Tag: Activision »

It's always fun when a splashy multiplayer game comes to mobile because they are few and far between, so I was excited to see the notification about Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile (finally) launching last week and wanted to try it out. As someone who was familiar with the PC version of the game, I thought I had a good sense of what to expect, but I was surprised to find myself quickly bored with the mobilized battle royale.

To be clear, Warzone Mobile doesn't seem to do anything drastically different than its console and PC counterpart. In fact, it retains its high player count, boasting now to be the mobile battle royale with the highest amount of live players per match. It also retains all of the features that distinguish the Call of Duty-branded battle royale apart from the others. So, I guess what I'm saying is that before you read on, know that if you are just interested in knowing how much Warzone Mobile is like Warzone, the answer is very.

The release of Call of Duty: Warzone on PC and consoles renewed a lot of people’s interest in the battle royale genre. Once a red-hot game mode a couple years ago, battle royales have maintained their prominence despite finding more competition with other popular genres like autochess and more traditional multiplayer shooters, particularly on mobile.

Although you can’t play Warzone on touch screens (although maybe someday that will change), there are plenty of battle royale games you can jump into right now. Check out our five favorites below. Oh, and click here to check out all of the great lists we’ve been making recently.

This week Activision has revealed that Call of Duty Mobile is real, it's coming soon, and it looks pretty awesome. We got all of that from a trailer, but it also got us thinking about what other Activision games we'd like to see coming to mobile. Because that's the sort of thing we think about here at 148Apps towers.

We've not included any Blizzard games in the list, since we had a bit of a deep dive into how they might work for mobile when the big B revealed it was looking to bring all of its franchises to mobile. Instead we've focused on Activision published titles - specifically ones with plenty of action, since everyone loves action and explosions.

Got your own suggestions as to which Activision games you'd like to see coming to mobile? Then do let us know in the comments section at the bottom of the article. It's a huge company with a massive back catalogue, and we'd love to hear your ideas about how it could bring some of those games to mobile.

Drama! Someone has stolen a whole bunch of stuff from Downton Abbey and it's up to you to get it all back. And figure out who did it in the first place, of course.

Activision Publishing has some rocking news forGuitar Hero fans:Guitar Hero Live and GHTV are coming, and theywill be available for tablets and mobile phones. Just like previous Guitar Hero games, in Guitar Hero Liveyou'll be able to experience the rush of playing on stage in front of millions of fans who react to your guitar playing skills.

GHTV will be aplayable live music video network where you'll be able to pick frommultiple channels and themed shows to find the latest songs to play with your friends. You can even challenge players from all over the world.

There is no official release date for the mobile versions, but if you can't wait to try Guitar Hero Live there's some good news: Best Buy is having events in select cities where you can demo the game. The tour stops are:

•April 14, 2015: Best Buy Theatre, New York City, 6pm - 9pm
•April 18, 2015: Best Buy Store, Union Square, New York City, 1pm - 5pm
•April 18, 2015: Best Buy Store, Torrance, CA, 1pm - 5pm

Call of Duty makes a lot of money, and Clash of Clans makes a lot of money. So, logically, Activision thinks they can make a lot of money by putting those two things together. With Call of Duty: Heroes, that’s exactly what they’ve done. But will fans of bombastic shooters enjoy a tiny freemium tactics game and vice-versa? We go Oscar Mike to find out in this New Zealand edition of It Came From Canada!

While Call of Duty has gone everywhere from World War II to Vietnam to the near future, Call of Duty: Heroes takes place during the popular “Modern Warfare” era of the series. As the leader of a military base, players fortify their surroundings using the latest and greatest army toys. Bunkers, turrets, and thick walls defend HQ from roaming insurgents as well as other players in online battles. But as you’d expect from a game like this, there’s also a substantial offensive campaign as players engage in real-time strategy missions all over the globe. Successful assaults typically boil down to effective unit composition. Normal soldiers are cheap and easy to mass produce, but only armored soldiers can withstand heavy fire long enough to actually accomplish anything.

However, all of that is just the Clash of Clans formula that has now proven its success countless times. What does the Call of Duty license bring to the table? Well first off it actually creates this weird incongruous feeling. The detached, rational perspective of an omniscient commander in the sky doesn’t quite gel with the fast, visceral, and up-close cinematic action the series banks on with its tagline, “There’s a soldier in all of us.” Beyond that though, there are times when the game is more than just Call of Duty in name only. The leveling system works as a fine Prestige Mode substitute. The top-notch production values, with detailed visuals and an excellent frame rate, match the franchise’s high standards. Killstreaks and air strikes put players behind a turret and have them mow down targets from a familiar first-person perspective, and players can even enlist heroes from past games like John Price and his famous mustache.

Even if we have reached peak Call of Duty, the franchise still carries plenty of cache. We’ll see if that carries over to this new mobile spinoff when Call of Duty: Heroes launches everywhere soon.

Activision has revealed the new Kaos Doom Challenge for Skylanders Trap Team. The challenge lets players battle through increasingly difficult waves of Kaos' minions. If using their army of Skylanders and defensive towers, the Portal Masters fail to destroy the minions and Kaos will open the "Mystery Box of Doom," which will is full of gigantic boss monsters!

According to Emperor Kaos, "A recent evil study of a thousand trolls revealed that nine out of ten agree that I am the most powerful and impressive evildoer to have ever conquered Skylands. Naturally, I had every tenth one banished to my "Kaos Doom Challenge" to test the effectiveness of my 100 waves of ultimate evil doom - and they were never heard from again. So let's just say EVERYONE agrees - I am the most powerful and impressive evil doer ever."

With the coming release of Skylanders Trap Team on October 5, it sounds like the Emperor needs a thrashing.

Skylanders has always been a bit polarizing among gamers. Some see it as a glorified (and expensive) kids’ toy. Others see it as a somewhat ingenious combination of toys and video games. It’s a bit less of a toss-up with kids, though - kids adore it. And they’re undoubtedly excited about Skylanders Trap Team.

The Skylanders series has been brought to iOS before, but Trap Team is a first. It isn’t just a port that’s been cut back to fit or a completely different sort of game that uses the license: it’s Skylanders Trap Team. You can swap between characters by switching out figures (including all the characters from previous console-only versions), capture enemies in special Trap Crystals, and otherwise do all that Skylanders-y stuff you’d expect. It’s the same game console players will be experiencing, only on a presumably smaller screen. The touch controls work quite well too, although they aren’t entirely necessary (I’ll explain in a minute).

The portal that’s included with the mobile Trap Team starter set is quite nifty. It uses bluetooth to connect to tablets wirelessly, has a simple but brilliant little notch in the side so that you can prop up your tablet (just about any tablet, no less) while you play, and comes with its own bluetooth controller that easily tucks into the bottom of the portal. Perhaps the most impressive thing about all this is that it’s incredibly easy to pair the portal and the controller with your device. If you’d rather not use the included controller, Trap Team also supports third-party mobile controllers. Or, if you find yourself with a surplus, you can also pair two different controllers and play co-op.

“It just works” has been the mantra for Vicarious Visions as they worked on the hardware for the mobile version, and it’s something they’ve pulled-off extremely well. So long as you have bluetooth enabled on your tablet all you’ll have to do is press and hold a button on the portal and/or controller and they’ll simply connect. Disconnecting them is just as easy of course, and if the controller becomes disconnected at any point during play (either on purpose or because it’s run out of batteries or something) the touch controls will pop up and you can keep playing. And if, for whatever reason, you either don’t have the portal or don’t have access to one you’re still covered. When Trap Team isn’t connected to a portal it’s still possible to play through the game using two special digital-only characters (each with their own levels, stats, and abilities).

Skylanders Trap Team will be available in the App Store as a free download on October 5 for the iPad 3 and 4, iPad Mini Retina, and iPad Air. The Starter Pack (includes the portal, bluetooth controller, unlock for the full game, and two figures) will be available on the same date for $74.99.

Pocket Gamer reports that, in a recent video on Bloomberg TV, Tony Hawk has confirmed that another game in the iconic is bound for iOS.

There's not much else to go on, really. It's going to involve skateboarding, and Pocket Gamer mentions that the mogul seems pretty "enthusiastic about the project," but that's pretty much it. Although it's a little odd that he thinks there hasn't been a Tony Hawk game on mobile yet, given that Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 has been available since 2010 (and hasn't been updated in years). Maybe what he really means is that it'll be the first game in the series that was developed specifically for mobile?

Regardless, a new game is coming and we'll be keeping an eye out for more details.

Call of Duty is a new companion app from Activision that released alongside the latest title in the series, Call of Duty: Ghosts. It provides special bonuses for those who use it for clan wars, which includes additional solider customization and bonus multiplayer XP. It also lets users join, create, and manage clans. Users can even talk with other clan members through the app's chat feature.

The Call of Duty app also comes with a second screen option that syncs in real-time during all multiplayer game modes. It lets users edit their squad, swap loadouts between spawns, and view post-match results.

For those hardcore fans that just can't get enough Call of Duty, make sure to check out the app to see just how useful it could be.