The Warp Pipe

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The first gameplay footage of Infinity Blade: Dungeons reveals a game that is very different from its predecessors. For one thing, all the enemies aren’t orc-type club wielders and Voldo guys – there’s a dog thing too.

Oh, and it’s an overhead-view Diablo-style dungeon crawl experience instead of a one-on-one sword fighting game. That’s another subtle difference you may have missed.

Descend into Infinity Blade Dungeons gameplay footage originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 17 May 2012 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s hard to imagine a job with more creative freedom than working on games like Rez and Child of Eden, but some former Q? Entertainment staffers have found it, breaking off to form their own indie developer.

Monstars Inc., a company founded by Rez programmer, Lumines designer, and Child of Eden programming lead Osamu Kodera, just released its first game, Kotomon for iOS. Despite breaking with Q?, Kotomon shows that Kodera and co. haven’t broken with everything they know – Kotomon promises “Dancing! Monsters! Shooting! Action!” as you slide to collect monsters and then fire them at enemies, with each attack creating new beats in the music.

Kotomon is out today at a promotional $2.99 price; it’ll go up to $3.99 after May 31.

Rez/Lumines vets release iOS game ‘Kotomon’ originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 14 May 2012 11:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you’ve been waiting to check out Remedy’s successful racer, Death Rally, now is probably the time to do it. The car-combat title is currently free on the Apple App Store. It’s only free for “a limited time” however, so get it while the gettin’s good.

Remedy is also giving away an iPad via the Death Rally Facebook page. To enter the giveaway, users have to simply “like” Death Rally on Facebook. You should probably actually try the game first, of course. Not that we’re suggesting anyone would ever “like” something dishonestly.

Continue reading Death Rally goes free on iOS for a limited time

Death Rally goes free on iOS for a limited time originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 09 May 2012 15:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Despite their occasional protests to the contrary, both Nintendo and Sony have seen the pervasive mobile market take chunks of the portable gaming industry. The mobile app space burgeoned as game developers undercut each other constantly, in a race toward 99 cents that set a buck as the de facto price point for the new marketplace. This, in turn, made a massive price disparity between mobile games and their handheld competition, which tends to retail for much more. Why buy a $30 DS game, when you can buy 30 games for the same price?

However, we’re now seeing yet another race all the way to the bottom: free. Even as the PC space is largely adopting a free-to-play, microtransaction-driven business model, the shift is similarly occurring in the mobile market. Recent F2P hits have started a run of similar titles, with some paid apps adopting a free-to-play option.

The change began subtly. Rovio’s breakout hit Angry Birds may have stuck near the top of the Top Paid Apps charts, but the Top Grossing arena was ruled by little blue men early last year. Smurfs Village spent months as the Top Grossing app, no doubt bolstered by co-marketing for the then-upcoming film. Still, the free app had an inviting price point, and even a few 99 cent purchases per user would easily push it above the revenue for a one-time dollar fee. Then, Tiny Tower became the talk of the iOS App Store blogosphere, using a similar model inspired by social gaming on Facebook, even garnering recognition as Apple’s official Game of the Year.

Continue reading Portable gaming’s ‘Race to Zero’

Portable gaming’s ‘Race to Zero’ originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 08 May 2012 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google Play, the download service formerly known as Android Market, crossed 15 billion downloads “a few weeks ago,” Google told TechCrunch.

There’s no information about what percentage of that 15 billion is games, but we can at least look at this as a handy comparison to the nearest competitor: Google has served up 15 billion since October 2008, while iOS apps have been downloaded (as of March) 25 billion times since July 2008.

There’s also no information on how many of those downloads have been since the rebranding – we hope the name change hasn’t been too confusing for Android users, leaving them desperately searching for the Android Market.

Google Play passes 15 billion downloads originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 08 May 2012 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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