PopCap study: Play games with your kids, they'll be better for it

Man, there's nothing like a feel-good study to cheer you up on a Friday. PopCap Games, creator of Bejeweled and Zuma Blitz for Facebook, has helped in a study by Goldsmiths University that finds some comforting results for gamer parents, at least. According to the study, one in five parents said that playing computer games has helped their children develop a better understanding of technology.

While the organization does not reveal the exact number of participants, it goes on to report on findings that a third of parents believe gaming has increased their kids' concentration and that 53 percent believe that casual video games have improved their kids' problem solving skills. And the kids want more, apparently, as 27 percent of parents reported that their children attempt to borrow their smartphones to play casual games on.

"These findings are important because they highlight the social benefits of playing videogames," said Dr Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, Reader in Psychology at Goldsmiths in a release. "Previous research has tended to look only at the individual effects of video games, but in the era of social networking games appear to play a vital role in enhancing social relationships. The fact that both parents and grandparents are using games to connect with their children and grandchildren, and quite successfully, suggests that video games can improve social skills and make a key contribution to both effective parenting and child development."

Well, there's your educated, scientific opinion, so take it or leave it. Keep in mind, however, this survey comes from the help of a company that may have interest in this particular market (with all due respect, of course). For those of you who hand the toddler the iPad or the Wii remote every once in a while, more power to ya. (Besides, a two-year-old with an iPad is YouTube gold.)

Games For iPad: Fifty Favorites

iPad 2 is all the rage, with long lines across the country greeting customers eager to pick up Apple's newest gadget. Since gaming is such a hot activity and the iPad is one of the coolest devices to play games on, we tapped our friends at Modojo to give us a list of their favorite games for iPad.


Here are the five top iPad games you need to purchase right now to go along with that sexy tablet, and if you're a serious gamer, head over to Modojo for forty-five more top games for iPad.

Angry Birds Seasons HD [Buy it]

Don't ignore the Angry Birds phenomenon. Resistance is futile. Just embrace it and kiss your social life goodbye. This delightful strategy game challenges you to launch teams of ticked off birds towards a bunch of pigs, where the goal is to not only destroy the evil swine, but also cause massive property damage.

Flight Control HD [Buy it]

The phrase, "an oldie but a goodie" certainly applies to Firemint's outstanding strategy game that casts you as a flight controller charged with guiding planes to their respective hangars. An elegant presentation, user-friendly control scheme and catchy music make this a must play.

Infinity Blade [Buy it]

Pick up a sword and then embark upon a dangerous quest full of monsters and mayhem, where you attempt to avenge your father (and his father's father, and so on and so forth) by slaying the nefarious God King. A plethora of weapons, addictive gameplay (think Punch-Out!! with monsters) and some of the best graphics on iPad will keep you hooked for hours.

Real Racing HD [Buy it]

You'll never see Sony's Gran Turismo on the iPad and you'll never miss it, thanks to Real Racing HD. This simulation heavy racer looks phenomenal stretched across that glorious screen, with realistic graphics that pull you into each thrilling event. Beyond that, there's a 76-mission career mode, 48 real world cars, local and online multiplayer, 12 tracks, multiple camera views and more. You'll love it.

Then again, perhaps you'd rather go with the sequel, Real Racing 2 HD, which features iPad 2 specific features. [Buy it]

Asphalt 6: Adrenaline HD [Buy it]

If you prefer arcade style racing, Asphalt 6 delivers. Gameloft's latest entry in its respected series is pure eye candy, from the slick looking rides to the colorful courses inspired by locations around the world. In addition, it's a blast to play, with powerful nitro boosts, shortcuts and a variety of different modes that'll keep you coming back for more.
Thanks Modojo for your picks, and once you're done with these five games, click over for forty-five more Games for iPad that you need to have!

Apple cuts the cord on incentive-based app downloads; free currency in social games is out

While most iPhone game players are used to the technique of downloading other apps in order to receive free premium currency in your current game (the examples are too numerous to count, but include games like the mobile version of Social City, which gives you free City Bucks for downloading both free and paid apps), Apple hasn't taken too kindly to the "feature," and has now started the cutoff process for apps that employ such features.

To be specific, if you wanted to earn free City Bucks in Social City, all you'd have to do is download other iPhone applications, such as Zynga Poker (ironically enough), Pretty Pet Salon, Living Social, and so on, as seen at the picture at right. You'd receive any number of City Bucks from each app downloaded, with more free currency being given out if you actually purchased one of these "sponsored" apps. While this is great for the game player, as they are allowed to further their own experience and purchase new items otherwise unavailable to them, it does create a very weird imbalance on Apple's top app charts, as apps that may suffer from bugs, or simply aren't that enjoyable suddenly rise to the top of the free or paid app charts. This "padding" makes other games (those that don't use this incentive-based download feature) look worse by comparison, which Apple claims simply isn't fair.

For now, all apps that contain such incentive-based downloads will still have the currency up for grabs, but only until their developers can release an update that removes it. If they don't, these apps face removal from the app store, and the developers themselves could even be permanently banned from the iOS developer program. We know that this is serious business, as Tech Crunch has reported that some new apps have been rejected from inclusion on the app store because they violated this reinterpreted ruling in the developers terms of service:

    3.10: Developers who attempt to manipulate or cheat the user reviews or chart ranking in the App Store with fake or paid reviews, or any other inappropriate methods will be removed from the iOS Developer Program

What does this mean in the long run? Essentially, if you play any mobile version of a Facebook game, like Social City, you'll have to start paying up for your City Cash just like everyone else, until Playdom (in this case) or other developers across the platform decide what to do in terms of advertising and cross-promotional activities. If your apps haven't been updated yet, stock up on all of the free premium currency you can, while you can, as there's no telling when each app will be updated (or removed for good).

Do you have many apps that ask you to download other apps for free currency? What will you do now that those options for free "money" are now being taken away?

Angry Birds for PC

Finally, those birds that everybody likes has arrived on PC. After iPhone, iPad, Android and other mobile versions, also iPhone cases and toys, Angry Birds has finally arrived on the PC thanks to the Intel App Up store. It’ll work fine and dandy on laptops and netbooks and will cost you only $4.99 to download. Nice price for this lovely game.

Angry Birds is a global phenomenon in mobile gaming and the top grossing iPhone app of 2010. So if you’re not a smart-phone wielding hipster, you no longer have an excuse not to be part of this franchise.

Overall it’s pretty much an identical game play experience to the iPhone app, with some minor differences. It’s snappy, gorgeous, and it sounds amazing. On the netbook version you use a mouse or trackpad instead of touch. There is an open hand icon when the mouse is in hover state, and a closed hand icon when you are clicking or dragging. This visible clue when pulling the slingshot is a nice aid. It allows you to fine tune shots more than just observing the angle of the slingshot band.



Angry Birds for PC


Larger screen means more visibility in the game. On many levels you can see the target that can’t be seen on the iPhone. The previous shot trail is more easily seen, allowing fine tuning of your next shot. Overall the animations and physics seem to have more fluidity.

In terms of features, options, menu etc it’s pretty close to the original. On the netbook the replay level icon has been added to the game space. So you don’t need to pause first then replay. If you start off with bad shot, just click the replay icon, then you can start over. Saving a click is nice. There is a Menu button in the Pause menu that gets you back to the Start screen. There are some things not in play on the netbook version. The leader board and achievements are not available in the main menu. The Golden Eggs are there.

Angry Birds strikes an interesting balance of repetitive, simple tasks and challenging game play working for the many scenarios. So, if you liked this game on your iPhone or Android phone, you’ll sure like it on your big PC screen. If you are new player, don’t hesitate and join the fun now.

You must know and recognize the game from the Rovio, Angry Birds.

This game consists of seven birds with super abilities are different. By using slingshots, you can control the jump and the height of ill-tempered birds to tear down the building where the collection of green pork fat is shelter.

Where is a funny collection of birds swelled, turned into a grumpy group of birds which destroy the kingdom of lustful pigs these cunning thieves.

Angry Birds now not only for the iPhone, Android OS, PS3 and PSP. even Angry Birds has been available in Ovi Store for Nokia. And now Angry Birds have been available for Windows XP and Windows 7



Free Angry Birds for PC

Plenty of dodgy website owners want to rip off Google and push traffic towards their sites on the bogus promise of the free version of Angry Birds for PC. This is only a scam but in fact there exists a download free Angry Birds for PC nevertheless, you will need to move quickly to take advantage of that offer

Finland games producer Rovio Mobile has produced their very 1st version of Angry Birds Game for the Apple iPhone. This particular game was immediately caught by the iPhonesters, and Rovio understood that they will become successful. That has been fine. However, Rovio needed to get going by recoding Angry Birds Games for several programs, which become easier for small companies to get done.

Several weeks went by and finally, the Nokia and Android users could get themselves the Angry Birds Game. After that, the RovioMobile switched their attentions to the huge users of the PSP or the Play Station Portable and the PS3. That has been an additional huge porting project for Rovio operations.

During that time, the PC users have been reading and hearing rumors regarding Angry Birds for PC. Ultimately, in January, Angry Birds for PC was released, and downloading is not for free. However, not everybody is willing to pay for $5 for just a game, even if they will enjoy playing with it. These days, several users have grown to be familiar of getting some thing for free, so there are many who are on the lookout for a totally free Angry Birds for PC download. It can be downloaded via Windows 7 and Windows XP and Vista, or Mac support. But downloading can only be downloaded if you have an internet connection for the process to activate successfully.

Angry Birds pc is one of the well-known games that have taken the popularity with over 200 million downloads. The availability of this game is taking place in almost all of the popular platforms. In addition to playing the game online in the browser you can now download it on your laptop and take it wherever you may go to enjoy the amazing games, enabling you to play whenever, wherever you go. Take it to your workplace or even in the park, while resting and basting under the sun. Probably launching the Angry Birds for PC the wisest and the best move the game maker ever made.  This availability made for the millions of platform owners, even made the popularity of Angry Birds known to more video-gaming enthusiasts more than over.
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    - Angry Birds PC Updated

    The PC version was updated last week which we talked about in this post. This update will finally include all episodes of Ham ‘Em High and the two chapters of Mine and Dine. I’m sure this is welcome news for all the PC players who have been feeling left out. It shouldn’t have taken this long to get all the episodes out but that’s in the past now so lets just get to playing. Since all the chapters are available you also have access to all of the golden eggs. You can finally complete your collection!

    As a side note because I didn’t want to do an entire post about the subject, have you all seen the Angry Birds bra? It’s available over on etsy  you should go check it out. I personally don’t know anyone who would wear it but i’m sure there is someone out there  who would. I don’t recommend buying this for you girlfriend or wife unless she really loves angry birds