Casual Game Blogs

Casual Gamer Chick: Flash Game: Vector Runner

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 23:00:08 +0000

Vector Runner is a racing/arcade style game written in flash. The goal of the game is to avoid the cones as you are flying down the road. The car accelerates automatically and the player steers the car using the arrow keys.

As the player is speeding through the area avoiding cones, they must also collect power cubes. The power cubes are colored cubes scattered through out the track. The cubes are usually stashed next to or behind a cone. It becomes challenging to collect the power cubes and avoid hitting the cones. Hit the cones three times, and the game is over. There are three shields and each time you hit a cone a shield disappears.

The graphics in the game are, as the name suggests, vectors. The cones are simple triangles of different sizes and the car is a 3D rectangle with an angled camera view. The graphics give Vector Runner the arcade feel.

Vector Runner is a simple game that is extremely addicting. There are achievements to unlock, which makes the game even more addicting. I kept going back and playing over and over trying to make it further in the game. If you are looking for a fun to play game, check out Vector Runner.

GBGames: Indie Business Rules: Relationships and Service

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 19:00:39 +0000

Jay Barnson wrote Business Rules for Indies, in which he tries to apply Jack Welch’s “cardinal rule of business” to indie game developers. Never let anyone come between you and your customers or your suppliers. Those relationships take too long to develop and are too valuable to lose. While game portals are a good short term [...]

Game Producer: 72 Insiders Now (and ‘Launch’ of the Game Market Research Ebook)

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 17:57:38 +0000

Today we got a new member to Insiders. There’s now total of 72 Insider members: individuals, companies, indie game developers, people who work at AAA companies, game trainers and you name it. I remember when we started with the private forums (where first me and Mr. Phil talked alone :)), and now we’ve grown into having the press release service, tons of information and ebooks about game selling, members privately talking about marketing, traffic, development, and other good stuff.

I’ve just created a new ebook for Insiders only and wanted to say a bit about it. It’s a game market research ebook and gives information about what game market research is (thus the name…) and how to actually a conduct a research. It contains some juicy tips on how big portals for example figure out games that sell well.

That’s for Insiders only.

Less sales pitch talk tomorrow.

P.S. Those of you who want to enjoy free goodies should get on the mailing list - there’s good free stuff there too.

Casual Gamer Chick: Peggle Going Mobile

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 17:30:29 +0000

PopCap Games has announced Peggle Mobile, which will be available later this month for mobile phones in North America, the United Kingdom and parts of Europe. PopCap is not going to stop at Peggle, they plan to release at least 6 more mobile titles that are currently under development. No word yet, which six titles are coming.

“PopCap continues its strong support of the mobile games market with a steady stream of internally developed handheld titles that give players great gameplay value anywhere, anytime,” noted Andrew Stein, director of mobile business development at PopCap. “Peggle is among a growing list of AAA mobile titles that PopCap is aggressively bringing to market for all sorts of mobile devices from cell phones, smartphones and PDAs to PocketPCs, iPods, iPhones, and more.”

In case you haven’t played or seen Peggle, players have to shoot a silver ball down onto pegs with the intent to clear all of the orange pegs off the board. There are all kinds of obstacles, such as moving pegs, that attempt to thwart your attempts to clear the pegs, but there are power ups, like crab flippers that help players achieve the goal.

Peggle is an extremely fun game and should make a good port to a mobile phone. The game provides hours of entertainment in short little bursts that are good for cell phone games. Many gamers don’t have long to play when they start up a game for the cell phone.

Press Release Follows:

SEATTLE, Washington – September 5, 2008 — PopCap Games®, the leading developer and publisher of casual games, today announced the forthcoming launch of Peggle® Mobile, which will be made available for a wide array of handsets from all major wireless carriers in North America, the United Kingdom and parts of Europe beginning in later this month.

PopCap currently has nearly a half-dozen yet-to-be-announced mobile titles under development, and a host of acclaimed mobile and handheld games already available. Now, with Peggle Mobile, PopCap will be delivering the same level of unique and enthralling game action to an even wider base of gamers on-the-go.

Since its first introduction in March 2007, Peggle has been downloaded more than 20 million times on the Web, and garnered more than a dozen awards from leading industry associations and trade journals.

Peggle combines elements of pinball, pool and pachinko to create a completely different kind of game experience. The game challenges players to use skill, strategy and luck to clear progressively more difficult levels of orange pegs by firing a small silver ball from the top of the screen. Stationary and moving obstacles along with numerous power-ups and special effects combine with dynamically-assigned peg colors to make each level unique every time it’s played.

Peggle joins a host of tremendously successful titles, including Chuzzle™ Mobile and Bookworm™ Mobile, all of which were developed internally and published by PopCap in North America and Europe. Peggle for click-wheel iPod, introduced in late 2007, has also enjoyed critical and commercial success, and is the highest-rated game for iPod based on customer rankings in the iTunes storefront. Additionally, Bejeweled and Zuma™, two of PopCap’s most popular games, continue their positions among the best-selling mobile games of all-time, with Bejeweled still ranked as the overall #2 game in N. America through Q1 2008. Earlier this summer, PopCap also developed and launched the well received Bejeweled 2 for iPhone/iPod Touch.

Bret on Social Gaming: Raptr, The New Social Network for Gamers: Will It Affect the Social Games Industry?

noreply@blogger.com (Bret) — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 15:58:31 +0000

Raptr is a new social network for people who play games. They achieved the amazing feat of auto-detecting and pulling together game information from Xbox games, Flash games, browser-based games, PC games, and yes, even games on Facebook.

They're trying to solve a couple problems. 1. They want to make it easier to find your friends who are playing online when you are. 2. They want to make it easier to discover games you'd want to play.

If this sounds familiar to you, then you probably realize that this is exactly what SGN and Zynga were both trying to do for people playing games on Facebook back in the beginning of this year. Like Raptr, SGN even had a newsfeed of games that you're friends were playing.

It turned out that, as least on Facebook, people didn't care much to play games with their friends in real-time. Nor were the majority particularly interested in discovering other games on the Zynga or SGN networks.

Since then, both companies appear to have been more focused on being game development studios. Though perhaps, they both still have plans to expand the social capabilities on their network?

So where does that leave Raptr?

Players on Facebook don't care about their friend's gaming habits. Games are not the centerpiece around which the socialization of the majority of the Facebook audience rotates. Facebook is a communications platform with games on it. That isn't changing.

Raptr's appeal will be to people who care about their friend's gaming habits. That will be the hardcore gaming audience. The values of this audience revolves around their relationship to games.

I believe Raptr will absolutely be successful, much like Dennis Fong's previous company Xfire, the IM client for PC gamers. However, I do not believe it will expand its audience much wider than Xfire's audience (and who cares if it does since that company sold for 110 million dollars).

Bottom line: Raptr will enhance the social aspects of the hardcore gamer audience (an audience which is pretty social already due to the popularity of multiplayer games in that space), but it'll have no impact on games already on existing social networks.

Casual Gamer Chick: Diner Dash Released for iPhone

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 13:52:02 +0000

PlayFirst has announced Diner Dash is available for the iPhone from Apple’s App Store. Diner Dash is PlayFirst’s first game released for the iPhone, but not the last. PlayFirst plans to release more games for the iPhone.

PlayFirst’s CEO, John Welch is excited about the impact the iPhone will have on casual games, saying: “Apple has affected a profound market change with the iPhone and its App Store—it enables hundreds of thousands of developers to unleash their creativity directly to a mass consumer audience, for the first time with no ‘permission’ from mobile carriers.”

The comments left in the App Store say the port of Diner Dash is very similar to the PC game, so the fun game play has not changed and you can now enjoy Diner Dash where ever you are and not just in front of the PC.

Diner Dash is available from the App Store for $9.99.

Jay Is Games: Link Dump Friday

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 06:15:00 +0000

This week on the official LDF Paragraph of Miscellany, I would like to discuss an advertisement poster I saw in a mall over the weekend. Pictured was a fancy hotel room with every amenity you could want, and just below, this simple phrase was printed: You see a room. I tried typing "enter room" (you know, in my mind), but apparently the door was shut, locked, and the key hidden so well no amount of drawer opening could uncover it. Darn.

Jay Is Games: Bucketball

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 20:16:30 +0000

Bucketball is a brand-new physics-based game from Arseniy Desrosiers and Florian Himsl. If you've already guessed that the general thrust of the gameplay has something to do with "buckets" and "balls," then congratulations, your amazing brain is way ahead of the curve. It's a simple idea game of skill, but to complete the game is anything but simple.

Casual Gamer Chick: EA Doing Card-Style RTS Game

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 17:30:01 +0000

A card-based Real Time Strategy (RTS) game sounds a bit strange, but that is the concept Electronic Arts (EA) went with in BattleForge and according to Ars Technica, who got a chance to play the game, it is a great game. EA made a strange sounding idea work really well.

The goal of the game is to make a deck of cards that beats your opponents deck of cards. Your opponent can be the computer or up to four other players in multi-player mode. Players need power, which is found through out the levels, to make their decks “work” and push forward.

The cards come in three different types, units, structures and spells and each card has an element it needs. Each element is focused on a specific situation, for instance, frost cards are defensive cards and fire cards are the aggressive cards. Players lay the cards down face up and begin to battle. In the battle, each card can only be used a set number of times, so strategy comes into play. Players can’t continually use one powerful card against their opponent. They must strategically play cards. Another strategy that must be managed, is the fact that some cards require orbs, as well as, power to play. Players have to manage orbs and power for those cards.

BattleForge sounds like an interesting game and card games, of this nature, seem to do well. Magic the Gathering was a huge hit, in its time. Not to mention, Urban Rivals does really well. Sounds like EA developed a fun and different game, that could become the next big hit.

Thanks Ars Technica

GBGames: Google Chrome EULA is Sane!

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 14:00:50 +0000

Yesterday I wrote about Chrome’s evil EULA terms, and posted a link to Tap The Hive about the news. Well, it looks like Google fixed the EULA language. Here’s an official response from Rebecca Ward, Senior Product Counsel for Google Chrome: “In order to keep things simple for our users, we try to use the same set of [...]

Casual Gamer Chick: The Role of Casual Games in Every Day Life

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 13:25:50 +0000

Rick from iQ212 wrote an interesting article about the “void” casual games fill in every day life. Basically, he feels there are three main areas that everyone needs to be happy in life. Those areas are home, not meaning you need to own a house, but a place you call home, work and a social setting, be it a bar or pub or an online community site. He goes on to make the connection that the biggest group of casual games players, Women age 35 - 54, are using casual games to replace their void of a job. They treat casual games as their job and developers of casual games should recognize this and develop games that are going to appeal to these women, the biggest part of the casual games audience.

Rick makes some interesting points in the article and it got me thinking. There are some women gamers out there that will spend hour and hours a day playing casual games and these are the women that probably have kids that are school aged and during those school hours have some free time on their hands. It is the time they use for “me” time. Once school lets out, I am sure they are driving the kids here there and everywhere and there is not another free minute until bed time.

I agree that developers of casual games should cater to their largest audience, but I don’t think every casual game developer needs to do that. If every developer did that, we would lose the innovation and creativity in the casual space. No doubt, some of the bigger companies have made huge hits by making games that appeal to Women age 35 - 54, such as Cake Mania and DinerDash, but those companies make different games as well, such as TradeWinds.

Casual game developers have to remember that Women age 35 - 54 make up a big piece of the casual game demographic, but they are not the only casual game audience. Developers can’t forget about the minority or casual games won’t become mainstream games.

Jay Is Games: Aether

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 02:39:25 +0000

Aether is a gloriously imaginative and atmospheric puzzle game in which you swing through the stars to reach several different planets, each with a unique puzzle to solve. The designers have made a truly compelling experience, and it's a fantastic artistic endeavor. You can also just spend some time flying through space or the clouds, the music and movement are so relaxing.

Jay Is Games: Conceptis Puzzles

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 18:22:50 +0000

Conceptis offers a variety of logical challenges at its website available to anyone. Eleven different puzzles await the intrepid solver, including familiar puzzles like Sudoku, Picross (here called "Pic-a-Pix"), Kakuro, Slitherlink, and a variety of puzzles that might even be new to logic puzzle lovers.

Game Producer: I Wonder If Players Are Better Assigning Priorities Than Producers

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 18:09:30 +0000

I’ve seen two types of producers when it comes to assigning priorities. The first type of producer has learned the lesson’s from Dilbert books: “rate everything ‘top priority’ except ‘personal life and hobbies’”. The other type of producer really understand that marking everything ‘top priority’ really solves nothing, they gotta be decisive about what tasks are more important than others.

Today I went through some Dead Wake zombie game ideas suggested by the community members. There were several pages of them. There were some really good ideas. Some ideas would require little resource, while some might not be possible to do with an indie budget.

I started pondering how to decide which ideas were the most important ones to consider, and I got this idea about rating the threads feature that’s in the forums software. I wrote a brief entry and welcomed members to give their ratings.

I don’t know if players will want to rank everything ‘5 stars’, and don’t know if this experiment produces anything worth using, but at least I decided to give it a go. If it doesn’t work, we can forget the ratings and try something else.

Anyway, now the zombie game community members are ranking ideas and we’ll see if they do a better job than some producers…

Casual Gamer Chick: Unsolved Crimes for Nintendo DS

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 17:36:07 +0000

Empire Interactive announced Unsolved Crimes, for the Nintendo DS, has gone gold and is set to be released on Sept 23. Players are challenged to solve the unsolved crimes, by solving puzzles and working their way through logical reasoning.

“Unsolved Crimes is more than just a mystery-solving game with brain-teasing challenges and logical reasoning, it’s sure to please brain boosting game and core DS fans alike,” said Karim Farghaly, vice president of sales, Empire Interactive. “The appeal this title has for such a diverse audience strengthens Empire and Atari’s partnership to deliver the ultimate gaming experience.”

Unsolved Crimes combines three game styles into one game, an action style game, an investigation style game and quiz style game. Each mystery has players utilizing each style of game play, as they explore New York City back in 1970 to solve the disappearance of Betsy Blake.

Unsolved Crimes sounds like a fun game and takes advantage of the two screens of the Nintendo DS. Sounds like a great game, if you enjoy solving mysteries by solving puzzles or if you enjoy logical thinking.

Press Release Follows:

AUSTIN, Texas - August 28, 2008 - Empire Interactive today announced development on Unsolved Crimes is complete. The mystery puzzle solving game will release for Nintendo DS™ on September 23, 2008. Filled with suspense, mystery and intrigue, Unsolved Crimes will be teasing brains on college campuses across the country. The game has an ESRB Rating of “T” for “Teen” and retails for $29.99.
“Unsolved Crimes is more than just a mystery-solving game with brain-teasing challenges and logical reasoning, it’s sure to please brain boosting game and core DS fans alike,” said Karim Farghaly, vice president of sales, Empire Interactive. “The appeal this title has for such a diverse audience strengthens Empire and Atari’s partnership to deliver the ultimate gaming experience.”

Fully utilizing the unique Dual Screen capabilities of Nintendo DS, Unsolved Crimes integrates three gaming elements - an action game, a 3D crime investigation and a crime quiz - to provide players with a distinctive experience. Taking the role of a rookie detective as part of the New York Police Department, players will explore the 1970’s inspired New York environments in the process of solving Betsy Blake’s mysterious disappearance. Crime is rampant in the city and Blake’s disappearance is the latest in a frightening series of events that are slowly bringing New York to its knees. With more than eight independent cases to solve in the interactive environments, players will find themselves fully immersed into the mysteries in Unsolved Crimes.

GBGames: Google Chrome EULA Is Evil?

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 14:00:21 +0000

So with all of the excitement about Google’s new web browser, someone decided to actually read the EULA and determined that it sucks: 11.1 You retain copyright and any other rights you already hold in Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services. By submitting, posting or displaying the content you give [...]

Casual Gamer Chick: Wizard101: A MMO for Pre-Teens

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 13:23:59 +0000

KingsIsle Entertainment has officially launched Wizard101, a Massive Multi-player Online (MMO) Game designed to attract the pre-teen age group. The story line focuses around wizards that set out to save their town from attacking monsters and zombies.

Designing a game for pre-teens can be a bit tricky when it comes to blood and gore. Wizard101 took the safe route and opted to leave the blood and even death out of the game. If a monster “dies” from an on slot of spells, they disappear back to a healing area and don’t really die.

Wizard101 is a combination of a magical fantasy adventure and a card game. Players do quests as they are learning their magic feats and at times partake in card style game play.

Wizard101 has gotten good reviews from players and reviewers. The game has even appealed to an older audience, even though it is intended for a younger audience. It is nice to see a company that is catering to a younger audience and designed the environments with a younger audience in mind. The goal from the start was to have a safe place for younger kids to play online games.

Press Release Follows:

Plano, Texas — Sept 02, 2008 — Tweens are grabbing their best spell-casting gear and rushing off to school… wizard school, that is. Online entertainment company KingsIsle Entertainment, Inc. has officially opened the doors of its highly anticipated Wizard101 (www.wizard101.com) virtual world, a magical 3D environment where aspiring wizards gather to adventure with friends and save their world from creatures like a pumpkin-headed Harvest Lord and a zombie named Wormguts.

Michael Lafferty of GameZone commented, “The game is thoroughly delightful, exuding a youthful sense of fun and excitement… KingsIsle is on track to have a certified hit title.”

Joe Blancato of GiantRealm said, “A kid-targeted [Massively Multiplayer Online Game] that’s charming the beard off anyone who plays it, regardless of age.”

Designed for pre-teens and attracting a wider audience of families and traditional gamers, Wizard101 features magical adventure and card style gameplay. Players enroll in the Ravenwood School of Magical Arts and begin a course of spell study. Immediately upon arrival at wizard school they are tapped by the Headmaster to help save the school from a renegade teacher who has disappeared but who seems to be behind some mysterious happenings.
Wizard101 features include:

Extensive magical 3D worlds, each with its own creative theme such as a feudal countryside run by Samoorai cows, or an ancient Egyptian-inspired land where the treasured relics are being carted off by dogs from another world.
More than 101 collectible spells that come to cinematic life as players learn to summon creatures such as Ninja Pigs and a Leprechaun that slides in on a rainbow and showers opponents with gold.
Seven different schools of Magic, each with its own unique style and gameplay experience.
The ability to adopt magical pets, like a flying dragon or a mischievous imp.
A wide variety of outfits and accessories for customizable Wizard avatars.
Puzzles and mini-games that challenge players and provide a place to rest and rejuvenate after duels.
Wizard101’s collaborative play style supports an environment where players benefit from working together in adventure quests and lower level characters can play alongside higher level ones. A three-tiered chat system and pre-defined character name generator create a safe community for younger players. The game contains no blood, and characters don’t die if they are defeated in a duel of spells-they simply go to a safe area on campus to regain health. An Arena provides a spot for more traditional gamers to show off their player versus player spell-casting skills. Wizard101 is free-to-play, with advanced play content available by subscription at the rate of $9.95 per month. Discounts are available for six-month and one-year subscriptions. For a limited time a 12 month subscription can be purchased for $60. Gift subscriptions are expected to be available online soon. To play, PC users may simply go to www.wizard101.com and download the game installer. A rating by the Entertainment Software Ratings Board is pending.

Bret on Social Gaming: How to Make a Successful Social Game: Violate Someone Else's Copyright.

noreply@blogger.com (Bret) — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 13:39:16 +0000

Today I'm starting a series of posts on how to create a successful social game. I'm not sure about their frequency, I tend to write when the mood strikes me, but expect them regularly.

Initially, I'm going to look at some trends that have held true for games on Facebook. As I've followed the space, I've extracted some insights, some practical, some cynical. Today's post falls under the cynical (yet true) heading.

Lesson #1: Appropriate Someone Else's Intellectual Property

Facebook users, like most people, respond to brands to which they are already familiar. Therefore, as a developer it makes sense to take advantage of that brand equity by associating it with your game. This is especially true if you've built a game that is a very close copy of a game that has enormous brand awareness.

Take Scrabulous, for example. It's a Scrabble clone. That's fairly obvious by the name. Now imagine if it had been named Word Tiles or Word Grid. No one would know it was a Scrabble clone unless they tried it out. A percentage, let's say 10% would have ignored the invite for a game that they didn't recognize. Yes, that's a made up number, but based on my interviews with average players, I'd suspect it should be higher.

People who otherwise would never play games played Scrabulous because they instantly recognized it as Scrabble by the name.

Here's some other successful brand appropriations:

Pacman 2.0. If you remember, Pacman was initially the most popular game on Facebook, until it was voluntarily taken down after a cease and desist order. In the last couple of weeks, I've watched a poorly done Pacman clone called Pacman 2.0 rapidly acquire traffic. It currently has ~60,000 DAU.

Send Pokemon. A gifting app that lets you send Pokemon characters. ~25,000 DAU

Winnie the Pooh. A gifting app that lets you send Winnie the Pooh characters. ~20,000 DAU

Super Mario. A port of the Nintendo game. ~12,000 DAU

These numbers seems small, but each of these apps are in the top 400, and each has the potential to make 1000s of dollars a month.

What If I Get Sued?

It's a risk. But unless you become really popular, then you don't have much to worry about. Giant companies like Nintendo can't be bothered with small-fry copyright violators. It's not worth the legal fees. If Disney, the most litigious of all copyright holders, hasn't come after the Winnie the Pooh app, then you don't have much to worry about.

Downside, if you're extremely successful like Scrabulous...well, being that successful is a great problem to have.

Jay Is Games: Weekday Escape

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 07:13:13 +0000

In this world of change, however, there is one constant. Come rain, come sun, come snow, there will be rooms to escape from. When the glaciers melt and California falls into the sea, there will still be screwdrivers and scraps of paper to collect. And in billions of years, when the sun finally blooms into a red giant and consumes the Earth, we will be here, faithfully, delivering Weekday Escape to you every Wednesday. ...Well, ok, maybe not then. Definitely up until the week before, though. After that we'll be updating from Mars.

Bret on Social Gaming: The Secret Behind the Popularity of Yahoo's Homepage

noreply@blogger.com (Bret) — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 07:11:00 +0000

Recently, I was down in LA and met with a really smart guy working on his fifth company. In passing, he explained why Yahoo's homepage was so popular with the 95% of the country that are not techies (who generally prefer Google). Here's the insight:

Yahoo starts the conversation, Google leaves it up to you.

I'll explain, via metaphor. Imagine you're at a party. Someone comes up to you and starts telling you about the last headlines or their trip to Brazil. That's Yahoo. They offer up a bunch of content and you choose what interests you.

Now imagine you're at a different party, this time everyone is standing around looking awkward as they wait for someone to talk to them. You need to go up to them and think up some question to get the conversation started. That's Google.

If you're looking for information, then the second party is great. You can ask questions without being distracted.

But if you're looking to be entertained, then you'd much rather be at the first party. That's where I'd rather be.

Most people are looking to be entertained by the Internet. They want to waste time. They don't know what they're looking for. They browse content.

Silicon Valley is Not Normal

Sometimes it seems like Silicon Valley is obsessed with more efficient ways to deliver the "right" content to the audience. That's because most people in Silicon Valley is obsessed with acquiring information. They're knowledge whores. It's a culture of smart, well-read information junkies who have more work than time.

That's not normal. Lots of brilliant people are wasting their time building products for less than 1% of the population. Because they're building it for themselves. It makes me sad.

That is not to say creating games is somehow a more honorable profession. The majority of people I talk to have never played a game on Facebook. And I ask everyone I meet. If they have, they've tried Scrabulous. Yet millions of people play games everyday. Some games get over 100,000 players daily. What startup in the Valley wouldn't kill for that kind of audience?

Facebook continuously pushes the application development community to build more useful applications. Underlying that desire is the notion that tools have more value than pasttimes. It's a very Silicon Valley notion. And completely in opposition to what normal people value. Which is fun. Excitement. Anything to kill time. But I don't expect you to believe me, just count how many useful apps are in the top 200 apps on Facebook. You can use one hand.

Good games kill time. If you're really smart, you'll figure out that giving people something to enjoy can have just as much impact as giving them a better way to solve a problem. Here's a problem for you: everyone wants to be happy. Yet, most of the time, they aren't.

Games help with that. Does your startup?

Jay Is Games: Bloons Tower Defense 3

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 03:43:49 +0000

Bloons Tower Defense 3 has finally been released after months of anticipation from all the hardcore Bloons fans out there. Picking up where Bloons TD 2 left off, the new game features even more tracks (eight in all!), new monkeys (towers) and upgraded gameplay mechanics.

Jay Is Games: Globule

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 20:54:10 +0000

There's been an accident in the slime factory and now it's up to you to clean up the mess. In each level you must collect all of the puddles of goo and direct them down one of the available suction vents to make it all go away. To do so, you'll have to push boxes out of the way and mind the arrows which allow you to travel in one direction only.

Game Producer: Now I’m a Vista User (2 Tips on Using Vista)

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 18:06:49 +0000

So, I’ve got my brand new computer parts and have been using the new fancy Windows Vista for about a week. After a friend of mine mentioned that it’s possible to disable the Vista’s in-built User Account Control (or UAC) my life improved drastically. When UAC was enabled, Vista was constantly bugging me and asking security questions. After taking that off, I’m saved! That’s the newbie tip for anybody who is getting annoyed by the frequent questions that are presented as ‘Better Security’. To make Vista using smoother, I disabled the darn thing and now things are much better.

Ok, so that was the first newbie tip.

The second newbie tip is that gadgets are useful. There’s a nice gadget called Notes that let you create post-it notes on your desktop. I started using notes to track ‘promises’ I’m making. Whenever I promise something (such as ‘new sales stats are coming’) I’ll write a short note using the gadget. It’s simple, it’s easy, and I like it.

I even created a very tiny experimental Time Tracking gadget that has two features: you can write one description line and then start the stopwatch. I thought about mixing these two gadgets together: I’d soon have a very simple & nice way to write to do items and track time used on them. I got 700 other ideas when I started to think this, so I decided to stop getting too eager about this fancy project management gadget. Anyway, the post-it notes gadget alone is a great thing.

I’m still learning to use Vista, and so far it’s been a positive surprise (I didn’t expect anything from it, besides DirectX10 support so that I could test to see how Crysis runs…). Vista loads much faster than XP. The Vista’s search is nice. The user interface feels bit more ‘user friendly’ (Don’t know why) and it seems to do some stuff under the hood really well (for example when I first launched my computer, I needed to do just one mouse click to get networking to work - I was amazed: in previous versions I had to install loads of stuff, press buttons, pull hair, summon mystical beasts, pray and plug and somehow things started to work). Last but not least, Vista seems more stable than earlier Windows versions.

I do think Vista is bit like a ‘fancier version of XP’, but at this point I’m not turning back. I like Vista. I like that the security systems can be made less intrusive. The system feels good to use. Crysis runs nicely.

And I like the gadgets.

Nothing to complain here.

Casual Gamer Chick: Popular Mac Game Going Mobile

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 17:36:01 +0000

Connect2Media announces the release of Crystal Quest for mobile phones. Crystal Quest was originally released on the Mac back in 1987 and has grown a following since then. The game has appeared on different platforms, since its creation and now it is making its way to the mobile phone.

Crystal Quest has a simple concept to grasp, get all of the crystals to make it to the next level, but the game play is not that simple. There is a mix of intense action and less intense times spread through out the game. The game play is based on the Xbox Live and Windows Vista versions of the game.

“It’s a true pleasure for us to re-release this beloved title that so many gaming fans have memories of enjoying over the years,” said Eric Hobson, Managing Director of Connect2Media. “Crystal Quest is a mega selling classic 20 years in the making; we know it will be a hit with casual gamers and hard-core fans alike.”

Crystal Quest is available now on select carriers and will be available globally in the next few weeks.

LONDON, UK—1 SEPTEMBER 2008—In a nod to everyone’s favourite decade, Connect2Media, the recently formed multi-platform entertainment company, announces the launch of 80’s favourite Crystal Quest™ for mobile. The game is currently live on select carriers and will continue to launch on additional global carriers in the coming weeks.

Crystal Quest made its first appearance on the Macintosh in 1987, and has progressively grown its fan base during its appearance on platforms throughout the years. Delivering a unique combination of therapeutic enjoyment and intense adrenalin-boiling arcade action, the player’s objective is to collect enough crystals to open a gateway to advance to the next level.

Crystal Quest was first developed by veteran game developer Patrick Buckland; the game became immensely successful upon its release. The mobile version is based on the updated Xbox Live® Arcade and Windows® Vista versions featuring updated graphics with retro gameplay. Enhanced special effects and a sophisticated interface make for a fun and addictive player experience.

“Good old-fashioned arcade games are making a comeback because they are still just as fun as they were 25 years ago,” said Buckland. “The idea for the game came from a simple observation that people like to clean things up. Present them with a chaotic playfield and build the game around erasing it. There’s something built into us all that makes this enjoyable. Crystal Quest wasn’t the first game to feature such an experience, but it’s probably the first game that was blatantly built around it.”

Casual Game Guides: Restoring Rhonda Review

Cecelia@engenuous.com (CGG Staff) — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 17:18:33 +0000

The other game I played this week was called Restoring Rhonda. This is a match 3 game combined with tasks you have to do to refurbish paintings. It is really a lot of fun. As in all match 3 games, start at the bottom of the screen. That way you can break tiles on the top as they are falling. As far as the tasks go I am far from an expert. I found myself laughing out loud trying to get them done. Some of the tasks you will be asked to do include using a needle and thread, tweezers and cloths to clean up spills. I had a ball playing and was sorry when the trial game was over. I would like to have this game for myself to try and upgrade my skills on the computer. This game really helps your coordination and I highly recommend it.

Casual Game Guides: Pearl Diversion Review

Cecelia@engenuous.com (CGG Staff) — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 17:18:33 +0000

I have had an interesting week where games are concerned. Jasper asked if I would review two games for him this week and I was more than happy to do so as things are pretty boring around here. The first game I played was Pearl Diversion. This is supposed to be a match 3 game. As you probably know by now if you have been reading my blog, match three games are my favorite. I like hidden object games but my eyesight isn't good enough to play them. I get too frustrated at time Management games. I'm working on that problem. Anyway I eagerly jumped in to the Pearl Diversion game. I would love to tell you all about this game and how to play it but I couldn't figure it out. You are supposed to match 3 same color balls that come up on a conveyer belt. The balls are big and brightly colored so that wasn't a problem. I made matches but never earned enough points to get anywhere. It looked like it would be a fun game if a person could figure it out. Download the trial game and see if you can figure out how to play.

Casual Game Guides: Azada 2: Ancient Magic Cheats and Walkthrough

anne@engenuous.com (CGG Staff) — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 17:18:33 +0000

Hey everyone, wow what a great Labor Day weekend! Azada 2 released just in time for me to use my vacation wisely and write a guide for it. This game is absolutely amazing! The graphics, the story, the gameplay is all stellar. This is not like the first Azada, in fact it's more on the lines of games such as Dream Chronicles and Hidden Secrets: The Nightmare. I'm not going to tell you much about the game because it's so great I don't want to spoil it for you, but this game is by far two thumbs up and on a scale of 1 - 10, let's give it an 11 if that's possible. Now, this is only a partial guide, I know, I know... but hey, a girl has to eat and sleep, oh and study sometime! However, we at Casual Game Guides really wanted to get this out to our devoted readers in case you're stuck. I'll be updating it daily and hope to finish the game as soon as possible, I hate walking away from it it's so good. If you have any questions, please post them in the Azada 2 forum and I'll check periodically to see if I can help you out. The guide is complete through (and including) Book 10: The Dive, enjoy!

Casual Game Guides: Farm Frenzy 2 Cheats and Walkthrough

Jasper@engenuous.com (CGG Staff) — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 17:18:33 +0000

After a relaxing summer back at the ranch, I'm back in the city ready to go. School is starting up and I'm thinking of changing my major... not sure. Thinking of changing to business. A couple weeks ago, Farm Frenzy 2 was released, so I thought I'd try to put together a guide for everyone. This game is similar to the first, but with some fun twists. It's also pretty difficult to get gold on all the levels, so if you need help with that, check out the guide and forums.

Casual Game Guides: Yard Sale Treasures: Sunnyville Cheats and Walkthrough

anne@engenuous.com (CGG Staff) — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 17:18:33 +0000

I finished the Yard Sale Treasures: Sunnyville guide I promised and just in time because I'm sure you noticed -- Azada 2 just released! As for Sunnyville: this is a really cute HOG. The graphics are more cartoon-ish than I'm used to but very well done. The story is great and the characters are out of this world (one literally). It's a basic HOG combined with fun little activities I've not seen in a HOG before. You actually get to create things from yard sale junk, cut, glue, paint, etc. and while it's extremely easy, it's so much fun! Hey, you might even get some ideas of how to fix up your own house! This game is bright and cheery and in my opinion, a must have for all HOG lovers. We are already getting hit with tons of homework, not to mention lengthy papers due by the end of the term which means research must start now. Have no fear though, I will always find time to write more guides, after all, I need a break once in awhile from daily grind of college. My next project...you guessed it, Azada 2!

Casual Game Guides: HOG Games: Quick Reviews

anne@engenuous.com (CGG Staff) — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 17:18:33 +0000

Howdy all! Whew, what a month this has been! As I mentioned before, the whole family went to Colorado for a week. We stayed near the Rocky Mountain National Park and wow, what a view! I didn't even miss my computer...much. I got to do some hikes, horse back riding, and take tons of pictures. I got back just in time to move back into the dorms yesterday. I really like some of my professors this semester (always a good thing) and even though they'll probably work me to death, I know I'll be able to squeeze in time to write some guides. I'm currently working on a guide but until then, I wanted to review the few HOG's that were released recently. Enchanted Fairy Friends: Secret of the Fairy Queen The introductory graphics were stunning and I had high hopes for the game, then I got past the story and to the actual hidden objects. While I don't usually mind searching for objects where you only have a silhouette to guide you since it's a nice challenge, the silhouettes were badly drawn and the pictures were a jumbled mess. Small items scattered here and there and everywhere! I was very disappointed to say the least because it looked good in the screenshots, ah well. The game has three modes of play, Easy, Medium (which I tried), and Hard. It also has an option to play it timed or untimed. My rating on a scale of 1(bad) to 5(awesome) is 2. Righteous Kill This is a basic HOG game with very nice graphics,and an interesting story line. The game is actually based on an upcoming movie of the same name. The objects are not overly difficult to find and the puzzles range from dusting for fingerprints to putting pieces of a paper back together (jigsaw) and find the missing item. However, I found the game didn't really hold my attention for very long and I like mysteries. While it's not the best HOG I've ever played, it would be an easy play for a rainy day. My rating for this game is a 3. Yard Sale Hidden Treasures: Sunnyville Currently writing a guide for this so... stay tuned! In other words, it's worth playing. !NEWS ALERT! Azada fans will be happy to hear that a little birdie has told me that as of next week, Azada 2 will be released! Don't worry, as soon as I can get my hands on it, I'll start writing you a guide, but be patient, if it's anything like it's predecessor, it may take me awhile.

Casual Game Guides: Jewel Match 2 Review

Cecelia@engenuous.com (CGG Staff) — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 17:18:33 +0000

Things are getting back to normal at our house. The smoke from all the wildfires is finally cleared up and we can see blue skies again. The good Delta Breeze is back and giving us some relief from the very hot weather. Shelly the Turtle is back home with my granddaughter and school has started. I am ready for fall although it is a little early for that. Just as I was getting a little bored with the games on my computer a new favorite of mine came along. I really liked the first Jewel Match and the new one is even better. It still has all the beautiful graphics and soothing music that I like so much but also has a lot for you to do. You gather resources to build castles, shop for things for the castles and it also has special coins and magic spells and many other things to keep you busy. I can't wait to play the rest of the levels to see what they will come up with next. If you liked the first Jewel Match I know you will get a kick out of this one.

Casual Game Guides: Ranch Rush Cheats and Walkthrough

anne@engenuous.com (CGG Staff) — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 17:18:33 +0000

Got my classes, got my books... school is about to begin. Finished my summer internship. Sort of in limbo. That's where Ranch Rush comes in. I haven't had time to play it yet. Having grown up on a cattle ranch in northern California, of course we always have to play the ranching and farming games. But please don't confuse a ranch with a farm, like Ranch Rush does. Ranches are where you raise cattle... they're not dairy farms for milk and cheese, not the place where you grow crops, etc. But I'll let it slide. Ranch Rush is a fun game that certainly kept me distracted from the pain in my from after a dentist appointment I had on Friday. What makes this time management game a little different is that there is a lot of strategy in how you lay out your "ranch" (eh hem... farm). It's kinda fun to play with different lay outs and experiment. So have fun with it, and if you get stuck, check out our guide.

Casual Game Guides: Big Kahuna Reef 2 Review

Cecelia@engenuous.com (CGG Staff) — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 17:18:33 +0000

Two years ago I bought a new car. My 86 Lincoln, which I named Mary Todd, was beginning to have some problems. But I soon realized that the new car had problems too. It looked like every other car in the parking lot. I would come out of the store and there would be 3 or 4 cars the same color as mine and they all looked like the same model. When I was a teenager in the fifties you could tell a Ford from a Chevy. Then some genius in Detroit decided all cars should look just alike. One way I discovered I could find my car was by pressing the trunk button on the remote. The trunk would pop up and I would know which car was mine. That worked fine until I went to a big parking lot in the mall in a big city. I almost got put in jail twice for Grand Theft Auto because I was trying to get into complete strangers' cars. Some people have no since of humor. I tried putting things on the antenna but they would get stolen. So I came up with a brilliant Idea. I bought a little Hula girl and stuck her on my dashboard. It may be corny but I have yet to see another Hula girl in my part of the country. This brings me to my review this week of Big Kahuna Reef 2. This is a great game. The graphics are spectacular. There are over 750 levels and 50 different themes on the levels. You could play this game all year and not be bored. There are all kinds of fish swimming around which you can change to suit you and what I really like about this game is the fact that you can save your place in one level and go try out another level. How cool is that? There are fish nets, bombs going off and you can even choose the music you want. If you are on a budget like most of us Seniors, you really get your money's worth with this game. If you can only afford a few games a year, give this one a try. I don't think you will be disappointed.

Casual Game Guides: Fashion Dash Review

Kristi@engenuous.com (CGG Staff) — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 17:18:33 +0000

I'm a big fan of Project Runway. I've watched just about every episode of every season except the first. I just love watching them make these amazing clothes out of unique and interesting materials. I know so little about making clothes myself. I can't hardly use a needle and thread much less a sewing machine. It's a whole world a know little about. That's part of why I enjoyed Fashion Dash so much. I get to "pretend" I'm a clothes designer, and it's lots of fun. Basically, you get to be Coco, an aspiring fashion designer, and build her clothing business. The customers come in and you have to help them choose their design from the catalog, get them measured, send the design to the seamstress, give them their finished garments to try on, possibly help them with accessories for their outfit, and then take their payment and clean their dressing room. Whew! And that is with each customer! This game will definitely keep you on your toes and challenge your time management skills. The game play is somewhat reminiscent of it's cousin Diner Dash, but only in that it kinda makes your remember it a little. The characters, graphics, and tasks that you do are all very different (though there is a cameo appearance by Flo here and there). So if you are a fan of the Diner Dash games, or just looking for a new time management game to check out, definitely give Fashion Dash a try!

Casual Gamer Chick: Defendin’ De Penguin

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 14:30:23 +0000

Crave Entertainment has announced the release of Defendin’ De Penguin, a real time strategy game aimed at children, for the Nintendo Wii and DS. The goal of the game is to save Penguin Town’s fish from the hungry predators looking to steal the fish.

The main character, Little Blue, needs to use a few different techniques to stop the invading predators. Players have to take into consideration defensive placement, strategy and timing. Players place the towers down to defend penguin land. They need to place the towers strategically to cover all of penguin land and stop the invaders.

Real Time Strategy games are hard to make work on a console, in my opinion, but the Nintendo Wii and DS are probably the best fits. Since the game is aimed at children, Defendin’ De Penguin, should be fairly easy to play on a console system.

Defendin’ De Penguin is available for $29.99

Newport Beach, CA — September 2, 2008 — Crave Entertainment, a leading distributor and specialty publisher of console videogames, has released Defendin’ De Penguin(tm), the first real time strategy game designed primarily for kids twelve and under, for the popular Wii(tm) and Nintendo DS(tm) systems. Help Little Blue fend off hungry creatures eager to steal Penguin Town’s fish supply. Using the perfect combination of tower utilization, defensive placement, timing and strategy, Little Blue will save the day.

Defendin’ De Penguin was named “Best E3 Wii Game Runner-Up” by 1UP Network. IGN commented, “For the audience it’s intended for-the young gamer who’s never played any strategic game at all before-this could be a great first step into the concepts of the genre.” GameZone said, “As the truly first real-time strategy game that is geared towards kids 12 and under, Defendin’ De Penguin will have kids wanting to save the little fur ball from danger.”

Players use wits and strategy to protect Penguin Town by placing defensive towers to thwart hungry invaders who are stealing the fish supply. Choose from eight different tower types that release an array of environmental ammunition, such as snowballs, ice cubes, icicles and frost to deter woolly mammoths, snow men, seals, snapping turtles and more. Direct Little Blue to catch more fish and retrieve special power-ups so you can upgrade towers to increase attack range and strength as your enemies expand in size, strength and smarts.
Defendin’ De Penguin is available now for Wii and Nintendo DS for a suggested retail price of $29.99.

GBGames: Scott McCloud and Google Chrome

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 08:00:44 +0000

I haven’t heard too much about Google’s browser project, Google Chrome, but I recently learned about this comic by Scott McCloud that describes the work being done. Pretty sweet. Combine Google’s goals with the goals of Mozilla Ubiquity, and the web will be a very foreign yet familiar place. What does it mean for indie [...]

Bret on Social Gaming: News You Might Have Missed

noreply@blogger.com (Bret) — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 02:06:17 +0000

I'm coming back from a long weekend in LA and my head is not back into social games quite yet, so here's a digest of stories from the last couple weeks that should hold you over until I get wordy again.

Webcarrz Raises $4 million Series A for a Car-based Virtual Flash-Based MMO. Pretty nice round for a company that I suspect is build on a Powerpoint presentation (considering their product is being made by a partner) . Their management team must be pretty strong. Here's a link to the CEO's Linkedin profile so you can decide.

U.S. Retailer Kohl's Partners with Virtual Dress-Up Site Stardoll. Read for the all-to-brief analysis of downstream traffic from the Stardoll site.

Google Announces Android Market, the App Store For Android Handsets. Once again, developers will have to choose where to place their development resources, Apple or Google.

Casual Game Guides: Governor of Poker Review

Jasper@engenuous.com (CGG Staff) — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 22:22:00 +0000

New out this week is Governor of Poker, a fun Texas Hold'em game. Xavier always beats me at Poker, particularly Texas Hold'em. I know a couple friends who've gotten pretty deep in debt from playing online poker, so I stay away from those. I have to admit I really like this version of it - you can choose your difficulty level and there's lots of tips to make you a better player. The AI of the computer players seemed pretty sophisticated. The idea is to make enough money to buy all the houses in each town, and then you move on to the next. In some of the games, people within the town wager up their houses which you can win as well. It seemed like a new twist on an old favorite.

Casual Game Guides: Enchanted Cavern Review

Cecelia@engenuous.com (CGG Staff) — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 22:22:00 +0000

When Jasper first asked me to review Enchanted Cavern I told him I had taken a look at it and thought it was boring. But I was drawn to it because when I was a kid I lived on a ranch that was close to a little known park called the Pinnacles. We would have Birthday parties and family reunions there. The reason it was so special was because the park had caverns .We would go into those dark caverns with our little flashlights and run amok. In some places we had to get down on our hands and knees to get through. I don't know why we never got hurt or lost in there. Now there are lights in there and they tell me no one goes in without a guide. We were always looking for big piles of gold or jewels, but of course we never found a thing. So I decided to take another look at Enchanted Cavern. I'm really glad I did because I was sure wrong about it. First of all I was trying to move the tiles and that was my first mistake. You don't move the tiles you just point your curser at groups of three or more. I couldn't figure out why I wasn't getting anywhere. Duh! Read the directions, Cecelia. I was way too sure of myself and didn't pay attention, which is a bad mistake in a cavern or computer game. After you finish a level you get a torch and go into a cave to search for pairs of treasures. Just as I was really getting into this game and having a very good time the trial run was over. Darn it! Now I am going to have to buy the game to satisfy my curiosity. This game is a sleeper. It's way more fun than it looks. If you decide to try this game be sure you read the directions carefully or you will be lost in the caverns.

Casual Gamer Chick: Spore Origins for iPod

Mon, 01 Sep 2008 19:50:05 +0000

Spore is set to be released this week, but iPod owners have a chance to get a preview of spore with Spore Origins for the iPod. Spore Origins is compatible with 5th generation iPods, iPod classics, and 3rd generation iPod nanos.

Spore Origins is the first stage, the creation stage, of the PC and Mac version of Spore. The entire game is that one stage in the bigger game. Leaves the door open for more iPod versions of Spore, if the first version works out. The Cell stage is the stage where you are surrounded by water and have to survive among enemies. The goal of the game is to eat other things in the water, but make sure your not eaten.

The game sounds like a great way to get more gamers addicted to Spore, release the first stage of the game and get people addicted. When the first stage is over they will want to go buy the entire game. Almost, like purchasing a demo of Spore.

Head over to GameStooge for a complete review of Spore Origins.

Game Producer: Any Idea Why ‘Big Brother’ Show Is So Popular?

Mon, 01 Sep 2008 19:20:11 +0000

Finnish Big Brother tv series has recently begun, and it has come to my attention that we actually have a possibility to watch the ’show’ for 24/7 (if you order a channel package).

Seriously.

Who the heck are making actually paying for the chance to watch every minute of what some people do in a house?

Jay Is Games: Bounceroid 2000

Mon, 01 Sep 2008 18:36:06 +0000

There is something about Sid Woo's Bounceroid 2000 that makes it so completely JIG-like. Elegantly simple in design, modern, stylish and enjoyable.Bouncing balls against paddles have come a long way, and gone through all sorts of fancy incarnations. This game is back to the basics and has an original take that makes it unique.

Game Producer: You Don’t Want to Miss These Goodies…

Mon, 01 Sep 2008 17:16:03 +0000

Over thousand people have read the game production cookbook and several hundreds have already got the free guide to advertising. I’m informing my old newsletter subscribers that in order to get these goodies (among other good stuff I’ll be sending every now and then), you need to subscribe to the mailing list.

If you want to know when there’s some special good stuff (such as new game sales stats available) then subscribe to the mailing list and I’ll let you know.

I have about close to two thousand people on my old list, and there’s people who haven’t yet renewed their subscription after I switched my mailing list provider. Your email is kept safe (I’m not giving nor selling it to anybody) and you are free to unsubscribe by clicking the link in the end of any email you get from me.

In order to make sure you don’t miss any free goodies, put your name & email in the list. I’ll send you the Cookbook and Ad Trap ebooks as soon as you subscribe.

P.S. I have new sales statistics and top notch producer rountable session coming up. Stay tuned.

GameDevBlog: Notes on PAX and the PAX 10

Mon, 01 Sep 2008 14:53:47 +0000

What a weekend!

I spent most of my time at the PAX booth, demoing Schizoid, which went very well - we were nicely located between Starcraft 2 and Little Big Planet - so there was a lot of foot traffic, and I was surprised to find out that despite all the downloads we've gotten on Xbox Live Arcade, most people didn't realize that Schizoid was out and available now. Anyhow, people loved it - they'd say "I'm going home to download this right now" and they were laughing and yelling at each other and trash talking and all the good stuff that Schizoid is about.

And, finally got to play all the other PAX 10 games. In case you don't know, the PAX 10 is Penny Arcade's choice of best independent games of the year. So we're in very good company. Let me give you a rundown:

Amazing Brain Train: I'm not into brain training games, but this is the best one I've seen. The graphics are great, it has lots of character, and most of the minigames are minigames you've never seen before. It's available now.

Audiosurf: I've played other games that let you use your own music in the game...and they're lame. Simple beat-matching exercises without the feeling of actually creating the music yourself. Audiosurf fixes that by making a game that's actually interesting that's tied into your music - and it gets pretty intense. It's available now.

Chronotron: I probably shouldn't play favorites, but Chronotron is actually my favorite of the PAX 10 - I do love me puzzle games, but they have to be new puzzles, puzzles I've never seen before. Chronotron gives you new time-travel puzzles and explores them deeply: think the third world of Braid, with the shadow-self, then multiplied - though Joe hadn't played Braid while he was developing Chronotron. It's available now and it's free.

The Maw: You lead a big mouth around on an electric leash. The characters are cute, round, brightly colored and well-animated - considering "The Maw" is basically a blob with mouth and eyes, he shows a heck of a lot of emotion.

Impulse & Strange Attractors 2: Although these are different games, they have a lot in common - you don't directly control your avatar, you use indirect forces to move your avatar through the levels, and you discover a certain poetry-in-motion in both games. Strange Attractors 2 is available now.

Polarity: Again, I love me puzzle games - Polarity is a side-scrolling platformer with magnetism-related puzzles that I'd never seen before. Very clever. It's available now and it's free.

Project Aftermath: I wouldn't have been surprised to see this game in a retail box for $50. It's a very professional polished RTS, but without all that lame economy stuff you normally have to deal with - it gets right to the killing.

Sushi Bar Samurai: I didn't get to play this one as much as I would have liked, but it's visually stunning - while the title made me think it would be cartoony, it actually has lush rendered environments of japanese gardens and a very zen aesthetic. You make sushi for unhappy souls - each soul is a "sushi puzzle", where you try to figure out what sushi will satiate them and allow them to transcend.

In short, I was more impressed by the stuff I saw in the PAX 10 booth than most of the rest of the show...although maybe that's because the lines at Spore and Little Big Planet were just too long and I didn't get to get a good look at them, nothing else I got to see really stood out. As one guy visiting our booth put it, "There's more creativity in the PAX 10 booth than the rest of the show floor."

Particularly impressive, considering we were all self-funded! A lot of games get entered into the IGF that are technically indy but actually might have a million dollars in VC funding or hundreds of thousands of dollars of small publisher funding - and sure, they're a lot more indy than your multi-million dollar retail console game, but it does make you wonder where to draw the line. The PAX games were all built on the cheap, out of passion and sweat.

What else happened at PAX? I did captain a team in Chatterbox's family feud game vs. my new arch-nemesis, Bret Alfieri of Strange Attractors 2 - and we got totally shut out. I blame myself. Hey, I'm old, and remembered videogame consoles like Colecovision and videogame slogans like "Do The Math" - not popular results among Penny Arcade readers, apparently.

Casual Gamer Chick: Gauntlet Coming to Nintendo DS

Mon, 01 Sep 2008 14:43:19 +0000

Eidos Interactive announced that Gauntlet will be released on Nintendo DS. Gauntlet is a role playing game (RPG), which was originally released in the arcades. Players have to save the world from evil, which is pretty much the same theme of every role playing game. RPGs are great, but there is no denying the goal of most RPGs is to save the world.

Players can choose from four different classes, Elf, Warrior, Wizard, and Valkyrie. Each class has their strengths and weaknesses. There are up to four power moves that can be gained to help you kill the baddies.

Gauntlet utilizes the Nintendo DS microphone to allow gamers to voice chat online. Players can meet up, kill baddies and talk to their friends the entire time. Players can play cooperatively or against each other and have the opportunity to compete in ranked death matches.

Gauntlet is set to be released in October.

Press Release Follows:

Monday 1st September/… Eidos Interactive Ltd., creators of some of the world’s leading videogame properties, has today confirmed that Gauntlet™, a modern reworking of the classic fantasy hack and slash arcade game from Midway, will be released on Nintendo DS this October.

Gauntlet is set in a fantasy-themed universe where evil cloaks the world from the high clouds of Ascendia to the depths of the lava-ridden Abyss. Players can choose from the four classic heroes, Elf, Warrior, Wizard, and Valkyrie, each with their own strengths, weaknesses and special abilities. Throughout the journey, the heroes will slash their way through demonic foes and gain up to four power move abilities to aid them in their battle with evil.

“With Gauntlet we’ve revitalised all of the action and fun of the original 1980s arcade classic, whilst updating the visuals and gameplay for today’s DS gamer,” said Ray Livingston, Brand Manager at Eidos. “With four-player Wi-Fi cooperative mode, one of the most memorable multiplayer gaming experiences of all time is back with a bang.”

One of the few titles taking full advantage of the hardware capabilities of the Nintendo DS™, Gauntlet offers Voiceover IP (VoIP) which allows voice communication through the Nintendo DS microphone, giving players more options to interact with their friends online.

Featuring 40 maps across three realms, Gauntlet offers fast-paced, retro RPG crusade-style gameplay in addition to new and in-depth multiplayer features including cooperative play and competitive multiplayer. The arcade style competitive multiplayer feature strengthens the addictive Gauntlet experience by introducing ranked multiplayer games like - Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch and Treasure Hoard game modes, hosted with local Nintendo Wireless play or via Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection.

Developed by Backbone Entertainment, a division of Foundation 9 Entertainment, Gauntlet is set for release on Nintendo DS later this year.

Jay Is Games: Rapid Wars

Mon, 01 Sep 2008 08:10:18 +0000

Survive as long as you can in Rapid Wars, the new addictive arcade shooter by Jussi Kari of ooPixel. Borrowing the two-fisted Robotron mechanic, and with a nod to Geometry Wars, Jussi creates gameplay that is frenetic, addictive and fun.

GBGames: Thousander Club Update: September 1st

Mon, 01 Sep 2008 08:00:51 +0000

For this week’s Thousander Club update: Game Hours: 409.25(previous two years) + 117.5 (current year) = 526.75 / 1000 Game Ideas: 710 (previous two years) + 36 (current year) = 746 / 1000 I spent part of my week making the goal look obviously different from the obstacles in the game. If you’re wondering why I bothered, [...]

Casual Gamer Chick: Game du Jour Weekly Line Up

Mon, 01 Sep 2008 01:04:51 +0000

The following games are available from Game Du Jour this week. The games are all offered a significant price cut, which is represented by the percentage after the game name.

Monday September 1 Zoggi 50%

A realistic simulation of a slot machine found in German casinos. This machine has a lot of features and many kinds of winnings. If you’re a real gambler you MUST play Zoggi.

Tuesday September 2 Rain Talisman 55%

Rain Talisman features unique gameplay, logical thinking and unstoppable color matching fun combined in one game! Spin wheels to make color matches and be rewarded for complicated ones with helpful bonuses. Plan your strategy ahead in Strategy and Puzzle modes or be quick in Action Mode. Enjoy fantasy world, beautiful locations and relaxing music. Master the strategy, look for interesting solutions and use 5 types of bonuses.

Wednesday September 3 Space Docker Sokoban 50%

Space Docker Sokoban is the sequel of Docker Sokoban. It’s a remake of the classic logic game Sokoban. Sokoban (in Japanese) means a “warehouse man”. This time you’ll be playing a clever docker who is working hard at such places as the Space Station, Underwater or Desert. Space Docker Sokoban features high color animated graphics with pseudo 3D projection, quality sound, pleasant background music, over 50 levels within 3 stages and walk-through solutions for all levels.

Thursday September 4 Bloom Busters 50%

Bloom Busters tells the story of Jimmy and Jessie, two gardeners who live in the magical village of Bloomland. Your job is to help Jimmy and Jessie rescue Bloomland’s farms and forests from the invasion of funny and squishy creatures roaming the land. This game has you feeding pigs, chickens, sheep, planting and watering crops, and more. You have to stop the invading creatures using tricks and utilizing gardening tools, such as a fly swatter and water hose, to protect the unique flowers needed to save Bloomland. Bloom Busters includes 2 a player option!

Friday September 5 American Presidents Profiles 60%

American Presidents Profiles: Learn about the United States Presidents while playing this fun and educational computer game. Take a guided, educational tour with Uncle Sammy through American presidential history and learn about our leaders! American Presidents Profiles is a fun and exciting game that teaches you to recognize the photographs of all the United States Presidents and learn interesting facts about the American Presidency.

Saturday September 6 VideoPoker 50%

Play the famous VideoPoker card game like in Las Vegas casinos. The machine has a 96% quota! You can play 1-4 lines with variable bets. The machine uses a 52 card deck that is shuffled after each game. With VideoPoker you will experience real casino fun at home. VideoPoker is played with the general poker rules.

Sunday September 7 Jojo’s Fashion Show 2 40%

Last season Jojo Cruz came out of retirement to take the fashion world by storm. With the help of her daughter Rosalind, Jojo used her impeccable eye for matching outfits to brighten runways around the world. Unfortunately, the new editor at FWD has strong opinions about elegance and it doesn’t match the Cruz vision. Can Jojo and Rosalind work together in the face of new challenges? Return to the runway for a new season of high style with Jojo’s Fashion Show 2!

If you see a game you like, head over to Game du Jour on the right day and pick up the game dirt cheap.

Bret on Social Gaming: Labor Day Labor Break

noreply@blogger.com (Bret) — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 01:42:36 +0000

I took an unannounced blog break this weekend. Will start up again on Tuesday.

Jay Is Games: Zombie in My Pocket

Sun, 31 Aug 2008 20:04:49 +0000

Zombie in My Pocket is the quintessential casual game: quick to play, easy to learn, solitaire and free. But it differs from the usual Jay is Games fare in one crucial respect: the platform on which it plays is not Windows, Mac or Linux, but rather your kitchen table.