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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'!
Video: Angry Birds played in real life
Be honest, what's the one thing you would do if you had a giant slingshot lying around. Of course you would set up a real-life version of Angry Birds. Who wouldn't? Seriously, having a giant slingshot and not playing real-life Angry Birds would be a crime against humanity.
Angry Birds board game coming this May from Mattel
Here's one of CES 2011's less technical, but most awesome, revelations: Mattel is working on a board game adaptation of Rovio's mobile hit, Angry Birds. The game looks like a pretty authentic recreation of its source material; players draw "Mission Cards" depicting structures of bricks and pigs, which they then build using plastic models included in the game. Oh, and then they shoot birds at those structures using a tiny slingshot. That part is pretty integral to the whole experience, apparently. The game will cost $14.99 when it launches worldwide this May. Even if you don't want the board game, $14.99 is a perfectly reasonable price for a tiny catapult. Just think of all the tiny things you can terrorize with a catapult of that size!
Cut the Rope holiday version now available
Chillingo has joined the holiday fun with Cut the Rope: Holiday Gift edition. The holiday version of Cut the Rope is a universal app, separate from the regular app, and offered free of charge. If you have somehow missed Cut the Rope, do yourself a favor and check it out. In addition to the holiday edition, there are both free "lite" versions and regular versions ($1 for the iPhone version, $2 for the HD iPad version). It's a lot of fun and offers plenty of challenges. "Om Nom" might be the cutest cartoon character since Little Cindy Lou Who (who was no more than two). I keep hoping for a holiday version of Plants vs Zombies, but I guess I'll have to hope for "maybe next year." [via Touch Arcade]
Cut the Rope: Holiday Gift puts some free Christmas cheer in your iOS stocking
The issue with cute monsters that possess an insatiable hunger for candy is that they're a perpetual problem, albeit a fun one. Chillingo recognizes this and, for you millions of nurturers out there, will launch Cut the Rope: Holiday Gift, a free standalone iOS game set to arrive on the App Store sometime this month. Holiday Gift is comprised of 25 Christmas-themed levels and incorporates a new "Christmas Sock" mechanic where players can teleport candy between socks. Then, of course, there are new menus, music tracks and achievements to check out. There isn't an exact date for the launch of Holiday Gift yet, but Chillingo assures us it'll be available before Christmas -- we'll be sure to let you know when we've got a date. %Gallery-109597%
Angry Birds try for a more diplomatic resolution to their pig problem
Birds have always looked down on pigs due to their inability to fly, while pigs themselves have always been envious of their flight-enabled counterparts -- it's led to much conflict between the species, naturally. But we're happy to report that today the two finally sat down for peace talks.
Cut the Rope sells 3 million, free update 'soon'
Soaring past the one-million mark set just last month, Chillingo's iOS hit Cut the Rope has reached three million in sales. It's a feat undoubtedly bringing great joy to the developer (and even greater joy to EA), but let's not ignore the real story here: How many countless, innocent ropes have had their lives shortened at the expense of slash-happy fingers? Will no one think of the poor ropes in all of this? No? Okay, then -- moving on. In addition to the sales hurrah, Chillingo detailed Cut the Rope's first free update. Coming "soon," the Version 1.1 patch will introduce the "Cosmic Box," which houses 25 new challenges themed around "a unique anti-gravity feature" that turns the game's physics upside down. The update also includes "enhanced" Retina Display graphics, more accurate scoring, "more expressive" Om Nom animations, new sounds and 11 new achievements.
Rovio Mobile passing on Chillingo in the future
Chillingo closed a huge deal with EA yesterday (becoming the second big iPhone publisher in as many weeks to be picked up), but the company's work with its biggest title apparently left a bad taste in the mouth of the developers, Rovio Mobile. That company tells TechCrunch that they'll never work with Chillingo, or any publisher, again. That's not so much a reflection on Chillingo, though, as it is on Rovio's success -- Peter Vesterbacka says that with the way the App Store is set up, you just "don't need publishers" any more. For a lot of iPhone developers, I would disagree -- Chillingo has put together a nice set of iPhone titles over the past few years, and seeing their name on an iPhone game can give a nice boost in profile to a developer just starting out. Obviously EA agrees -- while this doesn't mean we'll see EA start taking advantage of the Angry Birds license (necessarily -- I'm sure Rovio is poking around in as many places as possible to recreate the Angry Birds game on other platforms), it does mean that EA is getting access to a significant amount of experience in creating, publishing, and marketing iPhone games. Chillingo seems to have a talent for finding titles of solid quality that are willing to experiment a little bit, so this should bring us some more EA games that are outside of the standard Madden/Need for Speed/Tiger Woods ilk. As an iPhone user, I'm excited about both the Chillingo and the Ngmoco deals recently -- both will create more options for two iPhone publishers who have made a solid name for themselves, as well as bring a little more standing to the platform at large as a great place to publish and release great games. Rovio's done with iPhone publishers, but the rest of us are just getting started.
EA gets Chillingo, but not Angry Birds
Electronic Arts' purchase of publisher Chillingo doesn't include the IP rights to Angry Birds. Speaking with TechCrunch, developer Rovio Mobile's Peter Vesterbacka said that its relationship with Chillingo never went past the iOS versions of the game. Vesterbacka explained, "We will not use Chillingo again." It would seem the company's need for a publisher has diminished since striking gold with Angry Birds, which has sold 6.5 million copies on the App Store. Rovio has self-published Android and Nokia versions of Angry Birds, as well as its latest iOS title: Angry Birds Halloween. Chillingo's rights to each of its published games would be on a per contract basis, but what EA definitely got for its ducats was the company's Crystal gaming network platform and all its data gathering potential.
Angry Birds publisher Chillingo acquired for $20 million
In the wake of such huge news from Apple today, it's hard to concentrate on anything else. Here's one story you won't want to miss, though: Chillingo, the publisher behind the wildly popular game Angry Birds, was acquired by EA Games for a cool $20 million in cash. Not to worry, though, because Angry Birds isn't going anywhere. The rights to the game are actually owned by the developer, Rovio, who updated his Twitter profile earlier today to clarify that Angry Birds was not part of the sale and will not be controlled development-wise by EA. Even so, it's no secret that the App Store's most popular game of all time certainly helped to sway EA towards this acquisition. With many successful apps available, Chillingo probably looked pretty delicious to all of the big fish in the game industry who were hoping to cash in on the mobile market. Now, it's time to fire up Angry Birds and do some additional research on the story. What? Why are you giving me that look? Yes, I'm working!
EA purchasing mobile publisher Chillingo
EA is climbing to the top of the casual and iPhone game spaces -- by buying companies who are already at the top of those spaces. Reuters reports that EA is purchasing Chillingo, publisher of iOS hits like Cut the Rope (pictured), iDracula and (in the UK) Angry Birds. EA confirmed the purchase to Reuters, but declined to confirm the reported $20 million buying price. Even if EA just grabs a few falling feathers -- solid golden feathers, of course -- from the hugely popular Angry Birds, the deal would be totally worth it, right? Besides, $20 million sounds like a steal compared to the $300 million (with another $100 million contingent on performance) EA splayed out for Playfish.
Cut the Rope wraps up a million sales
Cut the Rope, the addictive puzzler for iPhone and iPad, has sold a million copies in ten days. According to publisher Chillingo, that makes the game the "fastest selling title on the App Store to date." Chillingo is currently working with developer ZeptoLab to create updates, which will be revealed "soon." The game cost $1 on iPhone and $2 on iPad. There's also a lite version to get a taste of what makes the game and its star, Om Nom, so compelling. Note: if similarly named games confuse you, Cut the Rope has nothing to do with all those "cut the cheese" programs on the App Store.
TUAW's Daily App: Cut the Rope
At every one of these gaming shows (it's GDC Online this week, which I'm at for TUAW), there's usually a "game of the show" that emerges. It's something, either on the show floor or demoing behind closed doors, that everyone starts to talk about. The buzz starts at parties and in the hallways, and then it carries over into panels and starts to crop up in those casual discussions about "what you've seen this week." But so far, the game everyone's talking about this week isn't even on display at the show. Epic's Mark Rein even recommended Chillingo's newest title, Cut the Rope, to me. It's a brand new game that's already making a huge splash this week (as of this writing, it was number two on the App Store paid list), and it's all the rage among app developers and journalists here at GDC. The phrase being passed around is "Angry Birds meets Fruit Ninja," and those comparisons are apt. The idea is that you guide a little piece of candy, by cutting ropes and manipulating other items in the environment, to a cute little monster that's hungrily trying to eat it. Cut the Rope has the cute characters of Angry Birds and the fun, tactile interaction of Fruit Ninja all wrapped up into one extremely polished and shiny package. For only US$0.99, you get four stages full of levels, three stars to collect in each level (to add replayability), and to top it all off, Game Center integration for achievements and leaderboards. The iPad version is $1.99, but there's also a lite version on that device to check out. I'm not even that big of an Angry Birds fan, but I found myself giggling as I pulled off Cut the Rope's little puzzles. I was very charmed by Om Nom, the little monster who just wants that hanging candy. Cut the Rope has just barely gone live, and this is an app that is already getting into people's heads.
TUAW preview: Billabong Surf Trip
Chillingo invited us out to the headquarters of surfwear manufacturer Billabong yesterday for a look at a new iPhone and iPad game called Billabong Surf Trip. The game is designed by a Portugese developer named Biodroid Entertainment (who told me that they've done some work on other consoles, but this is their first title for Apple's iOS). As you may have guessed from the name, the title is sponsored by Billabong, and features the ability to create a surfer and then send him or her around the world to take on the waves. Before I sat down to play the game, I asked Billabong's PR Director Jim Kempton about why they'd gotten involved in an iPhone game, and he said the goal of the game was to "introduce people to what surfing is about, on the level that we're hoping to cast an interest anyway." You don't have to be a surfer to enjoy the game, but enjoying the game might get you interested in surfing, and thus the Billabong brand. "Just like the professional football or professional golf circuit, most people," said Kempton," are never going to be playing any more than messing around at the local golf club, but they can understand how it works, or what it means to go to Augusta, or Scotland, or these places." %Gallery-101900%
Angry Birds flying to PS3, PSP and DS
If you've ever played Angry Birds, the headline above has already made your day. If you've played Angry Birds only to have a friend / significant other snatch it away -- a cruel reminder of your iPhone-less existence -- then the above headline has undoubtedly left you positively elated. Yes, Chillingo's Joe Wee has confirmed to The Sun that the addictive, Boom Blox-esque puzzler is headed to "Nintendo DS, Sony PSP and PS3." The fact the game is slated for PS3 and PSP would suggest that Angry Birds will be released as a Mini, though Chillingo wouldn't provide Joystiq with any concrete details. Hopefully we'll hear more at Gamescom later this month.
TUAW's Daily App: Zombie Wonderland
Zombie Wonderland was a game I didn't get to see at E3 a little while back when I met up with Chillingo, but I recently checked it out, and it's an interesting little zombie fightin' title. The undead action is somewhat removed -- instead of directly shooting the shambling brain-eaters, you're simply directing a little dude named Chuck around, trying to defend all sides of a house being attacked. The gameplay can be busy but isn't always compelling -- you're also tasked with cleaning up the floors in a pretty bizarre mechanic that seems meant to add a little excitement to the festivities, but even when Chuck is racing around, things never get to a real fever pitch. That's ok, though -- the polish of the models (there's a Minigore aesthetic going on), the smoothness of the animation and the feeling that you really are defending a homestead from the onrushing zombie horde all make the experience quite fun despite the simple gameplay. And since the game is on sale for just 99 cents, it's definitely worth a look. For the last day of this year's Independence Weekend, try declaring your brains off-limits to the walking dead.
Chillingo shows off its current crop at E3 2010
I met up with Chillingo at last week's E3 event here in Los Angeles, and got to see a few of their upcoming titles in action. Here's a few games they were showing off, and some early impressions of each. Zombie Escape This was probably my favorite game of the show -- it's a line-drawing game where you're tasked with drawing routes for survivors of a zombie apocalypse to rescue choppers. As they appear on sides of the touchscreen, it's your job to draw a path through the walking undead, and as the 28 days in the game go by, the difficulty ramps up with more undead and more survivors. Additionally, there are powerups and other items to collect, which give the game some tower defense-style elements, enabling you to defeat the undead from offscreen. But sending your survivors to get the powerups means they'll have to take separate routes and risk more danger. Zombie Escape was about three weeks out from release when I saw it last week, so it should be on the App Store by the end of this month. It's definitely worth a look, especially if you're a fan of the line-drawing genre.
Topping the App Store charts with Angry Birds
Angry Birds is one of the growing number of phenomenal success stories coming out of the App Store. It's a simple game; you drag birds in a slingshot in order to try and get them to knock down structures and hit green pigs. It's really resonated with audiences, though, and just like we heard with Doodle Jump, a string of constant free updates has propelled it to the top of the charts. I got to talk to Mikael and Niklas Hed, cousins and chief officers at Rovio Mobile (the company behind Angry Birds), last week at E3 about their game and its success so far. They told me that the game has had four million downloads to date across, both, its paid and lite versions, and they said that they'll keep updating it "as long as the underlying market keeps growing." I asked them why they have chosen this model of just supporting the game with free updates, and they pointed to Valve's Team Fortress 2 as an example; they're updating the game just because they're "focused on bringing great value" to their customers. Future updates to the game will include new birds to play around with and a little bit of multiplayer functionality, which is coming in a "huge update" very soon. I also asked about the iPad version (which has gotten some bad reviews, since it's basically the same as the iPhone version), and they said that it was just a matter of resources, but they did want to update that version of the app in the future.
TUAW's Daily App: Pirate's Treasure
Chillingo has made a name for itself on the App Store with the popular Minigore series, and now they're returning (after a sidestep to Guerrilla Bob) to the dual-stick shooter with Pirate's Treasure, a swashbuckler-themed arcade shooter. The game's a lot of fun. Chillingo's polish shows, and aside from some long loading times on the 1G iPhone (it should work great on the later models), controls are responsive and quick. The game is basically a series of stages, each with their own goals, where you can collect treasure (duh) that you can then spend on upgrades and abilities; you go in and do some shooting, come out and upgrade your pirate, and then go back in and shoot some more. As it's a Chillingo game, there's full integration with their Crystal service, so they have leaderboards and achievements set up across 50 levels. The game is currently on sale for its launch, so at just US $1.99, it's a good time, especially if you're into the dual-stick shooter setup. The only thing missing is an HD version for the iPad, so if you're still working on Minigore HD, you might want to finish that one first and see if they release this one the same way.
Tons of iPad app releases on the App Store now
Embargoes on every app in the iPad's app store broke this morning, and there's almost too many new iPad apps to write about. But worry not, dear readers -- we've sifted through the flood of press releases in the inbox this morning, and we're here to bring you the brightest and best iPad app news we've heard so far. Board game maker Days of Wonder is releasing Small World, a virtual board game for the iPad, for just US$5. Telltale Games craftily dodged telling us about any development for the iPhone or the iPad at Macworld this year, but they've gone ahead and released the latest episode of Sam and Max on the platform anyway, as a $10 app. SugarSync has released a version of their remote data sharing app for free on the iPad. Diner Dash has gone "HD" with Diner Dash: Grilling Green, a new $5 version of the game "designed from the ground up exclusively for the iPad." See Here Studios has a 3D storybook called The Wrong Side of the Bed available for $2.99. You'll need red/cyan glasses, but you can actually order them (with free shipping in the US) inside the app itself. Chillingo has launched a lineup of fourteen different apps (which is probably the most we've seen from any single company so far) including Cogs HD, Minigore HD, and Sword of Fargoal Legends. Impressive launch lineup. Zen Bound 2 has finally arrived as an iPad app -- it features those revamped graphics for $7.99 on the new device. Freeverse has four different apps running, including Flick Fishing HD and their new game CastleCraft, a freemium MMO. Smule has released Magic Piano, a virtual piano/game/musical experience that's launching for $2.99. Lots (and we mean lots) more iPad app releases after the break. What a launch lineup this thing has!
