Raise your hand if you think spelling and grammar are fun. Raise it up. A little higher. Aha, I see you there. And your friend! Both of you, come closer and listen, because I need to tell you about this unique new iOS game where you win points by spotting spelling mistakes.
On this week’s CultCast, we’re ending the year with our favorite gear! Don’t miss our “End of Days, Faves ‘N Raves,” where pitch our favorite apps, accessories, games, even shows, of 2012.
But before that, we’ll break down the whole Instagram debacle for you, and tell you why you should be paying attention to the big I’s plans for your personal pics.
All that and Tim Cook, person of the year?
Join us, friends! Subscribe to The CultCast now on iTunes, or easily stream new and previous episodes via Apple’s free Podcasts App.
Show notes ahead!
Madfinger Games announced on its Facebook page today an update to multiplayer FPS game, Shadowgun: Deadzone on both Google Play and the iTunes App Store. The update includes two new maps, new weapon upgrades, a chat feature in the main menu, a new way to play with groups of friends called Gangs, new hats, Rewards for finishing Zone Control or DeathMatch, and an increase to max player ranks (up to 50).
Poor Negative Nimbus. He’s so sad, and so full of water, it’s a challenge to sail across the sky without drenching the happy hot dogs and caterpillars out for a picnic lunch, while still watering the happy flowers along the way. What’s a depressed cloud to do?
Apparently, the answer is to launch on Android, via the Google Play store and the Amazon Marketplace. That’s just what CloudKid’s fantastic game, Negative Nimbus, has done for the holiday season.
Borderlands 2 from Aspyr is now available to download at the Mac App Store, almost exactly a month after it debuted on Steam — and there’s good news and bad news.
EA makes some of the best games for iOS and they’re ready to unload a truckload of Christmas gifts on you. EA just launched a massive sale on their iOS games today. The most expensive games are now listed for $0.99 while many are now free.
If you’re dreading spending some quality time with your family this holiday season, and want to get lost in some long games of Madden, Mass Effect, and Monopoly, you should probably take advantage of this deal.
Here is a list of some of the games on sale:
Penny Arcade The Game: Gamers vs. Evil is a deck-building card game published by Cryptozoic Entertainment. Today, the company announced that a stand alone iOS game app based on the deck-building game becomes available tomorrow, December 19. It features characters from the Penny Arcade comic, including Gabe and Tycho, and will launch at a $4.99 price point. The iOS game was developed by PlayDek Games.
You probably love the hell out of your iPhone. You take it everywhere. Give it constant attention. Make sure it’s clothed in the coolest covers so it doesn’t get banged up and have to go to the Genius Bar emergency room. Heck, you probably even sleep with the little guy.
Sadly, your iPhone doesn’t love you. But a new app called Hatch wants to change all that by turning your iPhone into a pet that loves you back. Hatch is a new iOS game that hatches cute little pets called Fugus inside your iPhone. You can feed your Fugu, clean up after it, pet it, play with it, and tons of other activities to shower it with love. Your Fugu will love you right back. It’s kind of like the Tamagotchi craze, but better.
Here’s a video of the app in action:
Loren Brichter’s Game Center success story, Letterpress, has been updated today in the App Store with a couple of new features and improvements. Version 1.2 of the popular, Scrabble-like word game introduces a new HTML5-based feature called “Share Replays.” You can now share a link from the iOS game that shows a word-by-word progression of how a match progressed.
The last update to Letterpress brought the ability to quickly demand a rematch, and now you can see a history of your skills as a wordsmith with Replays. The game’s dictionary has also been tweaked and improved.
When the App Store first came into being in 2008 the majority of new apps released were paid apps. Times have changed and more and more app developers are electing to go with free or freemium models rather than charging users to download their app.
Appsfire just posted their 2012: A Year In The App Store review that analyized the 1 million apps that have been sold in the App Store and they found that only 34% apps released in 2012 were paid apps – down from 74% in 2008.
One of the better Yuletide traditions is the venerable holiday Advent Calendar, in which each day of December leading up to Christmas is marked off on a special calendar by opening its corresponding door to find a small gift, toy or chocolate squirreled away inside.
This year, we here at Cult of Mac decided we wanted to give our readers their very own Apple-themed advent calendar, filled with the year’s best apps, gadgets, stories and other curios. So each day in December, we’re going to lovingly peel back the door on the Cult of Mac 2012 Advent Calendar to reveal another delicious morsel, something really special that came out this year that we think every one of you should enjoy.
So what’s behind the door on Saturday the 15th? Arcane Legends for iOS, a free-to-play, massively multiplayer online game (MMO) that’s bound to please.
Tower offense game, Anomaly Korea, will be out in time for Christmas, says developer 11bitstudios. The sequel to Anomaly Warzone: Earth will feature new weapons, new levels, and new game styles, as well as the dynamic tower offense game play of the original game.
The aliens are back, and this time, they’re fighting in Korea. You’ll get to command a squad of troops and use tactical planning touch controls to lead them through 12 new missions against the new alien enemies.
Rovio, one of the most successful iOS developers around, has slashed all of its iPad games to just 99¢ for a limited time. That includes all titles in the Angry Birds series, the new Bad Piggies game, and Amazing Alex. Has Christmas come early?
Just as they did yesterday with the iOS App Store0, Apple today has launched their Best of 2012 awards for the Mac App Store… and this time, the clear winners are actually clear winners instead of head-scratching WTFs.
The critically acclaimed RPG The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings is now available on the Mac App Store. The development team promises that your choices really do matter, and will determine the fate of the people and kingdoms in the game. You’ll fight blood-thirsty monsters as protagonist Geralt of Rivia, as well as navigate politics, lies, and gorgeous environments.
One of the better Yuletide traditions is the venerable holiday Advent Calendar, in which each day of December leading up to Christmas is marked off on a special calendar by opening its corresponding door to find a small gift, toy or chocolate squirreled away inside.
This year, we here at Cult of Mac decided we wanted to give our readers their very own Apple-themed advent calendar, filled with the year’s best apps, gadgets, stories and other curios. So each day in December, we’re going to lovingly peel back the door on the Cult of Mac 2012 Advent Calendar to reveal another delicious morsel, something really special that came out this year that we think every one of you should enjoy.
It’s Day 13! Time to get your tower defense on with Fieldrunners 2.
Alex Peake leads Primer Labs, an indie game development company that has been working on Code Hero, an innovative game that’s meant to teach students how to code software. The game was said to be in development for Mac and Windows, with an iOS version also in the works.
Code Hero was a huge success on Kickstarter earlier this year, as Peake raised $170,000 in just a couple days. The funding was supposedly going directly towards the development of Code Hero, and backers were promised physical copies of the game.
Since early in the year, Peake and Primer Labs haven’t been responding to backers, and now it’s been revealed that the educational tool will probably never see the light of day.
Calling GODUS “a delightful reinvention of the god game from 22cans and Peter Molyneux,” the game’s Kickstarter page has some new details on the project, the second from Curiosity’s 22cans games studio. With nine days left to go and about half of its funding goal met, Project GODUS just may be worth a look. Originally set to release on iOS, Android, and PC, the game will also be available on the Mac platform: welcome news indeed for those of us firmly in the Mac camp of gaming.
Games Workshop announced today a Space Hulk game for Mac, iOS, and (yes) PC. It’s scheduled for release in 2013, and is based on the Warhammer 40,000 franchise board game of the same name. The current digital version is planned to be a 3D turn-based strategy game with both single player and co-op modes of play, not to mention cross-platform multiplayer across iOS, Mac, and PC.
I suck at playing video games on my iPhone. Well, I suck at playing video games period, but I’m even worse on an iPhone because the lack of real buttons usually just gets me lost and confused. There are a lot of iPhone gaming cases on the market that add physical buttons to an iPhone, but most of them suck and add extra bulk to an iPhone or drain the battery.
The WynCASE is the first iPhone gaming case that actually looks pretty freaking awesome because it doesn’t add any accessories onto the screen, it doesn’t need batteries, and it’s so thin you might just decide to keep it on your iPhone even when you’re not playing a game.
One of the better Yuletide traditions is the venerable holiday Advent Calendar, in which each day of December leading up to Christmas is marked off on a special calendar by opening its corresponding door to find a small gift, toy or chocolate squirreled away inside.
This year, we here at Cult of Mac decided we wanted to give our readers their very own Apple-themed advent calendar, filled with the year’s best apps, gadgets, stories and other curios. So each day in December, we’re going to lovingly peel back the door on the Cult of Mac 2012 Advent Calendar to reveal another delicious morsel, something really special that came out this year that we think every one of you should enjoy.
What do we have in store for you for Day 9 (admittedly, going up a day late)? FTL for Mac, about the closest experience to sitting down in the Captain’s Chair on the U.S.S. Enterprise you’re likely to find on any platform for less than $10.
If you’re an Apple TV owner, you’ve likely been looking forward to the day when Apple finally announces support for apps and games. We don’t know why it’s taking so long, but it looks as though the new feature could be just around the corner. Visit the store on your Apple TV, and you’ll notice Apple has added a number of banners advertising apps and games for the holiday season.
Either Apple’s trying to tell us a big feature is on its way, or someone inside Cupertino has gotten their graphics all mixed up.
One of the better Yuletide traditions is the venerable holiday Advent Calendar, in which each day of December leading up to Christmas is marked off on a special calendar by opening its corresponding door to find a small gift, toy or chocolate squirreled away inside.
This year, we here at Cult of Mac decided we wanted to give our readers their very own Apple-themed advent calendar, filled with the year’s best apps, gadgets, stories and other curios. So each day in December, we’re going to lovingly peel back the door on the Cult of Mac 2012 Advent Calendar to reveal another delicious morsel, something really special that came out this year that we think every one of you should enjoy.
So what’s behind the door on Saturday the 8th? Letterpress for iOS, a word game for the rest of us, with a simple, cutthroat strategy and an amazing visual design!
Catcha Catcha Aliens calls itself “a mission-based catching game”, which in English means it’s an infinite runner in the style of Temple Run. With a bit of a twist, some great music, and celebrity voiceovers. What’s not to like?
Rayman Jungle Run got an update today, adding ten more levels within a brand-new world for the holidays. The app description mentions, “10 new levels, including a snowy jungle, waterfalls, interactive environments, and a new crazy Land of The Dead challenge.”
There is also an updated character pack available for $0.99 as an in-app purchase, as well. It includes new character Globox, and two new Rayman costumes to use in-game.