To celebrate our launch of BoardBox’s 1.1 Update, we have reduced the price to $0.99 for a limited time! How limited? Until this coming Sunday, May 16th at least, and we’ll see how it goes from there.

This is your perfect opportunity to try out all the BoardBox fun that there is to be had: Chess, Checkers, the other 17 games, email multiplayer, and of course, our new addition of four variants of Backgammon and full Chess rules.

Have at it at the link below and enjoy BoardBox 1.1 when it launches very very soon!

Hello everyone, and I’m really glad that you’re all still reading this (well, those of you that are still reading this).

Movile Inc. is definitely still around, very much alive, and very much working hard to get some great new applications out to you. I will be announcing FOUR titles in the coming weeks, all for launch early-2010, and one even perhaps in 2009 if it slides through Apple’s approval process.

Here is what we know so far:

1) One application is tentatively titled “Everything”. Perhaps we will have a companion called “Anything” at some point? Odds are, well, you can wait and see.

2) Another is a kitchen accessory, but not in the way you’re thinking of a recipe sorter or grocery list application. Again, you’ll have to wait and see.

3) The final two are somewhat related to each other, but only in technical terms rather than being part of the same series or anything in that respect.

Yes, I realize we are being outrageously vague, and that is purposeful. The idea here is to have some information from you trickle down little by little as we unveil our latest applications to you.

Also, in case you were wondering where I had been all this time, the answer is Eggplante.com. I’ve begun a media review site that does celebrity interviews, concert and album reviews, photo sessions, tech and video game reviews, and more, so check it out if you’re at all interested in any of those things.

I admit, this is somewhat late, but I just managed to get through the (over hour long!) Google Wave premiere demonstration. Wow.

This platform is one of the first in a very long while to get me genuinely excited. The live collaboration, photo and file sharing, API integration, not to mention iPhone integration all has me in a trance. The features demonstrated are so natural that it makes me feel as if they should have been around all this time. I can not wait to jump on this bandwagon. If anyone has an invite, please please please send one my way!

I just wish Apple had thought of it first so I wouldn’t feel like I was betraying Cupertino by using a tool made by Android-makers to collaborate on our iPhone apps.

Our friends over at Eggplante.com have posted a review of Sony’s new PSPgo system, and they bring up an interesting point regarding the downloading of gaming titles. The PSP is a traditional unit. People expect to go to a store and buy a disc or cartridge (lookin’ at you, DS) and have the tangible game until they decide it is time to get rid of it. The trouble with the new PSPgo is that there is no way to buy physical games, but rather just download intangible copies.

The environmentalists will find a way to mean “well, that’s good; there will be fewer plastic carts floating around there!” First off, I doubt that this media makes up a significant chunk of environmental waste (Blu-Rays and DVDs exclusive), but more importantly, the main issue at play here is that the PSP is not an iPhone.

Downloading games will make it more difficult for people to adopt a system that has no way of using physical media (especially considering the system has a lot of legacy users with piles of UMDs lying around). The system works for Apple for two reasons:

1) The entire mantra of the iPhone is the constant connectivity, making it possible to download apps and games virtually anywhere. For those arguing that the iPod touch does not have this connectivity, they can be connected to the computer or utilize a wireless connection. “But the PSP has WiFi and an online store, and you can connect the PSPgo to a computer just as well,” I hear you cry. Sure, the PSPgo has a WiFi connection. So does the iPod touch. Therefore, moot point. However, users are simply not used to going to their computer and connecting a handheld to download new games. We have so many things hanging out of our USB hubs, and being able to avoid plugging in just one more thing sure can make or break the sales of a product, or at least, its perceived convenience and usability.

2) There aren’t massive groups of users with a previous generation of games for their handheld. Sony has previously stated that they would create a UMD-to-virtual transfer program whereby current users can buy a PSPgo and get a free copy of the same game in virtual form. They have since abandoned that program, likely abandoning huge sales of their PSP unit.

Also, pricing on the PSPgo is a bit ridiculous. With companies like EA making Madden and FIFA games on the iPhone, a product which has the same 16GB of built-in memory, in addition to a far superior app store as well as a lifestyle device of sorts, in a more convenient package, yet is $50 less. Come on, Sony, get your act together.

I find it humorous that Sony has even stated that they expect that the PSPgo will spur sales of the PSP-3000 system. Releasing a product that is too overpriced or without enough of an upgrade over the previous model that will actually spawn sales of the legacy system? Yeah, not sure that’s the best business move. Then again, this is Sony.

Disclaimer: owners of Movile Inc. also own stake in Eggplante.

While we’re in the midst of a lot of work on three titles (yes, three…. excited yet?), we thought it would be nice to do a little bit of clean-up on Theme Park Madness. With that said, we are currently in the process of trimming out about 20MB of excess that doesn’t really need to be in there. We found some extraneous files, audio files with bitrates that are unnecessarily high, and other bloated files. As such, we’ll be submitting the updated version to Apple this weekend with the hopes that it is approved and released sometime next week.

We’ll calculate the metrics for how much this actually saves and what the increase in performance it is and report back shortly. Cheers!