ramp champ
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Ramp Champ rights acquired by DS MediaLabs
Ramp Champ is an oldie but goodie from the App Store's earliest days. It's an old carnival bag tosser game that was originally put together by both Iconfactory and DS MediaLabs, and it was quite popular even before going free-to-play a while back. Ramp Champ been sitting quiet on the App Store for almost a full year now -- the last update was in last May. That will probably change very soon, however. The design studio noted on Twitter that DS MediaLabs has picked up the full rights to the game, and on its blog, that company says it is taking the reins, and plans to put some new content in Ramp Champ soon. All of the graphics will be configured for the Retina Display, and they'll add new ramps. So this is good news for Ramp Champ fans. The game's definitely got a following (including among TUAW writers), so it'll be good to see it back in action again.
Our favorite iPhone games of 2009
The first full year of the App Store is coming to a close, and so let's take a look back at our favorite games of 2009. Note that these aren't best-selling, most important, or even the best games of the year -- we'll leave those lists to other sites. But these are our favorite games -- the games we played this year that we feel stand out as our favorite experiences on the App Store. The list begins after the read more link below, and be sure to agree, disagree, or share your own favorite games as usual in the comments.
Best iPhone games of the year picks start to roll in
Gamasutra wins the award for being the first (that I've seen) to pick awards for their best five iPhone games of the year, and the list is respectable, if a little short for such a huge set of possibility. Unfortunately, they don't win any TUAW points for going with Skee-Ball over our preferred Ramp Champ, but Rolando 2 was a worthy sequel to a worthy game, Edge (now Edgy) and Eliss are both great games (too bad you can't play the former, but the latter was underrated for sure), and Space Invaders Infinity Gene deserves to be on almost any end-of-the-year iPhone game list. Good picks in there for sure. DigitalTrends also has a long list, though strangely, they tend to stick to big names and brands. There are a few gems in there -- Spider, UniWar, and Vay may be a couple good choices that you haven't heard of yet. And here's another top 10 list with some repeats from the ones above and a few more nice picks. I guess with the end of the year upon us, we'll probably have to choose TUAW's favorites of 2009, too, eh? Stay tuned.
Ramp Champ adds to ramps, challenges
Red paper tickets are the currency of childhood. On the shore of Oneida Lake, New York is Sylvan Beach, a small-town resort and amusement complex not unlike thousands of others that dot the country. To a parent, it's a fun day out. Just put the kids in the car and after a short drive set them loose on the beach, rides and sugary snacks. To a kid, It's Xanadu. My sisters and I were lucky enough to spend two weeks every summer in Oneida, and Sylvan Beach was the pinnacle of fun. Our grandparents fought toddler-induced exhaustion and a tight budget to host us for fourteen days, and by the time we hit Sylvan, they must have been dragging. Still, they never flinched as we requested money for rides. And sno-cones. And most importantly, for Skee Ball, so we could get tickets. Oh, the tickets. Nothing was more satisfying than the tick-tick-tick-clack! of the Skee Ball machine dispensing those heavy, cardboard tickets. The more you got the better you did, and we'd measure them against the length of our arms, our legs and each other. Of course, the best part was handing them to the shady carnie sitting behind a glass display case of cheap crap in trade. It was like shopping without money in a world of brightly-colored plastic. Nothing could be better. Thirty years later I haven't hefted a wooden ball in a long time, but Ramp Champ for the iPhone and iPod touch offers a killer virtual version. If your unfamiliar, it's a carnival Skee-Ball type game that's wonderfully fun. In fact, the guys at The Iconfactory went all out, treating every detail with TLC: It's visually stunning, the sounds are immersive and dead-on (wear headphones) and game play is challenging, just like real Skee Ball. For more details, check out our first look and full review. %Gallery-74659%
First Look: Ramp Champ adds carnival fun to your iPhone
If you've seen Kevin Smith's Dogma, you know that a key character ends up incapacitated for much of the film as a consequence of his/her unusual obsession with the carnival game Skee-Ball. The whole uncomfortable situation could have been avoided with an iPhone or iPod touch and the new app from the Iconfactory and DSMediaLabs, Ramp Champ. The game brings the sounds and skill of classic carnival ball-toss challenges right into your pocket with a great deal of style and fun. The $1.99 Ramp Champ app [iTunes link] provides four separate levels of ball toss challenges, ranging from three rows of clown targets to a rather familiar garden of bitmapped icons. Each level provides scoring & prize opportunities for knocking down the clowns, fish, invaders or icons; if you match one of three bonus conditions for the level (including, on the icon garden board, tracking down the elusive dogcow), you'll get an award for your excellent performance. After each session of tossing, you collect prize tickets that you can turn in at the app's gallery of virtual stuffed stuff -- fuzzy dice, anyone? Aside from the four levels that ship with the app, there are four more levels (featuring unicorns, ninjas, teeth and tiki!) that will be available for in-app purchase at $0.99 per 2-level pack. Beyond the straightforward-yet-addictive game physics (you may find your thumb aching after a while as you press a little too hard to flick the ball), the biggest draw of Ramp Champ is how stunningly pretty it is. Although we are often spoiled by the visual effort and consistency of Iconfactory projects, the team has really outdone itself with Ramp Champ. Every corner of the screen is participating in the carnival look and feel of the game; even the sound and music design feels 'right.' For such a simple game, it's surprisingly immersive. While the game is a visual delight, unfortunately it shares a characteristic with many other 1.0 iPhone apps; it's a wee bit crashy, at least in my first day of playing. The app documentation suggests a device restart to clear out memory before trying to play. As Touch Arcade points out, the flick-to-toss gameplay is similar to the ad-supported app Paper Toss; if you find it hard to control the ball rolls in that game, you'll probably be challenged/frustrated by RC as well. Here's a screenshot gallery from Ramp Champ. %Gallery-70921%
