Who doesn’t love a good word game? Nobody, that’s who! With this in mind EA Mobile is working on Word Smack, a new free-to-play spelling puzzler that takes its cues from Mastermind and Hangman.

Word Smack is, at its core, an asynchronous multiplayer word game where the highest score wins the match. Players will have to guess their assigned words using only a couple of hints and their personal spelling knowledge, with proper guesses leading to new words and potentially more points. Once they’ve exhausted their allotted 15 guesses their turn is over, however, so it pays to stop and think for a bit rather than charge blindly ahead. Of course that’s just the first round. The two that follow get progressively more difficult but also yield higher points. So really, it’s the final round that can make all the difference. Assuming someone hasn’t totally botched the first two, anyway.

Word Smack is due out this fall, and it won’t set you back a single pe–y.

A lot of people enjoy Scrabble. Like a lot. But while the current official iOS rendition is doing okay, it’s been in need of a little tweaking for a while. Well the time for tweaking is nigh.

The list of changes includes a much-improved user interface that not only looks nice but makes setting up matches and finding friends a lot easier. In fact, it makes the act of setting up a game into about as painless a process as I’ve seen yet. The chat features have also been updated, and even include some pretty wacky emoticons. There’s also a rather handy new feature that will allow players to see what other words they might have made with their letters after (emphasis on after) their turn is submitted, which should help to even out the playing field a little for the less spell-savvy while still keeping things fair during multiplayer matches.

However, the most exciting change by far has got to be the cross-platform integration. The Facebook rendition is already available, but once the iOS and Android updates are ready to roll out players will be able to get their spell on across all three platforms. This means PC/Mac users can play against iOS/Android users, and that one user’s account can span multiple devices. So one could play a few rounds on their mobile device, then come home and continue the game on the computer via Facebook. Effectively, just about anyone will be able to play Scrabble with just about anyone else just about anywhere.

Scrabble is already available and is free, but these changes won’t hit until sometime this summer. Do any of these changes have you current players excited? Then chime in below!

The game W.E.L.D.E.R. is a strategic, word building puzzle game in which players gain points by swapping letter tiles to complete the longest words possible and using various power ups to achieve higher scores and longer words within a randomly generated field of letters.

On June 21st, developer Ayopa Games is expected to release a major update to their popular word game. This update will include a new multiplayer mode for the game that will allow players to play W.E.L.D.E.R. against their friends or random opponents via Game Center. This new multiplayer mode will allow players to go head to head, chat, use power ups to their advantage or to their opponent’s disadvantage, and even watch as their opponent’s moves.

In addition to multiplayer, this update will also include many changes to the game overall, including an undo button on the iPhone version, new prices for the Wrench powerup, and a new “Weld of the Day” word that will award players an extra Gigawatt bonus when it is built that same day.

Think about how long people spend looking at words and letters all day. Then imagine what would happen if someone made a game about it. The result would probably look something like Lost in Letters, the newest game from Smugbit Studios.

Lost in Letters starts by presenting players with a field full of identical letters. Only one letter differs from the rest and it is the player’s job to seek it out. The developers describe it as their homage to “Where’s Waldo” and other, similar hidden object games. The game has three difficulty levels along with several different modes like free play, survival and time trial. In addition to its minimalist, black and white visuals, the game features an 8-bit styled soundtrack.

Rounding out the package are achievements, leaderboards and Game Center integration. Experience a new word search challenge. Lost in Letters is available now for free on the App Store.

When CloudOn launched, it was so popular that the service was up and down for several days.. This apparently was just based on usage from United States users, as CloudOn has now announced that their app is available in the UK.

This means that more users will get to use Microsoft Office applications like Word, PowerPoint, and Excel using CloudOn’s cloud computing technologies. As this is a cloud-based solution, there appears to be mild input lag when operating with the apps. Files still can be saved and loaded from Dropbox, although these require to be saved in Office formats; opening up plaintext or markdown formats in Word isn’t possible at the moment. This is all still available for the low, low cost of free as the service begins to roll out. For users looking for a new way to use their familiar Microsoft Office tools directly on their iPad, this is a very viable option.

Office² HD is one of a select few quality iPad apps that allow Microsoft Works users to access, work on, and keep MS formatting. Microsoft made a lot of late Q4 entries onto the App Store and many are hinting at and hoping they will bring their own mobile suite of productivity apps to iOS soon. Until that happens, however, students and business people who are PC/MS users have had to rely on third-party apps, which have real limitations, particularly when it comes to advanced editing and layout on Apple tablets.

ByteSquared aims to change that. A recent update to Office² HD offers Word users near-desktop quality creation and editing tools for both .doc and .docx files.

Simon Bates, CEO, states: “Office² HD’s latest update transforms mobile office productivity from a secondary method of completing office tasks to a powerful and even preferential manner of quickly and efficiently keeping in touch with your office. I feel this new version easily makes Office² HD the app of choice for editing Microsoft Office documents on iPad.”

We won’t know if it’s “preferential” to an MS app until there is one, but it’s a big step forward and both Word users and Apple should benefit from an app that puts iPad productivity solutions to non-Apple-devoted hands.

Word puzzles have captivated millions throughout history and one company that is pushing the genre in a new direction is Outplay Entertainment with its Word Trick puzzle that rewards players through newly created green “Trick Tiles.” Sure, players can still score big with double word, double letter, triple word and triple letter bonus tiles, but the new green tiles offer even bigger points. For instance, if the user matches four green tiles their score is multiplied by three and if they match five it’s multiplied by four.

After they are used the green tiles turn into yellow tiles so opponents can’t steal points. The game is available now on Facebook for free and is coming to iOS soon. Players are also allowed to compete with up to three others and in as many as 21 games at a time. The game also includes chat features, move histories and reminders via email or Facebook.

When looking back over some of the most exciting developments of the last two years, it would be hard to ignore the groundbreaking cloud gaming solution, OnLive.  The company was founded around the idea of taking dated hardware and allowing gamers to play a high-end gaming experience, all through the streaming power of the internet.

The technology behind the service is impressive enough to provide a quality gaming experience, with very little lag time, which makes today’s announcement a relative no-brainer.  OnLive is planning to apply this streaming technology to desktop virtualization.  All those crazy pipe dreams about being able to have a true desktop experience away from the keyboard may finally be coming to fruition.

iPad will be the first iOS device to be able to fully take advantage of this new technology, when they debut their free OnLive Desktop app soon.  Among the pieces of software available for virtualization at launch will be Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and Excel, which are viewed by many as the holy trinity of office productivity.

Though the base application will be a free, there will be microtransations that can be used to add in additional storage space, applications and, you guessed it, games.  There are also plans of releasing a professional tier application, for $9.99 a month. This second service would bump the storage space from a mere 2GBs to a hulking 50GBs, as well as add in even more applications and features.

If the technology works as well as their gaming service has, business folks will undoubtedly be lining up in droves to take part.  Better yet, the company’s use of cloud computing could put the need for purchasing a high end workhorse PC on the back burner, in exchange for an iPad.  That seems like the kind of trade off that the mobile masses could strongly support.  Plus, this sure makes it a whole lot easier to suggest expensing an iPad on the company’s dime. THANK YOU ONLIVE!

Source: Gigaom

It hasn’t been until recently that I’ve really begun to explore my iPhone’s capacity for online gaming. I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s certainly not the best platform for drawn-out battles, but it’s great for quick random matches. And it’s a good fit for a game like Wordy Findy.

There’s absolutely nothing to it: just download the app (for free), choose a name to play under and just wait for the next game to start. Matchmaking is handled automatically. Once a game starts, players have around two minutes to find as many words as possible by tracing a line between connecting letters. Completed words earn points based on the values of the letters used and handy information like total available words and points are shown after each game. A scoreboard with each participant’s name and score is also displayed between rounds, igniting those instinctual fires of competition while still providing the more humble with anonymity.

Wordy Findy is in the App Store right now, and it’s completely free. Ad-supported with banners displayed at the bottom of the screen (mercifully out of the way), but still free.

Some game genres have had a rough time in their induction into the App Store (like action hack n’ slashes), but a few genres seem like they’ve been waiting for devices like the iPhone and iPad. Case in point? Word games work out perfectly with iOS. This week, we’ll showcase our Favorite Four word games.

Crosswords
Released ages ago in App Store years, Crosswords is the one word game to rule them all. At the high price point of $9.99, it’s a tough one to buy. We eventually just took the plunge about a year ago and the app has been well worth the cost. The reason it’s worth such a steep price (for an app) is that it’s the last crossword-related purchase anyone will ever need to make. The app is updated from a ton of free sources as well as some paid ones that require subscription info, like the New York Times. We will never run out of crossword puzzles. Our queue is a little backed up currently at 787 puzzles (and we’re not even using all of the free sources, just our favorites!). In our homescreen folder titled “Favorite Games,” Crosswords is the first app.

Words with Friends
It was obvious that a Scrabble-type game had to make the cut for this Favorite Four, but choosing between Scrabble and Words with Friends was quite difficult. We decided on Words with Friends simply because more of our friends play it (it’s cross-platform). While Scrabble would seem to provide more real-life friends to play with (by linking it with the Facebook Scrabble app), it’s simply easier to play with people we know via Words with Friends.


War of the Words (iPad only)
This app is a hidden gem. The app was released last year and still hasn’t had enough ratings for the App Store to display an average rating. We’re hoping that we might change things for the better with this post. War of the Words includes something that more iPad games should: players sitting across from one another. In War of the Words, when a player forms a words, the letter blocks go over to the other player. Whoever fills the other player’s side of the screen first wins. It’s a simple concept but provides some fast-paced wordy fun.

Wheel of Fortune
We can’t leave out one of the most popular word-based game shows: The Wheel of Fortune apps are great. There are plenty of puzzles to solve and the graphics are impressive on the iPad version. Give them a try!
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While Apple was undoubtedly first with their top quality office productivity apps for the iPad, I hear they had an inside advantage, Documents To Go and QuickOffice haven’t been but a couple months behind.

Documents To Go was updated recently to a universal version — meaning it’s optimized for both the iPhone and iPad. So if you had the iPhone version, you would get the iPad version for free. QuickOffice decided to take a different route. But, what they’ve added may make it worthwhile.

Released just earlier tonight, QuickOffice Connect Mobile Suite for iPad has all of the features of the iPhone version, but rather than just expand all of the on screen controls to allow the app to fill the screen, QuickOffice have made redesigned it somewhat to take advantage of the iPad with newly redesigned controls.

QuickOffice have made it clear that they are not done innovating and adding new features to this app. And I look forward to see where it goes. QuickOffice for the iPad is available now at an introductory price of $9.99.