I wont say more now, but there is a screenshot after the jump that might give you a clue…

Download, and enjoy!

The app will have a new name and a whole new look.  The new version, Lightsaber Unleashed, will have a strong link to the new multi-platform title Star Wars ®: The Force Unleashed™, which is out soon.  Lightsaber Unleashed will feature exciting characters from this new game as well as vastly improved graphics, sound effects and optional dueling music (which was a popular request).

We are still going to be publishing the application, and it will still be free.  News will be posted here as it unfolds, but we hope users will be able to update their copy of PhoneSaber to the new LightSaber Unleashed when it becomes available through the App Store.  In the mean time, enjoy some screenshots of what you can expect after the jump!

When you first open the game, you are taken straight in - no menus or options make this a game that you really can pick up and put down.  Your status is always saved, so if you get a call or want to take a break you can do and be put straight back into the game when you load it up again.

The aim of the game is to find as many words from a 3×3 grid of letters as possible. There is also one 9 letter word hiding in there too - so be on the lookout.  Try and get as many words as possible.  If you think you’ve had enough of one puzzle, simply tap ‘New’ and you’ll get a whole new set of letters.

The game is simple and addictive, and only 59p / 99¢.  Download now!

As of now, PhoneSaber will no longer be available, I’ve had a chat with a guy from THQ Wireless (who own the rights for Star Wars apps on mobiles) and as we were always expecting, PhoneSaber is not allowed to be on there.  It was a very friendly chat, and the future of PhoneSaber was discussed.

They want to do some sort of official, Star Wars branded version of PhoneSaber, and will be working with us on that one.  We’re really excited about this - it means that PhoneSaber has the potential to be even better than it originally was!  I don’t know any information beyond that, whether they plan to charge for it, advertise with it or what, but we’ll keep you updated on as much as we’re allowed to tell you.

Apologies to everyone who loved PhoneSaber, we didn’t really have much choice in the matter, but we’re certain that the new, official, PhoneSaber will be even more great than the original was!

TheMacBox will be continuing to make awesome stuff, including some great pay-for games, and some more awesome free apps.

Update: Since this post has now hit the internet, just want to clarify a few things:

• Since it was us that removed the app, it is unlikely that Apple will pull the kill switch we’ve heard so much about recently.  And I’m pretty sure that’ll just be for actual malicious apps (NetShare, Box Office etc. have not been added to that list)
• We’ll be talking to someone from THQ very soon, and will push for this to be a free app, maybe it could be used as a marketing tool for The Force Unleashed?
• THQ plan to let us have access to all the library of Star Wars sounds, etc, that we could never have used before, and we’d like to make PhoneSaber the best it can be for an official app… so if you have any requests, e-mail us now.
• We personally don’t recommend you get iSaber instead because, well… it’s just not as good really, is it?  And it’s likely to go the way of PhoneSaber soon.

However, we were lucky enough to have the PhoneSaber 1.2 update launch in exactly the same window as Apple’s new daily trend reporting went live.  This gave us the opportunity to see exactly how many people had PhoneSaber (and updated it) in the past few days.

And we have the great pleasure of telling you that in the last few days (since PhoneSaber 1.2 went live) just over 317,000 people updated!  And even over just those 3 days we had another 83,000 people download PhoneSaber for the first time!

This number, combined with the fact PhoneSaber has spent most of it’s life on the App Store above Facebook and Tap Tap, leads me to the near certain fact that PhoneSaber has been downloaded (way?) over a million times.

So give yourselves a slap on the back PhoneSaber fans… there’s a lot of you!

To those of you worried this has just become “The PhoneSaber Site”, worry no more… we’re releasing some exciting new games very soon!

Thanks for reading!

PhoneSaber 1.2 is now available on the App Store!  Here’s what’s new:

• The most requested feature (and one you’ll all appreciate) - Much louder sound!
• Full screen mode now animates in and out!
• The interface flips when the device is upside down, so you can use the normal view the correct way up, but still have the speaker facing out for even louder sound!

There’s another update on it’s way fairly soon that will boost the volume, fix a couple things, and more.

Enjoy!

First of all, got to say how truly great the App Store is. Some fantastic apps available - free and otherwise. The remote app from Apple is excellent, NetNewsWire is nice, and the Facebook app is pretty good too.

It’s a shame some developers seem to have sold out and set completely silly prices for apps that really should be free, and there are a lot of clones on there (do I need 10 sudoku apps and 17 tip calculators?)

It’s also great to see our fun little apps doing well. Both NearPics & PhoneSaber are easily in the top 50 free apps, and PhoneSaber is (at time of writing) the 5th most popular free app (beating NetNewsWire, MySpace, Twitterific & The Mobile News Network)! Also, it’s great to see almost everyone taking PhoneSaber in the spirit it was intended - a fun free app. Pointless… but fun.

Getting some attention on the net too, Gizmodo said “Lightsaber application similar to the one on Installer.app. Five choices of iPhone colors and slightly better accelerometer detection for better lightsaber sounds. Free.”  Laptop Mag called PhoneSaber “The best, most useless iPhone app” and posted a moderately amusing video of them playing with it!

Enjoy the App Store everyone!

I say if because when I arrived this morning at 0635, a small queue of about 15 people had already formed, and given that the flagship O2 store on Princes Street, Edinburgh had but 20 16GB iPhones (my model of choice).  It seems that most people also wanted the 16GB model and interestingly, O2 had no iPhones in white.  When I arrived at the door (the queue was let in slowly to allow for activations) I discovered that 12 people had asked for the 16GB model out of the 15 people who were ahead of me.

The 20 units that the O2 store in Edinburgh had was generous compared to the number of units a Carphone Warehouse store that my friend was queuing at had.  She was actually second in the queue and failed to get one.  The store had but one model!

If you have one - I hope you’re enjoying it, otherwise good luck in finding one!