Mahjong
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Microsoft connects Windows 8 for PCs, phones with new Solitaire, Minesweeper and Mahjong
As a late holiday gift, Microsoft is finally syncing up some of the popular software from its desktop and tablet Windows OS with the latest version of Windows for phones. We are, of course, referring to classic Windows games like Microsoft Solitaire Collection, Minesweeper (which also has a WP7 version) and Mahjong, which as of today are available on Windows Phone 8. Better still, they're enhanced for Xbox leaderboards, achievements and stat-tracking, with the ability to pause and resume games across Windows PCs, phones and tablets. They're all free, so hit the links to download them and waste time on the go just like you do at work.
NetEase launches Mists of Pandaria Mahjong set
NetEase, one of the largest retailers of World of Warcraft and general Blizzard merchandise in China, has recently launched a new product. In a very, very limited edition of just 1,000 copies, at least for now, this set is sure to go fast. It's retailing for what a currency converter approximates to be $208, at today's rates at least, and it really is a thing of beauty. The set is beautifully designed and crafted, with the panda footprint featuring heavily on the tiles, as seen above, as well as the accompanying poker chips, the dice, dividers, and the red wooden presentation box. The play mat is a cloth rendition of the continent of Pandaria, which appears sympathetically rendered. If this sounds a little like a sales pitch, it shouldn't, this set is just incredibly beautifully made, and warrants the praise! Rumor has it that this limited edition of 1,000 is not just for China, but for the worldwide market, so be prepared to have to jump through some hoops if you want one. They are currently only available through NetEase's website, where some judicious use of a translation engine will land the enthusiastic shopper with a login, allowing them to sign up for one of these sets. Given the coverage it's getting, and the minimal price, don't be surprised if you lose out. Hit the break for more pictures!
Where is my mahjong minigame in Mists of Pandaria?
During Wrath of the Lich King, Blizzard gave us the Peggle and Bejeweled addons. In Cataclysm, we got an amazing in-game version of Plants vs. Zombies (which rewarded a Singing Sunflower pet that actually sang). Now in Mists of Pandaria, the latest addition to the growing collection of games within the game is the new pet battle system which is reminiscent of the beloved Pokémon series. Well, beloved to everyone else anyway. See, Pokémon and I have a bitter past. It started when I was 12, and I told my mother the only thing I wanted for Christmas was a Gameboy and a copy of Pokémon Blue. It was an expensive gift to ask for from a single parent working two jobs, but I was desperate. In the months prior, all my friends at school had ceased socializing about comics and fantasy novels in favor of playing Pokémon. Every day at lunch they'd scarf down their meals then whip out their link cables and start dueling. Not having a Gameboy myself though, I was completely left out. Sadly, when Christmas came there was no Gameboy. Instead I received a Pocket Pikachu, which was a weird toy pedometer crossed with a Tamagotchi. The idea was that you'd keep it in your pocket and as you took steps you'd earn currency to buy presents for Pikachu, who would then be your friend. The problem was the pedometer wasn't very sensitive to normal steps, so you were better off shaking it over and over. So for the next few months, while my friends continued to ignore me to play Pokémon, I shook a stupid, yellow pedometer up and down. Anyway, long story short, I'm not too crazy about a pet battle system. And while I appreciate that Blizzard has made great efforts to integrate such an indepth feature into the game, I feel like they've missed out on the perfect opportunity to add a minigame to the game that would fit perfectly into Mists of Pandaria: mahjong.
Windows 8 gets 'Xbox Windows' games; Minesweeper, Solitaire and Mahjong getting achievements
Finally, you'll receive real, tangible rewards for your mad Minesweeper skills soon enough – that is, if you upgrade to Windows 8. According to Xbox 360 Achievements.org, Minesweeper, Solitaire and Mahjong are all getting achievements akin to those seen in current Xbox 360 and Games For Windows Live-compatible games when Windows 8 launches on October 26.These games will also fall into the new "Xbox Windows" family, evidenced by some packaging discovered by Xbox 360 Achievements.org. Look familiar? It's basically the same packaging seen on Xbox Live Arcade games, except for the header coloring at the top and inclusion of Windows branding.We've contacted Microsoft for an official statement and will update accordingly.
Windows 8 built-in games now called Xbox Windows, Microsoft's naming synergy continues
Were you among those who jumped for joy when Windows Explorer got its new moniker? Good news, nomenclature fans, for Redmond has decided to label its new OS' built-in games and titles obtained from the Windows Store as "Xbox Windows." Along with the new branding, venerable Windows titles like Minesweeper, Solitaire and Mahjong will also offer Xbox Achievements, so you can bulk up your Gamerscore while wasting time at work. Full details of the achievement and point totals can be found at the source links below.
Windows 8's stock apps get pictured, tease its final build
Microsoft might be wavering on the well established Metro moniker that it ascribes to its flat, live tile design aesthetic, but that doesn't make it any less pervasive in Windows 8's final build. Care to see? Impatient Windows fans have pilfered a handful of screenshots from Google and Windows Store previews, revealing what appears to be the final look for several of Windows 8's apps. Gumshoes at the Neowin forums uncovered fresh previews of the Photos, Mail, Messaging, People, Calendar Xbox music, Xbox video and Xbox SmartGlass applications. Liveside followed up on the forum's findings with a peek at the OS' baked in Bing integration. The camera interface's crop and video playback features make an appearance too, as do the operating system's legacy time wasters: Solitaire, Minesweeper and Mahjong -- slacking off never looked so good. Check them out for yourself in the gallery below, and agonize over how far away October 26th suddenly seems. %Gallery-161692%
TUAW's Daily Mac App: Moonlight Mahjong
There are few games quite as relaxing to play as Mahjong solitaire. Moonlight Mahjong is a great free solitaire game for the Mac, that's tuned for using a trackpad. Not to be confused with classic game of mahjong, Mahjong solitaire is a tile matching game where you're presented with a pile of tiles taken from mahjong (hence the name), with the task of matching pairs to whittle down the pile. The tiles are stacked on top of each other, making only a limited number available for matching at any one time. Moonlight Mahjong gives you the choice of four different playing modes: Scramble and Challenge modes, where you compete against the computer, aka "Tilebot" to clear the board; Puzzle, which is classic mahjong solitaire without Tilebot; and finally Relaxation, which is like Puzzle mode but there are no time limits and your tiles are automatically reshuffled. The 3D tiles give you a bit of depth perception, while the pile is displayed atop one of its gorgeous backgrounds. You've got the choice of some beautiful Hubble images, paintings or photos, while the sound effects have a wind-chime style to them. Having come from iOS, the developers have given the game a touch-like feel by implementing decent multi-touch trackpad controls. You can select a tile by just lifting your finger off the trackpad, while you can move the pile about with standard gestures (pinch-to-zoom etc). Moonlight Mahjong looks great, plays well and adds a little competitive element with the introduction of your Tilebot playing partner. If you're looking for a relaxing game for your Mac and like matching tiles, the free Moonlight Mahjong is definitely worth a look.
NintendoWare Weekly: Zombie Panic demo, Magic Destiny
This week, you have a chance to try out the WiiWare game Zombie Panic in Wonderland, an entertaining forward-scrolling shooter in which Momotaro, Dorothy, and Snow White shoot at zombies and avoid being hugged (fatally). We suppose you've always had the chance to try it, but thanks to the demo you can now do so without spending money. If you'd like to know when you'll be able to afford more WiiWare games, you can pick up Magic Destiny, which tells your fortune using tarot, seashells, numerology, and, uh, virtual palm reading. That kind of makes the DSiWare game about adopting 101 dolphins seem tame.%Gallery-115397%
VC in Brief: Shanghai II: Dragon's Eye (Sega Genesis)
This week's Virtual Console release is sure to please all of our elderly readers. It's Mahjong! No, seriously -- we're not playing a trick on you! Check it out in the latest episode of VC in Brief above. Shanghai II: Dragon's Eye (Genesis, 1-2 players, 800 Wii Points) Every week, we like to check out what's new on the Virtual Console. We offer these videos as a sort of taste to help you decide whether or not you would want the game in question. We also toss in our own two cents because we're pushy jerks like that.
European Nintendo downloads: Earthworm Jim 2, holiday games
This week, the European Wii and DS Shops' halls are decked, with one festive, holiday-themed game each! Happy Holidays: Christmas on WiiWare is, like the Halloween WiiWare release, a program that lets you put together and send e-cards. Yep. Just Sing! Christmas Songs on DSiWare is pretty much what it sounds like: a karaoke game in which you just sing Christmas songs. Two of them. Just watch the trailer (via GoNintendo) after the break. Oh, also, Earthworm Jim 2 on Virtual Console. Neat! Earthworm Jim 2 (Mega Drive, 1 player, 800 Wii Points) Mahjong (WiiWare, 500 Wii Points) Happy Holidays: Christmas (WiiWare, 1 player, 500 Wii Points) Foto Face: The Face Stealer Strikes (DSiWare, 1 player, 800 DSi Points) A Little Bit of ... Magic Made Fun: Matchmaker (DSiWare, 1 player, 200 DSi Points) Just Sing! Christmas Songs (DSiWare, 1 player, 200 DSi Points) myNotebook: Red (DSiWare, 1 player, 200 DSi Points)
Gaming to Go: The Quest Trio
You've played this game before. Probably. See, here's the thing -- The Quest Trio isn't a singular title so much as it is a collection of games, as an in-depth analysis of the title would probably suggest. For your money you'll get a variant of Bejeweled, an interesting version of Solitaire, and a pretty decent take on Mahjong, three classic games that should be fairly familiar to just about every person ever. The Quest Trio gets interesting, however, when you consider that two of the titles in the package have been previously sold as standalone products -- and for everyone's favorite handheld, no less!It might sting a wee bit to discover you already own one member of the trio. It might hurt a hell of a lot to discover you already own two of them, in which case I'd advise you sit this one out and find a warm corner to cry in. For everyone else who loves the sound of three great games bundled together for your gaming pleasure, click that big button down there and see if this week's edition of Gaming to Go covers just the sort of puzzle compilation you've been questing for. #ninbutton { border-style: solid; border-color: #000; border-width: 2px; background-color: #BBB; color: #000; text-decoration: none; width: 100px; text-align: center; padding: 2px 2px 2px 2px; margin: 2px 2px 2px 2px; } .buttontext { color: #000; text-decoration: none; font: bold 14pt Helvetica; } #ninbutton:hover { text-decoration: none; color: #BBB; background-color: #000; } NEXT >> %Gallery-40555%
Mahjong Tales distributing Ancient Wisdom on PSN in January
We've found a lot of holiday-related reasons to get nostalgic over the past few days, but a recent announcement from PlayStation.Blog provided us with our latest excuse to sprint down memory lane. We imagine it will do the same for you as well -- didn't everyone spend a summer at their grandmother's retirement home, playing intense, high-stakes rounds of Mahjong, wagering tubes of Fixodent and coupons for Ponderosa? No? Just us?You'll be able to recreate the experience this January when Majong Tales: Ancient Wisdom hits the PSN, available for any discerning tile-matcher with $9.99 to spare. The subtitular "Ancient Wisdom" will be delivered in the form of five Chinese morality tales, each of which broken into ten cutscenes which are shown between rounds of Mahjong. We acquired our own "Ancient Wisdom" during that steamy summer at the Quivering Oaks Retirement Community -- octogenarians won't think twice about cheating when free denture paste is on the line.
VC Tuesday: Kunio and Koinu
Okay, so there are more WiiWare games in Japan this week than Virtual Console games, but the WiiWare games are boring. How boring? The most interesting games on the list are both puzzle games, and one of those is only noteworthy because it's super cute awwwww puppies.But the Virtual Console games are better. Sure, one of them is a shooter, an imperfect port of an arcade game, but the other is a Kunio game and a one-time NES pack-in! Virtual Console releases: Nekketsu Koukou Dodgeball Bu: Soccer Hen (Famicom, 1-2 players, 500 Wii Points) Super Darius (PC Engine, 1 player, 800 Wii Points) WiiWare releases: Minna de Asobou: Koinu de Kururin (1-4 players, 500 Wii Points) Saikyou Ginsei Mahjong (1 player, 500 Wii Points) Kappa-kun to Asobou: Kappa-kun no O-tanoshimikai (1 player, 600 Wii Points) Katachi no Game Maruboushi Kaku (1-3 players, 800 Wii Points)
MacBundleBox: 15 apps for 50 bucks
MacBundleBox is offering 15 Mac applications for $49.95: an 85 percent discount (compared to buying each app individually). The apps included are: Headline - A full-featured RSS/ATOM feed reader with an ultra-minimal UI. Mac Pilot 3 - A system optimization and customization utility. iConquer - A game not unlike Risk. Mahjong Forests - A traditional mahjong game. Shoebox Express - A solution for organizing all your photos by content. Caboodle - A way to collect random snippets of text or images on your machine. Narrator - A program that will read out stories in multiple voices. WriteRoom - A distraction-free word-processor, and possibly the most popular app in the bundle. Scribbles - A simple drawing utility. Money - An accounting app. Operation - A simple project management application. Aurora - An iTunes-integrated alarm clock. Compositor - A CoreGraphics-based image editor. Sofa Control - Allows you to control your applications remotely, using an Apple Remote. MacBundleBox is available directly from their website.
First Looks: Blackjack 21 and Shanghai Mahjong
Today, I got a chance to play Mobile Age's two App Store games: Blackjack 21 and Shanghai Mahjong. As the names suggest, these two familiar classics were ported to the iPhone platform. I started off with the Mahjong, which is a solitaire game the goal of which is to remove all the tiles on-screen by matching pairs. The game itself is beautifully presented but the interaction falls short. Rather than re-design the game for iPhone, it was ported. The tiles are tiny. When I placed my finger tip on top of the display, I covered about 6 tiles at once. The presentation made selecting individual tiles tricky and identifying them harder -- especially for one as myopic as myself. Two on-board buttons at the bottom left and right of the screen proved particularly difficult to tap. The game does not offer zooming. In the end, I was unable to enjoy playing the game. To play Blackjack 21, you need to learn an odd swipe language. Swipe down to hit, swipe across to stay, double-tap to double-down, and so on. Although it was a bit confusing to pick up (and a little anti-intuitive, since in our family games, we double tap the table to hit and swipe our hands to stay), I soon was betting, hitting, standing and so forth. In Blackjack 21, most of the gameplay is about the animation and sound effects. There are plenty of both. I'm not a huge gambler so I can't really say much about the gameplay relative to real life. It seems to follow Vegas rules, offering you insurance, etc. at the proper places. Neither game really blew me away. I was more disappointed in Mahjong because that's normally a game I adore. Many wasted hours in Graduate School were dedicated to multi-player timed challenges. By porting the game rather than redesigning to meet the iPhone's small interaction space, Mobile Age missed an opportunity to deliver a hit. Blackjack 21 and Shanghai Mahjong each sell for $4.99 at the iPhone App Store and can be played on both iPhone and iPod touch.
Yakuman Wii's weird non-Mii players
Normally, a bunch of screenshots of something like Yakuman Wii: Ide Yousuke no Kenkou Mahjong wouldn't be terribly interesting. Even if it's a new WiiWare game, mahjong is happening in most of these screens, and that doesn't translate into compelling preview content even for fans of the game.But we're fascinated by Nintendo's decision to use not-Miis as its AI opponents, in a game that includes Miis. Why do that? Why design characters that look sort of like Miis, have similar proportions, but aren't Miis? We understand why the Ide Yousuke character doesn't necessarily adhere to Mii guidelines (to more accurately depict a person), but even he's more Mii-like than these alternate-universe Miis.Each of the characters has a different play style, which is described in the profile next to the name. Atsuo, here, is a "defender." The stars, we believe, indicate a difficulty level. There are lots of other screens available at GAME Watch, ranging from mahjong happening to mahjong about to happen (Wi-Fi setup, lessons from Ide Yousuke) to mahjong just happened (multiplayer results).
Surprise mahjongg game hits Japanese WiiWare next week [update]
[Update: fixed the title. Thanks, Patrick!]Out of nowhere, a new WiiWare game showed up on Nintendo of Japan's WiiWare page. Yakuman Wii: Ide Yousuke no Kenjou Mahjongg (Ide Yousuke's Healthy Mahjongg) is a Nintendo-developed, multiplayer mahjongg game with Mii integration and online play. It also features hints from a Mii of Ide Yousuke (who is apparently a famous mahjongg player, and whose name appears in countless mahjongg game titles).Even though we just found out about it, Nintendo plans to launch it in Japan next week, at a cost of 1,000 Wii Points. However, because it's a mahjongg game, we would be even more surprised to see it released elsewhere. [Via Gamespot Japan]
Four new PSN games for Japan
It took forever to translate the names of these new Japanese PSN games, but we finally got them. Recently hitting the PlayStation Network over in the land of the rising sun are four PlayStation classics: Ide Yosuke no Mahjong Kyoshitsu, Baroque Syndrome, Wai Wai Bowling, and Um Jammer Lammy.Three out of the four games were not released outside Japan; the only one that was seen in the west was Um Jammer Lammy -- a rhythm game spin-off of PaRappa the Rapper. The Ide Yosuke game is yet another Mahjong game, while Wai Wai Bowling is, um, bowling. Lastly, Baroque Syndrome is a prequel to the PS1 RPG Baroque (which is also available on the PSN, at the same time ported to the PS2).While there's really only one or two titles that are worth getting on that list, it still is quite annoying that the Japanese PS1 game library is way better than ours. When will our library start flooding with more and more PS1 games?
Tasuke prepares another round of 1500 DS Spirits games
Just three months after the last round of 1500 DS Spirits games, Japanese publisher Tasuke is getting ready to launch another barrage of cheapo games at the Japanese public. It's all the kind of stuff you'd expect from a budget game line, too: Vol. 6 Trump, Vol. 7 Chess, Vol. 8 Darts, and Vol. 9 Futari Uchi Mahjongg (Two-player Mahjongg) are the newest offerings in the line. While we supported Tasuke last time in the battle with D3 over cheap games, we find ourselves feeling that D3's weirder offerings, like driving education and, on the PS2, The Daibijin, make their Simple series line much more interesting overall than Tasuke's vanilla lineup. D3's got that kind of stuff too, but they also have the hilarious games. To Tasuke's credit, the character art (which is shared in all four games) is nice, with shading reminiscent of Falcoon's work on recent King of Fighters games.We'd like to see this kind of thing in the U.S. regardless of our lack of interest in these specific games. We have cheap games, but we don't really have games that self-identify as cheap.
Do gamers want adult games?
Kotaku has a story about a PSP mahjong game that has some ... saucy imagery in it. It isn't an adult game persay, but it got me thinking: do gamers want adult games? In this month's EGM, they predict that 20 years in the future, gamers won't be playing adult titles on anything but the PC. While this seems like a believable prediction, is our society so puritanical that we can't accept adult gaming in the mainstream? On the flip-side of the argument, one could point out that the popularity of adult movies has exponentially grown the past few years, and this may have a trickle effect to gaming. Also, gaming has yet to wriggle free of its "just for kids" perception. Once today's gamers are adults, doesn't it seem like the potential for adult games having success would be much higher? Will today's God of War sex mini-game be tomorrow's XXX portable gaming pornucopia? Is the concept of adult gaming appealing to you, or gamers as a whole? Let us know in the comments!
