Category Archives: Games

December 3, 2009

EA To Release Mirror's Edge On iPhone…

By Dave M.

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This article is not another instance of an announcement of Electronic Arts releasing Mirror’s Edge to the iPhone. That has been done by about 50 websites in the blogosphere. Man, I have never seen so many places letting their readers know that Mirror’s Edge is coming.

Nope, this is an article talking about Tim Langdell and his claim of owning the trademark to the word “Edge”. Langdell has gone after Mobigame because they named their iPhone game Edge and Langdell had it removed from the AppStore 3 times! The website ChaosEdge has a long log of all the strange goings on between Tim Langdell and his questionable antics. This article talks about Langdell’s claim that he owns the trademark for Mirror’s Edge, EA’s game.

My only concern is will Langdell write to Apple to have Mirror’s Edge removed from the AppStore once it’s released. Since Apple is quick to remove apps from the store with the slightest notification, it’s probably going to be an interesting release.

I’m actually hoping that Langdell has the balls to go after EA’s Mirror’s Edge. EA has a very large bank account and will protect it’s intellectual property with all the lawyers at their disposal. If Langdell does go after EA, we can only hope that EA takes him down and we’ll not have to hear about him again after that.

So, go ahead Langdell, go after Mirror’s Edge on the iPhone, please!!!

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , | posted in Games, iPhone/iPod touch, News

December 1, 2009

Update To Previous Mobigame Post

By Dave M.

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Well, it looks like Mobigame has had little choice but to change the name of their game to Edgy. My previous post about Mobigame’s Edge being removed apparently was, in fact, Langdell forcing Apple to remove the game again since Langdell felt that the name “Edge by Mobigame” wasn’t enough of a change to distinguish Edge the game from Edge the trademark that Langdell owns.

ChaosEdge has a good write-up about this on their website.

All in all, at least Edge Edgy is back in the AppStore thanks to Apple “approving” the game right away instead of the typical 3 week process. Grandted, there were no changes to the program from the time it was removed to the time it was reinstated, so there shouldn’t have been any vetting to do.

Actually, changing the name of the game would have saved Mobigame a lot of hassle and money, but to be fair, Edge is a great name for the game. Actually, I’m a little worried that “Edgy” isn’t enough of a change for Langdell to be happy. He’s gone after names that were even more different than Edgy is to Edge. Actually, I’m not sure, but I though I read where Langdell actually went after a game called Edgy or Langdell himself has a game named Edgy. … Ah yes, here is where I read that:

Press Releases:

Dispute Between Langdell and Mobigame

On July 15th, Langdell forced iPhone platform-holder Apple’s hand to block the sale of the award winning and triple IGF award nominated iPhone game ‘EDGE’. Langdell’s claim was that the product infringes on his trademark of the word ‘Edge’. Initially, when Mobigame voluntarily removed the game from the store they were receiving several emails per day from Langdell; some of which even went as far as threatening to sue the owner of Mobigame (David Papazian) personally, stating that it could cost David “millions of dollars”.

Mobigame actually own the trademark ‘EDGE’ in France, and the registration is on-going in Europe. Despite this, Langdell threatened to sue unless they remove the game from the AppStore entirely, even in the regions where Mobigame own the trademark. On May 14th, Mobigame proposed renaming the game to ‘EDGY’ for the UK and the US market, stating that their trademarks could co-exist since Mobigame will have the trademark in Europe, and they would rename the game to ‘EDGY’ for the UK & US markets. Langdell refused to accept this, and on May 16th he applied for the trademark ‘EDGY’ in the US.

As a small company, without access to substantial legal resources, Mobigame was keen to avoid a protracted legal dispute, and have tried on many occasions to reach an amicable solution. Unfortunately, negotiation with Langdell proved fruitless. Mobigame is currently evaluating their options, but are denied the income they were depending on from iPhone game sales.

So, Langdell pretty much has said that he wouldn’t accept the name change to Edgy. Now, this was almost 6 months ago, so we’ll have to see if there has been a change of heart on this topic. Somehow, I find it hard to believe that Langdell even has a heart to change, but time will tell.

At any rate, we all hope that Mobigame and Edgy are not finished with Langdell and Mobigame can start truly making money for the fabulous work that they did on the game Edgy. Good luck and lets keep our fingers crossed. ;)

1 comment   |  tags: , , , , , | posted in Games, iPhone/iPod touch, News

November 10, 2009

Touch Pets Dogs: My Most Anticipated App Has Arrived!

By Dave M.

I have been waiting for this game to be released ever since the first hints of its development way back to probably January of this year. ngmoco has finally released Touch Pets Dogs to the US store yesterday (Nov. 9, 2009).

Touch Pets Dogs (TPD) does not disappoint at all. Its a game for all flavors of player: Man, woman, boy, girl, young, old, etc… I mean who wouldn’t want a cute little puppy that can’t mess the family room carpet!?

ngmoco has outdone itself with this game. The amount of depth these little puppies have is outstanding. There are seven breeds of puppies to choose from when you first adopt your new pet. Labrador, Portuguese Water Dog, West Highland Terrier, German Shepherd, Jack Russel, Dachshund, and even a Robot Dog. After you find a suitable puppy from the adoption agency, the game starts by “training” the player on what to do to take care of their new bundle of furry joy. There is a lot to learn and the lessons are very unobtrusive by placing a small circled question mark near the bottom right hand side of the screen. When ever the game has something to tell you, that question mark appears.

The tutorials go over taking care of your new pet, training him/her, grooming, petting, and even dealing with the inevitable need to “go outside”.

There are 5 daily care items that need to be taken care of each time you start the game: Feeding (energy), Water, Let Out, Petting and Cleanliness. For you new pet to be happy, it will need to have all those stats at 100% or close to it. Your pet will have daily pampering goals to be met too: Shampoo, Cleanliness, Brushing, Dressing Up and Feed a Treat. All these items help your puppy to be very happy, so much so that you will start earning Puppy Bucks. PB’s are later used to purchase toys, treats, and other goodies for your new pet at the Pet Store.

Along with caring for your pet, you play with your pet to help it to gain it’s skills: Chasing, Fetching, Tricks, Catching and agility. There are daily strength training goals: Chasing, Fetching, Catching, and Agility. There is also a daily Tricks Workout with goals: Tricks, sit, raise up, lie down, and stand (probably to start with, there are other tricks that are unlocked as your new puppy gets smarter). These goals help your puppy to learn 5 careers: Crimefighting, Rescue, Celebrity, Scientist and Politician.

You can also invite friends puppies over for playdates which help improve their Socialization and Friendship stats.

You are also not limited to just one puppy. You can adopt up to 5 puppies that will all play together and interact with each other and yourself. Be warned, you will be going through your dog food quite quickly if you have more than one pet. Only two pets can be on the screen at one time.

From what I have read, if you don’t go into Touch Pets Dogs each day to take care of your pet, it won’t do nasty things like mess the family room rug. The game will automatically take your pet outside so that it can take care of it’s business. However, your pet won’t be very happy with you when you do return. So you should probably be ready for the responsibilities a new pet brings. :)

My only gripe is that in order to feed your pet, and believe me, they need feeding quite frequently, you will have to pay real money to purchase food for your pet above and beyond what the game will generate for you on a daily basis. Just like Eliminate Pro, also by ngmoco, your pets food is regenerated on a daily basis. I’m not sure how much food is generated daily, but probably enough to at least spend a few hours a day with your new best friend. The AppStore has several optional apps that allow you to purchase more food for your pet. 10 bowls for $0.99, 20 bowls for $1.99, 120 bowls for $9.99 and 400 bowls for $29.99. You can also purchase dog food in-app by touching your Plus+ avatar on the upper left of the game screen and then touching Puppy Master. There you can purchase either 10, 120 or 400 bowls of food. You can also convert puppy food into Puppy Bucks.

Overall, this game is a truly “must have” game for your and your families iPhone/iPod touch. Everyone will be able to enjoy playing with their new puppies and fun will be had by all.

2 comments   |  tags: , , , | posted in Games, iPhone/iPod touch, Review

October 6, 2009

Welcome Back Mobigame!

By Dave M.

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Its been quite some time and I’m sure a huge amount of hell for Mobigame, but Edge by Mobigame [$4.99] and Edge by Mobigame Lite [Free] are both back in the US AppStore!

It appears that one of the concessions to getting back in the AppStore was to change the name from “Edge” to “Edge by Mobigame”. Both apps are updates to the existing versions which claim “bug fixed” as to what was changed in them. No mention of the change in the names, but at least they didn’t have to get rid of the “Edge” part of the name.

Its a real shame that they have been away from the store for so long. The game is truly one of the most original games for the iPhone/iPod touch there was when it first came out. It still really is. Mobigame also offers the music in the game as a free download on their site and as music, it stands up really well and is quite enjoyable to listen to. I have it in my music library to listen to just to listen to it.

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The game is a simple matter of getting your cube to the exit while collecting the small mini-cubes (as seen in the screen shot as that small yellow cube). Completing the level as quickly as possible.

The game currently has 48 levels, and if they stick around this time, hopefully they will be adding more and more levels as time goes on. This was something that they were doing before they had to leave the store.

Here’s hoping that they stick around this time and do very well.

1 comment   |  tags: , , | posted in Games, iPhone/iPod touch, News

August 20, 2009

Gang$tar: West Coast Hustle Is Out

By Dave M.

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Gameloft‘s much anticipated Gangstar: West Coast Hustle was released to the AppStore today for $6.99 [AppStore Link]. There has been a lot of blog posts about this game from many iPhone/AppStore weblogs. All saying that this is the iPhones answer to the GTA franchise. Well…

I have to say that they are pretty close to correct. This game doesn’t disappoint. The game has a pretty big driving area to work with as seen in the screen shot below.

The controls for the game are pretty smooth, you have a virtual joystick on the right and a virtual button on the left when you are moving around as a person, pedals and tilting the iPhone/iPod touch to control vehicles. This can be configured in the game. However, you can’t configure the joystick to be on the right and button on the left. I’m not sure if that is an issue for lefties. I’m not a lefty, so I don’t know if they are used to using their dominant hand for buttons or if they just use what they are given.

The graphics are amazing for a game that is run on an iPhone/iPod touch with 480×320 graphics. Lets face it, it’s no GTA IV, but its a great homage to the Grand Theft Auto franchise. The trees look pretty darn good. The streets have lights, street signs. There are places where you can jump your vehicle just like the jumps in GTA. Not as dramatic, but still entertaining. You can run over pedestrians, hit other vehicles and even receive some damage to your vehicle. Again, nothing like GTA, but pretty good considering.

There is a story with chapters in this game. Apparently, you are in LA taking a “Vacation” from some trouble that your character was in prior to the start of the story. You are given missions like in GTA. You have to fight rival gangs, drive around a big shot in your gang, etc… I have not got that far in the story yet. I’m pretty close to finishing up the first of 6 chapters. It’s take only an hour to get as far as I have. So, its likely to not be that many hours of game play, but there has been talk of expansion levels probably sold in game later.

Over all, this game will not disappoint and will definitely keep you entertained for at least a couple of days.

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July 24, 2009

Mobigame And Edge Get Support From The Chaos Engine

By Dave M.

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It looks like Mobigame is getting some well deserved support from a forum of game developers called “The Chaos Engine“. The Chaos Engine is a group of over 7,000+ members. They have decided to setup a fund to help finance a fight against Langdell and his claims of owning the trademarks to the word “Edge” and several other words like “EDGY”.

The Chaos Engine will be setting up a donation button on there home page in the near future. If you feel that Mobigame deserves to keep it’s games name “Edge”, please go over to the site and donate a few bucks. Langdell needs to be stopped. Hopefully, with the support of TCE and Edge fans everywhere, we can get this evil person to stop this nonsense.

I’ll update this post as soon as The Chaos Engine’s home page has the donate button added to it.

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July 21, 2009

Edge Wins 'Best Challenging Game' From First Annual App Awards

By Dave M.

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A big congratulations to Mobigame for winning the “Best Challenging Game” from App Awards!

Unfortunately, they are still having big problems with their fight against a supposed trademark holder for the word “Edge”. So, they overcame a huge obsticle with not being available for download in the AppStore for several weeks if not longer. Even the “Lite” version is now unavailable thanks to this fight.

There has been talk that there is a petition to remove Tim Langdell from the board of the IGDA (International Game Developers Association) due to his insistanse that he owns the rights to any product with the name “Edge” in it. I don’t know what the results are although there was a twitter post stating 148 yes and 2 no.

Who knows how long this is all going to go on for, but I’m sure we all wish the best for Mobigame and Edge. Hopefully this can be resolved soon and we can see the “Best Challenging Game” of the year back in the AppStore.

Leave a comment | posted in Games, iPhone/iPod touch, News

July 18, 2009

AppStore Game Edge Needs Our Support

By Dave M.

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Around 6 months ago, Mobigame came out with a truly unique game for the iPhone/iPod touch called EDGE [AppStore Link to Lite version]. After seeing the videos of the game, I didn’t hesitate to head over to the AppStore and buy a copy.

Mobigame was doing great with EDGE. They were recieving award after award for the game, then in May, all hell broke loose. Some yutz claimed that he owned the trademark for the word “EDGE”. Now, we know this is possible since Apple owns it’s trademark to the word Apple, and in order to defend that trademark, you have to go after any and all who use the word.

Since then, the game as been taken off the AppStore twice now. Once in May, then it was returned to the store after what appeared to be a truce between Mobigame and the yutz who was claiming the trademark. It has recently been pulled again in the last week. Apparently, that agreement has fallen through.

The problem is that apparently, the person who owns the trademark for the word EDGE hasn’t done anything with it in years and years. Other than attack any and all who use it in games. He even has attempted to grab Mirror’s Edge away from Electronic Arts. It appears that all the owner wants to do is sue people who use the name in order to make money. At least that is what it appears. If not, he’s not showing any moves to publish a new game. He hasn’t since 1994.

You can follow all this from Mobigame’s twitter page as well as countless blogs that are keeping up with this story.

Please, lets show our support for this wonderful indepentent game developer by heading over to the AppStore and pick up a copy of the free Edge Lite version. If you have never seen Edge, you really should check out the game. You will fall in love with it instantly.

Its really a great game and deserves to be back in the AppStore where it belongs.

Leave a comment | posted in Games, iPhone/iPod touch

July 11, 2009

New Favorite iPhone Game App: GloBall

By Dave M.

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For the longest time, my favorite iPhone game app was Gemmed! [appstore link] by Wasted Pixel. You can play that game for 15 seconds or 5 hours due to the ability to leave and comeback at “any” time. It’s a simple match-3 game, but with a twist of monsters in the game grid eating gems to move toward their color’s exit. There some great power-ups that appear when you match enough of a specific color, etc… Really fun and not overly expensive for $1.99.

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Now there is a new iPhone game I found called GloBall [appstore link]. It’s kind of a BreakOut or Arkanoid game without the paddle. You just tilt the iPhone around to move the ball into boxes in the playfield to gain points. There are bonus blocks to increase your score potential and odd little creature like things that threaten your glowing ball.

The graphics are really wonderful and very pleasant on the eye. Controlling the glowing ball is pretty easy and is not nearly as frustrating as other games I have played that are like this one.

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Another very interesting aspect to the game is it’s high score board. They take your iPhone’s location and compare your score to others in it’s database. It then tells you your overall rank. It also tells you that you have the best score within a specific distance. So far, I haven’t broken over a mile and my current high score is broken just over 1,000 feet away.

If you look at individual levels, you can see the same info for that specific level instead of your total points. I really like this and love the sphere of the Earth with all the blue dots representing other players. I wonder if those are “active” players vrs. ones that have high scores in their database.

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This game is currently going for $0.99 as in “introductory” price. So if you are even remotely interested in the game, I suggest downloading the free version to check it out then, buying the full version before the “introductory” price goes away.

Update: There is a small downside to the game. the 43 levels it has goes very fast. I finished all the levels in about 1 1/2 hours. It’s certainly replayable, and there are high scores to beat, but it would be nice to have more levels.

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , | posted in Games, iPhone/iPod touch

June 29, 2009

ngmoco Will Not Remove Rolando When Rolando 2 Is Released

By Dave M.

rolando.pngThere has been some confusing press about ngmoco and the developer removing Rolando when Rolando is released in the AppStore. Apparently, ngmoco has decided to not remove Rolando when the sequel is released and they are returning Topple to the AppStore as well.

This news has me a little baffled. In the video game industry, when a new game comes out, say GTA IV, and the distributor has an older version, GTA: San Andreas, still on the store shelves, its pretty easy to understand why that distributor would want to remove GTA: SA to have shelf space for the newer GTA IV.

In the case of the AppStore, a virtual storefront, there is infinite shelf space for all kinds of games and other applications. This is why there are over 50,000 titles in the store now.

So, removing an older title to put up a new title like Topple 2 or Rolando 2 doesn’t make any sense to me. Say a patron hits the AppStore, sees Rolando 2, buys it and finds out that he missed out on the first version of the game and wants to play it too. Well, if the older title is removed from the store, ngmoco has lost a sale that costs them noting to maintain in the store. Pure profit lost. Or, what about the patron that had Rolando, but for some reason, lost the copy from his computer and wants to recover it by downloading it again. He can for free with the AppStore, it costs ngmoco $0.00 for that ability. Yet, since Rolando was removed for the new version, that customer has lost his game that he potentially paid $9.99 for. If I were that customer, I would not be very happy and be looking to Apple to refund that money or allow me to download that game again.

Now, maybe I’m incorrect about the costs involved in keeping the older versions of their games in the AppStore. Maybe they are thinking of development costs of fixing bugs in a version that they consider obsolete.

At any rate, this is all moot since ngmoco is going to not remove Rolando when Rolando 2 is released and is returning Topple to the AppStore as well.

I would love to understand why ngmoco would think its a good thing to remove older versions of games for newer ones.

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