Mike Fahey

What Facebook is Playing This Week: Less Bubble Safari, That’s for Sure

Last week Zynga’s Bubble Safari was in fourth place in the app leaderboards with 4.9 million daily active users. This week it’s in the eighth place with only 3.6 million. Has the world finally realized that monkeys are giant jerks? Perhaps they’re all moving on to FarmVille 2, which is up by 600,000 this week.…

Skylanders Giants: The Kotaku Review

Thanks to the new Skylanders Giants‘ Lightcore technology, which makes certain toys in the action figure-powered sequel blossom scintillating colored lights, my two 16-month-old children have discovered how to push in my brilliant reverse baby gate to get to the delicious plastic figures lurking behind it. Thanks for that, Activision. Now about your new game……

There’s Just Too Much Beauty in The Week in Gaming Apps

Sometimes there’s so much beauty in Google Play, iTunes and the Windows Phone Marketplace I feel I can’t take it; like my heart’s going to cave in. That’s my completely original explanation for why I did three of our Gaming App of the Day entries this week. I might have done five, but Ashcraft loves…

These Former Big-Budget Shooter Devs are Overjoyed to Bring You the $.99 Twist Pilot

Steve Ellis is responsible for the beloved multiplayer aspect of Rare’s classic Nintendo 64 shooter Goldeneye 007, and was a founder of Free Radical Design, the studio behind the TimeSplitters franchise. Martin Wakeley was a designer and producer at Rare, creating beloved titles like Blast Corps and Jet Force Gemini before joining Ellis at Free…

EA: Social Games Aren’t Dying, But Consumers ‘Won’t Pay for Crap’

With player numbers dropping and the recent revelation that 85 percent stop playing after the first day, a shadow hangs over the once ridiculously profitable social gaming scene. Speaking today at App Conference in San Jose, Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello said that the decline of social gaming is overplayed; it’s not dying, it’s evolving.…

What’s Better Than Old School Tank Combat? Old School Tank Combat in Space.

Don’t let the over-the-top and quite frankly incredibly misleading launch trailer put you off Nexon’s new free-to-play online iOS game. Space Tanks is the Atari 2600 classic Combat from the future. It’s the little things. Six players gathering online in a top-down tank battle. Toss in a few power-ups, add some enhancement towers, allow players…

Square Enix Finds Redemption for Demons’ Score with Symphonica

I was terribly disappointed with the way Square Enix priced iNiS’s rhythm game, Demons’ Score. So disappointed that when I heard the company had released another iNiS rhythm game on iOS I almost didn’t bother. Between the free initial download and the stirring sounds of Dvorak’s New World Symphony my tenuous convictions crumbled, and I…

This Week’s iPad Charts: Of Course Free is the Right Price

This is Mike Fahey with Kotaku, reminding you to keep your pets spayed and neutered, in honor of a The Price is Right game topping this week’s free iPad charts. You should probably just pick one—spay or neuter, not both. I’m not a vet or anything, mind you. I’m just a big Bob Barker fan.…

Tetris in Reverse Looks and Sounds Positively Dreamy

Coming November 15 to iOS, Dream of Pixels looks like a beautiful watercolor Tetris clone. Look closer and everything starts falling apart quite wonderfully. Sighted this morning via the newly-launched Slide DB (it’s working, guys!), Dream of Pixels is all about unpacking lines of neatly-stacked tetromino blocks, tapping on shapes to send them falling off…

Maingear F131 Gaming PC: The Kotaku Review

When boutique PC maker Maingear contacted me about sending out a loaner F131 system for review, I had no idea that I would soon be face-to-face with the most attractive machine ever to grace my computer desk. Of course beauty is in the eye of the beholder—not everyone is as big a fan of the…

This Ballin’ New Free iPhone Game is Not for Squares

There is no greater scourge to our universe than blatant shapism. The people of the Square Planet have subjugated the Ball People, crushing their spirit beneath their sharply-angled boots, but they didn’t count on the heroic Round Ball and his unique ability to roll with the punches. I could do this all day. Unleashed on…

Walking Dead: Episode Three – Long Road Ahead is now available on the iPad. Play it, and then resume waiting

Mystery Manor Blitzes Its Way to the iPad

Every day more and more social games are dipping their toes into the mobile market, perhaps hunting for firm footing in the face of Facebook’s big mobile push. Now one of the social networks most beloved hidden object tiles takes the iPad plunge with Mystery Manor Blitz Mystery Manor is one of those relaxing object…

Chapter Nine Brings the Prince of Power to Avengers Alliance

Marvel’s mighty Facebook game just got a fair bit mightier with the launch of Chapter Nine, the challenge of Excelsior Mode, and the one and only (give or take a couple dozen) son of Zeus—the incredible Herc. You can call him Hercules. One of Marvel’s more down-to-Earth demigods is now available to join the ranks…

The Power to Shape Entire Planets, Now Only $.99

It used to be if a guy wanted the ability the mold an entire celestial sphere to suit his fancy he’d need to make a pact with some sort of all-powerful otherworldly being. Today all one must do is drop $.99 on Topia World Builder More of a toy than a proper game, Crescent Moon…

An Extremely Clever Way to Revisit a Ten-Year-Old Adventure Classic

Runaway: A Road Adventure is a classic point-and-click adventure game from 2001, one of the most beloved games in the genre. For its (slightly late) tenth anniversary, developer Pendulo Studios delivers a retelling of the tale through the eyes of its love-struck heroes, years after the flames of passion have died. In Hidden Runaway, available…

This Week’s Windows Phone Charts: Gold Coins and the Flow Free Conspiracy

Bring the mobile game ranking charts back to Kotaku this week has taught me a lot about the various mobile platforms. The iPhone and Android players have similar tastes. Windows Phone players can’t get many of the games from those other platforms, so they go insane. Oh, and everybody loves Flow Free exactly the same…

Cobra’s Elite Makes the Miniature Red Leather Jacket Look Good

They are an elite fighting force led by a pair of twins that feel each other’s pain. They are the Imperial Guards of Cobra. They wear red leather, not caring that the 80’s were three decades ago. They are the Crimson Guard, the latest in the sixth scale line of G.I. Joe figures, and they…

The iOS Revival of M.U.L.E. is Coming Along Nicely

Remember earlier this year when we told you the small indie team at Comma 8 Studios was bring a reskinned version of the classic turn-based strategy game M.U.L.E. to iOS this summer? This summer looks to be ending in November, and from what I’m seeing here it’s worth the extra time. Keep track of the…

Friends? An Outernaut Needs No Friends. Not Anymore.

Players expecting something more than standard Facebook fare from the developer of Ratchet & Clank’s first foray into the social gaming world were somewhat disappointed by Outernauts‘ strong reliance on things like asking friends for help or waiting for energy to refill. Yesterday’s major game update should make those players a bit happier, with faster…