22
Dec
2011-10-21 17h07_01

[Updated: Here Is The Winner!] Mega-Holiday Giveaway #8: Win A Galaxy Nexus (GSM or CDMA) Courtesy Of BitHack For Doing Next To Nothing

Posted by in Contests / Giveaways, Galaxy Nexus
Last Updated: February 3rd, 2012

Who wants a free Galaxy Nexus? You do? We thought so, and we've one to give away - CDMA or GSM, it's winner's choice this time.

Before we get into the giveaway details, though, we want to give some love to the guys at BitHack, without whom this giveaway wouldn't be possible. BitHack is the dev team behind the game Apparatus, a title that you've probably heard quite a few times 'round here at Android Police.

This contest is now over. Here is our winner, selected by BitHack from almost 2,500 comments:
  • Ben Warren with this 1-line review: "The only game I've played where I can quite happily spend 3 hours trying to come up with the most ludicrously complex way to move a ball an inch and a half to the left."

Congratulations - you will be contacted for your information in the near future!

19
Aug
appa

Apparatus Finally Leaves Beta, Unveils A Bunch Of New Features (Including Rockets!)

Posted by in Games, News

I feel a little bit of an attachment to Apparatus - we were one of the first blogs to review the game, which was a nice discovery while browsing Reddit one day. I've seen the app grow and add a whole boatload of interesting features; it truly is one of the Android platform's best games.

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So when we got word today that it was finally leaving beta and stepping into the world of "finished" products, I couldn't help but smile a little bit. It's good to see games go through an entire development cycle and remain interesting and relatively bug-free all the way through.

10
Aug
lodsys1_Page_1

Lodsys Flags Another Android Developer - Bithack, The Creator Of Apparatus. Here Is One Of Their Ridiculous Infringement Claims [Pictures]

Posted by in News

Lodsys, the king troll of all patent trolls, has been attacking developers of both Android and iOS apps for a few months now (yeah, even Rovio) with their claims of owning a patent to the free->paid upgrade process using in-app purchases.

Their latest victim is Bithack, the developer of Apparatus. Yup, the same Bithack who raised hell about the Amazon Appstore last month and whose game is currently averaging 4.6 stars in the Market. Lodsys is not currently suing them, but did sent a heap of documents with patent license requests, looking for a quick settlement rather than going to court.

06
Jul
AmazonAppstoreLogo_thumb (1)

We Sit Down With The Head Of The Amazon Appstore And Talk Refunds, Reviews, Device Filtering, And More

Posted by in Android OS, Apps/Games, Development, Interviews

When we published a piece reporting on the recent decision of game developer Bithack to pull its popular title Apparatus from the Amazon Appstore, we contacted Amazon asking for comment on the whole situation.

Earlier this week, Amazon got back to us and wanted to sit down and discuss the Appstore and some of the issues that developers and customers alike have had. While Amazon could not specifically discuss the complaints of Bithack for confidentiality reasons, they were able to generally talk about some of the concerns Bithack raised.

Today, I spoke with Aaron Rubenson, Category Leader (essentially, head of business) of the Amazon Appstore.