SGN has announced an update to its F.A.S.T. (Fleet Air Superiority Training) iPhone game. Bluetooth integration. The iPhone application was initially announced earlier this year, and was still unnamed at the time.

It’s all about jet-fighting and flying aircrafts, complete with a variety of armed aircraft that are loaded with missiles and guns. There are radar-guided and heat-seeking missiles, and let’s not forget about the accellorameter, which has become a focal point for many iPhone games but have become signature for those created by SGN.
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Another accelerometer game from Social Gaming Network (SGN) is due out this summer, along with the iPhone OS 3.0. SGN hasn’t revealed many details about the upcoming game, but based on the screenshots we received, the game looks to be a flight simulator, with some good fighting action going on.
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Social gaming company SGN is announcing the appointment of Eric Huynh as its new Chief Technology Officer, as well as the company’s new President of Engineering. With a successful year in 2008 and plans to expand its network approach to social gaming and advertising across social networking platforms and mobile devices, SGN is gearing up for a major push towards reaching the next level. Huynh’s appointment is evident of SGN’s plans to ramp things up, with a large focus on the technology behind its products.
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Another iPhone accelerometer game from SGN is being released this weekend. SGN’s Mafia: Respect & Retaliation is kind of reminiscent of Sin City, thanks to the 3D graphics and location-based game play. You participate by completing “jobs” in optional real-world locations, including The Empire State Building, Central Park Zoo, Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, Miami Seaquarium, or the Houston Museum of Natural Science, which is an interesting way of incorporating physical locations with game play. Aside from these set game locations, players can also play based on their own locations around the globe.

The good thing about this location-based game is that it’s social, which is an important feature that SGN has been incorporating into some of its more recent games. The social aspect of Mafia in particular could really add to the appeal of this game. With social features, players can compete these real-world tasks against local players, or challenge their friends. There’s also the option of playing against other users based on their geographic location around the world.

In adding this social layer, SGN continues to build a user-centric network around its games, broadening the appeal and the usability of each new release it has. Seeing as Apple hasn’t made its mobile devices entirely social on its own accord, third parties with their own network approach have been able to leverage the permeation of Apple’s iPhone and iPod Touch in order to expand their products, services and advertising.

When SGN’s iBowl game was released for the iPhone and iPod Touch, we noted that there’s a lack of social interaction for this Wii-like game. That’s all changed, with SGN’s current update to the popular mobile game. Users can now play a live bowling match against up to four people, making his game much more social and engaging.

This is a big step in the right direction for SGN’s iPhone-specific games, as Apple’s platform doesn’t provide an inherent social network for connecting users across various applications, including games. Because of this missing component on Apple’s platform, we’ve been waiting for SGN to release an update that could provide a more social means for interacting with other users on some level.
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Mob Wars, one of the supposed million dollar a month applications, was at the center of a dispute between SGN and David Maestri. According to SGN, the application was developed when Maestri was working at Freewebs, the Silver Spring based internet company that gave birth to what is now called Social Gaming Network. As Dan Kaplan explained back in August,
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Today SGN released some numbers about their iPhone applications. So far, the company’s five applications (iGolf, iBowl, iBaseball, iBasketball, and iFun) have been downloaded more than 4.5 million times. Compare that with Facebook where the company has approximately 4.7 million monthly active users. While the company’s Facebook growth continues downward, their growth on the iPhone has been phenomenal, growing to over 4.5 million download since they launched two and a half months ago.
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Like to play basketball? Then you probably won’t like the new iPhone app from SGN, called iBasketball. Even though it’s a fun game, it’s Wii-like movements with your iPhone aren’t good substitutes for the real game. I know that could be said about the majority of the Wii-like games made for the iPhone, but in testing the game out myself and speaking with a few other seasoned game players, the movement of shooting a basketball with the iPhone is a little more drastic than say, bowling.

Are mobile game makers over-doing the apps that require movement mimicking the real sport? Is the mobile market really the best venue for such games, seeing as there are a limited number of places in which most people will feel comfortable “throwing” their phones around in the act of playing basketball?
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Earlier this month I wrote that SGN is finding success with their iPhone applications. At the time I mentioned that iBaseball would surely be the next game. Looks like that prediction came true pretty quickly. Today the company announced the release of iBaseball and as with the others, this first version is definitely a basic version of the application.

You start off the game by pitching either curveballs or fastballs and attempting to strike out 3 batters (as in normal baseball). The pitch appears to be relatively sensitive to the angle of the phone. The one thing that was annoying was that accidentally clicking the button on the side of the phone ended up pushing the application back to the home screen.

Once you finish pitching the ball at insanely fast speeds (I was able to manage pitching at 116 miles per hour), it’s your turn to bat. Batting is pretty straightforward and definitely simple. Just watch the ball come down toward the plate and swing at the appropriate time. While simple, I wasn’t too successful at it. I hit around 6 balls across 3 batters.

It’s definitely interesting to see SGN rolling out one Wii-like game after the other, all of which have so far been at least number one on the chart at some point soon after launch. So far iBaseball has not been a hit but I’m guessing within the next 24 hours we’ll see the application move to the top of the charts. If you want to take a shot at beating my fastball speed, go download the iBaseball application.

When I sat down with Shervin Pishevar, CEO of SGN, at f8 earlier this year, I asked him about whether or not his company has plans to begin developing games for the iPhone. At the time he said little more than their company is seriously considering all social platforms. For me it seemed pretty obvious that one of the primary platforms for social games would soon be the iPhone.

While the iPhone has proven to be a revolutionary platform, the applications still lack significant social features. Event SGN’s latest iPhone games aren’t very social but for now that doesn’t matter given that they are already extremely successful. Within a few days SGN’s first game, iGolf, rocketed to the top of the application charts. In just a couple weeks the company would have a second game at the top of the charts: iBowl.

At least one commenter on the iBowl application asked for the release of an iBaseball game. My guess is that they will have a whole suite of Wii-like games before all is said and done. Just a couple months ago things weren’t looking as rosy for the company. There was a lot of chatter about developers leaving the company and it appeared that active usage of the company’s Facebook applications were dropping.

While I wouldn’t say that the company was near its end, I would be willing to say that the company was navigating some extremely choppy seas. No path to success is ever easy though and SGN may have just made it through one of their first serious tests of will. Just this past week Shervin Pishevar posted a note on Facebook that at first glance sounds trippy but after looking is the executive digging deep for inspiration.

The note would also go on to inspire others and while the company is still early in its iPhone history, there is no doubt that they may have just found a better environment to play. While the path to revenue for iPhone applications is a bit more challenging, I have no doubt that SGN will be able to get there quickly. The only thing that I’m left wondering is when will SGN’s social gaming competitors follow suit onto the mobile platforms?