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Flappy Bird clones reportedly rolled in to the App Store at a rate of 60 games per day over the course of four days, according to numbers crunched by Pocket Gamer. The data comes from an investigation into 300 games that were deemed rip-offs of Dong Nguyen's former tap-to-flap mobile arcade game, averaging out to 2.5 clones arriving on the App Store per hour, or one per 24 minutes.

The data was pulled from games submitted between February 28 and March 3, and due to Apple's staggered release schedule, as many as 14 "Flappy" games arrived in the span of an hour at points. Pocket Gamer defined its use of the term "clone" in this case as "any game in which you guide some character through an obstacle course of pipes (or similar objects) hanging from the ceiling and sticking out of the ground." To be sure, Flappy Bird itself wasn't a particularly novel concept, but the rise in games that mimicked its exact style appeared to be unmistakable to the data gatherers.

Nguyen announced plans to pull Flappy Bird from from the Google Play and App Stores on February 8, and later rationalized the decision by deeming it an "addictive product." After Nguyen pulled the game, indie developers participated in a "Flappy Jam" development challenge, which included entries from the likes of Super Hexagon creator Terry Cavanagh as well as punk band Fall Out Boy. [Image: Dong Nguyen]

China and video games have a long and ridiculous history, but in the age of the internet, it's a story that's yet to be completely put together. And so, here at Kotaku, we will try to make sense of the history of consoles in China. Stay awhile, and read?Read more...

#charts On the right side you've got RedSpell's What's the Word?, a picture-based word game that's been tearing up the free iPhone charts for several weeks. On the right, LOTUM GmbH's What's the Word?, a picture-based word game that arrived on iTunes on February 4. Guess which one is at the top of this week's charts? More »

#mario I love my Android phone. I really do. It feels personalized, it does everything I need it to do, and even though it has its flaws, I still like using it better than I like using iOS and iTunes (which I experience with my iPod touch). More »

Clones Version 1.32 Released

- Includes German, Russian, and Polish languages available from the Options Menu
- News popup displaying Clones events and new user generated map packs
- "More Levels" button on Extras menu to allow in-game download of UGC
- Notification of new multiplayer servers via system chat message, can be disabled in the Options Menu
- Bug fix for cloning chamber tank graphic on level reload

Clones v1.31 Update

Enhancements
- Morph On Click priority select based on morph.
- ESC ends playback and and exits.
- Player names default on in playback, press N to toggle.
- Multiple-Doppel shatter notification.

Bug Fixes
- Steam profile not syncing with cloud.
- Transition queue fired after being cancelled.
- Statues not loading if set from level editor
- Clone stunning had no effect.
- Entangled clones issue.

Clones v1.30a

New Features
- Fast Reload option added. This will make reloads of the same level (and checkpoint reload) nearly instant. Players with slower computers will experience the greatest benefit. On by default.

Enhancements
- Improved the "Morph On Click" mode to indicate when a clone can be morphed and work better with directional force.

Bug Fixes
- "Instant Match" menu overlap.

New puzzler coming to PC.

Small frustrations mar what is an otherwise decent experience.

New puzzler hitting PC.