iGame Radio

Voting for Pocket Gamer’s annual mobile gamer awards has begun. Sponsored by Cocoa China, Everyplay, and ARM, with additional support from Quality Index, Free App Alliance and Appromoter, Pocket Gamer Awards 2013 celebrates the best of portable gaming in 2012.

The awards are divided into 16 different categories such as the best game by format, best game by genre, best developer, best publisher, and the overall game of the year. Nominations are hand-picked by the editorial team of Pocket Gamer from iOS, Android, Vita, 3DS, Windows Phone and beyond released in 2012. Voters now have until 12PM (midday) GMT on the 18th March 2013 to vote in the awards.

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OOTP14 has almost reached the end of their pre-order season; better check it out before pre-season starts.

 

If you’re a big fan of Out of the Park Baseball, then you’ll be happy to hear that OOTP14 is in pre-order right now. In fact, today is the LAST day to get that $5 off, so better click on the link now if you want it. The pre-order price is $34.99 and everyone who pre-orders gets entered into a contest AND gets the game 3 days before everyone else. Check out the link for more details about the contest and the game itself.

In the meantime, glance at the first screens of the game and drool. Out of the Park Baseball is a sophisticated and best-selling baseball simulation game by Out of the Park Developments. OOTP and it’s mobile version, iOOTP, is probably one of the most immersive, realistic, and customizable baseball sims you can play, complete with an annual baseball season that all fans participate in. Since its inception, OOTP has won numerous awards, including multiple “Sports Game of the Year” awards.

On July 11, iGame Radio joined with iPhoneAppCafe to hold the App Idol contest. Our goal? To get app fans energized into creating great ideas for apps, then choosing one that would actually get developed. Today I talk with the winner of that contest, Eric Egong, who was selected for his game idea Boomerang. I ask him about how he came up with his idea, what it was like going through the contest, and whether he thought he would really win.

If you’re headed to PAX Prime this weekend, one booth you will want to hit is Indie game dev BitFlip Games. They’ll be showing off their debut title, Minion Masters, which they’ve billed as a digital boardgame. BitFlip has revealed a full slate of goodies for interested gamers, both who attend PAX and even those not so lucky, which include pre-order discounts, giveaways, and a contest.

The BitFlip Games booth hosts six stations of multiplayer Minion Master matches. Gamers can train with new in-game tutorials, challenge friends to matches, build customized decks, and dabble to their heart’s desire with the Level Editor. You’ll even get a chance to interrogate ask questions of the developers to get tips and tricks of the game.

BitFlip is also giving away limited edition Minion Master trading cards to everyone who comes by the booth. The cards feature the art of Raul Arbolea Santos and is the first ever collectible material available from the game. You can also pre-order the game at a 25% discount. The pre-order gets you into the closed beta running right now, as well as exclusive access to ‘Play with a Developer’ events, where you can join in weekly multiplayer matches with the BitFlip Games dev team.

Finally, BitFlip is running a Twitter hashtag contest that everyone is invited to participate in. Anyone who tweets with the #MinionMaster tag during PAX (Friday, August 31st at 9AM through Sunday, September 2nd at 6PM) will be entered to win. The Grand Prize winner will become immortalized as an in-game Minion. Two first prize Minion Master Founder’s Accounts are available and include the Minion Master game, instant access to the closed beta, and will receive every expansion released for the lifetime of the game. Finally, fifteen second prize winners will receive the complete set of Limited Edition Minion Master Trading Cards.

If you’re not familiar with Minion Masters, in this digital board game that merges collectible card game tactics with miniature war gaming strategies on a digital screen, players control armies of figurines on a hex-based board and summon their Minions using a custom built deck of cards. Minion Master will boast a Deck Builder, 6 player co-op and versus multiplayer, a Level Editor, and a constantly expanding universe of Minions to control.

BitFlip Games will be hosting a booth on the 6th floor, space #6011, open to all PAX attendees. And we’ll be interviewing them, so watch out for that podcast episode!

It’s been a while since we mentioned something about Guns of Icarus Online, which is too bad because the game has really become something. Muse Games’ co-op airship combat game just hit the pre-order stage on Steam with a 25% off discount. The cherry on top is immediate access to the closed beta, which is scheduled to run until launch on September 30th. But there’s more…
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After 6 weeks of vigorous competition, the winner of the iPhoneAppCafe App Idol contest has finally been revealed. Eric Egong won the grand prize with his idea for Boom!erang against some stiff competition. Eric wins a prize of $1,000, courtesy of us at iGame Radio, and gets his app developed by leading development company Locassa as well as continued mentoring from the App Idol judging panel and exposure on iPhoneAppCafe, iGame Radio, iPhone Life Magazine, and numerous other partner sites.
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After reviewing over 600 of the submissions of applicants that entered their ideas for an app to the App Idol contest hosted by iPhoneAppCafe, they’ve finally whittled it down to the top 10. Now four judges will spend the next five days deciding who is going to win the $1,000 prize money as well as getting their app developed by Locassa and receive a huge publicity package from iPhoneAppCafe, iPhone Life and other media partners.
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If you live in the Washington State area and would be interested in developing apps for cash prizes that start at $500 and go up to $20,000, then you might want to check out the Evergreen Apps Challenge. This contest is offering prize money for development of apps that use government data and stimulate economic development throughout the state. The challenge officially started August 1st and is open to anyone who lives, works, or studies in Washington State. The city of Seattle, King County, and Washington State are all making government data available to developers. And wouldn’t it be cool to see what kind of interesting Serious-style game that an iOS developer could create from that?
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Today, Atari’s Pong Indie Developer Challenge has wrapped up and three top indie developers have netted cash prizes and the chance to release their new interpretation of Pong on the App Store. Chosen from a group of 7 finalists, the top winners are zGames, MadRuse Games, and Eppy Games. Looking over the YouTube videos of their game ideas really gives you an idea of the creativity in the indie game development scene.
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There is only 1 day to go until the final deadline for submissions to the App Idol contest hosted by iPhoneAppCafe. Sponsored by iGame Radio, App Idol has received over 600 submissions so far but is still looking for a few more innovative app and game suggestions with that ‘X factor’.

You still have the opportunity to submit your idea as today, July 24th, is the last day to submit. In particular, iPhoneAppCave says that they are on the look out for more simple and fun game ideas. Also unique solutions to certain needs or problems will have a good chance. Remember your idea doesn’t have to be totally unique. A new twist on an existing idea can also work.

In the next stage, 20 finalists will be chosen by a panel of four judges. These finalists will produce a video explaining why their app idea should win this incredible opportunity.

The Grand Prize winner will be promoted on iPhoneAppCafe as well as featured in iPhone Life Magazine and interviewed for a special podcast interview on iGame Radio. Oh, and don’t forget that $1000 cash prize!

iPhoneAppCafe has been reviewing iPhone and iPad apps for more than two years. App enthusiasts can pick their favorite great app for review and post on the site.