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16 July, 2008 | No comments

Casual Gamer Chick: Microsoft Targeting Casual Games Consumers

Lips The Microsoft Xbox 360 has been out for almost three years and they are just now starting to realize there are more consumers and game players than the “hard core” audience. Microsoft can look at the Nintendo Wii and see how viable the casual games market can be.

David Hufford, Microsoft’s director for Xbox product management, quoted by the New York Times, said it loud and clear. “For the last few years we have consciously and continuously fed the core gamer audience, and now we are reaching that inflection point where we have to reach out to the mainstream consumer and bring them into the Xbox 360,” Hufford summed up the new Microsoft strategy.
Besides introducing its “new” strategy, Microsoft unveiled a series of services and games that are intended to lure the casual gamers to buy the Xbox 360.

Microsoft is trying to rope in the casual gamer by offering avatars to gamers. The avatars will be similar to the Miis that gamers can create on the Nintendo Wii. The avatars will be used in the arcade games. The arcade games are the avenue for Microsoft to reach the casual gamers. The first game announced was Lips, a singing game that allows gamers to sing songs from their own music collection.

It is nice for casual gamers to have multiple options to attain their gaming fix. Microsoft has some good arcade games available to play. If Microsoft takes this market serious, it could be a win win situation. Casual gamers have another avenue for games and Microsoft hooks in more consumers.

Thanks eFluxMedia

16 July, 2008 | No comments

GBGames: Off to the Software Industry Conference!

I’m off to Boston for the Software Industry Conference! It’s my first time going, and I’m sure it will be a blast. I’ll be at the Association of Shareware Professionals luncheon, and I will definitely attend the Shareware Industry Awards banquet, so if you plan on going, look for me. The presentations sound interesting, and [...]

16 July, 2008 | No comments

Jay Is Games: Weekday Escape

Welcome to another edition of Weekday Escape. This week I'm going to highlight a trio of escape games that, while not quite exemplary enough to warrant a full review, are nonetheless well-done and entertaining. So, enjoy this triple treat! See you again next week, same time, same channel.

16 July, 2008 | No comments

Jay Is Games: Gigolo Assassin

Gigolo Assassin is a new point-and-click adventure from Mediatonic and created for Adult Swim. In this first installment of a three part series, you must guide your gigolo (I named mine Bruce Digelow) through an isolated tropical island in order to put a stop to the sinister goings on of one Alana Lamia. In so doing you will meet an assortment of unique (and decidedly non-unique) characters as well as solve item based puzzles much along the same vein as the old Sierra and Lucas Arts point-and-click adventures.

15 July, 2008 | No comments

Casual Gamer Chick: Flash Game: Neon Layers

Neon Layers is a great puzzle game written in flash. The goal of the game is to get the ball to the exit, but it is not as easy as it sounds. Players change the colors of the lights from green to red or vice versa to get the ball to move. Changing the color of the platform causes the ball to fall through the platform onto a different platform. Neon Layers

The levels start out simple to help the player figure out how to play the game, but after the first few levels they start to get challenging. The levels start to incorporate gravity and the platforms go from being straight to slanted. If you drop the ball at the wrong time it floats off the screen instead of onto the platform below. Once you get the hang of the slanting platforms and when to drop the ball, they throw in an anti-gravity switch. The anti-gravity switch causes the ball to float to the top until it hits a platform. The platforms will direct the ball in a certain direction and in some cases to the exit.

Just when you think you got all of the nuances to the game down, they switch things up on you. They start putting the anti-gravity switch in the middle of a platform and the switch goes inactive when the platform is active. Players have to time the switch back to the other color at the correct time or the platform disappears and the ball falls and you have to restart the level.

Neon Layers is a great puzzle game that is a lot of fun to play. If you enjoy puzzle games, check out Neon Layers.

15 July, 2008 | No comments

GameDevBlog: Last year’s IGDA leadership forum talks available on DVD

Hey all, Jason Della Rocca just let me know that the talks from last year's leadership forum are available. There are some really cool talks in there, by Greg Zeschuk, Ray Muzyuka, and Trent Oster of Bioware...by Don Daglow of Stormfront (rest in peace, Stormfront)...Mike Capps of Epic...Tim Gerritsen of Human Head...Clinton Keith...and a pretty funny one where Mike Capps interviews Tim Schafer. And my, let's call it..."controversial"...Theory Of Drag talk is in there too.

Here's the link: http://www.igda.org/leadership/?page_id=64

15 July, 2008 | No comments

Casual Gamer Chick: Scrabble For Facebook Review

EA has announced the release of Scrabble for Facebook. I had a chance to play Scrabble when it was in beta and it was a lot of fun to play. There was an issue or two that I ran into when playing, but that was the beta version so hopefully the release version has fixed the issues.

Players will need a Facebook account, which is free, to play Scrabble. Players install Scrabble like any other application on Facebook and can start challenging their friends to a game. Of course, their friends will need to have scrabble installed as well. The initial start screen asks for a name of the game and up to three friends to challenge. Players can type the names of their friends and the game searches through your list bringing up the friends with the letters in their name that you have typed so far. For instance, if Joe is my friend I can type Jo and it will show me all of my friends that begin with Jo. Nice little feature that saves some typing.

The game play is just like scrabble. Players have a 15 by 15 board where the letters are placed. As with the board game scrabble, the first player starts with a word and places the first letter of the word on the star on the board. Game play continues as each player makes a word in succession using letters from other words already on the board. The game ends when one of the players has used all of their letters. This was one of my “issues” with the game. There needs to be another option to win, like the person with the highest score. The game should be smart enough to know if you can use the letters you have left and then give you the option to end the game and the person with the most points wins. This may not be how the scrabbles rules are suppose to work, but I got into a game where neither of us could use our remaining letters so we just sat there and no one won and the game didn’t end. The other option is to have something that just ends the game besides a forfeit. There doesn’t have to be a winner per se, but have the game come to a conclusion besides having to forfeit.

The Scrabble interface is easy to use. The people that are playing are up in the top left corner of the interface and down below that is an area to chat. The chat area has three tabs, the first is a chat tab, the second is a dictionary to make sure the word you want to create is valid and the third tab keeps track of the moves that have been made. When it is your turn to play, your picture is highlighted and the other players pictures are dimmed. The person I was playing with had a hard time telling when it was their turn, but I was able to tell no problem. Players have a few options to choose from when it is their turn. They can spell a word, shuffle their letters, arrange the order of the letters or swap the letters with ones from their bag. Swapping letters causes your turn to be over.

There were a few times throughout the game where I lost connection to the server. The game would just attempt to connect to the Scrabble server, but nothing was happening. When this occurred, I would leave the game and come back in and everything would fix itself. Leaving the game does not cause the other players to have to leave and the game state is saved, so really it is just an annoyance and nothing is lost.

Over all Scrabble was a lot of fun to play and fit well into Facebook. Both Facebook and Scrabble are social entities so the pairing works well. The challenge that Scrabble offers is fun and entertaining. It can be pretty difficult to look at the board and then the letters you have and figure out what to spell next.

If you are into word games and have a Facebook account, I recommend trying Scrabble.

15 July, 2008 | No comments

Jay Is Games: Kongai

Any avid Jay is Games reader will have, at one point or another, paid a visit to game hosting site Kongregate. The site features hundreds of developers, and has a veritable smorgasbord of games. But until now, the folks behind Kongregate had not created a game of their own. Finally, after months of development and a lengthy private beta, the site has thrown its proverbial hat into the ring with Kongai.

15 July, 2008 | No comments

Casual Gamer Chick: Zubo: Exclusively for the Nintendo DS

Zubo Zubo is the new Intellectual Property (IP) from Electronic Arts (EA). Zubo will be released exclusively on the Nintendo DS and was designed for the DS, as well. Players have to help the Zubos beat the evil Big Head and his army of Zubo clones.

As players are working their way through the levels, they will meet Zubos along the way. Players can befriend the Zubos. A befriended Zubo needs to be fed and nurtured to become strong and help the player defeat the Zubo clones, the Zombos. The battles between the Zubos and the Zombos take place in a rhythm action setting.

There are 55 Zubo recruits throughout the game with 10 lands to explore. Players use the stylus to play this adventure game.

It is exciting to see brand new properties come to the Nintendo DS. Especially, properties that are innovative and sound fun to play.

Press Release Follows:

Zubo^TM is the new, original property from EA’s Bright Light Studio designed exclusively for the Nintendo DS^TM handheld system, and perfect for kids ages 7 and up.

Launched into the fully 3D world of Zubalon, players meet the colorful and zany stars of the game, the Zubos. Zubalon is under siege by the evil Big Head and his army of Zubo clones, the dastardly Zombos! While traveling through the game, players can befriend any Zubos they meet along the way, feeding and nurturing them, helping them gain skills and strength, and assisting them in chasing off the evil Zombos in strategic battles with an innovative rhythm action mechanic.

With 55 Zubos available to find and recruit to a player’s squad, over 100 fully animated comedy battle moves, 10 lands of Zubalon to explore, plus a wealth of interactions and mini-games, Zubo offers a deeply rewarding Nintendo DS experience. This stylus-tapping adventure promises hours of entertainment kids (and adults) are sure to love!

• Explore the 10 Worlds of Zubalon- get lost in the multiple lands, including Wild West, Fairytale, Pop and Horror!

Befriend Over 50 Zany Characters – Create your dream team to battle the Big Head’s army of Zubo clones- the evil Zombos!
Take the Zombos on in Style – Master the accessible strategy system and rhythm action mechanic across more than 100 hilarious animated battle moves and 10 custom composed team musical themes.
Engage in a Variety of Minigames – Blow away cobwebs, play the drums, escape the Heart Maze, pop balloons, dig for treasure, Whack-A-Zombie, and much more in order to proceed to the next exciting level!
Challenge your friends – Put your team of Zubos to the test with the adhoc multiplayer.