Ravensburger Digital's popular card game, San Juan, is currently on sale on the iTunes App Store. This universal app, optimized for the iPhone 5 and the iPod touch 5, is now being priced at USD 2.99 instead of USD 6.99. Would be conquistadors would do well not to miss this as with other previous app sales by Ravensburger Digital, it's only for a short period of time.

Here's a little background on the game: Puerto Rico is at its prime. But does this also apply for this beautiful island’s capital city? Take on the role of the governor, builder, producer, trader or councilor and bring the city wealth and prestige.

The game is available right over here: https://itunes.apple.com/en/app/san-juan/id513228980.

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Sales of smartphones and tablet are outstripping those of PCs and laptops. Although there has been a huge increase in tablet users over the last year, smartphone users are now spending more time online and consuming more online data than tablet users. Interestingly around 41% of tablet users and 39% of smartphone users are duel screen users, meaning that they use their tablets and smartphones while watching TV. Both smartphone and tablet users spend a great deal of their time playing online games on these devices and overall tablets are favoured over phones for doing so.

Comparing the technologies of the current generations of mobile phones and tablets, from the point of view of processing power there is very little difference between the two. The latest generation of phones now have eight core processors, but it won’t be long before we see similar processing power in tablets. That is a huge amount of processing power, but no doubt games developers soon will find ways of making use of it.

The obvious advantage of tablets is their larger display size, but the display sizes of some of the latest Android smartphones are nearly as large as the smaller tablets. Also, while tablets have larger displays, top end smartphones such as the Samsung Galaxy 4 have superior resolution, so what is lost on the roundabouts is gained on the swings. While mobile phones win in terms of convenience, tablets still hold the edge in terms of display size.

Ultimately, when choosing between a smartphone and a tablet, it comes down to user preference. If you like online casino games such as roulette and blackjack at sites http://www.jackpotcity.co.uk/online-slots/ while on the go then you are likely to prefer using a mobile phone, but if you prefer playing more graphically complex games then a tablet is likely to be your choice.

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Using an iPad with Retina Display can most certainly leave someone spoilt. I was taking screenshots of my iPad's home screen the other day and I noticed the rather large picture files when the shots arrived on my MacBook Pro via Photo Stream. The amount of detail available in each shot however justified their size.

In any case, I do wish sometimes for developers of certain kind of games to up their ante a little bit and support the native resolutions of Retina Display iPads. Most of the time they are just contented to slap on the HD tag simply because the app is “iPad compatible”. I had the opportunity to review Selectsoft's latest hidden-object game, Lost Tales of Egypt HD, and it was a mixed bag.

The game had one thing that I really like though, support for multiple user profiles. It's such a rare thing to see in iOS games and I was pleasantly surprised to see this in Lost Tales. Now to the part that makes the game such a mixed bag. The thing about most hidden object games that I've played or reviewed is that they tend to be hand-drawn, and with that, it's easy to start with high-res, and work downwards.

Lost Tales however employs photographs, and with photos, you are only as good as your source files. This results in a pixelated mess which gets even worse when you zoom in. It's a shame though as each level is populated with a chokeful of items, and you are tasked with looking for just specific ones, either through a written list or a list of shapes.

The game can certainly benefit from immediate improvement to the quality of photos as there really nothing wrong with the gameplay. Nineoverten.com rates Lost Tales at a 4 out of 5, flawed but definitely worth checking out.

Lost Tales is now out on the App Store: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/lost-tales-of-egypt-hd/id596992480?ls=1&mt=8. A review code was provided to Nineoverten.com for the purpose of this review.

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This is something to look up to for Resident Evil Revelations fans, as the upcoming May 2013 title for the Xbox 360,  PS3, Wii U and PC will feature Rachel as a playable character in the Raid Mode portion of the game. The additions of Rachel and Hunk as playable characters in Raid Mode are just a couple of new features implemented into the console and PC versions of the game.

New content previously confirmed includes: extra ‘Infernal’ difficulty mode, integration with Residentevil.net, the Wall Blister enemy, and Raid mode improvements.

Kickstarter, Indiegogo…both of these are crowd funding websites that have been utilized by the video games development community to help push out their titles. I always thought that while the Kickstarter model of awarding backers with stuff (and there are tiers for that based on how much you decide to put in) is pretty cool, I don't really see anyone getting a stake in the up and coming game that they are backing.

Enter Gambitious, the first professional crowd funding platform especially dedicated to the video games industry. Swiss indie devs Urban Games actually put up their game Train Fever (Mac, PC & Linux), a modern day Transport Tycoon, for funding on Gambitious and reached their target goal of € 250,000 with 11 days to spare earning the distinction of being the first equity-funded game of this financial magnitude.

Yup, you read that right. Over 650 investors put in money on this project and with Gambitious, investors get their advances repaid, and receive a return just like a publisher or angel or venture capitalist would receive. Train Fever expects 822,500 euros in revenues, with Gambitious investors receiving half of that. That equates to a return on investment of 165%!

“After our campaign, we not only secured funding but also gathered a lot of fantastic feedback, suggestions and challenging questions. In addition, we successfully started to establish a fan community around the world. ” said Basil Weber, CEO and founder of Urban Games.

“We always had great belief in Urban Games and Train Fever, and they have pulled off a great campaign. We really admire the way they communicate their vision and plans with their investors and fan base.” said Paul Hanraets, CEO and co-founder of Gambitious. “This proves that a close connection between developers, investors and gaming communities can result in more success stories for indie teams that might not have had the clout or network to succeed on the donations model alone.”

In Train Fever, the players have to establish a transport company and constructs bus, tram and railroad lines. The challenge is to build an efficient and profitable transport system, with railroads playing a central role. Train Fever is a modern-day Transport Tycoon game with procedural content and a sophisticated city simulation. Train Fever runs on an engine specifically developed for this game. A key point is the fact that there is no grid that game objects have to be aligned to. The game will be published for the platforms PC, Mac and Linux.

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This is pretty interesting, I just got a high score playing Crushin’ Robots – NYC on the iPad with Natalia sleeping on my lap. All other play-through attempts on this new game by indie devs Falling Objects Entertainment’s latest game ended rather dismally but I’ll get to that in a moment.

The game is pretty simple with players taking on the role of a lone construction worker taking on an invasion of New York by a bunch of evil robots. The overweight chap is initially armed with some light, for a lack of a better term, weapons such as a nail gun, spanners and gas cylinders.

These basic weapons can at best take you up to levels 5 or 6, as the game gets progressively harder the longer you play. The longer you play, different robot types are unlocked and the 2D graphics do well in conveying the added carnage. Destroying robots also allows players to access power ups and chalk up scrap which can be used to upgrade and get new weapons.

Now here comes the clincher. The weapons come off as being too weak initially and with upgrades seem to cost too much in terms of scraps, it seems a little bit convenient to have in-app purchase function to buy more scraps. I know it makes me sound a little cynical but it looks like you’ll need to pay to win or work your fingers off for a long time in the game.

IAP aside, Crushin’ Robots – NYC is a pretty polished debut and Nineoverten.com rates the game at a 4 out of 5. The game is now available on the iTunes App Store: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/crushin-robots-nyc/id568075534?ls=1&mt=8.

A review code was provided to Nineoverten.com for the purpose of this review.

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GearSprout’s latest iOS title, Chuck the Bot brought a smile to my face as the wordplay in title not only described the name and nature of the game’s protagonist (his name is Chuck, he is a robot), but also the gameplay involved, where you have to chuck poor Chuck out-of-bounds from a level. The faster you get him to leave, the better as players are rated Angry Birds style in terms of how fast they get this done in the form of stars.

How you get Chuck to leave in this physics-based game is by manipulating his environment. Certain items in each level can be destroyed, and players choose how best they would want to manipulate pulleys, ropes, balls and even make-shift catapults to chuck poor Chuck out. I must say the gameplay model in Chuck the Bot is refreshing as most games would focus of destroying stuff while trying to keep everything IN.

Aside from the awesome gameplay, I really love the art direction in this game, objects are rendered as crumpled colour paper and Chuck himself, looks to be a colour-pencil creation. Chuck the Bot has some extras under it sleeve, with the addition of an Level Creator/Editor and an Online Level Viewer for plenty of user-generated content.

This increases the amount of re-playability that the game already offers from the 60 levels that it already has. One thing to note, the game is available for free on the iTunes App Store with 15 levels available, the rest of the game is unlocked with a 99 cents in-app purchase.That’s actually a pretty smart business model from GearSprout, having people to check out the game first before deciding to unlock more levels and the Online Level Viewer for a very small sum.

If you have not checked out Chuck the Bot yet, you really should as we at Nineoverten.com rate the game highly at a 4.5 out of 5. Check it out over here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/chuck-the-bot/id602192130?mt=8

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Did you know that the Japanese translation for the old DuckTales game for the NES literally meant “Naughty Ducks Dream Adventures“? Well the naughty ducks from the beloved cartoon get to continue their video game shenanigans in the 21st century with DuckTales Remastered developed for Capcom by the team at WayForward.

This Disney Interactive title is scheduled to be released digitally on Xbox Live Arcade for the Xbox 360, Sony PSN for the PS3 and the Wii U this summer. According to the press release, DuckTales Remastered has seen the development team take the levels and layout from the original 1989 release as a foundation before expanding upon them to significantly enhance the gameplay experience but where this update truly impresses is its graphics and sound.

All of the visuals from the 8-bit game have been beautifully re-created as hand-drawn and animated sprites, across a backdrop of luscious, re-envisioned level backgrounds. Furthermore, original Disney Character Voices talent, including some from the cartoon TV series, bring in-game characters to life with charm and wit, while the classic melodies of the original soundtrack are given a modern twist.

Further additions to the original include an all new tutorial level where players can get familiar with the iconic pogo jump and cane swing; while Scrooge McDuck’s Museum allows players to track all their stats and compare their progress with others via global leaderboards.

Turn-based World War II games on the iPad are not a common breed, and I’m not sure whether is that popular a genre to begin with. But this doesn’t deter the folks at HeroCraft from releasing their brand new title Strategy & Tactics: World War II for iOS devices. In this turn-based game, players take part in all three theaters of war (Europe, Asia and Africa) as they command the armies of the USSR and the Allies against some really impressive A.I opponents.

Players fight through 18 missions in story mode, with historically accurate troops and on top of that new technology can also be researched to improve troop divisions and build industry in the march to victory. Should players tire of the A.I opponents, there are also skirmish games, several classic scenarios, plus hot seat and Wi-Fi multiplayer modes, including between various different smartphones and tablets. All this displayed, in a highly-detailed, powerful but simple to understand interface.

George Erkhan, Creative Director of HeroCraft: “We are thrilled to finally put the fruits of our labour into the hands of discerning strategy enthusiasts. This game combines the complexity of classic turn-based strategies with the convenience of modern mobile apps. Strategy & Tactics differs significantly from our Revival or Majesty franchises but we are confident it will gain recognition and more than a little love from fans of the genre.”

The game is available for FREE on the iTunes App Store, and there’s a USD 6.99 in-app purchase that will unlock the premium version of the game. Check it out over here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/strategy-tactics-world-war-ii/id570655455?l=ru&ls=1&mt=8

It’s always interesting to see developers of triple-A titles for the PC or consoles making the jump to mobile. The resulting games almost always tend to be a little more cooler than what solo indie developers tend to come up with, and with new indie development studio Megapop (made up of ex Funcom and ex Artplant developers), this is no different.

Unveiled today is their debut title Trolls vs Vikings, which will be made available both on PC and mobile platforms. The game will be showcased in GDC 2013 and hopefully will bring several new features to the fore in a genre that is honestly well and truly saturated on both PC and mobile. Check out the following excerpt from the Press Release for further details:

Trolls vs Vikings is a brand new tower defense game for players of all ages and experience levels, where you’re tasked with defending a tribe of grumpy, misunderstood-but-harmless Trolls from raids by Vikings intent on stealing their gold.  This colorful, engaging and edgy lane defense game is set in a world of rich Norse mythology, populated by a cast of over-the-top characters. With their background in creating Triple-A MMO, Adventure and Browser titles, Megapop are setting the bar high for their debut game.

Trolls vs Vikings adds a number of never-before-seen features, striving to evolve the tower defense genre for a whole new audience. It takes a fresh approach to towers, levels, gameplay, tactics, player interaction and boss fights. In addition, Trolls vs Vikings has a number of genre enhancements, including multiplayer matches (both live and asynchronous), full social integration, movable towers, strategic resource gathering, a dynamic tile system, set-piece challenges, and more. How did they fit all that game into one little game?!

Don’t forget to stay tuned to Nineoverten.com for further details on Trolls vs Vikings.