Games - page 60

About a month ago, right after the Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas, Disney held a small, invitation-only press conference in Los Angeles where they revealed their ambitious, stunning new cross-platform Infinity game universe. They invited us, of course. Only problem was, Infinity had practically nothing to do with anything Apple.

After all the fanfare, when the event was almost over, I pulled aside one of the Disney folks and asked why the heck they’d invited me; turns out iOS is why I was there, and that they had a big mobile-related announcement coming — and this picture just might be its enigmatic messenger.

With Nintendo’s Wii U and Microsoft’s Smart Glass initiatives, it’s not surprising that Sony would find their own second screen solution, this one via a PlayStation app, planned for both iOS and Android devices. The PlayStation App will allow gamers playing Sony’s newly announced PlayStation 4 gaming console to look at in-game maps, buy games from the PlayStation Store while on the go, or watch other gamers play on their own PS4s.

With only five days left in their Kickstarter project, the team behind Vendetta Online would like to get your support. This cross platform massively multiplayer online space game is currently available for the Mac and other platforms, but really wants to get onto the iPad.

The Kickstarter project is looking to raise $100,000 dramatically expand the existing game and create it on the iPad, but they currently only have $38,000 pledged toward that goal.

We’ve got lots of love for the LEGO series games. They often have an uncanny ability to capture the feel of their parent titles — in a way that’s cuter than a basketful of kittens, but much more fun. The Lord of the Rings is the latest title to join the collection, and it’s coming to OS X next week.

The Mac Game Store knows your love for Mac games. So much so, that it’s putting a ton of them up for sale this weekend, all in the name of Valentine’s Day. While we’re not above taking a crack or two at the commercialism of V-Day, we’re not about to look this gift (horse) in the mouth, either.

It looks like there are over 150 games on sale in the Mac Game Store app, the portal for MGS that’s also available on the Mac Game Store website. Most of the games seem to be going for 30 to 50 percent off, which isn’t a bad discount, really.

Some of the standout titles include Amnesia: The Dark Descent for half off at $10, the same price and discount as Assassin’s Creed 2. Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood can be had for $15, while the deluxe edition with all the DLC trimmings will run you a tidy $20, half off the regular price. Batman Arkham Asylum is similarly $15, and Call of Duty: Black Ops is now going for a wallet-friendly $25. Driver: San Francisco is a healthy 67% off at ten bucks, and Duke Nukem Forever has the honor of being the full 75% off, coming in at $5.

All in all, with so many Mac games to choose from, you’re bound to find something you like, or something you’re willing to toss a few bucks at. The sale lasts through Sunday, so head on over to the Mac Game Store and scroll through them all.

11Bit Studios has released a couple of fantastic iOS games, Anomaly Warzone Earth and the follow up Anomaly Korea. Now, however, they’re setting their sights on the desktop gaming scene with a new secret game that they won’t even tell you about. Oh, and they’ll let you pre-order it, without even knowing what it is or what it’s about, for $7.49, which is half off the expected $14.99 they’ll release the game for on Steam sometime between March and June.

Intrigued? The developers hope you are, as they’ll only make this offer until February 28th, when they actually announce the game. If you pick it up now for $7.49, you’ll get a Steam code for the game when it comes out sometime in Q2 of this year, as well as a code for the multiplayer beta sometime near the end of March.

That’s right — along with the news today of the Hammerlock DLC release, Aspyr announced that Borderlands 2 has gone cross-platform, meaning you can now play the game online with those who own the PC version of the game.

This is a pretty big deal, since there simply aren’t nearly as many Mac players as there are on Windows machines, and forming parties with other players adds a huge chunk of fun to the hybrid RPG/first-person shooter.

The Hunger Games Adventures, first on Facebook and now on iOS as well, has been rebuilt from the ground up to better work on the iPhone and the iPad, adding in iPhone and Retina support, new content from the 2nd novel and film, Catching Fire, and over 100 new quests to discover with Katniss, Peeta, and the other heroes of Panem.

If you’ve got a hankering for a Missile-Command-styled arcade action game on your iPhone or iPad without engaging any emulation or lame vector graphics, Ballpit Monster’s Frog Orbs might be the game for you. Plus, if you’re in the mood for some holiday-themed fun, you can grab a special Valentine’s heart hat for your frog, along with a staff shaped like, you guessed it, a heart.

Germany-based game studio, Fishlabs, today announced the development of Galaxy On Fire – Alliances, a continuation of the Galaxy On Fire brand, to be released in the third quarter of this year, 2013. The new game is meant as a spin-off from the premium Galaxy on Fire, Galaxy On Fire 2 and their expansion packs, and will use a free-to-play model that includes massively multiplayer capabilities like alliances, player-vs-player combat, and alliances.

Borderlands 2 is unequivocally the best first-person shooter available for the Mac. Right now it’s half off at the Steam store, making it $30, meaning you can snag a deal better even than the Mac App Store price of $45.

like its predecessor, Borderlands 2 combines fast-paced combat with role playing concepts like a skill tree, a witty, well-written storyline and a staggering degree of weapon selection. The Steam version also includes multiplayer, something the Mac App Store version doesn’t currently support. Better hurry if you want to catch the deal, though — Borderlands 2 is back at full price tomorrow morning.

Hey! Hi there! Grab a chair, pull it closer to the fire. It’s cold outside isn’t it? And you look like you could do with thawing out.

Yes, it’s a lovely fire, isn’t it? Feel free to add some more fuel – anything you like. Your chair, for example. Or your aunt. Or yourself. This fire burns anything. ANYTHING.

I grew up on a farm, and it wasn’t exactly a riot — so I’m surprised anyone would want to simulate farm-life for fun. Then again, we never had a 10-ton Lamborghini tractor. And if we did, I probably wouldn’t have been allowed near it.

Anyway, that’s exactly the sort of thing you can tool around in with Farming Simulator 2013, the latest in a long line of Farming Simulator titles, which just hit the Mac App Store today.

We told you about Akaneiro: Demon Hunters, the new hack-n-loot game from American McGee’s Spicy Horse Studios that got greenlit on Steam just a while back. The game has now hit its Kickstarter goal of 200,000, so the team has posted some news about its plans for the game in the coming months.

If you’ve ever played with a wooden puzzle in your local educational toys store, you’ll instantly understand Interlocked, a new iOS game from developer Armor Games (Kingdom Rush). It’s a fun little universal puzzle app for the low price of $0.99, and it should keep you gently entertained for some time to come.

The concept here is to rotate each group of interlocked wooden pieces, sliding each piece out in the right order to fully disassemble the puzzle. Once you’ve moved all the pieces off and away from each other, you get a new puzzle to rotate and solve. It’s very zen, and the whole thing reminds me a bit of Zen Bound, another rotating puzzle game with wooden sculptures and a gentle vibe.

When Minecraft Pocket Edition first launched, it wasn’t anything like the desktop (and now Xbox 360) versions; it was a neutered stub of a game. But with each update, the PE version gets more and more awesome as it adds the cool features of its big brothers. This update brings wearable armor, craftable signs, new renewable resources in the form of baby livestock and makes gravel and sand follow the rules of gravity.

Unfortunately, there might also be a bug that destroys your entire world.

I’ve got to be honest, I’ve never really gotten into racing games. I do enjoy a bit of Burnout Paradise action now and then, but for the most part, I tend to avoid games that are all about racing. Unless they have karts and cute little mascots, of course. And iOS racing games? They’re ok, but not really my go-to genre.

Today, though, the adrenaline-fueled, high octane trailer for Table Top Racing has me wondering if maybe I should give this one a try.

Playrise Digital announced the release today of it’s first iOS title right on the iTunes App Store, and it just might make you a fan of racing games again, too.

Now, when we say Old School, we’re talking about the 2003 movie starring Luke Wilson, Vince Vaughn, and Will Ferrell as three old dudes trying to recapture the joy of their frat-bound youth, to hilarious (and naked) effect. Hard to believe it’s been ten years since the movie came out, really. We’re also talking about a new tower defense game, also called Old School.

As the tenth anniversary of the film’s release is next month, it’s fitting that Canadian developer, Big Blue Bubble, should bring Old School to the iOS platform in collaboration with the film’s distributor, Paramount Pictures.

Sweden-based DICE game studio, owned by EA and known for high-end console and PC games like Mirror’s Edge and BattleField, recently posted a job advertisement for a Mac OS X Engineer to work on the company’s Frostbite gaming engine.

Here’s hoping that as many EA games as use the Frostbite engine will come to Mac OS X in the coming years.

Did you sign the Change.org petition to get a Mac port of super-popular multiplayer online battle arena game (MOBA), League of Legends? Have you waited with bated breath since it was first announced, and then wept with frustration when it was cancelled? Have you downloaded the unofficial iLoL port and suffered through any beta glitches just to get you some League of Legends on your favorite computing platform?

Well, the wait is (almost) over, as developer Riot Games has finally admitted that it is indeed working on a Mac client, and it will be available within a month.

Back in 2011, an app called iMAME surfaced in the App Store that allowed you to run thousands of classic arcade titles by sideloading the games onto an iOS device. Apple has never really allowed emulators in the App Store, and iMAME was swiftly pulled.

Now another app has crept into the App Store that allows you to emulate old games. It likely won’t be in the App Store long, so get it while you can!

Artizens is raising money on Kickstarter right now, and to judge by the funding activity, it looks like the Kickstarter community is as excited about the potential of this upcoming game as I am, as the project has already gathered over half of its $30,000 goal with 23 days to go.

The game looks like a side-scrolling platform gam, with shades of Shadow of the Colossus, with giant creatures to overcome by co-operative teams of players, each of whom will be able to create their own characters and gear. The gear creation here is unique, with materials for the armor and weapons gathered from the defeated monsters, and the look and feel of the objects created by…drawing them.

Wow, talk about a stealth release. First released in 1998, Half-Life has never been available on OS X through Steam for Mac, even though every other Valve game — including Half-Life 2 and its episodic sequels — have. Sometime in the last few hours, though, Valve quietly released Half-Life for Mac on Steam… and still hasn’t apparently officially announced it.

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy was created. (OK, so it wasn’t that far away, but Wisconsin, apparently home at the time of developer Raven Software, is an alien world.) But now this classic first-person shooter is available at the Mac App Store — so you can experience how much fun your PC friends were having a decade ago.

The Cave is a brand new adventure game from legendary developer, Ron Gilbert (Monkey Island, Maniac Mansion) and award-winning Double Fine Productions (Psychonauts, Brütal Legend). Choose a team of three from an available seven differently-equipped and skilled adventurers to descend into the dark, mysterious, and promisingly twisted depths of The Cave, now out on Steam for Mac and PC for a gloriously affordable $14.99.