All Features List

Gamezebo recently had a chat with Andrew Lum, CEO of Fugazo, to learn more about the studio that made Fashion Fits, Cooking Academy, Fishco and Kitchen Brigade. Read more»

Realore (makers of such casual games as Turtle Odyssey and Jane's Hotel) have just celebrated their seventh anniversary in the business. We sat down with the company's head of business development, Natalia Matveeva, to chat about some of the highlights of those first seven years, and what Realore has in store for the future. Read more»

We've interviewed some cool people here at Gamezebo, but it was truly an honor to chat with Steve Lanoce, an NYPD Bomb Squad detective who received the Medal of Valor for heroism during 9/11. Steve and his bomb-sniffing canine, Duke, are starring in Merscom's upcoming hidden object game Bomb Squad: NY, where players jump into the role of the newest bomb squad recruit sent on assignment to hunt down the culprits responsible for planting bombs all over the city. Read more»

Founded in 1999, industry veteran WildTangent and seen and done it all in casual games. Its latest incarnation, however, is perhaps its most revolutionary. WildTangent’s platform is bundled with most PCs sold in North America and its WildGames network attracts 1.5 million users monthly. Its patent-pending Wild Coins platform allows players to play for free, rent to own, and purchase casual games and enables advertisers to sponsor free game sessions seemingly.

We spoke with Sean Vanderdasson, WildTangent's VP of Marketing, about the company’s wild past, Wild coins, and the wild changes that are taking place in the casual games industry.

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Based in Vologda, Russia, Playrix Entertainment is best known for puzzle games 4 Elements, Around the World in 80 Days, the Atlantis series, and Fishdom. Recently the company expanded its catalogue with a hidden object game, Fishdom H20: Hidden Odyssey. Gamezebo spoke with Playrix Co-Founder and COO Igor Bukhman to learn more about the studio, the making of Fishdom H2O, and the company's upcoming projects. Read more»

George Fan is the mastermind behind PopCap's Plants vs. Zombies, a game that's often been described as "crazy." (Crazy good, crazy addictive... or just plain crazy. It's all accurate.) We spoke to George about Plants vs. Zombies, his previous PopCap project Insaniquarium, and what kind of hidden object game he would make if he could. Read more»

Alawar Entertainment is a company on a roll - especially in its native country, Russia, where it owns more than 80 percent of the casual gaming marketshare. After absorbing five studios over the past two years, the company boasted during Casual Connect in Hamburg that it planned to release 50 titles in 2009. Gamezebo spoke with Kirill Plotnikov, Alawar's VP of Publishing, to get the scoop on what kind of impact the company is having on casual games in Russia, Eastern Europe and beyond. Read more»

If you thought busting tables and milking cows were the only ways to satiate your inner foodie in games, get ready for Winemaker Extraordinaire, the latest strategy game from Merscom. After her grandfather’s passing, an over-worked city girl named Maria embarks on a journey to save his Tuscan winery and single-handedly reunite the world’s most important winemakers into their secret guild. Maria earns their respect by making wines that dazzle their palates.

We sat down with Merscom Chief Customer Officer Lloyd Melnick, who developed the concept, to discuss the vinous appeal for gamers and a possible future cheese pairing. We learned that Melnick is a bit of a wine enthusiast (his favorites hail from Georgia, in Eastern Europe). Read more»

Mari Baker took over as CEO of PlayFirst back in late February after the departure of founder John Welch, and Gamezebo is thrilled to be one of the very first to interview her in her new position. Mari spoke with us about the company's plans to expand beyond PC download casual games, what might be next for the Dash series, and whether Diner Dash: Hometown Hero's experiment with micro-transactions has paid off (among other things). Read more»

When John Barbour was announced as president of RealNetworks' Games Division in October 2008, I was intrigued:  One, John is a toys industry veteran and I’m fascinated by the convergence of toys and games; two, John is an outsider joining the casual games industry at a critical juncture.

Gamezebo sat down with John to discuss the similarities and differences between casual games and toys, the impact of the dreaded “R” word on casual games (OK, I’ll say the word, recession, and it’s not so dreaded), and his plans for RealGames in the next 12 months and beyond. Read more»

We recently had the pleasure of chatting with Vladislav Chetrusca, founder of MagicIndie Softworks and developer of Adventures of Robinson Crusoe. Read on to learn about this small independent studio from Moldova and how their first hit hidden object game came together.

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As someone who grew up in a construction family and has flipped a few houses in his time, Rusty Axe Games CEO Lennard Feddersen knows a thing or two about real estate. He's poured that knowledge, combined with more than a decade of game design experience, into creating strategy games that deal with the nuances of buying and selling property. Fedderson spoke to Gamezebo about Real E$tate Empire and his latest game, Big$hot, and what he's got planned for the future. Read more»

Dusan "Duke" Kostic and Aleksandar Kostic (no relation) both dreamed about making computer games as teenagers, and a chance meeting through a mutual friend more than 20 years ago convinced them that they should found their own studio together, Paprikari. Whoever that friend was, casual gamers have him to thank for one of the most succesful casual game adventures of all time: Paprikari's Mortimer Beckett. Gamezebo caught up with the guys at Paprikari to chat about the studio, Mortimer Beckett and the Time Paradox, and the upcoming third Mortimer Beckett game. Read more»

Today, Red Rocket Games announced that the studio's first title (not counting Zenerchi, which was a joint project with PlayFirst), will be a music platformer called Mevo & the Grooveriders. We had to know more about this funky-sounding game so we caught up with Red Rocket Games Co-Founder and CEO Jung Suh. Why music and not match-three? Why keyboard and not mouse? And what exactly is a Grooverider (or a Mevo, for that metter)? Read on to find out.

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It's always a pleasure to check in with the folks at SomaTone Interactive Audio, the studio that has crafted the music, sound effects and voice-overs for some of the most popular casual games of all time, including the Mystery Case Files, Diner Dash and Virtual Villagers franchises. We asked managing partners Kane Minkus and Nick Thomas to highlights some of the best casual game audio moments of 2008. Read more»

What does it take for a casual MMO to stand out from the crowd? In the case of Rebel Monkey's CampFu, it's team-based co-operative gameplay that encourages community rather than competition. Rebel Monkey was founded by industry luminaries Margaret Wallace (the former CEO of Skunk Studios) and Nick Fortugno, designer of the original Diner Dash. Nick sat down with Gamezebo to give us an exclusive preview of CampFu. Read more»

SEGA is best known for classic console games like Super Monkey Ball, Phantasy Star and Sonic the Hedgehog, but the company's latest project has been online. Network Business Director Nick Pili spoke to Gamezebo about SEGA's recently-launched web game and social networking portal, PlaySEGA, which is shaping up to be an online destination for a variety of free-to-play casual games as well as host to a healthy back catalogue of retro classics from SEGA's video game vaults.

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Mousechief's Dangerous High School Girls in Trouble!, a role-playing board game set in the 1920s featuring "naughty" mini-games, literary satire and some pretty cutting social commentary, is truly the little indie game that could. It has garnered accolades from all over the place, and most recently was nominated for Best Writing in a Videogame by the prestigious Writer's Guild of America.

Not bad for the product of a one-person company plus a few part-time contractors.

Gamezebo sat down with Mousechief founder Keith Nemitz to learn more about his studio and the inspiration behind DHSGiT!

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Massively-multiplayer online games (MMOGs) have been stellar at providing alternate worlds for an alternate "you" for more than a decade, and The Cartoon Network's FusionFall is a game that works to fill this niche for younger players as well, with depth of gameplay, story galore (the entire Cartoon Network!) and fun to boot.

Due to launch in little less than a week, it is currently in free preview with all content available to the public. Community Director Richard Weil holstered his Bubble Gum Blaster to talk to Gamezebo about what the Cartoon Network is up against 10 years in the future.

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It takes a very special game to earn a perfect 5 out of 5 score from Gamezebo, and Codeminion achieved that rare honor with their magnificent puzzle game, Ancient Quest of Saqqarah. We wanted to learn more about what makes this Polish game studio tick, so we spoke with its co-founders, Konrad Olesiewicz and Maciej Biedrzycki. Read more»

Majesco Entertainment has published several popular casual games on the Nintendo DS and Wii, including versions of Cake Mania, Babysitting Mania and Fish Tycoon, as well as its own popular Cooking Mama series. Majesco's upcoming game Orchard, however, will be the company's first game published for the PC download market.

Gamezebo spoke with Gui Karyo, Executive VP of Operations at Majesco Entertainment, about the company's first foray into the world of casual online gaming.

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Mahjongg Artifacts 2 is in the running for Best Card, Board & Mahjong Game of 2007 at the upcoming Zeeby Awards. We chatted wtih Vadim Kumerov, CEO of Shape Games, about what makes Mahjongg Artifacts 2 special and why it deserves to get your vote. Read more»

Mah Jong Quest II is in the running for Best Card, Board & Mahjong Game of 2007 at the upcoming Zeeby Awards. We chatted with Senior Producer Peter Traugot about what makes Mah Jong Quest II special and why it deserves to get your vote. Read more»

Jewel Quest Solitaire II is in the running for Best Card, Board & Mahjong Game of 2007 at the upcoming Zeeby Awards. We chatted with the game's lead developer, Dwain Theobald, about what makes Jewel Quest Solitaire II special and why it deserves to get your vote. Read more»

The PC version of Lumines is in the running for Best Puzzle Game of 2007 at the upcoming Zeeby Awards. We chatted with the team at Q Entertainment about what makes Lumines special and why it deserves to get your vote. Read more»