Nintendo has always been adamant it wouldn’t develop games for smartphones and tablets, but it has finally given in.
Mario, Zelda, Donkey Kong and other popular franchises could soon be coming to Android and iOS after the Japanese company confirmed it will be developing new titles for smart devices with the help of game developer DeNA.
Super Battle Tactics is a free-to-play iOS game published by DeNA that has you using virtual tanks to face off against other players or AI opponents; you’ll choose which upgrades and tactics you’ll use your available action points on to outwit and destroy the enemy tanks.
Sometimes, though, you just want a little help in climbing the leaderboards, ranking up as fast as you can. To that end, we went straight to the publisher for these exclusive tips and tricks to help you take your game to the next level. Check them out below, and feel free to add in your own.
Godus, the much-anticipated video game from god-game specialist designer Peter Molyneux and 22cans, is available now for iOS devices. Godus will let you play as your own private deity, letting you create and nurture a little island paradise on your iPad, iPod touch, or iPhone.
You’ll get to carve out landscapes with the touch of a finger, placing mountains, rivers, and flora wherever you like. You’ll also have the care and feeding of devout, worshipful followers of your very own.
“In Godus your hands will sculpt the mountains and carve rivers,” said Molyneux in a statement. “Your touch will create pastures for your people. You will be loved by tiny worshipers that need your help to grow and your direction to progress through the ages of civilization.”
LOS ANGELES — Free-to-play games don’t enjoy the same cache as games that cost money right out of the gate. Sure, they’re at the top of the “making money” charts, as gamers download freebies by the bucketful (and apparently purchase loads of virtual stuff from them), but ask any gamer what they think of them and they’ll typically give you a blank, slightly annoyed stare.
So I honestly didn’t hold out much hope that I’d see anything super-interesting at an Electronic Entertainment Expo luncheon sponsored by free-to-play mobile game maker DeNA last week.
However, the developer showed off a couple of pretty damn good games at the event. We saw the recently released Transformers tie-in game and several others, including Peter Molyneux’s latest effort, Godus. But what really stuck out for me were Royal Defenders and WARP.
Spicy Horse Games (Akaneiro), the studio spearheaded by American McGee (American McGee’s Alice), and DeNA (owner of mobile games studios Mobage and ngmoco;), announced today that iOS game The Gate is now ready in the App Store for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.
Originally titled Hell Invaders, The Gate is an innovative mashup of a game that brings a digital collectible card game together with the fun of a real-time strategy (RTS) game into one beautiful package.
Dungeons and Dragons, the venerable tabletop role playing game that arguably started it all, is changing. Currently owned and operated by Wizards of the Coast, the entire game universe is transitioning from the 4th Edition rule sets to what they’re calling D&D Next, a holy grail of streamlined gameplay rules and mechanics that the publisher hopes to spread to all current media, including video games.
It’s with that bit of background that DeNA/Mobage announced the first teaser trailer for a mobile version of Dungeons and Dragons called “Arena of War.” Check it out.
Let’s get this out of the way right up front, ok? Scattered Entertainment’s The Drowning is a drop-dead gorgeous free-to-play game with a well-designed control scheme that (almost) makes playing a first-person shooter (FPS) worthwhile on a touchscreen. This is, in fact, an important release for those three facts alone.
Ultimately, though, the game suffers as a direct result, I think, of these very same features. I went into the game expecting to find at least some console-level depth in storyline, level design, and the like. What I found, however, was much less interesting.
Tuesday’s news that San Francisco-based iPhone game creator ngmoco had been snatched up for a rumored $400 million by Japanese game developer DeNA raised eyebrows for the sheer massiveness of the sum involved, but Stuart Dredge of Mobile Entertainment has broken down the numbers.
As it turns out, the rumors were true, to a point: The actual payment for ngmoco is $303 million, a payment made up of $146 million in common stocks, $27 million in DeNA investments and $128 million cash, which is actually a third of DeNA’s total savings. They’re betting hard on this being a good deal.
Additionally, a $100 million bonus will be paid to ngmoco if they keep their sales numbers up to a certain standard, and as part of his analysis, Dredge has given us a look at the App Store numbers of one of the biggest app publishers out there: ngmoco has seen 50 million downloads on the App Store and has twelve million users on their Plus+ gaming network across 119 games.
Ultimately, though, is this a smart acquisition? DeNA seems to think so based on the amount they were willing to spend, but ngmoco only brought in $3.16MM last year against a $10.89MM loss, and their 2008 numbers were even worse. Either ngmoco’s doing gangbusters this year or DeNA’s gambling hard on this deal.
