Cube and Star are now available for iPad.

Not so long ago i wrote and made a video for Doppler Interactive´s adventure/ open-world exploration game "Cube and Star: An Arbitrary Love". Well, now it´s finally time for Cube and Star to arrive on the iPad. And the game is all yours for $1 via the App Store =)

Press release:
"Award winning game Cube & Star: An Arbitrary Love brings its surreal charm to iPad. Award winning game Cube & Star: An Arbitrary Love (Intel LevelUp Best “Other” Game 2013, IndieCade Finalist 2013) has been released for iPad. Cube & Star: An Arbitrary Love is a colorfully-surreal open-world exploration game about life, joy and the pointlessness of existence.

Enter a zen trance as you bring the grey world to life, painting the earth in your fool's errand to reunite the Ancient Cube and Star. Bounce and roll around the chequerboard world - eat fruit, nudge trees - stain the ground and thrill to the emergence of strange and curious creatures.

And as night falls and day rises once more, take heart: you aren’t playing it wrong, because there is no way to play it right. Sole creator Joshua McGrath is the first to admit it is a bizarre little game. He created the game as a weird romantic gift for his wife, stating: “I wanted to make a game that is exactly the sort of game she would love.”

On bringing Cube & Star: An Arbitrary Love to the largely casual App Store McGrath comments "I think it's a unique addition to the whole App Store... ecosystem. These touch devices are beautiful things, and they're a little underutilized right now, I think. The App Store is big and loud - but man... it could be big and loud and meaningful - right?"

Cube & Star: An Arbitrary Love found critical acclaim prior to release, winning Intel LevelUp Best “Other” Game, as well as being named a finalist in IndieCade 2013 and shortlisted for the A.Maze WTF award 2014.

The iPad release of Cube and Star: An Arbitrary Love follows on from the Steam release (PC, Mac, Linux) earlier in the year, with Wii U to come soon."

/Robin E
The Gaming Ground

Cricket got some big plans for the future.

So when I walked into my local Cricket store the other day to pay my bill, I got surprising news as to why my phone had been losing service randomly. My Samsung Galaxy S4 was being transitioned over to AT&T’s new 4GLTE network, due to the final decision to do so after their acquisition of Cricket earlier this year for 1.2 Billion dollars. What does this mean for you and any other person on Crickets’ network? Quite a few things actually, depending upon your choice of mobile device, and service plan.

If you own an Android phone it happens to be a Samsung Galaxy S4 or older, you have to upgrade to either a S5 or newer or your service will be invalid as of March 1, 2015. The thing is, the Samsung Galaxy S3, and S4 aren’t GSM they are actually CDMA.

The craziest part about this situation is that many customers simply did not know that there would be a difference when signing up for Cricket when switching from a contract. They have also failed to rollout information to many unaware customers of their decision in written, or email. Some were lucky enough to receive this message through SMS:

“Cricket is upgrading its CDMA network to 4G GSM and expects to stop offering CDMA wireless service as early as March 2015. THIS CDMA PHONE WILL NO LONGER WORK ON OUR WIRELESS NETWORK AFTER WE COMPLETE THIS UPGRADE."

This message is attached to the Galaxy S4 on the Cricket website.


Not bad. Not bad at all.

What this means is that if you have an old iPhone 4 and above you’re essentially safe as these phones are safe, since Cricket doesn’t sell Cricket branded versions of these phones, unlike the Samsung Galaxy S3, and S4. The other unfortunate side in the tale is that you won’t get a lot for the trading in of your old phone to upgrade to a newer compatible phone such as the Samsung Galaxy S5. Currently at the most your Galaxy S4 is only worth $120.00 store credit.


Just one out of many Cricket stores.

Cricket plans won’t change very much, however their Muve music feature will not be available to future customers, AT&T says they will allow current customers to continue to have the service until they decide what they wish to do with it. Many of Cricket’s stores will be converting over to new marketing to reflect the change, and the brand in the form of over 3,000 stores.

With all these changes happening in less than a year, and many customers still unaware of the changes coming their way the future is still unclear for Cricket’s brand and its retention of customers. One thing is crystal clear when it comes to us consumers however, AT&T is very smart in its acquiring Cricket, as no matter what happens the profits will remain 100% but what’s risky is that it’s core customers may want to jump ship with their phones and get the unlimited no contract option by terminating early, since they can get the same service for a third of the price.

Will you stay with your carrier, or look into the newly marketed Cricket brand? Let us know.

/Kenay Peterson
The Gaming Ground