Omio News Blog

Dodonpachi Resurrection: Bullet Hell Shooter Rains Down On App Store

Cave Software, fresh from the success of bringing anime-drenched shooter Espgaluda II on the iPhone have decided to convert another crazily-named game from their stable to Apple’s device, Dodonpachi Resurrection.

Available from today at an introductory price of £2.99 (it’ll jump up to £5.49 from the 29th…), Dodonpachi Resurrection is close to an arcade perfect port of another revered entry in the ‘bullet hell’ shoot ‘em up genre, complete with screen-filling bosses, waves of merciless enemies and all new iPhone exclusive play modes and a remixed soundtrack.

The action is so intense in Dodonpachi Resurrection that it can only be handled by latter day iDevices, with the iPhone 3G and original iPod Touches having to sit this bullet storm out. Thankfully there is also a ‘Lite’ version to see if your handset is up to the task before you buy.

Even on the office iPhone 4 the game is a massive memory hog, with frantic missile-dodging gameplay taking a frame rate hit during some particularly large explosions, but it manages to feel part of the fabric of the twitchy gameplay, giving you an extra moment to relish the destruction before it ramps up all over again.

The all-important high-score table is present and correct with OpenFeint powering global rankings for international bragging rights and a set of challenging achievements to unlock.

The touch controls are a little fiddly, as is always the case with games needing swift reflexes on the iPhone, but the steep learning curve is levelled somewhat with a Practice Mode, making learning the risk and reward strategy of attack a lot more accessible than the convoluted modes in Espgaluda II.

It’s not as cheap as a lot of the other shooters on the App Store, but one play of the Lite version will show that Dodonpachi is a cut above in terms of retina-searing graphics, relentless level design and a double shot of sheer arcadey fun.

Besides, how can you not like a game that has you wielding a Supreme Weapon of Annihilation?

Firefox Home Arrives On The iPhone

Whilst it isn’t quite the full Firefox experience on the iPhone, Mozilla’s new Firefox Home app aims to give users the next best thing – all your bookmarks, tabs and browsing history, on your mobile.

Get the Firefox Sync application fired up on your home computer, and the Firefox Home app will pull all of your personalised browser data and chuck it onto your iPhone.

Whilst you’ll still be using the Apple Safari browser to do the surfing, it’s now a lot easier to get all of your settings just so when on your phone.

One great feature that makes the leap is the “Awesome Bar,” which houses a list of your fave sites by browsing frequency. Firefox Sync manages to store a digital footprint of all the things you do on your browser up in the cloud, pinging it down to your iPhone to pick up just where you left off.

Go here to set up Firefox Sync on your computer, then download the app for free from the App Store.

SALE: Independence Day App Blow Out From Gameloft, Namco, Glu Mobile!

Whilst we in the UK commemorate July 4th for being the day upon which Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland was published, as well as being the birthday of popular radio disc jockey Jo Whiley, the Americans rather tend to become excited over it being the day of their independence from British rule. Well, each to their own.

Nonetheless, the neutral territories of App Store-onia celebrates July 4th with a whole bunch of publishers offering some cheap games! Join us, as we run down the generous parties, and revel in their touch-driven delights.

Glu Mobile

Being the ever generous sorts they are, Glu have offered cheap games for iPhone, Android and Palm devices alike! Snap up any of the following for a mere £0.59 / $0.99:

iPhone / iPad:

• Family Guy Uncensored
• Glyder 2 for iPad
• Deer Hunter 3D
• World Series of Poker – Hold’em Legend
• Build-a-lot
• Bonsai Blast
• Stranded 2
• Mini Golf Wacky Worlds
• Transformers G1
• Super KO Boxing 2
• Jump O’Clock
• 1000 – Find Them All
• Cops & Robbers
• Space Monkey
• Cooking Star
• Brain Genius Deluxe
• Beat It!

Android Market

• World Series of Poker – Hold’em Legend
• Family Guy Uncensored
• Diner Dash 2
• Build-a-lot
• Super KO Boxing 2
• Tony Hawk VERT
• Stranded: Mysteries of Time
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

Palm App Catalog

• Deer Hunter 3D
• Family Guy Uncensored
• Glyder 2
• Mini Golf Wacky Worlds
• Super KO Boxing 2
• Transformers G1
• World Series of Poker – Hold’em Legend
• Jump O’Clock
• How to Train Your Dragon

All of these titles will be for sale from Thursday July 1st to Tuesday July 6th.

Namco Bandai

Veteran arcade game makers Namco are getting in the holiday spirit, offering literally a bunch of their biggest name franchises including PacMan, Mr. Driller and Pole Position at rock-bottom prices. Check out these wares:

• ACE COMBAT Xi Skies of Incursion
• Alpine Racer
• Brain Exercise with Dr. Kawashima
• Dig Dug REMIX
• Galaga REMIX
• Garters & Ghouls
• GATOR PANIC
• i Love Katamari
• Inspector Gadget
• Isaac Newton’s Gravity
• Lt. Fly Rise of the Arachnids
• Mr. Driller
• Ms. PAC-MAN
• PAC-MAN
• PAC-MAN Championship Edition
• PAC-Match Party
• Pole Position: Remix
• Pool Pro Online 3
• Star Trigon
• Tamagotchi: ‘Round the World
• Time Crisis Strike
• Tinseltown Dreams: The 50′s

Namco haven’t specified an end date to us, so be quick and get on some of these! Pac-Man for 59p? Bargain.

Gameloft

A rerun of their earlier sale where they put a select few games up for 59p, a new selection of cult classics are up on the cheap. A revamped version of PlayStation classic Driver for less than a pound? Do it.

• The Oregon Trail
• Driver™
• Rayman 2: The Great Escape
• The Settlers
• Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X

EA Mobile

Graciously branding their sale the ‘Red, White and Blue Event’ (obviously out of respect for the Union Jack), EA have slashed 70% of some of their best-selling titles for the Apple iPhone and iPod touch. Whether you want to satiate you OCD for tidying with Tetris or venture to a far off planet with Mass Effect Galaxy, their sale has you covered.

That is of course, if you are based in the United States. Why the resentment against the rest of the world, EA?

• Battleship
• FIFA 10
• FIFA World Cup
• BOGGLE
• Connect 4
• Skate It
• Mass Effect Galaxy

Get them from their respective app stores, whilst stocks last.

PEGI Arms Parents With Videogame Ratings iPhone App

PEGI, the European body that places age ratings and restrictions on video games, has released a free iPhone app containing their entire database.

Armed with this free application, PEGI claims that parents across Europe can quickly search for information on over 20,000 titles across all formats, with full access to a detailed description of each game’s contents including the presence of profanity, sex or violence, as well as any online functionality.

With the full backing of major console makers, PEGI is currently in the process of replacing the more familiar BBFC movie ratings with clearer – and legally enforcable in the UK’s case – guidelines on both the front and rear of game packaging.

Ironically, one section of the market that PEGI doesn’t regulate are mobile phone games and applications, with manufacturers and networks themselves placing their own ratings on App Store content.

Nevertheless, when little Jimmy tells you that he wants ‘Murder Death Kill Homicide 24/7′ for his 9th birthday, you will be now able to make a slightly more informed purchase.

The PEGI iPhone app is available now from the App Store.

Cheers, Eurogamer.

Palm Pre To Get iPhone Apps, Ports Possible ‘In A Matter Of Days’?

The Palm Pre may not have set the world alight quite as we had expected, but it has gone from strength to strength both as a versatile smartphone and an enterainment device, thanks in large part to the refreshing touch interface and the myriad titles available on the App Catalog.

Palm are hoping to take this to the next level, presenting a new software kit at this year’s Game Developer’s Conference that makes it even easier for programmers to make graphically intensive games and applications, as well as porting content from the iPhone and getting it to work on the Pre with minimal effort.

The Palm Development Kit is said to be so friendly with Apple’s applications that they “can be ported over in a matter of days…and they don’t really suffer any degradation in performance,” according to John Paczkowski of All Things Digital.

This goes some way to explaining why the virtual shelves of Palm’s App Catalog are filled with wares from big names like Glu, Gameloft and EA Mobile (the lattermost currently giving away their biggest games to demonstrate the Pre’s new-found gaming prowess), whilst Android phones are coming up short when it comes to digital distractions.

The ease of porting these titles means extra money for publishers with minimal added development time and resource spend, and a profusion of third party applications coming to the Pre would hardly be a bad thing.

Following from this logic, why stop at games? If Palm’s software is as snazzy as they claim, then we may see all manner of applications make the O2-exclusive handset even more appealing to those not willing to opt for Apple’s iconic device.

Considering that an App Store equivalent was found wanting in both quality and quantity upon the Palm Pre’s release, this concerted ramp up in the offerings to be found on the device is certainly an appealing development, as is Palm’s pro active nature in giving developers the tools to make it happen.

Let’s just hope Palm don’t stray too far into lawyer-baiting territory once again, you know how Apple gets…

More Books Than Games on iTunes App Store

If you thought that Sony and Amazon’s fear of Apple marching in and ruling the e-reader market as they did with mobile gaming was irrational, recent data from app advertiser Mobiclix is a stark realisation.

For the first time, books have outnumbered the number of games in the iTunes store, with more than 26,000 virtual tomes on the platform since the iPhone was released.

Against the 24,000 games currently available, it is proof that the iPhone is becoming an increasingly popular and viable platform for reading on the move.

Having said that, what commonly tops the download chart often weighs heavily in favour of the game…perhaps there are more people publishing books than there are reading them?

Reasons for this trend are many – transferring a new bestseller into an app is a quick and simple process compared to developing a platform game or complex shooter – but these statistics still show that the iPhone is built for more than just digital distractions.

Rest assured that Apple are watching proceedings closely, and developing a great basecamp from which to launch the iPad and its forthcoming iBooks service as a serious challenge to Amazon’s Kindle.

via Textually

Vodafone Launches ‘People Sync 360′ iPhone App

Vodafone, the latest network to provide the iPhone, has launched an app that takes the hassle out of syncing all your contacts.

People Sync 360 allows you to back up and sync all your mobile contacts to you new iPhone, no matter what network you’re bringing them in from, so you won’t have all the fuss of manually transferring a thing.

Almost 500 different phones are supported, so you’re old handset is bound to be there. Check for yourself  either with the network at 360.com, or just search for “people sync” straight from the iTunes App Store.

Hassle-less contact migration – just one more great reason to snap up an iPhone on Vodafone!

Space Invaders For iPhone Gets Second Wave With Infinity Gene 2.0

Taito managed to bring the seminal shooter Space Invaders bleeping and blooping into the 21st Century with Infinity Gene on the iPhone, and the blasting has been made even better with a brand new update.

Infinity Gene 2.0 brings support for OpenFeint, an XBox Live-style service for iPhone that adds worldwide leaderboards, in-game achievements and bragging rights over Facebook and Twitter to the visually striking twitch shooter.

The amazing branching ‘evolution’ structure of the game is retained which unlocks new modes, features and ships during the course of play, whilst adding ten new levels and variations on the epic boss battles.

Enhancements to the music stages – levels which are organically created from tunes stored on the iPhone – are also here, including the addition of song information prior to a level and the ability to rate and share your favourite ditties to eradiate alien species to.

Still one of the most impressive and original titles to grace the App Store, and a textbook lesson in how to update gaming royalty, Space Invaders Infinity Gene is available now for £2.99.

Any chance of rebooting New Zealand Story for 2010, Taito?

Gameloft Cuts Back On Android Game Development, Others Follow Suit

Despite the Android platform bringing smart phone connectivity to the masses in handsets like the HTC Tattoo and T-Mobile Pulse, French developer Gameloft is finding it lacking for gaming, reporting that they are scaling back development for the fledgling operating system.

“We have significantly cut our investment in Android platform, just like…many others,” Gameloft’s Director of Finance Alexandre de Rochefort told investors at a conference.

The Android Market is said to be a major factor in this decision, with the service lacking the ‘shop window’ browsing functionality of the App Store, as well as the absence of an iTunes-style desktop client for computers.

“[Android Market] is not as neatly done as on the iPhone. Google has not been very good to entice customers to actually buy products. On Android, nobody is making significant revenue. We are selling 400 times more games on iPhone than on Android,” Rochefort continued.

With Apple’s App Store contributing 13% of revenue into Gameloft’s coffers last quarter, and a steady stream of titles garnering both critical and financial acclaim on the iPhone, it comes as no surprise as they focus efforts on the more financially viable platforms.

If Android is lagging behind Apple’s App Store success story due to the iPhone’s huge existing install base of users, could impending high profile Google-powered phones such as the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 and Motorola MILESTONE redress the balance?

If so, it is likely that Gameloft, one of the largest and most prolific mobile game publishers, will return to this potential gaming goldmine at a later stage.

Source

Spotify App On iPhone & Android Now Available…For Premium Users

Many thought it would never see the light of day, but the Spotify mobile application has today been admitted to the iPhone App Store and Android Market.

The music streaming subscription software had been waiting in submission hell, but now premium users of the all-you-can-hear service can listen to over 4 million tracks from the world’s biggest artists on their mobile.

The best part? The ability to sync all those custom playlists for offline usage, meaning a lack of 3G or Wi-Fi connectivity (when on the Underground or deep sea diving) doesn’t stop the music when on the move!

For once, Android phone owners might be getting one over on the fruity phone, iPhone owners are already complaining about the inability to play music in the background whilst Spotify happily bops away behind the scenes on Google’s operating system.

Available across Europe to those willing to shell out £9.99 per month for a Premium account (or 99p for a one day taster), the Spotify App is available now.