Sony PlayStation 4 launched in India for Rs 39,990, will be available from January 6

 the Japanese company officially launched the console in India at an event in New Delhi. The gaming console carries a price tag of Rs 39,990 and will be available across the country from January 6 onwards.

Talking of hardware, the PS4 is powered by an eight-core AMD Jaguar/Kabini x86-64 CPU supplemented by a Radeon 7870-derived GPU and 8GB of RAM. Other features include 500GB of hard drive space and connectivity options like Wi-Fi, HDMI out, Aux, Gigabit Ethernet socket, an S/PDIF optical audio out, and two USB connectors.

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Sony PlayStation 4 to launch in India on December 18

The next-generation in gaming is finally arriving in India. Moments ago Sony sent us a media invite to the launch event next week on December 18 in New Delhi.

Since its launch in the US last month, Sony’s gaming console has been creating quite a buzz on the Internet. The console couldn’t have asked for a better start, with the company selling a million units on day one and two million in under two weeks. Microsoft’s Xbox One too is doing well, but not quite on the same level as the PS4.

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GTA San Andreas launched for iOS devices

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, one of the highest selling games in Rockstar’s GTA franchise, has made its debut on the iOS platform. You can head over to the App Store to download the game for Rs 390. Rockstar has also added support for iOS gaming controllers and cloud service to play the game across multiple iOS devices.

For those who need a reminder, San Andreas is the third game in the GTA franchise and was launched on the PlayStation 2 in 2004, followed by a launch on the Xbox 360 and PC in 2005. It follows the story of Carl Johnson who returns home to Los Santos in San Andreas to find that his mother has been murdered and his family has fallen apart and heading towards disaster.

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Nokia and Gameloft offer free games for four weeks to Asha phone users to spread Christmas cheer

This Christmas, Nokia and Gameloft have come together to treat Asha phone users with free games every week for the next four weeks. Nokia says that these games will be 100 percent free, which means that there won’t be any in-app purchasing or special unlocks for users to make any kind of payments later.

The companies have started this Christmas special offer with ‘Modern Combat 4: Zero Hour’ game, which is available for free to download for a week starting from today. The game is 0.56MB in size and can be downloaded from here.

Nokia says that all the four games it will offer during these weeks will run on most of its Asha devices. The company will update the next game on December 16.

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Rovio’s Angry Birds are seeking a nest in India

Everyone has played Angry Birds or knows about the game. I realized this yesterday when I told my mother I was meeting the guys from Angry Birds and she knew about it, despite never having played the game herself. I believe it when Rovio’s senior vice president for Asia, Henri Holm tells me that Angry Birds is the true “four quadrant” brand. “Boys and girls, men and women, all over, enjoy the Angry Birds gameplay or know about it,” he says.

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Angry Birds’ version of ‘Mario Kart’ to arrive on iOS and Android on December 11

Rovio has announced the next big game in its Angry Birds franchise called Angry Birds Go. Think of Mario Kart, but with the characters replaced by the famous birds and pigs and we have Angry Birds Go. The Finnish developer has released a gameplay trailer to give a glimpse at what we can expect come December 11.

Angry Birds Go is essentially a high-octane downhill racer featuring various tracks, upgradable karts and character-specific unique powers. And like the recently launched Angry Birds Star Wars II, the game will also support Hasbro’s Telepods, so that you can scan physical toys to bring them on to the virtual race track. From the short trailer, the graphics look neat and the gameplay fun, though we will reserve our judgments till December 11, when it will be available for free on iOS and Android.

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Logitech gamepad for the iPhone leaked

One of the underscored features of iOS 7 is support for external game controllers. When the OS was unveiled in June, we saw leaks about a prototype Logitech game controller for iOS devices and now @evleaks has leaked a full press render of a gamepad for the iPhone.

The gamepad looks like a case that envelops around the iPhone and adds a physical D-pad, four control buttons and shoulder buttons. This is clearly for people who detest on-screen game controls. Such a product was not possible for the iPhone before iOS 7 was released.

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Grand Theft Auto V: Review

There are good games, there are great games and then there is Grand Theft Auto. For more than a decade, Rockstar’s action-adventure has set a high standard for open world games and then raised them with each new iteration. With GTA V, all those benchmarks have been obliterated and the game has been pushed to unimaginable heights. I got to spend a considerable time playing and exploring every possible aspect of the game and here are my two cents on it.

GTA V is based in San Andreas and you spend most of the time in and around the city of Los Santos. With a map that is more than twice the size of Liberty City in GTA IV, there is a lot to do besides the usual driving around shooting people. San Andreas is a living and breathing world with people going about living their lives without bothering about what you do. You can see girls in bikinis walking their dogs at Vespucci beach, a couple of drunken rednecks fighting outside a bar or gangbangers doing a drive-by at Grove Street. If you were to stand and stare at your surroundings, you could see so much going on around you. This gives you an immense sense of freedom as you go about exploring a world where anything can happen.

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Now play Temple Run 2 as Usain Bolt

Temple Run redefined the continuous running genre of games and is one of the most recognized mobile games available today. To escape the horde of monkeys or the giant ape in Temple Run 2, the game lets you choose different avatars. But wouldn’t you feel safer if that avatar was the fastest man on earth? Today, Temple Run 2 for iOS has been updated and you can buy the character of Usain Bolt.

Usain Bolt is available on the in-game store and can be bought for Rs 55. The character looks quite the mirror image of Bolt and wears his famous yellow running gear. The developers have also promised some unique power-ups specifically designed for Bolt, but we have yet to test them. There’s also a clock ticking on the store, which says that the character is only available for a limited time, so we would suggest you hurry.

You can update the Temple Run 2 on your iPhones or iPads or head over to the App Store to download the game.

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Prince of Persia: The Shadow and the Flame launched on Android and iOS devices

Broderbund’s 1993 Prince of Persia 2 game is back in a new avatar. Twenty years on the game is called Prince of Persia: The Shadow and the Flame and is available on Android and iOS smartphones.

The gaming part remains the same wherein gamers run, fight and solve puzzles in the quest to rescue the princess. The game though looks very different with 14 beautifully crafted levels spanning across five different environments. The controls have been optimized for touch displays and the game also promises a new combat system.

Prince of Persia: The Shadow and the Flame is available on the Play Store and the App Store for $2.99 (Rs 199.99).

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Chennai Express game launched for Android and Java phones for free

Sharukh Khan’s forthcoming movie—Chennai Express has come to your mobile handsets in the form of a game. Disney UTV’s digital arm has launched this movie-based game titled Chennai Express: Escape from Rameshwaram for Android and Java devices.

This game belongs to the running genre, joining the likes of Temple Run and Subway Surfer among others. Users take control of Rahul (SRK in Chennai Express) where he runs to try and escape Rameshwaram. On the way he has to fight goons and dodge a variety of obstacles ranging from trucks, buses, autos, coconut carts and much more. One can also unlock Deepika Padukone’s avatar by collecting more than 10,000 coins in one game session.

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Updated Play Store now comes with Google Play Games and Textbook options

Alongside the announcement of the new Nexus 7 and Android 4.3 Jelly Bean, Google also released an all new gaming center called Google Play Games. This is based on the Play Games API and services that the company had unveiled at I/O this year. Besides this, Google also added a Textbook segment for students in its Play Books.

In terms of value additions, the Play Game app comes with listings for both games and friends in a single screen. The gaming hub will let users add friends from their Google plus circles. Moreover, one can also keep a track of a friend’s scores, achievements and other such features.

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Nvidia Shield to start shipping on July 31

Nvidia has announced that it will start shipping its gaming handheld Shield from July 31 onwards. Previously, the company had to delay the launch of the handheld gaming device because of a mechanical issue with some third party component that came up during the final quality assurance process last month. 

For those who don’t know the Shield was announced back at CES and was the first official product to be powered by the Nvidia Tegra 4 processor. It also has 2GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage and a 5-inch IPS display that is attached to a quasi gamepad that looks quite similar to the Xbox 360 controller.

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Rovio Account now globally available for Android and iOS, keeps your Angry Birds synced across devices

After a couple of months of introducing the Accounts feature, Rovio, the maker of Angry Birds, is finally rolling out the cloud-based feature on iOS and Android devices globally. This will allow players to sync the game across devices and resume playing the game from the same level played last from any other device by logging into their account. Moreover, this will allow multiple users to play a particular game on the same device by using separate accounts.

While the feature was earlier available on The Croods, it will now be available on the original Angry Birds game worldwide as well. The company has also revealed it will soon bring this feature to other Angry Birds and non Angry Birds titles under their banner.

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Halo Spartan Assault released for Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8 for $6.99

Halo is the definitive first person shooter franchise for Microsoft’s ecosystem and it was bewildering that till date it did not launch a Halo game for Windows Phone 8. Fret not, because Vanguard Games and 343 Industries have now debuted Halo Spartan Assault exclusively for Windows Phone 8, Windows 8 and Windows RT devices. On Windows Phone 8, the game is currently only available for Verizon customers in the US, but it will be launching for the rest of the world on August 16.

As with most graphically intensive games, it will not be able to run on low-end Windows Phone 8 smartphones that have 512MB of RAM. This means your Nokia Lumia 520, Lumia 620 and Lumia 720 will not be able to run this game.

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Rovio and 5 Ants launch the Tiny Thief game for Android and iOS

Angry Birds fame Rovio, in association with 5 Ants has released a new adventure puzzle game named Tiny Thief for Android and iOS devices. The game is a part of the Rovio Star Collection which was Rovio’s new dimension to publish third-party mobile games.

The puzzle game is about a tiny thief looking for precious things and treasures, and escaping others who try to catch this thief. The game features a lot of surprise elements considering that the thief has to dodge others for saving a princess and kingdom in peril. The background of the game reminds us of games with medieval backgrounds and simple animations.

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Apple offers popular games and apps for free on the App Store’s fifth anniversary

As the App Store completes five years this week, Apple is reportedly getting ready to celebrate in a big way. On the eve of the anniversary, The Verge reports that some very popular iPhone and iPad games and apps are being offered at no cost on the App Store.

Games like Infinity Blade II, Where’s My Water?, Badland and Tiny Wings, which have never been offered free before are now available at absolutely no cost.

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HP aims to get back into the smartphone game

Hewlett-Packard plans to jump back into the smartphone business.

Yam Su Yin, HP's senior director for consumer PC and media tablets for Asia Pacific, told the Press Trust of India that the company will focus on all segments of the market, including tablets, notebooks, and all-in-one PCs, the Indian Express reported Sunday.

Asked specifically about a smartphone, Yin said: "The answer is yes, but I cannot give a timetable. It would be silly if we say no. HP has to be in the game."

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Google said to be creating game console and smartwatch

Google appears to be boosting both its wearable tech and its gaming status. According to The Wall Street Journal, the tech giant is working on developing both a video game console and a smartwatch that could run on Android.

Last year, Google unveiled a Web-connected media-playing console, dubbed the Nexus Q, but it never sold it to the public. The spherical device featured glowing LEDs that responded to music. The Q also streamed content directly from Google Play Music, Google Play TV & Movies, and YouTube, using an Android phone or tablet as the controller. However, a couple of months after Google announced the Q, the company said it was delaying its commercial release to "work on making it even better."

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Rovio announces Angry Birds trilogy for Nintendo Wii and Wii U, launching on August 13

Rovio has announced that the Angry Birds trilogy will be hitting Nintendo’s Wii U and Wii consoles on August 13. Essentially, the trilogy package combines the first three Angry Birds games – Angry Birds, Angry Birds Seasons and Angry Birds: Rio in one package. The trilogy package has already been available for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and the Nintendo 3DS and has sold over a million copies.

This may not sound like a big deal considering how old the games are and are already available on competing platforms, but this is a big deal for Nintendo whose Wii console is nearing the end of its lifecycle, and its Wii U is struggling in the face of stiff competition from the current generation PS3 and Xbox 360 consoles and has been deemed inferior by both developers and media when compared to the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

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