Royal Navy dives into iPhone, social gaming to find new recruits

Royal Navy: Engineer Officer Challenge
Alright, now this whole social gaming fad is serious stuff. The Royal Navy has enlisted iPhone app developer Marvellous to create a new version of Royal Navy: Engineer Officer Challenge, a free game that this British military arm hopes will spur more recruits. The game, originally released in 2009, presents five challenges that an Engineer Officer might face aboard a destroyer (through a 3.5-inch screen). Marketing Magazine reports that the game is designed to test players' decision making under pressure. Of course, to help spread the news of your mobile naval prowess, you can post scores to Facebook.

You can see where the Royal Navy is going with this one already. Engineer Officer Challenge also includes information about a career in the Royal Navy and allows players to request a call back appointment right within the game. Considering the US Military already has its own PC game, it shouldn't be long before you see the good ol' US of A gaming up your iPhone.

[Image Credit: Apple]

Would you play a game revolving around the military? What do you think of the Royal Navy's modern methods of finding new recruits?

Diner Dash serves up good eats on iOS for free

Were you sad to see Diner Dash close its doors on Facebook? If you have an Apple mobile device, you can now fill in a bit of the hole left behind with the game's closure, as the original Diner Dash is now absolutely free to download via iTunes. Technically, the free version is only for the iPhone and iPod Touch, but you can download it on your iPad as well (the graphics will be much poorer in that case).

Before this sale, Diner Dash could be purchased for $2.99, which makes this a pretty good deal. Add to this the fact that the game is frequently updated with new content (new themed restaurants and levels, for one) and the deal becomes even better!

Sure, downloading an iPhone game won't bring back the joy of playing as Flo on Facebook, but we certainly won't turn down a free game. The only thing to keep in mind here, folks, is that this free price will only be around for a limited time. How limited? Unfortunately, PlayFirst doesn't say, but that just gives you all the more incentive to download it now, even if you don't plan on playing it until later!

Do you already own Diner Dash on iOS, or will you download it now for the first time since it's free? Does this freebie giveaway help heal the wound of losing Diner Dash on Facebook? Let us know in the comments!