Tag: Social »

All things considered, it's a little odd how much of a phenomenon the social farm sim has become. Farming in real life is such a boring, tedious process and yet millions of people are spending loads of time and money doing it virtually. Com2us is hoping to plant some more excitement in those people's lives with their new game Magic Tree.

Magic Tree's gameplay consists of the same kind of seed gathering and crop harvesting one would expect from the genre. However, everything has been given a fantasy twist. Furthermore, the visuals are all rendered in full, colorful 3D that brings life to the fields, forests and animals. Besides farming, players can also raise pets, build beauty salons, go on rides, cook gourmet meals and defend their homes from invading creatures.

Magic Tree looks to offer a more fantastical farming experience. The game is available now for free on the App Store.

[gallery size=”thumbnail”]

GREE's push into the US continues with a new game, Alien Family. This is the second GREE-developed title for the US, after last week's Zombie Jombie. GREE claims that where Zombie Jombie was aimed more at a core gamer crowd, Alien Family is intended more for a casual crowd.

Players build a village of aliens on Earth, bringing in a variety of colorful aliens to live in their village. They do this by building homes and facilities, farming for resources, and exploring for new aliens. Players will send off UFOs that will bring in new aliens, that they can then power up using the Fuse Machine to send them off to explore for new aliens, in order to help create the best alien village possible.

Zombie Jombie had a solid launch for GREE, reaching #9 on the top free games chart, and #37 on the top grossing chart. Despite being new to the market, their promotional methods appear to be already in high gear, and with a more casual title, those numbers could increase. Alien Family is available now.

It is funny how once someone cracks midlife, suddenly their calendar becomes a constant companion.  Thankfully the age of smartphone has made keeping track of life's goings-on so much easier. But what if you were a person that wanted to share meetings, events and plans with others?  Thankfully the tool UpTo can help bring the worlds of scheduling and social interaction together.

Integrating into your existing calendar software of choice, UpTo allows users to share events, view friends' schedules, even seamlessly tie into Twitter and Facebook.  All users need to do is fill their contact list with co-workers and friends to communicate, and suddenly the app becomes a social Swiss Army Knife that you can't afford to go without.  As an icing on the cake, the software is a completely free download in the App Store, so what are you waiting for?  Be sure to share your hands-on impressions in the comments.

[gallery]

I really enjoyed SpellCraft School of Magic back in December last year. Evidently, I wasn't alone as it went on to win Best Free To Play Game in our 2011 Best App Ever Awards.

Clearly, Appy Entertainment decided what was there wasn't enough as a new update has been recently released for SpellCraft School of Magic which adds plenty of new things to the social RPG.

First up, the difficulty level has been adjusted to make things a little smoother for many. Harvesting gold is made easier through the new plant, Goldberry, while new healing spells, Healing Touch, Rejuvenation, Renew, help make staying alive that touch simpler!

For the customization addict, new robes and hats in the form of the Bone Robe and the Stormchaser Robe, plus the new and impressive Lifedrinker Wand.

It's a hefty update that makes now the perfect time to return to SpellCraft School of Magic or discover it for the first time. Check out the artwork below for a sign of what's available in this new update.

LoSo, a location-based restaurant and bars app which bills itself as a combination of FourSquare and Yelp, has announced a complete redesign as part of the version 2.0 update. New features include user profiles, as well as a real-time news feed linked to social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

The most significant new addition is the What's Up! feature, which allows users to take photos or videos of local bars and restaurants and instantly upload them to your Facebook page, the restaurant's Facebook page, and LoSo's listings. The app also allows users to check out menus, drink specials and happy hour deals of all participating businesses within 10 miles of their current location. Checking in at participating businesses grants QRewards Points, which can be redeemed for free food and drinks, as well as other prizes.

LoSo is currently testing in the Philadelphia and Boston markets, and will be expanding to Washington D.C, Chicago and Dallas soon.

On Twitter, it's a dilemma that would be referred to as a 'first world problem' but it is sometimes difficult to decide which restaurant to go to for a meal. So many choices are out there and when it's a decision that has to be made between many friends, things can get tricky. Enter Hngry, an app that may lack an 'u' but certainly doesn't lack functionality.

At its most basic, Hngry lists all the restaurants that are nearby to the user's location, along with the ability to add opening hours, all in an attractive manner. Users can then choose from the list and flick through the selection, gradually narrowing down the selection before coming to a decision. For those with iPhone owning friends, they can share lists directly on individual devices using the Hngry app. The app can even find menu details for any restaurant on the list if one is available on the internet.

Once a decision has been made, users can dial the restaurant directly from within the app then Hngry offers a place to store order details for that meal and any helpful notes required. For those with favourite dishes, it makes it all the easier to check what meals were so nice the last time the user visited a place.

There's even the ability to take photos of a meal as a reminder of what was so tasty and Twitter integration ensures that sociable diners can share their choice.

Throughout, the app keeps track of how many times the user has visited a restaurant, making for an ideal guide at a glance as to what place is best for the user's tastes.

For those who dine out regularly, Hngry is a great resource that combines many useful meal planning features.

Hngry is available now, priced at $2.99.

Regardless of the location, there's bound to be something interesting going on somewhere. AroundNow seeks to provide an easy way of seeing exactly what's going on locally at any time.

Using Twitter as a notification system, AroundNow offers news of interest depending on the area the user happens to reside in at the time. That news can range from all manners of things from entertainment events such as concerts or celebrity spottings to parties or demonstrations. Traffic information such as road works or traffic jams can also be provided as well as something as regular as a good sale in a local store.

As it's partly a social networking app, AroundNow relies upon user participation to truly be great but it's an excellent idea. In a busy and bustling city, it's easy to miss out on something exciting so this app could be the ideal way to get involved in local events.

AroundNow is out now and it's a free download.

Margaritaville Online for iPad is a social online game based on the lifestyle of author and singer-songwriter, Jimmy Buffett. Yes, the Cheeseburger In Paradise fellow. The game features a virtual tropical paradise with beautifully designed 3D graphics and comes complete with adventure, tunes and the all-mighty margarita. A few minutes in and one may never leave the beach because it's not just a game, it's a lifestyle.

One aspect of the game that players will notice right from the start is the enormity of the world that they can explore. It's vast, but not too big that they'll get lost. It's also full of shades of blues and greens that mix well with the sunbaked sandy beaches and truly gives the gamer a taste of paradise from the comfort of their own home.

As for gameplay, players are tasked with resurrecting a bar situated on a pier on the tropical island. To make life a bit more interesting, there are also mini-games available to play such as Hammock Time where players need to match like icons to fill the yard glass, collect 5,000 points and finish before time runs out.

These mini-games as well as tasks such as constructing a hammock, opening a treasure chest or going fishing use up important energy points. When the player runs out of them they cannot finish these tasks or games and cannot collect coins or XP points, which are vital to progressing through the various stages of the game. However, the player can get a lot of gameplay in before having to wait for more energy or having to buy beach bucks to replenish their. These are available via in-app purchases ranging from $1.99 for 20 to $49.99 for 500. There are also other ways to add energy such as uncovering foods such as mangos.

Margaritaville Online seems like it was built specifically for Parrotheads as players can not only build up their beachside bar to serve up a few frozen concotions for their friends, but can also explore the tropical world around them, sail the open sea as well as dress their character with various Hawaiian style clothing and gear. Of course, the game's fun and visually stunning world make it a great experience for anyone wanting to cast their cares away and search for their salt shaker.

Inspired by singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett, THQ's Margaritaville Online is now available on Facebook and iPad. The game invites players to escape to the laid back tropical paradise where margaritas are a plenty, music is chill and adventure is guaranteed. The point of the game is for the player to build their ideal oasis while partying with friends and turning their experience from a game into a lifestyle.

Featuring an immersive 3D world and hits from Buffett himself, players are encouraged to leave their cares behind. And yes, there are frozen concoctions to serve up to friends from the player's personal island beach bar. Beyond the adult beverages, players can explore all the island has to offer such as meeting and interactive with the natives, finding forgotten treasure, sailing boats and playing mini-games. Basically, the game is all about relaxing and enjoying the sun, surf and sand with a drink in one hand and a six-string in the other. Finding the lost shaker of salt is just a bonus and not required. The game is free to play with optional in-game premium items

Plenty of people love playing social games and similar numbers enjoy caring for a virtual pet. How about combining the two? That's what LoadComplete decided to do with Bumping Bears and they've even added a real life socializing element.

Bumping Bears gives players the chance to adopt bears to play and raise on their own donut planet located in the wider bear galaxy. Players can care for up to 3 bears at once, encouraging them towards one of over 70 bear professions while dressing them from a choice of over 100,000 unique outfit combinations.

The player can then partake in quests, missions and minigames to help their bear improve in their chosen profession.

For the social gamer, players can find other like minded souls using geolocation, then bump their phones together to make their bears date and mate. It's all very cute and lovable but not essential to progression.

Bumping Bears is out now and it's an Universal app.