cro-mag rally
Latest
More iPad games revealed
It looks like the crafty folks over at MacRumors have figured out how to snake their way into the not-yet-public listing for top revenue iPad apps. Now, we've got a flood of information coming out about software for the device that's not coming out for another week or so. As you can see above, quite a few rumored and revealed games are already charting on the iPad store, and it looks like prices are running from $3.99 to $9.99. "HD" appeared to be the preferred nomenclature for iPad games yesterday, but "for iPad" is in there as well. It also looks like Enigmo for the iPhone will be Enigmo Deluxe on the iPad. MacRumors says that some of the "released" dates on this listing go back as far as March 19th, which is presumably when Apple started approving iPad apps. We've spoken to some of the developers whose games were revealed, and they are not very happy with the leaks. A few other details are showing up, presumably from App Store descriptions linked off of this top revenue list, but we've confirmed with at least one developer above that all of those details are still pending and not yet confirmed. It's no surprise that Apple wanted to be on top of getting apps out on the iPad store before the device's launch, but they've inadvertently revealed some of their developers' hands prematurely. Update: 9 to 5 Mac has a full list of the App Store chart. It's not yet clear where all of these shots are coming from, but it seems like they're being taken in the dev kit's iPad simulator, which is supposedly still under developer NDA.
New iPhone ads now showing
There are a couple of three new iPhone ads showing tonight, "Lonely Planet," "Cro Mag" and "Vicinity." All are available on Apple's ads page now (that is, if your Friday night needs a shot of pure excitement). The ads focus on the App Store and the ease of downloading new iPhone applications wherever, whenever you like (and again I refer you to the Friday night possibilities for fun). [We missed "Vicinity" on the first look, but thanks to Alan for following up.]"Lonely Planet" features a Lonely Planet phrasebook for Mandarin Chinese, which ties in nicely to the current Olympic festivities. "Cro Mag" shows Cro-Mag Rally, recently reduced to $5.99US, and actually demos the gameplay briefly before showing one of the interesting challenges of iPhone gaming -- the phone call that interrupts your game.Thanks Alan
Sega, Pangea, Digital Legends demo iPhone games at WWDC
Our WWDC liveblog has the story -- Apple demoed a whole slew of apps (more than any one person would ever need) at the keynote today, but for my money, the most interesting were probably the least useful: I bought an iPhone to play games with.Sega was up first, demoing that version of Super Monkey Ball they've been working on. The real key on this one will be the amount of content they can come up with, and the devs have said they're planning to put in lots of levels -- the more the better. It will debut for $9.99 right at launch. Pangea was up next, showing off a few ports they've put together -- Cro-Mag Rally is a "caveman racing game" that uses the accelerometer (surprise) to drive a vehicle. This is, unfortunately, the problem you run into when you get a really innovative set of controls on a gaming device. It takes innovation not only to come up with the controls, but to find new ways to use them. Just as the Nintendo Wii suffers from thousands of useless minigame collections, the iPhone at App Store launch will likely suffer from thousands of "accelerometer racing" games, with only one or two really worth playing.But Apple saved the best for last -- a company named Digital Legends was invited to show off their action/adventure platforming game, and it showed real promise (you can see some good screenshots on Engadget's liveblog). Unfortunately, this one won't be out until "a few weeks" after the App Store launch, but hopefully for every touch jewel puzzler and accelerometer racing game we have on release day, we'll have a truly innovative gaming delight later in the iPhone's lifetime.
Pangea demos Enigmo, Cro-Mag Rally for iPhone at Apple Keynote
Following Sega's Super Monkey Ball iPhone demo during today's WWDC Apple keynote, Pangea Software's Brian Greenstone took the stage to show two games they have been working on, Enigmo and Cro-Mag Rally, both games that date back to at least 2003 for the developer. Said Grenstone, both games took "three days to get each game up and running -- totally playable." No other news is available. Monkey Ball notwithstanding, it's kind of disappointing we haven't seen anything from known iPhone devs Ubisoft, Electronic Arts, id Software or Gameloft. Pictures of Cro-Mag Rally for iPhone after the break.
Entire Pangea catalogue free for K-12 schools
Kudos to our buddies over at The Unofficial Apple Weblog for spotting this one: Pangea Software, the creators of Mac gaming classic like Nanosaur (I wasted my sister wasted so much time playing this) has enacted a free serial number policy for public schools to go alongside their free school site license policy. Now any public school in the U.S. can simply send off a letter to Pangea requesting free serial numbers for any of their games. It's even possible for an entire school district to apply for the free serial numbers.The motivation? Apparently Pangea receives quite a few inquiries about site licenses from schools so that kids can play during recess or as rewards for good work (in other words, we like your style Mr. Bored System Admin). Apparently Pangea doesn't "believe that schools should be spending education dollars on video games" so they decided to give 'em away! Now, EA, about those free Battlefield 2 licenses for Universities...[Via TUAW]
Pangea offers free games to schools
Here's a nice story. Pangea Software, creators of Bugdom, Nanosaur, Cro-Mag Rally and more, have offered free licenses to any school that makes a request. All you need to do is send a request on the school's official letterhead, signed by the principal, and the contact listed must use a ".k12" email address. Get the full scoop here. As a system administrator for a school, let me say, "Nice work, Pangea!"[Via MacMinute]
