While I was out at IndieCade, I was also part of a subtlemob. I blogged it over on Indie Game Mag:

After a day of panels and impromptu chats about where gameplay ends and interactive art begins, I went to play subtlemob by the Culver Hotel. Going in, I knew very little about the subtlemob. The instructions were to find a partner, and both download a half hour MP3 and meet at the secret starting area.

via subtlemob At IndieCade | The Indie Game Magazine – Indie Game Reviews, Previews, News & Downloads.

Popularity: 2% [?]

feelforit is another IndieCade finalist. This one is interactive art for the iToy, I’m really interested in checking it out, it reminds me a bit of my other ambient indie favorites, Osmos and Eufloria.

Popularity: 3% [?]

I’ve been playing a couple text-based games recently. Both of these are ChoiceScript games, available for the iPhone or for the web browser.

Choice of Romance is a new text-based PC and iPhone game by Heather Albano and Adam Strong-Morse, using the same ChoiceScript code and choose-your-own-adventure style as Choice of Dragon. You play as a young mage, from a noble but impoverished family, looking for love in a Spanish-influenced magical kingdom.

The royal court bore striking resemblances to Henry VIII and Catharine of Aragon: The king and his politically-advantageous wife have one sickly child, while the king’s wandering eye has led to an illegitimate son. One time I played through, I went after the king, and was soon receiving gifts, stringing the king alone and deposing the rightful queen, just like a magic-using Anne Boleyn. I don’t know if this was the intention, or if maybe I should lay off the historical novels for a while.

Via Simpson’s Paradox: Choice of Romance

I checked out Choice of Dragon, a free text-based adventure game  for a web browser or iToy.  The multiple-choice interaction gave me the opened-ended storyline I loved in text games, without the turn-key-in-lock frustrations of a game that parses text entry. (Hey, I wasn’t THAT nostalgic) You play as a dragon in a generic fantasy land, full of princesses to capture (or princes, your dragon can be an equal-opportunity kidnapper), adventuring parties to torment, and treasure to steal.

CoD is a solid IF game. Engaging descriptions of scenes and character never become long-winded. The story uses fun fantasy stereotypes, without going into the complete parody in Fantasy University or Kingdom of Loathing, and uses light sarcasm, but never takes on the unhelpful DM’s tone from Zork or Adventure. The game is fairly short, but reading the game is such a delight, it’s practically impossible not to play through a few times for different stories.

Via Simpson’s Paradox: Choice of Dragon

Popularity: 4% [?]

It’s here! Legacy has released the new House MD casual game!

LOS ANGELES, CA (September 13, 2010) – Leading casual game developer and publisher Legacy Interactive® announced today the release of House M.D., the third game released this year in its Hollywood Hits™ series. Faithfully adapted from the television series by the same name, TV fans and casual gamers alike can now experience what it’s like to be part of the show. House M.D. will be available September 13th on Legacy Games for PC download at http://www.legacygames.com and at top retailers nationwide. House M.D. is licensed through Universal Partnerships & Licensing on behalf of NBC Universal Television Consumer Products Group. The series airs on Fox Mondays from 8:00 to 9:00 p.m. (ET/PT) and also on USA Network.

“We are thrilled to be publishing a game based on such a popular and high quality brand like House M.D.,” said Ariella Lehrer, President and CEO of Legacy Interactive®. “We knew from the beginning it would be a challenge to live up to the show’s high standards, but our team did a great job and it shows in every part of the game experience, from the detailed character art to the hilarious script.”

“Legacy Interactive has become a leader in TV-based interactive games, and we are happy to extend our relationship with them through the House M.D. title,” said Bill Kispert, VP & GM, Digital Platforms, Universal Partnerships & Licensing. “With its quirky characters, witty writing and diverse array of challenging puzzles, the game is true to the House brand and puts a twist on both the medical sim and puzzle gaming genres.”

House M.D. takes a unique approach in blending light adventure game play with mini-games and lab tests. Play along with the surly Dr. House and his team at Princeton-Plainsboro Hospital as you race to unravel 5 all-new medical mysteries. Featuring all eight characters from the hit television show, solve more than 100 mind-bending puzzles and mini-games to uncover critical clues about your patient’s hidden life. In order to crack the case, you must track down evidence by examining patients, searching their home and workplace, interrogating their friends and family, running lab tests, and performing surgery. Every piece of evidence reveals part of the solution, so careful observation and analysis is key. The clock is ticking. Be prepared for unexpected twists and turns before you solve the case!

In tandem with the launch of the game, USA Network will offer a free 30-minute trial of the game on their “Character Arcade” (www.characterarcade.com). Character Arcade is USA Network’s casual/social gaming destination offering fans an experience beyond game-play. The site includes access to gamer portfolio tools, social networking, an affinity rewards program, industry news, chat-blog forums and new gaming options, including PC, downloadable and MMO titles.

Popularity: 6% [?]

Games are about the relationships between objects in space. Many games involve objects bonking into each other, shooting each other (with other objects), avoiding each other, and simply milling around. While you’re writing a game, you usually think about objects, their characteristics, and how they interact with the player as well as with each other.
Games need to react to the player. The player should manipulate a virtual presence, and the game should react accordingly. Some games are turn based, and some are in real time, but all require more immediate feedback than traditional types of programs.

Macromedia Flash is a very good environment for learning basic game programming
ideas. Here are a number of reasons for starting with Flash:
1. Flash offers robust multimedia support.
Flash, which was designed to support animation on the Web, supports various kinds of images easily. (Think JPEG images and custom drawings.) See how to use the drawing
features of Flash in Chapter 9. Flash also has great support for various kinds of audio files, such as MP3 and WAV formats. You incorporate audio into your games in Chapter 8.
2. ActionScript is related to the influential C language.
The ActionScript programming language built into Flash is closely related to JavaScript
and ECMAScript, which are two extremely common programming languages. All these languages are based on the C programming language, so the coding conventions you’ll master are much like those in other languages.
3. Flash is designed for the Web.
By working in Flash, you have a ready distribution network. Because Flash was designed for the Web, all your games can be easily published on the Web, and anybody with a Web
browser and a Flash plug-in can enjoy your games. And you won’t have to worry about what operating system your users use. (All the programs in this book have been tested in Windows XP and Fedora Core Linux, but they should work in any OS with a Flash plug-in.)

If you want to know a good flash games like what, Just Visit this Site. If you are looking for free games to play online you are in the right place. You can find hundreds of free online games for free.
Free Online Games
There is a lot of free flash online games in there. You can play what you want to play every time and every where. Just Click on the Logo to play.

A good game has a good story, and it also has some form of user interaction.
In Flash, the player uses the mouse and keyboard as primary input devices.
Although these devices might seem limiting (compared with a more sophisticated
joystick or driving console), you can do many things with these basic
forms of input. For Example Like Bunny Grab which the game is about Help the Nesquik Bunny grab as abounding glasses as he can afore the time runs out.

Although Flash doesn’t directly support joystick input, users can easily use
modern joysticks with the games you can write in Flash. Most joysticks now
come with programs that allow the user to map keystrokes to keyboard commands.
In effect, by allowing keyboard input, you also allow rudimentary joystick
input. A game should also look good and sound good, but these things don’t matter if the game isn’t fun. Some of the best games ever have incredibly limited graphics and sound.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town
Harvest moon is a simulation game. In this game we’re going to learn farming, gardening, fishing, join the festival, and socializing. In this game, we can also get married. Harvest Moon was first attended in 1996. who’s made? Yasuhiro Wada was the one who made this game and in production by the victor of the interactive software (acquired by marvelous entertainment in 2003). These games already exist in various versions such as the Boy and GBA games, nintendo 64, playstation, playstation 2, GameCube and Nintendo DS, with new titles for psp, nintendo ds, and wii.

The following are figures who are in this exciting game :

1. ANN

Name: Ann
Role: Inn Keeper’s Daughter
Birthday: Summer 17
(Alt. Summer 23)
Rival: Cliff
Family: Doug (Father)

Ann is the daughter of doug, and work as maids, cooks, and assistant to his father at the inn. He is very friendly but tomboy. He also liked the food and the outdoors. He also hated doug for doug worried that their properties could disrupt chances for marriage. It is one of the best chefs in town.
Bonus points can be obtained by buying her food at the inn, besides water. He is a tough competitor in the cooking festival (often won) and played Ocarina in a music festival.

2. ELLI

Name: Elli
Role: Nurse
Birthday: Spring 16
Alt. Spring 20
Rival: Doctor
Family: Ellen (Grandmother)
Stu (Brother)

Elli is the nurse at the local clinic. His parents died several years ago, leaving Elli with responsibility for raising his younger brother (stu) is noisy and her grandmother was sick. Nevertheless, stu good boy and almost always cheerful, even he got a little disappointed if he had to pretend to cheer. Sometimes, his sister gave him a hard time, and he was angry because he did not always have time to spend time with her. However, stu is very important to him, like ellen (his grandmother).
Elli loves children, especially infants, because he was a baby sitter at the clinic. Since he spends most of his time working at the clinic, she had fallen in love with her boss, a doctor. However, unrequited feelings and go for a while.

3. KAREN

Name: Karen
Role: Shop Owner’s Daughter
Birthday: Fall 15 (Alt. Fall 23)
Rival: Rick
Family: Jeff (Father)
Sasha (Mother)
Celia (Cousin)

Karen is a daughter of Jeff and sasha. Together, this family operates the local supermarket. However, Karen went out of town enjoying more than helped run the family business. He can be a little arrogant at first, but always willing to lend ear to a friend, and very romantic, like a walk on the beach at night and wine. He also likes to cook, but it was horrible. Drinking contest with the duke’s famous in this city. Like her mother said: “Karen is a real girls, but she could not get her own life.”
Bonus points can be obtained by buying her something from the supermarket. Karen participated in the festival cooking (gourmet very afraid of this entry) and singer for the music festival.

4. MARY

Name: Mary
Role: Librarian
Birthday: Winter 20
(Alt. Winter 25)
Rival: Gray
Family: Basil (Father)
Anna (Mother)

mary is the only child of anna and basil. A shy girl, he runs the local library and admire the work of his father with botany and writing. He hopes to one day become a writer himself. He just had some friends in town, including gray, saibara, and charter.
Bonus points can be obtained by entering his second-floor library. He is a participant in the festival cooking and playing the organ during the music festival.

5. POPURI

Name: Popuri
Role: Farmer’s Daughter
Birthday: Summer 3
(Summer Alt. 10)
Rival: Kai
Family: Lillia (Mother)
Rick (Brother)

Popuri lives in Polutry Farm, he worked with his brother Rick after their father left town to seek treatment for their sick mother, Lillia. He is, cheerful girl. He admired the individual person is more like the Karen and Kai, the last one was the most he love / crush aka Kai. He’s one of the most friendly people of Mineral Town.
Bonus points can be obtained by having the heart eight chickens. He is the only one with the sweetness will come ask for candy during the Pumpkin Festival.

6. GRAY

Name: Gray
Role: Blacksmith Apprentice
Birthday: Winter 6
(Alt. Winter 23)
Rival: Mary
Family: Saibara (Grandfather)
Gray is a young man with a rather fierce blue eye contact that comes from the city to live in Mineral Town. He worked as a blacksmith’s apprentice under Saibara.

7. CLIFF

Name: Cliff
Role: Drifter
Birthday: Summer 6
(Summer Alt. 10)
Rival: Ann

Cliff was a vagabond living in the town. He was somewhat shy, but a good man. He included a devout Catholic, spent most of his time in church when he was not at the inn.
In the fall, he thought about leaving permanently. And he’ll go, if you do not stop it.

8. KAI

Name: Kai
Role: Lodge owner
Birthday: Summer 22
(Alt. Summer 17)
Rival: Popuri

Kai is a child who is wearing a purple bandana on his head and appeared only during the summer, although there is an event that may cause Kai did not return to Mineral Town. He is friendly to everyone but not to Rick. Kai had a family in this city. He will marry Popuri if he was still there during the summer and the main character does not marry her. After he came, Popuri will appear only during the summer along with Kai

Popularity: 5% [?]

Swedish indie devs, The Bearded Ladies, are announce the launch of their retro-inspired helicopter-adventure game Landit Bandit. The game promises co-op or duel mode, sexy girls and killer penguins.

The feel-good digital game of the summer has finally landed. Literally. Join eccentric characters Marley and Lander, as well as hot island babes and Tommy Gun-wielding penguins in Landit Bandit: a retro-looking, 3D casual-physics-based-helicopter game now available on the PlayStation®3 Network priced at a mouth-watering 12.99 Euros.

Landit Bandit has the depth of a cool-blue ocean and offers gameplay to suit a universal audience. Players can compete for the high-score on the global leaderboard – as well as battle head-to-head in 6 unique duels – or work co-operatively across a 20-level campaign against the backdrop of gorgeous 3D levels ranging from the picturesque desert islands to the cool, ice-filled tundra, each packed with enough humour to keep you laughing out loud from one level to the next.

David Skarin, CTO of The Bearded Ladies is elated at the release, “To have our game on the PlayStation®3 Network is great. Its a testimony to the hard work and raw talent of our small independent studio. We’ve defeated a string of self-imposed, gruelling milestones and overcome technical challenges akin to the cerebral workout being offered in the game that would leave any bearded lady weeping. The release brings joy to our hearts, although the real excitement is going to come in monitoring the reaction of the players”.

CEO/Producer, Haraldur Thormundsson added, “We have fulfilled our dreams with the release of Landit Bandit on the Sony PlayStation store. Its been one of the most rewarding expeditions I’ve been part of to date. To have shared the milestone with such a talented – not to mention eccentric group of creatives – is also very special. We’re all confident that players will enjoy the retro-goodness and LOL just as much as we did during the development”.

The North American gaming community can expect to get their hands on the controls of Landit Bandit from July 13^th.

Popularity: 4% [?]

From the press release:

Tampere, Finland – July 1, 2010 – 10tons Ltd announced today a brand new game called Heroes of Kalevala. Heroes of Kalevala is a village-building match-3 game. The game world is inspired by Finnish national epic Kalevala. The game will feature state of the art match-3 mechanics, an extensive village building meta game, and several hero characters from Kalevala for the player to meet.
“We’ve always loved match-3 games that are original and provide polished playability. We created a tiny match-3 game called Ice Breaker way back in 2004 and now we wanted to revisit this classic genre.”, said Sampo Töyssy of 10tons. “Our goal was to create a modern match-3 game with all the best parts from existing games seasoned with some new twists. We also have an original meta game that interacts heavily with the match-3 game. Since the whole team is from Finland, it’s been fun and interesting to create a game that draws inspiration from Kalevala.”
Heroes of Kalevala will be available for iPhone and iPod touch around August 2010. More platforms will be announced later. Heroes of Kalevala is developed with the support of the MEDIA programme of the European Union.

Popularity: 2% [?]

The guys at Ranker have come up with a list of the sexiest videogame commercials. I didn’t have high hopes for this list — I rank pixelated boobs just slightly higher than girls posting pics of themselves playing WarCraft in their underwear. But it was a laugh, I quite liked the logic in #7′s explanation of the hot girl in Bayonetta:

This commercial (which kind of mirrors the American version, but has a real live girl in it) features another hot girl in glasses… just like the character in the game!

Appealing to the same part of all of our brains (glasses = smart = relatable = GIRLFRIEND!), this game not only tailored to its target audience, but swept it off its feet.

Wonderful logic, boys. Counteracts all the times I’ve been told how pretty I’d be if I got contacts.

And on the topic of pretty girls in gaming, I’ve got some E3 booth babes behaving badly over on my personal blog.

Via The 13 Sexiest Video Game Commercials Of All Time | Ranker – A World of Lists

Popularity: 3% [?]

TERA already won my love with their gorgeous concept art. (A larger version of the picture above is my laptop’s wallpaper — and that’s saying something, considering I get new game assets in the mail every day) I’m really excited to see their new MMO at E3

En Masse Entertainment, a new breed of game publisher focused on delivering highly anticipated online video games to Western audiences, announced today that it will present the first hands-on demo of its flagship Action MMO title, TERA™, at the upcoming Electronic Entertainment Expo 2010 in Los Angeles. The hands-on demo will focus on TERA’s groundbreaking action combat system, which allows players to step into a world where their actions, teamwork, and combat expertise—not statistics—give them a chance to become true heroes in the face of danger.

“At E3, people will have the chance to experience firsthand what makes TERA‘s gameplay so exciting,” said En Masse CEO Dr. Jae-Heon Yang. “Select media will form a party with varied roles and venture forth to experience their first battle using our innovative action/adventure style combat system. During the show, players will see how TERA is changing the rules of MMO combat.”

TERA is an innovative Action MMORPG with rich graphics and animations where players fully control their characters through the game’s dynamic battle system. Player actions in TERA can change the balance of power in a world threatened by dark powers as six allied races work together to protect their world. The game, which is currently in development for PC, will launch in North America and Europe in 2011.

Popularity: 5% [?]

I’ve posted about Tiger Eye: Curse of the Riddle Box and about The Game Composer’s Blog before, and today’s post over at the Game Composer’s Blog was just awesome. Sayre’s latest post transcribes a podcast he did about Tiger Eye, with an alien, Bigfoot and Frankenstein’s monster.

ALIEN: Welcome back, humans. One of your kind is now with us. Behold Matt Sayre!

MATT: Thank you, Alien. I’m happy to be here.

BIGFOOT: (English accent) Welcome, Mr. Sayre.

FRANKENSTEIN: Urrrgh!!

MATT: Hi, Bigfoot and Frankenstein’s monster.

BIGFOOT: Oh, go ahead and call him “Frankenstein”. He’s grown accustomed to that particular appellation.

MATT: Great. I will, thanks.

FRANKENSTEIN: Gyee.

ALIEN: Begin this interrogation by giving us the history of your project and the human faction that has created it.

MATT: Tiger Eye: Curse of the Riddle Box is a new hidden object puzzle adventure game based on the paranormal romance novel Tiger Eye by Marjorie M. Liu. The game basically covers the first half of the book. You play as Dela Reese, a young woman traveling in China. She finds a mysterious riddle box and once she opens it she discovers an ancient warrior, Hari, who has been trapped within for centuries. He is cursed to serve as a slave to whomever possesses the box. You try to rid him of the curse and deal with the Magi, the antagonist who is responsible for the curse and who wants his riddle box back.

Our team, PassionFruit Games, was formed specifically to make this game and, we hope, all its sequels. Tiger Eye is the first in the Dirk & Steele (the psychic detective group Dela belongs to) series of books and it’s an exciting series, perfect for video games. The members of PassionFruit Games previously worked at Her Interactive (I did contract work for them, the rest were full-time), where they worked on the Nancy Drew Dossier series. Unfortunately, the Dossier series did not pan out (even though Resorting to Danger won Yahoo’s 2009 Hidden Object Game of the Year award) so the team was laid off. The day after being laid off, however, we were already planning this new venture. And last month we shipped TE: CotRB!

I kind of want to quote the whole thing, actually. And also I want to subscribe to the Alien, Bigfoot and Frankenstein podcast.

Via Tiger Eye: Curse of the Riddle Box Postnatal « The Game Composer’s Blog

Popularity: 4% [?]

RainBlood, an RPG from Chinese indie developer Soulframe, has just been released in English translation. Bloodrain uses hand-drawn environments and characters (with a little help form RPGmaker) to create a plot-heavy RPG set in fictionalized China. In this single-player game, players will enter the town of Pang to uncover mysteries involving a plague on the city and hidden loyalties as they fight monsters and avoid would-be assassins. The game takes place in one day in Pang, but flashbacks, interior stories and a complex overall storyline promise to make the game more of an interactive novel than a button-masher.

I’m pretty excited to check it out, I love RPGs in general, and usually indie storylines prevent my friends from having to listen to me whine endlessly about how the game could have been better with more character development.  I also love Chinese myths, but after two years of living in  China, my Mandarin is still basically confined to reading a menu or buying a train ticket, so I’m pleased to see the release of the English version.

There’s also a sequel to Rainblood already in the works.

Popularity: 3% [?]

I usually don’t like posts about why X is going to be the Greatest and Most Important Thing Ever (Cicero ruined me for overuse of the superlative) but this piece from Industry Gamers on the importance of this year’s E3 in terms of current trends is worth reading and sharing.

The traditional video game market, comprising of home consoles and handhelds, has been under considerable pressure for the last 16 months. This pressure is mostly attributed to declining sales among traditional games, and a rise from emerging markets such as mobile and social gaming. The decline in sales and the rise of other cheaper alternatives for interactive entertainment has raised serious concerns among investors and industry professionals about the long-term viability of the traditional console market. Additionally, the elongation of the current cycle and lack of visibility for the next set of hardware only reinforces the negative sentiment in the industry.

With so much negativity in the air, the entire industry will be on watch during this year’s E3 convention taking place in Los Angeles, CA.

Previous E3s have been focused on games that will drive our industry for the next 6 -12 months; however, this year the primary focus will be on new technologies that are supposed to drive industry sales back into the black over the next three years. Natal, Move, 3D gaming, and the 3DS are just some of the more important technologies that will be on display at E3 2010.

Via The Divnich Debrief: E3 2010: The Most Important Event in Gaming History? – IndustryGamers

Popularity: 3% [?]

Just saw the announcement from Majesco (the people behind Cooking Mama, Gardening Mama, and Crafting Mama) that they’ll be working on a new Martha Stewart game. I really like the Martha Stewart cookbooks (what’s not to like about easy recipes and gorgeous food photography?), but I thought the related TV show and magazine were pretty disappointing. I don’t have high hopes for the game, I expect it to be more of the underwhelming-spinoff variety, but I’m ready to be proved wrong!

And even if it’s not the greatest game ever, the fact that there’s a Martha Stewart game at all says something good about breaking the stereotype that all games are slobs living in their mom’s basement.

From the press release:

NEW YORK, NY and EDISON, NJ, April 20, 2010 -Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. (NYSE: MSO) and Majesco Entertainment Company (NASDAQ: COOL), an innovative provider of video games for the mass market, today announced a strategic partnership to develop and produce interactive electronic games based on MSLO’s expansive portfolio of award-winning lifestyle content. Under the terms of the partnership, Majesco receives the exclusive worldwide rights to publish these games.

“We are thrilled to be partnering with the Martha Stewart brand to bring sensibility to the video game market,” said Jesse Sutton, Chief Executive Officer, Majesco Entertainment. “Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia offers a vast wealth of content and has a passionate following. Branching into the interactive entertainment space is a natural next step, and Majesco Entertainment is proud to be the exclusive partner.”

“Majesco Entertainment is well respected for bringing consumer-friendly titles to the mass market and has a proven track record of tapping the interests of family and non-traditional video game players,” said Martha Stewart, Founder, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. “Women are increasingly engaged in social gaming. We feel confident that this new offering will delight loyal customers who are active in the space while introducing a new generation to the brand.”

Via Majesco Entertainment – For all your gaming needs

Popularity: 4% [?]

Max and the Magic Marker, from Legacy Interactive, is available now:

LOS ANGELES, CA (April 16, 2010) – Casual games developer and publisher Legacy Interactive announced today the release of Max and the Magic Marker, an award-winning physics platformer that challenges players to draw their way through 15 innovative and challenging levels. It is now available for PC/Mac on Legacy Games at www.legacygames.com.

Max and the Magic Marker, developed by Play Press, gives players complete control as they draw out solutions and face innumerable traps, monsters and tricky puzzles. Limited only by the imagination of the player, every obstacle has an endless number of solutions. Since its inception, it has been widely acclaimed, with its development team winning the Independent Games Festival 2010 D2D Vision Award, EIGA 2009 Innovative Game Design Award, Best Overall 2009 Unity Award, and DGA 2010 Talent of the Year.

“Fun gameplay, innovative ideas and loads of options make you replay levels over and over again.” – GamingXP

“Max & the Magic Marker is a charming puzzle platformer with pleasant visuals and a simple soundtrack. Part of the fun is noticing the details, like how the little monsters can pull out bright yellow construction hats to protect them from your pen.” – Gamespot

“The physics and drawing are spot on and it has a great art style. One of the most enjoyable games with a little boy with a giant orange mohawk as the protagonist that I have ever played!” – 411 Mania

Featuring three lovingly designed game worlds based on children’s drawings, adults and children of all ages will be immediately drawn into the 2D world of Max and the Magic Marker!

Max and the Magic Marker is available for PC/Mac on Legacy Games at www.legacygames.com and in leading retail stores, and will be appearing on popular digital distribution portals.

Popularity: 7% [?]

I’m not sure if GameCrush is trying to be a gamer dating site (like SoulGeek or World of DateCraft) or a way for awkward gamer guys to pay girls to play games with them, and I’m not going to find out because the site’s down due to an overabundance of sign-ups. No word on whether those would-be beta GameCrushers are lonely guys or broke girls.

Here’s the press release:

SAN FRANCISCO – March 23, 2010 GameCrush, now available in public beta, introduces an entirely new interactive social gaming experience allowing gamers to meet, match and pay to play online games with other users (PlayDates). GameCrush is the only online service that allows gamers to choose a companion to spice up their favorite online games. Both Players and PlayDates define the experience they want- either “flirty” or “dirty”, choosing from some of the most popular console titles and casual web-based games. To register for free, visit www.gamecrush.com.

On GameCrush, players can find their perfect PlayDate through browsing their profiles and chatting live with them. Players can then purchase a live one-on-one private gaming session, complete with two-way video and text chat.

Designed to appeal to female and male gamers alike, GameCrush offers games to suit a variety of tastes, from casual web-based games to the hottest console titles like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Halo 3, Gears of War 2 and Grand Theft Auto IV. Initially games are available on GameCrush’s own exclusive video-enabled gaming platform and on Microsoft’s Xbox LIVE network. In addition, GameCrush will soon be available for platforms such as Sony’s PlayStation 3, World of Warcraft, and other online gaming environments.

GameCrush delivers comprehensive social tools that allow PlayDates to post profiles complete with picture galleries, video clips, blogs and text chat.  PlayDates can make up to $30 or more per hour while having fun playing online games.  After a game session is completed, Players rate their gaming experience, and top-rated PlayDates are rewarded with enhanced site promotion and additional benefits.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Head over to DigimonBattle.com to sign up for the open beta!

From the press release:

WeMade Entertainment, a leading online games developer and publisher, today announced the start of open beta testing for the first-ever online Digimon game, Digimon Battle. Based on the popular Digimon anime series, Digimon Battle allows players to become a gifted Tamer and partner with a good Digimon in the battle to save both Earth and Digital World from the rampaging evil Digimon. Aspiring Tamers can sign up for the open beta and start playing when the servers open at 5:00pm PDT, here: www.digimonbattle.com

The story of Digimon Battle is based on the original animated TV Series, Seasons 1 – 4 (“Digimon Adventure,” “Digimon Adventure 02,” “Digimon Tamers” and “Digimon Frontier”). The classic anime characters are brought to life in the online game as players select a Tamer character, either Takato Matsuki, Henry Wong, Rika Nonaka, or Jeri Katou, and set off with their Digimon and human friends, using the Digivolution system to help their Digimon companions grown stronger. There are three types of Digimon Partners and seven types of Captured Digimon for players to find and tame in the world. Players and their Digimon level up by winning battles, and players can progress from a Rookie Tamer to the powerful Brave Grade. During the open beta, only the Normal Digivolution system, where players strengthen their Digimon partners by leveling up, will be available. In addition, the maximum level will be limited to 50.

“Digimon fans have been waiting for a game that provides exciting, interactive hands-on battling and we are proud to deliver,” said Kevin Seo, CEO of WeMade. “The beta is only the beginning. We will have many new content updates in the coming months that will add new Digivolution systems, Digimon classes, maps and the action-packed Battle Mode where players can battle each other to determine the best fighters.”

To commemorate the launch of the Digimon Battle open beta, WeMade is hosting a Triple Play Event Bundle, which includes three individual events running from March 17 to April 7. Now is the time for players to get in the game and get a head start! The first event called “Mega Mission” is where players are encouraged to “digivolute” their partners to the Mega Stage for a chance to win up to 500 WeCash, plus Gold Drills, Excalibur Swords and one week of Deva Aura! In the second event called “Check In and Cash In,” players are encouraged to check in to the game every day in order to achieve a 100% attendance record and cash in for the Mysterious DigiEgg! In the final event called “DB Happy Hour,” players can receive 30% EXP Buff for free when they log in on March 20 and 21 from 11:00am – 2:00pm Server Time.

For more information about Digimon Battle and to join the open beta, please visit www.digimonbattle.com

Popularity: 5% [?]

Legacy Interactive has released a new batch of screenshots from their upcoming PC and DS game, House M.D. This game will be available for both formats in the spring of 2010.

From the press release:

Interview/Physical Exam

House: Where were you when you collapsed? And don’t say “Florida,” because I despise clichés.

Henry: I was in Malaysia, shooting an episode of my Emmy award-winning show, Globetrotting!

Blood Draw

Trevor: Wow, either I’m really brave, or that was incredibly minor!

Chase: It was incredibly minor. Also, your arms are numb because of the paralysis.

Intubation

Foreman attaches the nasal mask respirator to Trevor’s face.

House: Good work, Foreman. You just earned your ‘Saved a Douchebag’s Life’ merit badge. (to Taub) Taub, watch him. Let me know if he exhibits any weird symptoms, like emotional growth.

Taub nods, stays by Trevor’s bedside, and monitors his vitals.

Microscope

Popularity: 9% [?]

New development studio Passionfruit Games plans to release a casual adventure game Tiger Eye: Curse of the Riddle Box, based on the paramornal romance novel Tiger Eye by Marjorie M. Liu. Romance games are a wildly popular genre in Asia, but in the US, they’re hard to find and usually pretty second-rate games.  (Did I mention how bad My Boyfriend was?) We have high hopes for this one because new Passionfruit is made up of many HER Interactive veterans — the game team who put together Nancy Drew Dossier: Lights, Camera, Curses! and NDD: Resorting To Danger.  The game is currently in beta.

From the Passionfruit press release:

Tiger Eye: Curse of the Riddle Box also officially marks the launch of PassionFruit Games and represents a unique moment in the history of gaming.  Although a market for romance themed video games has existed abroad for years, these games are essentially unknown in the U.S.  Tiger Eye: Curse of the Riddle Box will be one of the first romance casual games to hit the U.S. market when it goes on-sale in April 2010.

In discussing PassionFruit Games’ decision to launch their company with Tiger Eye: Curse of the Riddle Box, Melissa Heidrich, Studio Director, expressed her enthusiasm for reaching out to romance readers: “The majority of casual gamers are women aged 25-65, who report they play casual games mainly to escape.  Interestingly, those same attributes apply to romance novel readers – so it’s surprising that there are currently so few romance casual games on the market.  That’s why we’re excited to bring Tiger Eye to life as interactive entertainment.”

For Marjorie M. Liu’s fans, it will be a great chance for them to experience a game written by, designed by, and created for women. Mari Tokuda, one of the designers translating Marjorie’s novel into game form, says: ““There just aren’t many romance games in today’s market.  And, for many women, romance novels are not interactive enough.  That’s where we come in – we are giving players a chance to experience the romance through fun gameplay and sensual cut scenes that further the relationship.  This game will really appeal to players who want a storyline and those who want to BE the smart, down-to-earth romance novel heroine.  And of course, we’ll have a sexy leading man heavily featured in the game.  A game like Tiger Eye is one of the most engaging ways for readers to experience characters’ relationships.”

Fans will also be able to experience things that weren’t in the book and to search for hidden objects, play minigames, listen to a film quality soundtrack, and solve puzzles, all the while following the storyline as the main characters’ relationship deepens emotionally and grows in intimacy, though there will not be explicit sex scenes.

PassionFruit Games acknowledges the challenges of turning a popular book into digital entertainment and of adhering closely to the book’s storyline.  In their quest to stay true to the novel,  all members of the team—from artist to programmer—read Tiger Eye, as well as other novels in the Dirk & Steele universe, to get a feel for the “essence” of the game.  The producer and lead designer held regular video conferences with Marjorie to go over the latest design ideas and Marjorie herself wrote the script for the game and is involved with the game every step of the way,  giving input on scene art, character design, and voice actor selection.

Says Marjorie, who is well known for her New York Times bestselling Dirk & Steele and Hunter Kiss series and for co-authoring the hugely popular Dark Wolverine Marvel comic book series, about playing the game’s early build: “I was amazed by the beautiful cinematic cut scenes and the way players could actually experience things my characters had done.  It’s an incredible feeling to not only see favorite characters brought to life but to experience life through their eyes as you progress through the game.”

The Tiger Eye novel, which Publishers Weekly praised as a “first-rate debut” and “a striking paranormal romance,” tells the story of Dela, a woman with psychic abilities who buys a riddle box in Beijing’s Dirt Market and opens it to find an ancient warrior, Hari, bound to serve as a slave to the person who has opened the box.  The action moves between China and the U.S. and PassionFruit Games will mirror this international scope through two games, the first to take place in China and the second in the U.S.  PassionFruit games also plans to involve readers in the release of Tiger Eye: Curse of the Riddle Box with the chance for a select few fans to be Beta testers and with fan voting on looks for the character, Long Nu.

More on Passionfruit Games and Tiger Eye: Curse of the Riddle Box from Simpson’s Paradox.

Popularity: 5% [?]

I blogged about the adorably addictive Grow Tower a while ago.  There’s also an RPG-themed Grow that I somehow missed. The mechanics are the same, you’ll grab icons on the sides to drop items into the world and then watch those items grow and interact and build new features.

The major difference is that a little adventure happens in your Grow terrain. Your terrain grows into all the RPG constants — a castle, a tower, a monster, a magician, and so forth — and a tiny adventurer sets out though all the  fantasy staples. (screenshot above shows our adventuring friend looting treasure)

Bookmark the Grow RPG-adventure game to play when you need a smile.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Publisher Paradox Interactive (of Majesty 2, East India Company and Elven Legacy), and new developer Arrowhead Game Studio have released a new preview trailer for the upcoming console game Magicka.

If you watch game trailers and read games news as much as I do, you’re probably sick of hearing how this release is completely groundbreaking and new and the most epic awesomeness EVER. But Arrowhead Game Studios knows that a fantasy RPG really involves running around the forest in your bathrobe, waving a glowy weapon.

Yeah, sure, Magicka will also have a fancy elemental magic system, when you can combine your water power and your fire power and make a steam attack (could you also combine water and earth for a killer mud attack?), but I think they had me at “prancing around in a bathrobe.”

Arrowhead Games is brand new to me (Have you heard anything about them? Comment and let me know!), and Paradox Interactive also expects to release Arsenal of Democracy later this month and Lead and Gold: Gangs of the Wild West later this year.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Paradox Interactive, the team behind Majesty 2, East India Company and Elven Legacy, has announced the completion of the new World War II strategy game, Arsenal of Democracy.

Arsenal of Democracy was developed by BL-Logic in partnership with Paradox Interactive. The WWII strategy game is hardly a new concept, but BL-Logic has created an ambitious title with AoD, offering players a detailed historical setting with in-depth challenges and detailed control over their nation’s economic, diplomatic and military choices. Players can battle enemies on land, air and sea, or control espionage, political alliances and international trade, with a wide range of customization available.

Arsenal of Democracy will be available for $19.99 at all major distribution portals starting February 23.

Paradox Interactive also expects to release Lead and Gold: Gangs of the Wild West later in 2010.

Popularity: 6% [?]

The new party game DoTell sets up simple rules for a social game of truth-or-dare. Players race a simple spiral path, moving ahead for completed tasks, but I use “race” loosely, since the focus is on the journey, not the destination. (Quick sidenote: Play makes use of clear icons that didn’t rely on distinguishing between colors or, my personal game hate, squinting at tiny symbols. I’m looking at you, Magic:The Gathering.)

We quickly came up with game mods, swapping the game’s two six-sided dice for two four-sided dice to regulate movement. Even through Do Tell is not very competitive, the variation in 2d6 for movement can frustrate the player who rolls a 3 early on and never catches up.

The game offers eight pastel tokens, but it’s easy to add a mancala gem or a Monopoly boat to mod it for a larger group. Do Tell is so interactive that it works well with a large group, and each turn is independent of what’s gone before, so it’s a perfect choice to begin with on game night as you wait for guests to arrive.

Tell cards ask players to answer a questions and share something (The DoTell Facebook page offers a list of possible questions), and players quickly begin to share stories and laugh.

Do cards ask a player to sing a song, do an impression, dance, pose or act something out. These were a hit with strangers and long-term partners alike. Other players loved dancing or singing along, or just clapping after performance.  One Do asks the player to be the devil preparing his to-do list, which is a fantastic chance to see if your friends would plan plagues and worldwide floods, or just legions of telemarketers and poorly designed parking lots.

A Mirror question has one player asking a Tell, instead of answering, and all the other players try to figure out what he or she would answer.  When we started playing, Mirror questions slowed the game to a crawl, as players who didn’t know each other fumbled for some innocuous answer to a soul-baring Tell.  But after a little while, answers to other questions made it easier and easier to guess. For a group of long-time friends, the Mirrors were hilarious.

The official rules for Mirror questions have a note that some Tells don’t make very good Mirrors, so they should be skipped. No legalese about how they should be skipped, no tiny icons in the corner of the cards to let know which ones should be skipped. We think this refers to the Tells that ask the player to draw a Risk or a Do, but we really liked this rule. Think this is a bad Mirror? Draw again! This is exactly what we were looking for in a party game.

On my second playthrough, we opened up the, ahem, adult Risk cards, glanced at them, and added house rules.  Take a spicy Risk instead of a regular Risk at any time, but it can be swapped for a regular Risk if it’s too risque. Don’t like the card you’ve drawn? Swap any underwhelming Tell or too-wild Do for the next spicy Risk! (You can also get the Family Version for Spicy-free play, or just put those cards away when you have the fam over to play)

With the exception of one reference to American Idol, DoTell does not require pop culture knowledge (my one complaint with usual party games like Cranium or Apples to Apples is the number of celebrities I don’t know), but feel free to work random trivia or favorite songs into other questions.

Overall, this is a hilarious social game. Sure, you can race to the center, but the real focus is on laughing with friends.

Popularity: 3% [?]

The awesome JayIsGames site is running a Best of Casual Gameplay 2009 contest.

Adventure is a hard call — since Monkey Island: Screaming Narwhal, Time Gentlemen, Please! and Wonderland Adventures: Mysteries of Fire Island are all in the running. I think Monkey Island wins for me… with TGP in second . I enjoyed Wonderland Adventures, but it just can’t compete with Guybrush Threepwood or foulmouthed Dan and Ben.

Some of my other favorites on this list are A Case Of The Crabs, under Browser Adventure, Nancy Drew Dossier: Resorting To Danger under Hidden Objects. (I also helped out with NDD: Resorting to Danger so I’m not entirely unbiased) Faerie Solitaire is running for best Time Management… so is Build-a-Lot 4, which means I am officially the only person who hated Build-a-Lot 3. The frustrating Don’t Look Back under Interactive Art, although this game was made for  people with more patience and skill than me, I did like the myth theme.

Vote for your favorites, or just use this as list of games to check out.

Popularity: 6% [?]

New iPhone dev studio Bee Appi officially launches their first creation today. CyberWord is a candy-colored Bejeweled-meets-Boggle, built for whiling away time on the train or in the waiting room, but with an addictive blend of  match-3 mechanics and wordplay.

“Most word games simply ask the player to look at the screen,” developer Karen Jirak says, “but CyberWord adds a more interactive dimension by asking players to touch letters, swipe words, and shake the phone.”  CyberWord offers different playmodes, each with a slightly different twist on the swap and swipe mechanic. Challenge mode asks players to create 12 words before time runs out, with increasingly difficult levels. (Try the Easy setting for a particularly niece-friendly game, Jirak used her first-grade niece as a beta tester for the simpler vocab and easier goals.) Infinite mode adds a bomb, a familiar mechanic from match-3, and Puzzle is an untimed mode, requiring players to use up all the letters on the screen without replacement letters. Although you’ll spend most of the game rearranging the bright letter tiles, CyberWord also has adorable anime-eyed creatures cheering your successes and decorating the margins, for a sweet bit of character without falling into the pink trap.

Future updates include tying CyberWord in with Facebook Connect to share scores for a competitive wordsearch element. Don’t worry if you’ve been annoyed by the status-update barrage from friends playing FarmVille or recruiting mobsters, Jirak promises players can choose how frequently to share their scores on Facebook, and sharing on Facebook isn’t a requirement for progressing in CyberWord.

The BeeAppi team is downloading and playing a wide variety of iPhone games as they consider their next project, but we can expect this to be the first of many adorable BeeAppi games.

For more on Karen, BeeAppi and CyberWord, check out my full story in the next issue of Indie Game Mag.

Popularity: 8% [?]