iGame Radio

 

What’s inside this episode:

• Omaha reviews Bob Came in Pieces by Ludosity, a delightful puzzle game with dated graphics and music that will still break your brain.

Show Notes:

• Host Omaha Sternberg and co-host Peter Cohen of The Loop talk about the week’s news in Mac gaming, starting with the stunning announcement that Apple quietly rolled out a website about Mac gaming. Yeah, the one that came out 10 years ago. Apparently, the rest of the world just noticed.
• Epic Games announced Unreal Engine 3 and Unreal Developer Kit for iOS. Great. Now where’s my UE3 and UDK for the Mac??
• EA and Unity announce a lovefest.
• Omaha and Peter talk about games released this week and soon to be released.

Music Notes:

• Digital Droo produced our theme music here at iGame Radio.
• Michael Hu-wong for featuring music from Fizzball.
• Steven Johnson for featuring music from Escort Wing.

Congratulations! You, leader of BLU team (because I know you wouldn’t deal with RED team, those whiners!), have just gained new items, courtesy of Mann Co., to use in the endless war. Part of the Mann-Conomy Initiative, these items are available for immediate trading, use, and sale.

To begin with, you have access to 65 new items, including five new Class Weapon Kits, 18 new hats, and dueling pistols…just think of the new ways you’ll get into fights with those RED guys! And you can trade with the RED teams…just make sure that you get the best part of the deal. But don’t worry if you aren’t able use or trade those items. No one gets an advantage just because they have a more awesome hat.

You can get more information about the Mann-Conomy or Steam, the revolutionary technology that runs the pneumatic tubes allowing you to equip yourselves.

Feral Interactive has announced Battlestations: Pacific. Set to release on October 8th, this action/strategy game takes the gameplay of Battlestations: Midway to the next level with two campaigns, one based on the actual events of the War in the Pacific and the other a ‘what-if?’ scenario based on the premise of Japanese victory.

The historically accurate US campaign leads US forces from the battle of Midway through to Okinawa. In the Japanese campaign, players control the Imperial forces in an attempt to defeat the Allied forces and expand the Empire of the Sun to Hawaii.

Together, both campaigns comprise 28 missions, with players controlling over 100 different types of units, including Battleships, Carriers, Dive Bombers (or Kamikaze fighters), and Submarines. A much-improved graphics engine promises a higher degree of visual realism in the game as well, bringing island and water environments to life. A new cockpit view has been added, as well as five co-op and team-based modes for the multiplayer experience.

“Battlestations: Pacific is massive and beautifully balanced,” said Feral Interactive’s David Stephen. “The compelling mix of action and strategy inherited from Battlestations Midway remains as good as ever, but the expansion of the game to encompass a ’what-if?’ Japanese campaign adds a whole new dimension to the experience.”

Minimum system requirements:

• Intel Mac
• Mac OS X v10.5.8 or later
• 2 GB RAM
• 256MB or better graphics card (cards NOT supported are: ATI X1xxx series, NVIDIA 7xxx series and Intel GMA series)
• DVD drive

Battlestations: Pacific will retail in North America for US $39.95, £34.95 (inc VAT) in the UK and €39.95 (inc VAT) throughout Europe. It is currently available to pre-order from Feral’s online store.

Remember when Steve Jobs said “no more fart games”? Yeah, well, apparently he didn’t mean Pig Shot. Just released this morning into the App Store, the developer, NexxStudio.com, describes the game as “an EPIC pig-slinging, farting and rolling experience that you can’t find elsewhere.” Yeah, I’d agree that’s probably true.

To be honest, Pig Shot isn’t just a “tap it and they will fart” type of app. No, it’s an action game where you launch the pig from slingshot to slingshot, roll it through challenging trails filled with random obstacles and grab cauliflower to accumulate gas in your pig. Tapping anywhere on the screen will make your pig fart for a temporary speed boost. Booyah!

There are even achievements associated with this act, such as the coveted ‘Constipated Pig’ achievement (I don’t want to know). You can look up your score and compare achievements through OpenFeint, and issue high score challenges to friends.

You can download Pig Shot for $0.99 from the App Store today.

Freeverse has released their Skee-Ball game in HD for the iPad. Flick the Skee-Ball up the ramp and into the numbered holes to win points, tickets, and achievements that you can brag about through the Plus+ network.

The classic arcade game has been enhanced for the iPad’s high resolution 1024 X 768 screen, and includes realistic physics and 3D graphics. Additions include new price packs, bigger loot shelves, and new balls. New collectibles have also been added, such as custom Skee-Balls like the Moo Ball, Sun Ball, Dinosaur Egg Ball, and oddities like Vampire Teeth, Peruvian Flute Band CD, New Zealand, and over 80 other items.

Wait…you get to collect New Zealand?? Hmm, I’d play that game.

You can download Skee-Ball HD for the iPad for $1.99 in the App Store.

On the heels of our review, Eyedip has now added two new mini-games to Flight Doodle HD for iPad. “Battlecraft” and “Survival” are introduced alongside a price drop to $0.99 through this Sunday.

Flight Doodle, a doodle game with hot-air balloons, allows you to activate the two mini-games by rotating the game while viewing the main menu. In Battlecraft, balloons are armed with explosives and players engage in aerial fire-fights with deadly enemy balloons. Survival mode calls on players to collect as many boost power-ups as possible to gain altitude and reach new heights. Customized hot-air balloons are available in all four game modes.

Four game modes? “What’s that, Omaha?” you ask. “You never mentioned extra game modes in your review yesterday!” Yup, you’re right. That’s because Eyedip slipped a new game mode in YESTERDAY, and two more TODAY. So when I updated the game several days ago and was playing it, I never got the new mode (nor info on the new mode yesterday). Looks like I’ll have to do a quick review about all three.

Other features to today’s update include the rainbow hyper-star powerup (for parity with the iPhone version), auto-pausing when notifications pop-up, custom art for achievement alerts, and the ability to listen to your own music in-game (hey, wasn’t that on my list of wants? They listened!).

“We love providing our fans with tons of new content and so far we’ve added an average of one new mini-game per week to Flight Doodle HD” says Steven Fleisher, co-founder of Eyedip. “We’ve also added back-end features that will let us run an awesome balloon art contest, and we’re super excited about a top secret theme we’re unveiling next month!”

Flight Doodle HD (normally $2.99) is available for $0.99 through Sunday on the iTunes App Store. Flight Doodle for iPhone is available for $0.99 on the iTunes App Store. A free version is also available.

Freeverse has released a free version of it’s Flick Fishing game on the App Store for iPhone and iPod Touch. With just a flick of the wrist, cast the line and fight the toughest fish in the seas.

Flick Fishing combines bait, location, and casting technique for a unique game of fishing using your iPhone or iPod Touch by physically moving the device to cast. Environments are fully animated with seven different locations, challenging questions, and special items to unlock. The free version includes support for Retina Display, a new Doubloon system for competition, and more collectible items and quests.

You can download Flick Fishing Free from the App Store today.

 

What’s inside this episode:

• A review of Ace Omicron for the iPad, by Pro Ratta Factor. The classic arcade joy of asteroids comes to your iPad with 21st century graphics.
  
• Also, a review of Hangman RSS for iPad, by Finger Arts Entertainment. Try not to hang the man while reading the latest news.
  
• And a review of Flight Doodle HD for iPad by Eyedip. Doodle your way to the top in a hot-air balloon.
  

Mac|Life is reporting a rumor that Left 4 Dead may be heading to the Mac. The rumor is based on the DLC announcement made today by Valve of The Sacrifice, set to release on October 5th. The distributed press release says nothing about a Mac version, only that The Sacrifice is a prequel to the DLC The Passing, and introduces a new style finale called “Sacrificial Gameplay” where players get to decide who will give their life so the others may live.

However, on the game’s website, the announcement included some additional information:

The DLC “The Sacrifice” will be available for the XBOX 360, PC, and Mac on October 5th. It will include the new Campaign “The Sacrifice” and the Left 4 Dead 1 campaign, “No Mercy”. In both campaigns you will be able to play as the Left 4 Dead 1 Survivors but you will be using Left 4 Dead 2 weapons and items against Left 4 Dead 2 monsters!

This is somewhat confusing, since DLC, by its definition, is additional downloadable content for a game. If the DLC is available for Mac, that would mean that L4D would have to be available for Mac as well, and there’s been no announcement to that affect as of today. Whether this was going to be a surprise announcement in the next few days, or perhaps a slip of the keyboard is still to be seen. I’ve sent in a request for clarification to Valve (as did Mac|Life), so we’ll see who gets replied to first. ;-)

ngmoco has come back for a third bite at the apple, with We City for iPhone and iPad. This third incarnation based on the popular freemium simulation strategy games takes to the city streets, offering over 100 unique buildings and decorations to populate your budding metropolis. As each building is erected, citizens begin to roam, and helicopters soar through the skies. Not sure why the helicopters roaming skies thing is so important, but there you are.

We City features easy redesign of your city at any level, many diverse citizens as new buildings are added, and the ability to research new building types through colleges and universities. You can also share your city with others to earn extra coins and unlock XP. As with other games of this type, you can wait to level up, or you can decide to take the fast track and drop a few bucks to get your buildings quickly through in-app purchases.

We City is available as a free download through your local neighborhood iTunes App Store, for either iPhone, as well as for iPad.