Tapulous

RIDDIM RIBBON, the eagerly-anticipated new game from the masterminds behind Tap Tap Revenge, is now available on the iTunes App Store!

Click here to download it now.

If you love Tap Tap Revenge, the #1 most-downloaded game on the App Store, you’re going to go wild for our newest creation, a music-themed racing game like nothing you’ve ever played before.

We heard from you, our loyal Tappers, what aspects of TTR made it such a success:

- Intense, high-energy, skillful gameplay.
- Ever-changing and evolving challenges.
- The biggest and best music in the world.

We gave this list to our designers and programmers, and said “Do it again!” And did they ever…

Welcome to the world of RIDDIM RIBBON, where you guide a spinning ball as it races and rushes down a twisting, turning ribbon that’s floating in a dynamic digital space. With the beats of The Black Eyed Peas (and downloadable levels from Tiësto, Benny Benassi and, soon, others) pumping in your ears, use the iPhone / iPod’s ultra-sensitive tilt controls to stay in the groove.

Each fork in the ribbon presents a new direction for you to take the mix of the song. Jump the ramps to reach upper levels, where wild audio effects kick in and the sound becomes more uniquely yours. Roll over pebbles and hit targets to maintain your speed through the checkpoints, but watch out for beat-dropping obstacles  - you’ll need to flick your phone to jump over them! If you veer off the target line too long, instruments start fading, the music slows down, and the track falls apart. Then you’ll certainly lose the crowd, which is a DJ’s worst nightmare. The better you play the game, the better the song sounds!

- Bundled with 3 smash hits from The Black Eyed Peas (Boom Boom Pow, I Gotta Feeling, and Meet Me Halfway). Check out the Riddim Ribbon Store for tracks from Tiësto, Benny Benassi and, soon, more huge artists.  New music added frequently!

- 3 challenging skill levels for each bundled song, with numerous paths to the finish line in each. Travel through remixes by David Guetta, Zuper Blahq, DJ Ammo, and more!

- Live feed, global scoreboard, friend challenges, Tapulous avatar and profile integration, and more!

For a limited time only, get a FREE MP3 remix of Meet Me Halfway, downloaded straight to your iTunes library, when you purchase the game (US iTunes store only).  PLUS, people who purchase the game in the first 72 hours will get 100 FREE credits in Tap Tap Revenge 3, enough to purchase any of our premium 2-track bundles!

And just in case, you’re STILL not convinced, check out these three intro videos!

Click here to get it from the iTunes store now.

Riddim Ribbon features downloadable sets from the world’s #1 DJ, Tiësto. Check out Louder Than Boom, also available Monday.

The game drops in 48 hours. Email riddimriddim@tapulous.com to be among the first to know.

The Man: TIËSTO

The Jam: “KNOCK YOU OUT (FEAT. EMILY HAINES)“

OK people, this is not a drill. This is go time. We are now less than a week away from the launch of our brand-spanking new game, RIDDIM RIBBON, on February 8th!

Are you ready? Have you been eating your carrots, to improve your eyesight? Cleaning out your ears, to hear those beats? We hope so. To get you extra pumped up, we’ve completely redesigned this week’s featured Tiësto track “Knock You Out” with a SUPER-FRESH RIDDIM RIBBON THEME! That’s right, two powerhouse games, come together for one glorious song! It’s like King Kong and Godzilla having a dance off!

And no other DJ could handle the soundtrack to this massively magnificent mash-up but TIËSTO! If you’ve ever emerged from one of his sets, sweaty and squinting into the sunrise, then you know that he is a true innovator and master of mixology. Named “World’s #1 DJ” for 3 consecutive years by DJ Magazine, Tiësto is the unofficial muse of the Tapulous crew. His epic runs of house and trance music seem engineered specifically for tapping, and now for RIDING!

After your mind has been blown by the triple play of TTR, Riddim Ribbon, and Tiësto, check out the Tiësto 6-pack premium bundle in the Tap Track store, featuring the original theme for “Knock You Out,” “Ten Seconds To Sunrise,” and more!

The Tiësto Contest

Just north of Tapulous HQ, up in San Francisco, there is a billboard towering over SOMA. It features a giant picture of TIËSTO, watching over the cars as they come careening off the Bay Bridge, and advertises his concert at the Cow Palace this past November 2009. Seeing as it is now February 2010, and he long since rocked the house, we figured no one would miss this sign, and it would make an awesome grand prize this week. So we sent Ed up on a little stealth mission, to score that sweet pic.

24 hours in jail and $7500 in bail later, we decided to change the prizes. But they’re just as awesome, and can be yours in THE TIËSTO CONTEST!

The loot: One grand prize winner gets a pair of DJ-style headphones and a free copy of Riddim Ribbon! Five runner-up winners get a Tiësto album.

How to win: Challenge your friends on Tiësto’s Knock You Out (feat. Emily Haines). Each challenge you send with a score OVER 300,000 points counts as one contest entry. The player with the most entries at the end of the contest is the grand prize winner, the next five players are the runner-up winners.

The contest runs from Friday, February 5th at 12:01 AM PST until Monday, February 8th at 11:59 PM PST. You must send the challenge while online, during the contest period for entry into the contest. Sending the same challenge to multiple players only counts as a single entry!

Hey Tappers –

It’s been a crazy month here at the Tapulous Shop, focusing almost entirely on quality and customer service! Here’s a quick rundown of the most recent happenings:

1. Online Games: Some of you sent us some messages that this was getting a bit laggy… well we hear ya. We doused the servers with WD-40 last night, you should see things moving a bit more smoothly.
2. Online weapons: Don’t like all the weapons in the online rooms? Cruise over to online play for some smaller, more intimate games — and more “No Weapons” rooms.
3. Facebook: It’s back in Tap Tap Revenge in all its glory. Connect up with Facebook and post your top scores and personal bests on each song.
4. Remember all that tapping you did in TTR2? Well we do, and it wasn’t for nothing. We’re bumping up your level so you can access more free songs. Check out your Tap Tap 3 news feed this weekend for the news.
5. Were you one of those folks that got Tap Tap 3 for $.99? Aside from the fact that you’re some of the coolest people on the planet, you also get a bunch of extra stuff — unavailable to the rest of the world: First and foremost, you get NO third party ads (well, almost all of you…), you got the game 60 days before everyone else, and you had access to an entirely different and unrestricted collection of music.  Now, in addition, and as promised, you also get a one-of-a-kind avatar item: THE CROWN, and to top it off – 15,000 coins to spend at your leisure. But, best of all — you get a huge THANKS from everyone at Tapulous.
6. Are you a premium user and bummed that you never got one of the SWEET Supernova guitars for 400,000 coins? OK, we hear you. IF you have over 400,000 coins by Monday, you can buy this guitar for 400,000 coins. If you qualify (premium user + 400,000 coins), we’ll send you a feed message on Monday with how to buy the instrument.
7. WHERE IS THE ULTIMATE TAPDOWN?? Due to the large portion of players and finding new creative ways to hack Tap Tap, we had to postpone the greatest tournament of all time. Well it’s on the way… The dev team & the beta crew spent the last few weeks working out the final kinks to ensure a fair tournament. The update is on the way — THEN IT’S TAPDOWN TIME.

There is plenty more to do, and we haven’t forgotten. Keep us in the loop and let us know what’s on your mind.

Meanwhile, get ready for Riddim Ribbon, which is now just one week away!  Head over here for another quick video, more wallpapers… and we’ll be making a special Riddim Ribbon avatar item available in TTR3 this weekend.

See you in February!

PS: Check out the awesome, newly redesigned David Guetta premium bundle theme.

Riddim Ribbon is almost here! As promised, here’s another video. PLUS: scroll down for more cool wallpapers for your iDevice or computer. AND a cool free TTR3 avatar – get it and we’ll do something special for you on launch day!

The design team whipped up some more delicious Riddim Ribbon wallpapers. We got ‘em for your iPod and your computer…

Desktop: Small (1024×768), Medium (1280×800), Large (1600×900), Zip (all)

iPod/iPhone: On your iDevice, tap and hold the image to save. Then, go into photos, select the picture, and hit “Use as Wallpaper”

The Band: DATAROCK

The Jam: Fa-Fa-Fa from the album “Datarock Datarock”

Did you know that Tap Tap Revenge has built in GPS capabilities? No, no…not THAT kind of GPS, the global positioning system. We pack in our own type of GPS, the Guaranteed Party Starter. TTR doesn’t have to be something you do by yourself, headphones on, slumped in the corner. Here’s a quick guide to using your TTR GPS:

1. Download this week’s block-rockin’ featured track from DATAROCK
2. Crank up those teeny-tiny iPhone / iPod speakers, or better yet, plug into your boombox’s line in. (Note: all cool people carry a boombox wherever they go)
3. Go to a public place and start tapping.
4. Get your head noddin’, your booty shakin’, and your feet stompin’. If you can, occasionally moonwalk.
5. Watch the party form around you!

There it is, the magic of Tap Tap Revenge GPS. However, it doesn’t work without the crazy-fresh electro-rock of Datarock’s Fa-Fa-Fa. So it’s lucky we have it FREE this week!

Hailing from Bergen, Norway, a mountainous town known as “The City of Rain,” Datarock members Fredrik Saroea and Ket-Ill came together with a simple goal: To alter the face of contemporary music as we know it, by transforming themselves into what they call “the peak of pop evolution.” Or, as Saroea once explained their formation, “We fell in love. He became pregnant and gave birth to a small Casio watch. As our love grew, the Casio watch grew to become a Casio keyboard. And that’s how we became Datarock.”

Now you will experience Datarock. Once you’re plugged into the Datarock machine, tap over to datarockmusic.com, and check out all their videos, albums, and remixes.

The Datarock Contest

OK, so the slick disco beats of Datarock’s “Fa Fa Fa” have got you covered musically. But what if your fashion is lacking? Well, they’ve got you covered there, too. Literally. Part of this week’s grand prize is an official DATAROCK TRACK SUIT! Now you can look as awesome as these guys:

But that’s not all! They’re also throwing in a STEINBERGER GUITAR! Wow, these guys rule! 5 runners-up will also receive an autographed copy of the Datarock CD. Here’s all you have to do:

This one is easy. Download and play Datarock’s Fa-Fa-Fa in Tap Tap Revenge 3. Every score you submit ABOVE 250,000 points counts as one contest point. The player with the most contest points at the end of the contest is the grand prize winner. The next 5 players with the most points get the runner-up prizes. You can play on easy or hard — as long as you get over 250,000 points.

The contest runs from Friday, January 29th at 12:01 AM through Tuesday, February 2nd at 11:59 PM. You must submit your scores in Tap Tap Revenge 3, while online, during the contest period for entry into the contest.

UPDATE: Congrats to the winners! Grand prize winners: The_Offspring and Biblekid2! Runner up winners: Chris_Liquid, KATIEHIGGINS, Shun_ENDO, bernardjoseph, SoFresh_SoClean, and Papas_Con_Chile!

The Band: THE FEATURES

The Songs: LIONS and WOODEN HEART from the new album “Some Kind of Salvation”

America and England. Such a long, crazy history we’ve had with each other. Sure there was that one really bad dust-up in the late 1700’s, and we sent that Werewolf to London in the 1980’s, but we’ve had a very useful relationship, too. For example, we’ll often send over our unknown musicians, you’ll go wild over them, give them back to us, and say, “Hey dummies, these guys are awesome, and they’re yours!” Like Jimi Hendrix, or the White Stripes. We’re still not sure what you did to Madonna…

This week’s artists are a prime example of this phenomenon. THE FEATURES are a very American band, much beloved in their home state of Tennessee. But they’ve found greater success in the U.K., gaining fans, winning awards, and earning glowing reviews from NME and The Guardian. Now it’s the rest of the world’s turn to catch on to their Southern-souled, blues-soaked power pop. When their musical compatriots Kings Of Leon started a new label with Bug Music, The Features were the first signing, and “Lions” the first single. So the band comes well recommended.

Once you’re completely smitten with their uber-catchy, genuine rock and roll, tap over to TheFeatures.com and become a super-fan.

The Features – Some Kind Of Contest

The LOOT: This week you’ll be competing for TWO GRAND PRIZES: Two winners each get an brand new electric guitar — AUTOGRAPHED by the Tapulous crew AND a vinyl copy of Some Kind Of Salvation autographed by The Features. Six runners-up will win signed copies of the CD.

People often ask us, “What does it take to win a contest?” Our answer is always the same: Relentless tapping. For example: If you’re just quickly checking your mail on the iPhone, go ahead and knock out a dozen games. If you’re sitting in class, try a “blind tap” under the desk. If your boss is talking to you, put up your hand, say “Hold that thought,” play a quick game of Tap Tap, then say, “Continue.” We promise he’ll laugh.

If you follow those tips, you’ll be well on your way towards winning THE FEATURES – SOME KIND OF CONTEST.

Now here’s the scoop: Download “Lions” and “Wooden Heart” in Tap Tap Revenge 3. Go hang out in The Features online contest rooms, take down some opponents, and rack up some points. For every online game where you get 1st place — you get 1 contest point. The top two players that have the most contest points at the end of the contest win the grand prizes. The runners-up are the next 6 players with the most contest points.

The contest begins on Friday, January 22, and runs through Tuesday, January 26th. That’s 120 hours to secure these sweet prizes

In the last few days, our inboxes have been overtaken by messages like this one:

Yo,
Any news on riddim ribbon? Hope you’re almost done!
Peace,
N

The answer is: YES. We have news. We are delighted to announce that Riddim Ribbon will launch on the App Store on Monday, February 8! We’ll release additional video clips and details about what to expect in the coming weeks, so check back soon.

Meanwhile, here’s the first video, and wallpapers for your iPhone or iPod touch and your computer.  Enjoy!

Get your Riddim Ribbon wallpapers:

Mobile: View – (On your iDevice, tap and hold the image to save. Then, go into photos, select the picture, and hit “Use as Wallpaper”)
Desktop: Small (1024×768), Medium (1280×800), Large (1600×900)

Along with the rest of the world, we at Tapulous are watching the tragic after-effects of the devastating earthquake in Haiti and we want to do our part to help.

We’ve placed 3 special avatar Items in the store, with 100% of the proceeds from their sale going to Oxfam America relief efforts. For every dollar raised through the sales up to $10,000, Tapulous will match the funds. These special items are available at different price levels (99c for an Oxfam badge, $4.99 for a background, $9.99 for a shirt), because anything you can afford to give will go a long way toward helping the Haitian people, who are in desperate need of assistance.

About Oxfam:

Oxfam America is an international relief and development organization that creates lasting solutions to poverty, hunger, and injustice. Together with individuals and local groups in more than 120 countries, Oxfam saves lives, helps people overcome poverty, and fights for social justice. For more about Oxfam, go to www.oxfamamerica.org.

Please help make a difference this weekend. In addition to purchasing one of these special avatars, please consider helping in other ways. Here is a link to some of the organizations that are making a difference.

Lunchtime is a very serious affair here at Tapulous. Having employees from all over the world, with a variety of culinary tastes, we found it necessary to “persuade” (definitely not “kidnap”) one of the Bay Area’s surplus rock-star chefs to come set up shop in the Tap Tap Kitchen. He has taught us that between our courses of Torta Espanola and Waterzooi, it is very important to “cleanse our palettes.”

Cleansing the palette is exactly what we’re doing with this week’s FREE featured track. We’ve had ALOT of synth-pop last week between La Roux and Ke$ha, so it’s time for a complete 180. We’re gonna break it way on down, and get back to the basics, the nuts and bolts, AND the brass tacks with the fundamental flow of MOS DEF!

QUIET DOG comes from the Brooklyn freestyle legend’s 2009 release “The Ecstatic,” which landed on numerous critic’s top album lists, and was for many fans a musical throwback to the glory of Mos Def’s breakthrough group, Black Star. “Quiet Dog” is a deceptively stark, intensely rhythmic affair, that initially sounds like a studio jam session gone really right. But don’t be fooled by the sparse instrumentation: once Mos Def effortlessly unleashes his lyrical mayhem, you have a global club-banger on your hands. And when the song is in Tap Tap Revenge, that means literally.

For more Mos Def, check him out at mosdef.com. Or go watch him in a movie, ’cause he’s also an actor (he was Ford Prefect!), or hear him on the Gorillaz album next year. Just make sure you heed his advice, stay cool, and maintain the rock!

The Mos Def Contest

The question was emailed to us, “Can you Tap too much?” The short answer is no, and the long answer is NOOOOOOO! Remember, there’s always some punk right behind you, ready to snatch that global high score, so you’ve got to tap more. And this is no week to slack off, because you’re mos def going to want to win THE MOS DEF IRON MAN CONTEST:

You and your fellow Tapaholics are competing for a Mos Def / Downtown Records GRAND PRIZE: 5 CD’s of your choice from the Downtown Records library, a vinyl copy and digital download of Mos Def’s album “The Ecstatic,” and an Mos Def T-Shirt! Runner’s up will receive a vinyl and CD copy of “The Ecstatic.”

How to win: Submit a score on each day of the contest above 100,000 points on Mos Def’s “Quiet Dog” in Tap Tap Revenge 3. The contest begins at 12:01 AM on Friday, January 14th and runs until Tuesday, January 19th at 11:59 PM PST. That means you need to submit at least 5 scores (one per day) to qualify in the contest! The winners will be chosen from the pool of all players that qualified.

You must submit your scores in Tap Tap Revenge 3, while online, for entry into the contest.