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Some of the world's most powerful tech leaders and many esteemed academics have signed a pledge promising not to develop lethal autonomous weapons. The most notable signatories include the three co-founders of Google-owned AI research company DeepMind — Demis Hassabis, Shane Legg, and Mustafa Suleyman — as well as controversial Boring Company founder Elon Musk and the head of Google's AI division, Jeffrey Dean.
Welcome to the latest entry in our Bonus Round series, wherein we tell you all about the new Android games of the day that we couldn't get to during our regular news rounds. Consider this a quick update for the dedicated gamers who can't wait for our bi-weekly roundups, and don't want to wade through a whole day's worth of news just to get their pixelated fix. Today we've got a card-based roguelike, the next chapter in Out There Chronicles, a renaissance-era point and click adventure game, a space-themed indie arcade game, a unique puzzle platformer, a ninja-themed defense game, and a Ragnarok licensed hero collector. Without further ado:
SNK's Metal Slug series is one of the most beloved 2D side-scrolling shooters of all time, right up there with Contra. And fans of the originals were no doubt pleased when the twitchy, skillful, and delightfully pixelated games made their way to Android. So for the series' first foray into a new mobile title, it's only natural that SNK Playmore would make... a tower defense game.
You knew this day would come. An asteroid is hurtling towards Earth, but before you ready those nukes, your job isn't to deflect it - it's to guarantee that it doesn't miss. In Massteroid, players take control of said asteroid and try to grow it as big as possible to inflict maximum destruction. But if you've learned anything from late 90s disaster films, Earth isn't going down without a fight. You must dodge unguided missiles, satellites, targeted ordinances, mines, and - wait for it - black holes. Yeah, you're going to have to put your knowledge of astronomy aside for this one.
I've never understood why shotguns are the go-to weapon for fending off zombie hordes. Sure, in a close encounter, it's a guaranteed way to put a bloodthirsty undead drone on its backside, but it's not going to liberate an entire city in the event of an outbreak. Such large-scale crowd control needs more than pseudo-vigilante justice. That's why, unless every air force base in the world were to succumb to a zombie outbreak at the same time, I would expect to see an AC-130 bringing the rain from the skies. Zombies can't fly (nor can they even drive), so lets hit them from where they can't hit us back. iOS gamers have been doing this for two years now, and with over 70,000 ratings, the consensus is that the game's good. Now Zombie Gunship has made its way to Android, and it's time for us to show them how aerial gunslinging is done.
Melesta Games' Toy Defense, a tower defense-style game that's already found a home on iOS, made its way to Android today, bringing with it a familiar tower defense dynamic with turrets and enemies pulled straight from your childhood toy chest.
Remember Cartoon Wars? Well, all the murderous stickman-fighting action you can handle is back in Gamevil's latest title: Cartoon Wars 2: Heroes.
Glu Mobile (makers of Bonsai Blast and a slew of other games) has treated Android users to another gem, combining powerful samurai, devilish zombies, and a stylized, adorable art style to make Samurai vs Zombies Defense.
Gamevil released another treat to the Android Market today, introducing Arel Wars – a game that promises "RPG action and defense strategy," and doesn't disappoint.
Harris Corporation, an international communications/IT company catering specifically to government and commercial markets, officially unveiled their own 7" Android-powered tablet today, meant to provide a rugged tool for the transmission of "mission-critical" communication for defense and public safety. The tablet is specifically aimed at military personnel and first responders, who "require secure real-time information at their fingertips to execute their missions."
Combining physics-based gameplay with outer space action/strategy combat, Space Conquest challenges the player to "save the solar system from complete annihilation."
Think of the hardest, most frustrating Android game you've played thus far. Is it Angry Birds, with its unparalleled addictiveness? Or how about Plants vs. Zombies, which has a seemingly infinite number of levels and is within spitting distance of Angry Birds' can't-put-it-down factor?
File this under "things that look good on paper." On Tuesday, a federal judge for the Northern District of California issued an order forcing Oracle and Google, in their fight over various Java patents allegedly infringed by Android, to reduce the number of patent claims and defenses thereto to a "triable" number. That number? Three. And Google will be allowed eight "prior art references" to defend against those claims. (Note: A "prior art reference" is a way of showing that a patent was trying to patent something someone else had already invented prior to the filing, a complete defense against patent infringement, invalidating the patent in question)