Games

Words with Friends has been bumped to version 1.2, both the general and Lumia-only free versions. According to the store listings, this latest release addresses numerous bugs and issues to help improve the experience for players. Unfortunately, the update doesn't seem to have solved everything, if latest reviews are anything to go by.

With yesterday’s crazy day of game releases for Windows Phone, the popular (and free) Temple Run was released to mostly mixed reviews. Forgetting the fact that Temple Run 2, which is arguably way better, just came to iOS in January, Temple Run for Windows Phone is lacking in a few areas. For instance, no Xbox LIVE support, the Tile pinning to the Start screen was blanked out, some stuttering issues and no support for devices with 512MB of RAM.

Well, version 1.5 was just pushed out and guess what? At least the Tile has been fixed.

A handful of weeks ago Unity opened up early beta access for apps on the Windows store, enabling developers to try out the tools available. We were all wondering just when the company would open up the beta program and cover Windows Phone 8 development. That time has arrived, folks. It has been announced on the Unity blog that version 4 of the engine now covers Windows Phone 8.

Gravity Guy came out just over a year ago to Windows Phone and has become one of the more popular “runner” games around. It’s done by Miniclip, who ranks up there with Chillingo in terms of quality of their games.

Gravity Guy 2 is now ready for your trial and goes for $2.99 (Windows Phone 8 only). We’ve been playing with it for a little while, and one thing we already like: it’s not more of the same. In GG2, things like double jumps, platform raising, new tighter graphics and a new coin-collection strategy have been added. Indeed it feels like similar game play to Jetpack Joyride (also due soon on Windows Phone 8).

This is GDC week, so you can count on some cool developer interviews and hands-on stories as the conference progresses. But it’s also just an exciting week for Windows Phone releases. First we had the release of Sims Medieval for Nokia devices, and now general users can look forward to two regular Xbox releases on Wednesday. We’re looking at one Windows Phone 7 game and one for Windows Phone 8. The former will also be the most expensive mobile Xbox game to date, but at least it’s a good one: Chaos Rings from Square-Enix!

 It’s been a while since we brought you Xbox Live Arcade news, other than announcing the Ascend: New Gods closed beta signups and that fun little Zombie Driver HD interview and contest we held last month. But XBLA games remain a passion of mine, and our Xbox 360-owning readers who have embraced digital downloads likely feel much the same.

Okay, GDC starts on Monday but a little consumer gaming event called PAX East is taking place right now. And on the first day of the show, a little publisher called Capcom made a couple of announcements that had pretty much the whole console gaming world abuzz. This summer, Capcom will release both a remake of NES platforming favorite Ducktales as well as a collection of the Dungeons & Dragons arcade games, both for XBLA and other digital platforms.

Read onto find out why folks in the know are so stoked for these titles!

[Update: Sorry folks, as it turns out that image and the news for the story come from a faked Facebook account, albeit one with many people unknowingly following/liking it. We're still waiting to hear from the developers directly, but as of right now it's not looking accurate. Here's the real Facebook page for that company. Thanks, 19kev98, for the heads up]

Temple Run and its sequel are two extremely popular games on other mobile platforms that have yet to migrate to Windows Phone. We know one of them is coming eventually, but unfortunately the series creator Imangi has been tight-lipped with details. Still, Temple Run isn’t the only 3D endless runner in town.

Subway Surfers from Kiloo also has quite a following on competing platforms. Technically the characters slide, glide and fly around on vehicles as opposed to running, but it’s definitely an endless runner at heart. And soon we’ll be subway surfing on Windows Phone 8!

Windows Phone 8 has received so much Xbox game love this week (in the form of The Dark Knight Rises and Shark Dash) that Windows Phone 7 owners were surely feeling left out. I mean, they should all be busy with Galactic Reign, but that’s another story.

Apparently someone at Nokia saw the lack of releases for the legacy OS and said, “No! This should not be.” To that end, Nokia and Chillingo have just published two Nokia-exclusive Xbox Windows Phone 7 games: Dream Track Nation and Tiny Plane. Both games look like great casual titles to keep Nokia owners busy.