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Roblox is a certified juggernaut raking in millions of dollars every day. The platform has tens of millions of games available to play for free from your computer, smartphone, or shiny new Chromebook. There’s literally something for everyone, but that doesn’t mean that every game is appropriate for all ages. When it comes to titles suited to young gamers that are family-friendly, it’s important that the content, objectives, and interactions are appropriate. To that end, we want to share some of the top games for young players on the Roblox platform.
Hitman: Blood Money — Reprisal is coming to mobile this month
The title from Feral Interactive is now available to preorder in app stores
When Hitman: Blood Money debuted in 2006, devoted Hitman fans received another chance to continue Agent 47’s murderous duties on PC, PlayStation 2, and Xbox consoles. Fast forward to the present, and most have already completed the fourth installment of the series. However, this doesn’t mean fans aren’t willing to reboot it, if only for nostalgia purposes. Feral Interactive, the video game publisher behind Hitman: Blood Money, is now planning to capitalize on the opportunity.
Tom Clancy's The Division Resurgence enters pre-registration on the Google Play Store
Ubisoft's latest entry in The Division franchise continues testing this summer
Back in July 2022, Ubisoft announced that it had been working on Tom Clancy's The Division Resurgence, a mobile offshoot of its hit franchise that debuted in 2016 on consoles and PC. Almost a year later, the Montreal-based video game company is inching closer to launching the title as interested players can now pre-register on the Google Play Store for a chance to test the game this summer.
Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon is finally ready to live up to its name
The game will be exclusive to Netflix on mobile devices
Over the past few weeks, it's become clear that Netflix wants to be taken seriously as a game publisher. After announcing that Oxenfree 2: The Lost Signals would land on Android this summer, the streaming giant will now be the exclusive home for the mobile version of Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon.
Take-Two Interactive is set to purchase Zynga in a ginormous $12.7 billion acquisition
Who's ready for a GTA-themed FarmVille?
Take-Two Interactive and Zynga have just announced a partnership where Take-Two will acquire Zynga in a cash and stock transaction valued at $12.7 billion. While the transaction isn't cemented just yet, since Zynga has 45 days to find a better deal, it seems likely this acquisition will happen, seeing that both companies felt confident enough to announce the deal this morning.
That Lenovo tablet with HDMI input is official, and it's a monster media machine
The 13-inch tablet doubles as a portable monitor, but who knows when we'll see it outside of China
I've always had a soft spot for Lenovo's weird-ass tablet designs, ever since one of them asked me to buy Android apps with Burger King gift cards. The latest one turned heads when we found out you could use it as a portable HDMI monitor, a surprisingly practical use for a little flat screen that can fit in your backpack. Based on the official announcement, it might just be worth a second look, and possibly even money that doesn't come in the form of prepaid fast food credit.
The healing power of video games has finally been recognized by the FDA
EndeavorRX is a mobile game meant to help treat kids with ADHD
Video games have long been associated with negative connotations about wasting time and killing brain cells, but a new game might just help to change that. The FDA has just cleared the first prescription-only smartphone game, called EndeavorRx, as part of a treatment program for children with ADHD.
Dirt 5, Chorus, Jotun: Valhalla Edition, and more are coming to Stadia
Let Stadia keep you occupied during the pandemic
Stadia has been steadily improving since launching last year, including getting the Stadia controller to work wirelessly in web browsers. Now, four new games have been announced for the cloud gaming platform, with two titles from Thunder Lotus Games coming this month and DIRT 5 and CHORUS dropping in 2021.
Stadia announces two first-person puzzle games, Relicta and The Turing Test
But as with most Stadia announcements, these games aren't available yet
Google's Stadia cloud gaming platform has been picking up steam recently, launching its second first-party studio, giving players a way to download their screenshots/videos, and rolling out 4K support for gaming on the web. Keeping that momentum rolling, the Stadia team has announced that two first-person puzzle games —Relicta and The Turing Test — will be coming to the platform soon.
Before the days of Twitch, or even Justin.tv, YouTube was the one place we all went for gaming content. Whether they were Let's Plays of games that were out of our reach, guides on how to complete quests or boss battles, or lore videos that dove deep into a game's story, YouTube was the place to find it all. In 2015, the company launched YouTube Gaming to combat the rising popularity of Twitch. It also ended up being a testing ground of sorts for things like a dark theme, Super Chat, and Channel Memberships. But in a weird turn of events, the popularity of the service (according to YouTube, at least) is leading to its shutdown in March 2019.
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If you're below a certain age or simply not all that familiar with the history of video games, perhaps you haven't heard about Postal. Originally released for the PC in 1997, Postal was an isometric top-down shooter - think Contra with some better graphics. Postal was, by all accounts, a fairly unremarkable game; its mechanics were simple and its story was rudimentary. What made it notable was its intense violence and the depiction of the "gone postal" protagonist shooting defenseless civilians.According to an administrator on the forum of Postal developer Running With Scissors, Google has refused to allow a port of the original game on the Play Store. The company denied the game on the grounds of "gratuitous violence," something that is forbidden in Google's developer agreement. Google, as the owner and arbiter of the Play Store, has the right and the duty to censor its content when it feels appropriate - I don't think anyone would object to the removal of, say, "Lynching Simulator 2015" or "9-11 Bombing Run." Here are some screenshots from the original Postal, presumably similar to what would have been included in an Android port. Screenshots are taken from the Steam re-release of the game.
Playing video games is for losers, apparently - these days all the cool kids watch other people play video games. Twitch, the platform of choice for your non-video game-playing needs, has updated its Android client with a few handy features in version 3.2. Both of them come straight out of YouTube's bag of tricks, but that's OK - every video player should let you do this stuff.
Have you noticed that it's impossible to search for a game-related video on YouTube without seeing dozens of hour-long "Let's Play" videos? You're not the only one. According to a report from The Daily Dot, Google is looking to re-make YouTube's live streaming service (the one you use for every official Android event) with a focus on video games. The report cites anonymous sources "within the streaming industry," so it's firmly in the rumor department for the time being.
A friend once told me that watching someone else play a game can sometimes be even more entertaining than playing it yourself and more enjoyable than a movie. I wouldn't know, but I trust his opinion. Well, his and that of the thousands of people who seem to love it as much, to a point where a game streaming platform like Twitch exists and is valued equally to Instagram. If you fall in this demography of video game lovers and if you're a fan of the multi-million dollar competitions that ensue, you should check out Strafe.
When you search for certain artists, movies, or figures, Google sticks a card within the results that displays background information all in once place. This way you can potentially get what you need without having to click on a single link. Recently the company started giving video games this same treatment.
As a dedicated gamer and a former cash-starved teenager, please listen to me: don't shop at GameStop. The ubiquitous American video game retailer is almost certain to overcharge for software and hardware, underpay you for trade-ins, and try to squeeze three preorders and a Game Informer subscription out of you before you leave. But for those misguided souls who insist on giving them custom (or who live in a city with no retail alternatives), the official GameStop app has been notably updated today.
Attention, gamer: your PlayStation playmates can now goad you into multiplayer matches anytime, anywhere. Well, they can if you've got the latest version of the official PlayStation Android app. Last night's update added push notifications for the PSN game-centric social network, according to the official PlayStation blog.