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Zenonia, Swiftkey X headline day 9 of the Android Market sale
There's two days to go before the Android Market returns to normal, as we enter into day 9 of its sale to celebrate the download of the ten billionth app. Only one, Swiftkey X, has come back for a second helping of the sale. Of the eleven apps being featured today, a healthy eight are games: Sleepy Jack, Icebreaker Hockey, Deer Hunter 3D, MX Moto, Guns 'n' Glory, Tank Riders, Zenonia and Collapse. Rounding out the selection you'll find ezPDF Reader -- which obviously needs no introduction -- and Toddler Tapping Zoo for the young 'uns. One day left, and then we'll just have to cross our fingers and wait to see what happens when the Android Market hits twenty billion. As always, check out the source link to see the options.
NintendoWare Weekly: Zenonia, Target Toss Pro: Lawn Darts
It's a light week on the Wii and DSi Shops, with two each for DSiWare and WiiWare, and none for the Virtual Console. The highlight on Wii is Target Toss Pro: Lawn Darts -- if only because it explains why Target Toss Pro: Bags had the awkward title it did and not, like, Bag Toss or something simple. It's a series! DSiWare has Zenonia, a port of an iPhone action RPG that sounds like it might actually be pretty good, especially with buttons.%Gallery-103381%
Ngmoco buys Stumptown Game Machine, EA and Gameloft report revenue growth
A few news items from the business side of iPhone games this week, courtesy of the folks over at Mobile Entertainment. Ngmoco has purchased developer Stumptown Game Machine, creators of their popular Touch Pets Dogs release. Unfortunately, there's no information on how much the deal was worth, but it's a pretty obvious pickup for Ngmoco, which is working on building a stable of freemium titles and developers to produce them. My money's still on an Ngmoco/Booyah deal at some point, too -- Ngmoco has the money to pick up a few other smaller developers thanks to funding, and Booyah has the app and the dedicated users that Ngmoco wants. The two companies have already collaborated with a MyTown promotion on Ngmoco's We Rule, but I can see it going farther eventually. Elsewhere, EA Mobile reported a big growth in profits over the last quarter, up 12% year-over-year. The company attributes revenues to the iPhone and, soon, the iPad -- EA had two of the top three grossing titles as the iPad launched in Need for Speed and Scrabble, even though those sales will count towards next quarter's profits. While indie games have found their own place on the iPhone, many of the biggest titles are still produced by larger studios like EA. Gamevil also saw a nice jump in profits (up a whopping 99% from last year), and also credits its growth to the App Store, supported by Android and other mobile phone markets. Zenonia and its sequel were drivers there, along with sales overseas and the company's Baseball Superstars title. Lots and lots of sales coming out of the App Store, and I'm sure a new phone in June won't hurt things at all.
Old school iPhone RPG Zenonia 2 to be submitted to Apple this week
Were you aware that you're about lose all of your free time, ever, regardless of what your actual physical location in the world might be? Well, you might be spared if you don't possess an iPhone, as that's the platform targeted by the sequel to the surprisingly deep, Diablo-esque RPG Zenonia. Developer Gamevil recently informed us that Zenonia 2 will be submitted to Apple for App-roval "by the end of this week," whetting our appetite with a new (admittedly sorta creepy) trailer. With tons of different items and equipment, new classes and customizable UI, it looks like it will fix the problems we encountered with its predecessor. Except, of course, the problem of how we won't be able to do anything else but play Zenonia 2 in public situations.
A tale of two iPhone sequels: Zenonia 2 and Raging Thunder 2
It looks like 2010 will be the year of the iPhone game sequels -- we first saw Zen Bound 2 the other day and now Touch Arcade has news of two more sequels to popular iPhone games. Zenonia 2 brings back one of the App Store's first RPGs, Zenonia [iTunes link], with a whole new adventure and four different classes, compared to the last game's three. Ranged attacks will also be possible, as well as new difficulty modes and even an asynchronous multiplayer mode. Sounds like fun -- the new version of the game is due out in March. And from Polarbit comes Raging Thunder 2, another sequel to one of the first games to make a splash on the iPhone, even before the App Store. As you can see above, the sequel will have some shinier graphics, what looks like smoother gameplay, a bigger variety of powerups, and (we presume) the same accelerometer steering that made the iPhone platform such a hit for the genre out of the gate. No date for Raging Thunder 2 yet, but we'll keep our eyes out for it later this year.
And the best-selling, top-rated iPhone games of 2009 are ...
Apple's iTunes store has listed the best-selling and top-rated apps for this third-to-last year of humanity's existence. It appears the big boys of game publishing are doing quite well on the App Store, with the ten top grossing games making room for only one independent studio. Gamasutra states Firemint's Flight Control, with its 99 cent price tag, sold 1.5 million copies and grabbed the number seven spot. The top-rated titles have much more indie spirit, as Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor, Real Racing and Zenonia wrap up the top three spots. Check out the lists for both categories after the break. [Via Gamasutra]
