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April Fool's: Doodle Jump Live! takes Kevin Durant to Broadway
With more than 10 million-plus sales and loyal fans all over the world, Doodle Jump developer Lima Sky is making the next logical leap for the franchise, Broadway. Doodle Jump Live! will make its stage debut in 2014, with an all-star production team lead by Julie Taymor of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark fame. Recent GEICO spokesman and '80s pop icon Eddie Money will provide the score to what producers are calling "the highest musical of all time." Leading the cast in this sky-scraping adventure is Oklahoma City Thunder forward and Broadway virgin Kevin Durant in the role of the Doodle the Doodler. The production will follow Doodle as he bounces and jumps toward the sky in search of Cloud City and his long-lost high school sweetheart, Princess Doodlette. Along the way he will face danger, enemies and the possibility that Cloud City might not exist at all. "Every day I am asked why I haven't created a live version of Doodle Jump, since it is such an obvious match for Broadway," said Igor Pusenjak, creator of Doodle Jump and executive producer of Doodle Jump Live! "Despite countless big-money offers, it never felt quite right. But when this creative triumvirate walked into Lima Sky's headquarters, the vision became crystal clear." The production has found its home at The Gershwin Theater, the long-running home of the Broadway smash Wicked. Accordingly, Wicked will shut down production in late 2013 for Doodle Jump Live!, as three additional stories must be added to the iconic theater to fully realize the production. For readers uncertain of Durant's ability to equally pull off the musical and physical aspects of production, we have included proof of the athlete's vocal prowess. Obviously the 2014 Tony Awards just got a lot more interesting.
Daily iPhone App: Sonic Jump is Sega's first mobile-only iOS title
Sega has released quite a few iOS games so far. Just search the App Store for "Sega" to bring up lots and lots of various Sega-made titles. Many of those games are published by Sega and developed by other companies. The games that Sega has made are essentially all ports, or games that appeared on other systems first. That makes Sonic Jump, available today on iOS for the first time, Sega's first original mobile-only title. It's the first game Sega has developed specifically for Apple's platform. Now, "original" may be a little bit of a stretch, as we say in the video preview below, because Sonic Jump is essentially Doodle Jump, only dressed up with Sonic graphics and sounds. That's not necessarily a bad thing, as it is always fun to run the little blue hedgehog around (even if, in this game, he doesn't really do very much running at all). But it does mean that Sega didn't go too far off the beaten path on this one. If you've played Doodle Jump, you know how Sonic Jump works. The one exception is that Sonic Jump does have an interesting "stage" structure, which provides quite a few different levels to play through and then get rated on, with higher difficulties to chase all the time. That's a nice bit of innovation, but it doesn't really change the gameplay. Sonic Jump's tilt-to-move and jump mechanism is a well-traveled cliche on the App Store by now. All that said, Sonic fans will like this one, and the game is fun and well-made. It's probably not quite worth the full US$1.99 purchase price, especially since the game has a lot of freemium features already cooked in. But my guess is that Sega will drop the price on this very soon, so if you'd rather not spend the couple of bucks, watch for a price drop, and pick up Sonic Jump when it's a bit cheaper.
Doodle Jump getting an Arcade version, plushies via licensing deal
Doodle Jump has been moving along at a much slower pace than Rovio's Angry Birds lately, but of course it's one of the other early success stories from the App Store. Developers Lima Sky have updated the game almost constantly since its launch (including just recently to make it compatible with the iPhone 5), and as a result, it's a hugely played and downloaded game. Lima Sky has now turned that success into a major licensing deal with a company called Innovation First International. Thanks to this new deal, you can expect to see all sorts of Doodle Jump merch available soon, from plushies and collectibles to robotic toys and other merchandise offerings on the brand. In addition to those toys, Lima Sky has also teamed up with a company called Innovative Concepts in Entertainment and a game developer named Raw Thrills to create Doodle Jump Arcade. That's an HD version of the game, played in arcades on a 42-inch HD monitor (similar to Fruit Ninja's arcade version, as well as the Infinity Blade arcade spinoff that appeared recently). That sounds fun! The Doodle Jump arcade game should be in Dave and Buster's and other similar places soon, and I'm guessing we won't have to look too far for that merch when it's finally ready. Update: @wildcowboy on Twitter notes that Doodle Jump Arcade is already out and about in the wild. So if you want your Doodle Jump fix on the bigger screen, there's no need to wait!
Get your Doodle Jump and Flight Control on as the Android Market sale continues into day 7
On the seventh day of the Android Market sale, your true love should give you Super KO Boxing 2. Or Flight Control, or Flick Soccer, or any of the other seven apps available today for ten cents. If you haven't been following along the past week, Google's been celebrating its ten billionth Android app download by offering a ten-day sale, and today's offerings -- ten in total -- are rife with games and a couple returning favorites. Everything you see in the above screenshot is available for a dime, so head over to the source link if there's something you've been pining for, or if you're just trying to collect the whole set.
Facebook, Twitter, Netflix and 'several thousand' more apps set to hit Kindle Fire next week
Sure there's little doubt that Kindle Fire will offer up Amazon's top-tier reading features when hits next week, but let's be honest, this is a tablet we're talking about here -- we want to hear about the apps. The budget slate will also play host to "several thousand" other Android apps next week, according to Amazon, including some top-tier names like Facebook, Netflix, Pandora, Rhapsody, Twitter, Comixology, plus popular games like Fruit Ninja and Doodle Jump. The $199 slate starts shipping November 15th. Press release after the break.
Doodle Jump for iPad available now (Updated)
Doodle Jump, the wildly successful iPhone platforming game, is at last coming out with an iPad version. Doodle Jump for iPad should be launching on the App Store later today according to developer Lima Sky. The game features the same addictive jumping and shooting gameplay as the iPhone original, but optimized for the iPad's much larger screen. The playing field is a great deal wider than that on the iPhone, both horizontally and vertically, which in my testing has meant I've been able to achieve much higher scores than anything I've gotten on the iPhone version. It's a bit more awkward to tilt an iPad around than an iPhone, but it's still a lot of fun to play. I can tell what I'm going to be doing for the rest of today... Lima Sky hasn't given us any word on pricing for the iPad version yet, but we'll update this post with that information after the app goes live on the App Store later today. Update: Doodle Jump for iPad is available now for US$2.99.
Doodle Jump adds multiplayer race with version 2.0
Lima Sky has just released an updated version of its insanely popular Doodle Jump game. The 2.0 release adds the ability to compete against your friends in a multiplayer race to the top. The multiplayer race requires a Wi-Fi network and is limited to your Game Center friends. For those of you patiently waiting for an iPad-optimized version of Doodle Jump, you're going to have to wait a little longer. The 2.0 release isn't a universal app. However, iPad owners who are Doodle Jump fans can download the free Hop app for iPad, which is basically Doodle Jump in animated, Hollywood movie tie-in bunny form. The latest 2.0 version of Doodle Jump is a free update to current owners and the usual US$0.99 for anyone who hasn't bought the app yet.
Doodle Jump Hop movie tie-in out now
The promised Doodle Jump movie tie-in game for Universal's movie Hop has hit the App Store, and it's completely free. The game plays just like the very popular Doodle Jump, though the graphics have been updated slightly, and of course, they're all branded to fit the Hop characters. There are 25 levels to play through, but the catch is that one is unlocked every single day up to the movie's release on April 1 (in similar fashion to the Angry Birds Seasons' Advent calendar). Originally, we were told that the Hop characters would show up in the official app as an Easter update, so that's probably still happening as well. While the plot of the promotional game is that EB, the main Hop character, is learning to jump from Doodle the Doodler, we'll have to see if Doodle himself shows up in the actual movie. Of course, you can buy movie tickets for the film straight from this promotional app as well, so there's all sorts of cross-channel branding going on. Basically, if you've never picked up Doodle Jump, here's a way to play it for free, and if you have kids who like the Hop movie, they'll probably enjoy it, too. Great to see a classic iPhone app playing with the big licensing boys in Hollywood.
Doodle Jump celebrates two years, 10m downloads, heading to Kinect
Doodle Jump was one of the first really big hits on the App Store, and two years after release, it's still rolling right along. Lima Sky has announced that the app just hit 10 million paid app downloads, and it's about to get featured in a Universal film as well. Angry Birds has gotten a lot of headlines lately, but Doodle Jump seems to share almost as much awareness among the massive iOS audience. Plus, Lima Sky is pushing the franchise forward -- an iPad app is still being created and set to be released soon, and the game is coming to Microsoft's Kinect system for the Xbox 360. There's no information on how that will work just yet, but presumably players will be able to use their body to control the little guy, perhaps by leaning left or right on camera to make their way up the various platforms. The iPhone app will get a multiplayer update as well. Doodle Jump is already quite popular, and in the short time frame that iOS has been around, it's already one of the classic apps. It'll be interesting to see how the property grows as developers push forward this year.
Doodle Jump makes deal with Universal, gets movie tie-in
Here's an interesting story out of Macworld this week. Doodle Jump, recently featured as the Top Paid App of all time, is going to Hollywood, but not quite in the way you might think. Rather than a Doodle Jump movie, the movies are instead coming to Doodle Jump, as Universal has announced a deal to put the main character of its upcoming film, Hop, in the popular iOS game as a promotional download. The movie comes out April 1, but in February, Doodle Jump will get an Easter-related level, with the official Universal character in the app as a bonus. Sure, it's probably not the most exciting iOS tie-in -- the film was directed by the same guy who did the recent Alvin and the Chimpmunks movies, and unless you brought kids, it wasn't much to write home about (and even then, we hear it wasn't all that great). But still, this is an iOS title that's making a major deal with a Hollywood studio -- very impressive for the folks over at Lima Sky, and it's probably an indication that we'll see more collaboration between indie iOS developers and other forms of entertainment in the future.
Apple updates 'All-Time Top Apps' prior to 10 billionth app download
As we move closer to the 10 billionth app sold on the App Store, Apple has updated its all-time top paid and free iPhone and iPad app lists, showing the top 200,000 or so apps on the store, ranked in order of sales and downloads. There aren't a lot of surprises in here -- if you've been following the App Store pretty closely over the first few years of its life, odds are that you'll know about most of these titles. But it is interesting to see them ranked. On the iPhone, Doodle Jump takes the crown as the most popular paid app of all time, with Tap Tap Revenge 3, Pocket God and Angry Birds filling out the top four. In free apps, Facebook and other free utilities are on top, with Backflip Studios' Paper Toss the only game in the top few entries. The iPad lists are interesting, being only a year old. There's still a fart app in there, under paid apps, surprisingly. The paid list is a strange mix of games and utilities, while the free apps are a little more obvious, mirroring a lot of the iPhone apps list (with iBooks coming in about halfway out of the top 10). As I said, all pretty obvious choices at this point, but still, very interesting to see. Good luck to everyone on being that 10 billionth app, and congrats as always to Apple on building such a solid platform over the past few years. [via MacStories]
Lima Sky responds to trademark battle around the word 'Doodle'
This one's complicated but interesting. A few days back, it was revealed by the developer of an app called Doodle Monster that Doodle Jump creators Lima Sky (we've talked to founder Igor Pusenjak before) was trying to enforce trademark rights against any app on the store using the word "Doodle" in its name. That creator originally planned to step down and change the name, but the creator of another app called Doodle Hockey instead spoke out to say that Lima Sky had no business claiming the word "Doodle" itself, that there were pre-existing properties and trademarks on the word, and that "everyone with an app containing the word 'doodle' in the title needs to stand up to Lima Sky's threats." Now, Pusenjak himself has spoken out on the issue, and he says that he's retracting the original notice from the App Store. But he does hold his position on the word "Doodle," saying that "there was absolutely no rush to call a game 'Doodle Something' until Doodle Jump became famous. Then many developers began jumping on the bandwagon whether their game had any doodled elements in it or not. They were simply trading on the fame of Doodle Jump, for which Lima Sky has a trademark." Pusenjak admits that there is a trademark in the system before Lima Sky's, but says that the company's complaint on the App Store was designed to protect Doodle Jump against anyone else's attack. At any rate, legal action aside (and it doesn't appear as if there will be any), Pusenjak has agreed to step back from the restrictions, which even he agrees went too far, and says that he's simply trying to avoid customer confusion -- any developers creating games that might be confused with pre-existing IPs should simply have to change them, not remove games entirely. That seems to make sense, so hopefully that agreement will stand without further clashes.
148Apps creates an App Hall of Fame
Jeff Scott of 148Apps has finally revealed his App Hall of Fame project -- he started it up about a month ago, and asked a number of personalities around the iPhone/iPad app scene (including yours truly) to nominate and then vote on a few App Store apps, with the eventual goal of inducting them into a Hall of Fame. We made our nominations and voted a little while ago, and the first inductees into the store are now listed on the site: Angry Birds, Flight Control, Doodle Jump, Shazam, Evernote, Plants vs. Zombies, Pandora, Simplenote, the official Twitter app, Instapaper, Homerun Battle 3D, and Fieldrunners. You've probably heard of all of those already, but that's the point: the Hall of Fame aims to honor "the very best mobile applications and games." There will be 12 inductees honored every month going forward, so the collection should grow bigger pretty fast. The nomination process is all done by the selection committee (not the public), but if you want to follow along, you can sign up on the mailing list (and have a chance to win some of the nominees for free every month). It's a fun project -- the App Store has been around long enough now that some super popular apps have risen to the top, and this is a good way to keep track of the absolute cream of the crop over the App Store's whole life. At the same time, I'm sure we'll see some interesting decisions in the months to come, so stay tuned for that.
Interview with Doodle Jump's Igor Pusenjak, part 2
In part one of our interview with Lima Sky's Igor Pusenjak, we talked about how his Doodle Jump game became so successful, and how other game designers might be able to replicate its success. In this part, however, we get a little more concrete -- Pusenjak discusses current and future updates to the game (there will be an underwater content pack out this summer), as well as the long-awaited iPad version and how it will be different from the iPhone game. Bad news: it won't be universal, so if you want to play it on the iPad, you'll have to buy it again. But Pusenjak explains why, and according to him, it'll be a very different experience anyway. Read on for part 2 of our interview.
Apple Design Awards go to popular iPhone and iPad apps
There were no Mac apps in this year's Apple Design Awards, but Apple did recognize some popular iPhone and iPad apps in this year's winners. The list is as follows: Doodle Jump Financial Times Brushes for iPhone TabToolkit for iPad Articles 20 Minute Meals Star Walk for iPad Real Racing Pinball HD Most of those are actually pretty popular (and quite a few of them have been featured by Apple before). 20 Minute Meals and TabToolkit are probably the most obscure picks of the bunch, though when you actually look at them, it's not surprising at all that they were chosen. All of these are really terrific apps, but Apple definitely didn't dig too deep to find really out-of-the-way titles. Then again, when you're choosing fewer than 10 titles out of the larger App Store, you should probably go with what works. We'll be chatting with a few of the winners this week here at TUAW -- stay tuned for interviews and updates from a few ADA winners and lots of other developers, live from San Francisco at WWDC 2010.
