HungryShark
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Hungry Shark Evolution swims back to life with 3D graphics
For a long time, one of my favorite games on iOS was Hungry Shark. It's a simple but addictive game that allows you to control a shark that swims around a wonderfully inventive undersea world eating as much as you can -- whether that was other fish, swimmers or even mad scientist villains straight from a James Bond movie. Hungry Shark spawned a series of sequels and went on to be downloaded more than 40 million times. Now Future Games of London, the company that brought you the original Hungry Shark, has released Hungry Shark Evolution, a complete revisioning of the undersea world. Hungry Shark Evolution has ditched 2D graphics for some eye-catching 3D ones, which makes the game visually stunning. The game also adds some cool new features such as a massive free-roaming undersea world, 45 missions and the ability to unlock other sharks including a Mako, Hammerhead, Tiger and Great White. Hungry Shark Evolution hits the App Store today. For US$2.99 it's worth the fun. It's also formatted to fit the iPhone 5's new screen.
Freemium items may make money for devs, but aren't kept by consumers
The developers behind the iOS game Hungry Shark recently released some statistics showing just how powerful the freemium model (in which customers download an app or game for free, and then support it with in-app purchases) can be. While the game floundered as a paid app, it's gotten much more popular after going free, and actually increased its revenue by five times over. Currently, says Future Games, the average in-app purchase is as high as $3.26, and that's in addition to having a daily active user base of 250,000 people. Clearly, the freemium model, when combined with the right game and the right audience, works very well. But what's the other side of the equation look like? Mobile advertising firm Flurry also released a report recently, and said that almost overwhelmingly, the main items sold in a freemium game are a "consumable" -- a boost or temporary ability that a customer can use up. That's opposed to a "durable" item, like a new weapon that stays around, or a "personalization" item, like a name change. Flurry says that since consumable items can often directly affect the game, consumers are much more interested in spending money on them, sometimes in surprising amounts. Now, I'd argue that beyond all of this data, it still depends on just what game and which items you're talking about. If a game is terrible, it's far from guaranteed to make any money no matter what model you're using. And I know for a fact that some consumers will backlash against a consumable item that affects gameplay too much, like a double-damage token in a multiplayer game, or anything else that could be seen as cheating. But for the right games, and for items used and sold in the right way, freemium can support an app and even a whole developer with significant amounts of revenue. Angry Birds has been cited before as a great example of how to implement freemium content, with its Mighty Eagle consumable item. And there are a number of other games out there that have figured all of this out, and have the monetary rewards to prove it.
Win a copy of Hungry Shark 3 for iPhone
The guys at Future Games of London have just released Hungry Shark 3 for iPhone. The Hungry Shark series is one of my favorite games for iOS (you can read my review of Hungry Shark Trilogy for iPad here). Hungry Shark 3 pits Hungry Shark against shark finners, mad scientists and leaking oil rigs. The latest edition of the Hungry Shark series also adds full HD support for Retina Displays, more than 25 new types of food (fish, crabs and people) and Game Center support. Hungry Shark 3 for iPhone is a steal at 99 cents, but for our loyal TUAW readers, Future Games of London has given us five copies of Hungry Shark 3 for iPhone to give away for free. To enter the drawing, simply leave a comment for this post. As always, the official rules are below: Open to legal US residents of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia and Canada (excluding Quebec) who are 18 and older. To enter leave a comment on this post. The comment must be left before Saturday, February 12, 11:59 PM Eastern Daylight Time. You may enter only once. Five winners will be selected in a random drawing. Prize: Promo code for Hungry Shark 3 for iPhone (Value: US$0.99). Click Here for complete Official Rules.
Michael's Best of Tech 2010 list
It's time for that honored tradition that's inescapable at the end of every year: the annual best/worst lists. But I'm generally a positive kind of guy, so I'm just going to share my "best of" part of the list. Below you'll find my selections for the best of tech that I used in 2010. Some of the items on the list may have originated before 2010, but this is the year I really put the tech to use. So, without further ado, here is the Best of Tech 2010 as I see it. Best Mac App: 2010 wasn't kind to the Mac app platform. The wild success of iOS and mobile apps in general seems to have taken a toll on innovative desktop apps. Hopefully the Mac App Store will reverse the trend. Until then, if you are looking for a cool new Mac app, try OmmWriter Dāna. It's a word processor designed from the ground up to lend itself to the user's creative flow. You can read my review of it here. Try it out (there are both free and paid versions), and you'll find out just how much a little thing like a horizontal cursor can increase your creativity. You can download OmmWriter here.
