Penny Pincher Alert: 2079 discounted from $2.99 to...FREE!

It seems the developer of the highly rated 2079 is in an espesially giving mood, celebrating the birth of of his new daughter. Congrats Eric! You can pick this title up right now for the excellent rate of... FREE! (regular rate: $2.99) If you do not yet have this game, I highly recommend you hop right on iTunes and pick this gem up. It's an arcade shooter, that makes very good use of the accelerometer.

Where is geoDefense Swarm?

Where is geodefense swarm? Even the dev doesnt know quote- "Swarm still grounded... Resisting urge to reach for pitchfork.." (via @nsxdavid)

According to the geodefense devs apps that were submitted before swarm such as the new Facebook update, are out yet geodefense swarm is still stuck in the approval process. Our theory? The 40 apple employees that do the approvals don't want to stop playing swarm! Hopefully the thousands of fans waiting patiently will have some good news soon. We will keep you posted.

Penny Pincher Update! Castle of Magic discounted again, now $0.99

Considered one of the best platformers on the device, at &0.99 this is a real steal. Go get em' fellow penny pinchers!

Penny Pincher Alert! Power Pros Touch sale $0.99

Fans of baseball games shouldn't miss this one. Power Pros is a solid game and at only $0.99 its a steal.

Penny Pincher Alert: Twistlink free for a few days

Twistlink is a fun little match 3 style game with a twist. No pun intended. Anyways pick it up while it's free, it's fun especially if you like racking up big combos. I'll publish a review if I hear some interest in it. -RNM

Luxor on sale for $0.99

Another great sale this weekend: The popular marble buster Luxor is on sale right now for $0.99. This is a top notch game, and a steal at $0.99 iTunes link: http://tinyurl.com/nvtp7o

Penny Pincher Alert! Castle of Magic price dropped to $2.99

Gameloft's premium platformer Castle of Magic is now just $2.99 down from $4.99. So all you penny pinchers who have had your eye on this highly rated platformer, now is your time to pounce.

Review: Racer

Racer is a great pick up and play title that is right at home on the iPhone platform. As it's name implies, this is a racing game where you must guide your racer through a constant onslaught of traffic for as long as possible.
Playing the game in landscape view, you have access to six lanes of traffic and must guide you car within these six lanes using the touch screen. The interface works well as your finger sits directly behind you vehicle and never really interferes with your view.

Make no mistake, this game is all about the high score. There are not multiple levels, and the games variety consists of a small handful of colors for your car. There are both online and local leaderboards. Fans of games like minigore and icopter should be right at home here.
The overall aesthetic is really nice, the graphics have a cell shaded look and run very smooth. For $0.99 I can easily recommend this game, and there is now a lite version so you can try it out first. Score: 4/5

News: Geodefense Swarm due out anytime now

According to the developer of the much loved geodefense, the new geodefense swarm is stuck somewhere in review land. We hope the approval goes through soon with no delays. Swarm will likely be huge. -RNM

Penny Pincher Alert: Touch KO on sale this weekend for $0.99

Boxing fans can pick up Chillingo's Touch KO this weekend for $0.99
We will keep you posted as more mentionable sales pop up this weekend.

Review: Big Top Ten

Big Top Ten is a very polished number game with a suprising depth and challenge. Faced with a sort of grid of numbers, you are challenged to string sequences together adding up to the number ten using the touch screen. The more numbers that are in your sequence the better. Each sequence is worth points based on the sequence length. You also gain valuable time from each sequence, gaining significantly more from longer strings.
This may sound easy, but add in negative numbers, and a quickly depleting time clock, and you soon realize this game is quite a challange. A recent update added openfeint integration with chat and online leaderboards.
For those of us who enjoy number games, Big Top Ten is an excellent time sink. The replaysbility is almost infinite as there are always people better than you on the leaderboards silently taunting you to try again "just one more time..." For $0.99 this one is very easy to recommend.

Penny Pincher Alert: Civilization Revolution back to $4.99

For what seems like the 100th time in the last week, Civ Revolution has once again adjusted it's price. This time the price went back down to $4.99 so we are not complaining. So all you frugal friends waiting for Civ to go back down to it's introductory rate, today is your day.
Word on the street is the iPhone version is very fully featured minus the online multiplayer.

Penny Pincher Alert! Underworlds just dropped to $0.99

Those of us who longingly remember Diablo ¹and 2 should check out Underworlds. The game has been updated several times and has become quite content rich. Anyone ready for some major loot hunting should not hesitate to pick this one up at the discounted rate. -RNM

News: Inkvaders from Chillingo available today - $0.99

Expanding on the popular 2D shootem' up formula, Inkvaders from Chillingo is now available at a intro rate of $0.99. Similar in format to the very popular Zombieville, Inkvaders has a fresh art style that has won quite a bite of attention prior to it's release. Aside from the art, does the rest of the game live up to the hype? We will have a verdict as soon as possible.

New Release: Luxor comes to the iPhone available now - Introductory Price $2.99

Luxor has millions of fans and has appeared on just about every platform available so why not the iPhone? Rather than an easy port it seems developer Mumbo Jumbo really made an effort to bring Luxor to the iPhone with all the bells and whistles we have come to expect from a premium app such as online leaderboards, challenges and more. To do this, Mumbo Jumbo teamed up with ngmoco's Plus + Network. This is significant beyond all the added features this brings to Luxor as this is the first outside development team to partner up with the Plus + Network. Ngmoco has seemingly been slow to share their service but have been vocal about their intentions to make thier service the Xbox live of the iPhone. I think they may be selective as to who gets to use the service so they can stand out as a more premium service among the sea of other community services. -RNM

Gomi Giveaway Winner!

The Current Gamer would like to congratulate @jonathanwins for winning our Gomi Giveaway! Here is his winning answer: "My #1 fav iPhone game is Terminator. The graphics are impressive & there is a lot of intense shooting action!"

Gamevil announces Zenonia 2

South Korean based developer, Gamevil today "announced" they are working on Zenonia 2. By announced I mean they confirmed via Twitter that we can expect Zenonia 2. Zenonia seemed to surprise some when it appeared in the app store top 25, and remained for some time. As a relatively "hardcore" jrpg imported from South Korea with a starting price of $5.99, the title really did do surprisingly well. Since the apparent success of Zenonia on iPhone, it is no surprise they are already talking about a followup. As a fan of Zenonia myself, you can be sure we maintain a watchful eye one both Gamevil and Zenonia 2. -RNM

News: EA brings Snood to the iPhone today!

EA has brought Snood to the iPohne and it is available on the app store today. Needless to say Snood has a huge following and I expect will quickly become one of the top titles in the app store for some time to come.

iTunes Link

Gomi giveaway contest!

As we get ready to publish our review of Gomi, we will be giving away a free Gomi download code to one of our lucky readers. All you need to do to enter is follow The Current Gamer on Twitter, and then twiiter @thecurrentgamer what your #1 top favorite iPhone game is and why. We will then choose and announce the winner Tuesday night. Good luck, and happy twittering!

Civilization Revolution 1 day sale $4.99

For you penny pinchers out there that were eagerly waiting for the recently released Civilization Revolution iPhone to go on sale, today is your chance to grab the game at 1/2 price. iTunes Link

Coming Soon:

This weekend we will be posting our review of the new iPhone game, Gomi and a contest to win your own copy for free!

Penny Pincher Alert: Star Defense now available for only $0.99

Star Defense by developer ngmoco is now available for only $0.99. One of the most impressive tower defense games on the iPhone, Star Defense takes a unique spin on the tower defense genre by placing the creeps path on a fully 3D sphere or cube planetoid. Check out the video below to get a better idea of how it all works:

I personally have put alot of time into this game and can easily recommend it, even to those new to the tower defense genre, and at $0.99 it really is a steal. iTunes Link

News: Galcon gets a BIG free update

Galcon, a popular online multiplayer strategy game for the iPhone got a sizable update today, free to all existing users. I had a chance to give the new version a playthrough while eating lunch, and am very impressed. Galcon has always been an enjoyable game, especially when playing in online multiplayer, but was a bit rough around the edges. The new update has addressed this and brings a high level of polish to an already great game.

The game is available on the iTunes app store for $2.99 and there is a Free lite version available for those on the fence.

Here is a list of features and changes added in the new update from the dev:

-Awesome new graphics and menus for a visual experience second to none!

-Added in-game settings menus.

-Left-handed mode!

-Easier access to multi-player game!

-Added friends feature allows in-game friending!

-Instant access to community, including ranks, forums, and chat room!

-Upgraded in-game controls!

Here is a before/after comparison of the graphical upgrade:

BEFORE/AFTER

Penny Pincher Alert: Fun little Rhythm/Platform game hybrid Mevo and the Grooveriders free for one day

My frugal friends will be happy to know that the popular Mevo and the Grooveriders can be grabbed for the low low price of...FREE. iTunes Link

Upcoming Release: Blacksmith Games releases first video for Plushed

One game we have been watching is developer Blacksmith Games first planned iPhone release, Plushed. Plushed appears to be a 2D platformer with a unique hand drawn art style. Blacksmith Games has just released the first video for the game:

Based on the video, the unique hand drawn art style is consistent with screenshots that have been released earlier. The animations appear to be very smooth, and look great. For those not familiar, Plushed is a new take on the classic "save the princess" formula. Instead of a prince, the hero of the story is the Princess' plush bunny.

The game is being built from the ground up for the iPhone, and the developer promises several unique gameplay elements that will take advantage of the iPhones touch screen and built in accelerometer. The developers are aiming for a September/October 09' release currently, and we at The Current Gamer are certainly looking forward to giving this game a try.

Quick value update:

Attention sports fans! Gameloft's impressive new iPhone game, NFL 2010 was just discounted from $7.99 to $4.99. iTunes link: http://tinyurl.com/lszfj8

Value Alert - iPhone Games: Dropsum price drops to $0.99

Fans of the quickly growing number game genre (including popular titles such as Drop7 and Big Top 10) will be happy to find Dropsum has just been reduced from $2.99 to $0.99. Dropsum is basically a mix of Tetris and Sodoku with an interface very similar to Drop7.

The gameplay consists of dropping numbered discs in a grid. Your goal is to stack these discs so that they add up to the number 9 either vertically or horizontally. As you achieve this goal, the numbered discs progressively change color and eventually disappear.

iTunes Link

iPhone: Dungeon Scroll Review

Did you ever wish that somehow a classic dungeon crawler and Scrabble would someday come together, creating a new hybrid game combining the two genres? Me neither. However husband and wife dev team, Robinson Technologies have brought their cult hit PC game Dungeon Scroll to the iDevice, and this unexpected hybrid may be your new mobile time sink.

Dungeon Scroll has allot going for it. The game will appeal to fans of both old school Dungeon Crawler RPG's, while also appealing to the large group of word game fans in the iDevice user base. Like most Dungeon Crawlers, you start out in Dungeon Scroll in a monster infested dungeon. You have a set amount of health points and must defeat a seeming endless barrage of monsters one by one. Instead of set spells and attacks you have a handful of lettered tiles that have a striking resemblance to Scrabble tiles. You attack and cast spells by spelling words with the tiles you have available. Longer words do more damage than smaller words, and some letter tiles have extra values such as 2x damage. There are even power-ups like the more rare "Oracle" that will automatically choose the best possible word for you.

After just a few plays, I found a satisfying amount of depth in the strategy involved in beating each dungeon, and 3 difficulty levels should provide ample challenge for most. Because the monsters you have to fight in any given dungeon require varying amounts of damage, you will find a need to think ahead when to use up your larger words with higher damage points, and when to save them for a tougher fight. This of course also applies to power-ups. Some monsters even have special requirements such as words with no less than 4 letters.

Replayability is also satisfactory in this game, as every playthrough will play out differently as you never know which tiles and words you will have at your disposal. The aforementioned 3 difficulty levels also help add additional hours of gameplay.

I am also happy to report that the overall control interface works very well. The developer obviously took great care to make sure that the move from PC to the iDevice was done right. Everything will feel very intuitive to anyone who has any experience using an iDevice. Placing tiles, removing tiles, and shifting tiles all feels very natural.

At only $0.99 it is easy for me to recommend this unique title to both fans of Word Games, as well as fans of Dungeon Crawlers and old school turn based RPGs.

My Rating for Dungeon Scrolls: 5 out of 5 loot chests

About this blog, and how gaming has changed in just 2 years.

Not so long ago, my average experience purchasing a new game was something like this: Get in my car, and make a 30 minute trip to the nearest video game outlet. Slide in the store, avoiding eye contact with the young, mouth breathing sales rep. My attempt of course would be unsuccessful, and I would then be victim to the relentless badgering of upcoming releases, member discount cards, and five dollar reservations.

With a fake smile nodding numbingly I peruse the used game section looking for a cheaper copy of the title I came for. I find what I was looking for. Less the original case, the manual, and plus a few scratches; the used copy is $54.99. I sigh and decide to pay the $60 for the new copy. I might as well pay the few extra bucks for a new disc and to support a good developer.

I go to check out. No, I think I already mentioned I do not want a member card. I do not want your magazine/glorified sales brochure either. I leave the store and make the hike back to the house hoping I have at least 30 minutes left in my day to actually play the game I made this hike to obtain.

Fast forward 2 years. One of my most anticipated titles releases today. I make the 30 second trip to the "store" where this title is available. I am sitting on my couch in my pajamas. I switch on my console, login to PSN and purchase Wipeout HD for $20. Fifteen minutes later I am playing the game and have plenty of time left in my afternoon to enjoy the title.

The next day I am on my lunch break at work. I get word on twitter that one of my eagerly anticipated iPhone games are available for download. I open up my in-phone app store, download the app, and spend the remaining 30 minutes of my lunch break playing a very enjoyable title.

As a married man with a Full Time job, the rising prominence of downloadable titles has quite an appeal. The focus of this blog will be on downloadable titles, both console and mobile. However I will still talk about traditional console games from time to time when they catch my fancy.