If it passed you by, this past Saturday was Star Wars day -- May the 4th be with you. To celebrate, all Star Wars games published by Aspyr Media were slashed in price in the Mac App Store. This is a limited time offer, but those of you who didn't see this over the weekend still have a chance to grab them.
What you see above is the exclusive Star Trek Into Darkness teaser attached to Oz: The Great and Powerful, and posted online by avindustries13. It's the second Star Trek movie from director JJ Abrams, who has most recently been signed to direct the first of the Star Wars sequels. One look at this teaser, however, shows Abrams has already been doing just that. At the very least, he's bringing the grit dynamism of Star Wars to Star Trek. And hey, Spock does a pretty good job filling the Chewy seat.
After a few weeks of teasers, Rovio has finally released the next iteration in their Angry Birds franchise, this time with a focus on the classic Star Wars brand. Recognizable settings such as Tattoine, Degobah, and Hoth make an appearance, not to mention all of the birds are dressed up as characters from the movies, each with their own signature special abilities.
Earlier this week, Disney announced they were buying Lucasfilm, so we gathered Guy English, Matt Drance, Dave Wiskus, Dan Moren, and Rene Ritchie together for an emergency broadcast. Directors, cast, crew, stories, traps, heroes' journeys, timelines, themes, theatrics, dramatics, and dreams, no topic is safe when a bunch of tech nerds get their Force talk on.
A long time ago -- in mobile years -- in a country far, far away -- unless you live in Finland -- a small company called Rovio created a game called Angry Birds which went on to become a franchise, and is now trading slingshots for light-slings with the mother of all modern franchises -- Star Wars.
Okay, this one got me right in my geek heart. An iPhone case with Han Solo on the back. Frozen in carbonite. Just like in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. I can't really do a proper review of this iPhone case. At least the case part. Don't get me wrong, it's serviceable enough -- a slim, well fashioned black skin case. But it's nothing more than that. And why should it be? This case is all about Solo.
(If there's a wallpaper you want for iPhone -- or any phone or tablet -- and you can only find it for iPad, don't worry -- your iPhone can scale it down and crop it perfectly to fit any of your devices!)
We're going to be adding more and more every day, so bookmark the iMore Forums and check back often!
Star Wars fans are in for a treat this Wednesday with the release of Star Wars Blu-ray: Early Access to the App Store. The app will be a companion for the upcoming Blu-ray collection, The Complete Saga. The app is being released early to coincide with the start of Comic-Con in San Diego.
Star Wars Arcade: Falcon Gunner is now available in the app store for iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 and iPod touch 4. A first person action game, it puts players in the well known “Millennium Falcon” gun turret where you advance through 20 levels of action. Relive some of the most exciting missions like the Death Star escape, asteroid field pursuit over Hoth and infamous Kessel Run.
SPECIAL MODIFICATIONS: As you blast your way through waves of TIE fighters, Star Destroyers, and a few other special surprises, you'll earn credits that can be used to make special modifications to the Falcon’s offensive and defensive capabilities, including concussion missiles and a low-level tractor beam... perfect for grabbing TIE interceptors and launching them back at their black-helmeted buddies. For iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 and iPod Touch 4G users, an optional augmented reality mode lets players use a device’s camera to overlay enemy fighters on top of their natural surroundings and the device’s compass or gyroscope to enable 360-degree, full body motion control movement.
Star Wars Arcade: Falcon Runner is fully compatible with the Retina Display, Game Center and also includes Facebook integration too. The game is only recommended for use on iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS and iPod touch 4; THQ state that older devices will experience memory issues. It is not currently available for the iPad, but will be come December (we do not know if the app will be updated to a universal binary or if there will be a specific version for the iPad at an additional cost).
Star Wars fans, go and grab it now, let us know what you think of it in the comments!
Like Star Wars? Like tower defense games? Then you might want to take a look at THQs recent release Star Wars: Battle for Hoth for iPhone.
The game premise is that of all tower defense games; prevent your enemy (in this case the Imperial Empire) from reaching the other said of the map. As you play the game you get a fairly diverse set of units to deploy in defending Hoth. But, before I get into that, let's look at play mechanics first.
You start Battle for Hoth with some simple ground troop units and a shovel. The shovel allows you to alter the landscape of the level and force units to move a certain route. This is a great tool in later levels as you can really funnel the Empire to their doom. When you place your units and they destroy a wave of Imperials, you are rewarded with a green wrench icon you have to touch to collect. This gives you points to build or upgrade units. You have to be fast though if you wait too long the wrench will change color to orange then red, decreasing the point value. Wait too long, and your points are gone forever.
As you play through the 15 levels you unlock more types of units including; seated blaster units, radar lasers, turrets, snow speeders, x-wings, shield generators and ion cannons. Some of the more complex units like the ion cannon, shield generators and turrets require an energy generator placed next to them. The energy generator is required to power those units. If you upgrade a unit (say the shield generator) without upgrading the energy unit, you run the risk of losing power to that unit so you always have to keep it in check.
You can upgrade your existing units to make them more powerful and sell them as needed. I found the most fun in the game building up units under the safety of the shield generator and then taking out AT-ATs with relative ease once my units were upgraded to the maximum.
When writing this review, I have to admit I had some distaste for this game. Simple and not a lot of variety in what appeared to be a shameless use of an awesome gaming license. However, after I made my video review above, I am having a bit of a change of heart. I think I am trying to make Battle of Hoth more than it is; a simple Star Wars-themed tower defense game to kill a view minutes in your day while standing in line to get groceries. Should you get it? If you are a Star Wars fan I think you will enjoy. If not, I would pass.
