World Championship Poker

World Championship Poker is not your typical poker game that focuses exclusively on Texas Hold’em.  In this game, you start out as a newbie poker pro and have to work you way up through stakes and improve your image as you go along.

Unlike most games that focus almost exclusively on Texas Hold’em, this game forces you to be a more well rounded poker player by offering Seven Card Stud, Razz, Stud Hi-Lo, Omaha Poker, and more.  At times, these non-Hold’em games are the only options available, forcing you to be a more well rounded player.

Full House Poker

If you like the Sims, then you will likely enjoy Full House Poker.  While primarily a poker game, this game has a lot of elements of the Sims as you work your way through career mode.

Unlike many poker games, it doesn’t matter whether you win or lose at the tables as you will still earn XP points in order to level up in the game.  If you get tired of the offline mode of the game, you can play with players online and take on a greater challenge.

Stacked

Stacked is the first poker game that has seriously focused on improved AI during game play.  You get to play against pros like Daniel Negreanu in this game and are forced to keep on top of your game as the players are not as easy to figure out as in other games.

Both cash games and tournaments are available in this game and the computer does make adjustments based on your style of play.  Granted, you will still likely be able to figure out how to consistently beat the game after a time, but it is still one of the best alternative to live gaming that has been produced for the console.

Granted, if you prefer competition against live players, there are numerous sites online that allow you to play against live competition.  The great thing about console games is that you don’t have to worry about an internet connection, finding a game, or having to put up with the random 2 a.m. drunk.  Console games aren’t going to make you a poker expert, but they can be a ton of fun.

Wheels of Destruction focuses on multiplayer of up to 12 players, but not necessarily online, you can also play offline against the computer to practise. To play you must have quick reactions although you only have to worry about shooting rather than steering.

The maps are based on famous cities and have different features to explore and special weapon locations to find, however, in my opinion the maps are too large to achieve maximum appeal without allowing a larger amount of players in a match and at points whilst new to the game I found it hard to find other players.

You can play as a variety of vehicles types to benefit your preferred style of playing, although the game lacks vehicle detail and there is no customisation which I enjoy in a driving game.

Scout – the speedster class:


Heavy – the tanking class:

Assassin – the quick-draw class:

Wheels of Destruction is very fast paced and action packed and positively the controls are simple and easy to master, the variety of weapons is also a plus although nothing extremely special.

In summary, the game lacks complexity but for only £7.99 on the Playstation Network Store or £6.39 for Playstation Plus members it is good for the online play against friends.

Both the Magic 2013 Core Set and Duels of the Planeswalkers 2013 will launch this summer* and will charge players with facing a greater challenge by battling Magic’s ultimate evil mastermind, the dragon Planeswalker Nicol Bolas!

“We’re excited to make Magic: The Gathering even more accessible to our growing player base by adding iPad iOS to the suite of platforms that Duels of the Planeswalkers 2013 will be available on this summer,” said Worth Wollpert, Director of Digital Games for Magic: The Gathering at Wizards of the Coast. “Given that the original Duels and Duels 2012 have been downloaded well over 2 million times combined since its launch in June 2009, our customers are clearly enjoying what we’ve done with the game to this point, and we’re thrilled to be able to offer both new and existing Magic™ fans exciting content and gameplay options on a world-class tablet platform that many of our customers have been asking for.”

Hot on the heels of the widely successful Duels of the Planeswalkers and Duels of the Planeswalkers 2012 games, Duels of the Planeswalkers 2013 will introduce 10 fresh decks, optional manual mana tapping, and other exciting features when it launches on iPad®, Xbox LIVE® Arcade, Steam® and PlayStation® Network.

“We are incredibly proud of our work with Wizards of the Coast,” said Patrick Buckland, CEO of Stainless Games Ltd, “and we are confident that Duels 2013 will be the best version of the game yet!”

With an easy to use tutorial, Duels of the Planeswalkers is the best way for new players to learn how to play Magic: The Gathering. Players that are already familiar with Magic will enjoy a new-to-digital multiplayer game mode called Planechase, which utilizes oversized cards based on various Planes within the Magic Multiverse, to modify the rules of gameplay, adding another layer of excitement.

*Launch timing may vary by platform and region. Only Steam platform available in China.

About Magic: The Gathering
Magic: The Gathering is the first and most widely played trading card game. Players take on the role of Planeswalkers – powerful mages who battle others for glory, knowledge and conquest. Their weapons include spells, creatures, and artifacts gathered from a vast Multiverse of unique fantasy worlds. With more than 12 million players and fans worldwide, Magic is printed in 11 languages and played in more than 70 countries.

About Wizards of the Coast
Wizards of the Coast LLC, a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ:HAS), is the leader in entertaining the lifestyle gamer. Wizards’ players and fans are members of a global community bound together by their love of both digital gaming and in-person play. The company brings to market a range of gaming experiences under powerful brand names such as MAGIC: THE GATHERING, DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, and KAIJUDO.

Wizards is also a publisher of fantasy series fiction with numerous New York Times best-sellers. For more information about our world renowned brands, visit the Wizards of the Coast Web site at www.wizards.com.

About Stainless Games
Stainless Games Ltd is a privately owned company based on the South Coast of the UK, and has been the developer for Duels of the Planeswalkers since its inception as a digital product. Although best known for the creation of the multi-million selling Carmageddon™ franchise, the company has most recently become recognized as one of the world’s leading developers in the burgeoning Console Download market. For more information visit the Stainless Games website at www.stainlessgames.com.

The main aim of Little Acorns is to collect acorns for Mr Squirrel and his family. To do this you must venture through the multiple platforms collecting all of the acorns to complete each level.  However, this would be too easy, you must also battle different enemies in order to collect your nuts!

There are 4 levels for each season of the 3 years.  Now I’m no mathematician, but the game works out at good value for money along with a good replay value; as there are multiple completion challenges in each of the levels and also the promise of new updates and levels from the developers.

The levels contain different power-ups and at the end of each year there is a challenging boss race which I will admit took me a fair few attempts to complete. Another feature I find attractive is the unlockable ability to dress-up your squirrel however you please.

Little Acorns for iPhone , iPad, & iPod Touch is definitely a must have for all gamers, as it is good value, challenging and put simply, fun!

The game delivers 61 different levels across 5 environments: Forest, Snow, Junkyard, Jungle and Volcano, that each offer a new challenge and are essentially progressively unlocked through playing the game and collecting bones. However, it is not just old bones you are digging up, dogs also love to find treasure which will improve your overall score and place you higher on the leaderboard.

To play the game you have to tap your finger on the screen to remove dirt and create a pathway for your dogs to go down and down until you reach the golden boot which is level completion. You can move the dogs by sensitively manoeuvring the device towards your desired location, but once you go down, there is no escape from the various enemies that now somehow manage to survive underground encased in mud just waiting for an unsuspecting dog to dig a few miles below ground, including my personal favourite; toxic mushrooms. There are also power-ups that the dogs can find which grant helpful abilities and make the game a little easier for you.

In conclusion Diggin’ Dogs is family friendly with increases in difficulty as you progress ensuring the game isn’t just a walk in the park but a challenge for all skills. A must have for fans of cute cartoon dogs.

One Epic Game is a simple 2-D, one player game, in which the idea is to keep jumping from platform to platform eliminating all varieties of enemy that get in your way.

Along the game you are rewarded with points for distance and killing enemies, you can also receive bonus point by taking the collectibles along the way, and there is also a large cycle of weapons to take turns in using, if you’re lucky enough to receive it; because each time you play the level it is randomly generated.

The story attempts to lightly mock the gaming world by including frequent gaming clichés such as an evil villain taking over the world, leaving you to battle through fantasy kingdoms and wastelands against a zombie outbreak in the middle of an alien invasion. The game uses a cartoon effect and persistent use of jokes, which are debatably humours’.

On a rather positive note the game has many different features and game modes, but it also has a great re-play value. The game offers a long story mode and there are also challenges which can be progressively unlocked, along with the opportunity to see how long you can last in a free run game on any map.

There is also a Hall of Fame which challenges your abilities and asks you to achieve specific landmarks to award you with. Similar to other Chillingo games you have the ability to sign into Crystal whilst playing the game to access all the online features.

Overall, One Epic Game is okay, offering addictive gameplay.  But it lacks the complexity to truly be titled epic.

Mass Effect 3 not to be stocked in GAME

With the popularity of computer gaming at an all-time high, it’s difficult to understand how Game – the most popular High Street chain store in the UK – are in financial difficulties and face a serious risk of liquidation.

Game has more than 50% of the gaming market in the UK.  So if they can’t make a profit now, what chance have they got of survival?

The Game Group are on the brink of administration.  This is putting no less than 10,000 jobs and 1300 stores on the line.  Furthermore the computer games retailer said if the situation is not resolved it will wipe out all shareholders.

Similarly, HMV – once the leading High Street mecca for all things music – is on the brink of collapse.  But where as competition such as Amazon & Play are virtual stores only both Game & HMV profits are swallowed by overheads of maintaining a High Street presence.

The other point of peak selling is with the release of a new games console.  Previous releases of Wii, PS3 and Xbox 360 consoles were met by near hysteria.  Midnight opening hours are met with freak queues, just to be one of the first to experience a new gaming experience.
Game is in need of a serious boost right now. But Christmas, their busiest time of the year has come and gone. Profits are made on PS3 games, Wii, PC and Xbox 360 games.  But Game relies on new titles that receive saturated media advertising to boost games sales.

Judgment day comes on 25th March when the Game Group’s massive second quarter rent payment is due.  This comes ahead of a series of problems facing the company.  But Game’s troubles just got deeper as some major suppliers are refusing to give stock to Game in light of serious concerns over their credit worthiness.  Electronic Arts, CapCom and Nintendo are among those refusing to send new titles to Game. This means Game won’t be stocking forthcoming titles such as EA’s Mass Effect 3. This is devastating for Game.

While the future of the gaming industry most certainly looks a bright Day-Glo orange, the future of Game is far more bleak; one that resembles a dark black hole.

How deep can you go behind the enemy lines?

The player is in the role of an elite commander who controls an advanced starfighter. He or she needs to blast away waves of alien spaceships, star panzers, destroyers and space fighters before facing the big bosses. There are power-ups to upgrade the firepower, and special weapons to quickly annihilate hordes of enemies. The player can boost his/hers adrenaline by killing enemies and use the powerful air strike to blitz the enemy in a torrent of destruction.

This space shoot-em-up game offers challenge to all players with very easy to learn controls. In the iOS version, the player needs to touch and move the finger around the screen to move and shoot allowing you to fully control the game. In the Mac version the whole gameplay can be controlled with the mouse, just click and drag the mouse to move and shoot.

In the iOS version players can compete against other Starfighter Overkill players around the world thanks to Game Center and Open Feint online leaderboards. Additionally there are dozens of achievements to unlock.

Starfighter Overkill Mobile Game Features:

- Unlimited waves giving you unlimited hours of playtime
- Unlockable stages
- Earn Achievements and conquer the Leaderboards (iOS)
- Game Center and OpenFeint support (iOS)
- Crisp, clean and beautiful HD graphics
- Adrenaline pumping music
- High quality sound effects and explosions

Starfighter Overkill is an obvious choice for fans of the genre, with challenging levels that are quite simplistically; incredibly addictive. The only negative is that the game is fairly repetitive, as apart from the unlockable stage variants, not many other features change throughout the game. The game is however very useful for a bit of escapism as you travel from A to B. The game has a handy feature that it saves the current game for you to play again later if you need to check something else on your iPhone or other device.

MonkeyPaw Games has released BurgerTime World Tour on Nintendo’s WiiWare™. BurgerTime World Tour is an evolution of the arcade classic, enhanced with an innovative 3D rotating environment. The new BurgerTime experience introduces fresh and meaty additions to the re-imagined franchise. For the very first time, BurgerTime will feature platforming elements that widen the playing field. BurgerTime World Tour will be available worldwide for 1000 Wii Points™ and can be purchased from the Wii Shop Channel.

The evolved platforming-puzzler will follow world-renowned burger chef Peter Pepper in his global quest for culinary domination through expanded levels and one giant adversary.

True to his retro roots, Peter Pepper will be tasked with building enormous burgers while running away from wacky food-gone-wild enemies such as Frank Furter the Sausage, Sonny the Egg, and new enemies such as Habba De Niro, the Habanero Pepper. Chef Peter Pepper will need to overcome new obstacles such as giant chasms, wall spikes and a heckuva hungry boss to strategically find the fastest way to put together each burger.

“BurgerTime is a maturation of the arcade classic.  The new platforming elements evolve the action into a faster and more challenging experience,” said John Greiner, president and CEO of MonkeyPaw Games. “We’re excited for a new generation of players to try out the game and get a taste of retro evolution.”

The release of BurgerTime World Tour marks 30 years since the original BurgerTime arcade game was released in 1982.A beloved classic that quickly earned the label as one of the best arcade games of all time, BurgerTime increasingly became popular within the growing gaming industry. Now BurgerTime is back and fresher than ever for a much wider gaming audience.

BurgerTime World Tour is rated E for Everyone by the ESRB and will be available on February 9th for worldwide download on WiiWareat the low price of 1000 Wii Points.

For more information, visit the BurgerTime World Tour website.

Available for £0.69, Breakout: Boost+ features one hundred brand new levels with all the challenging and frenetic brick-breaking action of the original iOS hit that achieved over two million downloads in the first month after launch.

Download Breakout: Boost+ to your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch now from the App Store.

Breakout: Boost+ features:

• One hundred brand new levels with unique brick layouts to smash through

• Boost Control allows players to manually adjust the ball’s speed, scaling up the speed to increase the score multiplier

• Special ball upgrades to aid your destruction, such as the Fire, Acid, Splitting and Grenade balls

• New and unique brick varieties standing in your way, including Exploding, Mystery, x4 and Metal bricks

• Save and restore in-progress games, so you can stop and start at your convenience

• Game Center and OpenFeint integration for score leaderboards and achievements

Those interested in trying out Breakout: Boost may still download the original title for free, including five levels and additional content available through in-app purchases from the Apple App Store.

For more information about Atari games and the latest news vist www.atari.com.