With the holidays rapidly approaching and hopes of a new BlackBerry on the horizon, the folks at Concrete Software have decided to slash the price of their BlackBerry games down to only 0.99 cents. Whether you have been eyeing one of their games but haven't pulled the trigger, or you are looking for something new and fun to play with on that BlackBerry 7 device you just got (or hope is under the tree), be sure to check out their selection.

With titles like PBA Bowling, Aces BlackJack, Aces Traffic Puzzle Pack and more -- odds are you will be able to find something you will enjoy. Hit the link below to check out all of their games and grab them before the price jumps again!

More information / purchase of Concrete Software Apps

The folks at Concrete Software has just released their latest game Aces Cribbage. Take your cribbage skills with you when you're on the go. Aces Cribbage has multiple difficulties, multiple game modes and anyone can play - even if you have no idea what cribbage is. Features include:

• Multiple ways to count your hand; including fast count, slow count and auto count.
  
• Online Leaderboards for each game: daily, weekly and overall
  
• Option for Muggins
  
• Hundreds of variations of Cribbage boards, pegs, and card design combinations
  
• New user tutorials and hints
  
• Glossary of commonly used Cribbage terms
  
• Tracks tons of statistics including number of wins, loses, skunks, and the average point leads.

Aces Cribbage is on sale now through August 17th for $2.99 (regularly $4.99) and is available for all devices. Head to the CrackBerry App Store for more.

• More information/download of Aces Cribbage >>

One of the greatest "time-killer" games has to be solitaire. The ease of play mixed with the variety of styles just makes it a no-brainer for playing solo on the go. Concrete Software has just released an updated version of their original hit with Aces Solitaire Pack 2 that gives you 40 styles of solitaire right on your device. You can fire up Klondike and Free Cell, or step it up with Spider, Forty Thieves and more. The game includes online leaderboards, enhanced graphics and even stat tracking. With tons of play options and loads of variety, Aces Solitaire Pack 2 is a great choice for mobile gaming. You can pick it up now for $4.99 in the CrackBerry App Store.

• More information and download of Aces Solitaire Pack 2 >>

The folks at Concrete Software are having a sale on two of their best selling games. From now through March 7th you can grab Aces Traffic Pack and Civilization IV: War of Two Cities for 40% off. This brings both games down from $4.99 to just $2.99. Both of these are sure to give you plenty of enjoyment in your Berry downtime. Aces Traffic Pack requires you to navigate a car from a packed lot. A great puzzle game involving a bit of skill and a lot of strategy. Civilization IV is based on the classic game which thrusts you into a quest for nothing other than world domination. The games are discounted through the CrackBerry App Store so you won't need a coupon. Hit the links below to download.

• More information and download of Civilization IV: War of Two Cities >>
• More information and download of Aces Traffic Pack >>

While at the BlackBerry Developer Conference this year, Adam and I got to sit in on developer session on how to best make use of OpenGL in BlackBerry devices. During that session one of the games demoed was PBA Bowling 2. Just a little over a month later, we now have a finalized version for the BlackBerry Storm2. Since PBA Bowling 2 makes us of the OpenGL graphics engine it looks great on the Storm2's screen and also makes great use of the accelerometer. Right now you can grab PBA Bowling 2 for only $2.99. That's 40% off until January 4th folks. If you download it, let us know in the comments what you think of it in comparison to other BlackBerry games that are not using OpenGL.

All of Concrete Softwares other games are on sale for 40% through January 4th as well. You can choose from greats like Sid Meier's Pirates, Aces Mahjong, Aces Blackjack and more. Check out the full Concrete Software lineup in the CrackBerry App Store. 

• Click Here For More Screenshots And Information About PBA Bowling 2 >>

Texas Hold ‘em is everywhere. You can’t turn on the TV after 10 pm without a least a couple of games on some channel. It’s a fast-paced game that is made for TV and for BlackBerries. It is an easy game to learn (well, the basics anyway) and a very democratic game – players seem to come form all walks of life and success is a perfect blend of luck and skill.

On the Blackberry, the game is perfectly suited to people on the go or someone with either a few minutes or a few hours to burn. Some of the nuances of the game need to be learned and come with experience so quick game-play in this version is a great teaching tool.

I’m not a hard core player – I’ll play the odd game in a tournament but I’m not online making money from poker everyday. That said, I am getting pretty addicted to Aces Texas Hold ‘Em – No Limit.

Playing with other “real” people is a different dynamic certainly – they can bluff and make mistakes. So there is an element that is missing from playing against a computer. But that is made up for in speed and usability.

The graphics are simple but excellent and the playing field makes it easy to follow along. You can adjust the speed, although I find the normal setting to be pretty quick. The blinds are raised quickly so the game moves along quickly. You can adjust the amounts of the blinds and the rate at which they change. You can also adjust player skill levels and review your stats.

Although it wasn’t available on my version, you can also select either Casino or tournament mode. I only have tournament mode, which is fine by me.

If there is one complaint it is that the other “players” tend to bet their hands. The game claims that “players” do bluff. In the preset levels they tend not to, I have found that if a player goes all in early then they usually have a good hand. However, you can adjust the skill levels of the players once you have mastered the basics and that offers up some level of unpredicabilty. There are five levels to keep you on your toes.

Overall, it is an excellent game and an addicting one. Definitely recommend this one for everyone with a BlackBerry. Aces Texas Hold ‘Em is easy to install and quick to load up and certainly one of the best solo card games out there for the BlackBerry. It is compatible with almost all BlackBerries.

Keith Pichelman, CEO of Concrete Software was kind enough to take some time away from his busy schedule and give us a phone interview today.

Thank you Keith for taking the time to answer our questions. Concrete Software has emerged very quickly as a leader in consumer software for mobile devices. Could you tell us a little bit more about how your company got started?

Keith: Sure, we’ve been around since 2003 and are based in Minneapolis, MN. In late 2003 we won the Nokia Series 60 best personal productivity application for our Driving Log application and shortly after that were the first company on many mobile platforms to have a Texas Hold’em game which was really our first big hit. From there we expanded out to many other mobile platforms including BlackBerry.

Concrete Software was founded on the idea of making innovative mobile software that runs across many mobile platforms. There are so many software titles in the market that building the same old product without innovation will only go so far. When we build a new product there always has to be a reason why we believe the product is something the market needs and if there is a similar product in the market we make sure we differentiate ourselves. We also want to be able to provide our customers our products no matter which mobile device they are on. This helps our sales channels so they don’t have to sell our products to a small subset of their customers.

Concrete Software currently offers many products. Which of your programs are the most popular, and why?

Keith: Our Aces Texas Hold’em game is still the most popular game. First, Texas Hold’em has a huge market, which probably doesn’t surprise many people. It’s the type of game that has a very broad audience. You can see this same type of audience for most of the top selling mobile games. Card games, Sudoku, chess, logic games, they all have a wide audience.

Now just because you make a game for a wide audience, doesn’t mean it will take off. We really sat down and designed the game for the mobile device and tried to make the game play the best it could be. This includes the special scrolling layout to handle huge tables and also using content experts to make sure the game play was enjoyable.

BlackBerry devices are running Java; how does the software development compare to other platforms such as Palm OS and Windows Mobile?

Keith: As part of our development process we always design and first build our products in Java. This works out well and allows us to easily work with most mobile phones and BlackBerry devices. From there we port to C++ platforms including Palm OS and Windows Mobile. So for us the main work is done and designed using Java, while the C++ is on the porting side and really depends on a good reference Java side that is clear and well written.

BlackBerry software is usually sold online or OTA (over the air). What are some of the benefits, and challenges, of this type of distribution?

Keith: Selling BlackBerry software OTA makes the consumers experience of purchasing software a good one, people don’t have to go through all the extra install steps usually needed when installing. The main challenge then is that we want anyone who has a BlackBerry to be able to buy our software and not worry about if they have a 7100 or an 8700. This means we have to support all the different BlackBerry screen sizes in one application. Supporting all the different screen sizes then challenges us to keep the total size of the software down so that it can be delivered OTA.

With the introduction of new consumer devices from RIM, do you believe users will start using more software on their phones?

Keith: I do. I believe this is because RIM is moving towards a philosophy where they are creating devices that are geared towards other segments besides the business user. The perfect example of that is the new Pearl BlackBerry that was recently released. As long as that does well, which it seems to be doing well so far, we should see more devices built for more segments.

Which mobile device do you currently use day-to-day?

Keith: Well, being in the industry that we are in, I tend to switch often so that I know what is available and can compare and see what the differences are. So right now I’m using the Pearl since it was just recently released; I’m still trying to get used to not having the scroll wheel on this phone!

What are the three most-used applications and/or games on your handheld?

Keith: Email, for obvious reasons. The calendar/scheduler that comes on devices and the alarm clock. I guess there isn’t anything too exciting. I tend to have our latest game on that is in a beta or alpha stage as well so I can do a little testing myself.

Lastly, do you have any “sneak peeks” of upcoming applications or other surprises you’d like to share with our readers?

Keith: Sure, why not! We will be coming out with a version of Aces Blackjack for the BlackBerry sometime in mid to early December. We should also have a number of exciting releases in early 2007 but I can’t give away too much!