Cultural phenomenon? Absolutely. But that doesn't mean it's complex. Flappy Bird is endearing because of its simplicity. And in keeping the game simple, it remains easily adaptable. Take Flappy Bird in a Box for instance - a real-world rendering of the game that's now available as a DIY kit on Kickstarter.Created by Fawn Qiu, a Harvard alumni who co-developed teacher curriculum for the kids-can-code program Scratch, Flappy Box is just the latest in her "anyone can make anything" approach to STEM culture. Qiu is also the founder of MakeAnything - a technology kit community that promotes STEM learning through accessible, user-friendly project kits and workshops.Qiu's Flappy Bird project really took flight after an appearance on BuzzFeed in February. But while cool, it was also pricey to build. "The motors and Arduino board alone would cost $70!," reads the project's Kickstarter page. But with so much interest, Qiu knew there had to be a way to bring the cost down. Her team has sourced raw materials and streamlined the design to help bring the price to a consumer-friendly level. Also, ordering in bulk helps. "We want to raise money in order to put in a large order and to make the Flappy Box Kit more affordable."
Every now and then, the internet gets a funky little oddity that provides a surprising amount of amusement for what it is. Today, Twitter rolled out once such oddity. By visiting discover.twitter.com/first-tweet, you can see the very first tweet you posted to your account.In fact, you can see anyone's first tweet. (tee-hee)And so, like any good citizen of the internet, I felt it was my responsibility to comb through the first tweets of every game developer worth following on Twitter to find the ones that really stuck out. As you'd expect, 99% of them are people saying "I'm on Twitter now" or "let's see what this Twitter thing is about." In an effort to represent the 99% (Occupy Twitter, people!), here's what Jonathan Blow, the creator of Braid and the upcoming The Witness first tweeted: "Now that we have that out of the way, let's see what those who weren't ready to just greet their newfound Twitter friends had to say.
After making a big splash earlier this year as Apple's Free Game of the Week, Max Axe's creators have entered into a partnership to bring the game to one of the world's biggest mobile markets: China. Details on that, funding announcements, and what happens when your games violate Chinese regulations below!Thanks as always to our partners at the Beijing-based Laohu.com for sharing this weekly roundup. For a deeper understanding of the Chinese mobile games market, be sure to bookmark Laohu.com.
Blue Manchu's Card Hunter, the browser-based, RPG-meets-CCG-meets-tabletop game with a sense of humor and a Richard Garfield pedigree, is really good. So good, in fact, that I sometimes wish I could take it with me when I'm not by my laptop.DropForge Games must have read my mind. The relatively new Seattle studio funded by Wargaming.net (yes, the World of Tanks folks) is helping Blue Manchu by developing and publishing a mobile version of Card Hunter made with tablets in mind."The number one request from the Card Hunter community has been 'when will this be on my tablet?'" Blue Manchu founder and CEO Jon Chey said in a press release announcing the deal. "The game's design screams out for a tablet experience."Indeed it does, as the turn-based, tactical battles feel like they'd transfer to touchscreens without too much trouble. It's also already built on a free-to-play model, enhanced with a sensible option to pay for more content.
Few games have a story behind them quite as riveting as Tetris. I first learned about the strange and storied history of the game when reading Game Over, David Sheff's insanely detailed book on the history of Nintendo.The story of Tetris is really the story of the end of the Soviet Era, Cold War Politics, and dirty business. For years I've said that it would make a brilliant HBO miniseries, and while we don't have that, this BBC documentary from 2004 is the next best thing.Sit back, make some popcorn, and spend the next 59 minutes of your day with Tetris: From Russia With Love.
Well that didn't take long. It was only last week that Rolling Stone published an interview with Dong Ngyuen, the creator of Flappy Bird, that led to a fury of "will he/won't he?" speculation about the game being returned to the App Store. When asked by Peter Travers if he Flappy Bird would ever take flight again, Nguyen responded "I'm considering it."But where Peter Travers failed to get a concrete answer, Twitter has now succeeded.In response to a similar question by tweeter @painfullpacman, Nguyen has confirmed that Flappy Bird is indeed heading back to the App Store: "Yes. But not soon."
It's hard to get too excited about mobile games that are movie tie-ins. They often seem perfunctory, like they were rolled off an assembly line, and if the movie in question is based on a comic book, that only leads to disappointed fans.Good thing, then, that the upcoming Uncanny X-Men: Days of Future Past is no movie adaptation. Though its May launch on iOS and Android is no doubt intended to coincide with the May 23 release of the X-Men: Days of Future Past film, it's going to one-up Hugh Jackman, Jennifer Lawrence and company when it comes to staying faithful to the classic story from the Marvel comics.That means Kitty Pryde will be doing the time traveling instead of Wolverine. It also means settings and backdrops taken right from Uncanny X-Men #141 and #142, and the pop culture buffs at Glitchsoft, the Canadian studio developing the game, wouldn't have it any other way.
If your head is still spinning from the realization that there's an Angry Birds RPG on the horizon, you'll want to sit down for this one. The game soft-launched in Canada and Australia last night, and after 30 minutes or so, we bumped into a pig that looked pretty darned familiar.Red hat. Moustache. Pipe. Mushrooms. I'll let you be the judge:It's-a-him! Mario!