Filed under: Mobile

Obama plays BrickBreaker ... on a military-grade smartphone

by Randy Nelson { 8 months ago }

Bastion of hard news, Star Magazine, reports that President Obama may have an ulterior motive for wanting his (very fancy) smartphone: gaming. The article quotes a "confidante" who reveals Obama plays BrickBreaker on the device "to unwind," and that the freshly inaugurated leader does so "every night before bed."

The President made news on the gaming front by bringing a Wii into the White House. Obama's high score in BrickBreaker is "around 15,000," according to Star Magazine's source. We hail to the chief, but he's got nothing on this guy.

[Via GameCulture]

Namco drops Time Crisis Strike onto iPhone app store

by Griffin McElroy { 9 months ago }

We've harbored a secret love for the Time Crisis series since our initial exposure during the PS1 era, though we've always had our reservations about the use of the light gun peripheral. Why introduce such an unnecessary middleman into the equation? We want to end the lives of our seemingly cloned adversaries by simply laying our fingers upon them. We then want to proclaim to all passerbys, "These? These are the hands of the Angel of Death! Tremble, all, before our mighty digits!"

Said fantasy can now be realized in inappropriate social situations thanks to Namco, who dropped Time Crisis Strike onto the Apple App Store today. In addition to the "finger of death" mechanic mentioned above, players can also tilt the handheld in order to dodge the enemy's gigantic, molasses-slow bullets. For just $5.99 -- a pittance, really -- you can imbue your hand's extremities with devastating power.

iPhone dominates list of IGF Mobile 2009 finalists

by Ross Miller { 9 months ago }

Whereas last year's entries seemed more diverse (with a heavy Java slant), the 2009 Independent Games Festival Mobile finalists are almost entirely composed of iPhone / iPod touch games -- 11 of the 14 contestants, to be exact. The remaining three entries are represented by a Nintendo DS, Java and Flash game.

A trio of games lead the pack with three nominations apiece: Wardive, Edge and Fieldrunners (pictured). We're not anywhere close to calling it "the future of gameplay," but the iPhone's App Store -- not to mention massive install base -- has proven to be a viable and tempting business model for aspiring developers.

Peggle coming to iPhone in March

by Alexander Sliwinski { 9 months ago }

The last vestiges of our dwindling global economic workforce will cease if rumors of Peggle coming to iPhone are true. According to Wired, PopCap Games announced Peggle's next mobile destination via its "official" Twitter feed. The company wouldn't comment further, and actually went so far as to remove the tweet; however, the internet doesn't forget, as evidenced by the image we captured above.

Peggle was actually one of our Top 10 games back in 2007. Hopefully, the company removed the tweet not because it was incorrect, but because it intends to keep the secret until iPhone Peggle receives FDA approval. The Peggle must flow.

Update: A PopCap representative confirmed to Joystiq that Peggle on iPhone is "launching in early March."

Silent Hill and DanceDanceRevolution now on iPhone

by Justin McElroy { 9 months ago }

Though neither of them rhyme with "Petal Near Squalid", two of the four portable games Konami announced have arrived for your stroking and poking pleasure on the iPhone and iPod Touch this morning. The first, Silent Hill: The Escape, will run you $7.99 and allow you to "escape the suspense with full use of the touch panel and confront evil with the accelerometer." Watch your back, evil!

Also arriving in the iTunes Store is DanceDanceRevolution S Lite, an early version of the game – the "full version" is "currently in the works." It's being distributed for free, which seems like a bargain until you factor in the price of replacing your iPhone after you jump all over it.

Download – Silent Hill: The Escape [iTunes link]
Download – DanceDanceRevolution S Lite [iTunes Link]

Apple rejects Yoot Saito's iPhone game, dev staff considered Seaman DS

by Griffin McElroy { 9 months ago }

We're more than willing to give Apple's do-everything-device the benefit of the doubt if they want to try to make it a legitimate gaming platform, but when we hear a story like this, we can't help but develop a few hangups. Yoot Saito, developer of the unsettling/brilliant Seaman, recently wrote a blog post describing the fate of his in-development iPhone game, GABO (a spiritual successor to Seaman, but with a caveman instead of a manfish). That fate is unfortunately grim -- according to Saito, Apple gave the game the axe due to "unpleasant" gameplay.

He also mentions that the game's development staff had considered going to work on Seaman DS before working on GABO. We'd like to know how much money they'd need to follow through with this ambition, as well as the mailing address to where we should send said funds.

[Via Offworld, Translation via Kotaku]

Zork returns in 'Legends of Zork,' a casual MMO

by Justin McElroy { 9 months ago }

Sometimes, it seems that games are created just for us. They're lovingly mixed together from base ingredients we can't resist, rolled out on a floured surface, cut into Joystiq-logo shaped cookies and baked to a delicious golden brown. That's exactly what Jolt Online has done by resurrecting the "Zork" franchise in Legends of Zork, a casual, browser-based MMO.

Aside from telling Gamasutra that the game would feature microtransations and that it could be played on a computer or iPhone, Jolt's hasn't spilled much in the way of details. But rest assured that we'll be buying the game (or buying a wicked cool sword in the game, as the case may be) on day one.

Rumor: EA may be sticking to Glu, Mobile that is

by Jason Dobson { 9 months ago }

Electronic Arts could be looking to increase its stake in the mobile market by eating paste. A new report suggests that the company may be mulling over the acquisition of Glu Mobile, currently the third largest mobile game publisher and developer behind EA Mobile and Gameloft. Financial site Seeking Alpha cites a recent bevy of rumors regarding EA's growing interest in the Asian mobile market, followed by Glu's bolstered stock price as key indicators of a possible buyout.

The move, if it happens, would certainly underscore EA's commitment to the mobile platform and games. We're just not sure if the world is ready for Diner Dash 2009.

[Via Mobile Entertainment]

iPhone adventure '1112' potentially WiiWare-bound

by Randy Nelson { 10 months ago }

According to a post by its developer on NeoGAF, the multi-touch intensive iPhone/iPod Touch adventure, 1112, may be headed to WiiWare. Alexandre Leboucher states that a friend working at "a small Wii/DS game company" approached him about bringing the game to Wii, and Leboucher is asking for feedback on an appropriate Wii Points value (part one of the episodic series is $7.99 on the iTunes App Store).

Leboucher says he feels the game is technologically well-suited for Wii, but has concerns about WiiWare's 42 megabyte limit; the game's first episode on iPhone is 128MB.

[Via GoNintendo]

Continued →

Kojima calls Metal Gear Solid Touch a 'simple MGS' shooter

by Jason Dobson { 10 months ago }

Both 1UP and IGN have poked and prodded new details out of Japanese mag Famitsu's recent Metal Gear Solid Touch reveal, lifting the touchable curtains somewhat off Konami's upcoming head scratcher. According to the article, the game will be based on MGS4, with Metal Gear mastermind Kojima describing the iPhone app as a "Simple MGS." Translation: It's a shooter.

In fact, Metal Gear's emphasis on stealth is being pocketed this time around in favor of something that is easier to pick up and play on the go, with much of the gameplay involving sliding and pinching the screen in typical iPhone fashion to move Snake's view and zoom in and out of targets. Additionally, shooting bad guys and exploding barrels is taken care of by tapping directly on the screen. We remain interested, albeit confused, about Snake's latest mission. But the weathered soldier isn't getting any younger, and with all of these fingers in the way, we wonder if he'll be able to see anything at all.

Read – Kojima Goes In-Depth on Metal Gear Solid Touch
Read – Metal Gear Solid Touch Detailed

SimCity now available on iPhone

by Alexander Sliwinski { 10 months ago }

EA just sent word out by news ticker that SimCity is now available for iPhone (and iPod touch). The game appears to be in the vein of SimCity 3000 and is listed for $10 on the App Store.

We're curious to hear how it plays, so let us know in the comments. If it's a solid SimCity experience (and fat fingers friendly), $10 doesn't seem like a bad price.

Retail: Ubisoft releasing Grey's Anatomy game in March

by Alexander Sliwinski { 10 months ago }

Several retail listings indicate that a Grey's Anatomy video game will release on PC next March. The beauty of this story is that the game is published by Ubisoft, which recently dropped the rights to a Heroes video game. So ... the top-rated sexcapades of the doctors at Seattle Grace Hospital make for a better video game than the Heroes crew?

If you can't wait until the Ubi title releases in March to get your McDreamy on, there's always the option of downloading Gameloft's mobile version.

[Via Big Download]

Four Konami games coming to iPhone, including Metal Gear, Silent Hill

by Ludwig Kietzmann { 10 months ago }

And Dance Dance Revolution, if you can believe it. Konami has announced the impending arrival of four downloadable iPhone games, with all but one scheduled to arrive "from late December." The genres covered are "Music," "Action," "3D Shooting" and the slightly provocative "Touch Shooting." As for the corresponding titles:

Dance Dance Revolution S Lite, "a music game where you tap the arrow icons that appear at the bottom of the screen in time with music."
Silent Hill: The Escape, "a first-person 3D shooting game that lets players utilize the control features only found on the iPhone and iPod touch ..."
Frogger, "a simple game" which probably doesn't require any further explanation.
Metal Gear Solid Touch, "an original game that brings to life the world and characters" of MGS4. Eight "touch shooting" levels will be available in the initial release, with more to follow.

MGST is currently slated for a Spring 2009 release. All the games are coming to North America, Japan and Europe, with the exception of Dance Dance Revolution, which is apparently too hip for the electronic rectangles in Europe.

A Next Metal Gear is ... Metal Gear Solid Touch

by Ludwig Kietzmann { 10 months ago }

Don't leave yet! At least let us tell you where this information comes from. According to 1UP and 1 of its tipsters, the latest issue of Japanese mag Famitsu shows what lies beyond the cryptic ellipsis appended to Kojima Productions' teaser website, which we last discussed on December 5th. Judging by a somewhat scrutable scan, the game appears to be an iPhone project dubbed "Metal Gear Solid Touch." [Update: Konami has confirmed the title.]

Little else is known about the touch-screen title, but we imagine many a soldier's neck will be snapped via some precision pinching.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]

I heart Katamari hearts iPhone

by Randy Nelson { 10 months ago }

click to open iTunes

Namco's net ninjas have silently slipped an iPhone version of Katamari Damacy (fittingly renamed i Love Katamari – lower-case "i") onto the iTunes App Store (clicking opens iTunes). The latest portable version of the eccentric action game is being sold for $7.99 and, as you'd expect, is mainly controlled using the accelerometer inside the iPhone and iPod Touch. We downloaded the game to take it for a ~~spin~~ tilt.

Apart from some weird hiccups (we wouldn't call them framerate problems since the game, well, freezes momentarily) and some early wrangling with the controls (tilt is used for turning and forwards/backwards movement, touching the left or right side of the screen "strafes") we found it to be an enjoyable pint-sized packaging of one of our favorite games. The art style is well suited to iPhone / iPod Touch – as is its overall pick-up-and-play-anytime nature. Hopefully Namco will push out an update soon to address the initial bugs, and iPhone can continue being "the future of gameplay" in the meantime.