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Rovio gives up on its mobile game streaming service
Angry Birds developer Rovio has quietly wound down its mobile game streaming service. First spotted by Gamasutra, the official Hatch website now has a message explaining that the platform was retired on December 31st, 2020. Rovio hasn't provided a reason for the closure, but it's safe to assume that the concept simply never took off.
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Here are some devices from CES 2021 that you may have missed this week, including new HP laptops, a new Philips smart toothbrush and Otterbox gaming accessories.
Hatch adds the $39 Rest Mini sound machine to its lineup
Details on Hatch's latest device
Hatch Rest is the perfect all-in-one night light for my kids
The Hatch Rest is a night light, white noise machine and backup alarm all in one.
Hatch made a smart sleep light to help adults rest better
Hatch, which is perhaps best known for its baby-focused products, is turning its attention to grown-ups. It made a smart sleep light called Restore, with the aim of helping people drift off more easily and get a better night's rest.
Mobile game streaming service Hatch is available in the UK
When it comes to game streaming, it's not just the likes of Microsoft, Google and Sony who are trying to capture players' attention. There's a mobile-focused option too, and it's now available in the UK.
A cloud service for mobile gaming isn't as dumb as it sounds
We're reached a point where cloud gaming finally makes sense. The technology that exists now is beyond what was available to famous failures like OnLive and many others you could say were ahead of their time. Servers, the consoles and computers we have in our homes, and the speedy internet connections that feed them are now capable of mimicking the experience of playing a game stored on your local machine. Big companies like Sony and NVIDIA have gotten involved over the past few years for just this reason, and one upstart believes it's spotted an unfilled niche in the market. What Spotify has done for music and Netflix for TV, Hatch wants to do for mobile gaming.
Twitter goes on the road (and offers prizes) to get more apps
Twitter is determined to put its frameworks into as many of your apps as it can, and it's going to great lengths (in some cases, literally) to make sure that happens. The social network has unveiled Flock, a worldwide tour that will show developers how to put tweets into their apps through Twitter's Fabric programming kits. The campaign will start in Los Angeles on January 21st, but it'll eventually spread to other US cities and major international hubs like Bangalore, London, São Paulo and Tokyo. If you're curious enough to attend, you'll get to talk to Twitter engineers and developer evangelists that might just solve your problems with everything from ads to Digits sign-ins.
Say hello to Hatch and Fugu, your new virtual pet friend
There's something about virtual pet apps that just draw you in. You get introduced, spend a few minutes with your new BFF and you're hooked. We've seen this phenomenon happen en masse with the Tamagotchi, but we haven't had a similar hit on the iOS platform -- until now. The latest entry in the world of digital companions is Hatch, a collaborative effort from Impending and RealMac. If you are a virtual pet type of person, then you are going to love the app and its Fugu pet. When you launch Hatch for the first time, you are told the history of the Fugu egg and are introduced to your sidekick, Max, who will help you along your journey. You are also prompted to pick a color for your egg, which will hatch in a short time after you go through these initial steps. Once your egg hatches, you can name your new pet and start your adventure together. Fugu is a cute, blob-like character that purrs when you pet it, kisses you, waves at you and otherwise interacts with you in a loving way. It's a cutesy interaction and not an overblown type of affection. As an owner, you are required to feed your pet on a regular basis, play with it and clean up after it poops. And yes, it does its "business" in a loud and boisterous way that'll delight any juvenile in the room. It also sleeps when when you plug in your phone to charge at night and wakes up in the morning --sometimes crying for food and attention. The background image cycles along with the day -- it's light when it's daytime and dark at night. Food, like apples, oranges and grapes, can be harvested from the trees and is plentiful. Just grab one a fruit and drop it in your Fugu's mouth. If it is hungry, it will chomp down. When your Fugu doesn't want to eat that luscious piece of fruit, you can store the food in a bag for later or place it in a donation bucket that earns you acorns or hearts from Fugu. Besides feeding, your Fugu pet requires attention. To pet your Fugu, just rub it with your finger and it will purr and roll over in delight. You can also poke its tummy to make it laugh, bark or blow kisses. Every once in a while, your Fugu will be so happy it will jump at you and give you a big, wet kiss. It makes my two-year-old and the kid in me go "awww." Fugu also does a happy dance, which will earn you a cornucopia of fruit. Other rewards in the game include starfruit, acorns and stickers. The starfruit can be harvested from trees and is also hidden in the environment of the app. These turn into gold coins when you harvest them. You also need to search for stickers and acorns . Hatch supports the parallex effect of iOS 7 so you can tilt your phone to change what you see in the background. Sometimes you really have to drag and tilt the background to search in every nook and cranny. Stickers can be stored in a notebook and shared with others via social networks or messaging. Acorns and starfruit, though, are the currency in the app and can be used to purchase blankets, bags and other items for your Fugu pet. The store is manned by your sidekick Max during the day and closes every night. There are no in-app purchases -- you have to earn every acorn or coin in your coffers. The best purchase is the camera, which allows you to take photos of your Fugu pet with you or another object in the background. You can then share the pictures with your friends. I had a great time with my daughter, who was also playing with the app. She and I would share pictures of our Fugu pets doing wild and crazy things. Rewards are not only earned, they are also given as a gift from your Fugu pet. These gifts are not only rewards for taking care of the Fugu, they also serve to remind you to interact with your pet throughout the day. The gifts are small, but fun. Sometimes Fugu will give you a piece of fruit that you can feed to it. Sometimes you will get a sticker or a handful of acorns. If you are really fortunate, you will get a gold coin. Rewards are not overly bountiful, but there are enough of them to keep you and your Fugu satisfied. Taking care of the Fugu pet is the perfect level of difficulty -- it is not too hard to pet, feed and play with it regularly. It takes just a few minutes every few hours to provide a level of care that keeps your pet happy. Unlike other virtual pet apps that require you to monitor a variety of metrics to gauge the happiness of your pet, you can tell how happy your Fugu is just by how it behaves. Is it sulking or crying? Then you need to play with it or feed it. Does it jump for joy when you launch the app? Then keep doing what you are doing as your Fugu is happy. If you need a more concrete gauge, there's a trust level that starts at 60 and increases up to 100 as you take care of your pet. One interesting thing I noticed about Hatch is that it is not a scripted experience. I installed Hatch on my phone and on my daughter's phone and our in-game experience was very different. She received different stickers than I did and was offered different items in the store. Not everyone travels down the same path with their Fugu pet, which adds to the overall experience and makes playing the game with others much more enjoyable. There are a few little shortcomings in Hatch that could use some polish. I found it too easy to slip into the store when scanning the environment for stickers and acorns. The store is accessed by grabbing the background and swiping from right to left. This same motion is used to move the background when you are looking for treasures. At least a few times a day, I would end up in the store when I was looking in a corner instead. I also found myself wanting more interaction with my Fugu pet. There are a handful tricks it can do, but it basically stays stationary on its mat. I would love to have it move around and be more interactive. The same applies to the store, which is filled with blankets and bags for storing food. After a few weeks of playing with the app, I already own nine different blankets, a bag that holds infinite pieces of fruit and a camera. I have enough coins and acorns to buy out the store, but I'm not interested in buying yet another blanket. How about some hats or scarves to put on my Fugu? Lastly, there are a few glitches, like food getting stuck in the bottom left corner and sound cutting out. Anytime these occurred, a simple force close of the app (double-tap the home button and swipe the app off the screen) fixed the problem. And for the kids out there who think they can cheat at the game by setting the iOS clock forward, don't do it -- you will throw off the internal time of the game, which will have unexpected consequences. I would expect some of these hiccups to be addressed in future versions of the app. Overall, though, these problems were minimal and did not effect my enjoyment of the app. In summary, Hatch is an excellent launch app from Impending and RealMac. You can tell the Hatch team spent a lot of time getting the app right. There is more than just the engaging interaction with your Fugu pet -- the backgrounds are delightfully colorful, the animations fit in with the lighthearted nature of the game and both the sound effects and music are just perfect. Without a doubt, kids are going to love the Fugu. Adults, too, will find themselves enamored of their little pet, even if they might be a little embarrassed to admit they woke up at 5AM to feed their pet before it got too hungry. You can download Hatch today from the iOS App Store for US$1.99. It is compatible with the iPhone running iOS 6.1.1 or greater.
Hatch and its Fugu eggs are coming November 20
Remember Hatch? It was a virtual pet app from Impending and Realmac Software that was heavily promoted late last year. iPhone owners eager for "the first iPhone app that loves you back" reserved their Fugu eggs and waited patiently for the app to launch. Fast-forward almost a year, and the developers behind Hatch are ready to show what they've been working on all these months. According to a recent Facebook post, the Hatch virtual pet app has made its way through the App Store approval process and is slated to debut on November 20. If you already haven't done so, you can reserve your Fugu egg on the HatchPet website. Until the app hits the App Store, you can enjoy this promotional video below and see what you just signed yourself up for.
