iGame Radio

Today Omaha reviews the iOS games Guardians: The Last Days of the Citadel by A-Tono and Kula Blox by Transgaming.
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While you await that all important iPhone event today in just a half-hour, we thought we’d remind you that there are other cool things out there too. Like The Sims 3 Pets for the Mac.

Transgaming has announced pre-orders for the Mac version of The Sims 3 Pets on their GameTreeMac site for $39.99. With The Sims 3 Pets you can create any kind of pets you like, from the fierce guard dogs to destructive kittens, from trusty horses to, well, who knows just how far you can go. Snakes…snakes on a…no, we won’t say it. There’s gotta be a Sims 3 Aviation out there somewhere.

You can determine not only their looks, but their personality traits as well. A variety of new activities and social interactions let you take control of these pets and experience the world from their perspective.

Ordering right now also includes a bonus. For a limited time, pre-ordering The Sims Pets will net you an exclusive pet store venue (or one you created on your own). With the Limited Edition you can also give your Sims a new place to meet up with other Sims and their pets, and get unique objects only available in the pet store.

Also for a limited time, GameTreeMac is running a sale on The Sims 3 for $29.99. With The Sims 3 Pets expansion, you can pick up the whole lot for under $70.

Transgaming showed off Kula Blox at Casual Connect 2011 and we got an opportunity to play it before it was released. Today it sees the light of commercial dawn for iPhone/iPod Touch, iPad, Mac, PC, and GameTree TV, Transgaming’s gaming for television platform. Kula Blox is a vertical platformer wherein you play an animal seeking your prey. You get bigger as you eat, but you have the added dimension of having to avoid the predators that would eat you. Gather powerups and upgrade your animal’s abilities as you play along. The game is definitely an all-ages thing and we found it quite a lot of fun for the short time we tried it out. It’s available on iPhone for $0.99 and iPad for $1.99.

Some of you may remember King of Dragon Pass. This game was a turn-based strategy game with RPG elements, and won the Best Visual Arts Award at the 2nd IGF. You can’t play it on your Mac anymore…requires Classic to do it. However, A-Sharp decided to solve that conundrum by bringing King of Dragon Pass to the iOS instead. Take your clan to preeminence by battling other clans and foreign elements in the world of Glorantha (also the setting for RuneQuest and HeroQuest). The UI has been reworked for the iPhone, the least interesting gameplay elements dropped, and more story added. The game was originally intended to be 40+ hours, so don’t think you’ll be playing this game while waiting to buy stamps! That’s why the game isn’t scrapping the bottom of the barrel for price either…$9.99 for this one.

Defen-G Astro by innodis is an action strategy game. The screens look nice, but the trailer really gives a sense of the gameplay which is much more intriguing. However, if one were to go by the comments of those on iTunes, the biggest complaint seems to be that the AI hits its peak quickly, and the game bores after that. Whatever the case, the game certainly has some interesting gameplay elements, and fast action. Defen-G Astro costs $2.99, but does include a $4.99 in-app purchase for the “Total Package”. So the whole game would be $7.98…a bit steep in our minds.

• KULA BLOX
• King of Dragon Pass
• Defen-G Astro

Riot Games has made an official announcement canceling the Mac beta for League of Legends, according to a post on Inside Mac Games.

League of Legends is a session-based fighting game with no persistent world to explore. Combat occurs in the Fields of Justice, where you can choose from a variety of Summoners to do combat with. In May of 2010, Riot Games announced a collaboration with Transgaming to bring the game to the Mac.

However, since that time they have found that creating parity between the PC and Mac under very short update cycles to be more difficult than they thought. From the post:

Over the past 13 months we have been working with another company on a Mac version of LoL. We have been silent because both companies have been exploring every possible avenue to ensure the Mac version is up to Riot standards. So far we have been unable to ensure a consistent quality bar across platforms. At the heart of the issue is our rapid update cycle, where we make regular balance changes and content updates. We currently develop on the PC, but since the plan was for the Mac to share servers, we believed that a Mac version that was frequently unavailable was not up to Riot standards. For that reason we have severely limited the number of participants in Mac testing.

The beta has shut down as of September 6th, and those who participated in the beta program and purchased products from the store were able to request a refund. You can read the post for more details.

To be honest, we are not all that surprised about this. When we were at PAX, we asked the folks at the Riot Games booth about the progress of the Mac client. The response we got were “deer in the headlights” looks. None of them knew what we were talking about. One of the head marketers stated they would get back to us. Now we know why they didn’t.

 

What’s inside this episode:

• A Casual Connect 2011 Game Chat Series. Philips has introduced a new point and click technology called the uWand…a new way to interact with your technology in your home, including your games. Omaha Sternberg talks with Marc Nieuwhof of Philips about how the uWand can play games on the GameTreeTV smart television with motions that remind you of the actual actions, and the potential of the device.

 

What’s inside this episode:

• A Casual Connect 2011 Game Chat Series. Transgaming is well known within the Mac gaming community as a porter of traditional AAA titles to the Mac from Windows and console using their porting technology. But did you know that they have a casual game division as well? Jason Azevedo talks to Omaha Sternberg about what Transgaming is doing in the casual games’ space and what games they are releasing.

Transgaming announced that Still Life 2 is now available on GameTree. An action game that let’s you view the story from two viewpoints, Still Life 2 continues the original story with new investigations.

In Fall 2008, Agent Victoria McPherson is sent to Maine where Audrey Dunnigan’s body has just been found — Has The East Coast Torturer has struck again? Paloma Hernandez, the journalist covering all the crimes bearing the East Coast Torturer’s signature, calls Victoria claiming to have so-called clues on the killer in her possession. Just moments later, Paloma is kidnapped by the Torturer…

Still Life 2 remains true to the spirit of the first game and continues to allow you to play and manage two characters bound by the same fate. This time, the aim is to control two heroines, see the game from two complementary viewpoints, and experience two different gameplays. Depending on whether you are playing Paloma Hernandez, the victim hunted by the killer, or Victoria McPherson, the FBI agent tracking him down, you can alternate between survival and investigation.

Still Life 2 system requirements:

• Mac OS X 10.4, 10.5 or 10.6
• Intel Core Duo processor running at 1.8 GHz or higher
• 1 GB of memory or higher
• 5 GB harddrive space
• 128 MB or 256 MB graphics card

Still Life 2 is available on Transgaming’s GameTree site for $29.99.

 

What’s inside this episode:

• Host Omaha Sternberg and co-host Corey Tamas talk about the week’s news in Mac and iOS gaming. First up, Omaha reminds everyone that if you haven’t purchased your PAX badge, you’d better start looking in the forums because the badges are sold out.
• Lodsys is still at it. After Apple sent a public letter stating that their license covers 3rd party devs using their platform, Lodsys turned around and started suing folks. Will it ever end?? Why are game devs particularly at risk?
• Macdefender is a trojan meant to steal your credit card info by pretending to protect your Mac from trojans. Only works if you believe your Mac needs to be protected from trojans.
• What does game piracy in Asia really mean to game developers? Does Ballmer’s rant about 95% piracy rate really mean anything?
• Corey drools over the most recent information about Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm. And Omaha talks about Gameloft’s World of Warcraft…er Order & Chaos MMORPG game for the iOS platform.
• Are you a dev and wanna make some cash? Transgaming has revealed a contest for GameTree TV with a $50,000 price. Listen in for how to enter.
• Omaha and Corey talk about games that they’ve played in the past week, and Omaha reveals the poll results from last week.

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.

Transgaming has announced the released of Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood. A bit later than March, but better late than never, we always say!

The second of the Assassin’s Creed series to hit the Mac, Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood follows Master Assassin Ezio as he commands an entire order of assassins against the Templar Order. Ezio and his Brotherhood journey to Rome, the center of power, greed, and corruption, to strike at the heart of the Templar enemy. Recruit and train promising young assassins, then deploy them or call them to aid you. You can also unlock extra factions and missions by rallying the citizens through revitalizing their city, or collaborate with actual historical characters, such as da Vinci or Machiavelli. Read more

GameTree has announced The Sims 3: Generations for the Mac is now available for pre-order on their site. Scheduled for release May 31, this expansion pack for The Sims 3 broadens the scope of what your Sims can do at all stages of life.

Each segment of life has more details to experience and more memories to keep and share. Features include new activities at different age groups, such as kids hanging out in tree houses and teenagers pulling pranks. Dramas can unfold over time and affect all Sims within your game. They can also express their creativity, from playing princess or astronaut as a kid, or creating home movies to play on the tv as adults.

A new Memories System also makes it easier to remember and reminisce about these events, including sharing them on Facebook or your Sims My Page.

The system requirements are:

• Mac OS X 10.5.8 Leopard or higher
• Intel Core Duo Processor
• 2GB RAM
• At least 6.1 GB of hard drive space with at least 1 GB of additional space for custom content and saved games
• ATI X1600 or Nvidia 7300 GT with 128 MB of Video RAM, or Intel Integrated GMA X3100. (This game will not run on the GMA 950 class of integrated video cards)
• A copy of The Sims 3

You can purchase The Sims 3: Generations in pre-order for $39.99 from GameTree right now, and receive your activation materials on May 31.