Adobe Systems has announced Flash Player 11 and Adobe AIR 3 software to enable the next generation of immersive application experiences across devices and platforms. Flash Player 11 and AIR 3 will allow game publishers to instantly deliver console-quality 2D and 3D games over the Internet to anyone with a PC, tablet, smartphone or connected TV.

By the end of 2011, Adobe expects more than 200 million smartphones and tablets including Apple iOS devices to support Flash based applications via Adobe AIR. Adobe AIR, a superset of Flash Player, enables developers to leverage existing code to create and deliver standalone applications across devices and platforms.

Flash offers the best way for content owners to deliver their most demanding experiences, including games, premium video and sophisticated data- driven apps, to all of their users, while HTML 5 tools such as Adobe Edge and Dreamweaver are ideal to build interactive web pages, rich ads, branded microsites and general-purpose mobile applications.

- Danny Winokur, Vice President and General manager, Platform at Adobe.

Flash Player 11 and AIR 3 offer full hardware-accelerated rendering for 2D and 3D graphics that enables 1000x faster rendering performance over Flash Player 10 and AIR 2. Also, Flash-based applications on Apple iOS devices can now display full frame rate videos using H.264 hardware decoding. Rich applications on televisions will also be  able to deliver HD video with 7.1 channel surround sound.

Although facing tough competition from HTML5 capabilities and the non-availability of Flash in browsers on most smartphone platforms, Flash Player is supported on more than 98 percent of Internet connected PCs today. More than 70 percent of casual games on the Web are based on Flash, although mobile-gaming has seen exponential rise in last few years. According to an IDC report from May 2011, total market revenue of casual gaming should rise to $3.5 billion  by 2015 and the number of gamers should rise to 138.2 million.

Nostalgia creeps into the hearts of anyone who hears the phrase Missile Command. All of us have at one point of time played Missile Command or its clone (Parachute on the iPod, hint hint*) or its variant. Missile Command, along with Asteroids and Space Invaders was all the rage in the 80s and even spawned this mega wacky yet retro ad:-

Now why would I suddenly pop in the name of Missile Command? The reason, my friends, is that Atari along with OMGPOP has launched a web-based Missile Command game with power-ups, tricky enemies, boss-battles and (gasp!) it is multiplayer!

Indeed! This free-to-play game can be played with up to six other players and will definitely be an intense mass of crazy destruction in the skies as missiles drop from nowhere on you. Blow up enemy nukes and conserve your own energy and save your city before it becomes a wasteland! Of course, waste your time as well, as OMGPOP’s badge proudly shows off:-

Play the revamped Missile Command now!

Flash games are the perfect way to waste your precious time. There are various reasons as to why that is so, namely:-

• They are tiny, and they load within minutes(barring a few exceptions).
• The controls are very easy to figure out.
• They have a huge variety.
• They are absolutely, without fail, FUN!

Now that the causalities of Flash games being fun is done with, how about a flash game that has a single button as the controlling element? Let’s make that two. Presenting two one-button games that will leave you wondering where the last one hour (or two) went off two to!

Introducing One Button Bob, and his pixelated adventures. In The Adventures of One Button Bob, Bob jumps, throws boomerangs at bats, stops and runs with a single click of your mouse. You might be wondering how he does all that with a single button? The answer: not simultaneously. The mouse click’s behavior changes each level, and eventually you will have to fight a boss.

How many clicks will it take you?

The second single-button shilly-shally software is G-Switch is a single concept taken to the extreme. You control a futuristic runner through a series of platforms. Sounds simple? Well, instead of jumping over platforms, you get to switch gravity. Here are a couple of screenshots that will make you understand better:-

Here is when the runner is running on the flatbed Newton’s apple kind of gravity.

And here is when you click the mouse and the gravity switches. And you keep doing this if you want to stay alive. Causes of death: the moving screen engulfs you or you drop into nothingness.

So, when you are waiting for something, or you just want to waste time, fear not for these games will come to your rescue!

Just so you know, I solely blame Digg for this.

I’m not into gaming much anymore, but the first time I saw the game Portal, I was sure I’d be addicted if I ever got a copy. Well, I never did get a copy of it. However, I don’t feel so bad now, because I can play a simple Flash version of the game that was made by a fan. ( Play it here: Portal the Flash Version )

The Flash version is very simplistic compared to the real thing, but it will still very likely have you wasting hours of time on these fantastic 3D puzzles.

Here’s what the Flash version looks like:

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And in case you are curious, here’s what the real version looks like:

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Have fun!

Techie Buzz Rating: 4/5 (Excellent)

Everybody likes tower defense. The games are insanely addictive. Just yesterday, Keith asked me to review a few of these games, including his personal favorite Bloons. He linked me to the game, and what was supposed to be yesterday’s review was postponed to today because I could not stop playing that game.

It’s fun, it’s addictive and it is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the Tower Defense genre’ (because strategyis too loose a term to describe these games). All of these games have a common gameplay scheme a wave of enemies come from one or more entry points, and they must be killed before they can reach the exit. This genre is so popular that in Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, there was a secret tower defense game during the campaign! Presented below are the top 5 tower defense games in my opinion.

1. Bloons Tower Defense 3: Monkeys bursting balloons (bloons). In its entirety, that is the game and it is highly addictive. This sequel to the immensely popular Bloons is outstanding in its simplicity and complex in its strategy. There are quite a few units to choose from, while the interface is very easy to get used to. Be warned this game is very addictive!
2. Vector TD X: Possibly the most polished of all Tower Defense games, this tower defense game looks and plays smoothly. With line vector graphics, and a high-tech SF look, this game is a treat on the eyes and is also super-fun to play!
3. Random Tower Defence [sic]: This is one tower defense game where the design has taken a backseat to complete ridiculousness. You will have to defeat opponents that range from being simple brown spheres to luscious lips to even Agent Smith. All of these are simple pictures, and though this game offers nothing more than usual in terms of tower defense, it will offer a few laughs when it comes to playing it.
4. FlashCraft: A game that is unique in the fact that the towers can take damage and be destroyed. This game mimics Warcraft III in both the main screen and the design of the towers and units. Great fun to play, but a tad bit difficult.
5. Protector: An attempt to marry RPGs and TDs, this game does not have towers it has wizards and soldiers that can be leveled up by choosing two different paths. This game is well designed and well balanced so you will have a challenging time defending the path!

Want more games? Check out the Top 3 Racing games for PSP and Top 3 Shooting Games for PSP.

Sony’s PlayStation Portable gaming console is one of the premier gaming devices available for the market at this time. Though its competitor, Nintendo DS has always been ahead when it comes to sales figures, the PSP is far more powerful than the Nintendo console. With version 2.70 of the firmware, users were greeted with Flash 6.0 support in the embedded microbrowser. This enabled users to browse some websites that allowed for Flash 6 content or even games.

However, you do not always need to be online to play a Flash game on your PSP there is a very simple way to play it offline on your beloved handheld console.

Requirements

• Sony PSP with firmware version 2.70 or higher.
• SWF file of your favourite Flash 6 game (More on how to get the SWF file later).
• Memory Stick for storing the Flash game.
• Memory Stick card reader or PSP USB connector.

Procedure

Getting the SWF file:-

1. Go to any good Flash game website (such as Miniclip or Bored.com) and search for a Flash 6 game.
2. Once you find one, load it on to your browser’s page.  
3. Once it’s loaded, save that webpage somewhere in your hard drive.
4. Navigate to the place where you have downloaded the page. There will be a folder called webpage.htm_files (where webpageis the name of the webpage that you have downloaded).
5. Inside this folder, there will be an SWF file this is your game file.

Playing on the PSP:-

1. Copy the file you downloaded into the memory stick of your PSP. Create a new folder and put it in, or place it anywhere else, but remember the address of the file. For example’s sake, I place the file on X:\FLASH\game.swf, where X is the memory stick’s drive name on the computer.
2. Open the PSP’s internet browser and type file:/FLASH/game.swf
3. Your PSP will ask your permission to run a plugin in that page. Agree to it and start playing!

Closing Notes

Block Commander and Jelly are two games from PSP Flash Gaming, a site dedicated to providing flash games for PSP users. (Note you need to search a little to find the SWF files since the website urges users to connect to their site over the internet to play the games.) Another wonderful site optimised for the PSP is PSPonme that has a large collection of Flash 6 games.

Online flash games are definitely one way to keep yourself occupied for quite some time, in-fact my perfect time waster has been this tennis game which has been sucking in hours and hours from my boredom.

Now if that was not enough, Tech Cult has come up with 150 Best Online Flash Games, as if one time waster was not enough :-). The games are neatly categorized into Action games, Aim and Shoot games, Arcade and Classic games, Tower defense games, Escape the Room games, Graphical Adventures, Guitar Hero games, Jewels games, Logic games, Multiplayer games, Physics games, Puzzle games, Racing games, Reflex games and so on.

Definitely a list worth bookmarking.