Critics have been saying for years that Nintendo should get into the mobile gaming business. It's not just that the company's hardware business is slipping, or that it's losing money, but mobile games happens to be a very hot space right now.
Case in point is this recent report from research firm Newzoo, which ranks public companies by game revenue. According to the firm's data, hit mobile title Candy Crush generated more money last quarter than all Nintendo titles combined...
I’m back in business again this weekend. Thanks to Joe for taking over for me last week. He did a bang up job of letting you guys know about great new apps and games to check out for the weekend while I was burning the midnight oil for 24 hours at Disneyland.
This week, if you are like me and plan on keeping your feet propped up on a chair while doing nothing important all weekend long, we’ve got a list of apps and games that are sure to preoccupy your time, mind, and energy…
I know what you might be thinking right now. Why would we be spotlighting such an ugly looking app, right? This is one of those occasions where looks don’t matter. It’s ability that counts, especially in the case of this volume control app.
1TapVolume is a utility app that makes it possible for you to turn your iPhone’s volume up to full, mute it, or adjust it to any preset level with a single tap, no jailbreak required. No more futzing about with those pesky volume buttons, especially if those buttons have stopped working on your iPhone…
Remember BBM? Good, because Canada-based BlackBerry has announced on its blog a new version of its free cross-platform messaging application coming.
The software is about to get a nice little update for iOS and Android aimed at removing some of the friction associated with signups and friending, new emoticons and more. Jump past the fold for the full breakdown...
Google's iOS client for its Play Music service has received a little update today bringing a few useful enhancement to make the experience better and less frictionless. For starters, the new Google Play Music version 1.2.1.1787 has removed a major annoyance: you can now finally edit playlists on your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad. Needless to say, any changes made to a playlist on one device instantly reflect on all your others.
And when sorting through your cloud music library, the app now makes it dead simple to filter only the tracks that you've downloaded to your device for offline listening. There are two other additions, explained after the break.
Google Play Music is free in the App Store...
Rdio has updated its free radio streaming app for the iPhone and iPad with some bug fixes and a brand new, albeit long overdue, feature: push notifications. That's right, you can now elect to received push alerts for various social activities going on in your stream.
The Internet radio app offers a catalog of 25 million songs and now you can get notified when someone shares a song with you, follows you on the service, subscribes to your playlist and more.
Push alerts settings are granular so you can choose to receive alerts for specific events and mute alerts for the others. For example, you could tell Rdio to send notifications to your device only for new songs shared with you...
So you've burned lots of midnight oil playing Dots, an insanely addictive game about connecting that the fine folks at Betaworks put out a year ago?
Fans who used to call in sick due to migraine headaches (caused by prolonged starring at a small iPhone screen) should get themselves ready to be creative again with a new round of excuses, evasions and lies for their bosses because the official Dots sequel has arrived.
It's called TwoDots, but don't let the unimaginatively titled game fool you - the Dots follow-up is bound to ruin your productivity, all over again. Free for the iPhone and iPad with (optional) In-App Purchases that you can do without, TwoDots brings an interesting twist to the already proven and wildly popular Dots formula...
Another day, another role-playing game (RPG) makes its way into Apple's App Store. If Mika Mobile's action-based RPG Battleheart Legacy did not impress you and you've been craving for a Japanese-styled RPG game, consider giving the eighth installment in the legendary Dragon Quest series a shot. Originally released for the PlayStation 2 in 2004, Dragon Quest VIII has since sold an astounding 4.9 million units worldwide.
And now, for the first time ever it's available on the iOS platform. The first title in the series to offer full 3D graphics, the iOS port of Dragon Quest VIII sports vast landscape filled with non-playable characters who wonder around big cities.
There are dungeons with hidden treasure, typical turn-based 3D battles, unique monsters, wizards, dragons, epic boss fights and more - in all, everything you'd expect from an RPG made in Japan.
Note that Dragon Quest VIII comes at a rather steep price of $19.99 for the universal iPhone and iPad app, but at least it won't ask for cash - there are no In-App Purchases whatsoever...
Sunrise Calendar, a free iOS calendar alternative, on Thursday rolled out to Android smartphones, now available free of charge in Google's Play Store. In addition, the software has been released on desktop, too, in the form of a web app available in the Chrome Web Store.
And ff you prefer Apple's Safari over Google's Chrome browser, Sunrise Calendar can now be enjoyed as a regular web app, too, though you'll lose Chrome-specific functionality such as the offline mode. With that in mind, the app is now available pretty much everywhere: across the iPhone, iPad and Android devices and on the web...
Chair Entertainment's Infinity Blade III is still on sale following the massive 'Blade Masters' update and now its predecessor, Infinity Blade II, has been slashed to zero bucks, courtesy of Apple's ongoing Free App of the Week promotion (last week's free app: Fun Golf GPS 3D).
This means that you can download this elegiac masterpiece free of charge until next Thursday, after which it will go back up to its normal asking price of seven bucks.
It's a universal app so you can play it on both your iPhone and iPad. Again, this game is downright awesome so you'll most certainly regret passing on this deal if you don't act pronto. The triple-A iOS exclusive has been built on Epic Games' Unreal engine and is the closest thing to a system-seller on Apple's platform.
Go grab Infinity Blade II in the App Store now!
Readdle has just launched an update to its popular PDF management app, PDF Expert 5 that includes support for iPhone and iPad in one. Now, you can read, edit, and share your PDF files on any device with one convenient app.
Version 5.1 also includes updates specifically designed for the smaller screen. Freehand draw, add figures and manage pages all on your iPhone. All this, and the update is free if you are already using PDF Expert 5 for the iPad…
After extensive beta testing, popular RSS client Reeder 2 has landed in the Mac App Store. This is the app's first update on the Mac since Google shutdown its Google Reader service last year, which essentially broke most RSS clients.
As with the iOS version, Reeder 2 for Mac adds support for a number of RSS services that have tried to fill the gap left by Google, such as Feedbin and Feedly. And it also now serves as a standalone RSS client, so no syncing is required...