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Google, much like Portal's fictional Aperture Laboratories, engages in pretty much perpetual testing for... basically everything. Latest up on the A/B block is the in-app purchase interface. A handful of our readers are seeing a new dialog resting at the bottom of the screen, rather than Android's previous floating and centered confirmation.
It's been over a year since Cotton Game's gorgeous hand-drawn point and click adventure game Isoland was released on Android. In that time, the developers have been working on a sequel, and today that sequel is available on the Play Store. You can expect to find the same gorgeous hand-drawn graphics in Isoland 2: Ashes of Time, but this time around the gameplay breaks from the original's linearity in order to give players a chance to decide for themselves how and when they would like to tackle the many logical puzzles contained within.
How do you tell a Periscope streamer you like what they've got? Hearts. How do you tell them you really like what they've got? Super Hearts. The latter is a new item in the Periscope app, and it'll cost you. Twitter has added in-app purchases for Super hearts to its live streaming app to squeeze some revenue out of the previously free service.
The Play Store team is killing us. Over the past couple of months, we've seen so many server-side tests for interface changes that we've lost track of them all, and which ones are official and which ones are still not available to everyone. Just today we discussed a significant improvement that could have apps and games show up separately on the Store, and now we're back with another change.
There's an old saying that goes, "never attribute to malice what can be explained by carelessness." So I'd rather not accuse Android game publisher Noodlecake of carelessness, since they usually release games that are fun, technically sound, and sometimes even lacking those $100 in-app purchases. But since they've made the Android TV version of snowboarding endless runner Alto's Adventure a $3.99 paid game, while the phone version is free, I'm not left with many other options.
So you like the idea of Netflix but you find the prospect of setting up monthly billing with another company tedious and annoying. Maybe you don't own a credit/debit card and maybe you don't want someone else dipping into your bank account each month. Then Netflix' upcoming feature might be interesting to you.
I kind of wish that Supercell, developers of the base-building IAPfests Clash of Clans and Boom Beach, would go into cartoons or movies. The 30-second commercial skits that they make to reel players into games are much more entertaining than the games themselves. But if wishes were horses, we'd all be eating steak, so let's just take a look at the company's latest offering. Clash Royale is available worldwide today, after spending several months as a geo-limited beta.
Here at Android Police, we monitor a truly insane amount of sites and developers to bring you the latest apps and games fresh from the Play Store. And in serving that duty, sometimes we come across games that don't deserve any attention. More often than not, in fact, and some of the most depressing are games that exploit a beloved TV, movie, or video game license and use it to try and sling the same homogenized crap as ten thousand copycat game developers looking for a quick buck. A lot of these seem to be Candy Crush or Bejeweled clones: we passed over Pac-Man Puzzle Tour just yesterday (Artem literally wrote "ughhhhhh" in the office chat), and Star Trek: Wrath of Gems is such a shameless cash-grab that it makes trekkies spit out their Romulan ale. Neither of these games made it to our bi-weekly game roundup, even in passing.
Last month Google raised the maximum price of apps and in-app purchases on the Play Store in many markets, sometimes doubling the highest available price tier. Now they're going the other way, lowering the minimum price for a handful of countries that currently have access to paid apps on the Store. Oh, and this time they wrote a blog post, so your friendly neighborhood tech blogger doesn't have to track down each individual change and write them out. Thanks, Google!
Sonic Dash 2, A Free Endless Runner Based On The Sonic Boom Franchise, Is Now Live In The Play Store
When the best thing that you can say about the latest crop of a long-running video game property is that "the tie-in children's TV show isn't completely terrible," it's not a ringing endorsement. Such is the case with Sonic Boom: after nearly two decades of hit-and-miss remixes on the familiar Sonic formula, SEGA hit a real stinker with the almost universally-reviled Wii U/3DS dual release last year. The "hip" new designs for Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and the rest of the gang might have been forgiven if the game itself hadn't been one of the worst entries in Sonic's 24-year catalog.
If you're not getting enough intrigue and treachery from HBO's Game of Thrones series on Sunday nights, TellTale is still pumping out new episodes in its licensed adventure game. Episode 4, Sons of Winter, is now available as a $5 in-app purchase for those who have played through the first three portions of the game. There are six episodes in total, so the first "season" of the adventure game should be wrapping up in two or three more months.
Fancy a bit of customization for your Android version of Minecraft? You'll soon be accommodated by developer Mojang. According to this blog post, the Pocket Edition of the game will get a significant update later this week, with player skins being the biggest addition. If you've played the PC or console version of Minecraft, you know that custom skins for player avatars have become a big part of the game's community aspect.
Auto-correcting keyboard Fleksy made headlines last month with its interesting support for Samsung's Gear 2 smartwatches, but don't let it be said that they're neglecting the standard Android app. Today the company is updating its unconventional keyboard to version 3.0, notably adding the "Fleksy Store" to the premium version. This store will offer themes for users to buy via in-app purchase. At launch (sometime this morning, US time) there will be six themes available, and anyone who's purchased the keyboard gets a free bonus theme.
The World Ends With you came out on the Nintendo DS in 2008, and it quickly became a surprising hit, reviving developer Square Enix in the minds of RPG fans everywhere. With the fresh setting of contemporary Tokyo, an art style inspired by graffiti, and a unique battle system that took advantage of the DS hardware, it's easy to see why. The enhanced iOS version came out almost two years ago, but as typical with Square releases, it's just now coming to Android.
You can't talk about mobile gaming without mentioning the elephant in the room: the free-to-play model. The bane of many a purist gamer and unwitting parent, an over-reliance on free downloads and hooks for in-app purchases has made mobile gaming a minefield of games based on upsell and addiction. Italy's had enough, and its antitrust authority is investigating app store owners Google, Apple, and Amazon, and game publisher Gameloft, for unfair commercial practices.
Attention, parents: if you've used your Google account to buy apps, books, videos, or music on Google Play, your credit card information is stored. If you give your phone or tablet to your kids, they might be able to buy stuff that you don't necessarily want. That's a lesson that Ilana Imber-Gluck learned after her 5-year-old son spent $65.95 on Marvel Run Jump Smash. Unsurprisingly, she chafed at the experience, suing Google in a northern California court on behalf of herself and "all others similarly situated."
If you're a dedicated gamer who's wary of the ever-present freemium model (or an Android blogger who's tired of reaching for his phone for every app in the roundup), there's good news tonight. A recent adjustment of the Google Play Store website will let you know whether an app features in-app purchases or not. It appears just below the Install button, right next to the drop-down list of compatible devices.
There are a lot of apps like SwipePad, and no matter how many we cover, I keep coming back to the original. Loopr is the first app in a while that's tempted me away, thanks to both an impressive visual presentation and some thoughtful features. At its heart Loopr is a a quick app launcher/switcher with the usual side-swiping mechanism, this time launched as a semicircle of icons similar to Circle Launcher Widget.
Dropbox gives every user 2GB of free space, but with all of us able to get up to 16GB through referrals and additional space just by activating certain devices, enticing users to go pro can be easier said than done. So the company has been adding in improvements to make the process largely painless. The last update made it possible to hand over your money by taking a snapshot of your credit card that could be used to auto-fill the requisite information. Now users can update more easily via an in-app purchase.
Do you find that Instagram, Hipstamatic, and all the other me-too photography apps out there just aren't doing it for you? Then why not try VSCO Cam, the most anticipated iOS camera app port among Pabst Blue Ribbon drinkers and fedora enthusiasts! Here, let's check out this promotional video so we can get a quick look at all the impressive features offered in this exciting new app.