Flappy Bird creator teases his next iOS game

We haven’t heard much from Flappy Bird creator Dong Nguyen since he removed his smash-hit game Flappy Bird from the App Store just over three months ago. After tweeting that the popularity of the game was ruining his life, the Vietnamese developer went quiet for over a month. Since that time, the App Store has been bombarded with dozens of copycat games such as Flappy Bird: New Season.

Then, just yesterday, Nguyen confirmed that Flappy Bird will be returning to the App Store in August with less addictive gameplay and a new multiplayer mode. Building upon that news, the indie game maker has now announced that he is also working on a brand new game that will involve a character jumping from building to building. He gave a sneak peek of what the game looks like in a recent tweet… 

The name for this new game has yet to be announced, but it looks like it will be a similar side-scrolling platform game with graphics reminiscent of the original Flappy Bird. Nguyen hopes that the new game will take people’s minds off of Flappy Bird, which accumulated over 50 million downloads before it was pulled from the App Store in early February.

Flappy Bird was seemingly an overnight success on the App Store earlier this year, leading many to question if Nguyen manipulated the rankings with fake downloads and reviews. At one point, Nguyen was making upwards of $50,000 per day off the game in mobile ad revenues. iPhone users that downloaded the game before it was removed can still play the game.

It will be interesting to see if Nguyen’s new game can replicate the success that Flappy Bird enjoyed, or if it was simply a one-hit wonder that has already gone by the wayside. But, no matter what, Nguyen and Flappy Bird have influenced the way App Store developers approach games. Over the last few months, we’ve even seen Angry Birds creator Rovio jump on the bandwagon with its new Retry game.

Are you excited for this new game?

Foursquare updated ahead of Swarm app launch

Foursquare, the popular location-based social platform, is set to release a brand new Swarm app today which will “help people keep up and meet up with their friends”.

As a result, the existing free iOS client has just been updated with some changes you should know about. Announced two weeks ago, Swarm combines new mayorships, introduces stickers, offers detailed insights about your life and much more.

If you have Swarm installed, the new Foursquare 7.0.8 update includes a peek at some of the upcoming changes to Foursquare ahead of a major search-focused revamp due this summer…

iTunes release notes for Foursquare 7.0.8 mention no other changes aside from the aforementioned “upcoming changes to Foursquare” ahead of Swarm launch. If you haven’t installed Swarm yet, this Foursquare update will not detail the changes.

Specifically, there are no more ousting of mayors in the Foursquare app although it will continue to show the mayor as of today, frozen in place. Your profile will still display the list of proud mayorships you hold but, again, ousting of mayors will no longer be possible.

Swarm introduces a Mayors 2.0 feature based on the same 60-day historical window like the Foursquare app. If you’re mayor of a place where you and your friends go now, you’ll also be mayor amongst your friends in the Swarm app. As for your earned badges, they’re still available in your Foursquare trophy case.

The Swarm app is depicted on the screenshots throughout this article.

In a nutshell, Foursquare wants its main mobile app to focus on check-ins minus the gamification that has often been associated with the software. “We never set out to make a ‘game’,” a blog post says. “We wanted to make people’s experiences more fun and playful.”

Now that Foursquare is 50 million users strong, the team is moving these gamified features such us points (a measure of how exciting your outings were), badges (a sense of accomplishment) and mayorships (competing with your friends) to a dedicated Swarm app.

The app focuses on your nearby friends so there’s no invite list and you can “leave it as open-ended as you want.” The app centers around your activities, visible to all your friends in your city.

Speaking of which, your friends in Swarm can see if you’re in their neighborhood and how close you are. To enable or disable this neighborhood sharing feature, simply swipe right at the top of any screen, like this.

Another powerful Swarm feature: location history search.

When you tap over to your profile, the search field pops up allowing you to search for just about anything, be it a city, a person or a type of place – Swarm will analyze your old check-ins to find exactly what you’re looking for.

Swarm highlights:

Insights about your life
You guys have told us you love the little nuggets of insight we serve up after each check-in, like “Your 4th week in a row at your gym,” or “Your first time hanging out with Jason in 3 months.” These will continue to be an important part of Swarm.

Stickers
In the new Swarm, we built a bunch of stickers you can attach to your check-ins to quickly express how you feel or what you’re doing. (Don’t worry, they’re all free!) We’ll give you a few to start off with and, as you go out and explore the world, you’ll unlock more based on the places you visit. (Hint: try checking in at lots of different types of places to unlock new ones!)

Mayors 2.0
We wanted to get back to a fun way to compete with your friends instead of all 50,000,000 people who are on Foursquare. With these new mayorships, if you and a couple friends have been checking in to a place, the person who has been there the most lately gets a crown sticker.

So you and your friends can compete for the mayorship of your favorite bar, without having to worry about the guy who is there every. single. day. Mayors 2.0 means that places can have many different mayors, one for each circle of friends, instead of just a single mayor at each place.

New kinds of badges
In the new Foursquare (coming this summer), we’ve also built the spiritual successor to badges. Badges were always meant to recognize and reward people who would seek out and find awesome things in the real world, and we found a great new way to do that.

More about the Swarm app can be found at the official website.

The decision to create Swarm while rethinking the main Foursquare app may have had something to do with heightened competition in this space.

Although Microsoft recently bought a stake in Foursquare worth fifteen million dollars, the startup is about to lose an important client as Facebook-owned Instagram has been testing location integration with Facebook Places.

Therefore, Foursquare will lose (or already has lost) a significant revenue stream as Instagram stops using its location services. Curiously enough, Microsoft is also a minority investor in Facebook and is its search provider.

Foursquare’s bet here is that the new Swarm app will boost engagement by focusing on gamification because people love to brag about their achievements. The good news is that Foursquare’s main database of check-ins remains unmatched by rivals (Facebook Places is a joke).

At any rate, it’ll be fun seeing how things unfold for Foursquare.

Download Foursquare for free from the App Store.

The app is universal and iOS 7.0 or later is required.

Joe Dever’s Lone Wolf is Apple’s new Free App of the Week

Today’s obviously the day a new Apple-curated app goes temporarily free for a week. Released by publisher Bulkypix, Joe Dever’s Lone Wolf is a half gamebook and half action role-playing game based on the works of Joe Dever.

The author himself was involved in this game from the get-go, working with the studio to adapt the storyline so it fits with the original continuity. In addition to a brand-new story, Lone Wolf features great graphics, a new combat system, non-linear gameplay, lock-picking mini games, the dynamic turn-based combat system and lots more.

Lone Wolf is available free until next Thursday so best thing you grab it now before it goes back up again to its normal asking price of five bucks a pop…

Lone Wolf is laden with beautifully hand-drawn illustrations, 3D locations and the powerful enemies and characters that’ll be instantly familiar to the fans of the series.

You can “write your own story” by making different choices and exploring new paths and fighting styles, which adds up to the game’s replay value. The combat system is real-time. Lock-picking mini games and puzzle mechanics add an extra layer of skill and strategy.

Check out the screenshots below.

How about that awesome graphics?

The game is comprised of four acts in total.

Act 2 called Forrest Hunt became available in yesterday’s update.

The story continues in the Sunken Forest, with meaningful choices, alternative paths, brand-new 3D locations and a magical minigame that will put your wits to the test!

Last but not least, “Forest Hunt” features one of the most iconic and fearsome enemies you could face in Lone Wolf’s world: are you ready to face the fearsome Gourgaz?

Here’s the official trailer.

And this is your short and sweet Act 2 teaser.

You can unlock Act 2 in the in-game shop or pre-purchase all episodes with the Season Pass, available as a one-time $12.99 in-app purchase.

“If you have already purchased the Season Pass, Act 2 will be launched automatically when you finish Act 1 or when you load a proper game save,” noted Bulkypix.

Download Joe Dever’s Lone Wolf free in the App Store.

The universal download comes in at 799MB and requires iOS 5.1 or later.

Facebook Pages Manager 3.0 is out with new pinning and editing features

Facebook has posted an update for its Pages Manager this afternoon, bringing the app to version 3.0. The update includes the usual bug fixes and performance improvements, as well as a handful of new pinning and editing features.

Pages users can now pin and unpin posts to the top of their Page timelines from within the app, allowing them to highlight important events and other announcements. You can also now create and edit events on the iPad, and more…

Here are your 3.0 release notes:

Features:
• Post updates and photos and respond to comments as your Pages
• View and reply to private messages sent to your Pages
• Option to get push notifications for new activity, tips and reminders
• View your latest Page Insights

What’s New In This Version:
Send feedback and report problems by shaking your device
• Pin and unpin posts to the top of the Page Timeline
• Create and edit events on iPad
• Import phone contacts and invite them to like your Page (US only)
• Turn photos on Page Timeline and photo albums into profile pictures

For those unfamiliar with Facebook’s Pages Manager app, it allows administrators to manage their Pages and interact with their audiences. Users can monitor Page activity using Insights, reply to private messages, and post media.

If you’re interested, you can find Facebook Pages Manager in the App Store for free.

Expedia now giving away free travel-related iOS apps, starting with Over

If you’re the type who enjoys seeing new places and meeting new and interesting people, chances are you’re using Expedia to plan your trips.

Originally started by the Windows giant Microsoft, the online travel service was later spun off as a separate entity because it was “no longer about software intensive technology” and they were “concerned that they would not do their best at this.”

Since then, Expedia’s been doing great: it’s grown into a multi-billion dollar business and is now the world’s largest full-service online travel company. Expedia.com is ranked the 138th website in the United States by the web traffic reporting service Alexa.

They have a decent iOS application and now Expedia is offering free iPhone and iPad apps related to traveling as part of its new ‘Media Lounge’ service.

Expedia Hotels & Flights for iOS has been bumped to version 3.6 and can now be downloaded free from the App Store. Hit the break for more info…

Media Lounge, now part of the freshly updated Expedia iOS app, permits you to download premium travel-related iPhone and iPad software from within the app.

To get started, fire up the app and tap on Trips to enter your personal travel profile. Next, tap on Extras and then check out what’s new in the Media Lounge and find the right app for your trip-planning needs, including free ones. The app also sports a new selection of both free and paid travel apps, curated by Expedia’s editors.

John Kim, Expedia’s Senior Vice President, remarked:

Here at Expedia, we believe that technology should deliver a delightfully relevant experience at every stage: from booking to check-in, and beyond.

With the introduction of Media Lounge, we’re taking the next step in providing a more complete experience for our users that are traveling with their iPhone or iPod touch.

The first app they’re giving away: Over, a photo-editing software that lets travelers personalize photos by adding text and artwork. Normally priced at $1.99 in the App Store, Over is now available for free through Expedia’s Media Lounge for a limited time.

Other key features of the Expedia app:

• Save big on hotel rooms
  • Save up to 40 percent with Expedia Mobile Exclusive hotel deals
  • Default to your current location for fast, on-the-go booking
  • See reviews from actual hotel customers
  • Sort by price, deals, or reviews — instantly
  • Get cheap hotel rooms or 5-star luxury suites
• Find the perfect flight
  • Book a flight to anywhere in the world
  • Sort by price, duration, or time instantly
  • Search by airport name, city, or code
• Book in a flash
  • Already signed in? Book in under 30 seconds
  • Earn Expedia Rewards points for mobile bookings 
  • Slide to purchase and away you go
• View your itinerary
  • View upcoming trips that you book in the app and on the web
  • Open the app when you’re about to travel and immediately see your trip
  • Get notifications for flight delays, gate changes and much more
  • It looks awesome, too!

Expedia was recently revamped with iOS 7 styling.

Planning trips to far-flung places is fun with Expedia so here’s a behind the scenes look at how the service performs millions of calculations and computations every millisecond to provide world travelers with a way to easily book their trips.

Download Expedia for iOS free in the App Store.

The app is universal and iOS 7.0 or later is required.

It’s available in 25 countries and customized to each of their primary languages.