Digital versions of Imagine Publishing’s magazines are among the most popular paid for books on the Apple App store less than three weeks after launch.

Powered by PixelMags, the games™ and Retro Gamer apps enable iPhone and iPad users to read the latest issue of each magazine free in its entirety, as well as purchase back issues or subscribe within the App using their iTunes accounts.

The digital editions are stored on the device, enabling users to read, zoom, scan, bookmark and browse through each issue. The digital version of the prestigious UK gaming magazine games™ ranked 7th in the App store’s Book section making it the most popular videogame publication on iTunes, while Retro Gamer, which focuses on classic games ranked 22.
 
games™ Editor in chief Rick Porter commented: “The popularity of the App is excellent news. It offers a great opportunity for those outside the UK to sample a magazine that we are very proud of and put a lot of hard work into – and the upcoming iPad will make the Apps even more relevant.”
 
Follow the links to check out the games™ app and Retro Gamer app right now.

Story via Nowgamer.com

Donkey Kong maestro Steve Wiebe has reclaimed the title of Donkey Kong Junior World Champ by beating the previous high-score record set by Mark Kiel of Enid, Oklahoma.

This is the official word from Twin Galaxies, the organisation which records and verifies videogame high-scores, who congratulate Steve on his impressive achievement.

“On behalf of Twin Galaxies, I’d like to congratulate Steve Wiebe of Redmond, WA for re-claiming the WR on Donkey Kong Junior! Steve reached the kill screen and scored 1,190,400 points on his home machine on 2/12/2010 to take back the crown.”

Great work Steve, does this mean another world record attempt at Donkey Kong is on the cards? Here’s hoping

Download the App and get your first issue free

As of this week, you’ll be able to buy every issue of you favourite Imagine magazines via the Apple iTunes Store and read it on your iPhone or iPod Touch and, for those lucky enough to get one, the apps will also be compatible with Apple’s iPad.

The app costs £1.19 and comes free with one issue of the magazine; subsequent issues will cost £2.99. You can also buy back issues or subscribe to the digital edition for 6 or 12 issues – all from within the App using an iTunes account.

You can flick and zoom through the pages of the magazine, share issues and bookmark favourite pages. The magazine can be read in either landscape or portrait format.

To download the Retro Gamer app, simply search iTunes Store for Retro Gamer Magazine or hit this link.

26 years and almost as many console generations separate these two characters, but there’s no denying their similarities - It’s the deep sea diver helmet that does it. Had Nintendo fitted its G&W diver sprite with a nice drill piece, like the one Big Daddy is showcasing here, he would’ve made easy work of that giant cephalopod blocking him from his fortune.

As far as weird box arts go, a picture of wrestler who is either a) headless and has his bodiless opponent in a headlock, b) is headless but has his own head in a headlock, or c) simply has a very long neck and can bend it backwards in a way that makes it seem as though he’s headless and has his own head in a headlock, has to rank pretty high in the ridiculous stakes. 

The game surely can’t be as bad as the box art though, can it? The game’s called ‘Pro’ Wrestling, and that ‘pro’ bit probably stands for professional wrestling…or maybe it’s Probably Wrestling??

So here’s the game’s title screen. Everything looks in order. Though the fact it nicks the fist punching through the logo idea from Nintendo’s Punch-Out!! is a bit lame - especially as the game isn’t about punching, but more about grabbing men called Fireball.

We opted to play as Orient Express, but only because they had the best name, and one of the wrestlers sports the most diminutive and tightly packed facial features ever seen on a character sprite. The other, similarly, sports the most impressive mouth hair.

To be fair, the presentation is pretty good. Here you can see my wrestlers enter the ring. Either they’re wrestling at a school, or judging by the size of their heads in comparison to those of the spectators, they are 30 feet tall and man beasts.

One of the weirdest features about Pro Wrestling is the fact that whenever you attack, and it connects, the game tells you the name of the move you’ve just performed. Here, I’ve just been punched, and the game’s told me as such. Cheers game. Shame that I keep looking at the hot wrestling action and missing your helpful annotations.

[The Verdict]

This one is a clear case of pretty bad box art for an equally naff wrestling game. Nice colourful visuals, but sticky controls and god-awful collision detection.

There’s nothing we like more than a quirky retro gaming story, and this one certainly tickled us. If you’re an avid movie and retro gaming buff then you’ll likely appreciate the fine level of lampoonmanship on display here. Talented Aussie artist, Robert Penney, has taken a selection of recent movies (and Prison Break) and reimagined them as ancient CVS games.

On the list is Battlefield Smurph (aka James Cameron’s Avatar), the budget as it sounded Snakes On A Plane, the gonzo monster movie Cloverfield, the The Fast And The Furious movie that starred Sonny Chiba, and Prison Break. We’ve added a scan of the Avatar box below. If you’d like to see the rest they can be found on Kotaku. Simply follow this handy link here: handy link 

If you’re reading this Robert and are open for requests we’d love to see you have a stab at District 9, The King Of Kong and The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button.

Story and image from Kotaku  

How It Works moves from strength to strength as first issues have sold fantastically across the board. With a record uptake for subscriptions after just two issues, as well as a growing staff of editorial experts, How It Works magazine looks set for a bright future.

With issue three of the magazine on sale from 31 December, this amazing new title from Imagine Publishing dedicated to explaining all things science and technology, is continuing with its penchant for accessible, entertaining articles packed with fact and opinion. So, if you ever wondered how holograms are produced, or how a nuclear reactor works, or even how astronauts are trained, then look no further than How It Works.

Here are a few sample highlights from issue three:

Electric supercars – Thought that electric cars were slow, un-sexy beige boxes on wheels? Think again! How It Works blows open the world of high-performance electric cars with an in-depth look at the Tesla Roadster, Shelby Aero EV and eWolf e2 among others.

The International Space Station – Ever wondered what it would be like to live in space? Well think no more, as How It Works explores all parts of life on board the ISS. From how the ISS was built to how astronauts create water on board, this feature has it all.

The Great Wall of China – No, it can’t be seen from space, but it can be seen in How It Works. We explore how, when and where this great wonder of the world was built, bringing you the amazing facts.

How sharks survive – Made famous in the movie Jaws, many portray sharks as mindless killers. However, there is a lot more to these three-dimensional beasts than first meets the eye and How It Works brings you the scoop.

eBooks – A new fad which will pass in time, or the next stage in the evolution of reading? Whatever your opinion, How It Works explodes open the technology which makes eBooks work. From where to buy, to component lists, to a head-to-head face-off between brands, this feature contains everything you need to know.

Issue three of How It Works is on sale 31 December and can be picked up at all major supermarkets, WHSmiths, newsagents and Barnes & Noble.

www.howitworksdaily.com

Inside the issue before the current one, I had the pleasure of speaking to Simon Phipps, creator of one of my all time favourite 8-bit action titles; Switchblade.

Just before the issue went on sale though, Simon mailed me to say that chatting about the game had inspired him to work on an idea that had been swilling around in his head for some time. Well obv I jumped to thinking that he was about to start work on a Switchblade sequel for iPhone, and got very excited.

Sadly, though, that wasn’t his news. However, my disappointment softened when I opened up his attachment and saw this awesome papercraft model of Hiro looking back at me.

We think they make excellent Christmas decorations, and as it’s very nearly Christmas we thought a well-timed blog post was in order. 

Simon has made more models - including Rick Dangerous - and all are all available to download from his website. 

In a slight change to our usual transmission, we’ve decided to actually play and rush-review the games behind some of videogames most rubbish box arts to see if they are actually jerky or whether their covers hide some real gems. First up, Vice: Project Doom.

There were two things about this game that made me want to immediately play it. The first was the title, the second thing was also the title. The box art for this brilliantly titled NES game is truly dreadful, you’ll get no arguments from us - it kinda looks a little like a knock-off copy of Die Hard but starring Simon Cowell and Danni Minogue, and with a marketing budget so tiny that its artists were forced to create the cover using coloured pencils. It did allow curiosity to take over our better judgement though. And if you see this box art and are currently getting a similar worrying pang, fret not. We’ve played the game, and have even gone to the trouble of including a few screenshots to document our experience. And would you believe it, despite looking like an utter turd of the highest turdiest order, Vice: Project Doom is actually a pretty decent and well-presented NES game. And here’s why;

Here’s the opening intro, where some mysterious anime guys talk about some important guy they don’t want to see go missing actually doing just that. We found this bit to be a little confusing if we’re honest, especially as one of the guys thinks ‘it’s raining’ is a great way to end a conversation. The graphics look good though, don’t you think?

Then we were introduced to our character - a cop - and jumped straight into this quirky top-down racing/shmup bit where we had to apprehend an absconding perp (presumably the guy that’s gone missing). This section seemed to knick gameplay and sprites from Super Spy Hunter, but we forgave it because we liked the way that when we drove into boxes and traffic cones they would fly into the air and get bigger. Damn this game is so awesome.

After our hero apprehended his target, he discovers the driver has a claw for a hand, and immediately decides he wants to get to the bottom of why - bad news for those anime guys we suspect. We’re then greeted to the game’s title screen. OMG, we’ve just realised that we have just played this game’s intro. OMG x 100,000,760!  

As if that’s wasn’t cool enough we get to the real meat of the game: this enjoyable side-scrolling platform action game that boasts slick graphics, varied - if a little random (pumpkin-headed spectres and hopping monks…Mmm) - enemies, three choices of weapons (sword, handgun and grenades), quirky boss fights, plus the ability to actually deflect enemy projectiles.

[Conclusion]

This is clearly a win for the game, and a monumental loss for its box art. The artist people responsible should be ashamed of themselves.

Lego Mario can also double up as a giant egg cup

No Travellers Tales aren’t in talks with Nintendo to bring us a Lego take on the seminal platform game series (well they could be, but we’re not privy to the news), but rather some talented Lego fan has painstakingly constructed a 6 ft Mario out of the Danish building blocks.

The sculpture was unveiled to attendees at Lego World Fair this October and is said to be made up of over 40,000 Lego bricks (and we can believe it too). It was recently bought on eBay for over $5000, with the money raised going to the Ronald McDonald House Charity in the Netherlands.

Story and image via Kotaku