November iTunes Gift Code Winners Announced!

We made a big deal here last month about joining our mailing list, and your opportunity to win free iTunes Gift Codes in exchange for a few pieces of snarky mail each month from Appy Entertainment’s Secret Worldwide Headquarters.

Today, after an unexpected degree of trial and tribulation, we’re happy to announce that Max R. of Germany and Jessica M. of Brazil are the inaugural winners of our drawing!

Winners have been contacted, and have their winnings in hand.

No doubt you will feel disappointed that you did not win … but we have just the tonic for that! We’re doing another drawing!

Rules for the December drawing are as follows:

1. The drawing will be for a $20 USD iTunes gift code.
2. The recipient must accept a U.S. code (many of our overseas friends have already set up accounts in the U.S. iTunes store).
3. We will draw five names for the December drawing.
4. Join our mailing list to enter the drawing.

We’re sorry for the inconvenience this will cause our international players, but we really don’t see a way around the way Apple handles international iTunes gift codes. If anyone out there has any insight or work-arounds for us, we’d love to hear it!

And how do you get on to this magical mailing list, both to qualify for the drawing, and to get a couple notices each month from Appy about new games and cool stuff? Easy! Just click HERE!

The December issue of the Appy Insider will go out to all mailing list members early next week, and will include an illustrated FaceFighter move list and another sneak preview of our unannounced next game.

So join the list, and tell a friend, and maybe you’ll score some free stuff. Thanks!

Introducing Best iPhone App Store

It’s not enough for iPhone developers to merely develop games. In our year in this wacky business, we’ve discovered that we also need to be customer support technicians, social media experts, public relations people, and marketing and advertising folks, too. So here comes a marketing message from the evil geniuses at Appy Entertainment!

As you may know, getting noticed and discovered is the number one challenge for micropublishers like Appy. With over 100,000 apps in the market, how on earth are we supposed to stand out? We rely tremendously on you, the Appy Army, to spread the word about our games and our company … but in an effort to reach new customers who are looking for the ideal selection of apps to put on their new i-device, we’ve opened a new store front:

www.bestiphoneappstore.com

You will find Zombie Pizza and FaceFighter here, of course, but you’ll find even more from other publishers, and every one of these apps deserves a place on your phone or touch. Check it out … and when a friend or relative comes to you with their new device this holiday season, wondering what games they should buy, we’d deeply appreciate it if you’d point them toward www.bestiphoneappstore.com.

Thanks!

Beat The Developers!

While you may desire to thrash us with truncheons, that’s not what this is about. Fans wishing to do us bodily harm should check out FaceFighter …

… but for the rest of you hoping to prove your superiority to Appy Entertainment at our own game — Zombie Pizza — then step right up to beat … the … developers!!!

That’s right, thanks to the awesome Open Feint leader boards in version 1.2 of Zombie Pizza, you can match your top score in survival mode against the knuckleheads who made the game. Search out our handles and see how you measure up!

From left-to-right, we have …

• Motar: Farzad Varahramyan, Appy Creative Visual Director, and artist of Zombie Pizza.
• Marcus99: Marc-Antoine Argenton, Appy Entertainment Lead Programmer, FaceFighter co-creator, and the best pizza-making Frenchman in the world.
• galactor: Appy Project Director Emmanuel Valdez, co-creator of FaceFighter and (as of this writing) the top-scoring Zombie Pizza player in the world.
• Sargietest: Steve Sargent, Appy Executive Producer … but he’ll claim his score doesn’t count because he’s “just testing.”
• RickOrama: Appy CFO Rick Olafsson. He’s great with numbers, but Zombie Pizza? Not so much.
• Dokmo: Appy CEO Chris Ulm, still trailing Paul O’Connor. Que lastima!
• Goldenboat: Appy Brand Director Paul O’Connor, primary voice of this blog.
• And not pictured (to protect his innocence) iSol: Craig Broadbooks, Lead Programmer of Zombie Pizza.

Add us as friends via Open Feint and post here when you’ve beaten our scores. It will be no real challenge to knock off Rick, Ulm, or I, but if you can beat Em, you’ve earned some bragging rights!

(To add a friend, from the first screen of Zombie Pizza, you need to select Leaderboards > Friends (at the bottom) > Find My Friends> Then type in Open Feint name as listed above)

Megan Fox Is A Man!

No, we don’t believe it, either. C’mon … look at her!

Megan Fox

But since the headline comes from our partners-in-crime over at the Weekly World News — and since Megan Fox is kind of the patron saint of our blog, whether cast against her will into the movie we wished we could see, or pressganged into promoting Appy Newz — we would be remiss in letting this report from the world’s “only reliable news source” pass without comment.

Plus, this is an excellent time to remind you that our very own Weekly World News iPhone app is perfect for putting flesh on all your Megan Fox fantasies.

No, it won’t make her naked!

But, did you know that in addition to being a man, Megan Fox is also an ancient alien?

Or did you know that Megan Fox gave birth to Bigfoot’s Baby?

It seems fantastic, but it’s in the pages of the Weekly World News … so it must be true!

If you’d like to compose your own spin on the truth with our Weekly World News app … maybe by plastering the faces of your own loved ones on some of the most shocking covers in journalistic history … then click on the button below to buy Weekly World News for iPhone right now!

But whatever you do, don’t you dare put Megan Fox’s face on Bat Boy’s head. That would be going too far …!

Another Apple Spotlight For Zombie Pizza

Apple has really thrown their weight behind Zombie Pizza. First Apple had us as a “Hot New Game,” then we were “New & Noteworthy,” and finally Zombie Pizza was front-and-center during Apple’s Halloween Apps promotion.

Now we’ve popped up on Apple’s own page, as a Staff Pick on their iPhone page.

This is the most prestigious placement we’ve received from Apple so far, and we couldn’t be prouder … unless we started showing up on in-store displays or a TV spot. But let’s not be greedy!

The really good news for Zombie Pizza and Appy Entertainment is that Apple has deemed our goofy undead pizza making game as an essential part of every new iPhone user’s app collection. Our fingers are crossed that this will result in increasing sales as new owners come into the market over the holidays.

Thanks once again to Apple, and of course the loyal Appy Army for supporting us in this crazy dream!

Who Is The Greatest Zombie Pizza Chef Of All?

A new version of Zombie Pizza is available for your downloading pleasure — this update is FREE to existing owners (and new players can get their copy HERE). Version 1.2 of Zombie Pizza adds the “endless” Survival Mode …

… and an Open Feint leader board for Survival Mode …

… we’re number seven in the world right now, but that won’t last long now that legitimate players are getting their hands on the game.

There’s also a fist-full of Zombie Pizza Achievements to acquire …

There are 42 achievements in all, awarded for things as trivial as surviving your first night or getting killed, as difficult as rolling over the score display from 99,999, and everything in between.

So now is your chance to prove your dominance of Zombie Pizza! Who is the greatest Zombie Pizza chef in the world? Download our update, and start slinging those eyeballs, guts, and brains! We’ll see you on the leader boards!

[a]listed!

We’ve been interviewed by Ayzenberg Group on our experience and expertise in marketing apps for Apple’s iPhone.

To see why we compare Apple to the Kremlin (which we mean as a compliment, really!), mouse on over and read the full interview.

And while you’re there, sign up for Ayzenberg’s [a]list daily news … it is a vital part of our RSS routine, delivering news about games and game advertising to us each and every day.

FaceFighter: One Million Downloads (And Four-And-A-Half Mice!)

A million is undeniably a milestone and so today we note that sometime in the past two weeks, FaceFighter passed one million total downloads, in all of its formats. If we’d been watching closely we’d have trumpeted our success in a press release on the hour of that millionth download … but … well … we were pretty focused on Zombie Pizza and Halloween so the big date slipped past us.

But think about it — a million downloads! That’s quite something for the little app-that-could from the scrappiest iPhone startup on the block. We are delighted that FaceFighter has found (and continues to find) such a wide audience, and we have all sorts of plans on the boil for everyone’s favorite picture-fighter, including an illustrated move list that will debut in our November newsletter (want to get it? Sign up HERE).

Along with our download milestone we are happy to report that FaceFighter has been reviewed by Macworld! The source-of-record for all things Apple awarded FaceFighter 4.5 of 5 mice!

Macworld says, “With great graphics, cool kung fu sounds, and a multi-player mode, FaceFighter is really entertaining. Add in the ability to create custom foes, and hilarity quickly ensues.”

And we quite agree! Don’t believe us (or Macworld?). Then purchase FaceFighter by clicking HERE, or download the free version HERE!

Thanks to all our many (million!) players worldwide for making FaceFighter into a hit. We’ll see you at two million downloads!

Who Knew It Would Be So Hard To Give A Gift?

We made much ballyhoo here last month about a $25 iTunes giveaway for joining our mailing list. Earlier this week, amid much secrecy, we drew four names off of our mailing list and figured all that remained was to make four members of the Appy Army happy with their gift cards.

Simple, right?

Ah, but as Carl von Clausewitz told us, “Everything in war is simple, but the simplest thing is difficult. The difficulties accumulate and end by producing a kind of friction that is inconceivable unless one has experienced war.”

For the above quote, substitute “software development” for war … or in this specific case, substitute “marketing of software development” for war.

von Clausewitz

We’re babbling.

OK, here’s what’s going on.

Our winners came from Brazil, Germany, Austria, and the United Kingdom. Awesome! We love our international players. But … Apple apparently doesn’t allow us to purchase iTunes Gift Cards or codes for any store but the one where we’re registered (the United States). So, getting codes to our international winners has been one of those simple things that has accumulated von Clausewitz’s inconceivable friction.

And it is not just the major issue of international payments that is vexing us. Turns out that for on-line certificates, Apple only permits denominations divisible by ten … so we can’t actually award a $25 certificate. Instead, it just became $30 USD. Ah, well, more love for our players, that’s fine. But only two of the four winners have actually contacted us to verify their email addresses! So to our German and British winners … write us back! We have a prize for you (provided we can figure how to send it out of the country).

All of which is our problem, and not yours, and we sincerely apologize for the delay in awarding prizes. We’ll get it dialed in one way or the other!

But there will be some changes for the December drawing:

1. The drawing will be for a $20 USD iTunes gift code.
2. The recipient must accept a U.S. code (many of our overseas friends have already set up accounts in the U.S. iTunes store).
3. We will draw five names, rather than four, for the December drawing.

We’re sorry for the inconvenience this will cause our international players, but at this hour we really don’t see a way around the way Apple handles international iTunes gifts. If anyone out there has any insight or work-arounds for us, we’re all ears!

Thanks!

(And if you want to sign up for our goofy list, click HERE … but please be a resident of our solar system, it is so much easier that way).

‘Appy Halloween From Appy Entertainment!

Today is Halloween, which besides being our favorite holiday, marks the first birthday of Appy Entertainment.

We’d like to thank all of our friends, family, and the loyal Appy Army for affording us their warm support this past year. We hope you’ve enjoyed our games, and our antics here in this blog and on Twitter. This last year has been the time of our lives.

Have a safe holiday, and we’ll see you next week as we begin Year Two of the Appy Era!