iPad World

It’s only fitting that Grim Fandango takes place in the Land of the Dead, because in hindsight it represents something of a eulogy for the declining adventure genre. LucasArts’ penultimate adventure game (its swansong was the anticlimactic Escape From Monkey Island) may well be its best. It helped cement director Tim Schafer as something of a superstar, prone to appear on late-night talk shows and host awards ceremonies despite Grim Fandango and his biggest games (Psychonauts, Brutal Legend) being commercial failures. Before we were all swayed by open worlds, 3D combat, and an influx of shooters, Grim … Continue Reading

I’m somewhat of a specialist when it comes to games starring the order Teuthida, an interest that began when IGN reviewed ‘Hail to the Chimp’ and claimed squids weren’t animals (a line subsequently removed without notice). What can I say? You’ve got to feel sorry for them after that.

Our ink-loving chums are responsible for many fine games. Aside from scene-stealing cameos, there are brilliant shooters like Squid Yes, Not so Octopus (both SYNSOs can be had online, and are highly recommended), the awesome survival horror Night of the Cephalopods, and now it’s time … Continue Reading

Despite continuing rumours of a new iPhone with a four-inch screen, Apple has always insisted that 3.5 inches is the optimum size for a mobile display. We’re sure that many thousands of hands fondled the very first iPhone prototypes before that magical figure was decided upon, but it’s hard to disagree with this stance. Rivals such as Windows Phone and Android offer handsets with more imposing screens, yet it’s the Apple standard which has arguably been adopted by the vast majority of mobile developers. For most, 3.5 inches just seems to work.

However, that hasn’t stopped Samsung … Continue Reading

Renowned for their intricate detail and heavy effects work, the SoulCalibur and Tekken games are a remarkable example of just how much processing and rendering Namco is able to cram into the tiny window afforded by a solid 60 frames-per-second update. While it’s fair to say that the core gameplay in both of these franchises never really changes substantially, the engine powering it definitely does: from a visual perspective, SoulCalibur 4 and Tekken 6 have each evolved in their own way with each new iteration, and it’s clear that this new game sees yet another visual leap.

But … Continue Reading

We all know the clones. And often, we welcome them. After all, you can’t play Blizzard’s World of Warcraft on a phone, so Gameloft’s Order and Chaos seems like it fills a hole and doesn’t hurt anyone. Cloning isn’t new, either. From Pong, probably the most copied game on the planet and allegedly a copy itself, to Breakout, success has always bred various degrees of imitation.

Cloning is a history full of strands – character mascots, the fascinating story of Tetris and the ranks of imitators birthed by any popular title. But over the last … Continue Reading

Is Japan getting its groove back? Leaving Nintendo aside (or maybe not, even), the major houses of the great motor and innovator of the video games industry in the eighties and nineties have been in the doldrums. Sega, Capcom, Konami, Square, Namco: evocative names that have seen either dwindling fortunes, uncertain moves into Western co-development, or both.

Looking at 2012′s slate, though – and at this week’s new releases – there are reasons to be cheerful. I’m not about to predict a dramatic financial turnaround for any of these companies. But I do predict something that might matter … Continue Reading

It’s hard to think of a name that divides opinion quite like Jeff Minter’s. To some, his creations are beautifully blended homages, crafted by the loving hands of an old master. To others, they’re the emperor’s new fixation with retro for the sake of it. From either stance, the other side is considered wrong to an apocalyptic degree, and yet perhaps, like many of Minter’s games, the answer lies more within a mixture.

Caverns of Minos is Llamasoft’s fifth entry in its Minotaur Project, conceived to highlight the simple pleasures of retro gaming while removing all the irritations … Continue Reading

There had been some interesting claims last year that Apple had been actively testing an ARM (A5) based MacBook Air. The ARM processor is the same one that is used in the iPhone and iPad. An ARM-based MacBook Air, however, would raise a number of questions about what kind of device it might actually be. Would it run OS X, or iOS? Would it be closer to a Mac or an iOS device? One of the main advantages of using an ARM processor would be a reduction in power-requirements, … Continue Reading

In October, AT&T announced that they would start throttling data usage amongst mobile Unlimited Data Plan users. While AT&T no longer offers an Unlimited Data plan to new customers, many of the original iPhone purchasers are still grandfathered into that plan. Those iPhone users have been able to retain these Unlimited plans, even though AT&T has since moved to a tiered data plan structure.

When AT&T announced their plan to start throttling users, the company said that they would only be throttling the top … Continue Reading

After a couple of issues with some software updates, Apple has made some quiet revisions to address the problems.

The first was a Snow Leopard security update which inadvertently caused problems with Apple’s PowerPC emulation layer Rosetta. Macworld notes that Apple has since released Security Update 2012-001, version 1.1 for Snow Leopard. The new version seems to fix the PowerPC crashing issues described with the original update.

Meanwhile, the crashing/CUI errors with 10.7.3 Delta updater has also been addressed by Apple. 9to5Mac … Continue Reading