Dunedin-based company Runaway Play has created a new mobile game that lets you dive head first into the cat cafe phenomena. The verdict? Chill, but addictive (and very, very cute). Two decades ago, the first ever cat cafe that we know of opened in Taiwan before quickly spreading in popularity throughout large parts of Japan. … Read more
Commute Week: If you’re tired of scrolling through your bleak Facebook feed or your even bleaker Twitter roll, Adam Goodall has a few ideas to distract you from the mindless grind that is your commute. Look, I know. It’s hard to play Pokémon Go on public transport. You’re sitting on your Link bus going 50 … Read more
A new game from Mountains Studio aims to tell an authentic, full-bodied love story – and it’s all on your phone. Sam Brooks reviews Florence. Video games don’t have a great track record of showing people falling in love, historically. When you think of how video games represent love, you think of Mario rescuing Peach … Read more
On Friday little known developer Supremacy released a mobile game named Mongrel Mob Defence and the media, predictably, went nuts. Sam Brooks says this kind of controversy not only allows these kinds of developers to thrive – it’s what they need to survive. Thousands of games come out every year. As each year passes, more … Read more
Runaway creative director Emma Johansson on the many benefits of diversity in gaming, the secret to making chilled-out but highly addictive mobile games, and why Animal Crossing rules. When Dunedin mobile game company Runaway went looking for an artist to join their newly-founded studio in 2010, they struggled to find anyone in New Zealand suitable … Read more
Don Rowe dips his toes back in the murky waters of the Upside Down with the Stranger Things mobile game. It’s almost inevitable these days that any somewhat successful media product will be iterated across every platform and medium like some entertainment rat king – “Popular Thing: The Movie, The Boardgame, Now a Book, graphic … Read more
Next up in Sam’s Celebrity Game Reviews, Sam Brooks plays an incredibly strange Kevin Hart game that is unfortunately aimed at families, maybe. How fortuitous to be reviewing a celebrity mobile game that is mildly relevant to the news of today. Last week, we found out that Kevin Hart cheated on his pregnant wife, and … Read more
Next up in Sam’s Celebrity Game Reviews is Nicki Minaj: The Empire, in which you play a character who becomes fast friends with Nicki Minaj and ends up performing as her opening act. “HEY Y’ALL IT’S NICKI MINAJ!” The unmistakable un-dulcet tones of Nicki Minaj greeted me and the rest of The Spinoff offices when I … Read more
In the second instalment of Sam’s Celebrity Game Reviews, Sam takes a spin on a five year old game fronted by a somewhat successful and famous-within-a-specific-niche sportsman. Previously on Sam’s Celebrity Game Reviews: Demi Lovato – Path to Fame I’m going to be honest with you, when I was scrambling through lists of celebrity mobile … Read more
Those Russians know a thing or two, mainly how to stress the shit out of people. Hence Tetris, the most addictive block game known to man. Here a bevy of Spinoff writers each play a single round (enforced), compare scores and eventually crown a winner. Previously: The first ever Spinoff Internal Office Gaming Tournament – Snake … Read more
Adam Goodall has cast off all his familial attachments in favour of a new tribe of loved ones, the Fire Emblem Heroes – a game so addictive he’s calling for the mobile game of the year award to be conferred early. It’s been a couple of weeks since I last called my parents. Truth be … Read more
It is primal. It is the true modern ouroboros. It is Snake, the twisty-turny frenzied reflection of ourselves. In Snake (as in life) the obstacle to overcome is ourselves. Here a bevy of Spinoff writers each play a single round (enforced), compare scores and eventually crown a winner. Mr Duncan Greive My first phone was … Read more
We’ve made the world a cornucopia of distractions and fidgety little things to keep us from achieving our potential as sentient beings. It turns out that the makers of all these doodads are, as expected, pure evil because they love hiding away secret games in software. It’s a double down on mindless game and here … Read more
After two and a half years of part-time development, Auckland indie dev Steven Wu has released his first game, Ink Wars, on the app store. Don Rowe speaks to Wu, by day a project manager at Spark, about the challenges and triumphs of building a mobile game while holding down a job, and why Kiwi devs … Read more
According to Matthew Codd the creative enterprise that best captures the pain of schoolyard love is a free phone game from the Philippines. Matthew explores the angst and talks to the game’s teenage developer. A few weeks ago, while falling down a rabbit hole of “similar apps” links on Google Play, I stumbled upon a game … Read more
Nintendo continue their aggressive expansion into the ‘stuff we used to play’ market, announcing a tiny version of the iconic NES. Nintendo, not satisfied with taking over the world via their insanely popular Poke-app, have seen fit to release the ultimate piece of plastic nostalgia. The Nintendo Classic Mini: NES will be a replica of … Read more
The King of the Cosmos intends to build a planet. Joseph Harper answers his call and discovers and terrifying yet thrilling cosmic techno nightmare. Finally the pure, unfiltered joy and weirdness of the Katamari franchise has returned to my iPhone. It’s the first Katamari game since the 2012 PS Vita game, Touch My Katamari (which I … Read more
Many of us find ourselves reaching the heights of endorphin released excitement while playing our favourite video games. However, for a small portion of the population tapping away at their screen provides no joy, only resentment and self-loathing. Bronwyn Bent is one of these players. This is her story. I am a anthropomorphised pea pod, … Read more
As mobile gaming becomes the dominant force in the entertainment industry, one company’s aggressive endorsement campaign has established them as king of the hill. But they are in increasingly strange ethical territory, writes Don Rowe. What do Kate Upton, Mariah Carey and Arnold Schwarzenegger all have in common? Successful entertainment careers aside, the answer is seven-figure … Read more
In a mad bout of ‘digital Zen lunacy’, Joseph Harper has accumulated over 13,000 strokes in Desert Golf. He’s spent less time on the slopes of Skiing Yeti Mountain, but both come highly recommended. The 2K16 working year is well underway and so therefore are my long ass trips to the toilet to play games … Read more