Following up on its successful App Store adaptation of The Sims 3 and its spinoff World Adventures, Electronic Arts has released The Sims 3: Ambitions ($4.99), an expansion that introduces a variety of new character goals and gameplay objectives.

Ambitions includes a newly expanded Build Mode, which equips players with advanced home customization tools. The new Career Mode features several different jobs to pursue, each of which boasts its own unique set of goals, minigames, outfits, and locations.

And then there’s the babies. EA notes that babies are by far The Sims 3′s “most requested feature,” and Ambitions finally allows new parents to feed, clothe, and cuddle a newborn Sim. Aww.

If you have a favorite Sim that you’d like to introduce to parenthood, fear not — The Sims 3: Ambitions fully supports the exporting and importing of characters from The Sims 3 and The Sims 3: World Adventures.

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RISK is finally here! I have to admit that I’m a bit baffled as to why EA waited so long to release RISK on the App Store. Now RISK has to deal with “clone” competitors, too, many of which tout more features than this official version. Still, while this is a somewhat flawed and bare-bones release, it’s very approachable and is still a good strategy game overall.

For newcomers, RISK is a game of world domination. Three to six players compete on a single world map, vying for total control. Each turn consists of three phases: Draft, Attack, and Fortify. During Draft, you’re awarded troops based on how much territory you control, and you assign them to the territories you wish. Attack is straightforward: ordering troops to attack enemy territory, in which dice-rolling luck plays a large role. Finally, with Fortify, you can move troops from one territory to another, but only once.

Another feature: “risk cards” are earned for conquering territories. These can be traded in for extra troops at the start of your turn. Weirdly, the app doesn’t allow you to view which cards you have…only how many. Frustrating.

Also frustrating: while the game includes three AI difficulty levels, multiplayer is where the meat of any strategy game is. However, your only human-vs-human options are local WiFi / Bluetooth with up to four players, or Pass-n-Play with up to six. Really? Where’s the global internet competition? Add the lack of global multiplayer to a single available map, a relatively easy computer opponent, simple graphics, and no support for house rules, and it’s clear that this version of RISK is as bare-bones as they come.

RISK is still a solid, fun game; how could it not be? Strategy fans and RISK faithful in particular should enjoy it; the epic, sprawling games are highly engaging. Just be aware that there are many, many clones…some of which surely outshine this stripped-down port.

[ RISK Review is a post from 148Apps ]

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EA’s college football franchise NCAA Football arrives in the App Store today in two different flavors: NCAA Football ($6.99) for the iPhone and iPod Touch, and an enhanced NCAA Football HD ($7.99) specifically tailored for the iPhone 4.

The iPhone 4-optimized version of NCAA Football boasts high-resolution graphics suited for the device’s Retina display, eliminating many of the graphical flaws that would be apparent with pixel doubling.

Both versions of the game feature 55 collegiate teams, a season-long single-player mode that simulates all major Bowl games, a fully-featured Team Editor (allowing players to customize everything from jersey colors to fight songs selected from an iTunes playlist), and a multiplayer mode playable over a Bluetooth connection.

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[ EA, You’re Doin’ It Wrong! (HD is for the iPad, Silly.) is a post from 148Apps ]

Savings alert! Electronic Arts has dropped the price of many titles in its App Store catalog to 99 cents. If you’ve been eyeing some of the company’s high-profile offerings for the iPhone and iPod Touch, now’s the time to check and see if you can score a few games for a fraction of their original cost.

The sale includes popular titles like Command & Conquer: Red Alert, Need for Speed Shift, and Dragon’s Lair. Be warned, though — you have only 48 hours to buy these games before they return to full price.

• Battleship (was $1.99)
• Clue (was $1.99)
• Command & Conquer: Red Alert (was $6.99)
• Connect 4 (was $2.99)

• Dragon’s Lair (was $4.99)
• FIFA 10 (was $4.99)
• The Game of Life: Classic Edition (was $1.99)
• Jewel Quest Mysteries: Curse of the Emerald Tear (was $2.99)
• Madden NFL 10 (was $6.99)
• NBA Live (was $2.99)

• Need for Speed Shift (was $6.99)
• Need For Speed Undercover (was $4.99)
• SimCity (was $2.99)
• Surviving High School (was $2.99)
• Tiger Woods PGA Tour (was $2.99)
• Trivial Pursuit (was $4.99)
• Yahtzee Adventures (was $2.99)

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In preparation for the imminent launch of Skate 3 on consoles, EA has released Skate It ($6.99), a scaled-down iPhone version of its skateboarding franchise.

Skate It uses accelerometer and flick controls to trigger a variety of grabs, flips, and grinds. As with many skateboarding titles, players earn points for stringing together combinations of air and land stunts.

The iPhone version of Skate It also features a character creation mode, along with a replay recording feature that allows players to capture their best tricks and most painful failures.

(Related note: this incredible compilation video of bizarre Skate moments is pretty much guaranteed to instantly make you a fan of the series. My favorite starts at around 23 seconds in. Physics!)

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Following up on last year’s successful FIFA 10, Electronic Arts has released 2010 FIFA World Cup, a 3D soccer sim featuring 105 official league teams.

2010 FIFA World Cup boasts an overhauled control scheme, simplifying input to three clearly labeled buttons and a virtual control stick. The game includes four single-player modes, along with training and multiplayer options.

The new World Cup tournament mode lets players take their favorite team through a series of qualifying matches, or skip straight to the finals leading up to the World Cup championship game.

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Every Monday, FingerGaming rounds up the most popular paid iPhone and iPod Touch applications, as current that day on the iTunes App Store. This week’s top titles are:

1. The Simpsons Arcade ($0.99)
2. Doodle Jump ($0.99)
3. Monopoly ($2.99)
4. The Game of Life Classic Edition ($1.99)
5. Diner Dash ($0.99)
6. Skee-Ball ($0.99)
7. The Sims 3 World Adventures ($6.99)
8. Words With Friends ($1.99)
9. 5 Minutes to Kill (Yourself) ($0.99)
10. All-in-1 Gamebox ($0.99)

EA’s The Simpsons Arcade climbs to the top of today’s chart after dropping in price to 99 cents. Last week’s sales leader Where’s Waldo? has since disappeared from the top ten entirely after a price increase to $2.99.

Monopoly and The Game of Life also enjoy new popularity this week following recent price drops, as EA’s The Sims 3 World Adventures finishes its debut week at seventh place.

Here are this week’s top-selling iPad applications:

1. Real Racing HD ($9.99)
2. Scrabble for iPad ($9.99)
3. Flight Control HD ($4.99)
4. Plants vs. Zombies HD ($9.99)
5. Need for Speed Shift for iPad ($14.99)
6. Game Table ($0.99)
7. Labyrinth 2 HD ($7.99)
8. X-Plane for iPad ($9.99)
9. Frogger Pad ($0.99)
10. Words With Friends HD ($4.99)

Firemint’s upgraded HD version of Real Racing finishes as the iPad’s biggest-selling launch title. EA’s Scrabble also sees impressive sales in the iPad’s first week of release, as enhanced editions of Flight Control and Plants vs. Zombies follow close behind at third and fourth place.

Though the iPad-optimized version of EA’s Need for Speed Shift manages to take fifth place in spite of a high price point, 99-cent applications like Game Table and Frogger Pad also rank among the iPad’s top launch week sellers.

Illusion Labs’ Labyrinth 2 HD and Laminar’s flight sim X-Plane finish at seventh and eighth place, as Newtoy captures tenth place with Words With Friends HD.

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