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We mentioned yesterday that we believed that Rovio had bought the rights to Casey’s Contraptions. While neither the original developer or Rovio could confirm it yesterday, today we have gotten official word from Rovio that this was indeed the case.

Rovio’s VP of Franchise Development, Ville Heijari commented on our story from yesterday “We can confirm that we have acquired all rights to Casey’s Contraptions IP from Snappy Touch and Mystery Coconut. We are currently reworking the title to enhance it, and getting ready to re-introduce it in a true “expect the unexpected” Rovio style launch to an even larger audience”.

Ville further commented on what makes Casey’s Contraptions a perfect fit for the Rovio brand. “Working with Noel and Miguel has been fantastic, and this is a game that we all fell in love with from the first play. The gameplay is a perfect fit in our arsenal with its approachable, fun and highly addictive take on the physics puzzler genre.”

We also asked Noel Llopis, the developer half of the games creators and the face behind Snappy Touch how this deal happened. He commented “We didn’t create Casey’s Contraptions with any thoughts of ever selling it. We just concentrated on making the best game we could and infuse it with as much personality as possible. The fact that Rovio came along and wanted to buy it was a happy accident that happened along the way. We’re really excited to see it get a second chance and to have it reach a much larger audience than we could have ever dreamed of.”

It will be interesting to see what changes Rovio makes to the excellent game. Will they keep the innovative sharing features (in Casey’s Contraptions, you could share your solutions, many times very unique, with other players)? Will the art style change? Will it be simplified or more complex? What about crossovers — will we see Angry Birds show up in the game? All questions we’ll have to wait to find out. As the game gets closer to release, we will undoubtedly find out more.

Expect Rovio to release the game for iOS and Android this summer, with other platforms to follow after that.

And now that Casey’s Contraptions in the capable hands of Rovio, what’s next for Snappy Touch? Again, Noel comments “I’m working on my games full time. I haven’t decided what my next game will be yet. I do know that it will be focused primarily on creativity and player expression, just like Casey’s Contraptions or Flower Garden. At the same time, it will be quite different from those games. That seems to be a theme with me so far: After doing one game, even if it’s successful, there’s a lot less creative challenge to make something very similar, so I rather move on and explore something different.”

For a look back at what was, here’s the excellent gameplay trailer from the original Casey’s Contraptions. Now that the game has been removed from the store, it will have to do to hold you over.

We’ll let you know as soon as we find out more about this, the next game from Rovio.



About: Confirmed: Rovio’s First Post-Angry Birds Game is Casey’s Contraptions is a post from 148Apps

148Apps – iPhone App Reviews, iPhone Game Reviews, and iPhone News

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We see a little teaser in the end of the video announcing that Angry Birds has shipped one billion copies. Take a look below:

That kid looks familiar – and what’s that in the background? Some sort of a Rube Goldburg contraption? Take a closer look:

We’ve seen that kid before. That looks like an iPad game we’ve played before. Let’s see. Checking in with the developer of Casey’s Contraptions, Noel Llopis tweets:

Before rumors start flying, Rovio is a perfect gentleman. Not a Zynga at all. Don’t worry, all is well :-)

Now connecting the dots, we remember that Casey’s Contraptions is one of our favorite iPad games of the past year. Yet development seemed to stop at some point. Makes a little more sense as to why now.

While we have not gotten official confirmaiton from Noel or from Rovio at the time of writing, I think we can assume that the next Rovio game will be a version of this game we loved so much.

Want to see what the next Rovio game is going to be like? Grab the old version now and give it a try.



Casey’s Contraptions HD


iPad Only App – Designed for the iPad
Buy Now: $ 2.99

Our Rating: ★★★★½ :: FANTASTIC
Read Our Full Review >>

Released: 2011-05-19 :: Category: Games


Apps mentioned in this post: Casey’s Contraptions HD


About: Next Game from Rovio: Casey’s Contraptions? is a post from 148Apps

148Apps – iPhone App Reviews, iPhone Game Reviews, and iPhone News

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Grid of War, An Expanded Tic-tac-toe Game

We’re always interested in looking at new spins of classic games. Just last week we took a look at Roc-a-Tac, a mashup between popular classics tic-tac-toe and rock-paper-scissors. Sticking with the tic-tac-toe theme, Kenneth Boreham’s Grid of War is tic-tac-toe with some new twists.

The game starts with the classic tic-tac-toe board but expands to a 5×5 board once one of the players makes three in a row. The goal is to get five in a row. Users can use two different special abilities that make the gameplay even more action-packed. Bombs are used to blow up both an ‘X’ or ‘O’ and the tile itself. No Xs or Os can be placed on a tile that’s been bombed for one turn. The other special ability is the Switch, which can be used to change an X to an O or vice versa. Additionally, switched pieces become indestructible for a turn.

This new twist on classic tic-tac-toe is available for only $ 0.99 and is a universal app.



Grid of War


Universal App – Designed for iPhone and iPad
Buy Now: $ 0.99
Released: 2012-04-16 :: Category: Games


Apps mentioned in this post: Grid of War


About: Grid of War, An Expanded Tic-tac-toe Game is a post from 148Apps

148Apps – iPhone App Reviews, iPhone Game Reviews, and iPhone News

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Fourth Inotia Game Released, Assassin of Berkel

Com2uS has just released the next game in the Inotia series, Inotia 4: Assassin of Berkel.

The fourth game in this popular series includes six classes to choose from with 15 different skills each. The games classes are Black Knight, Assassin, Warrior, Warlock, Priest, and Ranger. The party system now includes mercenaries. The mercenaries can be recruited to the party at any time and include over twenty “mercenary skills.”

Inotia 4: Assassin of Berkel features something called the Infinite Dungeon. In order to add some replay value to this RPG adventure, when the game has been completed, players can fight in a dungeon recreated from past events but a bit different. The villains can be even harder than during the main story.

After the first Inotia game, Chronicles of Inotia: Legend of Feanor, the series started using a freemium model, and that’s no different for the current title. Inotia 4: Assassin of Berkel is a free game with in-game currency that can be purchased. Additionally, Inotia 4 PLUS: Assassin of Berkel gets rid of the game’s advertisements and give users a 100 Gem bonus (which would cost about $ 4.99) for $ 2.99.



Inotia 4: Assassin of Berkel


Universal App – Designed for iPhone and iPad
Buy Now: FREE
Released: 2012-04-25 :: Category: Games





Inotia 4 PLUS: Assassin of Berkel


Universal App – Designed for iPhone and iPad
Buy Now: $ 2.99
Released: 2012-04-25 :: Category: Games


Apps mentioned in this post: Chronicles of Inotia: Legend of Feanor, Inotia 4 PLUS: Assassin of Berkel, Inotia 4: Assassin of Berkel


About: Fourth Inotia Game Released, Assassin of Berkel is a post from 148Apps

148Apps – iPhone App Reviews, iPhone Game Reviews, and iPhone News

Popularity: 1% [?]

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Cargo-Bot: An iPad Game Made on iPad with Codea

Cargo-Bot is a game that Xzibit could be proud of. It’s an iPad game, made on an iPad! Whoa!

The app was developed by Rui Viana, who made the game in Codea, Two Lives Left’s Lua-based coding app formerly known as Codify. The game has players trying to move boxes around to get them into the correct arrangement. This is done through commands to move the crane left, right, and pick up/put down a box. It’s also possible to set up to 4 different commands that can then be used to set up loops, and conditional statements that only work when the box is in a certain status.

Yes, that means that Cargo-Bot is an iPad game about programming, made in an iPad app that lets users program games. Whoa.

The game was prototyped and programmed in Codea over several months, with several people contributing music and art for the game. The code was imported into Two Lives Left’s Codea Xcode template, which will soon be made available to Codea users, and then published to the App Store. It all started with one project made on an iPad, and now anyone can play it on their iPad.



Cargo-Bot


iPad Only App – Designed for the iPad
Buy Now: FREE
Released: 2012-04-23 :: Category: Games


Apps mentioned in this post: Cargo-Bot


About: Cargo-Bot: An iPad Game Made on iPad with Codea is a post from 148Apps

148Apps – iPhone App Reviews, iPhone Game Reviews, and iPhone News

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Get Lost in Letters with this New Word Game

Think about how long people spend looking at words and letters all day. Then imagine what would happen if someone made a game about it. The result would probably look something like Lost in Letters, the newest game from Smugbit Studios.

Lost in Letters starts by presenting players with a field full of identical letters. Only one letter differs from the rest and it is the player’s job to seek it out. The developers describe it as their homage to “Where’s Waldo” and other, similar hidden object games. The game has three difficulty levels along with several different modes like free play, survival and time trial. In addition to its minimalist, black and white visuals, the game features an 8-bit styled soundtrack.

Rounding out the package are achievements, leaderboards and Game Center integration. Experience a new word search challenge. Lost in Letters is available now for free on the App Store.



Lost in Letters


Universal App – Designed for iPhone and iPad
Buy Now: FREE
Released: 2012-03-31 :: Category: Games


Apps mentioned in this post: Lost in Letters


About: Get Lost in Letters with this New Word Game is a post from 148Apps

148Apps – iPhone App Reviews, iPhone Game Reviews, and iPhone News

Popularity: 1% [?]

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I’ve always wished that a programming class had been available to me when I was in high school. I would have loved to start learning to program at an early age. Now, while I’m 23 and trying to teach myself to program, young 15-year-old developer Patrick Balestra has already released his first iOS app and is working on another!

The game, Catch the Airplanes (and iPad version Catch the Airplanes HD), is a simple one in which players destroy airplanes that make their way onto the screen. Similar to Fruit Ninja, the goal is to get all the planes that appear on the screen without missing any. The Swiss developer has created three modes for his game: survival, timer, and multiplayer. Survival mode goes until a plane gets past the player. Timer mode is a high score game where players try to get as many planes in the given time. And multiplayer (iPad-only) sets players against each other with each player trying to down specific colored planes.

Catch the Airplanes is available for $ 0.99 while the iPad version, Catch the Airplanes HD, is currently free. Support a young, growing developer by picking up this game.



Catch the Airplanes


iPhone App – Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Buy Now: $ 0.99
Released: 2012-02-28 :: Category: Games





Catch the Airplanes HD


iPad Only App – Designed for the iPad
Buy Now: $ 0.99
Released: 2012-02-28 :: Category: Games


Apps mentioned in this post: Catch the Airplanes, Catch the Airplanes HD, Fruit Ninja


About: 15-Year-Old Swiss Kid Releases First Game, Catch the Airplanes is a post from 148Apps

148Apps – iPhone App Reviews, iPhone Game Reviews, and iPhone News

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Hidden object games are always popular with kids and adults alike. Sprill: The Mystery of the Bermuda Triangle is a hidden object and mini-game app with a ocean theme.

Players help Sprill, a fox-looking creature with that’s trying to save its planet by finding a pearl hidden somewhere in the Bermuda Triangle. Sprill will stumble through shipwrecks in the ocean trying to find the pearl. Players try to find objects on various screens to progress through levels and find clues as to the whereabouts of the much-needed pearl.

The game includes mechanical puzzles, cute characters, and clever mini-games.

Sprill: The Mystery of the Bermuda Triangle is developed by Big Fish Games. Big Fish Games is a developer and publisher of casual games. They’re popular for offering a new game everyday on their website for Mac and PC gamers. Other popular iOS games from Big Fish including Gravely Silent: House of Deadlock and Sleepy Hollow: Mystery Legends.



Sprill: The Mystery of the Bermuda Triangle HD (Full)


iPad Only App – Designed for the iPad
Buy Now: $ 4.99
Released: 2012-04-05 :: Category: Games


Apps mentioned in this post: Gravely Silent: House of Deadlock Collector’s Edition HD, Sleepy Hollow: Mystery Legends HD, Sprill: The Mystery of the Bermuda Triangle HD (Full)


About: Hidden Object Game Released, Sprill: The Mystery of the Bermuda Triangle is a post from 148Apps

148Apps – iPhone App Reviews, iPhone Game Reviews, and iPhone News

Popularity: 2% [?]

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Farmorama, a Tractor Racing Game

Ask Media and Bedre Gardsdrift, Norwegian agritechnical magazine, has released a new game involving tractors called Farmorama for iOS and Android.

Farmorama has players pick a favorite tractor based on real world models and get ready for a big Farmorama tractor race. Tractors include New Holland, Case IH, Valtra, or Claas. All tractors are equipped with cab suspension, CVT transmission, and four-wheel drive.

The game includes five different tracks to race tractors on with varying degrees of hills, jumps, barns, stones and fog. Players can pick up fuel cans during the drives and earn bonus points. Players can try to beat their own or friends’ top scores or share scores on Facebook to challenge friends over the social network.

Farmorama was developed by MottiMotti, a Norwegian development company that specializes in mobile apps and games. Some of their experience includes doing animation for Hollywood.



Farmorama


Universal App – Designed for iPhone and iPad
Buy Now: $ 1.99
Released: 2012-03-28 :: Category: Games


Apps mentioned in this post: Farmorama


About: Farmorama, a Tractor Racing Game is a post from 148Apps

148Apps – iPhone App Reviews, iPhone Game Reviews, and iPhone News

Popularity: 1% [?]

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Game Insight Releases The Tribez

Game Insight, popular publishers of games like My Country and Mystery Manor: Hidden Adventure, has just released the newest game in its lineup, The Tribez.

The Tribez is a free-to-play iPad game where players take on the role of a lost time traveler who ends up in a primitive fantasy realm full of tribes. Gameplay for The Tribez includes building stone-age villages, exploring various territories, and leading a tribe that worships the player as a godsend.

The game boasts colorful graphics and high-quality music. The Tribez includes over 27 levels to explore across three different islands, more than 100 quests for the player to complete, 50 different buildings to create, and ten different humorous characters to interact with. Players even get a pet dinosaur that fights off opponents to the tribes and entertains villages.

The Tribez is free-to-play, but sells coins and gems to use in the game through in-app purchases.




The Tribez HD


iPad Only App – Designed for the iPad
Buy Now: FREE
Released: 2012-04-03 :: Category: Games


Apps mentioned in this post: The Tribez HD, My Country: build your dream city HD, Mystery Manor: Hidden Adventure


About: Game Insight Releases The Tribez is a post from 148Apps

148Apps – iPhone App Reviews, iPhone Game Reviews, and iPhone News

Popularity: 1% [?]

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