platformer

Valve games, Steam headed to Macs

It looks like gamers can finally start taking the Mac platform seriously. Confirming recent stirrings, Valve announced Monday that it will bring its gaming service Steam, and Source, its proprietary gaming engine, to Macs.

Started in 2003, Valve is now arguably the biggest online distributor of games. By last month, Valve revealed that it had more than 25 million active Steam user accounts and, at any given time, about 2 million gamers are using the service. There are more than 1,000 games available on Steam. Not all of them will be immediately available on the Mac platform as this … Read more

New iPhone games of the week (March 1, 2010)

It's a good week to be a gamer. We've rounded up five just-released titles that offer a little something for everyone: 3D platform action, a space-themed take on Facebook fave FarmVille, havoc-wreaking airborne zombies, and more. Take a look:

Assassin's Creed II: Multiplayer Created exclusively for the iPhone and free until March 3, ACII: Multiplayer looks nothing like the third-person action-adventure games that preceded it. Rather, it's a top-down, online-multiplayer game of kill-or-be-killed. It requires Wi-Fi, but Ubisoft's servers automatically link you with up to three other live humans. I found the game a little … Read more

New iPhone games of the week (February 10, 2010)

Each week brings a slew of new iPhone games to our doorstep (digitally speaking), but time doesn't permit us to write individual posts about each one. Therefore, here's a roundup of some new and interesting titles you might want to check out:

Daisy Mae's Alien Buffet Unapologetically sexist and gloriously campy, Daisy Mae (top) has the look of a '50s drive-in movie and a plot to match: the gun-toting titular heroine must blast wave after wave of aliens that have invaded her trailer park. Boy, howdy! Giana Sisters If you like Mario-style platform games, you're sure … Read more

The rising importance of cross-platform apps

Martin Luther King Jr. dreamed of a day when we would "transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood." In the technology world, perhaps that notion might be applicable to the dream of a day when we'd get beyond incompatible operating systems to have a truly interoperable software application industry.

Slowly, but surely, we're getting there...on both counts.

It's getting harder to live on Windows Island. And, as cool as you might think you are to have an "exclusive" berth on the Mac's Love Boat, it'… Read more

Amazon expands Kindle self-publishing worldwide

Authors worldwide can now self-publish Kindle versions of their books, Amazon.com said Friday.

Amazon also said that its Digital Text Platform will now support books written in German and French.

The self-publishing platform, which allows writers to upload electronic versions of their books to Amazon's e-book reader store, was previously limited to English and to authors based in the United States.

In an effort to expand global readership, Amazon said support for additional languages is expected to come over the next few months.

The Digital Text Platform enables writers to publish without the middleman (i.e. a book … Read more

NBA Basketball and a squishy driving game: iPhone apps of the week

Like I've mentioned here several times before, I'm one of the people who is still using the iPhone 3G. Like many, I'm waiting for my two-year contract to be up so I can get whatever the next-gen iPhone is. It doesn't bother me too much (aside from a few app features that require 3GS), but I do long for the faster processing power and extra features found in the latest iPhone. Especially when it comes to (surprise!) games.

To give you an idea of the difference between the two iPhone processors and how they effect game … Read more

Facebook: We're going after scammy ads, too

The industry P.R. frenzy over scams in ads and offers on social networks goes on: Facebook announced on Thursday evening in a post on its developer blog that since it updated its developer platform terms of service this summer, it has disabled two ad networks that it says were running deceptive advertisements.

This comes in the wake of allegations that some companies that power offer- and survey-related moneymaking operations for social-gaming applications on platforms like Facebook's have effectively been scamming users into paying for services without disclosing those costs. One of them, Offerpal Media, has been particularly visible in the crosshairs.… Read more

Facebook woos developers with a road map

PALO ALTO, Calif.--Facebook on Wednesday took the wraps off its brand new development road map, unveiling changes and features the company is planning to implement within the next three to six months.

Many of the changes are smaller, simply rearrangements of certain parts of the user interface. However, the company is also making some radical moves like enforcing badly written applications and enabling developers to acquire user e-mail addresses as well as create Facebook-like sites outside of the social network's walls.

Ethan Beard, Facebook's director of platform marketing, who gave the presentation in Facebook's headquarters here, … Read more

Fancy to-do lists and a unique platform game: iPhone apps of the week

The evolution of the app store witnessed another milestone recently, with the release of a game that doubles as a very effective advertisement. One of my favorite iPhone games of the year, Firemint's Real Racing, just got a Lite version that doubles as a promotional tool for both the app and an outside company. Real Racing GTI (Free), sponsored by Volkswagen, lets you race on a few of the tracks of the full game using the 2010 Volkswagen GTI. You only get a small taste of the action in the full game, but it should be enough to help … Read more