Earlier this month, Really Big Sky was released to much press and attention by fan favorite indie studio Boss Baddie. As a side scrolling, twin stick shooter that oozes with style, colors and the kind of hypnotic, seizure induces graphics it was no surprise that the game attracted so much attention. Seriously, if you haven’t checked it out, now might be a good time.

Anyway, the developers dropped me an email a few minutes ago to let me know that Really Big Sky 3.00 (technically 3.0000.0 according to the email) has been released! Taking what they learned from the Eurogamer Expo the guys believe they have created their best update yet.

Here’s what it brings (according to the email):

Hell Mode!
Challenging, bright and silly. Like a good episode of QI.

Peaceful Mode!
Endless mode with no score and no responsibilities. A sandbox, if you will! Except the sand is glued down and you can’t make anything with it.

The rest!
Remastered music, new enemies, new events, loads of bug fixes, even more changes and balances, usability features!

The update comes free, of course, to those who already bought the game which is available on Desura for $6.99.

And for those who haven’t yet played or heard of Really Big Sky, check out the trailer below.

[Desura, Boss Baddie]

Trailer

Initially released last year, Frogatto & Friends was hailed as a quiet triumph of open-source development. A splinter project by several of the people behind open-source strategy-RPG behemoth The Battle For Wesnoth, Frogatto offers beautiful Amiga-esque pixel art, lovely music and a whole lot of classic platforming action to get through. Even in it’s original state, it was well worth a download.

Soldak Entertainment has officially launched Din’s Curse: Demon War, the new expansion for the action RPG out now for $9.99 through the developer–complete with a 30-day money back guarantee. New content includes lots of new quests, the Demon Hunter class, new demonic monsters, more involved NPCs, several new dungeons/caves, and a whole bunch more.

The Windows and OS X demos now reflect all the latest updates and include content from both the base game and the expansion. A new patch (v1.022) has made it through beta as well for both PC and Mac versions, interested parties can pick it up over on Soldak’s patch page.

Arsen reviewed the base title last year, and it’s really come a long way since. Perhaps we need to dive into crawling mode again and see what’s new. Until then, here’s some monsters having a disagreement in the game:

[Soldak Entertainment]

Halfbrick’s casual-for-hardcore-audience (at least, that’s the impression I got) Monster Dash has received its second update, available for free on the App Store. The update is larger than the previous one, which added the lead character Barry’s motorbike, a new achievement, and a few fixes. This new update adds a ton of awesomeness, including Game Center support — which, if you’re like me, you’ve been looking forward to for quite some time now.

Check out an all-new level, new monster, new weapon, and more with the update. As a side note, I have to commend Halfbrick for the work they put into dollar titles when other developers would more than likely move on to new projects. That being said, here’s a more comprehensive list and explanation of what you can expect:

NEW LEVEL AND MONSTER – Yeti Heights, featuring massive abominable snowmen to blast! With falling snow and music taking cues from Jingle Bells, this is one cool addition.

NEW WEAPON – Rocket Launcher! This bad boy will decimate monsters with a special lock-on feature, also dealing collateral damage to any nearby spikes or hazards. At speed you will be a major force to be reckoned with!

GAME CENTER – Leaderboards and Achievements are good to go, so get online with your Game Center account and show the world your scores! *** Game Center minimum requirements – iOS4.1 and iPhone 3GS/iTouch 2G ***

I highly suggest buying Monster Dash on the App Store if you haven’t already done so.

[Halfbrick]

One of our featured Mobile Monday games, Zombie Duck Hunt, has officially received its 4.0 update. Broken Thumbs’ nostalgia-filled zombie duck shooter now features Halloween costumes. I bet you forgot about all the themed updates and games that are going to be coming out in the next couple of weeks, didn’t you? Well, surely enough, they’ve got us covered. Broken Thumbs have also added 2 new weapons, a Nuclear Bomb for the Forest level and Kamikaze Duck Bomb for the Desert.

More good news is on the way as Zombie Duck Hunt is still free on the App Store. It really won’t hurt if you give it a download and let the devs know what you think.

[Broken Thumbs Apps]

Star Ruler, the indie darling 4X space strategy game, continues its evolution today as developer Blind Mind Studios release another large update that fixes a bunch of bugs, changes some odder design decisions, and adds a slew of new features like ship hulls and technologies. Kudos on the update guys, it’s most welcome!

Fixed:

• Fixed an error in the stellar-pedia (Research World description)
• Docking now works in multiplayer
• Fixed research issues in multiplayer
• Re-ordering items in a planet queue now drags the last item of the group.
• Quantum Compressors had no effect on economic storage and ship bays.
• Stealth Hulls now execute their miss logic before their damage absorption.
• Fixed an issue with unicode localizations.
• Ringworlds were boosting both the size and level of structures, leading to epic strangeness.
• Small objects will no longer be cut off so drastically.
• Bussard Ramjets were ignoring the thrust multiplier in settings.txt
• The structure list was behaving weirdly (erratically reordering, removing the wrong level) when removing structures.
• The research queue was failing to save.
• Systems were being sync’d to a slightly different position on the client, which lead to some strangeness.

Changed:

• Object ownership changes are managed differently now, reducing overall bandwidth usage.
• AIs now make liberal use of fighters.
• The default fighter design now uses the Fighter Hull, and has a longer flight time.
• AIs now intelligently queue up designs, leading to less wasted production capacity in games with many systems.
• Redid a significant portion of Sub System base code. Modders will need to redo any modifiers they have created, see the game’s existing modifiers for examples.
• Updated German, Russian, French and Polish translations.
• AIs will be more intelligent about their research.

Added:

• Player names are now matched to their empire in the empire screen in multiplayer.
• A message is now displayed if you fail to connect to a server.
• Added the Fighter Hull, a hull for small ships (scale 1 or smaller) that has the ability to dodge attacks while moving. It is also light, slightly cheaper than normal, but very weak.
• Added an option to enable/disable Vertical Sync.
• Added console command zplane (default 140000) to control the near clipping plane.
• Large ships become rapidly more expensive to build as difficulties in construction lead to massive losses of resources.
• Added a new technology: Mega Construction. Advancing this technology will unlock the Ringworld (with two other techs researched), and reduce the cost of building massive ships.
• Fleet formations (wall, box, escort, wedge).
• Ship stances / engagement orders (“Engage at will”, “Hold position”, “Hold fire”).
• Added new system window with more information, more controls, and multi-system support.
• Added new AI ship designs.
• Owned planets and ships can now be renamed through a button on the info panel. (Not fully supported in multiplayer)

Quite impressive. For those that remember, I recently reviewed Star Ruler and, while I certainly saw the game had its flaws, I could also see the game’s true potential as it evolves through patches over time. Since my review, three significant patches have been released all of which make the game far better than my earlier review. If you haven’t already I strongly urge you to download the demo and give the game a try.

[Blind Mind Studios, Demo]

Ntronium has announced the release of the latest version of their strategy title Armada 2526. 1.4 brings some major changes and additions including a new faction, eight new ships and random faction selection, along with a laundry list of bug fixes and gameplay tweaks.

The patch is available automatically for owners of the game on Impulse and is available manually as well.

From the notes:

Added random player selection

Fixed bug that caused attacking ships to move slowly sometimes

Fixed bug with Tutorial and Rim scenarios changing default faction capabilities

Fixed bug wth finish button not working on victory screen

Fixed bug with sound quality inversion

Fixed various spelling mistakes

Adjusted VP multipliers

Improved tech vp calculation

Fixed problem when sometimes AI won’t start new tech

AI deletes unneeded research centers

AI will research terraforming

Adjusted ai algorithm for defenses

AI maintains a treasury reserve

Fixed problem with auto transports not transporting when AI expects player to colonize

Fixed bug in calculation of fleet ETAs on tool tips

Fixed bug using designer maps larger than 300 x 300

Added display of turn limit to scenario description and turn display tool tip

AI removes polluting buildings to cure unrest

AI reduces excess defenses

Tweaked AI fondness for rich and poor planets

Fixed occasional crash opening colony screen

The game is available both through retail and digital distribution via Impulse for $30.

[Armada 2526]

Carpe Fulgar has released a new update for EasyGameStation’s RPG Recettear: An Item Shop’s Tale, now available for download. Version 1.106 brings several correctional fixes for the title, reworking some monster statistics as well as patching-up typographical errors, musical cues and equipping issues.

Also, melons continue to insist that the desert is their home apparently. From the notes:

- Corrected a number of typographical errors throughout the game script. Melons, however, continue to insist that they reside in deserts.

- Corrected improperly set monster statistics in certain dungeons – this should have the effect of making the early dungeons a bit easier and the later dungeons (Obsidian Tower and beyond) more challenging, even for well-leveled, well-geared adventurers.

- Corrected an error wherein the description of your current merchant level did not display.

- Corrected an error wherein certain musical cues in events did not obey volume control.

- Error wherein adventurers do not equip certain items sold to them should be corrected.

The patch can be downloaded automatically by Steam and Impulse users, anyone with another version of the game can grab it manually here.

A review you ask? Here you go. A full walkthrough you say? Fine, but make sure to abide by the gamer’s code–friends don’t let friends use on the first time.

[Recettear]

I don’t know how I missed this the first time around since Train Conductor is one of my favorite iOS series, but a very important update has been released by the Voxel Agents, adding an all-new Roswell, NM level with aliens! Also, the update adds iOS4 multitasking support, the ability to use both landscape orientations for the iPad, and a whole slew of bug fixes.

Hot off winning in the Freeplay Awards down under, The Voxel Agents also announced an upcoming Seattle level launching in a couple of weeks. I’m really proud of our buds, The Voxel Agents, for actually sticking to their promise of keeping the content updates rolling. There’s no excuse for not having downloaded Train Conductor 2: USA yet. The current version has almost a complete five star rating (four and a half at the moment), and for good reason — you’re not going to be able to put this game down; I still play it to this day.

In other words, it’s awesome, just get it… it’s a dollar.

[The Voxel Agents]

While Apple’s Game Center may be making OpenFeint and AGON fans uncomfortable, it should come as no surprise that Apple found a viable option to promote their platform and decided to go for it. There are only a handful of games truly supporting Game Center, but Angry Viking from Zaxis Games has added itself to the list by getting updated to version 1.3.1, and adding support for Game Center leaderboards and optimizes the game’s framerate.

If you’re still clueless about Game Center, it’s Apple’s method of social networking for gamers on the iOS. If you’d like support for Game Center on your phone, then you should update your iPhones and iPods to 4.1. Angry Viking is still available on the App Store at $1.99.

[Zaxis Games]