All Features List

After developing a string of puzzle games including Emerald Tale and Jewel of Atlantis, Enkord decided it was time to make something different. Really different. Enkord's CEO Yaroslav Yanovsky talked us through the highs and lows of working on Totem Tribe's ambitious blend of adventure, strategy and hidden object gameplay. Read more»

Like an object hidden in a puzzle, where oh where is Joel this week?

Well, guten morgen where you are, and guten tag from Germany.  I am in Hamburg for Casual Connect:Europe.  Though it is freezing outside, I am here to share you the warmth and excitement that is Casual Connect: Hamburg.  Read more»

Most people can follow a recipe, but it takes a special kind of culinary talent to be able to throw ingredients together and make up mouthwatering dishes on the fly. It's this creative side of cooking that Gamelab and Brighter Minds Media wanted to explore with Top Chef. Brighter Minds Media Game Producer and Online Sales Director Ran Flasterstein gave Gamezebo a behind the scenes look at the making of this kitchen management title. Read more»

It feels like every day for the past year, we are working on changes to help improve the Gamezebo web site.  Every blue moon, we actually release them on the public web site!

Yesterday was such a day.  As many of you have noticed, we have released new Kudos, added a lot more sub-channels, and improved navigation on the Web site.  More details below the fold. Read more»

In the hit-driven business of casual games, if a game flops it rarely gets a second chance because it's already been bowled over by the "next big thing." That's what makes the story of Bubble Town (also known as Scrubbles) so interesting.

The title was developed as a PC download for college-age students, released to a market dominated by 50+ year old women (who hated it), condemned as a failure, resurrected as a mobile game with a new name, released onto Facebook and MySpace where it became a hit, and then re-released as a PC download under its new name and, most recently, a version for the iPhone.

The story of Bubble Town provides a great insight into why certain games are given second chances, and why some games become hits and others don't.

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As a developer we often deal with so many fires and situations that force us to be innovative, cunning and creative. This helps empower us and our team to create a compelling product in this very competitive environment. With all the pleasures of quality, testing and creativity thrust upon us, why oh why are we also forced to deal with the squabbling of our distributors like a bad family during the holidays? Read more»

From December to January, Gamezebo writers played, reviewed, analyzed and picked apart hundreds of games, so it takes something pretty special to stand out from the crowd. The following list contains our picks for the most memorable games of 2008. Some are simply best-of-breed, while others just stuck out in our minds for being particularly fun or unique. (Read more.) Read more»

Mystery Case Files: Return to Ravenhearst is the fifth title in one of the most popular hidden object game franchises in casual game history. But how close did "R2R" come to abandoning its hidden object game roots once and for all?

This was just one of the issues touched on when Gamezebo sat down with Return to Ravenhearst's Lead Designer Adrian Woods, Art Director Jeff Haynie and Producer Chris Campbell, and Big Fish Games VP Patrick Wylie as they reflected on the making of the game. (Read more.)

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What do you do when you're just not ready to say goodbye?

That was the problem faced by the Peggle team. They wanted to continue their franchise, but they weren't quite ready to let go of the game that they'd had such success with.

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It's one of the biggest casual game releases of the year, but there was every chance that instead of spinning gems in Bejeweled Twist, fans could have  been turning tuna in "Zoingo." Read more»

“There are two businesses that can survive a recession,” Silvio tells his mafia boss Tony in a classic episode of The Sopranos, “entertainment and our business.”

Casual game companies tend to agree, proclaiming that as part of entertainment, they will survive this global recession. Some actually think casual games will thrive. They could not be more delusional. Like every single sector in our economy, the global recession of 2009 will change everything in casual games.  Read more»

Each title in Sandlot Games' Tradewinds series starts with a unique location. In the case of Tradewinds Caravans, Central Asia and the history of the Silk Road proved to be a fascinating setting that was steepd in mystery for people in the West. Read more»

I didn't want to get back into gaming. After spending the better part of the '90's creating complex, labor-intensive adventure games, I was done. Burnt. Fried. Disillusioned. Games were becoming increasingly violent and ever more ridiculous. My dream of creating games with heart and soul was crushed. So I left gaming, became a stay-at-home dad and wrote the great American novel. My feeling was I'd never work in games again. But what happened? In a word: Flo. Read more»

The U.S. presidential election is less than a month away, and several developers have weighed in with politically-themed video games. Some of them are educational and inspiring while others are satirical or just plain silly, but there's no mistaking the fact that games are becoming the 21st century version of the political cartoon. Here's a look at some of the games that were inspired by Election 2008. Read more»

There are two numbers that are big news lately: $700 billion for the US government to bail out Wall Street and $83.3 million venture capital investment in Big Fish Games.

Both confuse and intrigue me. I can't fully explain the $700 bail-out (and if I did, I would end up writing a boring and depressing tirade comparing the current administration with the Hoover presidency). But, I can share my thoughts on the $83.3 million that Big Fish Games just raised.

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This week in San Francisco, the technology industry's leading lights gathered for the second annual TechCrunch 50 (nee 40, 20) to pick the best and most exciting new companies and business ideas. The event, spearheaded by the insidery blog TechCrunch, is designed to ferret out the best new companies and ideas regardless of their stage, ability to pay, or PR savvy.

As usual, there are myriad doubts about the honesty of the process and politicization of the choices, but the basic premire is sound: filter a large number of ideas to 52 good ones and let the experts decide on the best and brightest.

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The Princess Bride is a film that could truly be considered a "new classic." One that has been passed from parents to children and become a pop culture touchstone in the process, as well as one of the most universally loved films of the past quarter century.

So, to say that Worldwide Biggies was "a bit cautious" about turning the film into a casual game might be something of an understatement.

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In the casual game market, there is a lot riding on a game's replay value. Sure, a game could have only one level and be successful, but it has to be something that players can tune in to over and over.

That's why when Isaac Shepard designed Music Catch, he knew that it had to be, well, catchy.

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For the first time in Gamezebo's history we're publishing a Behind the Game feature about a title before it launches. With expectations for Cake Mania 3 running high, Sandlot Games Founder & CEO Daniel Bernstein took us behind the scenes for an in-depth look at how the anticipated time management sequel came together. Read more»

Quebec-based studio Ludia created two video games based on television shows at essentially the same time, but they couldn't have been more different. One was based on the squeaky clean and family-friendly game show The Price is Right; the other, Hell's Kitchen, an edgy reality cooking show starring British bad boy chef Gordon Ramsay. Read more»

If you've been following the Hasbro vs. Scrabulous saga then what happened this week wasn't all that surprising, but it still came as a kick in the teeth to the 4 million or so Facebook users who enjoyed playing the immensely popular multiplayer take-off on Scrabble.

On Tuesday, fans found that Facebook had shut Scrabulous down in response to a lawsuit that Hasbro, owner of the North American rights to Scrabble, was filing against the makers of the game.

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Video game consoles are no longer just for teenage boys - at least that seemed to be the prevailing message at this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo, which wrapped up this week in Los Angeles. Traditionally the event where companies gather to show off the next Halo, Grand Theft Auto or Call of Duty, this year saw a ton of announcements that might convince more than a few casual gamers to ask for a Nintendo DS, Wii, or even an Xbox 360 this holiday season. Read more»

Story is not always the top priority in casual game development. Sure, it's a great compliment to some games, adding an extra layer of satisfaction to the gameplay or a few laughs, but for other games it's a downright hindrance.

That's part of what put I-play in such an unusual position while developing Women's Murder Club. They wanted more than a threadbare way to get from Level A to Level B; their primary motivation was a solid narrative.

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Studios like PopCap and EA have been developing mobile phone games for years, but they've never seen anything quite like Apple's iPhone. The device's multi-touch screen, motion sensors and high-definition graphics open up intriguing new possibilities for game design - and companies have already starting to take advantage of them. Read more»

Some game companies use pretty pedestrian means to pick their projects; maybe doing some market research and testing what ideas have been popular in the marketplace, or by licensing an IP and going from there, or just making a sequel.

For Reflexive's Russell Carroll, the producer of Airport Mania, the process is much less regimented.

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