Tag: Casual Gaming
I AM PLAYR casual football sim to take on New Star Soccer on iPhone, iPad
Not content with snapping up over 8.4 million players through its web and Facebook games, We R Interactive's casual football sim I AM PLAYR is now available as an iPhone and iPad app too. A free-to-play title that mixes action…
Consoles are "doomed" says game design legend Richard Garriot
Richard Garriot, the games design legend behind the Ultima series, has admitted to seeing a bleak future for games consoles. With his own professional pursuits shifting to mobile and social gaming with new company Portalarium, Garriot believes the end is…
Plants vs. Zombies to hit Xbox Live Arcade with multiplayer modes
Plants vs. Zombies, the madcap tower defence game that pits the undead horde against a fearless army of foliage, is hitting the Xbox Live Arcade this Autumn. Costing 1200 Microsoft Points (£10.20), developers PopCap games are aiming for an early…
Microsoft offers memory cards and subsidised hard drives to low-end Xboxers
Owners of spec-challenged Xbox 360s hoping to get onboard the new Experience are being handed a lifeline by Microsoft. The company has graciously decided to give away free 512MB memory cards, or dirt cheap 20GB hard drives, to anyone with a pitiful Xbox having less than 128MB of storage space.
Active Xbox users can get the hard drive for £12.99, while inactive ones must pay £19.99…
Casual gaming reduces stress, sez science
Next time you get caught out playing Peggle at work, you can legitimately tell your boss that you’re reducing the high level of stress, fatigue, and anger caused by him being such as slave driver.
New research from East Carolina University suggests that casual games (particularly those by PopCap games, because they commissioned the study) can be therapeutic, lowering stress levels, increasing vigour, and reducing fatigue, confusion, anger, and psychological tension…
Rumour: Microsoft to launch a motion sensing controller for Xbox 360, Nintendo flattered
According to an MTV source, Microsoft is not only considering a Wii-remote like accessory for the Xbox 360, it’s getting ready to launch it by the end of this year.
The project has reportedly been in planning since last summer, and legendary developer Rare has been given the responsibility of creating a unified interface and design of the controller…
Namco Bandai launches Paper Planes casual mobile game
If folding up real bits of paper isn’t your thing, but you like the concept of making paper aeroplanes, then Namco Bandai has a mobile solution for you.
Paper Planes, just as the title suggests, lets you build virtual paper planes on your mobile phone, and then fly them in a variety of scenarios with different objectives…
RealNetworks may buy Scrabulous, legal online Scrabble-esque gameplay for all
Scrabulous is definitely popular, as a recent Facebook petition testifies, so anything which brings hope to its survival has to be a good thing.
GigaOm speculates that such a deal would be great for RealNetworks, as it could give them a foot in the door of casual gaming on Facebook. Although Facebook users may not really care who saves Scrabulous, so long as they can still play it, they may well win a few fans along the way.
Computer games can help adults bond with their kids, casual gaming survey reveals
According to a recent worldwide casual gaming survey, 70% of family members have seen educational benefits of their children and grandchildren playing computer games, while a whopping 92% say that casual games provide an opportunity for them to bond with them.
PopCap Games commissioned the survey and found some other interesting statistics that suggest not all video games are bad, either educationally or in terms of isolating kids.
Casual games provided the following observed benefits: improved hand-eye coordination and mental dexterity (68%), improved learning, such as pattern recognition and spelling (60%), mental workouts/cognitive exercises (51%), strengthened memory (48%), stress relief and relaxation (44%), and confidence building/affirmation (37%).
