infinity blade

Fortnite’s Infinity Blade is getting a big nerf

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Fortnite Infitnity Blade
The Infinity Blade won’t be quite as frustrating soon
Photo: Epic Games

Fortnite’s newest item, which has seen a lot of criticism since being added to Battle Royale this week, is getting a big nerf.

Developer Epic Games has confirmed it is taking away the ability to harvest resources and build structures while carrying the Infinity Blade. It promises to continue monitoring the Blade’s effectiveness after the changes and “make adjustments as necessary.”

Fortnite’s new Infinity Blade causes chaos and Epic must take note

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Fortnite Infitnity Blade
The Infinity Blade won’t be quite as frustrating soon
Photo: Epic Games

Infinity Blade is back just days after being pulled from the App Store — but not as you might have expected. It’s now a crazy sword that can be found inside Fortnite Battle Royale.

The limited-time item was added in yesterday’s patch — the first since the introduction of season seven — and it gives a single player a huge advantage in each game. Unsurprisingly, it’s already causing chaos in competitive play.

Epic Games kills groundbreaking Infinity Blade series for iOS

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Infinity Blade iOS
Infinity Blade was special in so many ways.
Photo: Epic Games

Epic Games has pulled its groundbreaking Infinity Blade series from the App Store without warning.

The studio, which is also responsible for hit battle royale game Fortnite, explains that it has “become increasingly difficult” to support the games — but it does hint that Infinity Blade will make a comeback in the future.

In Fear I Trust Combines The Room With Spooky Ghosts [Review]

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In Fear I Trust

I’m a sucker for two kinds of mobile games: ones featuring improbably cute characters (preferably animals because they are more cuddly) and those that promise to scare the crap out of me.

In Fear I Trust by Black Wing Foundation
Category: iOS Games
Works With: iPhone, iPad
Price: $2.99

In Fear I Trust, a new horror title by developer Black Wing Foundation, falls under the second category, but this first bit is just the first two chapters of a longer story, so we can’t really write off cuddly animals completely yet. But it’s the story of a person who has survived insane and amoral experiments at the hands of crazy Russian scientists, so I’m not going to hold my breath.

So far, it’s a dark and gloomy experience with more puzzles than frights, but it still has a lot going for it.

Play This, Not That: Better Alternatives To iOS Games That Fall Short

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Alpha Zen

Look: We know that not every iOS game is perfect. They all have their little quirks and irregularities and some are flat-out broken. But among those that are actually playable, some contain a core mechanic that stumbles somewhere along the way. And maybe it’s a cool idea, but it feels like it could just be executed a little better.

That’s where this series comes in.

We round up games that are not necessarily bad but just fall short in some area, and we suggest other titles that do it better — so your brand-new iDevice become a gaming machine that you’ll never want to put down.

Culprit 1: Alpha Zen
The Issue: Wasted potential.

Alpha Zen is a cool enough idea: It’s a puzzle game that has you fitting words together crossword-style to fit within a defined space. But that’s basically it.

It’s not so much that it’s too easy to put the words together. It’s that your payoff for doing so is really small. You got those words to fit into that box, and now what? I guess it’s on to the next set of words and the next oddly shaped box. It doesn’t give you much to admire or appreciate, and no sense of progress.

It’s not a bad game, though. It’s just short on satisfaction.

The Solution: The Room and The Room 2

The Room 2

These puzzle games, on the other hand, are about nothing but payoff.

The Room and its sequel have you solving mysterious puzzle boxes, examining clues, and always wondering what the hell is going on, and while you never quite figure it out (I don’t think; it’s actually kind of vague), it’s the process of getting there that’s so satisfying.

Some rooms start you off with a simple box, but after you’ve spent 20 minutes prodding it and examining its various secret compartments, maybe it ends up as a pyramid. Or it’s opened up to reveal intricate and beautiful mechanisms. Or a freaking laser comes out of it.

All of these things are awesome, and maybe it’s not fair to expect “words in a space” to live up to that, but I do know which one I’d rather spend an hour on.

Culprit 2: The Simpsons: Tapped Out
The Issue: Cynical and imagination-stifling

Simpsons Tapped Out

The Simpsons: Tapped Out presents players with an interesting scenario: What if the entire fictional town of Springfield were suddenly and unceremoniously wiped off the map? How would you rebuild it?

And then you start playing it and you find out: You’d rebuild it one building at a time and with massive delays in between. Tapped Out is one of those dreaded “freemium” games which attempts to extract money from players by refusing to let them play it. Restoring a building takes time, and players can run down the clock with an in-app purchase. Or they can wait or just delete the app like I did.

Even outside of that chicanery is the fact that what you’re really building is another person’s world. You might decide where the Kwik-E-Mart and the nuclear power plant go, but they’re still prefabricated pieces of an already existing world. So whatever your configuration, you’re building Springfield.

And if you’re going to start with a blank slate and build a world, why not make it your own?

The Solution: Minecraft: Pocket Edition

Minecraft-Pocket-Edition

Yeah, I mean, this is pretty obvious.

The biggest world-building game since Sim City is almost the exact opposite of Tapped Out‘s ready-made building blocks. It has blocks, sure, but what you build with them is up to you.

Minecraft in all its various incarnations is basically what I hoped the Lego tie-in games would be: “Here are some blocks, go make whatever you want. And also, look out for monsters.” Because you need monsters, you know.

While both games promote patience, the types they encourage are diametrically opposed. Tapped Out teaches the patience of refusal: “If you wait, you’ll get this.” Minecraft, on the other hand, gives you the patience of creation: “If you take your time and plan, you can make this world exactly how you want it to be.”

Which sounds better?

Culprit 3: The Infinity Blade series
The Issue: Repetitive and grind-crazed.

InfinityBlade3-7

The Infinity Blade series is a mobile juggernaut because of its slick production values, epic plot, and simple gameplay. It’s also incredibly boring, and the series’ overarching plot, which involves generations of a family attempting the same quest over and over and a battle against beings that can die repeatedly and still come back, actually serves as a metaphor for the experience of playing it.

Success in Infinity Blade requires proper gear, and getting proper gear demands that you fight the same battles several times with little variation. You can speed things up by exchanging real money for in-game currency, but that just makes you better equipped to do the same thing.

The combat is at least interesting, though; it requires pattern recognition and a sense of rhythm and timing. But it’s all you do, and it doesn’t offer much variety because that’s more or less how that whole “infinity” thing works.

The Solution: Bit.Trip Run!

Bit.Trip Run

I didn’t cut developer Gaijin’s running-based rhythm-game-in-disguise a whole lot of slack when I reviewed it last month, but an update with new control schemes means it’s worth checking out again.

Run! tasks you with guiding the brave, perpetually running Commander Video through a bunch of colorful worlds rife with obstacles and hurdles to overcome. Like in Infinity Blade, timing and rhythm are crucial, but where Bit.Trip wins out is in its variety. The Commander must run, slide, kick, jump, and use a shield to keep moving forward, and the individual levels provide enough different barriers that it keeps you focused and challenged.

Plus, the narrator is the guy who does the voice for Mario, and that’s just straight-up awesome.

Culprit 4: Draw Something
The Issue: Neither social nor cooperative

Draw Something isn’t nearly what it used to be, but when it came out last year, it seemed like everyone was playing it. If you aren’t among “everyone,” here’s how it works: One person chooses one of three objects and draws it and then their friend tries to guess what the drawing is. It’s like playing Pictionary without having to be at a lame party.

People were crazy about this game, but they missed its critical flaw: Despite being a game you could play with your friends, it contained no social interaction or any real need for cooperation. You’d be looking at a crappy drawing of a gorilla with your friend’s name on it, but the fact remained that for all the “fun” you two were having “together,” anyone in the world could have drawn that half-assed gorilla.

It’s also hard to think of a game for which the cost of losing is lower than this one’s. If the other person guesses correctly, you earn coins that you can use to unlock more colors to draw with terribly. If you lose, the next round starts. That’s it. Draw Something tries to trick you by including a “Winning streak” counter, but it really doesn’t mean or do anything.

The Solution: Spaceteam

Just look at this.

Do you see all those people in the same room working together to complete a task? Doesn’t that seem, I don’t know, pretty social? Don’t they all look happier than any Draw Something player you’ve ever seen in your life?

Spaceteam is a multi-player extravaganza in which a team of players take the roles of a spaceship crew. Everyone has his or her own oddly named control panel on their screen, and the game displays adjustments that need adjusting. When the instructions appear, the player calls them out, and the person with the appropriate console flips the switch or turns the dial or whatever. Every once in a while, everyone has to shake or invert their devices to avoid imaginary wormholes.

Is there any part of that that doesn’t sound like a good time with your friends? Next to that, is there any part of Draw Something that does?

Play This, Not That: Better Alternatives To iOS Games That Fall Short

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Breach and Clear

Look: We know that not every iOS game is perfect. They all have their little quirks and irregularities, and some are flat-out broken. But among those that are actually playable, some contain a core mechanic that stumbles somewhere along the way. And maybe it’s a cool idea, but it feels like it could just be executed a little better.

That’s where this series comes in. We round up games that are not necessarily bad but just fall short in some area, and we suggest other titles that do it better.

Supercharge Your Infinity Blade Graphics Even On Older Devices [Jailbreak]

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There’s a reason that Apple usually invites Epic Games on stage. The developers’ mobile-only series, Infinity Blade and its sequels, shows off the gaming potential of any new iOS device by pushing its graphical potential to the very limits.

Infinity Blade games look beautiful no matter what device you run them on, but there’s a big difference graphically between playing Infinity Blade III on an iPad 2 and an iPad Air. If you happen to have a jailbroken device, though, a new jailbreak tweak will trick Infinity Blade into running at a higher graphical setting… apparently with little degradation of performance.

Chair Games Releases New Cinematic Trailer For Infinity Blade III [Video]

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infinityblade3

We got a glimpse of the incredible graphics and gameplay of Chair’s upcoming Infinity Blade III during the Apple’s keynote on Tueday, but Chair released a cinematic trailer for the new game this morning that dives into the Infinity Blade mythology of the first two games before setting up the narrative of the final chapter of Infinity Blade.

Unlike Infinity Blade: Dungeons – which was eventually canned after fans were left waiting over a year for the release – Infinity Blade III is ready to go and will launch in the App Store on September 18th for $6.99.  The game features seven huge new worlds, fire-breathing dragons, and enough swordplay to keep you entertained for weeks.

Take a look:

‘Infinity Blade 3’ Is Probably Definitely Gonna Happen At Some Point

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A screenshot from the never-released 'Infinity Blade Dungeons'.
A screenshot from the never-released 'Infinity Blade Dungeons'.

We shed a tear when Infinity Blade Dungeons was canned after mouthwatering footage was shown at an Apple event, but there may still be hope. One of the most popular iOS games in history isn’t over yet, if a LinkedIn profile is to be believed.

A Senior Q&A Tester for ChAIR Entertainment, the iOS development arm for Epic Games, has “Infinity Blade 3 for the iPhone” listed as one of the games he’s testing. While that’s by no means a confirmation, it isn’t surprising. ChAIR teased us with “just wait till you see what we’ve got in store for the Infinity Blade universe” earlier this month.

Infinity Blade II received a big upgrade last summer, but development has been quiet since then.

Maybe we’ll see Infinity Blade III at an Apple event this fall? Now that iOS 7 opens up the possibility for hardware controllers, things could very interesting.

Via: Kotaku

‘Infinity Blade II’ Gained Almost 6 Million Players During App Store Giveaway

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Infinity-Blade-II

When the App Store celebrated its fifth birthday last week, Apple made a number of top iOS apps and games free. One of those was Infinity Blade II, and it was the first time the title had been given away since its release in November 2011.

So it’s hardly surprising it was a massive success. In just seven days, the sword-fighting action game had attracted 5.7 million new players, with 1.7 million of those getting the game on the first day the promotion went live.

‘Infinity Blade: Dungeons’ Has Officially Been Canned

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Infinity-Blade-Dungeons

Chair Entertainment has confirmed that Infinity Blade: Dungeons, the third installment in the Infinity Blade franchise for iOS, has officially been canned.

Fans have been looking forward to the title since it was announced last March during an Apple iPad event, but its future has looked uncertain since the studio that was developing the game, Impossible Games, was closed back in February.

This Week’s Must-Have iOS Games: Mikey Shorts, The Simpsons, Vote!!! & More [Roundup]

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Screen Shot 2012-08-25 at 09.06.33

Headlining this week’s must-have iOS games roundup is an awesome new platformer called Mikey Shorts, which offers its own unique style of play focused on speed. We also have The Simpsons: Tapped Out, which makes its App Store debut for the second time; VOTE!!!, the latest title from Infinity Blade creators Chair Entertainment; and a great space-age building game from Gameloft.

Infinity Blade Has Earned Over $30 Million To Become Epic’s Most Profitable Game Ever

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Infinity Blade has been more successful than Gears of War.
Infinity Blade has been more successful than Gears of War.

Despite the success of Gears of War on consoles, it is in fact Infinity Blade for iPad which holds the title for Epic Games’s most profitable game of all time. The popular sword fighter, which has been showcased at a number of Apple keynotes over the years, has earned a whopping $30 million since its debut just 18 months ago.

Apple Now Accepting Mac And iOS App Nominations For 2012 Design Awards

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The most coveted app awards will be announced by Apple this summer at WWDC 2012.
The most coveted app awards will be announced by Apple this summer at WWDC 2012.

Following the announcement of the already-sold-out WWDC 2012, Apple has officially begun accepting nominations for its 2012 Apple Design Awards. Mac and iOS apps can be nominated to win the most prestigious developer awards Apple gives each year, and past winners include apps like Infinity Blade and Things.

Registered iOS developers can nominate apps today and Apple will announce the winners at WWDC in June.

Check Out These Black Friday Deals On The App Store’s Best Games [Updating]

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thanksgiving

iOS game developers love nothing more than to celebrate with a sale, so it’s no surprise to use that a plethora of hugely popular titles are available for as little as $0.99 this week. However, we are surprised by the sheer number of games on sale this year, from big-name developers like Gameloft, Sega, Namco Bandai, and more.

So that you don’t need to spend hours searching for these bargains yourself, we’ve compiled a huge list of the best reductions for you, featuring some of the most successful iOS titles, such as Assassin’s Creed: Altair’s Chronicles, BackStab, Real Golf 2011, Sonic the Hedgehog, Super Monkey Ball, Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing, and lots, lots more.

NOTE: We’ve added new titles from EA, Kairosoft, Konami and more!