If you are still expecting for battle royale-style game Apex Legends Mobile to arrive in your country, maybe next week could be your chance to enjoy the app, as the developer just announced an expansion.
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Fans of The Sims got a taste of the simulation on iPhone and iPad from The Sims Freeplay back in 2011, but the freemium app fell a long way short of the full desktop experience. EA is promising to correct that in The Sims Mobile.
The developer says that the new mobile app will support all the features of the original PC game from 17 years ago …
Real Racing 3 has been around for several years on iOS, but yesterday’s update marked its debut appearance on tvOS and the fourth generation Apple TV. This isn’t the first time that the Real Racing franchise has been associated with Apple’s set top box, as previous versions allowed you to use AirPlay to stream races to the Apple TV while using an iOS device as a controller. Check out our hands-on video with the new racer below.
One thing that Apple didn’t get into during its keynote presentation is any possible gaming experiences that might come with its new Apple Watch wearable. Today, however, EA has announced that it’s already prototyping ideas for wearables like Apple Watch. In a blog post from EA’s Mobile gaming head Frank Gibeau, the company announced announced it has a team working on ideas for gaming on wearables including standalone games and second screen experiences for console and mobile games:
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Update: EA said in a statement that it’s investigating the reports (via TheVerge):
“Privacy and security are of the utmost importance to us, and we are currently investigating this report… We’ve taken immediate steps to disable any attempts to misuse EA domains…”
According to a report from internet security and research company Netcraft, hackers have compromised an EA Games server and are currently using it to host a phishing site that steals Apple IDs and more from unsuspecting users. The company published its report today and says it contacted EA yesterday to report the discovery, but as of publishing the compromised server and the phishing site stealing Apple IDs were still online.
Netcraft claims the phishing site being hosted on EA’s servers not only asks for an Apple ID and password but also the user’s “full name, card number, expiration date, verification code, date of birth, phone number, mother’s maiden name, plus other details that would be useful to a fraudster.” Netcraft also reports that EA Games is being targeted in other phishing attacks that are attempting to steal user data from its Origin game distribution service:
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Yesterday a story popped up Giant Bomb claiming that EA executive Frank Gibeau said Apple had paid the company a “truckload of money” to launch PopCap’s much anticipated Plants vs Zombies 2 title as an iOS exclusive. Apple quickly denied the comments in a brief statement following the story and said that no money was exchanged with the publisher. As if that wasn’t enough, EA representatives today issued an official statement on the matter saying that the comment was taken out of context (via PocketGamer):
“A comment from an internal meeting taken out of context has created an unfortunate misunderstanding,” says EA’s statement.
“Reports of a paid relationship between Apple and EA are factually inaccurate, and we apologise for any confusion.”
Gibeau’s comments were clearly taken out of context, and we tend to believe that Apple didn’t offer up any cash in exchange for Plants vs Zombies 2 landing on iOS before Android. But what did he really mean with his “truckload of money” comment? Perhaps EA knew it would receive favorable placement in the App Store as a much hyped iOS exclusive?
There are a lot of unanswered questions about how Apple goes about featuring and ranking apps on the App Store, but it’s big money for developers who often see enormous boost in revenue and downloads when featured on the store.
Last month a report from Fiksu noted changes in how Apple ranks apps and seems to be incorporating user ratings and other new metrics, but this is the first we’ve heard of Apple possibly working with developers to have apps launch exclusively on iOS.
Electronic Arts has updated its popular Real Racing 3 car-racing game for iOS with a significant car expansion. This update’s additions focus on the Porsche 911, adding several generations of the iconic car and a new game mode:
As noted by VentureBeat, EA revealed today during its earnings call with investors that for the first time, Apple has become “EA’s biggest retail partner as measured by sales” as a result of the App Store. It’s a big announcement for the publisher that previously sold the majority of its content through retail channels for console games, and it could be a sign that EA will be investing more in iOS and other mobile titles in the months to come. In its earnings release, the company noted that it was “the #1 global publisher in the iOS game market in the June quarter,” and also highlighted a few of its more successful iOS titles, including: The Simpsons: Tapped Out, Real Racing 3, and The Sims:
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EA already said that Plants vs Zombies 2‘s July 18 release date would be delayed slightly until later this summer, but today PopCap announced that it is kicking off a soft launch today in Australia and New Zealand to fine tune the experience. In fact, the game is already available on the App Store in both Australia and New Zealand (and of course any user can access the download with an Apple ID associated with one of those locations).
we are launching the game a bit early in Australia and New Zealand to help us test out all of the new systems and features we’ve built into the game. We’ve added a bunch of new features that allow us to take advantage of new technologies to make a better experience for our players, and those innovations require us to perform some large tests to make sure we are ready for our worldwide audience to play.
PopCap already announced that the game would be a free-to-play experience, but today noted that it will “be testing all sorts of different aspects of the game’s functionality, pricing, stability, etc.”
Hahaha crashes on iOS 7! RT @9to5mac: Plants vs Zombies 2 for iOS launches in Australia & New Zealand App Stores http://t.co/RC3YbBshFK
— Lars™ (@larsetc) July 9, 2013
A break down of new game features from iTunes below:
Game Features
NEW PLANTS! NEW ZOMBIES!
Meet B**k Choy, Bloomerang and Lightning Reed: Just a few of the powerful new plants that will defend your lawn through time. Go toe-to-missing-toe with dozens of new zombies including Ra Zombie in Ancient Egypt, Swashbuckler Zombie on the Pirate Seas, or Chicken Wrangler Zombie in the Wild West. In every new world, clever new zombies and brain-teasing challenges will test your zombie-zapping skills.
AMAZING NEW WAYS TO PROTECT YOUR BRAIN
New Plant Food and power-ups will take your game to new dimensions. Plant Food will supercharge your plants when you need it most. Use your fingers to pinch, flick and zap zombies off your lawn.
LOOK OUT! ZOMBIE CHICKENS!
Seriously.
NEW LEVELS OF EXCITEMENT
Battle the fun-dead on land, on sea and… on the rails? Unlock ultra-challenging (and ultra-fun) endless levels — Pyramid of Doom, Pirate’s Booty and the Big Bad Butte.
THE FUN NEVER DIES
Gather keys to unlock brain teasers and new plants. Collect coins to purchase potent power-ups. Earn stars to take you to new worlds. Survive long enough and you’ll be rewarded with piles of prizes and achievements. And that’s just the beginning! The future holds many mysteries. Also, zombies. Lots and lots of zombies.
EA updated its popular freemium Real Racing 3 game for iPhone and iPad today with a number of new features including over 55 vehicles from Bentley and Mercedes-Benz. On top of a new Time Trail event type and 180+ new events, EA is also adding a progression system that will allow users to “unlock cars and events as you progress through the new career.” That sounds like a nice addition for those that were complaining of EA’s decision to stick with the freemium model for the title.
Also included in the update is improved graphics with “Per-pixel shadowing on high-end devices” and new bonuses:
The Prestige Cars Update is here! Bentley and Mercedes-Benz join Real Racing 3’s extensive stable of manufacturers, while the highly requested Time Trial mode arrives with global leaderboards and ghost racing!
• New manufacturers – Bentley and Mercedes-Benz join an exciting line-up of over 55 licenced cars
• New event type – Time Trial! Race against yourself, your friends and the world for the top leaderboard position
• Bonus R$ – Get an R$ boost for the first race of each day, earn bigger bonuses for consecutive days of play
• Clean Race Bonus – Drive cleanly and fairly to receive R$ bonuses
• New progression system – Unlock cars and events as you progress through the new career
• Improved graphics – Per-pixel shadowing on high-end devices!
• 180+ new events!
As noted over at NeoGAF, EA has recently updated its website for the popular Frostbite engine to list details regarding a new version of the development platform for mobile devices dubbed “Frostbite Go”. While there aren’t many details, the page confirms that EA has plans to bring the engine to both iOS and Android, something that was previously rumored based off job listings for Frostbite.
One of our most exciting current projects is called Frostbite Go, a mobile division empowering EA game developers with Frostbite’s proven excellent workflows and features to bring true Frostbite experiences to all major mobile platforms.
Runtime in Frostbite supports a highly scalable model in order to appeal to the diverse array of platforms available on today’s market. Efficiency in both our runtime memory and runtime performance are both key factors to enabling code and data systems to deploy content to diverse targets from XBOX360 and PlayStation 4 to iOS and Android.
The Frostbite engine is best known for powering EA’s Battlefield and Need for Speed series, and back in January a job listing hinted that EA has plans to bring the engine to Mac OS X as well.
Seems EA sees iOS as a more viable platform than the Wii U.
RT @9to5mac: EA confirms ‘Frostbite Go’ engine for iOS http://t.co/YeOJtIkhHV
— Mike Beasley is on Mastodon and Bluesky (@MikeBeas) May 14, 2013
EA is currently developing Frostbite 3, which is expected to ship first with the much anticipated Battlefield 4.
While the highly anticipated Real Racing 3 from EA received a lot of press when it first launched back in February, much of it was negative attention due to developer Firemonkey’s decision opt for an in-app purchase, freemium model. Despite that, Real Racing 3 is considered one of the top racing games for iOS devices, and today it receives a massive update bringing new vehicles, events, and game modes to the title.
Version 1.1.0 of Real Racing 3 includes the return of vehicles from Chevrolet such as the Chevrolet Cobalt SS and the Camaro ZL1, 100+ new events bringing the total up to over 1,000, and the ability to save to the cloud and transfer saves between devices. The update also brings a new event type called “Hunter!”:
Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines. American fan favorite Chevrolet makes its return to Real Racing! This update features the Chevrolet Cobalt SS and the Camaro ZL1, an all-new Hunter mode, Cloud Save functionality, and 100+ new events! Plus, compare and compete using the new friends leaderboard.
• New manufacturer – Chevrolet! The Cobalt SS and the Camaro ZL1 join the lineup
• New event type – Hunter! Chase down the hunted car and overtake within one lap
• 100+ new events! Total number of events now exceeds 1,000!
• Cloud Save functionality! Transfer your save data between devices
• New social features! See who is online and compare how your friends are doing with the statistics leaderboard
• Check your TSM mailbox for the latest friend notifications
• Improved tutorial and main menu
• Numerous additional improvements, fixes, and performance optimizations
BMW iOS app integration: Following some recent Siri Eyes Free news from Chevrolet, BMW announced today that it has partnered with handful of developers to bring similar eyes free experiences for a number of third-party iOS apps to its vehicles. BMW has partnered with Audible for audio books, Glympse for location sharing services, Rhapsody for subscription music and TuneIn for internet radio, all of which will be updating their apps in the weeks to come for compatibility with the BMW Apps system.
Plants vs Zombies 2: PopCap announced today that part two of its incredibly popular Plants vs Zombies title is finally going to land on iOS in additional to all the other usual platforms “early summer.” No clues on what might be included in the second installment, but in the meantime PopCap will launch a new version of the game on Facebook.
IM+ Instant Messenger version 7.7: A nice update to the very popular IM+ service today offers Beep mobile-to-mobile service as an in-app purchase, the ability to preview transferred images directly in chats, and the usual bug fixes and performance enhancements. iPad users will also now be able to capture photos and videos in the app.
StreamBoard version 5.0: The Twitter client that lets you track keywords and hashtags in real-time is updated to version 5.0 with many new features and enhancements:
For this incredible milestone, StreamBoard has been rewritten from the ground up bringing to you:
– A brand new streamlined interface powered by gestures
– A reimagined filter view featuring real-time graphs that you can interact with
– Much improved engine for faster speed!
– and many more!
Pac-Man version 3.5.0: iOS 6 support and new features for the Pac-Man iPad app.
Added support for iOS 6
Fixed Game Center issue for iOS 6
Updated More Games functionality
In addition to a big list of popular EA iOS titles up to 80 percent off today, below is our list of the latest apps and updates arriving in the App Stores:
Box version 2.7.7:Box.net’s iPhone and iPad app received a nice update that brings the ability to save photos and video to the Photos.app and improvements to the Box OneCloud service and file uploads.
MindNode version 2.1.3: A decent update goes to the popular task planning and brainstorming productivity app for iPhone and iPad including the ability to opened zipped MindNode files, which provides support for syncing docs from iCloud or share sheets in 10.8. Also included is ” the ability to launch MindNode using a custom URL scheme.”
Klout version 1.6: The iPhone app that tracks influence across social networks was updated today with a new Klout Score graph that allows you to “see an interactive graph of your Klout Score for the past 30 days” from landscape mode in the Profile tab. You can also now connect your social networks from within the app itself.
Animoog version 1.1.0: Moog Music’s first polyphonic synth designed for iPad was updated today with some nice new features including preset categories, MIDI CC mapping, MIDI Out support via in-app purchase, and new expansion packs in the Animoog Store for “METALLIC” and “ACOUSTIC”. The recording limit has also now been doubled, and the update includes fixes that caused the app to crash on past iOS releases.
WordPress version 3.1: The iOS Wordpress app received a huge an update yesterday that included a major UI refresh and a ton of new features and fixes. Get all the details here.
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Developer ZeptoLab UK Limited released a Mac App Store version of its physics puzzler Cut the Rope originally released by publisher Chillingo on iOS in October 2010. According to Chillingo, the iOS game reached over 1 million downloads in just nine days and the franchise has now hit over 100 million downloads. The Mac App Store version is the first full desktop release of the game and it was optimized for landscape orientation with “crisp images on monitors up to 2560×1440 resolution.”
ZeptoLab also redesigned some of the game’s original levels for a smooth experience with mice and trackpads. Scoreloop is supported currently when it comes to online leaderboards, but the press release said there would be support for Game Center on OS X when it launches. The game is available on the Mac App Store now as a 133MB download and features 250 levels and 10 level boxes for $4.99 (requires Mac OS X 10.5 or higher). The full press release is after the break (via Reuters):
