Card Arcade is a hub of Card Games and will initially launch with 4 card games included, with many more to come. The game will be receiving regular updates after launch to include new games and game modes.

The initial launch card games are set to include:

- Go Fish
- Blackjack
- Memory
- Old Maid

Future plans for Card Arcade are to include many additional games (to be announced soon) along with additional game modes including pass and play, local WiFi play and real-time multiplayer (card games to include these additional game modes to be confirmed).

The game in nearing completion and will be launching on the Windows Phone marketplace as a free ad-supported game in the very near future (availability dates to be announced in a future post) and will be followed by a Windows 8 launch in the future.

Below is a little taste of what to expect – stay tuned here for more info in the coming weeks! Have a card game you would like to see in Card Arcade? Let us know in the comments!

Main Menu

Blackjack

Go Fish Menu

Go Fish

Windows Phone 8 is a huge step forward, not only maintaining compatibility with existing Windows Phone apps, but embraces a number of core Windows 8 technologies, bringing significant performance improvements, support for managed and native C++ development, in app purchase, wallet, NFC, developer access to the Bluetooth and speech APIs, and more. See Windows Phone 8 developer platform highlights.

This two day workshop is scheduled for Friday May 3^rd and Saturday May 4^th. The first day is a presentation day that will get you up to speed with the Windows Phone 8 developer platform. Day two (Saturday) is a hands on labs day to guide you through the experience of building Windows Phone apps.

If you are interested in attending the event, use the below links to register to attend.

REGISTER

Day 1 – Presentation Day

Day 2 – Hands on Labs Day

Wheel of Wealth is your game and we want to give you the best experience while playing. We are pleased to launch our new User Voice site for Wheel of Wealth on Windows Phone & Windows 8.

The site will be used for users to make any feature suggestions that they have in mind for the game and for users to vote on the suggestions. We are happy to take everything in to consideration when planning future updates and are looking forward to gaining some valuable feedback on how we can improve the game for everyone.

Click here to visit our User Voice website and start making your suggestions today!

This latest update brings many bug fix’s that users have reported to us including:

- ‘Not your turn’ when loading a game.
- Incorrect guess when loading a game.
- Points awarded showing blank when submitting your last word.
- Game tips only show once each per launch (unless disabled in settings).
- Double letter, Triple letter, Double word etc now calculate correctly.

+ several other bug’s now resolved.

For those of you who currently don’t have the game, you can download the ad supported version here or the paid version here.  To celebrate the latest update, the paid version has now been lowered to $0.99 AUD for a short time.

Thanks for your continued support.

As part of our new website, we will also have a much more active blog keeping you up to date with all things Shantek Studios.

We will be bringing many more changes to our site in the coming weeks & months so be sure to stay tuned!

The primary focus of the complaint was “the concept, artwork and game play is essentially the same as our IP”.  After receiving this complaint we attempted discuss this with our Microsoft contacts who were unable to discuss or provide any legal advice on the matter. Included in the complaint was the contact for Sony Pictures Entertainment who filed the complaint. We attempted to contact the individual to try and resolve the issue as quickly as possible, however we received not a single reply.

After receiving very little help we got in touch with Josh from Minter Ellison Lawyers who helped guide us through the complaint, that had no legal standing whatsoever as the issues raised in the complaint didn’t outline any copyright infringements. As a result, we are pleased to announce the immediate return of Wheel of Wealth to the Windows Phone marketplace, and with it a UI update to freshen up the game. We have a lot more in the works for Wheel of Wealth on Windows Phone 7, Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8. I encourage you to follow Wheel of Wealth on Twitter or like us on Facebook to keep up to date with what’s happening.

Besides the help from Josh, I would like to also personally thank Rafael from WithinWindows.com and the guys at WPCentral.com for their assistance at guiding us through the issues. We would also like to thank our very loyal user-base who continue to support us, as without you guys the game wouldn’t be where it is today - so thank you!

For those of you who currently have the game installed, you should soon see the 2.1 update roll out to your phone, for those who don’t have the game, you can get it here. As always we are open to feedback of any kind, and we can be contacted through the about menu in the game.

Shantek Studios is pleased to announce our new Short URL service, exclusive to Windows Phone. The app uses our own domain extensions and back end so that we can bring you the most personalised Short URL service to show your love for the platform.

There’s already so many Short URL style apps on the market I hear you say? Well that’s where Short URL for Windows Phone is different. The app isn’t just another app using generic domains and a generic service like bit.ly through API’s, we offer you a much more personalised experience.

The app comes totally free and ad supported. This version give you:

- Use of WP7.SO.
- Ad supported.

The app also comes as a paid version, for the low price of $1.49 USD. This version fives you:

Use of the following domains:
- WP7.SO
- WP8.SO
- WPDEV.SO
- WPAU.SO
- W8DEV.SO

The paid version is ad-free and gives you the ability to use a custom extension for your short URL (ie wp7.so/wmpoweruser). Also be sure to keep an eye out as a Windows 8 version of the Short URL service is currently in the works also!

Download Short URL from the Marketplace today and be sure to follow us on Twitter to keep up to date with our new apps and games.

It’s with great pleasure that we can announce that our site ShantekAccessories.com.au is currently undergoing the shift from selling handsets to selling genuine accessories. We will be launching soon exclusively with a range of Nokia Lumia accessories for all you Nokia Windows Phone owners. Plans are also in place to broaden the offering of other handset manufacturers down the track with the launch of Windows Phone 8, however the site will remain exclusive to Windows Phone (as the name suggests).

We feel although handsets are more commonly available in stores, accessories is still a big area that is lacking in Australia. With the rebranding of the ShantekAccessories.com.au website, we plan to bring genuine accessories at very competitive pricing.

More information will be available in the coming days so stay tuned!

There are plenty of URL shortening services out there already I hear you say? True, but non are like this. Although the service works exactly the same as other generic services, our all new services comes with more personalised domain extensions that will include the following at launch:

- WP7.SO
- WP8.SO
- WPDEV.SO
- WPAU.SO
- W8DEV.SO

This all new service is as you can see aimed at the Windows Phone and Windows 8 developer and consumer community alike and will only be available to use via Windows Phone handsets using the app companion to be available in the coming weeks.

The app will be available in the marketplace with a free trial (ad supported) that is set to include use of the WP7.SO domain name. Purchasing the app will unlock access to the remaining domain names (and remove ads).

The app comes complete with your short URL history, giving you a full list of all your URL’s you have shortened using this service, along with a click counter for each URL. The app will launch with minimal stats available (click counter) but plans are in place to broaden the stats available for your links (i.e. clicks per region, clicks per day etc)

Stay tuned for more info to follow later in the week.

Get High with Words, our brand new Windows Phone game is now available FREE! For those of you who are fimilar with Hanging with Friends on iPhone or Android, our new game fills a gap that currently exists on the Windows Phone marketplace. The game has been a work in progress for several months and has just completed 2 rounds of beta testing over the past several weeks and is now available for downloading.

Get High with Words is a turn-based multiplayer game based on Hangman – A player is given 12 letters to create a 4 to 8 letter word. The other player then tries to guess the word. Play then continues until one of the players has lost all 3 lifes.

Players are represented by a hot air balloon. The balloon is customisable through our Get High with Words store. New balloons can be purchased with in game points that you have earnt from solving and submitting words.

Use bonuses to remove strikes or to generate a new set of letters. But be sure to check back often as the price of these bonuses changes frequently – These are also purchased using in game points that you earn for FREE!