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Gaming News

Top mobile games based on monthly active users

With a growing number of portable gaming devices being readily available in the modern world, people are more open to satisfying their gaming needs with a smartphone gaming session. In fact, while other video games options are popular, accessing an array of titles using a miniature handheld device has become the norm, especially when assessing the rise of mobile gaming.

While utilising the undoubted power and sophistication of a console machine, such as a PlayStation 5, appeals to most of the gaming population, there are others who prefer the portability and casual offering of a mobile game or two. There are a variety of games to sample using a modern-day smartphone, too, with people able to download titles on both iOS and Android. These downloadable products are supplemented by a variety of browser games also, from playing Spin a Win Live, which is similar to Wheel of Fortune, to the endless array of social media games through platforms like Facebook, with many opting for Zynga Poker or FarmVille. These games, and more, accompany the more sophisticated titles on offer, such as the array of console-quality games that are making the transition over to mobile. As such, mobile gamers have never had as many options as they do today.

Mobile gaming’s rise up the entertainment ranks is perhaps best summed up by its future projections. For example, according to Statista, the mobile gaming market could reach a staggering $173.4 billion by 2026. Some for the more popular games have contributed to this dramatic growth, with many bringing in massive revenues. As is the same in the movie and music charts, there are certainly more popular games than others. These titles, and others, have helped elevate mobile gaming’s package. With that in mind, let’s take a look at some of the top mobile games around at the moment based on monthly active users.

Pokémon Go

Since its release in 2016, Pokemon Go has grown impressively. Thanks to its innovative augmented reality feature, Niantic has been able to continually tempt gamers in to its overall offering. There has been an evident decline in the number of users playing the game in 2022, though. When it was first made available to both iOS and Android users, it peaked at 232 million active users. Now, in 2022, the game is said to have around 81.2 million monthly active users, according to Activeplayer.io. Despite this, Pokemon Go is still one of the biggest and best mobile games around.

Minecraft: Pocket Edition

Minecraft Backgrounds wallpapers

The most iconic of sandbox survival games is now on mobile and it has certainly done well. With over 173.5 million active average monthly users, alongside the 16 million daily active gamers, Minecraft is easily one of the most popular mobile games around, particularly with younger audiences. Given the freedom gamers have in the game, Minecraft’s success is showing no signs of slowing down either.

Candy Crush

You’ve heard of Candy Crush, right? The mobile gaming phenomenon is still going strong in 2022, particularly among female gamers, with the game’s player base being made up of 54% females. Candy Crush Saga has 260 million active monthly players overall, though, and it appears to be a game that will simply never lose its appeal.

PUBG Mobile

Tencent - PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds

The undisputed king of mobile games at this moment in time, PUBG Mobile boasts 511.6 million active monthly players on average, with 42.6 million daily active players. In terms of the battle royale genre, it’s the obvious choice for the vast majority of smartphone gamers. Given it’s all-action package, PUBG Mobile deserves to take the top spot. Overall, it’s a great game.

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Gaming News

Five Card Games Everyone Should Learn to Play

Card games have been among the most popular kinds of games from as far back as the 1370s when the first playing cards appeared in Europe. Ever since then, marked cards have been made in different variations and have been used to play card tricks and have fun in a gathering of friends, and in today’s world, when online gaming has become the rave of the moment, card games continue to grow in popularity. This article highlights five different card games that everyone should learn to play.

Solitaire

Solitaire has been on the Window XP for a long time, so almost every gamer has played it at one point or the other. To play this game, you’ll need to arrange seven cards on the first pile, with the first cards facing up and the remaining six cards facing down. Next, you’ll start the next pile from the second card on the first pile.

Ensure to expose the first card on the pile just like you did in the initial step, and keep the others facing down. This exact procedure continues until you get to expose a card on the last stack. This game aims to match numbers in sequence from king to ace while alternating the colors. Solitaire is available on all Windows, Android, iOS devices, as well as handhelds and consoles.  

Poker

When it comes to playing Poker, it takes a combination of skill and luck to ace the game, but whether you’re a good player or not, one thing is sure; you must have some addictive fun while at it.

Playing Poker is also a great way to stimulate your brain because it is mentally challenging, and the more you play, the more you learn. Poker comes in different variations. It is available on Android, iOS and windows app stores, and it has also been adapted into popular casino games like Hold’em Poker, which can be played in live and virtual formats online.

Rolling Stone

Rolling stone is another fun card game that everyone should learn to play. Like other card games, it may be pretty frustrating at first, but once you get the hang of it, it becomes an exciting way to unwind with friends. The game starts with everyone around the table getting eight cards, and then one card is opened in the center of the table. Each player will place a similar card of the same suit on top of the card placed on the table until you run out of cards of that particular suit. Rolling stone is also available on mobile app stores.

Crazy Eight

If you’re looking for card games to teach your kids, then Crazy eight is an excellent choice. The game is played in groups, and whoever finishes their card first becomes the winner. It is an entertaining way to introduce your kids to competitive gaming, and it’s a great way to have fun with your family. You can also play the game online or download it on your mobile device.

Blackjack

Blackjack is another popular game that has been around for a long time. Though marred with many misconceptions, it is an easy and fun game to play with friends. Blackjack is also called 21. While each player starts with only two cards, the aim is to get close to 21without bursting and beating the dealer while at it. Getting the ace and king automatically gives you 11 and 10, respectively, making you win the game with ease.


For rules on hundreds of traditional cards that can be played, see https://www.pagat.com/alpha/.

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Gaming News Lists

2017 Q1 Gaming Release Calendar

We know you wonderful folk love your video games, and it is good to know when things are going to hit our shores (Ed: You mean ‘good to know when our wallets will be periodically drained of life’). Our awesome distributors have kindly provided us with a list of what games and accessories hit the stores at what dates in the first quarter of this year. Since we will be updating this page as we receive new information, we recommend you keep this page bookmarked. We will also be linking to our reviews within this page, where we have published them. Bam! Double the excellence, just like that.

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Gaming News

Announcing the Nintendo Switch

Nintendo held its press event to announce its new video game console, the Nintendo Switch on 3 March this year. The presentation, which you can watch in its entirety here, is about an hour long. But we watched it so you don’t have to, and here are the highlights of what you can take away from it.

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Gaming News

A Short History of Batman Video Games

Batman fans are excited about the latest game release, Batman: Arkham VR for PlayStation VR, taking the Caped Crusader into a whole new dimension of gaming. The move to VR is just the latest in a long line of Batman inspired games.

The first Batman video game was released back in 1986; it was a 3D action adventure game where Batman has to save Robin by collecting missing pieces to Batman’s hovercraft that are scattered around the Batcave.

In 1990, Batman was developed for console games, with a game based on Michael Keaton’s Batman, for Nintendo, Sega Genesis and Game Boy.  The Nintendo version of the game had 5 levels, and Batman had to defeat several of his nemeses, with a big showdown at the end against the Joker.

In 1992, the Batman Returns based games were released to all major systems. The game was a definite improvement over the 1990 game, with more levels, more shooting, and more bad guys.

Throughout the next 20 years, it seemed as if new Batman video games were being released every year, as the consoles improved so did the quality of the games. Every new movie brought about a new game, complete with the movie villains and game play that attempted to resemble the plot.

In the early 2000s, there were new innovations to the Batman games. Smartphones were becoming popular and game developers saw a whole new market they could reach. Batman Begins was released for mobile devices in 2005 and players had to try and defeat Falcone. This game was followed up in 2008 by The Lego Batman: The Mobile Game, and many other games coming in quick succession.

In 2009, Rocksteady Studios released the first of what would eventually be three games called the Arkham Series: Arkham Asylum, Arkham City, and Arkham Knight (which we reviewed here). The first two titles received a facelift in Batman: Return to Arkham which not only had the remastered versions but also included all previously released DLC.

Batman games have come a long way since its simple beginnings in the mid 80s and we’re excited to see what fun games the future will bring.

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Gaming News

Preview: Hitman (2016)

In what is already promising to be one of the best years for online gaming yet, the highly successful Square Enix publishers have sought to make a bid for gaming glory with the latest installment of Hitman.

It’ll be the seventh in the series of sneak-n-shoot games, and with Hitman being released for PS4, Xbox One, and Windows, it looks to be the most far-reaching Hitman yet.

Hitman_2016_01

Since its release on 11 March, Hitman has already proven to be a big hit with critics; Wired, for example, lauded the game’s successful blend of suspense and comedy as you enter an upmarket fashion event to attempt to assassinate the supermodel-turned-power broker Dalia Margolis.

A big part of Hitman‘s success is expected to rest on the game’s time-sensitive features that add a realistic sense of pressure as you try to use ever-decreasing moments of opportunity to explore the premises and use your cutthroat assassination talents.

Although there is currently just one episode of the game available, there promises to be no less than six further installments to try your skills as the mysterious Agent 47.

Hitman_2016_02

Furthermore, it should be noted that Hitman has already made some successful outings for iOS and Android devices with the likes of Hitman GO and Hitman: Sniper. Mind you, if you can’t wait until the next mobile episode of the game, you could always hit up Springbok Casino, which provides a series of suitably glamorous and gory slots styles including horror that would be more than well-suited to the high-stakes assassination plots of the Hitman series.

All of these games seem to feature a healthy degree of strategy and planning that is a welcome change from the more formulaic point-and-shoot games of recent times. And with Hitman providing a helpful way for you to eavesdrop on people’s conversations in the game so as to find out when to strike, it adds a further level of realism to the already complex and compelling title.

Despite the fact that the first episode is somewhat short, it has many unforeseen twists that mean that, much like a game of online slots, you’ll never play the same game twice. With The Verge commending the first episode’s early promise, it looks like this cold-blooded killer is only going to be more….deadly.

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Gaming News Video Clips Weirdness

Realistic Yoshi Is Terrifying!

See that look Yoshi is giving you? You should be afraid, very afraid.

In this cautionary tale, The Peter Holmes Show reminds us that even though Mario’s lovable sidekick may look cute and all, he’s still a wild dinosaur. And what do wild dinosaurs do? Find out below.

See more of Peter Holmes’ Realistic Mario series of videos after the jump.

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Gaming News Mindlessness

Play This: Flappy48

Daniel J. Moran, what have you done?!?! The unthinkable as it so happens. The student of Computer Science at Queen’s University in Ontario, Canada has combined two of the most infuriating and addictive games of 2014 — Flappy Bird and 2048 — to create the “ultimate flapping/exponential growth crossover you haven’t been waiting for”. So do not delay a moment longer, play Flappy48 at http://broxxar.itch.io/flappy48 and experience a whole new level of rage.

flappy48_howto

[via SA Gamer]

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Awesomeness Gaming News

Play This: 2048

Numbers, numbers everywhere. Italian developer Gabriele Cirulli’s numbers game 2048 is becoming a viral sensation. Some go so far as to say it’s the addictive successor to Flappy Bird.

In a concept that is similar to Asher Vollmer’s Threes, 2048 is a game where you need to combine numbers on a 4×4 grid until you unlock the magic tile of 2048. Each move introduces a new number onto a board and while it might be deceptively easy to get started, it’s another thing altogether to reach your goal.

Play 2048 for free at http://gabrielecirulli.github.io/2048 and let us know how you did.

[via @phaezen]

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Awesomeness Flash Games Gaming News

Play This: Maverick Bird

At the height of its existence, the fat-lipped Flappy Bird was netting its creator – Mr Dong – a tidy USD 50,000 a day in revenue. But it ruffled too many feathers and was recently removed from both Google Play and Apple’s App Store.

Though it’s gone from the official channels, the silliness of Flappy Bird lives on. We’ve seen Squishy Bird, Flappy Doge, and just the other day indie developer Terry Cavanagh showed his appreciation by releasing Maverick Bird.

Better known for the dangerously addictive and fiendishly difficult Super Hexagon, Cavanagh tweaks the Flappy Bird mechanics by adding a dive action. The thumping musical accompaniment is provided by KOZILEK.

Let your rage continue at terrycavanaghgames.com/maverickbird and let us know how far you got.

[via SA Gamer]