If you’ve grown wary of any 
game that hints at “birds” in the title, you’re hardly to blame, but Hungry Chicks isn’t a knock-off of Angry Birds. It’s actually a fun, though ultimately forgettable, bite-sized gaming diversion. The game, tailored for the iPhone and iPod Touch, is more complex and challenging than it seems at first glance, adding a second bird to the mix after a few levels, which forces players to collect the right number of worms for their specific nests. The controls are a bit odd and take some getting used to, but work well enough. And avoiding the obstacles can be a fun brain-teaser. It’s not a game you’ll find yourself raving about, but it’s one you may find yourself playing to pass the time — and since it’s cheap, it’s a safe investment.
Monthly Archives: July 2011
App Review: Britannica Kids: Ancient Rome
History can be boring — and the encyclopedia is 
seen by many as the product of a bygone era — but Britannica Kids: Ancient Rome is a wonderfully educational and entertaining way for kids to learn more about the Roman culture. There are the usual (and expected) walls of print, but they’re not the chief focus — and they’re extra helpful, highlighting difficult words and offering definitions so kids don’t get frustrated. But it’s games like the timed quiz, magic square, and puzzles that users are more likely to spend time with. While they’ll learn less with these than they will by reading, they will be engaged and spend more time with the app. It’s not cheap, but Britannica packs a lot of value in this one.
Video game industry wants $1.1 million from California
Securing a court victory that clearly 
defined the First Amendment rights of video games was just the beginning for the Entertainment Software Association. Now it wants California to pay its legal bills.
The video game trade group has filed a motion with the U.S. Supreme Court for reimbursement of attorney’s fees in the case of Brown v. EMA, fees that add up to $1.1 million (and could go even higher).
6 out of 10 with connected TVs regularly use apps
Smart TVs are starting to gain
traction with users – but having a boob tube that can connect to the internet is still not a big selling point.
In-Stat research says over 60 percent of households with a connected TV use a TV app at least once per week. Not surprisingly, Netflix and YouTube are the most popular apps – but interest seems to be growing in the competition.
Can downloads save the video game business?
For the most part, 2011 
has been a pretty crummy year for video game sales.
Other than April, every month has shown declines. For the year, the industry is 10 percent behind 2010’s pace. That puts video games retail on track for its third consecutive year of negative growth — the first time that has ever happened in the gaming world.
As retail sputters, more and more publishers are looking to downloadable games to help fill the gaps.
Game Review: Pig Up!
Though it’s a Facebook exclusive, Pig Up! 
is a game that could easily be played on any platform. And that, in itself, is an incredible achievement. But the game’s real strength is its utterly addictive nature. It’s the video game equivalent of a potato chip: Playing just once is nearly impossible. Fighting to top your friend’s scores adds a fun, safe competitive edge to the game. It also motivates you to improve, since a special flapple is deployed — giving you thousands of points and three extra flaps — whenever you pass the most recent high score set by your friends.
The game is still in preview/beta mode and PopCap will likely be adding new power-ups and perhaps new enemies, but even in its incomplete state it’s one of the best games on the social network site.
Wesley Snipes: Actor, prisoner…game designer?
Passenger 57 has 
taken up a new hobby.
As he serves out a three-year prison sentence for failure to file federal income tax returns, actor, producer and all-around butt-kicker Wesley Snipes is adding ‘game developer’ to his resume. The man filmgoers know best as the vampire hunter Blade has teamed with Finnish developer Lapland Studio to release ‘Julius Styles: The International.’
Survey: Netflix price increases could spark notable user revolt
Netflix rolled the dice two 
weeks ago, announcing a significant change – and price increase – to its members. Now, it looks like a lot of those members may be planning to cut their ties with the service and embrace the competition.
A new survey from Wedbush Securities of 1,098 people finds that 22 percent of Netflix subscribers say they plan to discontinue their subscription with the company, and substitute its content with a combination of services, including Redbox, Hulu, Amazon’s streaming video initiative and traditional cable pay-per-view.
App Review: Grimm’s Red Riding Hood ~ 3D Interactive Pop-up Book
Grimm’s Red Riding Hood ~ 3D Interactive 
Pop-up Book is a mouthful of a title, but it’s also a rich storybook app that children will enjoy tremendously. The app takes a few liberties with the traditional story, but that makes it a bit more accessible by kids, and like other apps by the developer, it’s wonderfully illustrated and filled with fantastic interactive pop-up pages. This time, though, those activities are integrated into the story, making kids feel like they’re part of the tale being told.
Users can have the story read aloud to them (with them choosing the pace of the page turns), read it themselves, or watch the story in autoplay fashion. It has more violent elements than other children’s stories, but they’re muted enough that kids won’t be frightened.
Star Wars: The Old Republic rankles fans with odd pre-order campaign
No one has doubted that Bioware’s 
upcoming massively multiplayer game, Star Wars: The Old Republic, was going to be, well, massive. But the unusual — and baffling — pre-order experience for the game is causing a disturbance in the Force.
Typically, pre-orders are pretty simple: You put down a deposit, you wait for the game to come out and you’re guaranteed a copy on day one. But with The Old Republic, it’s a bit more complicated.
Chris Morris: Journalist 