Technomaly » Games

Super Mario Bros Remixed

J. Matthew Zoss — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 17:00:11 +0000

If you have fond memories of the NES, then this is the game for you. Indie game developer “Exploding Rabbit” has recreated Super Mario Bros with one important twist – you can play through it with characters from The Legend of Zelda, Contra, Castlevania, and Metroid.

In Super Mario Crossover, each character controls just like they do in their own game, so Bill from Contra can shoot in multiple directions, Link has both his sword and boomerang, etc. Each character feels pretty distinct – for example, Simon’s double jump is helpful, yet tricky to master. The music from each character’s game also appears – another great touch. In other words, you should totally check it out. It’s available to play here.

Play Classic Arcade Games in Microsoft’s Game Room

J. Matthew Zoss — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 14:17:33 +0000

If you have an Xbox 360, chances are that you’ve already downloaded a game or two through Xbox Live Arcade. Microsoft has expanded on its library of classic arcade games with Game Room, a virtual arcade that lets you play your old favorites in a customizable arcade environment. Unlike other Xbox Live Arcade titles, Game Room gives you more than just the game itself – it offers up virtual arcade cabinets, as well as the sights and sounds of the video game parlors of yesteryear. You don’t even have to buy the individual games in Game Room if you don’t want to – you can keep it real and pay per play. What makes it even sweeter is that Game Room is playable on both your Xbox and your PC, so if you’re not a console owner you can still get in on the fun.

The Game Room download is free, but you’ll have to use real money to either purchase arcade machines to populate it (or use the aforementioned pay-per-play method). There’s a pretty extensive list of available games and the pricing is pretty reasonable, so if you’re into classic arcade games there will probably be something on the list worth springing for. 400 ($5) Microsoft points unlocks a purchased game for both Xbox and PC, 240 points unlocks it for a single platform, and 40 points will get you a single play. The full list of games available in Game Room is below:

Adventure
Armor Battle
Asteroids Deluxe
Astrosmash
Battlantis
Centipede
Combat
Crystal Castles
Finalizer
Football
Jungler
Lunar Lander
Millipede
Mountain Madness: Super Pro Skiing
Outlaw
RealSports Tennis
Red Baron
Road Fighter
Scramble
Sea Battle
Shao-Lin’s Road
Space Armada
Space Hawk
Star Raiders
Sub Hunt
Super Cobra
Tempest
Tutankham
Yars’ Revenge

Flash Friday: Robot Wants Kitty

J. Matthew Zoss — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 19:16:45 +0000

It’s Friday, and therefore it’s the perfect day to waste time. Today’s Flash Friday selection is Robot Wants Kitty, a surprisingly solid little platforming game in which you, the robot, try to find the Kitty that you want oh so much. You can see the Kitty right away, but you won’t be able to get to her until you find the right tools. This cute little game offers a surprisingly deep gameplay experience in the classic Metroid mold, and could take you as much as an hour to complete. Check it out, won’t you?

iPhone Books Now Outnumber Games

Asterios Kokkinos — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 13:00:48 +0000

Here’s a fun fact for those who think reading is dead – the number of books available for the iPhone/iPod Touch has just exceeded the amount of games on the platform.

According to Mobclix, we’re currently at 26,569 books compared with 25,079 games, which is incredible for a system that displays books in a tiny, hard to read format without any Kindle style e-ink tricks.

Could this be the publishers preparing for an avalanche of iPad sales? Could be, but think about this – it’s much easier to get an existing book converted to digital form than it is to create an entire game from scratch.

10% of the current stock of iPhone/iPod books are 100% free, which is a bit of a surprise – you can download the collected works of Shakespeare, for example, for free. It weighs in at a slim 29 megabytes, and owning it is sure to make you look much smarter than you are.

Source & Photo Source: VentureBeat

Bejeweled Sells Its 50 Millionth Copy

Asterios Kokkinos — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 16:00:44 +0000

Bejeweled, a game synonymous with wasted time, has just hit its 50-millionth download!

PopCap’s apparently made over three hundred million dollars off a game that’s as simple as it looks – line up three jewels, repeat – and has had the game downloaded over 350 million times, a record that the company states puts it in the top ten sold games of all time.

The question, though, is whether or not they can continue to sell a copy of the flagship title every 4.3 seconds – most games these days are free. Bejeweled Blitz! popped up on Facebook a while ago, offering users free one minute challenge games, and with the average Popcap game running at seven bucks a pop, one wonders if they can stay afloat.

Right now, a friend’s across the table from me playing an iPhone game called “Tap Tap Revenge Three” – a free game, which she insists she’ll never purchase. I was recently addicted to a game called “Dungeons & Dragons: Tiny Adventures,” and regularly play the free flash games on the site “Casual Collective.” In my entire digital life, I believe I’ve only purchased games online twice, and never for much money.

Hulu’s free. Facebook’s free. Gmail’s free. What’s gonna happen to PopCap?

Who Says Print is Dead? World Of WarCraft Has It’s Own Magazine!

J. Matthew Zoss — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 17:02:22 +0000

Image provided by Future Publications US.

I’m a big gamer, but when you start talking about World of WarCraft, my eyes tend to roll back in my head and I zone out like you’re talking about sports. That said, I wish my favorite game franchises got the type of support that WoW does. The World of WarCraft magazine was announced some time ago, but now we’ve had a chance to take a look at it, and it’s pretty damn cool. Each issue is 148 pages and completely ad-free, thanks to a subscription-only model ($40 for four issues, $70 for eight). Publisher Future US has an interactive preview of the first issue online, and it’s undeniably sweet. I’m sure there will be some designers who have never played a minute of WoW picking this one up just for the art.