A Blog About Everything To Do With Casual Gaming
Flash Game: AirBattle (Sat, 11 Oct 2008 15:12:42 +0000)
AirBattle is an interesting shooter game written in flash. The goal of the game is to get your air ship to the exit without losing the two balloos that enable your ship to fly. Players also have a cannon in their ship to shoot things out of the sky and at other ships that are trying to pop their balloons. Players move the ship by using the w, a and d keys. The w key moves your ship up, a moves it left and d moves it right. 
The ship has metal armor all around it so if the ship is hit by a cannon ball the cannon ball just bounces off of the ship, but it is a different story if the canon ball hits a balloon. The balloon will pop. There are obstacles around the course that contain sharp points and will pop your balloon if you fly into them. Some of the objects are dangling from a balloons and you can shoot those balloons and clear the objects from the screen making it easier to float around and clear the level.
AirBattle is a fun and challenging game and a great way to pass the time. The later levels get a bit complicated with all of the obstacles and the other ship shooting at your, but it is still fun. If you are looking for a good flash game, check out AirBattle.
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Arkanoid Comes to Xbox Live Arcade (Fri, 10 Oct 2008 13:56:15 +0000)
Arkanoid was a really popular brick breaking game back in the 1980’s and is now being remade for Xbox Live Arcade in hopes to recapture some of that great arcade magic. Arkanoid is a great game for Xbox Live Arcade considering Xbox Live Arcade contains many many arcade games. 
Arkanoid was redone with HD graphics and choreographed music and background graphics. There are 120 different levels that will challenge players both in cooperative and versus modes. The goal behind the game is to break all the bricks on the level to beat the level and progress through the game. Of course, it gets harder and harder to break all the bricks as the game progresses.
Arkanoid was a great game in its day and I am sure the Xbox Arcade version will be just as good. The game machanics should be the same as the original game, but the graphics and sound have been upgraded for this day and age. What could be better?
Arkanoid will be released some time in 2009.
Press Release Follows:
Fact Sheet
(October 2008)
Title: ARKANOID™ Live!
Publisher: Taito
Developer: Taito
Platform: Xbox LIVE® Arcade
Rating: RP
Availability: 2009
Price: TBD
# of Players: 1 ~ 2
Product Overview:
Arkanoid, the block-breaking masterpiece now for Xbox LIVE Arcade!
First appearing in the 1980’s as a new style block-breaking game, ARKANOID, appears on Xbox LIVE Arcade having accomplished even further evolution. Enjoy Arkanoid in high-definition with beautifully choreographed background movies and background music. Loaded with 120 stages in all and colorful cooperative and versus modes.
Game Features:
As part of “TAITO’s Collection Series”, in which Taito’s masterpiece games are remade, ARKANOID is remade with even cooler background movies and sound and loaded with colorful game modes. Within the simplistic block-breaking game element, and beyond effects incurred by items and the appearance of enemies, several kinds of new bosses appear in the final stage.
- New Visuals and Music: Block-breaking is rendered cooler than ever with ARKANOID’s inorganic interpretation of our world through cool background graphics and new background music.
- 120 Stages of Block-Breaking: Even including stages from the past ARKANOID series, compete for the high-score and/or record clear time in all 120 stages with leaderboards score.
- Abundant Game Customization: Barrier Type or Player Stock Type game play? A Player 1 and Player 2 collaboration? Customize your game play for variety enjoyment.
- VS Mode Play: Heat up your CPU or Local 2Player and Live Play VS play with two rules.
- - Bust All Battle Mode – The player who breaks all the blocks first wins
- - Bust Color Battle Mode – The player who breaks all the color blocks designated to them wins.
The information contained in this fact sheet relates to a pre-release product that may be modified before its commercial release. Accordingly, the information may not accurately describe or reflect the product when it is commercially released. The fact sheet is provided for informational purposes only, and the publisher and developer make no warranties, express or implied, with respect to the fact sheet or the information contained in it.
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Google Launches Beta In-Game Advertising (Thu, 09 Oct 2008 14:11:24 +0000)
Back in July of 2007 Google had announced they were getting into Adsense for games. Google went this long without saying anything else on the topic, until now. Google has announced their in-game advertising has gone into beta and is now available for games. Google is targetting flash games on the web, initially. 
Google getting into in-game advertising means the market can potentially be a big market. Google is a huge force in advertising and if they are getting into in-game advertising there is a market there.
“It’s a huge stamp of approval for a major company to come in and say they believe in the online games ad market,” said Jameson Hsu, chief executive of Mochi Media, a game ad network operator which is partnering with Google. “It should awaken all of the major media companies.”
The ads are that google provides can be used in games or in youtube videos. The ads can be requested by using Flash and placing a “hook” into your game or video that tells the video or game to go look for an advertisement when it hits a certain spot, in the beginning or end.
Companies such as eSurance, Sprint, and Sony Pictures are, currently, participating in the in-game advertisements.
The entrance of Google into the flash game advertising space is big news. Google will have some competition from big names already in this space, but they must think they can set themselves apart from the competition. This also brings another avenue for flash game developers to make some money.
Thanks VentureBeat
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Chronic Logic Releases Zatikon (Wed, 08 Oct 2008 22:19:11 +0000)
Chronic Logic has released a turn based multi-player tactics game, Zatikon. Player have to construct an army to beat their opponent and have quite a few militia to choose. Players can build a ground army out of dragons, warriors, necromancers or holy Templard. But if attacking your opponent through the air is more your style, you can choose from archers, crossbow men or mages. There are multiple strategies to play, but I am guessing a combination of air and ground troops are the best bet, because it always seems to be.
Players don’t have to play against each other. They can play agains the computer in single player mode or wiht a friend in coop mode. Zatikon, also, offers a random army mode to keep things interesting.
If this sounds like a game you may be interested in, head over to cronic logic and try out the demo. The demo contains all of the game modes and does not contain a time limit. What do you have to lose?
Press Release Follows:
Santa Cruz, California - Chronic Logic announces the release of Zatikon for Windows, OSX and Linux. Zatikon is a turn based multiplayer tactics game featuring over 50 unique units. Build your army and defeat your opponent. With an almost unlimited number of possible strategies at your disposal Zatikon is highly addictive and very fun. Zatikon includes online player ranking and several extra game types including co-op, single player and random army mode. Come play the Zatikon demo for free. All game modes are available and the free version is not time limited.
Try the free version:
http://www.chroniclogic.com/zat_download.htm
Screenshots:
http://www.chroniclogic.com/zat_screens.htm
About Zatikon:
Construct your army out of creatures as varied as the magnificent dragon, mighty warrior, evil necromancer or holy Templar. Destroy your opponent with a heavy cavalry charge or defeat their army before they can reach you with archers, crossbowmen and mages. Use an unlimited number of strategies to defeat your opponents and earn gold to increase the might of your army. Play Zatikon for free and start building your armies today!
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Domino Master Review (Wed, 08 Oct 2008 14:53:15 +0000)
Domino Master is a great Domino game available from Xbox Live Arcade. The player has a choice to play against up to three other computer players or against human players on Xbox Live. There are five different types of domino games to choose from. 
The different types of domino games are Straight, All 5s, Mexican Train, All 3s and Bergen. Each game is played differently and has different rules. The closest games are the All 5s and All 3s. Each of those games give the player points when the ends of the dominos add up to a multiple of 5 or 3 respectively. The game will keep track of the board score, but you will need to do a little math on your own by knowing if the domino you are about to play will get you to a multiple of 5 or 3 depending on which game you are playing. Players can still play a domino without having the domino be a multiple, but they get points by playing multiples. The round ends when one of the players have played all of their dominoes. The first player to reach the allotted points wins the game.
The Straight mode is just straight dominoes. Players play the dominoes they have in their hands and the first person to use all their dominoes wins that round. The remaining dominoes in your opponents hand are added up and then added to the winners score. Players can control the number of points that ends the game, but they can not play lower than 100. The points score does not go lower than 100. The game continues on until someone hits 100, or the score configured, and wins.
The Mexican Train game is very different way of playing dominoes. There are four players and each player has their own train track to build up and only that player can add to their train track, unless they have to pass on their turn and then their track opens up to the public. There is a fifth track known as the Mexican Train and any player can play on that track. The first person to play all of their dominoes wins the round and accrues no points. Everyone else gets the amount of points equal to the dominoes left in their hands. The dominoes are added together. The person with the lowest score wins, much like the card game Hearts.
The last type of game is Bergen and players get points by matching the ends of the dominoes on the board. In other words, each ending domino piece on the board needs to match to score a point. Again, players can play dominoes that don’t match a number on the board, but they don’t get points for the play. The first person to play all of their dominoes wins the round. The first person to reach the allotted points, configured on the begining game screen, wins the game. 
The game play in Domino Master seems simple at first, but it is not that simple. The game will tell you which dominoes in your hand can be played and where they can be played, but if you blindly play what the computer tells you, you may not win. There are times when there are multiple dominoes that can be played and if you just take the first one and don’t plan ahead you may end up trapping yourself with no moves and having to draw from the domino pile.
There are three different AI settings to challenge players, beginner, master and guru. The beginner setting is still challenging and you don’t always beat the computer. The master level beat me most of the time and the guru level takes some strategizing to beat.
The graphics in the game are simple, but fit an Xbox Live Arcade game. The avatar picture is used as your player’s icon in the game. The dominoes themselves are clear graphics and easily readable. The Mexican Train board is the brightest and most colorful board. The other boards just have a colored background.
Over all, Domino Master is really fun to play and offers enough game play for any domino fanatic. Even the begining domino player will still find the game fun because of the begining modes where the computer takes it easy on you. If the computer opponents get boring, you can move on and challenge real, live, thinking humans on Xbox Live. Head over to Xbox Live on the Xbox 360 and try out Domino Master. Players can download the full version of the game for 800 Microsoft Points.
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Oberon Media Secures $20 Million in Funding (Tue, 07 Oct 2008 13:32:29 +0000)
Oberon Media has secured another round of funding for $20 million USD from Infinity I-China Fund to help grow their casual games and mobile games business. Part of the money will be used to expand their customer base into China, where the casual game market is big. 
Oberon Media decided to take a different route than just setting up a casual games portal for their games. Oberon has went out and partnered with big name companies like Microsoft, Sprint and Comcast and aims to produce games that will be prime for all kinds of revenue opportunities. They plan to provide advertising opportunities, traffic, and gameplay optimization, digital rights management, and data mining to maximize the profitability of partner games.
Thanks CNET
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Kudos 2: Second Installment of a Life Sim Game (Mon, 06 Oct 2008 14:36:19 +0000)
Kudos 2 is the sequal to Kudos and is a turn-based life simulation game for the PC. The developer of the game, Cliff Harris, made a name for himself when he asked pirates why they pirate his game and took the responses and incorporated them into the second release. Kudos 2 full release contains no DRM. 
Players play the 10 year time period between the 20s and 30s. Much like real life, the gamer starts out with a low paying server job and has to decide which facet of their life they would like to work on. They can improve their career, education, personal development and social circle, or any combination of those abilities. The environment affects the character and determines the outcome of the game, as well. The TV statations you watch and the food you eat all change the outcome of the game.
Kudos 2 sounds like a very interesting game and a game you could play over and over again making all kinds of different choices. The different choices will all have different outcomes making for a different game play experience each time.
Kudos 2 can be found here.
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Game du Jour Weekly Line Up (Mon, 06 Oct 2008 01:04:52 +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 October 6 Warkanoid 3: Story-book 60%
Explore the Fairyland while breaking blocks in the final part of the Warkanoid trilogy. Do your best to destroy all the bricks on each of the beautiful Story-book levels with a bouncing ball. Catch funny power-ups, obtain magical weapons and meet Fairyland inhabitants on your way.
Tuesday October 7 Asianata 60%
Can there be anything more enjoyable than fingering marble balls in a shade of a lofty pagoda? Only one thing - arranging ball combinations in this exciting puzzle game. Play with vivid many-colored balls, make them roll and slide along stone plates to come into a color-matching combo. Free your mind and let Asianata’s Asian wisdom excite you!
Wednesday October 8 Astrobatics 60%
Imagine yourself driving a super-high-speed space fighter with a whole arsenal of steam-rolling weaponry at your fingertips crushing down hordes of vicious enemies. Caught that feeling? Then you are ready to get some pure adrenaline with this thunderous space-shooting action game.
Thursday October 9 Aquacade 60%
Get into your submarine and go pearl-fishing in addictive underwater action puzzle. You’ll meet exotic marine animals and reveal the secrets of seabed while making combos out of colorful pearls. Discover mysterious items and use your ship powers wisely to collect as many pearls as you can.
Friday October 10 The Golden Path of Plumeboom 50%
Plumeboom the Peacock of Orniland found an ancient map that leads to the treasures that are kept in secret caves, and it is the player’s task to help Plumeboom uncover them. Experience The Golden Path of Plumeboom’s original and captivating puzzle gameplay that involves real-life physics with bouncing orbs, magnets and vividly exploding groups of orbs of the same color. Claim the treasures hidden behind each of a hundred magical magnetic locks of every possible shape.
Saturday October 11 A-B-O-O: Plumeboom’s Friends 50%
Plumeboom is a great traveler, and he has many friends in numerous fabulous worlds. Country of Aboo is one of such worlds. It is settled by hard-working wormlings, who day after day quarry Magic Crystals that may be converted into any possible item! They’ve recently faced a real disaster. The two evils, Crowbeak the wizard and the mad scientist Cornix, that was expelled from Orniland, got to know about the Magic Crystals and decided to grab these from the defenseless wormlings, in order to create the Weapon of Darkness. The evils forces are stronger, but our kind friend Plumeboom is assisting settlers of Aboo. The Magic Crystals shouldn’t fall into the evil claws.
Sunday October 12 Cake Mania 3 40%
As Jill prepares for her long anticipated wedding day, disaster strikes when a mysterious time bender crashes to the ground and shatters into pieces. As Jill’s family and friends rush to pick up the scattered shards, they are suddenly sent hurtling through time! Now, to ensure her wedding goes off without a hitch, Jill herself must travel to remote periods in time and work her cake-making magic on a wide variety of locals in order to get herself and her guests back before the ceremony begins!
If you see a game you like, head over to Game du Jour on the right day and pick up the game dirt cheap.
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Teletoon Celebrating Halloween All Month (Sun, 05 Oct 2008 15:28:45 +0000)
Teletoon.com has announced a selection of seasonal games available on Oct 3rd until November 3rd. All of the games have Halloween themes and contain some contain zombies and other contain candy challenges. 
Two of the games contain zombies, Dude! Goop the Living Dead! and 6TEEN Zombie Pseudo-Ku. Dude! Goop the Living Dead! has players arming themselves with a water gun that squirts hot sauce and attempting to take out the zombies that have infiltrated the mall. Players have to pay attention because there are two other people in the mall besides the zombies. If players hit the non-zombies the game is over.
6TEEN Zombie Pseudo-Ku is a zombie themed Sudoku where players try and solve the grid using the 6TEEN cast. If this sounds like a fun game to play, you will have to wait until Oct 10 for this release.
Teletoon has not forgotten about the people that enjoy sweets over fright on Halloween. They are offering three games Candy Capture, Zimmer Twins Snack Attack, and Gimme Gimme Candy. Candy Capture has players using their mouse to draw circles around candies, which captures the candies. Bonus points are giving for capturing candies that are the same type in a group.
Zimmer Twins Snack Attack players have to shoot candy at approaching tick or treaters. If the trick or treaters get too close the game is over.
Gimme Gimme Candy has players navigating their way through mazes in an attempt to get candy and avoid the zombies, vampire and witches.
All games can be accessed by going to teletoon.com.
Press Release Follows:
Toronto – Beginning October 3 teletoon.com is treating kids with a selection of seasonal and spooky games. Visitors to the popular site can enjoy exclusive Halloween themed games in the teletoon.com trick or shriek including a zombie filled 6TEEN scenario and three candy-crammed challenges. All of the games are available at teletoon.com/Halloween until November 3.
Play 6TEEN this Halloween
Dude! Goop the Living Dead!
The mall has been overtaken by zombies and it is up to the skill of the teletoon.com player to stop the undead in their tracks using a squirt gun full of hot sauce. The player will have to make sure that their aim is good though as Ron the security guard and Tricia are also in mall and hitting them with the sauce means that the game is over.
6TEEN Zombie Pseudo-Ku
Sudoku is already terrifying enough for some but the teletoon.com take on the game is even more frightening as players try and solve the grid using the zombie versions of the 6TEEN cast. 6TEEN Zombie Pseudo-Ku is available from October 10.
Games for those with a sweet tooth
Three Halloween-themed games as sweet as they are scary.
Candy Capture
Candy Capture players draw circles with their mouse to capture as many candies as they can, grouping similar candies for bonus points. The game is exclusively to TELETOON VIP subscribers until October 10 from which time it becomes available for all teletoon.com visitors.
Zimmer Twins Snack Attack
It is Halloween night and little ghosts, vampires, mummies and werewolves are on the hunt for candy. As hordes of trick-or-treaters make their way across the front lawn, the player of Zimmer Twins Snack Attack needs to take aim and throw candy at costumed kids. If they get to close though, the game is over.
Gimme Gimme Candy
Players navigate through mazes of increased difficulty in order to grab candy and avoid zombies, vampires and witches.
The award-winning website teletoon.com sees over 1.5 million visits and over 2.5 million game plays per month. With sticky content drawing kids to play games, enter contests, watch video clips and find out more about their favourite cartoons, the site boasts an average time spent per visit of nearly 15 minutes.
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iPhone Game: MetaSquares (Sat, 04 Oct 2008 15:39:29 +0000)
MetaSquares is a great puzzle game for the iPhone or iPod Touch. The goal of the game is to place your colored peg on the board in such a way that it makes a square with three other same colored pegs. The bigger the square the more points you get for completing that square. The first one to fill in the points bar below their name wins.
MetaSquares is challenging, but not impossible. I did manage to beat the computer after a few games. There is a balance between putting your pegs down to get a big square and stopping the computer from doing the same. The computer will stop you from making big squares, as well.
Gamers with good spacial vision will have an easier time than players who have trouble “seeing” things that aren’t there yet. Players have to envision the square and then attempt to complete the square for points. The diagonal squares give you the most points, but are the hardest to envision and complete without the computer stopping you.
MetaSquares was a fun game and definately worth the $2.99. $2.99 is a decent price for the amount of challenge and addictiveness this game provides.
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