iGame Radio

GameSalad, Inc has announced a new publishing option for developers using the GameSalad Creator tool for iOS and Mac game development. GameSalad Accelerator pairs developers with established brands to publish games.

GameSalad Accelerator has launched with initial partnerships with R.R. Kidz, Famigo Games, and Boom! Studios. In fact, GameSalad and Boom! Studios have also announced the release of Stan Lee’s The Traveler in Split Second Mayhem, the premiere title of the Accelerator program. Split Second Mayhem was produced as a collaboration between GameSalad, Boom! Studios, and POW! Entertainment. Developed by D7 Studios, and published through GameSalad Accelerator, Split Second Mayhem is available on the App Store today.

In addition, independent GameSalad developers may submit their own original titles for publication under the Accelerator brand. Submitted titles will be reviewed for participation in the program.

For more information, developers can contact GameSalad and apply to join the Accelerator program through the GameSalad Accelerator website.

Corbomite Games has launched Star Shipping Inc, a turn-based commerce-strategy game, for the Mac and Windows, as well as a new HD version for iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad. Work for the intergalactic space trading company Star Shipping Inc to become the richest captain in the galaxy by trading commodities between planets.

You can choose between flying solo or protecting your cargo by hiring defense drones. You’ll encounter multiple types of enemies like space pirates, monsters and others. In-game news at the end of each turn as well as dozens of random events will dramatically effect the next turn’s outcome.

The game includes features like an in-game store where you can buy upgrades to your ship in order to increase performance and get a higher score, a bank where you can keep your savings and where you can loan cash in times of need, scoring and ranking systems, leader boards, achievements, and challenges. You can also purchase additional chips for play through in-game purchases.

Star Shipping for Mac and PC is available on the Corbomite website for only $1.00 (which, strangely enough, is less than the iOS versions), while the HD version is $2.99 on the App Store.

Freeverse has announced that they are now publishing Field of Glory, Slitherine Studios 2D turn-based wargame, and its expansion packs for the Mac. The computer game is based on the table top game of the same name, and uses an email-based system to engage in multiplayer action.

Field of Glory is a wargame system that covers the ancient and medieval worlds, from the beginnings of the Roman Empire to the Medieval times. The game features both single-player and two-player PVP gaming using the PBEM (play by email) which allows players to issue challenges and make moves via email, rather than connect to a remote server. The only requirement is a working email address.

A comprehensive scenario builder is also included, the Digital Army Generator. Players have access to graphics for 11 different terrain types with western European and arid settings, as well as 141 different battle group types and high customization for individual behavior in the game. Players can create custom armies and battles and challenge other players in-game.

Also, for the first time, all three expansion packs…Rise of Rome, Storm of Arrows, and Immortal Fire…are also now available on the Mac. The Windows and Mac versions are compatible so players can play against each other too.

Rise of Rome covers Rome throughout it’s Republican period. The expansion also allows you to play Roman soldiers against armies from other army packs, so you can see how Roman soldiers do against, for example, medieval soldiers.

Storm of Arrows covers the armies of Western Europe from 1300 to 1500 AD, characterized by a rise in the role of infantry and a decline in the role of mounted knights.

Immortal Fire covers the armies of the Classical and Hellenistic eras from the development of the hoplite system in Greece in the 7th century BC until the Hellenistic successor kingdoms that derived from the break-up of Alexander the Great’s empire came into conflict with Rome from the 3rd century BC onwards.

CCP, developers of EVE Online, is in the final polishing stages of their upcoming expansion, Incursions. So we thought we’d give a quick update about what you can expect from Incursions and the updated timeline for the release.

Incursions features two main aspects, the Sansha Incursion and the Incarna Character Creator. The Sansha Incursion is both a main storyline addition as well as a new PVE aspect to the game. Sansha Kuvakei was a messiah of a Nation, bent on creating a Utopia. Until everyone found out that he was creating cybernetic “True Slaves” by melding man and machine. The last Alliance of Empires supposedly wiped him, and his nation, out of existence. Now raids by Sansha Nation ships and claims that “The Master” still lives cast doubt upon this belief.

The PVE aspect means random as well as purposeful encounters with NPC characters in-space at the level of large-scale encounters. The focus will shift from awards for knocking off NPCs to completing objectives. The idea is to tie all of those objectives into the larger picture of the Sansha incursions.

Incursions will also include the Incarna Character Creator, which shows some of the most awesome character creation tools that I’ve seen in a game. You could spend hours just creating your own characters for EVE Online. The trailer for the character creator below says it all.

The entirety of the expansion will not be released in one fell swoop, however. The first release, by November 30th, will be a big patch that is intended to pave the way for the rest of the expansion. It will probably include 80 new story lines, tech updates, and UI and bug fixes. A second patch will be released before Christmas, but CCP has not yet revealed what will be in this patch. Most likely it will depend on what made it into the November patch. And finally, the Big Momma of the expansion, the Sansha Incursion storyline/PVE and Incarna Character Creator, will be released in January 2011.

Okay, so the title was total cliche. But you’ll still want to take a gander at these deals that various Mac game and game-related sites across the ‘Net are presenting for the (US) holiday season.

OnLive is featuring their weekend sale of up to 75% off of Full PlayPass titles through 11 pm tonight PST. Games you can pick up include Aliens vs. Predator, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Just Cause 2, and LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4.

Telltale Games has a month of deals at the 30 Days of Telltale Site, starting BlackFriday and going through December 25th. Each and every day they’ll unveil a new special deal for various merchandise in the Telltale store. Most deals are only good for 24 hours (midnight to midnight PST), with a new one announced each day. All items of $50 or more get free shipping.

Valve announced on Wednesday Steam’s “Give & Get” Sale which runs through Tuesday, November 30. Each day during the sale there will be huge savings on featured games and large game packs that are perfect for gift-giving throughout the holidays. In the spirit of giving, each day of the sale Valve will be awarding 30 users with the top five games on their wishlists. To become eligible to win, simply load up your own wishlist with ten or more items now.

Aspyr Media is celebrating Thanksgiving and the release of Civilization V with a GameAgent store-wide discount of 33% (they say some exclusions apply). Also, there will be a CyberMonday Flash Sale as well. Items for sale in short time frames that you will only find out about if you follow GameAgent on both Twitter and Facebook. If you do, you’ll also get an opportunity to grab some Civ V swag all holiday weekend as well.

G5 Entertainment is also holding a holiday sale, from November 22 through November 28. Each day, a new iPhone and iPad game will be on sale. You can find out which games are for sale each day by hopping onto G5′s website, checking out their Twitter feed, Facebook page, or their iTunes aggregate page.

Pangea Software is announcing an early Black Friday sale of $0.99 on all of their iOS games. including Enigmo Deluxe, their physics-based puzzle game; Nanosaur 2, their flying dinosaur shooter; and Antimatter, their sci-fi arcade game. All games can be found on the iTunes App Store.

Aspyr Media has released Civilization V to the Mac. The fifth in the long-term Sid Meier’s Civilization strategy sim series, Civ V includes Steam integration and SteamPlay.

Civilization V sports an all new graphics engine, a new combat system, deeper diplomatic interactions and a cavalcade of expanded features. Players build and defend their empire on their quest to become the greatest ruler the world has ever known, from the basest civilization to leaping into the stars.

New features include an hexagonal time layout that provides for deeper, more realistic gameplay and more organic landscapes. Ranged attack has been expanded to include weapons fired from behind the front lines, adding another dimension to strategy. The graphics engine includes fully animated leaders that interact with players during diplomatic scenes speaking in their native language.

The game includes multiplayer modes up to 12 players, with LAN and Steamworks included. Aspyr also made the stunning announcement yesterday that they would be supporting SteamPlay as well, which means that if you had already purchased Civ V for the PC, you automatically now own the Mac version (and vice versa). You can get more information regarding the SteamPlay decision in the third and final Civ V FAQ that Aspyr published yesterday.

Minimum System Requirements:

• Operating System: 10.6.4 (Snow Leopard)
• CPU Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo (Dual-Core)
• CPU Speed: 2.4 GHz
• Memory: 2 GB RAM
• Hard Disk Space: 8 GB
• Video Card: ATI Radeon HD2600, NVidia Geforce 8600
• Video Memory (VRam): 256 MB
• Media Required: DVD-ROM
• Peripherals: Macintosh mouse and keyboard

Apple released iOS 4.2 yesterday, available for all iOS devices. Specifically, though, this update will add important functionality to your iPad, such as Game Center access, multitasking, folders, and more.

The iOS 4.2 update was originally delayed from earlier in the month, and was then slated for a November 24th release. But Mac geeks everywhere got an early Thanksgiving treat when Apple released 4.2 earlier than expected.

This update includes the long-awaited Game Center functionality for the iPad. Games on the iPad that have been updated for Game Center can now be listed on leaderboards and achievements along with their iPhone/iPod Touch kin, and iPad game players can request friends to add to their friends lists.

The 4.2 update also adds multitasking functionality, which will allow one to pop out of a game to take care of some minor issue, then back in as though one never left. Lastly, one can now place ones awesome game collection into folders for easy management.

For a full list of the additions that iOS 4.2 brings, you can review the Apple site.

GameSalad has unveiled a new “Free to Make” subscription program for developers using the GameSalad Creator, a free, visual-based game creation software platform that enables any user to develop games without prior programming knowledge. Concurrent with this announcement is the release of GameSalad 0.9.0 Beta.

In the “Free to Make” model, a Basic subscription is offered for free. The Professional subscription includes everything in the Basic version, plus iAD functionality, promotional links, and priority tech support for developers, and costs $499 a year. Current Express and Pro users have the option of upgrading to this Professional membership level for only $99 for the first year. This “Legacy User Upgrade Offer” expires Dec 31, 2010.

For either subscription, developers will continue to publish games under their personal Apple iPhone Developer accounts, which will still be required in order to publish and test their iOS creations on Apple devices.

This new subscription model was launched concurrent with the GameSalad 0.9.0 Beta, which features a redesigned Dashboard and Pubishing Wizard. Gendai Games, creators of GameSalad, claim that users can now manage their online portfolios, get the latest GameSalad news, and submit their games to the App Store with significantly more speed and ease.

Both GameSalad 0.9.0 Beta and information about becoming a member are available from the GameSalad website.

If you are a fan of Pangea Software games on the iPhone, now you can enjoy the multiplayer fun of Nanosaur 2 and Cro-Mag Rally on the iPad as well. With the release of iOS 4.2, both games have been updated to include multiplayer networking via Game Center.

Nanosaur 2 is a 3D action-adventure game where you pilot a time traveling pteradactyl from the future. In the multiplayer version of the game, you compete against others in two-player matches in a joust-like competition. The Nanosaur 2 update is now compatible with the game running on any iOS device. Players can choose from Battle, Capture-the-Flag, and Race modes against other players an iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch.

Cro-Mag Rally is Pangea Software’s caveman racing game where you race primitive vehicles such as the Bone Buggy, Geode Cruiser, Logmobile, etc. around prehistoric and ancient racetracks. With the game update, up to four players can race against each other using any of the vehicles in the game.

Pangea Software currently has all of their iOS games, including Nanosaur 2 and Cro-Mag Rally, on sale for just $0.99.

Valve announced the launch of the Recommended For You referral services on Steam. This service will help gamers discover new games and DLC based upon their tastes and recent purchases, as well as games recommended by friends.

The Recommended For You tab is located at the top bar on the Steam homepage. Clicking on it will bring you to a page that shows recommendations based on previous purchases, games you and your friends have played, and recommendations from friends. The recommendations based on games you’ve played do not filter for operating system, so you’ll see Windows games recommended to you. You can also recommend games to your friends from this page.

Recommendations will appear both on the Recommended For You pages as well as in your Steam Community News Blotter. In addition, individual game pages will now include Recommendation info, providing gamers with even more information on the 1,200-plus titles available on Steam.