If that headline is lost on you, I feel sad for two very good reasons. One: you're out of the loop on one of my favorite memes of all time, courtesy of Kaz Hirai's 2006 enthusiasm (that nobody else shared) about Ridge Racer going mobile on the PSP. Two: There might even be a chance that you're completely unaware that Ridge Racer is a thing, and since it's really going mobile soon, that makes me one sad panda.Namco Bandai has just revealed that the next game in the series will be Ridge Racer Slipstream, a mobile racer for iPhone, iPad and Android. The game will feature 12 vehicles, 300 customization options, and 20 tracks.Get ready to download this one on December 19, aka the last day before the iTunes Connect shutdown freezes the new games section of the App Store solid for a week's holiday.
When it comes to action-adventure platformers on a mobile device, it just doesn't get any more magical and mysterious that Frogmind's critically-acclaimed Badland. After all, we've seen the highly original adventure crop up on countless App Store "best of" lists and mobile gaming promotions before, and now Android users finally have the chance to share in on all of the wonder. That's right: Badland has officially come to Android devices today!But now here's the interesting thing about this news: the Android version of Badland has adopted a free-to-play model, so all users will be able to experience a taste of the whimsical adventure at absolutely no cost! Of course, to unlock everything that the premium version of Badland has to offer, you'll need to make a series of in-app purchases which include: $1.99 to unlock the second set of 40 levels in the game; $1.99 to unlock 17 additional multiplayer levels and 3 multiplayer characters; and $0.99 to remove all in-game ads."But if you want to make the best of a really great bargain, you can always pick up the special Premium Pack for only $2.99, which unlocks all content and features of the game! You can download Badland on the Google Play Marketplace right now, and if this is your first time in the vibrant and mysterious world that accompanies it, please be sure to share your thoughts on the game down in the replies!
While America takes a few days off for turkey and shopping, the rest of the world ticks on - and China is no exception. This week a few interesting tidbits have emerged from the People's Rebpublic, including some predictions for the Chinese mobile market in 2012 and some thoughts on why some Western games might not be succeeding as well on their side of the globe.As always, this week's top stories from China come to us courtesy of our friends at Laohu.com. If you're looking for more great gaming news from China - and happen to speak the language (or love Google Translate) - be sure to check them out at Laohu.com.
Okay fellow deal hunters and sales enthusiasts, the day is finally upon us: the Christmas, birthday, and college graduation of discounts. That's right, Black Friday is here! And as is only to be expected, hundreds of amazing new gaming deals are sprouting up all over the internet faster than you can even buy them all!So this weekend you not only have a ton of discounted games all across the App Store, but you also have massive catalogue deals on GOG.com and a wonderful new promo that features 100 great games for only $1 each! And if you think that's already way too many deals for one person to reasonably handle, I haven't even told you that Steam's annual Autumn Sale has just kicked off this week as well!Now of course, with such a universal day of widespread sales and the current rate at which they're appearing online, there's no way we're able to keep track of every single one, so if you spot another awesome Black Friday deal out there that we may have missed, please join in on the festive spirit and add it to our list in the replies below!
Looking for a great new game to put in your pocket this weekend? Papa Pear Saga, King's free-to-play spin on Peggle-style pachinko games, has finally made the jump from Facebook to mobile. The game is now available on iTunes and Google Play. If you need more reason to check it out than that, be sure to check out our four star review from this past April.Papa Pear follows King's tradition of Saga games that are finetuned on Facebook before making the jump to mobile. Candy Crush Saga, Pet Rescue Saga, and Bubble Witch Saga have all gone the same route. If you're a fan of their other games, it seems like it's only a matter of time until Farm Heroes Saga and the recently released Pepper Panic Saga follow suit.Now if you'll excuse me, I have some acorn-shaped pegs to bounce off of.
King has announced this week that the powerhouse company responsible for gaming juggernauts like Candy Crush Saga and Papa Pear Saga will be opening a brand new studio in Berlin, Germany in early 2014. The upcoming Berlin studio will join King's handful of other existing Europe-based locations in Barcelona, Bucharest, London, Malmo, and Stockholm.It certainly makes sense, given everything we've learned from our recent trip to King's studio in Stockholm last month. The company strives to keep everything regarding King completely based out of Europe, so that everyone is always working within the same time zone, and if employees need to make a trip out to a different studio, then it's only just a quick plane ride away."In speaking on the company's decision to set up shop in Berlin going forward, King CEO Riccardo Zacconi has stated, "Germany is home to an exceptional amount of games development talent and Berlin is one of Europe's leading creative hubs, so we have no doubt that the Berlin studio will produce fantastic, fun casual games that can be enjoyed by millions of people around the world."And as luck would have it, if you just so happen to live in the area, or just feel like packing up and relocating to Berlin on a whim, King needs some help filling up that shiny new studio before its 2014 grand opening, and is currently accepting job applications for numerous positions in the technical, art, and business performance departments (and don't forget our top 5 reasons of why you'll want to be working at King in the first place).
Disease is a pretty prevalent theme in entertainment. Whether we're talking about books, movies or games, there always seems to be some sort of world-ending plague right around the corner (and in the case of The Walking Dead, we can do all three: read, watch, and play!)The makers of Plague Inc., a top notch mobile game with the sort of viral success that its subject matter could only dream of, recently took to the stage at Nine Worlds Geekfest in London. They were joined by a group of scientists, and together they partook in a discussion on why the subject of disease is so popular in video games, movies, and more. It's a fascinating watch - especially if you're interested in why popular culture is so often driven by an apocalyptic case of the sniffles.The above video was a session at Nine Worlds Geekfest 2013. The session was supported by The Wellcome Trust as part their engagement with with the games, broadcast and film industries and commitment to gaming as a form of public engagement with science. They are on Twitter at; @WellcomeTrust.
It's said that nature abhors a vacuum, and that's true in the world of video games as well. When something popular disappears, it's just a matter of time before a replacement pops up to take its place.For mobile developers, the void in question was created when OpenFeint shut down late last year. Though not universally beloved, especially after it went through a bit of a data privacy flap in 2011, the social platform was a favorite among many game creators for the way its SDK enabled them to add social features to classic titles like Fruit Ninja and Jetpack Joyride. It was also ahead of the curve in recognizing the growing power of the Android market, adding support for Google's OS to its original focus on iOS in 2010.OpenFeint was purchased by GREE in the spring of 2011, and there were high hopes that it would continue to be available going forward. Twenty months later it was gone, leaving behind enough remorse to serve as an example of what Joni and Janet both warned people about.