The iFriday Roundup, No. 19

Black Friday Freebies, Part 1

AppShopper does a rather cool thing by maintaining a comprehensive list of games that are free or on sale. As you might expect, the torrent of sales is particularly thick this weekend, so here are some entries that stood out to us when we delved for freebies this morning: Race After 1977 (Here’s an early hands-on preview); One Man Army; Space Ship Ion; Robo KillDark Nebula – Episode I; 1112 Episode 01 (HD and Non-HD); Sentinel 2: Earth DefenseChillingham Manor.

Black Friday Freebies, Part 2

If you’ve been gaming on iOS since the beginning, or even if you’ve read our interview with developer Digital Legends, you know that Kroll was kind of a big deal when it debuted in 2008. It’s widely regarded as one of the first graphical showcases on the platform — so much so that Steve Jobs featured it in a keynote speech! Such an interesting annal in iOS history is worth a free download, we reckon, and here are some others: Zombie Parkour Runner; Burn the Rope: Worlds (Our review); SargeSeven Stars 3D; Spacelings; To-Fu: The Trials of Chi (Our Review); Zen Warrior.

Black Friday Sales Highlights

These games haven’t quite hit the “Free” mark, but they’re on sale and we just happen to have reviews laying around for them: Fara; Stardash; Dead Space; Sacred Odyssey: Rise of AydenBackstab; Infinity Blade; and Lego Harry Potter.

Win a Doggie Bag From Mojo Bones!

We just updated our interview with Tongue Tied developer Mojo Bones with a link to a Facebook contest the dev’s running, so be sure to check it out! Up for grabs are an iPhone case, a Tongue Tied T-Shirt, the game’s soundtrack, and last but not least, one of the few remaining postcards, painstakingly hand-crafted by the developers as chronicled on YouTube. We’ll be sure to let you know when Tongue Tied gets a solid release date!

Pucker Up for Ostin Games and Win Up to $2000 USD!

Ostin Games dropped by last week to let us know that they’ve devised a rather interesting contest of their own: to promote their adventure title KissIsland, the developers are collecting videos, of, well — we’ll just let them explain: “The participants are requested to shoot a kissing video in front of their phone/ iphone/camera (or ask somebody to do so for them) and upload the footage to YouTube. The registration procedure as well as voting on the contest page is quite simple and quick!”

There is one requirement: “The YouTube video supposed for participation in the KissIsland Kissing Contest is to feature a device (iPhone/iPod touch/iPad) demonstrating any version of KissIsland for no less than 10 seconds in the shot.” So we know that clip from Match Point currently on the contest page is just a placeholder and not an actual entry. For one thing, that means you won’t have to compete with Scarlett Johansson’s smooching skills. And secondly, it means the field is wide open! Deadline is (naturally) Valentine’s Day 2012.

Snap an Instagram Pic for an iTunes Gift Card!

Also running a timely contest is Ivica Aracic, creator of The Greedy Sponge and, more recently, the memory testing game Instamory. Ivica’s always on the lookout for more great Instagram photos that could be added to the game, and if yours survives the judging process you could be looking at a $25 USD iTunes gift card. Check out the contest rules page here, and check back with us on the other side of the weekend for our interview with this quirky developer!

Massive Danger Alliance Update in the Works

TOME Studios made it clear their campaign to take over the App Store was just getting started with the initial release of Danger Alliance: Battles, and if the latest word from our spies is any indication, they weren’t kidding! Check out their latest dev blog post for the details, which include new enemy types, a game mode that reduces AI thinking time, and most importantly: dual pistols. We’ll let you know when all these features splash down!

Mad Chef to Slice and Dice at the App Store on the 29th

Foursaken Media just announced via Facebook that Mad Chef will start cooking this Tuesday, November 29. Check our hands-on preview to find out why this is an important date to mark on your iOS gaming calendar! We’ll have a review up this week, but we can say one thing for sure already — this has to be the wackiest iOS game ever, and quite possibly the wackiest piece of interactive media you’ll see in a while.

DRWAPS To Hit the Ground Running on the 30th

Yes, you can run with a plasma sword, starting November 30 as confirmed on the XperimentalZ dev blog! While you’re waiting for this fast-paced mashup of the running genre, Star Wars and 50s sci fi, be sure to check out our hands-on preview and our recent interview with the developers!

The Siege Breaks on December 2

Another title you can look forward to next week is Crazy Monkey Studios’ Siegebreaker, a quirky Tower Defense-style title that nevertheless requires some fancy footwork (and guitar strumming). Check out our hands-on preview in the meantime, as well as the developer’s website, where you can see a gameplay trailer.

Silvester Adventure Released

Shadows are such a powerful yet underappreciated source of gameplay mechanics. If you fondly remember Tecmo’s Ninja Gaiden II (the original 1990 version, silly!), you know this is a verified truth! That’s why we were pretty stoked to find a surprise forum post from the developers of Silvester Adventure, an action/adventure puzzle game that makes our hearts go pitter-pat just by the look of it. The game released just before Thanksgiving. Here’s a website link and a preview video for you while you’re working off all that turkey and stuffing:

Are you an iOS videogame developer or publisher with a cool update, video, or other news that you want to get out to the masses? iFanzine probably has an eye on you already, but don’t hesitate to get in touch via our Twitter feed or Contact page. We want to fill our iFriday Roundups with all your beautiful stuff!