Clash of Clans: How to link your iOS and Android device

I’ve just started playing Clash of Clans and, so far, I’m really enjoying the game. If you’ve recently switched to Android from an iOS device and want to continue where you left off, there’s an easy way to import your progress.

Importing your Clash of Clans progress is called linking, doing of which is shown below:

1. In your iOS device, simply go to the settings menu.
2. Link a Device
3. This is the OLD DEVICE
4. I want to link to another device.
5. Now in your Android device, go to the settings menu.
6. Link a Device
7. This is the NEW DEVICE
8. Enter the link code displayed in your iOS device.

Note that the settings menu is accessible only after you’ve finished playing the tutorial. Since the Android device is presumably where you will import your old game progress, it doesn’t matter what username you chose and the new progress you’ve made—they will be, after all, overwritten by the imported file.

Finally, linking your iOS device with an Android gadget is only done once. Both devices are then synced together, so you can play on either one with your latest progress in the game. Also, linking to a new device no longer works if said device comes with a Town Hall Level 4 or have already made purchases.

The satisfaction of building a great base and the thrill of invading those of other players are opportunities too good to pass up. Indeed it’d be so disappointing if you have to start all over again just because you switched platforms. Luckily, developers these days make great games like Clash of Clans, while not forgetting cross-platform compatibility.

Recently ported to Android just last month, the Clash of Clans app is a free download via theGoogle Play Store. For those who can afford it or just want to speed things up a little, in-app purchases are also available.

The HotSpot - Portal 2, Saints Row, Bastion - 3/9/12 (Xbox 360)

The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings - Behind-the-Scenes Video (Xbox 360)

Tera - Gameplay Demo (PC)

Sins of a Dark Age - First Look (PC)

Related Game PlayStation Vita PlayStation

Influential Mega Man designer Keiji Inafune is working on a new PlayStation Vita game, the developer implied tonight at the 2012 Game Developers Conference.

Inafune let slip his plans for the PS Vita tonight.

Speaking during a session titled "The Future of Japanese Games," Inafune said that new hardware pushes developers creatively and noted that he's been working on the PS Vita before stopping to note he wasn't supposed to talk about that. 

He did not reveal any additional information regarding the mystery title, or indicate which of his new companies (Comcept or Intercept) is behind the project. 

Inafune resigned from Capcom in October 2010 after spending 23 years with the company. He originally joined Capcom as a graphic designer, working on the first Street Fighter. He went on to create the character design for Mega Man and then worked on the game's many sequels before graduating to the role of producer.

Tactical Intervention - First Look (PC)

The HotSpot - Uncharted 3, Mirage - 3/7/12

Both Uncharted 3 and Mirage are up for Best Visual Arts awards at the Game Developers Conference tonight, but that's not all that links the two wildly different games. Naughty Dog FX lead Keith Guerrette joins one-man-show Mario von Rickenbach and Tom Magrino to discuss how developing a "realistic" production like Uncharted 3 is kind of the same, kind of different than making a highly abstract indie game like Mirage.

Wouldn't it be cool if all of these GDC podcast videos were cobbled together in one place? Oh my god that's actually something that has happened!

GDC Awards deserve a nod of their own

This editorial was originally intended to explain why the Game Developers Choice Awards--one of a number of events that aspire to be seen as gaming's version of the Oscars--still aren't there yet. The sentiment was that the GDC Awards are little more than the gaming industry giving itself an undeserved pat on the back, championing best-sellers and safe sequels over original, daring, and acclaimed games that maybe didn't sell as much as they should have (for example, Catherine, Xenoblade Chronicles, Shadows of the Damned, and Bulletstorm.)

The GDC Award nominations may be full of "safe" choices like Skyrim, but there's not a single Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 nod in sight.

But as I looked for evidence to back up my premise, I discovered a few things that upended my assumptions and cast the industry in a different light. The first assumption I had was that the Oscars honor an assortment of primarily original films every year, while the GDC Awards pit sequel against sequel in a depressing battle of big-budget blockbusters. 

Of the 30 different games nominated for GDC Awards this year, only 12 (40 percent) are actually original games, with the remainder being sequels, reboots, or in the case of Dark Souls, a "spiritual successor" that may as well be Demon's Souls 2. Meanwhile, the Oscars nominated 61 different films, 50 of which (82 percent) are original. 

While the numbers differ significantly, I had expected the difference to be even more pronounced. But it turns out the Oscars recognize sequels in plenty of technical categories, while the GDC Awards boost the originality with the best mobile/handheld category, as well as best downloadable game.

In fact, the mobile and handheld markets--often derided as an endless wasteland of copycats--injected some much-needed originality into the nominees list. Of the dozen original titles up for GDC Awards, only L.A. Noire and El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron are boxed retail products. Of the remaining 18 sequels and derivative titles, only one of them, Infinity Blade II, can't be found on store shelves. 

One of the reasons why people care about the Oscars is because they are perceived as honoring not the most financially successful representations of the craft, but the best. So I looked at the winners of the GDC Award for best game and the NPD Group's annual top 10 sales charts, expecting to find a long string of award-winners firmly nestled among the industry's best sellers. No Oscar Best Picture winner has finished a year in the top 10 of domestic box office receipts since The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King did it in 2003, but the GDC Award winners weren't nearly as dominant on the sales charts as I'd assumed. Since 2005, four GDC Awards Best Game winners failed to crack the NPD Group's annual top 10 chart: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (2009), Fallout 3 (2008) Portal (2007), and Shadow of the Colossus (2005). This year, only two of the five nominees for the award (The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Batman: Arkham City) made the NPD's 2011 top 10, so we could easily see another game join that list. 

Aside from a bit of encouragement to actually challenge your own assumptions to see how justified they are, the takeaway here should be that things in the game industry can seem a lot bleaker than they actually are. It's easy to wade through news stories about unending sequels and sales figures and come to the conclusion that the industry is headed for a homogenized future of me-too hits made by marketing budgets. But a closer look at the subject yielded room for optimism and evidence of some progress for the medium as a whole. And that is most definitely cause for a pat on the back.

Check out the Game Developers Choice Awards streaming live on GameSpot tonight starting at 6:30 p.m. Pacific.

Nintendo licenses Havok, Gameware tech for Wii U

The technology behind games like The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Batman: Arkham City, and Dragon Age II will be available to Wii U developers. Nintendo announced today that it has entered into licensing agreements with middleware companies Havok and Autodesk.

What will developers create with Havok and Gameware?

As part of the agreement with Havok, Wii U developers across the globe will have access to the Havok Physics and Havok Engine technologies to create games. These technologies have been licensed for numerous titles on a range of platforms, including Assassin's Creed, Killzone 3, and Super Smash Bros. Brawl. 

Nintendo's licensing agreement with Autodesk for its Gameware technology will similarly let developers across the world create games using the company's three Gameware products: Autodesk Scaleform (user interface development), Autodesk Kynapse (artificial intelligence), and Autodesk HumanIK (character animation). 

Past titles to use Gameware technology include Dragon Age II, Mafia II, Lost Planet 2, Crysis 2, and Batman: Arkham City. 

As for the Wii U, Nintendo's next-generation console is due for a worldwide release this holiday season, though it may not launch under that name. Many questions regarding the system remain unanswered, but Nintendo said it will bring final Wii U hardware to the 2012 Electronic Entertainment Expo, which runs June 5-7. 

Medal of Honor: Warfighter deploying October 23

Electronic Arts is going to war this October. Medal of Honor: Warfighter will deploy on October 23, according to a new trailer for the game.

Tier 1 operators are serving a second tour of duty this October.

A debut trailer for Medal of Honor: Warfighter (embedded below) posted to Electronic Arts' official YouTube channel reveals the game's release date. A European trailer for the game was also spotted bearing an October 23 ship date, pointing to Electronic Arts planning a global launch for the new shooter. Typically, software arrives in Europe on Fridays. 

The October release date coincides with a report from last month, pointing to a fall release for the game. Contacted for comment regarding the game's launch date, EA pointed GameSpot to the trailer. 

As for the trailer, it displays the game's Tier 1 operators, with a voice-over uttering superlatives about the soldiers. These phrases include, "Our brothers say they aren't even human," "They breathe water and change shape," and "They can see in the dark and are always watching." 

The trailer shows a range of locales and vehicles, including water-based scenarios, with operators piloting weaponized boats, as well as on-foot scenes in buildings. 

The video also indicates that those who preorder Medal of Honor: Warfighter will be upgraded to the limited edition of the game. EA has not mentioned what will be in the limited edition of the title. 

Developed by the original game's Danger Close studio, Warfighter will run on EA DICE's Frostbite 2.0 engine, which powered Battlefield 3. 

EA is holding a Medal of Honor event tonight in San Francisco where additional details concerning Medal of Honor: Warfighter are likely to be shared. 

[UPDATE] In a subsequent announcement, EA further revealed what gamers can expect from MOH: Warfighter, saying that the game "goes beyond Afghanistan," as the US' elite Tier 1 operators take the fight to terrorists around the world. These locations include the Philippines and Somalia. 

EA also announced the Medal of Honor Warfighter Limited Edition, which gamers will receive through preordering the game. Preorderers will be able to download the US Navy SEAL Tier 1 Sniper, an unlock that would otherwise require about 40 hours of gameplay. The download will be available upon the game's launch on October 23. 

Suda-51's third-person zombie action game gets dated; European launch set for June 15.

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment will take the wrapper off Grasshopper Manufacture's Lollipop Chainsaw this summer. The publisher has revealed a June 12 North American release date for the game, with a June 15 debut in Europe.

Juliet is getting ready for her big date.

Lollipop Chainsaw lets players assume the role of the chainsaw-wielding cheerleader Juliet Starling. When her high school is overrun with zombies, Juliet's family history of zombie hunting comes in handy. Combining her cheerleading acrobatics and a deft hand with the chainsaw, Juliet takes the fight to the zombie hordes, attempting to discover the root of the outbreak, but she soon finds her task complicated by "zombie rock lords" intent on taking her down. 

The game marks another collaboration for Grasshopper CEO Suda-51, who previously worked with Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami and Silent Hill composer Akira Yamaoka on Shadows of the Damned. Lollipop Chainsaw will see Suda-51 and Yamaoka re-team, with contributions from American film director James Gunn. The director and writer of distinctively unusual films like Slither and Super, Gunn was involved in creating the story, characters, and dialogue for Lollipop Chainsaw. He also worked with American actors on the English voice-over of the game. 

For more on Lollipop Chainsaw, check out GameSpot's previous coverage.

[CORRECTION]: One mention of Lollipop Chainsaw's North American release date in this story incorrectly gave the game's launch date as June 13. We regret the error. 

[UPDATE] 2K tells GameSpot no plans announced yet for future Mafia game, debunks rumor that 2K Czech is assisting Rockstar with Grand Theft Auto V.

Mafia II developer 2K Czech is busy with work, it appears, as a recent rumor suggests the developer is not only crafting a new entry in the Mafia franchise, but is also assisting Rockstar Games with development on Grand Theft Auto V.

If Mafia III is real, punches to the face are probably part of it.

As for the first half of that rumor, a tipster told VG247 that 2K Czech has entered full development on Mafia III following a year of preproduction work. No release window or platforms were made available for Mafia III, but the source said 2K was present at the supposed "Durango" next-generation developer gathering in London last week. 

As for the second half of that rumor, the source told the site that 2K Czech has been helping Rockstar for close to a year on Grand Theft Auto V. The Mafia developer is reportedly producing animations for cutscenes and general gameplay for Rockstar's new open-world game. 

The site's source indicates that not only is 2K Czech helping Rockstar with Grand Theft Auto V, but Rockstar is sharing some of its development tips with the Mafia house. According to the source, publisher Take-Two is keen on turning the Mafia franchise into the publisher's next big-ticket series. 

Grand Theft Auto V was officially announced in October, but no mention has yet been made concerning a launch window or platform(s) for the game. As for a new entry in the Mafia franchise, after shipping Mafia II, developer 2K Czech laid off 40 employees but noted it remained intent on building new games. 

[UPDATE] A 2K Games representative told GameSpot, "Rockstar Games and 2K Czech are not working on any projects together. We haven't announced any plans regarding a future Mafia release." 

Start/Select - Sony funds hackers! Lollipop Chainsaw!

SFxT Akuma Trials Breakdown with Cross Counter Asia

On GameSpot Asia's first cross collaboration with Cross Counter Asia, pro-gamer Xian shows us how the raging demon's trials are done.