shooter

The first-person shooter genre will morph into more than just a run-and-gun experience, according Guerrilla Games senior producer Steven Ter Heide.

Speaking with GamesIndustry.biz, Heide said he sees the first-person shooter genre "becoming broader." Instead of simply allowing gamers to work their way through missions through the same basic gameplay, he sees the market segment becoming more of an "action" genre in which the titles borrow concepts from other parts of the game industry to deliver more full-featured play.

"It'll expand, start borrowing things from other genres, like Borderlands did by bringing RPG [… Read more

If you've been checking out the most popular list at the iTunes App Store recently, you might have noticed that a new game has reached the top of the charts--even unseating the mega-popular Angry Birds. It's called Cut the Rope and it challenges you to feed candy to a hungry little monster named Om Nom by cutting various ropes to direct the candy to his waiting mouth. It's a little hard to describe here, so check out Rick Broida's coverage of Cut the Rope here.

Beating out Angry Birds at the top of the charts is no small feat (it's been sitting pretty there for months), so it got me thinking about what type of game reaches the top of the iTunes App Store.

It seems you must have polish--both games were obviously painstakingly produced. From the main characters down to the menus and even the design of the buttons, the whole experience captures the ambiance the developers are trying to convey making the game more immersive. Both games have extremely cute characters; each of the different birds are adorable in their anger, and the little green monster Om Nom couldn't be cuter when he opens wide for the candy. Both games have simple controls that can be played by anyone--this seems to be the biggest factor. Just about anyone from any age group can grasp the simple controls, but the games are still plenty challenging.

Finally, you need airtight audio, with little nuanced and silly additions like the muttering birds in Angry Birds, or the sigh of sadness when the candy misses Om Nom's mouth. Judging from these games' success, it seems as though the combination of these ingredients casts the widest net for capturing most iPhone gamers' hearts.

So what will the next big iPhone game be? My bet is \it will include all of these ingredients. You can be sure there are developers working right now to capture that perfect combination that makes a hit at the App Store. The only question is, what's the next big hit?

This week's apps include a cloud-synced to-do list manager and an excellent sequel to one of the best first-person shooters on the iPhone.… Read more

Every time a student gets hold of guns and begins to shoot them all over campus, wise people theorize.

What was it that brought him (seems always to be a "him") to such extreme action? What personality factors should have made his state of mind obvious? What behavior should have been spotted so that he could have been offered care and guidance?

Such a discussion has again emerged after Colton Tooley, a 19-year-old math student, allegedly availed himself of an AK-47 and randomly shot it around before shooting himself on the University of Texas campus.

The AP reports … Read more

We've already reported on findings that playing action video games may improve vision, and some studies indicate that video gamers even make better surgeons.

Now, researchers at the University of Rochester have found that first-person shooter players excel at probabilistic inference--that is, making fast, accurate decisions based on evidence extracted from their surroundings.

What's more, even those who don't normally play action video games improved their inference skills after being forced to play just 50 hours over those who don't play at all.

So are action video gamers better decision makers? The short answer appears … Read more

Spider-Man: Total Mayhem brings the famed comic-book web slinger to the touch screen with a high-action oriented game that's fun, though a bit mindless. The controls include a directional joypad on the left and buttons for jumping, attacking, and web skills on the right. You'll also be presented with extra buttons under specific circumstances, like when Spider-man uses his "Spidey sense" to get the jump on bad guys, for example. You also have a super move that can only be used once you fill up an action bar, dealing big damage using multiple hits and kicks. … Read more

I won't join the chorus of pundits who've declared PC gaming "dead," but I will say it's pretty bereft of high-profile titles these days.

On the other hand, if you're into real-time strategy (RTS), there's absolutely no better platform than the PC. And many would argue that there's no better RTS experience than the Command & Conquer series.

Normally $29.95, Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight is now just $17.97 when you download it from the EA Store.

Is C&C 4 the best game in the series? In … Read more

If you're looking for one of the more polarizing titles in Apple's App Store, look no further than the Softmines App, Bloody Hell. It's a tap-to-kill monstrosity of a concept that's sure to upset more than just your stomach.

One need only peruse the over 4,000 reviews written in the App Store on Bloody Hell's page. Over 1,100 are five stars and over 1,500 are one star. A true "love it or hate it" App. Comments on the app range from, "if you like shooting people, this app is … Read more

Admit it: Ernie was always lovable enough, but Bert? That guy had it coming. In Puppet War:FPS, you're the janitor for a "Muppets"-style TV show. One day, for reasons unknown, the cute little critters run amok, apparently hell-bent on world domination. And because everyone else has apparently gone home for the day, it falls to you to stop them.

The game plays like a traditional first-person shooter, one that takes place in a colorful, kid-themed TV studio populated by endless hoards of hilarious-looking (but angry) puppets. You start with the janitor's weapon of choice: … Read more

BloodnGuns is a top-down, dual-stick arcade shooter with quick controls, a simple but fun set of power-ups and weapons, and an almost comically bloody backdrop.

The aptly named BloodnGuns has no back-story, but the quasi-apocalyptic setting has you running and gunning against huge hordes of skeletons and zombies--specifically, zombies wielding enormous Final Fantasy-style swords. Your weapons range from the nondescript but fantastic (e.g., fusion, plasma, and pulse rifles) to the mundane and weirdly specific (e.g., Benelli M4 shotguns and M4A1 carbines). The gameplay is as straightforward as the interface: a virtual joystick under your left thumb controls movement, … Read more