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We now live in a post-Dr. Mario World world, and I gotta say, things don’t feel too different. Nintendo continues to squirt out bad games on phones, causing all but the most stalwart fans of mobile games to question why they even bother downloading games from the App Store.

Things don’t have to be this way though! Nintendo could make a good phone puzzler if they wanted to. To prove it, here’s a list of great mobile puzzlers that can provide in all the ways that Dr. Mario World doesn’t.

Believe it or not, there are people out there who've never played Candy Crush Saga. That may sound like a bold claim, but it's true.

To these people, Bejeweled Stars may seem like a totally alien concept - especially if they've played previous Bejeweled games and are now confronted with this whole new, objective-based gameplay.

If you fall into that category and are feeling slightly overwhelmed, fear not. We have some tips and tricks to help you on your way.

EA and the World Wildlife Foundation (WWF) are partnering up from now until January 31 to raise money for animals and ecosystems in an effort called Play With a Purpose. The pair will be offering special items and bundle packs that showcases an endangered animal or ecosystem. 35% of the net proceeds will go to support WWF global conservation efforts.

The list of games include:

Rhino & Madden NFL Mobile: Although there is no scientific proof of its medical value, rhino horn is highly prized in traditional Asian medicine. Illegal killing of Rhinos for horns has severely threatened their population. Supporting with the WWF Rhino Pack of 5 players.

Poison Dart Frog & Theme Park: The Amazonian poison dart frog uses its brightly colored skin to warn predators that it is unfit to eat. Climate change and habitat loss threaten their survival. Supporting with the WWF Poison Dart Frog Bundle.

Snow Leopard & Tetris Blitz: Inhabiting Central Asia and the Himalayas, snow leopards are threatened by habitat loss, diminished food supply, hunting for illegal wildlife trade, and revenge killings by herders. Supporting with the WWF Bundle.

Sumatran Tiger & Bejeweled Blitz: Fewer than 400 Sumatran tigers exist on the island of Sumatra. Accelerating deforestation and rampant poaching mean this noble creature could end up extinct. Supporting with the 270,000 Coins pack.

Emperor Penguin & MONOPOLY Slots: Known as the “giant of the penguins”, an adult can grow up to four feet in height and weigh 80 pounds. Climate change and habitat loss pose the greatest risks to these remarkable birds. Supporting with the WWF Pack.

Forests & Plants vs. Zombies 2: Over the past 50 years, about half the world’s original forest cover has been lost. The most significant cause for this is human deforestation. Supporting with the Sap-fling Reforestation Bundle.

Arctic Hare & Peggle Blast: The arctic hare lives in the tundra of the Arctic islands and faces threats from habitat loss and climate change. Supporting with the Master-activating Green Power Peg.

You can visit www.ea.com/wwf for more details, and to learn more about the WWF visit www.panda.org.

Rocket Rainbow and Team17 Digital have announced that their 'ewe-nique' puzzle game, Hay Ewe, will be making its way onto iOS later this week. Featured within the ranks of Rocket Rainbow are a number of ex-PopCap staff who worked on Bejeweled, Plants vs. Zombies, and Peggle.

Centering on the adventures of natural-born leader Matilda the Sheep, who has the task of rounding up mischievous lambs, players will find sixty levels to play, leaderboards to compete on, and an in-game level editor that will allow them to create and share their own levels.

Hay Ewe wool will make its way onto the App Store this week for $4.99.

At their recent Global Gamers' Day event, Bandai Namco was largely focused on their console and PC offerings for the upcoming year. However mobile still had a small presence, with some upcoming titles revealed by the company - though few were in a playable state at this time.

The biggest announcement might just be Pac-Man Championship Edition DX+ coming to mobile later this year. The follow-up to the popular take on Pac-Man, which features dynamic levels that change every time a fruit is collected, will feature new game modes, characters, and level designs to try and survive. But it's still an eat or get eaten world. Expect this one this fall, though it was not playable at the event. Still, the game's set up for touch controls already on Windows, so it should be a similar experience.

Outcast Odyssey is another upcoming game, though shown only in trailer form. This one resembles Evilibrium's tile-uncovering gameplay, and dungeon-crawling is promised, but few details are known beyond that.

Project Unstoppable (working title) is another game that Namco announced with few details available. Check out the teaser trailer below.

Also on tap for the future from Namco include a game called Soul Calibur: Unbreakable Soul, though no details are available for it at all beyond the name. TNA 2, a head-to-head wrestling game based on the Total Nonstop Action Wrestling organization, is expected later this year.

Additionally, Namco is working with Invictus to bring some casual games to mobile under Namco's label. Froggy Jump 2, already released, is part of this. Froggy Splash 2, a game similar to Burrito Bison and Jumping Finn Turbo is also in the works. A puzzle-RPG called Jewel Fight is also being created by Invictus for publication by Namco, though this one won't involve cute frogs but rather warriors battling it out by matching gems by twisting around blocks of four gems, similar to Bejeweled Twist.

While details and playable gameplay were sparse at the event, Namco does appear to have a variety of titles planned, and this may not be all - these titles are under the wing of Namco's American mobile studios, and other international branches may have their own worldwide releases down the road as well.

Bejeweled Blitz has been around on the App Store for a while now, and in that time players have apparently been making numerous requests for Vaulted Gems. This feature, which was exclusive to the Facebook version for quite some time, will make rare and powerful gems available to really mix things up during a game. In addition, a new rare gems called the Ice Burrrst will also be attainable. Players will also no doubt be happy to know that this update also includes a new Items tab, which will allow them to browse and manage their grants, shares, and gem gifts more easily.

PopCap Games partook in Operation Supply Drop's end of the year 8-Bit Salute fundraiser by donating a large amount of game codes and swag for the military gaming charity, reaching over $100,000. Its donation consisted of 100 codes that unlocked every game PopCap has ever made, which is well over 60, including games like Plants vs. Zombies and Bejeweled. All of the donations gathered for 8-Bit Salute are being sent to soldiers currently deployed in combat zones, as well as those who are recovering in military hospitals.

For more information about the charity, visit OperationSupplyDrop.org.

The book is a healthy roundup of what makes free-to-play (F2P) games tick, with sections on the economics, gameplay, monetization, marketing, and analytics--the underpinnings of any successful free-to-play game on any app store.

The examples he uses within the book are Farmville, naturally, Dungeons and Dragons Online, and Bejeweled Blitz. In this way, Luton is able to illustrate his points with concrete examples from real world games that use the principles within.

The author believes that free-to-play games are a win/win proposition, letting developers quickly and inexpensively release games that have a chance of making some money, and letting players who wouldn't typically touch a $60 console "gamers' game" experience fun for no money down. It's a delightful ideal, and I hope most, if not all, developers take it to heart: free-to-play games should be good games first, and monetization engines second. Luton continues to make this point throughout the book, though the message tends to get lost in the discussion of variable reward schedules (the same type of reinforcement schedule slot-machines are built on) and how to analyze key performance indicators.

As a non-developer, I did get lost within the many industry acronyms and other such jargon, but Luton does a good job of helping the novice reader get through it all. The title is clear: this is a book on making games that make money, and the information between the front cover and end flap is focused on that part of game making.

The level of depth and detail that Luton brings to the explanation of how free-to-play games work is astonishing. While the gameplay section, for example, tends to focus on player retention, play sessions, and triggers to keep your players coming back rather than actual game mechanics, it's an interesting read nonetheless. I've definitely increased my understanding of what a complex achievement successful free-to-play games have attained.

I'd highly recommend this book to anyone who develops games for iOS or other mobile platforms, as well as readers and writers who want to get a better grasp on the breakout phenomenon of the free-to-play genre. Luton has created a fantastic resource, here.

The book Free-toPlay: Making Money From Games You Give Away, by Will Luton, can currently be found on the iBooks store for $12.99.

The Match-3 genre is often quite maligned these days. Criticized for being repetitive and unoriginal, I'm out to prove that's not the case. There are plenty of imaginative reinterpretations of the familiar genre, and here's a look at four of the best.

Bejeweled
OK, so Bejeweled is pretty standard Match-3 fodder. It's also the best purist interpretation out there, ensuring hours of fun for any jewel matching fan. There's no storyline to follow or anything complex like that. Just a series of modes focused on matching similarly colored gems to each other. It's pure, it's simple and it's a great time waster.

Scurvy Scallywags
Ably demonstrating the variety that Match-3 gaming can offer, Scurvy Scallywags combines pirates, the classic humor of Monkey Island creator Ron Gilbert and, of course, Match-3 gameplay. It's great fun and surprisingly deep, thanks to the ability to build new ships and explore side quests. Particular joy stems from the customization options available for those who want to create their own personalized pirate.

10000000
It might be a little difficult to remember how many zeros need to go in the title, but everything else about 10000000 is very memorable. It's a dungeon crawling game that combines Match-3 style sensibilities to create a potently addictive title. Plenty of upgrades and objectives are available to keep one playing into the night, even if you started playing that morning.

Triple Town
Like precious little else out there in the Match-3 genre, Triple Town is an unique proposition. The player's sole objective is to grow the biggest possible city, all via matching three or more game-pieces. Combine three pieces of grass and make a bush, with three bushes turning into a tree and so forth. It really is quite original stuff, and strangely addictive too. Who would have thought that matching a few tiles of the same shape could do so much?

Being asked to sum up the past five years of the App Store, on a personal level, is tough. Partly, because I have the memory of a goldfish, but also because so much has happened in those few years. How do you highlight what's so great about a device and service that you can't imagine being without? My iPhone and the App Store, by proxy, has been immensely important to me in this time. It's given me so much information, enjoyment and even been a great outlet in times of need. Here's a feeble attempt at trying to sum up how vital it's all been for me.

Memories

Launch day: Despite the goldfish analogy, I do remember when the App Store first launched. I'd had an iPhone for a couple of months previously and had dabbled in jailbreaking, but didn't feel too comfortable with it. The day the App Store started was genuinely exciting stuff. It's hard to believe, for those newer to the Store, but it was possible to browse from start to finish, thanks to there being a mere 500 apps available. I did that, regularly, until it got to a point where there were just too many titles to look at. Like with any launch day event, these apps didn't show off everything the technology could do, but they did offer a glimpse of a thrilling future.

Flight Control: Excluding a dabble with the no longer with us, Bejeweled 2, Flight Control was my first great iOS love. It showed me how great the touch controls of the iPhone could be, and how quickly one could gain satisfaction from a phone game. My past experiences with mobile gaming had been fun, but lacking that certain something that made me think it could rival handheld consoles. Flight Control changed that, for me, and I loved spending ages battling to improve my high score. Not that I was any good at it, though!

Exploration: I like apps that enhance my life, and I've used many in the past. Star Chart sticks in my mind, however, thanks to it enabling me to learn more about an area. While at the summit of an ancient ridge, Cefn Bryn, I could load up Star Chart and work out exactly what stars were above me and where. It was pretty magical.

Highlights

A career path: It's a pretty significant one, but if it wasn't for the App Store, I wouldn't be writing this. In fact, I'm not entirely sure what I'd be doing, given throughout my freelance career thus far, the App Store and iOS have played a very big role. It's changed my life for the better. It's been nearly three years since I wrote my first review for 148apps, Carnivores: Dinosaur Hunter, and I'm immensely grateful for how far I, and the site, have come.

The indie uprising: I always passively appreciated the efforts of indie developers, before the advent of the App Store, but my love for them has definitely grown. Perhaps more excitingly, I feel enabled to give it a go myself at some point. While I haven't yet found the time spare to really pursue it, Xcode, Stencyl and Gamesalad are waiting for me, reminding me that the era of the bedroom coder has returned. That's got to be a good thing for creativity, right?

Beloved Apps and Missed Titles

Favorites: I've struggled to narrow the list down. Really struggled. The memories of one Saturday morning avidly playing Game Dev Story in bed, before realising it's practically lunchtime are particularly strong. Much the same as my hundreds of hours spent with Fairway Solitaire are fond, if tarnished by the time it inexplicably lost all my data and progress. Or how about the time I demonstrated the power of the iPad to my mother with the double whammy of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and XCOM: Enemy Unknown? The former being one of my favorite games of all time.

Out of them all, though, a select bunch are used nearly every day. I take photos each day to track my life and have some fond memories to look back on, so Instagram is a must have for me. I like to back up such things, as well as my social networking sharing, so Momento is always at the forefront of my recently used apps. As a writer, iA Writer completes the selection, thanks to its cloud syncing ensuring I can always write up a quick idea, no matter where I am. New Star Soccer remains the key game that I regularly find myself returning to, living my fantasy as a world class soccer player.

Apps I miss: There are a couple of apps I miss, though. Puzzle Quest being one such title, given my love of the Match-3 genre and the fact I've played it to death on all other formats. Similarly, I adored Big Blue Bubble's use of the Fighting Fantasy license, although at least Tin Man Games is doing a brilliant job of taking over that mantle.

It's been a fun five years, and given how far the App Store has come in that time, I'm excited to see what the next five years will bring. It's looking like a pretty rosy future to me!

Only got a minute or two to spare but want to get some fun gaming in? Why not try one of these four titles, all focused on providing maximum satisfaction in less than two minutes. They all have the bonus of being ideal for score chasers, given that the main objective is to beat one's friends' high scores. Plus, almost all of them have the word Blitz in their title, to remind us of just what genre they form a part of!

Bejeweled Blitz
The ruler of all great time wasters, the Bejeweled series knows how to draw players in for short bursts. This is most evident with Bejeweled Blitz, a game solely focused on seeing what high scores players can create in a matter of 60 seconds. Played well, it's a fast paced title, full of special gems such as Hypercubes and Flame gems. Coins dictate the bonuses that can be used, but never fear, there's a daily spin game to offer up extras for those unkeen to delve into the in-app purchases available.

Solitaire Blitz
Mostly responsible for any time that I procrastinate like crazy, Solitaire Blitz is quite the addiction. The classic card game of Solitaire is combined with a series of power-ups and a tight time limit, all in the name of score chasing. It's a potent mix, mostly because it's so easy to get to grips with. An energy system might restrict how many times one can play it during one session, but with only a minute or so to spare for gaming, that's not really a problem, right?

Dots: A Game About Connecting
Ok, so connecting dots doesn't sound very exciting. Dots bucks that trend, though. Players must draw a line between matching dots and watch the points trickle in. Form a square with such dots, however, and the points start flooding through. It's immensely simple but that's exactly why Dots is so much fun. It's ideal as a palate cleanser to life, when one just needs to take some time out from reality and delve into the world of dot connecting.

Tetris Blitz
Ok, so Tetris Blitz isn't perfect, thanks to its overenthusiastic in-app purchases making mostly everyone a little cynical. It is great fun, though, and an ideal way to spend two minutes. We all know the drill now: clear lines by placing blocks together, accrue as many points as possible in the time limit. Purists may be disappointed to see some of the power-ups available, but Tetris Blitz still offers some of the old-school magic we all know so well.