This morning I received a nice surprise in a brown Please Do Not Bend envelope: a Pocket Gamer Silver Award certificate for B-Boy Beats emblazoned with the quote “the sheer level of polish and an excellent soundtrack ensure that feet and fingers alike will be itching to face off against the next challenge”. Me and Tom were so moved we rushed out and picked up a befitting silver frame, stuck it on the wall and shook hands in a neat photo op (as seen below).

Our thanks go to PG!

We’ve overtaken Tap Tap Revenge 3 to become the number one free music game in most countries now and are currently in the top 50 overall free apps (not just games, all apps) in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Solvenia, Japan, Netherlands, Belgium, Singapore, Finland and Italy! And are rocking top 100 game in almost every country in the world.

Hitting that top spot!

Twitter has been astir with tweets aplenty and we had a huge big-up from the App Era. If you haven’t gone and gotten the game yet, then go and grab it now while it’ll costs you diddly-squat. Let’s see if we can’t rock that number 1 spot by the end of the week!

One of the most accurate thermometers of the iPhone gaming climate is the Touch Arcade forums where many a knowledable and refined gamer doth dwell. Some choice words from the official B-Boy Beats thread:

“I love this game… The finger mechanic is awesome and makes more sense score-wise than the just-released Riddim Ribbon… In a span of mere moments this has become my fav music game on the iDevices. This makes me happy to have such a platform. It’s exciting to know this type of development is possible. TAG Games, you have my utmost respect for this. BRAVO!” – russiaone

Wowee, russiaone! I’m sure you meant Mobile Pie when you said Tag Games (our publisher), but we’ll let you off on that one. You’re on our Christmas card list for sure this year. Some other bite-sized chunks of wisdom:

“I really like it. Very well made and unique.” – asd921150

“A lot of fun” – Hodapp

“This is top of my birthday shopping list” – ‘Jeep

Even down at Apple’s App Store people are feeling the funky-funky-thang of BBB:

“This will top all other music games” – Funky Chunky Munky

“Excellent rhythm based game… A nice change from the usual tap to the beat games. Really enjoying this and love the hip hop soundtrack” – Makaveli-8

“OMG, it’s awesome! Within minutes my fingers were breakdancing away and I had a HUGE smile on my nodding head… The dancing gameplay is really unique… loads of fun once you’re in to it! Would recommend this to anyone – nice graphics, funky tunes and a lot of fun. It’s well worth the money – just buy it!” – BristolZoo

“The tracks are awesome… a lot of fun” – Mickeyjtothed

“What a great game. Totally addictive and really fun. With a fantastic soundtrack and genuinely new gameplay. It’s so exciting to play a game that just isn’t the same thing all over again, but is new, fresh and really engaging. I highly recommend it” – Gingertom_UK

“Plenty of humour… Up there among my favourite iPhone games” – Precutted

“If you like Tap Tap… you’ll love it.” - ChuckyNorris

But what about them pro journos reviewers? So far we only have one review in, but it’s from the awesome, fair and balanced dudes over at Touch Gen. What they say? They say:

B-Boy Beats doesn’t have any flash 3D graphics, but it oozes charm through cartoon characters and graffiti style elements that capture the essence of the hip-hop dance scene.

This is all about the music. And for hip-hop lovers this doesn’t disappoint. Sure, the music doesn’t feature the creme-de-la-creme of hip-hop stars… but what it does do is sound great and, most importantly, gets your toes tapping (or in this case your fingers).

B-Boy Beats then is a fun little dance game. While it doesn’t have the brand power of the DDR series, it can stand toe-to-toe (or finger-to-finger) with it in terms of gameplay.

3.5 stars / 5

So there we go! B-Boy Beats has been a true, but often tough, labour of love for us here in The Oven and it’s really overwhelming to see such positive response from the world, making what we do so worthwhile.

If you have any comments about BBB then contact us and let us know – we love to hear your thoughts and suggestions!

The actual B-Boy Beats hype train

If we all believed the hype we’d be riding around on Segways, playing Nintendo Virtual Boys and listening to Jedward. That isn’t a world I’d like to reside in. But sometimes, like when Mobile Pie make a game, it’s time to listen and get yourselves very excited.

Following the launch of the teaser trailer, the Internet has gone totally loco and almost completely jammed itself up with fan gushing about our upcoming hippty-hop rhythm action extravaganza B-Boy Beats. Are these people right to be excited? Yes, they are.

AppGamer.net said that “Mobile Pie’s upcoming rhythm action title is seriously dope” which of course is very true. A discerning reader of the site, a gent or lady known only by the moniker jopper456, commented that the teaser trailer “looks mental!” We hope that’s a good thing, Jopper.

The funky and righteous robo-dudes over at Appboy reckon “B-Boy Beats is probably going to keep you entertained for a while” and that “visually, the game looks exciting”. Right on, brother!

But, what did the acclaimed journalists at iPhone Review 2.0 think?. Well, they reckon we’re “aiming to show the other music games how it’s really done.” While MustTap added that BBB is going to be a “different style of rhythm game”. Very insightful and accurate, MustTap and iPhone Review 2.0.

The industry site, CausalGaming.biz, thinks that “B-Boy Beats [is] set to ‘break’ the iPhone”. Not literally we hope. It has been extensively QA’ed.

Pocket Gamer reckons it’s “looking and sounding mighty funky” whilst site reader hopp56 think it “looks the business” and “could provide a decent DDR experience on iPhone for the first time after the dissapointment of Rock Band and the mediocre Tap Tap games.” Wowzers!

Meanwhile YouTube and other video sharing sites have been awash with articulate comments including: “Clever idea!” from RedShirtTheory, “looks great” by Th3AppStoreReview and “looks cool” from dr-mcd00d. Mean while the forums are jam packed with: “Darn, this is kooool” (wonderlandy), “it looks real cool” (‘Jeep) and, of course, “lolwut” (loves2spoon).

And finally always-on-the-beating-pulse-of-the-capital London-centric news site Your Local Guardian bolstered the hype by saying bold claims “might well prove to be justified when the game is released in the App Store on February 14.”

Don’t know about you, but I’m about to explode with excitement!

DUNDEE, UK – 26th NOVEMBER 2009

Scottish iPhone publisher and developer Tag Games is today pleased to announce that its first title in an exciting roadmap of third party games will be the awesome rhythm, action and battle game B-Boy Brawl.

A partnership with Mobile Pie, the hugely talented development studio based in the UK’s hip hop heartland of Bristol, will see this widely anticipated game unleashed on the App Store early in the New Year.

Paul Farley, Managing Director of Tag Games, said, “since we demonstrated how effective our marketing efforts could be with the launch of Car Jack Streets earlier in the year, the telephone hasn’t stopped ringing with iPhone developers interested in Tag publishing their content. Given our understanding and success in delivering games to the App Store it was therefore inevitable that we would eventually take the plunge into publishing external content. ”

He continues “We decided early on that we’d only want to publish games that reflect the style and attitude of our own content and when the team at Mobile Pie approached us with B-Boy Brawl we knew we had a great fit. I’m very excited by the prospect of the Tag and Mobile Pie teams working closely together to bring iPhone gamers a rhythm action game with originality, wit, style and of course some sweet hip hop tracks.”

“We’re extremely excited to be partnering with Tag Games on B-Boy Brawl as they bring so much passion and a wealth of expertise to the party,” said Will Luton, Creative Producer at Mobile Pie. “We’ve put months of love into the game and with the tracks we have lined up it’s destined to shake up the iPhone gaming world!”

Due to be released late January 2010 B-Boy Brawl promises to make a mockery of other weak wristed iPhone music games. Aiming to own the streets (and of course the App Store) the game features a unique control method that allows players to ‘finger break’ for the first time, awesome street style visuals, various crews to ‘battle’ and loads of great hip hop.

ENDS

About Tag Games

Tag Games is an independent game developer and publisher based in Dundee, Scotland, which has quickly established itself as a leader in the creation of games for mobile and digital download platforms. We have earned critical acclaim and commercial success with a number of varied titles including our recent top 10 iPhone hit Car Jack Streets. We have extensive experience of game development for the most important mobile platforms including iPhone, Android, PSP minis, DSi, Blackberry, J2ME and BREW.

Tag’s reputation for flexibility, innovation and delivery is second to none, successfully balancing the creation of original IP alongside development of licensed and commission titles. Tag Games partners include Endemol, Connect2Media, I-play, Big Fish Games, GlobalFun, Tern TV and Sandlot Games.

Media Contact: Paul Farley Tag Games T: +44 (0)1382 220925 E: paul.farley@tag-games.com

About Mobile Pie Mobile Pie is a developer of imaginative entertainment for mobile platforms. Based in the heart of Bristol, the studio has received such notable accolades as Channel 4’s New Mobile Game Developer of the Year and received the Media Innovation Awards’ Trophy 2008.

Mobile Pie has led cutting edge research in games and mobile technologies and have worked with such prestigious clients as Hewlett-Packard and the BBC, putting us ahead of the pack in terms of technology and expertise.

With focus now shifting towards our own original IP Bristol Media identified us as “Ones to Watch” for 2009 whilst Chinwag told the world our “award winning content has mouths watering all over and people coming back for more.”

We are set to continue our growth in to the coming years and beyond with Mobile Pie becoming synonymous in the gaming public’s mind with high quality titles for mobile platforms.

Media Contact: Will Luton, Mobile Pie, T: 44 (0) 1173 155228, E: will@mobilepie.com

Designated trademarks and brands are the property of their respective owners. E&OE.

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