Moonwalking with Einstein: Officially endorsed memory App

An app endorsed by Dominic o'Brien?
Memory Ladder

If you recognise the phrase "Moonwalking with Einstein" than you might be one of those savants with excellent recall who might be heading to the World Memory Championships.
 Guess what: there's an app for that.
Improving short term and long term memory sometimes falls into the realm of quack psychology and Derren Brown like tricks. Without diving too deep into Google Play a quick search for Android apps to improve your memory yields a Fools Gold mine of results. 
But like a stallion amongst mules Memory Ladder stands proud and tall. The Android App has the honour of being the official World Memory Championship app. Again if you're one of the memory elite or have an avid interest in the powers if the mind, you might recognise the name of 8 time memory world champion Dominic o'Brien who speaks very highly of Memory Ladder, in a personal endorsement on the app download screen.


Definitely if you're going to choose an Android app to enhance your memory then Memory Ladder certainly has the right endorsements and credentials on its side. But does the memory training work in reality and is it any fun?

How many can you remember?

Hands on with the app opens up a whole bunch of mind tricks that are really useful ,and to be honest I'm surprised that intensive University courses don't include stuff like this in their syllabus. Better education and abilities through apps? Yes please.


Choose to take on official memory championship tests including speed number recall; abstract images and date recall. All in all ten disciplines of the Global memorisation competition are catered for. Along the way you'll learn the powerful memorisation technique of pegwords and more. You can keep on challenging yourself with progressively harder memory tests as you play the up the ladder mode and also fully customise the tests so that you can keep on challenging your brain and improving your memory at your own speed, rather than burning out at someone else's pace.
As a fun app to play and challenge yourself Memory Ladder is great but the professional side if being a memory champ and having an intensive training regime for that intellectual pursuit has also very much been catered for, and this is where Memory Ladder really excels. Is this the first memory app worthy of being called a true Mnemonist App?
Download the Official Memory Trainer for the World Memory Championship "MEMORY LADDER" from Google Play. 

Contract Killer : Overdue Review and Guide

Glu Mobile has done it again with Contract Killer. The app has even topped Angry birds as the most downloaded app for a few days on the iphone. (source:http://www.smashiphone.net/contract-killer-the-most-downloaded-free-game-from-the-app-store/). It's still currently a top App on Google Play. The Contract Killer app lets you play the role of an assassin sniper. The graphics have so much detail it's amazing how fast this game loads and how smooth it runs on my single core smartphone. Even MOVING cars and people walk around in the games simulated environment. Indeed the app was created back when single core phones were still considered powerful, but its graphics and playableness still exceeds most top apps today. Your character develops a social network with professionals like you do in facebook and linkedin, except its with with killers and crime bosses.

Loading screens have nice backgrounds and screenshots and a loading status bar. The Background music rock and match a dramatic action movie scene. Helpful Tips are also displayed during loading screens like in Call of Duty Games. However, unlike shooting zombies in Call of Duty Black Ops, headshots really count as headshots when you hit a units head. After you look down the scope, you may even adjust the zoom with the curved gray bar towards the right of the screen. Hit Red Barrels or gas tanks to make them explode. Just make sure you don't harm any civilians. Bullets also go through people so be careful you don't hit innocent bystanders (or people running for their lives). I believe your rewards are improved it you destroy more enemies with less bullets. Med-kits are available in the store. I suggest buying the big packs because you get more bang for your buck.

You don't have to snipe or look down the sight all the time. Rifles, rocket launchers, tranquilizers, handguns, and more  may also be used once in a while. Unlike other games where you don't get to experience any or many of the available weapons unless you purchase with real money, Contract Killer gives you a different gun on some missions for use on those missions. This teaser method is really cool as you don't have to buy anything to know how it feels to use those weapons for FREE. Purchase silencers and explosive ammo. The menu's and shop are easy to navigate. Easily switch between your primary and secondary weapons with one button (in game) and in the "safe house" which only takes one button from the overview map. The overview map looks like an digital map you would find on googlemaps, yahoo maps or mapquest and are where you make most of your decisions. Icons are placed on the map showing you contacts, job locations, main city locations with a little background information. Contacts have a timer on them until a new contract is available from them. Some shortcut icons are also on a bar towards the bottom of the screen. When starting the app and an advertisment is loading, you can try pressing the back/return button on your android device and it will take you back to the game before the ad even finishes loading. Most if not all contracts have Sub-contracts. Sub-contracts increases your Contracts reward value, but require additional waiting for them to become availble.Vehicle Missions place you on a Moving Vehicle such as a train or Helicopter. Moving missions do not appear on the world map by clicking on a contact like other missions. You must click on "Moving Missions" on the map or "Vehicle" in your shortcut bar to access these missions. This missions are actually higher paying and experience giving. Some train missions are a lot more difficult than usual as the enemies weapons hit harder. Weapon Missions require use of other weapons besides a sniper gun.

The Contract Killer game is Xperia Play optimized, although this game was not meant to be used with physical controls. Touchpads may be used to aim and shoot, but using the touchscreen allows you more freedom and room for error and adjustments. The hardware controls may also be used to make selections. Again the touchscreen is more useful here. What I found most useful about the hardware controls were to move a reticule around during the short loading screens to keep me busy and feeling interactive and not left out of the game with nothing to do sometimes.

(Update: A couple hours after this article was posted, I noticed that my Energy Bar disappeared and I could play like I had unlimited energy. A notification has confirmed that it was a July 4th Holiday Special with unlimited energy. It was available before and after July Forth in my Time Zone. Maybe other holidays will have similar effects)
5 Energy (not to be confused with health) is required to take on missions. Every 4 or so minutes you get 1 more energy. You start out with a small energybar, but as you level up your maximum energy increases. On level up you your energy bar is refilled to full. You can refuel your energy bar by purchasing replenish items in the shop using Glu Credits. However I recommend waiting. Once a mission is completed, the contact for that mission will have a waiting period until the contact has another mission for you. Glu Credits may also be used to get rid of the current timer. Again, waiting is recommended. Glu Credits may be slightly earned in game depending on the app, by downloading apps in the advertisements, or buy purchasing with real world money. Unlike other apps, Contract Killer lets you play a long ways and days before you are unable to progress without using money. Notifications can be turned on or off in the settings. When new contracts and your energy bar is full, a notice will be sent to you.

Even while expanded, the screenshots look nice and clean.

The dialogues and brief mission statements aren't too cheesy and are well written with enough attitude to feel like you aren't just reading "kill him" every time. In fact, you don't kill everyone in every mission, especially the civilians. Yes even killers sometimes have moral codes and standards. You may be required to only take out the boss, or tranquilize him. Bosses dress a little differently than the regular henchmen and have two red pointers on their head (vs one for henchmen) when your crosshair is on them. The fact that Bosses look a lot like the target pictures given to you in their assassination file helps out a lot too. Their clothes and hair style set them apart. I have read before that you should use hunting amo on missions that require only a boss kill because hunting ammo cost less than Sniper bullets. Sometimes, a boss will run away after hearing shots. To prevent this I usually try to get the boss with my opening shot(s).

This app gets an AWESOME for presentation.

If you're looking for a great sniper app that will last a long time, then Contract Killer is waiting for you. It's possibly the best Sniping app available. I haven't used the facebook features with this app. If you haven't played Big Time Gangsta and toned down Grand Theft Auto games are your thing, then I recommend playing Contract Killer and Big Time Gangsta together simultaneously. While waiting for one of the app's timers to load, play the other (both are by Glu Mobile). This won't work continuously forever, but it definitely keeps you busy much longer.


Happy Independence Day to those whom it may apply,

Gametrender

Nexon: What do you really think of Female gamers?

“Sudden Attack” on feminism

Candace Bailey in the trailer video for "Hostage Rescue"

Nexon America “has released a new video for its high-intensity online FPS, Sudden Attack, showing off its new mode, Hostage Rescue, that features model/gaming media personality Candace Bailey [...]who is being held in a glass cage, surrounded by her captors and bombs. A team must infiltrate the “Main Event” map, where Candace is being held, eliminate her kidnaper and disarm the bombs, all this while the clock is ticking toward an explosive ending”. Having yet to play the mod, I'll focus on the aforementioned video and on Nexon America's press release to show just how sexist this is.

Note how the description points to Candace Bailey as a model, even using a slash so as to cram it into the description; video very clearly identifies her so that you can get a kick out of rescuing a celebrity. They could have instead focused on her being an Olympic-level gymnast, her going to college, her hosting several shows, or her acting. She indeed played Skylar Stevens, a teenager facing bravely a dystopian future in the tv series Jericho. In other words, she could believably play Lara Croft – ohwait...

And this is no accident: Candace wears a strapless, short dress and high heels – she could be going on a date. More damningly, the glass “cage” is really just a showcase: in all the indoor scenes, this is the only thing lit and it's even in the literal spotlight, ensuring that we don't miss the eye candy. Even the map name “Main Event” infers that she is the main attraction. And because eye candy should remain easy on the eye even when in danger, her abduction is relatively violence-free (she is merely grabbed from behind), she wakes her in the cage without so much as a scratch (implying chloroform or an equivalent, as well as no fighting back from her) and she is being killed with poison gas (she is already surrounded by armed men and freaking bombs: why the overkill?). Realistically, all this should rough her up a bit anyway, but hey this isn't a documentary; and the upside is that at least we don't see any torture porn.

The nice visuals only accentuates her “damsel in distress” antics. She starts by fdropping her car keys, then is subdued by a cloth on her face, utters in a child-like voice “Poison gas – I'm allergic” (no kidding), and finally taps feebly on the case while coughing up and calling for help – ok, that very last one is believable. Except... since her captors didn't tie her up and even left her her high heels, can't she grab one of those and try to pierce the glass? Even if her captors then threaten her with guns or the bombs, at least she bought herself (or her rescuers) some time. But no, she is completely passive in all of this, only waiting for her rescuer.

So, fighting back is more easily said than done, especially when the one talking in not at the heart of the situation – but this plot hole nonetheless weakens the narrative of the video and game. On the other hand, it reinforces all the negative, sexist tropes (damsel in distress, airhead, eye candy). Besides, this isn't a documentary, but a video game, an escapist entertainment! And please, don't use that last sentence to justify the sexist undertones of this video. This character is most probably not written that way to be realist or to serve the story; she is most likely written that way to market and capitalize on the “dulcinea effect”, on the sex appeal of Candace, and on some males' fantasies.

Speaking of her serving the narrative... why is she abducted again? Just to justify the mod's scenario? Her being killed in such a protracted way only serves as justification for the timer. We don't even know who her captors are or what they fighting for. At that point, a straightforward bait could be substituted for poor Candace and it would make more sense. So, this is just a trailer and you don't need a complete backstory for ever single character, but still... Think for 2 seconds when creating a story. Think again once it is “done”: are there any unfortunate implications? How did this mod and this video even get a green light? Either Nexon America just didn't see the glaring issues, and that speaks of how ingrained some sexist bias are in our societies; or they just decided to use sexist tropes to create and sell a video game, either as a straightforward macho attitude or as a “any publicity is good publicity”.

Either way, this initially made my blood boiled; right now, I'm just tired and jaded. I don't want to always be harping on sexism in video games; but I know I will again, probably in the very-near future, because games and their marketing campaigns keep being plain sexist. We, as an industry, community, and decent human beings, need to acknowledge this problem and address it - and this is not a necessarily conflictual discussion either. I'm personally a woman, a feminist, an industry veteran, and a gamer; I love games and only want to see them grow, both in reach and into a “mature” entertainment.

Enhanced Screenshot App for Android

Brilliant screenshot manipulation

As an Android power user and games journalists we love the fact that ICS gives you the ability to screenshot your Android mobile. Of course Google's operating system being what it is it just encourages brilliant ideas and new ways to do things. So not content with just having the ability to screenshot , Condition Delta has come up with a screenshot app with a load of extra features that you'll soon wonder what you did without.


When I was trialling my Galaxy S3 last week I loved the way that the Google navigation took me to the right door and even showed me a picture of my destination. In fact I was so enthralled that I took a screenshot on the quadcore Samsung phone to boast and brag to non Android neophytes. Now if I had been using Screenshot and Draw Trial my bragging rights would be even more deserved , as this screenshot app gives you the ability to draw or write on the screenshot that you've taken. Nice.


That feature alone should be lapped up by Android game journalists who could use it to better write hints and tips for games and I'm sure think of a host of other clever and fun things to do with the app.


That's not Screenshot and Draw Trial's only killer feature, it also allows you to merge up to 5 different photos that have been screen captured. For simplicity of use expect to be able to screenshot from the status bar, shake to screenshot or use the onscreen camera button. Sharing ; splicing and dicing with cropping and more is also present and a nice touch. 
The app really gives you a lot of ways to not only grab a screen but also manipulate it; perhaps the jellybean OS update will be kind enough to include these brilliant features;
until then look to download 
Screenshot and Draw Trial from Google Play

Hacked Site-Apologies

Apologies to all our readers for a certain article of a devious nature that have recently been published under our name. With fame comes being a target; we believe we have been hacked and measures have been put in place. 

Thanks for you continued loyalty.

Treasures of Montezuma 2 Hints and Tips

Herocraft's own guide to The Treasures of Montezuma 2

The Treasures of Montezuma 2 is a constant factor in the free charts on Google Play. Android puzzle game lovers here are the tips you've been waiting for to help you beat the Treasures of Montezuma.
A big shout out out to the heroic developers at HeroCraft who have been kind enough to lend us the top advice from their playtesters on how to beat this top Android game.


Guide to Treasures of Montezuma 2


Here are a few hints from the Herocraft Android app testers:
1. Try to acquire  bonuses asap which help  with time spent on a level -These are the ones to go for:
Precious time, Time Restorer, Orange Totem

2. If you're looking for efficient bonuses then these are the ToM 2 ones to go for: Explosion, Solidarity, Treasury  are the most efficient bonuses.
3. Wondering which totem is the most useful:Red, Green and Orange totems are the most useful ones.
4. Try to get at least one gem per move.
5.  Better  not  to  spend  the bonus which mixes everything up at the
beginning   or  in  the middle. It'll be more useful in the end of the
level if one gem is left which is hard to get.


Thanks for the tips Herocraft and thanks for a great game. if you haven't yet found the joys of this gem matching game then head on over to Google Play today.

Lara Croft, in the new reboot, is fighting tooth and nail for her survival

Lara Croft the "rape survivor" doesn't work as a story.

On June 13, it was announced that Lara Croft's backstory, in the rebooted franchise, was to

include an attempted rape; it was to be the player's role to fend off this assault. As mentioned in an

earlier post, most female gamers have described it as a sexist addition to the games, and Crystal

Dynamics have accordingly backpedalled. While I, as a woman, am relieved by this change, I'm also

relieved from a purely narrative point of view.

Full disclosure here : I didn't play the first Lara Croft games, because I simply didn't own a

PlayStation at the time; but I read the first few comics about her, by Image comics. In those, she was

indeed shipwrecked on an island and had to learn to survive on her own; it was just a single-page

montage, but the idea was so powerful that it stick with me for over a decade; so much so, that I got

excited about the new game just learning it would explore that fight for survival – from a feminine

perspective.

Think about it : from Robinson Crusoe to Tom Hanks in Cast Away, this narrative isn't new

when applied to men. In the case of Lost, there were female castaways, but it was more about the

collective effort than about any individual – and the survival part was never the main plot. This is why

the use of « Rape as backstory » feels so hollow in the case of Lara Croft. This is already a trope

teeming with unfortunate implications as it's used mainly for female characters; but here, it also

reduces an original story, as strong female characters go, to an easy shortcut to explain her bad-assery

without the writer having to actually work on and for it.

Now I understand narratives in video games are a bit different than in movies or novels; the

gameplay and the interactivity always come first, and rightfully so. However, these justifications don't

hold here. This is a well-known, decade-old character that a lot of gamers have a nostalgic attachment

to and whose story they'd get invested in.

More importantly, the whole purpose of this first game in the rebooted series is to explain how

Lara became a shorts-rocking, dual-gun-wielding chick who can somersault without a bra despite her

DD cups – and who has never shown any particular fear, resentment, or rage against men. In short, not

only are shortcuts not necessary, they undermine the fight-for-survival narrative and the preexisting

characterization.

But maybe, maybe the point of this rape was to make the story appear more mature? I believe

maturity is in the treatment rather in than the subject, but let's concede this point. Or maybe Lara Croft's

producer Ron Rosenberg was just getting carried away, exaggerated some minor plot point, and

thought it'd appeal to a larger audience to show Lara in need of protection. I certainly hope so, because

I'd still like to play that fight for survival story and see the character's growth happen at my fingertips.

Carole is a new contributor to GameTrender. She has worked in the video game industry for under a decade as translator, community manager, and content designer in Europe and Canada.

Sony Computer Entertainment buys Gaikai

The online game streaming service Gaikai is to be acquired by SCE. The  announcement of the combination of the Sony gaming giant and the Onlive rival Gaikai came this morning.
We acquired the Gaikai acquisition info from our sources and will update thus article when more news comes through.

Gaikai describes themself as a "Leading interactive Game Company". SCE of course needs no introduction, they're not the first company that the cloud gaming messiah have colluded with as there already exist partnerships with Samsung and LG.
Apparently the buyout which cost Sony 380 Million Dollars. will enable Sony to "provide users with unparalleled cloud entertainment experiences".


As Tablet and Smartphone gaming is on the rise and dedicated handhelds such as SCE's own PSP Vita are on the decline we wonder what this says for Sony's future trust in Potable Gaming. Is this the death knell for not only the Vita but also dedicated home consoles too?
After all if a Cloud streamed game is just as good with a fast internet connection do I need to even consider investing in Playstation 4?

Penguin Wing Makes it's way to Android

 

Gametrender is proud to announce that Penguin Wings has migrated from the iphone to the Android OS just a few days ago June 28th 2012. The smartphone app has enjoyed much success on iOS with over 2 Million downloads so far and it is giving Google play a try. It's FREE if you're interested. Penguin Wings has "Reached #1 kids game in 20 app stores around the world." The controls are simple. The screen is one button during gameplay. Don't let that fool you into thinking the game is easy. Reaction timing and eye hand coordination skills are needed.

My Screenshots couldn't be captured correctly during gameplay.

How to Play   

It took quite a while for me to (sort of) get the hang of it. Press Play and choose a stage (you start out with one). Press or double tap the screen to jump start or launch your penguin from it's igloo. As you go downhill, hold your touch on the screen. Right as you're about to go uphill, let go of the screen(the penguin will start flapping). The first couple bumps might not be enough to take flight, but once you get pass that it should be easier(a little). There is an unexplained bar on the bottom of the screen. It seems to be like a freshness bar or energy bar or error/bad timing bar. If you press/touch the screen while going uphill, or don't touch the screen while going downhill, the bar will be drained and exhausted. 

This is a super hill, happens some time after 40,000 score.

Once the bar runs out, the game is over. Your performance is calculated and the amount of Penguin Coins is awarded. Gold coins collected don't necessarily convert to the same amount of Penguin Coins. Penguin Coins are needed to purchase new areas/maps/levels/stages. Purchase new penguins with different looks.

I guess the advertisement gets a free ad in this article.

 Steeper dips will require you to press the screen earlier to stop your momentum from flying off the hill or into another hill. It also prevents you from flying over gold coins and powerups. At high speeds letting your penguin flap off hill gets you airtime. Just make sure you time your landing correct as to not interfere with your momentum(like crashing into a hill). When in Mid-Air, try to see if flapping the whole way will land you in a good spot, if not maybe you should try getting a smoother landing before the projected destination. Preferably, land on a downhill slope. I believe it is also possible to stall like an airplane if you are in the air but don't have enough speed to keep going. When stalling, your speed slows down even more and you start going almost straight down. Luckily you are not flying an actual airplane when this happens, but you wouldn't want to hurt a penguin now would you?


There are Powerups found ingame that will help you (or hurt you).
*Extra Speed
*Super Magnet
*Super Size
*Extra Time   ?
*and more.

This is an example of the shop.

Suggestions for future updates:

-Have a short explanation of the Rocket Power up at the beginning or demo. I accidentally used two on one of my first runs to see the effect and found out later that I wouldn't get them back.
-Decrease the costs of new locations by close to 50% or 200-400 gold coins. Although I haven't mastered it, on good runs I get only about 10-20 penguin coins. 
-The Shop could look a little more friendly and upbeat by changing the plain black background.
-The Main Menu page, and the buy coin page in the shop might lose a little bit of clean clarity on screens bigger than the screensize the app was originally intended for (iphone, 3.5inches). However that doesn't hurt the gameplay at all. 
-Background skies could be made to look more natural instead of repeating wallpapers left to right. (not too bad because all the clouds are connected, but noticeable)
-add at least 1-2 more screenshots onto the Google Play listing of the app.
-It would also be nice to have the powerup explained or labeled on an out of game page.
-The ability to buy and use those powerups (you can already do this with the rocket).

Air Time. The green hill is actually smooth in the game but was messed up in the capture (used Android APK). However, the sky does look like that with the blue strip when you reach a certain height. Also, sometimes my phone has a slight lag when it reaches the "Well Done" section, but that could be a hardware issue.

 Penguin Wings is a fun smartphone application that will take time to master. Help and watch penguins fly, something they are not known for. Again, it's FREE and the size of the file is small so you don't have much to lose, but definitely something to gain. Load times are really small. Try it out and see how you like it. Enjoy the country and classical like background music while you're at it.

 

Android Epidemic VS Pandemic 2.5

Pandemic 2.5 on Android in the form of EPIDEMIC

The Flash game of Pandemic 2.5 made its way on to iOS , now the hit virus creating game has an Android version in the form of EPIDEMIC.


Is Android's Epidemic better than Pandemic?

A few highlights of the Epidemic game (mostly unavailable in Pandemic 2.5):

* 3 levels of difficulty

* Option to turn off/on the vaccine.

* Anytime refunds at https://sites.google.com/site/epidemicandroid/

* Compatible with versions of Android 2.1 and above

Ways to win at Epidemic on Android

A common strategy for trying to beat Epidemic is to start by buying out all the resistances.

When you have resistances around levels 2-3, start buying symptoms and attributes with low visibility levels.

Stop the Epidemic Vaccine

If the vaccine gets started, the best way to try to stop it is by shutting down the hospitals.

However, hospitals can only be shutdown by increasing the lethality rate of the virus.

If you're still playing Pandemic 2.5 on the iPhone then please have a look at our previous article which features handy tips on how to beat the virus creation game.

iPhone 5 Design Confirmed?

We've gathered numerous sources together to get the latest net speculation about the iPhone 5 Design. Still no word on what the newest Apple product will have on its insides ,but if 9to5 Mac and iFixi spying is to be believed then this is what the iPhone 5 will look like:

iPhone 5 Black backcase with Blackframe

iPhone 5 Front-Note the larger screen

iPhone 5 depth pictures with new connection adaptor shown

If the net sources are to be believed then this is to be the confirmed design for the new iPhone. Take away points are that if this is true, then speculation about the new connection adaptor can be put to bed with Apple seemingly using a different size connector. This will of course play havoc with current iPhone dock setups and numerous other gadgets that we plug in to our phones. 

On the plus side the new screen is just shy of 4 inches in size which is a definite improvement (resolution for the new screen is hinted to be 1136 x 640). The aluminium body of the new Apple messiah hints at another unibody product-and of course the design is quintessentially Apple with a beautful design.

Now the question just remains whether the Apple iPhone 5 will be better than the Samsung Galaxy S3 or not!