Wanna know what’s new with Astraware?  Astraware has been writing for WebOS and is now pleased to announce Astraware Sudoku and OddBlob. 

Both games are live on the Palm App Catalog now and for a limited time only are priced at $2.99 (regular price $4.99).

From the press release:

Astraware has a long and successful history of working closely with Palm. Zap!2000 was the first color game released for Palm OS and for several years Palm smartphones offered at least one Astraware game bundled along with it. Now that Palm has released their PDK development kit, which allows developers greater access to some of the core functions of webOS, Astraware is able to continue that relationship by bringing some of their best-selling games to the platform.

Astraware Sudoku is a multi-award-winning version of the worldwide smash puzzle game. It is packed with features that avid Sudoku players love, including the unique Puzzle of the Day feature, which sees in excess of 20,000 users regularly downloading the daily puzzles and uploading their times on the global leader board. First released for smartphones earlier this year, OddBlob is a cute puzzle-arcade game entirely created from modeling clay, and featuring online leader boards for players to post their high scores in both Strategy and Panic modes.

“We’re delighted to be re-establishing our long-term relationship with Palm, and supporting the new platform with a range of great casual games,” said Howard Tomlinson, CEO of Astraware. “Our experience at supporting well-featured devices in a range of sizes and resolutions has helped us to make our first webOS games a pleasure to play, and we look forward to bringing many more titles to the platform.”

Astraware intends to bring a number of their own-IP games to the webOS platform as well as working with their premium licensor partners to add to the range of quality casual games available in the Palm App Catalog.

“Palm has a rich history with Astraware, and we’re excited to see that relationship continue with the webOS platform,” said Ben Galbraith, director of Developer Marketing, Palm, Inc. “Astraware’s popular titles are a welcome addition to the breadth and quality of webOS games in the Palm App Catalog.”

Congrats Astraware on the new releases!  I still enjoy Astraware Sudoku on my Windows Mobile devices – now Palm users won’t be left out on a most excellent game.

It has been pretty well advertised that pretty much any iPhone apps will be useable on the iPad, though they may not necessarily take advantage of all of the iPad’s advanced features and specs.  Which is why many developers are redesigning their iPhone apps and releasing iPad specific versions of their apps.  And if you have ever wondered why this should be necessary, check out Sudoku Real Edition, which has been approved for the iPad app store and is expected to be available for the iPad release on April 3.

I have played Sudoku on pretty much every mobile platform, including the newspaper, and I have never seen it look like this before.  Let’s take one more look:

Thanks to our friends over at Just Another iPad Blog for the info and screenshots.  Head over there for a lot more details about this fantastic looking app.  And tune in here after April 3, when there is a fair bet I will have already purchased this one and have it queued up for review.

[via Just Another iPad Blog]

I think it is no secret around here that I am a pretty big fan of Sudoku.  I have explored many Sudoku options for various mobile platforms, and even a number of alternate variations on the theme.  For those of you who are new here, Sudoku is a classic Japanese puzzle game, in which you are faced with a grid of 81 squares arranged in nine rows of nine blocks each.  Scattered across the grid are numbers from 1-9.  Your job is to fill in the remainder of the grid by placing each number, 1-9, into each row, column, and 3×3 mini-grid, without duplicating in any direction.  Sounds easy…but that can be deceptive.

The Sudoku! game on the Palm Pre is a pretty basic, no-frills option.  Gameplay is pretty much the same as most mobile Sudoku games.  Just tap the square you want to play, and then tap the number you wish to enter.  I was happy to see that you could help yourself along by using pencil marks.  This is a tool which you can use to help you remember the possible options in a square which you are not quite ready to solve.  It will place your guesses for potential solutions in the corner of the square.  To toggle between entering solutions or pencil marks, just tap the pencil icon.

Each time you start the game, you will be faced  with a new, random puzzle.  You can decide whether you would like an easy, medium, or hard puzzle.  This is great for beginners, because it means you can start with some easier puzzles while you are learning the rules and strategies; and move up in difficulty as you are ready. 

Of course, if you do get stuck, you can always just select the solve game option in order to solve the puzzle.  I did find it odd that there was no option to simply obtain a hint or solve a single square.  Again, hints are a critical component of learning the rules and strategies of the game.  The lack of hints also made this a poor option for newcomers.

One thing I liked about the game was the ability to create a custom puzzle.  This is great, because it means you do not have to carry around the newspaper all day, or risk covering your hands in newspaper ink.  In custom game, you will be faced with a blank grid.  Just enter the numbers in whichever arrangement you choose.  Select done and begin solving the puzzle.

I thought this was a good Sudoku game.  It featured all of the basics, but that was about all you got.  It was a real no-frills option.  There are not a lot of extras or options.  It is a good game for those who are already familiar with Sudoku, but I would not recommend it for beginners because of valuable teaching tools which allow players to learn the rules and strategies of the game. 

Games are great.  Sudoku games are even better.  One of the best options for Windows Mobile, Resco Sudoku Touch has just been updated to version 1.50, incorporating a handful of worthwhile updates.  Read about the update here:

The easiest, yet challenging way to play Sudoku on your phone

Resco announced today the release of Resco Sudoku Touch v1.50 for Windows Mobile devices.

Resco Sudoku Touch now features a brand new puzzle engine, supports HD 480×800 display resolution and includes new backgrounds.

Resco Sudoku Touch is now available with 30% discount, and can be bought here.

Product page
Official Press Release

One of our good friends in the Windows Mobile community is Dom Masters, owner of Mastersoft Mobile Solutions.  He has made some phenomenal mobile games, including one of the few good mobile versions of Kakuro.  For some time, Mastersoft has talked about bringing their offerings over to the iPhone, and that transition is finally starting to happen.  Although it is still in the very early Alpha stages, Mastersoft is hard at work bringing both Sudoku and Kakuro to the iPhone and iPod Touch.  So…what does this have to do with you?  Well, a game (or games) this big need to be thoroughly tested before anyone can be expected to shell out their hard earned money, and as Brandon hinted the other day, Mastersoft is actively seeking Beta testers.  If you interested, just send your iPhone or iPod Touch UDID to betas [at] mastersoftmobilesolutions.com (don’t forget to replace the “at” with “@”.