Sega has announced that arcade classic Crazy Taxi is coming to iOS devices this month. It hasn’t given us a whole lot of information on the game — none at all, in fact — but it’s expected that the title will be a complete port of the original Dreamcast hit, with the original (and awesome!) Offspring soundtrack.
I remember playing MechWarrior 2 in the mid 90s. Man, what thrill — I spent days piloting horribly destructive giant robots around a 3D battlefield, firing rockets, blasting anything that moved with terawatt lasers.
Of course, that was on my old 386 PC clone, back when I still followed the dark side of the force and hadn’t jumped onto a Mac yet. But the MechWarrior / BattleTech series of games has been around on Apple machines since day one — so I’m pretty jazzed to finally see the a MechWarrior game arrive for the iPad in the form of MechWarrior: Tactical Command.
Gaming is going to be a new experience on the iPhone 5 with that larger 4-inch display, which means it’s going to take a little while for your favorite games to be optimized. Fortunately, there are some incredible titles already available. We’ve put together a list of the best ones, so that you can start enjoying your iPhone’s 4-inch display the day you unwrap it.
Ticket to Ride Pocket is one of those games whose very existence seems absurd. It’s an iPhone version of an iPad version of an online game that originally gained popularity — massive popularity — as a board game. But the talented people over at Days of Wonder (who publish the entire series) managed, inconceivably, to make a triumph of TTR Pocket through careful execution and attention to detail. And today is your last chance to own it for free, before it heads back up to $2 at midnight.
Kicking off this week’s must-have games roundup is Wild Blood, Gameloft’s first game to be built upon the impressive Unreal Engine, which lets you live out the story of Sir Lancelot. There’s also a new title from Marvel, the awesome sequel to VS. Racing, and Square Enix’s latest Final Fantasy title.
Real-time strategy never looked this good.
Today, Eufloria was released in an iPhone-only version for three dollars, while the five dollar universal version has been updated to include support for the iPhone 4S, Retina graphics for the new iPad, iCloud saves, and game session saving (for when you hit the Home button by accident).
Gameloft’s Order & Chaos Online is widely believed to be the closest alternative to Warcraft on iOS. It’s a popular game, and there’s no doubt it would be even more popular if it weren’t for the monthly fee Gameloft charged to pay it. Thankfully, in the game’s latest update, Gameloft has finally scrapped the subscription fee and made the role-playing game free to play online after purchasing.
Kicking off this week’s must-have games roundup is a new game from Zynga that will blow your mind. It’s called Horn, and it’s a third-person action game with incredible, console-quality visuals and great gameplay. That’s accompanied by Mad Skills BMX from the creators of Mad Skills Motocross; Jack Lumber, the first game from the SEGA Alliance; Cafeteria Nipponica from Kairosoft, and more. Look out for the awesome new platformer from Ravenous Games, creators of the award-winning League of Evil.
Heading up this week’s must-have iOS games roundup is a brand new Ghostbusters game that promises to be the best augmented reality game in the App Store. We also have a great online strategy game in the form of Tiny War XD, Activision’s legendary Pitfall!, and more.
Turborilla, the developers behind Mad Skills Motocross — of the best side-scrolling racing games on iOS — has released its first teaser trailer for Mad Skills BMX, which is coming to iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad on August 16. The clip shows off the upcoming title’s gameplay, and offers a hilarious little cartoon alongside it.
Apple’s iOS devices have had a huge impact on gaming, and more and more people are choosing to get their kicks on the iPhone and iPad rather than dedicated handheld consoles from the likes of Sony and Nintendo. By the end of this year, analysts expect Game Center accounts on iOS to surpass the 200 million milestone, making it the world’s biggest gaming platform.
Total Recall, the official game for the upcoming science-fiction thriller, is now available on Android and iOS. It’s a fast-paced first-person shooter that follow’s the movie’s storyline across eight missions, promising a wide variety of weapons for “non-stop, adrenaline-pumping action.”
On Monday, Sony Computer Entertainment acquired cloud-based game streaming company Gaikai for around $380 million in a move that is sure to excite fans of the company’s PlayStation devices. If the Japanese company uses its purchase to create a compelling alternative to OnLive, it has the potential to gain a huge advantage over rivals like Microsoft and Nintendo.
The same service could provide an even bigger advantage to Apple. In fact, there are a number of reasons why the Cupertino company should use its ever-increasing cash pile to make Mac and iOS gaming even greater.
We got all excited about The Amazing Spider-Man earlier this month when developers Gameloft released the title’s first teaser trailer. And today the official game of the 2012 blockbuster has hit the App Store. As you’d expect from Gameloft, the 3D visuals look terrific, and they promise to “make Spider-Man more realistic than ever before!”
Dungeons of Dredmor is one of my favorite games on Steam, a funny, impish, brutal yet utterly modern entry in my favorite gaming genre, rogue-likes. It only costs $1.50 right now, which rounding down for inflation is essentially free, so you might as well buy it. It’s a great introduction to that most sadistic genre of games, the rogue-like.
But Dungeons of Dredmor’s low, low price isn’t why we’re posting. Nor is the fact that it just got a free new expansion pack full of great new monsters and skills.
No, the reason we’re posting is because of that expansion pack’s new system requirements, which will elicit either a chuckle or an outraged roar from Apple fans.
My kids fell in love with Toothless, the lovable fire-breathing dragon, after watching DreamWorks’s hit 2010 animation How To Train Your Dragon. Today he makes his debut on iOS in DreamWorks Dragons: TapDragonTap, a colorful physics-based puzzle game from development studio PikPok.
If you’re a fan of first-person shooters and gaming on your mobile devices, then you should be looking forward to N.O.V.A. 3 from Gameloft. The company’s first N.O.V.A. titles have been two of the best smartphone shooters available — particularly on iOS — and the latest promises to be even better.
In its latest trailer, Gameloft teases N.O.V.A. 3’s incredible multiplayer mode, and damn… it looks good.
Mass Effect 3 lands on consoles in the U.S. today, but if you prefer to do your gaming on an iOS device, then you should definitely dedicate your evening to Mass Effect Infiltrator. From the makers of Dead Space for iOS, this title is an all-new and original Mass Effect storyline made exclusively for mobile devices, and it promises to “boost your Galactic Readiness Rating within Mass Effect 3.”
In case you hadn’t already noticed, Apple announced OS X Mountain Lion earlier today, its latest operating system for the Mac which will make its public debut this summer. Mountain Lion will further increase the iOS influence on Apple’s desktop operating system, with the arrival of features like Notification Center, Messages, and Notes.
But for gamers, undoubtedly the most exiting new feature will be Game Center’s arrival on the Mac. With promises of cross-platform multiplayer and the ability to rack up achievements on both your Mac and iOS devices, this is set to create a new bridge between mobile and desktop gaming that will revolutionize cross-platform play.
Zynga’s latest iOS game Dream Heights received a lot of stick when it was first announced, and there’s no denying that it was all deserved. After all, it is a blatant clone of Tiny Tower, the App Store’s best game of 2011, from a small team of independent developers called NimbleBit.
The title is now available to download from the U.S. App Store, and according to the reviews it’s already received, Zynga employees love it.
Isn’t it frustrating when you’re playing a game on your iPad and your hands keep spoiling the view? That’s the problem with virtual controls on touchscreen devices, but there is a way around this.
Joypad allows you to control a selection of iPad games using your iPhone, so you can enjoy your favorite titles without your hands blocking the view. It features a selection of control pad layouts that are individually tailored to certain games, and you can customize things like the touch radius for each button.
Here’s how to get started with Joypad.
Pixelbit’s Reckless Racing quickly became a hit when it first came to iOS back in October 2010, so it’s no wonder the company has been hard at work on a sequel. Fans of the top-down arcade racer will be pleased to know that Reckless Racing 2 is on its way, and it’ll hit the App Store next week.
I cried like a kindergartener on the first day of school when I watched Water For Elephants. Sure, while I was really sad about the elephant, most of my tears were spilled for Robert Pattinson because he’s so stinking dreamy. Even so, the film opened my eyes to the plight of the big top pachyderm. Compared to me and Robert Pattinson, PETA is about a year late to the scene, but they’ve recently released a new iOS game that gives tortured circus elephants the last laugh while also raising awareness of animal cruelties by raining down horror on humans. Sounds like fun, huh?
If, like me, you’re yearning for a physical controller that works well with iOS devices and games, then you’ll be pleased to hear Gametel’s wireless gamepad for smartphone and tablets now supports the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. The device connects via Bluetooth to devices running iOS 4.0 or later, and supports hundreds of arcade titles from the iCade suite, in addition to other selected iOS games like No Gravity and Super Crossfire HD.
AirPlay has been around for well over a year now, but the range of AirPlay compatible accessories available is still pretty slim. However, that could be about to change.
Apple is reportedly planning to introduce Bluetooth support to AirPlay, which would significantly extend the range of accessories currently compatible with the feature. The company will also improve iOS connectivity for third-party accessories.
