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Britney's new mobile game offers a piece of the pop princess
First came Kim. Then came Katy. And now it's time for Britney, bitch. Vegas' pop-princess-in-residence is following in the digital footsteps of Kanye's notorious Instawife with a free-to-play mobile game out today on iOS and Android. Britney Spears: American Dream, the first release of a five-year deal with developer Glu Mobile, is described as narrative role-playing game. It positions you, the player, as an aspirational pop star seeking Britney's advice and approval, and, ultimately, fame in the finicky music industry. Despite headlining the game and providing access to her catalog of hits, however, Britney is mostly a side attraction.
Taylor Swift is getting her own mobile game
The company that's famous for making Kim Kardashian: Hollywood has announced that it's making a mobile game inspired by Taylor Swift. Glu Mobile has revealed that it'll craft a title based around the singer's life that's expected to arrive for iOS and Android by the end of 2016. The firm has something of a thing for celebrity-endorsed mobile titles, previously producing games with Jason Statham and... uh... Katy Perry. According to BuzzFeed, the Perry game was such a flop that Glu was forced to turn its attentions towards another global pop sensation.
Nicki Minaj and Jason Statham are getting their own mobile games
Hip-hop fans have had a lot to deal with lately: Dr. Dre shelved Detox, there's that whole Meek Mill and Drake feud that's spilling out all over Twitter and Run the Jewels might not be hitting your town on this fall's tour. There's a bright spot, though: Nicki Minaj is getting her own game courtesy of the folks behind Kim Kardashian: Hollywood. Glu Mobile announced that Minaj has lent her likeness, voice and creative directorship exclusively to the company for a game expected to launch next summer. Also joining the lady who kissed a girl and liked it is The Transporter himself, Jason Statham.
TUAW's Daily App: World Series of Poker Hold 'em Legend
While in Las Vegas at CES last week, I didn't have a lot of time to gamble, but I did get to play a few hands of video poker, and that combined with my preview of Full House Poker for the Xbox had me looking for a poker game to scratch the itch when I got back home on Sunday. I poked around the App Store for a few ideas, and while Pokerbot is a nice simulation, this official World Series of Poker app seems like the best version around. It's made by Glu Mobile (the same company behind the great Gun Bros), and it's a solid experience, offering up not just Texas Hold'em, but a persistent career, a nice online multiplayer mode and even Game Center integration with leaderboards and achievements. For a quick game of Hold 'em on the iPhone, it's been perfect for me. The full iPhone app is available for US 99 cents, but if you're not sold, there is a free version with some annoying interstitial ads. And unfortunately, the app's not universal -- the iPad version will set you back $4.99. Still, that's pretty cheap compared to what I'd have ended up losing at the tables in Vegas anyway.
Glu assigned to next Call of Duty mobile release
Face it: despite your plans to shut yourself in with the next Call of Duty release this November, you can't possibly spend all of your time at home, can you? Don't answer that -- Glu Mobile already has: The mobile game publisher has announced its fourth Call of Duty game for mobile phones, set to be released later this year "in conjunction with" Call of Duty: Black Ops. See -- now you can leave the house this winter. Call of Duty's fourth mobile iteration will be released across a variety of carriers and app stores that support "feature phones" and smartphones. Glu Mobile prez Niccolo de Masi claims that the title "will serve as the ideal complement for Call of Duty fans and new players alike," while neglecting to provide any further details about the game. Us? We're just hoping the game comes with a pair of mittens to keep our trigger finger warm.
Palm adds 3D gaming to webOS, gets big EA franchises
One of the biggest players in the battle against Apple's ubiquitous iPhone is Palm. webOS, introduced in the Pre, is an attractive mobile operating system, but has sorely lacked the one thing gamers are most interested in: booth babes games. That's about to change, as Palm has announced a significant update to the webOS platform at CES today. Seven 3D games from EA, Gameloft and Glu have been announced for the Palm App Catalog, including Need for Speed Undercover, The Sims 3, Let's Golf! and X-Plane. Best of all for Pre and Pixi owners, these games can be downloaded right now. Engadget noted that the games "integrate seamlessly in webOS," allowing users to automatically pause a game to respond to a text message. The Palm App Catalog is still in its infancy, with approximately 1000 apps currently available to download. Who knows? Perhaps today's announcement will encourage the billions of fart app developers for Apple to start looking at multi-platform flatulence programming.
Glu Mobile CEO steps down citing need for 'generating positive cash'
There's no doubt that Apple's iPhone has put a significant dent into the mobile game landscape, especially for non-future phone game developers and publishers. Such is the case for Glu Mobile, a company that -- while recently inking a deal to develop and distribute Activision titles on mobile devices -- seems to be going through some not so fantastic times. IndustryGamers.com reports that the company's CEO, Greg Ballard, is stepping down after six years on the job, citing the need to generate "positive cash.""This is a good time to bring in new leadership for the company, as we focus on returning to generating positive cash and begin even greater investment in next-generation mobile platforms," Ballard notes in the company's release. It's not clear at this time who will be taking the reins of the mobile developer, but we're hoping it's not these guys. [Image]
Glu also sticking Guitar Hero 5, Blur, Tony Hawk: Ride on cell phones
Activision has stuck with Glu for bringing more than just Modern Warfare 2 to mobile phones. Gamasutra reports that the studio will also create keypad-friendly versions of Guitar Hero 5, Blur and Tony Hawk: Ride for release this year, although we have to question how closely the gameplay of the latter with adhere to that of the peripheral-based console version.Again, these ports are all for mobile phones, not gaming handhelds masquerading as such, iPhone! (Which, when you think of it, would seem ideally suited for Ride.) They're being made for handsets running Android, Blackberry, Windows Mobile and Java-based operating systems. In Ride's case, we imagine the phone must also be able to handle a rider weight of 300 lbs.
Glu developing Modern Warfare 2 for mobile phones
It's true that we haven't played a "video game" on a cellular device (at least, one that wasn't an iPhone) since our lengthy Snake sessions back in 1999 -- though we imagine there's a contingency of folks out there who get excited for mobile adaptations of console games. For instance, you may find yourself thrilled about Glu's next mobile project -- a version of Modern Warfare 2 that's coming to Androids, Blackberrys, BREWs, J2MEs and Windows Mobile phones in Q4 of this year.The only piece of media we have for the game is shown above -- really tantalizing stuff there, Glu -- though we imagine the gameplay will resemble that of the World at War port the studio developed last year, only with a tad less flame throwing.
Swine flu? There's an app for that
The folks at IntuApps have responded to the Swine Flu pandemic in the way that only a developer could: By building an app!The forthcoming Swine Flu Tracker for iPhone and iPod touch (it's pending App Store approval as of this writing) will do 3 things. First, it will display the current threat level as determined by the World Health Organization. Secondly, it drops pins onto Google maps to represent confirmed or suspected cases. Finally, it tracks and reports on Swine Flu news from around the world. If you're traveling or simply concerned about this problem, it sounds like you might find Swine Flu Tracker useful. Of course, we haven't played with it yet, so the app's actual performance remains to be seen.We can only hope that Apple's notoriously long review process won't keep Swine Flu Tracker out of our hands for too long, as we want to live to see it.
Glu announces its N-Gage launch lineup
While we all wait patiently for a wide-scale release of Nokia's revamped N-Gage platform, it's always fun to get learned on just what sorts of titles will be available for the rest of 2008; after all, the titles available through the First Access beta -- Creatures of the Deep, World Series of Poker, Space Impact, and Block Breaker Deluxe -- are only going to take us so far. Seasoned mobile game developer Glu Mobile has come forward to announce its '08 contributions to the platform, and with just three titles in the wings, it seems the company has done a surprisingly decent job of covering the full gamut. Speed Racer is a (you guessed it) racing title on "extreme" tracks, Super Slam Ping Pong! puts an arcade spin on the classic table game, and The Dark Knight is an action title that follows the upcoming Batman flick. The one thing we don't have in our lives is enough productivity sinks, Glu, so by all means, let's get these suckers pushed out on the double.
