Games

The real impact of Apple’s iOS 7 controller support

Before I started blogging about Apple, I used to work on a number of different gaming websites back in the late 90's and early 2000's. The E3 gaming conference was one the highlights of my year, and I regularly ventured out to Los Angeles to cover all of the new releases that were revealed at this touchstone of an event. I even made sure to fly out to Tokyo to cover the Tokyo Games Show before it turned into the shell of its former self that it is today.

Those days were the heydays of gaming coverage. Websites (they weren't called blogs back then) were thriving, and even print mags were still relatively popular. Publishers used to spend an absurd amount of cash throwing parties and constructing huge booths for the major conferences throughout the year. Open bars were the norm, not the exception. And booth babes. I'll just leave that one alone.

Of course, a lot of that has now changed. Some things for the better, and a lot of things for the worse, depending on who you ask. Gone are the days of the massively popular trade events that we used to flock to every year. Yes, they still exist, but they're nothing like the used to be back in the day. During this transition period, we've seen gaming staples like Nintendo struggle to remain relevant, while Apple, inadvertent as it may be, rises to dominance.

New Logitech iOS 7 controller leaked

iOS 7 includes some pretty exciting new provisions to cater to gamers, including new gamepad support that developers can take advantage of. A number of developers have already baked gamepad support into their updated app releases.

Although an officially certified iOS 7 compatible controller has yet to hit the market, many hardware manufactures have expressed interest in the feature. Logitech is one of the hardware developers interested in iOS 7 gamepad support, and its new gamepad was just leaked by popular mobile phone website evleaks.

New GBA emulator found in the App Store, get it while you can

At any given time, there are dozens (if not hundreds) of apps floating around the App Store with built-in ROM emulators. These apps are disguised as calculators and sketch pads, but feature the hidden ability to play old-school games.

And everyone once in a while we find out the name of one of these apps, and how to activate its secret feature, before Apple has the chance to pull it. And that just so happens to be the case with this newly-posted app called Earthquake 7...

Chainsaw Warrior review: save the world from the Darkness

In 1987, Games Workshop launched a single-player zombie fighting board game that made it possible for lonely souls to play a full game all by themselves. I know what that is like. It’s not as sad as it sounds.

Recently, Auroch Digital re-imagined Chainsaw Warrior for iOS. Now, you don’t even have to read the complicated directions in order to kill zombies, destroy the Darkness, and save New York…

Pocket Trains rolls in to become App Store Editors’ Choice

Fans of NimbleBits will be happy to know that a new simulation game has been added to their portfolio, alongside the likes of Pocket Planes and Tiny Tower.

Pocket Trains is an 8-bit simulation game that has you toting goods across Europe, and eventually the world, with your miniature railroad empire. Soon after its launch, this game has grown in popularity so fast that Apple has given it the coveted Editor's Choice award in the App Store for this week…

Cut the Rope 2 coming this holiday season

Cut the Rope series won over fans of physic-based puzzlers with its amusing concept of feeding candy to a little green monster named Om Nom while collecting stars. Who knew, right? Last month, Apple featured Cut the Rope as its Free App of the Week (it's never been free on the App Store before).

Today, Russia-based developer ZeptoLab confirmed that a sequel is coming this holiday season.

Cut the Rope 2 will bring new amusing characters, interactive backgrounds and physics-based challenges while retaining the familiar candy-dropping gameplay mechanics. I've include more information after the break...

EA denies reports that Apple paid to delay Android version of Plants vs. Zombies 2

Electronic Arts-owned studio PopCap released the highly anticipated sequel to its popular Plants vs. Zombies game on the 16th of August, and it only took them two weeks to rack up a staggering 25 million downloads.

As you can imagine, this played out very well for Apple, as the game has been and still is an iOS-exclusive. And according to a report, the Cupertino company paid EA a 'truckload' of money to make that happen...

Tower of Fortune 2 brings slot machine RPGs to iOS

What is the one thing you would love to see added to a typical role-playing adventure game? I already know what you are going to say. Gambling, right?

Tower of Fortune 2 (ToF2) makes your dreams come true in this sequel of adventure gaming based on a roll of the dice, or actually a pull of the slot machine arm…

‘Bastion’ and ‘Walking Dead’ games updated with iOS 7 controller support

It seems like the gaming scene on iOS is about to explode—even more than it already has. As most of you know, iOS 7 brings about controller support for games, and a few high-profile names have already signed on.

Last week, both Logitech and ClamCase began teasing their respective upcoming controllers for iOS 7. And yesterday, two big-named games from Telltale and Warner Bros studios were updated with support for them...

Joust Legend review: enter the King’s Tourney to prove your mettle

I’ve been reading Game of Thrones for a couple of weeks now. I feel like I’m completely immersed in the medieval world right now. I loved reading about the action that took place in the Hand’s Tourney. It made me want to go to Medieval Times.

Joust Legend is a skill-based game that will take you back a few hundred years and make you feel like you are in the arena with fellow knights in a friendly competition for wealth, power, and honor…

Valve takes aim at your living room with SteamOS

Games developer Valve has built a nice little business around Steam, a digital distribution platform for Mac/PC titles, basically an App Store for cross-platform desktop games. Now, for some time we've been hearing whispers of a Valve-branded gaming hardware, especially with its CEO seeing Apple more of a threat compared to the console guys.

According to Valve, hardware makers can now build devices based on SteamOS, Valve's new and free Linux-based operating system for the living room gaming PCs (Android, much?). Of course, SteamOS comes with both the Steam distribution platform built-in and a whole new interface specifically designed with big screens in mind. Should Apple be worried?

Top 10 indie games for iPhone and iPad

Sure, companies like Gameloft, Activision, and Warner Brothers are launching amazing-looking hugely popular games in iOS and they are impressive, to say the least. But the big-timers have a lot more manpower and a lot more money to invest in perfecting their wares before they make it into the hands of gamers.

Indie game developers put in a lot of work to make their dreams a reality. Oftentimes, an independent game company consists of one or two people who hold down a full-time day job while spending their evening hours working in the back room as their kids are growing up around them.

We’ve got a list of indie games that we think are just as worthy of your attention as the ones that big time game companies have launched…