Sega Announces 'Total War Battles: Kingdom' for PC, Mac and Tablets Posted: 03 Dec 2014 01:00 PM PST Back in 2012 Sega released Total War Battles: Shogun [$1.99], a mobile spinoff of the long-running Total War series of strategy games from developer Creative Assembly. Today Sega and Creative Assembly have announced the follow-up to Shogun, called Total War Battles: Kingdom. The major change here is that Kingdom will be entirely server-based, and will release across the PC, Mac and mobile platforms. That means that you can carry your progress over across those platforms. There are also pretty big changes to the realm-building aspects and the large-scale battles in Kingdom, which Creative Assembly talks about in this lengthy announcement trailer.
Total War Battles: Kingdom sounds ambitious, and looks really great in that video. I love the idea of creating a persistent online world that you can carry over between platforms. The release date isn't more specific than "coming soon" but if you're anxious to try out Total War Battles: Kingdom then you can try signing up for the closed beta on PC by visiting the official website, and once a more specific release date is locked down we'll let you know. |
'Pixel Boat Rush' Goes on Sale, Developer Asks Our Community What They Want for First Big Update Posted: 03 Dec 2014 11:49 AM PST Pixel Boat Rush [$0.99] is a rad 2D boat racing game from the folks at XperimentalZ Games, who have also done a good job with their previous releases like Platforms Unlimited [Free] and Don't Run With a Plasma Sword [Free], the latter of which is also a top-notch name for a game. Well, Pixel Boat Rush has just gotten its first sale, dropping down to $0.99 from its $1.99 price. Not bad at all for a game I personally enjoy, and our own Shaun Musgrave had praise for in his review.
The game's also got an update in the works, but what it will include is not quite clear yet. The developers are in our forums running a poll and talking with users like you to see what you want – online multiplayer sound fun? An endless mode more your style? Or what about some 'Master' races to add some extra challenge? Hop on over to the forums and let your voice be heard, and maybe what you want will be in the game soon. |
'Mini Motor Racing WRT' Announced, Original Goes Free for this Week Posted: 03 Dec 2014 10:31 AM PST
The "WRT" in Mini Motor Racing WRT stands for World Racing Tournament, and punctuates the fleshed-out career mode in this new entry that sees you building a fleet of high-performance vehicles and a racing team to compete for the championship. There's an added social component which allows players to form Race Clubs with friends and compete against other clubs online. Mini Motor Racing WRT will also feature licensed vehicles from Nissan, KIA, and Choro-Q, the latter of which is the brand name of those "Penny Racers" which the vehicles in the Mini Motor Racing series resemble. Check out the trailer.
To celebrate the announcement of Mini Motor Racing WRT, The Binary Mill has dropped the price of both the iPhone and iPad versions of the original game to free until this Friday, so players can jump in and practice their racing skills in anticipation of the sequel launching. Mini Motor Racing WRT is planned for release sometime this month as a free to play game, so once it drops we'll be sure to give you a heads up. |
'Tomb Raider 2' is Out Now Worldwide Posted: 03 Dec 2014 09:26 AM PST Square Enix has unearthed an early release day surprise for y'all, as Tomb Raider 2 [$1.99] is now out worldwide, ahead of when games normally release across the globe on Wednesday. This is a port of the Playstation One-era game starring Lara Croft, with widescreen visuals, though the game hasn't gotten too much of a visual revamping since its original release. This does come with both the original game and its expansion "The Golden Mask" which originally was only available for PC. It still looks like a game from 1997, just running in HD now!
This comes out about a year after the original Tomb Raider [$0.99] released on the App Store. The sequel has the standard sequel features: new levels, new weapons, vehicles to drive, yetis, and whatnot. But the original game has gotten some of the touchscreen controls improvements that the just-released sequel has. It's still adapting a game that used a d-pad, 4 face buttons, and 4 shoulder buttons back in the day, but at least there's MFi gamepad support in tow. This is a piece of gaming history for orders of magnitude cheaper than what it cost seventeen years ago, so be glad you're getting a lot of game for this cheap, you whippersnappers! Get off my lawn! |
'Hearthstone' Goblins vs Gnomes Data Mined, Android Version of 'Hearthstone' Coming Very Soon? Posted: 03 Dec 2014 08:45 AM PST Our pals over at Hearthpwn have data mined the upcoming Hearthstone [Free (HD)] Goblins vs Gnomes patch data, which is a fancy way of saving they poked through it looking for any relevant text strings and image files. This sort of thing has been going down in Diablo and World of Warcraft patches forever, so, it only makes sense that Hearthstone gets similar treatment. They've got all the golden cards, along with catching a bunch of flavor text changes as well as the expected card type update to make a lot of previously-released mechanical cards count as Mechs. Most interesting though is the bonus achievements which Blizzard is going to be offering during the Goblins vs Gnomes release window. Just like Curse of Naxxramas, Blizzard is going to be pushing players hard to get back into the game for the new Goblins vs Gnomes content. Per the data mining, this seems to include two different events: The first of which is a sneak peek where you'll be able to play in the arena with Goblins vs Gnomes cards. "Goblins vs Gnomes Arena Mischief!" earns you free arena entry, although it's not entirely clear right now if you'll just be able to do this once, or if it's going to be a repeatable thing.
If you play during the Goblins vs Gnomes expansion opening (which probably means in the week or so following its release) you'll get three free GvG packs. Last, and arguably the best news out of this, is that there's a reward for a free pack of cards if you play the game on an Android tablet. Blizzard has been teasing plans to release Hearthstone on Android tablets for a while now, with the most firm statement involving something about how they hope to have it out by the end of the year. It seems like a great time to release something like that would be along side the new expansion, as Blizzard would be able to double dip on the news of the new card set and the Android client. This is all speculation of course, but, the text wouldn't be in the patch if it wasn't happening very soon. We've got a lot of TouchArcade readers who mention they've got an iPhone but have an Android tablet, so, if that describes you, now seems to be a good time to start getting excited to play Hearthstone like us iPad owners. Goblins vs Gnomes is launching on the 8th, so, keep your eyes opened as that's less than a week away. |
New iPhone Games Coming Tonight: 'Bean Dreams', 'Elune Saga', Shadowrun: Dragonfall' and More Posted: 03 Dec 2014 07:19 AM PST Christmas comes early for me, and other folks who loved Bean's Quest [$2.99] with the release of Bean Dreams tonight. Bean's Quest is/was one of my favorite iOS platformers, as it manages to flawlessly bridge the gap of providing an easy and cute game for people who want to ignore bonus objectives while giving hardcore gamers who want to hit things like the maximum jump count for a level something to endlessly pour over. Clever stuff. Oh, Shadowrun: Dragonfall is coming too, which I'm guessing a lot of people will be excited about as well.
Here's the full list of games coming tonight with threads on our forums as of about 10:00 AM Eastern:
Keep an eye out for the full roundup later this evening, and there's a bunch of other stuff that was soft launched going worldwide this week which could randomly pop up at any time. |
Nitrome Reveals Two Upcoming Arcade-Style Games: 'Platform Panic' and 'Roller Polar' Posted: 03 Dec 2014 06:00 AM PST Nitrome just can't stop making games. They recently announced their upcoming Gunbrick , which I can't wait to try out. But that's not all they're working on, as they have a couple of smaller arcade titles in the works. They've announced Platform Panic, an endless Mega Man style platformer, where the goal is to dodge various hazards to make it to the exit, with points earned for each room escaped. The game is controlled by swipes, with auto-running. There are coins to collect, and new characters to unlock. This one looks like an interesting take on retro-inspired games:
Additionally, Roller Polar is coming soon, and involves controlling a polar bear on a giant snowball, having to jump over rocks and creatures that accrue on the snowball, birds flying by, and jumping to other snowballs, with points earned for each obstacle dodged. Check out the trailer:
Nitrome is remarkably prolific in their releases – they release Flash games regularly, and put out Endless Doves [Free] not long ago, which was an endless adaptation of 8bit Doves [$2.99]. But hey, I'm glad they're putting out some more of their smaller pixel-art-based games on mobile, especially as they have some rather interesting games. |
Space Simulator 'Star Nomad' Re-Releases as Paid Game Posted: 03 Dec 2014 05:00 AM PST Some people really don't like paying for games – and that's why developers tend to make free-to-play games for mobile. Well, the developer of Star Nomad [$3.99], Halfgeek Studios, decided to make their paid PC game a free-to-play game on mobile. Well, after a couple months, the developer has decided to reboot the game, and to re-release it as a premium game for mobile. This is the same game as the PC version, and lacking in-app purchases entirely, just with a $3.99 cost up front. The game itself is a space simulator that tries to be accessible while still deep. There's plenty of space combat, but also loads of trading to undergo – or just be a straight-up pirate. It's a sandbox game, but with an overarching story to follow as well.
This is quite the interesting scenario, mostly because paid games are a rough business on mobile at the moment, at least in terms of making a living off of them for many developers. So going free-to-play is an option, but it's risky in and of itself because it's hard to balance out. But hey, while there's no guarantee that this will work out, at least the developer took a risk, and is trying again with a paid release that may appeal to the audience they're looking for. |
Posted: 02 Dec 2014 04:33 PM PST "Goblins vs. Gnomes," the new 120-card expansion for Hearthstone [Free (HD)], will be available on December 8th. Where Hearthstone's previous expansion focused on oozing horrors, fell creatures, and Deathrattle mechanics, the cards introduced next week are full of novelty gadgets, kludged-together gizmos, and a new "Mech" tribal. In keeping with the theme of unpredictable contraptions, many of the cards focus on randomness. All of the new "Ogre" cards, for example, have a chance to attack the wrong enemy, which provides a nice counter-balance to their low mana cost. Blizzard announced the expansion at BlizzCon last month and has been periodically revealing new cards ever since. For example, we were excited to debut the Whirling Zap-O-Matic late last month: it's a Shaman-exclusive Mech with 3 attack, 2 health, and the Windfury ability (which lets it attack twice each turn). With a 2-mana cost, it's likely that the Zap-O-Matic will find its way into any Shaman Mech build, especially with something to protect its paltry health. In anticipation for next week's release, you can see all of the new "Goblins vs. Gnomes" cards on the game's Facebook page.
As previously discussed, "Goblins" cards will be released in special new packs. These will be available in the Hearthstone as usual and can be bought with real money or in-game gold. Notably, "Goblins"-specific packs will become the default prize for the Arena mode, which is a slight bummer for anyone (including yours truly) who hasn't completed the base collection yet. In addition to new cards and new gameboard, the "Goblins" expansion will also introduce a Spectator Mode, which allows you to watch live games from anyone on your friends list and vice-versa. In other news, an upcoming patch will also be tweaking "Flare," "Soulfire," and "Gadgetzan Auctioneer." Blizzard hasn't said when this patch is going live, but it's possible that it will be implemented alongside "Goblins vs. Gnomes" next week. |
'Infinite Warrior: BattleMage' is an Action-RPG Defense Game That's Bringing Back Cheat Codes Posted: 02 Dec 2014 02:27 PM PST Empty Flask Games is working on a spinoff of their 2012 action game Infinite Warrior [Free / Free], called Infinite Warrior: BattleMage. This will be an action-defense game, where players will take control of a battle mage in a tower located in the center of each level, hurling spells at enemies, trying to survive as many waves as possible. Controls are as simple as tapping on enemies to fire spells at them, with a number of special abilities that become unlocked over time, with 20 total spells across 4 different schools of magic.
There's a heavy RPG influence, with character leveling and equipment to improve stats. There are 6 total battlefields, but players will start off with just 1 to play in. The developers are hoping to expand the lore of the Infinite Warrior series, with challenges that can be completed to unlock more information on the world, along with in-game rewards. The game will be $2.99, though it will launch for $0.99. It won't have any in-app purchases, and in a real throwback, it will have cheat codes! Cheat codes are coming back, y'all! Expect this one by the end of the year, and the developers are chatting this one up in the forums. |
'Hearthstone' Balance Changes: Soulfire, Gadgetzan Auctioneer and Flare Posted: 02 Dec 2014 01:21 PM PST As a long time Magic player, I've never been wild about digital card games and the ability to retune existing cards over just releasing new cards that shift the metagame. (Sure, you could argue the ban list is how Wizards "retunes" things, but, whatever.) Blizzard doesn't seem shy about tweaking cards that are creating play imbalances, and per a post on the Blizzard forums, Soulfire, Gadgetzan Auctioneer and Flare are getting hit by the nerf bat at some point in the potentially immediate future. Soulfire and Flare are zero mana cards, which can be hard to play around. Similarly, Gadgetzan Auctioneer powers the miracle rogue deck which is still oddly prevalent. Here's the full explanation of the changes:
In other Hearthstone news, a ton of Goblins vs Gnomes cards have been added to the Hearthstone Facebook page. Definitely keep on top of that if you're stoked for the new expansion. As far as when Goblins vs Gnomes is hitting, well, "this month" still. |
Wednesday, 3 December 2014
Touch Arcade
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