The Android version of Underworld has just been updated to 1.0.1.

Although it may sound as a minor patch, we have fixed plenty of annoying bugs (like the one with 1 million mark!) and added HTC Tattoo support.

Visit the Android Market to get the new version now.

Happy to announce that Underworld is finally ready for Android users! If you are one of them, just stop reading this, search the Market on your device for ‘Underworld’ and join the underground of street trade right away!

OK, so what’s noteworthy about the Android version of the game?

Original game theme. After more than a year since Underworld was first submitted to the AppStore (and then rejected after unreasonably long reviewing period) we are finally proud to present the game in its original theme of the grey trade. Yep. Real controlled substances instead of gummy bears and lollipops! Sorry AppStore folks, we did what we could.

Shared game world. As we promised before, the Android players have joined the current world that exists for iPhone/iPod Touch dealers. We think it’s totally OK considering how many of SweetDeal players already use the SD2DL re-skin plug-in bringing the original grey theme to the AppStore version of the game.

UW Points to boost your performance. Many iPhone/iPod Touch players have already forgotten the UW Points and switched to in-app purchase mechanics. Unfortunately, Android Market doesn’t support micro-transactions. Not sure if it will at all. So, if you want to boost your rising to the top of the Cream of the Crop, there are plenty of UW Point packs to use. Tap the U-shaped icon in the game to get to know more.

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The great thing about opening Underworld to new platforms is new players. Which not only make the game more interesting (rule #1 of MMO gaming), but also give a lot of feedback. Visit About section to submit bug reports or interesting ideas and don’t forget to become a member of Underworld forum!

Ever since we launched Underworld, we’ve been asked constantly if there’s going to be a version for Android. Fair question, considering impressive platform capabilities and its growing popularity!

Today, we are happy to announce that Android people will be able to get into Underworld this fall. We’ve been working on it for some time already and the launch date is really close now.

The same as in the AppStore, the game is going to be free to play, with an optional paid stuff. Like a full protection from cops, a temporary boost to your equipment and other useful things.

What is maybe more interesting to the fans: we intend to publish the Android version of Underworld in its ‘Traffic’ theme. The one that is putting you through the daily duties of a drug dealer. The same that couldn’t make it to the AppStore few weeks ago.

Underworld: Traffic for Android will bring players into the same world as SweetDeal, available from the AppStore, with a difference in available commodities and dealers’ ranks.

We will keep you posted on the development process and the exact launch date to be revealed soon. Stay tuned and feel free to ask questions: here in comments, on UW message board or in Twitter!

Bad news kicked in about the anticipated Traffic theme of Underworld. Got rejected again. Apple contacted us, saying that nothing that involves trafficking of illegal commodities won’t pass the bar.

Is it the time to make a theme featuring medical use of Underworld commodities? Seems like this works pretty well for other iPhone apps. Prescription only, 100% legitimate business, eh?

Anyway, this doesn’t stop us from improving the game along the roadmap. We are releasing a new version in the next couple of days. Feature preview;

• Push notifications about your sales and new messages;
• The improved map screen: you’ll see not only your current tile but also tiles of other dealers you can reach;
• A couple of other useful improvements suggested by the community: like an option to make the system bar visible in the game;

What happened to the In-App purchase functionality? Although we have already done a lot of work to make this mechanics happen in the upcoming version, we’ll have to postpone it to the next release. The thing is, AppStore has a very strict policy on the in-app purchase usage and selling UW points as in-app goods doesn’t comply with this policy very well. We have to work on that a bit more and push another update within a week or so.

Well, how about new ranks then? Right. New ranks (=upgrades) will come out together with a big new chunk of gameplay, right from the top of the Open Roadmap based on your votes. Yep, we’ve promised ‘Missions’ some time ago and to bate your curiosity, we’ll squeeze a separate post soon about the stuff we’re cooking right now.

Stay tuned!

Image credits to GenMed64, via Flickr.