iGame Radio

 

What’s inside this episode:

• Host Omaha Sternberg is solo this week talking about the week’s news in Mac and iOS gaming. She talks about the new Humble Bundle…the Humble Frozenbyte Bundle. Three full games from developer Frozenbyte, plus a canceled prototype and a pre-order. In less than two days they’ve topped $500,000 and 100,000 units.
• Are you ready for Portal 2? The excitement is in the air on the Internet, with the ARG, and in Seattle too.
• The Webby Awards have decided to include handheld and tablet games this year. Take a look at the expected, and not so expected, choices for the categories.
• Atari released their Greatest Hits from the arcade era onto the App Store, but gamers have given it two stars. Find out why everyone is poo-pooing Atari’s release.
• A little birdie tweeted in Omaha’s ear that Feral Interactive may be announcing a LEGO game soon…if they are, which one do you think it will be? Omaha gives you her guesses.
• Omaha talks about games that she’s played in the past week.
• Do you think iGame Radio should get a new theme song, or stick with the one its got? Weigh in on the new poll, or send in your thoughts to be part of the decision.

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.

Topware has announced an expansion for RPG Two Worlds II. Coming in September, Pirates of the Flying Fortress is the first update to the multiplatform RPG that included the Mac.

Pirates of the Flying Fortress will add a new adventure as well as several gameplay updates based on player feedback. Included are In thunder and rain storms, dozens of new weapons, impact-oriented horse armor, fresh boss opponents, and new animations in the cut-scene and in-game dialogs. When the expansion launches in September, the new single player history as well as several brand new multiplayer maps will then be launched.

There’s very little else that has been revealed yet, but we’ll keep you updated as we get more info.

Kitty’s Tattoo is a time management game by Pan Vision (the folks who created Pirates vs. Ninjas vs. Zombies vs. Pandas) set in a tattoo parlour. Balance tattooing customers as fast as possible with creating more complex and creative tats for better reputation points. Oh, and of course, your customers have no patience. If you take a look at the trailer, you’ll see all kinds of customers that, well, I’ve never seen in a tattoo parlour (yeah, I have a tat). The game released yesterday on the App store for $1.99 iPhone and $2.99 on the iPad.

Wordrive is a word spelling game with a twist. You don’t spell words, you create sentences of original phrases. It seems from the website that you are supposed to be matching phrases from a phrase bank in the game for points. You can also submit your own original phrases that you yourself created. It would be nice to see how the game runs, but the trailer is all in Russian and an updated trailer has been posted in English showing some rather…unusual phrases. The game looks to challenge your thinking skills while ranking you against others, at a price of $1.99.

We heard the title Gemcraft, and the first thought that popped into our head was, “one more match three puzzler”. But Gemcraft is anything but. This tower defense game has come over from Flash to invade the iOS with gem power. Unlock gems of different abilities and powers and place them properly to slay the evil monsters. The game spans 4 worlds and 32 levels with the potential of unlocking 7 different modes. You can get it for $1.99 for iPhone/iPod Touch with a lite version available.

 

UPDATE: Just heard from Alawar that they will be delivering new content to an update for Twisted Lands: Shadow Town!

What’s inside this episode:

• A review of Fluorama, by Pixelammo. A light-hearted casual game with some addictive potential but short-term play time. Perhaps with more random-generation of levels, or more levels over time, the game would have longer potential for life.
  
• Also, a review of Eggroll, by Lamplighter Games. Eggroll succeeds in creating a bright, cheery atmosphere of casual fun for the puzzler in all of us. But without level updates, that cheer will eventually fade to gloom.
  
• Also, a review of Twisted Lands: Shadow Town, by Alawar Games. A dark and disturbing story, wonderfully integrated gameplay, and fun puzzles make for a terrific combination of fun for any iPad. Definitely not a game to miss.
  

• EggRoll
• FluOrama
• Twisted Lands: Shadow Town

Fish Tank is a melting pot of the casual game world. Taking a bit of match-three gaming here, Tetris-style gaming there, and turning it on its side for some horizontal fun. You match fish of the same colors as they swim across the screen, and tilt your iPhone to remove groups of matches. There are 24 different challenges in two different modes, arcade and challenge. The game goes for $1.99, but will be available for a limited time for $0.99.

Yslandia, a fully-featured MMORPG for the iOS platform, has gone freemium. Publisher Bulkypix announced last week the move on the game’s website, along with two new in-app items to purchase. The freemium choice was in part decided as a celebration of reaching 100,000 players, a pretty incredible number for any MMORPG…let alone one based on a mobile platform.

The Mystery of the Crystal Portal free version has taken an interesting step in preserving the existence of the game. Not only have the developers added extra time to the game, but you can now unlock the full version of the game from within the free game at a discount. Once you’ve played through the free version, a pop-up will navigate you through purchasing the full-version as in-app content. If you activate the full version by April 18th, you can save 40% off the full version price.

The folks at Wolfire Games are at it again with a new Humble Bundle…this time all games from the developers at Frozenbyte. Three full games, a prototype, and a pre-order for another game are up for grabs at the best price of all…the one you set.

Frozenbyte developed Trine, Shadowgrounds, Shadowgrounds: Survivor, and are currently work on Splot and Trine 2. Trine and both Shadowgrounds games, as well as Splot are in the bundle, and both Shadowgrounds games have been specially ported to Mac for this event. Also available is a prototype of a game never released, Jack Claw. This one is Windows only, but, as the video states, you can wipe your tears in the source code. Read more…

The theme music for iGame Radio was originally composed by our dear friend Digital Droo, who has written many pieces for games across the years (such as Active Lancer, Neon Tango, and Warpgate, to name a few). But we’ve recently wondered whether it’s time to wave goodbye to that song and find a new one.

Corey Tamas, our regular co-host for the show, is also a musician, and he has offered to compose something new for us. We’re wondering what you think about it. Keep our beloved theme song? Should we take Corey up on his offer? Or should we ask Digital Droo to create something new? Maybe ask someone else that you recommend?

You can weigh in on this with an email or by clicking on the poll on the right sidebar of the website. Let us know what you think!

 

What’s inside this episode:

• A review of Supreme Commander 2, by Virtual Programming. Merging unit building with research trees, high-level strategizing, and storyline, Supreme Commander 2 makes certain that there is something for you to do at all times. A perfect example of what it’s like to do military buildup in any environment, complete with the politics.
  
• Also, a review of LEGO Harry Potter, Years 1-4, by Feral Interactive. LEGO Harry Potter is the most ambitious of the LEGO games to date, and it definitely shows. There is so much to do, that it would a life-time for a wizard to finish it all. Definitely a game for any young wizard to learn their LEGO spell-chops on.
  

Catch the Candy puts you in control of a hungry little fuzzy creature as he uses his extendible grappling tongue to hunt down his candy. Yes, you read that right. Not only does he use that tongue to grab the candy, he has to latch onto objects to move around, from swinging from tree to tree, to moving along the ground…through 53 stages. You use real-time physics and a touch-screen interface to move fuzzy, and his tongue. In another universe this could be a pretty gross game. But based on the trailer below, Catch the Candy is pretty…sweet.

You may remember that I reviewed The Line, by Ant Hive Games, a while back. I liked the game, but felt that the inability to visually access the entire map really hampered gameplay. Well, Ant Hive Games has solved that problem, by releasing The Line HD v.2, as well as introducing a whole lot of other gaming goodness. Included in this new release is a casual mode with 50 levels, and a second world in classic with 50 more levels. There are also new skins and art styles, and a new scoring system. All in all, we’ve got a reboot. Guess I’ll have to re-review the game, eh?

Berzerk Ball, the iOS port of the popular Flash game Homerun in Berzerk Land, has received a free version as well as a clever update. In the game, players smash Comeau, the snarky “geek”, across Berzerk Land while aiming for boosts that will send him flying further into oblivion. Apparently the developers have tired of the geek’s snarks, because they’ve now introduced new user-submitted quotes for the geek to say. The update also included optimized graphics, new items, trophies, and a new, special, sexy character. The game is available for $0.99.

The Khronos Group has announced the new Streaminput working group, which will create an open and platform-independent standard for accessing a wide array of input devices. Transgaming has volunteered to chair this new group.

The Streaminput working group’s goal is to create a cross-platform API that will provide applications for high-level semantic to low-level device management capabilities. The new API will support a framework that will handle both traditional devices, such as keyboards, mice, track pads, etc, as well as next generation devices coming down the pipe. The API will also provide for system-wide sensor synchronization for advanced multi-sensor applications, such as with augmented reality, and use Khronos’ extension mechanisms to allow the easy addition and support of new devices.

The decision by Transgaming to chair this working group is especially interesting in light of their recent announcements in the past year, such as the launch of GameTreeTV, an on-demand Smart TV gaming platform, and their collaboration with Softkinetic to bring gesture-based gaming to their gaming platform. It seems that Transgaming has a lot in store for the future of gaming and input devices.