strategy

My awesome brother-in-law Steve introduced me to Ticket to Ride a couple years ago, and I've been hooked ever since. As board games go, it offers a near-perfect blend of strategy and luck-of-the-draw, on par with old classics like Risk and newer ones like Carcassonne.

Then came the iOS version, which CNET ranked among the 30 best iPad games -- and rightly so. It affords a decent single-player experience (something the board version can't) and moves the game along at a much speedier clip (meaning you can play alone or with others without investing quite so much time).… Read more

Samsung has succeeded in maintaining its edge on China's smartphone market for the fifth straight quarter in a row. It has also broke its own record by selling more than 10 million smartphones in a single quarter.

The Korean phone maker sold 12.5 million smartphones in China during the first quarter of 2013, according to new data from market research firm Strategy Analytics. This is up 2.2 percent from the last quarter of 2012 and makes up 18.5 percent of China's smartphone market. These numbers were first reported by The Korea Herald.

Coming in second … Read more

Low Latency is a weekly comic on CNET's Crave blog written by CNET editor and podcast host Jeff Bakalar and illustrated by Blake Stevenson. Be sure to check Crave every Friday at 8 a.m. PT for new panels! Want more? Here's every Low Latency comic so far.

Sid Meier's Ace Patrol is a turn-based airplane dogfighting game that offers an interesting combat system for serious strategy-gaming fans.

As a turn-based strategy game, you'll plan and execute each plane's maneuvers and attacks one at a time, then watch the computer-controlled enemies execute their moves. Though it is fairly slow-paced relative to run-of-the-mill air-combat games, executing a balanced combat plan is definitely satisfying.

Set in World War I, Ace Patrol lets you fly in air combat missions using tactical maneuvers you earn as you level up your pilots. Your starting set of moves includes basic maneuvers, … Read more

Auralux (iOS|Android) on its surface is a beautiful and simple strategy game, but it quickly gets very challenging as you progress through levels. Your job is to conquer suns, and ultimately two AI-controlled teams using a single type of unit.

There have been other similar strategy games for mobile devices, but none that kept the gameplay so incredibly simple. When you start out, you have one sun that is producing an army per second, as does each other team. But before you rush to attack another team, you'll want to conquer gray, uninhabited suns by sending your armies. … Read more

An artist already created a Twitter-controlled cockroach. If that was too squicky for you, then maybe you'll feel better about commanding Paintbot instead. Paintbot from iStrategyLabs is a Twitter-controlled paintball gun. Tweet the right hashtag and enjoy the knowledge that you've just made a mess you don't have to clean up.

You can get in on the paintball action when the gun is online by tweeting with the hashtag #islpaint. Unfortunately, Paintbot has to be taken offline periodically for clean-up. It has a tendency to splatter.

The target is an unfortunate whiteboard which just stands there and takes the abuse without complaint. It does have an illustration on it that sums up its futility of existence as a target for tweeting paintball shooters.… Read more

Remember Stratego? It's the classic capture-the-flag boardgame. And it's now available for iPad.

Why just iPad? I'm not entirely sure. Granted, the board would be cramped on an iPhone or iPod Touch screen, but I've seen plenty of other games work around that. (Monopoly, anyone?)

That curiosity aside, Stratego for iPad does a fine job recreating the original while adding some welcome digital touches. For starters, you can create and save multiple board setups (i.e., troop deployments), a huge time-saver and a great way to test how various deployments work against your opponents.

And speaking … Read more

Got plans for the weekend -- or, for that matter, the month? Cancel 'em, because you're about to score a boatload of PC games on the cheap.

For a limited time, GameStop has Command & Conquer: The Ultimate Collection for $16.99. Let's just round that up to $17, which means you're paying a buck apiece for 17 C&C games. Nice!

The collection includes everything from the original Command & Conquer to C&C Generals (my personal favorite) to the most recent entry, Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight, with all the various expansion … Read more

Microsoft's chief research and strategy officer, Craig Mundie, said he will step down from his role as he prepares for his retirement in 2014.

Mundie has taken on the position of "senior adviser to the CEO," according to his biography on Microsoft's Web site. His responsibilities, which include overseeing Microsoft Research and other technical strategy duties, will fall to Eric Rudder, the company's chief technical strategy officer, according to AllThingsD.

Mundie's new role isn't well defined, but he will report to CEO Steve Ballmer.

"In this role, he works on key strategic … Read more