tetris

Tilting to prevent the topple!

Topple is a fun and playfully designed stacking game that's visually reminiscent of games like Tetris. Its clever use of the iPhone and iPod Touch's motion sensor and touch screen makes it a unique and addictive app. In each level, you drag, rotate, and stack an endless series of different shapes onto a tall, teetering tower--usually trying to beat a certain time limit and height goal. You can move and manipulate the shapes with your touch screen, and as your tower grows you steady it by tilting your device left or right. Extras like an impressive musical score, … Read more

'Tetris' can wipe out your traumas

There are those who believe that computer games cause trauma rather than soothe it.

Scientists from Oxford University would like to spank that theory with a shovel, throw it to the ground, and kick it till it's unconscious.

In a piece of research that would not seem out of place on an episode of House, Oxford psychologists believe they have taken the first steps in showing that a concerted finger-waggle of your Tetris could help you forget the maniac who plowed straight into you at 60 miles an hour, the contorted features of the insane lover who just smashed … Read more

Tatomic: An iPhone game for the color blind

Color-blind players are not the main audience most developers think of when plotting their games.

They're not who Nitzan Wilnai of VGViews originally built for either when the Tetris-like games Tatomic ($4.99) and Tatomic Lite (free) first became available for iPhone and iPod Touch. Yet enough players requested a color-blind mode that Wilnai got to work.

The color-blind mode, found in the Options menu, swaps Tatomic's green-colored atoms with purple ones. In the free version, players must connect chains of same-hued atoms to clear the row, reminiscent of Tetris's iconic puzzle. The full version of Tatomic, … Read more

EA announces three Android games

Electronic Arts announced Wednesday three games for Google's Android mobile phone platform.

The publisher said that Tetris will be available immediately and that two other games, the monster hit Bejeweled and Monopoly Here & Now, will be launched in November.

EA has already released at least five games for Apple's iPhone, including Tetris, Spore Origins, and Scrabble.

The move to bring games to Android is sure to be a boost for the platform, given EA's size and influence and the fact that on the iPhone, games have become some of the most popular apps of all. However, … Read more

WiiWare and Virtual Console releases for this week

This week brings us two balance-board-compatible titles along with a duo of Turbografx 16 games.

WiiWare Tetris Party (Tetris Online Inc., 1,200 Wii points): Tetris Party puts a new spin on everyone's favorite shape-shifting puzzle game. Not only does the title introduce various new modes of play, but you can now dust off that Wii Fit balance board and use it to control Tetris pieces! The Incredible Maze (Digital Leisure Inc., 500 Wii points): Use your Wii remote to balance your way through various mazes and puzzles. Or if you prefer, use your balance board to do your … Read more

The 404 177: Where MTI is in the bathroom with a camera

Our resident peeping Tom (don't ask, you don't want to know) joins us for today's videogame heavy show. Surprisingly, I actually participate a fair amount! I think it has something to do with the Playstation Yu Foundation...Jeff flaunts a very positive review of Hamlet 2, we "ooh" and "ahh" over a very cute marriage proposal (hint, hint Mr. Bakalar), and talk way too long about our fear of those horrid little eight legged freaks.

Although there's lots of talk about videogames today, we somehow find the time to introduce yet another cryptid in the wild: a giant 50 foot mechanical spider miraculously appeared on the side of an building under construction in Liverpool yesterday. The creature is the pride of joy of this year's La Machine street festival, set to debut tomorrow to the public. Luckily for us, a few pictures leaked onto Flickr and sufficiently make us squirm like frightened little girls. Seriously though, spiders freak me out, there's something about their small furry legs running around my house that makes me want to cut off my skin. And you know what I realized? My generation's unreasonable fear of spiders is solely based on the movie Arachnaphobia. So thanks, Director Frank Marshall, for ruining my childhood.

EPISODE 177 Download today's podcast … Read more

Featured Freeware: Blocksum

A simple-looking block-building game, Blocksum differs in a few regards from other Tetris clones. First, the blocks rise from the bottom, instead of falling from the top. When they fill up the screen to the top, your game is over. Second, instead of matching colors or shapes, you are matching numbers, and a heck of a lot of them. The result is a frenetic and unique puzzle game that will appeal to those with serious Tetris and counting skills.

There aren't any instructions in the game, so you'll have to figure it out for yourself. Here's some … Read more

'Tetris'-like iPhone app to be pulled

A young software developer has decided to pull his iPhone game from Apple's App Store because it was too similar to the classic arcade game Tetris.

Noah Witherspoon, a college student in Atlanta, created a free game called Tris for Apple's handset platform. But Apple recently contacted Witherspoon to let him know that the Tetris Company, which licenses the eponymous video game, had notified it about copyright and trademark infringement claims against the app.

Witherspoon wrote on his blog that he has chosen not to take the matter to court and will pull the game on Wednesday. "… Read more

Tetris + arm wrestling = Tresling

First the movie, now the arena? This one is more real than reel because there's even an official Web site with video to promote the idea of Tresling, a sport combining arm wrestling with a board game setup and Tetris. To play, each hook, top roll, and press equates a turn of a block. Clearly, wimps need not apply, since failure to maintain your position will send your blocks tumbling all over the place. Lockjaw and grunts optional.

(Source: Crave Asia)

Get your classic Tetris on

If you're looking for a fun and retro way to kill a few minutes this weekend, The Tetris Game offers up a simple freeware version of the classic game. There's no frills here, but anybody who's got a craving for that four-block goodness will probably find this rendition instantly satisfying.

The controls are mapped to your keyboard's arrow keys. Up rotates the piece, left and right shift it in one direction or another, and down accelerates the rate of descent. Pieces come in red, green, gray, yellow, and blue. You can save your high scores or … Read more