Sega adds a little more shine to their Monkey Balls, on the iPhone
Posted by Graham. Filed under G, News, iPhone/iPod. Tagged with Super Monkey Ball.
Even though Sega has seen huge success from Super Monkey Ball on the iPhone, there have been some (pretty serious) complaints regarding the game’s playability.
Apparently the iPhones tilting function was not quite ‘right’ for the game, and players would complain that finding the dead zone in the game was too difficult. The dead zone (in case you don’t know) is the position that players would need to hold the iPhone which would stop their Monkey’s moving on screen - which is an essential thing for Monkey Ball games.
Well it seems that Sega has listened to the complaints, and released a new patch for the game. The dead zone is now found at a 45 degree angle - which should be suitable for most gamers.
But, not all is good news. Apparently there have been reports that the new patch can delete save files. So if you are already near the end of the game (without the patch), then you might want to try and complete it first.
However, as none of the staff here at Sega Nerds is rich enough to own an iPhone, we cannot confirm of deny these reports. Sorry.
[Source: MTV]
[Image from IntoMobile]
Super Monkey Ball a Super Hit on iPhone
Posted by Nathan. Filed under Nathan, News, iPhone/iPod. Tagged with Super Monkey Ball.
It’s been just over a month since the release of the iPhone 3G and the launch of Apple’s Applications store. As you may recall, Sega released a portable version of the popular Super Monkey Ball franchise on the new service, capitalizing on the iPhone’s “Dreamcast quality” capabilities and tilt-sensitive accelerometer. The game quickly became one of the top sellers in the iTunes App store, and now we have some harder stats to see just how well it’s been selling.
iPhone App Stats, first 30 days
Total Downloads: 60 million
Total Revenues: $30 million
Sales Going To Top Ten Apps: $9 million
Sales of Super Monkey Ball: $3 million
As you can see, at $9.99 per download, Super Monkey Ball sold approximately 300,000 copies in 30 days, which comes to an average of 10,000 purchases per day. Not bad at all! And since developers get to take 70% of the revenue generated from their app’s sales, that’s over $2.1 million in Sega’s pocket. With that kind of success, you can expect either a sequel or perhaps some newly ported franchises to make their way onto the iPhone soon.
[via The Wall Street Journal]
Hackers could have Sega’s Monkeys by their balls
Posted by Graham. Filed under G, News, iPhone/iPod. Tagged with Super Monkey Ball.
Well it was inevitable, it seems that some hackers have cracked the iPhone’s “Fairplay DRM,” and it a certain top-selling iTunes App by Sega is the main dish on the menu.
Super Monkey Ball is now being offered as a free, pirated download by HackLabs.
Sega shows off Monkey Ball for the iPhone
Posted by Graham. Filed under G, News, Video, iPhone/iPod. Tagged with Super Monkey Ball.
Sega took to the stage earlier today, at the WWDC (WorldWide Developers Conference) in San Francisco, to show off the new version of Super Monkey Ball on the iPhone.
By all accounts, (well from the 8 or 9 reports I have read so far), the presentation was impressive to see live. Sega’s Associate Producer, Ethan Einhorn, gave a live presentation of the game, with an associate playing on the final level and showing off how easy the game is to play using the iPhone’s tilt functions.
Reports indicate that he was given a round of applause afterwards - possibly for his “mad skillz” at the game, or it could be a good indication that the game is looking very impressive.
One of the most amazing things is that it took the team just 8 weeks to complete the full game, giving you all four Monkeys (plus balls), 5 different worlds and some 110 Stages to play on!
The game is due for release on July 11th, the same time as the new iPhone 3G, and is priced at just $9.99! It’s a pity I’m not cool/rich enough to afford an iPhone just yet, because this game looks great!
See Super Monkey Ball iPhone in action
Posted by Chris. Filed under Chris. Tagged with Mobile, Super Monkey Ball.
Sega just unveiled Super Monkey Ball for the iPhone yesterday, and up to that point, all we had to go on was a couple of photos from Gizmodo. However, now there’s a video of the full demonstration, and it’s hard not to be blown away by such a perfect port of the game.
Using the iPhone’s built-in accelerometers, all you need to do to control AiAi is to tilt the phone where you want to go, explains Sega’s Ethan Einhorn.
Sega reveals Super Monkey Ball for iPhone
Posted by Chris. Filed under Chris. Tagged with Mobile, Super Monkey Ball.
So Sega’s developing software for the iPhone using Apple’s new software development kit, and it just revealed its first title on the platform during a town-hall meeting – Super Monkey Ball. Gizmodo was there and apparently the game runs really smooth.
“The iPhone OS is a robust development platform that will allow Sega to deliver mobile gaming experiences that are truly compelling,” said Simon Jeffrey, Sega of America president. “Using the iPhone’s accelerometer to power a tilt control feature adds a whole new dimension to Super Monkey Ball, and we can’t wait for gamers to try it.”
We’re sure there’s someone out there really excited about this news. Someone … somewhere. Just not here.
New Years Nerdaway - Winners!
Posted by Graham. Filed under G, Japan, Microsoft Xbox 360, News, Nintendo DS, PC, Retro, Sonic, Sony PSP. Tagged with Condemned, Crazy Taxi, Crush, Exclusive, Fan Stuff, Giveaways, Handheld, House of the Dead, Medieval Total War, Nerdaway, NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams, Saturn, Sonic Rush, Super Monkey Ball, Total War, Virtua Fighter 5, Virtua Tennis.
Its been like 2 weeks since the contest finished - and I’m the douche who forgot to post up the results sooner. I hold my hands up - Im sorry.
But fret no more, here are the winners of the great prizes!
Sega Superstars Tennis mini game screenshots unleashed
Posted by George. Filed under Microsoft Xbox 360, Nintendo DS, Nintendo Wii, Sonic, Sony PlayStation 2, Sony PlayStation 3. Tagged with Super Monkey Ball, Unreleased.
This game is looking great. Every time theres a update, it makes me want it more. This time they decided to show off the mini games that will be featured. I don’t know about you, but mini games where my favorite part of Virtua Tennis, so I’m excited about the ones in Sega Superstars Tennis. The ones in these batch of screenshots are:
New Years Nerdaway - 1 week remaining!
Posted by Graham. Filed under G, Japan, Microsoft Xbox 360, News, Nintendo DS, PC, Retro, Sonic, Sony PSP. Tagged with Condemned, Crazy Taxi, Downloads, Emulation, Exclusive, Fan Stuff, Giveaways, Handheld, House of the Dead, Imports, Nerdaway, NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams, Saturn, Sonic Rush, Super Monkey Ball, Total War, Virtua Fighter 5, Virtua Tennis.
Just over a week ago, we announced the New Years Nerdaway, our special giveaway for the start of 2008. Featuring 4 great bundles of gaming goodness.
So far we have been inundated with scores of entries, but the contest is not yet over. No sir!
The closing date for the contest is on January 31st 2008. Which, at the time of posting this article, leaves anyone who has not yet entered, with exactly 1 week (7 days) left, to try and win these fantastic prizes.
For full details, follow this link.
Finally! The New Years Nerdaway!
Posted by Graham. Filed under G, Japan, Microsoft Xbox 360, News, Nintendo DS, PC, Retro, Sonic, Sony PSP. Tagged with Condemned, Crazy Taxi, Crush, Giveaways, Handheld, House of the Dead, Imports, Medieval Total War, Nerdaway, NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams, Peripheral, Saturn, Sega Genesis Collection, Sonic Rush, Super Monkey Ball, Total War, Virtua Fighter 5, Virtua Tennis.
Finally it is here! Apologies we had planned to hold it sooner, but… well I won’t fob you off with any excuses, it was held off, it’s here now. That is what matters!
Previously we had teased you with the outline of prizes we had on offer, and now I give you the rules, regulations and (most importantly) the questions, with which you will need to win.
Rules: We have 4 seperate bundles of prizes to give away. Each bundle has a question to go with it. All you need do is choose which of the prizes bundles you would like to try and win, and answer the corresponding question, and then send your answer(s) to us (contact info coming up).
You can enter to win as many of the bundles you want to, however, we will pick the winners for each bundle in order (starting with 4, ending with 1), and should your name be chosen for Bundle 4, you will not be eligeble for any of the other bundles.
So if you really want to win Bundle 1, it could be wise not to enter for all 4 bundles, in case you ‘accidentally’ win a different bundle. But, then again, if you just want to win some Sega gaming goodies, then go ahead and enter for all the bundles!
The full list of prizes and questions coming up after the jump.