After bringing us the first multiplayer Google TV game earlier this month, the folks at ustwo are at it again. This time they’re launching Whale Trail, a popular and addictive iOS game that has been downloaded over 140,000 times with a 4.5 star rating, onto the Android market for all 2.3+ devices.

The [...]]]>

After bringing us the first multiplayer Google TV game earlier this month, the folks at ustwo are at it again. This time they’re launching Whale Trail, a popular and addictive iOS game that has been downloaded over 140,000 times with a 4.5 star rating, onto the Android market for all 2.3+ devices.

The premise of Whale Trail is a simple one; you play as Willow the Whale, and your main goal is to fly through the sky, collecting bubbles and smashing the thunder bros. You’ll be given more points the better you do, and you can choose from either the endless classic mode or mini challenge levels where you can collect stars.

Whale Trail is an incredibly simple game to control. Put your finger on the screen to make Willow fly up, and let go to have her go down. Pressing and holding the screen will see Willow do a loop-de-loop, which is sometimes necessary to collect all the bubbles.

We’ve had some hands on time with Whale Trail, and have found it to be a very fun and addictive game that is easily worth the $0.99 asking price. To get a feel for Whale Trail, check out the video embedded below. Otherwise, head over to the Android Market and check Whale Trail out for yourself.

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Gameloft’s popular crime series, Gangstar, will make its third return to Android this fall with the newest update, City of Saints. Following in the footsteps of Rovio, Gameloft headed to the city of Rio for the latest chapter.

Details are slim at this point, but it looks like Gangstar Rio: City of Saints will [...]]]>

Gameloft’s popular crime series, Gangstar, will make its third return to Android this fall with the newest update, City of Saints. Following in the footsteps of Rovio, Gameloft headed to the city of Rio for the latest chapter.

Details are slim at this point, but it looks like Gangstar Rio: City of Saints will offer more of the Grand Theft Auto-inspired gameplay we’ve seen in the first two titles. (Gangstar: West Coast Hustle set in Los Angeles and Gangstar: Miami Vindication set in Miami).

Check out the short teaser video below for a brief preview of  the action. We’ve been patiently waiting for Gameloft’s other crime game, 9mm, since it was announced in May. Hopefully we won’t have to wait as long for Gangstar Rio.

Which crime game would you rather play? Gangstar Rio or 9mm?

Do you like guns and wars (in games, at least)? If so, you’ve probably heard about the Modern Combat game series. These are among the most popular war games for mobile devices, and the next sequel could be coming soon. Gameloft has announced the new Modern Combat 3: Fallen Nation, and we have the [...]]]>

Do you like guns and wars (in games, at least)? If so, you’ve probably heard about the Modern Combat game series. These are among the most popular war games for mobile devices, and the next sequel could be coming soon. Gameloft has announced the new Modern Combat 3: Fallen Nation, and we have the official video preview for you.

The game is to come in the Fall, which is a big window, but we hope it happens soon. It’s available for both Android and iOS, so no one should be left out. (At least not the majority of smartphone users).

Like its predecessors, the game looks exciting as well as demanding. It should prove a very popular title upon its release. Since the approximate release dates coincide, there is a slight chance this game may be featured for Tegra 3 Kal-El quad-core devices. Do you guys think that will be the case?

Key features of Modern Combat 3 include:

• An intense 13-mission campaign with immersive cinematics and memorable moments.
• A frantic multiplayer with up to 12 players, 6 maps and 6 different modes.
• An addictive ranking system with more than 90 experience ranks.
• High-tech modern weaponry with modifications and attachments.
• Next-gen high quality visuals that will compete with the RAGE and UNREAL engines.

Check out the video and let us know what you think. Will you be purchasing Modern Combat 3? Have you played the other ones? Also, Modern Combat 2 is only $0.99 for a limited time in the Apple App Store. Why do they always get the cool special offers?!

Update

Our loyal reader BigMERF has just brought to our attention that Modern Combat 2 is in fact $0.99 for Android users, as well! You simply have to purchase it directly from Gameloft Android’s link. The link is posted at their Facebook page. Just click on the link from your device, and things should be good to go! Thanks, BigMERF!

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Finally available after months of relentless teasing, Xperia Play owners can now head on over to the Android Market and buy Minecraft Pocket Edition for a grand total of just $7.

Currently only available with a create mode, Minecraft Pocket Edition allows you to build anything you can conjure up in your [...]]]>

Finally available after months of relentless teasing, Xperia Play owners can now head on over to the Android Market and buy Minecraft Pocket Edition for a grand total of just $7.

Currently only available with a create mode, Minecraft Pocket Edition allows you to build anything you can conjure up in your own randomized world with 36 different kinds of textured blocks. You can also play multiplayer through a local wireless network and save multiplayer worlds directly to your phone.

While Minecraft Pocket Edition may not seem as full featured as the PC version yet, Carl Manneh explained:

The first version (Alpha 0.1) will focus on the creative aspects of Minecraft. We have tried to put in the features that make sense for playing on a mobile device while still keeping the core of the Minecraft experience.Carl MannehMojang

As with the computer-based version of Minecraft–available on Windows, Mac and Linux–Minecraft Pocket Edition will be supported for a long time to come with various updates constantly improving the portable Minecraft experience. Xperia Play users can download Minecraft Pocket Edition with the application widget below. As for other Android device users, exclusivity should be up by this holiday season.

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Gameloft experienced their fair share of growing pains in the early days of Android. I was always one of their most passionate supporters, but I was also their biggest critic. I complained so much that one of their reps actually flew to my hometown and bought me dinner after the company over-billed [...]]]>

Gameloft experienced their fair share of growing pains in the early days of Android. I was always one of their most passionate supporters, but I was also their biggest critic. I complained so much that one of their reps actually flew to my hometown and bought me dinner after the company over-billed my credit card.

Our biggest annoyance was always Gameloft’s reluctance to place their best titles in the Android Market, but Google finally addressed their concerns and now Gameloft has fully embraced Android’s official store. Most of their best-selling games are now available for purchase in the Android Market and more titles are being added every month.

Not only are the games available, but they are also selling well. Their military shooter Modern Combat 2 appeared on the Top New Paid list and sold over 50,000 units to date.

Paid games can generate some nice profits in the Android Market, but freemium games are generating more revenue and Gameloft knows this. They just released GT Racing: Motor Academy for free and it raced to over 500,000 installs in just a couple of weeks. We don’t know how much Gameloft is actually making on those in-app purchases, but it must be pretty good because the publisher is scheduled to release more freemium games over the coming months.

Next up is Let’s Golf 3. It’s already available for the iPhone and iPad, but it should be hitting the Android Market any day now. Early reviews are mixed with some people praising the gameplay and others complaining about the freemium-ness. One reviewer said, “A great game thats ruined by being freemium, I’d way rather pay a set price and be able to play whenever I want!”

They can’t all be winners, but as long as Gameloft keeps pumping out new titles then I’ll be happy. Now when is 9mm coming out?

If you want to step out of [...]]]> It seems Google is out to make us procrastinate heavily this 4th of July weekend! If you’ve been one of the few lucky folks to get into the Google+ scene, you know how addictive it can be. Google+ isn’t the only treat Google has prepared for us, though.

If you want to step out of your social circles and play around with a nice, simple game, Nexus Contraptions is it. Visit the Google Contraptions YouTube channel to play. It’s got a simple, physics-based premise:  Get a ball into a funnel by placing objects in the way, thereby altering the ball’s route.

These balls are branded with some of the cool features the Nexus S comes packed with, like Google Search, Google Maps, Gmail and YouTube. Each ball has to go through a set of levels in order to get its specific app onto your virtual Nexus S.

Check out the game and let us know how much Google has contributed to your procrastination lately! Now, will you excuse me while I get back to Google+ and Nexus Contraptions?

For those of you who don’t know, OnLive [...]]]> A few days ago, we told you OnLive was bringing its video gaming service to Android devices later this year. Coincidentally, there was a little something  going on this week called E3 where the company unveiled all the details–and then some–about its Android app.

For those of you who don’t know, OnLive is a cloud gaming service that processes and renders video games on its data centers and then streams the video to your device. By offloading the workload to the cloud, OnLive lets you play console-quality games on even the most wimpy netbook. The end-result is the same as playing a game on your console or PC, but without the hassle of installing any software or spending a small fortune upgrading your PC.

As we told you before, OnLive will be releasing an Android app later this year (we’re hearing around August) that will let you play any game that the service offers. If your heart just stopped when you thought about playing Duke Nukem: Forever on your Android tablet, you’re not alone. You’ll be able to play games by using either on-screen touch controls, which developers have to implement, or the OnLive Universal Wireless Controller we showed you last week.

There seemed to be a lot of confusion about the Universal Wireless Controller when I wrote about it last week, so I’ll try to explain it better this time. The controller connects wirelessly to your Android device without anything in-between. There’s nothing to hook up and no other device is needed to connect to your Android tablet/phone. The controller can also connect this way to your PC, Mac and some Vizio TVs. In the rare case that your device doesn’t support the Universal Wireless Controller, OnLive will sell you a USB dongle that will let you connect it.

While playing console-quality games on our Android tablet is enough to send us into a geek-induced comma, OnLive has some much more interesting and mind-blowing stuff coming down the pike. Like how you’ll be able to use your Android device as a controller for OnLive. Or how the company will use the same video-compression technology that it’s using on games to give you a full-blown browser that has a 10-Gbit Internet connection. Wait what?

That’s right. The company is working on a “web browser” for Android devices that works just like its video game app, but instead of streaming a video game, it gives you a full-desktop browser with Flash included. The company demoed how fast full Flash websites like Mercedes Benz’s would load on your device. Also, since none of the rendering is done on the actual device, the “browser” allows you to watch content from Netflix and Hulu right on your Android device. Are you excited about OnLive now? Well, you haven’t heard the best part yet.

The company is working with video game studios to bring OnLive-exclusive video games to the platform. This will allow video game developers to take full advantage of OnLive’s processing power, which is several times more powerful than the most high-end desktop computer available today. The company showed how, by using OnLive’s servers, video game developers could build games that looks just like real life–or better. The company said the technology to bring life-like games to console and computers is not here yet, but it does exist on data centers.

Steve Perlman, CEO of OnLive, gave us a glimpse at the kind of graphics we can expect from games that use the power of the cloud. Basically, games would look just this Batman Arkham City trailer–as realistic as it gets. Virtual reality, here we come.

At the time all we had were a few [...]]]> Last week Madfinger Games, makers of the awesome Samurai II: Vengenance, announced they were working on a new title called Shadowgun, which would be one of the first games specifically designed to take advantage of NVIDIA’s upcoming quad-core Kal-El processor (aka Tegra 3).

At the time all we had were a few screenshots, but now we just discovered a short video of a Shadowgun tech demo running on the Tegra 2-powerd Acer Iconia. As you can see in the clip, Shadowgun is an over-the-shoulder shooter (think Gears of War) and it already looks better than any other action game we have seen come to Android.

Ashu Rege, Vice President of Game Content and Technology at NVIDIA, said, “SHADOWGUN shows off the console-quality experience that Tegra is bringing to Android devices. We’re especially excited that Madfinger is creating a special version of SHADOWGUN that’s optimized for multi-core processors and will take advantage of the processing and graphics power of Project Kal-El.”

There is no release date for the game yet, but I expect it should be ready when we see the first Kal-El tablets hit stores in September.

From Madfinger Games: SHADOWGUN puts players into the role of John Slade, a professional bounty hunter in the year 2350. Slade’s mission: hunt down Dr. Edgar Simon, renowned geneticist and former employee of the trans-galactic corporation Toltech Enterprises. Players must lead “shadowgun” John Slade as he infiltrates Dr. Simon’s mountain fortress and fights his personal army of mutants, cyborgs, and genetically-enhanced humanoids. Using state-of-the-art weaponry, ships, and the assistance of S.A.R.A.—Slade’s personal android assistant. The story is written by award winning author Micah Nathan who has joined the MadFinger team as executive creative consultant for SHADOWGUN.

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[Thank you andrew53517 for the tip.]

On Friday, NVIDIA teamed up with Playbox [...]]]> When NVIDIA announced the Tegra 2 processor for Android smartphones, I think we all knew that gaming on Android was going to get significantly better. True to form, NVIDIA has started partnering with developers to unleash games which take advantage of its powerful Tegra 2 chipset.

On Friday, NVIDIA teamed up with Playbox to release Bang Bang Racing, a fun, action-packed racing game originally built for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 game consoles, now brought exclusively to mobile phones running the Tegra 2 processor.

Controls

Instead of going the traditional screen overlay control scheme (where transparent control buttons are constantly on the screen), Bang Bang Racing uses a unique touched based control system. Simply put your finger on the screen in the direction you want the car to go, and the car will automatially steer toward your finger, moving more quickly the farther away your finger is from the car itself.

The control scheme used by Bang Bang Racing, though innovative and different, makes the game extremely frustrating to play. Having your finger take up part of the screen on a 7+” tablet screen is okay, but you can basically forget about playing this game on your sub 5″ phone. You can ease the pain a bit with practice and through learning the courses more in-depth, but in the end the controls in Bang Bang Racing leave much to be desired.

Judging from the comments on the Android Market, I’d say I’m not the only one who feels this way.

Gameplay

The best feature of Bang Bang Racing is the gameplay itself. The gameplay is fluid and really demonstrates the power of NVIDIA’s chipset. The physics are also pretty awesome, and the car moves and interacts with objects just how you’d imagine a car should in real life.

The concept of the game is a simple one, you are in a field of eight racers, and your goal is to be the first one across the finish line. You can compete in individual races on the eight included tracks, or enter the championship mode to compete in a series of races to win one of four championship cups.

Other Goodies

As is customary with these types of games, there are several goodies that can be unlocked by progressing through the game (read: winning races/championships).

Bang Bang Racing also features OpenFeint support, bringing online achievements and leaderboards so you can see where you stack up against other racers from around the globe.

Pros

• Graphics are gorgeous, and the physics are done extremely well
• Controls take some getting used to, but makes more sense than the traditional button overlay on tablets (phones, not so much)
• OpenFeint achievements and global leaderboards add a level of challenge to the game
• Multiple gameplay options

Cons

• The $8 price tag is going to deter many people from purchasing the game, at least until they improve the controls.
• On the smaller screens, the touch-based controls simply don’t make sense, as your finger will almost always get in the way, especially as you’re learning new tracks.

Final Verdict

Bang Bang Racing is an extremely fun racing game for Android Tegra 2 devices that is plagued by controls that, though novel and innovative, will ultimately leave users frustrated. As this game was featured on PS3 and Xbox 360, the $7.99 price tag shouldn’t really come as a surprise, but I feel this game may not be as successful as it could have been because of the price tag coupled with difficult controls as well as the 15-minute refund window Google has bestowed upon Android.

If the control scheme wasn’t such a huge problem, I would have no problem telling you to shell out the $8 and buy this incredible game. Unfortunately, difficult controls can make or break a game, and for now I have to advise you against this game unless you have the patience necessary to master the controls.

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Asphalt 6 will set you back $4.99 and [...]]]> One year ago I declared that Gameloft had pulled into the lead as the top Android game developer when they published Asphalt 5 and they have maintained their leading position ever since. This week Gameloft finally made Asphalt 6: Adrenaline HD available for Android devices.

Asphalt 6 will set you back $4.99 and it can only be purchased through Gameloft’s web store, but this is easily the best racing game I’ve played on Android and it’s worth the price of admission. To purchase Asphalt 6, visit Gameloft.com on your mobile device or order it from their official product page.

We have been pretty critical of Gameloft’s web store, but the overall level of service is improving. It now allows multiple payment methods including credit card, PayPal, and Amazon payments. We would still like to see these games published in the official Android Market, but Gameloft says it doesn’t meet their needs so don’t expect that to happen anytime soon.

I’m only about 10% finished with the game, but it looks to offer almost endless amounts of gameplay. There are 12 detailed tracks and 42 vehicles to unlock, so you will stay busy trying to conquer the 11 different leagues and 55 challenges offered in the game. When you want to take a break from career mode, there is also an online multiplayer mode that allows up to 6 players.

Performance wise, Asphalt 6 runs pretty smooth, but it is also one of the first games to stutter at times on my Nexus S. It’s not enough to affect the gameplay, but I would love to see how Asphalt 6 runs on one of the faster dual-core phones. Gameloft optimizes each game for individual phones, so performance may vary depending on your device.

Check out the trailer below for an idea of what to expect in Asphalt 6.

Highlights of Asphalt 6 include:

• 42 models from the most prestigious manufacturers (Ferrari, Lamborghini, Aston Martin, BMW, Audi and more)
• Online/Local Multiplayer mode for up to 6 players
• 12 tracks, from L.A. to Tokyo and more, with HD graphics
• An immersive Career mode with 11 different leagues and 55 events
• Amazing number of tuning options for each model (decals, rims, boosts, and more)