iGame Radio

The Apple event today was all about the music, as could be inferred by the invite with the guitar in the background. But game treasure could be found all around if one knew where to look. Jobs gave us more information about Game Center, we saw a wonderful demo of an Epic Game in development on the new iPod Touch, and we discussed the possibilities about the new AppleTV.

First up was the announcement that iOS 4.1 would be released next week. Read more

 

What’s inside this episode:

• Omaha reviews Eschalon: Book II by Basilisk Games. Just like Eschalon: Book I, but bigger, better, and…well, no, not really. Listen to why Omaha had problems locating the fun in this game.
  

Show Notes:

• Host Omaha Sternberg chats with co-host Corey Tamas of MacGamer about Angry Birds: The Movie! What, aren’t you excited?? Maybe Uwe Bolle might even direct!
• Valve finally decides when they will release Portal 2. Now we all get to wait MONTHS to play. Aren’t you happy now?
• Omaha and Corey talk about the FTC settlement with Reverb Communications. Do you trust the reviews on the iTunes App Store now? Or do you even care?
• Australia’s about to require App game developers to use the Aussie game classification board to sell their games. But does it actually help consumers, or Australia’s government?
• Corey and Omaha talk about other games they’ve played, and games soon to be released.

Music Notes:

• Digital Droo produced our theme music here at iGame Radio.
• Pedro Camacho featured some of his game demo music.
• Rob Howard featured music from The Broken Hourglass, in development by Planewalker Games.

This is the second of a multi-issue expose about the iPhone 4, iOS4, and the impact both may have on gaming on Apple mobile electronics (iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad). Today I’m going to see how the iPhone 4 hardware can affect your gaming habits.

The iPhone 4 has gone through several hardware changes from previous iPhone versions, thus earning it the moniker “This changes everything. Again.” But do the hardware modifications really change everything for the better for gaming?
Read more

G4TV announced yesterday the launch of G4 for the iPhone, a free iPhone app that will help you keep track of all of the news and coverage of E3 this week. The app includes game trailers, game overviews, tips and tricks, clips from G4TV and more.

The app had a bit of a rocky start yesterday. The servers were hit hard upon launch, and if you downloaded the app then you probably noticed that the news was scant and difficult to obtain until the afternoon/evening, when the content just stopped coming. G4TV announced that their servers had gone down, taking the website with it. And since the app got its content from the website, well…

Anyway, the app is functioning a bit better today, and I’m currently downloading a trailer myself to check out gameplay in the Star Wars MMO (which I would really like to come to the Mac!). Note that there are still some bumps here and there. I’ve had trailers stop downloading halfway through, and when you go back to the previous screen, sometimes it’s just white.

You spend way too much time playing games on your iPhone or iPod Touch, and even more time writing ranting reviews about how much improvement they need. Now you can create games and show everyone else how it’s done! With Beginning iPhone Games Development, you have the opportunity to join the smartphone game dev ratrace yourself.

Beginning iPhone Games Development will lead you through the development cycle of an iPhone game, with easy to understand step-by-step instructions and a style similar to Beginning iPhone 3 Development; Exploring the iPhone SDK. This book isn’t so much about game development, as how to apply game development and design ideas to the iPhone development environment.
Read more

Heatwave Interactive and Metacafe have teamed up in the “iSamJackson Badass Video” Contest. You can create a unique video using the iSamJackson app and post it on Metacafe for a chance to win a 3G iPad.

The iSamJackson app for iPhone and iPod Touch contains access to original quotes, humorous adages and insightful advice recorded by the one-and-only Samuel L. Jackson himself. You can use the customizable Soundboard, Personality Scanner, and Ask Sam features as well as additional add-on features (like the “Super Hero Pack”) to create a video all about your inner Sam Jackson.

The contest goes till May 14th, midnight PST, and the video must be two-minutes or less in length featuring the iSamJackson app. You can check out the videos that Heatwave has already posted for some inspiration. You can also pick up the app for $0.99 at the App Store, or use the free trial version.

Hmm. Samuel Jackson and Red vs. Blue. Hmmm.

Science Fiction author and futurist Charlie Stross penned an interesting blog post today about just why Steve Jobs hates Flash, and the future of Apple (and PC) computing. The gist of the article was that Jobs, seeing that the PC market would be bottoming out literally within years, was attempting to save his precious Apple and move it into a new computing ecosystem. The remainder of the Silicon Valley world is flailing about, either equally terrified but not certain what to do, or taking less than effective action.

The picture Stross paints is an interesting one, Read more

After announcing the Worldwide Developers Conference less than six weeks hence, Apple also revealed the details regarding the Apple Design Awards this year. Apple has chosen to only award the ADA this year to applications on the App Store.

From the Apple Design Award website:

The Apple Design Awards 2010 recognize iPhone OS applications that demonstrate technical excellence, innovation, technology adoption, and quality.

All applications must currently be on the App Store to be eligible for an award. Nominations will be accepted until Friday, May 14 at 5 PM PDT, and you must be an iPhone Developer Program member to nominate apps. However, one does not need to be nominated to have a chance at winning.

There are no details regarding why Apple has chosen, after more than 10 years, to make the ADA exclusive to the iPhone App Store, and exclude Mac OS X applications as well as student applications.

Apple announced the dates of the Worldwide Developers Conference in a press release today. The 2010 WWDC is slated for June 7 – June 11 at San Francisco’s Moscone West. The conference will include five technology tracks to choose from: Application Frameworks, Internet & Web, Graphics & Media, Developer Tools, and Core OS.

This year’s conference will include labs in iPad development as well as Mac OSX and iPhone/iPod Touch development. The Internet & Web track promises to include help with HTML5, which will become a big part of animation for the iPhone and iPad.

The WWDC will also include the Apple Developer Awards, an annual event since 1997, as well as evening events such as Stump The Experts and the WWDC Bash.

Tickets to the WWDC conference are already available for $1,599. You can sign up for the event at the WWDC website.

Organizers of this October’s GDC Online Game Conference in Austin (formerly known as GDC Austin) have announced additional summits for game development aficionados everywhere. The third iPhone Games Summit (started in 2009…we wonder if someone at GDC Online can count) will bring together “top game developers from around the world to share ideas, best practices and discuss the future of this revolutionary platform”. The summit will focus on business and marketing strategies, micro-transaction strategies, and understanding of the iPhone 4.0 operating system and beyond.

This is a two-day event, October 5th and 6th, with the second day paired with the iPad Game Summit. This summit will provide “key business learnings to top technical takeaways from developers already surging to major success on this already extremely competitive format platform”.

GDC Online 2010 takes place at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, Texas from October 5th to the 8th. More information and registration can be found at the GDC Online website.