TL18VRL
Latest
Trivia hit HQ arrives on Android in time for New Year's Eve event
Intermedia Labs' live trivia game HQ has launched a little earlier than expected -- and just in time to mark the end of the year, too. Anyone willing and able to download an early access app can see whether or not the formerly iOS-only title lives up to its reputation. You won't have long to wait before you can give it a shot. HQ is holding a special New Year's Eve game at 11PM Eastern, and there's a chance to win as much as $18,000 if your knowledge is up to snuff.
’Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp’ is now available, a day early
This week, Nintendo announced that the mobile installment in its popular Animal Crossing franchise, called Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, would arrive on iOS and Android devices around the world on November 22nd. But it turns out that the game is here a little bit early. It is apparently available now for download on both iOS and Android.
'Two Dots' now has a competitive mode where you can play for real money
Two Dots is a unique, beautiful and meditative puzzle game that exudes a level of polish rarely found in mobile games. So it was a bit of a surprise to see its developer, Dots, announce that it was partnering with the recently launched Sparcade to release a competitive version of Two Dots -- one in which players can put down real money. Would the fairly chill gameplay of Two Dots make any sense in a competitive environment?
'Pokémon Go' has most first-week downloads in App Store history
Despite only being available in the United States, Australia and New Zealand for its first week, Apple has officially confirmed that Pokémon Go had the most downloads in its first week of any in the App Store's history. Considering that the game has launched in over 26 countries since then, including opening in Japan today, it might just keep breaking records.
Quit playin' 'Candy Crush' or you'll hurt yourself
Humans are bred to lie, and while police officers probably receive the bulk of our untruths, doctors get a fair share as well. Like, when someone walks into a clinic complaining of a busted tendon in their hand, it's only natural that they'd say that they were, uh, playing Candy Crush too hard than tell the truth. It's the story that the San Diego Union Tribune is running with after an orthopedic surgeon revealed that a patient ruptured the tendons in their thumb while playing the addictive mobile game on their smartphone. Joking aside, Dr. Dori Cage has advised the public against the dangers of "texting thumb," a repetitive stress injury caused by the prevalence of smartphones. So, if you start to feel a soreness in your fingers or thumbs after an extended session, just put your device down for a little while, okay? [Image Credit: Bloomberg / Getty Images]
Flappy Bird faces imminent extinction
Flappy Bird went from obscurity to chart-topping success overnight, but that's all coming to an end. After over 50 million downloads, developer Dong Nguyen said on Twitter that he's going to take the incredibly tough game down tomorrow... and probably not for the reasons you'd expect. It's not because of any legal pressure. It's not because he sold for some hefty sum. It's not even because he's tired of making games. Nguyen said Flappy Bird will cease to be simply because he just "cannot take this anymore". What exactly he means by that is unclear, but going off an earlier tweet it looks like Nguyen has grown weary of all the attention he's been getting lately. Who could blame him for shunning the spotlight? He created the app in just a few days in 2013 and it languished before exploding in popularity a few weeks back.
Plants vs. Zombies 2 launches worldwide on iOS, offers true free-to-play gaming
If you didn't get early access to Plants vs. Zombies 2 on iOS, now's your chance to play -- PopCap's backyard defense game has just launched worldwide on the App Store. The time travel-themed sequel significantly expands on the original with new plants, new zombies, between-round maps and touch-controlled power-ups. We've tried the game, and it's a welcome refinement of a mostly familiar experience. For some, though, the big change in PvZ2 may be its sheer accessibility. This is a genuinely free-to-play title -- you can see virtually everything it has to offer without paying a dime. In-app purchases are largely restricted to perks, such as coin packs. The developer doesn't yet have a schedule for PvZ2 releases on other platforms, but those who have at least one iOS device can engage in herbal warfare at the source link.
App Review: Angry Birds (Android)
What does it take to make an addictive game? Not much -- just throw in some super simple controls, cute graphics, and basic physics. Rovio Mobile's Angry Birds is one such game that includes all these elements, and today the studio's just released a public Android beta to cater those without an iOS, webOS or Maemo 5 device. In case you're not already familiar with the popular title, the backstory is that a gang of hungry pigs snatched away some eggs from the birds, forcing the feathered creatures to embark on a rescue mission for the sake of their survival. The gameplay on the Android version is just as simple as before: in each level you use a fixed slingshot to fling the birds -- one at a time -- into the forts, in order to kill all the pigs inside. As a secondary challenge, you must also attempt to get a three-star rating depending on the amount of structural material you destroy, so the key is to perfect your shooting angle. At the beginning you're only given one type of bird that does nothing more than just headbutting, but throughout the game you'll come across six more birds, each possessing one special power: multiply, explode, accelerate, dropping egg bombs, boomerang, and extra strength. Don't worry, the instructions are pretty clear when you first meet these enhanced kamikaze birds -- most involve just a single tap anywhere to trigger their special abilities mid-flight. Once you get the hang of it, you'll soon be wanting to try out all sorts of trajectories to take vengeance on those cheeky green hogs. Seriously, the pigs really do laugh at you when your birds miss them. While we're not familiar with the Maemo 5 and webOS versions of Angry Birds, we've definitely spent a fair amount of time on the iOS flavor. Sadly, since the latter's still running on a low 480 x 320 resolution, the blurred graphics on the notoriously sharp retina display does no justice to the game. On the other hand, the Android version looks a lot prettier on our Nexus One, Dell Streak and HTC Desire, as it runs on their native resolution of 800 x 480. That said, overall the Android beta didn't feel as well-oiled as its iOS counterpart -- we've noticed the occasional light hiccups while panning across the scene, so here's hoping that this will be fixed in the final release. Regardless of this minor flaw, we'd still highly recommend Android users to check out this free Angry Birds beta in the market -- go grab it while it's hot!
