Gamezebo Archives - April 2010

With so many poker games on the market, be it PC or portable, it’s amazing that it’s taken this long for someone to finally bring the classic paintings of Cassius Coolidge to life. The team at Candywriter refused to live another day in a world without a Dogs Playing Poker video game, and after spending a few days with the end result, I can whole-heartedly assure you that the world of portable poker is a better for it.

From Happy Aquarium to FishVille, aquarium sims are hot right now in social gaming. Fish Friends is Playdom’s entry into this crowded genre, but it may be too little and too late. Even though Fish Friends is already at over 1 million MAU, it’s hard to imagine large numbers of players passing up other aquarium sims to play it. Fish Friends offers pleasing visuals, but its gameplay is simply too insubstantial as of this writing.

Free games are all around us, but they may not be as easy to find as you’d think. We help you sort through the App Store to find the latest price drops and limited time offers so that you won’t have to spend a penny. Today’s free games include playing valet in a parking garage, spelling words with falling letters, putting a few rounds past bombs and bees, and more!

The developers behind the critically-acclaimed Artist Colony are back, and this time they’ve brought a shovel. Launching next month, Buried in Time is a simulation game by i-Play that is set to take players on an archaeological adventure in the Valley of the Ancients.

Namco has released its new hidden object game, Journalist Journey: The Eye of Odin. Be sure to set an alert to follow this game to be notified when we post our review and strategy guide (both coming out very soon).

In the meantime,download a free trial of Journalist Journey: The Eye of Odin, write a review, watch game videos, and discuss the game in our forum.

When I was 12 years old I loved video games, but never in a million years did I think I could develop one. 12-year old Will Evans has done just that with the release of his first game Ninja Jump, making him the youngest known game developer on the App Store.

To celebrate the launch of their first hidden object game Tiger Eye: Curse of the Riddle Box, PassionFruit Games is inviting fans and game players to an online launch party Wednesday, April 28th at www.passionfruitgames.com/releaseparty from 7:00 to 9:00 pm EST (4:00 to 6:00pm PST). Attendees will be able to chat with Tiger Eye game developers, artists, programmers, and author Marjorie M. Liu. They will also be able to entered into a raffle with the chance to win PassionFruit merchandise and prizes.

Originally appearing on the Nintendo DS in November 2009, Chronicles of Mystery: Curse of the Ancient Temple is the first mobile adventure in City Interactive’s popular PC Chronicles of Mystery series. Now on its way to the iPhone, fans of the PC games will likely notice a number of changes that have been made to the series latest edition.

Welcome to the Little Noir Stories: The Case of the Missing Girl walkthrough on Gamezebo. Little Noir Stories: The Case of the Missing Girl is a Hidden Object game / Interactive Novel created by Sarbakan Game Studio and published by Big Fish Games. This walkthrough includes tips and tricks, helpful hints, and a strategy guide on how to complete Little Noir Stories: The Case of the Missing Girl.

Welcome the Tiger Eye Part I: Curse of the Riddle Box walkthrough on Gamezebo. Tiger Eye Part I: Curse of the Riddle Box is a hidden object adventure game played created by PassionFruit Games. This walkthrough includes tips and tricks, helpful hints, and a strategy guide to how to complete Tiger Eye Part I: Curse of the Riddle Box.

In theory, My Vineyard is a Facebook sim about owning your own winery. In practice, it’s far more comparable to FarmVille than any sort of business-running game. You plant grapes, you stomp on them, the juice ages in barrels, and finally you sell of the barrels for cash that you use to… buy more grapes. The main things that set My Vineyard apart from other games are its pre-rendered 3D visuals and its slightly more adult approach to its subject matter.

Whether you're a fan of hidden-object games (HOGs), point-and-click adventures or romance novels, there is something for all three types in PassionFruit Games' Tiger Eye: Curse of the Riddle Box, the first of two downloadable computer games based on the Tiger Eye novel by best-selling author Marjorie M. Liu.

When it comes to historic video games, there aren't many that are more established or loved than the classic Snake. While there are several versions of the classic arcade title available for the iPhone, the latest release,RPG Snake: The Legend of Akua, tries to do something original by making it a pseudo RPG. While it's a nice twist, this isn't nearly as original a game as it sounds like it should be.

Free games are all around us, but they may not be as easy to find as you’d think. We help you sort through the App Store to find the latest price drops and limited time offers so that you won’t have to spend a penny. Today’s free games include Namco’s best-selling billiards game, a math puzzler about reaching zero, a tasty slot machine to start your morning right and more!

Ranch Town is a Facebook game developed by Meteor Games that gives a player the chance to own and run a ranch by utilizing its natural resources such as rich soil, minerals and fish, which are then cultivated by growing a variety of plants, feeding animals, running machines that generate minerals and produce food, all to earn a profit and expand. This quick start guide will provide you with tips to get started playing Ranch Town.

Treasure Quest is sometimes described as a game portal rather than a social game, which isn’t too far off. In theory you start a “game” of Treasure Quest by creating an avatar. You can level up and unlock more outfits for your avatar, which you pay for with virtual currency you earn by playing particular games. The games are fairly typical single-player casual fare and form the meat of Treasure Quest’s experience.

Yahoo! JAPAN has just announced a partnership with DeNA, the developers behind Japan’s biggest mobile-only social network Mobage-town, to create a cross-platform social gaming experience tentatively known as Yahoo! Mobage.

TechCrunch is reporting that Dani Dudeck, Vice President of Global Communications for MySpace, has resigned her post to accept a new position with the social gaming giant Zynga. Relying on an unnamed source, the article claims that Dudeck will become Zynga’s General Manager of Corporate Communications.

Google has just announced that it has acquired Israeli development studio LabPixies for a rumoured $25 million. Best known for games like Flood-It! and Line Up, LabPixies has provided games and other applications to a variety of platforms in recent years including Facebook, MySpace, and the iPhone.

Hidden object games are nothing new on the iPhone. From Paranormal Agency to Pure Hidden, PC developers have painstakingly ported a number of their HOG’s to the popular portable device. Hidden object games that are built for the iPhone from the ground up, however, are in short supply. The developers at KlickTock are looking to change all that.