Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Microsoft's New CEO Is Cloud Guru Satya Nadella

Microsoft's New CEO Is Cloud Guru Satya Nadella:
As had been widely rumored and expected, Microsoft's new CEO is Satya Nadella. He previously headed up the company's Cloud and Enterprise group. The change is effective as of today.

General: Nosgoth - Light on Lore, But Shows Promise

General: Nosgoth - Light on Lore, But Shows Promise:
The Legacy of Kain series, with its two anti-heroes, Kain himself and Raziel, has been dormant since 2003. Psyonix takes the reins this time from central franchise developer Crystal Dynamics, in order to make a spinoff, albeit one

General: Elsword & Kings Road: Fun, Featured & Worth a Look

General: Elsword & Kings Road: Fun, Featured & Worth a Look:
In today's often crowded MMO space, it is sadly too easy to find great games that are often overlooked because of the noise of the 'big shots' or even crowded out by the less-than-stellar games that stuff up the games list. To

Rise and Shiny revisit: Alganon's new expansion

Rise and Shiny revisit: Alganon's new expansion:
Filed under: Video, Expansions, Game Mechanics, Interviews, Previews, PvP, Opinion, Free-to-Play, Alganon, Rise and Shiny, Livestream It's been quite a while since I dived into Alganon, the indie MMO by Quest Online. The game

My first two hours in EQN Landmark

My first two hours in EQN Landmark:
Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, New Titles, PvE, Opinion, Hands-On, First Impressions, EverQuest Next, Sandbox, Crafting, Player-Generated Content Sony Online Entertainment has an eventual winner

Monetizer: Epic Empire

Monetizer: Epic Empire:
We recently took a look at Kabam's attempt to streamline the city/army-building mobile strategy genre in its Dark District. Pocket Gems' Epic Empire: A Hero's Quest take a very different approach to the problem, however. Still, at

Android forks rank as #2 global OS thanks to China and India

Android forks rank as #2 global OS thanks to China and India:
While Android's global dominance in 2013 remains unquestioned, ABI Research has shared some new figures that put the 79 percent market share in a new light. These figures show that the main growth Android experienced

The Charticle: Puzzle & Dragons and global conquest

The Charticle: Puzzle & Dragons and global conquest:
Japanese developer GungHo Online has become a gaming superpower thanks to the unprecedented success of its mobile puzzler/RPG, Puzzle & Dragons. The firm's flagship title, released first in Japan, blew away all of its

War in Space Review

War in Space Review:
War in Space Review By Jennifer Allen on February 4th, 2014 Our Rating: :: RETRO TOWER DEFENSEUniversal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad War in Space is a retro Tower Defense game with some issues but a charm

Pyro Jump Review

Pyro Jump Review:
Pyro Jump Review By Lucy Ingram on February 4th, 2014 Our Rating: :: CLEVER AND CHALLENGINGUniversal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad Packed full of variety, Pyro Jump is a challenging and clever little platform

Dawn of the Plow Review

Dawn of the Plow Review:
Dawn of the Plow Review By Campbell Bird on February 3rd, 2014 Our Rating: :: THERE'S NO PLOW LIKE SNOW PLOWUniversal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad Save the city from snow accumulation in this interesting

Gamebook Adventures 9: Sultans of Rema Review

Gamebook Adventures 9: Sultans of Rema Review:
Gamebook Adventures 9: Sultans of Rema Review By Jennifer Allen on February 3rd, 2014 Our Rating: :: ENGROSSING STORYTELLINGUniversal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad With less of a focus on fighting than

Perplexity Review

Perplexity Review:
Perplexity Review By Jordan Minor on February 3rd, 2014 Our Rating: :: WHEEL OF FORTUNEUniversal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad A neat, nouveau spin on the match-3 puzzler. Developer: Blindspot Games Price:

Wizard Quest Review

Wizard Quest Review:
Wizard Quest Review By Campbell Bird on January 31st, 2014 Our Rating: :: PUZZLING PURCHASEUniversal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad Control an amnesiac wizard on his quest to match three and recover his lost

Photo Dash Review

Photo Dash Review:
Photo Dash Review By Stacy Barnes on February 3rd, 2014 Our Rating: :: SHOOT TO WINiPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad Shoot ‘em quicker than the competition in Photo Dash, a fun race to the

Gro Garden Review

Gro Garden Review:
Gro Garden Review By Amy Solomon on January 31st, 2014 Our Rating: :: INTERACTIVE SUSTAINABLE GARDENINGUniversal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad Gro Garden is a new app in a series dedicated to teaching

Voro Review

Voro Review:
Voro Review By Angela LaFollette on January 31st, 2014 Our Rating: :: MESMERIZINGUniversal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad A tile matching puzzler that offers plenty of playtime and replay value to keep players

We're playing Hearthstone's open beta (and you should too)

We're playing Hearthstone's open beta (and you should too):
Spells spew fire and sparks; minions swipe at each other with invisible claws; a newly summoned warrior lets out a cry, taunting the enemy to face him and him alone.In most trading card games these concepts are imagined

Bloodstroke Review

Bloodstroke Review:
Bloodstroke Review By Lucy Ingram on January 30th, 2014 Our Rating: :: PAINT THE TOWN REDUniversal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad A fast-paced action-packed on the rails shooter, John Woo’s Bloodstroke is a

Hypership Still Out of Control Review

Hypership Still Out of Control Review:
Hypership Still Out of Control Review By Carter Dotson on January 30th, 2014 Our Rating: :: OUROBOROSUniversal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad This remix of fast-paced shoot ‘em up Hypership Out of Control should satisfy

Dungeon Keeper Review

Dungeon Keeper Review:
Dungeon Keeper Review By Rob Rich on January 30th, 2014 Our Rating: :: CLASH OF KEEPERSUniversal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad Dungeon Keeper’s iOS outing is most definitely not the PC classic we all remember,

Rocket ROBO Review

Rocket ROBO Review:
Rocket ROBO Review By Jordan Minor on January 30th, 2014 Our Rating: :: TO THE STARSUniversal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad Rocket ROBO’s combination of whimsical graphics and impeccable gameplay is just

Balance HD Review

Balance HD Review:
Balance HD Review By Jennifer Allen on January 30th, 2014 Our Rating: :: WELL DESIGNED TILT-A-THONUniversal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad Not just another maze game, Balance HD backs things up with a

Bardbarian Review

Bardbarian Review:
There has always been a fine line between a bard and a barbarian. In fact, the two traditionally couldn't be any more different: one is a highly refined poet from medieval culture, while the other is a ruthless warrior who often wields a

Bloodstroke Review

Bloodstroke Review:
From legendary action filmmaker John Woo, Chillingo's Bloodstroke serves as a fun-filled reminder of all that is brutal and beautiful in the world. While this isn't Woo's first ever video game (he also made Stranglehold for home

Dawn of the Plow Review

Dawn of the Plow Review:
When game developer Dan Fitzgerald decided to take a "mini-vacation"from developing his main game, Dog Sled Saga, he really didn't take a vacation at all. Instead, he got to work on another title, but rather than an Iditarod-esque

Not So Massively: Star Citizen design contest, Dota 2's New Bloom, and LoL tournament controversy

Not So Massively: Star Citizen design contest, Dota 2's New Bloom, and LoL tournament controversy:
Filed under: Betas, Sci-Fi, Video, Business Models, Events (In-Game), Expansions, Game Mechanics, New Titles, PvP, News Items, PvE, Free-to-Play, Dev Diaries, Miscellaneous, Not So Massively, Sandbox, MOBA, League

Review: Tales of Phantasia

Review: Tales of Phantasia:
Tales of Phantasia is a game of two parts. On the one hand, it's a sparkling port of a classic JRPG that's positively dripping with adventure and possibility. On the other, it's a JRPG with in-app purchases that render one half of the

Review: Old Clockmaker's Riddle

Review: Old Clockmaker's Riddle:
I've played and reviewed so many of them, that by this point I must concede I'm running out of ways to write about match-three puzzle games. But if there's one thing that holds true about the long list of gem-matching puzzlers I've

Review: Glyph Quest

Review: Glyph Quest:
When you're a critic, one of the downsides of seeing loads of games every working day is that you start to see a lot of the same types of title, and many of them presented in ways you've seen before. Glyph Quest's gameplay will be

Review: Trambo

Review: Trambo:
"No, Trambo, move! You stunted little berk," I scream at the iPad. Trambo ignores me and is crushed to death by the infinite blackness of the death ray that has dogged his every step. "Trambo, I hate you so much." Trambo

Review: Heroes of Honor

Review: Heroes of Honor:
Blood and Steel! Yep, Nonstop Games's real-time strategy game Heroes of Honor might feel a bit familiar to Warcraft fans. In fact, hardcore RTS players will probably blanch at the idea of applying the free-to-play formula to the

Review: Rocket Robo

Review: Rocket Robo:
'Navigating to the level exit while collecting stuff.' We could probably use that one sentence to describe a good half of the iOS games we play in a month. Of course, it's the journey to those exits that sets each game apart - the

Review: Dungeon Keeper

Review: Dungeon Keeper:
My mum used to say, 'never judge a game against what you want it to be - judge it for what it is.' Or she would have done, if she spoke in pithy one-liners or knew anything about games. Still, her invented words ring especially true

Review: Lollipop 3: Eggs of Doom

Review: Lollipop 3: Eggs of Doom:
Eggs mean different things to different people. In The Neverending Story by Michael Ende, the Childlike Empress declares that all eggs hold the potential for new life. To your punk cousin, they hold the potential for messing up a

Review: Gamebook Adventures 9: Sultans of Rema

Review: Gamebook Adventures 9: Sultans of Rema:
Sultans of Rema flies by at a remarkable pace. It's a Gamebook on the edge, throwing in twists and turns almost every time you digitally flip a page. Where Tin Man's Fighting Fantasy books have you reaching for a digital dice more

Betawatch: January 25 - 31, 2014

Betawatch: January 25 - 31, 2014:
Filed under: Betas, MMO Industry, News Items, Betawatch, Miscellaneous Development on TUG is continuing, but it's shifting gears a little bit. What was originally going to be called the game's first beta phase is now still an alpha

'Marvel Run Jump Smash' Review - Hulk-Smashing Good Fun

'Marvel Run Jump Smash' Review - Hulk-Smashing Good Fun:
Never has a video-game title more aptly summed up its experience than Marvel Run Jump Smash , and it's as fun as it you would assume. Marvel RJS puts you in the spandex-clad bodies of iconic heroes that came blasting out of

'Dawn Of The Plow' Review - This Game Is Full Of Winter

'Dawn Of The Plow' Review - This Game Is Full Of Winter:
As someone who grew up in the rather harsh winters of Northwest Ontario, Canada, I know all too well about snow and what a genuine pain in the butt it is, both to remove it and to keep it off. Waking up early school mornings to

'Luxuria Superbia' Review - A Game of Give and Take

'Luxuria Superbia' Review - A Game of Give and Take:
Sure, you love your iOS device. All that inviting metal and glass—who wouldn’t? But do you love your device? Do you want to make it happy? If you do, consider Luxuria Superbia , the first iOS release by Tale of Tales. While

'TripTrap' Review - Defy Gravity With The Greatest Of Cheese

'TripTrap' Review - Defy Gravity With The Greatest Of Cheese:
The tactic of flipping the gravity on the player, whether by giving the player the power to do so voluntarily or forcing it on them as a stage hazard, has been around for a pretty long time in video games. I'm not sure if it was the first, but

'Bloodstroke' Review - Paint the Town Red. Lots of Red.

'Bloodstroke' Review - Paint the Town Red. Lots of Red.:
Broken Arrow. Face/Off. And the bluntly titled Bullet in the Head. When you think of John Woo, you think of firefights and blood. Lots and lots of firefights and blood. You may also think of explosions coming from the most unlikely of

'Man at Arms TD' Review - Success Is In The Cards

'Man at Arms TD' Review - Success Is In The Cards:
We’ve seen somewhat of a resurgence in decent tower defense titles lately. But as Eli recently mentioned in our podcast, it can be tough to stand out in the crowded genre. Man at Arms TD by Inert Soap does a great job of making

'Glyph Quest' Review - Matches Make Fire In This Fun Puzzler

'Glyph Quest' Review - Matches Make Fire In This Fun Puzzler:
One of the most unexpectedly wonderful genre mash-ups has proven to be the puzzle-RPG. On the surface, they seem like peanut butter and cheese, with puzzle games of the past emphasizing a play experience where a full