Posted 4/14/11 11:46 am EST by Adam Rosenberg in News, Xbox 360
Ever since the Kinect launched last year, Microsoft has been slowly adding additional features and support for the device on Xbxo 360 consoles. The latest update arrives today in the form of the long-promised voice and motion control functionality for the console's Netflix Watch Instantly application.
Posted 4/7/11 10:30 am EST by Adam Rosenberg in iPhone / iPad, News
Atari released its Atari 2600 gaming console in late 1977, a beast of a platform with its 128 bytes of RAM and single button joystick controller. The concept of a "D-pad" didn't even exist yet! The console stuck around until the end of 1991, when it was discontinued. A staggering number of game cartridges were released during the console's extended life cycle, everything from obscure titles like "Night Driver" to popular arcade hits like "Asteroids." The library is a huge and a good sized chunk of it -- nowhere near everything, however -- is now available as a universal iOS app via the App Store, under the name "Atari's Greatest Hits.
Posted 4/6/11 2:15 pm EST by Russ Frushtick in Uncategorized
My first impressions of "Sword & Sworcery EP" may have been slightly tainted by some excessive (but totally optional) Twitter functionality, but since I learned to ignore all the social media call-outs, I've been enjoying the game thoroughly. The tone, pacing and cleverness minds me of classics like "Portal" and it happens to have some of the best pixel art I've ever seen. But that's not why we're here today. We're here to talk about the soundtrack, which is now available for download.
Posted 4/4/11 6:17 pm EST by Russ Frushtick in iPhone / iPad, News
If the above screenshot rings any bells, you're probably recalling the insane levels of frustration you experienced when trying to solve the microscope puzzle in "The 7th Guest." Fans of the point and click adventure game (one of the first ever games to be released on CD-Rom) already had a chance to relive their journey through the Stauf mansion, thanks to an iOS port last year.
But the port was missing one thing: the devious microscope puzzle! Trilobyte, the original developer behind "The 7th Guest" and the iOS port, decided to ax the puzzle as it would've increased development time substantially. But worry not, microscope fans: a new iPad app called "The 7th Guest: Infection" is on the way which is focused just on recreating that one puzzle.
Posted 4/1/11 5:00 pm EST by Russ Frushtick in iPhone / iPad, Reviews
There are several schools of thought when it comes to the iOS remake. The cheap option is to slap a fake arcade stand-up border around what is basically an emulator and shove the game out there for a few bucks. This option makes people sad. Thankfully Remedy and Mountain Sheep decided to go a bit deeper with their redux of "Death Rally."
Posted 3/31/11 6:02 pm EST by Russ Frushtick in iPhone / iPad, News
After the surprise success of "Trials HD" on XBLA, developer RedLynx got right to work on a new Wii game, "Moto Heroz," which combines the physics-based racing of "Trials" with 4-player co-op play. Seems that's not the only project they're working on, though. RedLynx announced today that they'll be getting into the iOS business with a new game called "1000 Heroz," which mixes "Trials" with "Mario."
Posted 3/29/11 4:10 pm EST by Russ Frushtick in iPhone / iPad, News
Since its launch several months back, "Dungeon Raid" has occupied a permanent space on my iPhone's home screen. The indie game blended RPG elements with "Bejeweled"-style match-three mechanics in a deviously addictive way. I probably sunk a solid ten hours into it, and that was before the latest update, which has brought a bevy of new features to the title.
Posted 3/28/11 4:40 pm EST by Adam Rosenberg in News, PS3
If you game on a PC and you haven't tried "Machinarium," do so. You won't need a powerful beast of a gaming rig to run it; it's a beautiful, hand-drawn adventure game that eats up only 250MB of disk space and requires no more than 512MB of RAM. Basically, if your computer can't run it then it's long past the time for you to upgrade. Though now you won't necessarily need to, as it seems that the PC/Mac-friendly adventure is setting off for the wilds of console and tablet gaming sometime later this year.
Posted 3/24/11 12:43 pm EST by Russ Frushtick in Features, iPhone / iPad
There are a handful of games that have attempted to integrate Twitter in some way. "Uncharted 2" was probably the most flagrant example of how not to do it. After reviewers with early copies entered their Twitter information into the game, their followers were bombarded with a pre-created tweet every single time they finished a chapter. The developer reacted quickly, turning off the feature almost entirely by the time the game launched. Since then, there have been games to attempt it but none have done much beyond creating more Twitter spam for your followers.
Yesterday saw the release of "Sword & Sworcery EP" for the iPad. In the official description on the App Store, the game encourages players to "co-operate with friends via Twitter." That seems to imply that there's some sort of gameplay impact with the Twitter functionality. An intriguing concept.
Posted 3/23/11 2:26 pm EST by Russ Frushtick in 3DS / DS, Features
When I was first unpacking the Nintendo 3DS last week, I was admittedly perplexed about the charging cradle that Nintendo included with every system. After all, you can simply plug the device in to charge it, even without the cradle. You can even use your old DSi charger if you want. But, after a week of putting the 3DS through its paces, it all makes sense now. Were it not for the cradle, my 3DS would be in bad shape.