Do you reside in the US and enjoy Disney movies? You're in luck as Microsoft has signed a deal with the massive giant of entertainment to bring Disney Movies Anywhere to Microsoft Movies & TV. Launching in time for the upcoming holidays, those who use the Microsoft Windows and Xbox One will be able to access the catalogue of entertainment.

All your unlocked content with Disney, including Guardians of the Galaxy, Big Hero 6, will be available on your Windows PC and Xbox One. It's worthwhile to simply link your accounts as Disney will throw in a free copy of Monsters Inc. as a thank you. For those rocking the Xbox 360, you'll be able to take advantage of a new Disney Movies Anywhere app.

All-in-all it's a really neat announcement for anyone who loves Disney movies and rely on Microsoft platforms in their home.

Via: Engadget

Disney has quietly snuck in yet another game into the Windows Phone and Windows 10 Store. However, it isn't a match three-styled game that we have grown accustomed to seeing from Disney. Descendants is a role-playing game that is the official gaming title for the Disney Channel movie of the same name.

For those not familiar, Descendants is a popular television movie over on the Disney Channel. The movie chronicles the adventures of four teenagers who are the children of four of Disney's more notorious villains (Maleficent, Cruella Deville, Jafar and the Evil Queen). In a nutshell, these four teenagers are given the opportunity to attend Auradon Prep School where most of the descendants from the good Disney characters (Prince Charming, Snow White, etc.) attend. The Disney mobile game has plenty of interactions with the movie's main characters, a few mysteries to solve and some decent mini-games to keep things interesting.

My only reservation with Descendants is that game play may have a narrow appeal. While other Disney titles had across the board appeal, Descendants may hit home better with pre-teen gamers. After taking the Windows Phone version (which does not support low-memory devices) out for a spin, Descendants isn't a bad game. I just do not know how well older gamers will take to it.

Your first order of business when you launch Descendants is to sit back and relax while an additional gaming content is downloaded to your Windows Phone or Windows 10 device. The initial install about 180 MB and after that additional content is installed, you'll need about 520 MB of storage overall for Descendants.

Once completely installed, you will need to create a character for the game. You have your typical gender options with a few appearance customizations to customize your character. From there, Descendants will walk you through a series of tutorials for game play. This will include navigating your way around Auradon Prep School, interacting with the different gaming characters and other gaming features.

In a nutshell, you bounce from location to location interacting with different characters and completing missions. Missions range from simply talking to a character to scavenger hunt styled challenges. There is a lot of movement, not only from location to location but also side swiping the screen to view the entire span of an area.

The game screen is fairly universal throughout the game. Across the top of the screen, you will find your gaming stats. These stats include your gold, medallion, apple and experience levels. Gold and medallions are used to buy new gear to customize your character's appearance or apples (that would be with the medallions). Apples are used to perform an action and can be collected as you level up in experience, replenished automatically over time and bought using your medallions. In-app purchases are also available to boost your gold and medallion accounts as well.

In the lower right corner of the gaming screen, you will find four menu buttons. When you have pending actions to take care of with these gaming features, an exclamation mark will appear on that particular button. The buttons include:

• Newsfeed: Whenever a Twitter-like message is sent out by a gaming character, you can find it here.
• Wardrobe Closet: Here you can change your characters appearance with items already in your inventory or new items you buy. Speaking of which, when a new item becomes available you will see the exclamation mark pop-up on the closet button.
• Contacts: This button will pull up a listing of all the characters you have encountered during game play.
• Planner/Achievements: This button will pull up a menu listing all your gaming achievements and a planner that will give a summary of your current mission.

Along with reviewing your current mission objectives from the Planner Button, these objectives will also be displayed on the left side of the gaming screen. Tapping on this on-screen display will hide the objectives and if you need to revisit things, just tap the purple check mark to pull up the objectives list.

The flow of game play goes something along these lines. You meet a character from the movie and navigate through a series of dialog windows. Some of the dialog does offer you options for your responses but eventually the conversation will send you to another area of the Prep School to meet another character. This character will need your help in completing a task/mission. To do so you will need to find and tap on all the green dots that appear on the screen. You will have to side-swipe the screen to discover all of the dots and each tap will consume one of your apples.

In completing a task, you will be awarded experience points, gold and medallions. Tasks are also timed so if you run out of apples before you complete the task, you will need to monitor how quickly they are replenished or use your medallions to replenish things quicker. Some of the missions are also time sensitive with regards to starting them. Here you can skip the wait and jump right into things or use the time to explore the campus or build up your apple count.

Overall Impressions

Descendents is a bit of a departure for Disney with regards to their mobile gaming. We have seen storylines successfully incorporated into match-three style gaming with the likes of Maleficent, Frozen Free Fall and Dodo Pop. We've even seen similar with hidden picture puzzles. Granted the role playing atmosphere of Descendents isn't a new gaming concept, it just makes this Disney title stand out a little from the pack.

As far as game play is concerned, there is a lot of movement from place to place within the game. This movement opens the door to a lot of down time as the game transitions. Side scrolling within a venue was a little on the sluggish side, which also slowed down the flow of game play. Graphics are nicely drawn-up and game play was challenging with your resource management but overall not too difficult.

While Descendents does stand out from the Disney gaming collection, I'm on the fence as to whether or not that is a good thing. If you are a fan of the Descendants' movie, I think you will enjoy the game, but I can see the attractiveness of this game being a little narrow or age specific. There's just not a universal hook to the game, as we see with Disney's match-three style games, to give it across the board appeal.

Again, don't get me wrong, Descendants is an enjoyable game. I can see plenty of pre-teen gamers spending a lot of time playing Descendents from their Windows 10 tablets or Windows Phones. Beyond that age group is where I can see the appeal begin to fade. If you've given Descendents a try, let us know what you think of things in the comments below. At last check, Descendents is currently pulling down a 4.5 Star rating in the Stores. I'd probably dial it down to the 4 Star neighborhood but won't quibble over the half-star difference.

Download Descendents from the Windows 10 Store (Free)

Download Descendents from the Windows Phone Store (Free)

Disney is becoming a master at developing entertaining, challenging and fun match-three style Windows Phone games. From Frozen Free Fall to Maleficent, these games can be great time consumers. Dream Treats is the latest match-three style game from Disney and joins the collection of quality gaming titles the company offers.

You get to join several popular Disney characters at several global theme park restaurants. You have to create matches from an assortment of desserts and snacks to satisfy hungry patrons. There are over one hundred challenging puzzles to tackle and plenty of player customizations to pick up with the gaming cash you earn.

Dream Treats is available from both the Windows Phone and Windows 10 Stores. In playing the Windows Phone version of Dream Treats over the past few days, it comes across as a fun, casual paced puzzle game worth checking out.

Your first order of business with Disney Dream Treats is to create your gaming character. You can play as a guest or log into your Facebook account to create a profile. You do have an assortment of cartoon heads to choose from for your character or you can use your Windows Phone camera to impose your own mug shot on to the gaming character.

The game's venues span several of Disney's Parks and Resorts, specifically the restaurants at these locations. You have Akershus Royal Banquet Hall at Walt Disney World in Florida, Pizza Planet at Disneyland Paris and the Plaza Inn at Disneyland in California.

The one hundred plus puzzle levels bounce back and forth between these three restaurants and are hosted by the likes of Buzz Lightyear, Ariel, Mickey and Minnie Mouse and Belle. Your first few puzzles will serve as tutorials and as new gaming features come into play, you will be greeted by additional tutorials.

Each puzzle level has a set goal that includes collecting a set number of deserts, removing all the deserts from their wrappers or score a set number of points. You do so by creating matches of three or more of the same type desserts that sit adjacent to one another. Connections can be made horizontally, vertically or diagonally, but you cannot cross or back over a connection.

To add to the challenge of each puzzle level, you will have a move limit. The fewer the moves, the more bonus points you'll earn.

To help you survive a puzzle level, there is an assortment of power-ups that progressively become available as you advance through the game. For example, Buzz Lightyear has a power-up that will shuffle the playing pieces and there is a hammer available to smash a large portion of the gaming screen.

As you complete puzzle levels, you will earn gaming coins that can be used to buy costumes to customize your gaming character or use the coins to buy additional gaming moves or refill your gaming hearts. Disney Dream Treats operates off a gaming token system to play the game. You have five hearts to begin the game with and if you fail a level, it'll cost you a heart. Hearts are replenished naturally over time or by spending your coins. If you are so inclined to have a healthy coin balance, you increase your balance of coins through in-app purchases.

Overall Impression

Disney has done an excellent job of building up a respectable portfolio of Windows Phone games and while many of them are match-three in style, they all are entertaining titles. Disney Dream Treats is no exception with attractive graphics, challenging game play and a unique venue for the puzzles.

While you do have the Facebook login option, you also have the ability to play as a guest and not have to deal with a Facebook account. My only gripe with the game is with its character customizations. While you can always edit your gaming character with your photo, I could not find a way to change out the cartoon faces. It's not a deal breaker but does mean you need to choose your cartoon head very carefully at the start of the game.

Overall, I found Disney Dream Treats to be an enjoyable addition to the Disney Windows Phone and Windows 10 gaming lineup. I can see it appealing to our younger gamers, as well as our more seasoned gamers who are looking for a casually paced puzzle game.

Disney Dream Treats is a free gaming title with several in-app purchase opportunities. It is currently pulling down a 3 Star rating in the Stores, which is about one star too shy in my opinion. If you give Dream Treats a try, let us know what you think of things in the comments below.

Download Disney Dream Treats from the Windows 10 Store

Download Disney Dream Treats from the Windows Phone Store

Disney and Pixar characters are about to invade Crossy Road. Hipster Whale has announced that it is teaming up with Disney to bring over 100 characters to the arcade game, starting with Mickey Mouse.

The partnership was announced at this year's Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. There's no exact date as to when the new characters will be available, but we should get additional details soon.

What do you guys make of Disney characters in Crossy Road?

Netflix has announced that it will be the exclusive streaming service for Disney movies — including Marvel, Lucasfilm, and Pixar films — on the U.S. pay TV circuit. Netflix signed the agreement with Disney in 2012, and the deal is set to go into effect from September. The move keeps Disney's latest hits from streaming on rival services, as well as subscription networks during the first-run window.

Netflix is also showcasing upcoming additions to its catalog, with the likes of the Back to The Future, Jurassic Park, The Fast & The Furious, and more making their way to the streaming service in the coming months. Here's what's in store:

• June:
  • Sci-fi adventure classics Jurassic Park, Jurassic Park: The Lost World, Jurassic Park 3 (June 1)
  • Academy Award Best Picture winner, Spotlight (June 22), the true story of how the Boston Globe uncovered long-standing child abuse at the Catholic Archdiocese, featuring Mark Ruffalo and Rachel McAdams.
  • Sundance hit and Netflix Original film The Fundamentals of Caring (June 24), follows Paul Rudd playing Ben, a writer-turned-caregiver, and his charge, a foul-mouthed British teen with muscular dystrophy played by Craig Roberts, as they take an impromptu road trip.
• July:
  • The Big Short (July 6) with Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling and Christian Bale, brings to life the collapse of the U.S. mortgage bubble in an unforgettable and amazingly entertaining way.
  • Brahman Naman (July 7), another Netflix Original film, brings the ribaldry of American Pie and takes it to India in the 1980s.
  • Tallulah (July 29), another Sundance breakout and Netflix Original, unites Allison Janney and Ellen Page, in the story of a dissatisfied Beverly Hills housewife and the babysitter she hires.
  • Also arriving in July for the first time are such classic family favorite franchises such as Back to The Future& Lethal Weapon.
• August:
  • Netflix will premiere The Little Prince, a stunning animated film based on the beloved children's book, featuring the voices of Jeff Bridges, Rachel McAdams, Ricky Gervais, Marion Cotillard and James Franco.
  • Also appearing: The Fast & The Furious, The Wedding Planner and St. Vincent.

Find 'n Seek is one of the latest releases from Disney and joins the hidden object puzzle genre of games. Available for Windows 10 PC and Mobile, the game is a library full of puzzles themed after popular Disney movies such as Frozen, Tangled and Big Hero 6.

The free game offers a Donald Duck collection of puzzles and the other puzzle chapters are available through in-app purchase. Disney Find 'n Seek is clearly geared more towards the younger gamer, but the more seasoned gamers should also find it challenging to locate the some of the objects hidden in plain sight.

Disney Find 'n Seek opens up in a strange fashion by jumping directly into a tutorial on gameplay. The tutorial walks you through choosing the puzzle book to play from, solving a puzzle and cataloging the rare items you locate. If Disney Find 'n Seek has a main menu, it would be from an enchanted library scene where a magical book sits center screen. You can access the puzzle library by tapping on the "books" banner and tapping on the magical book opens up an achievement display. There is also two navigation buttons on this screen to go to the help screen and gaming store where you can buy additional puzzle books.

The achievements display highlight any rare objects you find and notes your progress on completing each collection of these items. The game's help screen covers gameplay mechanics and the developer credits. For some reason, this area is password protected much like parental controls are (provided four written numbers and you have to enter them numerically).

Puzzles with Disney Find 'n Seek are sorted by volumes that contain multiple puzzles. The individual volumes are themed after a Disney movie, only a book of Donald Duck puzzles is provided with the free version of the game. Additional volumes include Frozen, Toy Story, Big Hero 6, Tangled and more and are available through in-app purchase. The additional volumes run $2.99 each with bundled deals available for $4.99 to save a little when buying multiple volumes.

Gameplay with each puzzle is your typical hidden-object-style gameplay. You are presented with a scene and a list of items to find sits at the bottom of the display. A collection of power-ups and hints are nestled in the lower right corner.

Each game is timed and if the clock strikes zero before all the objects are located, you fail the level. To claim or locate an item, just tap on it. When first tapped, rare items begin dancing around the screen and require a second tap to collect.

Puzzle scenes are played multiple times and involve the same core set of objects to find (plus the rare objects). Each visit to the scene has these objects shuffled about and I have to give the developers credit with their skills at hiding things. If you do get stumped, the hint button can be used once per game and the power-ups can give you extra time, remove some of the clutter from the scene and reveal hidden objects. The power-ups require an in-app purchase, but you can save a little cash by simply waiting long enough during gameplay until one of the hidden object flashes. The downside to this strategy is that it costs you valuable time. Time is money, so it's your call.

Disney Find 'n Seek does feel as it was developed more for our younger gamers, but gameplay is challenging enough to appeal to all ages (or at least to also stump Mom and Dad when this kid's having trouble locating the final item). The Windows 10 game plays out nicely from the smaller screen of a Windows Mobile phone, as well as from the larger screen of a Windows 10 tablet or PC.

My only gripe with Disney Find 'n Seek is with the number of in-app purchases. From buying new puzzle volumes to buying power-ups, it felt as though at every turn the game presented you with a way to spend a little money. In some cases, a lot of money. Luckily, the volumes can be bundled to reduce the cost a little.

I can see Disney Find 'n Seek being a fun gaming option for road trips, distracting the kids in a restaurant, or keeping them occupied in the waiting room at the dentist. Or you can substitute yourself in there; it's okay, you'll find that hidden snow shoe soon, just look a little harder...

Download Disney Find 'n Seek for Windows 10 PC and Mobile

Disney's Art of Coloring is a coloring book app that is filled with pages upon pages of Disney characters and scenes just waiting to be painted. The Art of Coloring includes designs featuring characters from The Lion King and Frozen, along with a host of villains, princesses and animal characters from the Disney movies.

While our younger readers may enjoy the Art of Coloring, I wouldn't describe it as a children's app. Many of the pages are filled with smaller areas to color that can create more depth to the image and requires more effort to complete than a children's coloring book would.

The free app is available for Windows 10 PC and Mobile and contains a small collection of coloring pages to give you a feel for the app. You can add to the app's library of coloring pages through in-app purchases that run $2.99 and up.

The layout of Art of Coloring is somewhat straightforward. The main menu has a series of options running across the top of the screen and thumbnail images of the coloring pages filling most of the display. The menu options allow you to view your gallery of pages (those that you have completed or currently working on), along with filter options for the library of coloring pages. You can choose to view the free pages, as well as the Princesses, Frozen, villains, animals, florals, cats, Lion King and Jungle Book themed pages.

The free app comes with eight free coloring pages that provide you with plenty of coloring time to get a feel for the app. Additional pages are available through in-app purchase and cost $2.99 for each theme packet or $11.99 for a bundled package. There are additional coloring styles available that cost $1.99 each with the free version only including the basic color choices.

To begin coloring, just tap a thumbnail image and that coloring page fills the screen. Your color selections rest at the bottom of the display with additional color styles sitting in the lower right corner. There are Undo and Redo buttons at the top of the screen with a checkmark button to use when your coloring adventure is complete.

While the coloring pages are of Disney characters, the pages are designed more for an adult to tackle. Many of the coloring spaces are smaller than what you would find in a children's coloring book and can take a considerable amount of time to complete. The smaller sections allow you to be more creative in your coloring habits, but I have to admit completing a page can be tedious and might be a little frustrating to our younger audience. Then again, it could keep them quietly occupied on long road trips.

To color a section, click (or tap) on the desired color circle at the bottom of the coloring screen and then click on the section to be colored. The coloring mechanics are solely click and fill with no brushes available. Again, with so many areas to paint on many of the drawings, completing a page can be time-consuming.

Pages can be zoomed and moved about by clicking/tapping and holding the page. If you have to leave the app before finishing a page, your work is saved until you return. Once a page is completed, it can be downloaded locally or shared via the standard Windows 10 sharing options (email, text, Onedrive, etc.).

While I liked the depth of Art of Coloring, I could not help but feel the Windows 10 app was still a work in progress or incomplete. It did not feel like your typical Disney app that is clean and polished.

Case in point, I get the in-app purchase options for more coloring books and color choices. There are enough free pages to get a feel for the app, but the free colors are really lacking. There are a few shades of brown, a few yellows and a few shades of blue and pink. The ten color choices lack any reds or greens and when you are trying to color grass, the greens can really come in handy. Granted, you can buy the shades of greens, reds and other colors for $1.99 but that doesn't help you with the free pages.

At first, I wasn't too keen on this, but I get the lack of brushes in that the click and fill style of coloring makes you slow down and methodically color a page. Take a few deep breaths and coloring a page can be relaxing.

Overall, Disney's Art of Coloring is a Windows 10 app that can tap into your creative juices and offer a way to chill out after a stressful day. I do think the app is a little heavy on the in-app purchases, but the freebies are enough to help you decide if the investment is worth it.

Download Art of Coloring for Windows 10 PC and Mobile

Star Wars: Tiny Death Star& Star Wars Assault Team will soon be pulled from the Windows Phone Store. Today, Disney pulled both games from the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. The Developers of the game, Nimblebit, have announced that Disney gave them no prior knowledge of the move. The sad thing about it, is that both titles haven't even been available for a year, with Star Wars Assault Team only being six months old.

We here at the site absolutely loved Star Wars: Tiny Death Star! So if you're in need of a something to help you pass the time, you should definitely download both Games from the Windows Phone Store before both are gone for good! Both games work on 512 MB devices and are free, so no reason not to download while you still can.

• Download Star Wars: Assault Team for Windows Phone (Free)
• Download Star Wars: Assault Team for Windows 8.1 (Free)

• Download Star Wars: Tiny Death Star for Windows Phone (Free)
• Download Star Wars: Tiny Death Star for Windows 8.1 (Free)

Source: Game Informer

Disney is planning to release a mobile game on November 3rd based on its upcoming animated film, Big Hero 6. Titled Big Hero 6: Bot Fight, the game looks to be a "match 3" style puzzle game that allows players to do battle with enemies by matching similarly colored blocks together.

As Polygon reports, players will have access to hundreds of different bots from the Big Hero 6 universe, and will be able to upgrade their teams by evolving the bots over the course of the game.

Based on an obscure Marvel comic book, Big Hero 6 takes place in the fictional city of San Fransokyo where a team of crime-fighters, led by Hiro Hamada and his robot Baymax, come together to stop a nefarious criminal plot.

The game will be available on Android, iOS, and Windows Phone.

Are you excited for this upcoming film and game from Disney? Let us know in the comments.

Source: Polygon

DirecTV customers now have full access to the video streaming mobile apps provided by ABC and its parent company Disney. That includes the WatchESPN app along with a bunch of other apps offering both live and on-demand video content.

The deal gives all those millions of DirecTV owners the same access to streaming content from Disney that are offered to customers of other US cable TV providers as well as Dish, which added support in April 2014. ESPN stated:

As part of its multi-year distribution deal, DIRECTV customers can now conveniently watch live programming from ABC Family, Disney Channel, Disney Junior and Disney XD, as well as live network streams of ABC, which are currently available in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Houston, Fresno, Philadelphia and Raleigh-Durham. Additionally, live events and programming from ESPN networks – including ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3, ESPNU, ESPNEWS, ESPN Deportes, Longhorn Network, SEC Network and SEC Network + – are now accessible. ESPN Goal Line and ESPN Buzzer Beater will also be available on WatchESPN when those channels are in season.

The new agreement will also allow DirecTV owners to watch new episodes shows from ABC and ABC Family one day after they are broadcast on the Watch ABC and Watch ABC Family apps.

• Download WatchESPN from the Windows Phone Store (WP8.1 only; Free)
• Download WatchESPN from the Windows Store (Free)

Source: ESPN

Disney Infinity 2.0: Play Without Limits is now available from the Window Store. The game gives you the opportunity to play through experiences as your favorite Disney and Marvel characters.

Play Without Limits has added new play sets, customization tools, and more to the Disney Infinity experience. Several Marvel super heroes have been added, with new sets from The Avengers, Spider-Man, and Guardians of the Galaxy.

Here's the complete list of what you can expect from Disney Infinity 2.0: Play Without Limits:

Features

• In Disney Infinity you have the freedom and endless opportunity to create stories and play experiences starring some of your favorite Marvel Super Heroes and Disney characters.
• Save The World. Explore all 3 Marvel Super Heroes Play Sets.
• Create Your Own Worlds and Games in Toy Box 2.0.
• Expand your experience by downloading additional Toy Boxes created by the community.
• Explore many more Disney Infinity Characters and Play Sets to unlock.

Download Disney Infinity 2.0 from the Window Store (Free)

Disney has released Cinderella Free Fall for iOS, Android and Windows Phone. The title takes the iconic princess on a puzzle matchmaking adventure in the enchanted world of. Prepare yourself to connect and match luminous butterfly jewels in 100 levels.

The game is much like other titles in the jewel-matching genre, tasking the player to create the longest lines possible in a single swipe to unleash some powerful magical effects. Moves not only include straight lines, but circular connections too. Cinderella's animal friends are also around to lend a helping hand.

In anticipation for the upcoming Cinderella movie, now is a perfect time to pick up the game and relive some of those magical memories. It's worth noting that, just like Frozen Free Fall and Maleficent Free Fall by Disney, while this title is freely available for download, you'll be greeted by in-app purchases.

Download Cinderella Free Fall for Windows Phone (free)

Download Cinderella Free Fall for Windows (free)

Thanks, Kevin G., for the tip!

Rebels is a new Windows Phone game from Disney that is based on the Star Wars Rebels television series. As one might guess, you are tasked with several missions that pits you against the evil Empire.

The game, also known as Star Wars Rebels: Recon Missions, is full of Stormtroopers, droids, blasters and light sabers. The game is not available for low-memory Windows Phones but is available for Windows 8 devices. While it is disappointing that Rebels lacks support for 512MB devices, in playing Rebels over the past few days, the game comes across as an appealing adventure game but a few stability issues and slow load times seems to hold this gaming title back a bit.

The main menu for Rebels is laid out with simplicity in mind. You have one button to access the settings and one to launch game play. Settings for Rebels offers up options to adjust the sound and music levels, view the credits, sync in-app purchases and view a very basic help screen.

Game play is level or mission based and when you first jump into game play, you are greeted by a tutorial mission. This mission will walk you through the basics of game play that includes movement and weapons controls.

Once you have completed the tutorial, game play will be based from Haven or base camp. From the Haven you can interact with other Star Wars Rebel characters to upgrade equipment, train your character, launch missions, check your achievements and more. You can move around Haven to interact or tap on the quick menu in the upper left corner of the screen to quickly jump between characters.

You can also build up your base camp as you rescue citizens by building extra shelters and accessories that are earned through game play.

Game play is arcade or platform based where you navigate your character across the gaming environment, collecting coins, blasting Stormtroopers, enemy droids and Bosses while rescuing citizens. The coins you collect are used to help the citizens you rescue, which in turn unlocks your character's abilities.

Controls are on-screen overlays with two directional arrows to control movement in the lower left corner and a jump button and weapons control joystick in the lower right. When opportunities for dialog are present, the fire button changes to a conversation bubble.

Game controls are decent but I would have preferred to have seen a little more consistency with the design. You tap the directional arrows and jump button but have a joystick to control fire. Even though you can only move left and right, I couldn't help but think a movement joystick would feel more natural. Maybe it's just me but I often found myself tapping a control I should be sliding or sliding a control I should be tapping.

Your characters vital statistics are displayed in the upper left corner and an alert bar will appear in the upper right when danger is present. Underneath the icon of your player, any power-ups you have earned will be displayed and a teeny-tiny pause button rests besides this icon.

For the most part, actual game play has an arcade feel to it where you simply need to survive enemy blaster fire. You can use your weapons to ignite fuel barrels to help take out large groups of Stormtroopers and there are bonus coins that are hidden throughout each level.

You will also run across missions where you get to take control of heavy equipment such as an Imperial AT-MP that is fully equipped with rockets as well as its main blaster. Only downside is that you cannot stomp on the Stormtroopers.

You can take a run and gun approach to playing Rebels, blasting everything in sight and racing to the end of the mission. However, there are some stretches of the game where you have to eliminate all the enemies before being able to advance. This feature adds to the challenge and helps give game time a little longevity.

While the character Ezra seems to be the game's main character, two additional characters are available with the add-on packets you can pick up through in-app purchase. Speaking of which, the free version of Rebels includes the first four missions. After which you will need to buy gaming packets and boost packs through in-app purchase that range in cost from $2.99 to $4.99.

Room for Improvement

While I liked the game, Rebels does have several issues that waters down the game's appeal and leaving some room for improvement.

• Instability: In playing the game from a Lumia 830, I experienced game crashes during combat sequences and game transitions. Should the game crash while you are on a mission, all progress is lost.
• Slow Load Times: Another performance issue is load times. From loading the game from the start to transitioning from the Haven to a mission, load times are noticeably slow.
• Not Always Tablet Friendly: While there were load time and stability issues with the Windows Phone version, the Windows 8 version ran nicely. However, while it ran smoothly on the Microsoft Surface RT and laptop the game kept looking for a keyboard on the HP Stream 8 ( Stream 7's older brother).

Luckily, none of these issues are at critical mass. While the game does crash, it is not frequent enough to have you race to uninstall the game. While load times are slow, I've seen worse and I cannot tell if the issue with the HP Stream is due to the software or something quirky with the tablet.

Overall Impression

I'm a huge Star Wars fan. Saw Episode III a dozen times when it first hit the movie theaters and enjoyed every installment since. The Windows Phone Store has a nice collection of Star Wars related games and Rebels has the potential of being another great game in this collection.

Game play is challenging, graphics are well done and the layout of the game isn't overly complicated. The game alone is would do the Force well but the Dark Side creeps into the picture with the stability issues and lengthy load times. I can't really gig the game for the quirky behavior on the HP Stream because it could very well be the tablet causing the problems and not the game.

I'm also on the fence about the in-app purchases required to get past the fourth level. I think the game's presentation would have been better if it was listed as a trial/$2.99 purchase. It's not a deal breaker but saying the game is free and then asking for three bucks to keep playing doesn't necessarily sit right.

Overall, if you are a Star Wars fan or simply looking for an entertaining arcade/platform Windows Phone/Windows game, Rebels is worth a try. Just keep in mind that once you get into game play, things can become addictive and Rebels will consume a good bit of battery life.

Download Rebels for Windows Phone (Free)

Download Rebels for Windows 8 (Free)

If you have kids, the chances are they love anything Disney related. If you also have a Windows Phone, you can take advantage of a special promotion from Microsoft and Disney that offers nine kid-themed games, which normally cost over $17, for free from now until June 17,

Here's the list of the Disney Windows Phone games that are free to download and play for the next week:

Download Where's My Perry from the Windows Phone Store

Download Where's My Water from the Windows Phone Store

Download Temple Run: Oz from the Windows Phone Store

Download Temple Run: Brave from the Windows Phone Store

Download Disney Solitaire from the Windows Phone Store

Download Where's My Water Featuring XYY from the Windows Phone Store

Download Lost Light from the Windows Phone Store

Download Disney Checkout Challenge from the Windows Phone Store

Download Where's My Mickey from the Windows Phone Store

Yep, that's a bunch of games that are now free to get from the Windows Phone Store. If you have kids, or even if you just want some fun casual gameplay, this deal is hard to pass up.

Thanks to Paulius for the tip!

Source: Microsoft

Dodo Pop quietly hit Store shelves late last month and is an addictive bubble styled game from Disney. Available for both Windows Phone and Windows 8 devices, you are tasked with helping a wayward Dodo Bird, Crash, find his way home.

There are dozens of puzzle levels to tackle, each with a limited number of moves and goals to reach. After taking the Windows Phone version of Dodo Pop out for a test drive, we found the game to have nice looking graphics, challenging game play and a fun way to pass the time.

Dodo Pop jumps right into game play upon first launch with Crash the Dodo Bird walking you through the basics of game play. Crash will show up throughout the game to introduce you to new gaming elements as they become available.

The goal of Dodo Pop is to burst clusters of gumballs to reach the defined goals of each puzzle level. At the start of each level, Crash will outline the goals (pop a set number of colored gumballs, pop all the starred balls, etc.). Each puzzle also has a limited number of moves available to reach those goals. Run out of moves and you fail the level. A counter is displayed at the top of the gaming screen to help track your progress with the puzzle goals and how many moves are remaining.

Clusters have to be at least two gumballs that are touching and if things are close, there is a shake button in the lower left corner that will rattle the playing field. This will shift the gumballs ever so slightly were balls will touch, creating a cluster that can be tapped and removed.

Coins can be earned during game play or through an in-app purchase that can be used to buy power-ups. Power-ups include a rainbow button that will turn all the adjacent gumballs to the color of the center gumball, add bonus moves and a lightning strike that will remove one gumball. You also have a power-up that comes into play when you remove large numbers of the same colored gumball.

A meter will appear around the third level of the game that will increase as you remove the gumballs. Max out the meter any a bonus ball will come into play that when tapped/held will generate a rotating field. Let the field rotate and when you lift your hold, any ball of the same color that appears in this area will be removed.

Puzzle levels are mapped out, guiding Crash back to his home, Dodo Island. Each level can be replayed, but game play is limited to a degree with gaming tokens. You begin the game with five tokens and as long as you don't fail a level, you will not lose a token. Tokens are replenished over time or with your coins.

Game play is challenging through the first dozen or so levels but not too difficult. Around the 15th level, you begin to see things kick in with a rather challenging gaming goal. You have gumballs in play that are numbered. Those numbers dictate the size of the clusters you create and remove. For example, if an orange gumball has a 7 on it, you have to establish a group of at least 7 orange gumballs. The numbers seem to range from 5 to 30 and when you see the "30" gumball come into play, go ahead and reach for the lightning strike power-up to remove it from play.

Dodo Pop does have a few settings that can be accessed through the level map view or the main screen that will appear after your first launch of the game. Settings cover language choice and the customary terms of service and developer credit screens. While Dodo Pop is a universal game, there is no means to save your gaming progress across devices.

Overall Impression

Dodo Pop joins a crowded field of excellent Windows and Windows Phone games from Disney. Graphics are bright and colorful, game play challenging and Dodo Pop has a deceptively addictive pull about it. You can sit down with intentions of playing one or two gaming levels and before you know it, you've tackled half a dozen or more levels.

I'm not a big fan of the gaming token system. It can take the life out of any gaming rhythm you develop. I'd rather pay $.99 for the game and do away with the token system.

While I have enjoyed playing Dodo Pop, the game really needs some form of cloud saving to allow you to pick up game play where you left it from any of your devices.

There is room for improvement but as is, Dodo Pop is a fantastic game to have in your Windows 8 or Windows Phone gaming library. It is strong enough to help you waste short bits of time or keep you entertained for longer periods.

Download Dodo Pop for Windows Phone (Free)

Download Dodo Pop for Windows 8 (Free)

Do you reside in the US and enjoy Disney movies? You're in luck as Microsoft has signed a deal with the massive giant of entertainment to bring Disney Movies Anywhere to Microsoft Movies & TV. Launching in time for the upcoming holidays, those who use the Microsoft Windows and Xbox One will be able to access the catalogue of entertainment.

All your unlocked content with Disney, including Guardians of the Galaxy, Big Hero 6, will be available on your Windows PC and Xbox One. It's worthwhile to simply link your accounts as Disney will throw in a free copy of Monsters Inc. as a thank you. For those rocking the Xbox 360, you'll be able to take advantage of a new Disney Movies Anywhere app.

All-in-all it's a really neat announcement for anyone who loves Disney movies and rely on Microsoft platforms in their home.

Via: Engadget

Disney has quietly snuck in yet another game into the Windows Phone and Windows 10 Store. However, it isn't a match three-styled game that we have grown accustomed to seeing from Disney. Descendants is a role-playing game that is the official gaming title for the Disney Channel movie of the same name.

For those not familiar, Descendants is a popular television movie over on the Disney Channel. The movie chronicles the adventures of four teenagers who are the children of four of Disney's more notorious villains (Maleficent, Cruella Deville, Jafar and the Evil Queen). In a nutshell, these four teenagers are given the opportunity to attend Auradon Prep School where most of the descendants from the good Disney characters (Prince Charming, Snow White, etc.) attend. The Disney mobile game has plenty of interactions with the movie's main characters, a few mysteries to solve and some decent mini-games to keep things interesting.

My only reservation with Descendants is that game play may have a narrow appeal. While other Disney titles had across the board appeal, Descendants may hit home better with pre-teen gamers. After taking the Windows Phone version (which does not support low-memory devices) out for a spin, Descendants isn't a bad game. I just do not know how well older gamers will take to it.

Your first order of business when you launch Descendants is to sit back and relax while an additional gaming content is downloaded to your Windows Phone or Windows 10 device. The initial install about 180 MB and after that additional content is installed, you'll need about 520 MB of storage overall for Descendants.

Once completely installed, you will need to create a character for the game. You have your typical gender options with a few appearance customizations to customize your character. From there, Descendants will walk you through a series of tutorials for game play. This will include navigating your way around Auradon Prep School, interacting with the different gaming characters and other gaming features.

In a nutshell, you bounce from location to location interacting with different characters and completing missions. Missions range from simply talking to a character to scavenger hunt styled challenges. There is a lot of movement, not only from location to location but also side swiping the screen to view the entire span of an area.

The game screen is fairly universal throughout the game. Across the top of the screen, you will find your gaming stats. These stats include your gold, medallion, apple and experience levels. Gold and medallions are used to buy new gear to customize your character's appearance or apples (that would be with the medallions). Apples are used to perform an action and can be collected as you level up in experience, replenished automatically over time and bought using your medallions. In-app purchases are also available to boost your gold and medallion accounts as well.

In the lower right corner of the gaming screen, you will find four menu buttons. When you have pending actions to take care of with these gaming features, an exclamation mark will appear on that particular button. The buttons include:

• Newsfeed: Whenever a Twitter-like message is sent out by a gaming character, you can find it here.
• Wardrobe Closet: Here you can change your characters appearance with items already in your inventory or new items you buy. Speaking of which, when a new item becomes available you will see the exclamation mark pop-up on the closet button.
• Contacts: This button will pull up a listing of all the characters you have encountered during game play.
• Planner/Achievements: This button will pull up a menu listing all your gaming achievements and a planner that will give a summary of your current mission.

Along with reviewing your current mission objectives from the Planner Button, these objectives will also be displayed on the left side of the gaming screen. Tapping on this on-screen display will hide the objectives and if you need to revisit things, just tap the purple check mark to pull up the objectives list.

The flow of game play goes something along these lines. You meet a character from the movie and navigate through a series of dialog windows. Some of the dialog does offer you options for your responses but eventually the conversation will send you to another area of the Prep School to meet another character. This character will need your help in completing a task/mission. To do so you will need to find and tap on all the green dots that appear on the screen. You will have to side-swipe the screen to discover all of the dots and each tap will consume one of your apples.

In completing a task, you will be awarded experience points, gold and medallions. Tasks are also timed so if you run out of apples before you complete the task, you will need to monitor how quickly they are replenished or use your medallions to replenish things quicker. Some of the missions are also time sensitive with regards to starting them. Here you can skip the wait and jump right into things or use the time to explore the campus or build up your apple count.

Overall Impressions

Descendents is a bit of a departure for Disney with regards to their mobile gaming. We have seen storylines successfully incorporated into match-three style gaming with the likes of Maleficent, Frozen Free Fall and Dodo Pop. We've even seen similar with hidden picture puzzles. Granted the role playing atmosphere of Descendents isn't a new gaming concept, it just makes this Disney title stand out a little from the pack.

As far as game play is concerned, there is a lot of movement from place to place within the game. This movement opens the door to a lot of down time as the game transitions. Side scrolling within a venue was a little on the sluggish side, which also slowed down the flow of game play. Graphics are nicely drawn-up and game play was challenging with your resource management but overall not too difficult.

While Descendents does stand out from the Disney gaming collection, I'm on the fence as to whether or not that is a good thing. If you are a fan of the Descendants' movie, I think you will enjoy the game, but I can see the attractiveness of this game being a little narrow or age specific. There's just not a universal hook to the game, as we see with Disney's match-three style games, to give it across the board appeal.

Again, don't get me wrong, Descendants is an enjoyable game. I can see plenty of pre-teen gamers spending a lot of time playing Descendents from their Windows 10 tablets or Windows Phones. Beyond that age group is where I can see the appeal begin to fade. If you've given Descendents a try, let us know what you think of things in the comments below. At last check, Descendents is currently pulling down a 4.5 Star rating in the Stores. I'd probably dial it down to the 4 Star neighborhood but won't quibble over the half-star difference.

Download Descendents from the Windows 10 Store (Free)

Download Descendents from the Windows Phone Store (Free)

Disney is becoming a master at developing entertaining, challenging and fun match-three style Windows Phone games. From Frozen Free Fall to Maleficent, these games can be great time consumers. Dream Treats is the latest match-three style game from Disney and joins the collection of quality gaming titles the company offers.

You get to join several popular Disney characters at several global theme park restaurants. You have to create matches from an assortment of desserts and snacks to satisfy hungry patrons. There are over one hundred challenging puzzles to tackle and plenty of player customizations to pick up with the gaming cash you earn.

Dream Treats is available from both the Windows Phone and Windows 10 Stores. In playing the Windows Phone version of Dream Treats over the past few days, it comes across as a fun, casual paced puzzle game worth checking out.

Your first order of business with Disney Dream Treats is to create your gaming character. You can play as a guest or log into your Facebook account to create a profile. You do have an assortment of cartoon heads to choose from for your character or you can use your Windows Phone camera to impose your own mug shot on to the gaming character.

The game's venues span several of Disney's Parks and Resorts, specifically the restaurants at these locations. You have Akershus Royal Banquet Hall at Walt Disney World in Florida, Pizza Planet at Disneyland Paris and the Plaza Inn at Disneyland in California.

The one hundred plus puzzle levels bounce back and forth between these three restaurants and are hosted by the likes of Buzz Lightyear, Ariel, Mickey and Minnie Mouse and Belle. Your first few puzzles will serve as tutorials and as new gaming features come into play, you will be greeted by additional tutorials.

Each puzzle level has a set goal that includes collecting a set number of deserts, removing all the deserts from their wrappers or score a set number of points. You do so by creating matches of three or more of the same type desserts that sit adjacent to one another. Connections can be made horizontally, vertically or diagonally, but you cannot cross or back over a connection.

To add to the challenge of each puzzle level, you will have a move limit. The fewer the moves, the more bonus points you'll earn.

To help you survive a puzzle level, there is an assortment of power-ups that progressively become available as you advance through the game. For example, Buzz Lightyear has a power-up that will shuffle the playing pieces and there is a hammer available to smash a large portion of the gaming screen.

As you complete puzzle levels, you will earn gaming coins that can be used to buy costumes to customize your gaming character or use the coins to buy additional gaming moves or refill your gaming hearts. Disney Dream Treats operates off a gaming token system to play the game. You have five hearts to begin the game with and if you fail a level, it'll cost you a heart. Hearts are replenished naturally over time or by spending your coins. If you are so inclined to have a healthy coin balance, you increase your balance of coins through in-app purchases.

Overall Impression

Disney has done an excellent job of building up a respectable portfolio of Windows Phone games and while many of them are match-three in style, they all are entertaining titles. Disney Dream Treats is no exception with attractive graphics, challenging game play and a unique venue for the puzzles.

While you do have the Facebook login option, you also have the ability to play as a guest and not have to deal with a Facebook account. My only gripe with the game is with its character customizations. While you can always edit your gaming character with your photo, I could not find a way to change out the cartoon faces. It's not a deal breaker but does mean you need to choose your cartoon head very carefully at the start of the game.

Overall, I found Disney Dream Treats to be an enjoyable addition to the Disney Windows Phone and Windows 10 gaming lineup. I can see it appealing to our younger gamers, as well as our more seasoned gamers who are looking for a casually paced puzzle game.

Disney Dream Treats is a free gaming title with several in-app purchase opportunities. It is currently pulling down a 3 Star rating in the Stores, which is about one star too shy in my opinion. If you give Dream Treats a try, let us know what you think of things in the comments below.

Download Disney Dream Treats from the Windows 10 Store

Download Disney Dream Treats from the Windows Phone Store

Disney and Pixar characters are about to invade Crossy Road. Hipster Whale has announced that it is teaming up with Disney to bring over 100 characters to the arcade game, starting with Mickey Mouse.

The partnership was announced at this year's Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. There's no exact date as to when the new characters will be available, but we should get additional details soon.

What do you guys make of Disney characters in Crossy Road?

Netflix has announced that it will be the exclusive streaming service for Disney movies — including Marvel, Lucasfilm, and Pixar films — on the U.S. pay TV circuit. Netflix signed the agreement with Disney in 2012, and the deal is set to go into effect from September. The move keeps Disney's latest hits from streaming on rival services, as well as subscription networks during the first-run window.

Netflix is also showcasing upcoming additions to its catalog, with the likes of the Back to The Future, Jurassic Park, The Fast & The Furious, and more making their way to the streaming service in the coming months. Here's what's in store:

• June:
  • Sci-fi adventure classics Jurassic Park, Jurassic Park: The Lost World, Jurassic Park 3 (June 1)
  • Academy Award Best Picture winner, Spotlight (June 22), the true story of how the Boston Globe uncovered long-standing child abuse at the Catholic Archdiocese, featuring Mark Ruffalo and Rachel McAdams.
  • Sundance hit and Netflix Original film The Fundamentals of Caring (June 24), follows Paul Rudd playing Ben, a writer-turned-caregiver, and his charge, a foul-mouthed British teen with muscular dystrophy played by Craig Roberts, as they take an impromptu road trip.
• July:
  • The Big Short (July 6) with Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling and Christian Bale, brings to life the collapse of the U.S. mortgage bubble in an unforgettable and amazingly entertaining way.
  • Brahman Naman (July 7), another Netflix Original film, brings the ribaldry of American Pie and takes it to India in the 1980s.
  • Tallulah (July 29), another Sundance breakout and Netflix Original, unites Allison Janney and Ellen Page, in the story of a dissatisfied Beverly Hills housewife and the babysitter she hires.
  • Also arriving in July for the first time are such classic family favorite franchises such as Back to The Future& Lethal Weapon.
• August:
  • Netflix will premiere The Little Prince, a stunning animated film based on the beloved children's book, featuring the voices of Jeff Bridges, Rachel McAdams, Ricky Gervais, Marion Cotillard and James Franco.
  • Also appearing: The Fast & The Furious, The Wedding Planner and St. Vincent.