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Atari follows up freemium Breakout Boost with paid Breakout Boost+
A little while back, Atari continued its releases of updated classic games for iOS with Breakout Boost, a freemium version of the classic brickbreaking game that offers updated graphics and a few new mechanics to go with them. This week Atari announced another title called Breakout: Boost+, and while the general trend on the App Store recently is to go more towards freemium, Atari has actually made a move away from it. Breakout: Boost+ is a paid title, currently available for 99 cents. The "plus" version includes 100 levels that aren't available in the free version, and it doesn't appear to have any in-app purchases. Other than that, the gameplay appears to be about the same, adding in power-ups and those improved graphics to the standard Breakout gameplay. It's an interesting choice; during a time when most games are dropping their price down to free to get the largest possible audience, Atari has followed up a free launch with a title that falls back on the old paid model while still leaving the freemium version available. TUAW asked Atari what the deal is. Atari CEO Jim Wilson tells us that this title is definitely not a relaunch, and the choice to offer a paid app doesn't necessarily reflect disappointment with the free version. "Breakout: Boost was a big success for Atari that generated over 2 million downloads," says Wilson, "and we plan to continue supporting the title, having released an update since launch to enhance the initial free levels." Presumably both versions will be updated going forward, so customers can either download the free version as a trial, or buy the paid version to get access to all of the content right away. This kind of experimentation definitely shows that Atari, a very traditional gaming company, is looking to grow its mobile offerings, especially on iOS. According to Wilson, "This latest release of Breakout: Boost+ is just one small step among many more to come that expands on our mobile games offering and an effort to keep iterating on our games to address consumer demands -- in this case, a call for an upfront premium download." It sounds like at least some of Atari's customers wanted the more traditional paid model rather than the freemium offering. It'll be interesting to see how these two apps do in the App Store going forward.
First Look: Ninja Steve for iOS
CEO. Industry Mogul. Superhero. That's the idea behind the upcoming Ninja Steve app. Inspired by the fake story about Steve Jobs being denied the chance to take shuriken onto his private plane, Ninja Steve transforms an urban legend into a deliciously silly idea for a game. It features a CEO hero named Steve, who leads a secret double life as a Ninja. The developers assure us that "[o]ur character share the name with Steve Jobs, but is a fictional character, he and his fictional company has no relation to Steve Jobs or Apple." Here at TUAW, we haven't had a chance to play the game -- and honestly, we have no idea whether it's awesome or awful -- but we were tickled by the marketing graphics and the developer was kind enough to give us an exclusive first peek at the game promo video, which appears after the jump. This is not the first time we've covered the Ninja Steve meme, here on TUAW. Previously, we saw the fake "iPod ninja" concept ad, which we thought was hilarious. Got any more Apple Ninja spoofs, games, or tributes to share? Let us know in the comments.
Rumor: Apple event the last week of February
TUAW has received a tip that the company that does television for Apple's live events and Macworld is apparently hiring for an unannounced Apple event at the end of February. Keep in mind that this is an unconfirmed rumor -- while TUAW trusts our source, job listings are not available on the video company's website, and Apple has not yet announced any events happening this month. But Apple did promise us a year flush with announcements, and starting with the new Mac Pros all the way up to the bigger iPhones and iPod touches last week, they haven't disappointed yet.And what would the event be about? Considering that we've got our ultraportable already, and our HD Apple TV, what big news are we possibly hoping to hear in "the end of February"?This is just a rumor, so don't get too excited yet. But if it is true, and if Apple is holding an event before the end of the month, get ready, baby. We just might be about to see the iPhone SDK.
