Dave Metzener's Weblog

Update: It’s official, Valve announced it’s move to the Mac today on their own website.

According to Inside Mac Games, Valve Software sent out info to Mac and PC websites confirming it’s intent to bring Steam and a catalog of games to the Macintosh.

This is great news for the Mac. Steam is a great digital download platform for gaming. Its pretty much as easy to buy games in Steam as it is to purchase applications in Apple’s AppStore. Plus, if for some reason, you need to download your game again, that is just as easy as well.

Looks like there will be a more official announcement at the Game Developers Conference next week (March 9th – 13th).

I can’t wait for Steam to arrive for the Mac. It’s one more sign that the Mac is just as much a gaming platform as Windows is. Sure, there are not as many titles out there yet, but if Valve feels that there is enough to bring Steam over, then its growing pretty quickly.

Update: Didn’t take very long for Plants vs. Zombies to top the Paid Apps chart as well. I wonder if they had a free trial version of the game if the game would top all three charts. Or, if players had a chance to see the game in action before purchasing it, they wouldn’t buy it.

PopCap’s Plants vs. Zombies made it’s appearance in the AppStore this morning and before the end of the day has made it’s way to the #2 Paid App and #1 Top Grossing App. A truly amazing feet for a PopCap game, much less any game in the AppStore.

It’s currently received 458 ratings, 444 of which are 5 star, and only 3 are one star. The one star complaints are that the mini games in the PC game are not in the iPhone game. One reviewer spent the $2.99 so that he could basically tell us that he would rather be: “SHOT, ELECTRICUTED, FLAMED, BOMBED, AND BURIED ALIVE THEN PLAY THIS PIECE OF $&@!” (That is an exact character for character quote). The third one star review basically thinks the game is boring and can’t believe all the positive reviews are from players. Has this guy never gone to the PopCap website and played the free web version?

I mention these reviews because the game is pretty much an exact copy of the PC version (minus the mini games mentioned in that one star review). It plays very well, and is actually a bit easier to play since you just have to tap the sunlight instead of trying to chase it down with a mouse.

PopCap has a real winner here and is probably going to make a fortune off this title alone. Especially at the $2.99 price point. This app is definitely one to grab if you are a fan of PopCap.

WTF does Langdell have against Mobigame anyway! This guy is a huge ass! I can’t believe Apple took down Edgy (for the 4th time).

I was seriously considering buying Edgy (Edge and Edgy are separate apps so if Edgy were to get updated, owners of Edge wouldn’t get the updates) just to support Mobigame in their battle against this asshole Langdell that seems to have a huge grudge against Mobigame.

Us gamers need to support Mobigame in order to get people like Langdell put behind bars. Its clear that no matter what Mobigame does to make Langdell happy, Langdell just takes the next step to torture Mobigame.

Please, if you haven’t purchased Cross Fingers from Mobigame in the AppStore, do so. It’s a great game and I’m sure that they can use every penny they get to fight this bum.

This article is not another instance of an announcement of Electronic Arts releasing Mirror’s Edge to the iPhone. That has been done by about 50 websites in the blogosphere. Man, I have never seen so many places letting their readers know that Mirror’s Edge is coming.

Nope, this is an article talking about Tim Langdell and his claim of owning the trademark to the word “Edge”. Langdell has gone after Mobigame because they named their iPhone game Edge and Langdell had it removed from the AppStore 3 times! The website ChaosEdge has a long log of all the strange goings on between Tim Langdell and his questionable antics. This article talks about Langdell’s claim that he owns the trademark for Mirror’s Edge, EA’s game.

My only concern is will Langdell write to Apple to have Mirror’s Edge removed from the AppStore once it’s released. Since Apple is quick to remove apps from the store with the slightest notification, it’s probably going to be an interesting release.

I’m actually hoping that Langdell has the balls to go after EA’s Mirror’s Edge. EA has a very large bank account and will protect it’s intellectual property with all the lawyers at their disposal. If Langdell does go after EA, we can only hope that EA takes him down and we’ll not have to hear about him again after that.

So, go ahead Langdell, go after Mirror’s Edge on the iPhone, please!!!

Well, it looks like Mobigame has had little choice but to change the name of their game to Edgy. My previous post about Mobigame’s Edge being removed apparently was, in fact, Langdell forcing Apple to remove the game again since Langdell felt that the name “Edge by Mobigame” wasn’t enough of a change to distinguish Edge the game from Edge the trademark that Langdell owns.

ChaosEdge has a good write-up about this on their website.

All in all, at least Edge Edgy is back in the AppStore thanks to Apple “approving” the game right away instead of the typical 3 week process. Grandted, there were no changes to the program from the time it was removed to the time it was reinstated, so there shouldn’t have been any vetting to do.

Actually, changing the name of the game would have saved Mobigame a lot of hassle and money, but to be fair, Edge is a great name for the game. Actually, I’m a little worried that “Edgy” isn’t enough of a change for Langdell to be happy. He’s gone after names that were even more different than Edgy is to Edge. Actually, I’m not sure, but I though I read where Langdell actually went after a game called Edgy or Langdell himself has a game named Edgy. … Ah yes, here is where I read that:

Press Releases:

Dispute Between Langdell and Mobigame

On July 15th, Langdell forced iPhone platform-holder Apple’s hand to block the sale of the award winning and triple IGF award nominated iPhone game ‘EDGE’. Langdell’s claim was that the product infringes on his trademark of the word ‘Edge’. Initially, when Mobigame voluntarily removed the game from the store they were receiving several emails per day from Langdell; some of which even went as far as threatening to sue the owner of Mobigame (David Papazian) personally, stating that it could cost David “millions of dollars”.

Mobigame actually own the trademark ‘EDGE’ in France, and the registration is on-going in Europe. Despite this, Langdell threatened to sue unless they remove the game from the AppStore entirely, even in the regions where Mobigame own the trademark. On May 14th, Mobigame proposed renaming the game to ‘EDGY’ for the UK and the US market, stating that their trademarks could co-exist since Mobigame will have the trademark in Europe, and they would rename the game to ‘EDGY’ for the UK & US markets. Langdell refused to accept this, and on May 16th he applied for the trademark ‘EDGY’ in the US.

As a small company, without access to substantial legal resources, Mobigame was keen to avoid a protracted legal dispute, and have tried on many occasions to reach an amicable solution. Unfortunately, negotiation with Langdell proved fruitless. Mobigame is currently evaluating their options, but are denied the income they were depending on from iPhone game sales.

So, Langdell pretty much has said that he wouldn’t accept the name change to Edgy. Now, this was almost 6 months ago, so we’ll have to see if there has been a change of heart on this topic. Somehow, I find it hard to believe that Langdell even has a heart to change, but time will tell.

At any rate, we all hope that Mobigame and Edgy are not finished with Langdell and Mobigame can start truly making money for the fabulous work that they did on the game Edgy. Good luck and lets keep our fingers crossed.

I have been waiting for this game to be released ever since the first hints of its development way back to probably January of this year. ngmoco has finally released Touch Pets Dogs to the US store yesterday (Nov. 9, 2009).

Touch Pets Dogs (TPD) does not disappoint at all. Its a game for all flavors of player: Man, woman, boy, girl, young, old, etc… I mean who wouldn’t want a cute little puppy that can’t mess the family room carpet!?

ngmoco has outdone itself with this game. The amount of depth these little puppies have is outstanding. There are seven breeds of puppies to choose from when you first adopt your new pet. Labrador, Portuguese Water Dog, West Highland Terrier, German Shepherd, Jack Russel, Dachshund, and even a Robot Dog. After you find a suitable puppy from the adoption agency, the game starts by “training” the player on what to do to take care of their new bundle of furry joy. There is a lot to learn and the lessons are very unobtrusive by placing a small circled question mark near the bottom right hand side of the screen. When ever the game has something to tell you, that question mark appears.

The tutorials go over taking care of your new pet, training him/her, grooming, petting, and even dealing with the inevitable need to “go outside”.

There are 5 daily care items that need to be taken care of each time you start the game: Feeding (energy), Water, Let Out, Petting and Cleanliness. For you new pet to be happy, it will need to have all those stats at 100% or close to it. Your pet will have daily pampering goals to be met too: Shampoo, Cleanliness, Brushing, Dressing Up and Feed a Treat. All these items help your puppy to be very happy, so much so that you will start earning Puppy Bucks. PB’s are later used to purchase toys, treats, and other goodies for your new pet at the Pet Store.

Along with caring for your pet, you play with your pet to help it to gain it’s skills: Chasing, Fetching, Tricks, Catching and agility. There are daily strength training goals: Chasing, Fetching, Catching, and Agility. There is also a daily Tricks Workout with goals: Tricks, sit, raise up, lie down, and stand (probably to start with, there are other tricks that are unlocked as your new puppy gets smarter). These goals help your puppy to learn 5 careers: Crimefighting, Rescue, Celebrity, Scientist and Politician.

You can also invite friends puppies over for playdates which help improve their Socialization and Friendship stats.

You are also not limited to just one puppy. You can adopt up to 5 puppies that will all play together and interact with each other and yourself. Be warned, you will be going through your dog food quite quickly if you have more than one pet. Only two pets can be on the screen at one time.

From what I have read, if you don’t go into Touch Pets Dogs each day to take care of your pet, it won’t do nasty things like mess the family room rug. The game will automatically take your pet outside so that it can take care of it’s business. However, your pet won’t be very happy with you when you do return. So you should probably be ready for the responsibilities a new pet brings.

My only gripe is that in order to feed your pet, and believe me, they need feeding quite frequently, you will have to pay real money to purchase food for your pet above and beyond what the game will generate for you on a daily basis. Just like Eliminate Pro, also by ngmoco, your pets food is regenerated on a daily basis. I’m not sure how much food is generated daily, but probably enough to at least spend a few hours a day with your new best friend. The AppStore has several optional apps that allow you to purchase more food for your pet. 10 bowls for $0.99, 20 bowls for $1.99, 120 bowls for $9.99 and 400 bowls for $29.99. You can also purchase dog food in-app by touching your Plus+ avatar on the upper left of the game screen and then touching Puppy Master. There you can purchase either 10, 120 or 400 bowls of food. You can also convert puppy food into Puppy Bucks.

Overall, this game is a truly “must have” game for your and your families iPhone/iPod touch. Everyone will be able to enjoy playing with their new puppies and fun will be had by all.

Its been quite some time and I’m sure a huge amount of hell for Mobigame, but Edge by Mobigame [$4.99] and Edge by Mobigame Lite [Free] are both back in the US AppStore!

It appears that one of the concessions to getting back in the AppStore was to change the name from “Edge” to “Edge by Mobigame”. Both apps are updates to the existing versions which claim “bug fixed” as to what was changed in them. No mention of the change in the names, but at least they didn’t have to get rid of the “Edge” part of the name.

Its a real shame that they have been away from the store for so long. The game is truly one of the most original games for the iPhone/iPod touch there was when it first came out. It still really is. Mobigame also offers the music in the game as a free download on their site and as music, it stands up really well and is quite enjoyable to listen to. I have it in my music library to listen to just to listen to it.

The game is a simple matter of getting your cube to the exit while collecting the small mini-cubes (as seen in the screen shot as that small yellow cube). Completing the level as quickly as possible.

The game currently has 48 levels, and if they stick around this time, hopefully they will be adding more and more levels as time goes on. This was something that they were doing before they had to leave the store.

Here’s hoping that they stick around this time and do very well.

Gameloft’s much anticipated Gangstar: West Coast Hustle was released to the AppStore today for $6.99 [AppStore Link]. There has been a lot of blog posts about this game from many iPhone/AppStore weblogs. All saying that this is the iPhones answer to the GTA franchise. Well…

I have to say that they are pretty close to correct. This game doesn’t disappoint. The game has a pretty big driving area to work with as seen in the screen shot below.

The controls for the game are pretty smooth, you have a virtual joystick on the right and a virtual button on the left when you are moving around as a person, pedals and tilting the iPhone/iPod touch to control vehicles. This can be configured in the game. However, you can’t configure the joystick to be on the right and button on the left. I’m not sure if that is an issue for lefties. I’m not a lefty, so I don’t know if they are used to using their dominant hand for buttons or if they just use what they are given.

The graphics are amazing for a game that is run on an iPhone/iPod touch with 480×320 graphics. Lets face it, it’s no GTA IV, but its a great homage to the Grand Theft Auto franchise. The trees look pretty darn good. The streets have lights, street signs. There are places where you can jump your vehicle just like the jumps in GTA. Not as dramatic, but still entertaining. You can run over pedestrians, hit other vehicles and even receive some damage to your vehicle. Again, nothing like GTA, but pretty good considering.

There is a story with chapters in this game. Apparently, you are in LA taking a “Vacation” from some trouble that your character was in prior to the start of the story. You are given missions like in GTA. You have to fight rival gangs, drive around a big shot in your gang, etc… I have not got that far in the story yet. I’m pretty close to finishing up the first of 6 chapters. It’s take only an hour to get as far as I have. So, its likely to not be that many hours of game play, but there has been talk of expansion levels probably sold in game later.

Over all, this game will not disappoint and will definitely keep you entertained for at least a couple of days.

It looks like Mobigame is getting some well deserved support from a forum of game developers called “The Chaos Engine“. The Chaos Engine is a group of over 7,000+ members. They have decided to setup a fund to help finance a fight against Langdell and his claims of owning the trademarks to the word “Edge” and several other words like “EDGY”.

The Chaos Engine will be setting up a donation button on there home page in the near future. If you feel that Mobigame deserves to keep it’s games name “Edge”, please go over to the site and donate a few bucks. Langdell needs to be stopped. Hopefully, with the support of TCE and Edge fans everywhere, we can get this evil person to stop this nonsense.

I’ll update this post as soon as The Chaos Engine’s home page has the donate button added to it.

A big congratulations to Mobigame for winning the “Best Challenging Game” from App Awards!

Unfortunately, they are still having big problems with their fight against a supposed trademark holder for the word “Edge”. So, they overcame a huge obsticle with not being available for download in the AppStore for several weeks if not longer. Even the “Lite” version is now unavailable thanks to this fight.

There has been talk that there is a petition to remove Tim Langdell from the board of the IGDA (International Game Developers Association) due to his insistanse that he owns the rights to any product with the name “Edge” in it. I don’t know what the results are although there was a twitter post stating 148 yes and 2 no.

Who knows how long this is all going to go on for, but I’m sure we all wish the best for Mobigame and Edge. Hopefully this can be resolved soon and we can see the “Best Challenging Game” of the year back in the AppStore.