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LEGO Minifigures Online sheds the beta tag with full toy integration
Good news, friends! The latest round of LEGO Minifigures is out on shelves now, so if you enjoy buying blindpacked figures and seeing what you get, you can get some more. And this newest series is fully integrated with LEGO Minifigures Online right from the start, so you can grab a new figure, put it together, and start playing with it online in the time it takes you to get back home and get playing. Isn't that fun? The game has also shed its beta tag without ceremony, which makes sense as it had previously been hanging about in its open testing phase. If you've heard rumblings about the game but have yet to take a peek at it yourself, there's a new trailer just past the cut designed to show off what you can do in the game once you assemble some figures. [Source: Funcom press release]
Quotely for iPhone saves memories for new parents
"You're messing up my creation and it's going to be a disaster." -- William, age four. As almost any parent can tell you, children are masters of saying unintentionally hilarious things. Quotely for iPhone (free) lets parents and other caregivers capture these funny moments easily, for sharing or reminiscing. Sure, you could keep track of Jr's one-liners in a notebook or a spreadsheet, but most of us have our iPhones with us all the time, and Quotely makes it trivial to share with far-flung family and friends who miss out on the hilarity in real time. It also supports conversations, photos and several templates, so you can capture and share anything for a single moment to a whole sequence of events. Looks The app is quite cute, and features a cute little birdie mascot, driving the kid theme home. The template browser is clean and easy to navigate and the overall color palette is pleasantly subdued. Often kid-centric apps are heavy on the pastels or even bright colors, and while pastels are available in Quotely, they're not the default. You'll find plenty of options for customization, which I'll describe, and it's all easy to access and implement. Quotely has a built-in help section, but you won't need it. Everything is self-explanatory. Use OK, you're in Starbucks with Junior when he notes that your latte smells like dad's gym socks. To capture this precious moment, grab your iPhone, launch Quotely and follow these steps: Tap New. The template chooser arrives. Tap Plain Quote. Tap the edit field and select Edit Narration. Type the line and hit Done. That's it. Nice and easy, right? While you're there, you'll notice several options. First, there are 49 fonts to choose from (the default is American Typewriter). You can also choose text alignment: left, center or right. Finally, you actually have room for two lines of text in the Plain Quote template, which you can reorder at will. Once you've completed the steps and customizations described above, you get an overview of the quote card. At the bottom of the screen you'll find even more customization options: Card Style. There are 18 background colors to choose from (here's where the pastels come in). The text will change to white or black automatically, depending on the background color. Text, quote or photo. There's a "+" in the center. Tap it and three icons pop up, Path style: Text, Quote and Photo. Tap anyone to add that particular element to your quote card. Finally, the button labeled Options offers so much. There are four main sections, namely: People, Tags, Dates and finally Notes. People lets you name an individual and add a photo. This is a great way to distinguish between your kids or anyone else who might be a frequent player in your little dramas. Tags work as you might expect. You can create as many tags as you like and apply them to your saved quotes. This works towards organization, as you can quickly search tags. Dates lists the date a quote was uttered, as well as the date you created the card and the last time the card was modified. Finally, you can add a note to any card, like "Dad was amused to hear about mom's sock-scented coffee later that day." The other templates work in a very similar fashion, but add more to the process. Specifically, the Conversation template highlights an exchange between two or more people; the Narrated Conversation template lets you easily add your commentary to an exchange; Photo highlights an relevant image (either from your camera roll or shot on the spot) and finally Story is a combination of the others. Sharing is extensive I've got to mention Quotely's sharing options. In a word, they are extensive. You can share any card with the usual suspects: email, text, Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. Alternatively, you can send a card to your camera roll as an image, or tap the More Options button for a whole slew of options, depending on what's installed on your iPhone. But the real surprise here is postcards. Opt for Mail a Postcard and the Quotely team will turn your card into a real-world 4x6 inch postcard that will be printed and shipped anywhere in the world. Did grandma miss Junior's Starbucks quip because she's doing research in the Arctic? No problem. Your quote card appears on the front, you can customize the message on the back and even add a cute profile photo. Postcards cost US$1.99 each. Conclusion This is a fun app that can provide a lot of sweet memories. The fact that you can turn those into adorable postcards is the icing on the quotable cake. I tried to find a flaw with Quotely but couldn't. New parents will love it.
Pirate101 adds Tower of Moo Manchu, tweaks Cool Ranch
Are you a high-level pirate in Pirate101? Have you completed all of Mooshu and all of the Moo Manchu side quests? If so you can partake of the Tower of Moo Manchu, a ten-level group dungeon that KingsIsle says is the toughest content that Pirate101 players have ever faced. This week's update also revamps the world of Cool Ranch with fast transport services and content tweaks including improved drop rates and encounter overhauls. There's plenty more to Pirate101's latest patch, but you'll need to head to the official site to read it all!
Get free gifts for Wizard101's birthday
The magical world of Wizard101 turns six years old today, the perfect age for reveling in gifts and fun! Along with the in-game festivities that include decorations and secret hidden gift-giving packages (even the chance to catch a rare mystery fish!), all players can get a free birthday gazebo for their homes as well as 6,000 gold in honor of the game's sixth birthday. But the presents don't stop there: A new candle on the Wizard101 cake will reveal yet another free item each week throughout the month of September! Additionally, there will be special offers available to in the Crown store, including two brand-new items: the six-year-wizened Grampa Piggle pet and an updated Birthday Snack Pack. To join in the revelry, jump in game and visit the official site to grab your special gifts.
LEGO Minifigures Online rolls out a mythological update
With a month or so to go before LEGO Minifigures Online fully launches, the game has brought forth its biggest update yet. So what does it contain? Nothing less than the new Mythology World, which also brings an increase in the level cap to 25 along with its new areas and monsters. The area also continues the main story if that's more of your thing. Aside from the new area, the Series 11 minifigures have been added to the game, along with the first batch of cash shop figures that includes the Yeti, the Mountain Climber, and the Pretzel Girl. Players can also find their friends more easily with the addition of a friend code, and the loot system has been overhauled to allow players a chance to build minifigures from loot. Check out the full set of update notes for more detail and get building in the game if it's just what you've been waiting for.
Funcom's revenues decrease in Q2
Funcom has released its second-quarter financial results for the year, and it's not a glowing success story. Revenue dropped roughly $600,000 compared to Q1, a drop attributed to weaker in-game item sales over the quarter. Despite this, the report indicates that the company remains on-track as a whole, with the overall pattern of expenses not significantly changed. All of the major MMOs in the studio's portfolio are stated to be cash-flow positive, which is good news for fans. While the company launched several marketing attempts to draw more players into its titles, The Secret World was the most successful at bringing in more players via its most recent major update. The company projects good results for LEGO Minifigures Online when it releases in October. Interested players can look at the full report, which is less overwhelmingly positive than might be ideal but hardly paints a picture of doom.
T-Mobile offers more data to tablet users and the budget crowd
T-Mobile isn't about to stop tweaking its phone plans any time soon; in fact, it just overhauled three of them with data in mind. To start, you'll get twice as much full-speed data on your phone plan if you add a tablet to the mix from September 3rd onward; if you currently get 3GB, for example, adding the $10 monthly tablet access fee will give you 6.2GB (including the 200MB of free tablet data) to play with. It's potentially a much better deal than what rivals offer if you intend to use your tablet a lot while on the road. On Sprint, you'd be paying $75 per month for both phone service and 4GB of shared data.
Qwingle is a calendar app built for families and teens
Qwingle, which requires iOS 7 and is available on the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch, is a family focused calendar app that might be just the thing you need to manage back to school schedules. First off, this app is designed to be basic, fun and visually appealing. Its main focus is tracking social events. Think of Qwingle like one of those family planning wall calendars with cute stickers and brightly colored labels. If you are a visual person, like me, you'll appreciate the color-coded categories and icons, as a lot of calendars don't have this. There's an option to filter events by category, as well. As far as contact management goes, you can sort your contacts into groups. There are suggested group names, but it's possible to edit them based on your needs. The default groups will clue you in on the type of person who would get the most out of Qwingle. There are some interesting social features. There's a status update option, similar to standard social networks. You can share these updates, as well as events, on Facebook, Twitter and Google+. People in a group can comment and like an event or status within Qwingle. All of this combined with the option to upload photos to events and status updates, makes the app function like a social diary. If you want an event to be visible to only yourself or a specific group, set it to private. Only those invited will see it. A few other things to note: When you add an event location, Qwingle links you to directions and a weather forecast. Plus, there are special offers for nearby restaurants, theaters, accommodations and other attractions. A big drawback here is that your contacts must also use the app. Because of this, only a very specific subset of people will use it. There will be a lot of individuals who won't want to bother with another calendar. That being said, Qwingle is great for busy families who need to stay in touch and keep track of each other's schedules. Since it's back to school season, managing everyone's time while you get back into the groove of things is a juggling act. The social features allow you to communicate with your kids when you change your schedule. Likewise, they can let you know their afterschool plans. Sure you can text, but it's nice having schedules and related conversations all in one place. Even if you have another calendar app like Tempo to keep track of your professional life, adding a family focused calendar to your productivity arsenal might be useful in maintaining your sanity. The app will also appeal to teens and college age kids who want organize and share their plans with a select group of friends. Qwingle can become something of an exclusive inner circle secret. The social sharing aspect is an added bonus. For the average person, Qwingle doesn't give you any reason to use it. But that's okay. It's not built for everyone. It's for a very specific demographic. Yet, even within the sphere of family centric calendars, Qwingle's social features likely aren't enough to make it more attractive than other options, like Cozi. Still, Qwingle is free, so it's worth the test drive, especially during the back to school rush.
Sprint family promo lets you share at least 20GB of data for $100 per month
T-Mobile has lately enticed families by giving them a big, 10GB bucket of mobile data at a relatively low $100 rate, but Sprint isn't about to take this competition laying down. Big Yellow has just unveiled a Family Share Pack promotion that lets you split a minimum of 20GB of data (and unlimited voice/text) for a relatively modest $100 per month, plus $15 per line. You're almost certainly getting more than that, too. Sprint throws in another 2GB for every line, so a family of four will have 28GB to play with. If you max out the plan with 10 people, that's a pretty hefty 40GB. You won't get the carrier's signature unlimited data, but this may eliminate worries that Snapchat-happy kids will chew up all your bandwidth.
Prepare to bee educated with Gro Flowers
Gro Flowers is a fantastic educational game meant for children between the ages of 0-5. It teaches children about the benefits of biodiversity and pollination. Gro Flowers takes a hands on approach to learning about these topics instead of traditional instruction. Players get to create their own flower species and then control a bee and other animals helpful to pollination in order to fill their field with flowers. Gro Flowers is compatible with all iOS devices running iOS 4.3 or later. Players start by creating their own species of flower with different brushes and colors. After planting the flowers, players can pollinate them with the bee. After a few pollinations, the bee takes the nectar from the flowers and goes back to the hive to create honey. This causes a drop of honey to fall out of the hive and the player must move the jar to catch the drop. When you get enough honey to fill up the jar, it is then taken to a menu which holds the honey jars and flowers you have created. When you successfully pollinate enough flowers, the bee will reward players with either a new color or a new brush before returning to the hive. The reward structure is really nice to see and helps players want to keep playing the game. It was not very hard to get a lot of different colors and brushes quickly and that is a big plus for keeping children entertained and engaged. Gro Flowers allows multiple people to play at the same time which works well for using multiple bees to pollinate more flowers and fill your field. This also allows parents to work with their children in helping them understand the concepts being taught. Some children may have trouble understanding how to use the bee to pollinate as holding the bee over a flower for a certain amount of time is not very intuitive. However, after a little trial and error, this control becomes second nature to the player. Gro Flowers also features a nice challenge with the addition of a pesticide bottle that occasionally appears and must be tapped or the bees might get harmed. The random nature of this challenge prevented the gameplay from getting stale. Occasionally, however, when a bee adds a new brush or color in the panel and the pesticide bottle appears, it is easy to accidentally tap the new flower button. This is a minor annoyance to the game overall but doesn't take away too much from the fun. The only other problem I found in the game was on the launch screen; pressing and holding the "for parents" button didn't seem to do anything which always left me wondering what was in that section. The sound effects in Gro Flowers are very whimsical and fun. Each sound effect fit the mood of the game and matched the art style as well. The field looks like it is made out of yarn and with a vivid color pallet, Gro Flowers is irresistibly beautiful. Gro Flowers is US$2.99 on the App Store and a great buy for parents interested in a fun way of teaching their children about biodiversity in a fun environment.
Vodafone targets data-sharing families with its new Red+ plan
Family mobile plans might be big in the US, but they haven't really got going in the UK. However, that isn't stopping Vodafone from trying to change people's minds with the launch of its new Red+ plan. Instead of equipping a family with individual tariffs, Vodafone aims to supply each member of the household with their own SIM, allowing the "plan leader" to distribute monthly data limits depending on how data thirsty they are. These so-called leader plans are basically upgraded Red plans that come with a 2GB, 4GB, 7GB, 10GB or 13GB data allowance, which can then be shared with a family member in 500MB, 1GB, 2GB or 4GB amounts.
First Impressions: LEGO Minifigures Online
Besides being an avid gamer myself, I am raising three children who are also avid gamers. You might have seen past livestreams that I've done with my youngest son and my daughter. In fact, my son and I are going to stream with the Super Hero Squad Online crew here in the next few days. As a gaming dad, I keep my eyes out for games that lend themselves to being kid friendly and fun for adults, too. When Free Realms shut down, my youngest, now 9 years old, was heartbroken. Although he didn't really do much questing, he loved the other activities in the game like kart racing and exploring the housing system. I have attempted to get him to jump into games like Wizard101 and Pirate101, whose combat systems were more complex than his liking. But he's a fan of combat in SHSO. He also plays Minecraft daily and has really adhered to the whole culture that surrounds it. So when LEGO Minifigures Online opened its beta, I thought it would be an excellent combination of both SHSO combat and the building systems of Minecraft. I was wrong on one count but right on the other. My son loved the combat system, at least.
LEGO Minifigures Online open beta progress to carry over
Funcom wants you to know that it has officially kicked off the open beta for LEGO Minifigures Online. The game's proper launch is still scheduled for Fall 2014, but as of now you can download the free-to-play beta client and have at it! Current locations include Pirate World, Medieval World, and Space World, and the firm is "hard at work finishing up more great content," according to the news blurb on its web site. Player progress and cash shop purchases will carry over from open beta to launch.
Toontown Online 'homage' illustrates emulator quandary
Disney's Toontown Online was shut down last year, but that hasn't kept fans from working on a so-called "homage" to the game. A team of 24 or so volunteer developers have been working on making Toontown Rewritten with publicly available images and their own skills as programmers and artists. While the team isn't charging players to access the title, its status as a de facto emulator could put it in jeopardy with the Mouse House. Disney hasn't commented on it yet, but copyright attorney Scott Landsbaum noted the quandary that such projects face: "When does a fan homage that is beneficial to your brand cross the line to infringement that can no longer happen?" Analyst Michael Pachter claimed that it was "unusual" for fans to take on such emulator projects, which was rebutted by Raph Koster, who tweeted, "Sorry Pachter, but hasn't EVERY shuttered MMO (and some open ones) been remade by fans?" A similar project for the also-defunct Pirates of the Caribbean Online claims that Disney has given the emulator its blessing.
Assemble to try the LEGO Minifigures Online open beta
If you miss being able to play with LEGO bricks in an online environment, you'll be happy to know that LEGO Minifigures Online has just entered open beta. The last time a LEGO-themed game came out, it didn't turn out so well, but the new game is a very different experience, allowing players to take control of the many LEGO minifigures currently available to adventure in a variety of LEGO-themed environs. Currently, the beta test is available only for Windows computers in English, with other localizations and a tablet client slated for release during the test process. Open beta will also see the refinement of game mechanics and the free-to-play business model, so nothing that's in the game right now is set in stone. If you've been feeling the loss of brick-based gameplay, now might be the time to jump in and start playing for yourself. [Source: Funcom press release]
Osmo extends iPad kids' gaming to the physical world
In a few short years, the iPad has gone from geeky luxury item to a ubiquitous, incredibly popular device -- and that's especially true with the fickle, frantic audience we call "the kids." Little hands love Apple's portable, touchable tablet... maybe a little bit too much. Parents and educators may be wondering if all this tablet time is the best way to engage and entertain young minds that learn most effectively by engaging with the physical world along with the virtual one. This tension between the allure of the iPad and the need to keep kids connected to reality is why the current pre-launch campaign for Osmo is so intriguing. With a remarkably simple hardware mirror module + stand to reorient the iPad's front-facing camera down towards a tabletop, plus some very clever software and visual recognition engineering, Osmo creates a "tangible play" experience that helps kids get out of the locked-in relationship with the iPad screen, and reconnects them to the people and objects around them. Osmo's three announced games -- Words, Tangram, and Newton -- all take advantage of the downward-view camera and the iPad's processing power to recognize what players are doing with real objects in the real world. For Tangram, it's geometric primitives assembled to match the onscreen design; with Words, players toss letters into the play zone to help answer clues. Newton is a "dots to target" puzzle game with a twist; the falling balls bounce off a drawing, objects or even a finger visible in the play field. It's easier to understand once you see it in action, as below. According to co-founder/CEO and ex-Googler Pramod Sharma, the kids in the promo video had never used or even seen the Osmo apps before they stepped in to be filmed. Their interactions and first impressions are what you see here. Osmo's pre-launch approach follows the example of a couple of other "quasi-crowdfunded" products, where the funding campaign is effectively an advance sale program; unlike many Kickstarter or Indiegogo hardware projects, the design and development of Osmo was locked pre-campaign. That didn't hold back its popularity, though; the product hit its $50,000 presale target within a few hours of the May 22 launch, and the second batch of pre-order units is now up for grabs. To sweeten the deal for early adopters (who get a $49 purchase price, versus the launch amount of $99 per Osmo, and additional $5 discounts for referrals), the company is promising that backers will get free downloads of any additional games released in the first two years of Osmo's sales. They'll also get a two-year replacement warranty if they lose any game pieces. With a target audience of kindergarteners through 12-year-olds, the Osmo market is nice and wide; schools and educators that have had a chance to help play-test and refine the product are expressing early enthusiasm for it. At the moment, however, it's parents and kids that Osmo wants to reach in advance of its late summer on-sale date. If it looks good to you, the pre-order desk is open.
New LEGO Minifigures Online vid features Medieval World
Funcom's latest LEGO Minifigures Online video reveals the game's Medieval World. Players of the "brickalicious" free-to-play title will need to capture the Medieval World's "wicked Elementius the Pieromancer (wanted for pie-throwing) while facing pointy-teethed monstrosities such as trolls, ogres, and dragons." Click past the cut to have a look!
Pirate101's spring 2014 update is live
Pirate101's spring 2014 update is now live. The patch has added new free-to-play areas, advanced pets, and advanced companions to the game. KingsIsle has published a lengthy list of update notes, and you'll probably also want to take a(nother) look at the update trailer. We've embedded it for you after the break.
Uber is reportedly launching a family-friendly ridesharing service
Uber's ridesharing service has primarily catered to an adult crowd that rarely needs to bring more than a suitcase, but it may soon offer a solution for those whose kids have to tag along. VentureBeat hears from a source that the company is near launching Uber Family, a premium option for parents. Reportedly, you'd pay a $10 premium to guarantee both a trustworthy (that is, highly rated) driver and a pre-supplied child's car seat. We've reached out to verify the claims, but you may not have long to wait; Uber Family is supposed to be launching in New York "soon."
The Daily Grind: Are kids MMOs in danger of dying out?
As a parent of toddlers, I have often wondered what games I will be playing with them when they get old enough to want to dive into MMOs (if they ever want to, that is). Considering that during this past year we've seen several kid-friendly titles shut down, I'm worried that there might not be any left in a few years. Recall that Clone Wars Adventures, Free Realms, Pirates of the Caribbean Online, and Toontown Online have been terminated in the past 12 months and answer me this: Are kids MMOs in danger of dying out? I can take heart that KingsIsle is still going strong and that LEGO Minifigures Online is in development, but I don't see a lot of interest in studios making MMOs for the much younger set. What do you think? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
