Introducing App of the Day
The best and most interesting games on Android, iOS and Windows Phone 7.
There's always lots of interesting stuff swirling around the traditional pillars of gaming, whether that's the PC and its vibrant independent games scene, the home consoles and their blockbuster action-adventures, or dedicated gaming handhelds with their wacky control concepts. Here at Eurogamer, we've always tried to serve people interested in those formats in a bunch of ways, and we will continue to support them all with as many 8/10s as possible. (Other scores are available.)
But over the last few years, phones - traditionally a rat's nest of rubbish hardware, conflicting standards and substandard experiences - and now tablets have emerged as a new pillar, one that now practically dwarfs the others in terms of volume of users. Everyone connected to games has had to adapt to this, from massive publishers like Electronic Arts down to uppity websites like this one.
And, a bit like those massive publishers, some of us have struggled to discover the right balance. We've done some obvious things - like building a really good mobile version of our own site that just works, which we hope you like using - but in editorial terms we haven't settled on anything.
"Really you just need us to tell you when something is interesting."
We tried a regular roundup, written by former editor and Eurogamer friend-for-life Kristan Reed, but not a lot of people read it (although those that did were huge fans), and we've tried giving mobile and tablet games the same treatment as anything else, but this has led to patchy coverage that is often late and - given that we're talking about games that often cost 69 pence - disproportionate to the subject at hand.
However, our recent reader survey told us that most of you are grown-ups with loads of different platforms and interests, and that really you just need us to tell you when something is interesting. That survey also demonstrated overwhelmingly that we need to get on with fulfilling that role for you.
So, starting again today, we are very much getting on with it. We're introducing App of the Day: a daily post about a game, game update or game-related application that we find particularly enjoyable or interesting, on Android, iOS or Windows Phone 7.
From now on you'll find one of these on Eurogamer every single day - weekends and all - to reflect the fact that we're all doing a lot more of our gaming on these formats, and also that the manner in which we use smartphones and tablets for gaming is different to the way we approach traditional PC, console and handheld releases. Our coverage won't stop there, either - we'll dig into the most interesting trends, companies and games that we uncover as we play around.
Speaking of which, if you are developing or publishing a game on Android, iOS or Windows Phone 7 and would like us to consider it for App of the Day, or there is an app you're playing that you think merits attention, let us know. We'll play all of them and feature the ones that get us most excited.
For now there's just one App of the Day post to read - a few extremely enthusiastic words about the lovely Temple Run - but in a year's time we hope there will be 365 more of them, and given the vibrancy of the mobile development scene I'm confident that every one will be something worth investigating.