EDG Podcast Ep. #143 – Touching on Handhelds
Listen in as Eric Bouchard, Chris Maeurer, Jay Sims and John Danforth discuss the state of the handhelds, including the 3DS, Vita, iOS and Android platforms.
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MUSIC
Intro – “M4 Part 2″ by the Faunts
Break – “Searchlights” by Falling Up
Outro – “Are You Real (Remix)” by KJ 52, featuring Jessy Ribordy & Joseph A. Kisselburgh of Falling Up
TIMESTAMPS
Week in Review – 2:50
3DS and Vita Discussion – 38:21
iOS and Android Discussion – 1:10:34
Twitter – 1:57:45
Tim Time – 2:10:09
Closing – 2:17:54
Run Roo Run!
Run Roo Run is a nice little suprise from 5th Cell, makers of Scribblenauts and the upcoming Hybrid for XBLA. Run Roo Run is a platformer in which you control a little kangaroo over obstacles by tapping to jump. The gameplay is very basic in that you don’t control Roo you only tap to start him moving on his own and tap again when you want to jump. I guess you could say it’s similar to Toki Tori in ways. I’m not a huge fan of automatic “movement” in games but Run Roo Run does it great.
Hanging With Friends
Hanging With Friends is the next game in the “With Friends” series after Words With Friends. I have to admit I was a little skeptical upon downloading it because I honestly didn’t think they could create a more fun game than Words With Friends. I was wrong. Hanging With Friends is a lot better. This game is truly addictive.
As you may have guessed Hanging With Friends is a hangman-type game. When you start a game with someone you are given a random selection of letters in which you are to create a word with. Your opponent is then supposed to guess what the word is by selecting letters from A through Z. Your opponent is only given a select amount of times in which he can be wrong. If they don’t complete the word before running out of tries then one of their balloons pops. Each person has 5 balloons. Once your opponent has either figured out the word or failed they then create a word for you to figure out and so goes the game. You then try to guess their word. This goes back and forth until someone has failed 5 times. The better you do in the game the more your bonus meter grows. When your bonus meter gets filled you are given coins. You can spend these coins on perks. There are 3 different perks: The “Suspects” perk reveals four letters, one of which is in the word, the “Extinguish” perk removes four incorrect tiles, and the “Revive” perk removes one strike. These perks are free but you can only use each of them once per game. You can spend your coins to be able to use the perks more.
The cool thing about Hanging With Friends is that it is polished. The game has a cool background in which your characters are floating over lava holding on to whatever balloons they have left. It’s also nice that you have the option to watch how your opponent guessed their letters.
Overall Hanging With Friends is awesome. I currently have started a movement at work and everyone is playing it. As with all “With Friends” games, there is a free version with ads and a paid version without ads. I highly recommend this game. As of the time of writing this the game is only available on iPhone. I expect an Android and iPad version to surface soon.
Verizon iPhone Beginner’s Guide – Best Apps and Games
After a lot of rumors and speculations that the iPhone was coming to Verizon the day has finally come, this means there will be a handful of people not familiar with the iPhone and the apps that are available for download on it. For those of you that are not familiar with the iPhone app store it can be kind of overwhelming. A lot of time has passed since the app store opened and a lot of great apps and games may no longer be in the spotlight. This guide was created to help you pick out the apps worth downloading. I’ve included links that will take you directly to the app in iTunes. I’ve also included reviews if we reviewed the game here on Everyday Gamers. These are in no particular order.
iBomber Defense
Prior to this game I had not known anything about the previous iBomber games so when I received a press release about iBomber Defense I almost archived it. The fact that it was a tower defense game caught my eye so I decided to give it a try. I’m glad I gave iBD a try because it’s turning out to be one of the best tower defense games I’ve played on my iPhone.
iBomber Defense is a very traditional tower defense game. It doesn’t do anything new as far as TD games go. What it does do is it perfects every element of the genre. First off the graphics are amazing. This game runs on both iPad and iPhone and looks gorgeous. When zoomed out the whole way you can really see the retina display at work. Like I’ve said many times before, graphics are a huge selling point for me. If they look unique then I’m going to be interested in the game. iBomber Defense looks very polished. Explosions look great as well.
The other great thing about iBomber Defense is that you get a lot of bang for your buck. Right now the game is going for $2.99. I think that is a great price seeing as there will be plenty of time put into this game. There are two campaigns, allies and axis, each with 11 levels. There is also 3 difficulty levels to test your skills. In addition to the campaign there is a quick play mode which lets you go back and play campaign levels and try to achieve rewards.
iBomber Defense is definitely one of the top tower defense games on the iPhone and I highly suggest you check it out if you are into the genre. Check out the gallery below to see how gorgeous the game is. These screenshots were taken from my iPhone 4.
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Reckless Racing
Reckless Racing (formerly Deliverace) is a top down racer developed by PixelBite. This game is unlike anything I’ve played on the iPhone thus far. Like I said in my last review, the iPhone has had some really top-quality games released on it over the past few weeks and Reckless Racing is continuing that trend.
Reckless Racing is an amazing looking game and the controls are tight. I’m not a big racing game fan due to the fact that I am not particularly good at the controls on most of them but RR is very forgiving. The controls are very precise, especially on the beginner mode. For the more seasoned racing game fans there is an “Advanced” mode which lets you really utilize the drifting mechanic. There are 5 different control schemes in which you can pick from as well. Reckless Racing is by far one of the best looking games I’ve played on the iPhone. The environments are very detailed and I often find myself distracted by them due to the fact that they are so beautiful and I just want to stop and look at them. There are 5 tracks and 3 modes as of the writing of this review. Each track has a mirrored version of itself. The 3 modes in the game are: Dirt Rally – just a regular racing mode, Hot Lap – beat your ghost/best lap time, and Delivery – pick up the package with your trailer and haul it to the drop off point, do this as many times as you can in the amount of time given. There is also the option of online multiplayer. You can host your own rooms and race with people over wi-fi or 3G.
My only complaint with Reckless Racing is that it’s very bare bones. There is no career mode and the 5 tracks included get boring fairly fast (even though they look amazing!). Like most games my fingers are crossed that they will continue to support Reckless Racing with new tracks, new modes, etc. This game is amazing it just falls short in the content area. Even though the game doesn’t give you much bang for its buck (currently $2.99) it’s still a great game. It plays great and it looks amazing.
Check out the trailer below to see what Reckless Racing is all about:
Trainyard
There’s been a lot of great games for the iPhone lately and now I have another one to add to the list. Trainyard is my latest addiction. Trainyard is a game in where you draw tracks on the screen to get the train (or trains) from Point A to Point B. It’s definitely not as easy as it sounds because a lot of different elements eventually come in to play. You can cross different color trains to combine their color, combine trains into one train, paint trains a different color by directing them through a paint square and lastly split trains into two by crossing a “scissors” square. Now put all of these elements together and the game gets really hard. The cool thing about Trainyard is that there is more than one solution for each puzzle so you can either do it the hard way or do it the intended way, it’s your choice.
Trainyard is a very difficult, mind-bending game. It makes you feel very smart when you complete a level, much in the same way Braid did. Depending on how much time you have to devote to the game you may be stuck on a level for a day, maybe longer. Another great feature is the fact that you can share your solutions with others. Even though I feel like it’s cheating and would never view someone’s solution until after I completed it, I still think it’s an awesome feature. You can share your solution via Twitter or Facebook. When you share with people a link is placed in your tweet or post that takes the person to Trainyard’s website where they can watch your solution right on the website.
Trainyard is an addictively difficult game which I recommend to all iPhone users. The difficulty progresses at an even pace so don’t feel intimidated by it. It’s a great way to test your brain. Trainyard is only $0.99 and is truly a steal at that price. Do yourself a favor and download it now.
Watch the video below to get a better idea of how Trainyard works:
Daily Bits For 6/23/10
Daily Bits is a collection of all the gaming news that has happened for the current day that we deem as interesting and relevant to our readers. Check back daily for more news round-ups and feel free to send your suggestions to dailybits@everydaygamers.com
OnLive Unveils Launch Titles, Includes Pricing
OnLive has listed there launch titles for there upcoming service which also shows pricing options on 3 and 5 day “rental” passes on some titles.
OnLive Launch Titles
- AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! — A Reckless Disregard for Gravity — demo / $9.99 (full)
- Assassin’s Creed 2 — demo / $39.99 (full)
- Batman: Arkham Asylum — demo / $4.99 (3 days) / $6.99 (5 days)
- Borderlands — demo / $29.99 (full) / $5.99 (3 days) / $8.99 (5 days)
- Brain Challenge — demo / $4.99 (full)
- Dirt 2 — demo only
- Defense Grid Gold — demo / $13.99 (full) / $6.99 (5 days)
- F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin — demo / $19.99 (full)
- Just Cause 2 — demo / $49.99 (full)
- LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 — demo only
- Madballs in Babo: Invasion — demo / $9.99 (full)
- Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands — $49.99 (full)
- Puzzle Chronicles — demo / $9.99 (full) / $3.99 (3 days)
- Red Faction: Guerrilla — demo / $19.99 (full)
- Shatter — demo / $8.99 (full)
- Splinter Cell: Conviction — demo / $59.99 (full)
- Trine — demo only
- Unreal Tournament III: Titan Pack — demo / $19.99 (full) / $4.99 (3 days) / $6.99 (5 days)
- World of Goo — demo / $19.99 (full) / $4.99 (3 days) / $6.99 (5 days)
Happy 19th Birthday Sonic!
Sega is celebrating Sonic’s birthday by saving us money, which is never a bad thing. A handful of Sonic titles will be discounted for the XBLA, PSN, and even the IPhone this Thursday. What not a better way to celebrate! The full list of games that are discounted are below.
-Sonic The Hedgehog, Sonic The Hedgehog 2, Sonic The Hedgehog 3, Sonic & Knuckles- 240 Microsoft Points (3$ on PSN) (Thursday Only)
-Sonic Rivals (PSP) 10.99
-Sonic Rivals 2 (PSP) 13.99 or both games for $17.99 (Offer good until July 6th)
-Discounted DLC for Sonic’s All Star Racing, Sonic Unleashed, and Sonic The Hedgehog 1.
Sega is also having a sale on other titles, even though they have nothing to do with Sonic.
-Streets of Rage & Golden Axe for $99 cents. (IPhone)
-Super Monkey Ball 2 ($2.99) IPhone. IPad Version-$4.99
Bad Company 2 ‘Onslaught’ Mode Hits XBL Tomorrow
The delayed Onslaught mode for Bad Company 2 on the 360 will come to Xbox Live tomorrow. As already stated, the pack will run you 800 Microsoft Points.
Everyday Gamers iPhone App Now Available
The official Everyday Gamers iPhone application is now available in the app store for free. Here is the official iTunes description:
This is the official iPhone app for Everyday Gamers, a gaming website created by everyday people who share a strong passion for videos games. Use this app to access all the latest site content on your iPhone or iPad.
*Features – Check out all of our unique original features written by the staff at Everyday Gamers.
*Reviews – Check out all the latest video game reviews for all current-generation consoles including Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, PC, and iPhone.
*News – Check out our daily news round-ups titled ‘Daily Bits’ gathering all of the interesting gaming news for the day and also our Weekly Bytes specializing in all of the week’s PC news with a hint of console news.
*Videos – Check our video reviews and gameplay footage videos for all of the recent Xbox 360 and PS3 demos and games, as well as our original video podcast titled “The Fishbowl” where we discuss a specific game and give you the rundown of what we think of it.
Podcasts – Check out all of the recent episodes of The Everyday Gamers Podcast hosted by Eric Bouchard and Patrick Adams.
This app is the best way to view EverydayGamers.com on your iPhone. To experience Everyday Gamers in all it’s glory visit our website at http://everydaygamers.com where we have forums, HD videos, and more.
Like I mentioned before, the app is free and it’s the best way to view EverydayGamers.com on your iPhone/iPod Touch. If you like the application then please leave us a review in iTunes. To download the application just visit this link http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/everyday-gamers/id372014113?mt=8
Check out the screenshots of the app below:
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Words With Friends
Just recently I started craving a good word game. I personally love word games and I’ve played a few good ones on the iPhone but most of them got old pretty quick. I was considering buying Scrabble but I had heard about this game called “Words With Friends” so I decided to check it out.
Words with Friends looks and plays exactly like Scrabble. You have 7 letters which you are to use to make words on a board. As you use your letters you are given new letters. The object of the game is to have the most points at the end of the game. The game ends when all of the reserve letters run out and both players use all of their letters. Words With Friends is played with only one other person. You can either play online against someone you know, online against a randomly selected person, or on the same iPhone by passing it back and forth.
So far I’ve only played against random people over the internet and this is the reason why I have become so addicted to Words With Friends. This game is perfect for when you are on-the-go or even sitting in the office. I love the fact that you can start more than one game and with push notifications you are notified when it’s your turn. So for example, I’m sitting at my desk, working on something, my phone vibrates letting me know it’s my turn. Most of the time the games are slow, this is why it’s so great that you can start more than one game. Usually I have at least 5 games going and I’m just doing everyday things while playing this extended game of Scrabble. Some games I’ve completed in less than an hour, some games have taken almost 2 days.
At the time of writing this review I am currently addicted to Words With Friends. It was everything I was craving in a word game. I don’t suspect it will get old either because it’s not something overwhelming, it’s just a simple game of Scrabble played online or with a friend and you can play it at your own pace. This is why Words With Friends works so perfectly on the iPhone.