Nominate Squigs! for Best Time Killer Award
Squigs Version 1.4 Released
What’s New in Version 1.4:
- iPhone 5 Full Screen Gaming
- Retina Support on iPad 3/4 and iPhone 4/5
- Game State Saves on Interruptions
- New Sounds
- Simplified Menus
- Many Fixes and Improvements
Squigs! full version in App Store’s ‘What’s Hot’
As many of you know, last week we released Squigs! Free to the Apple App store and in only a few short days we’ve already received over 1,000 downloads. But we haven’t forgotten about the Squigs! full version that quickly. Today it was featured in the second place spot in Apple’s ‘What’s Hot’ for puzzle games.
To download both versions of Squigs visit the Apple App Store at http://itunes.apple.com/app/squigs!/id453536040?mt=8.
New Year, New challenge: Squigs Free version debuts in the Apple App Store!
Here at Squigs headquarters we’ve been working around the clock to give our loyal Squigs fans and newly addicted players even more ways to get their hands on those colourful characters. After thinking long and hard about how best do this, we decided on the perfect solutions: Squigs Free!
An arcade take on the full iOS versions released in 2011, Squigs Free allows players to progress to harder levels more quickly in order to tackle those dark Squigs. The new free version is all wrapped up in a fast-passed, five-level, high-score driven game style.
Squigs Free is perfect for new players looking for their first quick taste of Squigs, as well as veteran players seeking a fresh Squigs hit. It’s great for a dull commute or while waiting in line at the sales. Squigs Free is for all ages and skill levels, and of course features addictive, retro-style, match-three gameplay.
So whether you’re already playing Squigs or if you just want to try Squigs before committing to the full app, Squigs Free is for you.
To download the Squigs Free visit the Apple App Store. For more information on Squigs news and mobile gaming trends visit our Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
Tell us what you think, in our Squigs iPhone gaming survey!
We’ve had great fun reading through all your responses to our recent survey to discover how, when and where you play what kind of iPhone games!
Thanks to those of you who have already swung by SurveyMonkey to complete the short list of questions, we already know that:
- more than 70% of you like to use mobile games to while away the commute
- very few will admit to playing games in the bathroom
- perfect versions of Donkey Kong and Pac Man are your greatest retro wish
- and if you were stuck on a desert island you’d most like to play Angry Birds, Words With Friends or… Squigs!
The reaction to our survey has been great so far, but the more responses we can pull together, the better the picture we’ll be able to create of the needs and desires of the mobile gaming community.
Please fill in the survey today. It’ll take two minutes at most and will give you the chance to confirm the opinions we’ve heard so far, or to turn the whole thing on its head.
Let us know exactly what you want to see and do on your iPhone as soon as we can make it happen.
Thanks again – we can’t wait to see what you and your iPhone get up to!
iOS is the best home for your gaming app
Earlier this week, a new study by market research firm NPD revealed the extent to which iOS and Android are dominating the US smartphone market. Between January and October this year Apple’s operating system grew its market share by 38%, while Android expanded by another 28%. iOS now has 29% of the total market – stunning figures for a one-company operating system – while a plethora of Android vendors now own 53% share between them.
All of this is of course very bad news for RIM and its BlackBerry, which saw 59% of its share dissolve, leaving it with just 10% of the market. Other smartphone operating systems such as Windows Mobile (3%), Windows Phone 7 (2%), Symbian (1%) and Palm (1%) are barely making an impact these days.
So if you’re thinking of developing an app for smartphone users, iOS and Android should be the only systems in your thinking. And if you take our advice, you’ll opt for iOS and Apple’s superior App Store. Games account for around 15% of all iOS apps on the iPad, with only books accounting for a higher percentage. Apple now serves up over 350,000 apps with Android not expected to catch until at least 2012. By that time we’re sure Android Market, which has always been playing a very rapid game of catch-up with the App Store, will also have settled down somewhat and put a stop to all the frequently reported issues, such as this week’s SMS fraud problems.
For now at least, iOS is the most certain home for your gaming app – if you’d like to hear more about our experiences with Squigs on the App Store, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Extra life for retro game addicts
“There’s always that place and time where it takes you back to when you were a kid. In a bigger sense, I would say that retro gaming in general has gotten a lot bigger.”
That’s the opinion of David Kaelin CEO and president of Game Over, a new and rapidly expanding chain of nostalgic video game stores opening up across Texas. I hadn’t heard of Game Over until I read this great retro-gaming feature in the Houston Chronicle last week. But there is an unmistakable swell of affection out there among 30 and 40-somethings for the video games of our youth. Disenfranchised techies like us who have seen our games consoles replaced by business machines are rediscovering an urge to meet like-minded souls and talk and trade affectionately over a mutual love of memories such as Donkey Kong, the Super NES, Megaman, Atari and the microcomputer titles of our youth.
The good news is that unlike many other nostalgia addictions, retro-gaming remains inexpensive and accessible for us all. You can track down your regional equivalent of Game On or scour eBay for titles you craved for as a youth but can now pick up for just a few pounds. Or even more conveniently, why not install a console emulator on your laptop, or better still just tap the mobile app market, notably Apple’s AppStore, for seamless ports of classic thumb-numbing fun?
As Bill Loguidice, managing director of the superb video game history site Armchair Arcade told the Houston Chronicle: “Every time there’s a new platform, you inevitably see versions of these games on it. There’s just something timeless about these games.”
We couldn’t agree more. And we’re keen to hear your own take on retro games, especially if you’re an iPhone or iPod Touch gamer. When do you play? What games do you long for? Please complete our survey here.
Squigs releases awesome new 1.1 version
If you can’t get enough of Squigs, the addictive, three-in-a-row retro style puzzle game, then you’re in luck. This past week Squigs released version 1.1, adding even more great features.
This latest version of Squigs adds both hard and easy level options as well as updated About and Help menu tabs, updated icons and more. The awesome, fun-for-all-ages puzzle game also features the high-definition controls and enhanced sound added for the first time in this year’s iOS release.
Originally released for the Amiga Computer in 1993, Squigs challenges you to rearrange the falling characters to match and eliminate vertical, horizontal and diagonal groups. By continuing through multiple levels, you’ll uncover all nine Squigs.
Job Hibbins, the man behind the original game as well as the modern development team said, “The new version of Squigs fuses proven, addictive gameplay with exciting modern concepts… a perfect fit for Apple iOS devices, and a satisfying experience for Squigs veterans and new players alike.”
To download the newest game, visit the iTunes store today. To read the entire release, go here. Also, don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and Facebook for the most up-to-date Squigs news.
Mobile gaming habits: Squigs wants to know what’s on your iPhone
Over the last few days we’ve been conducting a survey to find out more about iPhone / iOS users and their gaming habits. We’ve asked which games people are downloading, how often they play, where they play, plus a few questions that are close to our Squigs hearts – such as which retro games iPhone owners miss the most.
We’re already receiving some great responses both online and offline, so if you’d like to participate, then please spare just a few moments and fill out the survey here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/squigs-survey
We will be sharing the full results over the next few weeks, so please have your say today.
Meanwhile, a big thank you to all of you who are downloading and playing Squigs! Please leave us AppStore reviews to let us know how much you’re enjoying the game, and if you haven’t played it yet, then be sure to check it out.
Squigs: Gaming that is retro AND cutting-edge…
You may have encountered Squigs for the very first time as an iPhone or iPad app, but like all great retro games, it has had a long and interesting history. Long before Jon (Hibbins) developed the iOS version which was released on the App Store on 7 November this year, he created the first version of Squigs for the Commodore Amiga microcomputer.
The game was first released on a cover disk for Amiga Power Magazine back in September 1993. For the Amiga 500 (A500). Though by that time Commodore had already launched the Amiga A4000/030 – a hugely impressive home computer of its time and seemingly light years ahead of its A500, A2000 and A3000 predecessors. But just how advanced was this powerful desktop system compared to the throwaway smartphones of today? 
We thought it might be fun to compare a few facts and figures to see how a trusty 1993 Amiga would stand up in 2011.
Processors:
Amiga A500: Motorola 68000 microprocessor running at 7.15909 MHz (NTSC) or 7.09379 MHz (PAL), 32-bit
iPhone 4S: Dual-core Apple running at 800MHz
RAM:
Amiga A500: 512 kB of Chip RAM upgradable to 1024 kb
iPhone 4S: 512MB
Storage:
Amiga: 880 kB standard Amiga disks
iPhone 4S: Up to 64GB HDD and no removable media
Graphics:
Amiga A500: PAL mode: 320 × 256, 640 × 256, 640 × 512 (interlace), 704 × 576 in overscan.
NTSC mode: 320 × 200, 640 × 200, 640 × 400 (interlace), 704 × 484 in overscan. from a palette of 4096 colours.
iPhone 4S: 3.5” retina display with 940×640 pixel resolution at 326ppi, SGX 543MP2 dedicated GPU producing 30fps HD video
Operating system
Amiga: AmigaOS 1.2+
iPhone 4S: iOS5
Connectivity:
Amiga A500: Two DB9M sockets for joysticks or mice (as popularized by the Atari 2600),A parallel port (DB25F).Analogue RGB 50 Hz PAL and 60 Hz NTSC video output,A floppy drive port (DB23F) and Stereo audio
iPhone 4S: WiFi, 3G, Bluetooth, Stereo Audio, Video Output, GPS…
Dimensions:
Amiga: 390mm(L) x175mm(W) x360mm(H)
iPhone 4S: 4.5 x 2.31 x 0.37”