After expanding our horizons with Flash games and GameTap games in recent weeks, we thought it might be time to delve into everybody's favorite new game console that isn't: The iPhone. Though there are plenty of good purchasable games, you have to look a bit harder in the App Store to dig up a decent free one. We've picked one of the most popular choices this week: Tap Tap Revenge.
The concept couldn't be simpler. Three columns of dots hurtle towards the "Home" key, and you have to tap them in time with the music. As you nail more notes in succession, your multiplier (and, in turn, your score) continues to climb. You'll occasionally have to use the phone's accelerometer to shake it instead of tap.
There's also a surprisingly enjoyable two-player mode that allows you and a friend to grip either side of the phone (make sure they wash their hands first) and tap the dots now careening toward both ends of the phone.
Besides being free, the game also has some additional songs you can download -- not a bad value-add for a game that was free in the first place. iPhone owners: Give it a shot and let us know what you think. Non-iPhone owners: Please be more dedicated about trying to get an iPhone.
We thought it'd be best to start off the month of August by cleaning house and collecting all our E3 impressions from around the Joystiq Network into one easy-to-peruse guide. In case you missed anything (and there's a pretty good chance you did), check out all of our impressions from E3 2008.
We haven't played Doom RPG, so we're not exactly sure how meshing an id FPS with a role-playing game model will work. But we have to say that after watching the above QuakeCon footage of Wolfenstein RPG, we're at the very least intrigued.
If we have one regret, it's that the game is coming to cell phones instead of Apple's sexy new behemoth. Sadly it seems like we'll have to wait for Carmack's "graphical tour de force" for a portable id game that doesn't look like straight yuck.
A marriage of MMO powerhouse World of Warcraftand mobile phones may seem technically unsound, but it's not exactly a pipe dream either. First there was the guy who sort of, kind of but not really was able to get WoW up and running on his iPhone, then there was Blizzard's own admission that it was trying to find a way to utilize cell phones for some sort of WoW application.
Now, it seems the team's been beaten to the punch by a couple of new iPhone apps. The first, Warcraft Characters, allows you to enter character and realm name and check out a few character stats (no gear, though). The second, WarcraftStat allows you to check your realm's status even when you're out and about, the implications of which are almost too depressing to consider.
OK, so they're not exactly fully-featured, but hopefully they'll pacify until Blizzard gets busy.
John Carmack loves his iPhone, so much so that the id Software co-founder has been spending a lot of time lately thinking of ways to bring his studio's tech-hungry game development to Apple's pricey portable. Forbes reports that Carmack, who still kicks himself for not having a game available for the device at launch, is currently planning to bring one of the dev's existing franchises to the iPhone as a "graphical tour de force."
But as for which one, the company isn't saying just yet, though given that the recently launched id Mobile division already has Doom RPG and the forthcoming Wolfenstein RPG to its credit, we wouldn't be at all surprised if Carmack will bring Quakeor some flavor of Rageto the small screen as well. What's more, he's apparently considering the idea of tackling the MMO market on the iPhone down the line, though he admits that he's being "conservative" and doesn't "want to be in a bet-the-company situation" just yet. Even so, as Carmack looks for ways to push the phone's visual fidelity, we take solace in the fact that for once we won't have to upgrade our video card just to play with his latest toy.
We don't remember Naughty Dog's wise-cracking ottsel brandishing a knife, but hey, we're always open to crazy new ideas. Oh, this is Dexter, the hit Showtime series about a forensics expert who also happens to be a serial killer (of other killers). Whoops.
Anyway, IGN has a story out of San Diego Comic-Con 08 that is sure to put a sour puss on anyone who was waiting for a console game based on the show. Ecko, who acquired the rights to Dexter for game-making purposes back in March, revealed during a panel that the game is only coming to iPhone and iPod Touch. It was also revealed that the game will be episodic in nature – hey, like the show! Coincidence, surely. Mr. Ecko is certainly no stranger to spray paint, but blood spray? Start practicing those stabbing motions with your fancy phones, folks ... but just do it in the privacy of your own home for the sake of not looking like a total loon, 'kay?
With the App Store open for business, games are finally headed to Apple's iPhone, and the unit's multitouch interface, accelerometer, and built-in mic and speaker make it perfect for gaming. THQ Wireless is one of the many companies getting ready to try and cash in on the first generation of the App Store -- after making games for a lot of other mobile devices, Director of Global Production Brad Pitser is excited about finally releasing software for the iPhone.
Joystiq got to play two different games in THQ's demo at E3. De Blob is a handheld adaptation of the Wii game, and uses the accelerometer in the iPhone and iPod touch to do a little light platform puzzling. And Force Unleashed attempts to recreate the upcoming Star Wars action title, by using a touchscreen gesture system to try and make you feel like a Jedi. impressions of both are after the break.
Sony will sell the PSP in a new "Entertainment Pack" -- for $199, they'll include a silver slim PSP, Ratchet and Clank: Size Matters, a 1gb memory stick, a voucher for Echochrome, and a copy of National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets. Yeah, we know, the Nicholas Cage blockbuster really makes it.
If you haven't grabbed a PSP yet, this could be just the deal you've been waiting for. Sony says it'll be in stores this fall.
We sat in the EA Press Conference, happily snapping away to bring you a selection of screenshots and slides that we thought hilighted the event pretty well. Images span from the newly announced SimAnimals and EA Sports' new All Play franchise to id's RAGE and Valve's Left 4 Dead. A couple of shots from the impressive looking Mirror's Edge and Dead Space also make an appearance. Be sure to stop back later for some of Will Wright's favorite Spore creatures, including a Chocobo and some robots. Seriously.
The gallery begins here, if you'd like to step this way ...
2:53 pm PT: We're live at the Orpheum Theater in Los Angeles (seventh row, to be precise), ready for Electronic Arts' E3 2008 press conference. It should get underway in just a few minutes!
2:58pm PT: The central screen is currently host to the names of all EA's internal studios. EA Romania, Pandemic, EA Korea, EA Montreal, Redwood Shores, Criterion all go whizzing by. We briefly glimpse "EA Guam," but chalk it up to the effects of jet lag.
3:02pm PT: A poor soul tries to perform the infamous "skooching" manuever as he attempts to reach a seat on the other end of our row of seats. We have to awkwardly lift our bags and laptops, smiling politely while we whisper out curses.
3:05pm PT: The screen blackens and a white EA logo fades in. A quick montage of gameplay clips -- Mercenaries 2, Madden, Mirror's Edge, Facebreaker, Tiger Woods and The Sims are all accounted for.
Apogee Software, a one-time forerunner of shareware titles, is back. According to a press release, the company has reached an "exclusive agreement" with 3D Realms and MachineWorks Northwest LLC to release Duke Nukem Trilogy to the "handheld console market." The brand new game includes episodes Critical Mass, Chain Reaction and Proving Grounds.
Little known fact: There's a new iPhone about to launch tomorrow. We know, you can't be expected to keep up with every little cell phone revision, but that's what Engadget is for and, after this morning's launch of the iTunes App Store and iPhone software 2.0, they're all over it. So while you still have to wait until tomorrow for the iPhone 3G, you can get the same software on your totally obsolete iPhone today. And a major part of that upgrade: games! Here's where you get interested ...
Steve Jobs, ruler of all things Apple, hath decreed to the New York Times that, of the first 500 applications to launch on the App Store, "a third ... will be games." As you can see from our undersized graphic above, most of these games range from $4.99 to $9.99 – in fact, according to Jobs, 90% of this first wave of apps will be $9.99 or less, and 25% will be totally free (nothing free in the top 57 games) . We'll be checking out plenty of these games and we'll get you a report soon. Until then, any iPhone owners make the 2.0 bump and load these up yet?
While we still don't think the iPhone App Store makes the do-everything cell phone a threat to the DS, we are impressed with the growing list of big-namefranchises being ported to the system. We can now amend that list to include the Bomberman series, with Hudson's with the recent announcement of Bomberman Touch: Legend of the Mystic Bomb.
A video trailer (embedded below the jump) shows what looks like a transparent, touch-screen d-pad placed over the on-screen action to control Bomberman, sort of like the interface for the earlier iPhone PlayStation emulator . According to Hudson, the game will include "classic Bomberman powerups and original special items" and take advantage of "the unique iPhone / iPod touch interface of flicking, tapping, and tilting with a built-in accelerometer." No word on a multiplayer mode, but with the iPhone's Wi-Fi capabilities, a local wireless option would hopefully be a no-brainer.
Bomberman touch joins water-based puzzle game Aqua Forest and the always lucrative Sudoku in Hudson's announced line-up for the iPhone.
Speaking to MTV Multiplayer, the developer of such epics as Mass Effect and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic confirmed that it is looking into games of a much smaller (physical) scale. Specifically, BioWare co-CEO Greg Zeschuk states that he finds Apple's iPhone "intriguing" as a games platform. Mind you, he's not saying development is underway, but he is a fan.
"Something that's as big a cultural and technical success as the iPhone is something you've really got to take a close look at," explains Zeschuk, adding that, "We've got a lot of folks looking at it." Zechuk's statements come just a few days after the project lead on BioWare's Nintendo DS RPG, Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, revealed that the company is also investigating Wii and PSP dvelopment. Now BioWare just needs to look into developing for those LCD games you see at mall kiosks and it'll have all bases covered.
Well that didn't take long. Just a little over a week after announcing his departure from Electronic Arts, former EA Blueprint head Neil Young – an 11-year veteran of the mega-publisher – has revealed his latest gig: ngmoco. Never heard of it? Well, that's because it's brand new; however, if Mr. Young and every other business-minded human eying up the iPhone market is right, you'll be hearing plenty about ngmoco.
First, what's the name mean? Young tells Newsweek that it stands for "Next Generation MObile COmpany" (what, you didn't totally see that the first time?). Alright, but what does that mean? He tells Gamasutra the company is a "publisher that is specifically focused on games for the iPhone and beyond." So, not just the iPhone, but "that class of mobile phone" – touch screen, network connectivity, accelerometer, et al. Young isn't looking to develop games at ngmoco, but rather to commission, finance, and produce titles, hoping the brand name and institutional knowledge will help ngmoco's titles remain visible in what he expects to be a busy, competitive marketplace.
Most interestingly, he talks about how Apple's forthcoming AppStore will rebalance the mobile gaming industry's reliance on carriers. Now, he says, the average revenue per user on mobile phones is "$7.50 or $8" compared to $45 on the PSP and $62 on the DS, leaving a great deal of potential there given the right product.
Source – Departing Electronic Arts Executive Neil Young Talks to Level Up About His New Venture Source – Q&A: EA Vet Young Reveals iPhone Publisher Ngmoco
A marriage of MMO powerhouse 
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