On the XBLA front, gamers can pick up games like Renegade Ops for 800 Microsoft Points and After Burner Climax for 400 MS Points. As for PSN, Daytona USA and Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode 1 are available for $6.99, with discounts also placed on Renegade Ops and Sega Rally. Finally, on iOS most games including Chu Chu Rocket HD and Sonic Spinball are $0.99.

These deals will be available starting tomorrow through to January 2, 2012.

Source: Destructoid

Grand Theft Auto III is widely regarded as a video game classic for popularizing the “sandbox” video game genre. Having such a classic game, on such a widely adopted device, and at such a low price point is something that should have gamers everywhere excited.

Source: Destructoid

What many of you probably didn’t know is that is was released a day early by mistake ;)

Well it wasn’t really by mistake but you know what I mean;

We were trying to do a big thing about this during MineCon that Minecraft – Pocket Edition would be released for iOS worldwide during Friday. BUT! To be able to do this we had to release on iOS a day before to make sure it was out all over the world. Seems like some of you guys found out already about this and seem to enjoy the game a lot!

Notch did some Precon streaming from his phone on Thursday evening and mentioned quite  a few things he probably shouldn’t have..

Notch: Minecraft iPhone was meant to be released 18th – lol

During notch’s Precon stream it was mentioned the Minecraft for iOS was highest ranking app already.

Notch did asked if it was also top grossing but passed it off as ‘crazy’ seeing as it had only been released earlier that day.

It wasn’t long before it was though… (18th November 2011)

Minecraft – Pocket Edition is the top grossing app all around the world which is super exciting! I hope you enjoy it and looking forward to new updates that will eventually come. This is just the beginning

Read more on the Mojang Blog (This was also mentioned during a Minecon presentation ‘we haven’t even publicised it yet’)

Here is the official release tweet by Daniel (on the 18th..)

I did actually but this on the Friday but I haven’t been all that impressed, It cost me £4.99 on the iPhone and I have had a little play.

At the moment you only seem to get creative mode and I found the iPhone screen a little too small to play on, The controls are easy enough to use and the render distance is reasonable. Try climbing a mountain though, It is nearly impossible to move forward and jump at the same time. It does auto-jump for you but it doesn’t work every time.. You can go into third person view but I find Steve took up most of the screen.

I think it would be much better on an iPad – If anyone has tried this please comment below.

Before I got bored I managed to build a big tower with blue wool and bricks….. then I fell off it. *SadFace*

There is a Minecraft.net homepage for Minecraft Pocket Edition now

You can buy Minecraft Pocket Edition for both iOS and Android here

You can also buy direct form the iTunes store here

Minecraft Pocket Edition iOS

To be honest from me (as a hard-core Minecraft fan) I would have to say wait a bit and see how the app develops.. See what Multi-Player brings to the mix…

Catch you next time

#DoneyKebab

Minecon? Minecraft 1.0? Minecraft Pocket Edition on iOS? Where should I start?…

 No really I don’t know where to start. I normally keep a log of all interesting tweets and pictures each week;

My Minecraft Update folder this week contains 93 items (Images etc) and my tweet log text-file amounts to 2,389 words..

:O

Well I guess the best thing to do is get into it…

Minecraft Pocket Edition iOS

I am sure you are all aware Minecraft Pocket addition was released for iOS 17th November 2011. David did a post about it in fact ‘Minecraft Arrives for iOS‘ It cost £4.99 for the iPhone and features creative mode (No multi-Player yet)

What many of you probably didn’t know is that is was released a day early by mistake

Well it wasn’t really by mistake;

We were trying to do a big thing about this during MineCon that Minecraft – Pocket Edition would be released for iOS worldwide during Friday. BUT! To be able to do this we had to release on iOS a day before to make sure it was out all over the world. Seems like some of you guys found out already about this and seem to enjoy the game a lot!

Notch did some Precon streaming from his phone on Thursday evening and mentioned quite  a few things he probably shouldn’t have..

Notch: Minecraft iPhone was meant to be released 18th – lol

During notch’s Precon stream it was mentioned the Minecraft for iOS was highest ranking app already.

Notch did asked if it was also top grossing but passed it off as ‘crazy’ seeing as it had only been released earlier that day.

It wasn’t long before it was though… (18th November 2011)

Minecraft – Pocket Edition is the top grossing app all around the world which is super exciting! I hope you enjoy it and looking forward to new updates that will eventually come. This is just the beginning

Read more on the Mojang Blog

Here is the official release tweet by Daniel (on the 18th.. hehe)

I did actually but this on the Friday but I haven’t been all that impressed, It cost me £4.99 on the iPhone and I have had a little play.

Blue Flowers? ...

At the moment you only seem to get creative mode and I found the iPhone screen a little too small to play on, The controls are easy enough to use and the render distance is reasonable. Try climbing a mountain though, It is nearly impossible to move forward and jump at the same time. It does auto-jump for you but I doesn’t work every time.. You can also go into third person view but I fund Steve took up most of the screen

Before I got bored I managed to build a big tower with blue wool and brick….. then I fell off it.

Isn't that nice...

There is a Minecraft.net homepage for Minecraft Pocket Edition now

You can buy Minecraft Pocket Edition for both iOS and Android here

To be honest from me (A hard-core Minecraft fan) I would have to say wait a bit and see how the app develops.. See what Multi-Player brings to the mix…

Notch’s Precon Stream

I thought I would cover a little more about Notch’s Precon stream on the 17th November;

I managed to watch the stream early on. I think it went up to around 800+ viewers quite fast

He basically wandered around for 45mins chatting before the first press conference at Minecon (This was to be about Minecraft on the Xbox)

Here is the man himself

When Notch was streaming he wandered into a room where Yogscast were being interviewed.

It seems there was a streaming embargo set by notch (Because of the IGN deal) yet he was streaming himself

notch: I’m not interrupting anything am I? I am live-streaming this by the way. (A phrase used a lot during the steam)

A Yogscaster: Are you not breaking the embargo?’

Notch: Am I not allowed to stream this?

Simon: You can break your own embargo! I think it is alright.

Notch: So you can’t show this but I can?

…… Excellent!

I love stuff like this, it just shows what a genuine guy notch is and how fun the Minecraft community can be.

During his stream someone brought in something that sounded like clanking glass bottles. The ‘Secret Soda’ that was talked about earlier this week? Notch very nearly revealed what they were;

I almost filmed the secret stuff!, damn it!

I guessed that they may have been drinks that look like the potions in the game?

They turned out to be these;

These sodas (and others) are at Minecon! (given away in the creeper bags)

Thanks Reddit

Not a bad guess though

Notch also signed some phones;

And deadmau5 was there

Daniel was also streaming on his iPhone but didn’t get nearly as many views

I stayed up till 12:30 watching the Notch’s stream on Thursday. You can watch it back here

Notch’s Precon Stream

I have never wanted to be some-ware so much in my life So many great people there.. Having such fun.

Even notch was ‘star struck’ over deadmau5 when they were looking at options for music to use when notch ‘released Minecraft’.

notch: I call him joel like we are friends…… best friends?

Someone mentioned during the stream that deadmau5 was once thrown out of one of his own shows as he didn’t have a pass? He doesn’t seem to be wearing a pass in the stream either? make of that what you wish….

Another interesting thing notch noticed was some of the Minecon signs said Minecon 2012? Are they expecting them again next year and wanted to save some money on signs?

Notch: Does it say 2012? that's weird... Also wrong!'

Anyway if precon wasn’t exciting enough please read on… we have lots more to get through

MineCon

I’m sure you guys have all be following the Minecon developments on Twitter and through all the live-streams.

I have a few videos for you here as I feel it is the bestway to show it really.

In short, Hat films made an opening video, notch pulled a big

Minecraft lever to release Minecraft, lots of free stuff was given out,

a guy proposed... I dunno.. Lots of stuff.. Please read on..

Hat Films Minecon Opening – Minecraft Evolution;

Click here to view the embedded video.

You can watch Notch’s full KeyNote here;

Click here to view the embedded video.

Yogscast Minecon Panel;

Click here to view the embedded video.

Hat films were also given like ‘no time at all’ to edit together a closing video.. I think they did really well

Hat Films Minecon Finale Video;

Click here to view the embedded video.

As you know IGN streamed most of Minecon, you can see the archive of videos here

IGN Minecon Archive

Notch also performed a few interviews, He is a damn funny guy.

Hat Films interview Notch (GOOD DAY!);

Click here to view the embedded video.

The Yogscast also Interview Notch (or did he interview them? or Simon’s Mum?);

Yogscast Interview Notch Part 01

Yogscast Interview Notch Part 02 (7:30 is all I will say, haha)

p.s. what was in those creeper goodie bags everyone has been wearing?

Click here to view the embedded video.

There was also a Minecraft proposal

Minecon looked so good.. I cannot wait until the next one.

notch: Huuuuge thank you to all the Minecraft community people who made it out to Minecon. You’re the reason we’re here! <3

There was a little ‘issue’ with some of the ‘people’ at Minecon.. Notch put out the following tweets earlier today;

notch: We also learned who not to work with at Minecon. Shame.. :/

notch: Other than that, Minecon was perfect!

notch: I’m very sorry about the behavior of the people we won’t work with any more. Celebrity or not, you don’t f-bomb kids.

I have written a full post on this here Notch Vs. Yogscast

I cannot wait to see the 2PlayerProductions footage of Minecon.. In fact I am now even more excited about the Minecraft Documentary.

Also everyone was super excited about the deadmau5 show ‘into the nether’ on the last night. It turns out security was tight so there are not many pics made it out.

minecraftchick; World's sickest spot for the @deadmau5 show!

No-one was really sure why the security was so tight until the day after;

minecrap: Ok now it ALL make sense. The reason for the over the top security at Sx was because Prince Harry was on the dance floor! WOW!!! #Minecon

Good old Harry! I didn’t know the UK royal family was into Minecraft.. Do you think he has ever showed his mum… ‘So mummy this is Minecraft, you can punch a tree’ …. ‘oooo that is lovely dear….’

Minecraft 1.0

As you know Notch pulled the big leaver and released Minecraft during the Minecraft Presentation

Then they had a dance

You can download Minecraft 1.0 here;

http://www.minecraft.net/download

There are lots of new features.. (Particularly if you haven’t played any of the 1.9 Pre-releases) Check out some of my Beta 1.9 Pre-release posts to see.

The great guys at the M1neTube have done a Minecraft 1.0 video showing some of the new features along with ‘The End’

Click here to view the embedded video.

The M1neTube have a 1.9 Video playlist should also help you catch up with the changes since Minecraft Beta 1.8.

Minecraft Beta 1.9 Pre-Release Playlist

And I leave you with this;

That really is something. A game to get on the top 50 Invertions in Time Magazine

Well that is about it from me for this post, it only took two long evenings to write up so please leave a comment if you found it useful. I’m not sure where we will go from here with Minecraft updates now the game has been fully released. We will have to see how frequently Mojang release them. I expect the team will focus on Scrolls for a time. I will keep you all updated on it all though… Don’t you worry

There is so much more I can write but this post would be so big I could never finish it.. I will have to call it here.

Love you lots

#DoneyKebab

When will you launch the mobile app?

Since we do not want to add even more stress to the back-end servers, we are holding back on launching the ELITE mobile applications until the service is stable and our players can easily access it. We will have the apps ready to launch as soon as we are comfortable the experience will be a great one, and will update with more information soon.

On its original release eight years ago, XIII recieved great praise for the way its cel-shaded visuals emulated comic book style, as well as its gripping conspiracy thriller plotline, which saw the amnesiac protagonist attempting to piece his identity back together while on the run from the FBI. Unfortunately the gameplay was not so widely appreciated, so Anuman will presumably be hoping they can improve on that, while maintaining the character of the source material.

Further details are thin on the ground thus far, but we can expect PC, Mac and iOS releases.

The student (named Chris Staniforth) played his Xbox for stints of 12 hours a day on games such as Halo. The father of Chris Staniforth had the following to say on the death of his son:

‘’ He lived for his Xbox. I never dreamed he was in any danger.

“As a parent you think playing computer games can’t do them any harm because you know what they are doing. Kids all over the country are playing these games for long periods – they don’t realise it could kill them.”

It’s clear to see the sheer level of ignorance on display, while some could be excused as mourning for his son the statements still made it to print by a very anti-games newspaper (at least ant-video games when it suits them).

The artlice goes on to highlight Chris was jobless by saying:

‘’Chris collapsed seconds after telling a friend how he had been experiencing a strange sensation in his chest.

The pair were chatting outside a JobCentre where Chris had an interview.’’

The JobCentre part could of easily been left out but of course this helped convey the negative image of video games, The Sun is famous for this kind of thing as well as telling bare faced lies. The article further goes on to show Chris was a healthy guy with no health issues what so ever and a clean health history. His father had more to say which comes off as slightly less negative, for example:

‘’ Over the years Chris had a whole range of different consoles, everything from PlayStations to Xboxes. I’m not for one minute blaming the manufacturer of Xbox. It isn’t their fault that people use them for so long. But I want to highlight the dangers that can arise. Playing on it for so long is what killed him – and I don’t want another child to die.”

The Sun also felt the need to force in the fact Chris mother and father had divorced (which is completely not relevant to the story). His father’s closing words on the subject are as follows:

“There’s anxiety about obesity and children not doing anything other than looking at computer screens. It’s pretty unhealthy.”

The Sun has clearly shown its negative stance on video games (and obsession sensationalism with) and has tried its best to give off negative portrayals of gamers (hence the pointless JobCentre name drop)  which is quite odd for a paper that features a game section each Friday, granted its awful but never the less it’s there. The Sun seems to neglect the issue that this was a case of a person lifestyle and choices, it also neglects to talk about parents taking responsibility for their off spring and educating them on life matters and a healthy life style….instead of using things (in this case video games) as a scapegoat.

Then again this is The Sun were talking about who have a long history of telling lies….just ask any football fan who was around during the Hillsborough disaster.

The Sun Report Cane Be Found Here

Activision said the reason they decided to drop Guitar Hero was not only because it failed to meet expectations, but because it simply made no profit. With it’s later (some might say ‘failed’) attempts to re-invent the franchise, it appears that it just could not compete with the likes of Rock Band.

Originally set for release on 1st November last year, True Crime: Hong Kong was pushed back until Q1 2011 before yesterdays cancellation. When asked, an Activision representative said the game “just wasn’t going to be good enough.” It is unclear whether the whole franchise has been axed or not.

On a brighter note, Activision did announce however that there will be a new Spiderman game this year, even though last years release (Spiderman: Shattered Dimensions) saw poor sales figures.

Source: IGN

As you become more and more well known, more people will buy your games. In doing so, you create more money, which you can then put back into the business by upgrading staff and buying licenses to create games for different consoles. You can then create better games, which receive better ratings, and gets you more fans. And the cycle repeats. Though it sounds pretty dull, I can promise you it is not. Your employees have different skills and levels. Some might be good at art, others at music, others at programming. You have to work these different skills to your advantage to create the best games. They also have the ability to level up, and increase their stats. As well as this, different game genres also level up the more you make them. You have to be careful however. If you keep making games from the same genre you will loose fans.

The graphics for the game are quite nice. The changing character models add variety, and the office enviroment looks clean and crisp. The menus are basic and easy to use, and you shouldn’t struggle finding any thing. Saving is simple, and it even has an auto-save function which is very handy should you receive a text or phone call. The music uses MIDI files which make the game sound like it is from the 80′s and 90′s. As nice a touch as this is, it didn’t take me long before I was playing with the sound muted! Even though the game has no licenses to officialise the games or consoles, it actually turns out to be a benefit. There are many puns that gamers will recognize and chuckle to. These include ‘Super Sergio Bros’ made by ‘Intendro’, ‘Phantastic Star’ by ‘Cornami Games’ and ‘Last Fantasy’ by ‘Round Phoenix’. There are also many character puns, including ‘Gill Bates’, ‘Donny Jepp’ and ‘Walt Sidney’. The game obviously isn’t 100% realistic, though it makes a good effort attempting to be. With current hardware and software restraints, I fail to see how the game could actually be any more in depth than it already is. Only the likes of Football Manager have excelled it’s detail.

In conclusion, Game Dev Story is as addictive as mobile games become! I literally found myself staying up until stupid hours in the morning playing, not even knowing that the time had passed. I have never said this about any other mobile game before. In fact, if it had a more detailed and expansive port to PC, I would probably buy it. I recommended it to all iPhone & iPad owners.

Download Game Dev Story for 69p from here.