games
Latest
Rumor: Steam coming to the Mac?
Telltale Games recently held a Mac revolution, and that was a nice piece of news for Mac gamers, but this would be a "game-changer": Valve may be considering bringing their Steam platform over to the Mac. They released the beta version of the new UI for their digital game delivery system, and a few users found some "OSX" icons hidden in the game files. Unfortunately, that makes this just a rumor (it's certainly possible the icons were simply included in some stray bit of code, as they appear to be simple window controls, not actual game code), but if there's anything to this at all, it would be huge for us Mac gamers: Steam comprises a gigantic library of present and classic PC games, and bringing even a portion of them over to the Mac would be terrific. CrossOver Games has been working with Steam in the past, and they already have most of Steam's biggest games up and running on the Mac platform through emulation. If there's a partnership between the two companies, or if Steam is planning to take advantage of the demand for their games running on OS X, that would be great. We'll keep our eyes open. Ever since Apple switched over to Intel, there's been more potential than ever for Mac gaming, and Steam on the platform would be amazing.
Plants vs. Zombies breaks records on the iPhone
PopCap has released some sales information on their latest iPhone game, Plants vs. Zombies, and it's a runaway hit: the game has sold over 300,000 copies in just the nine days it's been out on the App Store, which means the company has garnered over $1 million in sales already. Very impressive -- first, we had an app make a million total, then a company was making a million a month, and now PopCap has done the same in just over a week. So what's their secret? It's a high quality game, first of all, and PopCap has a reputation for making those already. Second, the game itself had a fairly high profile even before release, since it was extremely successful on the PC as well. And finally, you have to think that the price figures in as well -- I thought the game would sell for PopCap's usual $5, but they actually sold it two dollars less than that. They'd probably have still made a lot of money, but I don't know if they'd be talking about 300,000 sales at a price just two dollars higher. Then again, the game is already available for free online, so maybe the quality and PopCap's profile played a bigger part than the price did (they also trumpet the fact that Bejeweled 2 is also one of the top five grossing apps on the App Store). Congrats to PopCap on all their success. Oh, and our free time called, too. It surrenders.
Quake 3 ported to Android, shows off Droid's graphical prowess (video)
You should by now be well aware that there's no shortage of games one can play on one's beloved Droid, but just for the FPS old schoolers out there, how's about a nice Quake 3 port to pass the time with? Yup, the game that defined the term multiplayer before World of Warcraft came around has been enabled on the Android OS, finally finding another mobile home after residing on Nokia handsets for so long. For its short development time, this looks a very well refined translation of the software and offers you customizable controls to go with thoroughly playable frame rates. And if you have an older Android phone, don't despair -- Quake 2 has also been ported over, so once you've had an eyeful of the Droid, why not hit the source link to find out how to get in on the action? [Thanks, Anders]
TUAW Interview: Freeverse CEO Ian Lynch Smith on the Ngmoco purchase
We were all pretty gobsmacked last night with the news that iPhone gaming developer Ngmoco had purchased longtime Mac game developer Freeverse, so we went hunting for answers. Fortunately, Freeverse CEO and founder Ian Lynch Smith was nice enough to sit down and take our questions this morning, and he provided a little more background and insight on the deal. The first thing we wanted to do was what would happen to Freeverse's extensive Mac catalog, and we were told conclusively that "it's not going anywhere at all." While Freeverse will still "sell and maintain" their Mac titles, Smith did tell us that they've "been pretty much exclusively focused on the iPhone for the last 18 months anyway," so while they have a legacy in the Mac, the company believes that OS X is "on a collision course with the iPad," and that the main opportunities and user bases for Mac software are now using the iPhone and, soon, Apple's tablet. "It's very hard," we were told, "to get the volume that the iTunes App Store has" for purely Mac software. The other big question we had was what Freeverse thinks of Ngmoco's insistent support on the "freemium" model (where games are free-to-play, with extra content or add-ons to purchase later), something that has a lot of customers up in arms. Hit the "read more" link below to see what he said both about that and what he thinks about the iPad and the future of computing.
Project Natal coming in October, says Jonathan Ross (video)
As unexpected sources of tech news go, UK television presenter Jonathan Ross is pretty high up there. But lo and behold, the man's had a chance to spend some quality time with Microsoft's Project Natal setup and while he's not altogether impressed with the current state of it, his note on when it's coming out is the one thing nobody has known for sure yet. "Got until October" may mean an October release, or it may imply they can work on it through October in time for an early November release (something we heard earlier), but altogether we find this both credible and logical considering the natural urge to try and get the latest gaming tech in well before the holidays. Need more convincing? Skip past the break to see the Wossmeister having a whale of a time with that balloon-blocking game that's embarrassed many a journalist already.
OnLive demos Crysis on iPhone, expects to go to iPad
OnLive was at the DICE Summit in Las Vegas last week, where they showed their game streaming software running on the iPhone again. This time they had Crysis going, and apparently the demo ran "fast and smooth." The way they do it is to run the game and render it all on a fast computer somewhere, and then stream video to the iPhone while streaming controls back to the game itself. Of course a demo is just a demo, and actually running a game like that out in the real world is much tougher. But OnLive is convinced they can do it. And that's not all -- they also made mention of running their app on "tablets," which is a roundabout way of hinting that they'd like to do the same for the iPad. Now that is an intriguing opposition -- you wouldn't even need processing power for games on the iPad if you can run the software. If OnLive sets it up so you can stream on your local Wi-Fi connection (essentially using the iPad as a remote viewer/controller), then we might have something interesting here. Apple might be interested in that as well. Streaming heavyweight games from your Mac to the iPad? Yes, please. But of course, all OnLive has so far is a nice demo and some good ideas. We're still waiting to hear details of how they're going to bring out their streaming service, not to mention get it up and running on the iPhone. As soon as they let us know, we'll let you know.
Macworld 2010: TUAW talks to OpenFeint
On the day before Macworld last week, I got a chance to sit down with Eros Remini, VP of Marketing for OpenFeint, to talk about his social gaming network for iPhone apps. He shared with me that the network has claimed a gigantic 12 million users total, with about a million of them active in iPhone games from day to day. Additionally, the average user plays three or four games regularly -- unlike most other consoles, the iPhone is really a device that can split attention rather than have players dive deep in on one game. He also told us about the OpenFeint app that was released last month, as well as their popular free game of the day giveaway -- once per day, they give away an OpenFeint game for free right there inside the app. And we also talked about both how OpenFeint is serving as connection between developer and customer, as well as why Apple hasn't really shown an interest in an official iTunes gaming network like this. You can check out the whole interview on video right after clicking through the link below. Enjoy!
Plants vs. Zombies hits the iPhone
Last week we noted the impending arrival PopCap's ridiculously addictive Plants vs. Zombies onto the iPhone / iPod touch, and now this marvelous time-waster has landed. A variant of the the tower defense genre, Plants vs. Zombies requires you to defend your house from mobs of raging zombies by placing various sorts of projectile-emitting, exploding, and zombie-eating plants between them and your front door. Much like previous hits Peggle and Bejeweled, the PopCap team has produced a first-class iPhone port. On my 3GS it runs smoothly and the core gameplay is substantially unchanged from the desktop version, despite the smaller screen (you can get a free gameplay taste with the online version). Minor tweaks include placing your plant "catalog" along the left side of the screen and adding handy highlights which show you exactly into which row and column you're placing your plants. Plants vs. Zombies is available now for iPhone and iPod touch for a bargain price of $2.99. Go get it; you won't be disappointed.
Street Fighter IV coming to iPhone
I've wondered before just how a fighting game on the iPhone would work, and now I'm going to find out: Capcom has announced that they're releasing the latest Street Fighter game (they're up to IV now) on the iPhone. You can see how it works over at IGN -- there's a virtual joystiq on one side, and four virtual buttons on the other. I have no idea how it will actually work in practice; it certainly seems like your thumbs would cover up both your character and the enemy while fighting, and that's assuming that your thumb has the dexterity to know which buttons you're pushing without tactile feedback. But we'll see -- Capcom says the game will have a large number of fighters to choose from (though probably not as much as the full retail game), and the ability to play multiplayer via Bluetooth. One other interesting note on this one: Street Fighter IV has only been released on the major consoles, and the iPhone will be the game's first handheld relase (that we know of so far). This could be Capcom's experiment -- if they can release it on the iPhone before putting a port out on the DS or PSP, and see some success, we could see other larger developers releasing ports earlier (or maybe even exclusively) on the iPhone in the future. But let's not count our hadouken before it's completed -- first we have to see if a game like this will even work on Apple's little handheld touchscreen.
Apple locks down iPhone trademark, includes 'electronic games' category
Patently Apple has sniffed out the latest, and most comprehensive, trademark registration acquired by Apple on the subject of the iPhone and we thought we'd have a peek. Already entitled to use the brand name under international categories 9 (mobile phone and digital audio player) and 38 (electronic data-transmitting device), Apple has now added category 28, which reads shortly and sweetly as a 'handheld unit for playing electronic games.' Before you freak out and start fusing this into your iPhone 4G fantasies, note that Apple filed the claim for this trademark way back in December 2007. So nothing necessarily new on the tech front, but this document provides the broadest brand protection yet -- including the bitten apple graphic alongside the name -- and could strengthen Cupertino's case in its forthcoming battle for the iPad moniker.
Riiflex Wiimote dumbbells cease being a joke, now on sale
You know, we were surprised these Wii Remote appendages actually made it to the pre-order stage way back in April of last year, a feeling which slowly dissipated as they failed to make it out to real retail. Until now. The 2lb / 1kg Riiflex sleeves for your Nintendo-approved wand are ready to purchase, starting at a cent under $30, though the 5lb variety promised earlier is yet to make an appearance -- perhaps it's become yet another victim of the harsh, cutthroat economics of the Wii peripheral business. Anyhow, if you wanna take your Wii Fitness to the next level, the source link will get the set of two to your door with free delivery, though it might be a bit late in helping you shape up for V day.
Doom II RPG unleashed on iPhone
I remember there being a joke about new devices coming out: Yeah, but does it run Doom? The iPhone does, and apparently Id is on a hot streak now. According to TouchArcade, the Doom II RPG [$3.99, iTunes Link] was released Tuesday on the App Store. What I've seen is that people are enjoying it. I tend to take my time with quest-style games, so I am not really far into it (stage one of nine), but I am liking it a lot. I never had a device before that I really wanted to be playing games on, so I never spent a lot of time with Doom's previous flavors -- this one is an RPG variant on the classic Doom shooting gameplay, made just for the iPhone by Id. Right now I'm really digging it, and for me it's worth the time spent because I'll have my phone awhile still. There's been thought and effort put into the controls of this one, and you can tell it's a game designed to play on the iPhone. Releases like this and the continuing efforts to port old-school games forward to the current generation of hardware have been going on for years. I think it's been going on long enough that people are less interested in doing it for the cred and more because these games are genuinely fun to play. Unless someone makes a better suggestion in the comments, once I conquer Doom II RPG I'll be (not so) patiently waiting for the iPhone port of Riven. (Ed: Don't tell Kelly, but that's out, too!)
Creative rolls out X-Fi 2 SDK, developers now free to craft games and apps
We're going way out on a limb here and guessing that Creative's X-Fi 2 doesn't exactly have an insane amount of the PMP market share, but for those obsessed with its boyish good looks and world-beating user interface, we've got some thrilling news to share. The company has just made public its ADK (Application Development Kit), a Lua-based system where devs are able to "code their own interesting applications and customize the ZEN X-Fi 2." You're also able to "create and debug games and applications right from one's Windows PC," so any Mac loyalists in the house will have to fire up Boot Camp (or similar) in order to dive in. Hit the source to get your download on, and be sure to drop us a line when your riveting new title is ready for public consumption. [Thanks, Gavin]
Riven coming to iPhone
Here's great news for Myst fans with iPhones -- a port of Riven will be available this year. According to a post on the Myst Online Forums, the game is in development and will be released "...by early summer at the latest." Just in time for gaming at the beach! Riven is the sequel to Myst, the adventure game that revolutionized the industry when it was first released for the Mac in 1993. The goal of Myst is to solve a series of complicated puzzles and ultimately answer the question, "What's going on here?" Riven is the sequel to Myst and describing its plot would reveal spoilers for both, so we'll let you play it for yourself. Myst for iPhone was released last July to the praise of the game's dedicated fans. I've played both the Mac and iPhone versions, and am happy to say that the iPhone port is faithful to the original while the touch interface adds a whole new level of fun (don't click on that lever, go ahead and touch it!). With that in mind, I expect an equally pleasant experience with Riven for iPhone. Of course, they'd both be gorgeous on the iPad (and huge -- the iPhone build of Myst is 533MB!), but we're getting ahead of ourselves. [Via Touch Arcade]
Peter Moore wants to be convinced by OnLive, already a fan of Arc controller
Peter Moore, formerly the big cheese in charge of Xbox, is now the head of EA Sports, but he's lost none of the forthrightness that's made him a popular man to interview in the past. In his latest sitdown with CVG, Peter expressed his admiration for the nascent OnLive cloud gaming service, but also noted that he remains uncertain as to whether it will actually work when millions of people decide to play the same game at the same time -- a reservation we probably all share. He did point out that the sort of readily accessible gaming OnLive represents was in his company's plans, and would be expanded with more browser-based games. Finally, as someone who's seen the PlayStation 3 Arc controller in action Peter should be well qualified to assess it, and he describes it as a "great complement to what's out there," claiming that it brings a substantially different experience to Nintendo's Wii Remote. Check out the source for the full interview.
Nintendo's Miyamoto casually references new hardware, MotionPlus games
Do you think non-disclosure agreements apply if you're one of the guys who built the company you represent? Probably not, as evidenced by Shigeru Miyamoto, who recently took the opportunity -- while receiving an award, no less -- to blab about forthcoming hardware and games based around the MotionPlus peripheral. There wasn't much content to his mentions, beyond us now knowing that he's actively engaged in the design of multiple games outside of the next Zelda iteration, but this is the firmest confirmation yet that the Wii is set for a Wiiplacement. Parsing this with earlier comments from Miyamoto-san would suggest the company will be looking to optimize its present formula (maybe with a touch of HD?) rather than revolutionize what is already a wildly successful console. Until then, let's just be happy that one of gaming's patriarchs is still going strong and dropping crumbs of knowledge for us undeserving earthlings.
Plants vs. Zombies coming to iPhone on February 15th
Yes, PopCap is at it again -- this time, their crazy addictive (just like all of their games) take on the tower defense genre, Plants vs. Zombies, is headed off to the iPhone. They just tweeted confirmation a little while ago, and released this trailer showing all of the flower vs. undead action that we enjoyed so much in the other versions of the game, squeezed into the smaller screen of the iPhone. They don't mention a price point, but I'm guessing it'll come out at $4.99, since that's what most of their releases have debuted at (though if you're patient, it'll probably drop down in price after a while). I'll tell you that yes, if you've never played it, the game is more than worth $5, but even if you don't believe me, you can go play it online for free and see what you think. PopCap is the master of dropping colorful graphics, sparkling gameplay, and constant little rewards on your plate, so PvZ on the iPhone will probably be yet another meal you won't want to stop eating.
Kratos casemod can bring 'God of War' to your desktop... if you really want that
Well, this is disturbingly creative. Seriously, is there much more to say about this Kratos casemod? Well, Greek mythology and video game fanatics alike should be pleased yet horrified with this one. We certainly were. Video is after the break.
Hands on with Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games
Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games [iTunes link] brings a mobile version of the Sonic franchise to the iPhone for this timely-themed product. It is officially licensed by the Vancouver Olympic games. With it, you can try your hand at curling, figure skating, snowboard cross, and skeleton, i.e. sports you probably never thought you'd actually be playing on an iPhone. If you're a big fan of Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog, and you like the way the Sonic games play on other devices, you'll be pleased that a lot of the same feel and gameflow have been ported quite successfully to the iPhone. As with other Sonic games, you select the character you want to portray and you are randomly matched against other characters in the Sonicverse. You can choose from single player one-sport events, multiplayer, and circuit mode, where you play all four events. The graphics are superb and the user interface development is top notch. A lot of care and programming have gone into the tiny details that make up this game. Between the animated icons (info is a book with flipping pages, settings are a rotating gear on top of a building, game selection is a happily bouncing stadium), sound design, and small interface details like how menus slide onscreen, I was really impressed; congratulations to Sega for developing an interface that really matches and works with the iPhone platform. I wish the actual game play could match the overall look and feel. Unfortunately, I found playing the events to be less thrilling and poorly conceptualized. Take the figure skating, for example. It was easily my favorite sport in the game, but the way the game you focus on tapping the right spot at the right time (you have to synchronize your tap to a shrinking circle) or tracing your finger along a given design (so you can perform spins and jumps), totally took away from actually enjoying the event. Great iPhone interactive sport apps put you right into the middle of the action. You submerse yourself into experiencing the game play and your device interaction gets outsourced to your motor control as your eyes drink in the visuals . With figure skating, I could barely see the (beautiful!) graphics, let alone enjoy the music, because the game mandates that my eyes and fingers had to be working on locating, tapping, and drawing in just the right place and at the right time. There was a big disconnect. And because of that disconnect, the actual skating seemed to be taking place somewhere else -- somewhere I couldn't really enjoy. The skeleton and snowboard cross events better offered submersive interaction. They more or less mimic every downhill iPhone game you've ever played. You ride downhill and collect gold rings. The controls are based on tilting the iPhone both side to side and front to back. For snowboard cross, you also get to ride through Mario-style cubes with question marks for special power ups. Both downhill events were pleasant enough to play. At the bottom of the pack, I found curling tedious to the extreme, which is a shame. Because if Sega had designed this event with faster gameplay and the ability to keep playing over and over in one go, it could have been quite fun. The problem isn't pushing the stone and sweeping (those parts are actually enjoyable), the problem was waiting and waiting for a turn, as the opponent operated in real time, and in all the setup/take down time for each match. The fun bits are simply lost within the administrative overhead. Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games offers a reasonable value for the money (it's a slightly hefty $4.99) but while the games were pleasant but none of them really made me want to play them again. I admired the work that went into creating the product but I can't really recommend it to anyone who isn't a big Sonic fan to begin with.
Patent hints at next generation Apple TV
The USPTO has published seven different patents from Apple today, including one that might be found in the next generation of the Apple TV. The patent allows for a "Remote Control System that can Distinguish Stray Light Sources" -- in other words, a Wii style remote that can pick out a certain type of light source from other bulbs in the house. The patent paints some pretty wild pictures of what they must be working on at Apple HQ: it describes IR emitters mounted near a television, and then describes how to keep the remote control both "measuring its own motion" from those sensors, and able to recognize differences between those sensors and other light sources, including reflections and other features of the surroundings. Of course, Apple's not a company that tends to follow, so you have to wonder what else they're putting together if they really are planning on taking a song from Nintendo's Wii and adding it to the Apple TV's repertoire. Not that we'll ever see it for sure -- they file patents all the time, some of them already used (other patents filed today include Smart Playlists in iTunes and the "slide to unlock" feature found in the iPhone and the iPad), and some which will never see release. But it certainly sounds like something is cooking in the Apple R&D labs.
