EA releases Sudoku, Royal Solitaire for iPod

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EA releases Sudoku, Royal Solitaire for iPod

Two new games—Sudoku and Royal Solitaire—have been released by Electronic Arts for the fifth-generation iPod. Based on the internationally successful Japanese grid number matching game, Sudoku is a 25.1MB download. Royal Solitaire features “10 of the most popular and well-known versions of Solitaire,” including Canfield, Klondike, Peaks, Pyramid, Beleaguered Castle, Aces Up, Yukon, FreeCell, Golf, and Scorpion. A 45.6MB download, it promises to allow you to track your own statistics, and those from “other players around the world.”

Both titles are available from the iTunes Store for United States, United Kingdom, and certain other European customers; at present, they do not appear to be universally available in international stores. As of press time, Japanese customers can see Royal Solitaire but not Sudoku, while other iTunes Stores such as Canada have neither title available.

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Comments

1

cool. Sudoku on ipod.. if only i have an ipod..

Posted by pol.b on December 18, 2006 at 10:21 PM (PST)

2

My iPod came preloaded with a solitaire game. However, I’m glad to see companies like EA starting to write games for the iPod.

Posted by Obadiah on December 19, 2006 at 6:05 AM (PST)

3

Wow! These games graphics look a few steps up from the other games. I can’t wait for them to make some advanced games. Maybe make an adventure game.

Posted by Caleb on December 19, 2006 at 6:36 AM (PST)

4

Both games are now available on the Canadian iTMS. Perhaps it was just an issue of timing why it wasn’t there previously.

Posted by Joe Canadian on December 19, 2006 at 7:26 AM (PST)

5

What would be cool would be some sort of driving game, the wheel would be so perfect for this.

Posted by Robert Kohr on December 19, 2006 at 7:53 AM (PST)

6

iTunes Store Japan is still not selling Sudoku.

Posted by Jeremy Horwitz in East Amherst, NY, USA on December 19, 2006 at 8:02 AM (PST)

7

I wonder how many combinations does this version of Sudoku has. I know you can buy some Sudoku dedicated games on the stores with thousands of New York Times combinations.

Posted by gbendana on December 19, 2006 at 9:06 AM (PST)

8

I agree with Robert Kohr. I can’t wait to see a driving game on the ipod. That wheel is just screaming for one.

Posted by gbendana on December 19, 2006 at 7:31 PM (PST)

9

Well, I downloaded Sudoku today and tried it out. I normally do a newspaper version of it while on my way to university and now I won’t have to make sure I brought my pencil with me. (I forget it sometimes. I like the graphics and while the controls are not iPod friendly (you need to scroll through the grid to get to the right spot, click once and then scroll to the correct letter and click to place it), it is still a good game to include on your iPod. It’s a great time-killer when travelling. It offers two types of game play, normal mode and newspaper mode (no numbers pre-entered). I’d never seen that variety before). The controls can be switched between “Scroll mode” and something called “4-Button Touch”. You can also opt to use both. Graphics are nice as I already said and you can increase/decrease brightness. There are also a few audio settings for volume and for disabling the audio (music and sound effects). There are 5 levels of play: Easy, Normal, Hard, Very Hard and Insane. You are also able to Save games or Abandon them. All in all, it’s a good addition to the iPod.

Posted by canadiandude on December 20, 2006 at 6:14 AM (PST)

10

Great post canadiandude. You sold me! I’m buying it now.

Posted by wwillie2 on December 20, 2006 at 8:36 AM (PST)

11

4-button touch dramatically increases the playability for me.

In the default control scheme you have to scroll in a fixed mode left-right and top-bottom through the entire grid to find the cell to fill in….not only is this tiring, it’s mentally frustrating knowing there a square right above or below your current square and you to scroll fast and then slow down and visually focus so you don’t overshoot it.

4-button control lets you tap (or hold) the four directions on the scroll wheel and the cursor moves immediately in that direction (note: this is not clicking the buttons ala normal ipod usage, rather it is just lightly touching the scroll wheel). A little knacky, but much less tiresome to me.

The best control scheme, imho, is the stylus based control of the Nintendo DS seen in BrainAge…you look, tap with the stylus, and pick the number. Still, having an ipod version is nice, and I can hope for touch sensitivity for some future ipod, right?

Posted by Thomas Affinito on December 20, 2006 at 11:29 AM (PST)

12

Both games are now available on the Australian iTMS. Regarding playability, having the ability to use the scroll and 4-button control together seems the best way to play Sudoku. Graphics are excellent!

Posted by Tawriffic on December 20, 2006 at 6:30 PM (PST)

13

H!, where can i download that sudoku for free?? ANY IDEA.. TNX

Posted by aldrine on July 11, 2007 at 9:08 AM (PST)

14

hi can anybody please tell me where to get the ea sudoku game music? i would really like to hear it just like music instead of oepening the game up to play! please and thank you!

Posted by lisarukia on July 13, 2007 at 10:53 PM (PST)

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