Fruit Ninja: Puss in Boots slices into Android for free through Amazon

If you love turning watermelons and oranges into gushing half-circles of juicy deliciousness, then today is your lucky day. Halfbrick announced that the movie-themed sequel to its hit Fruit Ninja is available for Android for free once again. That's right, Fruit Ninja: Puss in Boots is available for Android for the fine price of zilch on the Amazon Appstore one more time.

We personally adored the Puss in Boots edition when it released in time for the Dreamworks flick for iPhone and iPad. As you know, we're quite accustomed to ... branded properties here at Games.com, but Halfbrick truly treated this sequel as if it were Fruit Ninja 2. With a refreshingly challenging Bandito Mode that puts players through the gauntlet of fruit-based tests of finger flinging dexterity, there's no way we couldn't recommend downloading this gem immediately.

Seriously, because this deal is only good for today. So, get to it already. And don't hang too tightly on that "Fruit Ninja 2" quip, because that's coming too. If you love Fruit Ninja even remotely as much as this guy, you owe to yourself to pick this one up.

Click here to download Fruit Ninja: Puss in Boots for Free Now >

[Via Joystiq]

Are you a Fruit Ninja fan? What do you think of the Puss in Boots version, and what do you hope to see in Fruit Ninja 2?

GREE's mobile social games network to be 'borderless', to hit Q2 2012

Gree representative
And still, we know little about just exactly how the Japanese social game publisher's platform will work. GREE has revealed a sliver of information about its upcoming mobile social games network, namely that it will be "borderless". While company says this means that users will enjoy single sign-on into GREE on their iPhone or Android phone, we hope this means cross-platform play.

The company goes on to say that the platform will feature a global payment solution and a series of "robust out-of-network cross promotional opportunities," which sounds to us a lot like in-game advertisements. The OpenFeint-powered platform will provide developers with rich analytics tools, meaning game makers will be able to read and evaluate your actions within the GREE games you play. (That might sound a bit too much like Big Brother, but Facebook game makers do the exact same thing.)

"This new GREE platform continues to show the commitment we have to building a truly global, free-to-play ecosystem for mobile developers," GREE founder and CEO Yoshikazu Tanaka said in a release. "Our goal is to offer the best social gaming experience to players around the world. GREE worldwide has the largest cross-platform network and this is a step closer to our goal of reaching one billion users."

GREE's mobile social games network will offer games discovery to players as well as all the latest social features. Of course, leaderboards and achievements will be a staple in GREE's offering. However, the company plans to take the mobile social games world by storm in Q2 2012, or as early as April. With DeNA's Mobage network already out of beta testing on Android and Zynga's Project Z on the horizon, that sounds like a lifetime.

Zynga Mobile Chief: Mobile is a 'new social gaming frontier'

Everyone else is right there with ya, big red. During an interview with The Guardian, Zynga Mobile SVP David Ko said, "We believe that mobile represents a new social gaming frontier. We've always said we want Zynga to be the best content creators in the world, and we are platform agnostic." More and more Zynga fans expect to play its games on their phones and tablets, which wasn't exactly where CEO Mark Pincus's heart was many moons ago.

Regardless of whether Zynga has been creating mobile games since Zynga Poker hit iOS devices in 2008, it was only the advent of Facebook Connect that motivated the company to dig deeper into the platform. From that we got games like FarmVille and CityVille Hometown, neither of which are feature-complete versions of their Facebook counterparts. (The latter of which is a different game entirely.)

Now, The Guardian reports that Zynga is looking to take advantage of mobile devices' key features like cameras and accelerometers in future games. And tablets appear to be a big deal in Zynga HQ--Ko told The Guardian the company was "very bullish" on the idea. And HTML5, the emergent web coding language that's been touted as the proverbial messiah for cross-platform social gaming, is something Ko admits the company is interested in.

"HTML5 is interesting, although I do feel it is early," Ko told The Guardian. "With those acquisitions, you can see into our thinking in this area a little bit." (Ko there is referring to companies like Newtoy and Dextrose.) Zynga already released one game through HTML5: Mafia Wars Atlantic City.

However, HTML5 games have yet to achieve the complexity of, say, Hanging With Friends, which Zynga just released on Android devices. Regardless, all eyes--including Zynga's--are on those 4-inch screens that rarely leave your side. And with companies as unlikely as Capcom making buku bucks on mobile games, you can bet Zynga is a' hustlin'.

Are you waiting for more mobile games from Zynga? What would you like to see the developer do next on smartphones? Sound off in the comments. 1 Comment