fieldrunners posts

Filed under: Gaming, Software, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch

Galcon Labs in the App Store now

by Mike Schramm (RSS feed) on Oct 3rd, 2009

Galcon (App Store link) was one of the most popular games of last year -- it presented a fascinating mix of strategy and real-time arcade gameplay onto the iPhone just as it was starting out, and along with games like Fieldrunners and Flight Control, really cemented a place for the platform in the gamer's arsenal. It's been described as "real-time Risk in space." The basic premise is that you can drag little ships around from planet to planet, conquering planets of various sizes and thus producing more and more ships to take over with.

And now it's back. Galcon Labs is available now on the App Store, and it's pretty much exactly what you want in a sequel to a game you love: updated graphics and sound, more game modes, more online multiplayer, and just generally more of the same great gameplay, in a nice new package.

So yes, odds are that if you sunk quite a few hours into Galcon, Galcon Labs is a no-brainer. Just in case you don't want to make any financial commitment at all, there is a trial available for the original game, but given that Labs is just 99 cents right now, if you have any interest at all in dragging little ships around to fight wars between planets, it's probably worth the buck.

Gallery: Galcon Labs for the iPhone

Tags: buck, fieldrunners, flight-control, galcon, galcon-labs, gameplay, gaming, multiplayer, real-time, risk, ships, space-battles

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Gaming, Hardware, Software, Apple, Developer, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch

GDC09: iPhone gaming roundup

by Mike Schramm (RSS feed) on Mar 25th, 2009

The Game Developers Conference is on in San Francisco, and game companies are starting to pull out the major announcements on what's coming to the iPhone in the next year. Here's a roundup of all the titles we've heard mentioned already.

EA announced a huge lineup of ports from their already popular games: everything from Command and Conquer: Red Alert to SSX to FIFA, Madden, and NBA are all coming in some form to the iPhone. They're also working on bringing over the Wolfenstein RPG and Spore Creatures (which was the DS port of Spore), as well as a big list of casual board games (Scrabble is only the beginning), and versions of Need for Speed: Undercover, and Tiger Woods PGA Tour. And most amazing? All of these are due out before the end of the year. Someone's lighting a fire under iPhone developers at EA.
id software announced that they're bringing Wolfenstein 3D Classic to the iPhone in an official form -- that one's already been submitted to the store and should be out soon.

Click the link below to read on.

Continue reading “GDC09: iPhone gaming roundup”

Tags: command-and-conquer, depict, ea, fastfoot-challenge, fieldrunners, fifa, galcon, gdc, gdc-09, gdc-2009, gdc09, id-software, iphone, livefire, madden, NBA, ngmoco, picopoke, rolando, tiger-woods-pga-tour, wolfenstein, zen-bound

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Gaming, Software, Developer, iPhone, App Store, SDK, iPod touch

iPhone is dominating independent gaming

by Mike Schramm (RSS feed) on Jan 27th, 2009

Our friends at Joystiq make a very insightful and very telling discovery: the iPhone more or less owns the finalist list for the 2009 Independent Games Festival Mobile category. 11 of the 14 contestants aren't on the Nintendo DS or PSP -- they're built and played on the iPhone and the iPod touch. The popular Fieldrunners and Igloo Games' Dizzy Bee are standouts, but even innovative games like Galcon and the pseudogame experience Ruben and Lullaby are being honored with nods.

Very, very telling -- the relatively low cost of entry into the App Store and the versatility of Apple's SDK makes the iPhone/iPod touch a dream platform for independent game developers, and clearly, even with less than a year of development time, Apple's handheld is making a big splash in the industry. Sure, there's still a few pricing hiccups that need to be worked out to get bigger developers on board in a big way, but for smaller and single person independent game developers, there's never been a better platform on which to make and market your games.

Tags: app-store-pricing, awards, dizzy-bee, fieldrunners, finalists, galcon, gaming, independent, independent-developers, independent-games-mobile-festival, iphone, ipod-touch, nominations, ruben-and-lullaby

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Software, Freeware, iTunes, iPhone, iPod touch

2008 Best iPhone App Ever winners announced

by Mike Schramm (RSS feed) on Jan 9th, 2009

The voting only went underway a while ago, but they've just announced the winners for the 2008 Best App Ever awards, celebrating (according to 148apps.com and the people they got to nominate and vote in their contest) the best iPhone apps of last year. As I said for the voting, you can probably take most of this with a grain of salt, but there's no question that there are some awesome apps in here, and probably at least one or two you'll be interested in checking out if you haven't yet.

Shazam won big in the "Best Overall", "Most Innovative," and "Best WOW" categories, and that is well worth it: Shazam is super reliable and works great as a "music recognizer." Rolando picked up "Best Game Graphics," and "Best Game Controls." Fieldrunners also picked up two awards for "Best Strategy Game" and "Best Long-play Game."

Unfortunately, the much-despised (by me) Ocarina won three total awards, including "Best 99 cent app" (I would have chosen Koi Pond over that one easily and that's one where Weightbot was made to win), but feel free to ignore me and my iPhone app crankiness. There are lots of great iPhone apps here (especially when you dive into the nominations), and overall, we're looking at the best of a terrific first year of iPhone development. Onward to 2009!

Tags: 148apps, 99-cents, awards, best-app-ever, fieldrunners, koi-pond, ocarina, rolando, shazam, weightbot

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

Fieldrunners and other great iPhone games for the holidays

by Mike Schramm (RSS feed) on Dec 11th, 2008

Time Magazine has named Fieldrunners one of the top ten games of the year -- and the only game on the list for the iPhone. Very impressive. The App Store has only officially been out for half a year, and games have been in development for only a little longer than that, but already, we're getting some great games on the iPhone's touchscreen.

And speaking of great games, I've only recently come across Warfare Incorporated, but I know some of our commenters have been waiting for it. I'm no good at RTS games, but the game was award-winning on other handtop platforms, and is apparently doing very well on the iPhone also. If you're looking for real-time strategy on the small screen, there you go.

And finally, Tatomic, which is a game I've really enjoyed (kind of a cross between Lumines and Dr. Mario), sent us a note to say that their full version is on sale for the holidays, for only $2.99. There is still a free version, but even at the normal price of $4.99 Tatomic is a bargain if you at all like falling block games. At just three bucks, it's a steal. Terrific to see the iPhone holding its own with quality games this holiday.

Tags: fieldrunners, goty, iphone-game, magazine, rts, sale, tatomic, time, top-video-games, warfare-incorporated

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