Softmines has announced their first iDevice game, Bloody Hell, which will be live in the App Store August 10th. From the preview video this looks to be a bloody shooter game where you are out for revenge. The simple nature of the controls mixed with the retro graphics may just be a hit. I’ll wait until I actually play it for my actual verdict but read on, there is more to this announcement.

The developers of the game really, really want the launch day to be a success and they seem to have no qualms about buying your love. They are having a contest and give-a-way to people who buy their app on the first day and follow their rules.

Softmines plans to give a $10 iTunes Gift Certificate to every customer who buys Bloody Hell on the launch day. For participants to qualify, they must fulfill the following conditions:

1. Write a review about the game on iTunes app store on launch day

2. Like Softmines Facebook page and post the following on user’s own wall “I will receive a $10 iTunes Gift card by buying the amazing action game ‘Bloody Hell’ for iPhone @softmines for $0.99.”, or

Follow Softmines on Twitter and re-tweet the following post to their own followers: “Follow & RT @softmines to receive a $10 iTunes Gift card by buying Bloody Hell for #iphone for $0.99.”

3. Email Softmines with the following details:

* Facebook ID/URL or Twitter ID/URL
* iTunes nickname
Please also read all the Official Contest Rules so you are not disqualified.

Chillingo, the makers of some of the most addictive games for your iDevice wants to give away an iPad! But you’ll need to work for it. You first have to own Angry Birds on your iPhone or iPod Touch and then..

• Create a YouTube video of a new Angry Birds Squawk that you’d like to see in a future update for the game.
• Subscribe to Chillingo’s YouTube channel http://www.youtube.com/chillingo
• Post the YouTube link of your video onto Chillingo’s Facebook wall http://www.facebook.com/chillingo
• Be sure to “Like” Chillingo’s Facebook page!
• You can enter as many videos as you like.
• Contest starts NOW and ENDS on July 31, 2010
• The winner will receive an iPad and be announced on August 6, 2010.

Even if you don’t win, the game is a ton of fun! Good Luck!

iCasual is a free audio podcast that we deliver to you!
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Hello everyone this is Michelle from the portable gamer with your iCasual report for Piyo Blocks 2 from Big Pixel Studios for all devices running current iOS software.
Piyo Blocks is a classic match 3 or more game thats been updated to give you a lot more choices and a ton of fun. There are 4 different single player modes where you match 3 or more of the same color to collect it. Each of the modes differ only slightly. In Piyo mode you have a goal to reach in each of the colors you collect in order to level up, along with a time limit to keep you on your toes. Hyaku mode ups the game bit and has you collecting 99 of each Piyo to level up. Both of these modes are for the long hall where you want the game to last a while. The other modes play the same but with tighter time limits. Time attack give you 4 minutes to play and 3 second mode gives you just that, to find a match before you lose. These 4 modes of varying play means this game is a perfect fit if you love match 3 games regardless of how much time you actually have to play them. But thats not all you’ll get. If you have family or friends with a device you can challenge them in the multi player modes where over blue tooth or wifi you can compete. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to test this mode because all of my friends with games are all over the world. I’m still able to compete with them though through the Open Feint integration thats built in just not live battles. I can’t wait to try it out. Grab it today for the intro price of .99 a real steal for the size and depth you get and if you miss out the price goes up to the respectable 2.99. But how would you like to play for free? Leave your 2 cents in a comment below to have the chance to win this game. Make sure you leave us a way to give you the code or else we will have to move to the runner up.

Title: Piyo Blocks 2
Developer: Big Pixel Studios
Price: $.99 – $2.99
Acquired: Promo Code Supplied by Developer
Review Platform: iPod Touch & iPad
Written and Recorded by: Michelle Lopez

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Flag Hippo have unleashed an iPad version of All Fridges Are Psychotic on to the App Store, appropriately titled “All Fridges Are Psychotic HD for iPad.” It’s pretty much the exact same game, just now running in iPad mode. The game still has plenty of the lo-fi graphical charm (including backgrounds that are just upscaled images from the iPhone version! Is it lazy programming or a stylistic decision? Who knows!) despite running in the iPad’s full resolution. It’s available for the paltry sum of $1.99, only a dollar more than the iPhone version. If you have the iPhone version already, the only real reason to buy the iPad version is to play it again and to put some more food on Flag Hippo’s collective plate, but if you don’t, and want to know just what the hell is going on here, re-read our original review of the game. As well, take a listen to the episode of The Portable Podcast featuring the fine gentlemen from Flag Hippo.

Developer/Publisher: Flag Hippo
Genre: Graphical Adventure
Price: $1.99
Acquired: Review Copy Provided
Review Platform: iPad
Verdict: Often frustrating and incomprehensible, but incredibly hilarious and enjoyable to experience.
Pros: Great lo-fi art style, fantastic writing, solving a challenging puzzle is an incredibly satisfying experience.
Cons: Solutions can be VERY obtuse.

All Fridges Are Psychotic – the name is certainly very odd, the game almost manages to outclass the pedigree of its title in bizarreness. Many entries in the graphical adventure genre are known for the irreverence of their stories and gameplay, and this game has those qualities in spades.

The story of All Fridges Are Psychotic has you playing as a writer named Julius, who wants to enter his script into a competition, but he’s locked in his apartment, so he must try to escape so he can enter his script. That’s the basic outline of the story in a nutshell – explaining what goes on beyond this would be unfair to you – the game is very wacky and quite funny (with plenty of enjoyable meta-humor), and is worth discovering on your own.

Of course, as a graphical adventure game, it’s all about discovery – being faced with challenges and puzzles, and trying to find the correct solution to them. And boy, oh boy is trying to find the correct solution is a challenge sometimes. The game’s love for the bizarre means that you have to think very far out of the box to solve some of the game’s puzzles, but in playing the game, you’ll notice a lot of contextual clues to tell you what you have to do, so while the game can and will frustrate you at points where you just seem stuck, keep going at it, interact with objects you never would have expected to use, and just hang in there, little kitten. Still, when the solution is interacting with something you’d have absolutely no clue why you’d interact with that object, the game can be frustrating in that regard. The game is also fairly short in terms of actual gameplay, but you will be spending a lot of time wandering around trying to figure out just what exactly you have to do. The game also ends somewhat unexpectedly, but with the promise of more to come.

What makes All Fridges Are Psychotic so endearing is its style. The game has some lo-fi graphics and animation (which it isn’t afraid to point out), but the writing is just fantastic. It’s chock-full of bizarre, surreal, and even self-referential humor. Ask the coffee lady why her feet are constantly moving. When you’re not wanting to throw your iDevice through a wall when you get stuck, you’ll likely be laughing. Even the game’s seemingly abrupt ending makes sense once you’re immersed into the world – it makes sense because it doesn’t make sense. All Fridges Are Psychotic has character and style in spades, and it makes the game’s flaws forgivable.

This game is a charmingly original entry into a genre that has not seen much in recent years, designed from the ground up for the system, and lovingly created. The game promises more to come, and I want more.

Good job finishing the review! Congrats. You’re something else, kid. Hey, you know what would be awesome? If you commented on the review by June 2nd, 10PM PDT. I hear you might be able to win a promo code for the game…

Linkin Park 8-Bit Rebellion! has just recently been released to the App Store, and to celebrate its release, we have a t-shirt and code for Linkin Park 8-Bit Rebellion! for your choice of iPhone/iPod touch or iPad. To win, simply comment on this article with your IntenseDebate account (so we have a way to contact you if you win) by 9:00 PM PDT Wednesday May 19th to be eligible to win. US entries only please.

Click here to check out the trailer for Linkin Park 8-Bit Rebellion!, and if you can’t wait until you hopefully win the game to play it, click here to download for the iPhone and iPod touch, and click here to download the iPad version of the game.

New from Cazual Games, Kodix HD for iPad is a take on the classic “Mastermind” style game, now in glorious HD on your iPad. Plus, it has the advantage over a real copy of Mastermind by not having any annoying pegs to clean up. Want to play it? It’s available for $3.99 on the App Store right now, but the first 5 people to comment (with an IntenseDebate account so we can email you your code) win a copy of the game! BE QUICK OR REGRET IT!

Developer/Publisher: Michal Tomczyk
Genre: Vertical Ascension Platformer
Price: $0.99
Acquired: Review Copy Provided
Verdict: Not entirely original, but still really fun with well-implemented features.
Pros: Time-tested platforming addictiveness; Collectible tchochkes to customize your star, including a bloody viking helmet; options and stat tracking out the wazoo; OpenFeint 2.4 support
Cons: Nothing here that you really haven’t seen before in other similar games.

The first warning I give you going into Fallen Star is that this game is not new. The app itself is new, but pretty much everything else here has been seen in various other similar games. However, this is not bad, necessarily – Fallen Star does everything well, and even combines features from different vertical ascension platformers to make it a worthy use of $0.99.

Fallen Star’s goal is just like pretty much any other vertical ascension platformer or progressive rock fan; get as high as possible. You have clouds that act as platforms for you to jump on, with some clouds collapsing when you land on them, and balloon platforms that can propel you up higher. You also have powerups to pick up that will give you a double jump, propel you up further, or give you new outfits for your star. As such, this game falls somewhere in between Doodle Jump and SpringFling, especially with the collectibles available.

This game isn’t really isn’t much of anything new for the vertical ascension platformer genre, no. If you like Doodle Jump or any other similar game and don’t think you need another one, Falling Star is not a necessity. Still, Falling Star does a lot well. For starters, you can actually jump manually by tapping on the screen instead of automatically jumping every time you land on a platform a la Doodle Jump; but if you want to auto-jump then you can turn that option on. Would you rather the playing field be walled off instead of looping around to each side? Turn on the walls. Want to recalibrate or adjust the sensitivity of tilting? You can adjust that too. The game stores your top 10 scores locally (with markers shown in-game when you reach that point threshold), as well as a bunch of stats tracking your total longest game time, games played, your highest jump, and much more. As well, the game supports OpenFeint 2.4, with leaderboards for highest score, the number of times you’ve reached space (read: REALLY high), and your highest jump. There’s a lot to like here in Fallen Star.

Fallen Star isn’t really new in any significant way – most of its elements have been seen in other games, but everything combines here for a fun entry in the vertical ascension platformer genre. This game is Pepsi to Doodle Jump’s Coke. It’s kind of the same, but different enough that you might actually prefer it to Coke sometimes. And hey, at least it’s not RC Cola or generic store-brand cola. Fallen Star’s worth a look.

Want to win a promo code for Fallen Star to check it out for yourself? Comment on this post!

In the spirit of <<insert the annual winter holiday of your choice here>>, we’ve decided to give away a free promo code for an iPhone and iPod Touch gaming app every day, until we run out. This does two things. One, it keeps you all coming back to see us EVERY DAY. And two, indie developers get to shine a light onto their game, which isn’t that easy to do these days with so many of them in the app store. So, without further verbiage from us, here’s today’s free game app. Comment below and we’ll randomly pick a winner for the game.

From the Developer’s Site:

Colorix

• Extraordinary game play and addictiveness.
• 10 different combos you can set and master.
• Awesome look and feel, 3D marbles and smooth animation.
• Compete with other players all over the world!

MORE free games? We love you too much. Well, in reality, the developers who provide us the codes to give to you love you too much. Today, we have the recently-reviewed Jiggle Balls: Spikes from Funky Visions! Comment below and we’ll randomly pick 3 winners(!) for the game.

From the Developer’s Site:

You control SPIKEY the big purple ball. Your goal? Smash the JIGGLE BALLS before time expires. Your weapon of choice? GRAVITY! Rotate your iPhone or iPod Touch to control the direction of the balls. Pin them in a corner and squash ‘em!

But there are obstacles that are bent on making your job more difficult — BLOCKERS, FADERS, and SLIDERS. Blockers look a lot like Spikey and get in your way. Faders come and go. They can work to your advantage, as a shortcut, but they may also drop the balls out of sight as you approach. Sliders move with the gravity too. You will have to be fast to navigate around them.

In the spirit of the annual winter holiday of your choice, we’ve decided to give away a free promo code for an iPhone and iPod Touch gaming app every day, until we run out. This does two things. One, it keeps you all coming back to see us EVERY DAY. And TWO, indie developers get to shine a light onto their game, which isn’t that easy to do these days with so many of them in the app store. So, without further verbiage from us, here’s today’s free game app. Comment below and we’ll randomly pick a winner for the game.

From the Developer’s Site:

PUBPONG – BAR ROOM BRAWL MEETS BLUETOOTH

Ever fancied throwing a drink down a bar? Now here’s your chance: throw virtual drinks down a virtual bar and get virtually plastered with a real mate over Bluetooth.

Leave a comment below and we’ll randomly pick a winner! Contest ends at 12 am PST tonight, 12/19/09