Infinity Blade Message Board older than one year ago

#thedarkmeadow The creepy cousin to Epic's own Infinity Blade, The Dark Meadow channels all of the iOS power of the Unreal Engine 3 into one twisted tale of creatures and crossbows. More »

#shadowcomplex Man, I still don't quite know what it was about Shadow Complex. I loved that game so much. So when Cliff Bleszinski told me that its sequel has already been designed, it just about made my day. More »

Epic Games' "hugely successful" iOS game Infinity Blade is currently half off for ... um, apparently no real reason. A representative for developer ChAIR told us, "This is a temporary sale we're running for an undetermined amount of time." The game, regularly priced at $5.99, is currently available for $2.99.

The universal iOS app has been a hero in the sales department, surpassing $10 million in sales six months after launch. Infinity Blade is currently being turned into a freemium title for Japan, expected to launch this fall.

DeNA, Japan's most successful mobile internet company, will offer a free-to-play version of Epic and ChAIR's incredibly successul iOS game, Infinity Blade. Over there it'll be called Infinity Blade X for Mobage, and promises to offer multiplayer and co-op features through DeNA's immensely popular Mobage network -- the game will be free to play and supported by the sale of virtual goods.

Infinity Blade, which is considered a "premium" title everywhere else but Japan (see: it costs more than a buck), was just recently updated with head-to-head multiplayer and survival modes. The game's latest milestone saw it surpass $10 million in sales.

Infinity Blade X for Mobage is scheduled to launch in Japan sometime this fall.

ChAIR Entertainment's Infinity Blade for iOS is a conquering hero of sales, surpassing $10 million in sales during the first six months of release.

"Infinity Blade's success proves that triple-A gaming experiences can be hugely successful on iOS and that there is a valuable, pent up demand for premium content like this," said Mark Rein, vice president and co-founder of Epic Games.

ChAIR parent-company Epic also took the opportunity to note that the Unreal Development Kit (UDK), the free edition of Unreal Engine 3, has reached 800,000 unique installations.

The next big content update for Chair Entertainment's epic iOS sword battler, Infinity Blade, comes out swinging this Thursday, May 19. By far the most notable addition, the new Arena Mode introduces 1v1 multiplayer combat via Game Center.

Also making the cut is Survivor Mode, which challenges players to last as long as possible in an endless gauntlet of Titan battles. A variety of new weapons and items are also being introduced, including special holiday-themed helms. Finally, Infinity Blade will gain Facebook integration with the update, enabling players to take and share screenshots of their characters through a streamlined process.

The "Arena" update will be free of charge and, if past Thursday releases on the App Store are any indication, will actually roll out in North America this Wednesday night around 11:30PM ET.

#epicupdates Epic Games' handsome iPhone and iPad hit Infinity Blade adds its promised multiplayer side this Thursday, May 19 with the Infinity Blade: Arena update. And if you like kooky hats in your multiplayer games, this update is for you too! More »

According to Epic president Mike Capps, the times are definitely a-changing for the games industry. Capps recently told Industry Gamers that the future of the games industry has not been so "uncertain" in twenty years. He questioned whether or not physical retail distribution of games will still exist in five to ten years, what will become of next-generation consoles and how PC gaming will fare.

His number one concern, however, seems to be the current trend of incredibly cheap mobile games. The one thing "killing" traditional game creators, said Capps, is "dollar apps," adding that it could be hard to sell a $60 game to a consumer used to paying pennies.

Capps isn't the first traditional game creator to express concern over the ever-growing stream of cheap games. During a GDC keynote earlier this year, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata had harsh words for inexpensive mobile games, asking whether or not they really offer a "high value." Nintendo's Reggie Fils-Aime recently offered similar comments, noting that Nintendo isn't interested in publishing the work of inexperienced developers, a stark contrast to the relatively open publishing structures in iOS and Android development.

Of course, mobile developers aren't keeping quiet. Peter Vesterbacka, head of Angry Birds developer Rovio, recently fired back at Fils-Aime, stating that it made sense for traditional game publishers to defend their "$49 piece of plastic." For what it's worth, while Capps admits that times are uncertain, they are also "exciting" for developers and publishers that make the right choices. In other words, there's going to be a showdown.

An encounter with such a beast is never a pleasant experience, unless of course you win the bout!

A medley of hacking and slashing courtesy of Epic Games' Infinity Blade on iPad!

#infinityblade Computer, console, phone, tablet: The more devices that can play games the better for gamers. More »

#ipad Infinity Blade, for the iPhone and iPad, has won strong praise as an uncommonly good mobile title with impressive visuals and console-style gameplay. To really gain an appreciation of it, you should see it on a 50-inch HDTV. More »

#expansionism Chair Entertainment spices up sexy iPhone swordfest Infinity Blade with The Deathless Kings, a free update that brings the quest for medieval combat dominance into the darkest dungeon depths, along with a discount to lure new players to their doom. More »

Though Epic Games doesn't divulge direct sales figures, vice president Mark Rein did give me something to work with: Infinity Blade has been more successful than Shadow Complex. "Hugely successful," in fact.

Right now, if you check the leaderboard data (best overall score) for Shadow Complex, you will see the names of 545,023 players. While Rein's comment doesn't necessarily confirm that Infinity Blade has been downloaded more times than Shadow Complex, the former game's lower asking price - $5.99 versus Shadow Complex's $15 - would make it "more successful" either in terms of downloads or revenue.

If it's revenue, our napkin math indicates the iOS-exclusive title being downloaded by at least 1,362,557.5 people, two-and-a-half times the total number of entries on Shadow Complex's leaderboard. If we're talking number of downloads, Infinity Blade should have at least bested Shadow Complex's 545K units.

Just one day after Chair's Donald Mustard promised an Infinity Blade update "very, very soon," Epic has launched the update, entitled "The Deathless Kings." The free update packs in a new "Dungeon" environment, six more arenas, ten new enemies (including the Deathless Kings, of course), thirty new items and new achievements. It should go live on the App Store today.

The update also includes a "New Game Plus" feature that "allows gamers to re-master any item, unlock new items in the store, and removes the level cap." Finally, the update also adds extra character slots, audio volume controls and the ability to adjust the size of the dodge button.

To coincide with the update, Epic has reduced Infinity Blade's price to $3 -- half off -- through Sunday, March 6.

Just one day after Chair's Donald Mustard promised an Infinity Blade update "very, very soon," Epic has launched the update, entitled "The Deathless Kings." The free update packs in a new "Dungeon" environment, six more arenas, ten new enemies (including the Deathless Kings, of course), thirty new items and new achievements. It should go live on the App Store today.

The update also includes a "New Game Plus" feature that "allows gamers to re-master any item, unlock new items in the store, and removes the level cap." Finally, the update also adds extra character slots, audio volume controls and the ability to adjust the size of the dodge button.

To coincide with the update, Epic has reduced Infinity Blade's price to $3 -- half off -- through Sunday, March 6.

Released late last year, Infinity Blade ushered in a new era of graphical fidelity in mobile phone games and delivered on Epic's promise to turn its "Epic Citadel" tech demo into an actual game. The Salt Lake City-based team at Chair Entertainment - led by brothers Donald and Geremy Mustard - delivered another hit for Epic on another digitally distributed platform, opening doors for more Unreal Engine licensees all the way. At last year's GDC the brothers Mustard delivered a panel on their XBLA hit Shadow Complex and this year it's Infinity Blade, titled "Infinity Blade: How We Made a Hit, What We Learned, and Why You Can Do it Too!"

"We got a call from Epic saying there's this opportunity," Donald Mustard told a packed GDC auditorium. Epic told him, "Mobile games are really taking off and we've secretly had part of the engine team getting the Unreal Engine to work on mobile devices over the past year and it's ready to go [...] and we really want to get a game out this year that really shows it off. Do you guys want to participate in that?" Mustard replied, "Absolutely." But there was a catch.

During the Q&A portion of today's Infinity Blade-focused GDC panel, Chair co-founder Donald Mustard was unsurprisingly asked about plans for future updates for the dev's iOS hit. "We have an update coming very, very soon," Mustard said, acknowledging that he wanted to get that question out of the way, "and it will add a ton of new content to the game and expand on some of the themes and story that you've already started to see." The game's first free update was released less than two weeks after the game's debut.

The next question from the audience? Yup, asking what Chair is working on next. "We're working on something ... cool," Mustard teased. "Actually, right now we're very busy supporting Infinity Blade. That's actually one of the things that's a cool opportunity with these iOS games, is you have an opportunity to put out your game, and then to continue to support it easily."

"It's so easy to make these content updates, and at least we've decided we're going to give our content away for free," he added. "So when you initially buy the game for $5.99 you know we're going to continue to give you content, so we still have lots of content we're building to support Infinity Blade."

Of course, considering Infinity Blade -- the entire game! -- took the team just five months to make, and it was released nearly three months ago, we're guessing there's more going on at Chair's Salt Lake headquaters than just free update development, but we're heartened to hear it nevertheless.

Chair and Epic Games announced this morning that the first free content update for iOS game Infinity Blade will arrive tomorrow. Alongside the previously revealed Marrow Fiend -- "rumored to devour its victims, taking their bones for its blade and shield" -- comes a smattering of swords and shields (five each), a shiny new set of armor, and five new helms (the Xmas-themed Holiday Helm, among others).

The level cap has also been adjusted to 45 from 40, and players can now purchase gold from within the game. And if you're anything like us, you'll want to be rocking to the Trans-Siberian Orchestra while fighting the Marrow Fiend with the Holiday Helm equipped -- now you can, as the ability to pump your own music into the game is now available. Chair further promises "New areas to conquer! New enemies to fight! Multiplayer! New swords, shields, helmets, and magic rings! And more!" for some point next year, so don't go forgetting about Infinity Blade just yet.

#igaming We were prepared for tomorrow's free update to iPhone/iPad/iTouch hit Infinity Blade. New armor, new helmets, new level cap. And what's this? Cash for gold? More »

Chair reveals iPhone smash's origins.