If you’ve been following the news here lately regarding Hearthstone and Blizzcon 2014 then you probably know already about the new expansion on the way called Goblins vs Gnomes which will be arriving soon. In time with this expansion, the Android version of Hearthstone for tablets will also finally be released. Blizzard has released a couple of videos and some art to show off this new expansion.
In case you did miss our last article about the newly announced Goblins vs Gnomes, this expansion will bring over 120 new cards to the game, all of which will be themed around engineering. For example you can expect cards such as Robotic Sheep, Exploding Sheep (a 1/1 card with a death rattle that deals 2 damage to all minions), and Annoy-o-Trons. Now we get to see a bit of a preview as to what some of the new cards will look like and what their effects will be.
This new expansion will be arriving at some point next month (December 2014) which is also the month that the Android tablet version of Hearthstone will finally be making its appearance. However we can check out some of the cards and art now thanks to a couple of videos Blizzard put out and some key art as well. The first video (above) is more of an intro trailer about Goblins vs Gnomes while the second video (below) is more of a gameplay preview for the expansion.
2K Games and Firaxis Games are bringing Civilization Revolution 2 to Android devices. Scheduled to come out on iOS July 2with an Android release shortly there after, Civ Revolution 2 is the sequel to the original iOS version Civilization Revolution, which was a port of the PC game of the same name.
Update: November 10th, 2014 09:56am PST: Civilization Revolution 2 has finally arrived onto Android. Be aware though that picking up a copy of this game (through the link below) will cost you $14.99.
This time around, the game is only coming to the mobile platform, which is an intentional choice by 2K to (hopefully) ensure an experience better suited for a touch screen along with better graphics then the 2009 game.
Like other Civilization games, players will find themselves building their own civilization while going to war against other civilizations. Real historic figures are present and work with you on building a better civilization including researching new technologies and engaging in politics of some sort.
The episodic series Joe Dever’s Lone Wolf will soon be coming to a close as the forth and final episode will be released next week onto Android. Officially named Dawn Over V’Taag, this episode will be the grande finale of the series which so far has been a pretty fun ride to be on.
Announced on the official Lone Wolf website, Forge Replay has also published a trailer for the final episode to give every a taste of what is to come when the episode finally arrives. Along with that the developers have also mentioned that players can expect several gameplay tweaks to be arriving as well as even more art to enjoy that has sort of been the series’ trademark style.
Act 4 – Dawn Over V’Taag will be arriving for Joe Dever’s Lone Wolf on November 20th, 2014 for Android. We will post an update when it does arrive. In the meantime, definitely check out the trailer for Act 4 which is available for viewing in the video above.
2K Games and Firaxis Games have announced that a new XCOM game is launching tomorrow called XCOM: Enemy Within for Android devices both on Google Play and Amazon’s Appstore. However this won’t be arriving as an IAP but as a new release. XCOM: Enemy Within doesn’t stray too far from Enemy Unknown in that players will be defending Earth from an invading alien race. You will have to be able to manage your resources well in order to accomplish this goal. These resources will be used to help build up your defensive forces whether it be researching new weaponry and commanding your forces in battles against this alien race. Even though the update tomorrow will mostly be about bringing the Enemy Within expansion to XCOM, the older content from the original game is getting a bit of a massage as well. New maps, aliens (2 new types to deal with), weapons and so on are being added to it. Soldiers will also be able to get genetically modified, new cybersuits, weapons and tools to use. Finally a new resource will be added to the game called Meld which can be used to unlock new technology and weapons. XCOM: Enemy Within will be launching onto Android tomorrow both on Google Play and Amazon’s Appstore. When it does arrive it will cost $12.99. We will post an update when Enemy Within arrives. You can snag a copy of the original game through the appropriate links below.
I must admit that when Apple released its Texas Hold’em poker game for the iPod back in 2006, I spent many hours, iPod in hand, honing my poker skills (if nothing else, I did get to play against digital versions of some Apple executives ).
As good as that game was at the time, Texas Hold’em for iPhone blows it away. When you play in first-person view (holding the iPhone upright in portrait orientation) the graphics are top-notch, featuring 10 locations with progressively higher buy-ins (in order: Garage, Aquarium, Cruise Ship, Paris, Istanbul, Ice Bar, Roppongi, Vegas, Aruba, and Dubai). The backgrounds shift as the bet moves around the table, and you’ll find nice touches‚ such as posters of the original iMac or the Think Different ad campaign in the Garage location, for example.
Taking the Pot: The game shows you whose hand is best—in this case, mine.
The characters you play against look great: Their movements are much smoother, more realistic, and more complex than in the original iPod version. When these animated characters bet, the amount of chips they push in is actually relative to the size of the bet (the whole stack makes the journey when characters go all-in). When you win a hand, the dealer pushes the pot in your direction, then gives you a clap and a thumbs-up. (All these animations explain the app’s huge 128MB download size.)
Background noises include cheers, a double-tab noise when a player checks, and other immersive sounds. There’s also background jazz (piano, drums, bass) playing. The music can get annoying after a while, but you can turn it down or off in the Settings section of the game, as you can with the other sound effects.
When it’s time to determine the amount you’re going to toss into the pot, the game brings up an on-screen dial to choose. (The iPod version, of course, used the Click Wheel). When you dial into an amount, the interface also shows how much money you’ll have left after placing a bet of that particular amount. When it’s your bet, you can also tap on the dealer to see the blind amounts, the next blinds, and the number of hands until the blinds increase—tapping on the pot shows the amount in it.
If you decide that the person sitting across from you isn’t bluffing her way to a pot, and your pocket deuces aren’t going to be enough, it may be time to listen to those wise words from Kenny Rogers and fold ‘em. Even this is cool—you just drag your cards into the middle of the table and the game animates the cards flipping over.
The downside to all these great graphics is that the game moves pretty slowly to allow you to soak in the ambiance. You can speed things up by tapping on the screen often during betting rounds, but then you lose all the scenery‚ not to mention the player’s tells. Turning the iPhone sideways in landscape orientation switches the game into top-down view. In this view, things move a lot faster, and you can see how much money a player has. Tap on a player to find out more about them: where they’re from, how old they are, their stats, and a quote (Tiffany: “Never give a sucker an even break” or Chris: “Just one more hand and I can get it all back!”)
In top-down view, you can choose from almost 150 icons to represent you at the table, including players for the original iPod version, five different dogs playing poker, and several aliens.
Unlike in first-person view, where the communal cards are dealt face-up, with top-down view, the flop (the first three cards) is dealt face down and then flipped (like in real poker), as are the turn and the river.
The other cool feature is a multiplayer option that lets you play against up to eight other actual, live iPhone or iPod touch users over a Wi-Fi network. I tried it out with a co-worker in the office, and we experienced several dropped connections with our (admittedly unreliable) wireless network. When I tried it at home with two iPhones and my AirPort Extreme base station-powered Wi-Fi network, I had no problems.
Of course, if you’re close enough to play on the same network, maybe it’s a better idea to break out the cards and stare down your friends in real life.
Texas Hold’em is compatible with any iPhone or iPod touch running the iPhone 2.0 software.
If you are like me, card games have a been a big part of growing up: during those blistery nights in Canada playing Hearts with my family, with friends playing Poker until 5 AM for a 5 dollar buy-in, procrastinating on doing homework with one game of solitaire after another…every new step of my life has brought a new game. Today, I will present you with the best free card game apps for your Android.
While perusing through Google Play for something interesting to pop up, I ”stumbled” acrossGovernor of Poker 2, a mix between an RPG and card game app, which got me hooked straight away. Not a poker shark by any means, this game offered me just the right amount of offline free card playing. When starting up the app, you’ll choose yourself a cartoon cowboy or cowgirl character and a name (I chose Cletis, the best wrangler name I could think of) and set forth in the Wild Western town of El Paso. You can move your little buckeroo around town to talk to various people, visit the bank or go to the train station where he can travel to Amarillo, San Angelo, Austin and other cities from ‘when the West was won’! Each city will presents new tournaments and cash games for the chance to win more money and gain a local reputation.
Within in the actual poker game, you can tap on each character to see how many chips they have, what they’ve bet and their rank. On the top right corner, you’ll find ‘Poker Hands’ in Texas Hold’em, Top 8 overview and last result. Back in the town’s 3D map, tapping on the town name on the bottom right corner will get the locomotive in gear and you can choo-choo your way to another city. Your mission: show the governor that Poker isn’t just a game of chance. Governor of Poker 2 comes with a how-to-play tutorial for Texas Hold-em, as well as the option for ”Quick Poker”. I quite enjoyed the hick banter, harmonica country music and the Western environment, a good recommendation for Poker and Western-movie lovers alike!
Solitaire Deluxe
Back when I had no internet at home, a good game from my Desktop Home Games was Solitaire. When coming across Solitaire Deluxe in Google Play, my curiosity arose when I saw how many people loved this game and had left positive feedback. The main menu presents a clear overview of options to start playing, the rewards store, info and settings, sharing to Facebook and more games created by the developer. Your accumulated amount of coins is displayed in the top right corner. Choosing ”Play” brings you to a new screen with the choice of either resuming a game which is underway, or checking out the ”Daily winnable deals” and ”Solitaire Arcade”. ”Daily winnable deals” will present you with the chance to win more coins with solitaire variations, like Klondike, Pyramid, Tri-peaks and more. Your achievements can be logged in the leaderboard where you can compare your winnings with other players enjoying this game.
Back to the ”Play” menu, ”Solitaire Arcade” presents the options of playing different types of Solitaire like ”Klondike”, ”Yukon”, ”Golf”, ”Canfield”, ”Russian”, ”the Harp”, ”Poker”, as well as other games like Spider and Vanishing Cross, just to name a few. Each game comes with a tutorial and once in the game, you’re able to pause and undo moves. As an added challenge, the longer you take, the more the points will be reduced. Card games stand the test of time and Solitaire is no different: here’s a game that will occupy you during the long, boring commute home. My only peeve: the integrated ads and popups.
UNO & Friends
The best card game that I love for camping is UNO. Here, it must be played when connecting to Wi-Fi or with your mobile data though, since it is a multiplayer game. Though UNO & Friends a free game, it does include some irritating in-app purchases. To be able to play with friends, you first need to connect via Facebook or Google+. However, choosing ‘not now’ will bring you to the page for creating your avatar and get you playing against random people over the internet, while first being presented with the option to learn how to play. When the game is underway, you’ll see a mix of your opponents’ uploaded pics or other created avatars. There’s a limited amount of time per turn, so you need to play before the green bar disappears. Skipping over, changing directions and giving other players +4 cards turned out to be quite fun and there’s even an in-game chat. Other players can request to play with you and you’ll receive hints throughout (unless you turn them off) on how to improve your score.
Other than the options to play, create a game or check out the leaderboards, the main screen includes your total number of points, tokens and coins, the shopping cart for in-app purchasing, the option to share with your own friends and settings. The developer is Gameloft, who we know from games like Iron Man 3 and Epic Battle for Moonhaven HD. The settings give you access to customer care, music, sound, instructions and languages (Korean, Japanese, Brazilian Portuguese, Chinese, German, French and more). I found this game super easy to operate right from the get-go and I really appreciated the fact that this game is popular among others, giving me many opportunities to play with people from around the world. An extra thumbs up for the nice design, friendly UNO colors throughout and great user interface. Sadly, a thumbs down for in-app video ads.
Hearts Free
Hearts, another seemingly mindless game, isn’t so easy once you get started: here you’re thrown up against four different, selectable computer players, each boasting various levels of difficulty. In the Hearts Free, the players lay down a card, the person with the highest card will win the ”trick”, meaning all 4 cards on the table. By strategically playing, you want to avoid collecting any hearts or the Queen of Diamonds, since these will count against you: the lower your score, the better. Even those who don’t know how to play can easily figure out the game, as it will shadow out the cards which you can’t play, highlighting those you can.
The rule settings can be altered either to playing to 50, 100 or 150 depending on how long the game should last, the card passing either always left, alternating or off and finally, either switching the Jack of Diamonds rule on or off. The menu presents other games by the developer, save & quit, stats and a tutorial on how to play, while app settings found by tapping on the wrench icon allow you to change the game controls and even the background. Once in the actual game, it runs smoothly and simply and other than the menu and undo buttons, Hearts Free presented no extra added features to fiddle around with: hats off for some good old card gaming fun, reminiscent of early 2000’s PC playing days.
Taking the time to test and write about every good card game app that exists would take eons, but here are four good ones to get you started and in my personal opinion, the better ones I’ve seen. Test them out yourself, all are quick downloads, though it’s recommended to do this when connected to Wi-Fi.
Do you know of any cool card game apps? Let us know if you like any of these that we’ve talked about today.
Blizzard is a game developer and publisher – maybe you’ve heard of them. They’re responsible for little series like Diablo, Starcraft, and World Of Warcraft, among others. The company’s latest effort is an online, multiplayer trading card game called Hearthstone, currently in an invite-only beta on PC.Polygon reports that at the annual BlizzCon in Anaheim, California, the company announced that Hearthstone will be released on Android in 2014.
Hearthstone is loosely set in Blizzard’s Warcraft franchise, hence the subtitle “Heroes of Warcraft.” Like other collectible card games, it’s being built from the ground up on the free-to-play model, though reports from early beta players indicate that it’s still easy enough to get into the main game without spending money. The basics should be familiar to anyone who’s played Magic: The Gathering or its many imitators, but the turn-based combat itself takes a lot of cues from the classes in World of Warcraft. A combination of tables, illustrated cards, and animated action effects helps keep things interesting.
Blizzard is planning to bring Hearthstone to both smartphones and tablets, and the game will be the company’s first for the platform. They gave no indication of a release date for Hearthstone other than “late 2014,” and with Blizzard’s famously extended development time, it may be the end of the year (or even into the next) before we actually see the game on the Google Play Store.
Imagine Activision releasing the latest Call of Duty game without telling anyone it was coming. No developer diaries, no screenshot packages, no media events—just a quick heads up that it would be in stores tomorrow. Preposterous, right?
Yet on Thursday a sequel to a game played by more people than Call of Duty: Black Ops IIarrived on iTunes with little more than that. Temple Run has been downloaded more than 170 million times. Christmas Day 2012 alone accounts for 2.5 million of those—1 million on iTunes, 1 million on Google Play and 500K via the Amazon Marketplace.
What a delightful surprise.
This sort of thing rarely happens in the world of console gaming anymore. Back in the days before the internet a gamer could wander into Babbage’s and discover a game he’d heard absolutely nothing about. That’s how I discovered Final Fantasy II for the Super Nintendo—one of my favorite games of all time, and I had no idea it had been released.
These days console game publishers start the hype train early. Sometimes we know about games years in advance, teased with concept art at the earliest stages of development. When a game does manage to slip into stores under our radar, there’s often a good reason—sometimes the games just aren’t worth marketing.
That wasn’t the case with Temple Run 2, a fine follow-up to the incredibly popular endless runner. It’s not that there’s anything wrong with the game. It’s just that Imangi Studios’ Keith Shepherd, Natalia Luckyanova and the rest of the extended development team (up to five people from the original three) had the luxury of working on the game until it was ready to release without worrying about setting up previews or launching a marketing campaign.
That’s what’s beautiful about mobile gaming and indie game development in general. While traditional console game developers are busy jumping through hoops, creating preview builds, capturing screenshots and coordinating with marketing, studios like Imangi can concentrate on doing what they love, keeping surprise alive in the process.
You can purchase a year or five years additional service during setup or at any time afterward. The service also includes voicemail, caller ID, call waiting, call forwarding, 411 directory assistance, conference calling and E911 service (the VoIP version of traditional 911 emergency service, which sends your address along with the call). MagicJack’s voicemail can be accessed via the software on your computer or by calling your phone number. You can also set up an e mail address to have your voicemails delivered to your inbox as audio attachments. The software also saves contacts and call history logs.
MagicJack provides you with a free number, and you can select the area code and prefix, if available, and it doesn’t have to be dependent upon your location. Initially, customers couldn’t keep their own existing numbers, but now if you choose to do so, you can port your existing number, or pick a Canadian or vanity number, for additional annual fees.
The company also offers iOS and Android apps through iTunes and Google Play, for use on your phone or tablet. If you don’t have a paid MagicJack account, it will assign a random outgoing number to you every time you use it. You can also receive calls, although the caller will have to call a special number then enter your MagicJack app number.
Best Sites or Blogs to Find Software for and Tweak Your PC
Here are a few RSS feeds I follow to keep me up to date on the free and paid software available to boost my PC or websites that can give me new services in running my life. Installing software that has been formally reviewed and tested is safer than finding a random site by a google search. 1. Lifehacker: One of the top dogs of the web that has news on software, web applications and life tips to better organize and run my life from my PC. Mac and PC are well covered too. Great site, top of my daily reading list. Their weekly most downloaded post is a good reflection of what’s popular.
2. Download Squad: Software, software and more software previewed, reviewed and recommended. Nice detail on the apps and the comparable software that came before.
3. You can not only read about the apps but download them too.
4. Freeware Genius: All free, all found, all the time. So much free software out there that is top notch, find it here.
5. Delicious: Bookmarking service but very geek heavy so the latest and greatest usually finds its way to the top. I find this to be a very honest social news and link aggregator.
6. Mashable: Anything web and social gets covered here. Uber blog on social media and the apps and sites that run it.
7. Crenk: Web and mobile apps are well covered here.
So, there’s my list. Happy hunting and may your hard drive and CPU be up to the added software. But what about Linux PCs? As it turns out, you can make your Linux PC Mac like, and that includes elegant, easy to use apps. Here are some of the best!Broaden Your Internet Horizons with These Web AppsSpending multiple hours browsing the internet is a common task that most of us do on a regular basis. The internet opens up an entire world of knowledge in just a few clicks. See How to Convert Any Web Appli.
Free Online Poker Games 