All Features List

Hello Gamezebo-ers,

 

This is Ryan Modjeski again, designer and producer of Legacy Interactive's upcoming hidden object adventure, The Lost Cases of Sherlock Holmes, Vol. 2. Since my last developer diary, things have gotten really hectic around here. Murder, She Wrote just launched (at the time of writing it is #1 on Big Fish Games and Legacy Games) and the energy surrounding that project amplified our stresses as we are quickly approaching our own release date in December.

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Mystery Case Files: Return to Ravenhearst is on sale for $2.99 at Big Fish Games until Nov. 22. (use coupon code RTR299 at checkout.) Westward is still free over at Sandlot Games too, so grab this great strategy game while you have the chance! The Settlers strategy games are 50% off on GOG.com until Nov. 23. Read more»

The approach of Free Realms - a casual massively-multiplayer online (MMO) game from Sony Online Entertainment, is a simple and familiar one: pack as much free content into as friendly-looking a package as possible and sell upgrades, unlocks and items for real money off the back of that initial experience. The obvious hope is that you'll become enamoured enough with the free portions of the game to pony up for advantages and privileges against other players, and Free Realms has plenty of content put aside for those who are prepared to pay.  Read more»

One man's trash is another man's treasure, or so the saying goes. I come from a family of dumpster diggers and garage sale junkies (hey, you never know when you're going to find a real gem!). So, I felt right at home playing Yard Sale Hidden Treasures: Sunnyville from Slapdash Games. Read more»

Big Fish Games announces release dates for Mystery Case Files: Dire Grove; Zynga raises $15.2 milion in new funding; and class action lawsuits could be brewing against social networks over the scam offers scandal. These headlines and more behind the cut. Read more»

As they say, you can never keep a good site (or is that man/woman?) down.

The site gremlins were running amuck, but now we are back up.  Sorry for the inconvenience. I'll make sure the reason we went down never happens again.

Back to writing and posting about great new games to play (and there are many this and next week!

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Beta test casual games before they come out and provide developers with your insight.  Game developers are looking for your feedback to make their games better and they really do listen and change their games based on your advice.  We'll be sending out an email with new games to beta test soon.

If you are interested in being a member of our prestigious beta test program, sign up here.  If you are already a member, no worries;  you don't have to sign up again.

 

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Alawar has just launched the third game in the Natalie Brooks hidden object adventure series. Download Natalie Brooks - Mystery at Hillcrest High, write a review, or chat about it in our forum. Read more»

Luxor Adventures has launched, a game that takes the Luxor puzzle game franchise in a new hidden object direction. Download the game, write a review, and chat about it in our forum. Read more»

Escape the Museum 2 has launched! Download the game, write a review, or chat about it in our forum. Read more»

World's Hardest Game is an iPhone app that actually lives up to its title.  The idea is simple, the mechanics are easy, but trying to accomplish anything is mind-numbingly difficult.  That's not to say the game is bad - in fact it accomplishes exactly what it sets out to do. World's Hardest Game offers up an easy-to-learn game that will make your blood boil in its first five minutes. Read more»

Monkwerks is a game about spelling, about taxing your vocabulary. That its title is (presumably deliberately) misspelled should tell you all you need to know before you even load it in your browser. This is an excellent example of how to take a simple, appealing concept and run it completely into the ground through fundamentally bad and lazy implementation.

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PlayFirst sent us a trailer for the upcoming time management game Hotel Dash: Suite Success, which is launching very soon! The video gives you a glimpse of how elevators will be used in the game to allow Flo to go between floors to reach demanding guests in different rooms of the hotel. Watch the Hotel Dash: Suite Success trailer here, and chat about the game in our forum.

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We can finally share with you the release dates for Mystery Case Files: Dire Grove, the hotly anticipated sixth game in the Mystery Case Files hidden object/adventure series from Big Fish Games Studios. For the first time in the series' history, Big Fish Games will be releasing two different versions of the game: the Collector's Edition will launch on Nov. 25 for $19.99, followed by the standard version in early December which will sell for the usual $6.99. Read more»

Browser-based bicycle rides are few and far between nowadays.  Maybe that's the reason Fig. 8 makes us smile so much.  Its playful title serves as something of a double entendre, referring to the manoeuvring of the bicycle as easily as it does to the landscape on which you'll be cycling.  Rather than riding through picturesque scenery and charming country roads, Fig. 8 will have you cycling through technical schematics on an endless sheet of paper. Read more»

When Cash Cow came out for PCs last year, it was one of those titles that was promptly shunted into the, "cute, but not great," category. The coin-oriented puzzle game, while enjoyable, was a little too simple and shallow for some players. In short, it was a no-frills steak dinner.  Now, though, Cash Cow is back, having been ported to the iPhone, and it seems to have been fleshed out a bit with better gameplay and more content; adding some sides to the dish definitely make this a meal worth sampling. Read more»

What's better than Westward for free?  Nothing, if you ask me.  Click here to download Westward for free from Sandlot Games

While you are out it, check out Westward IV, the latest in Sandlot's saga.  Our review for WestWard IV is coming soon.

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Spore Islands takes the species-creation idea of the hit PC game Spore and sets it loose in a science experiment type environment. What would happen if I tweaked their diets?  What if I reduced their defences?  What if I introduced two more species into their world?  Spore Islands is a god game in the truest sense of the word. Create creatures, tweak their existence, and let them run amok to see what happens. Read more»

Coming out of stasis only to find the world has been destroyed in an all-out nuclear conflict sounds like just about the worst day anybody could have.  But coming out of stasis to discover this in winter, completely naked, with nothing but a much-too-tiny bicycle to save you?  That's worse.  Icycle has you guiding a very chilly, very nude man on a teensy little bicycle across some terrifying terrain in an icy cold future. Read more»

Hanako Games has released Cute Knight Kingdom.  Of course, a review and strategy guide shall come soon.

Download a free trial of Cute Knight Kingdom now, write a review, and discuss in our forum.

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Cat Wash, the time management games about washing dirty kitties to a disco beat, has just launched over at Namco Games. Download Cat Wash, write a review, or chat about it in our forum. Read more»

Sandlot Games has just launched Westward IV: All Aboard, the fourth game in its Wild West-themed real-time strategy series. Download the game, write a review, or chat about it in our forum.
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Clocktower Games has just released the third chapter its Casebook interactive mystery series, Casebook Episode 3 – Snake in the Grass. Like its predecessors (Casebook Episode 1 and Casebook Episode II - The Watchers), Episode 3 features unique photorealistic 3D graphics that use footage of real actors and scenery. Purchase Casebook Episode 3, write a review, or talk about it in our forum. You can also pick up Episode 2 for $7.50 and Episode 1 for just $5 at the developer's site. Episode 0 is still free. Read more»

NinjaBee's award-winning Xbox Live Arcade strategy game, A Kingdom for Keflings, will soon be available to PC gamers as a digital download, the company announced today. Read more»

Friday the 13th is considered an unlucky day, unless you go to a game site powered by Oberon/iPlay.  All games are $13 for one day only (just November 13, 2009.

Here are a sample of the web sites with the Friday the 13th $13 Sale (Yahoo! Games, MSN Games, and Pogo).  

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Ask any veteran of Roller Coaster Tycoon or Thrillville and they'll tell you the same -- managing a theme park is hard work. At least it used to be. Roller Coaster Kingdom takes a trip down easy street and strips the traditionally deep theme park management genre of all of its detail and nuance, delivering a social game from Zynga that feels surprisingly underwhelming. Read more»

Murder, She Wrote, the hidden object game a lot of us have been not-so-patiently waiting for, has launched! Download the game, write a review, or chat about it in our forum. Read more»

When I was in high school, my first job was scooping ice cream in a little shop called Blum's. It was my dream job. What could be more fun than scooping ice cream all day? And you could always get a free ice cream whenever you wanted. Ice cream is definitely one of my key comfort foods. So, when I saw there was an ice cream-based iPhone  game called Scoops - Ice Cream Fun For Everyone, I knew I just had to indulge myself. Read more»

EA buys Playfish for $300 million; PlayFirst announces Hotel Dash: Suite Success; and the developers of Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor challenges the idea that selling games for cheap is the only way to be competitive on the Apple App Store. These headlines and more behind the cut. Read more»

On Wednesday Playdom, the social networking company responsible for Facebook hits like Mobsters and Sorority Life, announced that it had raised $43 million in its first round of outside financing. The very next day the company demonstrated how the money was already being put to use by announcing that it had purchased two game companies: Facebook developer Green Patch, and Trippert Labs, an iPhone and social game developer. Read more»

Zynga, the leading social games company and creators of popular games that you've probably have played (such as FarmVille, Mafia Wars, and Café World) is officially having the worst week ever. Read more»

If you just can't get enough of Fishdom's match-3 / aquarium building gameplay, Playrix Entertainment has released yet another instalment of the puzzle game just in time for the winter season. It's called Fishdom: Frosty Splash, and like the name immplies you'll get to create festive-looking fish tanks with more than 100 winter-themed decorations. Download the game, write a review, or chat about it in our forum. Read more»

Dice games have been around for thousands of years, yet our fascination with them has never waxed or waned. Sic bo has been played in the east for millennia. We've been playing craps in the west since the time of the Crusades. Even well into the 20th century, new games were being developed that depended heavily on dice. Where would Monopoly or Dungeons and Dragons be without them?  Now, in this modern age of social networking, the dice game has been re-invented again with Farkle. Read more»

If you grew up at just the right time in the 1980's, you no doubt remember sitting around the one lone computer in your fourth grade classroom, waiting for your turn to play Reader Rabbit or Math Blasters. Now, thanks to developer Peter Groeneweg, all the fun of edutainment is back!  Unlike the 80's though, this time we mean it. Number Ninjas is fun, educational, and puts out math skills to the test. Read more»

Season of Mystery: The Cherry Blossom Murders has launched. Download this hidden object game, write a review, or chat about the game in our forum.
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PlayFirst has announced the upcoming launch of Hotel Dash: Suite Success, the latest addition to the company's Dash series of time management games. Hotel Dash will feature Flo and Quinn (the stars of PlayFirst's Diner Dash and Wedding Dash series', respectively), as they embark on a new business venture as the managers of a chain of themed hotels. Read more»

I-play has just launched Treasures of the Serengeti, a game featuring music, match-3 and jigsaw puzzles set in the Serengeti villages of Africa. Download the game, write a review, or chat about it in our forum. Read more»

Step into the shoes of Alya Loot, a young thief trying to make her way in the world.  Accepting a job offer, she'll need to rob the richest families in town to try and earn her way up to the title of master thief.  To do that though, she'll need to sneak around homes, pilfer property, and avoid guards at every turn!  Treasure Grab offers up a terrific blend of top-down exploration and stealth gameplay in a way that's unique and fresh -- a perfect fit for the iPhone. Read more»

Nudge might look like he's all big arms and brute strength, but deep down inside he's just a monster with a kind-hearted soul. Nudge just wants to make sure the poor little balloon finds its way to the exit, and he'll use his muscles to make sure that he can move any obstacles out of the balloons way. But he'll need more than just muscles -- he'll need brains too. Read more»

Kellie Stanford: Turn of Fate has launched. Help Kellie discover the truth about the Hollywood studio she works for and its mysterious owner in this cartoony hidden object adventure. Download the game, write a review, or chat about it in our forum. Read more»

Last month we reported that video game publishing giant Electronic Arts was planning to purchase a social games company, and today it was confirmed that EA has purchased Playfish -- the makers of popular Facebook games like Pet Society, Crazy Planets, Geo Challenge and Restaurant City -- for approximately $275 million in cash, $25 million in stocks, and further variable cash bonuses of up to $100 million dependent on achieving certain performance-based milestones over the next two years. Read more»

Lost Realms: The Curse of Babylon has launched. Download this hidden object adventure, write a review, and chat about it in our forum.
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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»

Telltale Games is offering Muzzled, the third episode in the Wallace & Gromit's Grand Adventure series, for FREE until Nov. 9 (thanks to SandyG for the tip!) Strategy games Lords of the Realm: Royal Edition, Lords of the Realm 3, and Lords of Magic are 30% off at GOG.com. The gorgeous indie platforming game Aztaka is 25% off on Steam until Nov. 19.
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Wicked stepmothers have been a part of fairy tales for as long as anybody can remember, but none were as wicked as Hansel and Gretel's. Convincing her husband to abandon their young children in the woods was a dastardly deed, and now you can fill the shoes of young Gretel and try to set things right!  Gretel & Hansel is a free browser-based point-and-click adventure that embraces charming visuals and simple gameplay, and even throws in a few twists for gamers with a bit of a mean streak. Read more»

RealArcade and GameHouse are merging into one online game portal; MumboJumbo responds to the StoneLoops vs. Luxor iPhone controversy; and TechCrunch exposes a dark side of social gaming: offers scams. These headlines and more behind the cut. Read more»

The hidden object game The Return of Monte Cristo has launched. Download the game, write a review, or chat about it in our forum. Read more»

Game portals RealArcade and GameHouse will soon be merged into a single online gaming destination designed to offer members more features and a larger variety of games, according to RealNetworks, the parent company that owns both game sites. Read more»

What happens when you take a point'n'click adventure, shake it until everything but the gameplay falls off, and stick it into an iPhone?  This is the question that Mystery Mania tries to answer. Exploring the rooms of a big old mansion, you'll find yourself pointing and clicking your way from puzzle to puzzle in a game that proves sometimes less really is more. Read more»

So fresh off production of The Lost Cases of Sherlock Holmes and Emergency Room: Real Life Rescues, it seemed like a natural fit to combine the two elements and start on a game based on the TV series House M.D. I was very enthusiastic to start working on the project because I was a fan of the show, which is saying a lot because I don't watch very much television (I'm more of a movies-kind-of-guy) so finding a show that I've actually seen, let alone enjoy, is pretty challenging. (Nothing against TV programs per se, I just generally prefer to play games and watch movies.) Read more»