PC, PlayStation 3/4 and Xbox 360/One gamers go to battle today in the free open multiplayer beta for Battlefield Hardline – releasing on March 17. Do battle with other players amid urban settings and action packed scenarios. This beta ends on Sunday, February 8.
Each year Spotify has sent out predictions of the Grammy Award winners based on their streaming patterns. This year is no exception, though the absence of Taylor Swift – who famously pulled her catalog from the streaming service – makes the predictions a little less credible this year! Read on and see what you think!
The OUYA open game platform made an important partnership with the Alibaba Group that will bring OUYA’s game library to Alibaba’s YunOS platform. OUYA also received an investment from Alibaba Group.
Nintendo has totally boosted their game cache and physical rewards as the Club Nintendo Rewards program (North America) winds down. Members can also find their free appreciation download code for Flipnote Studio 3D. All worldwide program will end by September 30, 2015 to make way for a new loyalty program.
!['The World Ends With You' Broken on iOS 8, No Update Coming [UPDATED]](https://geardiary.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/The-World-Ends-With-You.jpg "'The World Ends With You' Broken on iOS 8, No Update Coming [UPDATED] 5")
One of the best, most original and unique games for the Nintendo DS was “The World Ends With You”. Square Enix delivered excellent single-player iPhone and iPad versions called ‘Solo Remix’ in summer 2012 for an audience-limiting $17.99/$19.99. Now a game-killing iOS 8 bug has been identified, and it isn’t clear if it will be fixed.
Much of the big noise from the recent NAMM show was about bringing back the classic analog synths of the 60s and 70s. But what about the workhorses of the digital era? Those tools for those of us starving for polyphony on a budget? Roland is answering this with the introduction of the Sound Canvas module for iOS.
The RaspberryPi is the darling of the maker and hacking culture. This little tiny computer is great. However it is slow. That’s where version 2 comes in and it’s now available today. Version 2 ups the specs so that the RaspberryPi will maintain interest for years to come and it will ALSO be able to run Windows 10.
While I am constantly amazed at the long-term support iOS game developers put into supporting their customers, I also know that it cannot last forever – revenues for old games diminish, and new projects need the time and resources. So while it is sad that Spacetime Studios is dropping some older games, it isn’t surprising – or even bad!
My daughter, Sarah, and I have joked about the “curse of the white shirt” since she was a child. You know how it goes: you wear a white shirt, and you’re guaranteed to drop or drip something that leaves a permanent stain right onto the middle of your chest. Threadsmiths’ T-shirts say they’ve developed a non-stainable Cavalier T-shirt. Oh really?!
I loved Duke Nukem 3D from the moment it was released for the PC in MS-DOS, which was 19 years ago this week. Since then I have played it on Mac, Windows, OS X, iOS, Android, the Nintendo GBA version, and most recently the Playstation Vita. VoidPoint has acquired the rights and is publishing a ‘Hail to the Chief’ collection!
Yesterday I wrote about the new Outlook app for iOS/Android, calling it a truly universal inbox that aggregates emails from all of the popular webmail services – Gmail, iCloud, Yahoo!, Hotmail, and Outlook – into a single unified Inbox. I am settled in my dual Mail/Mailbox routine, so Wayne challenged me to try Microsoft Outlook only for a week. Are you in?
Wow! 2015 is already off to any amazing start in terms of gaming! We’ve seen great stuff for iOS, Android, consoles, Mac and PC in just these normally quiet first few weeks. Now we are seeing another Steam Early access launch. This time it is for a competitive online shooter, Ratz Instagib which is just out and already popular!
More than two years ago I posted a review of PC action-RPG sequel Torchlight II. I called it “pretty much the realization of the Bop-It Extreme mantra ‘do it the same … but BETTER’.” I also noted the Mac version ‘coming soon’. Apparently ‘soon’ means 28 months, as Runic games announced a February 2nd release in a funny video.
Developed by Dontnod Entertainment and published by Square Enix, Life is Strange releases the first episode (“Chrysalis”) in an interactive adventure drama video game series that will release at least four more episodes, which will be continuously released in six-week periods.
Last week I reviewed ‘Satellina’, the puzzle in motion game I called a rare ‘simple to learn but constantly challenging’ experience that is well worth the $1.99 cost. This week as promised Moon Kid has released the game for Android on the Google Play store, and has also unleashed a free download from the game’s unique soundtrack! Check it out!
One of the great things about the recent rise of indie gaming is the sustained support for games over a long period. Successful online tactical RPG strategy game Pox Nora was purchased from Sony by the original developers who had founded a new studio called Desert Owl Games. Now they have released their first expansion called Ronin.
The quest for a truly ‘universal’ inbox for iOS is something many of us have been on since the beginning – we already had accounts on iCloud, Hotmail, Yahoo and of course Gmail … but there have always been limitations around notifications, account handling and more. Based on Accompli, the new Outlook app seeks to become your truly universal Inbox.
Last summer GRIN Studios had a Kickstarter for their unconventional un-fairy tale Woolfe: The Red Hood Diaries. Woolfe looks at the adventures of an adult Red Riding Hood as she seeks to avenge her parents deaths. The game was successfully funded, and is progressing towards release. Now GRIN announces that the game is available for Early Access on Steam.
I’m on the fence about constantly rebooting classic movies, but the more I hear about the new Ghostbusters reboot the more excited I get. The latest news from the AV Club is pointing to a dream cast; Kristin Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Leslie Jones, and Kate McKinnon!
Sony Music is one of the biggest music industry publishers, but their online service ‘Music Unlimited’ hasn’t lived up to the ‘Spotify Killer’ origins. So they are making the smart move of partnering with Spotify to bring music streaming to Playstation 3 and 4 and Xperia phone and tablet owners on the Playstation Network.
We all know that Apple is doomed… it must be, people have been saying so since the Mac vs. PC days of the late 1980s. In spite of their inevitable demise, Apple chose yesterday to announce that it had exceeded profit and revenue estimates while selling 74.5 million iPhones and 21.4 million iPads last quarter.