Vlambeer’s (Super Crate Box, Luftrausers) 2013 mobile fishing game, which is an enhanced version of the company’s flash browser game Radical Fishing, is perhaps more famous for the developer’s battle with the developer of a cloned game. To make a long story short, shortly after beginning work on a mobile version, developer Gamenauts released Ninja Fishing, an game that had a similar style of play. The game became an instant success, and this discouraged the developers to a point where they temporarily scrapped the project. However, after winning awards for their game Super Crate Box, the team decided to scrap everything and rebuild Ridiculous Fishing. Thankfully the game was a success, and is one of the best games available on mobile platforms. [Read the rest of this entry…]
Nintendo, The Pokémon Company and Niantic (Ingress) are working together to bring Pokemon GO to Android and IOS devices in 2016. Like Niantic’s mobile MMORPG Ingress, the game will make use of real world maps to allow players to find, battle, and capture Pokemon in the real world. The game will work in conjunction with a wristwatch peripheral named the Pokemon Go Plus which alerts players of events happening within the game so that players won’t have to spend as much time staring at their screens. Pokemon company president Tsunekazu Ishihara, Nintendo designer Shigeru Miyamoto, and late Nintendo president Satoru Iwata all had their input on the game. While this isn’t the first time Pokemon has hit mobile devices (The Pokemon Trading Card Game has been available on iOS devices since 2012), this is teh first full fleged Pokemon game developed with input from Nintendo. If this goes well, it’ll be interesting to see how this influences Nintendo’s mobile strategy going forward.
Well, everyone’s favorite gun-toting raccoon and living tree are among Marvel’s newest (and most obscure) movie stars as of this weekend in Guardians of the Galaxy, and earlier this summer, everyone’s favorite mutants returned to the silver screen in X-men Days of Future Past, and what good would any movie be without the prerequisite tie-in games? Of course unlike recent movie tie in games, such as the Gameloft-Cashgrab mobile games based on Captain America 2 and Spider-Man 2, these games have no in-app purchases (it’s a rather biting commentary on mobile gaming when we’re praising games for NOT having any IAP, but I digress). The games themselves aren’t bad either. [Read the rest of this entry…]
We’ve long been wary of digital services on consoles at Famicom Dojo, because every time one shuts down there’s the inevitable pain that follows, and features that can never be recaptured. This is what is happening with the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection going dark this week, which takes with it all online multiplayer (and related features) for not only Wii and DS titles, but anything that relied on GameSpy for online connectivity. Similarly, Microsoft has continued its Xbox One backpedaling and has decided that the Kinect 2.0 isn’t required hardware after all. Sean and Vinnk wonder if this change to the Xbox One will make them more likely to get it over the PS4, and decide how best to go out on Nintendo’s original online service. Also, we discuss the Amplitude Kickstarter by Harmonix (which, by now, should be fully funded). We review a brand new game in Future Retro, and Pile of Shame isn’t about video games at all!
Leave your own voicemail at 608-492-1923, or just share your thoughts in the show notes at FamicomDojo.TV: http://famicomdojo.tv/podcast/96
Phil Bond on the subject of f2p gaming: “When you make a game where paying any money whatsoever feels like cheating, that has to be a mistake — right?” Or, as Vinnk puts it, you can pay to play more, or pay to play less. Sometimes both in the same game. Just don’t say that Nintendo should follow this model, or… we’ll say something not nice, or something. Vinnk and Sean trade stories of their particular Free-2-Play addictions (Puzzles and Dragons, and Candy Crush, respectively), and their guilt over never paying any money for these games, leaving it to “whales” to support the entire system. And Vinnk may have inadvertently made his daughter into a gold farmer.
Leave your own voicemail at 608-492-1923, or just share your thoughts in the show notes at FamicomDojo.TV: http://famicomdojo.tv/podcast/84
While certain “Hardcore” gamers will forever debate whether or not tablet gaming is ‘legitimate’, games like The Room are deep enough for core gamers to appreciate while at the same time providing unique gaming experiences that have mechanics only possible in mobile gaming. The object of the room is to use clues and intuition to unlock a series of devices. You’ll tilt, scroll, and drag objects across the screen of your tablet as you unlock the mysteries of the strange devices you encounter. The game is short in length, although a sequel features even deeper gameplay, and sheds even more light on the secrets of the device.
Normally I don’t feature free-to-play games in this column, but with this game I’m making an exception since you don’t need to spend any real world money to experience everything it has to offer. Pixel People is an 8-bit version of what the 2005 film The Island would look like if instead of being murdered and having their organs harvested, the clones actually were being sent to an island, and this island was in space. You are in control of a colony of clones on an island in space. After they come to an arrival center, you assign them jobs by splicing two genes which represent professions. There are over 200 to unlock, and there are small animals and other items to find and unlock as well. Your island is constantly expanding, so you’ll need to purchase more land for buildings and houses. There are two main resources: gold and utopium. Gold is harvested on a regular basis, while utopium is a bit more scarce. You can buy utopium at a premium price, but if you’re patient, you can wait until you save up for whatever you need. A recent update added the ability to add facebook friends so you can trade commodities with them, leave gifts, and visit their towns. If you got an iPad, and a few minutes a day to kill, grab this from the app shop. It’s free-to-play, but thankfully it’s not pay-to-win.
10000000 is a mash up of match-3 puzzle gameplay and dungeon crawling. It doesn’t look like much, but it’s very addictive and it’s a perfect time killer for mobile devices. Your goal is to escape from a dungeon by scoring 10000000 points – however it all has to be done in one session. Each time you are defeated, you are sent back to your room. However, you can use the wood, gold, and stone gathered during each run to upgrade shops, unlock new features, and gain new abilities which will make it easier and easier to make it through the game. Although there isn’t much to do after gaining the 10000000, it’s still a fun and simple game that’s best suited for mobile devices.
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Vlambeer’s (Super Crate Box, Luftrausers) 2013 mobile fishing game, which is an enhanced version of the company’s flash browser game Radical Fishing, is perhaps more famous for the developer’s battle with the developer of a cloned game. To make a long story short, shortly after beginning work on a mobile version, developer Gamenauts released Ninja Fishing, an game that had a similar style of play. The game became an instant success, and this discouraged the developers to a point where they temporarily scrapped the project. However, after winning awards for their game Super Crate Box, the team decided to scrap everything and rebuild Ridiculous Fishing. Thankfully the game was a success, and is one of the best games available on mobile platforms.
