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Single For Valentines? SEGA’s Got You Sorted

Posted Feb 10, 2012 at 5:15PM EST by Mr Pham Listed in: Firmware Tags: sega valentine deals, sonic the hedgehog iphone, valentine sales

No, it's not SEGA branded hookers.


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Apple removes copycat App Store Games

Posted Feb 6, 2012 at 9:05AM EST by Harrison E Listed in: News Tags: angry birds, app store, plants vs. zombies, temple jump, temple run, zynga

So you can no longer get fooled by Assassin Fruit Killer, Flowers vs. Aliens or Upset Foul.


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Ghost Trick coming to the iPhone

Posted Feb 4, 2012 at 10:20AM EST by Harrison E Listed in: News Tags: ghost trick, ios, iphone, nintendo ds, phantom detective

One of the coolest, most creative and inventive games I've ever played is coming to the iPhone


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Mass Effect going mobile

Posted Feb 4, 2012 at 9:20AM EST by Harrison E Listed in: News Tags: BioWare, ios, mass effect, mass effect galaxy at war, me3 on iphone

Mass Effect in the palm of your hand, well a part of it anyway.


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Interview: Stay Alive creator Rob Allison

Posted Feb 2, 2012 at 7:45PM EST by Harrison E Listed in: Gaming, Interviews Tags: android market, appstore, stay alive, stay alive android, stay alive ipad, stay alive iphone

Creator of one of the best indie mobile titles, Stay Alive, Rob Allison talks to Harrison E about creating the game, reddit and making games.


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Zynga Responds to Copy and Paste Criticism

Posted Feb 1, 2012 at 4:28PM EST by Mike F Listed in: News Tags: buffalo studios, dream heights, mark pincus, nimblebit, tiny tower, zynga

CEO Mark Pincus disagrees with allegations of concept copying, instead preferring the term “evolution.”

Last week, we talked a bit about Zynga’s latest game, Dream Heights. More specifically, we talked about the fact that Dream Heights is a pretty blatant copy of 2011’s official iPhone Game of the Year, Tiny Tower. At least, that’s how Tiny Tower’s developer, NimbleBit, feels.

Zynga CEO Mark Pincus disagrees with NimbleBit’s assertions, and instead believes that Dream Heights is just the next evolutionary step in a long line of tower games. His response, issued in an internal memo, referenced games like SimTower and Yoot Tower as other games that laid the framework for Tiny Tower, which in turn served as the basis for Dream Heights.

For the sake of fairness, here’s a direct quote:

“With regard to Dream Heights and the tower genre, it’s important to note that this category has existed since 1994 with games like Sim Tower and was more recently popularized in China with Tower of Babel in 2009 which achieved 15 million DAUs. On iOS there has been Yoot Tower, Tower Up, Tower Town, Tower Blocks and Tiny Tower. Just as our games, mechanics and social innovations have inspired and accelerated the game industry, its 30 year body of work has inspired us too.”

Of course, SimTower and Tiny Tower are very different games, a point made by NimbleBit’s Ian Marsh in the company’s rebuttal:

“It is a smart idea for Mark Pincus and Zynga to try and lump all games with the name Tower together as an actual genre whose games borrow from each other. Unfortunately sharing a name or setting does not a genre make. The games Pincus mentions couldn't be more different.”

He continued:

“If you take a quick look before "pulling the lens back" as Pincus suggests, you'll find an innumerable number of details in the game that were painstakingly crafted to be identical to Tiny Tower. These are core gameplay mechanics and rules, not similar settings or themes that games in the same genre might share.”

Pincus also took time to address allegations by yet another developer, Buffalo Studios, that the company had ripped off their design for Bingo Blitz to make the upcoming Zynga Bingo. Pincus wrote a missive similar to the original NimbleBit post, complete with picture-by-picture comparisons of how Buffalo actually ripped off Poker Blitz, an earlier Zynga title.

The whole thing is devolving into a running joke where one company says the other copied, and the accused company goes farther back in the books to claim the same about the accuser. One thing’s for sure, Zynga obviously doesn’t feel like what it is doing is wrong.

What do you think? Where is the line between being inspired by someone’s work, and copying it?

Also, you should absolutely read the full interview at GamesBeat.

[Game Informer]

CEO Mark Pincus disagrees with allegations of concept copying, instead preferring the term “evolution.”


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EA and THQ losing staff

Posted Jan 29, 2012 at 8:37AM EST by Harrison E Listed in: News Tags: ea games, Electronic Arts, layoffs, playfish, THQ

2012 will be a big year for EA and THQ but it looks like some of their staff are either jumping ship or being fired from the big gaming companies.


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Steam releasing official iPhone and Android apps

Posted Jan 28, 2012 at 7:42AM EST by Harrison E Listed in: News Tags: android market, appstore, Steam, steam for android, steam for iphone, valve

Steam releasing official iPhone and Android apps

Whilst it is in beta right now, Valve hope to roll it out properly before the end of 2012

I finally got my first smartphone this year and whilst I thought I was incredibly behind in my reaches for the most technically advanced thing since swearing robot's, it appears that big comapanies are only catching up to the big, bad mobile phone platform.

Steam released the app in it's current beta format yesterday and is only accessible to those who signed up for the beta on Steam can participate in the App which is for Android and iOS devices.

The app itself is not dissimilar to apps on both marketplaces which pertain to keeping up to date with your friends, browsing your community groups, profiles, check screenshots, user-generated content, sales and everything else Steam related. This is just an official app and it's free so it's good to see Steam not trying to compete with the other apps just for the dollar, dollar bill, y'all.

Gabe Newell spoke abou the service saying that it came "from many requests" from their user base. "Mobile is changing the way people interact, play games and consumer media, and the Steam app is part of our commitment to meet customer demands and expand the service functionality of Steam to make it richer and more accessible for everyone."

Anyone can currently download the app, put in their details and can browse till their hearts content. Hopefully it will all be optimised. I currently am not apart of the beta but will give my two cents when I can get a taste test of the cool little app.

http://store.steampowered.com/news/7231/

While it is in beta right now, Valve hope to roll it out properly before the end of 2012


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New iPhone App Awards You for Watching TV

Posted Jan 26, 2012 at 9:21AM EST by Brett Huffman Listed in: News Tags: apple, iphone app review, viggle

If you're watching TV on your iPhone anyway...


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Zynga Called Out for Copying TinyTower by NimbleBit Devs

Posted Jan 25, 2012 at 5:00PM EST by Mike F Listed in: News Tags: dream heights, mafia wars, mob wars, myfarm, nimblebit, tinytower, zynga

Zynga is known for copy/pasting its games, but this time the original developer isn’t sitting idly by.

Zynga has quickly become a powerful force in the world of social and mobile gaming, though recent rumors indicate the company could be on shaky financial footing. Zynga is known for its massively popular casual games, but many gamers may not know that the company is also notorious for stealing those games from established indie developers.

Zynga has faced lawsuits for both FarmVille and Mafia Wars, which are Zynga’d-up clones of MyFarm and Mob Wars, respectively. And the company continues its copy/paste development strategy without shame, this time cloning the official 2011 iPhone Game of the Year, TinyTower.

NimbleBit called Zynga out with a passive-aggressive infographic, one that wishes the company luck but showcases the many ways in which their concept was ripped off. Check it out:

What do you think of Zynga’s cloning strategy? It works in terms of sales, but it isn’t earning them any support in the gaming community.

Oh, if you want more info on Zynga’s long history of theft, check out this excellent article on Edge.

[Reddit]

Zynga is known for copy/pasting its games, but this time the original developer isn’t sitting idly by.


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Counter Strike On Android Devices

Posted Jan 21, 2012 at 6:15PM EST by Mr Pham Listed in: News Tags: counter-strike android, counter-strike mobile, counter-strike tablet

And it’s looking pretty neat.


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Android Market Hits 11 Billion Downloads

Posted Jan 20, 2012 at 2:10PM EST by Mr Pham Listed in: News Tags: android market, android market downloads

That’s billions, not millions.


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Zynga Purchases Four Mobile Developers

Posted Jan 19, 2012 at 4:49PM EST by Mike F Listed in: News Tags: gamedoctors, hiplogic, mobile ape, page44 studios, zynga

The social gaming giant continues its push into the mobile market.

Zynga hasn’t been doing so great as of late, with attendance on their social games a pale shadow of what they used to be. But the company is on the prowl for ways to expand its business model, and has the mobile market at the center of its crosshairs. Early today, Zynga confirmed that it has acquired no fewer than four mobile developers with the intent of extending its mobile grasp.

Gamedoctors, HipLogic, Page44 Studios and Mobile Ape were all confirmed to have been picked up, giving Zynga a deep portfolio from which to choose and a few established franchises on which to build. All things considered, it’s a smart move for the company, especially when you consider their stock has been steadily declining in value since the company went public back in December.

There’s no information on what games Zynga plans to make or how the company will be using its new development studios, but we’ll keep you posted as information becomes available.

In the meantime, what do you think of Zynga snapping up smaller studios?

[Reuters]

The social gaming giant continues its push into the mobile market.


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The Voxel Agents interview

Posted Jan 11, 2012 at 4:00PM EST by Harrison E Listed in: Interviews Tags: the voxel agents, train conductor 2, train conductor 2 android, train conductor 2 ios

Harrison E talks to the creators of the intensely addictive and incredibly popular Train Conductor series, The Voxel Agents.


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Angry Birds Scores 6.5 Million Downloads in One Day

Posted Jan 4, 2012 at 2:37PM EST by Mike F Listed in: News Tags: android, angry birds, ios, rovio

One of the most popular mobile games in the world had a huge surge in sales thanks to new device activation.

Well, it looks like two things happened for sure on Christmas day. Number one, a whole hell of a lot of people got iOS and Android devices. Number two, a huge percentage of those new users elected to download Rovio’s smash hit, Angry Birds.

The indie studio reported that the game was downloaded over 6.5 million times on Christmas day – an absolutely absurd figure no matter how you look at it. Judging by smartphone/tablet activations, it looks like almost every person who got a new device downloaded Angry Birds. The game might as well be pre-installed.

It’s worth noting that the figured include free and paid versions of the app, but still – what a massive day for Rovio. Take that, Scribblenauts!

Do you have Angry Birds on any of your devices?

One of the most popular mobile games in the world had a huge surge in sales thanks to new device activation.


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Shenmue City social gaming experiment shuts down

Posted Jan 4, 2012 at 10:00AM EST by Harrison E Listed in: News Tags: mobile gaming, Sega, shenmue, social gaming, yahoo games

The Sega classic lived on in mobile form but it looks like it might be going away.


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iOS Apps Can Run On Apple TV at 720p

Posted Jan 2, 2012 at 12:30PM EST by Mr Pham Listed in: News Tags: Apple TV, apple tv mobilex, ios homebrew

This new demo video shows something of interest to you iPeople.


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Mojang unsure about Minecraft: Pocket Edition future

Posted Jan 2, 2012 at 11:00AM EST by Harrison E Listed in: Gaming Tags: david kaplan, minecraft, minecraft androd, minecraft ios, minecraft on xbox, minecraft pocket edition

Minecraft is coming to the 360 soon but Mojang is thinking their mobile ports may have a future but will wait and see.


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Steam Client available for Android

Posted Jan 2, 2012 at 10:30AM EST by Harrison E Listed in: Gaming Tags: android, iphone apps, Steam, steam client, valve

An app that checks you and your stats on Steam is now available for Android.


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IOS Game Controller

Posted Jan 2, 2012 at 10:25AM EST by Mr Pham Listed in: Accessories Tags: 60 beat gamepad, aftermath, bugdom 2, icontroller, ios accessories

Have you heard.


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Some New Ace Attorney Film Screens

Posted Jan 1, 2012 at 10:00AM EST by Mr Pham Listed in: Gaming Tags: ace attorney, ace attorney movie, phoenix wright, takashi miike

Some more shots from the upcoming film.


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Sonic 4: Episode 2 coming 2012

Posted Dec 31, 2011 at 3:00PM EST by Mr Pham Listed in: Gaming Tags: psn, Sega, Sonic, sonic episode ii, sonic the hedgehog 4, xbl

Another title for the 2012 roster!


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New Physics and Graphics Coming in Sonic 4: Episode 2

Posted Dec 29, 2011 at 1:30PM EST by Brett Huffman Listed in: iOS Tags: Sega, sonic the hedgehog 4: episode 1, sonic the hedgehog 4: episode 2

A new graphics engine, a new physics engine, and the return of some familiar faces await us in Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 2.


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All Aboard Train Conductor 2: USA review

Posted Dec 28, 2011 at 2:45PM EST by Harrison E Listed in: Gaming Tags: review, train conductor 2, train conductor 2 android, train conductor 2 iphone, train conductor 2:usa, voxel agents

All Aboard - Train Conductor 2: USA review

Voxel Agents new game has just hit the Android market and you better get on track.

I recently got an Android phone - my first smartphone - and whilst I was glad to have a navigational tool and have something to help me on my way, I was also looking forward to playing some of the games I'd constantly heard about. The games for the android aren't really dissimilar from those on the iPhone, but hey, I have an Android and I'm loving it, so why not check out a few games?

However, I was stumped from the get go, most of them I had heard in passing or were on the iTunes store, so I was drawing a blank. I eventually heard someone mention a new game called Train Conductor 2, a game by Australian Developers Voxel Agents. I was a bit hesitant at first, I mean how much fun can conducting trains really be.

The game is in the vein of games such as Flight Control, not just for it's transportation aspect, but also it's game mechanics of moving your desired mode of concern to where it's meant to be. I was going to get Flight Control, but I remembered that I'd purchased it off Steam some time ago and think that was enough. Flight Control is a bit repetitive and the music - while catchy - can be a bit repetitive. Train Conductor 2, never has that problem.

I often praise games with great sound and music, but I always feel like some games just capture the spirit of where it's set or where they're coming from when it comes to the sound design and music, TC2 definitely has that . The game takes place in the greatest country in the world: America - if you didn't get that from the title. You play a train conductor in Miami, initially and you have the cool sounds of a breeze and the gulls then a nice bit of funk begins to play as you're told by a red-headed girl that you will need to make sure these trains get to where they're going.

It's as simple as that, four tracks, several trains, no time limit and you have to make sure they don't crash into one another. The game is quite leanient with close calls with the game which add to the excitement, but if your trains are going to crash, they will crash. The game relies on fast reflexes and strategy, as you see one track light up, you may have to stop another train in it's tracks on number 4, just so you can slide the next one in from number 2, but wait, there's another one coming from number 1, what do you do then?

The game's difficult curve is mixed with over 7 different levels, as each level is barely similar to the last. The Miami level focuses on you making sure you can just maneouvre your trains from one track to the next, but once it becomes dark, the night takes over the game. Ghosts and Aliens roam the American countryside messing with your trains. These are my favourite levels as they aren't restricted to the game's toughest mechanic of crossing trains while making a move. The ghosts and demon trains will simply float through one another and it is magnficent during the challenge maps to see ten of them flow perfectly to where they're going in just a matter of seconds.

The game looks fantastic and has 3-D trains on a fairly 2-D background, but there's always something going on. During the Miami level, a shark swims under the bridged tracks, during the Roswell level, you'll see agents come and go and during the New York level, the underground can be quite lively. The game really situates itself with it's location and even though it kind of uses stereotypes, it never really detracts from the game. It's a bit like if they sat down with a big whiteboard and started with a bunch of levels and then just listed everything they could about those cities. Oh and finally, the character design of the girl is incredibly well-done and cute even. But during the Seattle level, she seems to have a minor crazy streak when you run over a yeti, saying I don't know what that was "but I liked crushing it."

In fact, I tried doing the tutorial later on to show someone she said that and she followed it up with "I feel like a sandwich," despite the lack of voices I feel like they have her character, if a bit mentally skewed, down to a T. Oh and there's also some evil guy during the ghost levels, but I think he just runs an old amusement park and is getting away with it, due to a lack of meddling kids.

The game looks like a triple-A title from the guys at Rovio or Half-Brick but it's just an indie studio here in Australia. The game's design and music is never boring or ever a problem, and levelling up to the next map is never a chore as it accumulate's how many trains you've conducted over the entire game. The levels do get a little bit out there at times with the paranormal levels such as the Seattle level where yeti-like creatures hide in the snow and block your path. I was half expecting Bigfoot to slowly come in Frogger style and cause havoc with the tracks and then you'd have to fix them.

The game has some strong leaderboards, even with a few thousand downloads and I cannot reccommend this any more than I have above. I know I'm usually meant to critique these games harshly but I feel like this is one of those games that just knows everything about what it's doing. The only criticism I have is that I wish there were more levels and that there were a Free trial version for iPhone users. I think the game is almost perfect, even for just a mobile game, I could imagine it being a great little XBLA or Steam game that you could smack on for a few minutes and enjoy yourself.

Voxel Agents new game has just hit the Android market and you better get on track.


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MegaMan creator releases first post Capcom game

Posted Dec 28, 2011 at 8:15AM EST by Harrison E Listed in: Gaming Tags: Capcom, dr. momo, Keiji Inafune, king of pirates, Megaman, social games, the island of dr. momo

First game since he left Capcom for Mobile Gaming, The Island of Dr. Momo


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Developers Pick Their Top Games of 2011

Posted Dec 26, 2011 at 4:00PM EST by Brett Huffman Listed in: iOS Tags: batman: arkham city, skyrim, top games of 2011, uncharted 3

IGN asked a few legendary developers what their favorite games of 2011 were and their answers are pretty interesting.


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Obsidian Dev hopes digital market stabs the Used Game Market in the heart

Posted Dec 14, 2011 at 8:00AM EST by Harrison E Listed in: News Tags: digital distribution, digital sales, dlc, EB Games, GameStop, Obsidian Entertainment

Obsidian plans to release the Kraken in 2013.


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