games

Leo Reviews The Nintendo Switch

Episode 1369

Leo spent a couple of hours playing with Zelda on the Nintendo Switch and he was lefty pretty impressed. However, for adult hands, he found the controllers to be a bit small and uncomfortable. Battery life is pretty good at about 3-4 hours of steady play. The big problem right now is that the Switch doesn't have a lot of games at the moment, and of what it does have, most are dumb like Milking Cows. But it was launched with Zelda and Mario is coming. So there's plenty of people to play with until games get ported over.

Dick DeBartolo, The Giz Wiz

Episode 1348

This week's gadgets are games. Christmas is a fun time to play board games and this one is called SPEAK OUT by Hasbro. What's odd about it is that you have to put this plastic device in your mouth and then try and speak words for people to guess. Here's how it's played. Players are divided into two teams and the first person up must put a mouthpiece in, draw a card and try to speak the phrase without getting completely tongue-tied. Once the team guesses the phrase correctly, draw another card and keep going until the timer runs out to earn as many cards as possible.

Is Pokémon Go accessible to blind users?

Episode 1305

Ed from Crossville, TN
Pokémon Go

Ed is blind and he's sad that Pokémon Go isn't accessible to the blind. He thinks that if Pokémon put in an audio tone targeting system, then those who can't see would be able to play. Leo says that's a great idea. Accessibility is very important and smartphones have gotten very good at being accessible, so there's no reason why a game like Pokémon shouldn't be.

'Exploding Kittens' Card Game Breaks Kickstarter Records

Episode 1158

Exploding Kittens

The Exploding Kittens card game was created by Matthew Inman, the mind behind The Oatmeal, Elan Lee of Microsoft's Xbox team, and Shane Small, Xbox and Marvel game designer. The Kickstarter campaign started January 19 with an initial funding goal of $10,000. They reached that goal within 20 minutes, and reached $100,000 within an hour. It attracted 120,000 backers who have now in total contributed more than $5 million. The game has been described as a "kitten powered version of Russian Roulette."

Where can I play old computer games?

Episode 1116

Michael from Buffalo, NY
Atari

Michael says that this year is the 30th anniversary of Windows. And he says he thought it would be cool if Windows would give users the ability to "skin" Windows back to the original Windows look to celebrate. Leo says that they did that for Windows XP and he hated it. But it's just software, so he could. Microsoft wants to push users forward, and as such, they're annoying users with their heavy hand.

What's wrong with my Android Phone touchscreen?

Pete from San Gabriel, CA

Episode 1075

Pete is having issues while playing Candy Crush. The game pieces seem to be moving out of control, and after he puts it in sleep mode and then wakes it back up, it affects other games as well. Leo says that sounds like a touch screen issue. Leo says that if it's a hardware issue, it can't be affordably fixed since it's several years old. Leo advises getting a new phone; it would be much faster and cheaper.

Flappy Bird Developer Takes Popular Free Game Down from App Stores

Episode 1055

Flappy Bird developer Dong Nguyen tweeted: "I am sorry 'Flappy Bird' users, 22 hours from now, I will take 'Flappy Bird' down. I cannot take this anymore." He also says it's not related to legal issues, and that he still makes games. Leo predicts this is a marketing ploy, and that he expects it to come back up in a week or so.

Game Creator of Flappy Bird Pulls Down App at Its Height

Episode 1056

Flappy Bird

Flappy Bird is a crazy, but simple game that users, including Leo, have become obsessed with. But after over 50 million downloads and making an estimated $50,000 a day on ads, the creator has pulled the app because "he can't take it anymore." Leo thinks it may be a PR stunt and that more will be coming. But meanwhile, there's a ton of Flappy Bird clones.

Dick DeBartolo

Episode 1043

If you want a fun, cheap game for New Year's Eve, The Giz Wiz says that Spinmaster's Boom Boom Balloon is a great game. Blow up one of the included balloons and put it into the Boom Boom frame. Then roll the die to see how many sticks you need to click before your turn is over. You can push one stick in multiple times, or several sticks once to equal the number you rolled on the die. Everyone gets excited as they watch the balloon change shape as it gets closer and closer to bursting.