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Gorgeous puzzle game 'Monument Valley' is being turned into a movie
One of the most beautifully-designed mobile puzzle games of all time is going to be given the silver screen treatment. Released in 2014 and quickly snapping up the title of Apple's Game of the Year, Monument Valley will be adapted into a movie in a joint venture by Paramount Pictures and Weed Road Pictures.
'Florence' turns falling in love into a video game
Video games are good at war. For decades, games have covered the breadth, horror and honor of battle in every conceivable arena, from ancient history to futuristic space stations, from the hills of Mordor to the beaches of Normandy. Games have a long history of transforming firefights into sporting events, pitting players against one another with a wide array of weapons at their disposal. It makes sense, given where the industry started. "When our technology was really primitive, the easiest things to create were simulations of sports and of physical things and battles and sort of black-and-white conditions," Ken Wong, the creator of Monument Valley, says. "Since then we've developed so much technology and discussion, and we're able to create stories and characters with a lot of subtleties, but it feels like gaming as an industry is still hanging onto that past as sort of the true form of gaming."
The best mobile games
Mobile gaming has come a long way. Over the past few years we've gone from simple distractions like Snake, Words With Friends and Doodle Jump to full-on narrative experiences crafted specifically for Android and iOS devices. What's more, at least a few traditional console game developers have shifted entirely to mobile at this point, and, in a bit of a reversal, they've ported their games to consoles. By 2012, game-design toolsets like Unity and Unreal made a charming indie designed for mobile devices indistinguishable from one you'd play on a PlayStation or Xbox. As such, for the purposes of this list, we're focusing on games that have been released within the past five years.
'Monument Valley 2' comes to Android on November 6th
Monument Valley 2, the follow-up to UsTwo's beautiful and head-turning puzzler from 2014, is almost ready for Android phones and tablets. The London studio announced today that the game will arrive in the Play Store on November 6th, five months after its debut on iOS. The title, if you need a refresher, follows a mother and her child as they traverse a world filled with crisp and colorful M. C. Escher-inspired architecture. Like the first game, your success is dependent on figuring out the different pathways that unlock as you tap, slide and rotate various parts of the environment.
Pre-register for 'Monument Valley 2' on Google Play (updated)
The sequel to the mind-bending, gorgeous puzzler Monument Valley has been available for iOS since June; it was announced at Apple's developer conference, WWDC. Now Android users get to experience the MC Escher-inspired mobile game. Well, almost. Monument Valley 2 is available for pre-registration on the Google Play Store.
'Monument Valley 2' is now available on iOS
Monument Valley is one of the greatest mobile games ever released, a brilliant puzzle jaunt through an MC Escher landscape punctuated with lovely chimes and audio accents. Nobody expected a sequel to come around any time soon, so Apple nonchalantly announcing the game at WWDC today is a delightful surprise. Monument Valley 2 is officially live on the App Store for $5.
Movie studio Annapurna Pictures now makes games
Annapurna Pictures, the production company behind blockbuster films like Her and Zero Dark Thirty, announced today that it will publish and produce games as Annapurna Interactive. It's no secret that video games are big money and now it seems that, once again, the movie industry wants a piece of gaming's lucrative pie.
'Monument Valley' is the latest game soundtrack going vinyl
Monument Valley was one of the most interesting, unique and beautiful games released in 2014 on any platform. Forget that fact that it's "just" a mobile game -- developer UsTwo build an extremely memorable experience, and the game's music contributed heavily to that experience. If you want to immerse yourself in the game's soundscape, the geeky art purveyors iam8bit have just the thing for you -- the soundtrack for Monument Valley will go up for sale on vinyl tomorrow.
Apple game of the year 'Monument Valley' is now free on iOS
If you're looking for a free iOS game, an interesting new option has just opened up. Puzzle-adventure game Monument Valley managed to pull off the hat trick of being fun, zen and beautiful all at the same time -- which helped garner it Apple's Game of the Year and Design awards for 2014. The title, normally $4, is now showing as "free," though there's no word on how long that offer will last. After launching in May last year, it had earned $5.8 million by January 2015, mostly from sales to iOS gamers (creator Ustwo said that only 5 percent of Android sales were paid).
The 'Monument Valley' team has created a dream of a VR game
It's a tough act to follow, selling over 2 million copies of a game in a single year. That's the task that Ustwo, the British developer behind the award-winning Monument Valley, was facing as it started work on its latest effort Land's End, a virtual reality adventure game created exclusively for Samsung's Gear VR headset. Going from building a game for mobile to one that will only run on a specific accessory for a handful of Samsung phones is a bold move. And as the studio's lead designer and technical director explain, it wasn't even their initial plan.
The creators of 'Monument Valley' are redesigning your car dash
The developer of Monument Valley, Ustwo, isn't just content with designing beautiful puzzle games and tablet software -- it wants to rethink your car's dashboard, too. The company has partnered with Car Design Research to build a prototype for an instrument cluster display that tosses out much of what you know today. Instead of fixed gauges, it uses an adaptive screen that shows what you need when you need it. When you're stopped, it tells you whether or not you have enough fuel or electricity to reach your destination. Hit the accelerator and it shifts focus to speed and gears, while reversing automatically brings up the rear-view camera. It's even aware enough to notify you about slippery roads, school zones and other situations where you may need to drive with caution.
First 'Threes', now 'Monument Valley': knockoff developer strikes again
Did you play Monument Valley (above left), the gorgeous perspective-based puzzler from last year? It costs $4 on Google Play / iTunes, and is one of 2014's best games. And now you can get it for free. Sort of. You see, Ketchapp, the studio behind Threes! knockoff 2048 is at it again. With Skyward (above right), the developer's created a game that bears more than a passing resemblance to ustwo Studio's Apple Design Award winner. Whereas Monument Valley is a relaxing, almost Zen-like experience that's more about logic puzzles than twitch reactions, Skyward is a shallow attempt at disguising a tired Flappy Bird clone by wrapping it in pastel colors and M.C. Escher-like aesthetics. Oh, and it's full of obtrusive ads for retirement planning and compact cars -- junk that's thankfully missing from Monument Valley.
Best iPhone Photos: Monument Valley with Pro HDR
It's a landscape burned into the American historical consciousness. Utah's surreal and beautiful Monument Valley has served as a backdrop for countless Hollywood westerns. Now, our roving reporter and avid photographer Mel Martin has captured the vista right before sunset using his iPhone 4 and the Pro HDR application from EyeApps. Click the image for the full-res version. This is a perfect example of the great work iPhone photographers are doing in the field, and it certainly passes the jawdrop test: anyone seeing it is likely to exclaim, "Wait, you took that picture with a cell phone?" (By the way, Mel notes that this particular shot was taken without a tripod.) Read on for another image of "The Mittens," iconic stone features of the desert, and a dawn landscape.
