Tag: Basketball »

When the calendar flips to July, it can only mean one thing: It's time for some basketball!

Okay, not normally, we'll admit. But thanks to EA waiting until the real NBA season was over to drop NBA LIVE Mobile on us, that's what we'll be doing on our phones and tablets for the rest of the summer. The game zoomed right toward the top of the App Store upon its release, so it obviously isn't bothering too many mobile gamers to be playing hoops out of season.

It's Playoffs time in the NBA, and 2K is celebrating with a limited time sale on NBA 2K15.

People have been loving the Ham Dunk update for Angry Birds Seasons. And with over 375 million plays, Rovio Entertainment wants to celebrate. They're giving us a new update, called NBA All-Star. Its jam-packed 15 all new NBA All-Star levels and an extra challenging Golden Egg level. You can also use the Shockwave power-up once per stage and try the new Pig Days levels.

To catch all the birdy basketball fun, you can download Angry Birds Seasons for free on the App Store.

After conquering Rio and Space, where could those Angry Birds go next? The NBA, apparently. In the next episode of Angry Birds Seasons, NBA Ham Dunk!, Rovio Entertainment sends the birds to take the pigs to the court. The update will have 15 free NBA-themed levels and 30 NBA team levels available for purchase.

“Get ready to hit the court with your favorite NBA team, and start dunking birds and bashing piggies for extra points,” said Pekka Rantala Chief Commercial Officer of Rovio Entertainment. “We are really pumped to offer this fun mash-up to Angry Birds and NBA fans.”

You can grab Angry Birds Seasons on the rebound for $0.99.

NERF Hoops, by Backflip Studios, is a flick it to win it style game. It harkens back to days gone by as a teenager, tossing a NERF ball into the hoop stuck to the back of your door.

Swipe your finger to make a shot and and become the NERF Hoops champion on the leader boards. Just be careful - you will have to adjust for wind, cars, and sometimes even zombies! Players can challenge friends or practice by themselves.

You can pick up NERF Hoops for free on the App Store.

I’ve haven’t played many sports titles on iOS with good reason; like fighting games, the gameplay is all dependent on latency. For developer Mobage, Inc., the solution for translating fast-paced hoops to the non-buttoned platform is to remove the ability to play basketball all together. Instead, we are left with a situational analysis app, an almost coaching approach, where every player action is dictated by the statistical probability of its outcome. From passing to shooting to playing defense, each action is a timed decision where players must choose the best course of action to score a bucket.

The way Showstopper sets up this grand experiment is placing a 5-member squad against an opposing team in league play; the catch is that I didn't actually play but rather governed the team of stars. After the opening tip, it is up to me to decide the actions of the team ,as every two seconds the players pause and I am given five seconds to decide whether to dish the rock or shoot the pill. This may seem to be a lengthy process but as each game takes less than three minutes to complete, I am hungered, like looking for seconds on Thanksgiving with none to be found. Upon loading the first match-up, my first thought is, “this is different." However, by the tenth league game, I'm sure that I'm not enjoying the basketball portion nearly as much as the collectible card game (CCG) component.

Did I utter basketball and CCG in the same sentence? That I did. How Mobage came to the conclusion to unite the two is well beyond me but what I do know is that it feels compelling enough to stick with (even if basketball gameplay is non-existent). At the conclusion of every match-up, the standouts from my team level up and continue to gain xp that translates into new abilities on the court. So, instead of continually shooting jump shots right under the basket, new window options of “layup” or “dunk” appear at my coaching disposal. Customizations are also the rave, as new gear equates to in-game attribute bonuses. With the gamut of CCG depth for such a simplistic sport, I could not help but imagine what could have been if this type of CCG were layered onto a different genre.

Is Showstopper Basketball a great sporting experience with excellent b-ball gameplay? Absolutely not. Is it worth a glance to imagine what cool CCG and sports could possibly become on iOS? Absolutely.