App Store Update: June 8
Every day hundreds of new apps make their debut on the App Store, and hundreds more are updated or reduced in price. We have sifted through the noise and highlighted those select few that might be worth your attention.
Note: The prices and deals compiled below are accurate at the time we published this story, but all are subject to change.
Threes! – ($1.99, Down from $2.99)
The 2014 App Store Game of the Year is celebrating its accolade by going 33.3333333% off!
Apple’s New Smartwatch is Getting Some Upgrades
Even though it's just over a month old, the Apple Watch is already getting ready for some updates and support for native app with WatchOS 2.
With the new upgrade to Timepiece, you can choose any photo as a watch background, or you can select an album and have a rotating set of watch faces throughout the day. There are also time-lapse faces, which show cities like Shanghai, New York City, and London at your time of day.
With Time Travel, you can use the "crown" dial to quickly browse through future events in your calendar, weather, and more. By fast-forwarding through your day, you can also check how much battery life you'll have at different times.
When you put the Apple Watch on its side while charging, the watch can now function as a regular alarm clock. The buttons on the top work as the off and snooze buttons. Communication has been improved on the watch too, as you can now reply to emails and take Facetime audio calls directly from your wrist.
Ex-Blizzard Executive Joins The Order: 1886 Studio
Blizzard's brand building veteran Paul Sams has departed the company for a position as CEO at Ready at Dawn, the studio behind games like The Order: 1886.
Sams replaces Ready at Dawn's former CEO, Ru Weerasuriya, who is switching roles to chief creative officer.
As CCO, Weerasuriya will focus more on creative aspects of the company while Sams takes over daily business operations and works on launching a new publishing arm based in Austin, Texas, meant to expand Ready at Dawn's horizons.
One of Ready at Dawn's biggest priorities for the future is retaining ownership of its IPs. Sams expressed Ready at Dawn's regret at transferring ownership of The Order: 1886 to Sony in an interview on GamesIndustry.biz
Quantum Break Is Skipping E3
Quantum Break developer Remedy Entertainment has announced that it won't be showing off its upcoming Xbox One exclusive during next week's gaming expo in Los Angeles.
Instead, the studio has decided to forgo E3 2015 altogether in favor of a major blowout at Gamescom. Remedy co-founder Sam Lake confirmed the news in a video celebrating the developer's 20th anniversary.
"We were at Gamescom last year with Quantum Break. We had great fun," Lake said. "We’ll be there again this year—the next time we are releasing new material. We have a theater on the show floor where every one of you is welcome to check us out and see the new, exclusive Quantum Break demo."
Back in April, Remedy announced Quantum Break's release had been pushed to 2016. As such, it's absence from E3 in favor of a major push at Gamescom isn't all too surprising, especially when considering the studio's proximity to Germany's gaming convention.
Apple Expands its Apple Pay Service
Originally announced last September during Apple's iPhone 6 event, the company's Apple Pay service will be expanding.
At its WWDC keynote, today Apple announced that Passbook – its all-in-one application for storing card information, travel documentation, etc. – has been renamed to Wallet.
Apple Pay will also bring new retailers like Best Buy, Trader Joe's, and Dunkin Donuts into the fold, extending the service to applicable loyalty and reward programs with iOS 9. Additionally, credit provider Discover will join Apple Pay in the same time frame.
Here’s What’s Coming with Apple iOS 9
At its WWDC keynote, Apple shared new details on iOS 9, the next update to the operating system powering the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.
SVP of Software Engineering Craig Federighi took the stage to show off iOS 9's new features. According to Apple, it will extend battery life, increase general performance, enhance security, and improve the user interface, starting with the most-used apps.
One new feature is the "proactive assistant," which makes several quality-of-life changes to the operating system.
For example, if an unknown phone number pops up, Siri can now look through your email and suggest who the caller might be. Or, if you're out for a morning jog, plugging in headphones can instantly bring up a "now playing" music list. If you receive an event invitation via email, Siri can automatically set up calendar events and reminders.
Mega Man Legacy Collection, Street Fighter 5 Headline Capcom’s E3 Showing
Capcom has pulled back the curtain on its games lineup for E3, which will include a wide spectrum of titles, including a compilation of old school Mega Man games.
Titled Mega Man Legacy Collection, this bundle from developer Digital Eclipse will feature "faithful reproductions" of all six original Mega Man titles, along with a Challenge Mode, which remixes gameplay segments from all six games. It will also feature a Museum Mode, containing a "comprehensive collection of history, high-res art and original concept pieces."
Mega Man Legacy Collection will be available as a digital download in both North America and Europe this summer for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC, and will make its way to Nintendo 3DS sometime this coming winter.
XCOM 2’s Exciting Modding Potential
“We're going all-out with modding on XCOM 2,” declared Creative Director Jake Solomon. One of his and Lead Producer Garth DeAngelis’ chief regrets about XCOM: Enemy Unknown is its lack of significant mod support, and it’s a missed opportunity they don’t intend to repeat. And so they laid out their plans: Either day-and-date with XCOM 2’s November launch or soon thereafter, Firaxis intends to release a full suite of modding tools – an Unreal Development Kit (UDK) and the editor the developers use to create content – that will enable modders to run wild with XCOM 2. “It's yours now; do with it what you want.”
“People will see the gameplay source, all the scripting,” he promised. “This is the code that makes the game what the game is. Here's the editor and all the assets that went into this game.”
Sonic Dash Passes 100 Million Downloads
Mobile title Sonic Dash has been downloaded by over 100 million players.
In celebration of the milestone, SEGA has released some statistics. 850 billion gold rings have been collected over the course of a combined 1.8 billion kilometres, and the game has been cumulatively played for a whopping 14,000 years.
SEGA also says its got an in-game event in the works.
“To celebrate this achievement,” reads the press release, “Sonic has invited some very special friends to join him in an in-game event, coming soon. The identity of Sonic's friends, who are used to impressive success on mobile platforms, will be revealed this Thursday. Get ready, the 150 million landmark could come sooner than expected!”
Super Meat Boy is (Finally) Coming to PlayStation
The painstakingly-testing platformer Super Meat Boy is coming to PlayStation 4 and Vita later this year.
In even better news, when Super Meat Boy does release on PlayStation, it’ll be free to all PS Plus subscribers. Team Meat’s Tommy Refenes explains the reasoning over on the Super Meat Boy website, saying it’s to make up for the “we can’t do it, sorry,” responses over the years when asked if we’ll ever see Meat Boy on PlayStation consoles.
When Super Meat Boy first released, Team Meat – for whatever reason – wasn't allowed to bring it over to Sony consoles. That stance, however, has since changed.