It's relatively rare that a mobile game comes along and manages to generate as much excitement and pre-release hype that the Family Guy announcement managed last December. Sure, there's been a string of extremely popular smash hit games that have immediately benefited from going viral and getting tons of downloads and success on the back of that. However, the Family Guy franchise is an existing household name that already boasts an animated TV series, along with a whole heap of official merchandise. Add to that a stunning, extremely fun and visually impressive mobile game that's now available to download for iOS and Android.
You may find this hard to believe, but GTA 5 is actually the 15th release in the GTA series. The critically acclaimed action-adventure masterpiece made its initial assault on the gaming world back in September 2013 with immediate availability on Sony's PlayStation 3 and Microsoft's Xbox 360. In the time that's followed, both Sony and Microsoft have launched new consoles, with the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One effectively replacing the older hardware.
For the first couple of months of this year and some time prior, Flappy Bird had taken a stronghold on many iOS and Android users looking for a casual game to keep them entertained. Consumed by the tricky physics involved, the title was both challenging and frustrating in equal measure, but with the game seeming to leave players reeling in anger rather than feeling any kind of accomplishment, developer Dong Nguyen took the decision to remove it from the iOS App Store, as well as Google Play. After recently hinting that Flappy Bird might make a dramatic return, though, he has now confirmed that it will be re-entering the fold at some point in the future, although "not soon," according to his Twitter feed.
When it comes to success stories, they don't come much bigger than Rovio and its Angry Birds franchise. Since its initial release back in 2009, the world has gone Angry Birds crazy, with merchandise ranging from lunch boxes to food and beyond. It's fair to say that Rovio has done OK for itself, and as a result it's found itself confident enough to branch out from the tried and tested formula of flinging birds at pigs. Relatively hot on the heals of Angry Birds Go, a kart racer, Rovio earlier this month teased Angry Birds Epic, and now it's ready for prime time. At least, partly.
In real life, becoming a surgeon requires a substantial amount of studying and training, with folks often spending the best part of a decade preparing for the role of cutting people open for a living. But while most of us will never get such an opportunity, Surgeon Simulator allows us to do the kind of damage to Bob - the patient - that one hopes no real-life surgeon would ever do to a human being. The aim of the game, for those who haven't played it before, is to take a pleasure in causing Bob as much pain as possible by botching his surgery up as best you can.
It was back in late 2012 that Crazy Taxi, the popular title from way back in the SEGA Dreamcast era, re-emerged for the iPhone and iPad, and a short while later, the Android version also manifested itself over at the Google Play Store. With Crazy Taxi: City Rush due for release later on this month, SEGA has made the original Crazy Taxi absolutely free, but since the offer is only good for a few days, we'd strongly advise grabbing it sooner rather than later.
Flappy Bird was undeniably one of the biggest successes in mobile gaming we’ve witnessed since the Angry Birds franchise made the scene. And being pulled by its developer when the game had reached an all-time high in terms of fame and revenue - on both the iTunes App Store and Google Play Store - it was strongly believed that the game will never see the light of day again, until now.
Titanfall has, without any doubt, been the most anticipated game to release so far in 2014, and today, Xbox One users can finally pick up their copy. Microsoft rolled out a big system update last week, with one of the main improvements being to bolster the infrastructure of online multiplayer in anticipation for Titanfall's release, and after much ado, interested parties can now dive straight into the action.
It's been a long time since F1 2012 raced into the Mac App Store, and now, finally, Feral Interactive is back with the OS X release of F1 2013. As ever, it's a white-knuckle ride of covering every corner, chicane, and pit-stop of every track worldwide, and with official drivers to match, you can relive the highs and lows of the 2013 Formula 1 season on your Mac.
With the imminent release of Titanfall, it's rather easy to forget that, in actual fact, there are some other pretty big titles hitting the gaming world in 2014. With two brand new consoles on the scene in the form of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, developers and publishers are doing their utmost to prepare us for some marquee releases, and Watch Dogs, which has just become available to pre-order, will hit shelves on May 27th. Further details, as well as the official trailer accompanying the announcement, can be seen below.
