That game, Project 72, has just been submitted to Apple after the three team members stayed awake for 72 hours to take the game from launch platform to orbit.

Project 72 is a simple enough looking game. It places you in control of a space rocket as it speeds through an asteroid field. The accelerometer is used to steer you around rocks, black holes, and aliens as you gather speed and slow down by tilting backwards and forwards.

It’s beautiful looking, and a damn impressive effort for 72 hours worth of work. Project 72 is with Apple now and should be landing on the App Store shortly. In the meantime, check out the final build video.

The post Project 72 – Arcade game built in three days appeared first on AppTrawler.

We hope you all had a fun and safe time celebrating the end of 2009 and the beginning of 2010 last night, but let’s get down to business. While you were watching the ball drop, a few great games were going on sale. Here are a few of the more noteworthy games with recent price reductions:

• bChamp Beatbox, 99¢ → Free
• Vector Tanks, .99 → Free
• Aera, .99 → 99¢
• Cell War, .99 → 99¢
• Harbor Havoc 3D, .99 → 99¢
• Harry Potter: Spells, .99 → 99¢
• Liberty Boom, .99 → 99¢
• Navy Patrol: Coastal Defense, .99 → 99¢
• Sword of Fargoal, .99 → .99 (Sale Extended)
• The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition, .99 → .99
• Ravensword: The Fallen King, .99 → .99
• The Settlers, .99 → .99
• James Cameron’s Avatar, .99 → .99

As always, the prices listed are current as of this posting.

Otherwise, you can check AppShopper for popular games with price changes as well as all games with price changes.

The post Happy New Year! Temporary Game Sales and Freebies appeared first on AppTrawler.

In the hills of western Wales there lives a man known to some as YAK. This man surrounds himself with sheep, goats, llamas, and the like. By his own description he is, like his four-legged friends, a bit of a “scruffy hairy beast,” himself. He is incapable of turning down a quality curry, and, likewise, incapable of developing a game that does not break with tradition and bend the mind — to some extent, at least — of the player. And while the name YAK was spawned by necessity due to early arcade machines only recording three letters in the high score lists, he does have a real name. To normal folk — those perhaps outside the video game world — he is known as Jeff Minter. And to me, he has long been known as the king of indie game development. And Jeff “YAK ” Minter has, at long last, found the iPhone.

Jeff began writing games on the Commodore PET in the late 70s. In 1982 he founded Llamasoft, developing games for the Commodore VIC-20 and 64. His games have always been known for their distinctive, often psychedelic style. Some of his more notable titles include Tempest 2000 for the Jaguar, Tempest 3000 for the VM Labs Nuon, Gridrunner, Space Giraffe and Space Invaders Extreme for the Xbox Live Arcade, and even the “light synthesizer,” the Xbox 360’s musical visualizer. Jeff is a bit of a legend who has recently embraced the iPhone.

Of our favorite platform, he says,

I enjoy working on the iPhone because it’s capable and interesting and the ergonomics make you rethink things a bit. I really don’t like games that just try to replicate analog thumbpads on the touch screen – although some of those controls are very well done nonetheless I always feel a bit awkward sliding my thumbs around with no accompanying tactile feedback. Plus there’s the added and inevitable disadvantage of having to obscure the screen you’re trying to play on. I’m interested in developing stuff that’s playable with the accelerometers and uses touches appropriately but sparingly and in a way that doesn’t upset the view too much.

Jeff’s first iPhone title — currently in progress — is a Time Pilot-style multidirectional shooter utilizing accelerometer-based controls. He indicates that the game is a good testbed for the generalized iPhone game engine he is currently working on. Jeff indicates that once this game is released, future iPhone games should come at a much faster pace — a few weeks or a couple of months tops per title — and he’s got a lot of ideas for iPhone games. Great news for iPhone gamers.

Jeff recently released Gridrunner Revolution for the PC, which was highly rated in the latest issue of Retro Gamer magazine and, when asked, indicates that there’s a good chance that we’ll see an iPhone take on that title. “Probably not a straight port, but something specifically created for the platform and incorporating elements of the PC game,” says Jeff. Let’s keep our fingers crossed.

The highly accessible iPhone platform has attracted many superb indie game developers. Jeff’s decision to join these ranks only takes the platform that much further towards gaming nirvana. We’ll keep a close eye on what Jeff’s woking on and keep readers well informed. In the meantime, have a look at Jeff’s Llamasoft blog.

Stay tuned — there’s some real iPhone gaming goodness on the way.

The post Legendary Indie Developer Jeff Minter on iPhone appeared first on AppTrawler.

Apps are broken down into games and more traditional applications. Anyone who follows TouchArcade regularly should be familiar with most of the games on this list. While we’ve only recently given out star ratings, our currently rated 5 star games are well represented in the list.

The game names are linked to iTunes alongside links to our own reviews of the games.

• Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor
• Real Racing
• Zenonia
• Ravensword
• Earth vs. Moon
• Sally’s Spa
• Ragdoll Blaster
• Canabalt
• Blades of Fury
• Doom Classic
• Sway
• geoDefense
• Flight Control
• Alive 4 Ever
• Fantastic Contraption
• Samurai: Way of the Warrior
• Backbreaker Football
• Meteor Blitz
• Rolando 2
• Star Hogs
• Paper Toss
• Boost 3D
• Doodle Jump
• Zen Bound
• Stick Wars
• Eliminate Pro
• Tap Tap Revenge 3
• Call of Duty: Zombies
• iBomber
• Jet Car Stunts

Congratulations to the developers who made the list. We’ll be compiling our own “best of” list for 2009 in the coming weeks.

The post Apple Picks Best Games of 2009 on iTunes appeared first on AppTrawler.

I had planned on settling in tonight, sifting through the tons of emails we’ve received from developers who are planning to or have put their games on sale, and forming some kind of massive list… Only to discover that TouchArcade forum superstar and all around cool dude Djflippy had completely one-upped me, not only posting a thread with a remarkably comprehensive list, but also alphabetizing said list.

All of these games are either on sale currently or either have prices that are currently being modified or will be changed shortly. If something you’re looking for isn’t the price that we’ve published, just check back later:

Big Fish Games, Inc
Atlantis Sky Patrol {content}.99
Civil War: Hidden Mysteries {content}.99

Bootant
Crazy Choppers {content}.99
Pirate Waters {content}.99

Chillingo
Jules Verne’s Secrets Of The Mysterious Island {content}.99
Super Shock Football FREE

Cobra Mobile
Dam Buster {content}.99
Dots {content}.99
Fore by Cobra Mobile {content}.99
iBomber {content}.99
Low Grav Racer {content}.99
Mouse About {content}.99
Numba {content}.99
Zombie Chav Hunt {content}.99

Com2Us
9 Innings: Pro Baseball 2009 {content}.99
Chronicles of Inotia: Legend of Feanor> {content}.99
Crazy Hotdogs> {content}.99
Homerun Battle 3D> {content}.99
Sniper Vs Sniper: Online> {content}.99
Trapped: Undead Infection> {content}.99
World of Tunes {content}.99

EA
Auditorium .99
Command and Conquer: Red Alert .99
Madden NFL 10 by EA Sports .99
Monopoly .99
Monopoly Here & Now: The World Edition .99
Mystery Mania {content}.99
Need For Speed: Undercover .99
Pandemonium .99
Scrabble .99
SimCity .99
Star Trek {content}.99
Tetris .99
The Sims 3 .99
Tiger Woods PGA Tour by EA Sports .99
Trivial Pursuit .99
Wolfenstein RPG .99
Zombies & Me {content}.99

Gameloft
Blades of Fury {content}.99
Brothers in Arms Hour of Heroes {content}.99
Castle Of Magic {content}.99
Gangstar: West Coast Hustle .99
Hero of Sparta {content}.99
Real Tennis 2009 {content}.99
Shrek Kart {content}.99
Terminator Salvation : The Official Game {content}.99

IUGO
Cliffed {content}.99
Spy Bot Chronicles .99
Star Hogs .99
Toy Bot Diaries {content}.99
Toy Bot Diaries 2 {content}.99
Toy Bot Diaries 3 {content}.99
Toy Bot Diaries Compilation .99
Toy Bot Mini Missions {content}.99
Zombie Attack! {content}.99
Zombie Attack! Second Wave .99

Konami
DanceDanceRevolution S (US) {content}.99
DanceDanceRevolution S+ (US) {content}.99
Field Prowlers Police Rush! (US) {content}.99
Frogger {content}.99
Krazy Kart Racing (US) {content}.99
Metal Gear Solid Touch (US) {content}.99
Power Pros Touch {content}.99
Silent Hill The Escape (US) {content}.99
Silent Scope (US) {content}.99

Manomio
C64 .99
Flashback .99

Namco
Alpine Racer {content}.99
Brain Exercise with Dr. Kawashima .99
BurgerTime Deluxe {content}.99
Dig Dug REMIX {content}.99
Galaga REMIX {content}.99
Garters & Ghouls .99
I Love Katamari .99
Inspector Gadget .99
Mr. Driller {content}.99
Ms. Pac-Man .99
Pac-Man .99
Pac-Man REMIX {content}.99
Pole Position: Remix {content}.99
Star Trigon {content}.99
Tamagotchi: ‘Round the World .99
Time Crisis Strike .99

Origin8
AirBear {content}.99
MonsterKill {content}.99

Pangea Software
Billy Frontier {content}.99
Bugdom 2 {content}.99
Cro-Mag Rally {content}.99
Enigmo {content}.99
Enigmo 2 {content}.99
Nanosaur 2 {content}.99
Otto Matic {content}.99

Various Publishers and Developers
2079 {content}.99
Alchemize .99
Apache Storm – The Killing Spree {content}.99
Aqua Globs {content}.99
Aqua Moto Racing {content}.99
ArchRobo, Robotic Annihilation {content}.99
Asteroids vs Planet FREE
Backstreet Cat FREE
Beneath a Steel Sky: Remastered {content}.99
Block Knights FREE
Blockee {content}.99
BMX Cunning Stunts 3D {content}.99
Caster {content}.99
Cheese Collect {content}.99
Chopper {content}.99
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant {content}.99
Creepytown FREE
DaVinci’s Secret Machines {content}.99
Dexter the Game .99
Doom Resurrection .99
DoubleDrop FREE
Dragon Portals {content}.99
Enjoy Sudoku {content}.99
Face It! FREE
Finger Sling {content}.99
Flickitty FREE
Flock it! {content}.99
GL Golf {content}.99
Harry Potter: Spells .99
Hi, How Are You {content}.99
Hive {content}.99
Hybrid: Eternal Whisper .99
iTotem Idol {content}.99
Judgment Day War {content}.99
Jumboo {content}.99
KidZillion Games Pack {content}.99
LabyMania {content}.99
Liberty Boom {content}.99
Lines of Mania {content}.99
Lucha Libre Matchups FREE
Occuro! – The Game of Stellar Combat {content}.99
Pazzi {content}.99
Pentanimals {content}.99
Pheasant Plucker’s Christmas {content}.99
Rogue Touch {content}.99
The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition .99
Sheepstacker {content}.99
Slotz Racer {content}.99
Synth Racing {content}.99
Touch Pets Dogs 10 food FREE
Tower Madness {content}.99
Trak4 FREE
Turn Episode 1: The Lost Artefact .99
Volley {content}.99
War 3100 {content}.99
Zentomino {content}.99
ZoMbiE ciTy! {content}.99

There are some serious bargains to be had in that list, and most of these sales are only going to last through the day with some of them extending over the weekend. It’s probably not a good idea to wait on downloading any of these games if you’ve been waiting for anything in the above list to go on sale.

And once again, Djflippy, we salute you.

The post Black Friday 2009 App Store Sale Extravaganza appeared first on AppTrawler.

We’re not sure how long this notice has been in place, but a reader trystero  an announcement by Digital Leisure that they will be bringing Dragon’s Lair to the iPhone due to popular demand.

The “Fall” timeframe makes us think this notice has been in place for some time, but we’re still hopeful the game will arrive sooner or later.

The post Coming Soon: Dragon’s Lair appeared first on AppTrawler.

After downloading ZenNews iPhone app, it takes some time to update itself. To keep track of the progress, tap on the “All News” Tab and when it shows a time format of “HH:Mm” then the update is complete. This iPhone app, updates itself automatically with the latest news. You can switch through these “Tag Clouds” to see the breaking headlines and read through them. This iPhone app depends on the real time speed of the news feed forwarded by twitter. You can mark stories as favorites and share them through Twitter and email.

ZenNews is a free app for the iPhone and great for staying on top of what is happening around the globe using easy to digest keywords.

This 3rd Party App is available at the Apple iTunes AppStore.

The post Overview: ZenNews appeared first on AppTrawler.

AppTrawler has not only trawled the app store for new and emerging talent but we’ve been proactively talking to the developers finding out what makes them tick, whats in store for the future, the perils and pitfall all for you, our lovely readers.

This month we hope to improve this service with more content, specialist themed weeks, more interviews and we are taking on board any comments from our readers to improve the site to make it better for YOU.

If you have any feedback on the site, its content and have suggestions for the future please email info@apptrawler.com

The post 200 posts in ONE MONTH appeared first on AppTrawler.

The pressure is on for Nicholas who was recently profiled in a Newsweek article which described that it is harder than ever to find success in the App Store. Nicholas admits that a lot of the success of iShoot was “pure luck” and he is “very worried about being a one-hit wonder.”

According to the article, Nicholas has spend eight months and more than 6 figures working on his follow-up title. Nicholas tweeted the first peek at his next project with just these screenshots. No other details have been provided.

The TouchArcade forum has generated speculation about exactly what kind of game it might be from a traditional first person shooter to a hunting game. The following tweet from early October doesn’t seem to provide much clarity:

Working on making critters explode when hit with a rocket.

We’ll be interested to see Nicholas’s followup game. Good luck Ethan!

The post iShoot Developer feels the pressure appeared first on AppTrawler.

Maciej Biedrzycki, co-founder of Codeminion, developers of StoneLoops explained on his blog today the reasoning behind the recent removal, which all boils down to a complaint filed by Mumbo Jumbo, developers of Luxor:

About 3 weeks ago we have learned that Mumbo Jumbo supplied Apple with a formal complaint and a request to remove StoneLoops! from the AppStore. The reason? Infringing Luxor copyright, confusing customers, stealing Luxor’s look & feel and even stealing their source code!

Codeminion responded to the complaint, and heard nothing of it for several weeks. After assuming their response was satisfactory, they later discovered that StoneLoops had ultimately been removed from the App Store.

This entire situation has left members of our forums both in both the StoneLoops and Luxor threads scratching their heads. While the original version of Luxor was released about 3 years prior to StoneLoops!, neither game is based on an entirely original concept, as PopCap’s Zuma was released in 2003, and Puzz Loop (which is also on the App Store) was released all the way back in 1998. We’ve yet to receive a response from Mumbo Jumbo to get their side of the story.

The post ‘StoneLoops of Jurassica’ Removed from App Store appeared first on AppTrawler.

While it seems like the world should have come screeching to a halt, it wasn’t huge news at the time. Steve Jobs debuted the revolutionary product and gave away plenty of iPods for the press to play with; many griped about the high price (9), lack of an included protective case, and an extreme susceptibility to finger prints.
The original iPod also required a FireWire connection to update songs and recharge the battery, along with a relatively new version of one of Mac’s machines.

But the iPod held fast and was triumphant, and seventeen versions and six years later the very first iPhone came into fruition. Clearly we have the iPod and Apple to thank for the world’s best phone, and for that reason aloone: today is a special day.

For the occasion, a trip down memory lane:

[nggallery id=2]

The post Happy 8th Birthday iPod appeared first on AppTrawler.

More details are said to be following, but Ngmoco has long announced that Eliminate would carry in-app purchases for energy that allows players to earn additional credits. Every player gets a certain auto-renewable source of energy, but once depleted, to earn more credits the player must either 1) wait a certain amount of time for your energy to recharge or 2) purchase more energy. If you don’t care about credits, you may also continue to play but simply be ineligible to earn credits during those games. Credits are used for equipment upgrades and leveling up. We had a hands on with the game earlier this month which explains the system in detail and also gives impressions of the gameplay.

Based on comments by Ngmoco about the “aggressive” pricing of Eliminate, we long suspected that Ngmoco planned on making the bulk of its income in these in-app purchases. The move to a completely free game would expose Eliminate to a much larger audience of potential customers and also remove the issue of having a large enough user base to support an online multiplayer game.

Eliminate has been submitted and is awaiting approval from Apple.

The post Ngmoco’s Eliminate Game – FREE appeared first on AppTrawler.

Available immediately, developers can now release free games and applications and make use of in-game purchases and micro-transactions. This apparently includes free and lite versions; allowing players to unlock the full game from within the free version, and reducing clutter on the App Store since devs will only have to release a single product.

Apple also pointed out – quite rightly – that this system will also help to reduce the massive amounts of piracy the iPhone is suffering, as the game’s owner will be able to verify the app’s authenticity during the micro-transaction.

Already ngmoco – which recently gave a talk on the depth of piracy its games are suffering – announced that its highly anticipated online shooter Eliminate will be free to play, sol clearly developers are excited about this turn of events.

It’s not without its complications as Jon explains over on PocketGamer.Biz (such as how those vital, gold-spinning free and paid charts will now work on the App Store), but once developers get a handle on this new revenue model, we’ll likely be seeing another shift in the iPhone’s fortunes.

The post Apple allows micro-transactions appeared first on AppTrawler.