Kinectimalson Kinect is an experiential game that does a solid job of luring its users into forming an emotional bond with its assortment of on-screen, rascally pets. As an adult, you see why the user's relationship to the pet is so important: without one, the entire experience falls apart. If you aren't clicking with your animal, you don't want to pet it, you especially don't want to get up and interact with it, and you sure as heck don't want to do the game's mindless assortment of mini-games alongside it.
Little ones, from what I understand, generally respond to its adorable baby cheetahs, its equally adorable Bengal tigers, and its other scarily expressive animals. When the game asks, kids enthusiastically move about and shout and jump, and reach to the TV.
That's well and good, but now Kinectimals has made the jump to iOS. Obviously, the Kinect hook has been dropped with this particular version. So, this begs the question: does the game and its, er, magic still work?
Easily one of my most anticipated games this year, and I'm sure many of yours out there as well, is Warballoon Games' Star Command. In case you aren't familiar, Star Command can most simply be described as Game Dev Story meets a Star Trek-like science fiction theme, though from what we've seen of the game thus far I'm not totally sure that does it justice. Game Dev Story was beautiful in its simplicity, but Star Command appears to take those simplistic game mechanics and add all sorts of depth on top, creating what we hope will be a deep strategy affair that's still not too convoluted for anybody to jump in to.
We first learned of Star Command this past March, and originally the game was slated for a summertime release. However, that didn't quite pan out, and in August we got a look at some new screenshots for the game but we haven't really heard anything since then. Today Warballoon sent over a quick update on the status of Star Command, along with a slew of new screenshots to check out. It sounds like they are really interested in making the best possible game that they can, rather than trying to rush something out just to hit a planned release date. This latest set of screens is to demonstrate a bit of the work they've put into tightening up the overall user interface.
Last week, we let you know that Rebuild [$2.99], the city-building time sink that we loved in our review and on our podcast, would soon be getting support for the original iPad, and today that update is now here. Rebuild was originally an iPad 2-only title, due to some technical limitations that the developer explained on her blog.
But, since that initial release, she has toiled away to lower the RAM requirements for the game which now allows it to be played and enjoyed on Apple's first iPad. There are further enhancements to the visuals for those of you who have been playing on an iPad 2, as well.
Also explained in that blog post is how difficult it would be to add Game Center support since the game was written in Flash and she'd have to dip into some Xcode-only stuff in order to patch the online service in. However, this has also been tackled on the development side of things, as Game Center integration with leaderboards and achievements is also available in this latest update.
If the technical limitations of your original iPad were preventing you from enjoying this excellent title, then now would be the time to spring into action and see what you've been missing out on with Rebuild.
Big news this afternoon: the simulation gurus over at Kairosoft have announced their next game, and no, it's not that Hot Springs Story On A Boat title we noted a few weeks ago. Instead, it's a city simulation dubbed Venture Towns, and it's expected to hit the US App Store this coming December 15, presumably exclusively for the iPod Touch and iPhone.
We don't know anything about it from a hands-on perspective, but the screens we've seen so far have been telling. More than likely, this will be Oh! Edo Towns [$1.99 / Free] with a modern twist. As you'll see, Venture Towns is rocking stadiums and skyscrapers, and storefronts, vegetation and even planes. Abilities like "IQ" and "Work" stand in, presumably, for "Farming" and "Loyalty."
More telling is the grouping of buildings. Venture Towns has a similar grid-based style just like Oh! Edo Towns, which implies that it'll have similar mechanics. So, prepare to stare at an Excel spreadsheet all afternoon in order to drill down what combinations work best with the kind of workers you have. Yes!
The very first time most people play a freemium sim, they reach a point where they think "that's it?" After all, you've put time and possibly money into growing your crops, building your tower or expanding your kingdom, and then you want to, you know, do something with them. It's a feeling that passes, but it's always a bit of a letdown.
Battle Nations [Free] blasts that letdown into bits, because while you build up your military base you're also building up an army, and that army gets to fight. It's part freemium builder, part turn-based strategy game. You use the money you earn from the crops you grow to build your army and keep it in tip-top shape. Then you bring the hammer down on friends and foes alike.
My new favorite thing on iOS is Rebuild [$2.99]. It's a fantastic strategy game that has the capability of ruining your life like only a Civilization can, but it also has this great touch that makes it exceedingly accessible and much more interactive. Its biggest flaw is the fact that it can only be played on iPad 2. Awesomely, that's going to change pretty soon.
In an e-mail exchange with us, Northway Games confirmed that iPad support is on the way in an update that has already been submitted to Apple. This update will also pack in Game Center support, which presumably will add achievements, too. Explaining why the game wasn't release for both platforms at once, Northway said that its technology simply wasn't playing nice with the original iPad. It is now!
If you're interested on checking this out on smaller iOS devices like the iPhone or iPod Touch, the wait might be a while. Northway is open to the platform, but a port isn't in the works just yet.
If you don't own an iPad 2 and you're about to skim past this post, let me interrupt you for a second. You can play most of Rebuild [$2.99] right now for free, as the Flash game Rebuild 2. And you really should. While the iPad 2 version comes with a few extra bells and whistles and plays gorgeously on a touch screen, this is a game that everyone should play whether they have the newest, shiniest gadget or not. Just be prepared to lose a few hours of your life to it when you do.
I don't wave around non-words like "unputdownable" often, but Rebuild deserves it. Though it's not an especially deep strategy game, it has the perfect mix of exploration, danger and difficulty to hook anyone for at least an hour or two, and maybe much longer. And yes, yes, we're up to our necks in zombie games, but this is a zombie/strategy/city builder and that's not something you see every day.
Oh, hey, Kairosoft is getting into sales during the holidays! Starting now, and for a "limited time," two of the studio's lesser known but-still-as-awesome-as-ever simulation games are available on the App Store on the cheap. Both Pocket Academy and Hot Springs Story are seeing a drop from $3.99 to an agreeable $1.99. Money saved! Exclamation marks!
Before you take the plunge, you probably want to read our respectivereviews for the titles in question. While they combine the same charm and spirit of Game Dev Story, they both have angles and mechanics that may or may not appeal to you. Hot Springs Story, by the way, looks like awesome prep for the next game the studio has coming down the pipe: World Cruise Story.
If you're familiar with mid-90s video game history, then you might remember a not-quite-released title by the name of Penn & Teller's Smoke and Mirrors. The game was an odd puzzle platforming affair starring the famous comedian magician duo, as well as a collection of mini-games that were designed for pranking your friends. Originally slated to arrive on the Sega CD in 1995, the publisher of the title went out of business that year. That effectively shelved the release for good even though it was basically in a complete state, however, the unreleased game did eventually leak out into the wild.
Easily the most notorious mini-game from Smoke and Mirrors is Desert Bus, which tasked you with driving from Tucson, Arizona to Las Vegas, Nevada… in real time. The feat takes about 8 real world hours, and since the game can't be paused, the trip must be completed in one sitting. If you manage to accomplish this, you receive… one point. One measly point. Then, you're given the option to drive back to Tucson, which takes another 8 hours, in order to get… another point! You can keep going like this as long as you're able to, until you reach the maximum 99 point limit. Which would take about 41 actual days of non-stop virtual driving. Right, let me get right on that.
I had expected to hear my geriatric iPhone 3GS to croon its swan song when I loaded up Minecraft: Pocket Edition [$6.99] for the first time. It didn't. To my surprise, Mojang's inaugural iOS title actually got along swimmingly with my hardware. Was it a sign of good things to come? Perhaps. Deeply pleased with this turn of events, I went ahead and generated my first world.
And that's when the disappointments started rolling through the door. To be fair, I don't blame Mojang. If anything, they've done a rather masterful job at porting their world-famous IP onto the platform. Nonetheless, there's only so much you can do around technical constraints. Regardless of how you slice, the truth of the matter is that Minecraft just doesn't work here (not yet, anyway). To paraphrase the Genie from Disney's Aladdin, phenomenal cosmic power and itty-bitty living spaces do not mix.
Kairosoft, the masters of all things simulation, have unleashed another game onto the Android Marketplace. For quite some time now the company has had a fairly predictable release cycle of things appearing on Android, then slowly making their way to the App Store. We saw it happen with Grand Prix Story [99¢], and many of their other games. World Cruise Story seems to be on deck for an iOS release, and as the title hints, puts you in charge of managing a cruise ship.
Players will be able to customize the actual ships themselves, with new amenities for your guests including rooms to stay in, restaurants, to eat at, and all the other things you'd expect on a typical ship. The size of your ship can be upgraded as well, and unlocking new destinations to sail to involves courting royalty.
It sounds like a crazy cross between Mega Mall Story [$1.99] and Hot Springs Story$4.99] with a nautical twist thrown in. As far as when the game will hit, that's anyone's guess. I've got my bets on sometime early next month.
I'm not sure how it is that Kairosoft does it, but they've managed to nail a gameplay formula that's so engrossing that seemingly everyone is more than willing to overlook the fact that all of their games are mediocre ports of feature phone games. I, for one, don't care at all, and have spent an embarrassing amount of time building game studios, racing teams, shopping malls, schools, and all the other things the guys from Kairosoft have put me in charge of.
For a limited time, Grand Prix Story [99¢] and Mega Mall Story [$1.99] are on sale. As you probably guessed by the title, in Mega Mall Story you manage a shopping mall. We explain how it all works in details in our review. Similarly, our review of Grand Prix Story goes over all the ins and outs of your racing career.
My favorite Kairosoft game is still Game Dev Story [$3.99] and I really recommend diving into that first if you've yet to play a Kairosoft title as its premise is likely the most familiar to readers of TouchArcade. Regardless, all the games are tons of fun (although some are more confusing than others) and you really can't go wrong with any of them.
One of Minecraft's biggest weaknesses (one that's improved over the course of its development) is its lack of direction, and Junk Jack takes that flaw and runs with it. For a game designed around crafting, building and exploration, Junk Jack is aggressive in its lack of assistance, leaving you without even a way to keep track of your craft notes (schematics) until you find the right note for the job. Luckily, developer Pixbits has already acknowledged that problem and is working up a fix as we speak, so we can focus on this game's charm and potential.
We spied Oh! Edo Towns [$3.99/Lite] on the App store in early September, and ever since, I've been wringing my hands in anticipation at the thought of a new Kairosoft game to fill up my free time. After all, Game Dev Story earned our coveted five-star score, and we've enjoyed the clever and cute take on the pleasures of city sims every since. Throw in my slight obsession with historical Japan, and then tell me I get to build my own town in Edo-period Japan, and here you have a very excited gamer. Can I be a shogun? Paint some ukiyo-e? Maybe even thwart Saigo Takamori before he reaches the borders of my humble town?
In all seriousness, though -- if you have ever played a Kairosoft title, you will know what to expect here. Oh! Edo Towns follows the formula of the previous games by kicking it off giving you your own plot of land to build up into something spectacular. Considering the theme, everything plays on Japan's Edo period, from the ability to build things like Public Baths and Dumpling Shops to small details such as character dress and design. If you're a fan of Japanese history, as I am, you are sure to have a soft spot for this one.
Somebody go wake up Brad Nicholson. In mid-September, we caught wind of a new Kairosoft game released in Japan called Oh! Edo Towns. The game was quite similar to the classic SimCity in that it has you building a town from scratch and managing the various resources and responsibilities that come with city planning, as well as keeping your citizens happy, with the ultimate goal of creating a thriving metropolis. The quirk here was that your city building took place in 17th Century Japan, rather than a contemporary setting.
At that time, we donned our speculation hats and ventured that Oh! Edo Towns might be hitting the US App Store sometime in October. Well, as it turns out, October came and went with no sign of the game, but just a few hours ago Oh! Edo Towns did indeed pop up in the US App Store. Sure, we were a few days off, but that's still some impressive guesstimating as far as I'm concerned. Miss Cleo would be proud.
Here's a bit of video of the Japanese version of Oh! Edo Towns from our friends at AppBank:
Now, you might remember about a week and a half ago we spotted yet another Kairosoft town-creating sim, called Zaibatsu Towns, that was released in Japan. The key difference with that title compared to Oh! Edo Towns, it seemed, was that it didn't have you building a traditional Edo period Japanese style town, and instead had you creating a city in modern times more akin to SimCity. I'm going to go ahead and start the speculation train, and I'll put out there that we'll be seeing a US release of Zaibatsu Towns before the end of the year. Go ahead and mark that down, dear readers, because if it turns out I'm wrong you can point and laugh in my face.
While it's fun to guess the future and all, let's not forget that there's a brand new Kairosoft title available to us in the US right now. As with most of their releases, it's a pretty good bet that it will be a strong simulation title, so might be worth just diving right in with the link below. Otherwise you can check out impressions in our forums, and you can also be sure we'll have a review of Oh! Edo Towns in the very near future. In fact, despite it being 3am where he's located, I'm calling Brad right now to tell him to download it.
Kinectimals on Kinect is an experiential game that does a solid job of luring its users into forming an emotional bond with its assortment of on-screen, rascally pets. As an adult, you see why the user's relationship to the pet is so important: without one, the entire experience falls apart. If you aren't clicking with your animal, you don't want to pet it, you especially don't want to get up and interact with it, and you sure as heck don't want to do the game's mindless assortment of mini-games alongside it.
Last week, 
Big news this afternoon: the simulation gurus over at Kairosoft have announced their next game, and no, it's not that 
Oh, hey, Kairosoft is getting into sales during the holidays! Starting now, and for a "limited time," two of the studio's lesser known but-still-as-awesome-as-ever simulation games are available on the App Store on the cheap. Both Pocket Academy and Hot Springs Story are seeing a drop from $3.99 to an agreeable $1.99. Money saved! Exclamation marks!
