Sometimes when it really starts to snow like it does so often in the month of January, there's nothing I love more than making a cup of hot chocolate (with marshmallows of course) and losing myself in the engrossing and hopefully much warmer worlds of my favorite mobile games. Well tonight's new iOS releases should make us all quickly forget about the ongoing cold, as their bright and unique worlds look to offer us the perfect escape from brushing the snow off our cars.For instance, there's no time to think about being cold when you're living in a constant state of fear and trying to solve one eerie puzzle after the next. There's also no snow on the open pirate-filled seas, or in a warm house that's covered in trap-guarded cheese. So put another log in the fire, crack open that brand new bag of marshmallows, and get ready to sink into an exciting new world, because here are a few of the great new games that are headed to an iOS device near you later on tonight!
In this week's ongoing saga about King and their controversial "trademark trolling" of common dictionary words- oops, I just said the "s" word in that last sentence, I hope I don't need to call a lawyer now. Anyway, after the whole CANDY debacle on Monday, the internet then learned that King was also targeting recent indie darling The Banner Saga from Stoic as well, with reports claiming that the Viking-themed SRPG infringed upon the way the word "Saga" is a known extension of many of King's popular gaming brands.As you might expect, this story about King attacking The Banner Saga quickly spread like a wildfire across the gaming world, forcing King's PR department to make yet another statement to try and clear up all of the negative press about them. Spoiler alert: people are still disgusted. The latest statement reads:""King has not and is not trying to stop Banner Saga from using its name. We do not have any concerns that Banner Saga is trying build on our brand or our content. However, like any prudent company, we need to take all appropriate steps to protect our IP, both now and in the future."In this case, that means preserving our ability to enforce our rights in cases where other developers may try to use the Saga mark in a way which infringes our IP rights and causes player confusion. If we had not opposed Banner Saga's trade mark application, it would be much easier for real copy cats to argue that their use of 'Saga' was legitimate.
I am not talking about the makers of Candy Crush Saga, though I guess I could be. Spending the day at the Mobile Games Forum in London, the most obvious observation is this: to be successful in games in 2014, you need to have either have a lot of luck or an even greater amount of money. How much? I have heard through the grapevine that some ad campaigns are starting at $500,000. Yes, I just said $500,000. And that is just for one ad campaign at launch.The problem is that with so many games being released, it's very hard to be discovered. The best way is to get in the top lists of Apple's App Store or Google Play, but once you are in that top list you're spending a lot of the money you're making to stay on top. Plus you're crowding everyone else out and making it more expensive for them in the process.
If there's one word that's on the tip of everybody's tongues this week, it's CANDY. King trademarked the word in the EU and is trying to do the same in the US, and the internet has exploded as a result.If you've ever wanted to see what an exploded internet looks like, you need look no further than Twitter. The community has been quite vocal about King's trademarking actions this week - many even going so far as to add CANDY to their Twitter name in protest - and the @#$torm hasn't died down yet.It's been only two days since King's maneuvers first came to light (and one day since we learned about their opposition to The Banner Saga's trademark). Here's the best of what the internet has had to say about it:
I've mentioned before how 2014 is already shaping up to be the year of long-awaited sequels, from Mega Jump 2 all the way to Jet Car Stunts 2. But I think this next one easily takes the cake for being the most long-awaited: because the original game came out in 1984! That's right, the iconic arcade game Boulder Dash will be getting a long-awaited 30th Anniversary revamp this year for mobile devices. This also marks the first time that original Boulder Dash creators Chris Gray and Peter Liepa will be working on a project together since the initial debut of the game all those years ago.Now 30 years is certainly a long time to wait for a sequel, so what new things can we expect to find when Boulder Dash - 30th Anniversary launches in early 2014? Well for one thing, Gray and Liepa have made over 50 levels full of brand-spanking-new worlds, creatures, and gem combos to encounter. Everything is rendered in beautiful 3D graphics and animations thanks to the power of the Unity Engine, and players will even be able to enjoy a cave editor mode and second playable character, Crystal."Boulder Dash - 30th Anniversary is the first planned project of Gray's newly formed studio, TapStar Interactive, which already has two other games in the works as well: a word game called Spell Slots and a zombie-themed running game called Run for your Life! But for the time being, it's all about the boulders. You can expect to see the free-to-play Boulder Dash - 30th Anniversary making its way to iOS and Android early this year, with PC and Mac versions to follow sometime after.
If you're an RPG fan who complains "they just don't make them like they used to," you're probably playing the wrong RPGs. Aldorlea Games has been hard at work making SNES-style role-playing games for years, and they're all top notch.Their flagship series, Millennium, is getting ready to launch its fifth installment - so there's no time like the present to get caught up on the first four. Over at Groupees right now, you can get all four games bundled together for only $4.00. Considering that these games retail for $13.99 each normally, you're getting a tremendous deal. That's a savings of 93%.Pick up the bundle now - it goes away tomorrow - and be sure to give the series some love on Steam Greenlight.
Remember when you learned that King has a trademark on the word CANDY? It probably won't surprise you to learn that this isn't the only one-word trademark they want to hold. They've also applied for the trademark on the word SAGA, and they're not afraid to defend what they see as rightfully theirs.USGamer's Mike Williams has just brought to light a legal opposition filed on behalf of King in regards to The Banner Saga - a recent release and Kickstarter success that we're delighted to call an early contender for Game of the Year. You can find the complete Notice of Opposition at the United States Patent and Trademark Office website, but the gist of it is this: Stoic, the makers of The Banner Saga, filed to trademark their game's name on January 10, 2013. After the mark was filed "published for opposition," King formally opposed. The argument King makes is that Stoic's use of the term SAGA will be enough to confuse customers into thinking the product isn't from Stoic, but from King. Furthermore, they claim that such confusion could result in damage to King.
If there's one word I'd use to describe independent game developers, it's… well, independent. They don't like being told what they can't do. So what a big company like King comes along and trademarks a word like 'candy,' indie game devs get understandably grumpy.In response to King's actions (which Gamezebo broke the news about on Monday), Cariboo (developer of the upcoming Berserkgangr) and uuav (check out their Ludum Dare entries here) have just launched Candy Jam, a game jam that tasks developers with making a game that involves candies. Why? "Because trademarking common names is ridiculous and it gives us an occasion to make another gamejam :D," or so says the Jam's Tumblr account.Interested developers must submit their games before the February 3 deadline. The only rules are that it has to have candy, and that you should consider using the word 'candy' several times. Bonus points for other trademark problem words like 'scroll,' 'memory,' 'saga,' and 'apple.'Also, there's always a high five from me if you get the word 'Gamezebo' or 'jimmycanuck' in there somewhere. ;)