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Greed City, the Windows Phone 8 exclusive location-based game from Torchbear creator Lighthouse Game Studio, seems to be growing almost as fast as a real city. Since we first reported on the game in April, the number of players has jumped exponentially. That surge in players and the businesses they create was slowing down the game (which requires internet connectivity) in a big way.

Thankfully, Lighthouse has just published a major update that increases the speed of checking in to businesses and leaving comments on news feed items tenfold. You can now boot the game up, check in to your businesses, and get on with your day quickly and free of hassle once more.

That’s not all, though. The update adds more than a dozen changes and fixes that each make Greed City just a bit sweeter. And to celebrate the update’s arrival, Lighthouse has released a snazzy new trailer extoling the game’s virtues. See the video and more update details after the break!

Changes continue to impact the Windows Phone Youtube app at a fast pace. First came the official Youtube app recieved a major overhaul, then Google complained that the app violated YouTube's API and Terms of Service, then Microsoft updated the app to comply with some of Google's requests.

The latest chapter in this saga has the Youtube app being pulled from the Windows Phone Store and news of a collaboration between Microsoft and Google for a solution.

A few weeks ago I wrote an editorial piece on how 2013 was finally turning into the year of Windows Phone (after numerous false starts).

There turns out to be another facet though that I missed in my analysis, which I'd like to address here. Besides increased advertising, impressive hardware, a maturing ecosystem and a reinvigorated Nokia who has hit their stride, Microsoft is using another tactic: direct action.

It’s a fascinating change in strategy from previous years where Microsoft took on a more “hands off” approach, often leaving marketing up to their OEM and carrier partners. Now, in 2013, Microsoft is asserting themselves a lot more directly (and it’s not isolated to just Windows Phone as the recent Surface rumor suggests).

Microsoft has a goal for its well-received line of Windows 8 tablets, according to Paul Thurrott. Sources have revealed the company plans to take up and maintain 50 percent of all Windows tablet sales in the coming year with their Surface lineup. Microsoft already achieved this figure in Q1 2013 when Surface hardware took 50 percent of the Windows tablet pie, but there's more to the story.

Like shoes, Twitter clients are a personal preference where one size doesn’t fit all. We all have our favorites and Tweet It! happens to be one of mine. It’s fast, smooth, packed with features and just has a lot of personality.

Version 5.6.5.0 just landed in the Store and it brings some significant and important changes to charming Twitter client, including continued support for Windows Phone 7.x and 8 users.

We've covered the Unification service fairly extensively here at Windows Phone Central and have continued to support Liquid Daffodil with attempts to drum up interest from developers to implement support for Unification in their apps. We've got some numbers to share with you all today with how the Unification service is shaping up and how the community is getting involved.

tl;dr if you haven't yet connected your app with Unification, you may wish to do so.

Update: SOLD OUT! You guys nabbed them all. 

There’s something magical about plopping your phone down and letting it charge wirelessly. The Lumia 920 and Verizon 8X led the way for wireless charging on Windows Phone last fall. And if you haven’t picked up a wireless charging with your compatible phone you’re missing out. So, why not grab the Nokia DT-900 wireless charging pad for a whopping 75% off? Details after the break.

The popular Instagram client Instagraph was updated just a short while ago to version 2.0 and as promised, Metrogram is now part of the mix.  The two apps really didn't become one but rather integrated where you can access Metrogram's features from within Instagraph and visa versa.

The Metrogram integration is only for the Windows Phone 8 version of Instagraph. Windows Phone 7.x users shouldn't feel left out in the cold though.

At Tuesday’s reveal of the Xbox One, Microsoft showed off their next generation Kinect sensor. Our friends up in Redmond don’t want you to forget that the new Kinect unit will also be heading to Windows.

Microsoft released the original software development kit (SDK) in the spring of 2011 for Windows 7. The goal of the program was to expand Kinect’s usage scenario through 3^rd party and indie developers. That being said, we have seen some amazing uses of Kinect in the fields of consumer shopping and medicine.

Today Huawei, in partnership with Microsoft and cellular provider Airtel, announced the launch of Hauwei's W1 smartphone in Nigeria. The event took place at Airtel's headquarters in the city of Lagos. The joint event saw Huawei, who has decided to take a run at the Windows Phone market, come together with Nigeria's largest 3.75G carrier. Despite the excitement, no availability or pricing information were made available.

If you've made the switch from AT&T to T-Mobile with your Windows Phone and are having trouble access T-Mobile's LTE Network take a look at your APN settings.

Windows Phone Central member MikeSo made the switch with his Nokia Lumia 900 and had trouble accessing the LTE network. He could see the network, just not connect to it.

Liquid Daffodil, the developer behind many popular apps available across the Windows ecosystem, has announced that all apps now support the Klingon text effect. Bing originally unveiled that the service will be 'translating' Klingon. For those of you who aren't too sure what Klingon is, it's a fictional warrior race in the Star Trek universe.