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EA celebrates Independence Day with a massive sale
Rather than watching your grandma mouth along the words to Lee Greenwood's timeless Americana classic "God Bless the USA" one more time this Independence Day, wouldn't you rather giver her a run for the money in one of the many Hasbro Family Game Night games? EA's offering just such a possibility, putting nine of its Hasbro titles on XBL up for sale at 50 percent off, and offering a swath of deals on other platforms on July 4th. Perhaps you were looking to freedom-ize the necromorphs of Dead Space on iPad during your independence celebration? That's also on sale for .99 cents, alongside a handful of other iOS titles. And if you're more of the PC type, everything from Mass Effect 2 ($12) to Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit ($18) is marked down on Origin.
Hop to these EA game deals on iOS and Android
EA is apparently making an annual affair out of its massive mobile games sale, dubbing the event "The Bitten Bunny" and dropping prices of iOS and Android games across the board. Nearly 30 games, including big names like Dead Space and NBA Jam, are marked down to 99 cents for iOS. Eight Android games are also dropped by 50 percent (or more), so if you've been waiting to grab Worms for Android, now is the time (and $2 is the price). A full list of sale items is available for each platform right here. The sale goes through Easter Sunday, after which the Easter Bunny will hop back into his hiding spot for another year. It'll be the least money you've paid for Tetris this year -- so what if it's the dozenth time you've bought it? [Thanks, Vallanthaz]
Max & the Magic Marker draws new life on iPhone, iPad
Max & the Magic Marker sales probably dried up on WiiWare long ago, but, with the help of EA Mobile, Demark-based indie Press Play has uncapped its puzzle-platformer for use on iOS devices. Both an iPhone and iPad version are now available on the App Store.
Boggle is free for iOS devices today on App Store
There's nothing mind-boggling about it: Boggle for iOS devices is free today, as part of EA Mobile's weeklong dollar deals promotion -- except this one's F-R-E-E. It's a no-brainer, really.
Another EA Mobile $0.99 iOS sale - Bad Company 2, Need for Speed, plenty more
EA Mobile is dropping the price on over two dozen iOS titles to just $0.99 for "48 hours only!" If the heart-themed banner we've reproduced above is any indication, this is intended to be a Valentine's Day sale ... though V-Day isn't until next Monday.
Cut the Rope ensnares over 6 million people, free V-Day update coming
Beyond making such prestigious lists as Joystiq's 2010 App Store Buyer's Guide, ZeptoLab's adorable iOS puzzler, Cut the Rope, is now sitting atop another notable app store ranking: Apps that have sold over six million copies. Publisher Chillingo announced the game's sales achievement this morning, alongside news of a free 25-level update coming in time for Valentine's Day. "This 1.2 update is our gift to you this Valentine's Day for being the greatest fans out there," ZeptoLab CTO Efim Voinov said in the release. The game's $0.99 price tag will remain unchanged by the additional levels going forward. We've dropped a clip from the update just below the break, so don't say we never get you nothin'!
EA Mobile releases new Android titles, on sale for $1.99 or less
EA Mobile has announced that it's bringing a new lineup of games to the Android OS. The first available titles include The Sims 3, Monopoly, Tetris, FIFA 10, Need for Speed Shift and The Game of Life. All Android games are on sale right now. Monopoly and the Game of Life are $1.99, while all other titles are only $0.99. More good news for Android users: More games are on the way, with Worms and Bejeweled 2 headlining upcoming releases.
Dead Space iPhone preview: Small-scale scares
EA hopes to tie together the events of the first Dead Space game with those of Dead Space 2, the sequel set to launch in January, and it's looking to accomplish this with ... well, yes, with the poorly received downloadable Dead Space: Ignition. But also with another Dead Space game! Instead of an animated motion comic with minigames, Dead Space on the iPhone is a 3D game with all of the gusto and flair of its console brethren. This thing looks and plays fantastically -- at least, I thought so after a brief demo at a recent downtown San Francisco event.
Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, Monopoly and Snood on iPad
EA has passed word that three of its games are now ready for the iPad: Monopoly, Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit and Snood can all be downloaded from the App Store right now. These three games have been optimized for the iPad with near high-def graphics and interface tweaks made specifically for the platform. Both Monopoly and Hot Pursuit will set you back $9.99, while Snood is a bit more modestly priced at $4.99. %Gallery-110308%
Rock Band Reloaded now available on iOS devices
Building on 2009's initial offering, Rock Band Reloaded ($4.99 on iPhone/iPod Touch; $9.99 on iPad) adds a new expert mode and full vocal support in the sequel. Just promise us you won't be that guy on the bus, okay? The iPad version of the game supports split-screen multiplayer, along with several different ways to present the action on screen -- lefties can reorient gameplay (but not flip frets) and there's even a full-screen drum kit to fool around with. For the full list of launch tracks, as well as free and premium tracks accessible through the App store and the game itself, click past the break.%Gallery-108637%
EA launches Halloween sale of $1 iPhone games
Like all good Halloween festivities, EA's weekend sale on a number of iPhone titles, including Wolfenstein RPG, R-Type and Scrabble, features a few tricks and a few treats. Go bobbing for the complete list after the jump.
EA lets Reckless Racing loose on iPhone and iPad
It's time to get Reckless with your iPhone! No, wait, don't do that, these things are expensive. It's actually time to get Reckless Racing for your iPhone. Yes, that's much safer. Pixelbite's top-down rally racing game features multiple driving styles, and three game modes: "Dirt Rally," a time trial mode, and "Delivery," a sort of relay in which you pick up items on special tracks and drop them elsewhere. It's meant to evoke "classic" top-down racers, but without that free-spinning wheel we used to love to play with as we walked by the Super Off-Road machine in the arcade. Reckless Racing is on the App Store now for both iPhone and iPad.%Gallery-105679%
NBA Elite 11 still coming this month ... to iPhone
EA might have stopped the presses of NBA Elite 11 console discs, but the iPhone version is still on track for release this month, according to EA Mobile. The division announced its fall lineup today, with FIFA 11 and EA Sports MMA rounding out the sports titles for iPhone (and iPod Touch) in October. Additionally, Heroes Lore, a popular mobile RPG in Korea (we're told), will be released this month in the App Store. An iPhone version of Battlefield Bad Company 2, "based on the best-selling console game," leads EA Mobile's November charge, which includes High Caliber Hunting, a Retina Display-enhanced critter capper, featuring a multitude of brand-name firearms and gear. For iPad? There's SimCity Deluxe. And for poor Android this fall? Just ... the Game of Life.
Electronic Arts ready to embrace Android, but wishes it had an App Store
Thought EA had no love for Android or Windows Phone 7? Not quite -- it's just the existing market opportunities that the company doesn't seem to enjoy. CFO Eric Brown told the Deutsche Bank 2010 Technology Conference that the game publisher is actually quite bullish on Google's rapidly popularizing mobile OS and plans to 'position its mobile business' accordingly, but first he said this: "I think the next big positive way to push better growth in mobile will be the deployment of an App Store equivalent for the Android operating system." Since we're fairly certain Brown would be aware of a little thing called the Android Market, we figure he's talking about the same mysterious reason that caused Gameloft (which produces a number of Android titles already) to circumvent the Market in favor of their own online store. One thing's for certain on the EA Mobile front: the company really needs to update their smartphone games page to support a wee bit more than the "Google Android-Powered T-Mobile G1."
Yahtzee HD now on iPad, please don't scream 'yahtzee!' in public
When's the last time you saw another person? A real human being? You see, we're stuck here. Inside the internet. And short of Facebook profile pics and, well, some questionable adult sites (is foot crushing really a thing?) we haven't seen anyone in years. That's why it's so great to see EA bringing another Hasbro classic to yet another digital platform, with its release of Yahtzee HD for iPad. It's just like Yahtzee for real life, except made entirely of ones and zeroes. Miss the tactile feeling of rolling dice out of a plastic cup? Travis Boatman, Vice President of Worldwide Studios for EA Mobile, says that "rolling the dice across the iPad's expansive screen is addicting." Cursed with an army of digi-friends and no meat-based friends, like we are? Use Facebook Connect "to issue friendly challenges and post high scores." All yours for the asking price of $5. %Gallery-101866%
EA a notable holdout on Xbox Live for Windows Phone 7, doesn't have much to say on the subject
If you examined the fairly impressive roster of Windows Phone 7 Xbox Live launch titles that Microsoft waved proudly in our face the other day, you might've noticed that EA is particularly absent from that glorious list. Well, the folks at Mobile Entertainment bothered to ask EA Mobile about that absence, and EA had this terse reply: "We are constantly evaluating new platforms and opportunities, but have nothing to announce right now." Pretty eye opening, right? In absence of facts, there are all sorts of avenues for conjecture. EA could be holding out for a better carrot from Microsoft, checking to see how successful the platform will actually be, or just playing its titles close to its chest. Or maybe they're just resting after a long round of Madden testing and binge potato chip eating. We're not going to get all worked up about it right now: it's not like we're short on platforms right now suited to shepherding the hapless lives of our Sims.
Risk now waging war on the iPhone
There aren't many options out there for the modern-day Napoleon on the go. When your skills revolve around conquering and dominating everything around you, there just aren't many ways to apply your practice while you're commuting to work or standing in line at the coffee shop, waiting for your half-caf double mocha frap. But now that EA has released Risk: The Official Game on the iPhone and iPod Touch, hopefully you can get some relief. Risk: The Official Game is currently available on the App store for $4.99. The iPhone version features multiplayer -- take on up to six players by sharing one handheld or take on up to four through WiFi or Bluetooth -- and a more simple, streamlined UI and less cartoony presentation than the recent Xbox Live Arcade release, Risk: Factions. %Gallery-97991%
This looks like R-Type of iPhone shmup
It was last November when we first heard that DotEmu was at work porting Irem's classic 1987 arcade shmup R-Type to iPhone. Yesterday, EA Mobile made it official: it'll be publishing the game on the App Store "this summer," but couldn't get more specific due to the unpredictable nature of Apple's app approval process. We had a chance to get our hands on the game at EA yesterday and we've got to say, the port has turned out great, with three control schemes (touch to move and shoot, tilt to move / touch to shoot or an overlaid d-pad and buttons) plus options such as autofire and the ability to switch between full-screen and the original coin-op aspect ratio. Cleverly, DotEmu has created separate on-screen buttons for charged shots and launching the "Force" pod away from the player's R9 fighter. Check out the screens below and we'll let you know when the game hits Apple's virtual store shelves. %Gallery-97919%
EA Mobile: iPad is a "destination device"
EA Mobile's Travis Boatman had a chat with Mobile Entertainment recently, and he says that the iPad is going like gangbusters for the mobile games company. "We're really pleased with the results so far," he told ME. "It has a lot of the characteristics of the type of device that plays well with our gameplay." Boatman said the digital distribution model available in the App Store has helped, but what's really impressed EA about the iPad is how immersive it is compared to the iPhone. As compared to the iPhone's bite-sized experiences while out and about, this is a device where you can actually sit down and play for a while. "It's more deliberate, and people expect more of a deliberate, immersive experience," Boatman told the site. "That affects the kind of games we build." He also says that as a "blank canvas," the device allows for a lot of experimentation in the UI. At EA, the teams look at customer desire, distribution method, and actual platform before they invest in development, but "for iPad, the answer is yes, yes, and yes." Interesting. One of the things we've heard from developers about the App Store is that it gives even small studios "the chance to compete with EA," but it looks like EA is just as committed to providing unique titles to Apple's platform.
Ngmoco buys Stumptown Game Machine, EA and Gameloft report revenue growth
A few news items from the business side of iPhone games this week, courtesy of the folks over at Mobile Entertainment. Ngmoco has purchased developer Stumptown Game Machine, creators of their popular Touch Pets Dogs release. Unfortunately, there's no information on how much the deal was worth, but it's a pretty obvious pickup for Ngmoco, which is working on building a stable of freemium titles and developers to produce them. My money's still on an Ngmoco/Booyah deal at some point, too -- Ngmoco has the money to pick up a few other smaller developers thanks to funding, and Booyah has the app and the dedicated users that Ngmoco wants. The two companies have already collaborated with a MyTown promotion on Ngmoco's We Rule, but I can see it going farther eventually. Elsewhere, EA Mobile reported a big growth in profits over the last quarter, up 12% year-over-year. The company attributes revenues to the iPhone and, soon, the iPad -- EA had two of the top three grossing titles as the iPad launched in Need for Speed and Scrabble, even though those sales will count towards next quarter's profits. While indie games have found their own place on the iPhone, many of the biggest titles are still produced by larger studios like EA. Gamevil also saw a nice jump in profits (up a whopping 99% from last year), and also credits its growth to the App Store, supported by Android and other mobile phone markets. Zenonia and its sequel were drivers there, along with sales overseas and the company's Baseball Superstars title. Lots and lots of sales coming out of the App Store, and I'm sure a new phone in June won't hurt things at all.
