The iPhone/iPod Touch Multiplayer Gaming Bible

Discussion in 'General Game Discussion and Questions' started by Menneisyys, Aug 12, 2009.

  1. Menneisyys

    Menneisyys Well-Known Member

    Dec 12, 2008
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    UPDATE (09/24/2009): UniWar, the, in my opinion, multiplayer-wise (along with Reign of Swords Ep II – see review above, in the update posted at 08/23 12:14 CET) best enabled turn-based strategy game has just received Push notification for much quicker opponent notification. Note that, of the new games recently reviewed, Real Soccer 2010 by Gameloft (even as of the initial, 1.0 version) also supports Push notification. See the second bullet of the update posted at 08/16/2009 0:19 CET for more information on how it should be used.

    There are some other goodies the new version, 1.0.5, offers:

    [​IMG]

    Also note that, now, this game only costs $1. It’s an absolute steal for the price.
     
  2. Menneisyys

    Menneisyys Well-Known Member

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    UPDATE (09/24/2009 10:28PM CET): there’s another, new, multiplayer-enabled game worth mentioning: Adrenaline Golf Online by Eurocenter.

    [​IMG]

    It’s quite a steal for the introductory price of $1. I don’t think you want to miss it at the current price point.

    I’ll post a video of it tomorrow, showing how it looks on the 3G S and the 3G – it has 3G S-specific, additional 3D animations and effects.

    Please see the last row in the chart I’ve just added.
     
  3. Bramsey89

    Bramsey89 Well-Known Member

    Sep 20, 2009
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    Omg you got an update. Download that beyatch
     
  4. Menneisyys

    Menneisyys Well-Known Member

    Dec 12, 2008
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    UPDATE (09/24/2009 23:42 CET): I’ve highly recommended the zombie shooter “Alive 4 Ever” in yesterday’s update of the chart.

    [​IMG]

    Today’s news is that version 1.1 will soon be released with a lot of new goodies. Please see THIS for more info.

    Also note that the intro price ($1) will soon be increased to $3 – I think the game is well worth purchasing, particularly if you plan to play it in multiplayer mode.
     
  5. CaseyLay

    CaseyLay Well-Known Member

    Jul 13, 2009
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    I love Eurocenter's online games. Dinosmash rules.
     
  6. Menneisyys

    Menneisyys Well-Known Member

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    UPDATE (09/27/2009):
    1.) The new version of the best racing game for the iDevice (iPhone + iPod touch), Real Racing, is out. Now, it supports two-player games over Bluetooth, which is great news for anyone having at least a second-generation iPhone or iPod touch and not having access to a Wi-Fi access point.

    [​IMG]

    2.) There are several new multiplayer games:
    Snake DOS by Andy Lin 1.0 (it hs received very good user reviews in the AppStore)
    Hip Hop All Star by I-play
    Piecehunters Premium by GibsonTang.com 1.3
    Haunted 3D Rollercoaster Rush by Digital Chocolate, Inc. 1.0.1

    Expect the according, thorough info and recommendation to be entered in the chart tomorrow or the day after.

    3.) The online version of NanoMechs will soon be released. You can join the beta program HERE, if you’re absolutely sure you do want to test it.

    If you don’t want to look the title up from the chart, a quick explanation: the only comparable title, WiFi Warfare by Jesse Starks, is, in my opinion, weaker than this title. I like the graphics of this title better and the, IMHO, much superior control. Now that it receives online multiplayer (in addition to the local Wi-Fi one), the only disadvantage of NanoMechs also disappears.
     
  7. Menneisyys

    Menneisyys Well-Known Member

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    UPDATE (09/30/2009): Robocalypse on sale!

    I deemed it necessary to post a separate update on this: Robocalypse (iTunes link), which is a very nice RTS (real-time strategy) with decent multiplayer, is on sale for $3 only. Pretty nice a deal, I’d say.

    Also see a review HERE.
     
  8. Random_Guy

    Random_Guy Well-Known Member

    Apr 6, 2009
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    Australia, mate!
    Umm... So what is this thread about?
     
  9. Menneisyys

    Menneisyys Well-Known Member

    Dec 12, 2008
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    Multiplayer games?
     
  10. Menneisyys

    Menneisyys Well-Known Member

    Dec 12, 2008
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    UPDATE (10/02/2009): Multiplayer gaming news: great Kart out and major Chess Elite rebate – both at $1 only!

    1.) The biggest news of these days is that Eurocenter has just released Cocoto Kart Online, a really decent online multiplayer kart racer title.

    So far, the only Kart title to offer multiplayer was Krazy Kart Racers (US) by Konami Digital Entertainment, which many considered pretty lousy. Not so with the new title, it’s pretty nice – and the (introductory) price just can’t be beaten.

    It runs great on my iPhone 3G S and, with (by default) disabled music OK on my 3G. On the latter, with enabled music, the animation becomes pretty stuttering; that is, you’ll want to keep the music disabled on the 3G.

    [​IMG]

    As with the games of Eurocenter in general, there’s no local (Wi-Fi / Bluetooth) play. (I hope they consider adding it some day – it’d help a lot in minimizing in-game lag and stuttering if you “only” want to play your mate next to you.) Fortunately, being a Eurocenter title also means there are quite a lot online players to choose from, should you not have a mate to play.

    TouchArcade news item & comments HERE; dedicated thread HERE and the iTunes link HERE.

    Highly recommended at the price!

    2.) there is a huge rebate for Chess Elite for three days (that is, after Monday evening, US time), a chess client. It supports Push notifications for both challenging others and notifying them of new moves. In this regard, it’s pretty unique – unfortunately, still very few games support this kind of instant notifications. These worked just fine on my 3G S; on my 3G, for some reason, they didn’t. (It must have been a problem with my 3G.)

    [​IMG]

    Note that it uses its own chess server; that is, it’s not a FICS / ICC client. (If you do need FICS support, go for iChess by myMobileApps instead.) While this means way less players than on FICS / ICC, there are still quite a few ones online and, of course, you can elect to play your friends / buddies only. Particularly taken into account the Push capabilities, at the current price tag, it’s is quite a steal.

    There’s a thread HERE on the rebate itself; iTunes link HERE.

    3.) The 1.1 update to Alive 4-ever by Meridian has just hit AppStore. It offers all the goodies previously promised (see the UPDATE dated 09/24/2009 23:42 CET in my original iPhone/iPod Touch Multiplayer Gaming Bible):

    [​IMG]

    Note that I'll post a video of the three titles very soon. (Unfortunately, uploading 300...500 Mbyte AVCHD HD video files is pretty slow from home so it takes some time...)
     
  11. Menneisyys

    Menneisyys Well-Known Member

    Dec 12, 2008
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    UPDATE (10/03/2009 23.43 CET): as promised, I’ve added videos demonstrating the multiplayer mode of Cocoto Kart Online and Alive 4-ever. The links to the YouTube videos are in the also-updated chart (currently the rows discussing these two games are at the bottom of the chart).

    Also note that I’ve added some other demo videos too; currently, for the following titles. As with the above titles, the links to these videos are in the “Remark?” column of the chart.

    Fifa 10
    Catch-a-mouse 3
    Blades of fury
    Attack Pro
    Ar3na
    Adrenaline Golf Online
    Robocalypse

    Also note that I meant ‘until’ by ‘after’ in “there is a huge rebate for Chess Elite for three days (that is, after Monday evening, US time)” above, in the original article.
     
  12. bomber

    bomber Well-Known Member

    Nov 9, 2008
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    Nice concept with the two devices in the videos :) Do you plan to make a website out of all this sometime?
     
  13. Menneisyys

    Menneisyys Well-Known Member

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    Not necessarily an entire website... but will definitely improve it with tons of other videos, dynamic (filterable) chart, more verbose explanations of all the better titles, full with screenshots etc.
     
  14. Menneisyys

    Menneisyys Well-Known Member

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    UPDATE (10/06/2009 23.08CET):

    1.Several new videos have been uploaded (links in the main chart, in the “Remark” (last) column):

    321 Jump by MASQ Interactive Limited
    BOMBERMAN TOUCH 2 Volcano Party by Hudson (not bad at all. However, for some reason, it kept disconnecting when taking the video. Dunno why – back in August it worked OK.)
    Flight Control by Firemint (this should be the first Bluetooth game you purchase (if you haven’t already done so))
    F.A.S.T. Fleet Air Superiority Training by SGN (another excellent title)
    Attack from the Dead by CDE (very lame title, not recommended at all)
    Chess Elite (a steal for $1)
    Sprint Addict (one of the worst titles ever released, avoid it at any rate)
    Real Racing (excellent title!)
    Hyperpuck (not bad)
    Hiphop Allstar
    Snake DOS (excellent if you like the retro feeling)

    2. Updated some records; for example, Pong - iPhone Edition by Jonah Grant and 3-D Vector Ball by Gyrocade records with the latest news (no 3G vs. 3G S speed problems any more and BT support, respectively)

    3. Added some games; for example, the just-released Bluetooth Wireless Tennis with Agnieszka Radwanska by FUN and MOBILE
     
  15. Real Racing Fan

    Real Racing Fan Well-Known Member

    Sep 18, 2009
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    I wish
    THE MATRIX
    Come on, dude. He worked SO hard writing ALL of that...
     
  16. Menneisyys

    Menneisyys Well-Known Member

    Dec 12, 2008
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    UPDATE (10/8/2009 9:17 CET):

    1. I’ve continued making and uploading videos (again, see the last column in the chart for YouTube links):

    Baaahlast by Big Nerd Ranch (IMHO, very poor and vastly overpriced at $3)

    3D Vector Ball by Gyrocade (great – particularly now that it’s received BT support)

    BT Wireless Tennis with Agnieszka Radwanska (pretty nice tennis app – definitely easier to control than the alternatives)

    iSamurai Bluetooth (a fun accelerometer-based game; offers definitely more than other “simple” accelerator-based multiplayer "games" like Quick Draw Cowboy Gunfight by ACME Mobile Products - here, the accelerometer is not only used to track the quick change from being in a vertical position to horizontal, but also other positions, movements, strikes and blockings.)

    SG Mahjong by GameFront Singapore

    TRIVIA WARS by Zephyr Creative (IMHO, Gameloft’s TV Show King is much better a choice. Note that the video only shows version 1.1; 2.0, according to the AppStore reviews, has become much faster to play)

    Galcon Labs by Phil Hassey (great!)

    Combat On Palm (a complete failure, no worth installing even for free)

    Pong iPhone Edition by Jonah Grant (not bad)

    Pollys Popping Parrots Reloaded by p13development (color matching – if you like the genre…)

    Touch Hockey FS5 by FlipSide5 (very nice and even has a free, ad-supported but, otherwise, not dumbed-down version – as with all FlipSide5 titles)

    Touch4 FS5 by FlipSide5 (see above)

    Sea Battle Classic by A Kurulenko (for free, pretty nice Battleship-implementation)

    2. In my previous Chess Elite quick review, I’ve mentioned the push mode has some quirks. Among other things, these are promised to have been fixed by the just-released update:

    [​IMG]

    3. Adrenaline Golf Online by Eurocenter (the price of which, in the meantime, has, unfortunately, been increased to $5) has also been updated (to version 1.1), fixing the bugs pointed out by some TouchArcade users (see THIS and THIS):

    [​IMG]
     
  17. Menneisyys

    Menneisyys Well-Known Member

    Dec 12, 2008
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    UPDATE (10/09/2009):

    1. New videos added:

    Bust A Move by TAITO (Well, you might like it; I, nevertheless, find it a bit pricey for a simple color matcher game which doesn't have any kind of non-parallel [!] multiplayer)
    iFPS Online by Pick Up And Play (IMHO, pretty poor – no wonder it was even offered as free)
    Tank War - Bluetooth Battle by 6tags.com (IMHO, Office Tanks by ET NETERA of the same genre certainly has much more up-to-date graphics, faster and more challenging gameplay and involves more strategy, particularly on bigger maps. That is, I'd prefer getting it first. Nevertheless, you may want to give this title a try too, particularly if you need / prefer BT over local Wi-Fi. Multiplayer only.)
    Office Tanks by ET NETERA (definitely better than Tank War. Multiplayer only.)
    ShapeShape by inXile Entertainment (IMHO, well worth the $1)
    Armageddon Squadron by Polarbit 1.0.2 (IMHO, F.A.S.T. Fleet Air Superiority Training! by SGN is a better choice, particularly if you want to play others [not your buddies] online. It has, generally, far more online players. Also, it's way cheaper [$1 only].]
    Asphalt 4 Elite Racing by Gameloft (while a lot of people dislike this title, I don’t – it’s big fun, particularly in multiplayer. A must buy at this price point [$1] – argh, I’ve purchased it for $10…)

    NOTE: I’ve further refined the way I make videos. Now, in order to maximize screen estate use, I take videos of games operating not only in Portrait, but also in Landscape mode in Portrait orientation. This means you’ll need to watch YouTube videos of landscape games in Portrait mode on your computer or phone. If you don’t do this on a platform where watching videos in Portrait mode is possible, you can still do the following:

    - Save the YouTube video in a format that can be played back in, say, the free VLC player. If you don’t want to use third-party YouTube clip saver methods but know where the cache of your Web browser is, you’ll find these videos there after you let the browser fully cache the video (which, in general, happens without having to watch the entire thing). For example, in Opera, you’ll find it at \Users (or. under pre-Vista OS'es, Documents and Settings) \username\AppData\Local\Opera\Opera versionnumber\cache. Search for big (5+ Mbyte and, if you let the system save HD videos, much bigger) files recently created. Rename them to have the extension FLV and pass them to the player.

    - In VLC, go to Tools / Preferences. At the bottom left, make sure you select the “All” radio button instead of “Simple” under “Show settings”. In “All” mode, open the Video tree (the last record in the list on the left); under that, the Filters tree. Then, scroll down (still in the left pane) and select Rotate. Overwrite the default 30 degrees with either 90 or 270. Then, just click Filters above (the one where you’ve previously opened the tree) and check in the “Rotate video filter” checkbox (the sixth from above).

    Note that, particularly when playing back originally HD videos on slower desktop PC’s, this may result in heavily slowed-down playback. In these cases, try using this method for playing back non-HD content only.

    2. I’ve, in addition, added a quick review of LightBike Online by Pankaku Inc., a Tron clone. (A demo video will quickly follow.)
     
  18. Menneisyys

    Menneisyys Well-Known Member

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  19. Menneisyys

    Menneisyys Well-Known Member

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    UPDATE (10/11/2009 22:46 CET):

    1. As is announced in the official TouchArcade thread, at last, the (on the Windows Mobile and Palm OS platform, great and very popular) Warfare Incorporated will very soon get multiplayer capabilities. The version with four-player remote (lounge-based) multiplayer has already been submitted for approval; hopefully it will soon get approved. I can only hope the multiplayer is compatible with Windows Mobile and Palm OS clients. (Not that there would be that many players using these platforms to play games anymore, though… :( ).

    2. Another major RTS (Real Time Strategy) news is that Command & Conquer Red Alert is being ported to the Apple platforms. Unfortunately, it won’t have multiplayer capabilities. Hope they will be added some time – as has been done to the above-mentioned Warfare Incorporated.

    3. Archon, as has been promised for a while, will also receive multiplayer support.

    4. I’ve added the following high-quality, HD videos to the chart:

    Star Hogs by IUGO (Excellent artillery title; much better than some of the alternatives; for example, Baaahlast by Big Nerd Ranch, Inc.)

    Iron Sight by Polarbit (another excellent artillery title – this in 3D)

    Siberian Strike by Gameloft (a decent 1941 – vertical scroller shooter - clone with cooperative multiplayer)

    Real Tennis 2009 by Gameloft (a decent tennis game)

    Mino by Xio (a Tetris clone – somewhat better than the multiplayer alternatives; e.g., Crazy Drops by Colombiamug)

    GTS World Racing by Handmark (a decent racing game. However, I find it a bit overpriced, particularly now that the, technically, much-much superior Real Racing is $7 “only”).

    Fuzzball by Avolans (excellent!)

    Ferrari GT: Evolution by Gameloft (another racing game. Technically, compared to Real Racing, it isn’t the best; however, it’s cheap and is, therefore, recommended.)

    Fast & Furious by i-play (see my remark with Ferrari GT: Evolution: not the best racing title, but, at least, cheap)

    Cube by fernLightning (this free but, on the pre-3GS / iPod touch 3G, uselessly slow first person shooter still hasn’t received server-side support and is, therefore, useless for multiplayer. BTW, in the demo video, I show exactly this: the current servers are incompatible and there isn’t any other way of connecting two Cube players together)

    Arcade Pool Online by Lucky Clan : a pool game. I think you’ll want to prefer Adrenaline Pool Online 2 by Eurocenter to it, particularly because the excellent in-game speaking / talking capabilities.

    Raging Thunder by Polarbit: Nice, particularly if you want to play buddies far away. (Nevertheless, don’t expect many online players. However, Real Racing may still be a better choice.

    KIL.A.TON (this artillery shooter is not bad. Nevertheless, I think both Star Hogs by IUGO and Iron Sight by Polarbit are better.)

    5. I’ve also modified a lot of details in the chart, making it even more up-to-date.
     
  20. Menneisyys

    Menneisyys Well-Known Member

    Dec 12, 2008
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    UPDATE (10/13/2009 2:00CET): I’ve added the following high-quality HD videos to the chart:

    Shrek Kart by Gameloft: a brand new, just-released kart game with (strictly) local Bluetooth and Wi-Fi multiplayer capabilities. Knowing that Gameloft, despite their promises, still haven’t delivered true Internet (remote lounge) multiplayer for any of their games having strictly local multiplayer. Also see THIS and THIS for more info.

    As you can see in the video, the game is certainly more jittery on the iPhone 3G than Cocoto Kart Online by Eurocenter.

    StarPagga by Funsuma Games: a 3D space shooter. If you like games like F.A.S.T. Fleet Air Superiority Training! by SGN, you might like this one too.

    Marble Blast Mobile by GarageGames: a very nice 3D game – assuming you have an iPhone 3G S. If you “only” have an iPhone 3G, don’t even bother, it’s way too slow.

    DrawRace by RedLynx Ltd: wowz, this is a very nice game! Too bad you can’t explicitly play your mates in the game – you’re assigned random opponents.

    DinoSmash Online by Eurocenter: without doubt the best platformer shooter – much better than both WiFi Warfare by Jesse Starks and the brand new and, now, lounge / Internet-enabled NanoMechs by Theorian. That is, if you like the genre and don’t want to play local (e.g., Bluetooth) games, his should be the first game you check out.

    Crazy Drops by Colombiamug: a Tetris clone. Nothing to write home about.

    Astraware Board Games by Handmark Inc: contains several mini-games. Unfortunately, now, it costs $3 (originally, for quite a long time, it was $1 only) and I’ve never seen anyone playing any games online. Therefore, if you do want to play strangers over the Internet, go for something else – particularly if you plan to play chess. (There’re both FICS clients and Chess Elite for the iPhone.)
     

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