Category: Apps

Bushnell has teamed up with Spil Games to make new mobile games.

Nolan Bushnell, most notably known as the co-founder of Atari and considered to be one of the founding fathers of modern video games, is returning to the gaming sector after 40-or-so years, and plans to release his first wave of mobile games with new partner, Dutch publisher, Spil Games. This will be Bushnell’s first step into the mobile gaming market.

Bushnell never stopped designing games and now wants to make mobile games according to his law.

According to Tech Times, even though it’s been decades since the 73-year-old Atari co-founder was part of the gaming scene, Bushnell said that he has never stopped designing games and was impressed with the success of the mobile gaming market, mostly because games for smartphones are so readily available. That’s why he reportedly chose this particular market to monetize the games that he’s been continually designing in his free time.

That said, the veteran game designer doesn’t plan to make games like others already on the market. In fact, he’s not overly impressed with the games he has on his phone and finds them so frustrating at times that at certain points he’s been tempted to throw his phone, reported The Guardian.

With Spil Games, Bushnell will be developing and publishing new mobile games that will incorporate his “easy to learn, and difficult to master,” game laws.

“There are a lot of mobile games out there that just miss it; they miss what I’d call ‘hardcore fundamental game design’. At Atari we had to totally focus on that, because our graphics were so terrible, because the technology was so primitive by today’s standards,” Bushnell said.

To start, Bushnell will release three mobile game titles into the mobile gaming market.

His deal with Spil is reportedly good for three mobile game titles and his role with the company is likely to include producer, designer and adviser. He said of Spil that it has great analytics, great “stuff” and an excellent understanding of marketplaces. He also feels that they’re a fun group of people to work with and said he sees the same drive in the company that initially motivated him to work with games years ago.

It will be interesting to see what type of games Bushnell brings to the mobile gaming market.

The new Starbucks emoji-themed keyboard app lets you send more than a smile.

When it comes to adopting mobile technology trends, Starbucks has shown time and again that it’s a leader in this field, having released apps and being one of the first to jump on board the mobile payments bandwagon, among other advancements. Therefore, it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that one of America’s favorite coffeehouse chains has released its very own Starbucks emoji keyboard, which lets users digitally express themselves with Frappauccinos, cake pops, iced coffee and their other favorite Starbucks products.

The app is free for iOS and Android.

The keyboard app is available free for both iOS and Android mobile devices and features a custom keyboard option decked out in the company’s colors and font as well as two pages of Starbucks-inspired emojis. The emoji library includes everything from drinks and treats to the logo and emoji people holding Starbucks products.

To enjoy this fun new application on iPhone, users need to install it and add it to the active keyboard list under settings. They need to allow the app full access so it can be used throughout the phone. The app is activated using the globe key on the bottom line on the standard keyboard. The emoji keyboard functions like most third-party keyboard apps and works with most major messaging apps including Facebook, WhatsApp, and iMessage.

On the flip side, Android users will find the activation process similar to iOS. After installing the app, it can be activated under Language & Input in Settings and should be selected as the standard keyboard. Via Android, the program sends emojis as images through apps instead of placing them within messages.

Could the Starbucks emoji keyboard evolve into something more in the future?

Many consumers weren’t pleased when the company changed its rewards program and app, and some hope that the new keyboard app – although currently nothing unique or ground-breaking for Starbucks – could be the start of something special. Imagine: instead of just sending an emoji to a friend, what if users could actually order coffee via emoji?

While that’s definitely only a sweet dream and a not reality at the moment or in the near future, lovers of this app will be pleased to know that the company intends to add more content to its Starbucks emoji keyboard app throughout the year.