After many months of speculation, famed game designer Peter Molyneux's Curiosity is now available on the iOS app store.

Gamers have known for some time the basic premise of the app. Curiosity presents gamers with a gigantic cube made of of many millions (or perhaps billions) of smaller cubes. Participants worldwide can chink away at the cube block my block, cooperating to reveal what's underneath each layer.

But... what the heck does this actually mean? And how does it work? Let's take a look...

This is the first screen you see when you fire up the app. It's wholly white, which obviously blends right in with IGN's page background. It also already sets up the mysterious, high-concept mood:

The stark white screen stays until you tap it. Apparently Curiosity takes your initial tap as a "yes" to the stark question above. You're next told how many people before you have downloaded and fired up Curiosity - a surprisingly powerful and compelling way to get both the cooperative and competitive juices flowing. I was the 335th person to try out Curiosity:

The cube has many layers, but getting to the center won't be easy...

What's more, only one person will get to hit that final block and see what's actually there. I certainly hope they choose to share what they see with the world...

After this enigmatic and oddly compelling into... we're finally here! On the cube itself! So... now what?

You can swipe your finger to rotate the cube, or pinch two fingers to zoom in and out. Zooming in reveals sections that other users have chipped away at that aren't visible from a distance. It's neat to see them slowly materialize.

Users are already beginning to clear away sections of the cube in an ad-hoc form of self expression:

Each layer of the cube promises to have something new underneath. A new color, a photograph, a painting... something that will satisfy each players', well... curiosity. But for now it looks like each side of the cube just has a blue-green layer underneath.

But let's get down to brass tacks. How does curiosity actually work? Blocks are deleted simply by tapping on them. Gamers start with a set amount of coins. I wholly expected to be charged a coin for each block I deleted. I expected them to refill slowly over time, and perhaps be charged real money for extra coins. But it turns out Curiosity actually does the opposite.

Each block you delete earns coins. If you delete blocks rapidly in an unbroken burst of play (work? participation?) a coin multiplier begins to tick upward. At first each block deleted just earns you one coin. But then two, three, and on upward with no upper limit that I could find.

This is a supremely interesting design decision because it means you're earning exponentially more coins the longer you play in one unbroken chunk. A user that deletes 1000 blocks a few at a time will only have 1000 coins. But a user that breaks 1000 blocks in a single chunk could earn 50 times that much currency.

But... what are these coins actually spent on?

The chisels, bombs and firecrackers in the menu above make you a more efficient block clearer for a limited time by allowing you to clear more cubelets with a single tap. These power-ups range in price from a few thousand coins up to 3 billion for the diamond pickaxe. What's a little more interesting is that even accessing the stats menu costs coins - 100, to be precise. Inside, you can see how many cubelets remain on the current layer of the cube, how many users are participating, how many cubelets you personally have cleared and plenty more.

Interestingly, the outer layer of the cube contains 100,000,000 cubelets just on its own. All of which must be cleared one by one. Anyone want to crunch some numbers and figure out how many total cubelets are contained within the cube, if it is solid all the way through?

So, there you have it. A first look at Curiosity from Peter Molyneux's new studio 22cans. The app is both absurdly simple and wildly complex. It's very silly and yet oddly compelling. Perhaps most unusual of all, given the current state of the App Store, is that Curiosity is an entirely free download, with no In-App-Purchases in sight. Yes, the entire experience is 100% free, from top-to-bottom.

Is it a video game? A piece of interactive art? To me, it feels like a commentary on mass cooperation. With millions upon millions of cubes to break, there is no getting to the center without cooperation on a massive scale.

Curiosity also makes me think about the human desire for self expression. The cube's grey face has no instructions in the same way that a canvas of wet sand has no instructions. No one tells you to write your initials in the sand with your finger. Or draw something considerably less benign and more vulgar, if that's or disposition. But it still spontaneously happens, regardless. We all want to leave our mark on the world, even if it is fleeting.

And so it is with Curiosity. Gamers don't need to be told to communicate using the surface of the cube. It just happens. And like messages written in sand, Curiosity's very nature ensures that any message left is fleeting. It will be washed away by the actions of other users, replaced with a new layer of the cube and new engravings.

Until the center is reached, at least. After that... who knows?

Spot something especially memorable on the cube? Add it to our user-powered gallery of curiosity sightings!

Justin is Editor of IGN Wireless. He has been reviewing mobile games since the dark days of Java flip phones. You can follow him on Twitter at @ErrorJustin and on IGN.

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If you’re a PlayStation Plus subscriber in North America, you’ll be pleased to learn that the service will get a refresh with November 5th’s PlayStation Store update.

For starters, Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition, which comes packing extra content, will be completely free for PlayStation Plus subscribers.

Additionally, the digital version of Portal 2 will be 30% off (from $19.99 to $13.99), and its newly-announced Portal 2 In Motion DLC will also be discounted 30% (from $9.99 to $6.99). Finally, the new PS3/Vita cross-play game When Vikings Attack will also be 30% off, bringing its price from $9.99 down to $6.99. And Absolute Supercars will be discounted at 20%, bringing its price from $9.99 to $7.99.

European gamers will get Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One, Cubixx HD and Crysis 2 for free beginning on November 7th. As a result, Just Cause 2 and Borderlands will be removed from the Instant Game Collection at that point, so download them now if you haven’t already.

Colin Moriarty is an IGN PlayStation editor. You can follow him on Twitter and IGN and learn just how sad the life of a New York Islanders and New York Jets fan can be.

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Every day hundreds of new apps make their debut on the App Store, and hundreds more are updated or reduced in price. We have sifted through the noise and highlighted those select few that might be worth your attention.

Game Debuts

A.R.C. Squadron – ($0.99)

Fans of Nintendo's Star Fox series should take immediate notice of Psyonix Studios' 99-cent A.R.C. Squadron, a similarly-styled on-rails spaceship shooter that lacks the talking animals but has just as many barrel rolls:

Dexter: The Game 2 – ($2.99)

Showtime's serial killer who kills serial killers is back with a second App Store adventure. Will you bring the guilty to justice?

Heads Up! Hot Dogs – ($0.99)

Adult Swim's latest ridiculous diversion is a balancing act for beef – you place hot dogs on the heads of passers-by and try to keep them from falling. Bonkers.

Sci-Fi Heroes – (Free)

Majesco's newest effort pulls together classic character types from all of science-fiction, so pick your Space Marine, sentient robot or technomancer and send them on a quest for crazy amounts of interstellar loot.

Wreck-It Ralph – ($0.99)

Disney's new animated film about a video game bad guy who decides to become a good guy opens in theaters tomorrow, so it's not surprising to see the tie-in app debut today. It's also not surprising that there are three different game designs included in this one download, since Ralph himself jumps from game to game in the movie. 99 cents will score you iOS versions of the retro-arcadey Fix-It Felix Jr., an endless climber called Sugar Rush: Sweet Climber and the Robotron-esque top-down shooter Hero's Duty.

SpinCraft – ($0.99)

Finally, we have SpinCraft, a new 3D platformer from BulkyPix that casts you as a space-alien pizza delivery boy. You can try the first few levels of this one for free before deciding whether to spend 99 cents to unlock the rest.

Price Drops

Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor – (Free)

It isn't often when one of our IGN Editor's Choice Award winners goes totally free, but sure enough that's what's happening with Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor today. This inventive platformer that casts you as a gravity-defying arachnid earned huge praise in our review a few years ago, and you'd be nuts not to download it now for no cost.

Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor HD – (Free)

What's better than a free version of a great game? Two free versions! If you're an iPad owner, the HD edition of Spider is also available for nothing right now. Jump on it!

Great Big War Game – ($0.99)

Speaking of past Editor's Choice Award winners, how about checking out Rubicon's Great Big War Game? It earned itself a lofty 9.5/10 rating in our review this past summer, and it's on sale for just 99 cents right now.

DrawRace 2 – (Free)

Lastly, another heads-up about Chillingo's excellent DrawRace 2. It was free a couple of days ago, then the price went back up, and now it's free again. It's your second chance, so move fast!

Updates

Angry Birds Space – ($0.99)

Rovio's partnership with NASA and the Mars Curiosity Land Rover mission continues, as today 10 new Red Planet levels have been added to the game. Check them out!

Temple Run: Brave – ($0.99)

Disney's Temple Run sequel starring the characters and settings of this summer's Pixar film Brave is updated with new content as well. Direct Princess Merida to collect Wisp Tokens to access the all-new spirit world:

That's all for today! If you haven't already, consider subscribing to the App Store Update via email. It's extra convenient!

Lucas M. Thomas is IGN Nintendo's longtime champion of downloadable titles across the Wii, DSi and 3DS. He's happy to now be helping Justin round up the best options for App Store shoppers. You can follow him on Twitter, @lucasmthomas.

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