iPhone Article Zone

Origin8 Launches App Store “February Freebie Fever” Sale

The App Store is known for its sales, and just like December and the holiday discount, February is no different, at least for London UK-based mobile development studio Origin8. Developer of “The Sentinel” series, Origin8 have announced “February Freebie Fever,” a sale which will see the company drop the price to FREE on one of it’s App Store hits. Every Friday in the month of February, Origin8 will make one of their App Store titles absolutely free for the busy weekend period.

The sale comes as Sentinel: Mars Defense is about to turn a year old on the 19th February. The sale has already started with Car Mania becoming free last Friday up until today. Details of future weekend deals will be announced via the company’s various social networking accounts on the day of the sale.

“The Sentinel: Mars Defense anniversary provides us with a great excuse to spread some love to our players, and it’s a logical point for us to take a look back over an exciting year. Our aim is to develop games that stand out for their high quality and we want to get them into as many hands as we can. The iPhone as a gaming platform has grown spectacularly over the past year – many current players won’t have owned an iDevice at the time of the original Sentinel release, so we’re giving them a chance to catch up with our back catalogue for nothing.”

“We’re not just looking backwards, of course. Apple’s recent iPad announcement is great news for all App Store developers, and we have some more great products in the pipeline for release this year.”

With titles such as Car Mania, the cute and critically praised arcade-style AirBear and Sentinel: Mars Defense in the line up to plummet to FREE, this is one sale you should keep your eye on!

Car Mania

Our Rating: :: AWESOME FUN :: Read Our Full Review >>

Category: Games / Kids
Released: 2009-07-16
Price: $0.99 ON SALE: FREE

Appy New Year Sale

App Entertainment is celebrating the new year by offering all of their apps for $0.99 between January 8-10. This includes their flagship app, FaceFighter, which lets you create virtual sparring partners using pictures of your friends. Good times! FaceFighter received a favorable review from us back in June, and is currently nominated for 2009 BestAppEver in the categories of Best Productivity Killer and Best Use of Bluetooth.

The other titles on sale are the light-hearted puzzle game Zombie Pizza, and Appy Newz – Scandal Maker!, which has also been for BestAppEver in the Best Photo Manipulation App category.

FaceFighter

Our Rating: :: GOOD TIMES

Category: Games / Arcade
Released: 2009-06-08
Price: $1.99 ON SALE: $0.99

Zombie Pizza

Category: Games / Family
Released: 2009-09-18
Price: $1.99 ON SALE: $0.99

Appy Newz - Scandal Maker!

Category: Photography
Released: 2009-04-10
Price: $2.99 ON SALE: $0.99

Glu Mobile’s New Year Blowout Sale. This Weekend Only.

.. And the new year App Store sales just keep coming! Yesterday we got a tip from one of the more prominent iPhone development studios on the store, Glu Mobile, who told us that starting today, Friday, January 8th, they’ll be staging a new year app blowout sale. Running this coming weekend only, the sale will see the studios well-loved hit titles such as Family Guy: Uncensored, Glyder and Bonsai Blast (among others), drop in price to just $0.99 each!

The sale will end the evening of Monday January 11th. Check out the full list of the apps on sale below, along with a short, quick-fire description of each to help you on your way with the decision to buy ..

Beat It! is a fresh take on the music game genre. Part beat machine, part music creation tool, the app sees you listening to the playback of a certain preset track, and afterward, sees you laying down various different notes in a bid to try and match the original beat played.

Beat It!

Our Rating: :: MAD SKILLZ

Category: Games / Music
Released: 2009-12-03
Price: $2.99 ON SALE: $0.99

Heavily inspired by Popcap’s ZUMA, Bonsai Blast is a colorful match-3 game which involves you shooting marbles to cause a chain reaction. With 90 levels over two playing modes and a well-designed interface, Bonsai Blast is a must for fans of Bejeweled, Tetris, Puzzlelopp or Wurdle.

Bonsai Blast

Category: Games / Puzzle
Released: 2008-12-03
Price: $2.99 ON SALE: $0.99

Pretty self explanatory, Brain Genius Deluxe™ stretches your brain to its ultimate limits, testing you on all sorts of mathematical, scientific and memory-based activities. The app includes 23 fun games, plus two full bonus games; Sudoku, and Tangram.

Brain Genius Deluxe ™

Category: Games / Educational
Released: 2009-05-29
Price: $0.99

Build-a-lot is a property-based strategy game. In it, you get to build, buy and sell houses. Mastered houses? Build your way up to become kind of the commercial properties too, including cinemas, ice rinks fire stations and more! The game houses 37 levels in 8 different types of neighborhood.

Build-a-lot

Category: Games / Puzzle
Released: 2009-03-31
Price: $2.99 ON SALE: $0.99

Cooking Star lets you become a star chef, allowing you to virtually cook up mouth-watering offerings. Remember when you’re mom said stop playing with your food? .. Well now, you can. Touching, flicking and tilting your way to success, the app includes 10 mini-games, including the new recently added ‘Salad’ game!

Cooking Star

Category: Games / Family
Released: 2009-04-20
Price: $0.99

Cops and Robbers is a 3D immersive title that has you trying to evade the fuzz by means of anything necessary. Having over 9 unique levels, you run and rob your way to success, pulling some seriously acrobatic moves along the way ..

Cops & Robbers

Category: Games / Adventure
Released: 2009-05-04
Price: $2.99 ON SALE: $0.99

Family Guy. Come’on! Who doesn’t like a bit of comedy sitcom? Family Guy: Uncensored sees character cameos from the hit US sitcom come to life! Playing through 40 levels across 8 fun-filled (and sometimes truly outrageous) mini games, the app offers character interactions and cut-aways from the series in this admittedly addictive game.

Family Guy: Uncensored

Category: Games / Arcade
Released: 2009-09-23
Price: $0.99

Flying around a colorful, ambient world you aim to collect as many magic crystals as possible. With over 35 achievements to collect and master, you’ll fly through 6 imaginative lands.

Glyder

Our Rating: :: Highly Recommended

Category: Games / Adventure
Released: 2009-04-06
Price: $2.99 ON SALE: $0.99

Glyder 2 is the sequel to Glyder, and just as with the original, Eryn yet any finds herself in a strange magical land. Collecting crystals you aim to explore 6 all new worlds to their fullest, uncovering new hidden mysteries with every new trip.

Glyder 2

Our Rating: :: SOARS HIGH

Category: Games / Adventure
Released: 2009-12-16
Price: $3.99 ON SALE: $0.99

Set in a cartoon psychedelic world, Mini Golf Wacky Worlds combines crazy golf with awesome animation. Pick up your club and get ready to tee off in this fantasy world of golfing heaven.

Mini Golf Wacky Worlds

Category: Games / Sports
Released: 2009-08-06
Price: $2.99 ON SALE: $0.99

Set out in the dark deep reaches of space, Space Monkey will see you take on the mission of helping ‘Cosmos’ the monkey stay clean. Grabbing, dodging and reflecting, the aim of the game is to snatch up all the rubbish out there in this frantic dodge-marathon!

Space Monkey

Our Rating: :: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Category: Games / Puzzle
Released: 2008-07-11
Price: $0.99

Super KO Boxing 2 is a fully animated boxing simulation game which sees you taking on your opponent with full force. With a slurry of different gaming modes, and the ability to listen to your own music from iPod.app, Super KO Boxing 2 brings the old fashioned beatdown to iPhone.

Super KO Boxing 2

Our Rating: ::

Category: Games / Sports
Released: 2009-10-01
Price: $2.99 ON SALE: $0.99

Catch a cab, quick! Taxi Fight! is a 2D stragey game in which your sole goal is to successfully flag a taxi down on the dark wet city streets. Tap a passenger and watch as they scurry to hail that cab. Make them wait too long though, and they’ll explode – literally. Oh, and watch out. If one of your passengers gets ran over – it’s game over, boyo.

Taxi Fight!

Category: Games / Puzzle
Released: 2009-10-29
Price: $0.99

A fun app, TRANSFORMERS™ CyberToy is one of the official apps in association with Michael Bay’s hit million dollar movie franchise. The app sees you trying to solve transformation puzzles which various classic transformers from the original series.

TRANSFORMERS ™ CyberToy

Category: Entertainment / Family
Released: 2009-06-18
Price: $1.99 ON SALE: $0.99

Shoot from amateur to legend with World Series of Poker Hold’em Legend in this realistic Las Vegas-esque electronic experience of the age-old game of Texas Hold’Em Poker. With multiplayer and peer-to-peer head to head via bluetooth, the game doesn’t have to stop at just you and the computer.

World Series of Poker Hold’em Legend

Our Rating: :: PLENTIFUL POCKET POKER

Category: Games / Casino
Released: 2009-10-31
Price: $2.99 ON SALE: $0.99

Shaun White Snowboarding Origins Drops from $4.99 to $0.99!

Released onto the App Store on Dec 4th, Shaun White Snowboarding Origins is a snow boarding simulation game which sees you .. well, snowboarding. Choosing from a selection of custom boards you take to the slopes attempting to learn and eventually perform up to 50 neat board tricks along the way, and with a truck load of downloadable content, you can really add to your virtual snowboarding experience.

Originally priced at $4.99, Advanced Mobile Applications dropped us a short note earlier this morning letting us know that in celebration of the new year, they’ve price slashed the title to just $0.99! No immediate information on how long the sale will last, but I’m guessing it won’t be too long.

The app also recently received an update in the shape of version 1.1, and according to the App Store description the change log includes:

- Bugs fixed
- New start and end sequences
- Name’s of your friend’s ghosts are displayed during a race
- More responsive jump controls
- Bonus score values modified

Checkout the official trailer video below for some in-game footage.

Shaun White Snowboarding : Origins

Category: Games / Sports
Released: 2009-12-05
Price: $4.99 ON SALE: $0.99

The Second Annual New Year App Blowout!

Lets face it, everyone likes a sale – and I imagine even more so when this said sale involves grabbing a bunch of pretty great iPhone apps for almost next to nothing! For the second year running, Minnesota based indie developers Howling Moon Software have rounded up some well loved developers to bring a snatching of seriously cool App Store titles at awesome discounts!

Starting December 31st 2009 and ending January 1st 2010, each of the included titles will be discounted from their normal price, allowing you to snap up the dev(s) hard work at a pittance, and with titles such as Retro Dreamer’s ghoulish Eyegore’s Blast, Chaotic Box’s bubble popping frenzy Pinch n’ Pop, Howling Moon’s physics-filled Crayon Ball and Exosyphen Studios’ roller coaster offering Rail Adventures, there’s something for everyone!

Here’s a full list of the applications set to go on sale:

Twilight Golf – $1.99 (was $2.99)
Crayon Ball – $1.99 (was $2.99)
Eyegore’s Eye Blast- $0.99 (was $1.99)
Pinch ‘n Pop! – $0.99 (was $1.99)
Pollywog – $0.99 (was $1.99)
Smiles Zen – $0.99 (was $1.99)
Smiles – $1.99 (was $2.99)
Train Conductor – $1.99 (was $3.99)
iTweetReply – $0.99 (was $1.99)
CatTaTa – $0.99 (was $1.99)
RocketFuse – $0.99 (was $1.99)
Rail Adventures – $0.99 (was $1.99)
SpaceDuel! – $0.99 (was $1.99)
Ringo – $0.99 (was $1.99)
Screw the Dealer – $0.99 (was $1.99)
CashMachine – $0.99 (was $1.99)
Outnumbered – Free! (was $0.99)
iHurt – $0.99 (was $1.99)
Dragon Eye – Free! (was $0.99)
iType2Go – $0.99 (was $1.99)
Tap-Fu – $0.99 (was $1.99)
Rogueship – $1.99 (was $2.99)
Hi, How Are You – $0.99 (was $1.99)
3D Wizard Wand – $0.99 (was $1.99)

Showcasing 25 iPhone applications of all description and size, this yearly “App Blowout” sale is described as being a unique way for independent developers targeting the App Store and Apple’s iPhone and iPod touch to promote their software to the masses, and of course offer a little something special moving into the new year.

So, Where is all this going down? I hear you ask. Well, simply slide on over to: newyearappblowout.com. There, starting December 31st all the prices changes listed above will come into effect, and we’re told by Andy of Howling Moon Software that the applications will be discounted for 48 hours – and so advice is to get in quick!

I know for sure that I’ll be keeping an eye on how this one plays out, and as I’m sure you’ll agree, there are some great title reductions up there this year!

Daily Double: Sponge Dude…and EA Sales! Scrabble, Tetris, Madden, Rock Band, etc!

Christmas is quickly approaching, and sadly, so is the end of many of these deals. But don’t despair yet, because the sales just keep rolling in. Namco just kicked off their “winter sale” yesterday, and EA is back in the game, too!

At least this is a nice surprise from EA! EAMobile just sent out two tweets saying, “The following titles will be up to 50% off for the rest of the holiday season! Happy Holidays everyone! Boggle, Madden 10, NBA Live, Rock Band, Surviving High School, Wolfenstein RPG, American Idol, and more!”

“And more?” Shockingly, that “and more” includes the likes of Scrabble, Tetris, and Need for Speed: Shift. Mysteriously, some titles that were supposed to stay at $0.99 ’til Christmas are now at higher prices (Auditorium is still on sale but now at $1.99), so don’t trust that these sales will last…especially on the games not named in that tweet. Grab ‘em while they’re here and all that.

TETRIS®

Our Rating: :: AVERAGE

Category: Games / Puzzle
Released: 2008-07-11
Price: $4.99 ON SALE: $2.99

Need for Speed Shift

Category: Games / Sports
Released: 2009-12-18
Price: $9.99 ON SALE: $6.99

SCRABBLE

Our Rating: :: RECOMMENDED

Category: Games / Word
Released: 2008-07-11
Price: $4.99 ON SALE: $2.99

Boggle

Our Rating: :: FUN BUT NEEDS POLISH

Category: Games / Word
Released: 2009-08-31
Price: $1.99 ON SALE: $0.99

MADDEN NFL 10 by EA SPORTS

Our Rating: :: IT'S MADDEN

Category: Games / Simulation
Released: 2009-09-09
Price: $6.99 ON SALE: $5.99

NBA Live by EA Sports

Our Rating: :: UNINSPIRED

Category: Games / Simulation
Released: 2009-10-26
Price: $6.99 ON SALE: $4.99

ROCK BAND

Our Rating: :: GARY CHERONE-ESQUE

Category: Games / Music
Released: 2009-10-19
Price: $6.99 ON SALE: $4.99

Surviving High School

Category: Games / Simulation
Released: 2009-11-16
Price: $2.99 ON SALE: $1.99

Wolfenstein RPG

Category: Games / Action
Released: 2009-05-15
Price: $1.99 ON SALE: $0.99

American Idol: The Game

Category: Games / Music
Released: 2009-05-06
Price: $1.99 ON SALE: $0.99

THE GAME OF LIFE Classic Edition

Our Rating: :: CLASSIC

Category: Games / Board
Released: 2009-08-13
Price: $4.99 ON SALE: $2.99

YAHTZEE™ Adventures

Category: Games / Board
Released: 2008-11-14
Price: $2.99 ON SALE: $1.99

Today’s Appvent Calender freebie, Sponge Dude, is a physics-based combination of puzzle and platformer. The main character is an elastic sponge, who is sadly missing his arms and legs—meaning that you need to help him reach the end of each level using different mechanics like bombs (open doors and propel the sponge) and balloons (for flying). It looks a bit crude, and certainly isn’t on the level of previous offerings like MiniSquadron, but might be worth a look.

SpongeDude

Category: Games / Puzzle
Released: 2009-11-12
Price: $1.99 ON SALE: FREE

Phew…this article is getting pretty long. But one quick PSA: If you own an iPhone and have yet to experiment with a GPS app, you may want to give Copilot a try. Don’t worry—this one isn’t one of those $100+ apps; instead, it’s normally priced at $35 and is on sale for a mere $19.99! Here’s what founder Jeff Scott had to say whilst reviewing it in our September GPS round-up:

“CoPilot live is one of the newest contenders in the iPhone GPS arena. And I must admit that before the iPhone version I had never heard of them before. This could be why I was so pleasantly surprised by this GPS app. It’s fairly full featured, fast, and I think it’s my new favorite GPS app.”

It’s a newbie in the arena, sure, but given both its solid performance and its killer price, brand name doesn’t matter all that much!

CoPilot Live North America

Our Rating: :: IMPRESSIVE

Category: Navigation
Released: 2009-08-14
Price: $24.99 ON SALE: $19.99

Namco Winter Sale — Many Great Games $0.99

Namco has joined the great Holiday sale craze and put many of their games on sale. Some of them at the lowest prices we’ve ever seen for them. Included in the sale are Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man for $2.99 each. The lowest prices we’ve seen for those games. Also, the recent release, excellent game Pac-Man Championship Edition is on sale for only $0.99! Another recent release, Garters and Ghouls is also only $0.99.

PAC-MAN Championship Edition

Category: Games / Arcade
Released: 2009-12-10
Price: $2.99 ON SALE: $0.99

Garters & Ghouls

Our Rating: :: GOOD ROMP

Category: Games / Action
Released: 2009-10-29
Price: $4.99 ON SALE: $0.99

PAC-MAN

Category: Games / Family
Released: 2008-07-11
Price: $4.99 ON SALE: $2.99

Ms. PAC-MAN

Category: Games / Family
Released: 2008-07-11
Price: $4.99 ON SALE: $2.99

Other great deals include Star Trigon, Pole Position, Burgertime Deluxe, Brain Exercise, Mr. Driller, and Worst Case Scenario for $0.99 each. The games are on sale for these prices until 12/27. Check out all the Namco sale apps at the App Store.

Chillingo 3-Day Wild $0.99 Sale

Chillingo, apparently not to be outdone by the likes of Gameloft and EA, is putting seven games on sale for the next three days.

1. Touch KO 4.99 -> 0.99
2. Defender Chronicles 4.99 -> 0.99
3. Jules Verne’s Secrets Of The Mysterious Island 6.99 -> 0.99
4. Jules Verne’s Return To Mysterious Island 4.99 -> 0.99
5. Cash Cow 2.99 -> 0.99
6. iDracula 2.99 -> 0.99
7. Toki Tori 4.99 -> 0.99

All of these games are quite good (I’ve been super addicted to Defender Chronicles lately), so be sure to catch this sale while you still can. Thanks Chillingo!

Gameloft Announces ‘Countdown to Christmas!’ Sale

Never one to be outdone by the likes of EA and other game publishers, Gameloft has announced their own holiday promotion, which starts today. For the next 7 days leading up to Christmas, Gameloft has placed 7 of their titles on sale for $0.99. Here is the complete rundown:

Brain Challenge $4.99 > $0.99
Castle of Magic $1.99 > $0.99
Castle Frenzy $1.99 > $0.99
Shrek Kart $4.99 > $0.99
Terminator Salvation $2.99 > $0.99
Real Tennis 2009 $4.99 > $0.99
Real Soccer 2010 $4.99 > $0.99

IUGO Holding Huge Holiday Sale

IUGO Mobile Entertainment is one of the most well-respected independent studios on the app store. They have a variety of hits going back to the original Toy Bot Dairies, and have enjoyed recent success with Implode, which was recently in the top 5 paid apps in multiple countries. The last couple of months have been a particularly busy time for IUGO, with four big releases, all of which have just been discounted. There are in fact a whopping 12 games on sale for the holidays, a vast majority of the IUGO catalog, and here is the complete list:

A.D.D. $2.99 > $1.99
Cliffed $1.99 > $0.99
Freeballin’ $1.99 > $0.99
Implode! $1.99 > $0.99
Toy Bot Diaries $1.99 > $0.99
Toy Bot Diaries 2 $1.99 > $0.99
Toy Bot Diaries 3 $1.99 > $0.99
Toy Bot Diaries Compilation $3.99 > $2.99
Toy Bot Mini Missions $1.99 > $0.99
Spy Bot Chronicles $3.99 > $1.99
Star Hogs $4.99 > $2.99
Zombie Attack! 2 $3.99 > $2.99

Cliffed, Implode, and Zombie Attack! 2 also received free updates within the last week, which added special holiday costumes and/or levels to the games. If you’ve had your eye on any of these titles, now is definitely the time to take the plunge, as the sale ends January 2010.

Interesting tidbit: iugo in Latin means connect. When put together with the acronym for mobile entertainment, you get ‘connect me.’ Very clever…