iGame Radio

 

What’s inside this episode:

• Host Omaha Sternberg and co-host Corey Tamas of MacGamer review the highlights of the year in Mac and iOS gaming for 2010. Included:
• Who came in new to the gaming scene this year and who stuck with us?
• What were the biggest game changers of the year, and did they really make the changes promised?
• The top 3 games of the year and the one thing from this year that will impact 2011.

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.

G5 Entertainment’s transport strategy and city simulator, Virtual City, is on sale for New Year’s. The game is available for $ 4.99 on iPad and for $2.99 on iPhone/iPod Touch until January 10.

In addition, G5 is celebrating New Year’s with a contest! In Sarah’s Christmas Vacation contestants can take an image of the main character, Sarah, and show her as she travels during her Christmas vacation. Post the picture to G5’s Facebook wall and add a comment with a link to this note. G5 will give away 10 codes for Virtual City on the iPhone or iPad to the most liked pictures, and three winners will be selected by G5’s Team to receive $10 iTunes certificates.

D7 Games brings us DiscoTech, a tilt platform game where you must maneuver your disco ball (that from a distance looks like a miniature moon) around 3D mazes. The effects are pretty amazing in the trailers, and look to get quite complicated as you play the game. Think Marble Blast on the iPhone. The game is accompanied with disco-style music. DiscoTech is available for iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad for the smooth price of $0.99.

Spirits for iPad looks like Lemmings with jellyfish. The little white jellyfish are actually spirits that help each other move through levels. From the trailer, each one has certain abilities that it can access, but often in order to complete a level, many of the spirits must work together to get past certain obstructions. Thus the Lemmings reference. It’s really a lovely looking game by Spaces of Play, and I hope that the actual gameplay bears out the trailer. You can get the game for the iPad for $4.99, with an iPhone/iPod Touch version coming soon.

Red Marble Games is a name well-known in the Mac game community. They’ve ported the game Flip Words to the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad now. In this word game, you tap on the red letters to make a chain that spells out a word, then use the first letters of those words to work out the hidden phrase. Simple but addictive. Flip Words is going for $2.99 for both iPhone/iPod Touch and iPad.

 

What’s inside this episode:

• A review of Snark Busters: Welcome to the Club, by Alawar Entertainment. A unique and different take on the hidden object genre. A great set of puzzles to wrap your brain around, set inside the fashionable theme of steampunk. Definitely a keeper.
  
• Also, a review of Bejeweled 3, by PopCap Games. Bejeweled 3 doesn’t bring anything new to the table as far as gameplay mechanics, but it doesn’t need to. It’s still addictive as hell, and shines with PopCap’s signature love of games. We’ve got another winner.
  

TopWare Interactive announced last week a special re-release of Two Worlds II for Mac gamers, available to Premium and Royal Edition owners in Europe alone. The purchase of the “Two Worlds II” special edition entitles you to a free download of the Mac version of the game by entering your serial code and a bonuscode provided. The 87 MB download utilizes the core files from the PC version which must be in the disk drive during Mac installation. Even better, the Gold Upgrade for the Windows PC version of Two Worlds II will give you access to the multiplayer features, which are PC/Mac compatible.

Minimum system requirements have also been released, and include:

• MACOSX 10.6
• Intel Core2Duo
• 2 GB RAM
• NVIDIA GF 8800 or AMD RADEON HD

If you can wait, or aren’t in Europe, the general release for Two Worlds II is right around the corner, January 25th.

After a week of downtime we’re back to bring you the news and reviews of Mac and iOS gaming you love.
First up, Virtual Programming announced last week the release of Darkest of Days. Travel through time fighting battles from different periods in history. Sounds very strategic. But wait…it’s a first person-shooter!

Darkest of Days starts with one Alexander Morris, plucked as it were from the very Battle of Little Bighorn by agents of Kronotek and told that he is the key to saving history. Kronotek is a time-traveling company fighting the Opposition, which is fiddling with history’s innards. Morris (i.e. you) must participate in some key historical battles, such as the Civil War’s Battle of Antietam, the Battle of Tannenberg during World War I, a World War II POW camp, and even Pompei on the day in 79 AD that Mount Vesuvius erupted.

You must protect certain important individuals in these historical battles from death due to the shadowy Opposition, of whom you learn more about during play. The game strives to create historically accurate battles in which you will be fighting with period weapons using tactics of the time. But when the Opposition comes, you’ll need to get access to some futuristic weaponry to defend yourself and your charges.

System Requirements include:

• Mac OS X version 10.6.5, or higher
• 2.16GHz Intel processor
• 1GB RAM
• 128MB video card (GeForce 8600, Radeon X1600 or newer)
• 5GB Hard Disk space

You can purchase Darkest of Days now at the Virtual Programming site for £29.95, €39.95, US$39.95.

Some of you have commented on the lack of Thursday podcasts this month. A series of unfortunate events has transpired to get in the way each time. First a family emergency, and now I’ve been sick on and off for two weeks (the same head cold won’t let me go…keeps dragging me through the muck and mire, occasionally allowing me to stand for brief moments, thinking I can escape, only to pull me down again). I’m going to spend the rest of the week murdering it.

Next Thursday podcast will be the end of the month celebrating everything 2010. Look for it. And I’ll get a Game Review Cast or two out as well. Just thought you’d like to know.

Telltale Games has announced that “Launch of the Screaming Narwhal”, the first episode of Tales of Monkey Island, is now available on the App Store for the iPad.

Tales of Monkey Island is an adventure game following the travails of one hapless pirate Guybrush Threepwood as he searches for La Esponja Grande, the only cure for the pox of LeChuck which he accidentally released throughout the Caribbean, including on himself and his wife. Guybrush must face a pirate hunter deadset on his body, a marquis deadset on his corpse, and a giant manatee who just wants to eat him.

“Launch of the Screaming Narwhal,” the first episode in the five part series, is $6.99 in the App Store. Telltale will be releasing the remaining episodes in 2011.

Virtual Programming has released two expansions for Majesty 2. Kingmaker and Battles of Ardania take the epic fantasy game to the next chapter with new missions, features, monsters, a level creation toolset, and multiplayer options.

Kingmaker introduces a new eight-mission campaign along with a mission creator toolset, a map editor, and a feature for randomizing monster dens and treasure. Multiplayer features four player PVP and coop over a LAN or online. Battles of Ardania also includes a new eight-mission campaign, new monsters and weapon sets, and four new multiplayer maps.

System requirements include:

• Mac OSX 10.6.3 or better
• Intel CPU 2.16 GHz or faster
• 1 GB RAM
• Nvidia GeForce 8600, ATI Radeon X1600 or better
• 128 MB VRAM
• 1.5 GB harddrive space
• Majesty 2 is required

Kingmaker and Battles of Ardania are available from the Virtual Programming site for US $14.95, £9.95, €14.95.

 

What’s inside this episode:

• A review of Bee Patrol, by Island John. Starts out as a clever take on the line drawing genre. But due to inferior controls, the game quickly becomes a tangled mess of bees running into each other, and stings you.
• Also, a review of Ponk, by Five AM Studios. A new take on the Tetris style match-3. Some game balancing issues remain, but Ponk still fulfills match-3 pleasure needs.
• Plus, a review of Super Blast 2, by Phantoom Entertainment. A high octane arcade game that starts rough and increases from there. With great graphics and a simple gameplay mechanic, you’ll be making this game a staple of your iPhone game folders.

• Bee Patrol
• Ponk
• Super Blast 2