Steve Jackson (not the designer of Munchkin card games, sorry) started out writing an adventure gamebook for Penguin back in 1983. As it’s coming up on the 30th anniversary of his four-book Sorcery! series, Jackson decided to bring the proto-RPG to the modern age by teaming up with development studio Inkle and releasing four new iOS gamebook apps for iPhone and iPad.
With Halloween almost upon us, what better way to celebrate than to scare yourself silly with some of the most terrifying games the App Store has to offer? We’ve put together a selection of the best horror titles that will have you watching your back this October 31, with some big hits like Walking Dead, Rage HD, Dead Space, and more.
You’ve got a bit under six days left to get your grubby little Temple Run mitts on the first issue of the new Temple Run comic book, published by Ape Entertainment and Imangi Studios. This limited collector’s edition is only available for a limited time and is print to order only, which means that come November 5th, you’ll no longer be able to order it again.
Unless you buy it from someone who ordered it now, of course.
You shouldn’t judge people purely on first impressions (although many of us do). You probably shouldn’t do the same with apps either. But first impressions count for a lot, and my first impressions of zombie killfest Earn to Die are, well, not that great.
Halloween, or All Hallows’ Eve, has a tradition stretching back to the 15th century and earlier, though it is currently a more secular holiday, with children and the young at heart dressing up as everything from scary ghouls and monsters to the more tame video game characters or that bane of every feminist out there, the “sexy” nurse/librarian/pikachu/what have you.
Regardless of how you celebrate, though, we thought you’d enjoy this list of the scariest Mac games we could think of, each available to play on current (and some older) Macs just in time for the next couple of creepy weeks.
Anrgy Birds In Space didn’t do much to get me excited enough to fling birds around on my iPad, but Angry Birds Star Wars has rekindled my love for the cute slingshot loving birdies and their pig nemeses. Rovio just released gameplay footage of Angry Birds Star Wars (you can watch it in the video above), and yes, you will get to wield a lightsaber and shoot your blaster at AT-ATs once the game is released on November 8th.
Source: YouTube
After we reported on Steam’s new Big Picture beta coming to the Mac, we got a reader question that I figured it’d be good to write a tip on.
Playing games on your Mac is great fun of course, and all of them use the keyboard and/or mouse to control the games being played. However, with AirPlay mirroring, HDMI cable support, and a bunch of new games showing up for the Mac platform along their Windows brethren, there are times when a console style controller is a better alternative. Being able to sit on the couch and play our favorite Mac games has a lot to recommend it, and using an Xbox controller is fairly easy to set up.
Here’s how.
Back in September, we reported that Valve had created a special interface to let Steam gamers play on the big screen with a controller. At that time the PC version of Steam was enabled for what it calls Big Picture, but today, one of our readers noticed that the Mac beta is finally available.
It’s also fairly easy to enable it on your Mac right now–no software update required, if you’re already running the latest version of Steam.
Eufloria is an ingenious, engaging, addictive strategy game for iOS, with its own unique look and style. There’s much more to it than first meets the eye.
Galaxy Tab; Nexus 7; Kindle Fire HD—they’re all doomed, and on this week’s CultCast, we’ll tell why Apple’s new iPad mini will most definitely sit as the king of all tabs small.
Then, we review a new social iOS game so stellar, it’ll have you clamoring for Game Center friends just so you can get your fix.
All that and more on our newest CultCast! Subscribe now on iTunes, or easily stream The CultCast via Apple’s free Podcasts App.
Note: Some listeners have informed us that iTunes isn’t displaying episode 39 yet, but if you subscribe, it will show up and download just fine.
Onwards, to the show notes!
Iceberg Interactive and Kukouri Entertainment announced today an update to adorable little war game, Tiny Troopers, in the guise of a zombie apocalypse. The update comes via Steam to the Mac and PC version, bringing endless waves of brain munching zombies and undead chickens. There will be special air-drops of new special zombie-killing weaponry dropped to lay waste to the zombie hordes, and special forces troopers to take the undead down. There’ll even be special zombies, in case the normal ones just aren’t scary enough.
The MacHeist Bundle (affiliate link) gets you amazing software for an amazing price, and benefits charity as well. Also? It’s over at midnight tonight.
That means you have enough time to purchase the bundle and still pre-order your iPad mini.
You may know Loren Brichter for the app that made him a rockstar in the iOS development community, Tweetie. Brichter was so successful with Tweetie that Twitter ended up hiring him to make Tweetie the official Twitter client for iOS and the Mac. Twitter for Mac has since fallen by the wayside, but Twitter for iPhone and iPad both live on as a testament to Brichter’s legacy.
After spearheading the initial development of Twitter’s official clients for iOS and OS X, Brichter left the social network to do his own thing again. For the past several months he’s been working on Letterpress, a new iPhone and iPad game that’s now available in the App Store.
It’s not a whole lot to go by, but this image surfaced on the Dead Trigger Facebook page, teasing the existence of a Halloween update for the Android and iOS zombie shooter, Dead Trigger. Will you be fighting pumpkin-head zombies?
Apple Head of Marketing, Phil Schiller, took the stage today and asked a very important question. “What does the iPad mini do that the iPad doesn’t already do?” he wondered aloud.
His answer was only half as good – “It can fit in one hand.” Here at Cult of Mac, however, we think that’s only part of the story. The fact is that Apple’s newest, smallest, thinnest iPad makes a perfect gaming controller.
Fieldrunners 2 is one of my favorite iOS games, hands down. Developer Subatomic Studios has taken the tower defense genere to a new level with this sequel to their popular and multi-platform game, Fieldrunners. This second game was released in July of this year, almost 4 years after the first iteration came out on iOS, then Mac.
Today, the studio announced that they’ve added in-app purchasing to the game, something many games come with from the start. Those games, however, typically come at no up-front cost. Fieldrunners 2 was released as a premium, paid game, at $2.99 for the iPhone and $7.99 for the iPad version. Why did they add this freemium-style in-app purchasing system to a game that’s already doing well as a paid app?
The fans of the game wanted it.
If you’ve played any of the MapleStory games on the web or iOS, you know Nexon. They’re an established developer of free-to-play online games for iOS, the web, and PC. Today the company announced the launch of another free-to-play iOS game, Space Tanks, for the iPad and iPhone. It’s Nexon’s 27th mobile title this year. Wow.
Most people will download almost any iOS game, no matter how silly it looks, as long as it’s free. They just won’t stick around for more than one day. A new study on user engagement in free-to-play social games discovered that 85% of new players in the U.S. never go back to the game after the first day.
If you have any idea what an ollie is, or a 50:50 grind, or a heel-flip (or — if you grew up in the 1980s, an acid drop or boneless), then you should buy True Skate right this minute. Seriously. I’ll wait.
Why? Because — despite some v1 limitations — True Skate is the closest you’re going to get to a dead-on skateboarding sim in 2012. The only things missing are the security guards to come and harass you, and bad fast food.
Prepare to conquer the world! No, this isn’t a call to arms from an evil genius, it’s more like Risk, on steroids—Rule The World With Making History II: Prepare For The Ultimate Grand Strategy Experience With This Fun Mac Game.
My father-in-law is really into these games. He spends hours researching and playing strategy games on his PC. I don’t know what my mother-in-law thinks of all this virtual carnage and destruction, but I think it’s pretty cool. If my father-in-law had a Mac (he does have an iPad), I’d get him this game for his birthday (since it’s next week) because it looks freakin’ cool.
Telltale Games announced today that iOS users can now download Episode Three of The Walking Dead: The Game, entitled “Long Road Ahead,” to their iPhone or iPad. It’s the third of five episodes in the critically acclaimed series based on Robert Kirkman’s zombie drama, The Walking Dead, which started as an award-winning comic book, then made its way to become a critically-acclaimed television series on AMC.
Days of Wonder have decorated their so-addictive-you-can’t-stop-playing-to-eat iPad train game, Ticket to Ride, with a new Halloween-themed update. As if I don’t lose enough time to this damn game.
This is Carmageddon: the driving game that got banned in several countries. The driving game that’s less about driving, and more about killing. Hit the gas and aim for the gizzards.
Newly released for iOS, this is a 12+ rated no-holds-barred killing fest. It’s non-stop gory driving violence with plenty of offensive language thrown in for good measure. In some working environments, both the game and some of the screenshots that follow may be considered NSFW.
Negative Nimbus is a cloud with a sad disposition. Why is he so sad? We’re not sure, but it might have something to do with being fairly unable to control his rain.
See, Negative Nimbus is a raincloud, and in this amazingly cute and unexpectedly creative iPad game, you’ll need to help him rain on the flowers and avoid his buddies, Ketchup Bottle, Marshmallow Roasting Hot Dog, and Apple. You’ll also get some help from Bill the Umbrella. Every time Nimbus rains on someone he’s not supposed to, he apologizes in a sad-sack Eeyore-esque voice, saying things like, “Sorry, buddies,” and “Excuse me!”
Sega has turned its hand to vertical jumping games with a brand new title called Sonic Jump that’s coming to the App Store tomorrow. The title looks a lot like Doodle Jump, only it features Sega’s beloved blue hedgehog instead, and rather than being just an endless jumper, you’ll have to beat new and familiar stages in pursuit of the infamous Dr. Eggman.