Apps

The launch of iOS 8 introduced new developer tools dubbed "Metal," allowing for more advanced graphics on both the iPhone and iPad. Here are the best games out now showcasing the power of Metal.

I’m not what you would consider a “gamer.” I dabble in mobile titles like Monument Valley and occasionally play Super Smash Bros. or Mario Kart with friends, but few games manage to grab my attention for very long. Yet there’s a…

I’ve been playing Vainglory quite a bit lately, and the one thing that really distracts me and (when on my iPad 3) actually impacts my gameplay: notifications. They can make the game stutter, which wreaks havok on my ability to…

Console game developers are trying to break into mobile, and they’re using casual genres to start with. When gamers hear about Insomniac Games, they might think of classic platform games like Ratchet and Clank, first-person shooters like Resistance: Fall of…

Match-three meets combat—meets frustration and unclear design. The once-great Angry Birds franchise misfires again.

This week's list includes an app to send doodles to your friends, an update to Facebook's newest standalone app and a new gravity-based game.

I behaved a little salty last week over Drizzy Tearz, a new free iOS game that asks you to tap the tears falling from an emotional Drake’s floating 8-bit head. You can imagine my surprise when I was offered a chance to speak to the creative force behind the game, Ashten "Whoopi" Winger. It’s one thing to dismiss a game’s central idea and call it "crapware"; it’s another to talk to the person behind said idea about all of the work and planning that went into said crapware....

Got pop star aspirations? Glu's new game turns the dream into a grind.

Miitomo was an odd starting point, but the real games are coming this fall.

Pokémon Go originally launched in Australia and New Zealand last week before eventually arriving in the US. While the game has generated a massive following worldwide, it hasn't been officially available in Europe until today. Game developer Niantic Labs has experienced a variety of server issues, and has been actively limiting accounts and the worldwide availability of the game as a result. That's starting to change, albeit slowly, and Pokémon Go is launching in Germany today on both Android and iOS....

Bots may not have turned out to be as world-changing as some of the tech giants wanted you to believe, but there’s still something inherently fun that comes from talking with an AI (especially if it’s the virtual embodiment of a seasonal Starbucks beverage). The concept still has a ways to go before people start doing the majority of their banking or trip planning in Facebook Messenger, but the often silly nature of bots means that they’re potentially well-suited to gaming. This week, two new...

The App Store will never be the same.

After making its debut on consoles, The Walking Dead series is now available on iOS, and it’s kicking off this week’s must-have games roundup. We also have two classic titles in the form of Fur Fighters and Spy vs Spy, a retro-style 2D platformer, and the official game of the new Total Recall movie.

Microsoft seems more than willing to spend its time on developing software for Apple’s iOS platform, despite it being a direct competitor to its Windows Phone operating system. Why? We don’t know. But we like it. Especially when the company throws up gems like Kinectimals. My kids love this game on the Xbox 360, which takes advantage of Microsoft’s Kinect accessory, and now it’s available for the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.

The iPad has finally made its international debut, meaning that thousands and thousands of new users will be enjoying Apple's latest device over the coming weeks. With the...

This morning I was feeling particularly dreary. The weather is gloomy today in the Big Apple, grey and rainy, and it’s chillier than it was yesterday. I found a little comfort in the fact that the holidays are on their way, but looking out the window it simply doesn’t feel like Christmastime. Disheartened, I opened up my trusty MacBook Pro and started in on my least favorite part of the hump day, checking email. But something special was waiting for me in my inbox this morning, something that makes me ...

As has been reported quite widely over the past few hours, Apple has updated its list of the top-selling iPhone and iPad apps of all time as it creeps towards…

In a very special late night edition of your weekly iPhone apptacular: Apps that make things that are already good—FM radio, video games, shopping, spouses, the city you live in—a little bit better. Priceless Picks: Don't let the advertising-crap-app appearance of Priceless Picks turn you off—this free download, branded all over with Mastercard, is great. It combines loads of data collected from a number of sources, including user submissions and Amazon's Mechanical Turk army, to give wide-ranging...

Photosynth: Basically, Photosynth is a panorama photography app. It's got Microsoft's Photosynth engine under the hood, stitching together as many shots of a given area-up, down, left, and right-as you feel like snapping to create a surprisingly smooth model of the space. Whereas other apps of its ilk have you do this thing where you kinda slowly and steadily smudge your way around in a circle to develop a panorama, Photosynth lets you take as many overlapping rectangular shots as you want and sorts 'em...

Between a man-sized mouse, two foul-tempered ducks, and a cross-dressing rabbit, animated comedies have long aimed to strike a balance between innocence and irreverence. At its best, The Act, a self-described “interactive comedy,” straddles that line expertly. In the span of a few short scenes, your hapless hero goes from dealing with a puking infant to sabotaging a brain transplant—a story communicated entirely through beautifully animated physical comedy and wacky music. It’s not exactly a...

Sega has turned its hand to vertical jumping games with a brand new title called Sonic Jump that’s coming to the App Store tomorrow. The title looks a lot like Doodle Jump, only it features Sega’s beloved blue hedgehog instead, and rather than being just an endless jumper, you’ll have to beat new and familiar stages in pursuit of the infamous Dr. Eggman.

Toys were simple back in the good ol' days. A set of wooden building blocks or an unfurnished doll house were respectable holiday gifts. Heck, even the pet rock somehow...