Here's a cutie.
Skullpogo is a perfect example of how to make a good iPod game. It's short, shallow(ish) and sweet, it's designed for the characteristics of the format, and it's endlessly replayable. And today, it's free.
Anyone who's been reading WoS or WoSblog for any amount of time will probably already have noticed that I have very little time for videogames that want to tell stories.
There are plenty of fields of culture available already for people who want to be told stories. Books, films, comics, TV, theatre and even music are all ideally suited to story-telling, and frequently do a brilliant job of it. You wouldn't hire a footballer to come round and do your plumbing, so why would you look to videogames for storytelling?
This one guzzled an entire battery charge this morning.
Basically Canabalt meets Hook Champ, Hellkid: Hook & Jump is a really nicely put-together stab at the "running man" genre.
Shrewd viewers will already be sitting on a big pile of cash from taking WoSblog's last betting advice. Now there's a golden opportunity to turn it into a pile of cash almost twice as big.
Frankly I'm astonished this bet is still available, so get in quick.
Chatting to a chum yesterday, something they said gave me cause to recall a feature from Amiga Power in which former full-time members of the AP team recounted their experiences on leaving the mag for the "real" world.
Sadly the issue in question (AP54, October 1995) is one of those that still hasn't been scanned for the Amiga Magazine Rack, and only a fragment of it is available in the WoS Archive, so I had to go and get the actual magazine off my shelves, like some sort of caveman.
Even less-alert viewers should recall the recent appearance of Google Pac-Man in celebration of the pizza-prompted pill-popper's 30th birthday, when for a couple of days the search engine's title banner was replaced by a fully-playable version of the game.
The page is now "permanently" online here, but those of us with no faith in corporations to preserve gaming history have been looking for a working offline version (simply saving the web page doesn't work).
(Warning: contains Spotify. But if you don't have it, read on.)
Users of the controversial legal music-streaming service have become accustomed of late to more songs disappearing off their playlists than being added to them, so the sudden addition of Tranmere troubadours Half Man Half Biscuit to the archives was a pleasant surprise indeed.
As WoSblog iPod Week and Amiga Nostalgia Weekend draw to a simultaneous close, we've got a little treat to finish on.
Alert viewers will know that one of my favourite games from the Amiga era, and perhaps Team 17's one genuine original classic, was Jamie Woodhouse's lovely little Bubble Bobble-inspired platformer Qwak. Actually born on the BBC Micro, Qwak has gone through several very different forms in its life, and last week its latest incarnation appeared in the App Store.
It might be trying to look like Grand Theft Auto or Car Jack Streets, but Crime Spree (currently on limited-time free promo) is actually Rally-X.
In keeping with its theme, this is a straight respray of Namco's classic maze-chaser, fast-paced and tricky with responsive swipe controls, and it'll cost you less money than the smallest measurable unit of money in existence. Speaking as a neutral observer who'd never tell you what to do, you should get it right now.
WoSland – now at wosland.podgamer.com
