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Jim Squires is the Editor-in-Chief of Gamezebo. Everything you see passes his eyes first, so we like to think of him as "the gatekeeper of cool stuff." He likes good games, great writing, and just can't say no to a hamburger. Also, he is not a bear.
  • ReignMaker Review
    Reviews
    • iOS
    • PC
    ReignMaker Review

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    I have a confession to make: I didn't play Tower of Elements. As a big fan of match-3 genre mashups - and more importantly, match-3 genre mashups that try something new - this is a fact I'm pretty ashamed of. But over the last week, that shame has lessened.I've fallen in love with ReignMaker, better known during its development cycle as Tower of Elements II. As you can probably expect from a game with a previous moniker such as this, the core gameplay should be familiar to anyone who enjoyed the original Tower of Elements. Players will defend their tower (tower… defense?) using match-3 magic. Each match you make will send bolts of magic flying horizontally down the lane that the matched gems occupy. If an advancing enemy is coming down that lane, they'll take damage and ultimately die.It may sound simple on paper, but it's maddeningly fast-paced in execution. You'll be dealing with a large grid of gems, and the enemies won't slow down just because you're having trouble making that perfect match. ReignMaker is a game of quick thinking; of keeping an eye on marching enemies while struggling desperately to find the matches that will obliterate them.
  • Minecraft’s Notch releases Drowning in Problems, a text-based life simulator
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    • PC
    Minecraft’s Notch releases Drowning in Problems, a text-based life simulator

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    How has your day been? Good? Don't worry, we can fix that. Just click here and have a play of Drowning in Problems, a strange, statistical, and super depressing birth-to-death simulator from Markus "Notch" Persson, aka the man behind Minecraft.The game was Notch's contribution to the most recent Ludum Dare (a semi-regular gamejam that has resulted in ton of cool stuff over the years). The theme for Ludum Dare 29 was "beneath the surface."If you're about to dive into it, I'll warn you in advance: Drowning in Problems is less a video game than it is an interactive piece of art. Some, like myself, love experiments like this. If you're hoping for something with a jump button and a high score, you're going to be sorely disappointed.If you're looking for something that will make you question the absurdity of our hamster wheel lives, however, you've come to the right place. 
  • Sony Online Entertainment’s New Strategy: One Price, All the Games
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    • PC
    Sony Online Entertainment’s New Strategy: One Price, All the Games

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    There was a time when subscription-based MMO's ruled the roost, but in the world of free-to-play, those few stalwarts of old have had a harder time pulling in an audience than they used to. How do you turn those fates around? How do you turn free players into paying customers? Sony Online Entertainment has a clever idea: offer a single subscription price to get top-tier memberships in all of their games.Starting today, Sony Online Entertainment will deliver full memberships in all of the following games in exchange for a mere $14.99: Everquest, Everquest II, DC Universe Online, Planetside 2, Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, and the upcoming games Everquest Next, Landmark and H1Z1. You'll also get 500 Station Cash every month, a 10% discount on marketplace purchases, and "access to exclusive promotions and offers throughout the year."So what's the catch?
  • Get SimpleRockets for Free Right Now
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    • Android
    • iOS
    • PC
    Get SimpleRockets for Free Right Now

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    Love playing a game that makes you feel smart? Or at least one that lets you blunder the space program worse than Alfonso Cuarón? Then you'd better pull out your favorite mobile device (or, failing that, a PC) and download SimpleRockets - a fantastic game of spacecraft creation that recently saw a surprise drop to free.The game is normally $1.99 on mobile and $4.99 on PC, so "free" is a price that's incredibly hard to argue with. The game should have an instant appeal to fans of Steam's long-standing Early Access gem Kerbal Space Program, while at the same time providing a gentle first step for those who've been thinking about playing such games, but feared the genre's intimidating premise.Up up and away, folks! Get it on iPhone, Android, and PC quick. There's no word on how long this price drop will last.
  • Rovio’s profits dropped 50% in 2013
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    • Android
    • iOS
    Rovio’s profits dropped 50% in 2013

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    You know what isn't making the kind of money that it used to? Angry Birds. As hard as it might be to believe, the Mario of mobile gaming isn't quite pulling in the number that it once did. According to the latest financials released by the company this morning, Rovio's net earnings fell by €28.6 million; a more than 50% drop from 2012.Before you sound the panic alarms, it's important to stress that despite poor earnings, the company's overall revenue actually went up a few million euros - from €152.2 million to €156 million. So while earnings might be down, Rovio's financial security is not.Still - it's hard to not look at the situation and ask what went wrong. There was a time when seeing Angry Birds on the top 10 paid apps list was as certain as the rising sun. Today it sits at #61. And it's free-to-play kart racer that hoped to make a big splash back in December? It's not even in the top 200 free apps (though, yes, it manages to crack in at #73 for free games).
  • Combat gets colorful in Ankama’s upcoming Tactile Wars
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    • Android
    • iOS
    Combat gets colorful in Ankama’s upcoming Tactile Wars

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    War is hell? Sure - but it can also be downright adorable. A teaser trailer for Ankama's upcoming Tactile Wars hit the web over the weekend, and while they're don't seem to be a ton of details quite yet, what's been teased has us eager to learn more."In Tactile Wars, you are… THE HAND, the supreme commander of an army of pigments," reads the game's official press release. "Take control of your troops via innovative and intuitive touch gameplay and dynamic gestures to create your squad formation."So it's… Advance Wars meets Paint-by-Numbers? Risk and the Magic Marker? We have no idea, but we're damned curious to find out. And since Ankama is the team responsible for DOFUS, a fairly respectable strategy RPG series in France, it seems safe to assume they have that side of the equation mastered. Still, with so little info on the gameplay, we're left scratching our heads on this one a bit - and it looks like we might have to for a while longer for answers. Tactile Wars currently has a very broad release window of "later this year" for mobile devices. 
  • This Week in China: Want to know how much Chinese game developers make?
    News
    • Android
    • iOS
    This Week in China: Want to know how much Chinese game developers make?

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    Did that headline get your attention? Of course it did. Everybody wants to know how much money everybody else is making. And Chinese game makers, it seems, don't make much.The exact answer to that question is below, but if you really want some perspective, be sure to see what the cost of living in China is too.As always, our thanks go out to the Chinese gaming site Laohu.com for providing this round-up for Gamezebo readers. For daily news out of Beijing and more, be sure to give them a visit.
  • Wayward Souls Review
    Reviews
    • iOS
    Wayward Souls Review

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    Here's a little tidbit that we all seem to have forgotten in recent years: video games are supposed to be hard. I don't mean control-throwingly unbeatable, or "save points every six hours" impossible, but hard in a genuinely challenging - but eventually conquerable - way.With Wayward Souls, Rocketcat Games has gotten "hard" down to a science.Building off of the gameplay of 2011's exceptional Mage Gauntlet, Wayward Souls is a roguelike-like action game that pits players against an increasingly challenging horde of enemies as they descend floor-by-floor for as long as they can survive.