First Strike on Android Review: the nuclear war game that you feel guilty for Loving

There’s something weirdly addictive about games to do with the end of the world, or maybe that’s just me. From the indie PC classic Defcon to Plague Inc. on mobile, I find these types of games incredibly hard to put down once I’ve started playing. That’s exactly been the case with First Strike, Feinheit kreativ studio’s first game, which involves the amassing of nuclear weapons in a race to destroy other global superpowers before they destroy you. Rather ironically, and probably a good thing for people who find it hard to play a game about Mutually Assured Destruction, is that a quarter of all revenue from the game will be contributed to help reduce nuclear weapons around the world through ICAN and Green Cross Switzerland; who said being bad couldn’t be good too?

To start playing, you will pick a nation to play (which will have an associated difficulty), and pick the number of enemies you’ll be playing against. Naturally, increasing the number will increase the chance that you will succumb to a nuclear end, but that’s all part of the fun. After this, you will be given control of a small number of regions where you will have bases at; each base can perform several tasks like build nuclear warheads, research new technologies, or expand to adjacent regions. All of these actions require time and as your actions become more powerful and more lucrative, their creation time will also increase.

Depending on what warheads are stored at each regional base, you will also be able to perform offensive and defensive actions. If for instance a nuke is launched towards you, a cruise missile can be launched to intercept it, nullifying it. Offensively, you can choose to launch a single rocket, or once you’ve stockpiled enough missiles, you can perform a ‘First Strike’ which launches all missiles that you possess that are within range of your target. Obviously at first your range will be quite limited, but research some key technologies and the whole world opens up.

The game effectively becomes a game of cat and mouse at this point, with missiles flying everywhere and trying to figure out when is best to attack and when is best to sit back and defend. So far in my experience, the AI is quite ruthless, regardless of the difficulty, and you’ll need to stay on your toes not to get bombed off the face of the planet.

The game plays incredibly simply; the globe is easily explored by swiping around, zooming in and out is as easy as pinching and controlling your regions is extremely easy with a series of touches. The interface is often a series of interconnected circles, which not only looks great, but makes for a really simple interface. On a smaller screen, like that of my Moto G, the buttons can get a little small, but I never had any issues with pressing the wrong buttons at any time. The one thing that is a little annoying on smaller screens is the text in-game can be positively tiny. There’s probably not much that can be done seeing as how crowded some menu’s can get, like the technology web, but be prepared to have to read the on-screen text very closely.

And that’s First Strike. There’s no convoluted story or needless things to collect; you just fire missiles, win or lose, then rinse and repeat. I had a ball playing First Strike, though it pains me a little that there’s no multiplayer in the game as it would have been fantastic. All the same, it’s a fantastic, beautiful, well-made game, and though it does cost $3.99, it’s sure to keep you addicted and coming back for more. If you’re interested, you can pick up First Strike at the Play Store links below.

Game: First Strike

Play Store Link

Price: $3.99

Garmin’s latest bike computer talks to your gear shifter

Bike computers have been connecting to an ever larger sphere of devices, ranging from fitness sensors to smartphones. It only makes sense, then, that they integrate with the bike itself — and Garmin is doing just that with its new Edge 1000. The device can tell what gear you’re using when paired with Shimano’s Di2 electronic shifter, and ties that info to your ride; it’s now easy to figure out if dropping gears helped you conquer that hill a little faster. There are a few big upgrades over the Edge 810 that don’t require high-end bike components, of course. The 1000 supports new Garmin peripherals that include both a handlebar remote as well as cadence/speed sensors, and you can share ride segments through the company’s smartphone app if you want to prove your worth to nearby cyclists. This flagship Edge will be expensive at $600 ($700 bundled with sensors) when it ships later in the spring, but that premium may be worthwhile if you just have to get a competitive advantage over fellow pedal-pushers.

Filed under: GPS, Transportation

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Source: Garmin

Sesame Go video service offers constant Cookie Monster for $4 a month

If you were looking for another streaming service to pitch a few bucks to each month — and you have a few Sesame Street fans in the house — Sesame Go might be your next subscription. For $3.99 per month or $29.99 for a year (you can cancel whenever), the US-only service will stream to PCs, Mac and mobile devices. It’ll run within a web browser, which should mean less concerns about whether that fingerprint-addled tablet is compatible or not. The service starts today — visit Sesame Go for details on how to get (how to get) a free two-week trial.

Filed under: Cellphones, Home Entertainment, Tablets, Internet, HD, Mobile

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Via: TNW

Source: Sesame Go

No work emails after 6PM please, we’re French

Sure, the French have it sweet with a 35 hour work week and six weeks of paid vacation. But (Mon dieu!) workers there are still bombarded with job-related emails when off the clock. They won’t need to put up with such rude intrusions anymore now, though. A deal signed by tech industry employers and unions in France means many companies are now forbidden by law to contact employees electronically after 6PM. The plan was hailed by worker groups, but not everyone was happy. France has a large digital sector, with a big presence by Google, Facebook and others, and many critics claim that France already has too much bureaucracy. Still, such labor-friendly laws are understandably popular with the public. Given all the cuisine, wine and other pleasures on tap, who wants to hear from le boss?

Filed under: Cellphones, Internet

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Via: The Times (subscription)

Source: Federation Syntec

Comcast could soon launch its own WiFi-powered mobile service

With companies like Verizon pushing into its broadband turf, Comcast may be pushing back with its own mobile network, according to a report from The Information. Insiders claim that, like Google, it’s considering a service that would work using a combination of Comcast’s million+ WiFi hotspots and leased cellular capacity from other operators. Those could include Verizon, with which it already has a deal in place for wholesale network access. In addition, it has over 8 million customer WiFi routers that could also function as hotspots. If all that is accurate, Comcast could offer such a service separately, as part of a bundle or even as a cheap WiFi-only package à la Scratch Wireless. Take it with a big dollop of skepticism, though — Comcast has gone down that road before.

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless

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Source: The Information