Casual Game News

What do you get from a game that’s been influenced by Super Mario World, Ico, Limbo, Blade Runner, and … Arrested Development? You’d end up with Spate, the indy-developed steampunk platformer by Eric Provan.

We cover plenty of new games here at Gamezebo every week, but the number of games we’ve already covered that show up on new platforms? It’s staggering. Starting this Wednesday and continuing every week, we’ll be rounding up the games that aren’t quite new, but might be new to you depending on your platform of choice.

Having acquired OpenFeint over a year ago, developer, publisher, and mega-company GREE has kept their cards pretty close to the chest regarding their plans for the technology. Until today. In a formal announcement sent to Gamezebo, the multinational mobile-social gaming giant marked May 23rd as the kick-off for the GREE platform. Also known as? World domination, phase B.

Back in March, we announced the PerfMarks report that the iOSwas clearly faster than Android devices when it came to running HTML5 games. Today, spaceport.io announced a new test that compared mobile phones to a modern laptop. The results? Mobile still has a long way to go.

When we first announced that digital game portal GamersGate was going to make a free ad-supported platform, it was last June in the form of FreeGames. Today, nearly a year later, that plan has come to life in the form of VOID, launching next Monday, May 28th.

You know the old adage, “addicted to videogames?” The one that parents like to bandy around when they want their kids to stop playing and do their homework, or when they’re cavorting with other baby-boomers about the ills of today’s media-driven society? Well it seems it carries a little more literal weight overseas, where the practices of some major social games in Japan have led to some absurd spending and - subsequently - recent litigation

If you haven’t heard of King.com yet, you must not be playing Facebook games in 2012. The company has shot through the ranks to become a top competitor in the social games space recently, duking it out with the likes of Zynga and wooga on a daily basis. With such meteoric success, it’s no surprise to hear that the company is expanding. They’ve just announced a new London-based studio, and they’ve tapped a pretty notable name in social games to head it up.

We’re at a point where it’s almost harder to find stores that don’t carry Angry Birds merchandise than the ones that do. Popcap just announced last month that their own Plants vs. Zombies plushes, figures, and t-shirts would be invading stores everywhere this year. Next up to bat in the war for casual gaming merchandise supremacy is Disney’s Where’s My Water?, slipping into mass retailers nationwide this June.

While every major publisher and their kin seemed eager to jump into the gold rush that was mobile gaming in the last few years, Activision has been one of the few major names to remain somewhat standoffish. So much so that in December 2010, Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick said: “we don't view the App Store as a really big opportunity for dedicated games … we don't see an opportunity for us to participate in that market.” But a lot can change in 18 months.

There are few recreational activities as whimsical as that of pinball. It’s a physical endurance battle between you and the machine. On the best tables, an array of electrical lights, stories, and modifiers was enough to keep you going for hours. One such table, The Twilight Zone, is widely considered to be one of the best physical pinball tables of all time.