iPhone game Orbital wins DiscoveryBeats Apps Contest

There’s nothing more frustrating to us games journos than the overlooked gem. You know - those games that receive stellar scores in all the publications but are bought by three people, two of whom are maternally related to the developers.

So we’re happy when any such game wins an award of some kind, as it’s bound to raise awareness and prompt a spike in sales. Step forward Orbital, winner of the inaugural DiscoveryBeat Apps Contest.

Bitforge’s intoxicating, ball-bouncing, just-one-more-goer snagged first prize in the competition, which was set up by the VentureBeat website. It pipped XEO Design's upcoming Tilt, Appy Entertainment's FaceFighter and a couple of non-gaming apps to the prize.

According to VentureBeat, Orbital has only been downloaded by 27,000 people, so here’s hoping that number rises considerably following its success. Apparently those 27,000 users have played the game for 5.5 hours on average, so a good time is guaranteed for all.