New Kindle Games and Apps for January 25

Posted on January 25, 2012 by tarzanphan60

It looks like the Kindle store is getting up to speed and starting to put out some better apps and games now. Games will be reviewed as I find time to play them. Here are some of the new items to check out:

Note: Unless otherwise mentioned – these are available for Kindle, Kindle Keyboard, Kindle DX, and Kindle 2nd Generation.

Games:

Castle Dungeon – An Adventure Role-Playing Game for the Kindle.  This looks pretty interesting and already has one five star review. Available for $2.99.

Gem Falls – a Pattern Matching Game. (Kindle Touch users can do a happy dance and purchase this game). Available for $1.99. This is Nickel Buddy’s first game on the Kindle (they have exercise apps out) – so it will be interesting to see how they do.

Cut the Shapes – a puzzle game where you need to cut the shapes into identical parts – looks pretty interesting. I think the Grabarchuk team likes to deal with shapes. At $2.99 it is supposed to be good for visual skills. Maybe it will make me younger by playing it. 

Lingo – a puzzle game based upon the TV show.  I guess this makes me really behind the times because I have not watched tv in a year or so and have never heard of this. Word games, brain games and a cure for cancer all in one easy application. On sale for $2.99.

Poker Squares – a combination of poker and solitaire in one small bundle. At $1.99 – you can lose your money without anyone else being around.

Apps:
Spanish Anywhere - A Spanish Language Learning Tool for the Kindle.  It looks to be a decent reference for the language – but at $5.99 it will be interesting to see how many people are willing to pay that much. It does have some good pronunciation guides in the images I have seen – but users will still complain because they can’t actually hear pronunciation in the app.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0071BVXOI/?tag=kreview-20

Filed under: Kindle App Store, Kindle Apps, Kindle Games | 2 Comments »

More New Kindle Apps and Games

Posted on January 18, 2012 by tarzanphan60

It looks like Amazon has finally finished its end of year holiday and several new Kindle active content apps and games have been released.

I already posted about a free game called Hamster Habitat. It looks cute and is in the pipe puzzle arena.  (Includes Kindle Touch)

I’ve heard a lot about people loving to play Farkle (it’s a dice game for people like me that have not played it). It has now been adapted for the Kindle and is available for $0.99.  I will be reviewing this later.

Bubble Ducky is a matching game (pop the bubbles) and looks interesting.  It is selling for $1.99.  I will be reviewing this later.

Puzzle Quizzes by Grabarchuck Puzzles offers 150 brain teasers.  Looks like many you can get in the variety puzzle books at the newsstands.  Selling for $2.99.   I will be reviewing this later.

On the more scholarly side of things:

eReviewBook SAT Words supposedly helps you memorize the 3,916 words you need to know for the SAT exam.  I was not aware you needed to know words for the exam or that someone had counted them. Probably best for high school students. $2.99. Sorry – I won’t be reviewing this.  You can let your imagination run wild.

Another Periodic Table app has been released for $0.99. It also includes a list of constants. I’ve already reviewed one of these apps – so I’m going to take a pass on the new one.  Good for people that need to refer to the Periodic Table – students, constant learners, etc.

Only one for Kindle Touch.  I’ll keep my eyes open for more.

Filed under: Kindle App Store, Kindle Apps, Kindle Games | 2 Comments »

What is An Active Fiction Series for Kindle?

Posted on January 17, 2012 by tarzanphan60

In the second round (ok – I guess one lousy app the first week is probably not really considered a ’round’) of unimpressive releases in 2012, the Kindle store released four apps that they are billing as “An Active Fiction Series for Kindle”.  I decided to try one of these new releases to see what the difference between an interactive novel and an active fiction series really is.

The new releases are as follows:

Getting Dumped by Tawna Fenske ($4.99)

Arcania – Trial by Fire by Liz Maverick ($3.99)

Dead Letter Office – Parish Mail 1 by Kira Snyder ($4.99)

Witch’s Brew – Spellspinners 1 by Heidi R. Kling ($6.99)

Each of these items is available for Kindle Touch, Kindle, Kindle Keyboard, Kindle 2nd Generation and Kindle DX.

The item I purchased was Dead Letter Office – Parish Mail 1.  I am halfway through and it is a good novel. That’s it. Really.  It is a good novel.  Twice in the first half of the book I have had to make a decision that supposedly changes the outcome.  The decisions that multiple users make is also supposed to influence the next versions of these apps – since each is designed to be part of a series.

Don’t buy this if you are expecting it to be anything more than a novel – because it really isn’t (except for wanting you to turn on WiFi every time you launch the app).

Are they worth the price?  The Dead Letter Office is a good book and has me interested.  I’m not sure I would have spent that type of money for an unknown author. Yes – each of these women do have a history or writing screenplays, short stories, etc.  If I was the developer/writer, I would have started the first “book” at $0.99 to get people hooked on the book and wanting to try the other books in the set and buy more when they came out.  Then, if people are hooked, you could raise the price a dollar or two for the second book in the series. 

Given that so many people want their books or apps for free – I think it is a risky decision to price these so highly.  The one I am reading so far does not make me want to shell out $5 for another book.  I’ll leave the final decision to you, but thought you might be interested in knowing what is really being marketed here.  It is not an app – it is a novel, plain and simple.

Filed under: Kindle App Review, Kindle App Store | Leave a Comment »

Kindle Best of 2011 Editors’ Picks – including Notepad and Calendar

Posted on November 23, 2011 by tarzanphan60

On November 21, Amazon announced their top 50 list of the Best Kindle Games and Active Content for 2011 – known as the Best of 2011 Editors’ Picks. 

While all of the games and apps available on this list are excellent, we are proud to announce that Notepad and Calendar by 7 Dragons (disclaimer – we are the developers for these apps) are on this list.  We sweated and stressed for many months to get these apps to the point where we could be proud to release them to customers and having them on this list makes it all worthwhile.  Thank you to all of our users that have supported our 7 Dragons apps.

Something else for me to be thankful for on Thanksgiving!

Note:  All of these apps/games on the list are available for $0.99 until January 2, 2011.  Good time to get some bargain shopping in.

Filed under: 7 Dragons, Kindle App Store | 8 Comments »

Kindle Active Content Rankings (February 2011)

Posted on February 9, 2011 by kaizenboy

Here are the current Kindle App Rankings from the Kindle Store -

  1. Word Search. At #15 in the Kindle Store.
  2. Panda Poet at #42 in the Kindle Store.
  3. Mahjong Solitaire. At #48 in the Kindle Store.
  4. Flip It at #71. Disclosure: This is a 7 Dragons app.
  5. EA Solitaire at #88.
  6. Tic Tac Toe at #107. Disclosure: This is a 7 Dragons App.
  7. EA Sudoku at #130.
  8. Triple Town. At #150 in the Kindle Store.
  9. Easy Calculator is at #179 in the Kindle Store.
  10. Maze A Thon is at #180 in the Kindle Store.
  11. True Backgammon is at #185 in the Kindle Store.
  12. NY Times Crosswords Volume 1 is at #209 in the Kindle Store.
  13. Monopoly is at #270.
  14. Choice of the Dragon at #440 in the Kindle Store.
  15. EA Texas Hold’em is at #593.
  16. NY Times Crosswords Volume 2 is at #604 in the Kindle Store.
  17. Brain Bump Literature. At #636 in the Kindle Store.
  18. Slingo by Gameblend is at #650 in the Kindle Store.
  19. Sudoku Unbound is at #685 in the Kindle Store.
  20. Hangman 4 Kids. At #913 in the Kindle Store.
  21. Hangman at #1,205 in the Kindle Store.
  22. Choice of Broadsides at #1,336 in the Kindle Store.
  23. Match Genius is at #1,498 in the Kindle Store.
  24. Jumble, 200 Puzzles. At #1,698 in the Kindle Store.
  25. Dusk World is at #2,582 in the Kindle Store.
  26. Anywhere Abs is at #2,909 in the Kindle Store.
  27. Next is at #2,948 in the Kindle Store.
  28. NY Times Crosswords Volume 3 is at #3,155 in the Kindle Store.
  29. Jumble, 50 Puzzles. At #3,992 in the Kindle Store.
  30. Jumble, 20 Puzzles. At #4,161 in the Kindle Store.
  31. NY Times Crosswords Volume 5 at #4,772.
  32. Wordoku Unbound at #5,634 in the Kindle Store.
  33. NY Times Crosswords Volume 4. This is at #6,767.
  34. NY Times Crosswords Volume 6. This is way down at #13,412.
  35. Symdoku Unbound at #24,825 in the Kindle Store.

Rankings for Free Kindle Apps

Please note that all rankings here are in the Free Section of the Kindle Store.

  1. Video Poker is at #1 in the Kindle Store amongst free items.
  2. Blackjack is at #19 in the Kindle Store.
  3. Every Word is at #26.
  4. Shuffled Row is at #28.
  5. Mine Sweeper is at #49.
  6. Jumble, 3 Free Puzzles is at #79.

With the rule against advertising in apps it’s not a surprise that there are only 6 free kindle apps.

Fragmentation doesn’t work

One big takeaway from this month’s Kindle App Rankings list is that the genius idea to split one app into parcels i.e.

  1. Jumble being Jumble 20, Jumble 50, and Jumble 200.
  2. NY Times Crosswords being split across 6 volumes.

Doesn’t really work.

Perhaps Word Search can make it work as its Volume 1 went up as high as #3, spent 3-4 days in the Top 10, and is still at #15 after around 5 days. However, it provides a lot more value for money than what the NY Times and Jumble ‘Volume 1’ apps provide.

Why aren’t Puzzazz’s apps doing better?

Puzzazz’s 3 apps (Symdoku Unbound, Sudoku Unbound, Wordoku Unbound) are all pretty interesting. Yet, only one of them is in the Top 1,000 in the Kindle Store.

My rather poorly thought out opinion would be that they need to change their images. They are going for a cutesy, casual look but people assume that the level of polish of the cover image is the level of polish of the app.

At least that’s what people do with books. Judge the book by the cover.

Filed under: Kindle App Store | Tagged: , | 1 Comment »

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