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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.
  • This Week in China: Max Axe Goes East
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    This Week in China: Max Axe Goes East

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    After making a big splash earlier this year as Apple's Free Game of the Week, Max Axe's creators have entered into a partnership to bring the game to one of the world's biggest mobile markets: China. Details on that, funding announcements, and what happens when your games violate Chinese regulations below!Thanks as always to our partners at the Beijing-based Laohu.com for sharing this weekly roundup. For a deeper understanding of the Chinese mobile games market, be sure to bookmark Laohu.com.
  • This 2004 Tetris documentary is the best thing you’ll watch all day
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    This 2004 Tetris documentary is the best thing you’ll watch all day

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    Few games have a story behind them quite as riveting as Tetris. I first learned about the strange and storied history of the game when reading Game Over, David Sheff's insanely detailed book on the history of Nintendo.The story of Tetris is really the story of the end of the Soviet Era, Cold War Politics, and dirty business. For years I've said that it would make a brilliant HBO miniseries, and while we don't have that, this BBC documentary from 2004 is the next best thing.Sit back, make some popcorn, and spend the next 59 minutes of your day with Tetris: From Russia With Love.
  • Papers, Please wins top honors at Independent Games Festival
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    Papers, Please wins top honors at Independent Games Festival

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    2013 was a pretty great year for games, and when it came down to picking the best of them, we here at Gamezebo had our hands full last December. Above all of the others, though, there were three games that stood out as simply amazing: Papers, Please, Device 6 and Kentucky Route Zero. These games made up our top 3 picks for the year, and while there was a definite #1, #2, #3 order to them, really, any would have been fair to call our Game of the Year.It looks like the annual Independent Games Festival Awards (a great indie celebration that takes place at GDC) happens to agree. Last night, Lucas Pope's Papers, Please took home the Seamus McNally Grand Prize for Best Indie Game (as well as two additional awards: Excellence in Design and Excellence in Narrative).
  • X-Mercs: Invasion gets some new screens, looks decidedly XCOM-y
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    X-Mercs: Invasion gets some new screens, looks decidedly XCOM-y

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    It was just two weeks ago when free-to-play powerhouse Game Insight announced they were working on a game that sounds suspsiciously like XCOM. Promising a strategy simulation where you assemble a band of mercenaries to fight off an alien, as well as using their weapons to forge your own, it wasn't hard to see where X-Mercs: Invasion was drawing inspiration from.But considering how well they pulled off Tank Domination - a game that looked an awful lot like World of Tanks - we're not complaining.Earlier today, Game Insight posted new screenshots to the game's Facebook page (joining the few that were already there) to show off the gameplay in a bit more detail. Thanks to these, we can say for sure that it's an XCOM-alike - and we can also say that it looks pretty fantastic.Hit the jump for a bunch more.
  • Flappy Bird is coming back, “but not soon”
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    Flappy Bird is coming back, “but not soon”

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    Well that didn't take long. It was only last week that Rolling Stone published an interview with Dong Ngyuen, the creator of Flappy Bird, that led to a fury of "will he/won't he?" speculation about the game being returned to the App Store. When asked by Peter Travers if he Flappy Bird would ever take flight again, Nguyen responded "I'm considering it."But where Peter Travers failed to get a concrete answer, Twitter has now succeeded.In response to a similar question by tweeter @painfullpacman, Nguyen has confirmed that Flappy Bird is indeed heading back to the App Store: "Yes. But not soon."
  • Midnight Castle is coming to the iPad tomorrow
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    Midnight Castle is coming to the iPad tomorrow

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    Love Midnight Castle, but wish you could take it on the go? Good news, Big Fishers - Big Fish Games has just confirmed with Gamezebo that their popular free-to-play hidden object game is heading to the iPad this Thursday.It's an interesting twist, when you think about it. Previous free-to-play titles from Big Fish, like Found and Dark Manor, have started life on iOS, only to make their way to the main site later, after they've had some time to prove themselves. With Midnight Castle, they've turned that formula on its head. And it seems to be working, too: a Big Fish Games representative told us that the game's PC players are averaging 70 minutes in game per day. And if it counts for anything, we liked it quite a bit too.To celebrate the launch, they'll be giving away an iPad Mini on Midnight Castle's Facebook page. The sweepstakes opens tonight at midnight, and closes in one week, on March 26. For more details, be sure to visit facebook.com/midnightcastle after the clock strikes 12 tonight.
  • There’s a Mario piggy in Angry Birds Epic
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    There’s a Mario piggy in Angry Birds Epic

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    If your head is still spinning from the realization that there's an Angry Birds RPG on the horizon, you'll want to sit down for this one. The game soft-launched in Canada and Australia last night, and after 30 minutes or so, we bumped into a pig that looked pretty darned familiar.Red hat. Moustache. Pipe. Mushrooms. I'll let you be the judge:It's-a-him! Mario!
  • Could Amazon’s game machine be a dongle made for streaming?
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    Could Amazon’s game machine be a dongle made for streaming?

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    Ready yourself for the most interesting rumor of the morning. We all know that Amazon is getting into the games hardware business. I'm not keeping score, but it seems safe to say that this is the worst kept secret of the year. What's been a rather well-kept secret, however, is what this gaming hardware would be.Now it looks like we have our first hint.TechCrunch is saying they've learned from multiple sources that the device is going to look an awful lot like the Chromecast, Google's $35 streaming device that plugs into your TV's HDMI port.There's also the very real possibility that the device will be more of an "all-in-one" unit than a dedicated games console. With a variety of instant services already in-house - Prime customers can stream unlimited movies, TV shows, books, and soon music - offering a set-top box to bring it all to your living room is just good sense. Think AppleTV meets Chromecast meets Spotify meets Netflix, but with games.