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	<title>TechTag: games &#124; Tech &#124; TIME.com</title>
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		<title>TechTag: games &#124; Tech &#124; TIME.com</title>
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		<title>Top 25 iPad Apps for Kids</title>
		<link>http://techland.time.com/2012/09/04/top-25-ipad-apps-for-kids/</link>
		<comments>http://techland.time.com/2012/09/04/top-25-ipad-apps-for-kids/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 04 Sep 2012 12:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Catherine Sharick</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Apps & Software]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Apps & Web]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Lists]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[apps]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[games]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ipad]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ipad apps]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[kids]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[technology]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://techland.time.com/?p=144587</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The best in gaming, books, art, music and education, all at their fingertips<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=techland.time.com&#038;blog=5290478&#038;post=144587&#038;subd=timenerdworld&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://techland.time.com/2012/09/04/top-25-ipad-apps-for-kids/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Apps &amp; Software</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://techland.time.com/category/reviews-features/apps-software-reviews-features/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timenerdworld.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/apps.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">apps</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">Cathy Sharick</media:title>
		</media:content>
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>&#8216;Draw Something&#8217; App Downloaded 20 Million Times in First Five Weeks</title>
		<link>http://techland.time.com/2012/03/13/draw-something-app-downloaded-20-million-times-in-first-five-weeks/</link>
		<comments>http://techland.time.com/2012/03/13/draw-something-app-downloaded-20-million-times-in-first-five-weeks/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 13 Mar 2012 16:08:37 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Keith Wagstaff</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Apps & Web]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[android]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[apps]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[draw something]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[games]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[iOS]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Words With Friends]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://techland.time.com/?p=123082</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[OMGPOP's new game Draw Something is only five weeks old and it's already been downloaded 20 million times. Right now it's the number one free app for Android and the number one paid and free app for iOS.<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=techland.time.com&#038;blog=5290478&#038;post=123082&#038;subd=timenerdworld&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://techland.time.com/2012/03/13/draw-something-app-downloaded-20-million-times-in-first-five-weeks/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Apps &amp; Web</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://techland.time.com/category/apps-web/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timenerdworld.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/elvis.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">elvis</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">kpwagstaff</media:title>
		</media:content>
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>The 10 Games I Want to Play Most in 2012</title>
		<link>http://techland.time.com/2011/12/13/the-10-games-i-want-to-play-most-in-2012/</link>
		<comments>http://techland.time.com/2011/12/13/the-10-games-i-want-to-play-most-in-2012/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 13 Dec 2011 09:55:36 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Matt Peckham</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Apps & Web]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Game Time]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gaming & Culture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Reviews & Features]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[games]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://techland.time.com/?p=109359</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Say goodbye to a fantastic 2011 and hello to an even more promising 2012—here's my pick of 10 games to watch for in 2012.<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=techland.time.com&#038;blog=5290478&#038;post=109359&#038;subd=timenerdworld&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://techland.time.com/2011/12/13/the-10-games-i-want-to-play-most-in-2012/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Game Time</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://techland.time.com/category/reviews-features/game-time/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timenerdworld.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/grand-theft-auto-v.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">grand-theft-auto-v</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">mattpeckham</media:title>
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		<item>
		<title>On Boggle App, &#8216;Queer&#8217; Is a Bad Word</title>
		<link>http://techland.time.com/2011/11/01/on-boggle-app-queer-is-a-bad-word/</link>
		<comments>http://techland.time.com/2011/11/01/on-boggle-app-queer-is-a-bad-word/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 01 Nov 2011 08:55:34 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Guest Author</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Apps & Software]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gadgets]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gaming & Culture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Smartphones]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[games]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://timenerdworld.wordpress.com/?p=101388</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[When I first downloaded the Boggle app, I was agog over all the unfamiliar words — AAL, AIS, ANE, etc. — the game showed me I could have found in the 16-letter jumbles. But a few hundred rounds later (yes, I’m obsessed), I’m more interested in the words the good people at Hasbro won’t let me play. FART and CRAP are off limits. So is SLUT, which seems downright prudish. Stranger still is the exclusion of QUEER and POOF. What’s going on here? All of these words are allowed in the Scrabble app, which, like Boggle, is published by Electronic Arts under a licensing agreement with Hasbro. Both games have multi-player modes, so it’s hard to understand why some words are considered too pejorative for the one and not the other. (MORE: Top 10 Must-Have iPhone Games) And what’s so bad about QUEER and POOF, anyway? Haven’t these words been reclaimed by the gay community, not to mention the fact that they also have totally different, non-gay-related meanings? Hasbro responded to my interview request with this statement: “We want our games to be fun for everyone. We try to make family games like Boggle appropriate for all members of the family, so we’ve omitted some words from the app that we think some players might find offensive.” So what do you think, word nerds? Is it just me, or is Hasbro’s overprotectiveness a little insulting? And before you dismiss this as simply a kids’ game, consider that there used to be a Boggle TV show, hosted by none other than Wink Martindale, and played by, you guessed it, adults. Maybe some of the contestants were even — dare I say — queer. LIST: 50 Best iPhone Apps of 2011<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=techland.time.com&#038;blog=5290478&#038;post=101388&#038;subd=timenerdworld&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://techland.time.com/2011/11/01/on-boggle-app-queer-is-a-bad-word/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Smartphones</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://techland.time.com/category/gadgets/smartphones/</primary_category_link>
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			<media:title type="html">techlandtipster</media:title>
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		<title>Top 10 Must-Have iPhone Games</title>
		<link>http://techland.time.com/2011/10/14/top-10-must-have-iphone-games/</link>
		<comments>http://techland.time.com/2011/10/14/top-10-must-have-iphone-games/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 14 Oct 2011 08:55:07 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Doug Aamoth</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Apple]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Apps & Software]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gadgets]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Lists]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Reviews & Features]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Smartphones]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[games]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[iphone]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://timenerdworld.wordpress.com/?p=99776</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Whether you&#8217;ve just purchased your first iPhone or you&#8217;ve owned every version since 2007, make sure there&#8217;s an icon for each one of these games on your Home screen. Note that we&#8217;ve listed the paid version of each game in the ensuing gallery, but there are often free-to-try versions as well if you&#8217;re not quite ready to make the plunge.<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=techland.time.com&#038;blog=5290478&#038;post=99776&#038;subd=timenerdworld&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://techland.time.com/2011/10/14/top-10-must-have-iphone-games/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Apps &amp; Software</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://techland.time.com/category/apps-web/apps-software/</primary_category_link>
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			<media:title type="html">daamoth</media:title>
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	</item>
		<item>
		<title>LEGO, Meet iPhone: &#8216;Life of George&#8217; Uses iOS to Judge Building Skills</title>
		<link>http://techland.time.com/2011/09/29/lego-meet-iphone-life-of-george-uses-ios-to-judge-building-skills/</link>
		<comments>http://techland.time.com/2011/09/29/lego-meet-iphone-life-of-george-uses-ios-to-judge-building-skills/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 29 Sep 2011 14:00:39 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Matt Peckham</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Apple]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gadgets]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gaming & Culture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Smartphones]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[games]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[iOS]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ipad]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[iphone]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ipod touch]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[lego]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://techland.time.com/?p=98556</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[It&#8217;s called LEGO &#8220;Life of George,&#8221; and while it may not sound like it has anything to do with Apple&#8217;s iPhone or iPod Touch, it just so happens the two technologies—yes, LEGO technically counts as &#8220;technology&#8221;—are joined at the hip. Imagine technology that could tell you if you&#8217;ve built something to spec, say a flag, or a car, or a person, LEGO style. Or don&#8217;t imagine and just give LEGO&#8217;s Life of George a go, though you&#8217;ll need an iOS device to complete the package. (MORE: Giveaway: Lego Universe Lets Players Build Big) LEGO&#8217;s tallish, rectangular box for the game (yep, it&#8217;s a game—more on that in a moment) packs in 144 LEGO bricks and something called a Playmat. You know how &#8220;green screen&#8221; technology works in movies, where actors work against a green-hued backdrop to allow video editors to eventually drop computer-generated imagery in behind or around them? The Playmat&#8217;s kind of like that, except instead of actors, you&#8217;re placing objects you&#8217;ve built using the kit&#8217;s LEGO bricks—objects based on images dished up by your iOS device. Once an object&#8217;s on the mat, &#8220;brick recognition&#8221; technology designed by EyeCue works in tandem with your iOS device&#8217;s camera to capture what you&#8217;ve built and whether you did so correctly. The result? A clever-sounding game of sorts with 12 levels, 10 models per level, and either &#8220;novice&#8221; or &#8220;expert&#8221; difficulty settings. The goal: to build stuff as fast and accurately as possible, and players are scored on their ability to do so. But wait, build what again, exactly? Objects from a guy named George&#8217;s photo album. The game&#8217;s called Life of George because it&#8217;s based on an eponymous &#8220;software engineer by day and adventurer by night.&#8221; According to LEGO, George&#8217;s hobbies include &#8220;travel, photography and numbers, and [he] has a fun storyline for players to follow and engage with via his Facebook page, I Am George.&#8221; It&#8217;s not just a solo game, either. You can alternatively play against someone else, hotseat style (two players in the same room, taking turns) or fool around<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=techland.time.com&#038;blog=5290478&#038;post=98556&#038;subd=timenerdworld&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://techland.time.com/2011/09/29/lego-meet-iphone-life-of-george-uses-ios-to-judge-building-skills/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Smartphones</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://techland.time.com/category/gadgets/smartphones/</primary_category_link>
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			<media:title type="html">mattpeckham</media:title>
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		<item>
		<title>GameStop to Buy and Sell iOS Devices, Finally Validate Mobile Gaming?</title>
		<link>http://techland.time.com/2011/09/06/gamestop-to-buy-and-sell-ios-devices-finally-validate-mobile-gaming/</link>
		<comments>http://techland.time.com/2011/09/06/gamestop-to-buy-and-sell-ios-devices-finally-validate-mobile-gaming/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 06 Sep 2011 14:30:26 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Matt Peckham</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Apple]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gadgets]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gaming & Culture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Smartphones]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[games]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[gamestop]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ipad]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[iphone]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ipod]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[trade-ins]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://techland.time.com/?p=96098</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Games retail giant GameStop&#8217;s days are either numbered or nascent, depending on whether you see brick and mortar retail as a digital-proof future presence. Well GameStop&#8217;s not waiting around to find out. They&#8217;re the largest dedicated video games retailer in the country, they&#8217;ve cornered the used games market, plus they&#8217;ve presciently grabbed arguably the best and brightest digital storefront technology, Stardock&#8217;s Impulse, to compete with Valve&#8217;s Steam. And now, 9to5Mac reports, they&#8217;re plotting to add iPads, iPhones and iPods to their thousands of storefronts. (MORE: GameStop Mulls a Tablet, Will Soon Buy Yours) What&#8217;s more, they&#8217;re planning to let you trade in used iOS devices for store credit. That&#8217;s right. The screen grab 9to5Mac&#8216;s touting reads: &#8220;We Buy your old iPod, iPhone or iPad.&#8221; And that&#8217;s followed by: Did you know that GameStop now buys your old iPod, iPhone and iPad devices? Trade them in at GameStop for in-store credit. Perfect for trading toward games, accessories, systems and more. Bring in your old iPod or iPad and a Game Advisor can assist you. Plus, you&#8217;ll score PowerUp Rewards points on every item traded. GameStop apparently unveiled the program at a trade show in Las Vegas last week. The iOS device trade-in program&#8217;s available now, says 9to5Mac, while sales of iOS devices are due to begin at some future point, possibly to coincide with the next iPhone&#8217;s stateside launch, rumored sometime in October. I just called my local store (in Michigan) and they confirm the report is accurate, but that only some stores have been authorized to run the program, with plans to eventually roll the program out to everyone. What GameStop plans to do with all that used, increasingly dated Apple gear is anyone&#8217;s guess, as is which Apple devices they&#8217;ll actually take. Something tells me the original 2G iPhone&#8217;s probably not on the list. MORE: GameStop Appears to Be Building a Streaming Gaming Platform for Android Matt Peckham is a reporter at TIME. Find him on Twitter at @mattpeckham or on Facebook. You can also continue the discussion on TIME’s Facebook page and<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=techland.time.com&#038;blog=5290478&#038;post=96098&#038;subd=timenerdworld&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://techland.time.com/2011/09/06/gamestop-to-buy-and-sell-ios-devices-finally-validate-mobile-gaming/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Smartphones</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://techland.time.com/category/gadgets/smartphones/</primary_category_link>
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			<media:title type="html">mattpeckham</media:title>
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		<title>Facebook Gets Gaming Facelift in Wake of Google+ Games</title>
		<link>http://techland.time.com/2011/08/12/facebook-gets-gaming-facelift-in-wake-of-google-games/</link>
		<comments>http://techland.time.com/2011/08/12/facebook-gets-gaming-facelift-in-wake-of-google-games/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 12 Aug 2011 14:30:40 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Chris Gayomali</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Facebook]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gaming & Culture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Networking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[games]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[gaming]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[google plus]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[web]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://techland.time.com/?p=93603</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Make no mistake about it: The timing of this is completely intentional. Facebook took to its blog to announce that it was giving its already successful gaming interface a facelift in the wake of Google&#8217;s own announcement that it was implementing games on Google+. (MORE: Surprise, Google Plus Adds Games) In efforts to make the canvas more accessible to gamers, Facebook pushed two goals: 1. Make games themselves easier to get to, and 2. make them more inherently social by fostering competition. To increase engagement, Facebook is placing a user&#8217;s &#8220;most used&#8221; apps along the upper right hand corner. Red counters on the bookmark will be used to denote requests received within games (which users have already seen on the site elsewhere). It&#8217;s a less click-y tunnel to get users gaming. The new social ticker, however, is the main draw, and will be a mechanism used to increase the site&#8217;s stickiness. While it sits at the side, it&#8217;s not distracting, per se, and is intended to promote new levels of interactivity with you and your Facebook friends by facilitating some healthy in-game competition. (LIST: 10 Things You Shouldn&#8217;t Do On Facebook) Per the Facebook blog: &#8220;The live ticker below the bookmarks shows real-time app and game activity from a user’s friends to make the game playing experience on Facebook more social than ever. We automatically generate ‘playing’ and ‘using’ stories in the ticker when friends use an app or play a game respectively helping users re-engage and discover new games and apps that their friends are using.&#8221; There&#8217;s also a new new Graph API that readily shows scores and acts as a leader board; you know which of your friends you have to beat at any given time. However, these new features will also have implications where users are most easily perturbed: their News Feed. Using a new algorithm to promote in-Facebook apps, a new ranking system will &#8220;surface&#8221; the most relevant app stories—i.e. that weird aunt of yours who plays FarmVille 24/7—into your stream. All Things D suggests that<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=techland.time.com&#038;blog=5290478&#038;post=93603&#038;subd=timenerdworld&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://techland.time.com/2011/08/12/facebook-gets-gaming-facelift-in-wake-of-google-games/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Social Networking</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://techland.time.com/category/apps-web/social-networking-apps-web/</primary_category_link>
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			<media:title type="html">chrisgayomali2</media:title>
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		<title>Google+ Help Page Tips &#8216;Games Stream&#8217; Coming</title>
		<link>http://techland.time.com/2011/07/22/google-help-page-tips-games-stream-coming/</link>
		<comments>http://techland.time.com/2011/07/22/google-help-page-tips-games-stream-coming/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 22 Jul 2011 17:00:13 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Chris Gayomali</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Gaming & Culture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Google]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rumors]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[games]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[google plus]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[leak]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[web]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://techland.time.com/?p=91316</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Google has had its hands busy tweaking its new darling, Google+, which is rumored to be opening to the public on July 31st. In preparation for the launch, the company has been culling user feedback (like with the sleek new &#8220;send feedback&#8221; tab in the lower-right hand corner), as well as assembling step-by-step user guides in the form of help pages. (MORE: Google+ Soaring With 20 Million+ Users) But SlashGear spotted a mistakenly leaked help page that foretells what G+ has in store: a new type of Stream for games. The page itself has since been taken down, but it stated: &#8220;If you’re looking for updates shared from games, check out your Games stream.” SlashGear notes that Google has already announced that third-party APIs for developers will soon be made available. The leak is just icing on the cake for what we pretty much already knew: The games are coming. Social gaming has been one of Facebook&#8217;s more lucrative timesucks, inasmuch that the rumor mill had the social networking giant canoodling with FarmVille creators Zynga for a revenue sharing model just a few weeks ago (which Facebook later denied). (MORE: Two-Minute Video: Google+ vs. Facebook and Twitter) Still, it&#8217;s a testament to how valuable having a gaming ecosystem would be for Google+ if it really hopes to take considerable market share away from Facebook—and it&#8217;s also telling of its current focus to appeal explicitly to people and not brands (at least not yet). But will Google&#8217;s people-oriented approach help it convert the masses? Gaming in itself may not be much of a lure, but it&#8217;s the stickiness Google will need to keep users on Google+. Chris Gayomali is a writer-reporter at TIME. Find him on Twitter at @chrigz, on Facebook, or on Google+. You can also continue the discussion on TIME’s Facebook page and on Twitter at @TIME.<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=techland.time.com&#038;blog=5290478&#038;post=91316&#038;subd=timenerdworld&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Rumors</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://techland.time.com/category/news/rumors/</primary_category_link>
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			<media:title type="html">chrisgayomali2</media:title>
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		<title>Violent Video Games: The Top 8 Big Money Franchises</title>
		<link>http://techland.time.com/2011/06/28/violent-video-games-the-top-8-big-money-franchises/</link>
		<comments>http://techland.time.com/2011/06/28/violent-video-games-the-top-8-big-money-franchises/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 28 Jun 2011 09:00:20 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Doug Aamoth</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Gaming & Culture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gaming & Culture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Lists]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Reviews & Features]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[games]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[video games]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Video Games]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[violent video games]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://timenerdworld.wordpress.com/?p=88230</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[In observance of the Supreme Court&#8217;s 7-2 decision to treat video games to the same First Amendment protection as art, music, and movies, here&#8217;s a look at some of the biggest names in violent game franchises. You may want to cross-reference this list with the games your children already own, or just be on the lookout for any of these titles to breach the parameter of your homestead. Or simply go about your day worrying about bigger fish and how you&#8217;re going to metaphorically fry said fish. Also, funny parenting story: I literally just heard a kid that couldn&#8217;t have been more than five years old say the F-word right outside my window. The mom and dad laughed while scolding the child which, in turn, made me laugh. Have a pleasant day, won&#8217;t you?<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=techland.time.com&#038;blog=5290478&#038;post=88230&#038;subd=timenerdworld&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://techland.time.com/2011/06/28/violent-video-games-the-top-8-big-money-franchises/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Lists</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://techland.time.com/category/reviews-features/lists/</primary_category_link>
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			<media:title type="html">daamoth</media:title>
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		<title>Five-Year-Old Girl Invents Impossibly Cute Video Game</title>
		<link>http://techland.time.com/2011/05/25/five-year-old-girl-invents-impossibly-cute-video-game/</link>
		<comments>http://techland.time.com/2011/05/25/five-year-old-girl-invents-impossibly-cute-video-game/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 25 May 2011 15:30:57 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Doug Aamoth</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Gaming & Culture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[awesome]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[awesomeness]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[games]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[kids]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[pc]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://timenerdworld.wordpress.com/?p=84147</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[A man takes his five-year-old daughter to a three-day game development festival in Toronto and CHANGES THE WORLD FOREVER. That may be a tad melodramatic on my part, but you have to admit that the browser-based &#8220;Sissy&#8217;s Magical Ponycorn Adventure&#8221; game has it all. There&#8217;s magic—everybody loves magic. There&#8217;s adventure—again, yes, adventure is good. We have &#8220;Sissy,&#8221; an ironically-named brave protagonist. And we have ponycorns. Part pony, part unicorn. Brilliant. Fire up the game and you&#8217;ll find Sissy declaring, &#8220;Hi! My name&#8217;s Sissy, and I friggin&#8217; LOVE ponycorns! They&#8217;re the best thing in the world &#8216;cuz they&#8217;re like ponies AND unicorns. They&#8217;re PONYCORNS!&#8221; You then guide Sissy around through stargate-like rainbows, where she must battle villains and rescue ponycorns into the safety of empty jars. The voice (and brains) behind the game, pictures, titles and concept is none other than five-year-old Cassie, seen here with her dad, Ryan, who helped out with some of the more technical aspects of the game. According to Ryan&#8217;s blog (if you can get it to load—it&#8217;s obviously bogged down by ponycorn lovers the world over right now): &#8220;Cassie drew all the pictures, wrote all the titles, and recorded the voice of the main character. She also came up with the NPCs (including Mr. Turtle, the Mean Tiger, and the villainous Lemon), and designed some of the puzzles (including the one where you [SPOILER ALERT] have to read a sign to justify your need for a coconut to throw at the Lemon).&#8221; You can play the game here (again, if you can get it to load—it&#8217;s obviously bogged down by ponycorn lovers the world over right now). It&#8217;s fun. The voices are spot on. This is one of those things people are referring to when they talk about the good parts of the internet. Read: 5-Year-Old Girl Makes Video Game<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=techland.time.com&#038;blog=5290478&#038;post=84147&#038;subd=timenerdworld&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://techland.time.com/2011/05/25/five-year-old-girl-invents-impossibly-cute-video-game/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Gaming &amp; Culture</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://techland.time.com/category/news/gaming-culture/</primary_category_link>
		<media:content url="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/9c8df542e0f7376bd2d58f707dbdff00?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F0.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">daamoth</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://timenerdworld.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/lemon.jpg" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">lemon</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">cassie</media:title>
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		<title>Will the 7th-Gen Nano&#8217;s New Features Save It? Probably Not</title>
		<link>http://techland.time.com/2011/05/13/will-the-7th-gen-nanos-new-features-save-it-probably-not/</link>
		<comments>http://techland.time.com/2011/05/13/will-the-7th-gen-nanos-new-features-save-it-probably-not/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 13 May 2011 15:30:15 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Chris Gayomali</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Gadgets]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[camera]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[games]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ipod nano]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Reviews & Features]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://techland.time.com/?p=82308</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The last 6th edition Nano was kind of the runt of Apple&#8217;s MP3 pack — somewhere between the &#8220;less is more&#8221; ethos of the shuffle and the full-fledged capabilities of a standard iPod. But even if previous reports hold true and the coming version of Apple&#8217;s pint-sized player comes equipped with the 1.3-megapixel camera the photos seem to indicate, I can&#8217;t help but feel that it&#8217;s all little more than bells and whistles used to prolong the device&#8217;s inevitable demise. Apple Insider revealed a few documents submitted to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, with pictures to boot. In addition to the reintroduction of a camera, notable hardware inclusions indicate there&#8217;ll be a motion sensor, temperature gauge and a microphone. Plus, there&#8217;ll apparently be games, which would be a first since Apple shrunk the device down to shuffle size in 2009 and gave it a touch screen. Which isn&#8217;t to that that these things will detract from the Nano&#8217;s appeal. It likely won&#8217;t be — even with all these new additions — a scaled down version of normal-sized iPods (hackers tore the thing down last year and revealed it to run a totally different operating system than iOS), and it&#8217;ll probably still be able to take a beating. But for the record, I still think the 5th-generation Nano (scroll wheel and all) was as close to perfect as the Nano could be in terms of size and features (many of which, if the rumors hold true, are being introduced again with this latest Nano). But unless we see a price reduction, I still don&#8217;t think all these new additives would really justify the $150 low-end, especially when you look at something like the just-as-functional, twice-as-cheap ZEN.<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=techland.time.com&#038;blog=5290478&#038;post=82308&#038;subd=timenerdworld&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://techland.time.com/2011/05/13/will-the-7th-gen-nanos-new-features-save-it-probably-not/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Gadgets</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://techland.time.com/category/gadgets/</primary_category_link>
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			<media:title type="html">chrisgayomali2</media:title>
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		<title>London Turns Subway Commuting Into a Game</title>
		<link>http://techland.time.com/2011/04/25/london-turns-subway-commuting-into-a-game/</link>
		<comments>http://techland.time.com/2011/04/25/london-turns-subway-commuting-into-a-game/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 25 Apr 2011 19:30:05 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Giles Turnbull</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Gaming & Culture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[games]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[london]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Gaming]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[travel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[UK]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://techland.time.com/?p=78721</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Regular commuters on London&#8217;s Underground rail network have now got a new incentive for keeping their journeys short: a social network that turns the Tube into a game. It&#8217;s called Chromaroma, and it&#8217;s easy to play. Pretty much everyone in London already has an Oyster card &#8211; an RFID-enabled smart card that they can top up with credit, and use to travel anywhere by Tube or bus. It&#8217;s the cheapest and most convenient way of getting around. Now the people in charge of Oyster have opened up access to travel data, and Chromaroma is a result. When you sign up, you can choose whether to join the Red, Green, Blue or Yellow team. Your team gets points for swiping Oyster cards at Tube stations. Swipes mean points, and points mean rewards. Teams can win and lose ownership of stations. Regular players might even be tempted to break one of the Tube&#8217;s greatest taboos, and talk to strangers on trains, in the hope of recruiting new members for their team. You never know. There&#8217;s much more to it than that, though. Delve deeper and you&#8217;ll find time trials, extra missions (for your team or just for you) as well as incentives for taking healthy options like walking some of the way instead. Could Chromaroma change the way Londoners commute? Possibly, but it&#8217;s going to need some co-operation from the city&#8217;s employers first. Saying &#8220;Sorry I&#8217;m late, I had to check in for my Chromaroma points,&#8221; probably isn&#8217;t going to go down well as an excuse for being late for work. Unless your boss plays the game too, of course&#8230;<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=techland.time.com&#038;blog=5290478&#038;post=78721&#038;subd=timenerdworld&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Gaming &amp; Culture</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://techland.time.com/category/news/gaming-culture/</primary_category_link>
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			<media:title type="html">gilest</media:title>
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		<title>Nintendo 3DS Soars, Sells 400,000 in First Week</title>
		<link>http://techland.time.com/2011/04/15/nintendo-3ds-soars-sells-440000-in-first-week/</link>
		<comments>http://techland.time.com/2011/04/15/nintendo-3ds-soars-sells-440000-in-first-week/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 15 Apr 2011 14:01:38 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Matt Peckham</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gaming & Culture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Microsoft]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Nintendo]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sony]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[games]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[nintendo 3ds]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[playstation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[playstation 3]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Wii]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[xbox 360]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://techland.time.com/?p=76970</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Nintendo’s 3DS portable flew off the shelves in late March, moving just shy of 400,000 units during its first week of U.S. sales, reports Nintendo. Couple with Nintendo’s other handhelds, and the company says it saw its best March ever (that’s “in U.S. history” ever) for portable hardware sales. Factor in dueling DS games Pokemon White and Black, both launched in early March with sales of nearly 2.5 million copies combined, and Nintendo says it moved over 460,000 Nintendo DS family systems in March, all told. &#8220;We had a great start to the Nintendo 3DS, and portables overall had their best March in history,&#8221; Nintendo America president Reggie Fils-Aime told Bloomberg in a phone interview. On the flipside, the 3DS sold 100,000 units less than the DS did during its launch month, though sales tracker NPD Group notes the DS (the original 2004 model) had a holiday (November) launch advantage, was $100 cheaper, and wasn’t fending off mobile alternatives like smartphones and tablets. That, and the 3DS&#8217;s higher price tag means it generated more launch revenue for Nintendo. 3DS software sales were comparably feeble, averaging just one game sold per handheld, perhaps due to critical backlash aimed at Nintendo’s weak launch lineup (mostly recycled games with a new 3D coat and a few overly simplistic new ones). That said, NPD reports more 3DS games “sold through retail this month than did DS software in November 2004.” In console sales, the Wii moved over 290,000 units in March, though beat by Microsoft’s Xbox 360 with 433,000 units. Sony&#8217;s made a habit of declining to release PS3 unit sales, presumably because they don&#8217;t compare favorably with Microsoft&#8217;s or Nintendo&#8217;s. The company simply said the PlayStation brand &#8220;saw double digit growth across hardware and peripherals.&#8221; Video game industry revenue overall declined in March, from $876 million to $735 million year-on-year, though NPD analyst Anita Frazier noted digital distribution growth would “likely result in net industry growth when we release our full measure of the first quarter consumer spend on games in June.”<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=techland.time.com&#038;blog=5290478&#038;post=76970&#038;subd=timenerdworld&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Sony</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://techland.time.com/category/companies-2/sony/</primary_category_link>
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			<media:title type="html">mattpeckham</media:title>
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		<title>It&#8217;s the World&#8217;s Biggest Game of Pac-Man</title>
		<link>http://techland.time.com/2011/04/15/its-the-worlds-biggest-game-of-pac-man/</link>
		<comments>http://techland.time.com/2011/04/15/its-the-worlds-biggest-game-of-pac-man/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 15 Apr 2011 11:00:34 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Erica Ho</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Gaming & Culture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Nintendo]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[games]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[pac-man]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://techland.time.com/?p=76952</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[It&#8217;s Friday, Friday&#8230; If you&#8217;ve got some major time to kill, there&#8217;s always the world&#8217;s biggest game of Pac-Man, and its all online. The whole game consists of more than one maze: it consists of several mazes, all interconnected with each other. And then you can zoom out, to see some more mazes. Again, and again. It doesn&#8217;t end. Time to put aside your actual work; you&#8217;ve got your work cut out for you. (via World&#8217;s Biggest PAC-MAN) More on TIME.com: Top 10 Arcade Games of All Time &#8220;Ms. Pac-Man&#8221; Q&#38;A: Marv Wolfman on DC Universe Online, Love for Video Games<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=techland.time.com&#038;blog=5290478&#038;post=76952&#038;subd=timenerdworld&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://techland.time.com/2011/04/15/its-the-worlds-biggest-game-of-pac-man/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Nintendo</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://techland.time.com/category/companies-2/nintendo/</primary_category_link>
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			<media:title type="html">ericaho</media:title>
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		<title>Game Developers Warned Away From Amazon Appstore</title>
		<link>http://techland.time.com/2011/04/14/game-developers-warned-away-from-amazon-appstore/</link>
		<comments>http://techland.time.com/2011/04/14/game-developers-warned-away-from-amazon-appstore/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 14 Apr 2011 19:31:51 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Evan Narcisse</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gaming & Culture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Apps & Software]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[games]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://techland.time.com/?p=76775</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[You&#8217;d think game developers would have rejoiced after Amazon launched their Appstore a few weeks ago&#8211;an Appstore putatively offering access to the Internet mega-retailer&#8217;s vast infrastructure, a devoted user base, and another distribution pipeline for those frustrated with the Android Market. And while all that&#8217;s there, it seems like game-makers should beware jumping into Jeff Bezos&#8217; digital download hub. The International Game Developers Association issued an advisory that ticks off a variety of ways in which developers can get screwed by Amazon if they put their games in Appstore. (More on TIME.com: Here&#8217;s What Amazon&#8217;s App Store Could Look Like) One of the main issues is how Amazon controls pricing and payment on apps. First off, Amazon reserves the right to set the price of any app carried on the Appstore. If you want your game on the Appstore, it must match the lowest price on any other download service. This means that if a game developer runs a special promotional sale over the weekend on Apple&#8217;s App Store, they have to run the same sale on Amazon. What&#8217;s more, it has to remain at the cut-rate price permanently. (More on TIME.com: Apple Sues Amazon Over &#8220;App Store&#8221; Trademark) Amazon&#8217;s payment stipulations for game app sales seem draconian, too. The wording states that they can pay the supplier &#8220;the greater of 70% of the purchase price or 20% of the List Price.” Translation: After setting the price, they can essentially dictate how much profit a developer makes. The whole argument laid out by the IGDA can be found here, but they sum it up this way: The IGDA’s bottom line is simple: under Amazon’s current terms, Amazon has little incentive not to use a developer’s content as a weapon with which to capture marketshare from competing app stores. Based on this argument, Amazon&#8217;s strategy seems predicated on amassing a bulk of content for competition&#8217;s sake, which could devalue the very apps developers are making. For all the flack Apple gets over its App Store, Amazon&#8217;s version sounds just as bad, scuttling much of the freedom<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=techland.time.com&#038;blog=5290478&#038;post=76775&#038;subd=timenerdworld&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Gaming &amp; Culture</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://techland.time.com/category/news/gaming-culture/</primary_category_link>
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			<media:title type="html">evnarc</media:title>
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		<title>Activision Claims Guitar Hero&#8217;s Not Dead, Just Sleeping</title>
		<link>http://techland.time.com/2011/04/12/activision-claims-guitar-heros-not-dead-just-sleeping/</link>
		<comments>http://techland.time.com/2011/04/12/activision-claims-guitar-heros-not-dead-just-sleeping/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 12 Apr 2011 17:00:22 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Evan Narcisse</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Gaming & Culture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[activision]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[games]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[guitar hero]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[music]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[playstation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[xbox 360]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://techland.time.com/?p=76281</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Remember how there was much weeping, gnashing of teeth and rending of garments over the demise of Guitar Hero? Hell, there was even a great YouTube clip to the tune of Don McLean&#8217;s &#8220;American Pie&#8221;, which Twitter user @TheSchroeder says was inspired by the headline of my GH obituary (The Day the Music Died: Activision Kills &#8220;Guitar Hero&#8221; Franchise) But recent comments by Activision exec Dan Winters to GamesIndustry.biz seem to indicate that there may be more Guitar Hero games on the way: &#8220;Actually, just to clarify, we&#8217;re just putting Guitar Hero on hiatus, we&#8217;re not ending it. We&#8217;re releasing products out of the vault &#8211; we&#8217;ll continue to sustain the channel, the brand won&#8217;t go away. We&#8217;re just not making a new one for next year, that&#8217;s all.&#8221; So, if I&#8217;m reading Winters&#8217; comments correctly, the time-extend on the GH franchise amounts to a few games that they never saw fit to release when the series–and the music game market–was still viable. One must wonder what makes them think that the games will sell now. Guess we should just update Guitar Hero&#8216;s status to undead, then? Winters&#8217; statements about True Crime: Hong Kong–the other big, cancelled game that was due from Activision Blizzard–make it seem that, while they thought it was going to be good, it didn&#8217;t seem like it was going to be good enough to make heaping piles of money. The company&#8217;s focus seems to be on mega-franchises, either the ones that already exist like the Call of Duty games or ones on the way like the upcoming game from Halo creators Bungie, or the interactive toy relaunch of Spyro the Dragon. It remains to be seen what these Guitar Hero games from the vault actually are but, if Activision wants to resurrect the franchise, eventually they&#8217;re going to have to invest in new versions of the Guitar Hero model.<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=techland.time.com&#038;blog=5290478&#038;post=76281&#038;subd=timenerdworld&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Gaming &amp; Culture</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://techland.time.com/category/news/gaming-culture/</primary_category_link>
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			<media:title type="html">evnarc</media:title>
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		<title>Review: Superbrothers Sword &amp; Sworcery EP</title>
		<link>http://techland.time.com/2011/03/28/game-review-superbrothers-sword-sworcery-ep/</link>
		<comments>http://techland.time.com/2011/03/28/game-review-superbrothers-sword-sworcery-ep/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 28 Mar 2011 22:30:28 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Douglas Wolk</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Gaming & Culture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Apps & Software]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[games]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ipad]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ipad 2]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[music]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[software]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Video Games]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://techland.time.com/?p=73306</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The unexpected game success of the week is a five-dollar app called Superbrothers: Sword &#38; Sworcery EP. When it was released last Thursday for the iPad, only hardcore gaming heads had heard of it (or its Toronto-based studio, Capybara Games). Now, basically on the strength of word of mouth, it&#8217;s already hit third place on the paid iPad apps chart. It&#8217;s a brilliant piece of design, reaching both backward and forward in the history of adventure games&#8211;hyperminimal in some ways and richly realized in others, and an engrossing, immersive experience. (More on TIME.com: App Review: GarageBand for iPad) The game&#8217;s graphics and movement (and a lot of its premise) are inspired by old 8-bit games, particularly The Legend of Zelda. (The chunky graphics, in fact, allow for a nifty revelation about the protagonist, an adventurer known only as The Scythian, partway through the game.) You go on quests, recover objects, solve puzzles, fight monsters&#8211;the usual. But S:S&#38;S doesn&#8217;t take any of the conventions it riffs on for granted, and its color design and overall vibe are so elegant and thoughtfully constructed that a lot of the game&#8217;s fun is just wandering around looking at things. It&#8217;s also got a distinctive, daffy narrative voice (&#8220;We had retrieved The Megatome &#38; Logfella was 100% ready to move it move it to the safety of his lodgings&#8221;). When the narration refers to &#8220;the great wizard Al Jaffee,&#8221; it means the one you&#8217;re thinking of. S:S&#38;S is designed for the particular capacities of the iPad: multitouch, networking, its physical presence as a metal-and-glass slab. Every line of dialogue or piece of verbal information in the game is under 130 characters long, and includes the option to tweet it (if you&#8217;ve been seeing the #sworcery tag popping up over the past few days, that&#8217;s why). You play most of the game with the iPad in horizontal orientation, but you turn it for fights and for a few other effects, and the fact that the iPad knows the date becomes important midway through the game. (The third<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=techland.time.com&#038;blog=5290478&#038;post=73306&#038;subd=timenerdworld&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Gaming &amp; Culture</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://techland.time.com/category/apps-web/gaming-%c2%a0culture/</primary_category_link>
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			<media:title type="html">douglaswolk</media:title>
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		<title>&#8220;Farmville&#8221; Enters the &#8220;English Countryside&#8221; to Entice Old Players to Return</title>
		<link>http://techland.time.com/2011/03/28/farmville-enters-the-english-countryside-to-entice-old-players-to-return/</link>
		<comments>http://techland.time.com/2011/03/28/farmville-enters-the-english-countryside-to-entice-old-players-to-return/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 28 Mar 2011 19:30:44 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Michelle Castillo</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Facebook]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gaming & Culture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[farmville]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[games]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Gaming]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[zynga]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://techland.time.com/?p=73216</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[What’s better than having one farm on Farmville? Having two farms –- and subsequently no social life –- of course! Last week, Zynga slowly rolled out Farmville English Countryside, the biggest expansion to Farmville since the launch of the game. English Countryside gives players level 20 and above an additional farm to tend to. “We’re hoping to get players who used to play Farmville back into the game,” Farmville general manager Todd Arnold told Techland. “It’s really something to keep our best fans engaged. They’ve been waiting for something big.” Let&#8217;s be clear: This is not a separate entity, but an expansion of the original game. In the English Countryside, you have unique items like a sheep pen and new crops including barley and hops to work with. The game addition also integrates features used in newer Zynga games like Cityville. You’ll finally get a coherent storyline, which is something Farmville has always been missing, and in-game missions. By now, if you’re a hardcore farmer, you’ve probably zipped through the mini-goals and are on your second farm in England. However, the majority of players are still fixing their zeppelin to the U.K.  Arnold estimates it will take most players a couple of weeks before they’ll touch English soil. “We need to do that to make sure we aren’t releasing a buggy experience,” he explains. “When you have a user base daily of 14 million people playing the game, you have to roll it out in a controlled fashion.” Okay, but what’s the real reason Zynga doesn’t want to make it that easy to get to the English Countryside? It’s all part of their master plan to get old players who have abandoned their farms back on the plow. Getting to the England involves a lot of additional help from other gamers, and Zynga is hoping that if you annoy your friends who have fallen by the wayside to help you on your U.K. mission they’ll get suckered into playing the game again. In fact, it’s impossible to play the new<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=techland.time.com&#038;blog=5290478&#038;post=73216&#038;subd=timenerdworld&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>10</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Gaming &amp; Culture</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://techland.time.com/category/news/gaming-culture/</primary_category_link>
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			<media:title type="html">mishscastillo</media:title>
		</media:content>
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		<title>Want to Play a Real-Life Crush the Castle?</title>
		<link>http://techland.time.com/2011/03/23/want-to-play-a-real-life-crush-the-castle/</link>
		<comments>http://techland.time.com/2011/03/23/want-to-play-a-real-life-crush-the-castle/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 23 Mar 2011 17:30:14 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Giles Turnbull</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Gaming & Culture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[games]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://techland.time.com/?p=72317</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[If you&#8217;ve ever played a successful Flash game called Crush the Castle, you&#8217;ll know how much fun it is to hurl virtual rocks at evil royal enemies with your trusty medieval trebuchet. In fact, hurling rocks turns out to be so much fun that doing it on screen just isn&#8217;t enough. People want to hurl something real. People want targets. Those people should get themselves along to this Kickstarter project, whose makers have developed an ingenious snap-together wooden trebuchet for the desktop. No glue, no screws, and no nails are necessary. Just 10 minutes of snap-together time, then take aim, and FIRE! As always with Kickstarter, the more you pledge, the more you get in return if the project goes ahead. In this case, $30 gets you one trebuchet, but $60 gets you two and some little cut-out buildings to knock down in battle. Nerf wars? That&#8217;s so 2008.<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=techland.time.com&#038;blog=5290478&#038;post=72317&#038;subd=timenerdworld&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Gaming &amp; Culture</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://techland.time.com/category/apps-web/gaming-%c2%a0culture/</primary_category_link>
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			<media:title type="html">gilest</media:title>
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