Here at Forevergeek, we regularly try to paint a picture of the multitudinous aspects of geekiness. From science fiction to video gaming, from comics to cosplay. Sometimes, these different paths of geekdom coincide into a central nexus making things so much more fun to report. In this case, it’s when board games and video games come together. I’m about 95% sure you’ve heard of the classic board game Ticket to Ride. It’s an all-American best selling board game that’s easy to learn, hard to master and totally addicting to play with friends. The magic of Ticket to Ride is that it appeals to both the board game veterans and casual party gamers. I have to note that Ticket to Ride has been out for quite a while on iOS. Sadly, Days of Wonder did not release a universal version and have two separate versions for the iPhone and iPad. The game is worth mentioning now however because Ticket to Ride Pocket Edition is being released for FREE. If you don’t have it yet, I highly suggest you pick it up. You have nothing to lose. Do note that the original board game can set you back by around USD $30.00 so that’s huge savings already by grabbing this deal.

DOWNLOAD Ticket to Ride Pocket [FREE]
DOWNLOAD Ticket to Ride iPad [$6.99]

This is the trailer for the iPad version, although the game elements are now very similar save for screen optimization.

The objective of Ticket to Ride is very simply. You need to connect train routes to score points. Routes are created by joining train cars matching the color of the route on the screen. Strategy comes in when you need to made decisive moves of blocking opponents from completing their routes, completing your own routes and drawing train cards.

Ticket to Ride comes with solo play, local pass and play multiplayer and online multiplayer capabilities via the Game Center thanks to the latest update. The game truly hails from the original Ticket to Ride save for the messy board. No setting up or cleaning up afterwards required. Go ahead, tell your friends while it is still free!

A couple of days ago I found a link to a video of a college student who was recreating the popular Arkham Horror board game for the PC. It wasn’t an official release by Fantasy Flight Games, but rather a graduation requirement for school. Her plan seems to be pretty solid. Since this is a school project, EU law covers this as fair use and she intends to present this post-grad to the guys from FFG and see if some partnership can be struck.

In the meantime, Andi needs your help. She’s looking for beta testers till Feb 5 2012. You may be an Arkham Horror fan — or a fan of board games in general and getting a free download definitely won’t hurt. The game looks epic. One of the things I never liked about Arkham Horror was that there were just too many expansions to play and I got into it pretty late. The game’s setup is also pretty tedious as you’ll need about 3 square meters of space to get this game really going. This digital edition solves everything.

It must be noted that this isn’t just a direct port of the game. It’s a “3D interactive” version of Arkham Horror where you actually walk around the board and do stuff.

The game is currently only available on the PC with support for old school LAN. VoIP support for multiplayer to be added in the future. But as of now, let’s give Andi our full support to make this game a reality!

Action packed, easy to play and overly addicting, Third Blade gives you three ways you can choose to deal pain to your opponents.

It’s not often we come across good hack and slash games on a mobile phone. Third Blade is one such rare occurrence. The game is made by com2us, one of the more prominent adventure game developers for iOS and Android. They’re responsible for another best seller, Inotia 3: Children of Carnia and Heavy Gunner.

Walking through the forest, you and your girlfriend (??) encounter an army of huge slugs. After slicing up a few, you realize, in horror that your friend has been half-eaten by one of the remaining slugs. You make your way towards their general direction to rescue her.

Third Blade is a side scrolling action game with a lot of hacking and slashing. It features the option to use three different types of bladed weapons, each more suited to different types of enemies. The three weapons are classified into a fast but weaker dual wield knives, a balanced sword and a heavy two handed broadsword that deals maximum pain but attacks slowly. Each weapon has its own distinct adrenaline charge attack which you can further customize as the game progresses.

Each level is pretty linear and advancing to the next level only entails you survive a number of waves of enemies before a portal to the right of the stage opens. After a couple of warps, you encounter the boss of the stage which is usually a more powerful version of the generics you kill off in that particular stage.

Third Blade allows you to change weapons instantly, although I found using the two handed broadsword for most of the game, dishing out maximum damage while keeping checked on my distance with enemies. Each level awards you with coins — which you can also get from drops. The coins can then be used to upgrade each of your weapon types and abilities.

Third Blade is pretty much the cookie cutter action game that Android users may want as the ultimate time waster. Best of all, the game is free to download with in-game purchases being the not so surprising business model.

Third Blade for Android [Download Now]

Fans of the Evil Dead franchise may have heard of a remake of the 1981 cult classic. It’s the one franchise that made Bruce Campbell famous playing the chainsaw armed Ash and Sam Raimi as director (unfortunately he went on to direct other things like the flop that was Spider Man). So it has come to this: one of the defining pillars of geekdom is being remade after 30 years. Think about it, geeks: Army of Darkness is really just as old as the NASA Space Shuttle Program.

So, while we wait for the remake of Ash’s time warp into the medieval era, it might not be a coincidence that the Evil Dead franchise has subcontracted game developers to build two iOS games for both the iPad and iPhone. As to whether the game was initiated by .. err .. MGM or the devs, I have no idea.

Army of Darkness Defense

I’ve already reviewed this in a previous post. It’s one of those games that you WON”T end up deleting after letting it tease you for 5 minutes. This is one of my iPad staples.

When I first reviewed the app, I had just acquired archer support. Now, I’m well into my 40′s and have unlocked the hero, Arthur. Army of Darkness Defense is pretty straightforward — you run back and forth killing Deadites and you can get a level done in less than 5 minutes. That’s pretty much how we roll.

Download here (STILL FREE)

Now if you’re looking for a little bit more RPG, you might want to consider Evil Dead, the mother franchise of Army of Darkness.

The Evil Dead HD

Updated recently, Evil Dead is a top down action shooter that’s got more story in it that AoD. You basically re-enact the movie starring Bruce Campbell from a not-so-quite bird’s eye view. The premise is pretty simple: in each level, you have to guide Ash through pathways to reach a certain objective while picking up weapons and mowing down enemies.

It’s a dungeon crawler, ladies and gents, with controls that are a bit off and well … the game really doesn’t feel as polished as AoD. Remember playing an old retro favorite called Alone in the Dark? Well that’s how the 3D polygons look like. It’s a tad disappointing as aiming my boom stick is pretty screwed up and I can plow through my ammo without actually hitting anything.

Download here (STILL FREE)

All in all, if you’re a huge fan of the Evil Dead series, both these games are worth getting — simply because they’re FREE for a limited time only. AoD trumps Evil Dead but Deadites are Deadites and if mowing them down with your chainsaw is something you fancy, then by all means grab both!

Here we have 11 Daft Punk tracks covered using 8-bit gaming systems:

1. Around The World by The Listrix
2. Short Circuit by Random
3. Voyager by Zombectro
4. Revolution 909 by Note!
5. Aerodynamic by Je deviens dj en 3 jours
6. Superheroes by Stage7
7. Crescendolls by Flashbob
8. One More Time by Microchip
9. Teachers by Fluxxin
10. Indo Silver Club by Motone
11. Veridis Quo by EvilWezil

Go grab the free download and cover art.

Via

iWallFlower is a free download that lets you draw on the iPhone screen and then share your creations with the rest of the world. There’s a bit of “Ocarina” about it, except that you’re showing off visual creations instead of sounds.

You can just watch what others are creating, either from a desktop web browser or from within the iPhone app itself. There’s a voting element, too, as you can mark artwork up or down. Popular artwork appears in the “promoted” or “popular’ sections. The app also displays a map showing where each drawing came from.

I’m not a visual artist, so I doubt my creations are ever going to make it into the popular sections. The app feels a little quirky, but maybe I just haven’t fully “got” it yet.

iWallFlower [iTunes link]

Cell Phones.org is hosting a blogger appreciation contest and the winner will have her/his phone bill covered for one year.
The contest will reward three bloggers:

First Prize: a full year’s worth of your cell phone bill (up to $1000)
Second Prize: free cell phone (does not include plan)
Third Prize: $100 gift certificate to use at Cell Phones .org

All you have to do is nominate your blog before the end of the month. Voting will take place in March.
There are no regional restrictions, you don’t have to live in the US to win. :)

(I haven’t had time to confirm this since I’m in a bit of a hurry but from the comments I read it seems to really work)