iGame Radio

Red Marble Games has announced the release of Build-a-lot 4 for the Mac. The fourth in the Build-a-lot series, Build-a-lot 4 adds an additional tactic to the mix of managing real estate….you must manage the power sources for your lots as well. Build power plants, windmill farms, and place solar panels to power your houses. But be careful. If you build too fast, you run out of power and suffer a blackout. Build too many windmill farms or solar panels and the neighborhood rating goes down and you have less space.

Build-a-lot 4 runs on both Intel and PowerPC Macs running 10.4 or later. You can try out the demo first or purchase the game for $19.95.

 

ETA: Heard back from the developer regarding Gravity Sling, and I wanted to share some of his comments with you. My issues with lack of navigational information is not just mine alone, and he’s looking at tweaking the game to include something like that in an upcoming release. Also, no promises, but there might be a fast-forward feature so we don’t have to wait around to see if our astronaut crashes or not. Finally, the discrepancy regarding the OS requirements for Gravity Sling Lite and Gravity Sling Deluxe are because the Lite version has the In-app purchase feature, which requires OS 3.0 or later. That makes a lot of sense.

What’s inside this episode:

• An interview with Michael Agustin of Gendai Games about the Macworld 2010 GameSalad Challenge. Make a game, win an iPod Touch.
• Also, a review of Magician’s Handbook II: Blacklore by Red Marble Games. Not just another hidden object game, this is a title to play with your kids. Even lack of replayability doesn’t get in the way.
  
• Plus, a review of Hanged by Freeverse. What happened to those lovers? What was in that letter? Did she really hang him? And, boy, do those water droplets look awesome!
  
• Finally, a review of Gravity Sling by RipTide Games. Send your astronaut round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and…well, you get the idea. But, hey, the orbits look amazing!
  

Show Notes:

• Top ten lists of the year: why they suck.
• Modern Warfare 2 gets two awards: Most sales during launch and most pirated game of 2009. Wait, you can have both?

 

What’s inside this episode:

• An interview with Vikas Gupta of Transgaming Technologies about the recently announced GameTree.tv…what is it, and what it will do for you.
• And, a review of the Natsume Harvest Moon Frantic Farming for the iPhone game. Hippy J-Pop, anime graphics, and tactical puzzle play make this game worth trying out.



• Also, a review of LEGO Batman the Videogame by Feral Interactive. The next in the LEGO franchise, LEGO Batman lets the player jump into the suit of the dynamic duo and the villains all within the confines of the familiar LEGO gameplay.



• Plus, a review of Dr. Lynch: Grave Secrets, the casual hidden object game of investigating the paranormal brought to the Mac by Red Marble Games. If you get over the acerbic personality of the main character, you get a rich story, extensive puzzles, and beautiful graphics.

Red Marble Games has been busy this month, releasing two new games. Go-go Gourmet is a hidden object and time-management game for PPC and Intel Mac. Join Ginger as she seeks master chef training with some pretty loony restaurateurs. Fill customer orders by prepping and serving dishes properly as quickly as possible. The faster you go, the more points you can make. The game works with 10.4 or better, though the site says 10.3.9. You can pick it up for $19.95, though if you are a Red Marble Games newsletter subscriber, you can get it for a discount.

RMG has also released a limited edition Build-a-Lot Monopoly Edition. Use the same Build-a-Lot gameplay, but now your are building up Boardwalk, Baltic Avenue, and Park Place. Also available for PPC and Intel Macs, this one should run on 10.3.9. RMG says that the game will only be available through the end of the year, so pick it up for the $19.95 price tag now.

Lastly, we have our first look at Tale of Tales next endeavor…Fatale. The studio released the first image of what the Salome character would look like (WARNING…NSFW or art-impaired colleagues).

Red Marble Games has announced the release of Dr. Lynch: Grave Secrets for the Mac. Developed by Floodlight Games, this hidden-object-cum-mystery game combines story, seek-and-find, and other types of puzzles together. Dr. Lynch has made a habit of debunking paranormal stories, but now must figure out the mystery of the ghostly girl in the photo. Is she really a ghost?

The game runs on Intel Mac only, but Red Marble supplemented that with “at this time”. A possibility that it might make it’s way to PPC? The game has a demo to play, and is available for $22.95. Oh, and if you subscribe to their newsletter, you get a $5 discount. ‘Course, you won’t know how until you do. Heh.

Okay, the past couple of days have been iGame Radio design and logo contest stuff. Time to talk games! Three more Mac games released in the past few days to talk about:

Sandlot Games’ Tradewinds Caravans, released for the Mac by Red Marble Games. Take on the role of one of six different characters, each with his or her own back story, strengths, and weaknesses, as you travel from city to city along the famous Silk Road. You can buy and sell goods, go on quests, and fight battles with bandits along the way. Second in the Tradewinds series, you can download the demo here, or buy it for $19.95.



Virtual Programming releases Reel Deal Card Games 09, so you can fish while you deal your cards. Okay, no there’s no fishing involved. I have no idea why it’s called “reel”. Unless someone doesn’t know how to spell. And based on some of the card choices, that may not be far off:

2009 brings over 79 card games including All Fives, Cuckoo, Golf, Hand & Foot, Pedro, and Pisti.

I mean, who plays a card game called “hand & foot”, or “pisti”??

Unlockable slot machines, mini-games, an all new prize vault, side bets, cheats for games, new backgrounds, new music, new player movies, and new card backs; all of which make playing cards more entertaining than ever!

The addition of three new characters brings together a cast of fifteen animated and hilarious personalities to play against. Progress through the secret areas of the Prize Vault and Mall to unlock hundreds of items and surprises!

Lastly, Virtual Programming has also released The Golden Path of Plumeboom for the iPhone. I don’t even want to know what a plumeboom is.

Plumeboom the Peacock of Orniland found an ancient map that leads to the treasures that are kept in secret caves, and it is the player’s task to help Plumeboom uncover them.

Oh, Plumeboom is a peacock. Because all peacocks read ancient maps and travel to secret caves…

Claim the treasures hidden behind each of a hundred magical magnetic locks of every possible shape. Shoot colored orbs and be thrilled by the advanced physics system in the game. When there are three orbs of the same color aligned, they will burst. The more orbs you burst in one blow, the higher your score. The lock is opened, when there are no orbs left.

There’s a lot of exploding going on here. With a name like “Plumeboom”, I’d be worried with all that bursting and blowing. And now I have a bad ripoff game in my head…

You can pick up a lite version for free or get the full version for $.99 on iTunes.

Remember me complaining about Sandlot Games bringing Cake Mania 3 to the iPod and iPhone, and not to the Mac? We didn’t even have Cake Mania 2 for the Mac then. Now we do! Thanks to Red Marble Games (bless them), we can smell the yummy goodness of the cake, and eat it too!

From the press release:

The newly-released Cake Mania 2 invites you on an all-new journey of baking and frosting madness, across 204 levels. Lots of new characters will be beating down your door to order new cakes, and this time with a story or two. You can choose to help your friend Jack, down at the heels in his underwater theme park, or your glitzy friend Risha in her posh rooftop bakery. The game has six different possible endings and a branching storyline.

You now have 18 new customers, ten cake styles, 50 unique kitchen upgrades, and a new Endless Mode to go with the original Career Mode. Download the demo, or buy the full game for just $19.95.

 

I’ve posted Episode 70, in which Corey and I chat about Apple’s decision to pull out of Macworld in 2010 and the impact that will have on Mac games at Macworld, the Worlds.com MMO suit against NCSoft (I mean, c’mon!), and the conclusion of the used game market commentary…how does this controversy really affect Mac games?

Also, great reviews of ToCA Race Driver 3 by Feral Interactive, FlatOut 2 by Virtual Programming, and Build-a-lot 2 by Red Marble Games. So, check it out!

 

I welcome special guest co-host Corey Tamas to the show this week. Also, an interview with Mark Batten of Red Marble Games. Plus, an editorial of The Wrath of the Lich King.

Sorry I’m a little delayed in mentioning that Episode 65 had posted. We found that the podcast was so long, though, that we had to carve out the game reviews! I am in the process of finishing up a special Game Review Edition for those…that’ll be posted shortly. When it is, I’ll not just post about it, I’ll also tweet about it! Yup, I’ve got a twitter feed not just for me, Omaha, but also for iGame Radio now. So, go join up to get the latest info on when a podcast posts and when cool Mac game stuff happens. :D