E3 2014 is now history, but some people have wondered why Microsoft only showed their upcoming Xbox One games at the annual video game trade show, and ignored upcoming titles on the Windows PC and Windows Phone platforms.

Microsoft's Xbox head Phil Spencer attempted to answer that question during the show. He explained that E3 2014 is mainly a retail event for showcasing upcoming console games and that the company felt it was not the right venue for promoting upcoming Windows game titles.

Having said that, Spencer added that "Windows and gaming on Windows is critical to Microsoft's success". He pointed out that some PC-based games such as the fantasy online multiplayer title League of Legends "dwarf a lot of what we're doing in this console space in terms of users and monetization.."

Indeed, Spencer hinted that Microsoft might use a big PC pro gaming tournament as a venue to make some Windows gaming announcements. He stated, "Well they do these huge world championship events and they fill up arenas. I do think there could be a space there."

What do you think about Spencer's comments about Windows gaming and do you think Microsoft is really committed to that platform as he claims or is it just lip service?

Source: Polygon

Payday 2, one of the best co-op first person shooter games of 2013, will be making its way to Microsoft's Xbox One console at some point, although a release date has not been announced.

The Xbox One version will be called Payday 2: Crimewave Edition and will also be released for the PlayStation 4. Co-developed by Starbreeze and Overkill Games, the Crimewave Edition will include new features and additional content compared to the older PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 versions, but details were not revealed.

Payday 2, a sequel to 2011's Payday: The Heist, features players teaming up to perform a number of crimes, including bank robberies, as they try to fight off the cops. Payday 2 sold 1.53 million copies a month after it was released in August 2013, with publisher 505 Games claiming 80 percent of those sales came from digital downloads.

This week at E3 2014, 505 Games announced that players of the Xbox 360 version will soon be able to get some of the post-release DLC content that the PC players have been able to access since August.

Source: Starbreeze Studios

Next week, the Xbox One will be getting a beautiful and brutal new game at retail: EA Sports UFC, which we learned much about during EA's E3 press conference. The week after that, we'll be seeing a release that's even more exciting for this child of the eighties – Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark for Xbox One, Xbox 360, PC, and Sony and Nintendo consoles.

A game that crosses over the cool Cybertronian Transformers from the Fall of Cybertron game series with the Transformers movie universe would be exciting enough on its own. But today publisher Activision and developer Edge of Reality (makers of the great Incredible Hulk game in 2008) have sweetened the deal by revealing new preorder bonuses from GameStop and Amazon. We're talking about free characters, posters, and a digital comic. Read on for full game and preorder bonus details.

A crossing between worlds

As mentioned above, Rise of the Dark Spark continues the story continuity established in Transformers: War for Cybertron and Fall of Cybertron on Xbox 360 and other platforms. Those games are surprisingly good, especially the first one with its campaign co-op. The new game comes from a different developer. Hopefully Edge of Reality will turn out a product of similar quality despite a production schedule that was likely rushed to coincide with the new movie's impending release.

A powerful artifact called the Dark Spark has emerged, the opposite of the Autobots' Matrix of Leadership. The Dark Spark creates a bridge between realities, bringing together the game universe with that of the films. This should create some exciting situations for Transformers fans, with both the robotic world of Cybertron and Earth appearing in the same game for the first time. I'm certainly pumped to see the Combaticons (who take military-themed vehicle forms) and their combined form Bruticus appearing in the game.

Rise of the Dark Spark is a third-person shooter. Not only does the game offer more than 40 playable Transformers, but gamers can change between their robot and vehicle forms at will. Changing to a car will let you move through environments at a rapid pace, while flying vehicles provide much greater freedom of movement. The transformation mechanic and generally sharp shooting controls give the Transformers game series a solid and unique feel.

Multiplayer Escalation and progression

Although Rise of the Dark Spark sadly does not include campaign co-op, it does bring back the series' popular Escalation mode. Escalation is basically a cooperative horde or survival mode in which up to four online players must stand against increasingly deadly waves of enemies. New to Escalation are upgradable defense structures (not unlike those from Gears of War 3's awesome Horde mode) and Power Foes (bosses) that will shake things up considerably.

The game also brings a new-and-improved progression system. Experience earned in single-player and Escalation applies to the player's overall profile, just like in Modern Combat 5. That experience will unlock new characters, weapons, items, and abilities for use in both modes. That way, you're not missing out on anything should you stick to your preferred mode.

Preorder bonuses

Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark launches on Tuesday, June 24 – right before the fourth Michael Bay movie's release on the 27th. Preorder it from GameStop and you'll get:

• A FREE exclusive panoramic poster (limited quantity, while supplies last; in stores only)
• Two free e-Movie Cash Tickets (up to a $20 value at participating theaters nationwide) for TRANSFORMERS: AGE OF EXTINCTION, in theaters June 27 (while supplies last; code on receipt expires 7/31/14.)
• "Weathered Warrior Pack" DLC – containing two new Cybertronian jet characters (THUNDERCRACKER and SKYWARP) for use in Escalation mode and two new weapons (the Electro Bolter and Glass Gas Cannon) for use in Campaign and Escalation modes.

Preorder from Amazon to receive one FREE TRANSFORMERS digital comic book from IDW Publishing. Customers can choose from one of five selected comics and will be given it when the product ships.

Buy from Walmart and you'll get a DLC code for Stinger, a character who is a red car in the new movie and game instead of a green helicopter like in the original cartoons.

Although the GameStop bonuses are easily the best deal, feel free to help us out by preordering from our Amazon affiliate links instead.

• Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark – Xbox One – $59.99 – Amazon Link
• Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark – Xbox 360 – $49.99 – Amazon Link

Last month we named a little twin-stick shooter called JoyJoy as one of May's best new Windows Phone games. Now it's time to follow up with a full review!

JoyJoy comes from Radiangames, maker of the similarly fantastic Bombcats Special Edition. Radian originally published this one as an Xbox Live Indie Game on the Xbox 360 way back in 2010. Now a whole new audience can experience JoyJoy's simple shoot 'em up bliss along with an array of improvements and tweaks for mobile play. Fans of the genre won't want to miss it.

Wave mode

JoyJoy is an arena-based twin-stick shooter, not unlike console favorite Geometry Wars. This one consists of two game modes: Waves and Challenges. Waves is basically the campaign (though there is no story at all), consisting of 24 levels to blast through.

In both game modes, players can choose between five difficulties to start with. Beat Waves and you'll unlock two seriously tough bonus difficulties: Lightning and Armored. I find that the easiest difficulty "Relaxed" is the most appropriate for mobile play. You might still die every now and then, but the game never requires more precision than the controls can deliver. Challenge fiends will want to stick with Normal or above, though.

The game takes place within a colorful rectangular arena, with enemies spawning throughout the enclosure. Your goal is always the same – to blast everything that moves. Kill all of the enemies in a wave and the game will congratulate you with some positive message like "Spectacular!" or "Impressive" and then it's on to the next wave.

Every four waves you'll encounter a special wave. If it's a Swarm wave, an extra-large mass of enemies will spawn and try to overwhelm your ship. Boss waves on the other hand feature a single gigantic boss, possibly aided by a few smaller fighters. The background music doesn't change for special waves, undercutting their intensity a bit, but they're still a lot of fun.

Dying isn't the end of the world in JoyJoy. You get several lives to start with, and they refill when you reach a new wave. Certain items will increase the life limit too. If you do run out of ships, you can choose to continue on the same wave during that session. Come back later and you can start on any post-special wave level that you've reached before.

Challenges

Challenge mode consists of a series of timed challenges, each lasting four minutes or until the player runs out of lives. Initially only two challenges are available: Swarmer Light and Shooter Light. Complete Waves mode and you'll unlock the remaining four challenges, including Variety Hour and Boss Rush. The latter alternates between Swarm waves and the game's three bosses. Can you kill them all before time runs out?

The main Challenges screen shows the number of attempts and how long the player survived in each of the challenges. I did run into a bug in which my times all showed up as zero, right after completing Boss Rush mode. The game even forgot which levels I had unlocked the next time I booted it up. Huge drag, but hopefully Radiangames will fix both problems in a future update.

Game mechanics and controls

It's hard to imagine a mobile game with better twin-stick controls than this one. Just put your fingers within the well-placed white circles and aim away; the left side controls movement while the right side directs the ship's fire. Let go of the virtual stick on the right and the ship will autofire on its own. But you'll scarcely want to go hands-off since the ship's movement and firing are extremely responsive.

In fact, JoyJoy really puts the Windows Phone version of Halo: Spartan Assault to shame. One guy working on his own churned out way more responsive controls than an entire team of developers – who'd have thought?

Next to the right stick is a button for switching weapons. JoyJoy gives players six weapons to choose from, although in my experience you're better off sticking with the homing shot (which fires little sperm-looking bullets) and spread shot. Thinner weapons will just get your swarmed. I wish we could toggle specifically between our favorite weapons instead of cycling through all six choices, but at least the game shows the lineup and currently selected gun at the top of the screen.

Ultra and power-ups

Downed enemies drop little stars. These aren't just sparkly things to collect; they charge up the ship's Ultra weapon. The Ultra is a new addition to the phone game, replacing a charged shot mechanic from the console version. By holding the button located next to the left stick, your ship will stay in place and fire a powerful stream of fire until the Ultra meter depletes. Not necessary during normal waves since it takes away your mobility, but it certainly helps a bunch against bosses.

A variety of power-ups spawn intermittently throughout both game modes. Some of their effects include, boosts for specific weapons, extra lives, and speed boosts. My favorite power-up is the Vortex item. Grab it and a vortex will spawn in its place, sucking all regular enemies into one convenient location.

Options and features

JoyJoy includes a few cool options to tailor the game to your phone and play style, including stick sensitivity adjustments and flipped controls. You can also reposition the virtual sticks and buttons anywhere on-screen that you like, although the default positions are perfect on my Nokia Lumia 1520.

For phones that aren't quite as beefy as the Lumia 1520, the game even offers a few graphical settings. Turn down the textures and particles if they cause your phone to chug. As for the 1520, it runs everything maxed at a silky smooth 60 frames per second.

The game includes some non-Xbox Achievements, but their implementation is worse than you'd expect. Instead of popping up when you earn them mid-game, they just show up on the Achievements menu. It's really just a stats screen, with records of how many enemies, items, and stages you've gone through. Not a bad feature, but the excitement of seeing an Achievement pop isn't there.

One big missing feature is leaderboards. The store falsely claims that the game has them, but there isn't even a local high score board, much less an online one. You can see your highest score for individual waves and challenges, but that's not a leaderboard.

Games like this benefit greatly from online leaderboards since they encourage competition with other players. I don't think leaderboards are all that hard to implement, especially with middleware solutions like Scoreloop available to developers. Perhaps in a future update…

Overall Impression

Despite a few bugs and the absence of leaderboards, Scoreloop is one of the best twin-stick shooters to grace Windows Phone. The visuals are clean and colorful (with lots of great particle effects), and together with the peppy music they work perfectly with the game's joyful vibe. The controls are great and the game is super fun to play over all.

Although Radiangames does not offer a trial version, JoyJoy is a really safe purchase for twin-stick shooter fans. I really hope the developer brings this to Xbox One as well, especially since indie games are far more visible on the One than they were on the 360. But for now, it's a blast to play on the go.

• JoyJoy – Windows Phone 8 – 45 MB – $1.99 – Store Link

Ballance Resurrection is a fun, challenging, wonderfully drawn-up puzzle game for Windows Phone 8. The game is a Marble Madness styled game where you have to navigate a ball through a series of platforms, rails, and other obstacles.

The gaming platform is set high in the clouds and one wrong move will send your ball plummeting to its demise. Ballance Resurrection is a multi-level puzzle game with a bit of an arcade feel about it. The game requires a gentle touch, steady hand and a good bit of patience. In playing Ballance Resurrection for a short time, it comes across as an entertaining option for your Windows Phone.

Ballance Resurrection Layout

The layout for Ballance Resurrection is simple with the main menu offering options to jump into game play, access the settings menu and exit the game. You also have links to the developer's website and Facebook page that rests in the lower left corner of the main menu.

Game settings cover language choice, music on/off, graphic level, and control options. Ballance Resurrection offers two control options. You can use your Windows Phone motion sensors or touch controls. The motion controls offer you a better 'feel' for the game but you may not like twisting/turning your Windows Phone all over the place.

Game play is scattered across twelve levels. While that may sound like a small number of levels, each level has multiple stages and are not short lived.

While game play is somewhat straightforward, Ballance Resurrection lacks a help section. You do have a graphic that does appear as the game loads but a reference section on what each of the ball types are or what the glowing dots represent could come in handy.

Game Play

Ballance Resurrection's gaming screen is filled with the twist and turns of the maze you are tasked to negotiate. In the upper left corner of the game screen is a menu button that essentially serves as a pause button. Across the bottom of the screen are two displays for the number of orbs you collect and your number of lives (you have five).

Ball movement is done by either using the Windows Phone motion sensors or an on-screen directional pad. Additionally, you have two orientation arrows sitting in the lower left side of the screen that will rotate your view. The goal is to guide your ball through the maze to the finish line. If your ball falls off the maze, you lose a life.

Each level has stages or checkpoints and when you lose a life, you will be sent back to the last checkpoint you have passed through.

The game has three ball styles (wood, stone and paper) with each having unique characteristics. You will run across changing platforms that will convert your ball from one style to the other. This adds an element of strategy to the game in that you'll run across situations where one style of ball is better suited than the other. For example, if you need to break through a barricade the stone ball comes in handy. Just keep in mind that you will need to change back to a lighter ball to go up inclines.

Along your journey, several glowing orbs are scattered throughout the maze. As you collect these orbs, you will earn points that go towards your final grade on the level. Without a help section, I'm not certain if these orbs do anything else.

While it takes a steady hand and patience to complete a level, luckily there is no time limit. You can take your time navigating through all the ramps, rails, twists and turns of the level.

Overall Impression

The more I played Ballance Resurrection the more I enjoyed it. However, the game can be a little on the frustrating side. I would like to say the game starts out slow to allow you time to get used to game play but that isn't the case with Ballance Resurrection. The first level is plenty challenging and the complexity of the puzzles only increases as you advance through the twelve levels of play.

And I don't necessarily think this is a bad thing but will require a little patience on the players end. I can see some getting frustrated with Ballance Resurrection right out of the gate and putting the game aside. While it may take a few tries to get the feel for the game's controls, just keep in mind that you control the pace of the game. I will have to admit that it's easy to get in a rush and try to race your ball through the mazes but that usually ends one way, your ball taking a nose dive.

Graphic are really nice, the physic engine is spot on and the mazes are complex and challenging. My only nit with the game is the lack of a help section to help explain some of the unknowns. Otherwise, Ballance Resurrection is a fun (sometimes nerve racking) game for Windows Phone 8. The music may put you to sleep but game play will keep you on your toes.

• Ballance Resurrection - Windows Phone 8 - Free - Store Link

Guess That is a collection of three trivia games that calls upon you to identify flags from various countries, corporate logos and celebrities. The Windows Phone 8 game has 21 level packets that total 420 trivia levels of play.

The game has a nice, clean layout with plenty of challenging trivia levels. A slight spacing issue is present with the game screen but nothing ruins the gaming experience. After playing Guess That for a few days, it comes across as a nice collection of trivia images that will test your knowledge and is a fun way to pass the time.

Game Layout

Guess That's layout is straightforward with options to play one of the three trivia games and at the bottom of the screen links to view the 'How to Play' screen, view your stats and standings, view the online leaderboard and view the About page.

The three trivia games for Guess That include:

• Guess That Flag: This game includes 140 flags from various countries around the world.
• Guess That Logo: A collection of 140 corporate logos that you have to identify.
• Guess That VIP: Here you are presented a photo of a celebrity, politician or dignitary that you have to identify. The game also includes 140 trivia levels.

Each game mode starts out relatively easy and as you would suspect becomes more challenging as you advance through the level packs.

Game Play

Game play with Guess That is as equally straightforward as the main menu is. Tap on the game you want to tackle, choose your level pack and then choose which item/level you want to identify.

When the picture of the flag, logo or VIP appears on the screen you will have one hundred seconds to correctly identify the item. Tap the 'Your Answer Here' box and type out your answer.

When you think you have the correct answer, just tap the Guess tile at the bottom of the screen. Keep in mind that spelling does count with Guess That and if you are close, a yellow icon will appear indicating you are close to the correct answer. Red icon means you're wrong and the green icon means your spot on with the answer.

Scoring is based on how quickly you identify the picture. You lose one point for every two seconds that pass and one point for every wrong answer. There is a slight pause before the timer starts so if you are type quick enough and get the answer correct on the first guess, you could walk away with 100 points.

If you need a little help in finding the correct answer, clues are available. You earn one clue for every two correct answers and your clue count is displayed at the top of the gaming screen.

Here's a quick gaming tip. Guess That does have predictive text, which does help, but if you tap on the predictive text to enter your word it will automatically place a space behind that word. If you have everything spelled correctly and are certain that your guess is right but Guess That won't accept it... make sure you don't have an extra space behind a word. Guess That will see the space as a spelling error and toss up the yellow icon when you submit a guess.

Overall Impression

Guess That brings together three popular trivia games under one umbrella and has plenty of trivia levels to keep you busy for a while. The variety of images you have to identify range from the very simple to those you have to burn a few clues before the light bulb goes off.

The app is very clean and easy to navigate but it felt as if the game was drawn-up for a taller screen. I don't mind having to scroll down the main menu to see all the options but you have to scroll down slightly on the gaming screen to expose the Guess and Clue button. That slight scroll can detracts from the overall gaming experience slightly and could cost you a second or two on the clock.

The ad-banner doesn't help the cause and an easy fix would be to remove the ad-banner from the gaming screen or reposition/resize the gaming screen elements.

Overall, Guess That is an entertaining and challenging trivia game for your Windows Phone 8 device. The game has plenty of trivia levels to test your knowledge and with scoring points dependent on how quickly you enter the correct answer, the game will also test your typing skills.

• Guess That - Windows Phone 8 - Free - Store Link

Last month, we reviewed a collectible card game called Magic Realms. The game impressed me with its lengthy single-player campaign, a massive arsenal of cards featuring beautiful fantasy artwork, asynchronous player-versus-player battles, and clan support. The actual in-game clan chat is awful (especially compared to Cloud Raiders), but our site's official clan (WPCentral) continues to thrive anyway.

Magic Realms just received a new update, which is normally good news for a game. But whereas the previous update made the game slightly worse by adding annoying loading times and graphical glitches, this new update literally kills the game. Current players will want to avoid it, and new players simply can't play the game. Find out more after the break.

Map gone awry

To be fair, the latest update (version 1.0.0.6) didn't break the entire game. Just most of it. Players can still participate in their daily PvP battles (and you'd better be knocking them out, clan members!) , engage in real-time chat, enchant cards, and the like – all the side stuff, basically. Magic Realms for Windows Phone suffers a game-breaking updateponents. The game offers a total of twelve maps (though hardly anyone will get past the tenth or so due to the late game's overwhelming difficulty), each with several battles and mazes for players to choose from.

Post-update, players just get a black screen when trying to access the map. You can't start any battles or change locations. The map is where you'd normally spend your accumulated energy, so everyone's energy is going to waste right now. The problem affects most or all Windows Phone users, as evidenced by our own forum thread and numerous reports on the Magic Realms Facebook page.

This game-breaking update is part of a worrying trend. After all, the last update mostly made the game worse instead of better. We've reached out to the Magic Realms team about those previous update issues as well as the current killer update. Hopefully they'll be able to restore the campaign to working order soon. We'll keep you updated!

• Magic Realms – Windows Phone 8 – 46 MB – Free – Store Link

Wings is an air combat game that is set during World War II that has you bouncing around the South Pacific battling enemy ships, island embedded camps and dodging enemy aircraft.

The concept sounds appealing but unfortunately, Wings falls a little short on the execution. The Windows Phone game has potential but really needs a little fine-tuning before it can hit on all cylinders.

Game Layout

The main menu for Wings has options to mute the sound (lower left corner) and launch game play. The missions or levels of play with Wings are scattered across an island map.

Prior to the start of each mission you will be presented with your objectives that include what you need to destroy, what you need to protect and other assorted tasks.

Controlling your plane is simple. You use your Windows Phone tilt sensors to control your plane's elevation. On-screen controls are present to fire your planes machine gun, drop bombs, fire rockets and launch torpedoes. You also have a control to apply the planes breaks during landings. One last flight control is present that has you swiping at the screen to turn your plane around.

Across the top of the gaming screen is your level of play, a small map that highlights your enemies and a fuel gauge. One odd glitch with the game is that you will also see your fps and objs stats displayed. This should be a simple thing to fix with an update to the game and until fixed, it can be a distraction.

Game Play

Game play has you launching your combat plane from an island runway. Acceleration is automatic and all you need to concern yourself with is making sure you don't fly into a palm tree or the ocean.

The enemy objectives are not only highlighted on the thumbnail map but also with a red glow on the gaming screen. Friendly structures, boats and whatnots lack the red glow. You fly back and forth across the screen eliminating all your enemies and when done, you will need to land safely at your base landing strip.

Your ammunition is limited with the number of bombs, torpedoes, rockets and bullets faintly displayed on the weapons control buttons.

The airplanes are somewhat of a gas-guzzler and goes through petrol the way a World Cup Soccer player goes through Gatorade. While there are some missions that do not allow for re-fueling, most will allow you to land at your base to top off the tanks before you head out to complete your mission objectives.

Landing your plane is not very complicated. As your plane descends on to the landing strip, the second it makes contact with the ground tap and hold the brake button. If you are landing to re-fuel, your plane will start to take off again almost immediately after it comes to a stop. If you are landing to complete your mission, your level scoring will appear with options to advance to the next mission, return to the map or replay the current level.

Overall Impression

I really wanted to enjoy Wings and pull the trigger on the full version but the game just isn't there yet. Graphics are nice, controls are simple to pick-up on and the concept has appeal. The game just falls short with mostly graphic issues holding the game back.

While enemy targets do have that red glow, they can be hard to identify, being concealed by other graphic elements. For example, island palm trees can conceal targets making them difficult to see them, let alone the red glow.

The overlays were also difficult to read and cluttered the screen slightly. I understand you want the overlays to be faint enough to avoid detracting from the game but bold enough to read without difficulty. I think Wings would have been better served with smaller control button at the bottom of the screen and your ammo counts displayed at the top of the screen.

Then you have the graphics glitch. It may sound minor but it clutters up the screen and obstructs the map view. As far as game mechanics are concerned, you have an issue with torpedoes. Try as I may, I couldn't get the darn things to work. They acted more like bombs than torpedoes and were not very effective.

Wings does have the potential of being a fun 2D air combat game for our Windows Phones. The game has a nice selection of World War II aircrafts to pilot and the missions are challenging. Tighten up the graphics, fine-tune game play slightly and Wings will be an entertaining way to pass the time.

• Wings - Windows Phone 8 and 7.x - Trial/$1.99 - Store Link

Rovio has announced it's next Angry Birds game, Angry Birds Transformers. The developer is partnering with Hasbro to create not just a new game, but also a new toy line and set of licensed consumer products featuring the Autobirds and Deceptihogs.

The game will utilize a new line of Hasbro's TELEPODS toys, action figures that can be imported directly into the game. Holding the toy over your device's camera will add the character to the game with special abilities and power-ups. TELEPODS were also a part of Angry Birds Star Wars II, along with the Angry Birds Go! racing game. TELEPODS will also feature in the upcoming Angry Birds Stella

The announcement of Transformers comes directly after the release of Angry Birds Epic, a new take on the franchise in the form of an RPG. Rovio did not announce a release date for Angry Birds Trnasformers, with the teaser site only saying that it is "coming soon to app stores" below the first shot of the birds and pigs as bots. The TELEPODS toys will be available later this year.

Source: Angry Birds Transformers, Rovio

Back in 2009, Words with Friends was the big hit game from the startup company Zynga. The game finally arrived on Windows Phone 7 and 8 in 2012, plagued with bugs and performance issues. Indeed, it maintains an astonishingly low 1.8 stars (out of 5) on the Store from over 2,500 reviews. Needless to say, it's not a hit with Windows Phone users.

Words with Friends hadn't seen an update in quite some time, but fast forward today and it has a complete rewrite, losing its Windows Phone 7.x status and becoming a Window Phone 8 and 8.1 dedicated game.

Head to the Windows Phone Store we can see version 1.0 is now live, still with the $2.99 price tag and no free trial [Update: it is now free!]. The still popular crossword puzzle game brings with it the usual Facebook login information along with Smart Match, find by username, contact list support and pass & play. The all new Words with Friends also has leaderboards, sounds, vibration toggle notifications to alert you when it's your turn.

The performance and handling of a pure Windows Phone 8 game is much better than the previous version. Words with Friends is now fast, smooth and even much nicer looking, showing that Zynga can still write nice apps when they have the right tools. Indeed, making the game compatible with Windows Phone 7.x and 8 was its undoing, as Windows Phone 8 programming is much more powerful for developers. It shows as this game re-write has paid off, making it ultimately worthy for Windows Phone fans.

If you already have bought Words with Friends in the past, this is, of course, a free upgrade. If not, you'll need to drop $2.99 for the game, but you can take our word, it seems to be finally worth the money. There is no free trial, though a free, ad-supported version may come at some time in the future. [Update: as the Store has refreshed, the price has dropped form $2.99 to free]

• Download Words with Friends 1.0 here in the Store

Thanks Q, Mark B., and Ryan M., for the tips!

Geometry Dash has been on Android and iOS, but it has recently made its way to the Windows Phone Store. It's frustrating to play, but you'll want to keep trying. We go hands-on with this difficult platformer on the Nokia Lumia Icon.

Head past the break to watch the gameplay video and see if it's worth your time.

Features:

• Rhythm-based Action Platforming!
• Lots of levels with unique soundtracks!
• Build and share your own levels using the level editor!
• Unlock new icons and colors to customize your character!
• Fly rockets, flip gravity and much more!
• Use practice mode to sharpen your skills!
• Challenge yourself with the near impossible!

You start out with a square-shaped character that automatically moves towards the right. Tap anywhere on the screen to jump and avoid spiky obstacles. Press and hold on the screen to do consecutive jumps.

The progress bar on top of the screen lets you know how far you've completed a level. If you hit a wall or a spiky obstable, you start again from the beginning. Select practice mode if you prefer to have checkpoints where you can restart near the spot you recently crashed.

To alleviate some of your frustrations, Geometry Dash has a couple features that will keep your mind off the main game. You can customize the look of the character. Icons and colors become unlocked when completing certain things. For example, the color yellow gets unlocked after you jump 1,000 times.

If you have a lot of free time, Geometry Dash also lets you create your own levels. We're already having a hard time completing the first two levels, so we don't think we have the need to create extra levels.

Geometry Dash costs $1.99 at the Windows Phone Store. There's no free trial available in this initial version, but we think it's worth the price. Check it out and let us know what you think of the game in the comments.

Thanks for the tip, Ronan B.!

Lost Echo is a new adventure game in the Windows Phone Store where you are desperately searching for your girlfriend. The story driven game is full of puzzles to solve, mini-games to tackle and an impressive 3D environment.

The game has been a hit over on iOS with plenty of accolades from user reviews. In just tinkering with Lost Echo for a short time, it should be well received by the Windows Phone platform and another quality addition to the Windows Phone Store.

You play the role of Greg whose girlfriend Chloe disappears in front of him. You will need to guide Greg through his quest to find Chloe and to discover what happened.

Key features of Lost Echo include:

• Detailed and realistic 3D graphics
• A soundtrack written and scored for the game
• Meet and interact number characters, find clues and reveal the mystery behind Chloe's disappearance
• Intuitive point and click interface
• Two gaming modes

The only potential downside to Lost Echo we can see after spending a little time with the game is the lack of a trial version. The game is running $2.99 and without a trial version, the developer may be missing out on potential customers.

We'll take Lost Echo out for a test drive over the weekend and give you a better feel for things in a few days. Until then, you can find Lost Echo through the link below.

• Lost Echo - Windows Phone 8 - $2.99 - Store Link

Thanks, Jawad96, for the tip!

If you're into racing games, you might want to check out OverVolt: crazy slot cars. What makes it different from most racing games is that you control miniature slot cars. You spin out if you go too fast on turns, so it's good to know when to let go of the accelerator.

Check out our hands-on video and gameplay on the Nokia Lumia Icon after the break.

Features:

• Control your miniature car without letting them fly out of the track
• Create your own car paint with a picture of whatever you like!
• Look in the store for all the power-ups you can use during the races
• Choose among more than 25 cars with great styles and characteristics
• Race your friends, challenge them on Facebook, and share the results

Press and hold the orange button to accelerate. There's an indicator towards the left of the button to show how fast you're going. During sharp turns, another indicator pops up above the car. If it reaches red, the car spins out. This lets you know when it's a good idea to release the button.

The top right corner displays your current position and lap. The top left corner shows the pause and camera angle buttons. There are 5 different angles to choose from.

If you win at the end of the race, you can collect up to three stars and the next level gets unlocked. When you get tired of your miniature car, you can head to the shop to get a new one. There are more than 25 cars with different styles and characteristics. You can use the coins you've earned from playing, or you can spend real money to get more coins.

One really cool feature is the ability to paint your car using your phone's camera. Move the camera around until you get the right texture. It costs 100 coins to save the custom paint if you do not have the premium version of the game.

OverVolt: crazy slot cars is free to play, which includes one world with 10 levels. The premium version costs $2.49, which adds two more worlds, unlimited multiplayer, 5,000 credits, and free saving of personalized car texture. Want to save some money? For a limited time, you can get the premium package for free if you login with your Microsoft account!

OverVolt: crazy slot cars arrives at the Windows Phone Store before iOS and Android. Go check it out and let us know what you think in the comments!

Thanks for the tip, Guy Kh.!

Tile Rider is a fresh action and adventure game from newcomers 7 Soft Pillows. The game is exclusive to Windows Phone and features the main character getting sucked into his device to fend off some baddies. That's certainly a different plot!

Evidently the game's engine is a custom job, and I have to admit that the graphics are quite gorgeous to look at when playing. Tile Rider is made by two men over the last two years, at least according to their Tweet. The game is also on Windows Phone first, as the 7 Soft Pillows considers that their main focus for development.

Tile Rider plays like a combination racer + action + puzzler in that you have to navigate each level from start to finish. The action and puzzles come in on the advanced levels where sometimes you have to fight off enemies, often using the environment around you in a similar style to Portal (e.g. pushing floor buttons to activate guns). The first few levels are super easy though they're mostly tutorials. I rather like the pointer/arrow that shows the trajectory of your vehicle, as it comes in handy when you need to navigate dangerous objects.

Tile Rider is certainly a fun game and the graphics are truly unique. As a fun trick, make sure you tilt your phone back and forth, and you should see the game's world peek out in a neat gyroscope effect. Tile Rider goes for $1.99, which isn't cheap, but there is a free trial, so you are more than welcome to give it a run to see if you think it's worth it.

Grab the game and let me know if it's a yay or nay! Also, make sure you see my hands on video and watch the game trailer too.

• Download Tile Rider for Windows Phone 7.x and 8 here in the Store

Via: WPScoops

GT Racing 2 from Gameloft isn't an entirely new game, it's been available on both Android and iOS for a little while now, but finally the racing title has launched on Windows Phone. If you're a massive fan of racing titles, such as Asphalt, GT Racing 2 will be right up your street with impressive visuals to boot.

The game itself comes with bags of content, including 67 licensed cars on a total of 13 tracks. Over 30 manufacturers are present in GT Racing 2 and players will be able to sit in the driving seat of vehicles from Ferrari, Dodge, Nissan, Audi, Ford, and more. Then there's the 1,400 events, which include classic races, one-on-ones, knockouts and overtakes.

Gameloft isn't shy when it comes to releasing impressive looking racing games and GT Racing 2 doesn't disappoint.

The video game studio has packed in a new physics engine for even more realistic driving experiences, as well as loading in multiple weather conditions and different times of the day for races to feel more alive. When racing in single player becomes rather tedious, there's the option to compete against friends or other players from around the world in multiplayer match ups.

Then, when you become a veteran, there's always the garage to fine tune performance for ultimate victories. GT Racing 2 looks great on a Windows Phone and runs smoothly as expected. Do note that you'll require 1 GB of RAM to run the game and Wi-Fi as it's a solid 1007 MB download. It's available for free with in-app purchases.

• Download GT Racing 2 for Windows Phone

Thanks to everyone who tipped us!

Update: For those of you concerned, Gameloft reached out to us and said that they'll be coming out with a 512 MB-friendly version of the game soon.

Death Worm is a super popular game for Windows Phone, iOS and Android. When ported to Microsoft's platform there was no trial mode present, requiring consumers to purchase the game outright. The developer has addressed this issue by updating the game with full trial mode support. After years of waiting for the game to launch on Microsoft's platform, it's good to see the developer adding new features to the title.

If you're not familiar with Death Worm, it's a 2010 arcade style game made by PlayCreek. Players control a massive killer worm that burrows underground, bursting up to gobble people, animals, vehicles and other objects on the menu. It's a fun game that will keep you occupied for some time in each session.

Check out the game on the Windows Phone Store, which can be downloaded for $1.99. We strongly recommend you do so. PlayCreek notes that Mini Dash will receive similar treatment soon.

• Download Death Worm for Windows Phone

You know a platform like Windows 8 is hitting the mainstream when the high-profile kids games starting showing up. The dinky little ones with crappy artwork and design come first, followed by professional games starring popular characters. Characters like Elmo and the cast of Sesame Street, for instance!

Elmo Loves ABCs definitely falls into the professional category, as it's an extremely robust learning game for the preschool and kindergarten crowd. The game is available now as a premium Windows 8 and RT app. Head past the break for our quick impressions!

Introducing the alphabet

The main interface in Elmo Loves ABCs is a window surrounded by the letters of the alphabet. Within that window, authentic live-action clips of Elmo and the Sesame Street gang will guide young players through the basics of the English alphabet.

After selecting a letter, Elmo's voice will instruct children to trace the uppercase and lowercase versions of that letter. Having successfully filled in both versions of the letter, the app will display three photos of things that start with that letter. Tap one and a short video featuring the object or person will play in the main window.

Kids can take a break from the letter learning by moving a slider on the right of the window to the crayon icon. This launches coloring mode, in which budding artists can draw on a blank canvas using 11 colors. There aren't any tools beyond finger painting, but the game does let kids save their pictures by tapping the save icon.

Move the slider to the bottom position (a magnifying glass) to play hide and seek with the selected letter. The window will be covered in objects like balloons for kids to clear away. Swipe at the clutter enough and the three objects that start with the target letter will be revealed. A decent minigame, but the performance is a little slow on the original Surface RT.

More fun features

Tap the gear at the bottom-left corner of the screen to access a few additional modes and features. There are four alphabet-related songs with videos to sing along with, including the traditional Alphabet Song.

Move the awkward little slider beside the video icons to the right and you'll launch a more advanced letter game. Elmo will ask your child to select the correct letter or object starting with that letter from a field of four choices. It's sort of like a quiz for kids who have already picked up some of their letters.

Elmo Loves ABCs is a great learning game for Windows tablet and PC users. Although the menus are on the clunky side, the art design and activities are all bright and intuitive. Kids who love Sesame Street (as they should!) will have a blast studying their letters and watching Elmo, Cookie Monster, Kermit, and other Sesame Street characters in the included videos.

Those videos do result in a fairly hefty file size, which might explain why Sesame Workshop hasn't published the game on Windows Phone. But if your kid is the right age for the material and has access to a Windows tablet, Elmo Loves ABCs is worth the download.

• Elmo Loves ABCs – Windows 8 and RT – 704 MB – $4.99 (with trial) – Store Link

We often like to look to the forums to discover new games and apps to cover. The stuff that you guys have on your minds enough to share it in the forums is probably interesting for us as well. And being a gaming guy, the most interesting forum thread for me is the "Newly discovered games thread." I use it a lot!

One of the games I recently came across within that thread is Super Tap Ultra from InHuman Entertainment. The same developer released an interesting organization app called Node last year, although that app seems to have been abandoned. Super Tap Ultra shows a lot of the same cleverness – it's super simple to play, features great retro pixel art and chiptunes, and is a universal app. Oh, and it's free till the end of the month.

Tap tap revolution

Super Tap Ultra's concept is super ultra-simple. Numbers ranging from 1-3 appear within buttons at random positions on the screen. The object is to tap or click each button exactly the number of times as the button's number. So if you see a three, you hit it three times. Each time you tap it, the number it displays will decrease by one, showing that you have two or one hits to go before the button disappears.

As you successfully tap buttons without hitting a button too many times and/or tapping an empty space, you'll build up a combo and the buttons will start appearing at a faster rate. Keep the combo going long enough and you'll enter Ultra mode, catching everything on fire! During this time, the music speeds up and you earn extra points. But miss a beat and Ultra mode ends.

A bar at the tip of the screen constantly depletes as the game goes on. Once it runs out, the game ends. Thus the overall goal is to earn the highest possible score within the time allotted to you. Your high score will be displayed on the title screen, a constant encouragement to keep trying for higher scores.

Windows 8 and RT versions

Being a universal app, Super Tap Ultra is also available on Windows 8 and RT. Purchase one version of the game and you'll get them all. And like most Windows 8 games, you can play this one on either a touch screen device or with mouse and keyboard. The game is really meant to be played on a phone or tablet though, so it doesn't work quite as well on a PC…

The retro-style graphics that look so great on a phone look much clunkier and less elegant on a larger screen, especially the title screen. And I just can't click as fast with a mouse as I can tap a screen with my fingers. That said, a keyboard does add two hidden controls that you won't find in the touch version. Tap the B key to instantly spawn additional buttons (as shown above) or the G key to immediately end the game.

Small but super

Super Tap Ultra was developed within a short period of time in order to be entered in the New York Microsoft Publish Contest. It won the prize (a Lumia 1520), as well as being named Microsoft's Best Game of the Month for May. So given the accelerated development cycle, it's impressive that one-man team Inhuman Entertainment managed to come up with such an appealing gameplay mechanic and overall polish.

I get the impression that Inhuman mostly creates bite-sized games and apps and then moves on rather than improving them over time. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but I'd still love to see Super Tap Ultra expanded upon. Online leaderboards would really add a lot to the game, especially since trying to achieve high scores is the one and only overall objective. And an additional game mode or two wouldn't hurt, as the core mechanic really shows a lot of potential.

Whether or not Super Tap Ultra ever gains new content, it will still be a clever micro-game. Tapping the buttons quickly and accurately is surprisingly challenging despite the simplicity of the concept. Anybody can learn to play the game in an instant, but it will take focus and practice to really become a Super Ultra Tapper.

• Super Tap Ultra – Windows Phone 8 (universal app) – 9 MB – $.99 (Free until July 2014) – Store Link
• Super Tap Ultra – Windows 8 and RT (universal app) – 8 MB – $.99 (Free until July 2014) – Store Link

• Forum post: Newly discovered games!!!

Does Disney ever sleep? The company has been releasing mobile games for Windows Phone and Windows 8 at an ever increasing rate. It feels like just it was just ten days ago that their newest game Words of Wonder hit the Windows Phone Store and Window Store (it was). Today we're getting another Disney treat for both of our favorite platforms. Ready to play Disney Hidden Worlds?

Head into the Windows Phone Store and Windows Store and you'll find Disney Hidden Worlds available for you to play. It's a free game that's supported by in-app purchases that range in price from $0.99 to $99.99 (Insane right?).

Here are some of the highlights and features you can look forward to inside Disney Hidden Worlds:

• Hidden Object scenes based on Beauty and the Beast, Tangled, and Aladdin!
• Regular content updates to add even more classic Disney movie scenes!
• Download now and play in your choice of English, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish.
• Find over 50 hidden objects in each timeless Disney movie moment.
• Multiple gameplay modes including Hidden Object and Find the Detail.
• Difficulty increases as you replay each scene. Use hints to find hard-to-spot objects!
• Re-live the magic of your favorite Disney Films as you restore dozens of interactive Disney Kingdoms.
• Get to know Chrona and the Inklings as you work together to defeat a brand new Disney villain!

We'll have a full review and hands-on up later. In the meantime, take the game for a spin and let us know what you think. Another winner for the kids in your life?

• Download Disney Hidden Worlds for Windows Phone
• Download Disney Hidden Worlds for Windows 8

Thanks for the tip Dan!

City Dodge is a rather unique Windows Phone game where you race back and forth on the screen, hoping to avoid getting pancaked by a collapsing ceiling. The game increases in speed, difficulty and you play until your character gets crushed by the ceiling.

You have hints, magnet and other boosts to collect to enhance your chances of survival and side missions to help the game from getting stale. City Dodge is a fast-paced game that has a certain amount of appeal to it. I can see it being a good choice when you are looking for something different to pass the time with but I'm not sure City Dodge could hold up to longer gaming sessions.

Game Layout

The main menu for City Dodge tosses out options to play the game and access the game's settings. Settings include two gaming control options, access to the help screen, sound/music controls, as well as links to send the developer feedback and rate the game in the Windows Phone Store.

Gaming controls come in two varieties. You have the two-button layout that you use to move your character from side to side and a single button that you swipe at to move your character. I'm not a fan of the single button and found the dual buttons more responsive.

City Dodge currently has five gaming scenes that include New York City, Paris, Paris (crazy/expert mode), India and Ancient Egypt. The New York City scene is the only scene available as you begin the game. The Help Section doesn't mention this but it appears the additional scenes are unlocked if you collect puzzle pieces or you can unlock them through in-app purchases.

At the top of the scene selection screen, you will find your energy levels, coin count and a trophy that will send you the online leaderboard. Each game of City Stage will burn one energy point with points being replenished over time or your can spend coins to buy energy points. You begin the game with 500 coins and should you need more they are available through in-app purchase.

Game Play

The object of City Dodge is to position your player in a safe spot on the screen. The ceiling is about to collapse and there is a doorway that will provide your character a safe spot to survive the collapse.

At the top of the gaming screen is your score, a bonus meter that will generate lanes on the screen (more on this in a second) and a pause button. Along the bottom of the screen, you have your movement controls and any bonus items that are available. You have a magnet that will pull any bonus items that appear to you; a light bulb (hint bonus) that will move you to the doorway; and a green fist that will grab enemies and take you to the door.

You also have gifts for bonus points and a heart that can be used to save you (a mulligan of sorts) should you get crushed.

As far as the lanes are concerned, this bonus feature will create vertical lines on the screen to better identify your safe haven. This bonus can come available as you play the game and survive (meter will turn green) or you can spend coins to use this bonus. The lanes do help gauge your movements, especially when the pace of the game increases.

Speaking of which, when you first start playing City Dodge the ceiling shakes for a couple of seconds, giving you a warning or delaying it's fall. When it resets, the doorway is in a different position and you have a few seconds to move to the new safety spot. The further you progress, the shorter this delay becomes. Additionally, the floor of the game area becomes irregular making it difficult to judge where your doorway is.

To help keep the game fresh, you also have missions to pursue. These missions have goals such as pass level ten in the game or use the hint bonus three times in a game. Successfully complete a mission and you'll earn bonus items or have items unlocked.

Overall Impression

City Dodge is a challenging arcade styled game for Windows Phone 8 and 7.x devices. While the game sounds easy moving a character side to side and avoiding getting crushed, you may be surprised how difficult this game can be. If you overshoot the safe spot just slightly, you may not have enough time to recover before the ceiling comes falling down.

While the game does require energy units to play, if you aren't a fan of in-app purchases, energy is replenished automatically (one unit, every five minutes). This isn't necessarily a bad thing in that you have to pace your game play and avoid getting burned out on the game too quickly. Still… I wouldn't mind seeing an option to earn coins during game play.

Overall, City Dodge may not be strong enough to hold up to marathon gaming sessions but the Windows Phone game isn't a bad option to consider for shorter bits of time. Graphics are nice, game play challenging and City Dodge has a certain level of appeal making it a nice addition to the Windows Phone gaming library.

• City Dodge - Windows Phone 8 and 7.x - Free - Store Link