tower

You see this? This...is my boomstick!

Army of Darkness Defense is a castle-defense game based on (and named after) the third movie in the cult-classic comic-horror series "Evil Dead." You play the chainsaw-armed hero Ash Williams, and audio samples of his highly quotable dialogue play a starring role in the app.

Unlike so many movie tie-in games, Army of Darkness Defense manages to be quite good: it's a mix of resource management and arcade action, in which you re-enact the frantic defense of the movie's finale. Waves of enemies--skeletal and/or demonic "Deadites"--advance from right to left inside the … Read more

Fieldrunners HD hits Android (finally)

After something of an uphill battle, Fieldrunners HD, the hugely popular Tower Defense game for iPhone, has finally made its way onto the Android platform. Originally tabbed for release last week, Fieldrunners ran into a few speed bumps with the Android Market. But fortunately all is well now, and for the first 24 hours (the clock is already ticking), Fieldrunners will be available in the Amazon Appstore for free or in the Android Market for a buck.

With high-def graphics, more than 400 levels, and four battle fields, this multiple award-winner is certainly worth checking out.

Inside the Eiffel Tower's 'secret' bunker

PARIS--If the Eiffel Tower makes you think of a direction, I'm willing to bet it's up. But for some people, the iconic French landmark can also mean down.

Down, as into a "secret" military bunker that has an entrance just feet from the south pillar, or leg, of the tower, and which then goes underground and which is full of Eiffel Tower history and even legend.

Secret of course, is a marketing term when it comes to this bunker, since it is open for a small number of weekly public visits. But because it belonged to … Read more

HexDefense for Android

HexDefense by Gotow Creative Studios is an intense arcade-style tower defense game for Android that brings subtle but effective innovations to the genre. HexDefense differentiates itself from others like Retro Defense, Guns'n'Glory, and Robo Defense by using hexagonal tiles and status-inducing panels. This gives players strategic freedom to create more innovative paths of destruction when tackling enemy waves, but introduces new challenges as well.

Gameplay Build towers by sliding one of four tower icons to a tile, or tap an existing structure to upgrade its attributes. HexDefense's hexagonal grid provides strategic options and flexibility by adding diagonal … Read more

The 404 842: Where drummers are underrated (podcast)

There's never a dull moment when our analog buddy Steve Guttenberg graces the 404 show. Tune in to hear about his recent interview with Colin Hanks, his disdain for "Forrest Gump," and why we'll be calling him "Sphere" for a very long time to come. All this and more on today's hilarious episode!

The 404 Digest for Episode 842

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Episode 842 Subscribe in iTunes (audio) | Subscribe in iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

Kickstarter funding for a Tower Records documentary film

I loved Tower Records, but I never felt a thing about any of the other big record store chains like Sam Goody, Virgin, or HMV Records. I'm sure that over a 20-year period I bought 1,000 albums at Tower Records in New York City, vs. maybe one or two at the other chains. It's easy to explain why; the other majors weren't interesting enough to hold my attention. Their inventories were too superficial; when they'd have just a small handful of Miles Davis titles, Tower had a hundred.

Tower stores were in sync with the … Read more

CNET Road Trip Europe: Planes, trains, and automobiles

When I was in my twenties, the idea of a summer in Europe meant a big backpack, a Eurail Pass, a small budget, and a lot of freedom.

I'm not in my twenties anymore, but I've just flown across the pond to begin Road Trip 2011, my sixth annual tour of a specific area of the global map in search of stories, photos, and videos about some of the best geek-oriented destinations I can find.

And this summer, after previous journeys around five regions of the United States, my travels have taken me to Europe. But despite countless … Read more

Track any Mac

If you've ever wanted to expand your Mac's capabilities, you probably wondered what--and how much--your machine could handle. This free utility eliminates the guesswork, providing current, comprehensive, and accurate technical specifications on every Mac known to man, from Cupertino's latest right on down to the vintage Macintosh 128K, along with technical information on servers, other Apple devices, and OS software stretching back to System 2.0.1.

Mactracker maintains data on everything from maximum RAM and processor speed to performance benchmarks, expansion slots, firmware, built-in hardware, and more--all in a clean, newly redesigned interface that provides strong … Read more

Help Road Trip conquer Paris

In just three weeks, I'll be starting Road Trip 2011, and this year it's all about Europe.

This will be my sixth-annual journey in search of some of the best destinations around for technology, military, architecture, science, nature, and so on.

In past years, Road Trip has been all over the U.S. I've had the opportunity to visit the Pacific Northwest, the Southwest, the Southeast, the Rocky Mountain region, and the Northeast.

But this year, for the first time, Road Trip is heading across the pond to Europe.

Already, I've already got a long list … Read more