Plants vs. Zombies, a tower defense game originally published by PopCap Games for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X, hit Apple's iOS platform in February 2010. The title has some ardent following and though I've never been a huge fan, it's true that the iPhone and iPad versions helped the game take off in a big way. PopCap announced today that a sequel, unimaginatively titled Plants vs. Zombies 2, will be launching early this summer...
Growing up in the 90's provided the extreme advantage of spending late nights in front of Mech Warrior 2. Aside from King's Quest V, Mech Warrior 2 is one of the few PC games I ever completed from start to finish. When we were contacted by Personae Studios to review their newest build of MechWarrior: Tactical Command, I had no hesitations to agree. Moving from a FPS console and desktop option to RTS, the iOS Mech Warrior experience will be appreciated by MechWarrior fans, old and new...
If you're fond of complex strategy games that go past the Command & Conquer series (which, in my personal opinion, doesn't look and play well on iPhones and iPads), you should jump with joy on news that developer Firaxis and publisher 2K Games are porting XCOM: Enemy Unknown, the popular turn-based tactical role-playing strategy, to Apple's platform.
The game has some pretty ardent following and a port for iOS was officially announced at a PAX East panel on this past Saturday. What's in it for you and why should you care? Go past the fold more some more tidbits...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdXl3QtutQI
Blizzard, the maker of the enormously popular Warcraft RPG series, today announced it will be bringing out a new iPad game set in the Warcraft universe. And, in following recent trends, Blizzard has made a welcomed decision to make Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft free to play. It's a strategy card game akin to Magic: The Gathering, one which sports "quick and lively duels that evoke the spirit of a friendly match played beside a crackling tavern fire." I've included more details right past the fold...
Good news Final Fantasy fans, a new report is out this afternoon claiming that the highly anticipated iOS port of the popular RPG's fifth episode will be happening in the not-so-distant future.
Famitsu is reporting that Final Fantasy V is set to hit iOS and Android devices in Japan by the end of the month, with launches in the United States and elsewhere expected shortly after...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ZJc2W8SBE5U
Duke Nukem II side-scroller, which celebrates its 20th anniversary, is coming to Apple's iPhone and iPad in April, Interceptor Entertainment and 3D Realms announced. The universal binary will be priced at $1.99 and include all of the 32 level from the original levels, enhanced with multitouch controls, a new soundtrack, refreshed graphics, online leaderboards and more. Above is the launch trailer above for a look at Duke Nukem 2 iOS in action and I've included a few more details right after the break...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIsTO4bIZa4&hd=1
A few days ago, we told you about PPSSPP — the first PSP emulator for iOS. While the initial screens and video looked promising, at the time, the frame-rate was really low due to some technical issues. Now, it appears that those technical issues — the lack of JIT compiling — have been ironed out, as new video has surfaced showing PPSSPP playing Wipeout pure at a buttery smooth 60 frames per second.
Check out the video above, which showcases Wipeout Pure running at a silky smooth rate. Again, thanks to our friends for the heads up. Again, be sure to visit the official PPSSPP website for more information.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdF23AbGPtc
As promised, Angry Birds maker Rovio on Thursday launched its brand new game for iOS and Android devices, The Croods. Basically a movie tie-in based on The Croods, the upcoming CG animated feature film by DreamWorks Animation, the game follows the movie storyline and features nice looking landscapes, a bunch of creatures and puzzles that will put your gray matter to the test...
I had the privilege of testing out Matthias Ringwald and Roger Wetzel's excellent update to one of my favorite jailbreak apps. The app is called Blutrol, and it allows you to use external Bluetooth controllers like the iCade, and now, Sony's Dual Shock 3 (Sixaxis) controller, to control iOS games.
Their decision to add Sixaxis support to iOS is a very big step in the right direction for gamers who use Blutrol. Version 3.0 brings support for it, analog controls, and the 3rd party Duo Gamer controller as well.
In the past, I only used Blutrol when using my iCade arcade cabinet. While that's nice, there's something to be said about using a handheld controller, especially when it's a legendary controller like Sony's. As you can probably imagine, the features included with Blutrol 3.0 open up a whole new playing field when it comes to iOS gaming on jailbroken devices. Check inside for a configuration guide and video walkthrough showcasing my setup.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELqzUY-SZEA
PPSSPP is a PSP emulator that looks quite amazing. Yes, the framerate is slow, but that's to be expected for an early build of a hardware emulator. The fact that this is running a PSP game (Wipeout Pure), and it looks almost exactly like it does on the PSP, is pretty incredible.
According to the audible YouTube commentary, the emulator is running so slow, because it's using interpreter instead of Just In Time compilation (JIT), which would increase performance significantly. If the developer, Henrik Rydgard of Dolphin Emulator fame, and the rest of the development community can solve this issue, then we'll have a pretty solid PSP emulator on our hands.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_7JjB0At_s
As we told you, Finland-based Angry Birds maker Rovio continues to milk its franchise with the announcement of an animated series titled Angry Birds Toons. It's premiering on the weekend of March 16 and 17 and today Rovio revealed that it will be airing the episodes directly via its Angry Birds apps, in addition to other more traditional distribution channels.
That's a clever move considering more than 1.7 billion Angry Birds downloads across devices and operating systems. If they offered a standalone Toons app, I don't think many people would download it. The first episode titled 'Chuck Time' will be airing in the Angry Birds Toons channel this Sunday, March 17, with a trailer for it included right after the break...
It appears as if Angry Birds maker Rovio is changing strategy lately and switching away from paid downloads to free ones. Having briefly experimented with a massive 99-cent sale of its iPad titles last month and adding free, ad-supported downloads to its puzzler Amazing Alex, today the company has made the game that started it all - the original Angry Birds - free for the first time ever on Apple's mobile platform. Unlike free Angry Birds downloads on Android, this one doesn't come with in-app advertisements and Rovio also has added 15 new levels to keep you going...