RIM has been doing a nice job of partnering with developers to give away free apps to their loyal users. The latest offering from RIM, CreaVures and SHADOWGUN, brings two top-notch PlayBook games at a $10 value. The offer is good from now until October 31st and both games come from developer Union, utilizing their awesome Unity 3D game rendering engine. Read on past the break for more information on both games, as well as the download links for each.

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Today, RIM has made a big announcement concerning Canadians and the BlackBerry PlayBook. They have finally gotten all the licensing deals worked out and the BlackBerry PlayBook Video Store is now available in Canada. The video store offers thousands of movies and TV shoes the are available for purchase or rental right on your BlackBerry PlayBook.

I have had good experience with the PlayBook Video Store, having used it a few times. Being able to play movies on the big screen via HDMI cable and control the PlayBook using BlackBerry Remote from the couch is a big plus. This news is also huge news coming just before BlackBerry 10. The BlackBerry Ecosystem is going to be a huge part of the BlackBerry 10 launch, so having the Video Store available in Canada is one big piece of the puzzle. If you’re in Canada, you can hit the link below to download the Video Store to your PlayBook.

• Download the BlackBerry PlayBook Video Store Canada

EA Games is hosting a 50% off promotion on some of their most popular PlayBook Games. Now through July 26th, you can grab many of the top EA PlayBook Games for 50% off the regular price. Some of the games included in this promotion are FIFA 11 and Madden NFL 12. Check out the full list at the link below and be sure to pick a few up while they’re half off.

• Check out all the games included in the EA 50% Off Sale

XiMAD is having a promotion on 10 of their most popular BlackBerry smartphone and PlayBook games. The promotion, which runs from now until July 26th, offers 10 of their top titles for free. The list of titles starts below and clicking on each name will take you to that game in BlackBerry App World. Don’t wait, grab your free 10 XiMAD games today!

• Bubble Birds
• Brain Cube
• Brain cube Reloaded
• Juminja Free
• Fox and Geese
• Aqua Lines
• Glutton Xonix
• BlackJack Classic
• Droplets Free
• Snake Freemium

I’ve just found a new application for the PlayBook that I know many of our readers will enjoy. The app is PressReader and it’s specifically designed for those that like reading newspapers but don’t like the paper aspect. PressReader gives you access to over 2,200 publications from over 95 countries. This is the perfect application for people who want to read the paper in its natural form but don’t want paper delivery.

PressReader loads quickly and lets you view these newspapers either directly as they appear in print. Navigation around the paper works easily, just pinch to zoom or use the handy contents button to quickly find what you want to read. If you sign up for a subscription, you can have all your favorite publications delivered wirelessly to your PlayBook every morning. PressReader is available for free and then you can enjoy content by either purchasing publications individually or going for a subscription.  I’m reviewing PressReader on my PlayBook and you can expect a full review of the app sometime in the next few weeks.

• Download PressReader for your PlayBook
• Learn more about PressReader on their Website

The team from Kisai Labs has updated their popular PlayBook Twitter client to version1.8.3. Blaq was already the best Twitter client available for the BlackBerry PlayBook, and with this update, they made it even better. Here’s the list of what’s changed with the update:

What’s New?

•  Inline photo and video previews
• Hash tag auto-append is now optional
• Streamlined tweet card (no longer overlaps the timeline)
• Profile image caching
• Hardware acceleration (smoother scrolling)
• Reduced memory footprint

Bug Fixes

•  Quote RT doesn’t include the full link
• Text on the top of the tweet card now scrolls instead of overlapping
• Keyboard disappears when selecting a username from auto-complete
• Keyboard remains on screen when using the go-to-user feature
• Classic RT/Quote RT is sent in reply to original tweet
• Broken links when opening in the native browser
• Bad scrolling in Options > Muting
• Avatars overlap when multiple accounts are configured
• Other bug and performance fixes

You can grab a copy of Blaq for yourself at the link below for just $1.99 or get the update in App World if you’re already a user.

• Download Blaq for BlackBerry PlayBook

Fishlabs has just announced the availability of Galaxy on Fire 2 HD, the sequel to their hit game Galaxy on Fire, is now available for purchase in BlackBerry App World. This game features an epic, outer space adventure with top-notch graphics and fast-paced action. You can grab this title, which is well worth the price tag of $9.99, right now from the link below. The full Press Release from Fishlabs starts below and continues past the break.

Press Release

Galaxy on Fire 2 HD conquers BlackBerry App World 

As of now, Fishlabs Entertainments spectacular sci-fi shooter is available for the BlackBerry PlayBook in a stunning HD version

Hamburg – July 5th, 2012 – Galaxy on Fire 2™ HD, the mobile science fiction benchmark on the App Store, is now also available for the latest tablet by BlackBerry®. In the course of the keynote of the BlackBerry World™, Galaxy on Fire 2™ HD had first been showcased on the BlackBerry® Playbook™ and is now available for that device for the price of $9.99. Due to its unique depth and quality, Fishlabs’ epic outer space adventure is without doubt one of the undisputed top titles of the “Gaming” category of the BlackBerry App World.

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Union has been leading the way for BlackBerry PlayBook game deployment and they are continuing that with the release of two new PlayBook games. The first new release is Trial Xtreme 2, a dirt bike game where you ride and stunt through 36 unique levels. Trial Xtreme is available for $1.99 in App World. The other release is Pocket RPG. In this game, which runs $4.99 in App World, you take control of a character and complete quests in a full-3D, RPG environment. Both games look like hours of fun and I’m planning to download them both to my PlayBook and give them a shot. Hit the links below to grab them for yourself.

• Download Trial Xtreme 2
• Download Pocket RPG

Gameloft is hosting another promotion on their BlackBerry Smartphone and PlayBook game selection. Now, you can get some of their great titles, such as Spider Man Total Mayhem, Real Football 2011, and N.O.V.A, of just 99 cents. There’s no official word as to how long this sale will last, but rumor has it that these games will be 99 cents till June 21st. Either way, with this great of a selection, why wait. Grab yourself one or a few Gameloft games today for just 99 cents.

• View the full catalog of Gameloft games in App World

The Pacemaker app, a DJ application that was developed exclusively for the BlackBerry PlayBook, is now available for purchase in App World. The application has been shown off many times over the past few months by RIM and Pacemaker Music. This app allows you to use nothing but your PlayBook and some speakers to become a world-class DJ. Pacemaker allows you to create mixes using a wide array of effects, equalizers, and other tools, which can then be played back via headphones or a sound system. Pacemaker is available in App World for $14.99. There is also a Lite version available for just $4.99.

• Download Pacemaker for the BlackBerry PlayBook
• Learn more about Pacemaker at their official site

For those that blog, this is an especially relevant update. WordPress for the BlackBerry PlayBook has been updated this morning to v2.1. Since PlayBook apps don’t yet have change logs enabled, we’re not exactly sure what has changed or been added in this release. Since it has made the jump from 2.0 to 2.1, we can assume there are some significant new features or fixes in this release. If you’re a PlayBook WordPress user, grab the update form the link below and let us know what you find.

• Download WordPress for BlackBerry PlayBook

The team at Kisai Labs has updated their popular Twitter app, Blaq for the BlackBerry PlayBook, to v1.8. This new version addresses some common issues while also adding some new features. As usual with Blaq updates, the change log is massive! The biggest new feature that they have added in this release is the threaded messages view. This allows you to see your Twitter conversations in an easy-to-read, threaded format. You can view the full change log for this update past the break. If you want to download Blaq for your PlayBook, it’ll run you $1.99 and can be had at the link below.

• Download Blaq for BlackBerry PlayBook

We saw this app release a few weeks back and get pulled immediately from App World. There was no explanation behind the quick release and pull but now it’s officially available. RIM has now announced the official release and the full Angry Birds suite of games is available for download in App World for the BlackBerry PlayBook. This latest installment brings the birds to a whole new environment, space. The gameplay experience is totally new here, with new physics to reflect both zero gravity in space and gravity fields of planets and asteroids. It’s available for $2.99 at the link below.

• Download Angry Birds Space for BlackBerry PlayBook

This post brings some good BlackBerry app news, unlike some of our other app posts this week! The team at Kayak.com has gone ahead and ported over the Android version of their travel search application onto the BlackBerry PlayBook. The application allows you to search Kayak’s large database of flights, hotels, and rental cars to get you the best price for your trip. The app is available for free in BlackBerry App World, and if you use Kayak to plan your trips, you’ll want to give this one a try today.

• Download Kayak for BlackBerry PlayBook

It seems like no matter how much App World grows, BlackBerry is still kryptonite to some of the top apps like Netflix and Skype. Today, Skype confirmed through their Twitter support channel, @SkypeSupport, that they have “No plans for a BlackBerry PlayBook-compatible Skype release.” This is another huge blow for RIM in the quest to fill App World with quality applications. This comes just days after the popular BlackBerry app, YouMail, announced they would quit developing for the platform due to a declining number of BlackBerry users.

All these major application developers declining to develop for BlackBerry makes for lots of frustrated BlackBerry users. I can assure you; however, that RIM is working hard both in-house and with external developers to bring all the best applications to BlackBerry. It may not be this week, or even this year, but once BlackBerry 10 launches and adoption picks back up, all the major applications will follow. Just keep your heads up, BlackBerry faithful, BlackBerry 10 is on the horizon, and with it will come all new opportunities for the brand to grow.

Source : BBOS