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Ascension: Storm of Souls Released for iOS

For fans of Ascension, this needs no explanation. But for the uninitiated, Ascension is one of the world’s most popular deck building games created by by Justin Gary and the third expansion second expansion is due out as an in-app purchase, estimated to launch next week.

If you’re looking for a new game for your iPad or iPhone that can be enjoyed competitively or casually, Ascension would be one of my top recommendations for a number of reasons: if you were a fan of Magic the Gathering, do know that pro-tour players led by Justin Gary developed Ascension as a more cost-effective alternative because you don’t shell out money for individual cards. Everything is bought in a sealed deck and you know exactly what cards you’re getting.

Casually, Ascension on the iOS platform is well-made and intuitive. If you’re coming from the left into this genre, the tutorial can get you learned and competitive in minutes. The app has dropped price from USD $4.99 to USD $0.99 so that’s more than enough reason to grab a copy. The first expansion, Ascension: Return of the Fallen can be bought via an in-app purchase as well. Storm of Souls will follow the same in-app format.

Download Links:

Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer USD $0.99

Both Ascension: Return of the Fallen and Storm of Souls are available as in-app purchases. For current Ascension owners, there is an update available on the App Store that allows you to purchase the expansion and adds a number of little features to the core game.

Categories
Mostly Everything

SMART Communications has the Samsung Galaxy S3

Confirmed: Tweets were going around the circles of SMART employees. #SMARTGalaxyS3 is in fact real. But it’s different when you see it on SMART’s official Twitter account.

Lots of clues leading up to the announcement. Jean Ong (@jeanong75) of SMART posted this little beauty 2 days ago on Instagram:

… which was then RT’d by the rest of the team.

Then of course @louieang8 had to post more photos.

Exclusive to SMART? Crazy. Apparently the other “telco” has it too. But based on track record, they’re more of a marketing company these days than a telco. Telcos are supposed to have signal. You know where to go.

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Mostly Everything

Confirmed: Nokia launches Lumia 610 and 900 on 5.18.12

Confirmed! Microsoft and Nokia will be launching the Lumia 610 and 900 in Philippine shores this coming May 18th. Though the teaser poster doesn’t say it, we’ve uncovered the smoke and mirrors with a quick message to Nokia’s Nikka Abes and she did confirm that both the 610 and 900 will be officially launched here, although the former 610 is already out in stores.

Nokia Lumia 900

I featured the Lumia 900 a few days ago with a one-on-one with Nikka at the Nokia office.

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Mostly Everything

Coming Soon: More. Regular. Giveaways. Yay.

Hey geeks! If it’s one thing I’m pleased to announce for 2012, I’ve partnered with distributors to to give away more gadgets to locals who follow this blog. Thanks to you, more than 6 years of writing thousands of posts (thankfully not a lot of them were ramblings!) have given me that oomph to get out there and ask for more things to raffle off. A key learning was that although contests were great for everyone, they were sporadic and unscheduled. A partnership with key distributors would make these contests come more often PLUS they will be first to market c/o A BUGGED LIFE (YAY!!). A lot of the stuff I’ll be giving away will be available first here.

So right now, all i have to say is .. stay tuned! Add me up on Twitter (@jayvee) and Instagram (@jayveef) and yeah on Facebook too… I still don’t have a fan page, I feel weird about creating one to be honest so everything goes through my personal account. ANYWAY, the first wave of giveaways will be announced soon.

Oh look at that PowerMat.. it charges your gadgets without wires through magnetic induction! So geeky.

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Mostly Everything

An Interview with Erick Garayblas, Creator of Streetfood Tycoon

It was really great catching up with Erick Garayblas (@egarayblas) last week over coffee. We talked about the success of Streetfood Tycoon and how his life as a mobile game developer has evolved with the rise of the Apple App Store. We talked about a ton of things so here’s a more organized version of the interview.

** Ed’s note: Not mentioned in the written interview is how Erick was able to have his ‘kwek-kweks’ in many baskets. He noted how he’s shifted from an ad-driven business model (free to play but ad supported) which earned him a ton of money a month into in-app purchases which, although earns less, is more stable as the latter relies on Google’s Adsense platform which can be subject to a lot of technicalities.

1. How did Streetfood Tycoon come to be? What’s your thought process in designing a game?

Streetfood Tycoon came from my penchant for playing simulation and business-related games. I’m a huge fan of Lemonade Tycoon and Sim Tower. I “borrowed” a few mechanics from these two games and presented them in my own unique way w/in the game. I normally don’t follow a “thought process”, I just browse through my list of ideas (which come from dreams, reading books/comics, playing “other” games and talking to friends), try to mix them up, create a prototype and see how it goes from there. A lot of prototypes get shelved while the good ones become full blown games.

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