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One of the highest profile iPhone games to state, EA’s Spore, retails on the iTunes App Store for $9.99. Now, however, you can also get a “free” version, Spore Origins Lite Edition (iTunes link). The catch? It’s teaser consisting of 1 level. Since Apple doesn’t (yet?) have a model for demoing apps (”try” instead of “buy”), it’s likely the only thing developers can do to give potential buyers a real preview. They hope, after one or a short number of levels, you’ll be hooked enough to pony up the bucks for the full blown version.

How’s this working? Well, Spore Origins Lite is not in the iTunes App Store Top 10… Pac Man Lite, which uses the same model, sits at number 5 in the free listings as of this posting, but it’s full blown counterpart in nowhere to be found among the top 100 paid Apps.

What does this tell us? That people would rather pay nothing for a Lite edition than something for a full game? Or is it simply that the whole App ranking mechanism still broken?

Have you downloaded any free “Lite” Apps? And if so, how many have convinced you to move on up to the full version?

[The Lightning Reviews are over, but from their ashes rise... the Forum Reviews! TiPb has assembled a crack team of App-aficionados, and every week we'll be bringing you a few of their very best reviews right here on the blog. And be sure to check out TiPb's iPhone App Store Forum for even more!]

Line Rider Forum Review by cjvitek

The Line Rider concept game is a simple one. You draw a line. A sled travel down the line as if it is a hill.

Read the rest of this entry »

It looks like Dexter will be hacking his way into the App Store and onto your iPhone!

If you have not watched Showtime’s Dexter on Sunday nights you have no idea of what you are missing. And what a time it is right now to be a fan, as Showtime has just extended Dexter for another 2 seasons. (I know forum member Reaktor5 will be pleased with this information.)

According to G4tv.com:

Developed by Icarus Studios, the video game debut of Dexter will stay true to the TV series, putting players into “investigative” style gameplay. In the show, the main man Dexter Morgan is a blood-splatter analyst for the police, although his fascination for blood isn’t professional at all times. In the game, players will analyze crime scenes, uncover evidence and ultimately decide whether to turn in a suspect to the cops or have Dexter do what he does best–yes, just like the TV show.

Keep your eyes open for Dexter coming to the iPhone sometime before the end of the year.

[Via G4tv.com]

If you happened to miss our first Apps for Less, be sure to check it out for some great App Store deals! We here at TiPb are all about saving you money, so without further ado…

Arguably the top racing game available on the App Store, Raging Thunder, is now on sale for $3.99. That’s 50% off folks… not a deal to pass up if you enjoy your racers!

Ok, next up we have some good news for those of you who still have not bought a great little game called Spore! Spore has just dropped a few bucks to $7.99. Two bucks off is better than nothing right? Definitely check this one out people. You won’t regret it, and if you still need some more information on it be sure to check out Dieter’s full Spore for the iPhone review.

I’m one of the biggest South Park fans you will find, so anything related to South Park I love. Well South Park’s ImaginationLand is now on sale for $2.99! For all you fans out there, do not let this one pass you by! Also be sure to check out what else is coming to the App Store soon from South Park.

Seems to have been a slow week for price drops but the ones that did drop are quality apps. Be sure to pick them up for those sale prices! If we missed anything worth mentioning, please let us know in the comments!

John Welch wrote in to let us know about Shards and Hedonism. Shards also has a free demo lite version, Shardsette available via the App Store.

Shards is a hybrid that combines inlay and breakout style games. Each level is composed of four types of triangles: floor, empty, wall, and void. You must first fill the empty triangles by tapping triangle based shapes in that appear in a bubble that the player controls with tilt movements. Hedronism is a permutation puzzle. You start on a faceted globe and can move to your immediately adjacent neighbors changing their color in a predictable sequence. The goal is to turn the globe into any single color in the shortest time possible. Advancing to the next level increases the number of colors. Best time is kept for individual levels and for the difficulties easy, medium and hard.

Thanks John!

Brian passed on this tip from Kevin Doel. Looks like Tetris is being ever-zealous in broadly defending their “look and feel” trademarks:

Phunkware’s Shaker game is being pulled from the market in about 5 hours. The Tetris Company contacted Apple claiming the game is too close to Tetris for comfort.

If this is legit, and you read this post in time, and the FREE game at all interests you, walk — don’t run — to the App Store and grab Shaker now!

There are now over 3000 apps in the App Store, many of them games, and many of the games are… racers? Yup, sure seems that way. A half dozen or so at least, and more on the way. How’s a gamer to decide? Simple, the TiPb GRAND PRIX!

Once a week for the last few weeks we reviewed 2 racing games head-to-head and app-vs-app. Based on our review scores, we picked the winner… and one of you, our readers, won the winning app! The winner of last week’s winning App, Moto Chaser, is:

SFGuy

And, after 6 reviews, 3 heats, and the month-long iPhone blog GRAND PRIX, our Grand Championship iPhone racing game is:

Asphalt 4: Elite Racing!

It was a close race, the comedic carnage of Crash with the motorcycle mayhem of Moto Crasher were neck in neck… but the full on fury of Asphalt just couldn’t be denied. With killer 3D graphics and super-tight gameplay, it burned up the back stretch and drifted clear across the finish line. Congrats to the developers!

Last and certainly most our Grand Prize winner of $10 iTunes gift certificate to buy the Grand Champ App, and a $50 TiPb Store gift certificate to stock up on their favorite iPhone accessories is:

Guille!

Congratulations, Guille!

And thanks to everyone who joined in our GRAND PRIX, and stay logged on to TiPb, because we’ll be back with our next contest very soon, with more chances to win more great prizes — starting in the forums!

I am a big music lover and I hold a special place in my heart for Trent Reznor’s music. Nine Inch Nails has been one of my favorite bands since freshman year in high school (when nobody really knew who Trent Reznor was, let alone Nine Inch Nails). This is an iPhone dedicated web site so why am I telling you this? Well you will soon be able to rock out to Nine Inch Nails right on your iPhone… Tap Tap Revenge Style!. (iTunes link)

Tapulous, the developers who brought you the highly addictive Tap Tap Revenge, are hard at work getting 12 NIN songs into their highly successful app. This will be the first developer to bring licensed content to iPhone Apps. No release date or price has been given but I’d pay a few bucks for this for sure.

I have a feeling it will do very well and we can all hope that it could bring us Closer to more musician/application deals. That would be a pretty sweet deal!

(Via Gizmodo)

It’s time for App Avalanche 11, and this week we’re shaking things up a bit over here at TiPb. Given the App Store is truly an avalanche of apps with more piling up each day, it’s just about impossible to keep up. Instead, we’ll present to you what’s Good, Better and Best in the App Store according to what reviewers have said — folks just like you and me who downloaded the app, tried it out, and gave it 1 to 5 stars. We’re also going to throw in a CrApp — an app that just seems to stink to high heaven. Let’s get started after the break! Read the rest of this entry »

With all the hubbub surrounding the App Store these days, the blogophiles among us may forget that, for casual users, everything is pretty sweet. Browse. Tap. Download. Launch. For mobile gaming fans this is especially true. Check out the Top Apps list, and you’ll routinely see games hogging most of the spots. Don’t think this has escaped attention either. Says Block Breaker Deluxe (available via the iTunes App Store) developer Gameloft:

With some competitors due out next year, Apple is looking to capitalize on their virtual monopoly of these types of games, and with the success of their iphone games so far, they look certain to sustain a strong share of the market for smartphone games for some time to come.

As if to prove their point, Block Breaker Deluxe looks to be a bright, innovative take on the classic genre, and will no doubt appeal to the casual gaming audience the iPhone (and Apple) is hitting so well with as of late.

Whether the push from Android Market eventually forces Apple to change their current developer relations process or not, in the gaming space at least, everything on the iPhone is apps!