At the Google I/O conference, the search giant unveiled their Google Play Games, a new gaming service, which will be competing against Apple’s Game Center.

With the new cross-platform service, you will be able to enjoy cloud-synced game progression, in-game achievements, leaderboards, and matchmaking. Some of the developers who have jumped in include Gameloft, Glu, Ironhide Games, and Miniclip. The service is integrated with Google+, so this could be a reason for you to finally start adding people to your circles.

And speaking of the social network, it appears like the old games that you have already been playing on Google+ will be removed on June 30. According to Google, “If you would like to continue playing a particular game, contact the game’s developer to find out if there’s a new destination site for the game“.

If you have made payments to play a game, you will be able to use your unused credits when the game will be migrated to another site, while some games will offer a grace period before shutdown.

[Source]

The post Google+ Games Retire On June 30th appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Popcap, makers of my favorite plant-based zombie game, have announced that they will finally revive the ‘Plants vs. Zombies’ franchise in July. The long awaited sequel to the popular strategy game named ‘Plants vs. Zombies 2: It’s About Time’ is likely to be available on all popular mobile platforms as well as on PC, Mac and select consoles.

Details of the new game haven’t been announced, however a quick read of the Popcap blog seems to suggest that PVZ2 will be a ‘Freemium’ game with possible pay to unlock features and social network integration.

Popcap have also been strangely quiet as to why it has taken so long to launch the sequel, the acquisition by EA and staff layoffs are likely to blame, however they have posted the following video poking fun at themselves for the delay:

The post Popcap finally releasing ‘Plants vs. Zobmies 2: It’s About Time’ appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

As typical, we will cover 5 Android apps, followed by 5 iOS apps. So let’s jump in, shall we?

Best Apps of the Week – Android

Facebook Home

So whether or not you consider this one worthy of being listed as a “best app of the week” largely depends on how important Facebook is to you and if you find it acceptable to essentially run the app as the forefront of your phone experience.

Facebook Home is a launcher that is designed to replace the lockscreen, homescreen and other areas of Android. The app is currently only officially available for a few devices such as the Galaxy S3, Galaxy Note 2, HTC One X and HTC One X+. That said, there are plenty of work-arounds out there to expand support.

You can grab Facebook Home for free through Google Play.

**************

Cut the Rope: Time Travel

Can you believe it has been two whole years since the last original member to the series, Cut the Rope: Experiments? Since then, there have been plenty of updates to Experiments and the original Cut the Rope, but no sequel. That situation has finally changed with the latest game, Cut the Rope: Time Travel.

Om Nom is back, but this time there is a time travel theme, two on-screen monsters to feed and plenty of new obstacles to get in your way.

In typical fashion, there is a free and paid version for $.99, both available through Google Play.

**************

Dungeon Hunter 4

Ah, Dungeon Hunters 4, you’ve finally arrived. Last week lucky iOS users had their day in the sun. Android users didn’t have to wait too much longer, thankfully. If you are a fan of action and hack n’ slash games on the mobile, you pretty are guaranteed to already know about this series.

As I mentioned last week, I’m a huge fan of the first two games, though Dungeon Hunter 3 ruined the experience by turning the paid dungeon crawler into a freemium arena brawler. In Dungeon Hunter 4, the freemium app style isn’t gone – but at least the game has both traditional dungeon crawling and arena battles this time around.

I have now had a little time to play with the iOS version, and must say that Dungeon Hunter 4 is a welcome change, though I’d rather have the freemium app approach ended for good. I’ll take what I can get, though.

You can now snag this one from Google Play.

**************

Real Racing 3

Technically this isn’t a new app, but it is a big enough of an upgrade to make it worthy of this week’s list. Real Racing 3 might turn some folks off due to its somewhat wonky in-app purchasing options, but it is still one of the better Android racing games out there.

The new update adds 100 new events, two new Chevy vehicles and even a new cross-platform save function. It doesn’t end there, a new “hunter mode” also has you tracking down and overtaking a car within a lap.

Get it now from Google Play.

**************

OfficeSuite Pro 7.1

Once again, this app also isn’t “new”, but instead a massive upgrade. If you have ever done productivity work on a tablet or smartphone, you might already know about OfficeSuite Pro. It is arguably one of the best office alternatives you’ll find.

The new version adds support for Samsung devices with multi-window mode, improved UI changes, Oxford Dictionary to English integration, the ability to insert an image from Camera into Word/Excel/PowerPoint docs, and so much more.

At $14.99, it is probably one of the most expensive apps for Android you will ever run into. Still, if you regularly plan on using your Android device for business – it is worth every penny.

Best Apps of the Week – iOS

Cut the Rope: Time Travel

This one already made the list for the best Android apps, but it is certainly one of the best of the week for iOS as well.

Om Nom is back once more, but this time there is a time travel theme, two on-screen monsters to feed and plenty of new obstacles to get in your way.

The game is just $.99 through iTunes.

**************

The Thirty-Nine Steps

This unique app is based on John Buchan’s famous novel, turned into an interactive iPad experience. The game has you control Richard Hannay and has you collecting items, exploring scenes and experiencing a wonderful story.

The game is a bit on the higher end of the price totem, but is certainly worth the $6.99 to get it.

 **************

**************

Real Racing 3

Is there an echo in here? Real Racing 3 is not new, and was just covered above for Android. Why are we covering it again then? Because a major update has arrived for both Google Play and Apple’s AppStore.

The new update adds 100 new events, two new Chevy vehicles and even a new cross-platform save function. It doesn’t end there, a new “hunter mode” also has you tracking down and overtaking a car within a lap.

Get it now from Apple’s AppStore.

**************

Fish Out of Water!

Some of my favorite games of all time are by Halfbrick Studios, such as Jetpack Joyride and Fruit Ninja. This new Halfbrick game is equally addictive. Fish Out of Water has now arrived only for iOS (though hopefully Android users will be able to get it soon enough).

The new game is more casual than previous Halfbrick titles, and has you seeing how far you can fling a fish across the ocean. The score is than calculated and presented by a panel of crabs, yes really.

There are different kinds of sea creatures beyond fish, including the dolphin. Each have their own unique abilities as well.

Fish Out of Water can be yours now for just $.99.

**************

Twitter #music

Twitter released a new music discovery service called Twitter #music earlier this week, though oddly enough they only released it for iOS users. The new app serves up charts of songs that are currently trending on Twitter, and those being tweeted by people you follow.

It doesn’t allow you to listen to the whole song, but it does make it possible to listen to the rest through Spotify and Rdio, or download it through iTunes.

**************

Summing it all up….

So ends another “Best Apps of the Week”. Is it every app that released this week for Android or iOS? Of course not, but this should certainly help you on your journey to finding a few great new apps or games this weekend.

Any apps debut this week that you feel we should have covered? Let us and other readers know about them through the comments below!

The post Best Apps of the Week: A Look at New Apps for iOS and Android (4/19) appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

It’s been almost 2 years since Zeptolabs released their Cut the Rope: Experiments, the sequel to Cut the Rope, which was introduced back in October 2010. Now, we can get excited again as the developers have just teased about the next generation of the addictive physics-based puzzle game.

The upcoming Cut the Rope game, dubbed Cut the Rope: Time Travel, will arrive sometime in the near future for both iOS and Android. They haven’t released much info about the new game, and all we have is a video which shows Om Nom and his candy being sucked into a mini time machine. We are guessing that this version of the game will feature various settings from the past and the future.

Whatever it’s coming with, it will certainly be interesting as there is time traveling involved. Excited? Well, you are not the only one. Cut The Rope has many fans around the world and has been downloaded over 100 million times since it was launched. We are keeping a look out for more details about the game, so stay tuned to Mobilemag for updates.

Check out the video and do share your thoughts about the upcoming game. The trailer itself is a puzzle, by the way, as they asking for a hidden star in it. Have you found it?

[Source]

The post Cut the Rope: Time Travel Coming Soon (Video) appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

If you are anything at all like me – a bit old, and a lot nerdy – you’ve probably sunk in more than a few hours into playing classic Nintendo and Sega titles from the 16-bit era of gaming. One of these titles is none other than the original Sonic the Hedgehog. Good times. Soon you will be able to relive memories and even pass them down to your children through a port of the original, which is now on its way to Android and iOS.

Of course you could just use an emulator and a ROM to get the same experience, right? At least according to Sega, the game is completely remastered to be a native experience on Android and iOS. This means that it will work better with touch controls and the port will likely have some other tweaks that help it run with ease on your favorite mobile device.

The news of the port has actually been floating around since late last month, though now a video has surfaced as well. Interestingly enough, it doesn’t have any background music and so it more than likely it is early, unpolished footage.

For those interested, Sonic the Hedgehog will arrive later this month for $2.99. Sega says that Sonic 2 will also make its way over to Android and iOS, though no word on when that will be happening. Three dollars might be seem like a lot to spend for a game that came out more than two decades ago, but if Sega actually managed to come up with solid Android controllers that work better than clumsy on-screen buttons would with an emulator, it might be worth it.

[ source ]

The post Original Sonic the Hedgehog On Its Way to iOS and Android Later This Month appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Samsung’s Galaxy S4 is official, it has some pretty awesome specs and it is going to sell like hot cakes. These are the facts, people. Apple doesn’t seem to like this so much though. Samsung has outdone the iPhone once again though, so they have posted up a webpage which details a few reasons why they believe the iPhone 5 is still the best smartphone you can own.

You don’t need to visit the link as I have taken the time to pick out some of the rather lame reasons for and have listed them below:

• Only the iPhone and other Apple products have Retina display.
• The iPhone has a long battery life.
• The iPhone has “ultrafast” wireless and LTE.
• Only the iPhone and other Apple products have access to the iTunes Store and the App Store, which offers over 800,000 apps. What’s more, they are all reviewed by Apple to protect against malware.
• Only the iPhone has Siri, the intelligent personal assistant

I can think of a number of phones which offer a fantastic screen, have great battery life, access to thousands of apps and run Android. As for Siri, I never use it on my iPad Mini, and LTE? There are still places around the world that do not even have access to it yet, not to mention that Android devices have been offering LTE as a feature for way longer than Apple.

I have a suggestion for Apple, rather than spending time making lame articles about the iPhone 5, why not make a truly amazing iPhone 6 which will have ex-iPhone users (like me) flocking back to iOS? What do you think of the iPhone 5, how does it compare in your opinion to other phones out there running Android, Windows Phone 8 and Blackberry 10?

[ Source ]

The post Apple Posts Lame Excuses Why the iPhone is Better than the Galaxy S4 appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Samsung’s Unpacked featured the all new Galaxy S4, plus a bundle full of new accessories for the new phone. One of these special accessories is the Xbox inspired wireless Bluetooth game controller.

Those who were at the launch event describe the S4′s game controller as “hollow’ and “cheap”, not really encouraging comments and it get’s worse. Apparently the wireless add-on won’t be backwards compatible with other Sammy phones, will only work with games bought through Samsung’s app store and won’t support multi-player gaming!

The idea of an official Samsung controller is a good one, but Sammy clearly missed the mark here. Too bad, it doesn’t look half-bad, but looks can obviously be deceiving. There is currently no mention of pricing but if you really must have one it should be available from May onwards.

[ Source ]

The post Galaxy S4 gets its own Bluetooth game controller appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Remember Samsung’s recent BYOD-oriented commercials that featured a fictional game by the name of Unicorn Apocalypse? Now Samsung has followed up its advertising campaign by actually releasing such a game.

In the commercials, Samsung pokes fun at the fictional developers for taking the effort so seriously, and the game attempts to continue with that theme. Unfortunately, it might sound like a cool idea (turning a commercial idea into a real game) but implementation seems to be poor at best.

Most of the user reviews on Google Play either call the game out as being a cheap rip-off of Robot Unicorn Attack or as being a buggy mess that isn’t much to look at or play.

The novelty of the idea is great, but if Samsung really wanted to win over new fans, wowing them with a cool gimmick like turning a commercial into a game could have been it. Probably not worth keeping on your phone or tablet, but it might be worth downloading just to check it out.

Luckily, the game is free from Google Play, so at least they don’t take any money for this. What do you think of Unicorn Apocalypse, worth downloading or not?

[ source ]

The post Samsung’s Unicorn Apocalypse Becomes Real appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

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.