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Daily iPhone App: Contre Jour
I saw Chillingo's new game Contre Jour back at E3 this year, and really enjoyed it. It's a very atmospheric puzzle-platformer in the vein of games like Cut the Rope, but as you can tell from the title (which is French for "against daylight"), it's a little darker than that game. You run an eyeball named Petit around a strange little world with stalks for him to swing on and bulbs for him to stick to, and the black and white graphics and great sound design perfectly set the scene. There are sixty levels to play through, and nearly all of them are inventive and fresh. Contre Jour is a really solid experience -- it's casual enough for all players to pick up, but it never gives away that quirky art game feel. Really well done, and a great purchase. Game Center achievements seal the deal. The iPhone version is available for US 99 cents, or you can pick up a universal HD version for iPhone and iPad for $2.99.
Portabliss: Cut the Rope: Experiments
Did you know that you can download handheld games now? That's amazingly convenient! The only inconvenient part of it is finding the right games to buy -- and that's where we come in, with our Portabliss column. In each installment, we'll tell you about a downloadable game on the iPhone, iPad, Android device, DSi, 3DS, PSP, etc. Today: Cut the Rope: Experiments! Cut the Rope: Experiments is one of the most aptly-named apps ever released on the iOS platform. Though it largely focuses on the tether-slicing, physics-manipulating puzzles that made the franchise's first, subtitleless iteration so delightful, it includes two bold new mechanics that completely change the face of the game. (And what an adorable face it is!) It's the success of these two new aspects that alleviated my hesitance about this standalone title: It's functionally the same as the free updates to the original Cut the Rope, only significantly less free.
Report: New standalone Cut the Rope title coming soon
We love Om Nom more than most of our friends and immediate family members, and yet we don't think twice about keeping him imprisoned in puzzle-filled boxes. That's a bit of a double standard; and one that might be remedied soon. IGN reports that a new standalone Cut the Rope title is on its way to the App Store soon, and has also acquired a few images which appear to show the game's ever-hungry mascot escaping from his cardboard confines. The images also show a "Professor's Album," which contains images of an even adorabler, younger Om Nom. Who is this Professor? We're not sure, but considering he's probably responsible for Nom's incarceration, we'd like to have a stern conversation with him. We've contacted Zepto Labs for more information!
TUAW's Daily iPhone App: Blobster
I got to see Blobster in action earlier this year at both GDC and E3, and both times it impressed me with its wacky premise and followthrough. It's a platformer, but unlike any you've ever played before. Instead of jumping around, you're instead flinging a little blob of goo around, pushing him through various obstacles, and making him heavier or lighter by combining or removing mass to and from him. There's a number of powerups to find across the game's 40 different levels, and lots of other twists and turns to explore as well. Blobster is a really fun title with some nice innovation, and some really solid platforming action depicted in a way I haven't really seen before. Chillingo's got it priced at a steal right now, just US 99 cents for the iPhone version, and $1.99 for Blobster HD on the iPad. I've been watching for this one since earlier this year, so now that it's finally out, make sure to give it a look yourself.
Cut the Rope update, plush toys coming soon
The video below highlights an upcoming update for the popular Cut the Rope title on iOS -- Chillingo is bringing 25 new levels to the title, complete with some new game mechanics and features. Cartoon creature Om Nom will be able to be fed various types of foods, not just the candy he so craves, and as you can see in the video, there are some new bounce pads to deal with and a few new drawings to find and collect. Finding those drawings can apparently unlock prizes, like the chance to gift the game to a friend on Facebook. The update is version 1.4, called Toy Box, and should be available in the game soon. And there are also some plush dolls coming, as you can see above. Om Nom is portrayed in a few different moods and sizes, and all of these toys will be out sometime in October. I don't usually go in for stuffed toys, but I will say this: that's one cute little fella.
Anomaly: Warzone Earth preview (iPad)
Anomaly: Warzone Earth launched back in April for the PC (feel free to give the demo a download, if you're so inclined). But it's coming to iPad in four to six weeks, and at last week's EA Summer Showcase day I got a chance to see how the transition was going. It's no surprise that tower defense games really lend themselves to being played on a touch-screen interface. Poking and prodding to move troops around and interact with the game world make those games a cinch to play. As I learned from my time with Anomaly: Warzone Earth, the same is true for tower offense games as well.%Gallery-105086%
Chillingo shows off new titles at E3
Chillingo held its E3 demo this year in the same area as EA, which makes sense considering that EA outright purchased it last October. The publisher of Angry Birds and Cut the Rope has a very impressive stable of titles due in the next few months, and I got to both see and play with them at E3. I've got some quick descriptions on these future Chillingo releases, including cute platformer Roll in the Hole, Draw Race 2, and an artsy little puzzler called Contre Jour.
T-Mobile ad illustrates Angry Birds' immense popularity
One app that has grown from an iPhone hit to a worldwide phenomenon is Rovio Mobile's Angry Birds. Whether you're a fan of knocking over pigs and structures by flinging birds, or go berserk when you hear the Angry Birds theme music, you have to admit that the popularity of what was originally a simple iOS game it pretty amazing. Now T-Mobile is capitalizing on Angry Birds fever with a clever YouTube video titled Angry Birds Live. A human-scaled mockup of the Angry Birds world was created in a square in Barcelona, with lucky participants using the game on a smartphone to launch birds on their castle-smashing journey. It includes authentic sounds effects and exploding pigs, and was obviously popular judging from the size of the crowd that appears. The ad isn't iPhone-specific, noting that T-Mobile has the "widest range of smartphones," but the carrier does sell the iPhone outside of the U.S. and the game got its start on iOS. With that, we present to you Angry Birds Live in all of its glory:
TUAW's Daily iPhone App: Feed Me Oil
I'm going to see what Chillingo has to offer here at E3 later on today, but in the meantime, this recent release on the App Store is gaining some popularity (and has been featured by Apple as iPhone game of the week this week). It's sort of a liquid physics puzzler -- there's oil coming out of a spigot at the top of each level, and you've got to funnel it down, using a series of platform pieces, into a waiting "mouth" somewhere on screen. Gameplay is simple but interesting as the game very slowly opens up, level by level, into more and more creative ways to find solutions. The standard Chillingo polish is here as well -- each level has the usual three star rating, a timer that tracks how fast you complete things and even a score depending on how well you do. Leaderboard and achievements are tracked with Game Center and Crystal, and there's a fun social feature for sharing levels with friends as well. Feed Me Oil is a fun little physics outing that doesn't do a lot of new things, but does what it does in a polished and fun way. It's only US$0.99, so give it a look when you want a little physics thinking to do.
USK rates Hole in the Wall for Kinect, Cut the Rope for DSiWare
A few hacks have hinted at it, a few minigames in collections like Carnival Games: Monkey See, Monkey Do have touched on it -- now it seems Microsoft is fully cashing in on the very reason for the Kinect's existence: Hole in the Wall. The game, in which players contort their body in an attempt to fit through the titular cavity, was recently rated by the German USK ratings board. No details about the title were included in the rating, other than the fact Microsoft will handle publishing duties. Another, equally exciting new entry on the USK ratings site is a DSiWare listing for Chillingo's infinitely addicting puzzle game, Cut the Rope. Again, there are few details, but a tease posted on the Facebook page of indie developer Abstraction Games (which brought Angry Birds to PSP earlier this year) seems to indicate they'll be in charge of porting the title. We'll let you know when we hear more about these two projects!
Cut the Rope gets new 'Magic Box,' gigantic playable demo
Good news, fans of the delightful, physics-based iOS puzzler Cut the Rope! (Or, rather, bad news, if you had things you needed to do today.) An update is now available to the ZeptoLab-developed hit which adds 25 new levels as part of the "Magic Box," and also adds three new Game Center achievements. The new gameplay mechanic this time around is top hats, which serve as portals for your tethered confections -- much like the stockings featured in Cut the Rope: Holiday Gift. To celebrate the new levels, Chillingo has constructed two massive playable demo stations featuring nine touch screens a piece. If you've got business at Los Angeles' Hollywood & Highland Center or Atlanta International Airport, keep an eye out for these big, beautiful displays -- it's likely to be the most satisfying rope-cutting you ever do.
PSA: The Witcher: Versus now brawling on iPhone
Not enough fantasy-based combat in your life? Chillingo is hoping you'll want to download The Witcher: Versus to help fill that void. Available today on iPhone at a limited-time price of $.99, the game is a rock-paper-scissors type strategic brawler in which you set up your character, your tactics and then let them loose on your enemy. Check out the gallery below for some screens and lunge past the break for a trailer, if you're into that whole "moving pictures" thing.%Gallery-119699%
Cut the Rope wins at BAFTAs
Cut the Rope is still one of my favorite games on the App Store, and apparently the folks at the British Academy of Film and Television agree -- they've honored the game as the Best Handheld Game of 2010. It's actually quite an honor for Chillingo and developer ZeptoLab, as the game beat out presumably much bigger budgeted titles for the Nintendo DS and PSP, including the very big studio title God of War: Ghost of Sparta. It's definitely a nice indicator for the mobile gaming business that iOS and its associated developers have made a huge splash in the industry lately. The BAFTAs are like the British Oscars, only our friends across the pond also honor video games and interactive entertainment. Here are all of the video game nominees and winners. Cut the Rope is the only one I recognize as an iOS-only title, though there are a few cross-platform titles on the list that made it as well. Congrats to Chillingo and ZeptoLab on the win.
EA: 40% of game sales digital, NPD becoming less relevant
Digital sales have been an increasing boon for EA, a source of great profit and growth for the publishing giant, and the company now estimates 40% of games sold are bought through digital channels. Retail is becoming less of an important sector and the publisher feels NPD rankings are decreasing in relevance. Tomorrow, the latest NPD figures for the month of February will be revealed. "Overall, we think the digital growth aspect of the EA story is likely to get even stronger and to impress investors in the coming years," said Arvind Bhatia, Sterne Agee investment firm analyst, during a recent management meeting (via IndustryGamers). Globally, EA still recognizes the importance of retail product, but locally the company is looking to expand its mobile and downloadable offerings, leaning on its new EA Partners divisions to help expand its digital business.
Cogs gears up on Mac app store, discounted on Apple platforms
Award-winning, steampunk-inspired indie puzzler Cogs is available now on the Mac App Store. The game, which is sure to grind your gears at higher difficulty levels, has also been discounted across all Apple devices it's available on for a limited time. The iPhone/iPod Touch version is currently free, while on iPad it's $2.99. On Mac, the 50 percent discount puts it at $4.99. Honestly, the Mac version is probably the best idea -- far less chance of throwing an entire computer across the room in frustration.
GDC 2011: Chillingo's upcoming slate of titles
The good folks at Chillingo invited me to stop by their suite at GDC 2011 last week (which was actually run by EA, thanks to a new deal with EA's Partners program) to see the company's upcoming slate of titles on their way to the iPhone and iPod. On the next page you'll see previews of Blobster, Anomaly: Warzone Earth and Painkiller Purgatory, all due out in the next few months from Chillingo. Stay tuned -- I also got a chance to speak with co-founders Chris Byatte and Joe Wee about their role publishing games for the iPhone and the iPod touch, including, of course, Angry Birds.
TUAW's Daily App: Sky Combat
I can't say that I'd call a top-down arcade shooter the best fit for the iPhone's touchscreen, but in the case of Chillingo's Sky Combat, it works. You drag a finger around the screen, guiding an auto-firing chopper through quite a few different maps of various forces, attacking and defending from rockets and constantly grabbing upgrades and score. The graphics are 2D, but it looks great, with plenty of fiery explosions to go along with the realistic vehicles. With a full campaign of ten missions, a single mission mode, an endless mode, three difficulty levels to play with and full Crystal and OpenFeint integration, Sky Combat is packed to the gills with extra features. There's a 1.1 update on the way, and there are a total of four different control schemes, so however you want to play it, you can. It's an excellent game, a more than respectable scrolling shooter for the iPhone and a bargain at just US$0.99. Chillingo has made a reputation for providing great games like this, and I got to see a few more of their upcoming titles at GDC this week. Stay tuned for a preview of those, as well as an interview with the company's executives.
EA expanding 'Partners' model to mobile, social businesses
EA Partners has been responsible for helping to bring some noteworthy titles to market in the past few years. The co-publishing arm has helped to distribute the likes of the Rock Band and Left 4 Dead series, as well as the recent Bulletstorm, and will aid in the upcoming releases of Crysis 2 and Portal 2. It's perhaps surprising, then, that David DeMartini, the man who managed these successful co-publshing deals, has stepped down as the division's group general manager to pursue a "new commercial role." EA Partners looks to not miss a beat, however, as former SVP and COO of the EA Games label, Brian Neider, has stepped right in. Neider has quickly settled into his new role, calling the Partners program an "all around win-win," which allows "EA to partner with some of the world's best console, PC and digital developers while providing those independent developers with a global distribution/publishing partner." In fact, the shakeup marks a time of expansion for the "Partners" busines model. Through its Chillingo (mobile) and Playfish (social) divisions, EA will expand its co-publishing philosophy to capitalize on the demand for social and mobile games. "Like EA Partners, Chillingo and Playfish work with the best development talent in the mobile and social gaming space," Neider told Develop.
TUAW's Daily App: Sticky
I'll say this: Sticky is an original one. It's sort of a platforming game, though there are no real platforms involved. You play as a little orange blob named Sticky, tasked with saving the world from invading black blobs that slowly move from one side of your iPhone's screen to the other. Sticky can defeat these enemy blobs by bouncing on their heads, so it's your job as a player to catapult him back and forth around the little levels in order to hit the bad guys exactly right. The game is fun, cute and intuitive, and while it's pretty easy to beat the individual stages (at least until power-ups and more obstacles get added into the mix), each stage also rates you out of three stars, so you need to race against time to try and grab a perfect rating as well. Hardcore gamers will want to clear out all of the levels, while younger (or just more casual gamers) can bounce Sticky around and still enjoy playing. Full Game Center (and Crystal -- Chillingo is publishing) integration extends the experience, and the fact that it's only US$0.99 means it's probably worth a try if you're interested. It probably won't pull me away from Tiny Wings completely, but it's another fun casual experience.
Buzz! developer lays off 20 in rebuilding phase; ex-staff form Full Moon studio
Within in the past two weeks, approximately 20 employees of Relentless Software -- makers of quiz game franchise Buzz! and charming puzzler The Blue Toad Murder Files -- were let go. The developer announced as much this week, with director and co-founder Andrew Eades telling GamesIndustry.biz, "We have recently restructured the company to work on a variety of different projects and different platforms." According to Eades, the layoffs are part of the studio's previously revealed plans to reshape itself into a multiplatform developer. In fact, Relentless is actually hiring new staff as part of its rebuilding effort. "Our real strategy going forward is to change the company from a disc-based, console games company only -- which is what we were; we were only PlayStation 3; we were only console; we were only quiz, in fact. We wanted to change the company to have much more breadth and embrace the new digital platforms we saw coming in," Eades reiterated. Thankfully, just as quickly as the layoffs took place, a new studio was born out of the bad news: Full Moon. Representative Kalvin Lyle told GI.biz that "no animosity" is felt towards Relentless, and that some of the Full Moon staff are even looking forward to working with their old coworkers in the future. "I can't speak for everyone, but I think we're trying to make the best of it," Lyle said. Full Moon will focus on "casual gaming and digital distribution," though no projects are in the works just yet. Beyond news of the restructuring, Relentless announced its next project, an iPhone quiz title (shock!) named Quiz Climber. The game has players answering questions in order to advance up friends' leaderboards, represented by a tree in the game. EA-owned Chillingo will publish the title and says the game will arrive sometime this spring. [Image credit: jaygooby]
