After replaying Dragon Age II twice this past month, I’ve never been more convinced that casual gaming offers a really refreshing break from hardcore gaming. It also offers something for gamers who aren’t into level grinding for hours or first-person shooters. And if you have a portable device, they can provide quick bursts of entertainment when you’re sitting on a train or waiting in an office – or sitting on a couch, bored by whatever’s on TV. This month I’m bringing you some quick hits of mobile games I love!
Last week in my post about Wall Street Kid, I mentioned that Sturgeon’s Law might be especially true for video games. Coined by the sci-fi author Theodore Sturgeon in 1951, Sturgeon’s Law posits that “90% of everything is crap.” Those being the odds and this being only my second Random Game of the Week, I was relieved to find that I enjoyed this week’s game: Mr. Heli no Daisuke, or Mr. Heli’s Great Adventure for the NEC PC Engine, also known as the Turbografx-16 in North America.
One of the best things about casual gaming is that it gives you an easy and light-hearted way to take ten minutes out of your stressful life and concentrate on something else. Hardcore gaming can be fun, but sometimes a break from level grinding is refreshing. On that note, here are some of the best casual iPhone games I’ve found in the last month:
Pokémon, America’s all time best-selling computer game series, is still going strong 15-years on. The two newest editions, Pokémon Black and Pokémon White, are renewing the call to trainers everywhere. Released in the US simultaneously on Sunday March 6, Black and White’s combined sales totaled over one million copies on the first day, besting the 780,000 units sold on the day of release for 2007’s Diamond and Pearl by a considerable margin.
When I was asked to write a weekly column for Suicide Girls, my immediate questions was, “About what?” Because, truly, I didn’t know what the fuck anyone reading this would want to hear from me.
“Anything,” they said.
Well, alright. But I’m pretty sure they didn’t mean How to Make and/or Buy Weapons Grade Narcotics: A Guide In Multiple Parts, which is what I wanted to write about. But court sucks, and you know it. So instead, I’m calling this “Things I Like That You Might Like Too.” It’s exactly what it says it is.
To celebrate the release of his groundbreaking Level 26 app, Anthony Zuiker is giving away an iPad 2 pre-loaded with Dark Prophecy via Twitter. SuicideGirls is also throwing in a year’s membership to make this a truly killer prize.
For your chance to win, follow @zuiker on Twitter and RT:
To celebrate his new book app @Zuiker is giving away an iPad2 loaded w/ it http://bit.ly/f0Wspu Follow him & RT to enter! #DarkProphecyiPad
No purchase necessary. Entrants must be 18 & over and live in the US. The contest will run for 12 days, starting Monday (2/28) morning at 9:00 AM EST and ending Friday (3/11) night at 11:59 PM PST. The winner will be chosen at random from those who have posted qualifying tweets.
“I think that Dark Prophecy is really the book of tomorrow that’s available today,” says Anthony E. Zuiker. The creator of the incredibly successful CSI TV franchise, has just launched an iPad app for the second installment of his Level 26 fiction series. It follows the adventures of a detective, Steve Dark, who, with a similarly tortured soul, can get into the minds of the worst of the worst killers – those worthy of Level 26 status.
Like the psychopaths Dark hunts, who are no ordinary killers, the Level 26 books are no ordinary thrillers. Dubbed “digi-novels” by Zuiker, the multi-platform murder mysteries combine traditional text with web-based movie “cyber-bridges” and community elements.
However, with the launch of the Dark Prophecy iPad App, Zuiker has kicked his digi-novel concept up to the next level (if you’ll pardon the pun). “Whereas last time we talked it was read the book and watch these 20 individual bridges, now we have 3 levels of engagement,” explains Zuiker. “The traditional Kindle-like version, the digi-novel, which is the book and the movie, and the ultimate digi-novel which is the book, movie, effects, and activities, such as collecting evidence, and unlocking new storylines.”
Whether you started out playing “Smoke on the Water” using three buttons or if you could 100% “Through Fire and Flame,” the Guitar Hero franchise holds a special place in the heart of the gaming community. That place is now held in memoriam, since last week Activision Blizzard pulled the plug on the groundbreaking series.
While Guitar Hero was not the first format to introduce musical play, it brought the genre up to the forefront of gaming. The first Guitar Hero game gained a lot of attention. Gamers put away their first-person-shooters and real-time-strategy games, instead turning their game nights into miniature rock concerts. After Red Octane (who owned the rights to Guitar Hero) was bought by Activision, Harmonix (who had actually developed the original game) subsequently released their rival Rock Band format, which created some hard competition for the Guitar Hero franchise.
