Tag: AppleTVGaming

Interview: Xander Davis – From Triple A To Indie Gaming On Apple TV 4K (Part One)

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For those of you playing catch-up, last week was a big week for Apple TV gaming. Independent studio Astrogun released Apple TV’s first platform exclusive – an anime-inspired sci-fi FPS, titled VAST.

Astrogun’s fearless leader – Xander Davis – was kind enough to set aside time for an interview, with the result being a fascinating, deep dive into his journey from work on Triple A games, to independence with Astrogun, and the pros and cons of working with consumer tech giant Apple.

If, like me, you enjoy glimpses behind the curtain at the machinations of game development, and the stories of artists and auteurs exploring their craft, then I’m certain you’ll find this a satisfying read.

Hit the page 2 button below for Part One of our interview with Xander Davis, with Part Two to be posted in 24 hours time. Enjoy.

Sci-Fi FPS VAST Launches As Apple TV’s First Ever Platform Exclusive

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Well I was wondering when this would happen. And it finally has. Finally. A developer has rolled the dice and gone all in on the Apple TV platform, releasing its debut game as an exclusive this week. You won’t find VAST – Cosmic Treasure Hunters anywhere else right now, other than on Apple TV.

And this developer has some cred. As have many others, Xander Davis jumped from the Triple A ship of games development a few years back to form his own studio, Astrogun, having previously worked on some very well received titles such as Darksiders 2 (which coincidentally is in this month’s PlayStation Plus lineup), and Transformers: War for Cybertron.

But what is VAST?

Hit the page 2 button below for more. (and thanks to our friends at Siniscope Gaming for the tip-off!)

Playdead’s Inside Is Free To Download And Try On Apple TV

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Playdead’s games are perfect examples of the less-is-more approach done right.

The Danish studio came to worldwide attention in 2010 with the success of Limbo – a 2D platform game with minimal colour, minimal sound, and minimal story, all coming together to result in maximum impact.

The follow-up to Limbo – titled Inside, and released in 2016 – was highly anticipated, as of course any studio’s game will be when following a hugely successful debut. It seems then that Playdead are onto a winning formula, as Inside quickly garnered a raft of glowing praise, perfect review scores, and a pile of awards.

It was with great happiness yesterday that I opened up the iOS App Store to find Playdead’s second indie hit had released with universal Apple TV compatibility.

Hit the page 2 button below for more.

Framed 2 Is Apple’s 2017 Game Of The Year For Apple TV

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Apple has announced its picks for game of the year across iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV, and Loveshack Entertainment’s Framed 2 has taken out the Apple TV category.

ATVG really dug the Australian studio’s noir puzzle game, and you can read our review right here. We summed by saying, “Framed 2 provides a satisfying sequel experience that builds on the strengths of the original, producing a tighter, more logical puzzle experience, while also managing to tie the story neatly together between the first game and the second.”

Look out for ATVG’s own Best Apple TV Games of 2017 list, which I’ll be posting sometime between now and Christmas. In the meantime, you can check our best picks from the Apple TV platform’s first year of existence.

Congratulations to Loveshack Entertainment!

 

From The ATVG Bunker: Happy Birthday To Me

Happy Birthday to me,
Happy Birthday to me,
Happy Birthday ATVG,
Happy Birthday to me

365 days ago, I posted this, welcoming anyone who happened to wander by my little corner of the Internet. At the time, I thought I’d probably reach more people by simply walking out onto the nearest street corner and talking about Apple TV games to passers-by.

One year, 133 posts, and well into five figures worth of views later, here I sit, celebrating with cheap Scotch and a warm Mac, punching out post number 134.

It’s been a blast. Thank you so much for reading my words on your screens.

Here’s mud in your eye, whatever the hell that means.

Look out year number two.

 

 

 

 

 

Did You Know Classic RPG The Bard’s Tale Is Available On Apple TV?

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Sometimes a deep dive into the Apple TV’s App Store will yield bountiful loot. Yesterday I held down the Siri Remote’s mic button and voiced three of my favourite letters of the alphabet – R, P, and G – being careful to annunciate clearly. Siri heard me well, quickly advising me that there were no results for “ARE PG.”

Typing in the letters manually did the trick, with The Bard’s Tale appearing in the list of results.

With a quick double-take, I thought, wait a minute, is that the The Bard’s Tale?

Yep.

Hit the page 2 button below for more.

Pixelbite Teases Bonus Mission For Space Marshals 2 – Ava Storyline

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Really quick post here, because details are scant, but…

If you’ve been following the bouncing ball here at ATVG, you may have read our review of the recently released DLC for Space Marshals 2, which gives players a chance to walk a mile in Ava’s kickass boots. (And if you haven’t read our review of the main campaign, you can do so right here. Or just go and play the game, because it’s really good).

Right, so now that you’re all caught up, you’ll know that an extra bonus mission was teased by developer Pixelbite at the end credits of the Ava Storyline. Today the studio posted a quick update advising that the bonus mission could be releasing as early as next week. Giddy-up!

Hit the page 2 button for more.

Modern Combat 5 Finally Sees Some Love From Gameloft

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Our friends over at Siniscope Gaming might be encouraged by this news. SG first brought to our attention eight months ago the fact that Gameloft had stopped supporting Modern Combat 5 on Apple TV the previous year.

It was a pity, as Modern Combat 5 was flying a very lonely flag for first-person shooters on the Apple TV platform, and doing it very well. Before we get too morose, we should point out that the game is still playable today, it’s just that it hasn’t received any of the content updates that its iOS counterpart kept receiving. You can check out SG’s in-depth look at the situation right here.

This week gave us reason to be hopeful. Hopeful that maybe, just maybe, Gameloft is casting its eyes towards its Apple TV shooter once again. An update landed bringing bug fixes for Modern Combat 5 this week, and while there was no new content, it’s encouraging to see the content that is available become even more playable.

Coincidentally, this week also saw Gameloft’s free-to-play dungeon crawler – Dungeon Hunter 5 – get an update which brought a bunch of new content. The studio’s arcade racer Asphalt 8 receives regular content updates on the Apple TV platform, so it seems Gameloft hasn’t forsaken the platform, it more than likely just focuses on the games that are performing financially. It obviously makes sense from a business point of view, but it’s always a bitter pill to swallow for fans when a game they not only enjoy, but may have spent money on in the form of in-app-purchases, stops getting developer support.

Welcome to gaming in the digital age.

ATVG will keep you posted if we hear any more news on Modern Combat 5’s support, or lack thereof.

Review: Space Marshals 2 DLC – Ava Storyline. Hats Off.

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Burton – the hero of Space Marshals 2’s main storyline – to put it mildly, is clueless. Without his much more competent crew telling him exactly what to do, how to do it, and when, Burton would still be bumbling around on The Artemis looking for hot soup. In this recently released DLC players get to experience gameplay as one of those infinitely more competent crew – Ava.

The 20 missions of Space Marshals 2’s main campaign, plus the four bonus missions delivered via a free update upon the Apple TV version’s release back in March, add up to an excellent twin-stick shooter, and you can read our full review right here. As ATVG is so fond of saying, more of a good thing is a good thing, so we were pretty excited when news came to hand of 10 new missions incoming.

But were they worth the wait?

Hit the page 2 button below for more.