iGame Radio

Alawar Entertainment has announced the first of a new horror saga, Twisted Lands: Shadow Town. The Collector’s Edition is available for Windows for $19.95, and a Mac version will be available shortly.

Intended for mature players, Twisted Lands: Shadow Town is a downloadable hidden object game set on a seemingly deserted island shrouded in dark secrets. Players assume the role of a desperate man searching for his wife, who disappeared when their small boat capsized nearby. As he tries to find her, he becomes increasingly aware of the unusual circumstances that led to the disappearance of the island’s previous inhabitants — and ever more vulnerable to the evil that consumed them. The game involves gathering hidden items, solving difficult puzzles, and making “spine-chilling” discoveries.

The Collector’s Edition includes a built-in strategy guide and a bonus chapter, unlocked after the main scenario is completed, in which players must stay one step ahead of a bloodthirsty horde while attempting to escape from the island. There are 100 locations to explore, 14 hidden object screens, no time limits, and a comprehensive video walkthrough.

A free trial version is also available. Also, Alawar will release a standard version of Twisted Lands: Shadow Town for both Windows and Mac in October.

The 10th annual Game Connection Europe has announced a new contest called Game Connection Selected Projects. This free contest is targeted at selecting 20 top games that will present on opening day to a group of publishers and distributors interested in signing on new and innovative projects.

Formerly known as Level Up, Game Connection Selected Projects will choose 20 of the best indie projects under development to sign within a year. The competition is open to console, mobile, and online games ranging from pre-production to ready-to-market, without restrictions on genre, platform, or distribution method. Both registered and non-registered attendees of Game Connection Europe 2010 are invited to apply to the event. The submission deadline is October 13th. Publishers, distributors, and buyers are invited to Lyon to evaluate the 20 “Selected Projects” contest winners “live” on stage on November 16th.

Game Connection Europe runs from November 15th to 18th, 2010 in Lyon, France, and offers a variety of events besides the trade show including Game Connection Invest where companies pitch investors to raise funds and Master Classes for professional developers interested in learning the latest techniques from peer experts.

To register or for more information, go to Game Connection Selected Projects or Game Connection Europe.

LoopyCube has announced Go Native!, a multiplayer game for the iPhone and iPod Touch that puts a new spin on the old Q&A party games of old. Join seven or eight folks to answer some questions and see how far you can make it through the islands to save Princes Mango. Just don’t take off your clothes!

Seriously, Go Native! puts a series of questions for you to answer on the screen (multiple choice or fill in the blank). The questions are pretty easy, but the real strategy is not in answering the questions the way you would, but in trying to figure out which answer will be picked by the majority you are playing with. It’s Survivor with a twist. Every question that you answer that is in the most popular category gets you moving forward. The ones who make it to Princess Mango first get something special…the rest get to go back to the beginning and try again.

In a quick preview of the game I found that it doesn’t take that long to wait to play…the waiting might take 30 seconds for enough people to be available for a game. The developer, LoopyCube, said that they spent some time coming up with questions, and wanted to limit the questions to no more than 2 to 3 per topic. They’ll continue adding new questions to the game after it is released to keep it fresh. They may even allow players to submit questions in the future as well.

If the game is having a hard time finding humans to join, it will grab a bot instead which act as players that have played the game. Loopycube has written a blog post regarding the development of the bot routine. The bots actually learn, in a way, from how real players are answering questions.

A fascinating game that I spent 15 minutes playing before I even realized it. The game is due out at the end of September, so watch for it.

Alawar Entertainment has released Natalie Brooks: The Treasures of the Lost Kingdom, a hidden object adventure game for the iPad. Players must find the answers to a terrible curse within 24 hours to ransom Natalie Brooks’ grandfather.

In The Treasures of the Lost Kingdom, Natalie Brooks faces a seemingly impossible task: save her grandfather, a renowned archaeologist, from kidnappers holding him ransom for an ancient treasure map. She has just 24 hours to find the map, solve the mystery of a terrible curse and unmask the truth behind a legendary ghost train. To meet the deadline, virtual gumshoes must find hidden objects, piece together clues and solve puzzles throughout seven chapters.

ANOTHER archaeologist?? Wasn’t I just pointing out how many archaeologists show up in games (especially hidden object games)? What is it with this profession? I mean, is there some secret archaeology lobby that acts on the game industry I’m unaware of? Are there hordes of archaeology groupies? Are we going to see some calendar pinup for archaeologists?

Well, whatever the archaeology conspiracies that I am hatching in my chocolate-deprived brain, the game itself features seven chapters with mini-games to entertain your way through, an interactive tutorial, and no time limits.

Natalie Brooks: The Treasures of the Lost Kingdom is available on the App Store for $6.99. A lite version is available as well.

It was announced in May, the system requirements were released in early August, but now we have it in our hot little hands! Supreme Commander 2 has been released!

Dangling us by a string for four months, Virtual Programming finally releases their Mac port of the highly acclaimed strategy title. Supreme Commander 2 involves the threat of war between the United Earth Federation, the Aeon Illuminate, and the Cybran Nation after an assassination of the newly elected president causes their tenuous Colonial Defense Coalition to break down. The game was originally developed for the Xbox 360 and Windows by Gas Powered Games and launched in March of this year.

The game features 18 solo campaign missions focusing equally on all three factions. Integral to combat will be R&D, and VP promises lots of work on developing experimental war machines that can alter the balance of power in combat or the game. The game also includes a redesigned user interface with new Strategic Zoom view feature, serving up real-time feedback for on the spot decision-making.

There are several game modes, including skirmish and online multiplayer, which is available for up to eight opponents. Supreme Commander 2′s maps range from the chilly wasteland of Arctic Refuge to idyllic Setons Clutch and its vast expanses of water. Each requires a unique strategic approach, depending on the faction under your control, so you’ll be redesigning your strategy each time.

System Requirements:

• Mac OS 10.6.3 or higher
• Intel CPU, 2.2 GHz or faster
• 1 GB RAM
• GeForce 8600, Radeon 2400HD or newer, 256 MB
• 5 GB Hard Disk space
• Internet connection
• Steam for Mac (for LAN play)

You can purchase Supreme Commander 2 from the VP site for $39.95 | £29.95 | €39.95.

Virtual Programming is also giving away a few copies of the game, too! All you have to do is email the answer to the following question into VP and you’ll be entered to win!

Which company developed Supreme Commander 2?

C) Intel

Tripwire Interactive has announced The Ball, a first person action/adventure game built on top of Unreal Engine 3. You are a swashbuckling archaeologist (archaeologists can be “swashbucklers”??) who discovers ancient ruins and a mysterious artifact inside a dormant volcano in Mexico. This artifact, a gold and metal shelled Ball, holds the key to unlocking the mysteries of the ruins. Using the secrets of the Ball, you reveal the mystery while defending yourself from traps and strange creatures.

The game will feature easy to learn physics-based game mechanics, a wide range of enemies (including an undead gorilla…yuck!), and unique vehicles to encounter. The developer promises 8 huge levels as well as a bonus Survival game mode with 3 additional levels. The Ball is also enabled with Steamworks, including achievements and leaderboards.

The Ball is promised for Fall 2010 on Windows, but I have it from the developer that they are simply awaiting the completion of the Mac port of Unreal Developer Kit to finish the Mac port for the game. Here’s hoping that will be soon!

CCP, developer of the Sci-Fi themed MMOG EVE Online, has announced their next expansion for all users of the game. EVE Online: Incursion will focus on the escalating attacks of the Sansha’s Nation, a group intent on instituting their own utopia and destroying anyone who stops them. Pilots can join public fleets and cooperate to destroy the Sansha Incursions, returning the universe to normal, receiving wealthy bounties, earning loyalty rewards and high commendation.

Features of Incursion will include improvements suggested by the Council of Stellar Management, hardware upgrades, software improvements, and new cluster components aimed at increasing game and fleet battle performance to even higher levels. Updates to the character creator will be made with CCP’s Carbon character technology for fresh pilot portraits. Ships will be added as well, including a Sansha Mothership and fighterbomber, and the Noctis salvaging vessel. EVEGate, the web-based social networking platform for pilots, will also see improvements and additions, such as new forums.

More details and features can be found at the EVE Online: Incursion site. The expansion is set to release this November.

Did you hear the news?? Apple has quietly rolled out a website dedicated to gaming on the Mac and the iOS! The news is all over the place, on VentureBeat, MVC, GamesIndustry, and Gamasutra! What fabulous news for us Mac gamers!

…Except that this site has been around for more than ten years. Anyone who had spent a few minutes in the Mac gaming industry or done a bit of research would know that the Apple Game Website has been in service for at least ten years, and featured articles from long-time Mac game developer Brad Cook.

So, why this sudden interest in a ten year old site? I suspect that there are two reasons. The first is that most of these sites spend so little time caring about what happens with Mac gaming that they just didn’t know. With the recent push in gaming on iOS platforms, these sites are frantic for more information. Once at least one of them found this site and reported on it, the rest jumped on the band wagon.

The second reason is really connected to the first, and its the lack of journalistic integrity. These sites simply did not do any research before they reported on this news to confirm that what they were reporting was actually factual. When I report on any article, I try my best to get as much factual information as possible, to do my research, before I actually push that “publish” button. I’m not always correct, but at least I try (and I also update when I find my errors). But in the rush to become the first to report, it’s oftentimes difficult to be accurate.

The real question for these sites becomes is it more important to be first, or to be right. In this case, being first meant ridicule as they reported on news ten years old.

Cipher Prime, developer of Fractal and Auditorium, has put together The Indie Love Bundle Sale, bundles of great indie games at a very low price. Catching onto the wave popularity and success of indie game bundles over the past year, the Indie Love Bundle brings twelve different games together for very low prices with no DRM.

There are three different bundles to choose from. The Summer of Love Bundle includes AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! – A Reckless Disregard for Gravity, BrainPipe: a Plunge to Inhumanity, Cogs, Captain Forever, Saira, and Space Giraffe together in a bundle priced at $19.99, which is 70% off what you would normally pay for all six games.

The Original Indie Love Bundle is composed of And Yet It Moves, Auditorium, Aztaka, Eufloria, Machinarium, and Osmos. This one also costs $19.99 and is 75% off the regular price. Or you can get the Mega Summer of Love Bundle which brings all twelve games together for $29.99, which is a $125 savings. All with no DRM.

Every penny is split between the developers themselves, so you’ll be supporting Indie game developers and getting games with no DRM for great prices. Do look closely at the bundles, because not all games are available for the Mac (for example, in the Summer of Love Bundle, only two games are Mac games). So check out the bundles and see what you might be interested in getting or gifting to friends today. The sale lasts through Wednesday, September 22.

Fantastic Arcade is almost upon us, starting this Thursday, September 23rd with a concert featuring MC Frontalot. Back from his frolic on the PAX concert stage, the father of nerdcore rap will once again be frolicing for the Fatastic Arcade, the new independent games festival presented in conjunction with the genre film festival Fantastic Fest.

Each night of Fantastic Arcade will feature a different nerd-centric party, beginning on Thursday, September 23 with MC Frontalot. Friday night is Nerdeoke (karaoke on the Highball stage with a song-list exclusively of nerd anthems), Saturday night is a “30 Days of Night: Dark Days” flashlight dance party co-hosted by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, and Fantastic Arcade closes on Sunday with Datapop 4.0, a dance party featuring music from hacked Nintendo Gameboys.

Attendees at Fantastic Arcade will have a choice of a single day pass for $20, with access to all Fantastic Arcade films, panels, parties, happy hour and game demos for one day, or a basic $10 pass that provides access to the game demos and arcade for a single day. The VIP Fantastic Arcade Pass for $60 provides access to everything for all four festival days, plus a limited edition Fantastic Arcade T-shirt. Fantastic Arcade tickets can be purchased online now.