iGame Radio

 

What’s inside this episode:

• Host Omaha Sternberg and co-host Peter Cohen of The Loop give a roundup of last week’s Macworld 2011 Expo, including what they found on the Expo floor, feature presentations, learning sessions, parties, etc.
• Omaha talks about the iGame Radio poll, and Omaha and Peter talk about games they’ve played.

Music Notes:

• Digital Droo produced our theme music here at iGame Radio.
• Digital Droo for featuring music from Burning Monkey Solitaire.
• Rich Carlson for featuring music from Dr. Blob.

 

Orian Livnat of LivGames began developing Legendary Wars in a garage, in the truest tradition of an indie game. Legendary Wars is a castle defense game for the iPhone which turns schizophrenic…through mini-games that span genres like RTS, RPG, action, and running, the game can’t make up its mind what it is. Inspired by old-school Nintendo games, Livnat wanted Legendary Wars to be a modern reminder of old games past. The game was released during Macworld, but will receive updates soon that will add competitive and co-op multiplayer and Game Center. We talked with Livnat about the development of the game and its future.

 

William Volk has a long history in game development, and in the Mac community. He attended the first Macworld in 1985, has worked for Activision, and his company, PlayScreen, launched web-based games when the original iPhone first launched. He launched the latest PlayScreen game, Bocce-Ball for iPhone, at Macworld 2011. Based on the classic Bocce game, Bocce-Ball was launched in conjunction with BocceNation.com and the American Bocce League. We talked with Volk about Bocce Ball, his upcoming game Crickler, his thoughts on freemium games and more in this interview from the floor of Macworld 2011.

 

The latest version of Crossover, 11, has been released by Codeweavers Software. But not content with just releasing their product, Codeweavers needed to do more…so they named the Crossover 11 “Impersonator” and dressed up in drag at Macworld! Along with some spiffy images, we got the chance to chat with Jon Parshall about the latest features in Crossover 11 including Cross-Ties, the one-click install and landing page. Also we talk about what games you can expect to play with Crossover Games in 11, and what Codeweavers will be focusing on for the future.

Plus, is Onlive or Gaikai a threat? Not necessarily, says Parshall…find out why.

 

XMG Studio’s Patti Mikula chatted with us at Macworld 2011, showing off their games themed around customization and user generated content. We talked about their recent games Inspector Gadget, a running game around the 80′s television show, and Cows vs. Aliens, a multi-touch game that will be coming out very shortly involving herding cows and keeping the aliens out. We also investigate future games that XMG Studio is looking to bring to the iPhone and iPad platform. Plus, just what is XMG’s opinion regarding EA’s pricing on the App Store over Christmas, and Apple’s involvement?

Last week was Macworld, the annual pilgrimage for Mac geeks to travel to San Francisco and pay homage to the tech god that is Apple and its products. This year’s Macworld saw a decrease in numbers of attendees compared to past Macworlds in which Apple participated. But the almost 25,000 who walked the Expo floor, attended the over 100 educational sessions, and visited the over 250 exhibitors was still slightly more than last year’s Macworld, proving that Macworld isn’t going away any time soon.

From a gamer perspective, Macworld did not offer a huge amount for the Mac or iOS gamer. Gone are the days when row upon row of Macs were LAN’d together for daily game tournaments, circled by game developers and publishers, big and small. And to be fair those days began to decline before Apple stopped attending Macworld. It was a slow decline over the years, and difficult to determine really where the true source of it began.

But despite that, Mac and iOS developers and publishers were there, and I had the opportunity to see them and talk with them. Read more

Tomorrow starts our week of Macworld 2011 mania! We’ll be posting pictures, blog posts, and podcasts from the show floor all week. So be sure to hit the Facebook page and website each day to get the latest cool info fresh from Macworld. And if you have anything in particular that you want to know about, just post a comment here and we’ll do our best to accommodate your needs.

 

What’s inside this episode:

• Host Omaha Sternberg and co-host Peter Cohen of The Loop talk about the week’s news in Mac and iOS gaming. Like a phoenix from the ashes, GarageGames announced this week that it has risen again. Omaha and Peter discuss the news and what impact it might have on competitors Unity and Adobe.
• The Verizon iPhone rumor has become reality, but what impact will it have on iOS game developers and gamers alike?
• Valve announced some interesting cross-platform features for Portal 2 for the PS3, including every PS3 customer gets a free copy of the Mac/PC version.
• Konami announced a takeover of Hudson, which may result in Hudson’s entire identity disappearing. Omaha and Peter discuss what this might mean for the close-knit Hudson gaming community and whether this is becoming a trend in the iOS game industry.
• Macworld Expo is upon us! But can you expect a lot of game-related stuff happening there?
• Omaha talks about the iGame Radio poll, and Omaha and Peter talk about games they’ve played and games that have been released.

Music Notes:

• Digital Droo produced our theme music here at iGame Radio.
• Zach Young for featuring music from The Great Tree.
• Tomas Dvorak for featuring music from Machinarium.

Gendai Games, in conjunction with IDG and the Macworld Expo, announced the winner to the 2010 GameSalad Challenge. Stunt Squirrels by Fire Maple Games won the Grand Prize of the Macworld 2010 GameSalad Challenge. Stunt Squirrels, a fun new physics puzzler, features blasting death-defying daredevil squirrels safely to a goal, while navigating tricky mazes and high-flying obstacles.

Joe Kaufmann of Fire Maple Games was interviewed by iGame Radio during the Macworld Expo. “GameSalad is hands-down my favorite new software! I have been able to create two popular iPhone apps in less than four weeks. This would have been absolutely impossible without GameSalad,” said Joe Kaufmann. “Being involved with the MacWorld 2010 GameSalad Challenge has been a truly great experience, and I am honored that I was able to take home the Grand Prize!”

The GameSalad Challenge itself involved participants from around the world sending entries in that had been developed using the GameSalad tool, which allows developers to create games for the iPhone, web, or Mac. All entries can be viewed and played at the GameSalad site.

In addition, Gendai Games announced several other categories, including audience favorite and judges’ favorite.

Audience Favorite: Bork’s Adventure by Elie Hang, Justin Knapich, and Ben Knapp, Stunt Squirrels by Fire Maple Games
Judges’ Favorite: Bork’s Adventure by Elie Hang, Justin Knapich, and Ben Knapp
Best International Submission: Stairs by Strobanik

From the press release:

Special thanks to our judges: Michael Agustin (Gendai Games), Jakob Wilkenson (Aurora Feint), Omaha Sternberg (iGame Radio), Zachary Waibel (Tricky Software), and Sean Vanaman (Telltale Games), Peter Cohen (The Loop).

Stunt Squirrels, and two other entrants, Kill the King and Traffic Ninja, are available now on the App Store.

You can hear all of the interviews of the developers who attended the GameSalad Challenge by clicking on the link!

 

The final day’s interviews from the floor of Macworld 2010 is now available.

What’s inside this episode:

• An exclusive interview with the finalists of the Macworld 2010 GameSalad Challenge that attended Macworld. Including Joe Kaufman, developer of Stunt Squirrels, Elie Hang and Justin Knappich who developed Bork’s Adventures, and Steven Hoffman who developed Traffic Ninja.