Meet iTips Magazine, your digital gateway to hints, tips, and walkthroughs for a whole load of top titles on iPad, provided by the experts at Pocket Gamer – one of the world’s leading iOS gaming websites. Even if we say so ourselves (it’s true, though).

iTips Magazine is the only dedicated tips guide that covers the biggest iPad games, and which has been built from the ground up as a true interactive digital experience for your tablet. The launch issue covers 40 of the currently biggest and most popular iPad games, including Angry Birds Star Wars, Clash of Clans, Kingdoms of Camelot, Minecraft – Pocket Edition, The Simpsons: Tapped Out, Skylanders Lost Islands, and a whole lot more.

The game selection process for these kind of projects can sometimes be shrouded in secrecy and involve input from pixies and a semi-blind cat. But for iTips the team just tried to pick games across a variety of genres and which appeal to a varied audience. Chances are some of the inclusions will be in your game collection, some won’t.

If you don’t know a game, don’t worry. Every title featured comes complete with a Pocket Gamer review to give you the lowdown you need. So you get world-class editorial content from one of the top iOS gaming sites (honestly), combined with Steel Media’s renowned design and production ethos.

That’s the kind of union that even Rita Wilson and Tom Hanks can’t top.

iTips Magazine for iPad is free and available from the App Store now.

Issue 7 of swipe magazine is live on the App Store. Steel Media’s monthly (free) interactive bundle of iPad-friendly digital delightfulness continues its mission to focus exclusively on all the latest and greatest stuff to have hit the iOS scene.

This month the team has boldly gone where few teams have gone before to bring together everything you could possibly want to know about Warballoon’s long-in-the-making Star Command, the arrival of which is celebrated with a multi-animation cover sequence.

Elsewhere, the mag looks at the leading ‘shmups’, provides a guide to Sonic Dash, chats to Firaxis about forthcoming XCOM: Enemy Unknown, picks its favourite apps of the moment, and reviews the likes of Fetch, BADLAND, Nimble Quest, Star Wars Pinball, and more.

That’s in addition to the usual array of established swipe inclusions regular readers will be familiar with: Trailer Park, Soundbytes, iFun, iPad Basics, Divided iPinion, and so on.

The magazine’s tap-tastic content is sourced directly from members of the iPhone Alliance, a collection of the world’s finest independent sites covering the iOS scene. This effectively means you get a cross-section of views from sites whose opinion you can trust.

Issue 7 of swipe magazine is free, and available now on the App Store. Download it here.

Hooked on Vlambeer’s brilliantly bonkers angling ‘sim’ but struggling to make progress? Then you need The Pocket Gamer Pocket Guide to Ridiculous Fishing.

From a complete Fishopedia (secret fish, mysterious fish, rare fish, boss fish… they’re all here) to the lowdown on the game’s many power-ups (Hats! Lures! Reels! Hairdryers! Bazookas!), everything you require in order to conquer the Ridiculous Fishing seas is here.

Brought to you by the team behind one of the world’s leading mobile gaming websites and similar to Steel Media’s range of Official Pocket Gamer Guides in focus – yet filleted down to the bare essentials – this will give you the insight you need to hook the maximum enjoyment out of game.

Pocket Gamer Guides – in both ‘Pocket’ and ‘Official’ form – are a growing line of delightfully touch-friendly iOS publications designed to help players take their iPhone/iPad playing to new limits.

The Pocket Gamer Pocket Guide to Ridiculous Fishing for iPad is free and available from the App Store now.

The latest version of swipe magazine, Steel Media’s monthly (free) interactive bundle of iPad-friendly digital fun, is now available from the App Store.

By focusing exclusively on all the latest and greatest stuff to have hit the App Store, swipe makes your iOS-following life incredibly easy. In this particular issue, the team takes a look at cover star Ridiculous Fishing, Danmaku Unlimited 2, and Super Stickman Golf 2, to name a semi-randomly picked trio. There are plenty more, of course.

There’s a full Year Walk, err, walkthrough (along with an interview with its developer, Simogo), you see, plus a rundown of the best iOS music-making apps, the newest must-have iPad accessories, a recommended batch of must-own apps, and all the regular features.

The magazine’s content is sourced directly from members of the iPhone Alliance, a collection of the world’s finest independent sites covering the iOS scene. Which means you get a cross-section of views from sites whose opinion you can trust.

Issue 6 of swipe magazine is free, and available now on the App Store. Download it here.

Published by Pocket Gamer parent company Steel Media, and produced in association with Bubble Witch Saga publisher King.com – along with expert input from leading BWS fan site, The Blogging Witches – the guide is brimming with BWS hints, tips, and knowledge to help players conjure up some mad BWS skills.

The content is identical to the iPhone edition of the guide – so expect complete lowdowns on the game’s Charms, Special Bubbles, Spiders, and Magic Potions, essential tips, exclusive insight from key BWS team members, and comprehensive video walkthroughs of the 50 hardest levels, amongst other inclusions – but takes advantage of the tablet format’s larger screen to enhance usability (as well as adding a little flourish here and there – we couldn’t resist).

The Official Pocket Gamer Guide to Bubble Witch Saga HD is available now on the App Store at an ever-so-reasonable £0.69/$0.99.

Another month, another edition of your essential digest of the finest content on the App Store: swipe magazine.

If you missed it so far, come in closer for an information cuddle: swipe is a dedicated, built-from-scratch interactive digital publication for iOS devices. Every issue aims to cut straight to the App Store additions that are worth downloading.

For February we set off with Real Racing 3 on the cover (which is also the subject of a proper hands-on), and follow this up with our usual round-up of recommended apps and accessories, a friendly chat with 11 bit studios, a latest iPad how to (it’s only easy if you know how, remember), hints & tips guide to Hundreds, and our choice of Top 5 Console Spin-off games to hit iOS.

Oh yes, games. We’ve obviously got reviews of the latest & greatest: Anomaly Korea, Temple Run 2, Into the Dead, and co, as well as a bit of an RPG round-up special. In total, we’ve crammed over 70 games in the issue so there’s plenty to choose from.

The magazine’s content is sourced directly from members of the iPhone Alliance, a collection of the world’s finest independent sites covering the iOS scene. Which means you get a cross-section of views from sites whose opinion you can trust.

swipe magazine is free, and available now on the App Store. Download it here.

PRESS RELEASE | For Immediate Release

Bath, UK – 15^th February 2013 – Are you nursing a broken heart after the love of your life failed to reciprocate your declaration of affection this Valentine’s? Agonise no longer, dear player, and take comfort instead in the fact that Steel Media and King.com still adore you.

Why else would we conjure up the Official Pocket Gamer Guide to Bubble Witch Saga on the App Store to help mend the hearts of dejected BWS players everywhere?

Published by Pocket Gamer parent company Steel Media, and produced in association with Bubble Witch Saga publisher King.com – along with expert input from leading BWS fan site, The Blogging Witches – the guide is a bubbling cauldron of BWS goodness designed to assist those in need.

From the complete lowdown on the game’s Charms, Special Bubbles, Spiders, and Magic Potions, to a collection of essential tips, exclusive insight from the BWS team, and comprehensive video walkthroughs of the 50 hardest levels, the guide sets out to convey the information and teach the skills beginner to intermediate players will need to get through King.com’s absurdly popular game.

The Official Pocket Gamer Guide to Bubble Witch Saga is the latest addition to the recently launched line of delightfully interactive and individually tailored publications that aim to take a player’s mobile gaming experience to the very limit of human enjoyment.

Each PG Guide aims to deliver a comprehensive package to aid both the newcomer and the seasoned fan: From series backgrounds, mission logs, complete in-game item breakdowns, tactical advice, character rundowns, to gameworld exposés, developer interviews (with insider tips, no less), sneak peeks at upcoming updates, and more – it’s all here. And all wrapped up in a layer of interactive deliciousness that only a digital format can provide.

“From the start, the ethos behind the PG Guides has been to focus on the biggest titles from the biggest mobile game publishers and so we’re delighted to have been able to work with King.com on creating a guide for the immensely successful Bubble Witch Saga,” said Pocket Gamer Guides editor-in-chief Joao Diniz Sanches. “This is a deceptively layered game that requires genuine skill and knowledge in order to be mastered and helping players out of their personal bubble trouble is precisely what the guide hopes to achieve.

“Looking ahead, we continue to work with the world’s leading mobile game publishers and will have further guides hitting the App Store soon.”

“As the media landscape is changing from paper to electrons, it feels natural to publish player guides in new innovating ways. Working together with Pocket Gamer on this guide has been the natural choice as they are they are the true veterans in a rather new market segment,” said Tommy Palm, Mobile Guru at King.com.

The Official Pocket Gamer Guide to Bubble Which Saga is available now on iPhone and can be downloaded from the App Store here.

CONTACT

For more information please contact: Chris James: chris [at] steelmedia.co.uk

You can also find out a little more info at www.pocketgamerguides.com

Ends

Notes to editors

About Steel Media

Steel Media is a leading mobile consumer technology publisher based in the UK. With a team boasting over 90 years of experience in consumer and contract publishing, the company currently publishes Europe’s biggest mobile and handheld gaming website PocketGamer.co.uk, the leading mobile games industry portal PocketGamer.biz, consumer friendly iOS digital magazine swipe, the US-based 148Apps network, and respected iPhone gaming portal AppSpy.

Steel Media also runs iPhone Quality Index and Free App Alliance, as well as the iPhone Alliance and Smartphone Alliance advertising networks, syndicates content to mobile operators and handset manufacturers, and provides a range of editorial, design and other contract publishing services to a number of leading blue chip brands.

For further information the Pocket Gamer network or Steel Media, contact Chris James: chris [at] steelmedia.co.uk

About King.com

King.com is a worldwide leader in casual social games. The company creates snackable and bite-sized entertainment, cross plattform. King.com has globally over 80 million active monthly users and more than 5 billion games are played per month. In total, King.com offers over 150 exclusive games in 12 languages through its premier destination, King.com (www.king.com), mobile devices (iOS and Android), Google+, and Facebook. King.com has offices in Stockholm, London, Barcelona, Bucharest, Hamburg, Malta, Malmo and San Francisco.

For more information, visit www.king.com

Steel Media are looking for a new Web Designer to join our team and help build new sites, improve existing ones and generally work on the coolest projects for our online activities. Working alongside our experienced design team, you must be a self-starter with intimate knowledge of web design, who is able to learn quickly, multi-task in a fast-paced environment, and drive results within a team through excellent interpersonal and communication skills.

You’ll be responsible for assisting with the maintenance and improvement of our current sites [Pocket Gamer, Quality Index, Smart TV Radar, App Spy, etc], as well the development of new ones.

Working alongside senior members of the team, you’d be expected to be skilled and focused on:

• Proficient Javascript/HTML/CSS/PHP coding skills;
• Excellent understanding of WordPress toolset;
• Discipline in testing and quality assurance;
• Producing easy to use, intuitive user interfaces from visuals and wireframes, and take on the development and backend coding to support a wide range of requirements;
• Commanding good web standards, CSS-based design, cross-browser compatibility;
• Knowledge of interaction design principles;
• An ability to think critically and provide recommendations for solutions or improvements;
• Meet regularly with the team to discuss schedules as well as a company-wide online strategy;
• Apply social media tools and channels (WordPress, Twitter, Facebook);
• Manage the technical platform for the site, including hosting, coordinating with outside developers.

EXPERIENCE:

• At least 2 years professional web development (including dynamic database driven sites);
• Translating flat visuals into flexible and usable code templates;
• Rapid prototyping of new designs and features;
• Able to demonstrate a clear methodology, timeline and strategy for website builds.

ESSENTIAL SKILLS
You must be able to demonstrate real experience in:

• HTML / XHTML / HTML 5
• CSS
• WordPress
• Web standards (W3C)
• SEO
• Cross browser development (knowledge of browser differences and incompatibilities)
• Photoshop and some graphic design experience
• Javascript / jQuery
• Flash

You would also have a working knowledge and the ability to competently answer questions regarding:

• PHP
• Actionscript
• MySQL
• XML
• RSS
• Ajax

DESIRABLE SKILLS
A competent understanding of the following would be a destinct advantage:

• ASP (‘classic’ / 3.0)
• Python
• Postegre SQL
• MVC framework concepts
• Other frameworks
• Mobile app development

What’s just as important is that you’ll have a passion for all things digital, and are keen to identify, learn, and implement innovative new ideas and technologies.

If you want to join a growing company with brilliant clients and exciting plans, and you’re full of big ideas, but passionate about the tech, this could be the role for you.

The creative team operate out of it’s offices on the outskirts of Bath in Somerset, but we have smaller offices in Manchester and London. The right candidate may be able to work from home and there is certainly an expectation to attend regular meet-ups as required.

REMUNERATION
Salary: Dependant on experience
Employment Type: The position is advertised as a full time role, but we may also consider part-time or contract employment.

TO APPLY
Send us a description of your most recent work: methodologies, sources, guidelines, and tactics you employed to improve the project. Please provide a link or a description of the actual result and illustrate how many of your ideas were implemented.

Submit this along with your CV to jobs@steelmedia.co.uk with subject line “The best Web Designer EVER”

Fearlessly following its bigger iPad-only brother into the depths of the App Store, the iPhone edition of The Official Pocket Gamer Guide to Galaxy on Fire 2 is now ready to help iPhone/iPod touch-owning, GOF2-playing digital space cadets by providing a comprehensive breakdown of Fishlabs’s celebrated inter-galactic epic.

For anyone who has been holidaying in the Skavac system, the GOF2 Guide is the first in the Pocket Gamer Guides series – digital publications designed to enhance a player’s experience of their favourite game by detailing information, tips, and generally handy features that will help them along their quest.

For Galaxy on Fire 2 this means, amongst others, complete breakdowns of the ships, equipment, weapons, Blueprints, trade routes, missions, and star systems players will encounter when playing as Keith T Maxwell in GOF2, as well as the game’s acclaimed Valkyrie and Supernova expansion packs.

But the assistance doesn’t end there. Oh no. Users of the guide can also expect to learn useful strategic combat tips and some of the easy ways to make money, while those wanting a more behind-the-scenes style tour will enjoy the exclusive interviews with Fishlabs’s GOF team members.

In short, there’s no time for inferiority complexes here: the iPhone edition mirrors the content from its iPad brethren. That content just happens to be squished into a smaller – some would say more beautiful – screen.

The Official Pocket Gamer Guide to Galaxy on Fire 2 for iPhone is available from the App Store now, priced at a recession-friendly 69p/99c.

Following on from its initial and successful foray onto the App Store earlier in the year, swipe magazine (swipe mag to its friends) has returned with a new edition. The arrival marks the start of a regular production schedule for the publication, as well as a move to Apple’s Newsstand platform due to popular demand from readers of swipe issue 1.

If you missed it fist time around, swipe is an interactive digital publication aimed squarely at users of Apple’s iDevices.

Unlike previous digital publications that have offered comparatively flat print magazine conversions or included iOS content as secondary filler, swipe is built with interactive HTML5 goodness from the ground up and focused squarely on the biggest and best content to hit the App Store. That means that not only is it tremendously fun to use, but it also cuts straight to the stuff that’s worth downloading.

Every issue focuses on the biggest and greatest games to have recently made it onto the App Store, while highlighting forthcoming titles worth keeping an eye out for, and offering how to guides or walkthroughs for some of the most popular releases. And it’s not just games – expect regular rundowns of the apps that any self-respecting iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch owner should check out. Then there’s also the usual array of features, interviews, hardware round-ups… you probably get the gist.

The magazine’s content is sourced directly from members of the iPhone Alliance, a collection of the world’s finest independent sites covering the iOS scene. So readers get access to an uncommonly broad coverage selection, as well as a cross-section of views from sites whose opinion you can trust.

While the interactive awesomeness of swipe magazine is designed primarily with iPad screens in mind, iPhone owners are also catered for with their own, more compact, edition.

swipe mag is available now on Newsstand. The magazine app is free, with iPad editions costing $1.99/£1.49 each ($0.99/£0.69 on iPhone), and can be downloaded by clicking here.