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You might not have heard of Sega's After Burner [sic] series if you don't frequent the arcade. It's one of Sega's oldest franchises, centered around flight simulations of fighter jets, though the games' arcade origins give them a more casual approach to the genre than, say, Ace Combat. (In fact, the games have always felt a lot like Space Harrier.) The last entry in the series, 2006's After Burner Climax, just touched down on the Play Store for a cool three bucks.
Welcome to the roundup of the best new Android applications, games, and live wallpapers that went live in the Play Store or were spotted by us in the previous 2 weeks or so.
Cylons. The Terminator. Gort. Johnny 5. Science fiction seems more than a little obsessed with the idea of murderous automatons, and with good reason: it works. Newcomer developer Uppercut Games has taken the trope to mobile gaming with EPOCH, a post-apocalyptic shooter that does away with the humans altogether (to make room for more robots). The Unreal Engine powers this graphical beast, and it's available for $4.99 for all devices - or at least the ones that can handle it.
[New Game] Desktop Favorite Magicka Comes To Android, Plays Nice With iOS (But Not With Smartphones)
For the last two years, the Magicka series of indie fantasy games have lit up the Steam charts. Their mix of traditional Diablo-style gameplay and tongue-in-cheek humor has made them a favorite, and enabled such nonsensical expansions as Magicka: Vietnam (where the four elemental mages put the hurt on pinko commies). Now publisher Paradox is bringing the series to mobile, with the typically self-referential subtitle Wizards of the Square Tablet.
Welcome to the roundup of the best new Android applications, games, and live wallpapers that went live in the Play Store or were spotted by us in the previous 2 weeks or so.
Real Boxing has garnered quite a bit of success on iOS, and with a little help from NVIDIA, it's grabbed headlines on its way to Android as well. Though the game was first spotted running on the Shield hardware, it's now available on other Tegra devices. With a title as pretty as this, it would be a shame to run it on anything less than the most advanced hardware out there - too bad we'll have to settle for a Tegra 3 for the time being.
Kairosoft plus ninjas. Now that the die-hard fans are already stampeding to the Play Store, the rest of you can stick around and find out why you should play Ninja Village. The previously Japan-only title is now available to the English-speaking world, bringing Kairosoft's familiar, pixelated spin on city-building and battling to the well-trodden Edo Period setting. Those of you who've played Epic Astro Story should find the game familiar.
SwipePad is a favorite among power users, since its always-on gestures make a handful of apps available at any time via a side-swipe. That said, the setup process is surprisingly clunky, since you have to swipe, long press, and open a pop-up any time you want to add or move a shortcut. Yesterday's update changes this, adding an edit function in the primary settings. Users can now drag and drop app shortcuts as well as assign them inside the app, making the process much faster.
T-Mobile customers have been waiting for what seems like ages to get their hands on some sweet, sweet Long Term Evolution data speeds. In five days, the wait is over... assuming you live in one of seven disparate states and cities in the lower forty-eight. According to a leaked document posted by TmoNews (which has an excellent record for this sort of thing) T-Mobile's networks in Houston, TX, Las Vegas NV, Phoenix, AZ, Kansas City, MO, San Jose, CA, Baltimore, MD and Washington DC will activate next Tuesday, March 26th.
Need a little old-school kick to start your weekend? Then look no further than SNK's developer page on the Play Store. Over the last few months they've populated it with no less than four of their classic Metal Slug side-scrollers (Metal Slugs 1, 2, 3, and X) and the top-down space shooter Blazing Star. All are available at significant discounts: half off for the Metal Slug games, bringing them to two bucks each, and a full two-thirds off for Blazing Star, which is now just a dollar.
Welcome to the roundup of the best new Android applications, games, and live wallpapers that went live in the Play Store or were spotted by us in the previous 2 weeks or so.
It's been a while since we've seen a significant update to the look of the Google Play Store - in fact, it's been in its current form since before the "Google Play" brand superseded the Android Market. But it looks like there is a new version in the works, and it's quite a change to the Store we've become used to. Droid Life got a hold of an APK that purports to be build version 4.0.16 of the vending app.
Back in 2008, a little game called The Conduit landed on the Wii, and plenty of gamers held it as an example that the console's non-standard control system was up to the twitchy task of first-person shooter gameplay. The Conduit HD is now available for Android as well, hoping to prove not only that the platform is viable for high-end gaming, but that the hardware is also capable of replicating console visuals.
Not everyone's sold on Samsung's Android-powered camera experiment, but for those who are, you can grab one for a cool $30 off. The international 3G version of the Galaxy Camera is the latest gadget to get its time in the spotlight of [ebay id=321086431783 text="eBay's Daily Deals promotion"], going for $469.99, $30 off the price you'll pay in most stores and even more off of the Amazon price. Unlike most of the discounted 3G devices out there, this one doesn't require a contract (since the Galaxy Camera is sold without one anyway) but you'll need your own active SIM card to take advantage of that mobile connection.
We saw a pre-rendered trailer for Rovio's latest licensed game last month, though it wasn't much more than a trailer for the Dreamworks movie it's based on. Today you can download The Croods in Google Play for free, and it's a surprising departure from both Rovio's physics-based comfort zone and the source material. Based on the brief description and trailer, the game straddles the line between a Monster Rancher creature feature and the familiar Sim City/Farmville genre.
Imagine, if you will, that every man, woman, and child in Europe owned an Android device. That still wouldn't account for every device that's been made, sold, and activated, according to the latest blog post from Google CEO Larry Page. In the same message that revealed Andy Rubin would be leaving his position as the head of Android development, Page mentioned almost in passing that Android had surpassed 750 million activated devices, including smartphones, tablets, and various other gadgets.
Most of you will be familiar with Real Boxing after following the coverage on NVIDIA's Project Shield, in which the iOS pilgrim was heavily featured. While you'll have to wait a few more months to get a hold of NVIDIA's gaming hardware, the boxing game is available today on Google Play. $4.99 will get you what's easily one of the most graphically intensive titles on Android, though you'll need to be rocking a Tegra-powered device to see them.
If you were to look through the back catalog of console games circa 2009, you might be surprised to find a game called Mini Ninjas getting a disproportionate amount of press. It was a fun little title that mixed kid-friendly themes and Japanese mythology with solid stealth and combat gameplay. If you're hoping for a return to sneaking around Edo castles and facing off against gigantic bosses, too bad, because publisher Square has re-used the name and assets for an otherwise unremarkable endless runner game.
Welcome to the roundup of the best new Android applications, games, and live wallpapers that went live in the Play Store or were spotted by us in the previous 2 weeks or so.
Welcome to the roundup of the best new Android applications, games, and live wallpapers that went live in the Play Store or were spotted by us in the previous 2 weeks or so.