2012 is here! I would like to wish readers of Nine Over Ten 9/10, and those from the gaming industry that have worked with us, in bringing really cool games to platforms such as the iPhone, iPad, Nintendo 3DS, Mac, PC and even the PS3. 2011 has been a super busy year and I think the number of posts eclipses that of 2010′s. The quality of games coming our way were a mark improvement over those in 2010, proving that the market and industry are maturing hand-in-hand.

A big shoutout to the developers, publishers and PR practitioners, without you, Nine Over Ten 9/10 wouldn’t be functioning like clockwork. My new year’s resolution? Review more iOS games, probably get an Android phone, check out the 3DS’ lineup and of course set better personal records for the half marathon and full marathon runs . So in 2012, keep the games coming and stay tuned to Nine Over Ten 9/10!

The amount of strange press releases or requests for review that I get each week borders on the astounding and sometimes I don’t get why some developers/publishers/PR practitioners do what they do in their somewhat misguided attempt to get reviewers to check out their wares. Take a look at the description of a game that tries to pass off sounding like soft-core porn (I got this in the mail today):

<Title removed> is a casual game which is running on the Iphone Os-platform, which is another masterpiece of <developer removed> this year. In the game, there are many lust mosquitoes at beautiful girls’ home, they need help. The player’s task is to help these girls in the scene to eliminate mosquitoes, to win their heart.

If players can destroy the mosquitoes within the scene, do not let them to kiss these beautiful girls, they will get the corresponding reward, and if players hit special parts there will be vibrate effect! Players in image browsing mode can also see the beloved girl’s picture again.

Think that is bad enough, check out the game’s description on the App Store:

These beautiful girls need you, there are lecherous mosquitoes in their home. This good performance but a good time to show your talents, do not let the beauty disappointed, winning their hearts and minds. You just destroy the mosquitoes in the scene, do not let them kiss the beautiful girls.

As long as you are powerful enough, beautiful girls will give you an award, and hit the special effects department there will vibrate. Image browsing mode can also see the beloved girl’s picture again.

This game is not only easy to use, and yet challenging. Want to become the number one of the world, requiring more than agility and skill, but more stamina. The mosquitoes are not so easy to fail.They will communicate with each other, end of the attack groups. Prepared to storm it a finger!

Storm it a finger? I don’t know, more like give it the finger…as if there isn’t enough smut in this world already.

This year’s Child’s Play Gala and Auction has managed to raise USD 351,000 thanks to the generous donations from across the gaming community and the auction of unique items. The Child’s Play Gala and Auction is one of the highlights of the annual Child’s Play Charity fundraising drive that donates toys, games and cash for hospitalized kids.

At the black-tie event the gaming community bids on rare and unique items.  Some of the stand out items from the auction included the life-sized Half-Life Gravity Gun that went for $21,000 and one of the rarest video games on the planet, the Nintendo World Championships Grey #60 that went for $11,500.  A lucky bidder also won a guest starring role in a Penny Arcade strip for $10,000.

The proceeds from the gala and auction add to donations already contributed by gamers around the world.  In total, Child’s Play has raised more than $1.5 USD 1.95 million this year. “The gala and auction always brings in a lot of donations, but it is just one part of Child’s Play,” said Jamie Dillion of Child’s Play Charity.  “The real heroes are all the gamers who organize local events and send in individual donations that account for the vast majority of what we raise every year.  We couldn’t do this without all of their support”

Started in 2003, Child’s Play http://www.childsplaycharity.org, supported by the entire video game community, has raised more than $10 million dollars in toys, games and cash for hospitalized kids since its inception.

Christmas has always been known as a time for giving and we would like to kickstart this year’s Nine Over Ten 9/10 Christmas 2011 Gift Guide with a question: why not gift a gift and do your bid for charity as well? The Humble Indie Bundle 4 is the perfect avenue for this. Not only can you purchase this bundle which consists of amazing indie games such as Gratuitous Space Battles, Super Meat Boy, Bit.Trip Runner and many more, as a gift, part of the purchase goes to American Red Cross and Child’s Play Charity. Check it out over here.

If you are feeling a little more generous, you can always head over to the nearest NGO or Charity out there and donate. Here are some organizations that are closer to home in my case:

• National Cancer Council of Malaysia: http://www.makna.org.my/
• National Council for the Blind: http://www.ncbm.org.my/
• National Kidney Foundation: http://www.nkf.org.my/

OK, with that charity bit out of the way here’s our annual gift guide for Christmas 2011, this time it has something for everyone, I think, ranging for the bookworms to tech heads (I’m actually adapting my Amazon wish list for this year’s Christmas guide):

Books

1. Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson (Hardcover)
2. Sex, Lies and Handlebar Tape: The Remarkable Life of Jacques Anquetil, the First Five-Times Winner of the Tour de France by Paul Howard (Paperback)

Electronic Devices and Gadgets

1. Apple iPad 2
2. Kindle Fire
3. Arduino UNO Board
4. Grado iGi In-Ear Headphones

Video Games

1. Nintendo 3DS
2. Batman Arkham City Collectors Edition
3. Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Collectors Edition

Movies

1. Star Wars: The Complete Saga (Episodes I-VI) [Blu-ray]
2. Harry Potter: The Complete 8 Film Collection [Blu-ray]

Music

1. Torches (Music CD) by Foster the People
2. Pickin’ Up The Pieces (Music CD) by Fitz & the Tantrums.

If you need more gift ideas, check out our super popular guide articles:

• Ultimate Guide to Getting the PlayStation Vita (click here)
• Ultimate Guide to Nintendo 3DS Accessories (click here)
• Ultimate Guide to Nintendo DSi LL/XL Accessories (click here)
• Ultimate Guide to Sony PSP Go Accessories (click here)
• Nintendo DSi Accessories Guide (click here)

Google today celebrates the 84th birthday of Robert Noyce with a Google Doodle of an integrated circuit on its landing page. Mr. Noyce was born on the 12th of December and this very important person, who was instrumental in the invention of the integrated circuit (otherwise known as the microchip), kickstarted the PC revolution, without which I wouldn’t be sitting here typing this post out on my MacBook Pro.

He co-founded at first Fairchild Semiconductor in 1957 before leaving to found Intel in 1968. Yup, that Intel whose chips you can find in most computers today and without which even AMD wouldn’t exist. So in honour of this great man, be sure to talk about him far and wide, but of course, you can choose the easiest way which is by sharing this page.

For more information about Robert Noyce, check out his Wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Noyce

Have you checked out the cover for IDW’s The Transformers #31 comic book? It features the Megatron Revoltech figurine. I used to have one of these and it was really super-poseable, thanks to the innovative joint system pioneered by Revoltech. I’ve sold mine on eBay for a handsome sum (for more of our eBay stuff, check out our listing here and do support us!), but thanks to IDW I think the price of this action figurine can only go even higher:

Who can forget a boss fight which features a zombie Tyrannosaurus Rex that can jump and pirouette in air before landing a devastating attack? While some gamers would prefer an Infinity Blade II or an online bingo site for casual play, Age of Zombies gets my ticket as one of the best casual gaming experience on any platform.

Therefore it’s pretty exciting to see the game receive an update on its one year anniversary since its release back in November 2010. The developers, Halfbrick, have come up with a new version of the game called Age of Zombies Anniversary. The digitally remastered version of the highly acclaimed dual-stick action shooter, Age of Zombies Anniversary features all-new Wild West content, HD graphics, support for iCloud and more.

“We’ve put poor Barry Steakfries through a lot over the past year — endless zombie invasions, unreliable time travel, near hopeless battles against reanimated dinosaurs,” said Phil Larsen, chief marketing officer at Halfbrick. “We thought, what better way to celebrate Barry’s survival than to create a whole new set of ravenous monsters and brutal challenges with gorgeous graphics, and throw Barry into a zombified Wild West to face it all. Happy Birthday Barry!”

In the celebratory, high-definition Age of Zombies Anniversary, Barry Steakfries travels across milestones in history — including prehistoric times, ancient Egypt, feudal Japan and the all-new Wild West — to blast, burn and battle back the undead forces of the appropriately named Professor Brains. Use a variety of weapons including rocket launchers, flamethrowers, shotguns and cheesy one-liners to destroy hordes of zombie ninjas, mummies, cavemen, cowboys and even a Zombie T-Rex in a birthday hat.

With Game Center leaderboards, a horde of achievements and universal synchronization via the cloud — meaning progress and achievements will carry over to any iOS device — Age of Zombies Anniversary is the crown jewel in the time traveling, zombie blasting, cut-off leather vest wearing comedy action genre. The game is available on the iTunes App Store for just USD 1.99, check it out over here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/age-of-zombies-anniversary/id451365136?mt=8

I read an interesting comment from a friend of mine that mobile game developers should focus more on creating games like Infinity Blade II rather than just sticking to the common stuff that you can find on the App Store. This year, we’ve seen the likes of Dream:scape, Shadowgun and the aforementioned Infinity Blade II being released on the App Store, and if there’s one thing that tells us, it’s the market that dictates what gets released, not the developers.

The ecosystem that Apple has introduced has brought about a vicious cycle that perpetuates the need to keep the prices of games low. Take a look around, and you’ll find a majority of games going for 99 cents a pop. With that kind of pricing, coming up with big budget games that feature console-like graphics would be suicide for smaller game studios as they can’t recoup the cost no matter how well the critical response can be to the game.

One analogy I could make out from my friend’s statement would be expecting PS3 game developers to make stuff with the same production qualities similar to that of Unchartered 3. The power is definitely there on Apple’s devices to support such endeavors, in just one year, Apple has introduced hardware that allows Infinity Blade II to shine.

Signs are pointing towards more publishers and developers taking a bold step in pricing their games above the USD 0.99 glass ceiling. In recent months, I’ve seen games priced from USD 2.99 to USD 4.99 (Thank God I’m in the business of reviewing games, buying games is a sure fire way to make a dent on the wallet, irrespective of the platform), highlighting a renewed confidence in fixing this price discrepancy.

With that,  we can see more (but not necessary many) high-production value games on the iOS and Android platform in 2012 as the market matures. We’ll probably see more than ONE high-profile game headlining the launch of future iOS devices.

If you are a fan of The Call of Cthulhu, or anything Lovecraftian, here’s a Christmas present for ya in the form of Red Wasp Design’s Cthulhu Christmas Calendar for iOS devices, and trust me, this is not like any other advent app that you’ve seen before. Each day, starting from the 1st of December right up to the 25th of December, will feature an original image.

I love these original artworks, here you can see that characters and creatures from the Cthulhu Mythos (interestingly, this is a shared fictional universe, spawned from H.P. Lovecraft’s work) combine with traditional festive imagery to create very beautiful, and I must add, disturbing, works of art.

Each day also features a question with regards to the Cthulhu Mythos, and your score will be unveiled on the 25th of December, indicating your “Mythos” rating. This interesting advent app is available on the iTunes App Store for just USD 0.99, check it out over here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/cthulhu-christmas-calendar/id479536435?mt=8.

Here’s a tip: To gain a leg up on the unveiling of images, be sure to exit the app completely before changing your iOS device’s calendar date, since apparently the date checking is based on the device date, rather than the date on some remote server.

I don’t get it. To-Fu: The Trials of Chi for the iPhone is actually a pretty darn good game, a pretty looking 2D physics platformer featuring a really bouncy piece of to-fu which you can stretch and launch, but the developers decided to make it available for free (previously it wasn’t) and pepper the game with distracting ads.

Shouldn’t developers be confident enough to decide that they have a hit in their hands and then charge it. Why let silly little ads mar the experience? If you are confident (and sincere) enough, just release the free game, sans ads, and the gameplay/graphics/whatever the customer finds special in your game will lead them to the in-app purchase.

It’s the case of trying to be shareware but I don’t recall shareware being adware in the first place. You are already releasing a “limited functionality” product, why bother decreasing the user experience any further? In the case of existing customers who previously bought the game, downloading the update makes the ads available to them as well!

Anyways, I can’t really stand the ads to continue reviewing with the game. But if you want to check it out, it’s available for free (with ads, and an in-app purchase to unlock the full game) on the iTunes App Store: http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/to-fu-the-trials-of-chi-free/id472970885?mt=8.

While you are there, check out the comments at the bottom of the app description, it seems that I’m not the only one who thinks what the developer did is pretty dumb.