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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.
[New Game] Zaxxon Escape: Sega Reboots a 30-Year-Old Classic With Tilt Controls And In-App Purchases
Remember the hours and hours you wasted as a kid plunking quarters into the Zaxxon machine, scorning the other kids for playing 1942 and Galaga? Yeah, neither do I - odds are pretty good that if you're reading this, Sega's admittedly unique isometric shooter was slightly before your time. Still, there's got to be plenty of Android gamers eager for a nostalgia trip in 3/4 perspective, right? For those middle-aged gamers, Zaxxon Escape is now available in the Play Store for a mere buck. At the cost of just four single-run games from 1982, that's a bargain.
If you hate to read these stories, imagine how much we hate to write them: yet another volley has been tossed in the patent battle between Samsung and Apple. This time it's the Korean manufacturer taking its intellectual property guns out against Apple, claiming that the shiny new iPhone 5 violates eight of its software patents.
It's been 25 years since Jaws: The Revenge hit theaters. The movie is unbelievably terrible (if you don't believe me, just ask Rotten Tomatoes, where it's got a rare 0% rating), but surprisingly, a licensed game released two and a half decades later is actually pretty fun. In Jaws Revenge, you take on the role of the titular shark to merrily swim the coastal waters, eating swimmers, divers, fish, seagulls and whatever else you can find. It's a free download, complete with the iconic da-da da-da soundtrack, available now from the Google Play Store.
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.
How do you follow up an earth-shattering hit like Angry Birds? Not with Amazing Alex, Rovio's first property to branch out of their only previous IP. The game currently sits with only a tiny fraction of the downloads of Angry Birds, even on the free version. So with the third go-round, they've gone back to create a spinoff featuring the antagonists of the aggravated avians: Bad Piggies. The new game is a combination of the previous two, combining the simple physics-based goals of Angry Birds and the contraption building of Amazing Alex.
BlueStacks made quite a splash when they released their alpha x86 Android app player for Windows late last year. When AMD invested millions of dollars into the company, it was clear that they were planning on leveraging the ever-expanding Android platform to put a shot into the arm of their PC chip business. Nearly a year after the initial investment, they're ready to make good: head on over to www.amd.com/appzone to check out the shiny new AMD App Zone. Download your first app from a Windows-based PC to install the new version of the BlueStacks player (along with the app), no sign-in required.
While Google and the ISIS consortium duke it out over the future of Near Field Communication and the payment systems that use it, one of the largest financial institutions in the US had decided to ignore it. Reuters reports that Bank Of America is testing a new system that will only require retailers to display a single image. Ideally this would negate the need for new hardware for both sellers and buyers - all that's required is an Android or iOS device with a camera and a mobile connection.
Before we go any further, let me say that this post will contain zero references to replacement referees. Okay? Everybody got that? Good. Just after the long, long-awaited Jelly Bean update for Verizon's Galaxy Nexus, the carrier has finally updated its exclusive NFL Mobile app for Android 4.1. They've also added compatibility with "high-resolution devices", though looking through Verizon's current lineup it's hard to think what they could mean by that. 1280x800 is the highest screen res that any of their Android tablets use, and the app has worked for them for a while.
Let's get this out of the way: the Logitech Joystick ("for iPad and Android Tablets") is a strange little gadget, an analog solution to a digital problem. It sticks onto your tablet with suction cups, then places a capacitive touch-point below a thumbstick modeled after the more recent generation of game console controllers. Motion is achieved via a coiled plastic spring, and its design allows you to move it around the bezel to adjust to different games. The list price is $20, but right now Tiger Direct has it for free... after a $9.99 mail-in rebate.
I've been waiting for an Android game that gets touchscreen real-time strategy right for a long time. And I think I may have found it in Desert Stormfront, just posted to the Google Play Store by "Age of Conquest" developer Noble Master Games. It's an old-school, sprite-based strategy game in the vein of Command & Conquer or Age of Empires.
Real innovation is suddenly becoming depressingly rare in the mobile space: look no further than the army of Temple Run clones that have come out in the last few months. Sure, most are fun, and some even eclipse the original (see Agent Dash), but they're all copying game mechanics pretty shamelessly. In this environment, it's so refreshing to see something like Fort Courage: a new game that adds compelling and exciting elements to an old formula. It comes from Human Head Studios, developers of the celebrated Prey and its upcoming sequel. That being said, there are a few places where it's clear this console and PC developer needs some more mobile experience - a tendency to rely on pre-built tools, like the GREE platform, and taking the in-app purchase model to extremes are two examples.
This may shock some of you, but there's a surprisingly small amount of overlap between tech bloggers and fantasy sports players. (Careful, gentle readers - you don't want to become over-gasped.) So it was with some confusion that I found a new official NFL fantasy football app, when there are already two published in the Play Store. The latest, NFLRUSH, is something of a toned-down, kid-friendly version of fantasy: instead of carefully picking your team at the beginning of the season and trading with your league-mates each week, NFLRUSH allows kids to pick a fresh roster after every game.
Remember a few months ago when LG showed off its new Optimus L series, with three new Android-powered smartphones across several price points? Yeah, neither do we. But in any case, the biggest and relatively baddest of those phones will be available on Sprint subsidiary Boost Mobile sometime in the near future, under the new alias of the LG Venice. EV Leaks got a hold of an official photo of the device - we've only got their word that it's coming to Boost, but they're usually spot-on with this sort of thing.
It's been a long time since Desktop Tower Defense - the genre needs a little shaking up. And with the Prey series of shooter games under their belts, Human Head Studios thinks they're the ones to do it. Their latest game is Fort Courage, and it fits broadly into the mobile-friendly category. The free game is available right now on the Google Play Store, but you'll need an NVIDIA Tegra-powered device to run it, and a Tegra 3 for the best results.
We've all been there: you looked up the directions to the restaurant at home, and forgot them while you sat at work. Now your significant other is somewhat miffed because you're half an hour late, so you search for the address on your phone... and can't remember the French name with all the extra punctuation. Google's got your back: the latest version of Google Maps for Android remembers the searches you've made on the Google Maps website, and brings them up as you begin to type. Magnifique!
What's the best way to buoy a struggling airline that consistently ranks lowest among its competitors, is in the middle of a Chapter 11 bankruptcy and threatened to fire 11,000 employees just yesterday? Issue every flight attendant with a gadget worth two weeks' salary, of course! American Airlines is proud to announce that they're providing each and every flight attendant with a Samsung Galaxy Note (original), to aid them in quickly and competently gathering passenger data while in the air. American claims that this move is the first of its kind for any airline.
Quick, Galaxy S III users on AT&T: check your device's settings for a new over-the-air download. Just be sure to temper your enthusiasm, because the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean update (which we weren't really expecting for another month at least) is nowhere in sight. The latest version of the software is build IMM76D.I747UCALH9, which adds a number of small tweaks that users might find useful.
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 week or so.This edition focuses only on new games.
In case you hadn’t heard, there’s a new Judge Dredd movie coming out starring Karl Urban (who should know a thing or two about remakes… darn it, he’s an actor, not a doctor). To build up some mobile hype, a new game has hit the Google Play Store. And since it is a mobile game, old Judge, jury, and executioner has come to finish off what plants, samurai, and Barry Steakfries couldn’t: zombies.