Casual Game News

Tired of sales that make you pick and choose between a select group of games?  Don’t you wish you could save on, well… everything?  Big Fish hears you, and Big Fish understands.

We spend a lot of time looking at games here at Gamezebo. You’d expect as much – heck, it’s in our name! But have you ever wondered which games the Gamezebo staff are really passionate about? The ones we can’t personally wait to get our hands on?

A recent survey conducted by the Game Developer’s Conference brought forth some interesting statistics about the current state of game development. Over 2,500 developers were polled, all of which either attended last year’s GDC or plan to attend this year. Of everyone polled, 53% labeled themselves as indie developers. And while the definition of an indie developer is sometimes debated, 46% of those polled said they worked at a company of ten or less, with only 24% working with a publisher to release their last game. It doesn’t get much more indie than that!

There’s typically a dearth of video game releases after the holiday season comes to an end. As depressing as that may sound, it actually makes for a good opportunity to catch up on all the games that fell through the cracks in the months before. We didn’t have such a luxury this time around, though, as the Video Game Gods decided to provide us with a mountain of awesome video games.

Here’s a fun fact: games on the Sega Genesis were priced at $59.99 when they first hit store shelves.  Adjust for inflation and… well, it’s more than you’d ever think about paying for Sonic the Hedgehog today.  Luckily, you don’t have to.  There are plenty of good deals in our round up this weekend – and if you’re a fan of classic SEGA games – there are even some great ones.

Despite how much progress the human race has made in recent years, there’s no denying the fact that political strife and unrest still exists in all parts of the world today. And there is so much more behind these violent economic riots than what we see on TV or read about on the Internet. Well now we have an ambitious riot simulator game to shed some light on those unspoken questions, like “What is it that triggers such a strife?” and “What does a cop feel during the conflict?”

The folks at Indie Royale have upped their output lately, releasing a new bundle every single week. Last week it was the Chosen Bundle, which featured the same lineup of games as the previously released St. Patrick’s Day Bundle. This week it’s The Mash Bundle’s turn, and while I wish its name was an homage to the deliciousness of mashed potatoes, it’s actually in reference to the “mash-up” of different genres in the bundle.

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.  This Wednesday and every Wednesday, Gamezebo is rounding up the games that aren’t quite new, but might be new to you depending on your platform of choice.  And who doesn't love new(ish) games?

Hallelujah, it’s rainin’ birds. Earlier today, Rovio announced that its long-awaited Angry Birds Toons will sail into our lives on March 16 and 17. Rovio plans to release 52 episodes per year, and the basic premise around most of the shorts appears to revolve around (sit down for this one) the Pigs’ attempts to steal the Birds’ eggs.

Adventure games are, by their own admission, an adventurous lot. You get a feel for this in how they play, but it’s also reflected in their tendency to show up on platforms of all shapes and sizes. A good example of that would be Gemini Rue, a game that’s making the leap from PC to iOS this spring. Can’t nobody hold adventure games down!

We spend a lot of time looking at games here at Gamezebo. You’d expect as much – heck, it’s in our name! But have you ever wondered which games the Gamezebo staff are really passionate about? The ones we can’t personally wait to get our hands on?

The wait for season two of The Walking Dead is sure to be a painful one, but Telltale is doing their part to make it a little more manageable. Fans can expect additional content for the game sometime before the new season arrives, writer Gary Whitta has revealed.

After four months of updates about its soundtrack, platforms, and other such details, Team Meat have finally spilled the beans on the gameplay of Mew-Genics. In short, it’s a “cat lady sim.” In long, it's something much, much crazier than that.

Fish belong in water, songbirds belong in the sky, and wizards belong in point-and-click RPG/adventure games. Himalaya Studios aims to put wizards back in their element, so to speak, with Mage’s Initiation for the PC. Himalaya also re-made King’s Quest I: Quest of the Crown as well as King’s Quest II, King’s Quest III, and Quest for Glory II with Sierra’s blessing, so you can be assured that this team knows how to click its way through an adventure game.

The Wall Street Journal reported that more than 90 percent of app toys fail around the same time Activision announced that Skylanders’ sales exceeded $500 million. Among the failed app toys were Barbie Dolls and Hot Wheels cars with special conductors to control games on a tablet from Hasbro, Disney’s Cars AppMates, and a version of the Game of Life from Hasbro in which players spin a wheel on an iPad rather than a physical wheel. Yet, Activision’s physical virtual goods continue to sell incredibly well, driving Activision’s profitability. This interesting juxtaposition of news shows the value of using the equivalent of in-app purchases rather than the business models designed around retailing, distribution and manufacturing processes from the last century.

The state of Nevada has passed legislation legalizing online gambling and further paving the way to the day when it will be legal to lose (or win) all your money gambling on your phone.

Specifically, the legislation allows Nevada to move forward in allowing online poker legal in lieu of federal legislation and to create interstate compacts with other states to allow their citizens to gamble on Nevada-based online casinos.

Why am I sharing this on Gamezebo?  Because every single social game company (especially the social casinos) are salivating at the chance to offer legalized gambling in their games.

I have to give Zen Studios credit. Not only are they making Star Wars Pinball, but they’re basing the tables on characters and films that fans actually care about (no offense, Jar Jar Binks). At launch, players will be able to shoot steel balls around play fields featuring The Empire Strikes Back, The Clone Wars, and the eternally awesome Boba Fett. The game’s latest trailer showcases the latter of those three, and it has everything a Fett fanatic could hope for. It’s Fett-tastic, I suppose you could say.

For this third entry in Aldorlea's Developer Diary series, I am going to talk about something that is very dear to me, and in my opinion is an important aspect of the role playing games we all love. Interactivity – in other words, making a world come alive.

Video games aren’t cheap.  It’s a shame, but it’s also a fact of life that we all have to accept.  So if you only have five dollars in nickels in your pocket (or, more aptly, your PayPal account), there’s not much gaming you can do, right?  

When developer Almost Human began work on new content for Legend of Grimrock, the plan was to release it as DLC. But the scope of that content continued to grow, and the studio decided it best to just release a new game entirely. Legend of Grimrock 2 is that game, and while details are scarce, the chances of us traversing a dank dungeon once again are pretty good.