Spacetime Studios takes its mobile and desktop Legends franchise into a frightening new world with Dark Legends. Players will embrace the secret societies of vampires to challenge the hordes of undead, werewolves, demons and humans that hunt them. The title will be released for Android, iOS and Chrome in the first quarter of 2012.

Fans of the popular Legends franchise, Pocket Legends and Star Legends, will discover a gameplay evolution in Dark Legends that draws them even deeper into the experience. The combat system delivers fast paced, action oriented gameplay that includes new mechanics such as charge attacks and the ability to drain enemies. A wide breadth of solo and multiplayer content will also be available.

The most significant change is a much deeper focus on narrative. In addition to story communicated during the 3D multiplayer missions, players will periodically be given the option to complete quick action missions with a single tap. These missions use brief cut scenes to create an interactive storybook, where players experience the life of a vampire up-close and personal.

The company’s goal for Dark Legends is to combine casual, strategic advancement content with their award winning real-time 3D multiplayer system to create a blend of gameplay never before seen.

“With each entry to the Legends franchise we raise the bar for the pick-up-and-play MMO space,” said Gary Gattis, CEO, Spacetime Studios. “The changes between Pocket Legends and Star Legends were significant, but Dark Legends is a quantum leap forward in interactive storytelling.  Live the dark fantasy and play anywhere, anytime, anyone!”

Dark Legends opens with the player recently raised and under the direction of the vampire that sired them. The secret existence of vampires has been exposed and angry, misguided humans are uniting to exterminate the undead plague by any means necessary. Players must work with their clan to survive this brutal new world.

The previous Legends titles, fantasy Pocket Legends and sci-fi Star Legends: The Blackstar Chronicles have been downloaded more than seven million times, making it the world’s largest mobile MMO franchise. Dark Legends with be shown for the first time publicly at GDC 2012.

Build once, deploy for many different devices, in other words, cross-platform development. That’s one thing that most developers would want to strive for especially when there are huge but disparate markets such as iOS and Android devices. Berlin-based Infernum is one of the latest game studios to jump onto the cross-platform bandwagon with its upcoming online-shooter, Brick Force.

Built using Unity 3D, this comic-style online game will be playble directly in the browser thanks to the Unity 3D engine and is a co-production from the Korean developer EXE Games and Infernum. The sandbox mode, in which players use simple building blocks to construct complex environments, can be played on social networks and mobile devices such as smartphones or tablets.

Today’s in-game trailer shows a range of various game modes. Features such as the classics “Capture the Flag“, “Deathmatch“ or the “Defusion“ mode in which bombs are planted, defused, and defended bring explosive entertainment into the user-generated maps.

“Brick-Force will provide gamers with a varied and comprehensive game experience across multiple platforms such as PCs, tablets and smart-phones,” says Andreas Weidenhaupt, CEO/Founder, Infernum. “We are building a strong community ahead of the closed beta launch – and we can´t wait for the beta to start and to see the first maps of the fans.”

Brick-Force goes live in Spring, but fans can register for closed beta access at the official website www.brick-force.com to build, share and play.

MMO games are a dime a dozen these days and one of the platforms that has seen a growth spurt in this genre would be Facebook. Texas-based Night Owl Games has one of the newer titles called Dungeon Overlords, and this new hardcore strategy MMO is now being officially launched after having more than 80,000 active players in beta! Check out the press release below for the details:

AUSTIN, Texas – Nov. 15, 2011 – Hardcore gamers looking to feed their nostalgic dungeon keeping desires and whip their strategy MMO skills into shape can now join the free-to-play world of Dungeon Overlord™ from Night Owl Games®. The title has officially launched and brings with it more than 80,000 active players from the beta.

Set in a fantasy world inhabited by goblins, orcs, warlocks and dozens of other mythical creatures; Dungeon Overlord has players assume the role of an evil tyrant who will stop at nothing to conquer the world. Users start off with a modest dungeon that must be expanded so they can conquer others in their quest to claim the Heart of the Mountain and crown themselves king.

Along the way players will interact with the environment by raiding elves, expanding their territory and collecting resources (preferably from the ravaged lands of their enemies). They can also connect with players to make alliances to invade other peoples’ dungeons.

“Our goal was to create an online multiplayer strategy game that kept all of the classic elements of the Dungeon Keeper franchise, but applied lessons learned from our team members’ work on MMOs like Ultima Online and Star Wars Galaxies,” says Chris Mayer, CEO, Night Owl Games. “By taking advantage of the multiplayer potential of the franchise — allowing cooperative play, PvP combat for conquering your neighbors, a player-driven resource marketplace, etc… — we have modernized a classic.”

Features include:

• Start Your Kingdom – Build your dungeon and attract an army capable of world domination
• Expand Your Empire – Construct new dungeons, raid the Overworld and pillage other players
• Interact with Others – Buy items from the player-driven market, form alliances, enslave your friends, attack and even conquer your enemies
• Crown Yourself King – Claim the Heart of the Mountain and tax your fellow players
• Unlock Rewards – Complete epic quests, research new technologies, or craft your own equipment to obtain stronger minions, upgrades and rewards

Dungeon Overlord, a free to play game, is now available for PC and Mac users with a Facebook account. The game features optional microtransactions and virtual currency that can be used to purchase in-game items and boosts. For more details visit http://www.dungeonoverlord.com/

Not everyday I get an e-mail regarding a Facebook game calling out another Facebook game of the same genre, most of the time it’s just XXX title trying to be the next Angry Birds or Doodle Jump. The game, titled StreetRally, is a new racing game on Facebook, has set its sights on games such as Car Town when it comes to social car games.

The new comer has already caused a fuss among many players in Facebook who have been used to click based arcade games. StreetRally brings a totally new game experience into the social environment connecting a Need for Speed like customization system, top down view racing and social racing challenges among players friends.

Being unique among other car games in Facebook, StreetRally offers their players a possibility to control their car in a real race against virtual opponents or Facebook friends. Car Town has also enabled a racing feature where the success of the race depends on precice clicking whereas in StreetRally, users can drive their cars on a real racing track from a top down view.

These two games differ a lot and both of them have different sort of plus sides. StreetRally concentrates more on competitive players who like racing games whereas Car Town is directed to players who are more into arcade games. Both of the games seem to acchieve their goals well.

It’s possible to have fun in both games the only question is what kind of fun are you searching for. As told in Car Town there’s not a real racing feature which makes StreetRally a bit more challenging. Car Town on the other hand seems to keep players more engaged and has a lot more content in the game. The possibility to collect many different cars, build your garage etc. is lots of fun for a big amount of players.

Developers in Facebook have been discussing a lot over the possibilities of applications during the past few weeks after StreetRally announced that their next update includes a multiplayer feature that allows their players to race with each other in real time in Facebook.

It certainly takes a bit time to pass Car Town’s monthly active users base but StreetRally seems to have all the tools to go for it. The only question is whether the developers of StreetRally are able to reach the right audience. We’ll probably see if things start going uphill or downhill for StreetRally during the following few months. To check out StreetRally, head over to http://apps.facebook.com/streetrally

Fans of the Pepsi Throwback Atari Arcade, and especially fans of the old Tempest arcade game would be happy to know that Tempest has been released on the Facebook app as of yesterday. For those not in the know, Tempest was a shmup and has the distinction of being the first video game to introduce difficulty levels. To get a piece of the action, check out the app over at https://www.facebook.com/pepsithrowback?sk=app_166469713413840.

Participants on the weekly high score challenge stand to win the Atari Flashback 2+ Console. For the less talented among us, there’s still the lucky draw for the iCade and iPad loaded with classic Atari games.

I don’t normally play web-based games, let alone Facebook ones (they have a nasty way of telling people that you are online, playing games). But now, meet my newest obsession that has come to Facebook, Words With Friends (Beta).

Created by Zynga, it’s pretty cool and allows you to post up achievements whenever you beat a friend or score a high-value word. I spent most of my time starring at a computer anyways so it really beats playing on the game on the iPhone, and yes, you get to continue your game on the iPhone/Android smartphone when you are on the move, or the other way around when you are deskbound.

So word games addict, say bye bye to Productivity and hello to more words…with friends..

Pew pew pew. The classic arcade game Missile Command can now be played on the Pepsi Throwback Atari Arcade. To play, all you need to do is head on over to the Facebook app: https://www.facebook.com/pepsithrowback?sk=app_166469713413840. You’ll need a mouse for this (playing with the trackpad can be a little tricky)

Just so you know, players can still play to reach the weekly high score to win the Atari Flashback 2+ Console and already two lucky winners have received the iCade and iPad loaded with classic Atari games.

Hmm..remember those cute little Tamagotchi games? The guys and gals over at Digital Harmony Games, a new interactive entertainment developer of social, casual games, are coming up with something similar for iOS, Android and even web browsers. This time however, players will not be raising ccreatures, but superheroes; from a superbaby to teen to a full-fledged superhero in a game called SuperTomo.

Talk about a super life-cycle. Players will be able to play, trade and BREED with friends on iOS devices, Android smartphones and tables, and PC and Mac browsers. There are endless of ways to raise a superbaby and care for a superhero with tons of combinations for superpowers.

“Who doesn’t want their own superhero?,” said Jeff Lujan, CEO of Digital Harmony Games.  “With today’s social networking lifestyles cross-platform capability is becoming a must. We are excited about the SuperTomo cross-platform experience we will offer, and we think players are really going to respond to that.”

Stay tuned to Nine Over Ten 9/10 for more details as they come out.

Looks like the Collectible Card Game arena is heating up on the mobile space. This is despite heavyweight mainstays such as Wizards of the Coast’s Magic The Gathering staying away from the platform. With Hothead Games well-received Kard Combat released not too long ago (review coming soon!), Kyy Games is about to release a multi-platform CCG titled Cabals: The Card Game for iOS, Android and browsers.

Here’s a little backstory from the game:

Belle Époque has come crashing down, and conflict and tensions are rising all over the world. In the middle of the turmoil, a different struggle for power begins. It’s a war fought in the shadows. A war of opposing ideologies, over influence and a chance to shape the future of the humankind.

It’s a war between Cabals, secret societies dedicated to harnessing the esoteric powers to their own ends. They set the mystical leaders of old, primal Russia against undead soldiers, and the alchemical creations seeking to dominate the nature against the awakened Sidhe.

According to the developer, Cabals: The Card Game is an exciting new online trading card game that players can play for free anywhere, at any time. It re-invents the genre with a gameboard that brings a whole new tactical dimension into the game. Four Cabals with their own distinct playing styles, and different board layouts make sure that no two matches play alike.

Kyy Games promises a growing community that can affect the way the game is played and how its world develops. The regular flow of new cards, tweaks and other updates keep the game fresh and players entertained for months. Cabals: The Card Game launches in the late Summer 2011. Stay tuned to Nine Over Ten 9/10 for more news on Cabals: The Card Game. For more info, check out http://www.cabalsgame.com

Last I heard of the company Zattikka was that those English chaps were busy launching the “World Cup of Games” site, home to both free and premium Flash-based games. I also read somewhere that they are branching out develop games on the iPhone and Blackberry. Their CEO recently gave an interview, talking about its recent $5.5 million cash injection and future plans. You can check out the interview over here: http://www.mcvuk.com/features/735/INTERVIEW-Zattikka