galcon 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, Freeware, iTunes, Developer, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch

Wired's top 10 reader-approved iPhone games

by Mike Schramm (RSS feed) on Feb 17th, 2009

Our friends at Wired recently asked their readers what their favorite iPhone games were, and their list is a pretty darn good overview of some of the best choices for gamers on the App Store. Some of the picks are already well known -- we posted about Trism way, way back, and of course Galcon has been lauded already. And some of the choices are a little wacky -- Cube Runner is cool, but it's not really much more than a tech demo at this point.

Still, there are a few gems you may not have discovered yet -- JellyCar looks like a lot of fun, and Topple did kind of get hidden underneath the shadow of ngmoco's other big release, Rolando. It's worth a try if you haven't played it yet.

It's notable, as well, that all but the top two choices are pretty simple. As fun as these games are, there's definitely a lot more room for some deeper gameplay on the App Store.

Tags: app-store, cube-runner, galcon, games, gaming, iphone, ipod-touch, jellycar, lux-touch, reader-suggestions, rolando, topple, trism, wired

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

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