Rockstar’s GTA series and Max Payne on sale via Google Play

In the world of gaming, Rockstar is certainly a well known entity responsible for a number of excellent series including Max Payne, Red Dead, Grand Theft Auto, and more. While Rockstar’s latest and greatest titles are generally reserved for PC and modern gaming consoles, many of its classics have made their way over to Android over the years in the form of high quality ports.

The only downside? Sometimes these ports are a little pricey considering the games are often many years old. Luckily right now you can get a heck of a deal of six titles from this developer via the Google Play store.

The titles in question are GTA: San Andreas ($3.99), GTA: Vice City ($2.99), GTA 3 ($2.99), GTA: Chinatown Wars ($2.99), GTA: Liberty City Stories ($2.99), and Max Payne Mobile ($1.99). All these games are faithfully ported with touchscreen controllers added in, though the ability to bring your own controller is also an option.

Battleborn Tap arrives in the Play Store

If you can’t get enough of Battleborn on your PC or console, then you’re in luck: Battleborn Tapis now available on your Android mobile device. Fight your way through waves of enemies by tapping furiously on your screen and unlock a variety of rewards and upgrades to make your squad of heroes even more powerful.

As you can probably tell from that brief description, this is a very different kind of game than Battleborn proper. Gone is the MOBA-style multiplayer experience in favor of crunchy, trigger-happy madness. If you’re a fan of the game, then this is a nice way to experience a little bit more of the world.

What’s perhaps the most interesting aspect of this game is the fact that it interlinks with Battleborn through your SHiFT account. Through Battleborn Tap, you can unlock exclusive rewards for your PC or console playthrough and vice versa. A nice little perk there.

Some decry the gameplay as a bit too simplistic, but it makes a nice little time killer if you’re looking for something not too demanding. To give Battleborn Tap a spin, click the button below to download it from the Play Store. Try it out, then let us know what you think of it in the comments!

GET IT IN THE PLAY STORE

Star Wars’ Holochess creator has a monster-battling AR game on Kickstarter

You read that right. The original designer of the classic HoloChess scene in A New Hope, Phil Tippett, has a Kickstarter campaign running for a game called HoloGrid: Monster Battle. It’s not quite the HoloChess you know from the movie because the AR tech isn’t there yet, but it is the foundation for what will evolve into full-blown HoloChess when the technology catches up

“Let’s be real: any article you read about Magic Leap or any AR platform, the first thing they talk about is Holochess,” says Mike Levine, a man who was once the senior effects specialist at LucasArts and is now the CEO of a game studio working with Tippett and Corey Rosen, another former creature effects supervisor at Industrial Light & Magic.

In its current form, HoloGrid is a mobile game with a physical card and board (for those that eschew too much technology in their HoloChess). To play, you build a deck from the collectible cards and either play it on your phone by scanning in your cards or on the physical game board. The aim is to build the infrastructure now and turn it into full-on HoloChess when AR and VR can support it properly.

The aim is to build the infrastructure now and turn it into full-on HoloChess when AR and VR can support it properly.

As Levine notes, “Even though that tech is not here yet, at least for consumers, it’s coming somewhat soon. Our whole vision here is really that this is version 1.0 of this project – build the gameplay foundation, the mechanics – but our real long-term vision is to take it to those platforms and be one of the first cool games on it.” The Kickstarter campaign is already at 10% of its $100,000 goal and will ship to backers in November 2016.

While none of the monsters in HoloGrid: Monster Battle are directly from Star Wars, the new creatures are not only based on the originals but were built by Tippett himself (Engadget has the full story of how the game came about if you’re interested). So while HoloGrid won’t be exactly like HoloChess for a little while yet, it already has as many of the original ingredients in it as possible without Disney’s lawyers knocking at your door.

How long have you waited for this to happen? Will you be backing HoloGrid?

BACK HOLOGRID ON KICKSTARTER

5 best Nintendo DS emulators for Android

The Nintendo DS is among the most popular handheld consoles of all time. Its iconic value is right up there with that of the Game Boy and the PSP. There were some amazing games for the system and sometimes it’s easier to keep those games on your phone than to carry around a second device to play them. Sadly, development of the Nintendo DS emulator platform is still is a little niche so there aren’t a ton of options to choose from. Nevertheless, we did find a few that worked alright so here are the best Nintendo DS emulators for Android!

AseDS

[Price: Free]

AseDS is one of the newer Nintendo DS emulators to hit the market. It boasts a few features, such as cheat codes, custom button layouts, screen display options, and some performance tweaks to help smooth game play (like frame skipping). During our testing, it seemed to play most of the ROMs we threw at it without too much trouble, although some games stuttered a bit and user reviews have complained about the game’s issue with a few Pokemon games as well. Taking into consideration that the emulator is free, it’s definitely worth a shot.

GET IT NOW ON GOOGLE PLAY!

DraStic DS emulator

[Price: $5.99]

DraStic DS emulator is probably the most stable DS emulator available right now. During our testing, it played pretty much every game we threw at it with only a few games that didn’t perform overly well. The emulator itself comes with a host of features, including screen layout customization, controller customization, support for hardware controllers, fast forward, Google Drive support, and high end devices can enjoy some improved graphics rendering if they so choose. The price tag is a bit hefty comparatively speaking, but this is a good emulator.

GET IT NOW ON GOOGLE PLAY!

NDS Boy

[Price: Free]

NDS Boy is another one of the newer Nintendo DS emulators on the market and this one seems to be pretty decent. It has an above average ROM compatibility and a few other features, including customizable controls and the basic stuff like save and load states. It’s also compatible with NDS game files including zip, 7z, rar, and nds files. It’s free to download and use with no in-app purchases with the only caveat being that it recommends that you have a high end device for it to work correctly.

GET IT NOW ON GOOGLE PLAY!

nds4droid

[Price: Free]

nds4droid is another free Nintendo DS emulator and this one has been around for a long time. Thankfully, the developer has been actively supporting it and it has been getting progressively better although it still has some issues here and there. It has the basic features like save and load states along with performance tweaks like frame skip to help games play at a more logical speed. It’s entirely open source and you can find the source code by clicking here if you want to help the project improve.

GET IT NOW ON GOOGLE PLAY!

RetroArch

[Price: Free]

RetroArch is an open source emulator that actually has a number of systems available, including SNES, PlayStation, Game Boy, and Nintendo DS. It’s a bit more complex than most, with each emulator coming in the form of “cores” that you must download and add to the app for it to play those particular games. During our testing, it seemed to work rather well, although it did have a few of the same issues as other emulators. It’s free to download and use and is also open source so there’s no harm in giving it a shot if the others don’t play the games you want.

GET IT NOW ON GOOGLE PLAY!

Casey Neistat’s video app Beme exits beta and comes to Android

Beme, the video sharing app from Casey Neistat (the ‘snowboarding with the NYPD’ guy) has left beta and arrived on Android. Beme is quite unique in that you shoot blindly and there are no buttons to press: a simple gesture starts Beme recording and there is no chance to review your clip or even see what you’re recording before it is sent.

The idea behind Beme is that it shares unfiltered life. Because there’s nothing to see on your phone’s display while you’re recording, you’re ‘forced’ to actually look at what is happening around you through your eyes. Beme works a little like Snapchat in that you can find interesting people to follow. Beme also allows you to send instant reactions in real-time to other people’s Bemes.

Perhaps the coolest part of Beme is how you start recording: simply hold your phone to your chest to start shooting (or otherwise cover the proximity sensor). When you remove the phone it automatically stops recording and your Beme is sent. As Neistat says, there’s no preview, no review, just real life as it happens right in front of you. If that sounds like something you’d like to get into, you can hit the button below for the install

.INSTALL BEME

10 best free music apps for Android

Finding free music is a lot easier than it used to be. No longer is piracy the easiest way and you can listen to pretty much whatever kind of music you want without being resorted to going to the darkest parts of the Internet to get it. Streaming services pop up and go down every year, but there are a few that have managed to stand out above the rest. Let’s take a look at the best free music apps for Android!

Deezer

[Price: Free / $9.99/month]

Deezer has been around for a while and it’s a fairly solid music service. The free version of the service lets you use Deezer’s FLOW feature to discover new artists and you can listen to playlists and mixes based on your personal taste. It also has lyric fetching, unlimited playlist creation, and mixes based on individual artists. There is a premium version that gives you more features like higher quality audio, offline listening, and Android Auto support if you want that. The only caveat is that the application seems to be a little rough around the edges.

GET IT NOW ON GOOGLE PLAY!

Google Play Music

[Price: Free / $9.99/month]

Google Play Music is an increasingly popular option thanks to its accessibility and the ability to upload up to 50,000 of your own songs to the cloud for easy listening. Of the apps on this list, this is the best option if you want to combine your current collection with an online service. The free version of Play Music lets you stream your music and listen to various curated playlists. If you get All Access, you’ll also get YouTube Red, on-demand playback, and more. The service also now includes podcasts for both free and paid users.

GET IT NOW ON GOOGLE PLAY!

iHeartRadio

[Price: Free]

iHeartRadio is one of the most popular free music apps out there. It’s a radio app where you can listen to a variety of stations based on your individual tastes and it also comes with seasonal radio stations and things like podcasts, talk radio, and comedy shows. It also includes AM and FM radio stations that support data streaming and you can even listen to news and sports. It’s a versatile application with a modern, Material Design UI and it comes with the little stuff like Chromecast support, Android Wear support, and Android Auto support.

GET IT NOW ON GOOGLE PLAY!

Jango Radio

[Price: Free]

Jango Radio is kind of a wildcard in the free music space. It has a variety of music from both big names and independent artists alike. Unlike most, this service allows independent artists to pay for plays, meaning that you may hears a song that an artist paid to hear. This gives Jango its operating revenue which helps it stay free. Potential ethical implications aside, the experience is quite nice for people and it’s a good way to discover some new music.

GET IT NOW ON GOOGLE PLAY!

Pandora

[Price: Free / $4.99/month]

Pandora has been one of the go-to music streaming services for millions of people for many years. It’s key feature is its simplicity and cross-platform support. You can easily jump right in and listen to music you enjoy on virtually any platform you can think of and your stations sync across all of them. The company has also made some interesting movies, including buying out Rdio for $75 million, it’s included on all of the “free data” promotions from carriers like T-Mobile and Virgin Mobile, and there is an optional paid version if you want more features.

GET IT NOW ON GOOGLE PLAY!

Slacker Radio

[Price: Free / $3.99/month / $9.99/month]

Slacker Radio is another popular option, although it doesn’t get talked about as much as some other services do. It boasts both free and subscription services that include music, shows, comedy, sports, and all kinds of other content for you to enjoy. Much like Pandora, it has strong cross-platform support and you can choose between creating your own radio stations for quick, easily listening or curated playlists created by Slacker. There is also a $3.99/month plan to remove ads and give you unlimited skips and a second $9.99/month plan to give you on-demand listening and offline playback.

GET IT NOW ON GOOGLE PLAY!

SoundCloud

[Price: Free / $9.99]

SoundCloud is a very unique option because it doesn’t just focus on what’s popular right now. In fact, literally any artist can upload to SoundCloud and that content can be played back by anyone. The service currently boasts 125 million tracks which is more than anyone will ever listen to, ever. It also has a variety of shows, podcasts, and other content to enjoy. The free version is mostly independent artists with the paid version getting you the more popular music by bigger names. If you go for SoundCloud,

GET IT NOW ON GOOGLE PLAY!

Spotify

[Price: Free / $9.99/month]

Spotify has been just great for music streaming and it’s among the most popular free music apps ever. It boasts a generous library, curated stations and playlists, and the ability to create your own stations and playlists if you so choose. The free version of the service isn’t as robust as the paid version, but there are still plenty of things to like about Spotify’s free service. The app also comes with some light Material Design, Chromecast support, and the tablet version actually has more features than the mobile version.

GET IT NOW ON GOOGLE PLAY!

TuneIn Radio

[Price: Free / $7.99/month]

It’s true that TuneIn Radio is more known for its talk radio, podcast, and comedy radio offerings than it is for its music, but there are still plenty of ways to enjoy free music on TuneIn. It boasts over 100,000 stations in total that covers almost every genre that you can possibly think of and that also includes AM and FM radio stations that can be streamed over data. There isn’t much of a reason to get the premium version for music alone, but it does also offer audiobooks, live sports broadcasting, and more.

GET IT NOW ON GOOGLE PLAY!

YouTube and YouTube Music

[Price: Free / $9.99/month]

YouTube has been a go-to place for finding music for years. You can find all of the biggest hits, the overnight sensations, and even a ton of independent content that you just can’t find anywhere else. Pretty much everyone uses YouTube so you know what you’re getting yourself into. It has playlists, on-demand playing, and it’s available for pretty much every platform. If you’re looking for just music on YouTube, we recommend trying out Youtube Music which seems to focus more on music-centric features. You can also pick up YouTube Red (along with Google Play Music All Access) for $9.99/month and get offline playback, screen-off listening, and no ads. Don’t forget to subscribe to Android Authority also!

GET IT NOW ON GOOGLE PLAY!