“Let’s just get this out of the way quickly. Word Ace is my new favorite game, and is the best game currently available for the Palm Pre.”

- from Gear Diary’s 30 Apps in 30 days.

Hey! Playing Word Ace? Curious what the letter distribution in the game is?

(E), (S) = backwards E/S

Number of each letter in the deck:

• E = 10
• A,I,O = 7
• R,T,N,L,C = 5
• U,D,P = 4
• M,H,Y,S = 3
• G,B,F,W,K,V, (E), (S) = 2
• X,Z,J,Q = 1

Point value of all letters:

• (E), (S) = -2pts
• A, E, I, O, U, S, T, N, R, L = 1pt
• C, D, P, M, H = 2pts
• G, B, F, Y = 4 pts
• W, K, V = 6 pts
• X, Z, J = 8 pts
• Q = 10 pts

Preapplications.net gives us a great writeup! Check it out here!

“Playing with real opponents and the ability to upload and view player photos makes this game very engaging and life-like. This Palm Pre app also comes with real-time chat capabilities, which you can use during the game itself. The achievements and gameplay will ensure that you keep coming back, and the ability to play regularly against the same opponents will help you hone your skills and make the game so much more competitive. Icons, menus, and other design aspects are simply top-notch and interface is surprisingly uncluttered and straightforward for an app that is relatively complex and feature-rich. A highly recommended download for all Palm Pre users.”

Fantastic!

A user, Mononoko, posted an awesome user review of Word Ace, on precentral.net’s forums!

“Overall, this is a great game, and I cannot wait to see what’s in store in the updates. Download it, trust me, you’ll like it.”

Word Ace makes an appearance on the Palm Blog! We’re off to a good start!

Our newest game, Word Ace, is LIVE on the Palm Pre!

Redwood City, CA — Self Aware Games™ (http://www.selfawaregames.com) is pleased to announce the release of Word Ace™ for the Palm® Pre™ phone.

The Word Ace application for Palm webOS™ combines the strategy and competition of Texas Hold ‘Em and the intellectual challenge of Scrabble®-like word creation into a fast-paced, challenging multiplayer online game you carry in your pocket. Do you have the cards and the skill to build the highest-scoring word, or are you going to have to bluff your way to victory?

• Online Multiplayer: Play with (or against) your friends online any time. Jump into a public game and compete against players across the globe, or set up a table for you and your friends.
• Infinitely Replayable Fun: Play Word Ace™ for a day, or play it for a year, and every time you pick it up, you’ll face a new challenge. Like any classic, Word Ace™ never gets old.
• Friends List: Add people to your Friends List, and you can play online with them any time. Invite a friend to your game with a simple click, or hop into a game they’re playing just as easily.
• Unique picture-based emotes: Win with an incredible word? Show your opponents you’re gloating. Smile or frown at your opponents with a simple click & drag.
• In-game text chat: Drop your friends a quick message through Word Ace’s in-game chat system! Someone win with a lousy word? Let them know what they should have spelled instead.
• Daily Chip Bonuses: Every day you play you earn a free chip bonus - so don’t let a day go by without a game of Word Ace™!

The best feature yet? All this is free. Play Word Ace™ online as much as you like, and it’ll cost you exactly nothing.

About the Palm Pre Phone
Palm Pre is the first phone running the new Palm webOS platform, which brings together your important information from where it resides – on your phone, at your work or on the web – into one logical view.(1) Palm Synergy™, a key feature of Palm webOS, pulls your contacts and calendars from places like Outlook, Google and Facebook, so everything is right there for you when you need it. Palm Pre also lets you flip back and forth between all the things you have open at once—instead of opening and closing them—so you can flow easily between applications without losing your place. The phone’s exquisite design includes a touch screen and a physical keyboard that slides out only when needed for fast access to anything on the device or web.

About Self Aware Games:
Self Aware Games, Inc. was founded in 2009 to build games that take advantage of the new generation of mobile devices. Backed by Social Concepts, Inc., whose advisors include Elon Musk, Jeff Skoll, and the founding members of Hotornot.com, the future of games is Self Aware. To find out more, go to http://www.selfawaregames.com

(1) Use of this device requires providing a valid e-mail address, mobile phone number, and related information for account setup and activation. Unlimited usage data plan strongly recommended; additional data charges may apply. Within wireless coverage area only. Number of applications and actual performance will vary depending on applications used and actions performed.

Palm, Pre, webOS and Synergy are among the trademarks or registered trademarks owned by or licensed to Palm, Inc.

Check out a video walkthrough here:

Turbo Asylum says:
“After every one of my Taxiball sessions—ranging from five minute pick-up-and-play to thirty minute high score chase—I felt incredibly satisfied; the addictive ball-rolling action and quirky musical accompaniment just never grows old.”

Check out the review here!

Dan got a new car!

But seriously… it’s a strange place to be in, right now. Dan & Colin went to the Predevcamp this weekend, which was exciting, and gave a talk that was well-received! You can see a little snippet of part of [NEW GAME] (Yes, I know everyone knows what it’s called. Shaddap.) in this videoblog of the event. (~5:55 into the video)

All in all, a good time was had.

It’s sort of a weird thing to put on a blog, where the obvious goal of the blog itself is to be sort of a publicity outlet, but just as a personal note, I can’t wait for this thing to be released. Can’t wait. And the weird thing about it is that normally, it’s this anticipation of, “How will people like it?” or “How will it be reviewed?” or “How will it sell?”

The weird thing for me is that with [NEW GAME], I don’t care about any of that. I mean, obviously I do, but it all totally pales into comparison with one other thing:

I can’t wait to play this game with you.

Can’t wait. We’ve played hundreds of hours of [NEW GAME] over the last few months - from our first paper and pencil prototypes to the latest builds of the game, and it just doesn’t get old. Every game, something happens - something tense, something funny, something new and exciting. I can see myself playing this 10 years from now, and it’ll still be as fun as it was the first week we got a game together.

Soon…

…not soon enough!