Find free Android games through OpenFeint's Game Channel app

Gree and OpenFeint just opened fire on DeNA and Ngmoco's Mobage network for Android. DeNA's primary competitors abroad just announced that Game Channel has arrived on Android devices. Known on iOS devices as OpenFeint's mobile games discovery platform, Game Channel offers Android gamers a way to discover new games to play, namely free-to-play games.

Through Game Channel, OpenFeint will display games to users such as the Featured Game and Free Game of the Day, which the company says will include free in-game items, too. As for curation, OpenFeint will recognize notable free games under its Free Games That Rock category, and highlight game personally recommended by the company within Feint's Featured Picks.

The Game Channel app will also recommend games based on the seasons and other themes like holidays. Players will get to access their profiles and other social features right from within Game Channel, and OpenFeint will recommend new releases. This news comes just as OpenFeint finds itself with a new CEO, former Gree exec Naoki Aoyagi, and a new director of developer relations, Sarah Thompson.

Gree and DeNA have begun to battle for mobile social gaming supremacy vicariously through their strategic acquisitions, OpenFeint and Ngmoco, respectively. While Ngmoco is reportedly seeking more users to bolster its rather small number of Mobage users, OpenFeint reports welcoming 128 million players across all platforms. But it's also important to note the amount of developer support DeNA and Ngmoco have garnered recently. And now Zynga is heavy into mobile gaming--oy vey.

Are an Android gamer that has trouble finding new mobile social games to play? Do you think OpenFeint will provide that solution better than Mobage can, and which do you prefer?

Find free Android games through OpenFeint's Game Channel app

Through Game Channel, OpenFeint will display games to users such as the Featured Game and Free Game of the Day, which the company says will include free in-game items, too. As for curation, OpenFeint will recognize notable free games under its Free Games That Rock category, and highlight game personally recommended by the company within Feint's Featured Picks.

The Game Channel app will also recommend games based on the seasons and other themes like holidays. Players will get to access their profiles and other social features right from within Game Channel, and OpenFeint will recommend new releases. This news comes just as OpenFeint finds itself with a new CEO, former Gree exec Naoki Aoyagi, and a new director of developer relations, Sarah Thompson.

CrowdStar, others dock in Sibblingz Spaceport for mobile social games

If we haven't driven home yet that mobile will be massive in the future of social games, we clearly haven't done our job. Luckily, news like the fact that Sibblingz has signed on It Girl creator CrowdStar and a number of other developers to use its Spaceport service helps us make good on that.

TechCrunch reports that--in addition to CrowdStar--BitRhymes, IKIGames, LuckyLabs, Fortune Planet and DeezGames have signed on to use Spaceport to create mobile versions of their Facebook games. Spaceport is Sibblingz's cloud-based game development platform that allows developers like CrowdStar to create mobile games that work on both iOS and Android devices.

Essentially, it allows developers to create a mobile game once and have it run on multiple mobile devices. The platform makes use of coding languages like Javascript and HTML5, but neither of which are known for making robust or fully-featured games on iPhones or Android phones. However, Sibblingz claims that games built on Spaceport feature an app-like experience.

What Sibblingz means is that, while these games are built using simpler code languages, they will perform like, say CityVille Hometown by Zynga. That game was built using tools specifically for iOS devices and is thus more visually impressive and feature-rich than mobile browser games. However, according to TechCrunch, developers can even create games specifically for iPhones and iPads through Spaceport.

Sibblingz also says that developers can make games for Facebook's worst-kept secret, Project Spartan--an initiative to bring Facebook to mobile devices through browsers using HTML5 complete with full-featured apps and games--through Spaceport. Jeez, on paper it sounds like Spaceport can do anything but make the cash flow.

Regardless, what's important to take away here is that social game developers realize that mobile is where it's at. Frankly, it's one area where clear winners have yet to be defined, much unlike Facebook (ahem, Zynga and EA). At this point, anyone could come out a winner on mobile, and perhaps the companies that embrace cross-platform game creation like CrowdStar will have the upper hand.

Do you think these developers have a chance at winning the mobile race these social game creators are running with Spaceport? Who do you think will ultimately win the mobile social gaming war? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment

Finally, hang out with your Android buddies in Hanging With Friends

It looks like Tuesday is unofficially Zynga Game Day, as the company just announced that Hanging With Friends is now available for free on the Android Market. Keep in mind, this comes just minutes after the company revealed Mafia Wars 2. Even better news than the fact that Android players can get in on Zynga With Friends's second mobile game is that it's now cross-platform ready.

Yes, now you can play both your iPhone-toting friends and your best Android-owning enemies buds in this crazy take on the classic pen and paper game of Hangman. In case you're unfamiliar, Hanging With Friends takes the popular turn-based exchange of the wildly popular Words With Friends and applies that to a wacky game of Hangman, but with some twists.

For one, players who choose their word for an opponent are limited by the letters provided to them. Then, that challenge is sent to a player who must guess the word with a limited amount of guesses. This exchange of posing challenges and guesses continues asynchronously until one player loses all of their balloons and falls into a pit of lava or other various deathtraps.

Luckily, you have a series of power-ups at your disposal that can restore some of your guesses or reveal letters that may or may not be part of the word your friend chose in secret. Of course, these boosts cost Coins, which you can accumulate over time by winning Hanging With Friends matches or purchasing them outright in-game.
Gallery: Hanging With Friends on Android
Of course, the Android version contains all of the features that its iOS counterpart sports, like the ability to play up to 20 games at a time, in-game chat and push notifications. Finally, you can add friends via your existing With Friends account, or just connect to Facebook (like everyone else) to find more folks to crush with your wordsmithery. Have at thee, Fandroids.

Click here to download Hanging With Friends on the Android Market Now >

Are you psyched that Hanging With Friends has finally come to Android? What other Zynga games do you hope to see on Android phones on the future? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment