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iGDWC 2010: The Last 16 & Quarter Finals Review

England out! Scotland through! Eh?! You couldn’t make it up

iGDWC 2010: The Last 16 & Quarter Finals Review
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To quote the incomparable Ronan Keating, life is a rollercoaster.

For all of the journalists/bloggers (Steve Jobs to delete as appropriate) lucky enough to have been reporting on this year’s iPhone Game Developers World Championship, the competition’s Last 16 and Quarter Finals had stimulated more ups and downs than a back street chemist.

From our twin centres of Bath and London, England, we’ve been following the fortunes of the remaining 16 iPhone app developing nations in a week of top-level knockout blows.

These 12 enthralling matches have produced a mind-boggling 46 netbusters, and that’s not even including penalty shootouts!

Ahhh, the dreaded penalties. The Three Lions’ most feared bête noire. Deciding a nation’s fate by spot kicks induces almost as much polarisation among the footballing fraternity as goal line technology. Well, in England, anyway.

Before we over-analyse the relative merits of this ludicrous lottery, sorry officially-sanctioned test of nerves and skill, let’s take stock for a moment.

Whilst four countries are still in the hat and prepping for their respective semi final duels, another 12 have bitten the iStadium’s running track dust.

Ashes to Ashes, D.U.S.T. to D.U.S.T (Last 16)
On a stunning first day of knockout action, hosts, England, attempted to win Pocket Gamer’s very own version of The Ashes, and France’s Halo-flavoured N.O.V.A. entered into combat with another impressive acronym F.A.S.T.

The Australians’ formidable, and rather fleet-of-foot, Real Racing was parked in the way of Rockstar’s homegrown hero, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars. 120 drama-filled minutes couldn’t separate these driving midfielders, so penalty kicks ensued. Lo and behold, England’s frankly woeful record from 12 yards was maintained. Scotland was now the UK’s last hope. Crumbs.

Letter-for-letter, there was very little between France and Romania. With Gold Awards proudly sitting on their polished mantelpieces, the public vote proved the clincher. F.A.S.T.’s superior backing navigated the country to victory, leaving N.O.V.A. to catch the next Eurostar H.O.M.E.

Also exiting the iStadium stage left were the suddenly-fancied Serbians and the world’s second largest country (at least in terms of land-mass and moose), Canada. The brilliantly supported and ballsy Balkans had the distinct misfortune of bumping and bouncing into the David Beckham of the App Store, USA’s Doodle Jump. While Serbia matched the four-legged wonder for 90 minutes, its incredible exertions in previous games finally took their toll in extra time.

North America’s other great hope in the Last 16, Zombie Attack! didn’t fare quite as well as their next-door neighbours, managing to survive until half time before succumbing to the cerebral play of South Korea’s Zenonia 2.

Flying home to Rio...and Rotterdam
Two of the favourites for Sepp Blatter’s little shindig over in South Africa, Brazil and Spain, lit up the Bath sky on 28th June. South American flair met, shook hands with, and glibly praised Iberian flamboyance. However, after another bout of electrifying extra time, Brazil’s lights were switched off permanently, as Spain’s Ozone duly absorbed all of the winner’s acclaim.

Though the Japanese had been identified as potential champions in the group stages, form in the round robins doesn’t necessarily translate into knockout success - see Argentina Class of ‘06 or Holland Class of ’08 for more details. Cabinet classic Space Invaders: Infinity Gene’s Last 16 result against a spirited New Zealand side, however, couldn’t be interpreted as anything but a comprehensive 3-0 win.

The final day of second round action featured a small, unfashionable, and previously underwhelming tournament team...and Finland.

In the first of the two inter-European grudge matches, Scotland’s tower defence strategist, Bloons TD, had stepped out of the Flash comfort zone on the worldwide web to strut its funky stuff against Holland’s energetic mover, Pulse: The Game. Backed by the raucous Tartan Army, the Scotch warriors outthought and outdrank their Dutch counterparts 4 Tennants to 1 Heineken.

Finland had been described by no less an authority than Chris James as the Floyd Mayweather of the iOS development community. 59p-for-59p, the Nordic maestros were a soccer match for any nation left in the competition. For 45 minutes, though, Angry Birds had their wings clipped by Sweden’s labyrinthine dribbling. Only the scale of its support propelled the Finns over the finishing line and into the quarters.

Fight and Flight (Quarter Finals)
Eight teams. Four games. Two days. One iPhone.

But which is better? Street Fighter IV or Bruce Lee: Dragon Warrior? There’s only one way to find out...Fiiiiiiiiiighhhhhhttt!

Harry Hill may have struggled to pick a victor pre-game in this one-fall bout between Japan and Spain, but Ken, Ryu, and co. simply possessed too many attacking styles, formations, and fireballs for the Master of the Martial Arts in the end, emerging 2-0 victors.

It was less crash mat and more crash-landing in the day's other quarter final as fans and journos alike stocked up on binoculars and neck cream in preparation for Romania’s showdown with Australia. Two of the App Store’s finest aerial combatants soared into Bath for the evening. What followed entered into IGDWC folklore.

Digging deep into their reserve fuel tanks, Skies of Glory and Flight Control put on an exhibition of sky-high drama, which culminated in the longest shootout to date. 16 perfectly-executed spot kicks were soon forgotten when Romania’s valiant, but flawed, flyer did his best impersonation of Asamoah Gyan, Roberto Baggio, or (insert any English penalty taker here) to send the Aussies onwards and upwards.

The Star Spangled Banner or Flower of Scotland?
On the eve of Independence Day, the USA were looking to free themselves from their recent quarter final shackles. In an ironic (take note, Alanis Morissette) turn, their opponent at this quarter final stage was a sim of their own national sport, baseball.

South Korea's HomeRun Battle 3D managed to strike one or three bananaballs in the general direction of the American goal. Alas, a pair of homers from Space Miner: Space Ore Bust's trusty bat handed Uncle Sam the spoils on the iStadium diamond.

Last, but by no means least, came the last vestige of home-field hope. Representing the whole of Great Britain was usually the preserve of Andy Murray at Wimbledon, but Scotland's app developers were hoping to go two better than the Dunblane racket-swinger at the 2010 Pocket Gamer World Champs.

In their path stood the increasingly imposing, if slightly wooden, silhouette of Finland. Angry Birds had survived a Last 16 scare(crow), so Zen Bound was drafted in to ponder, meditate, and hopefully reflect on a splendid triumph. A cracking first half suggested this would be a meditative exercise, but the Tartan Army fought back valiantly second half to ensure blood and sweat were shed. Sadly, the only tears were ultimately their own, though, as the odd goal in five allowed the Finns to progress and set-up a true semi final battle of the App Store giants - Doodle Jump vs Angry Birds.

60 down, four to go...
Once more, the rivalries developed at this tournament have illustrated the depth and diversity of mobile studios, indie houses, and bedroom coders the world over that continue to support the iOS platform.

And there's still more to come! Over the next 24 hours, four game developing nations from America, Oceania, Asia, and Europe will square off for the right to play in the Pocket Gamer iPhone Game Developers World Championship final on July 11th.

So, make sure you pledge your allegiance, register your vote, and tune in for the latest results from this, the Greatest iPhone App Show on Earth.

The semi-final line-up (both to be played out on the evening of Wednesday 7th July) is as follows:

Japan vs Australia
Chaos Rings (Media.Vision) vs (Half Brick) Fruit Ninja

USA vs Finland
Doodle Jump (Lima Sky) vs (Rovio) Angry Birds

Who will win? you decide! VOTE NOW! Final Group Tables - Group Stage Round Up - Fixtures & Voting - Squads

Confused? Click here to go to the iPhone Game Developers World Championship info page.

MESSAGE FROM OUR SPONSORS: The iPhone Game Developers World Championship 2010 is brought to you by Pocket Gamer in association with FlickKick Football> check it out!
Richard Brown
Richard Brown
With a degree in German up his sleeve Richard squares up to the following three questions every morning: FIFA or Pro Evo? XBox 360 or PS3? McNulty or Bunk?