Tag: Winter »

Cars: Fast as Lightning, by Gameloft, is speeding to a new venue: Russia. You'll get to meet the newest member of Cars - Pyotr Racinov, the Russian Racer - in this new frosty update. The game will be getting new racer customers, new Russian themed decorations, and the new ICE track. And of course there will be plenty to do, including the Moscow ICE events.

You can download Cars: Fast as Lightning for free to join in the wintry fun.

Codarica Inc has released a new update for their children's learning app, CodeQuest. The app offers a quick and easy way to teach children the basics of coding, HTML, and CSS through games and activities.

The new ‘Baby, it’s “Code” Outside’ update gives CodeQuest a wintery theme. The app also has new interactive stories before certain levels, and holiday characters for the iPad. Codarica has updated the buttons with colors to make coding easier and fixed a few bugs along the way as well.

You can download CodeQuest for $1.99 on the App Store and get your kids coding their first website in no time.

TheCodingMonkeys has recently updated Carcassonne, the tiling laying board game app, with two new expansions: the Winter Edition and the Double Base Tile Set.

The Winter Edition adds a custom interface, new tiles, and the Gingerbread Man to your game. The tasty treat is a delicious holiday bonus for towns that passes from player to player. The Double Base Tile Set expansion lengthens the game by simulating playing with two Carcassonne sets at the same time as many long time players often do with the real board game.

The Winter expansion can be purchased in-game for $1.99 and the Double Base Tile Set expansion is $0.99.

Save Minecraft, I think the most sought after (and demanded) iOS port would have to be Chris Pirih's SkiFree. A few have tried their hand at bringing the yeti-infested favorite to iOS, but the results have been a bit... mixed. Pink Zombie Studios has decided to give it a go, regardless, and the result is Ski Dude.

Ski Dude, much like its predecessor, involves avoiding obstacles and jumping off of ramps in order to rack-up a high score. In this iteration there's no finish line. Players just go until they use up their three lives, then start over from zero. Going over jumps will nab points (as will grabbing presents littered throughout the course), but will also speed up the action. Conversely, plowing through snow piles will slow things down a bit. And this being an iOS game and all, the titular character can be guided left and right with either touch or accelerometer controls.

It may or may not be the release everyone's been hoping for, but it's here and it's totally free to play. I'm a bit disappointed that there don't appear to be any abominable snow monsters rampaging about, though. Of course, who's to say they won't make an appearance at some point? Anything is possible, right?

Curling is the Ground Hog Day of sports. When the Winter Olympics roll around every 4 years, it’s like curling is discovered for the first time. Queue up the morning talk show hosts, with their witty banter about this quirky “new” sport and their curling 101 segments. It happens time and again. There’s a buzz around the water cooler about curling, with viewers finding it somewhat funny yet oddly compelling. Most people that take the time to watch a match are often hooked for the two weeks or so that make up the Olympics. It’s my assertion that everyone loves curling, but is just too afraid to admit it!

Okay, that might be a bit of an exaggeration, but when it comes to videogame collections of winter sports, curling is almost always the best game in the package. It almost single-handedly saved Deca Sports on the Wii. Heck, it was even the best event in the Sonic at the Olympics app that was recently pulled from the app store, although that's not really saying much. I've gone as far as importing the Japanese game Minna No Curling for the DS (later ported to Canada as Curling DS) in order to get my fix of virtual curling.

The iPhone has a few curling apps in its arsenal as well, and would seem like an optimal platform for the stone-sliding sport. I found and played a total of 3 dedicated curling games in the app store, so here’s a look at how they stack up….