interfaces, sprites, and animations. Both games are now available on the iPhone App Store.

You can check out a trailer of GameSalad, or listen to an interview about the iPhone Early Access Program with Michael Agustin of Gendai Games later today.