Category Archives: Casual

Navigating the mobile gaming universe can be a nightmare, because, well, there are a whole lot of those games. I play 5-10 new ones every week, in fact, but at the same time it’s rare that a new game will break into the top overall downloads chart. And Atari founder Nolan Bushnell tells All Things D that an environment like that will burn out developers.

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As promised, Halfbrick has unveiled its latest game, Fish Out of Water. It looks like a spin on the popular “flinging stuff as far as you can” genre, but with the Australian’s developer’s trademark panache, including a cast of characters with varied abilities; craftable equipment; and dynamic weather. Dynamic weather. In a mobile game. This is the best era to be alive. Check out the trailer through the break.

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Angry Birds Star Wars shows no signs of slowing down; the latest episode, Cloud City, takes the action even higher into the sky than usual, and also adds everyone’s favourite bounty hunter, Boba Fett. It hasn’t been dated but is expected soon. Check out some gameplay footage through the break.

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Peggle Deluxe developer PopCap has made its pachinko-meets-unicorns classic absolutely free to all. No seriously, what are you waiting for? Head to the link below and get it while you can.

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Well well well, what have we here? Zynga has relaunched its online gaming portal and removed a requirement to login via Facebook. You can still use your social network ID if you like, but its yet another sign of the casual, mobile and social publisher’s decreasing reliance on Facebook. Reuters reports the relaunch hasn’t impressed investors much; stock climbed just 1% to $3.38 after hours.

Thanks, Joystiq.

PopCap’s latest release is not, alas, an expansion to Plants vs Zombies, but instead a new take on Solitaire using the publisher’s now-famous Blitz formula. Having already attracted a large following on Facebook and launched via the App Store today, Solitaire Blitz is free, and available on iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. It gives players 60 seconds to clear decks and also go on an “underwater adventure”. Somehow.

Katamari creator Keita Takahashi and his wife and former Namco composer Asuka Sakai are behind a new game described as “a coming-of-age tale about love, hygiene, monsters and finding discarded erotic magazines in the woods”.

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Zynga has produced a follow-up to last year’s three-month wonder, Draw Something. Unusually, it didn’t bother with a press release, instead just handing the game over to American Idol host Ryan Seacrest, who tweeted about it. No release details have been shared yet; we may have to wait for Seacrest’s Draw Something tv game show (I know, I know) to surface before the press blitz begins.

Thanks, Eurogamer.

EA is getting behind the newly-revealed Samsung Galaxy S4, which looks set to be one of the most successful Android handsets of the next few years. A-list reports the publisher is prepping 16 games for the handset, and will have compatible versions available on the Google Play Store at launch. Supported titles include Tetris Blitz, Real Racing 3, The Simpsons: Tapped Out, Plants vs. Zombies, Monopoly and Bejeweled Blitz.

Much loved mobile effort Doodle Jump is four years old this week, and to celebrate, Lima Sky is offering it free for one day on both iPad and Android; the Android version is a new version with a graphical upgrade and performance improvements. More than 5 billion games of Doodle Jump have been played since launch, sending the protagonist far enough to travel back and forth between the Earth and Sun six times. It’s the number three top paid app of all time on the App Store, and a Kinect version is due in the next few months.

Gorgeous indie Badland should hit the App Store on April 4, developer Frogmind announced on its blog. The ex-Trials team also offered a new gameplay trailer, accessible through the break, showing off power-ups and portals.

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Angry Birds Space is already available on PC in the Chrome Web Store, but if you don’t use Chrome and want to play while you appear to be working, Rovio have brought the game to Steam.

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Not being a Japanese speaker, I can’t say for sure what exactly Disney Magic Castle: My Happy Life is. But I know it is a 3DS game, and it has clothes shopping, fishing, farming and fighting. Oh, and lots of Disney characters.
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Twisted Metal developer Eat Sleep Play has released a social endless runner called Running with Friends. Published by Zynga, the free-to-play iOS title is available on the App Store now. Traditionally at home to a more mature audience, Eat Sleep Play had to tone down its gory plans, but VentureBeat reports the game remains unusually competitive and includes destructible environments.

Thanks, Shack News.

Dragon Age: Legends developer BioWare San Francisco has been closed, with all jobs lost, according to reports citing anonymous sources.

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Richard Garriott is teasing a reveal later this week, with all signs pointing to a crowd-funded project inspired by his influential RPG series, Ultima.

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Super Crate Box developer Vlambeer has sent Ridiculous Fishing to Apple for certification. This is something of a triumph for the tiny indie; in a new blog post, the team detail the heartbreak of being raced to market by a copycat, which went on to great success. The team nearly disbanded altogether but eventually persevered, turning flash original Radical Fishing into iOS title Ridiculous Fishing – A Tale of Redemption. Look for it on the App Store soon. Vlambeer is also responsible for the greatest game ever made and took part in the recent Mojam.

Thanks, PocketGamer.

EA and Zynga have settled over claims that the Zynga’s “The Ville” infringed on EA’s “The Sims Social,” reports Bloomberg. The report states the actual contents of the settlement were not reveled, only that both parties had reached a settlement. Back in August 2012, EA filed a copyright infringement suit over the social game maker’s Facebook game The Ville, claiming it “copied the original and distinctive expressive elements,” of The Sims Social. The following month, Zynga filed a countersuit stating the copyright infringement claim had “no merit” and was “anticompetitive” among other things. Zynga’s game was eventually shuttered last fall anyway, but not due to the lawsuit: it was because no one played the thing.

Activision and Rovio have announced that the Angry Birds Trilogy has sold over one million units worldwide. The firms jointly released the Anger Management DLC recently, which features 130 extra puzzles from content such as Wreck the Halls and Birdday Party. The trilogy was released in September 2012 for 3DS, PS3 with Move support, and Xbox 360 with Kinect integration. It will release for Wii and Wii U sometime this year.

IGF Nuovo Award finalist 7 Grand Steps: What Ancients Begat is now available for purchase. The unusual historical board game is still in beta, but buying in now at $10 off garners you access to the full release in northern spring, which will cost $15. There’s a demo available for both PC and Mac, and there’s a trailer through the break. Developer Mousechief also produced the excellent Dangerous High School Girls in Trouble.

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