After doing the hokey pokey with the app store whilst EA attempted to improve their painfully renowned dodgy servers, I couldn’t help but be curious about Simpsons Tapped Out and what the game may entail.

Of course, from first look it’s easy to see that the game is just another rehash of the already widely available social/casual/sim games on the market that offer a fragmented experience to rope players into paying for more play-time, but from an outside perspective, the cheerful yellow characters and colorful well-known Springfield environments gave me enough reason to try getting into the game, despite my usual avoidance of this genre.

How Simpsons: Tapped Out Stands out From the Crowd

After first downloading the Simpsons: Tapped Out I was delighted to find myself watching an animated short showing Homer and his classic idiocy in full action. Whilst Homer plays a game similar to the one I’m reviewing right now on his iPad, his job is left neglected, creating a disaster that wipes out all of Springfield. This animation defines the prologue of the game, explaining the reason behind why you’re doing what you’re doing within the game.

After this point the gameplay is filled with small remarks that you’d expect to hear from each of the Simpsons characters as you meet them in-game. Objectives also reflect upon each one of the character’s personalities, and the game seems to have a strong relation with the characters, instead of other functions like crops or animals.

As you progress through the game, you’ll also unlock more and more characters to fill up your town with, and it gives the game a sense of direction which most games in this genre seem to lack after the first three to five levels of gameplay.

Gameplay

Just like any casual-social mobile game, the gameplay of Simpsons Tapped Out is heavily situated around time-based activities which usually grant you currency and EXP for completing. In Simpsons Tapped Out you can give each of the characters you have in your town tasks to complete giving the Simpsons characters attributes usually found in a mobile Sims game.

You’ll also have a few quests to complete on the side of the screen that often offer more rewarding benefits than those of the repeatable character actions.

At the start of the game, quests are used to help a player get used to the game concept, but as you progress, quests are also a requirement to purchase certain buildings or unlock some characters, once again giving the game a little more meaning than what I’ve found in previously played games of this genre.

I found myself happily attached to the town I was building, partly because like other games, it became progressively more time consuming to place down parts and building pieces, and of course this is a strategy used to make players feel more inclined to spend big on the in-app purchases, but also because the Simpsons characters I knew so well from the TV series retained their personalities in-game. The same voices we’ve heard from TV also made it to Simpsons Tapped Out, and it really gives the game a strong feeling of authenticity.

Why You May Like This Game

If you’ve played any games like the Simpsons Tapped Out before and have enjoyed it then it’s definitely worth giving this one a try as well. Unlike some games there isn’t an energy system, meaning you can keep yourself busy without running down your in-game energy levels. The game still is quite slow paced, and there isn’t really that much action to it.

This can be a good thing though, especially if you’re more into games that you can play in between doing other tasks. The Simpsons Tapped Out falls into a category I tend to call ‘Lazy Day’ games. They perfectly accompany a relaxing day at home whilst you slowly tend to tasks that may need to be done round the house. It’s certainly not a game you can play for hours on end though, unless you’re willing to spend real cash to speed up timed events every few minutes.

Why You Might Not Like This Game

With Fast paced action games sitting alongside the Simpsons Tapped Out in the app stores, it’s completely understandable why you may not like this game. The gameplay in this game, just like many others of its type is very slow paced, and because of this, it may become quickly boring for you if you prefer quick paced gameplay.

There are a few aspects of the game that give it direction, but it still lacks that major underlying goal that most other game genres capture so this could be another reason that may give this game a zero on your radar.

If you’re not too into the Simpsons then there really isn’t much that sets this game apart from others either. If you do like casual games it’s worth a try though.

Summary

Pros:

• Simpsons Characters and Environments
• Lots of unlockables
• Quests add reason to the game

Cons:

• Slow paced
• Still not enough to innovate the current offering in the genre
• Game becomes very slow-paced at times
• Time-based activities force you to consider purchasing in-game currency

The post The Simpsons: Tapped Out Review appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Just like Nvidia showcased Tegra 3 last year with a side-by-side comparison of games running with and without Tegra, this year at Mobile World Congress Nvidia has been showing off some gameplay comparisons with devices running the new Tegra 4 chipset.

Five new games have been announced, and below you’ll see a comparison video showing both the Tegra 4 and non-Tegra versions side-by-side. The five announced games seem to bring together a decent mix of gameplay, and although I doubt these first five games we’ll get to see on the market will be amazingly impressive, we are bound to see some beauties pushing the GPU to its limits later in the year  similarly to how Madfinger’s Shadowgun and Dead Trigger did in 2012.

The first two games shown follow a similar playstyle; Burn Zombie Burn is a zombie slaying fast paced 2D top down shooter, whilst Dead on Arrival 2 is a sequel of N3V Game’s first mobile 3D top down shooter.

CODEX: The Warrior takes a similar approach to the popular Blood and Glory titles with suped-up graphics, decent animations and detailed character models.

Carie: Blood Mansion, a gruesome action adventure title, lets you play with an over-the-shoulder third person view as you travel through a haunted house, shooting down ghouls and demons.

The last game is a anime style 3D golfing game by the name RU:Golf. Below you can see a video showcasing the Tegra 4 enabled version alongside the standard version already available on the Play Store. The video shows some neat lighting effects, but it doesn’t really give Tegra 4 the justice we’ve expected to see.

Despite the new titles, nothing seems to match the excitement I have towards the new Dead Trigger 2 that was showcased at CES 2013. Nvidia seems to have the raw power they need, but they seem to lack the developer support. If only we could get more devs like Madfinger games working with Tegra 4.

[Source]

The post Five New Tegra 4 Powered Games Showed Off At MWC appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Nothing is more disappointing than making your way to the Google Play store on a newly purchased mobile handset or tablet to find that your favorite games aren’t compatible. In a time where developers have to cater for all kinds of different hardware, screen sizes and resolutions, you’ll often find yourself with a device that just can’t play some games you may have been able to on another device.

Machinarium has been popular since its mobile release onto the Play Store, however some users, especially those with Nexus 7s, have complained about not being able to download the game.

Today HotHead games has pushed out an update to allow compatibility for more devices previously incapable of downloading the game. Although HotHead hasn’t released any patch notes or information on the change, from looking at the comments section on the Google Play store it looks as if the game is now downloadable on the Nexus 7, Nexus 10, the Transformer Pad TF300, among a few others.

Previously, Nexus 10 owners complained about problems with the game running slowly on the Samsung tablet, however the new fix seems to have changed this, but added a new problem in its place. You can download and play the game at a decent frame rate now, but the image is shown in a small box in the center of the screen. This can be fixed though by going into the developer options of your tablet and checking ‘Force 4x MSAA.’

Judging by the Nexus 10 issue, it’s most likely that the previous compatibility error was due to resolution problems, so if you couldn’t manage to play the game before, you may want to try again now.

[Source]

The post Machinarium Finally Gaining Support for Nexus 7 and Other Devices appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

If you’ve been keeping track of Tizen or the events taking place at Mobile World Congress, you’ll have noticed Tizen showing off their new mobile operating system on a Samsung-built reference device. Although the OS hasn’t spent that long of time in development, Tizen seems eager to get it out to the public and will be teaming up with France based telecom, Orange, to bring out some Tizen 2.0-ran handsets this year.

As Samsung and Intel are working together on the Tizen OS, it’s obvious Samsung Tizen handsets will make it to the market, but Huawei will also have a shot at the OS. It’s going to be interesting to see if Samsung and Huawei can grab any smartphone space over the currently booming market though, especially with Ubuntu, Firefox OS and BB10 also launching this year, as well as all the other mobile OS’s already in play. Regardless of what happens, this year is going to be the beginning of a very interesting new chapter in the mobile wars.

From what we’ve seen, Tizen doesn’t seem to look amazingly original in its designs, and the OS being showcased at MWC bears a resemblance to both Android and iOS. Of course, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Are you interested in the new Tizen 2.0?

[Source]

The post Tizen OS smartphones Heading to France Later This Year appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

A new PSA by Code.org has been composed completely of well-known figures discussing the importance of learning how to code, and how special it is to be able to use a coding language. Appearances from the likes of Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerburg, and even Will.i.am (who is now apparently learning to code) make it onto the video, and they’re all ecstatic about the possibilities found within learning coding.

In this day and age, where digital computing devices make up a large chunk of our day-to-day lives, it’s important to understand how things work, and most importantly, how much opportunity there is out there for those studying in computer science.

As shown in the video, there’s a reason why a programmer’s work space may be one of the best in the world, and that’s because big tech companies like Facebook and Google all need more programmers out of the already small pool available, and by creating a paradise-at-work, programmers will feel happier to work there.

If you’re interested in taking a position down at Silicon Valley, or just want to learn coding on your own behalf, you should have a look at the website as Code.org seems to be content on giving you the opportunities and experience you need. The non-profit foundation is very passionate about bringing coding education mainstream, making it bigger and larger than it is right now, and as Will.i.am rightfully says ‘We all depend on technology, to communicate, to bank, information, and none of us know how to read and write code.’

The various types of code are like languages, and I think soon they should be accepted as a global language that should be commonly taught worldwide.

Do you think it’s important to learn how to write code? Where would you work if you knew how to code? Already a programmer, do you enjoy it?

[Source]

The post Code.org Backed by Tons of Tech Celebrities and They All Want you To Code appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

When rumors about the Xbox 360 containing a feature that could potentially block out 2nd hand games from the market was spread, it caused a wave of disappointment in many gamers. When the rumor grew to the PS4 having a similar feature as well, not only were a gamer’s current gaming habits at risk, but also some of the biggest console retailers and console manufacturer partners available, such as GameStop were at risk too.

When considering the lack of profit for publishers and developers when a second hand game is sold and resold, it’s understandable why Sony or Microsoft may consider integrating such a feature into their new systems, and because of this the spreading rumors were easily believable. However, the truth is a little less bleak than we may have expected, at least for the PlayStation 4 that is.

Sony’s Worldwide Studios President, Shuhei Yoshida has started to give a few more tidbits of information about some of the features of the upcoming console, including some information based on gaming and downloadable games. Similarly to the PS Vita, all boxed physical games will have a downloadable alternative on the PSN store, allowing players to pick between both a digital or physical copy of the game.

From a consumer’s standpoint, it makes a fair amount of sense to offer both digital and physical downloads, as it saves retail store space, and even cuts down on manufacturing costs. Let’s just hope that unlike the Xbox 360, the Sony PS4 has digital games with prices as good as their physical counterparts.

From a developer’s point of view, allowing digital downloads opens up more opportunities to reach their game to a bigger potential audience whilst spending less on production costs, and it even opens up bigger possibilities for indie developers that have little budgets and no publisher support.

Of course sitting from a desk at GameStop may be a little worrying, and as digital downloads increase, physical purchases will decline, and cut majorly into GameStop’s wallets. The good news at least is that Sony has confirmed its retail-sold disc games can be sold and bought used without any type of blocking technology in place.

[Source]

The post All Sony PS4 Games Will be Offered in Disc and Digital Download Format appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Umbrellas are often needed to keep yourself from getting drenched out in the pouring rain, and as spring grows closer, it’s inevitable you’ll get hit by a downpour at some point whilst you’re out and about. The problem is, there’s no way of telling when or where you’re going to get attacked by the wet, and that’s why having a small, permanent go-to umbrella whilst you’re outside is much more favorable than the old fashioned big and bulky umbrellas we would have had to carry round many years ago.

Personally I’m not too much of a fan of the cheap, disposable mini umbrellas as I find their thin metal frames to be too flimsy, and out in the cold wind it makes it almost impossible to get the things open without breaking them, let alone keep them over your head. A new umbrella by Hammacher seems to want to bring the best of both worlds all whilst keeping it to a size capable of fitting in your pocket.

The umbrella is just 8 inches when folded up, and can be retracted and opened automatically at the push of a button. Although the automatic design has been seen many times before, I’ve yet to see another automatic umbrella smaller than this 8 inch model.

When drawn out, the umbrella covers a total of 40 inches wide, giving you plenty of space to stay dry, and whilst you’re safe under the canopy, you can walk freely without worry as although the price is a total of $29.95, the build quality of the umbrella sounds pretty strong.

If you’re interested in the umbrella, Hammacher has more information on the design over at their website.

[Source]

The post Behold, the World’s Smallest Automatic Umbrella appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

If you’ve been enthusiastically following the progress of the Raspberry Pi and other projects involved with the cheap micro-PC, then you’ll be aware of Raspbmc already. For those that don’t know, Raspbmc is a minimal Linux distribution based on Debian that brings XBMC to Raspberry Pi.

The Raspbmc team has been going all out for a whole year now, and the software has now finally reached version 1.0, and the download is available to everybody over at their website.

The free and open source distro can be copied via an SD card from the website and booted on your Rasberry Pi with ease. You can also purchase licenses from the Raspberry Pi store for MPEG-2 and VC-1 hardware decoding for a small amount of money, allowing you to raise the full potential of XBMC’s media features.

You can learn more about Rasbmc on their website.

[Source]

The post Raspbmc Gets a Stable Public Release with Version 1.0 appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

This seems to happen every year: low quality pictures get leaked of an upcoming phone, and occasionally we’ll see images of the phone being manufactured. Magically enough, we never actually see the handset in its full glory until it’s official announcement.

The same thing has happened with a Chinese website which has recently uploaded images of what is said to be the iPhone 5S. Of course there aren’t any images of the full phone, however there are pictures of what is allegedly the next generation iPhone in production.

There aren’t very many noticeable differences between what is being shown and the original iPhone 5. The chipset does look slightly different, but other this, I don’t really see any change.

It’s currently unknown what Apple are planning to bring into play this year, and other than the obvious rumors following next gen phones and tablets, rumors have spread about a possible iPhablet and even an Apple smartwatch. Are you interested in the Apple iPhone 5S or not?

[Source]

The post Possible Pictures of iPhone 5S in Production appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Although this review was done on an Android device, gameplay on the iOS is very similar

Top Gear has become a popular series, so it makes sense that BBC are trying to push more out of the program by developing a mobile game for the plentiful Top Gear fans. But is it good enough? Does it deserve Top Gear’s name, or is it just a cheap gimmick to get more revenue from the already popular TV program? Let’s take a look and see.

Interface and Controls

Mobile games are meant to be simple; touch screens are quite primitive when it comes to game controls, so without a simple control system or user interface, games can become frustrating to the point of the player quitting and finding a simpler alternative, regardless of the actual game content. When I came away from using the interface in Top Gear, I felt nothing but confused and frustrated, there is quite a lot of content in the game, and the interface has been displayed nicely, but there are so many unnecessary menus and sub-menus that it becomes an effort to find and display what you are looking for.

Navigation becomes a chore, and without any interface or UI tutorials, it’s certainly very overwhelming at first. The menus still show a lot of information though, and there are places to check your current progress and your purchased vehicles, as well as sub-menus for purchasing in-game cash and setting options as well, so the interface isn’t lacking much, despite the navigation issues.

In Top Gear SSR, there are a variety of challenges to complete, although throughout the game, the controls remain practically the same. By default, there are two onscreen buttons to control acceleration and the breaks, and steering the vehicle can be controlled with the accelerometer.

The accelerometer controls are hard to grip, and it’s hard to find a decent sensitivity between over-sensitive steering to brick-like controls. Luckily, there is an option to have onscreen steering buttons, which improves the control ability by a huge amount. The steering still isn’t perfect though, and when compared to games like Asphalt 7, which is available for a similar price as Top Gear SSR Pro, it shows that the game hasn’t been as smoothly polished as games from more professional developers like Gameloft.

Gameplay and Challenges

Top Gear SSR is split up into different challenges that have to be played with each of the three car classes before being able to move onto the next one. Each challenge has a bronze, silver and gold medal to achieve, and the score needed to earn a medal rises after each time the challenge is completed. There is a huge variety within the challenges available, taking you from mountainside jumps, to bowling with giant skittles. The developers have done a good job to put in a lot of different mini games, and Top Gear SSR makes for a good party game.

There are plenty of cars to unlock, and the upgrade system has been worked out smartly, however, with the repetitive challenges with little differentiation between them, it becomes a big grind to unlock and upgrade the higher level cars.

There’s also a level system which prevents players from buying the best cars and upgrades with real money straight away, so although the game seems to point towards all the freemium purchases such as car upgrades and unlocks, Top Gear still requires you to play the game before you can use them.

Graphics and Different Environments

The graphics in Top Gear SSR aren’t top notch, but there is a decent amount of variety of levels and vehicles, and that’s what is important. The 150 vehicles fit into different classes but still each have their own unique shine to them. The different challenge locations vary greatly, and because of this, the game includes a lot of different scenes to play in.

For a mobile game released in 2012, the game feels a little unfinished, and I would have much preferred it if BBC gave Gameloft the opportunity to develop a Top Gear game, instead of giving the task to their own in-house developers.

The Top Gear Theme

Throughout this game, I constantly noticed how Top Gear SSR really had nothing to do with Top Gear other than the logos in-game, and the appropriately named in-game cash, ‘Stig Dollars.’

The cars feel unrealistic and don’t represent anything we would expect on the TV show, and although we see a few cars here and there that represent real life vehicles, the situations the cars are put through in the game are also far from realistic, and for a game that is focused towards car enthusiasts, Top Gear SSR is a bit of a disappointment.

Summary:

Pros:

• 150 Cars to unlock
• Lots of upgrades
• Varying scenes, challenges and vehicles keep game fresh

Cons:

• Controls and interface are unpolished
• Doesn’t represent Top Gear well at all
• Big grind to get the higher level vehicles and upgrades

Download Top Gear SSR here:

iOS

Google Play

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