"It started out basically as a sci-fi mining game, but evolved into a deeper game where exploration of dark corridors is key (no pun intended!)" - from our interview with Tim Wickey on the Metroid influences behind Mines of Mars
Mines of Mars fans rejoice, a sequel is on the way! After posting our original story on the release of Mines of Mars Zero, we reached out to its publisher Crescent Moon Games to see if we could get any wisdom on the expansion Tim Wickey - founder of developer Wickeyware - mentioned in our interview in Episode 3 of Grab It. Well it seems plans for the expansion have been scrapped in favour of a full sequel - Mines of Andromeda. Why tackle Mars all over again when you can take on a whole galaxy? We're pretty stoked by this news as we're big fans of the original. No news yet as to a release window or any further details, but keep an eye out here for more info as it comes to hand. Here's an image of a beast from the upcoming sequel that Crecsent Moon Games have teased: in the meantime, check out the original.
Fans of Apple products in Australia are set for a rude shock when they next log in to iTunes, with a huge increase in the cost of apps.
Recently, the Australian dollar nosedived. For a long time it was trading just over or at $1 against the U.S. dollar, which you’d have thought would have been great news for local consumers. It never truly was, however. The costs of goods in Australia remained higher than the U.S. in general, sometimes ridiculously so to the point where some global corporations – like Apple and Adobe – ended up in the courts.
Even on the App Store, where prices can be adjusted overnight, Apps remained almost 30% higher than they were in the U.S, despite our dollar being worth the same or more for the best part of two years. As of today, however, the Australian dollar only trades at 70c against the U.S. – or 30% lower. Would that not mean that – finally – the price of an app was actually accurate against the reality of the currency’s value?
Chris Jorgensen of Cascadia Games is no stranger to the idea of bringing iOS games to the larger screens of our lounge rooms. In 2012 he launched a Kickstarter campaign for his brainchild the GameDock - essentially a charging device that seats your iPhone and sends the signals out to your TV, complete with a couple of gamepads. The saga makes for a fascinating read, but in the end it seems the world wasn’t quite yet ready for an iOS-based microconsole.
Apple’s self-proclaimed “hobby” - the Apple TV - has been begging for a gaming component for years; it was only a matter of time. Promising a late October release, the fourth generation Apple TV will have its own App Store, a Siri remote that doubles as a controller, support for MFi controllers and games both big, small, casual and core.
Cascadia Games has been working on bringing back the ‘90s MS-DOS classic Wacky Wheels for the last couple of years, and the retro arcade racer looks like it would be a perfect fit for some big screen fun. The studio recently announced that it has finished work on the game’s 16 grand prix tracks, and you can get a taste of the gameplay from the teaser embedded below.
The 2D puzzle-platforming of Cascadia’s Cavorite series, and the more action-oriented 2-bit Cowboy and Ammo Pigs, would also make for fantastic discoveries for any retro gaming enthusiasts hunting through the new Apple TV’s offerings. You can read our making of interview for 2-bit Cowboy and review in Episode 5 of Grab It.
With his past experience developing the GameDock, we reached out to Jorgensen to get an idea of his thoughts on the Apple TV. Does it have a future as a microconsole? Does Cascadia have plans to port its catalogue over to the new hardware?
"It started out basically as a sci-fi mining game, but evolved into a deeper game where exploration of dark corridors is key (no pun intended!)" - from our interview with Tim Wickey on the Metroid influences behind Mines of Mars
Thanks to NASA's recent discovery of strong evidence for running water on Mars, the Red Planet is currently the new black. Turns out for gamers this is good news.
Mines of Mars was one of the iOS platform's stand out games of 2014. A 2D action platformer with a focus on freedom of exploration and a great sense of mystery, it was and still is a must play for fans of iPad gaming. In Episode 3 of Grab It we took a deep dive below the surface of Mars for our review, thoroughly enjoying Wickeyware's offering of this core gaming experience for touchscreens.
Those who haven't yet had the pleasure of this Metroid and mining mash-up are in for a treat, as just twenty-four hours ago the App Store saw a release of a free ad-supported version of the game. It's the full experience - for nothing. Start downloading the new, free version right here so that by the time you get to the end of this article you can jump in and start soaking up the game's considerable atmosphere. For those who prefer their gaming premium and uninterrupted, grab the paid version here.
One of the stand out features of our Grab It Episodes are the behind the scenes interviews that accompany our game reviews. It's like the extras on your Blu-rays. We think being able to get an idea of a game through a review, and then going even deeper courtesy of an interview with the developer that explores the inspirations, challenges and ideas for the future of a game makes for a pretty special experience. In Grab It Episode 3 Wickeyware's Tim Wickey discusses the game's mysterious ending, ideas for future expansions, and the inclusion of the awesome 2-bit arcade minigames.
The expansions that Wickey talked about haven't yet eventuated, but perhaps the release of this new ad-supported version might spark renewed interest in this iOS gem, and cause the expansions to come sooner rather than later. We'll let you know if we hear anything further.
Right, so by now your 93.5MBs of the free Mines of Mars Zero should be nearly downloaded, and we'd love to hear stories about your discoveries and adventures below Mars' surface. Hit us up in the comments below or the usual social feeds.
Writer: Garry Balogh
If you are wondering who we are, we're primarily a digital magazine for the iPad focused on the coverage of indie video games. Run by the former editor of Game Informer, you'll find worldwide exclusives, but also an interactive media experience unlike any you have seen before. If you have an iPad, you should check out the free sample issue at the very least, or enjoy one of our other episodes as listed below. There is also a trailer below.
"We know. It doesn't look like much. But we promise that it's a very good puzzle game. Like, really good." - Simogo's App Store description for SPL-T
Simogo snuck its new game out this week with no hype, no fanfare, nothing. All of a sudden we had a new Simogo game. That alone is no small thing, as the studio has been reaping credibility and accolades by the truckload with each new release - Device 6, Year Walk, Beat Sneak Bandit, Bumpy Road and The Sailor’s Dream. That’s some list.
The variety in Simogo’s releases is one of the few things that its games have in common, if that makes any sense. Continuing with that theme of variety, SPL-T adds a simple numbers puzzle to the studio’s growing list of titles. Or does it?
The sequel to the second coming of Lara Croft isn’t about to send your hard drive to the tombs.
An update to the database of Xbox game install sizes has revealed a number of new titles, including the highly anticipated Rise of the Tomb Raider. The game will come in at just 20.47GB when installed, which is quite light in comparison to other blockbusters. The update also includes Halo 5: Guardians, which is more than double that at 46GB, so you can see why we’re impressed.
We’re very much looking forward to the new Tomb Raider instalment. The reboot was an absolute gem, second only to the Uncharted series in that kind of cinematic action adventure subgenre. So good that Microsoft paid big dollars to turn it into a console exclusives – timed as it may turn out to be. Speaking of which, the original weighed in at 14GB, which hopefully means this sequel is significantly bigger.
If you are wondering who we are, we're primarily a digital magazine for the iPad focused on the coverage of indie video games. Run by the former editor of Game Informer, you'll find worldwide exclusives, but also an interactive media experience unlike any you have seen before. If you have an iPad, you should check out the free sample issue at the very least, or enjoy one of our other episodes as listed below.
Apple TV is about to enter its fourth generation and video games will be front and centre as the industry giant takes on the lounge room.
In late October 2015, Apple’s fourth iteration of its Apple TV hardware turns the device into a genuine microconsole. It’s a portal direct from the App Store to your TV, and while there needs to be some compatibility between the games and the Apple TV’s Siri enabled touchpad remote, developers are already lining up to get their titles on the device. We will continually update the below list, so make sure you check back regularly – but as it stands, this is the current list of games that will be playable through the fourth generation Apple TV.
Some of the differences between install sizes of games on current-generation consoles are mind-boggling.
Installing games on consoles is just horrible. Gone are the days when playing a newly purchased game for the first time could occur moments after arriving home with it. Now gigabytes of data needs to be transferred to your hard drive (possibly after burning desperate minutes deleting or moving something first), and then likely a patch needs to be downloaded and installed, too. Isn’t avoiding this laborious process why gamers stopped playing on PCs and move to consoles in the first place?
But installs and huge downloads are now a part of the modern gamer lifestyle, and it turns out that Xbox One users need to do a fair bit more of that than their PlayStation 4 counterparts.
Finder.com has published some data comparing the top 20 disparities in install sizes between games on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. So these are games that are multiformat and appear on both machines, yet require different amounts of hard drive space to do so. And the differences are quite staggering. Warframe takes top spot, with a 19.63GB variance between the Xbox One and PlayStation 4. But it’s not alone, with The Elder Scrolls Online at 18.58GB and Alien Isolation at 16.35GB.
These are real differences, which users would experience right now if they were to download both games from their respective stores. Click here for the full list.
What’s more concerning - at least from an Xbox One fan’s perspective – is that only two of the top twenty games are bigger on PlayStation 4. Batman: Arkham Knight (6.07GB) at 15th, and Destiny (5.57GB) at 18th. So what gives? Why is the Xbox One so much more challenging to compress for; or is Microsoft just more lax on what it enforces of its developers?
Considering that these titles are more-or-less identical, some of these disparities just don’t add up.
The Apple TV launch is a classic example of two things; the need for clear marketing and the sad truth that negative stories are a magnet for more clicks than positive ones.
As soon as the Apple TV was born kicking and screaming into the gaming landscape after years of rumours and speculation, websites were quick to write it off as a failure. The sticking point has been the perception by some that apps and games would be limited to 200MB in size, making for very small, very casual games - some sites went as far as to call it a complete "bust."
With a launch that in time might be compared to the poorly communicated and flip-flopping launch of the Xbox One, Apple now needs to explain to the gaming industry why the 200MB limit is a myth, rather than relying on third parties to do it for them. Let's have a crack though, shall we?
You know a universe is big when your expansions requires more hard drive space than most full games.
One of the interesting pieces of information to emerge today after the publishing of The Full List of PS4 Game Install Sizes (some 460 games) was an install size for upcoming expansion Destiny: The Taken King. Despite being able to leverage all the exciting code and assets already installed on your system, it will still be a 17.4GB install, a hefty sum.
A full list of Xbox One game install sizes exists too, but does not feature Destiny: The Taken King. Surely it will be very similar, however.
