arcade posts

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Gaming, Software, Odds and ends, Developer, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch

Eliss releases version 1.1

by Mike Schramm (RSS feed) on May 7th, 2009

Unfortunately, I missed Eliss the first time around, but I won't make the same mistake this time. It's a game designed by a French and Portugese graphic designer named Steph Thirion, and it's sort of an abstract multitouch puzzler -- you can pull and push together differently colored planets all floating around in a sort of space-like environment, with some groovy synth sound effects and music cuts to back up the gameplay. The game got nominated for an IGF award, and for anyone interested in fun puzzlers (not to mention the possibilities of multitouch in gaming), it's a must-see.

I say "the first time around," because it's been on the App Store for a while now, but the game just got updated to version 1.1, and the main tweak is in the difficulty -- there are now 25 levels instead of 20, and the curve has been adjusted to make moving through the stages a little smoother. And the game got a price drop, too -- you can pick it up for a mere $3.00. As I said, definitely worth it to get a little multitouch practice in for what might be the future of gaming.

Tags: abstract, app-store, arcade, difficulty, eliss, gaming, iphone, multitouch, music, puzzle, stages, steph--thirion, update, version-1.1

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Gaming, Odds and ends, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch

Finding paths with Chuck the Ball and Super Fruitfall

by Mike Schramm (RSS feed) on Jan 15th, 2009

I've tried out two different "path" games this past week from the App Store. Both Chuck the Ball and Super Fruitfall have you navigating paths on the iPhone, both using the touchscreen a little differently to send items you don't directly control around the screen.

Super Fruitfall is made by a developer called Universomo and published by our friends at THQ Wireless. It's a relatively simple game -- there is some fruit sitting on a rotateable field, and your job is to match the fruit up with others of its type. It's amusing, in the way the old Labyrinth games were, but it's frustrating in the same way, too.

Extra frustration enters the scene when too-sensitive controls cause you to flip the screen an extra turn, losing any patterns you had going. A "juice mode" makes the game a little more interesting by keeping the fruit flowing as you match it out, but at $3, the game's a little too boring, unless you really love tilt puzzles. Personally, my outcome at the end of each level was brought about just as much by my randomly flipping the board around as it was any strategy I tried.

Chuck the Ball is a little more promising.

Continue reading “Finding paths with Chuck the Ball and Super Fruitfall”

Tags: app-store, arcade, chuck-the-ball, finding-paths, games, gaming, iphone, makeshift-games, paths, puzzle, super-fruitfall, thq-wireless

Filed under: Gaming, Odds and ends, Freeware

GameTap releases Mac-compatible Player

by Mike Schramm (RSS feed) on Dec 6th, 2007

The GameTap lite client has been out on the Mac for a while, but GameTap just finally released a new version of their full player, and it is now fully compatible with the Mac.

Unfortunately, things aren't quite hunky dory just yet-- the Mac player will only play Mac-supported games, which leaves a large number of games completely out-- Sam and Max, Psychonauts, and any other games listed as "Windows" are N/A in the Mac player. However, any emulation titles are in, so Genesis, Neo Geo, and the old arcade games are all playable, according to GameTap's page-- you can get your Sonic on in OS X.

This still doesn't help us with new games, of course, but it is awesome to have a huge library like that now available for gaming on the Mac. The GameTap player is now available for download over on their homepage, and while many games are available for free, a Gold subscription to play all the games is $60 a year.

Tags: arcade, gametap, genesis, mac, mac-supported, neo-geo, player, sam-and-max

Filed under: Gaming

Wingnuts 2, an original Mac game, takes off

by Conrad Quilty-Harper (RSS feed) on Jun 15th, 2006

Freeverse has announced that Wingnuts 2, a top-down aerial arcade shooter game, is now available for online purchase and download. The title benefits from being an original and exclusive Mac game, developed and playable exclusively on the Mac. Freeverse co-founder Colin Lynch Smith mentions the advantages of developing games solely for the Mac over on Inside Mac Games:

"This is the biggest game to be written specifically for the Mac in years. Targeting just the Mac means no performance compromises (and lower system requirements)-- and we can design in cool OS X specific technologies like CoreImage and iSight integration."

It's about time that game developers woke up to the benefits of creating games specifically for the Mac platform. Hopefully this will be the first title of many in a resurgence of big name Mac-exclusive titles.

You can grab a demo of the game at this link and a video of the game (complete with an example of the fancy CoreImage effects) is available here. A DVD boxset of the game will ship in early July, but if you can't wait that long the game is available as a whopping 550MB download for $29.95 over on the Wingnuts 2 site.

[Via Joystiq]

Tags: Arcade, Freeverse, Mac, Mac Game, Mac Games, Mac Gaming, MacGame, MacGames, MacGaming, OMG, Original Mac Games, OriginalMacGames, Top-down, Wingnuts 2, Wingnuts2

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