Strategy gaming on the iPhone at its prime

Last week, two iPhone games caught my attention: Land Air Sea Warfare

and Highborn

I´m a big strategy fan, be it in it RTS (real time strategy) or TBS (turn based strategy), and have played several games of this kind on the iPhone (Command and Conquer, Warfare Inc, Quantum Colapse, Robocalypse, all RTS, Rogue Planet, Uniwar, Mecho Wars, Transformers G1 and Reign of Swords, TBS), and while several were really good (Robocalypse, Transformers), they still lack something to reach perfection. Well, after playing Highborn (TBS) and LASW (RTS), i can tell you, they are it! I´m specially amazed with LASW, because it was made by a single guy (!), and even so manages to kick EA´s Command Conquer - Red Alert in all sorts of ways. So please, if you care about this genre of games, go and buy those games, your money was never so well spent.

X2 Football 2010 - in-game footage looks awesome

I´m really hyped for this: x2 Football, the best football game for iPhone is almost back with it´s 2010 edition. And looks absolutely marvelous, easily better than anything seen on PSP. 3GS optimizations and specially online multiplayer done right (i hope) are some of the changes regaring the first game. It should be out during April.

Hockey Nations 2010 - finally an Ice Hockey game for iPhone

There are several good quality football games for iPhone (Real Football, X2 Football and FIFA 2009). Same goes for american football. There´s also a decent basketball game (NBA 2009). However, so far ice hockey has been sadly absent. Hockey Nations 2010 is bound to to make us happy.

Defence of the Future - new iPhone strategy game looks really cool

Strategy fans should be pleased with DOTF. Looks really cool.

Get it here.

One of the best iPhone games ever is free today!

If you have an iPhone or iPod touch and care about gaming, today is a great day: the criticaly aclaimed rts game Robocalypse is FREE today only. Yep, a fantastic game, that costs around $30 on the DS. Go get it right now





- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Surprise: CoD: World At War: Zombies out for iPhone!

Call of Duty: World at War: Zombies appeared out of nowhere on the iphone appstore. It has online multiplayer for up to 4 players, with DLC promised for the upcoming months.

Get it here.

Note: people that already played it say the dual stick control option is by far the best one.

Control the iPhone with a wiimote? Hell yeah!

Once upon a time, i managed to use a Nintendo wiimote to control games on my beloved Sony Ericsson P1 smartphone (Symbian UIQ3). But that´s a device that has full bluetooth access, unlike the iPhone, still very limited, even after OS 3.0.

What you see above is the first demo of a project that allows bluetooth controllers, like the wiimote, to control the iPhone. Jailbreak only right now. Mind you, this also opens the way for bluetooth keyboards support.

Via tuaw.

Speed Forge Extreme: iPhone´s first real Wipeout killer

Still doubt the iPhone 3GS/iPod Touch 3G can rival anything seen on the PSP? Then look at this video from upcoming Open GL ES 2.0 based game, Speed Forge Extreme

Soon on the Appstore: Star Wars fanboy wetdream come true

Looks like we will finally have a proper Start Wars game on the iPhone.

Warfare Inc - now with online multiplayer!

The first great RTS game for the iphone platform has finally received the promised online multiplayer update! And that´s not all, it allows chat during, and before games.

Get it here.

Real Football 2010 - online multiplayer is a go!

I expected this for so long. A football game for the iphone platform with online multiplayer! Not only that, it will support all the Gameloft Live service features, namely push notifications to hook up with friends, like we can already do in UNO!

More details about Gameloft´s Real Football here. Nevertheless, i have a feeling RS competition will folow - both FIFA 2010 and X2 Football should have online multiplayer by the end of the year.

Apple´s It´s only Rock & Roll - The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Here´s my views on the latest Apple keynote:

The Good

Steve´s back!
iTunes 9 with slick new features, namely app organization, home sharing
OS 3.1 release
Apple´s commitment to the iPhone has a gaming platform
Apple´s considering iPhone/ipod touch has pocket computers


The Bad

OS 3.1 is a bit lame. iPhone UI needs some changes (proper notification system, live widgets, etc). It also bring more problems for jailbreak
iTunes 9 still slow on windows
Ringtones store
Not giving the 8gb iPod touch the new processor/RAM used on the

The Ugly

No camera on the new ipod touch - this is nuts, i think it will cost them alot of sales. Lot´s of angry people out the 3GS

Gamelof does it again: Blades of Fury

3D platformer, check (Assassins Creed/Hero of Sparta), 3D Sandbox game, check (Gangstar), FPS, check (Modern Combat: Sandstorm), sports game, check (Real Soccer). Game genre after game genre, Gameloft has been proving nothing is impossible to be done right on the iPhone platform.

Yesterday, they delivered the first proper fighting game for the platform, Blades of Fury. Another very impressive console quality game, specially when we see how well it controls with touch input.

ngmoco renames their iphone FPS...again

Feeling the pressure made by Gameloft´s amazing Modern Combat:Sandstorm, ngmoco released new information regarding their upcoming online multiplayer FPS, now renamed to Eliminate, after being called LiveFire and Killtest. Will it be the last time?

Nevertheless, they did release some information that is actually very cool: users will earn credits based on how well they play in the game. Nice idea. Now release the game, please!

Modern Combat: Sandstorm: FPSs do work on the iPhone

Not that i had any doubt. I´ve been playing iFPS Online for some months, and that game, after some control fixes, showed me FPS games can work better on the iPhone than on any current handeld console (ds or psp), even for multiplayer online.

However, it lacked popularity, and specially, graphical refinement and a solid single player campaign. Well...once again, Gameloft stepped in and showed what can be done with iPhone´s /iPod touch hardware, even the older models. Modern Combat: Sandstorm is the definitive proof FPS games work on the iPhone and an amazing portable gaming experience.

However...it´s not perfect, because it lacks online multiplayer. Lets hope they´ll add it soon, or else ngmoco might grab the place of definitive online shooter with Killtest.

Word Ace - get it while it´s free!

Want something that combines classic word game and Texas Hold´Em, with superb online multiplayer, for FREE? Then grab Word Ace NOW.

Will the real GTA please stand up? Hell yeah!

Last week i mentioned Gameloft´s Gangstar, the closest thing to a GTA game on the iphone platform.

Well, Rockstar must have felt defied by Gameloft, because they now decided to bring their super popular IP to the iphone platform, namely the highly praised DS title GTA - Chinatown Wars. True, it´s not full 3D like Gangstar (it´s 2,5d) or any of the home console titles, but still this is huge news for iphone gamers.

The release should happen during this Fall.

UNO - now with Gameloft Live/Push Notifications

I always liked UNO, but have been on the fence regarding buying the iPhone version due to lack of better multiplayer features. Mind you, UNO was one of the first iPhone games to support live online multiplayer. However, setting up games with friends was not easy.

Well, taking advantage of OS 3.0 features, namely push notifications, Gameloft updated UNO, adding suport for their xbox live type community service, Gameloft Live. Setting up games with one or more friends is now VERY easy, so i decided and bought the game. It´s a must right now.

However, there are some things that i´d like to be added in a future update: improvements to the notification system, and most of all, voice chat.

Gangstar - a 3D GTA on a phone

It´s stuff like this that makes us pay attention to tech evolution. Only 4/5 years ago, who would have guessed a fully featured GTA III clone would be played, and in a good way, in a phone?

Having played it already, all i can say to you guys is that although this is not an amazing creative achievement like Spider, it´s also a landmark for iPhone gaming. Go and grab it, give Gameloft the support they deserve for delivering such great experiences on the iPhone platform (and more is coming).

Spider: the Secret The Secret of Bryce Manor

Hundreds of games are published on iPhone appstore every month. Most are complete crap. However, from time to time, something appears that really shows why the iPhone platform is becoming a serious player on the gaming world.

Spider: the Secret The Secret of Bryce Manor is one of these games. See it by yourself. Highly recomended.