Tuesday, December 31, 2013

some best game in 2013 Android

Ikaruga Android, thumbnail 1

Ikaruga

Ikaruga is one of those rare video games that seem to generate feelings of intense nostalgia and reverence whenever their names are uttered in the company of other players.
Originally released on the Sega Dreamcast (and exclusive to its native Japan), it found global fame on the Nintendo GameCube and was recently resurrected to much fanfare on Microsoft's Xbox Live Arcade.Coded by near-legendary Japanese studio Treasure and considered to be the spiritual sequel to the equally-beloved Saturn blaster Radiant Silvergun, Ikaruga is a big deal. Ergo, Ikaruga coming to Android is also a big deal.
It might seem akin to other bullet-hell shooters on Android - such as Raiden Legacy and DoDonPachi Resurrection - but it's totally unique in terms of how it plays. Borrowing the colour-switching element from Treasure's 32-bit action platformer Silhouette Mirage, Ikaruga allows you to toggle between black and white polarities.
Colour me confusedWhen your ship is white, you take damage from black bullets but can absorbwhite ones. You also inflict more damage on black foes, and vice versa.Being immune to certain bullets might sound like a bonus, but once the first level is out of the way it becomes abundantly clear that even though you can absorb some of the projectiles on the screen there are still enough of the opposite colour to cause you a serious headache.The key to success is knowing when to switch polarity, and being able to do it quickly. The scoring system is based around chaining colours together, so you're not just fighting to survive, but also post as impressive a rank as possible.
This is what made the home console editions of the game so compelling, but the lack of physical controls does reduce the appeal of the Android version somewhat.Although the drag-to-move mechanic works well enough, the need to tap the 'fire' button (having the auto-fire option enabled makes it hard to create chain combos) and stab the 'polarity switch' button means that controlling the game is something of a struggle. Ultimately, you have to make theconsciousdecision to simply play Ikaruga for funrather than seeking out the same kind of high scores you remembered achieving on the GameCube or XBLAIn fact, the Android version is a lot more easygoing than its forerunners. You can pick any stage right from the off, and there are unlimited continues to make use of. The pressure to perform is lessened, allowing you to simply appreciate the killer gameplay and sumptuous visuals.Chain reactionSpeaking of which, Ikaruga is quite a demanding beast. You can reduce the quality of the graphics if you find your phone is breaking into a sweat, but even top-of-the-line handsets can't do the game justice at maximum detail - our shiny new Nexus 4 was still susceptible to a bit of stuttering and jerkiness on some of the busier levels.It's disappointing that Ikaruga lacks some of the content that was present in previous editions of the game (there are no unlockable goodies and the practice mode is absent), but the biggest annoyance is the way in which publisher G-Gee has tied the game to its social media platform.You can't even get it to load up without registering a G-Gee account, althoughonce you've done this it's reasonably easy to jump straight into thegamefromthatpointonwards.Ikaruga arguably needsapropercontroller - more so than the many other shooters that are appearing on smartphones these days.The unique colour-changingmechanicand focus on score-based chains means that it's harder to play on a touchscreen, but that doesn't prevent it from being a thoroughly entertaining and attractive blaster.The fact that such an esteemed game is now playable on your mobile phone is something to be celebrated, regardless of the minor shortcomings

Royal Revolt!

 Royal Revolt! Android, thumbnail 1

 Avid readers of Pocket Gamer will be aware that we've had more than our fair share of tower defence titles. The genre is so over-saturated that it's genuinely hard to summon any enthusiasm for new additions.
Thankfully, Royal Revolt! manages to sidestep this problem by offering something relatively fresh and new. Like the brilliant Anomaly games, it's actually the opposite of tower defence - it belongs to the small but growing sub-genre of tower offence.Instead of securing yourself behind robust castle walls, and building a plethora of defences around your fortress, in Royal Revolt! you assume the role of the besieger.You're a prince returning home from boarding school to discover that the king, your father, is dead, and his odious siblings have taken over the kingdom. What follows is a righteous campaign to destroy their strongholds andreclaimyourbirthright.SuccessiondepressionUsing a wide range of units - including burly knights, projectile-chucking archers, and spellcasters - you have to trot around an increasingly chaotic battlefield laying waste to every hostile structure you come across. Your army grows in size and stature the longer you play, andthegold you're awarded at the end of each mission can be used to upgrade the prowess of your troops.

Because you're in the shoes of the attacker rather than the defender, Royal Revolt! feels a lot more action-packed and exciting than your typical tower defence title. Instead of throwing up a whole host of towers and waiting for your enemies to fall into your trap, you're constantly healing and respawning troops, or getting stuck in with your own character. There's rarely a dull moment.
Battlefield commander
The frantic gameplay is complemented by some of the best presentation we've seen in quite some time. The developer appears to have been inspired by the brilliant Wii title Little King's Story, and has created a world that is bursting with charm and looks fantastic - although you might find that the HD visuals chug a little on older Android hardware. We tested it on a Nexus 4 and didn't encounter any issuesRounded off by a very reasonable IAPsystem that doesn't beat you over the head with prompts every five seconds, Royal Revolt! ends up being a quite brilliant subversion of the tower defence genre. It's lovely to look at, fun to play, and immensely rewarding - and it dosn't cost a penny. 

Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes

Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes iPad, thumbnail 1

Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes truly deserved to be on mobile.
You see, the Xbox Live remake refined and rejuvenated the much-adored DS original, but the bite-size puzzle-flavoured battles never felt quite right on a TV and controller.
But here it is - like a shape-shifting boss at the end of an RPG, in its perfect final form. It's got all the swish visuals and improvements of the Xbox version, and the portability of agile controls of the DS edition.
Match three

The majority of this game is spent on the battlefield, where you'll find a combat system that has much more in common with Bejeweled than any Might & Magic gameYou command a huge army of coloured troops - knights, archers, bears, skeletons, and assassins - who can be shuffled about the bottom half of a grid-like battlefield.
If you match three units of the same type and colour in one column, they'll form a phalanx and attack the opponent in a future turn. Or, match them horizontally and they'll morph into a defensive wall.There are also elite units - including reindeer-like druids, and knights on horseback - who need to be matched with a pair of same-coloured units to attack. Champion units - like killer trees and acid-spewing dragons - require four.
Chain reaction
There are some tactics that are simply lifted straight out of a puzzle game.
If your shifting troops cause a trio of units to stumble into formation - like how a Tetris Attack match might cause a second lot of blocks to slot into line in chain reaction - you'll get a free move.
That's just an executive summary - all told, it's a dense and involving battle system. But it's delivered on such a gentle learning curve that no one will get left behind. You don't need to be a master tactician to pick it up.
Oh, and it's exceptionally fun, forcing you to think several moves ahead, weigh up offence and defence, and keep a watchful eye of both sides of the battlefield. It's a rewarding and hazardously addictive setup.

These battles are sandwiched between more traditional RPG events.You'll hop about on painterly backdrops, in the whimsical fantasy world of Ashen, as you go about avenging your family or whatever. The story is humorous and often quite dark, but it's not particularly engrossing.Your movement is restricted to nodes on the ground. It does make it feel like a slightly linear succession of battles. But there are sidequests, and you can backtrack to stock up on elite units, or retry missions you struggled with earlier.
Three in a row
Clash of Heroes is bursting at the seams with content. Alongside that enormous 20-or-so-hour campaign you've also got a full multiplayer mode with pass & play, head to head (on iPad), and competent asynchronous play.
But it's not without the odd annoying bug. You might find yourself stuck in an unresponsive menu from time to time, forcing you to reboot the game.All in, Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes is a truly spectacular game. It's got a massive RPG world to explore, and some of the most smart and engrossing battles you're likely to find on the App Store.It's also the best version of the game yet - more beautiful than on DS, and with better controls and multiplayer than on XBLA.If you've never played either before then, boy, you are in for a treat. Clash of Heroes is pretty much an essential purchase for any fan of puzzle or RPG games.

Kingdom Rush

 

Tower defence games are notorious for being challenging - the good ones, anyway - and Kingdom Rush fits the type.

Thankfully, it's as hard to put down as it is to play. However many times you fall flat on your face - and there will be many - you'll want to carry on.

This is partly thanks to the world developer Ironhide has built Kingdom Rush in - as the name suggests, a mock-mediaeval setting that as much worships your average fantasy novel as pokes fun at it.
King of its castle
Not only does this allow Kingdom Rush to employ a slew of inventive enemies to take down - everything from fully tooled-up knights to impetuous demons - but it also adds a vital sense of character.

Indeed, the game's cartoon-esque visuals are coupled with soundbites that serve as constant reminders of Kingdom Rush's intentionally jocular tone: almost every action you take is accompanied by a line of speech or sound effect that keeps your spirits up, even when you're in the heat of battle.
It might sound like a small point, but this sense of fun helps to ensure that Kingdom Rush never becomes overwhelming or tedious, despite being a tough and more than usually hands-on approach to tower defence.

Fire and fury

As well as planting towers in any of the levels' designated spots - those hosting artillery, arrows, guards, and wizards all on offer - Kingdom Rush also allows you to bolster your efforts at short notice with bonus troops and fireballs.
Such power-ups are designed to be dropped in at the last minute, plugging any weak spots in your line until you can plant a tower nearby or upgrade those already in place.

This constant battle between trying to get ahead of your foe's waves of attacks and reacting to sudden changes in its approach is the core of Kingdom Rush's gameplay: more than any other game in the genre, there's a particularly fine line between success and failure here.

On the edge of glory

While failure is never far away, at the same time anything seems possible. Switching just one tower for another can completely alter the outcome of a level, making Kingdom Rush a very fluid battle simulator, rather than one defined by a limited number of rules.
Add to this the variety created by your enemy - full-on boss battles often popping up during the final wave of attacks, with huge hulking beasts recalling platformers of old - and Kingdom Rush has the power to keep you on your toes from beginning to end.
Of course, that's a trait shared by several other tower defence titles. Where Kingdom Rush is able to pull ahead is the sense of fun that's been built into its approach at the same time - a rare combination of frustration and frivolity ensures this is one kingdom you'll be in no rush to escape from.

 

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Samsung's 110-inch Ultra HDTV is the world's largest, and it goes on sale Monday

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Samsung promised at CES last January that it would deliver a 110-inch UHDTV this year, and with just a couple of days left to spare here it is. Apparently rolling out in China, the Middle East and a few European countries first, there's no word on price (the 85-inch version that launched earlier this year had a $40K pricetag attached when it launched), but can you really put a price on a TV that's bigger than a king-size bed? That's right, at 2.6-meters by 1.8-meters there's more than enough room for well-heeled VIPs or employees of large companies and government agencies (the target market for the S9110) to catch some z's on it -- and bring a few friends. It's available for custom orders just before we see the new generation of Ultra HD (including a 105-inch curved model) at CES 2014 next week, although most of us will be looking for TVs that actually fit inside our living room.
Update: Even though the set is custom order only, Samsung has confirmed to us that the basic edition costs 15 million Korean won ($142,000~) -- but who sticks with just the basics?
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Monday, December 30, 2013

Fitbit app lets you track activity with just your iPhone 5s, no Fitbit device required

Fitbit app lets you track activity with just your iPhone 5s, no Fitbit device required

Fitbit updated its iOS app today, bringing, perhaps most significantly, the ability to track "basic" activity on an iPhone 5s, without the company's proprietary wearable. Using Apple's motion-sensing M7 chip, the app'll track your steps, distance and the number of calories you've burned. You can also utilize features like food and weight tracking, fitness goals and add friends on the app by downloading it in the source link below and tapping on the "No Fitbit Yet? iPhone 5s tracks the basics" text. So you can start those New Year's resolutions now -- and, the company no doubt hopes, get in on the FitBit experience before picking up the wearable.

Sunday, December 29, 2013

Samsung's new chip could put 4GB of memory in your next smartphone Always first

Samsung LPDDR4 RAM chips 

Think the 3GB of RAM in the Galaxy Note 3 was a lot? Samsung was only getting started. The company has just unveiled the first 8-gigabit (1GB) low-power DDR4 memory chip, which could lead to 4GB of RAM in a multi-layered, mobile-sized package. Moving to the higher-bandwidth (3.1Gbps) DDR standard should also provide a hefty 50 percent speed boost over existing DDR3-based chips, even though the new silicon uses 40 percent less power than its ancestors. Samsung is only promising mass production of the new RAM sometime in 2014, but it's already clear about the target audience. The technology will go into laptops, smartphones and tablets with Ultra HD displays, where additional memory will be crucial for powering all those extra pixels.

HUAWEI Ascend P6 NEW

Redefining Elegance

The bar has been raised once again with the Huawei Ascend P6. A stunningly beautiful metal body at an unbelievable 6.18 millimetres thin, it comes complete with a brilliant 4.7” screen – the true perfection of elegance and style.
 

Capture Every Moment

Capturing the little things in life just got easier with the Ascend P6’s 8-Megapixel camera. Snap through tricky photo situations with IMAGESmart technology’s Auto Scene Recognition. Whether you prefer to capture the bigger picture, or zoom in and focus on the little things, you will never miss a moment with the Ascend P6’s 4cm shooting distance. 

Picture Perfect

The Huawei Ascend P6 is designed for you. Take pictures of you and your friends in extraordinary detail at any time of day with the 5-Megapixel front camera. Effortlessly turn your snapshots into flawless portraits with the P6’s built in 10-Level Facial Enhancement feature.
 

Impossibly Intuitive

What makes the Ascend P6 stand out? The Huawei Emotion UI, it makes your Smartphone experience elegantly simple. Its Me Widget feature gives you easy access to all your favourite apps, along with next generation services like favourite apps social streams. With the Ascend P6, safety always comes first; ensuring your private data is only accessible with your authorization – keeping you protected at all times.

Precision Design

Faster, thinner and curved to fit your hand in 3 outstanding colours. The Huawei Ascend P6 is designed to capture true beauty, and with its flawless 4.7” HD In-cell display, blazing 1.5GHz processor speed, and slim 6.18 mm frame, it has done precisely that. More just a phone, its redefined perfection.
 
 
 

Macro Photography

Capturing the little things in life just got easier with the Ascend P6’s 8-Megapixel camera. You can even get up close and personal with its 4cm shooting distance. You will never miss a moment, no matter how small
 

Express Yourself

Make the P6 truly yours. Move your favourite apps such as Gallery, Contacts and Weather to the home screen for instant access with Me Widget. Personalise your phone by picking from the hundreds of themes online – each complete with icons, wallpaper and more. Or make a quick switch from Outdoor to Meeting mode using the profile panel.
 
 

AirSharing

Instantly share your images, music, videos, and more with multiple devices including a friend’s phone, or the TV with Media Q. Simply tap and flick to wirelessly transfer data from device to device*. You can even use the Ascend P6 as your TV remote.
*Function of sharing content to several devices is planned to be preloaded in P6 by September. 

Magic Touch

Sophisticated yet sensitive, the Ascend P6’s Magic Touch feature lets you use your phone while wearing gloves – keeping you warm and in touch.
 
 
 

Smart Reading

Need to translate or look up a word? No problem, simply tap the word to highlight and let the Ascend P6’s Smart Reading feature demonstrate its prowess.
 


Cloud+

Sync*,store, and backup your content-your music, photos, apps, mail, calendar, contacts, documents and so much more with Cloud+. Don't worry about losing your phone with the Ascend P6's built in Phone Finder you can easily locate, protect or even erase all the data on your phone remotely.
*Sync and other functions in Cloud+ maybe vary in different markets.

Smart Power-Saving

Save up to 30% of your phones battery life with the smart 3-level – chip, hardware, and software – power-saving mechanism. You can switch off apps that run in the background when you are not using them - giving you more power without sacrifice.
 
 
 

  • Black/White/Pink
  • Size : 4.7inch in-cell display
  • 1.5 GHz quad-core CPU K3V2E
  • AndroidTM 4.2.2
  • RAM : 2GB
    ROM : 8GB
  • WCDMA 850/900/1700/1900/2100 MHz
    GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
  • GPS and GLONASS
  • Wi-Fi : 802.11 b/g/n
    Bluetooth : Bluetooth 3.0
    USB 2.0 with 480 Mbit/s
  • Light sensor
    Tilt sensor
    Proximity sensor
    Gyroscope
    Compass
  • Rear camera
    Camera resolution: 8.0-megapixel
    Photos: up to 3264 x 2448 pixels
    Videos: up to 1920 x 1080 pixels (1080p)
    Front camera
    Camera resolution: 5.0-megapixel
    Photos: up to 2592 x 1952 pixels
    Videos: up to 1280 x 720 pixels (720p)
  • Audio encoding: MP3, WMA 2–9, AMR-NB, AMR-WB, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, MIDI
    Audio file formats: MP3, MP4, 3GP, WMA, OGG, AMR, AAC, FLAC, WAV, MIDI
  • Video encoding: MPEG-4, H.264, H.263, Real Video 7–10, WMV 9, XVID, AC3
    Video file formats: 3GP, MP4, WMV, RM, RMVB
  • Support
  • Capacity: 2000 mAh
    Charging time: less than four hours
  • Phone (with built-in battery)×1
    Charger×1
    USB Cable×1
    Headset×1
    Safety Information×1
    Quick Start Guide×1
    TPU case×1
    Headset jack cover (with eject tool)×1

Evernote for BlackBerry 10 updated with sharing, offline notebooks and more


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Yearning for more from BlackBerry 10's Evernote experience? You got it. The service just updated its native BB10 app with improved performance, more security and a small collection of overdue features. Namely, Evernote has given users the ability to share notes from within the app, both to friends and with other apps installed on the device. The reverse works too: data from other Apps can be shared and saved to Evernote using BB10's regular share dialogue. Premium users can also save their notebooks for offline use, and the introduction of a new lock feature secures content with a four-digit passcode. Oh, and the team has enabled Universal Search too, which lets users search their Evernote account from anywhere on the device. Game changing features? Maybe not, but we won't scoff at the update. Check out the company's official blog for more details

Nike updates Training Club app to help you keep those New Year's resolutions




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You know what always comes after pigging out during the holidays: a New Year's resolution to get fit, this time (you swear!) for sure. Well, Nike's hoping to kickstart your quest to fitness by updating its Nike Training Club (N+TC) apps for Android and iOS. New features include the ability to customize exercise routines, as well as earn reward content and sharable milestones whenever you reach a goal. Nike has also added six new exercise videos (of athletes and celeb trainers) to its archive of more than a hundred. Other than that, the app's now more tightly integrated with other Nike products: it's now possible to add minutes from each run on the separate Running app to your N+TC total, and you can tag N+TC sessions on the FuelBand app. The update will hit both platforms' app stores on December 31st -- just in time to make you feel less guilty about that third slice of cheesecake on New Year's Eve.