game of life
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zAPPed board games hands-on
Alright, zAPPed is no GameChanger but, where Hasbro's line of iOS-integrated board games falls short in the pun department, it shines in cleverness. The Game of Life launched just a couple of days ago with a special edition designed to be used with an iPad app, while other classics Battleship and Monopoly are scheduled to follow later in the year. All make your iDevice an integral part of the gaming experience and leverage an ingeniously simple solution to boosting the interactivity. Underneath the game pieces are uniquely arranged capacitive plastic pads that allow the apps to identify what you're holding. Different boats in Battleship have slightly different arrangements of pads underneath that allow the app to tell whether your carrier or destroyer has been sunk.Monopoly uses the same trick to differentiate player debit cards. When it comes time to make a transaction, you swipe the card across the screen of your iPhone and funds are automatically added or subtracted from your account. Monopoly also adds a few more play options, including a mini game for escaping jail. The Game of Life, of course, lets you spin a virtual wheel, but also customize virtual pegs -- adding hair and accessories where once you were stuck with plain pink or blue ones. Game of Life zAPPed Edition is out now for $25, while Monopoly will land in June, followed by Battleship in September. Check out the gallery below and the PR after the break. %Gallery-147154%Edgar Alvarez contributed to this report.
New games flood App Store before impending holiday release freeze
The App Store is in constant danger of new release bombardments, sure, but many companies adhere to a regular, weekly bombing run beginning each Wednesday, through the wee hours of the night (UTC), dropping their new iPhone and iPad games on Apple's marketplace while many of us are snoozing. Last night was no exception -- actually, scratch that. It was exceptional! Pending the start of the "iTunes Connect Holiday Shutdown" next Thursday -- a six-day lockout period when developers will be unable to release or update apps, including games -- an army of companies, armed with their big holiday releases (for little iDevices), launched a massive attack on the App Store last night. What began as a few warning shots yesterday grew into a full-on assault, led by Gameloft's crisp clones, NOVA 2 and Shadow Guardian, and Square Enix's surprise (and apparently rushed) port of Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light. Even Sega couldn't resist launching a few more classics in Altered Beast and Sonic Spinball. And what's this ... Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3? Hey, if Street Fighter IV worked ... Pursue our complete list of new release highlights after the break, and then make double-sure "Santa" knows you've been good enough for an iTunes gift card this year.
NBA Elite 11 still coming this month ... to iPhone
EA might have stopped the presses of NBA Elite 11 console discs, but the iPhone version is still on track for release this month, according to EA Mobile. The division announced its fall lineup today, with FIFA 11 and EA Sports MMA rounding out the sports titles for iPhone (and iPod Touch) in October. Additionally, Heroes Lore, a popular mobile RPG in Korea (we're told), will be released this month in the App Store. An iPhone version of Battlefield Bad Company 2, "based on the best-selling console game," leads EA Mobile's November charge, which includes High Caliber Hunting, a Retina Display-enhanced critter capper, featuring a multitude of brand-name firearms and gear. For iPad? There's SimCity Deluxe. And for poor Android this fall? Just ... the Game of Life.
VC/WiiWare Tuesday: Rainbow Islands!
Wow! Just a few weeks after the release of Bubble Bobble Wii, Taito just sneaked out a WiiWare version of its sequel, Rainbow Islands! As with Bubble Bobble, we knew that it was coming at some point, but we had yet to see any screens or gameplay information. Now it's out, and it appears to feature timed ascents up huge, vertical stages. Also out this week: a WiiWare version of The Game of Life. Rainbow Islands: Towering Adventure (1-2 players, 800 Wii Points) Madsecta (Onslaught) (1-4 players, 1,000 Wii Points) Jinsei Game (1-4 players, 1,000 Wii Points) In other Taito news, today marks the release of the second version of Space Invaders: The Original Game on the Japanese Virtual Console. This time, the PC Engine version of the ancient shooter is being released -- at exactly the same cost as the Super Famicom/SNES version, making the decision between the two basically a matter of platform preference. Unless silly anime-girl backgrounds make a big difference, in which case it's PC Engine all the way. Dragon Slayer: Legend of Heroes II (Mega Drive, 1 player, 700 Wii Points) Space Invaders: The Original Game (PC Engine, 1-2 players, 800 Wii Points) %Gallery-46292%[Screens via Inside-Games]
Passage creator releases Primrose, an iPhone puzzle game
Jason Rohrer gained some nice accolades among the indie gaming scene for his game, Passage, which took the player through a whole pixelated lifetime in just a few minutes in a very powerful and artistic way. Lately, he's turned his attention to the iPhone -- he released Passage on the platform (though it doesn't work quite so well -- you should probably stick to the free desktop version for the full effect), and has now created another iPhone game that's not quite as meaningfully reflective, but is definitely lots of fun.Primrose is the new title -- it's due out on the App Store any minute now (and will be released for desktops as well), but Rohrer gave TUAW a pre-release look at the game. You can browse through a few screenshots in the gallery below, and our impressions (it's good) are in the second half of the post.%Gallery-45258%
Jinsei Game of Life pedometer makes you exercise to play
Directly rewarding efforts with results, now that's the way to get someone moving. As we've seen time and time again, providing a clear, undiluted motivator is a perfect way to make fitness a top priority in life, and that's exactly what Takara Tomy is hoping to achieve with its pocket-friendly Jinsei Game of Life pedometer. Essentially, this device is a portable version of the famed Game of Life board game, but users are purportedly not allowed to take a turn unless they take 300 steps first. Additionally, two players can take on one another via the "communication mode," but there's a good chance the most chiseled among you will take home the gold regardless of luck. Out this month in Japan for ¥3,675 ($34).[Via CScout Japan]
Music and life intersect for GlitchDS
The strange, seemingly cacophonous stream of sounds coming out your speakers is GlitchDS, a homebrew cellular automaton music sequencer inspired by Conway's Game of Life. Developer Clone45 boasts that the program (his first) is "perfect for creating IDM and Glitch-style loops," and, while we have no idea what that means, we're sure he's representing the software accurately with that claim.In addition to being free and odd enough to be awesome, GlitchDS allows you to create "trigger points," import your own audio files, save/load your work, control tempo with BPM settings, edit sounds with a 32-step frequency modulation sequencer, load six sounds at once, and fiddle with global distortion settings. If you manage to make any music with it, make sure to send it our way!See also: Homebrew Week, Friday Video: Two DS Lites and a microphone[Via DCemu]
