Technologies

Microsoft App Store For Mobile Games Could Launch Next Year

The tech giant is planning an app store for Call of Duty and Candy Crush to rival Apple and Google’s mobile software stores.

Microsoft is planning to launch its own app store for mobile games as a third-party rival to Apple and Google’s phone software storefronts. It could happen as soon as next year, so long as Microsoft’s $68.7 billion acquisition of gaming giant Activision Blizzard is approved.

Apple and Google will be mandated to open up their iOS and Android platforms to third-party app stores by March 2024, when the European Union’s Digital Markets Act comes into effect. That’s conceivably when Microsoft will be able to launch its own mobile app store, CEO of Microsoft Gaming Phil Spencer told Financial Times in an interview.

«We want to be in a position to offer Xbox and content from both us and our third-party partners across any screen where somebody would want to play,» Spencer told Financial Times. «Today, we can’t do that on mobile devices but we want to build towards a world that we think will be coming where those devices are opened up.»

But the plans for a Microsoft app store are linked to Microsoft’s acquisition of games publisher Activision Blizzard, which regulators in the US and Europe have worried would result in less competition among big gaming companies — and lead gamers to get shut out of games. Recent opposition has focused on whether the Call of Duty franchise would only come out on Microsoft’s Xbox consoles and PC, though Microsoft has assured that it will come out on other gaming platforms for years to come.

On the contrary, Spencer said the acquisition would lead to increased competition in the mobile software space, which is virtually nonexistent with Apple and Google’s hold on their platforms, as it’s very difficult to download software outside of their App Store and Google Play Store, respectively. Microsoft wants a place for users to download its roster of games, which would include popular mobile titles like Call of Duty Mobile, Candy Crush and Diablo Immortal should the acquisition be approved.

Evidence of an Xbox mobile store appeared in October as Microsoft filed documents with the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority, the UK’s regulators looking into the Activision Blizzard acquisition.

Technologies

The Best Strategy Mobile Game I Ever Played Just Came Back After a Decade

Battle Nations is a hybrid base builder and grid-based combat game that feels just as fresh now as it did 10 years ago.

Battle Nations, a free-to-play turn-based military strategy game for phones developed by studio Z2Live, was taken from us too soon on Sept. 28, 2016. And I’m obviously not the only person who feels like the game didn’t have enough time in the sun, because a new version of the game came back to mobile game stores on May 30, 2025 — nearly a decade after the servers shut down for the last time.

I formed a Battle Nations guild with my friends back in middle school to take on some of the game’s raids, but we were always severely under-leveled and outnumbered by our enemies. Battle Nations was released during the heyday of mobile gaming, completely revolutionizing what I believed the platform could do. Endless runners like Jetpack Joyride and Subway Surfers gave way to Battle Nations afternoons, filled with planning our group conquests, and it was glorious.

The new iteration of the game, called Battle Nations Rewritten, was completely remade by a group of fans who came together to form their own game studio, Madrona Games. This team of developers has spent the last several years ironing out legal proceedings with the game’s original publisher, King, to gain the rights to use the Battle Nations trademark. Madrona’s developers honed their skills with the release of another game, Tank Tactics, while publishing beta builds for their Patreon subscribers.

A tight-knit community of Battle Nations fans approached a major corporation with their own take on an old property and didn’t have their fan project taken down. Z2Live was acquired by King in 2015, which is a company that was acquired by Activision Blizzard in 2016, which itself was later acquired by Microsoft in 2023 — and despite this, Madrona Games was able to make peace with Battle Nations’ parent company regardless of large gaming corporations’ penchant for suing fan projects using their IP.

Now Battle Nations is back in all its former glory, allowing a whole new generation of players to build an outpost and expand their military forces in the name of the emperor.

What is Battle Nations about?

Battle Nations was lampooning fascistic empires before Helldivers 2 made it cool. You’re the captain of the 95th Rifle Company of the Imperial Army, a once-renowned military presence that is starting to crack under siege from a rebel army.

As flames of conflict approach the capital, the teenage emperor sends your unit to a far-flung continent in search of resources to create a new superweapon. It’s your job to grow a budding outpost into a massive military complex, fighting off rebels, vicious local fauna and gas-mask clad warriors that your chauvinistic lieutenant has deemed as «raiders.»

Your allies are all pretty atrocious people, but their ignorance is constantly made the butt of the joke in Battle Nations’ narrative writing. Raiders and rebels are consistently better outfitted and more competent than your team, which forces you to work even harder to stay combat-ready as you advance further into the game.

Part city-building simulator and part grid-based tactical battler, Battle Nations appeals to many different types of strategy gamers. I personally enjoyed crafting zany units and utilizing them to defend my outpost as I grew my city-state’s economy.

Once players reach a high enough level, they’ll be able to learn from raider allies to master mammoths and raptors, conduct medical experiments to turn their basic units into zombies and even hire the Team Fortress 2 mercenaries in a bizarre crossover with Valve. (The launch trailer seems to suggest that the famed mercenaries will return in the fan version.)

These advances are only made possible through economic prosperity and strong supply lines. Players need to create warehouses, expand their borders to resource deposits and build facilities to process raw materials into stronger forms if they want to build the best units. I’ve never been gifted at planning out my builds, but the best urban planners will find a great framework to create efficient (and pretty-looking) army bases.

As your outpost grows strong enough, you’ll start to supplement your foot troops with tanks, helicopters and other heavy vehicles. I remember feeling like I was a true military power by the time Battle Nations shut down.

I can’t wait to dive back into Battle Nations’ take on turn-based combat, even if it means I have to start all over with the bog-standard riflemen.

What’s next for Battle Nations Rewritten?

The new Battle Nations isn’t shipping with every multiplayer feature included in the original game quite yet.

Madrona Games has promised that subsequent updates will restore many of the social elements missing from the launch build.

That means the friends list and guilds will be added soon. One of my favorite features from the original Battle Nations was the ability to let an ally raid resource deposits on your outpost to help them resupply materials they were low on, and it’ll be great to see that collaborative gameplay make a return.

Boss strikes are also on the docket for a swift return, allowing players to combine their military might to chip away at a boss enemy’s health bar (and earning sweet rewards if they’re able to fully defeat it).

Beyond returning features, the developers plan to add «new narrative arcs, seasonal operations, time-limited events and more to keep the world of Battle Nations evolving.»

Madrona Games’ Battle Nations Rewritten is launching on every platform that the original Battle Nations was on. That means you’re able to download the game from the App Store, Google Play Store and Steam for free now.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Saturday, May 31

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for May 31.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword has a couple of fun ocean-related clues and answers. It’s the extra-long Saturday version, of course. Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? Read on. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

The Mini Crossword is just one of many games in the Times’ games collection. If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get at those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: This one and that one
Answer: BOTH

5A clue: Ballet-inspired fitness class
Answer: BARRE

6A clue: Mississippi ___ (rich chocolate dessert)
Answer: MUDPIE

7A clue: Sea creature with the scientific name Monodon monoceros («one tooth, one horn»)
Answer: NARWHAL

8A clue: Like some soccer shots
Answer: ONGOAL

9A clue: Strict in tone
Answer: STERN

10A clue: Place for a «For Sale» sign
Answer: YARD

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: $#!&, e.g.
Answer: BADWORD

2D clue: Harry Potter, Annie or Bruce Wayne
Answer: ORPHAN

3D clue: ___ and error
Answer: TRIAL

4D clue: Dog trainer’s «Walk next to me!»
Answer: HEEL

5D clue: Hot dog alternative
Answer: BURGER

6D clue: Relative of a stingray
Answer: MANTA

7D clue: All up in one’s business
Answer: NOSY

How to play more Mini Crosswords

The New York Times Games section offers a large number of online games, but only some of them are free for all to play. You can play the current day’s Mini Crossword for free, but you’ll need a subscription to the Times Games section to play older puzzles from the archives.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for May 31, #454

Here are some hints and the answers for the NYT Strands puzzle No. 454 for May 31.

Looking for the most recent Strands answer? Click here for our daily Strands hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Todays NYT Strands puzzle could be easy if you spend a lot of time in hair salons, or if you’re familiar with styling your own hair. If you need hints and answers, read on.

I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So Far

Hint for today’s Strands puzzle

Today’s Strands theme is: Next to the bobby pins.

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: Beauty helpers.

Clue words to unlock in-game hints

Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints, but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:

CRAB, CARE, CARES, STORE, TORE, TOES, SHIR, RACE, RACES

Answers for today’s Strands puzzle

These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you’ve got all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers: