Google are looking to make multiplayer gaming a bigger part of the Android ecosystem, with a new service called Google Play Games uncovered by Android Police.

Part of Google Play Services (v3.1.36), the update will add in multiplayer features such as notifications, matchmaking and game invites (naturally channelled through Google+ circles, of course), as well as other features including synced game saves over the cloud to multiple Android devices, console-like achievements and finally public and Google+ circles centred leaderboards.

Said to be rolling out gradually over the coming days and weeks, it's not yet clear which games will tie into the new services, or whether it will be a global feature set for all games.

The timing however is perfect, as Android begins to establish itself as a notable gaming platform with the release of the crowd-funded Ouya games console and plug-and-play Game Stick.

It also gives Google the chance to more competently take on Apple's strong gaming credentials, with iOS's Game Center features offering similar functionality to what seems set to be present in the Android alternative.

With Google's annual I/O conference kicking off this week, expect all the details to be ironed out in the coming days.

UPDATE:
Google has informed us that the offensive app has now been flagged for investigation, and issued this statement:

The original story follows.

We've covered some bad apps over the years, usually because they're either comically awful or attempting to rip you off. Sometimes they're both. But it's not often we pick up on an app just because it makes us so angry.

But that's what "Racist Jokes" on the Google Play store has inspired us to do, made all the worse by the fact that Google seem to be making money from it.

As spotted by app expert (and former Tech Digest writer) Stuart Dredge, it's full of the sort of naff, unfunny and (most importantly) massively offensive jokes that should be left in the notebooks of "naive" (to put it euphemistically) comedians of the 1970s.

Now, there's much to recommend about the Google Play store being open to all sorts of submissions, allowing for a wide range of apps that would never make their way onto Apple's App Store. Sometime that means they're just a bit rubbish, down to poor quality control, but sometimes it means that you can get hold of great Android apps that give you far more control over how your phone works than you ever could on iOS, down to that very same open nature.

But when horrible stuff like this slips through the cracks, it makes us wish Google paid a bit more attention to what's going up, and what's putting cash in their pockets.

Racist Jokes costs 0.63p, and with Google taking a 30% cut of its estimated 1,000 to 5,000 current sales tally, the company are actually making money out of bigotry.

The argument that, by writing this post, we're giving the app some sort of profile, is somewhat valid, but if such horrible content is allowed to go onto the Play store unchecked, how else will it ever be policed? A quick search on the store shows there are at least two similar apps already on the Google Play store, and no obvious parallel on Apple's App Store.

While the Cupertino company's App Store approval process can sometimes seem draconian, at least it sets standards that prevents this sort of rubbish going up.

The Racist Jokes app has so far only had a few thousand downloads, and you could argue that the Play store polices itself through the user submitted ratings.

Racist Jokes currently has a score of 3.5 out of 5. It doesn't take a master mathematician to figure out that's an above average score.

So what if an easily influenced youngster comes across this relatively high scoring app looking for what's advertised as an opportunity to "get in on the comedy"? There's freedom of speech to consider, but also the potential this app has to cause upset and inspire hatred.

We believe it shouldn't be allowed. In the UK, the app may even fall foul of Racist and Religious crime laws according to CPS guidance.

We've contacted the developers Viper Gaming for comment, and have contacted Google too. We'll update this post once we get a response.

Star Command, the long-awaited space ship strategy sim, will hit Apple's iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch on May 2.

Sitting somewhere between an 8-bit Star Trek and Theme Hospital, the game lets you build your own starship, enlist its crew and then takes them across the universe, meeting hostile alien races and engaging in space battles, repelling any foes that beam their way onto your ship.

Full Retina display resolutions will be supported, as will be fullscreen iPhone 5 support.

It's release this week comes a lengthy 15 months after its originally-slated date, penned in initially following developer War Balloon Game's successful Kickstarter pitch.

Android, PC and Mac versions are also in the pipeline, prioritised in that order depending on the success of the iOS release. Android versions are expected a month after the iOS release.

Vine, the six-second movie making app that's proved a smash hit on the iPhone, will be heading to the Android operating system shortly, its co-founder Dan Hofmann has confirmed.

New features are also set to hit the app, including the ability to tag friends in videos.

The app currently sits at number one on the US iTunes download chart, and has even been given its own Tribeca Film Festival category.

So what's making the app so popular? The way it offers complex features in a simple package,Vine co-founder Dan Hofmann told The Verge.

"You need to make clear what you're doing within a couple of minutes or people are going to forget about it forever," said Hofmann.

"We don't really think it's about reducing complexity. We think it's about concealing complexity."

After a long old wait, Microsoft's Xbox SmartGlass application is now available to Amazon's range of Kindle Fire tablets.

Working in tandem with an Xbox 360 console, Xbox SmartGlass offers a second-screen complimentary experience to the mega-popular gaming machine, including touchscreen remote control functionality and additional content for select games and console applications.

Driving sim Forza Horizon, for instance, adds a live GPS map via the tablet while open-world racing, while video playback benefits from cast and crew information for titles bought through the Xbox store.

A free app, Xbox SmartGlass is already available for iOS, Windows Phone and Android devices.

So far however the apps haven't popped up in the UK Amazon Appstore, so it looks like you'll have to wait a little longer in Blighty if you're a Kindle Fire owner. With a US release secured however, we'd expect a UK launch to the Amazon Appstore to follow shortly.

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A new malicious string of Android malware called "BadNews" may have been downloaded as many as 9 million times say mobile security experts Lookout.

Revealed in a Lookout blog posting over the weekend, the malware has sat hidden in 32 Android apps, with its creators avoiding Google's virus-tracking Bouncer software by only injecting the malware into the apps as post-launch updates.

The malware, which was hidden in downloads including games, dictionaries and wallpapers, contains code which harvests sensitive information including phone numbers and handset serials before relaying the information back to a server.

"You can't even say Google was at fault in this because Google very clearly scrutinized all these apps when they went in," said Marc Rogers, principal security researcher for Lookout, speaking to Ars Technica.

"But these guys were cunning enough to sit there for a couple of months doing absolutely nothing and then they pushed out the malware.

"This is a wakeup call for us in the industry to say: 'Bad guys are smart as well and they'll take a look at the security models we put in place and they'll find weaknesses in them. That's exactly what they've done here."

For more on the "BadNews" malware, check out Lookout Mobile Security's detailed blog posting.

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Facebook Home, the social networking giant's biggest push yet into mobile software, is proving quite successful on Google's Play Store for Android apps.

Though only available for download to five devices (the Samsung Galaxy S III, Samsung Galaxy Note II, HTC One X and HTC One X+) and coming pre-installed on the HTC First, Facebook's latest big launch has already been downloaded over 500,000 times, just over a week since launching.

Considering Facebook has over 1 billion active users, the numbers may seem small. But given the device restrictions in place and the intrusive nature of the app (which acts as a layer on top of Android, giving Facebook access to data from your apps and giving the user an experience completely centred around Facebook), it's not a bad start.

What's likely to be more troubling for Facebook in terms of attracting those that aren't early adopters is Facebook Home's current rating on the Google Play Store. With only two out of a possible 5-star rating, users are complaining over Home's effect on battery levels, and the way it restricts access to a user's system notifications.

Exact numbers of Facebook Home downloads have not yet been revealed, with Google's Play store only revealing figures in fairly wide increments. The app currently sits somewhere between 500,000 and 1 million downloads.

Facebook Home will be expanding to new devices in the coming weeks, while the social network's executives have also begun talks with Apple in the hopes of bringing a version of Home to iOS devices like the iPhone.

This week sees the return of the candy-loving Om Nom in the new Cut the Rope: Time Travel puzzle game for mobile devices.

The sequel to 2010's Cut the Rope and 2011's Cut the Rope: Experiments, the latest in the award winning series sees Om Nom travelling through time on the hunt not only for another bunch of Campino's to munch down on, but also for his ancestors from across the ages.

Taking in levels loosely based on time periods including the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece and the Stone Age, this sequel still sees you slashing away at ropes hanging the sweet goodies around Om Nom, tasking you with making sure they drop into his watering mouth. A keen grasp of the laws of gravity and timing is required to succeed, and you'll also need to get to grips with a host of new contraptions and obstacles to make sure Om Nom gets his grub, from the usual to bubbles and blades to bombs and bouncing platforms. This time out you'll also need to feed Om Nom's ancestors too, meaning you'll have to figure out how to make sure each of the green little monsters gets their share of the sweet-toothed dinner.

Alongside the standard levels, developers ZeptoLab have also expanded the "Om Nom Stories" mini animated series to go along with the game, with episodes popping up between each major group of stages.It's part of the company's push to make Om Nom a household name, with ZeptoLab also working on a full series with Sony.

Despite it's kiddie visuals, there's still a stiff challenge involved too, with some devilish puzzles littered across the game, especially if you're aiming to collect all the additional challenge stars dotted around each stage.

Cut the Rope: Time Travel is available for all major mobile platforms, priced at£0.69 for iPhone from Apple's App Store, and £1.99 for iPad. The app is also available for £0.62 from the Google Play store for Android-supported devices, £1.85 for NOOK and £0.65 on Amazon.

Facebook have revealed that they are in talks with Apple to see whether their recently launched Facebook Home software could ever makes its way on to iOS devices.

Launching last week on a range of Android handsets, Facebook Home acts as an optional UI reskin, putting Facebook notifications, chat and other social interactions at the forefront of the interface, and driving all user data gathered back to Facebook in order to improve their advertising systems.

Apple have traditionally been cautious when it comes to allowing such software onto their platform; whereas Android is open, allowing for such interface overhauls, iOS is closed and does not allow for deviations from Apple's own designs. Furthermore, Apple are reluctant to share the data Facebook would be intending to mine, preferring to keep the information to furnish their own coffers.

"We've shown [Apple] what we've built and we're just in an ongoing conversation," Adam Mosseri, Facebook's director of product, told Bloomberg.

"It may or may not be Home. We could also just bring some of the design values to the iOS app. That might be how it ends up. Or we could build just the lock screen. Maybe then it's not called Home, it's called something else."

COO Sheryl Sandberg echoed Mosseri's comments:

"We are going to continue to develop for both [Android and Apple]. It is true that Android is enabling us to provide a more immersive Facebook experience than we can on other operating systems. Home is based on the openness of Android. It allows users to customise in ways that Apple does not."

Facebook Home's Chat Heads have already leaked into the iPad and iPhone Facebook apps, so it's possible that what's really likely to happen is that the iOS Facebook app eventually will share the same design ethos as Facebook Home. We'd pretty much rule out a full iOS reskinning right now.

The Facebook Home marketing campaign is now in full swing, having launched officially on the Android Google Play Store for US social networking fans.

And with the launch comes this new advert promoting the service, starring none other than Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. He's usually a bit camera shy when away from Facebook's F8 conferences, but he's front and centre here, and comes over pretty well, even if he is upstaged by a goat.

Another tidbit of advert trivia? The supporting cast are all real members of the Facebook development team, and it's all being filmed in Facebook's real, industrial-looking HQ at Menlo Park, California.

As it stands, Facebook Home isn't available in the UK, but there are work arounds to get it working if you're keen to give the Facebook-centric Android UI a go. You'll need to be using one of the supported devices (HTC One X, HTC One X+, Samsung Galaxy S III, and Samsung Galaxy Note II, with the HTC One and Galaxy S4 getting support with future updates), and have the latest version of the standard Facebook app and Facebook Messenger apps installed. You'll then need to download and install the Facebook Home APK from this link, and activate Facebook Home from the standard Facebook application's settings tab.

For getting the interface on unsupported devices, check out this guide from MoDaCo.

Freemium and free-to-play mobile and web apps are to be investigated by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) over concerns that players are unwittingly running up substantial costs with them.

Looking specifically at the marketing approach to children that these games employ, the OFT will examine whether or not gamers, particularly children, are unfairly pressured into making purchases in games that are otherwise advertised as being free. To use the OFTs own words, the body's investigation will look into whether these games include "direct exhortations" to children.

Free-to-play games on the web and mobile usually allow players to enjoy significant portions of the game for free, and some can even be played from start to finish without spending a penny. In-app purchases are usually used to sell items that speed up in-game achievements, grant in-game characters power boosts or unlock portions and levels of the game that are otherwise inaccessible.

"We are concerned that children and their parents could be subject to unfair pressure to purchase when they are playing games they thought were free, but which can actually run up substantial costs," Cavendish Elithorn, OFT senior director for goods and consumer, told The Independent.

"The OFT is not seeking to ban in-game purchases, but the games industry must ensure it is complying with the relevant regulations so that children are protected. We are speaking to the industry and will take enforcement action if necessary."

Google have removed 60,000 spam apps from the Google Play store over the course of February, the company's largest ever app cull.

Whereas Apple's App Store has strict guidelines as to what is suitable for its software marketplace, and an approval process that vets all apps before distribution, Google's Play Store is more lax in its app approval process, leading to the need for such a cull.

Uncovered by TechCrunch via "a company in the mobile app industry which has insight into changes like this," it's thought that improvements to Google's spam-detecting algorithms are as much the reason for the higher number as any concerted effort from the company.

The move follows a redesign of the Google Play store, intended to make navigation of the store and browsing of the growing number of applications available through it simpler. It's gradually rolling out to all Android users over the coming days.

It's likely that with the launch of the new version of Android, Key Lime Pie, expected to launch before the end of the summer, Google are looking to get their house in order. Sprucing up the app store and cutting the crap will definitely help pull the operating system into fighting-fit shape ahead of the launch.

Facebook Home, the social networking giant's Android user interface takeover that was revealed last week, is set to be officially released on April 12 to the Google Play Store. But, if you're courageous, you can give it a try today!

A beta version of the mobile software has leaked online today, with MoDaCo publishing the beta APK today. Click here to grab it.
Interestingly, the software can be added to a wide range of Android handsets beyond those specified as compatible by Facebook themselves, including the Nexus 4 and Nexus 7.

All that's seemingly required is that your Android device has a maximum resolution of 1280x768.

As an unofficial beta release, there are a few features not fully working, such as the much-vaunted chat heads, as well as a number of bugs that still need ironing out. Indeed, for the time being, download and install at your own risk, or hold out until April 12 for the official release.

Remember those Google Play store gift cards we wrote about that looked set to land in the UK soon? Well they've now arrived.

Available in shops and supermarkets including Tesco and Morrisons, they come in £10, £25, and £50 values.

You can click here and enter your postcode to find the nearest retailer selling the cards, and its worth remembering that retailers often put deals out on gift cards, meaning in time you might find some cheap Google Play credit bargains waiting at the till after your supermarket "big shop".

The US has been enjoying pre-paid Android Play app store gift cards for some time now, but UK Android owners have only been given a whiff of a useless "redeem" page to date, with no actual gift cards to redeem on it.

It looks however as though that's about to change. Android Authority has been trawling the Google support pages, where they've found mention of UK prices.

It seems that we'll soon be able to buy £10, £25 and £50 gift cards for the Android Play store, which can be redeemed on app, music, eBook and movie purchases.

Though there's still no set release date, the launch can't come soon enough. Apple's App Store and iTunes gift cards have been littering the gift card racks of supermarkets for years. Gift cards would be another great way that Google could assert Android as a mainstream, app-centric platform to casual UK users, as well as nabbing a few quid from less tech-savvy grannies out to buy birthday gifts for the grandkids.

That said, Nan, if you're reading, I'd still just prefer the cash, thanks.

Samsung have announced the Samsung Wallet, a new app that looks set to rival Apple's Passbook when it comes to handling digital copies of tickets and coupons.

Launching alongside an open API to the app, Wallet will allow users to save tickets, coupons, airline boarding passes and other such materials into a single hub on Samsung mobile devices.

Wallet will offer location-based push notifications to alert users that a coupon in their app can be used somewhere nearby, while real-time updates to tickets that stand the chance of changing (like a different departure gate for a flight ticket, for instance) can also be sent to users. As with Apple's Passbook, the app can also be used to deliver barcodes to scanners.

Samsung already have plenty of partners onboard in the US, including MLB, Expedia, Booking.com, Hotels.com, Lufthansa and Walgreens, with the aim to making Wallet a ubiquitous service worldwide. And though NFC and NFC payments aren't yet supported, it's a feature expected to land in the near future, alongside news of potential credit card partners.

With the Samsung Galaxy S4 set to launch on March 14, don't be too surprised if Wallet features are among those getting top billing at the event.

Adobe's mobile Photoshop Touch app for iPad has been updated today, bringing with it new versions optimised for iPhone and Android handsets, as well as iPod Touch.

Putting many of the desktop application's picture editing controls in the palm of your hand, images up to 12MP in size can now be manipulated with full layer editing, alongside filters, tone and deep colour adjustment options.

The apps also come with 2GB of free Adobe Creative Cloud storage to sync images, letting you begin an edit on your smartphone and continue it seamlessly on a desktop or tablet device.

"Mobile phones are increasingly becoming the primary tool for people to take and edit photos," said Winston Hendrickson, Adobe's vice-president products, creative and media solutions.

"Adobe is dedicated to serving our customers' evolving creative workflow and we heard, loud and clear, that Photoshop fans wanted some core Adobe imaging magic on their smartphones."

The app is available now, priced at £2.99 on Apple's App Store or Google's Play store for Android devices.

Some mobile phone games blow you away with nifty graphics. Some mobile phone games keep you gripped with a riveting story. Some mobile phone games keep you hooked by pitting you against your friends.

Here are the top 10 most addictive mobile phone games, all available on both Android and iPhone. Play them at your own risk.

Amazon's Kindle Fire HD is one of the best value 7-inch tablets on the market. Kicking off at £159 for the 16GB version, it's got a vibrant 1280x800 resolution screen and a bag-sized form-factor that make it a great on-the-go travel tablet.

And some free ones at that! We've tracked down the 20 best free apps for Amazon's Kindle Fire HD tablet. From Temple Run 2 to TV catch up services, there's something here for everyone, even if your budget is simply the air that you breathe. Scroll down to see our picks!

(NOTE: Though an Android tablet, the Kindle Fire HD grabs its apps through Amazon's own Amazon AppStore. As they're not being bought through the Google Play Store, they'll only be tied to Amazon Kindle Fire devices unless you grab the Amazon Appstore app on another compatible Android device.)

This year Comic Relief are bringing its Red Nose Day 2013 advertising to life with augmented reality (AR) technology.

Having enlisted the help of AR app Zappar, people will be able to discover bonus features and videos of Comic Relief's The Fun Raisers, a team of celebrities whose mission is clear: to help the nation do something funny for money.

If you own a smartphone or tablet, simply download the free app and zap the official Red Nose Day advertising and you'll be taken to a Red Nose Day menu where you can access a number of features. Want to see video footage of singer Jessie J, comedians Lenny Henry and Keith Lemon, Mary Berry, Jason Donovan, Helen Skelton and Miss Piggy from The Muppets? Just zap that! But that's not all. You can also take a photo or create a video with any of The Fun Raisers or pose with a Red Nose and share it with friends and family, and play a game where you can flick the Red Nose at Lenny Henry.

But it is really all about fundraising, and you will also find ideas of how to do so and help raise even more money on the app. Money raised will go to help change the lives of poor, vulnerable and disadvantaged people across the UK and Africa. This year, 2013, marks the 25th anniversary of Red Nose Day which has raised over £600m to date.

Available now on iPhone, iPod and iPad and Android.

This article was originally published on Hippyshopper.