xbox-live posts

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

Freeverse goes with ngmoco's Plus+ for iPhone social gaming

by Mike Schramm (RSS feed) on Jul 31st, 2009

Freeverse has picked a partner in the ongoing dance of social gaming networks on the iPhone. They've joined up with ngmoco and their Plus+ system for all of their games, including Flick Bowling, Flick Fishing, and Moto Thunder. The first Freeverse game to use the system (which allows players to earn points across games, track friends' playing habits, and vie for the tops of leaderboards) will be an upcoming title called Warpgate, and then it'll be ported back to the already-released games as well.

This is actually a fairly big shot across the board of other networks vying for players, including Aurora Feint's OpenFeint, Chillingo's Crystal SDK, Scoreloop, and a few other competing services. ngmoco had originally announced that their Plus+ service would be proprietary to the titles that they published, but the inclusion of Freeverse as a partner means they're likely headhunting for quality titles to add to the mix, much like everyone else.

To a certain extent, this is a behind-the-scenes battle -- consumers will likely choose games based on what they want to play, not necessarily on what social network they're hooked into. It's as if Microsoft, instead of having the overarching Xbox Live system, left it up to developers to award and track achievement points. But you have to think that one big player will emerge here, and then it'll be interesting to see what kinds of rewards the devs who connected with that system will reap.

[via TouchArcade]

Tags: achievement, crystal-sdk, freeverse, ngmoco, ngmoco:, openfeint, plus, scoreloop, social-gaming, social-networking, socialgaming, xbox-live

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

Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition out on iPhone

by Mike Schramm (RSS feed) on Jul 23rd, 2009

That was fast -- LucasArts has released the Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition out to the iPhone, and it's available on the App Store right now for the low price of $7.99. I say low because even though that's higher than many games for the platform, this one is not only one of the best-loved games of yesteryear, but it has also had its graphics completely redone, voiceover added for every scene and character, and a completely remastered musical score as well. Plus, if you get nostalgic for the old version, you can seamlessly switch between the new and old at any time while you play the game. Pretty darn cool.

Plus, the price can also be considered low because this exact same game released just about a week ago on the Xbox Live Arcade for $10. So not only do you now get to play it in a portable version, you get to play it for $2 less. Hopefully this is the first of many LucasArts classics that we'll see on the iPhone. Just keep an eye out as you play for any really evil-looking doorstops -- we hear they're quite fearsome.

Tags: adventure, app, graphics, iphone, ipod touch, IpodTouch, lucasarts, nostalgia, prices, remake, secret-of-monkey-island, special-edition, voiceover, walk-to, xbox-live

Filed under: Gaming, Software, Freeware, iPhone, SDK, iPod touch

OpenFeint drops dev fees as Chillingo announces social gaming network Crystal SDK

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

The social gaming market on the iPhone has taken two sharp turns recently. First up, right after announcing that their system hit a full million users, OpenFeint announced that their social gaming platform has gone completely free for developers. Originally, the SDK was free to download, and then there was a small cost-per-user fee for developers, but with this new change, that cost is gone, and OpenFeint will now make all of their money, as we were told by Peter Relan, from referring users to other games and in-app purchases, and then taking that cut from Apple.

The popular publisher Chillingo has also announced a newcomer to the social gaming scene: they're planning to introduce another system called Crystal SDK, that will presumably both be free to all developers, and automatically included in most of Chillingo's games. Their release specifically tells us that "Crystal is iPhone's answer to Microsoft's Xbox Live," so they're officially throwing their hat in an already crowded ring.

With a million users, OpenFeint is still the biggest network going, but obviously Chillingo believes there's still many more to pick up. Should be interesting to see, as always, what users decide to do.

Tags: chillingo, crystal-sdk, gaming, iphone, network, openfeint, sdk, service, social-gaming, social-network, users, xbox-live

Filed under: Gaming, Software, Odds and ends, Developer, iPhone, App Store, SDK

Scoreloop introduces Scoreloop Community for the iPhone

by Mike Schramm (RSS feed) on Jul 10th, 2009

We've talked about OpenFeint quite a few times on the site before (and even interviewed the creators), but while they're definitely one of the biggest names in creating gaming communities for the iPhone, they're not alone. A company called Scoreloop has today announced a service called "Scoreloop Community," made up of two different features: a web presence, and a downloadable application for the iPhone that hooks right into other developers' games and apps and allows players to create avatars, view friends and their activities, and share challenges and high scores with others. Just like OpenFeint, Scoreloop says they're offering an easy-to-implement solution for push notifications, letting players send and receive messages (as well as promote and encourage usage of games in the service) and earn achievements and tokens.

Of course, the real test for services like this will be in the implementation -- while OpenFeint claims a nice stable of developers, we still haven't seen too many apps take advantage of the latest and greatest versions (Pocket God is an extremely popular app that has implemented OpenFeint, but they use an older version of the software that doesn't have nearly as many features as the latest). Scoreloop says they've got over 50 game commitments from third-party developers already (it sounds like Zombie Pub Crawl is their biggest title yet), but even then, it remains to be seen exactly how devs will implement their functionality, and how players take to the service.

If you're a developer looking to implement push notifications and social challenges and networking in your app, it seems that there's no shortage of companies willing to step in and help you do exactly that (you can download the free SDK, if interested, on Scoreloop's site). But in terms of how consumers view and will use these networks, it's still a very wide open field.

Tags: challenges, developers, development, friends, implementation, networking, openfeint, push-notifications, scoreloop, sdk, software, versions, xbox-live

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Gaming, Rumors, Software, Apple, iPhone, iPod touch

Rumor: Apple considering a $19.99 price point for App Store games?

by Mike Schramm (RSS feed) on Jan 29th, 2009

It's just a rumor at this point, but yes, apparently it's floating around out there that Apple may be considering a $19.99 price point for "premium" games in the App Store. That would be a direct response not only to bigger developers who say a 99 cents to $9.99 price point is too low for them to justify the cost of production, but also to competing game systems like the DS and the PSP -- if the same games were available for the same price on both systems, Apple could use the iPhone's extra features to justify even more purchases.

It's an interesting idea, and actually, though obviously it would cost consumers more, the bottom line in the App Store has always been worth, not price -- there are currently premium games being sold on services like Xbox Live and the Wii's Virtual Console for $20, and gamers are willing to pay, as long as they get the bang for the buck that they expect.

We'll have to see what approach Apple takes here. On the music side of things, they were obviously very hesitant to move up the price points (though even there, they made concessions and did so). As popular as the App Store is, a higher price point, if used correctly, could really open up the kinds of software we're seeing there.

Tags: app-store, apple, ds, gaming, handheld, prices, psp, rumor, virtual-console, xbox-live

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Gaming, Internet, iPhone

Raging Thunder tries online multiplayer

by Mike Schramm (RSS feed) on Nov 17th, 2008

Raging Thunder is one of those games we've been watching since the App Store was first announced, and now it may have reached another milestone. Polarbit says that with version 1.0.3, which is in the App Store now, they've released online, real-time competitive multiplayer. They say it's an App Store first, and I think they're right -- a few games have offered wifi multiplayer before (Apple's Hold'em does, and Raging Thunder did previously), and some games have done some non-real time multiplayer (Loot Wars is interesting in that way) but allowing players to play competitively online in real-time is something that hasn't been done much.

It's not quite on the level of Xbox Live yet -- Polarbit is offering a free beta of their server software on the website, so you've apparently got to have your own server running (or sign on to someone else's) to race against your friends online. I just gave it a shot, and it worked well. The lobby system is a little awkward and without voice chat (strange how much I've just taken it for granted in multiplayer nowadays), it's hard to tell whether people are playing or just waiting in a room (or why they're dropping out of the race, as a few players did while I played). But once you get into the game, it's Raging Thunder with other people driving the cars. Well done.

It would be nice to see player names above cars. Easier to do trash talking when you know who you're talking about. This is only the beginning, however -- here's to many, many great online multiplayer experiences on the iPhone.

Update: Commenters have piped up (thanks!) with some other games that have attempted online multiplayer, including Tap Tap, Galcon, and Adrenaline Pool. Keep in mind that we're not talking about wifi multiplayer here, though that's cool, too -- this is real-time multiplayer with other people who are around the world.

Tags: games, gaming, iphone, lobby, online-multiplayer, polarbit, raging-thunder, voice-chat, xbox-live

Filed under: Gaming, Software, Tips and tricks, Internet, Apple, iPhone

Xbox Live Friends list on your iPhone

by Mike Schramm (RSS feed) on Feb 22nd, 2008

There are quite a few ways online to see what your friends are up to in Xbox Live -- the most fun way is probably the 360 Voice site (that lets your Xbox blog about what you've been playing lately), but there are also Facebook applications, Dashboard widgets, and all kinds of other ways to keep tabs on gamertags. And now, 1337pwn.com has released a browser widget for MobileSafari on the iPhone and iPod touch, so you can track any gamertags you like on the go.

It doesn't actually nab tags from your friends list, so you have to type them all in separately (of course, that also means you can ninja-monitor folks), but once you get it set up, you get a URL that you can bookmark (or Webclip -- there is a default Webclip icon as well) with each person's GT, Gamerscore, last game played, and their icon and motto. So there aren't too many stats there to deal with, but if you want to quickly see what your friends are up to on your favorite portable device, it works pretty well.

[Thanks, Det!]

Tags: friends-list, iphone, mobile-safari, webclip, widet, xbox, xbox-360, xbox-live

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Gaming, Cool tools, Freeware, iPhone

iHaloStats puts Halo info on the iPhone

by Mike Schramm (RSS feed) on Jan 24th, 2008

This little app combines pretty much my two favorite things right now: my copy of Halo 3 and my iPhone. iHaloStats pulls all of the information from your Halo 3 matches available on Bungie's site (and if you haven't played the game, yes there is a ton of it -- every shot, grenade throw, and double kill is tracked for you), and puts it all in a convenient, if a little complicated, format on your iPhone. All of your ranks, kills, skills, medals, and promotions are all there.

And in fact, it's not just your info -- you can punch anyone's gamertag in and instantly see how far they've gotten in game. Is your friend bragging that he finally beat it on Legendary? Dial him up and check out that claim with ease.

Very impressive, and to tell the truth, I'd like to see more tools like this (maybe even some official ones?) to extend the various games we play. Considering how tracked and connected videogames can be nowadays, it's exciting to see possibilities like this arising.

Tags: halo, halo-stats, iphone, major-nelson, xbox-live

Tip of the Day

Use Spotlight as a reference tool. Type any word in the Spotlight box and one of the top entries will be a definition. Click on it, and it will bring up the dictionary application to check the word in either the dictionary, thesaurus, Apple database, or Wikipedia.

Learn More

TUAW flickr Pool

www.flickr.com

Featured Galleries

TUAW bloggers (30 days)

#	Blogger	Posts	Cmts
1	Steven Sande	44	3
2	Dave Caolo	35	4
3	Mel Martin	31	0
4	Mike Schramm	28	0
5	Michael Rose	18	26
6	Josh Carr	18	24
7	Victor Agreda, Jr.	17	6
8	TJ Luoma	15	27
9	Joachim Bean	12	3
10	Erica Sadun	11	1
11	Sang Tang	10	0
12	Ken Ray	10	2
13	Aron Trimble	9	3
14	David Winograd	9	4
15	Chris Rawson	8	0
16	Megan Lavey	7	9
17	John Burke	6	3
18	Lauren Hirsch	4	0
19	Brett Terpstra	4	5
20	Kent Pribbernow	3	0

More Apple Analysis

AAPL on BloggingStocks The Apple category feed from BloggingStocks.com
AAPL Quote, News & Summary The AAPL financials page from AOL Money and Finance
iPhone analysis from BloggingStocks iPhone tag feed from BloggingStocks
Macintosh news and reviews on Download Squad The Macintosh category feed from Download Squad

The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)